Yes, ICantSeeYou

The United States is a "Christian Nation" - Can it even be disputed?

There is little doubt that the religious makeup of the general population of the United States is predominantly Christian. The 2001 American Religious Self-Identification Survey showed that over three-quarters of those surveyed identified themselves as Christian, about one-third of whom were self-identified as Catholic.

There is also little doubt that the U.S. general population has been Christian throughout most, if not all, of its history. The settlers in the British Colonies that would eventually become the first States, for example, were often protestant Christians who were fleeing persecution by the Anglican Church. There has never been a time in American history when the majority of the population was Muslim, or Jewish, or Buddhist, or, for that matter, Atheist.

However, this is not what the claim "The U.S. is a Christian nation" means. The people who make this claim are not merely claiming that the U.S. population has a predominantly Christian bent, but that the basis for the government of the nation itself is based on some (often unspecified) set of "Christian principles," and that the modern, strict interpretation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution by the U.S. supreme court is erroneous.

The Founding Fathers

Quotations from Benjamin Franklin

I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life, I absented myself from Christian assemblies. - Benjamin Franklin, Toward The Mystery.

Some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's lectures. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough deist. - Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography

I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it. - Benjamin Franklin, from Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion, 1728

The way to see by Faith is to shut the eye of Reason. - Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1758

Quotations from George Washington

If they are good workmen, they may be from Asia, Africa or Europe; they may be Mahometans, Jews, Christians of any sect, or they may be Atheists.... - George Washington, to Tench Tighman, March 24, 1784, when asked what type of workman to get for Mount Vernon, from "The Washington papers" edited by Saul Padover

I beg you be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny. - George Washington, to United Baptists Churches of Virginia, May, 1789 from The Washington papers edited by Saul Padover]

Quotations from Thomas Jefferson

The Christian god can be easily pictured as virtually the same as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of the people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites. - Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to his nephew, Peter Carr

Difference of opinion is advantageous is religion. The several sects perform the office of a censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women and children since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support rogeury and error all over the earth. - Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1781-1785)

I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Woods

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State. - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Danbury Baptist Association

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. - Thomas Jefferson, speech to Virginia House of Delegates, November, 1776

Read the Bible as you would Livy or Tacitus. For example, in the book of Joshua we are told the sun stood still for several hours. Were we to read that fact in Livy or Tacitus we should class it with their showers of blood, speaking of their statues, beasts, etc. But it is said that the writer of that book was inspired. Examine, therefore, candidly, what evidence there is of his having been inspired. The pretension is entitled to your inquiry, because millions believe it. On the other hand, you are astronomer enough to know how contrary it is to the law of nature - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787, in Works, Vol.ii., p. 217

...If we did a good act merely from the love of God and a belief that is pleasing to him, whence arises the morality of the Atheist? It is idle to say, as some do, that no such thing exists [...] Diderot, D'Alembert, D'Holbach, Condorcet are known to have been among the most virtuous of men. Their virtue, then, must have had some other foundation than love of God. - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Law, June 13, 1814

Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohametan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination. - Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, in reference to the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom;

Reading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts only in which all religions agree (for all forbid us to steal, murder, plunder, or bear false witness), and that we should not intermeddle with the particular dogmas in which all religions differ, and which are totally unconnected with morality. - Thomas Jefferson to James Fishback, 1809

Our Constitution... has not left the religion of its citizens under the power of its public functionaries, were it possible that any of these should consider a conquest over the conscience of men either attainable or applicable to any desirable purpose. - Thomas Jefferson: Reply to New London Methodists, 1809

It is unlawful in the ordinary course of things or in a private house to murder a child; it should not be permitted any sect then to sacrifice children. It is ordinarily lawful (or temporarily lawful) to kill calves or lambs; they may, therefore, be religiously sacrificed. But if the good of the State required a temporary suspension of killing lambs, as during a siege, sacrifices of them may then be rightfully suspended also. This is the true extent of toleration. - Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Religion, 1776. Papers, 1:547

I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor. - Thomas Jefferson

Quotations from John Adams

Tom, had you and I been 40 days with Moses, and beheld the great God, and even if God himself had tried to tell us that three was one ... and one equals three, you and I would never have believed it. We would never fall victims to such lies. --- John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson

Where do we find a precept in the Bible for Creeds, Confessions, Doctrines and Oaths, and whole carloads of other trumpery that we find religion encumbered with in these days? - John Adams

The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. - John Adams

Quotations from James Madison

There remains in others a strong bias towards the old error, that without some sort of alliance or coalition between Gov' & Religion neither can be duly supported: Such indeed is the tendency to such a coalition, and such its corrupting influence on both the parties, that the danger cannot be too carefully guarded agst.. And in a Gov' of opinion, like ours, the only effectual guard must be found in the soundness and stability of the general opinion on the subject. Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance. And I have no doubt that every new example, will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Gov will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together. - James Madison; Letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822, The Writings of James Madison, Gaillard Hunt

It was the Universal opinion of the Century preceding the last, that Civil Government could not stand without the prop of a religious establishment; and that the Christian religion itself, would perish if not supported by the legal provision for its clergy. The experience of Virginia conspiciously corroboates the disproof of both opinions. The Civil Government, tho' bereft of everything like an associated hierarchy, possesses the requisite stability and performs its functions with complete success; whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church from the State. - James Madison, as quoted in Robert L. Maddox: Separation of Church and State; Guarantor of Religious Freeedom

Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess and observe the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us. If this freedom be abused, it is an offense against God, not against man:To God, therefore, not to man, must an account of it be rendered. - James Madison, according to Leonard W. Levy, Treason Against God: A History of the Offense of Blasphemy, New York: Schocken Books, 1981, p. xii.

Quotations from Thomas Paine

Among the most detestable villains in history, you could not find one worse than Moses. Here is an order, attributed to 'God' to butcher the boys, to massacre the mothers and to debauch and rape the daughters. I would not dare so dishonor my Creator's name by attaching it to this filthy book (the Bible). - Thomas Paine

It is the duty of every true Deist to vindicate the moral justice of God against the evils of the Bible. - Thomas Paine

Presidental Quotations

The Bible is not my Book and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long complicated statements of Christian dogma. - Abraham Lincoln

My earlier views at the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer and stronger with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them. -Abraham Lincoln, letter to Judge J.S. Wakefield,

The divorce between church and state ought to be absolute. It ought to be absolute. It ought to be so absolute that no church property anywhere, in any state, or in any nation, should be exempt from taxation, for if you exempt the church property of any church organization, to that extent you impose tax upon the whole community. - James A. Garfield, address to Congress

As this will be the last annual message which I shall have the honor of transmitting to Congress before my successor is chosen, I will repeat or recapitulate the questions which I deem of vital importance which may be legislated upon and settled at this session: First. That the States shall be required to afford the opportunity of a good common-school education to every child within their limits. Second. No sectarian tenets shall ever be taught in any school supported in whole or in part by the State, nation, or by the proceeds of any tax levied upon any community. Make education compulsory so far as to deprive all persons who can not read and write from becoming voters after the year 1890, disfranchising none, however, on grounds of illiteracy who may be voters at the time this amendment takes effect. Third. Declare church and state forever separate and distinct, but each free within their proper spheres; and that all church property shall bear its own proportion of taxation. - Ulysses S Grant, seventh State of the Union address.

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute- where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishoners for whom to vote--where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference--and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him. - John F. Kennedy

Separation of Church and State

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution begins with the following two clauses:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

These two clauses, taken together, embody the principle of the Separation of Church and State, a phrase first coined by Thomas Jefferson in his letter to the Danbury Baptists.

Since the passage of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865, the Federal courts have determined that the prohibition against making such laws extends not only to Congress, but to State and Local governments within the United States as well.

In recent decades, these two clauses -- particularly the first, or Establishment, clause -- have been interpreted very strictly by the courts. Officially sanctioned prayer has been effectively outlawed in public schools. Religious iconography is prohibited from being displayed on public grounds. Laws requiring Creationism to be taught in public schools have been overturned for having a religious basis. This lies in stark contrast with the state of affairs a century ago, where cities frequently passed laws forbidding shop-owners from doing business on Sunday morning and the State of Tennessee actually passed a law forbidding theories from being taught in science classes that contradicted the Bible.

Some Christian groups have gotten quite upset by this slow turn of affairs.

Bananas: The Atheist's Worst Nightmare

Bananas: The Atheist's Worst Nightmare

From SkepticWiki 

"Bananas: The Atheist's Worst Nightmare" is a particular variant of an argument from design which describes how the banana's features reveal its true cosmic origins. The argument traces back to Ray Comfort and former Growing Pains actor Kirk Cameron's evangelical Christian talk show, and it is summed up as follows:

Note that the banana:

1 Is shaped for human hand

2 Has non-slip surface

3 Has outward indicators of inward content:

Green-too early,

Yellow-just right,

Black-too late.

4 Has a tab for removal of wrapper

5 Is perforated on wrapper

6 Bio-degradable wrapper

7 Is shaped for human mouth

8 Has a point at top for ease of entry

9 Is pleasing to taste buds

10 Is curved towards the face to make eating process easy

To say that the banana happened by accident is even more unintelligent than to say that no one designed the Coca Cola can. [1]

The argument is of such dubious quality that it could very easily be mistaken for a parody, and hardly merits serious discussion at all. However, in the rare instance that you come across a creationist sufficiently starry-eyed to fall for it, then it could be helpful to keep in mind some of the problems of this argument:

A wild banana. Note the black, rock-hard seeds.

• Wild bananas are inedible by humans and contain large seeds, this fact would appear to be contrary to the belief that bananas were designed with humans in mind. [2] Seedless bananas, while preferred by humans, are useless to the banana plant, which, being sterile, has to be artificially cultivated by vegetative cloning (i.e. taking cuttings).

• Cultivated bananas were not designed by cosmic intervention, but were produced by humans using artificial selection. Bananas are one of the first fruits domesticated and cultivated by human beings a little more than 7000 years ago [3] Humans have bred bananas selectively for smaller seeds and a tastier banana, in much the same way we have cultivated seedless grapes and watermelons.

• The modern banana is the result of a well-documented chance mutation during the nineteenth century:

Those first bananas that people knew in antiquity were not sweet like the bananas we know today, but were cooking bananas or plantain bananas with a starchy taste and composition. The bright yellow bananas that we know today were discovered as a mutation from the plantain banana by a Jamaican, Jean Francois Poujot, in the year 1836. He found this hybrid mutation growing in his banana tree plantation with a sweet flavor and a yellow color—instead of green or red, and not requiring cooking like the plantain banana. The rapid establishment of this new exotic fruit was welcomed worldwide, and it was massively grown for world markets. [4]

• If this argument were really given serious consideration, then it is really a wonder why many other edible fruits and seeds have thorns or tough husks. These are perfectly reasonable features to expect as a product of evolution, but quite incredibly awkward when considering as a product of divine design.

• As is typical with design arguments, it is unjustifiably anthropocentric. In particular, as much as the colors of a banana would serve as an indicator of its inner content to humans, it very likely served as an indicator to animals. In this case, the colors of the banana are a product of evolution, not foresight into future human consumption. In nature, it is beneficial for soft fruits with tough seeds (like the wild banana) to have an attractive exterior. This encourages animals to eat them, spread their seeds and allow the fruit to reproduce (see our main article on Means of Dispersal for more information). This would indicate that the fruit's appearance is nothing more than natural selection at work, rather a divine designer trying to impress us with shiny surfaces.

• Further anthropocentric bias is the remark that bananas are shaped for the human hand, and shaped for the human mouth. There is no reason to believe that the banana is intended for human mouths and hands any more than it is intended for monkey mouths and hands.

• Much of the evidence for design cited are superfluous, such as pointing out that the banana has a biodegradable wrapper (what makes the banana any more special than the billions of other organisms that biodegrade in nature?).

• The comparison between soda cans and bananas is a false analogy. The theory of evolution does not address the origins of things that do not reproduce.

There is an amazing array of things much more wonderful and complex than a soda can, for which we need not assume any intelligent design or purpose. They all share this property at least: a billion-year evolutionary heritage. Lacking this, the soda can does not belong in this class, and we must admit another explanation.

• And finally, for those with a mind in the gutter, the argument is ripe (no pun intended) for parody value. The author of GodlessBastard.com has put together a telling parody about the banana fruit as a perfectly engineered sex toy [5].

Post-Rapture Website Lets You Email Your "Left Behind" Friends, Relatives

If Christians disappear off the face of the Earth because of "The Rapture," there's a site that has recently launched that will let you say "I told you so" via email to your "left behind" friends and relatives.

You've Been Left Behind says that it "gives you one last opportunity to reach your lost family and friends For Christ."

Here's how it works: six days after "The Rapture," the system is triggered. The "switch is thrown" when when 3 of their 5 team members fail to log in over a 3 day period. The extra 3 days are for a fail-safe. The members are also scattered across the U.S. to prevent, say, a natural disaster from accidentally triggering this. 3 out of 5? I guess this is just in case some of them are "backslidden."

Once that happens your emails start flying, assuming you've paid the $40 annual fee (the site says this fee will be reduced as more subscribe) .

Service-wise, you receive two "boxes."

In Box #1, you get 150 MB of encrypted storage that can be sent to 12 possible email addresses. This, according to the site, is for your "personal private letters to your closest lost friends and relatives."

Box #2 has 100 MB of unencrypted storage. This box can have up to 50 email recipients. According to the site, Box #2 is for "more generic documents to lost family & friends."

Of course, if you really want to encrypt stuff and don't want anyone and run out of space or email addresses in the encrypted section, you could always encrypt the document in a .ZIP file or encrypt a Word document. In fact, that might be a good idea since although the sites privacy policy says "We won't give any information to anyone, period!" that's all it says; nothing about not reading your documents.

BTW, If you don't want to write your own documents, you can use some of the site's pre-written documents.

According to the site, it's "Programmed and Run by Christians, for Christians." The $40 fee says it's not totally altruistic, but they do need to run the site.

In their "Why" section, they say:

We all have family and friends who have failed to receive the Good News of the Gospel.

The unsaved will be 'left behind' on earth to go through the "tribulation period" after the "Rapture". You remember how, for a short time, after (9/11/01) people were open to spiritual things and answers. (We are still singing "God Bless America" at baseballs' seventh inning stretch.) Imagine how taken back they will be by the millions of missing Christians and devastation at the rapture. They will know it was true and that they have blown it. There will be a small window of time where they might be reached for the Kingdom of God. We have made it possible for you to send them a letter of love and a plea to receive Christ one last time. You can also send information based on scripture as to what will happen next. Each fulfilled prophecy will cause your letter and plea to be remembered and a decision to be made.

"WHY" is one last chance to bring them to Christ and snatch them from the flames!

I have a question, though: what if, during the six days after the trigger event, all "hell" breaks loose (pun intended) and there's no power for the servers to send the emails? For that matter, will anyone even be able to read the emails!?

Perhaps text messages would be a better idea.

Belief in God a 'product of human weaknesses': Einstein letter

Albert Einstein's letter is expected to fetch between $12,000 and $16,000 U.S.

Renowned scientist Albert Einstein dismissed the Bible as a collection of “pretty childish” legends and belief in God as a “product of human weaknesses,” according to a letter to be auctioned this week.

Einstein, who was Jewish, also rejects the notion that Jews were God’s chosen people.

The letter was written in German in 1954 to philosopher Eric Gutkind.

It is to be auctioned in London, England, on Thursday by Bloomsbury Auctions, and is expected to fetch between $12,000 and $16,000 US.

Einstein writes "the word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish."

Born to a Jewish family in Germany in 1879, he also adds that "for me, the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions."

He also wrote "the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong, and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people.

“As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

Einstein 'rather quirky about religion': expert

Many have speculated about the religious or spiritual beliefs of the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, whose theory of relativity revolutionized the study of physics.

Some have pointed to Einstein’s quote that God "does not play dice" with the universe (his rejection of the randomness of the universe) as proof of his belief in a higher being.

Others have said that the quote does not advocate a belief in God and have referred to other letters written by Einstein.

"I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly,” he wrote in another letter in 1954. "If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."

John Brooke, professor emeritus of science and religion at Oxford University, told the Associated Press that the letter lends weight to the notion that "Einstein was not a conventional theist" — although he was not an atheist, either.

"Like many great scientists of the past, he is rather quirky about religion, and not always consistent from one period to another," Brooke said

Brooke said Einstein believed "there is some kind of intelligence working its way through nature. But it is certainly not a conventional Christian or Judaic religious view."

Bloomsbury spokesman Richard Caton said the auction house was "100 per cent certain" of the letter's authenticity.

It is being offered at auction for the first time by a private vendor.

Missing Pastor Found - Inside Strip Club

Missing Pastor Found - Inside Strip Club

Here's a place I wouldn't have thought to look, because typically they don't have children stripping in strip clubs. Yeah, yeah, I know that's hitting below the church belt.

A Lyndonville, New York pastor, who had been missing since Wednesday afternoon, was found early Friday morning in a strip club - in Ohio. The Rev. Craig Rhodenizer, 46, is pastor of the St. John's Lutheran Church in Lyndonville.

Originally it was thought Rhodenizer might have been kidnapped, and the FBI was even brought in on the case.

"When they had contact with him, he appeared to be very distraught and very emotional," Lewiston Sgt. Frank Previte said. "He told the officers that he did not know how he got there or where he was."

Now that's all interesting, because the dancers at the strip club sure remembered him, saying he had been there for several hours, drinking.

The Great Tantra Challenge

The Great Tantra Challenge

On 3 March 2008, in a popular TV show, Sanal Edamaruku, the president of Rationalist International, challenged India’s most “powerful” tantrik (black magician) to demonstrate his powers on him. That was the beginning of an unprecedented experiment. After all his chanting of mantra (magic words) and ceremonies of tantra failed, the tantrik decided to kill Sanal Edamaruku with the “ultimate destruction ceremony” on live TV. Sanal Edamaruku agreed and sat in the altar of the black magic ritual. India TV observed skyrocketing viewership rates.

Everything started, when Uma Bharati (former chief minister of the state of Madhya Pradesh) accused her political opponents in a public statement of using tantrik powers to inflict damage upon her. In fact, within a few days, the unlucky lady had lost her favorite uncle, hit the door of her car against her head and found her legs covered with wounds and blisters.

India TV, one of India’s major Hindi channels with national outreach, invited Sanal Edamaruku for a discussion on “Tantrik power versus Science”. Pandit Surinder Sharma, who claims to be the tantrik of top politicians and is well known from his TV shows, represented the other side. During the discussion, the tantrik showed a small human shape of wheat flour dough, laid a thread around it like a noose and tightened it. He claimed that he was able to kill any person he wanted within three minutes by using black magic. Sanal challenged him to try and kill him.

The tantrik tried. He chanted his mantras (magic words): “Om lingalingalinalinga, kilikili….” But his efforts did not show any impact on Sanal – not after three minutes, and not after five. The time was extended and extended again. The original discussion program should have ended here, but the “breaking news” of the ongoing great tantra challenge was overrunning all program schedules.

Now the tantrik changed his technique. He started sprinkling water on Sanal and brandishing a knife in front of him. Sometimes he moved the blade all over his body. Sanal did not flinch. Then he touched Sanal’s head with his hand, rubbing and rumpling up his hair, pressing his forehead, laying his hand over his eyes, pressing his fingers against his temples. When he pressed harder and harder, Sanal reminded him that he was supposed to use black magic only, not forceful attacks to bring him down. The tantrik took a new run: water, knife, fingers, mantras. But Sanal kept looking very healthy and even amused.

After nearly two hours, the anchor declared the tantrik’s failure. The tantrik, unwilling to admit defeat, tried the excuse that a very strong god whom Sanal might be worshipping obviously protected him. “No, I am an atheist,” said Sanal Edamaruku. Finally, the disgraced tantrik tried to save his face by claiming that there was a never-failing special black magic for ultimate destruction, which could, however, only been done at night. Bad luck again, he did not get away with this, but was challenged to prove his claim this very night in another “breaking news” live program.

During the next three hours, India TV ran announcements for The Great Tantra Challenge that called several hundred million people to their TV sets.

The encounter took place under the open night sky. The tantrik and his two assistants were kindling a fire and staring into the flames. Sanal was in good humour. Once the ultimate magic was invoked, there wouldn’t be any way back, the tantrik warned. Within two minutes, Sanal would get crazy, and one minute later he would scream in pain and die. Didn’t he want to save his life before it was too late? Sanal laughed, and the countdown begun. The tantriks chanted their “Om lingalingalingalinga, kilikilikili….” followed by ever changing cascades of strange words and sounds. The speed increased hysterically. They threw all kinds of magic ingredients into the flames that produced changing colours, crackling and fizzling sounds and white smoke. While chanting, the tantrik came close to Sanal, moved his hands in front of him and touched him, but was called back by the anchor. After the earlier covert attempts of the tantrik to use force against Sanal, he was warned to keep distance and avoid touching Sanal. But the tantrik “forgot” this rule again and again.

Now the tantrik wrote Sanal’s name on a sheet of paper, tore it into small pieces, dipped them into a pot with boiling butter oil and threw them dramatically into the flames. Nothing happened. Singing and singing, he sprinkled water on Sanal, mopped a bunch of peacock feathers over his head, threw mustard seed into the fire and other outlandish things more. Sanal smiled, nothing happened, and time was running out. Only seven more minutes before midnight, the tantrik decided to use his ultimate weapon: the clod of wheat flour dough. He kneaded it and powdered it with mysterious ingredients, then asked Sanal to touch it. Sanal did so, and the grand magic finale begun. The tantrik pierced blunt nails on the dough, then cut it wildly with a knife and threw them into the fire. That moment, Sanal should have broken down. But he did not. He laughed. Forty more seconds, counted the anchor, twenty, ten, five… it’s over!

Millions of people must have uttered a sigh of relief in front their TVs. Sanal was very much alive. Tantra power had miserably failed. Tantriks are creating such a scaring atmosphere that even people, who know that black magic has no base, can just break down out of fear, commented a scientist during the program. It needs enormous courage and confidence to challenge them by actually putting one’s life at risk, he said. By doing so, Sanal Edamaruku has broken the spell, and has taken away much of the fear of those who witnessed his triumph.

In this night, one of the most dangerous and wide spread superstitions in India suffered a severe blow.

Buddhist Dog Prays - for Treats

Buddhist Dog Prays - for Treats

Take a look at Conan (pictured). He sure looks like he's praying, with his "palms" seemingly clasped together. A pet at the Jigenin Temple on the southern island of Okinawa, Conan has learned to imitate the worshippers around him.

"Conan started to pose in prayer like us whenever he wanted treats," said Joei Yoshikuni, a priest at the temple. "Clasping hands is a basic action of Buddhist prayer to show appreciation. He may be showing his thanks for treats and walks."

Conan is a two-year old long-haired Chihuahua. During services, he sits next to Yoshikuni in front of the altar. As the priest starts chanting and raises his clasped hands, Conan also raises his paws and joins them at the tip of his nose.

Visitors find it amazing, and come to the temple to take pictures of Conan every weeek. The temple estimates that it receives 30% more visitors, especially young tourists, than it did prior to publicity over Conan.

"Namu Amida Butsu," Conan.

High on Mount Sinai?

High on Mount Sinai?

JERUSALEM  - The biblical Israelites may have been high on a hallucinogenic plant when Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai, according to a new study by an Israeli psychology professor.

Writing in the British journal Time and Mind, Benny Shanon of Jerusalem's Hebrew University said two plants in the Sinai desert contain the same psychoactive molecules as those found in plants from which the powerful Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca is prepared.

The thunder, lightning and blaring of a trumpet which the Book of Exodus says emanated from Mount Sinai could just have been the imaginings of a people in an "altered state of awareness," Shanon hypothesized.

"In advanced forms of ayahuasca inebriation, the seeing of light is accompanied by profound religious and spiritual feelings," Shanon wrote.

"On such occasions, one often feels that in seeing the light, one is encountering the ground of all Being ... many identify this power as God."

Shanon wrote that he was very familiar with the affects of the ayahuasca plant, having "partaken of the ... brew about 160 times in various locales and contexts."

He said one of the psychoactive plants, harmal, found in the Sinai and elsewhere in the Middle East, has long been regarded by Jews in the region as having magical and curative powers.

Some biblical scholars were unimpressed. Orthodox rabbi Yuval Sherlow told Israel Radio: "The Bible is trying to convey a very profound event. We have to fear not for the fate of the biblical Moses, but for the fate of science."

Life Explained (Spoiler Alert)

On the first day, God created the dog and said: "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said: "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?"

So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said: "Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said: "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?"

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said:"You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family For this, I will give you a life span of sixty Years."

The cow said: "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?"

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said: "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years."

But man said: "Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that i s why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

Jesus Found in Pine Tree - For Sale On Ebay....(w/pic)

Jesus Found in Pine Tree - For Sale On Ebay....

Another Jesus likeness has been found, this time by a Bensalem, Pa., furniture-maker who discovered the image inside the trunk of a pine tree.

 

Craig O’Connor found what he believes is a “holy” sap-stain image of Jesus in the tree he cut down to make into furniture.

The image was formed from the sap inside the tree and appears to have its arms outstretched with the tree rings forming a kind of halo around the figure's head.

By counting the tree rings, O'Connor said he believes the tree was at least 40 to 50 years old.

O'Connor said he has worked with wood for more than 25 years and seen many different stains and marks. This one, he said, is radically different from all the others, and as a Catholic, he said he believes it's a sign from God.

But, he tried to sell it on eBay anyway.

Survey shows America's religious landscape changing

The U.S. religious marketplace is extremely volatile, with nearly half of American adults leaving the faith tradition of their upbringing to either switch allegiances or abandon religious affiliation altogether, a new survey finds.

The study released Monday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life is unusual for it sheer scope, relying on interviews with more than 35,000 adults to document a diverse and dynamic U.S. religious population.

While much of the study confirms earlier findings _ mainline Protestant churches are in decline, non-denominational churches are gaining and the ranks of the unaffiliated are growing _ it also provides a deeper look behind those trends, and of smaller religious groups.

``The American religious economy is like a marketplace _ very dynamic, very competitive,'' said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum. ``Everyone is losing, everyone is gaining. There are net winners and losers, but no one can stand still. Those groups that are losing significant numbers have to recoup them to stay vibrant.''

The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey estimates the United States is 78 percent Christian and about to lose its status as a majority Protestant nation, at 51 percent and slipping.

More than one-quarter of American adults have left the faith of their childhood for another religion or no religion at all, the survey found. Factoring in moves from one stream or denomination of Protestantism to another, the number rises to 44 percent.

One in four adults ages 18 to 29 claim no affiliation with a religious institution.

``In the past, certain religions had a real holding power, where people from one generation to the next would stay,'' said Penn State University sociologist Roger Finke, who consulted in the survey planning. ``Right now, there is a dropping confidence in organized religion, especially in the traditional religious forms.''

Lugo said the 44 percent figure is ``a very conservative estimate,'' and more research is planned to determine the causes.

``It does seem in keeping with the high tolerance among Americans for change,'' Lugo said. ``People move a lot, people change jobs a lot. It's a very fluid society.''

The religious demographic benefiting the most from this religious churn is those who claim no religious affiliation. People moving into that category outnumber those moving out of it by a three-to-one margin.

The majority of the unaffiliated _ 12 percent of the overall population _ describe their religion as ``nothing in particular,'' and about half of those say faith is at least somewhat important to them. Atheists or agnostics account for 4 percent of the total population.

The Roman Catholic Church has lost more members than any faith tradition because of affiliation swapping, the survey found. While nearly one in three Americans were raised Catholic, fewer than one in four say they're Catholic today. That means roughly 10 percent of all Americans are ex-Catholics.

The share of the population that identifies as Catholic, however, has remained fairly stable in recent decades thanks to an influx of immigrant Catholics, mostly from Latin America. Nearly half of all Catholics under 30 are Hispanic, the survey found.

On the Protestant side, changes in affiliation are swelling the ranks of nondenominational churches, while Baptist and Methodist traditions are showing net losses.

Many Americans have vague denominational ties at best. People who call themselves ``just a Protestant,'' in fact, account for nearly 10 percent of all Protestants.

Although evangelical churches strive to win new Christian believers from the ``unchurched,'' the survey found most converts to evangelical churches were raised Protestant.

Hindus claimed the highest retention of childhood members, at 84 percent. The group with the worst retention is one of the fastest growing _ Jehovah's Witnesses. Only 37 percent of those raised in the sect known for door-to-door proselytizing said they remain members.

Among other findings involving smaller religious groups, more than half of American Buddhists surveyed were white, and most Buddhists were converts.

More people in the survey pool identified themselves as Buddhist than Muslim, although both populations were small _ less than 1 percent of the total population. By contrast, Jews accounted for 1.7 percent of the overall population.

The self-identified Buddhists _ 0.7 percent of those surveyed _ illustrate a core challenge to estimating religious affiliation: What does affiliation mean?

It's unclear whether people who called themselves Buddhists did so because they practice yoga or meditation, for instance, or claim affiliation with a Buddhist institution.

The report does not project membership figures for religious groups, in part because the survey is not as authoritative as a census and didn't count children, Lugo said. The U.S. Census does not ask questions on religion.