Religious freedom: a confined policy

Freedom of religion is an established right in the United States; the First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees it to every person.  In the U.S., no person may be discriminated against on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.  Equal opportunity is among our most cherished tenets; it is the product of much national [...]

The difference is, we are all the same

From the rightfully honored pen of Thomas Paine, religious diversity is a natural and wonderful reality, and sounds like this (from Rights of Man, 1791):
“If we suppose a large family of children, who, on any particular day, or particular circumstance, made it a custom to present to their parent some token of their affection and [...]

Common Sense about religion

I am always troubled by the willingness of Americans to revise history so that it fits into their own worldviews.  To know history, one must first study history.  To comment about a historic figure’s philosophy and intentions, one must first read that figure’s own journals and publications.   To assert truth, one must first make sure [...]

The Iraq War, in the tradition of Jonathan Swift

Before reading:
Read Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”. This will help you understand the title and the tone.
http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/modest.html
Watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFptybbietQ
Intellectuals will understand the nature of this piece without explanation, and those readers who do not will find themselves inspired to defend the Iraqi people, which the media has taught them are subhuman.
It is satirical.  It is supposed to [...]

So many reasons to love Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine was, by some accounts, the most well-read Englishman ever to live. If you are reading this, regardless of who you are, or how many Nobel prizes you have won, you can rest assured that Paine’s education was more complete than your own. When you read his commentaries on money and the [...]

Martin Luther King, Jr. was real; Obama is a fraud

“Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man.” – Martin Luther [...]

Government submits to God, who wants to leave us alone

This story is, of course, fictional.  If you see this headline in the newspaper tomorrow morning, you will need to pinch yourself–and if that does not wake you–realize that you have in fact died and gone to heaven.  As I imagine it, there are no tax collectors in heaven.  Upon entry into heaven, I could pick up the [...]

Review: The Miracle (The Miracle Theatre, Pigeon Forge, TN)

The Miracle is the well-known story of Jesus Christ put into the form of a musical with awesome performance effects. I am not a Christian and think organized religion is, to quote the great actor Jesse “the Body” Ventura (of Wrestlemania fame), “a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers, [...]

The “Blame-Iraq-First” Crowd

Almost everyone agrees that Al-Qaeda was directly responsible for the attacks on September 11, 2001. However, in the months and years following that day, it became apparent that the situation was not limited to Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. A tragedy of such large scale, the people reasoned, had to be the result of something [...]

Huckabee, Schmuckabee

“The handcuffs are on government not people…the government’s position is hands off in either preferring one religion to another or prohibiting one.” – Mike Huckabee
It would be nice if Huckabee practiced what he preached. This statement directly opposes a marriage amendment. How does banning gay marriage in the U.S. enhance freedom or limit government? It [...]