OH MY GOD

I know this is way past the due date but I hope you haven't read my blog yet, lobdell. Watch this video.

Romney: 'My faith is the faith of my fathers'

After losing ground in the polls in Iowa, Mitt Romney delivered a speech addressing his Mormon faith to try and ease evangelicals.

The former Massachusetts governor -- the first major Mormon candidate for president -- has seen his support slip recently in the early battleground state of Iowa amid misgivings by some Christians, particularly evangelicals, about his religion.

So in a 20-minute address billed as his definitive response to the issue, Romney said he was seeking to be a leader for Americans of all faiths, not just his own.

JFK gave a similar speech preceding his election as President. Yet, somehow I think Catholicism and Mormonism are a little different. And if Mitt Romney wins the primary you can count on his Mormon faith and getting extensive media coverage.

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee appears to be making a strong showing in the GOP primary. With a lot of the Christian right upset at Giuliani for his pro-choice stance and a lot of voters turned off by Mitt Romney's Mormonism, they are turning to Mike Huckabee as the best candiate.

As this article in the Christian Science Monitor says about his recent showing at the New Hampshire caucus:

Mike Huckabee spent the weekend in New Hampshire, where he saw something he had rarely seen in his two years as a Republican candidate for president: People. Lots of them. Living rooms and halls packed with voters, campaign aides, reporters and jostling television crews.

With Huckabee in the race it makes things more interesting but he still is a long shot. Romney may be a Mormon but he is wealthy an has outspent Huckabee by a lot.

Huckabee for President

The Papal States

Sorry for boring you with history but I'm a history major so it's what I do best...

The Papal States are an interesting topic today as many people are unaware of the fact that such a thing ever existed. The Catholic Church actually used to hold almost the entire central region of Italy and even had a standing army. The Church, which is supposed to an institution to serve God almighty, once controlled vast amounts of territory and consequently, it played a huge part in European Politics. The Papal States were conquered and absorbed into Italy during the late 1800’s as part of the Italian Unification. The Pope and his successors for nearly 100 years thereafter refused to leave the Vatican in protest and even threatened the Italians with excommunication if they participated in the elections of the new Italian government. Today the church’s political influence is a mere shadow of its former self, but be careful. Every now and then they try to exercise political power to their own ends… abortion anyone?

Henry VIII

Henry VIII was king of England during the early to mid 16th century. Never before in history were religion and politics so intertwined than in England during his reign. In 1528 Henry VIII demanded a divorce from his wife Catherine of Aragon. At this time England was a Catholic nation and as such Henry had to receive the divorce from the Pope. The Pope refused his request and in a fit of anger, Henry decided to create his own church, the Church of England or the Anglican Church. He was then free to divorce as pleased. The Anglican Church survives to this day as the main religion in England. Personally I find it interesting that a religion which is basically the Catholic Church, and which was founded by a gluttonous womanizer who beheaded or divorced 5 of his 6 wives could still survive today. Just saying.

Religion Politics and Gay Marriage

If we are to prevent the meaning of marriage from being changed forever, our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect marriage in America.
-George W. Bush

Homosexual marriage is a hot topic among the religious right. Not only do they claim to object to homosexuality on religious grounds but opponents to same sex marriage also cite that the bible defines marriage as between a man and a women and that the main point of marriage is procreation. Furthermore, they claim that same sex marriage will undercut the conventional purposes of marriage. President Bush made a bold political move when he recommended that Congress pass an amendment to the Constitution(!) that will ban same-sex marriage in the United States.

In my opinion, the government has no business telling us who we can or cannot marry and should stay out of this debate.

Abortion

Abortion and same sex marriage are perhaps the top two political issues that are most entwined with religion. I'm going to examine abortion and it's religious roots.According to one ABC News Poll in 2001, "Religious beliefs" are reported as the main opinion forming influence for 43% of those who oppose legal abortion in the U.S. The debate basically stems from the fact that Christians believe that God sanctifies every human life at conception and that aborting a fetus is killing a human. The Catholic Church, in particular, is quite outspoken against it and has policy of denying politicians who are pro-choice the communion.

An examination: G.W. Bush and his religious faith

"I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can't explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen... I know it won't be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it."

Undeniably, George W. Bush has been the most actively religious president in the history of America. Certainly there have been lots of president's who were religious and even talked about their religion as Bush has (e.g. Ronald Regan). But Bush's time in the office has been marked by several attempts to desecularize America by way of "faith based initiatives". Moreover, Bush's speeches are littered with religious reverences and he admits to seeking help from God.

To many Americans (including me) this is strikingly alarming. Do we really want our President answering and openly seeking advice from a mythical being (God)? Do we want our decisions made through prayer? No. We want rationality and religion doesn't offer much of that.

Pius XII and the Nazi Regime

This is another interesting historical lesson of religion and politics.

Pope Pius XII become Pope of the Catholic Church on the eve of World War II. His papacy would prove to be one of the most controversial in church history because of his actions, or rather lack thereof, during World War II. Pius XII adopted a position of Neutrality, very similar to the one that the church held during the First World War. This war however proved to very different. Over the course of the war, Pius XII continually received letters from priests and bishops all over Europe which detailed the atrocities being committed by the Nazis. Despite all of the information he received, and all of the pressure he received from his colleagues and governments to speak out, Pius remained silent. Hitler had threatened to invade the Vatican and even drew up military plans for an invasion in the event of such an event as Pius speaking out. Pius XII remained silent however for the entire war. This was a rarity in Catholic history as the clergy had never before been shy to speak up about anything political. Fear is a powerful thing. Today, the Church has no problem speaking out against such things it views as atrocities because they have no fear of invasion.

Hostage drama at Clinton office

This isn't really religion related but I thought that this was an interesting story. This just illustrates the emotions that people feel about Hillary Clinton and the presidency. You either love her or hate her enough to take two hostages.

Barack Obama's ties to the Muslim faith are being widely publized like in this article in the Washington Post.

In his speeches and often on the Internet, the part of Sen. Barack Obama's biography that gets the most attention is not his race but his connections to the Muslim world.

Obama's father was not Muslim and his mother was an atheist but his stepfather did occasionally attend a mosque and his paternal grandfather was Muslim. This is obviously noteworthy because America has a phobia of the Muslim religion. No doubt the higher ups in Obama's campaign are doing there best to avoid any discussion of this.

Jesus Camp

This documentary is a great examination of the pentecostal teachings, as well as, their influence in American politics. It's really interesting and I'm not just saying that because I'm addicted to documentaries, I think most people will find it interesting. I will warn you though that it is a bit disturbing to see how crazy these people are...especially when they are talking in tongues.

Religion in American politics

This is a small part of an interesting documentary by a Dutch filmmaker on religion in American politics. It's well worth watching and if you find you can't get enough the full version can be found here

They were funny

The Danish cartoons of the prophet muhammed have been talked about incessantly so I will not belabor the reader (if there are any). I will merely say that this got way blown out of proportion. Come on, who dies over a cartoon? Think about it. But that's what happens with religion--it destroys all sense of rational thought. I should be king of the world.

Giuliani and Religion

The topic of religion has been a hot topic in the Republican presidential primary. The candidate that most conforms to the party's ideals, Mitt Romney, is a Mormon, a fact that a lot of Republicans find appalling. The candidate that most has a chance winning the presidency, Rudy Giuliani, is a Catholic who "does not attend regularly attend mass".

This article does a good job examining the religion of Giuliani and the dillema facing the Republican party. One interesting quote:

Their choice raises deep concern among prominent conservative Republicans who feel it would be a serious mistake for leaders of the religious right to scorn the former mayor of New York.

Hillary Clinton tries to court the Christian Vote

According to this article Hillary Clinton has hired an evangelical consultant to help her attract some of the Christian vote. This is significant because as the article says, "More than one-quarter of the USA's voters identify themselves as evangelical, a voter bloc that has long been courted by Republicans." If Clinton can win just a small percentage of that vote she will have a huge advantage in winning the presidency.

However, my question is: What can the consultant do to make Clinton more attractive to the evangelical community? She is still a pro-choice, anti-religious liberal in the eyes of many evangelicals. I dunno, I guess that's why there are consultants.

Visual Imagery

If you really want to scare yourself picture this: a congregation of Muslims. Before you go calling me a stereotyping racist, answer this: what image came to your mind? I’ll be more than willing to bet that it was an image of a violent Muslim protest or a group of al Qaeda soldiers with automatic rifles. How can this be? Simple, it’s all we see. Everyday major news networks flood our living rooms with disturbing visual images of the Arab world. Day in and day out newspapers print images that conjure up fear and hatred of these people within us. Today’s media has single handedly caused Americans to fear and hate nearly a quarter of the world population and that my friends, is scary.

Eddie Long Pimping for TBN with Steve Munsey

I cannot believe people would give money to TBN. It is an absolute crime to think that this organization does not pay taxes. On that note, whenever I drive by the TBN headquarters in Costa Mesa next to South Coast plaza I'm always amazed that with all the lights. I wonder if God wants them to waste all that electricity?

JFK and Religion

John F. Kennedy was the first (and only) Catholic president. This might not sound like a big deal but it was. So scared was the American public of having a Catholic president who could potentially be influenced by the (gasp!) Pope. Kennedy had to give this speech to try and qualm these concerns.

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 parishioners 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.

Wow. I wish I could have seen him speak. The reason this is relevant is that a lot of people are calling for Mitt Romney to give a speech similar to this over his Mormon faith...but Mitt Romney is not as good looking as JFK.

The Middle East

I had an earlier post lamenting how the Middle East is beyond repair. Well I'm not a physic it appears because there has been recent talks of a meaningful compromise between Israel and Palestine. As was said in this article from the BBC:

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said failure to negotiate a two-state solution with the Palestinians would spell the end of the State of Israel.

The talks were negotiated by President Bush which is probably his most meaningful move of his entire presidency, in my opinion. Which is pretty pathetic considering that it is almost the last year of his presidency. It's also worth noting that while Bush has done a good deed in helping foster this negotiation that the damage Bush has done in the Middle East with his numerous wars has far outweighed this one little good deed.

This is Funny

This isn't going to be an in depth post and the Kahuna will probably grade me down but whatever...I want to make a point. Why is it that Christians welcome the end of the earth or, as they call it, the rapture? It's pretty barbaric, I feel. I've had arguments with Christians over religion and inevitably the argument always turns toward something like this: "Well, when judgment day comes..." ARE YOU SERIOUS? Why would you want the end of the world to come? Idiots.

Religous Right's Tough Call

For Professor Lobdell's fascinating and thought provoking class, Politics, Media and Religion, I had to write a paper examining the coverage of five different mainstream news agencies of a current event with a religious element. I chose the Values Voter summit in Washington, D.C. organized by the Family Research Council. Basically, where a bunch of the religious right gets together to listen to the GOP candidates culminating in a vote. Winning the Christian Right is usually seen as a big deal for Republicans because they represent a significant voter block. Usually, this is summit is seen as a formality since the front runner of the GOP usually easily wins the majority. However, the Christian Right faces a tough decision this upcoming election.

As this article in The Christian Science Monitor says:

The bad news is that the strongest Republican in national polls, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, is not with them on those issues. And if religious conservatives fail to coalesce around one of the "anti-Giulianis," his chances of getting the nomination rise dramatically – and their issues, they fear, will be off the table. With the next president likely to replace two or more Supreme Court justices, including some who support abortion rights, the opportunity of a generation to overturn the nationwide right to abortion, established in Roe v. Wade, could be lost.

Furthermore, the candidate who appears to best fit the qualities that the Christian Right embodies is Mitt Romney who is a Mormon.

This article in USA Today says it best:

Christian conservatives have not coalesced behind any Republican and have objections to most of them. Rudy Giuliani supports legal abortion, a deal breaker for many. Fred Thompson and John McCain oppose a federal ban on same-sex marriage and led efforts to limit political spending by interest groups. Mitt Romney is Mormon — troubling to some Christians — and didn't oppose abortion until 2004.

Stay tuned to see what republican wins the primary and whether or not the Christian Right supports them or a third party candidate. If the latter is the case most experts agree that a democratic winning the office is a slam dunk.

I think this is a great cartoon. This is a perfect illustration of how cartoons can more effectively portray viewpoints than words.

Religion and Voters

This article by the the Pew Forum shows the preferences each religious constituency has for each candidate both Republican and Democrat. Interesting to note is that Rudy Giuliani has strong support among the evangelicals despite all the rumblings you hear of them being dissatisfied with a lot of his political positions. I guess they must really think anything is better than Hillary...

The Middle East

Is so f**cked up, it's beyond all repair or FUBAR. Look at this picture...this is a of a Palestinians young man staring into Israel. My opinion of the situation is that if I were a Palestinian and my life was totally destroyed by the Israeli army I would be pretty pissed off. Now, would I be pissed off enough to blow myself up killing countless innocent civilians? No. But that is why the Middle East is FUBAR.

The Crusades

The Crusades are a perfect example of why separation of church and state is so necessary today. The Crusades were a set of holy wars which began in 1095 and lasted for the next 300 years. The Crusades were launched with the intent of Re-capturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim control. Over the entire course of the Crusades millions of people, both Christians and Muslims died fighting for unclear reasons. The Church promised that any man who fought in and or died in the Crusades would be absolved of his sins and inducted into Heaven. Under this false pretense European kings sent millions of men to their death trying to capture a plot of barren dessert. If I have to go die fighting for a barren piece of land today, at least I know its over oil and not religion.

Religion, Politics and the End of the World

This is an interesting lecturer by Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith. He talks about the implications religion has an on the world. He is really disparaging but thats the best part.

Zoroastrianism

Zoro-what? Zoroastrianism was the religion of the once mighty Persian Empire. Over the centuries, the number of followers of Zoroastrianism has severely declined for numerous reasons. Today the number of followers of this religion stands at around about 200,000 many of whom are found in Iran and India. Many of those who live in Iran today are an oppressed minority officially condemned by the Ayatollah and his government. I would try to sum up this religion for you, but to say its complicated would be an understatement. One of their fundamental beliefs is to practice “good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.” Sounds simple enough, if only the whole world had a few more good thoughts, words, and deeds, we’d all be a lot better off. I found the religion to be an interesting read. If you’d like to know more click here.

America and Relgion

Although this article from the Christian Science Monitor is from 2004 it is a good examination
of the strong ties between religion and politics in America.

"This country is the most religious developed democracy in the world," says pollster Celinda Lake. "On the one hand, Americans want separation of church and state, but on the other they feel comfortable with 'In God we trust' and 'One nation under God.' It's a core value."

This is probably our most striking divide between America and Europe. Europe lost there religion a long time ago and has no tolerance for religious displays in their government. Not so in America where religion holds a lot of power.

On another note, I see a general trend in America away from religion and I wonder what implications this will have on the future of our country. For example, my parents go to church but I don't. This is typical, I feel, of America where the older generations are the religious ones and the younger generations have become turned off by the pragmatic teachings of organized religion. If this trend continues and the younger generation does not go back to religion then organized religion will loose a lot of its power in America and we will become much similar to Europe.

Ron Reagan on his Father's Faith

Ron Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan and is a known atheist. When Ronald Reagan died, Ron Reagan gave a speech that many feel was an indirect attack at President Bush and his use of his religion. In a speech at his father's funeral he said:

During his father's burial at the Reagan Presidential Library, Ron Reagan described the former president as "a deeply, unabashedly religious man," but said his father "never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians - wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage."

I really find it disturbing when politicians use religion in order to advance their political cause. The funny thing is using faith as a way to advance your personal self is a direct contrast to the teachings of religion. Yet, you see it time and time again, just another example of ho religion destroys everything.

I want to to be God of my own planet one day...should I become a Mormon?

I want to talk about Mormons .

To preface, I have a very dogmatist(that's just a better word for bigot) view of all religions. So before you accuse me of irrationally hating the Mormon religion know that I irrationally hate all religions. I'm an equal opportunity offender. I plan on doing an editorial piece of my viewpoint for all religions (or at least the main ones, sorry Zoroastrian). But, I felt Mormonism to be fitting considering the recent coverage the religion has been getting concerning Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

For those that are not up to date on the history of Mormonism refer to the link of the wikipedia page or better yet watch the video I posted from South Park. It is timeless.

The issue concerning Romney is that Christians hate Mormons. No one admits it but everyone knows it. Romney is the perfect candidate for the Republican party, but his being a Mormon puts him in disfavor among many Christian Republicans. This is manifesting itself in Iowa where Romney is having a hard time gathering support in the GOP. LINK

Although Mr. Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, has been able to make inroads among the evangelicals, an influential voting bloc in the state, interviews with Mr. Huckabee’s supporters make clear that a sizable number are distinctly uncomfortable with Mr. Romney’s religion and cite it as a major reason they would not vote for him in the state’s Jan. 3 caucuses.

Now for my opinion: I refuse to believe that anybody who can adopt such a religion as Mormonism founded on such absurd principles can be of sound mind.

What Al Sharpton thinks about Mormons

This video is great. Al Sharpton is not the sharpest tool in the shed. But this video raises a bigger issue: Can a Mormon be President? Will America trust a Mormon? Judging by these comments by a "Reverend" I'm guessing no.

Ancient Buddha Statues

In 2001, ignoring an international outcry, the Taliban destroyed several two thousand year old statues of the Buddha that were located in remote regions of Afghanistan. The Statues had both religious and historical significance to people both inside Afghanistan and abroad. Taliban officials claimed that the destruction of the statues took place in order to stop the worshipping of false gods. That's ironic because Buddhists don't worship the Buddha. They merely attempt to fashion their lives after his in order to gain enlightenment. The U.S. even offered to send a delegation of archaeologists to dismantle the statues and move them out of the country. The Taliban of course refused and the destruction took place. Later that year the United States invaded Afghanistan and completely dissolved the Taliban. See what happens when you piss us off?

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS on The DEATH of JERRY FALWELL-CNN 360

Haha. Christopher Hitchens may be a drunk but he makes some excellent points and is a true intellectual. I recommend his book God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. His writing is dry and he often tries too hard to be intellectual but the book brings up some great points and is well worth the read.

Ayatollah

Separation of Church and State is a fundamental doctrine that is built into the government of almost nation today. Why? Because it’s necessary to maintain order and oh yeah, freedom too. Today Iran is the only functioning theocracy in the world today. That is to say that God is the supreme head of state, a religious man is head of the government on Earth, and a state religion is imposed upon the people who live there. Iran’s current leader is the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As the leader of Iran he has supreme control of both the government and the armed forces. Jihad anyone? I’m not saying that Islam is an inherently violent religion; I’m just saying that there must be some reason why most theocracies were overthrown in popular insurrections during the Middle Ages.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Sorry, but I'm a history major so I'm looking into anyway religion and politics tie in historically.

Napoleon Bonaparte, who was French emperor during the early 19th century, was the man largely responsible for the way much of modern Europe looks today. The story of how Napoleon got the title emperor is an interesting one. After conquering much of Western Europe in the very early 19th century, Napoleon remolded the French constitution to completely dissolve the Bourbon monarchy and give himself absolute power. He decided to have himself crowned emperor by the Pope. Pope Pius VII traveled to Paris in December 1804 for the ceremony. Right before the Pope was about to crown Napoleon, he snatched the crown from the Pope and put it on his head. This move was symbolic in that no one, not even the church or God was above Napoleon. This came as a shock to Catholic France, who had never done anything without the Pope's approval. Napoleon went on to lead France to many military victories until his ill-fated invasion of Russia. He probably would've lost anyway, but a Church blessing before his expedition couldn't have hurt.

No homosexuals in Iran

According to President Ahmadinejad of Iran, there are no homosexuals in Iran. At a speech at Columbia University Ahmadinejad said this, "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it."

This man is crazy and to think that he runs his own country is amazing. Amazingly scary.

First Post: Examining the Effects of Religion on Politics in America

So, for my first post I thought I would examine the effect that religion has on American politics. Admittedly, I'm not religious--at all. In fact, I think it ruins the world. And to back up my thoughts I recommend a fascinating book by Christopher Hitchens God is not Great. It's a great book.

But anyways, I found this article by a BBC reporter examining the effect religion has on politics in America.

Basically, the reporter found that Americans are proud to be religious and, therefore, expect our leaders to be religious. Probably best explaining Americans and how they feel about religion in politics is this quote by an unnamed American in the article:

"The candidate I am going to vote for is the right guy from that standpoint. Each time he has a speech he puts God in there and I like that," Mr Barber said, declining to name the candidate.