What McCain Missed About John Hagee

John Hagee, popular fundamentalist Christian minister, known for professing outrageous things in the public arena, was finally chastised by a political candidate, but not for the many odd things he announces in modern day, but comments he made over a decade ago. I’ve tuned Hagee in on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBS) for the shear entertainmnet value. It is laughable to me that anyone could profess the prophetic writings of an ancient religious book after living in a society that makes available so many scholarly works on the myths, legends, history and theologies of these sixty-six books (sans the Apocrychas), politically decided upon by the hashing out of various Christian factions nearly two millennia past at the canonical councils. And we can thank the imperial march of Roman troops into so many lands, upsetting so many cultures and various other religions, for the spread of Christendom, not to mention the centuries of bloody Christian Crusades and torturous inquisitions throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and on into the desecration of the native peoples of the “New World.”

Nonetheless, a majority of American profess their beliefs in this book–the Jewish books of the Old Testament with a New Testament addendum–augmentations, distortions, manipulations and additions by authors professing a faith in a resurrected Messiah.  Paul, of which much of the New Testament is comprised of his letters to various congregations, makes no mention of the earthly man, Jesus, only to a netherworld demigod called Jesus Christ.  Paul visited Jerusalem on several occasions, but never makes mention of it being the place where his son-god spent his last earthly days.  In fact, Paul makes no mention of a Jesus in Jerusalem at all, nor of his many works and teachings.  Curious, but very, very true.  Yet, I would be surprised if many professed believers in the New Testament writings would even acknowledge this fact.

According to research by Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason— sixty-two percent of these “ believers” do not know the names of the four gospels of the New Testament nor that Genesis is the first book of the Old Testament, much less the mysterious omissions of any reference to an earthly man named Jesus by the Apostle Paul. As a biblical researcher and reader of scholarly critical analyses of these ancient texts, I am always struck with wonder how people could so readily profess a belief in that about which they know so little. But, Fox News also also attracts a wide number of believing news viewers even after more than a decade of selling lies, deceits and misinterpretations of fact, so I shouldn’t be too awe-struck by the prevalence of ignorance in people who rely upon unreliable resources for their information.

The books of Ezekiel and Daniel of the Old Testament and the Revelation of John which closes out the New Testament make so many obvious references to the astrological zodiacal wheel of symbols and meanings that it is laughable that anyone would include these books as part of their “ infallible Word of God.” But, then Genesis’s two creation stories are confused and confounded in the minds of many, the plurality of gods of Genesis 5, whose “sons of the gods intermarried with the daughters of men” is dismissed by many “believers” as a mystery not to be understood. Their offspring, the Nephilum, were the “giants and heroes of old.” The similarities of Samson to other heroic figures such as Hercules brings to mind Joseph Campbell’s great works on religious mythologies, especially the book, The Hero of a Thousand Faces.” The Noahic flood myth is so nearly the same story from Babylonia written twelve hundred years before it that it is unconscionable that biblical readers who learn this haven’t seen the lack of historical validity to their books of faith. Not to mention the myth of King Sargon I of Babylonia who, as an infant, was placed in a basket of reeds and pitch and set afloat down the river to save him from slaughter, and he was rescued by a handmaiden and rose to be the leader of a great nation. Moses anyone?

Yet, John Hagee, and many like him, can stand up before a massive throng of thousands of people and profess to know the meanings of what he interprets to be predictions for the world drawn from this collection of arcane, disjointed, historically confused concoctions of infused mythologies, theologies and meanings. A majority of American believe that the end of the world is near. Forty percent, or more, believe in a notion called the “Rapture,” in which it is believed that Jesus will return and many people will simply disappear from the earth to be “taken up into the sky” (to another planet? Another dimension? The “believers” are vague on just where their heaven is, because—I guess—their professed god is not a very clear provider of meanings and directions). Hagee aligns himself with the Zionists of Israel, believing that Jerusalem will be the centerpiece of a great war, led by Jesus, against the evildoers of the earth, in the final battles of Armageddon. And he will point, in great geographical detail , to places on a map of the Middle East and reference them to obscure and ahistorical phrases of biblical passages.

Thus, the United States, populated by a majority of people who believe in these nonsensical things, deserves a George W. Bush as their president, the least mentally capable and most intellectually challenged president in the history of the United States. Susan Jacoby got it right. This IS the age of American Unreason. I call it the New American Dark Age, and if there is light at the end of the tunnel, it is very, very dim at this writing. Superstitious religious theology mingled and mired with nationalistic jingoism prevails over science and reason. Unchallenged public political statements become the social dogma of the masses while the money trails and corporate capitalist lusts for power point to a whole different set of facts behind the geopolitics of the world than what the masses believe. The Constitution of the United States is readily shredded through the passage of right-stripping legislation, unread by the congressional representatives who pass them into law. Torture is now a policy of the American government, as well as abducting people into renditions and prisons, without the right of habeas corpus, dure process of law, right to an attorney, or even being charged with a crime.

John McCain denounces Hagee for his discriminatory and bigoted remarks, but doesn’t question any of the thousands of ridiculous statements about history, morality and world events made by Hagee over the past several years. The American Dark Age continues.

Amen. MH Pathfinder

Wright is Wronged, but his Sermons Get History and Race Relations in America Right:Smearing Sound Bytes Poor Substitutes for the Substance of his Sermons, But Suitable for the American Attention Deficit Disorder and Smearing an Inspirational Presidential Candidate

Today, I took an hour to listen to the two sermons by the distinguished Reverend Jeremiah Wright of the Trinity United Church of Christ, from which severely edited snippets were extracted with the sole intent of maligning the good pastor from Chicago, and then to smear Barack Obama, with the negative knee-jerk responses echoed with fervor and frequency by right-winged radio talk show hosts, Fox News and members of the Clinton campaign. I wish that everyone in America could listen to both sermons, in their entirety, and understand the messages of peace, reason and human compassion that are so very present in the meanings put forth by the good Reverend Wright. This Friday evening, at 8pm, Bill Moyers will be airing an interview with Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the first since this disgraceful and shameful media frenzy over uncontexted sound bytes from his sermons sent him out of the public arena.

A major gossipy flap around the Obama campaign has inundated the news with these short biting snippets over the past couple of months. The flurry of emotion and reactive slurs have been mostly delivered by people who never heard a single sermon by the good Reverend Wright. Most certainly none of them listened to the two sermons—one in the wake of the horrific 9/11 attacks and a second on the confounding and confusing enmeshment of religion and politics, or “confusing God with government” as the good Reverend Wright aptly states it. From the latter sermon, the line “…God Damn America…” was extracted from the sentence and context of Reverend Wright’s speech, making it appear as if he was publicly and personally condemning the American people, which was most certainly NOT the case. After listing a litany of government-condoned terror upon people of color since the inception of the US Constitution, and before—including the decimation of Native American populations, the brutal enslavement the African people, the internment of Japanese Americans, the many wars upon wars inflicted upon nations of black, brown and Asian peoples for the exploitation of their natural resources and fossil fuels, Wright then said, “…and they want us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no no! God damn America!” The reference to modern day imperial exploitations was made in the wake of a reading of scripure concerning the imperial actions of the Roman government, followed by references to the Egyptian imperialists before them who conquered peoples and of other races and their nations (Imperialist history is not a white-only enterprise, as Wright would say).

Obama, in light of the heavily negative knee-jerk responses from the ignorant masses, recklessly inundated with the snippets, spun with frequency and slime by exploitive, profiteering corporate news agencies, distanced himself from the severely edited bits of sentences from Wright’s speeches, canceled a public event with the Reverend Wright, but valiantly tried to support his relationship with his long-time pastor and friend, with a speech that invited the nation to openly speak about race relations and to reach out to gain a better understanding of racial perspectives.

Obama rightly appealed to the better judgments of the American people in his speech, knowing that we can be much better than the lowest common denominators of gossipy slime that comprise much of our so-called “news” shows. My guess is that he may have been given the opportunity to hear both of Wright’s sermons-in-question in their entirety, but probably too late to retract his distancing words about his minister. If he had, I’m sure he would have been reassured that his distinguished pastor and friend has the best of America and humanity in mind, through his abiding reverence and love for his God. I revere humanity and the cosmos with love, awe and an insatiable curiosity, but I have no reason to believe that any one or spirit put it here. Having said this, I was moved by the human truths inherent in both of these sermons by Reverend Wright. I know, for it is quite obvious to me, that most of the people seeking to smear both Reverend Wright and Barack Obama, have not heard either sermon.

At this moment, I am reminded of Susan Jacoby’s recent book, The Age of American Unreason.  Jacoby points out the fact that nearly two-thirds of Christian Americans purporting to believe in the Bible do not even know the names of the four gospels (for instant enlightenment, they are the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; the first three are also referred to as the “Synoptic Gospels”), nor that Genesis is the first book of the Old Testament. So, how is it that people can profess to “know” something, or “believe in” something, without even knowing the title of the main books from which the object of their faith is derived? Most people don’t read, and many more don’t even sustain a long enough focus of attention to even try to understand what they are listening to, viewing or reading. I suppose this is why media “bytes” are so effective. They suit the American attention deficit disorder so well. Ask Rupert Murdoch who has made a massive fortune from this process.

Rather than rant on about the obvious need for reason, compassion, patience and understanding in America, let me recommend the following links to a better understanding of one Reverend Jeremiah Wright, his life and his words:

• First, a link to the Wikipedia biography and notes on the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
• Second a link to his post 9/11 sermon
• http://odeo.com/audio/17890793/view
• Lastly, a link to Bill Moyers Journal, where his interview with Wright will be aired on Friday evening on PBS; available thereafter at this web site for viewing.

An Election is Coming, But Will Change Come With It?

The 2008 election is coming.  A number of “debates” have already taken place among the plethora of candidates for each of the two parties, but no one who cannot buy their way into the White House is allowed much of a voice.  Dennis Kucinich has been a consistent voice for democracy, peace, universal health care and a mutual respect among all peoples regardless of race, creed, color, faith, gender or sexual preference.  John Edwards has been a similar voice of compassion, reason and a desire for peace, as well as a strong pro-labor voice.  But, a substantive address of important human issues is not what the campaign for the presidency is about.  The Electoral College doesn’t allow a multiplicity of political parties to exist, representing the diversity of three hundred million Americans.  Instead, we have a meager and ineffective two-party system that distills issues into either/or propositions, and disenfranchises voters who do not have a bundle of money or property at stake, only survival against a receding economy and a healthcare system that is non-inclusive to the working poor. 

Let’s face facts.  An American presidential election is about who can coalesce a massive campaign chest of corporate donations, and in this respect, Hillary Rhodam Clinton is the frontrunner.  We actually have only a one-party system.  It is the corporate lobbyist party, and whomever rises to represent corporatism the best will win the election.  The candidate with the most money has won the presidency every American presidential election since Kennedy.  Therefore, the interests of banks, insurance companies, weapons-makers, pharmaeceutical manufacturers, energy producers and corporate media are put ahead of issues of public health, labor, the environment, reason, compassion and common sense. 

The short answer is this.  The status quo that supports the major corporate campaign contributors will remain intact.  Imperative issues, such as “global warming”, ending the Iraq war, creating a universal healthcare system, ending torture as an American policy, repealing the damage to Constitutional rights resulting from the US Patriot Act,and restoring our dessimated international reputation with reasonable diplomacy among the world’s nations will take a back seat to the needs of corporate giants, their welfare and protection.  Changes will be few, progressive campaigns to the contrary, because the terrrible precedents of unreasonable, and illegal, presidential power have already been allowed to pass into policy, without a challenge by Democrats, without a call for impeachment, without the legal checks and balances.

An Election is coming, but don’t look for any change reflecting reason, compassion and a desire for peace.  The American Dark Age will continue.  The singular hope on which the fate of this nation rests is that Hillary Rhodam Clinton can rise above the means that will get her elected, creating a revolutionary presidency for humanistic and rational progress,  and use the new ”unitary exective” precedents set by Bush that are now so acceptible to Congress and the Senate to establish a benign dictatorship that reflect the needs of the American people.  If she can do so, my hope is that she can effectively lead and communicate her directions in a manner that is much more direct and decisive than her husband’s presidency.  Don’t get me wrong, I think that Bill Clinton has a rare gift for communication and speech-making, but he didn’t have the confidence in his own policies and his gift for communicating to courageously defend his agenda.  Thus, the Bill Clinton presidency was marked by watered-down promises, over-compromising on ideals that he could have persuaded the nation to put into action.  My hope is that Hillary will have the courage of her convictions, and use the revolutionary ocassion of being the first woman president in U.S. history to create a much-needed renaissance to the American Dark Age.

It’s a long, long shot of hope, with odds very much against it.  But, it is a hope.

Amen.

MH