Everyone wants to live free, but few actually walk the walk and stand up for their rights.
Of course, the state has created the perception that you are required
to get permits and licenses and official approval to travel or build a
home and many other activities that have been established as individual
rights by common law and historic precedence.
Most people just bow to the demands of offices, courts and officers
either in ignorance of the law’s true requirements, or to go along, and
get along in an orderly and convenient fashion.
Tom Hyland isn’t most people.
He tells his story of arming himself with the knowledge of state and federal codes and asserting his rights to be free.
Religion has been a part of humanity since the first
astronomers peered into the sky and created elaborate stories to define
the movements of our universe. It made its way into our minds as we
fearfully created devils and demons to explain the danger lurking in the
darkness of night. It has both enchanted and burdened us as we attempt
to define our world with the information available to us as we work our
way through history.
However, things are quickly changing. For a growing number of us
worldwide, what was once indescribable is now easily explained by the
vast data we have gathered as we work towards refining our
understanding. We are becoming painfully aware that, although our
religions gave us a starting place for thinking about how our world
functions, they no longer serve us in that process; and in fact, have
left a trail of destruction in their historic path.
Here are 11 ways religion is destroying humanity:
1.) The assumption of truth.
Most of our world’s major religions each assume that it is their
faith alone that is the “absolute truth” and refuse to concede that
those traditions may be mistaken. Instead, they discover ways to force
conflicting information to adapt to their own doctrine; no matter how effective the evidence is at actually disproving the rationality of that particular religion.
Many religious adherents have no problem understanding the irrationality of others
beliefs, but are unable to apply the same logic when observing their
own doctrine. Instead, every effort is made to justify why it is their –
and only their – religion that is void of any fault. If they were to
observe their own faith with the same set of scrutinizing eyes that they
see through when evaluating other’s faiths, they would understand what
many of us have already concluded – all of our religious texts were
written by people, not gods. They are the stories and traditions that we created in order to explain our world in the past.
For instance, the majority of Christians would agree that the idea of
Mohammad riding a flying horse into the heavens is an impossible
fairy-tale; while simultaneously, they are unable to see how their own
story of a talking snake or a man living inside a fish for three days is
also impossible. We know that horses can’t fly. They are not
airborne animals, they are land animals. We know that snakes can’t speak
– they lack the vocal cords to produce the sounds necessary for speech.
We also know that the digestive mechanisms of the fish would make it
impossible for a man to actually live (let alone breathe)
inside of a fish for three days. These stories, some of them with deep
and purposeful meanings, cannot be understood, let alone correctly
interpreted for beneficial use, when they are assumed to be truth,
rather than for the allegories that they are.
The problem with this is that by insisting that (an obviously
fabricated story) is absolute truth, the opportunity of arriving at the
actual truth is greatly diminished. It creates a world where stories are
placed above reality and reality is never within reach. It creates a
mental mindset in people that is driven by misinformation and then
passed on to future generations where misguided concepts are
perpetuated.
Our slavery is ingenious because it’s so very subtle. Most people not
only don’t see (much less feel)free. This despite the obvious fact that they must first beg – and obtain – permission before they may exercise any of their former natural rights.
their shackles – they get angry when
someone calls attention to them. Most people, in other words, still
imagine themselves to be
Even the elemental right to choose your spouse, for instance, is no
longer a natural right; the state demands the couple seek its permission
to marry. Exactly as feudal lords once demanded of their serfs. And
serfs we have become.
One reason to do it officially – that is, to beg the state’s permission –
is simply to have the legal standing in case, for example, your spouse
falls ill. An officially anointed husband (or wife) has specific legal
rights that a non-sanctioned (by the state) “partner” does not. And of
course, there is the issue of taxes and the disposition of property
following the death of a spouse.
The concealed carry handgun permit is exactly similar to the marriage
permit. They are both usurpations of natural rights in that they force
you to beg permission to exercise your (former) natural rights – and
strictly define and delimit how you may exercise these ex-rights. It is
the same as regards now-conditional property rights, the former right to
travel freely, to speak (and even write) freely… and on and on. These
things are now privileges that require permission.
As noxious as all that is, the alternative is even worse: Fail to get permission and your rights disappear completely, insofar as any obligation of the state to respect or even acknowledge them. To put a finer point on it, you can expect to be punished for any attempt to exercise your former natural rights.
They not only get you coming and going – they got you before you got going.
On a humid afternoon this past November, I
pulled off Interstate 75 into a stretch of Florida pine forest tangled
with runaway vines. My GPS was homing in on the house of a man I thought
might hold the master key to one of the strangest scholarly mysteries
in recent decades: a 1,300-year-old scrap of papyrus that bore the
phrase “Jesus said to them, My wife.” The fragment, written in the
ancient language of Coptic, had set off shock waves when an eminent
Harvard historian of early Christianity, Karen L. King, presented it in
September 2012 at a conference in Rome.
Never before had an ancient manuscript alluded to Jesus’s being married.
The papyrus’s lines were incomplete, but they seemed to describe a
dialogue between Jesus and the apostles over whether his “wife”—possibly
Mary Magdalene—was “worthy” of discipleship. Its main point, King
argued, was that “women who are wives and mothers can be Jesus’s
disciples.” She thought the passage likely figured into ancient debates
over whether “marriage or celibacy [was] the ideal mode of Christian
life” and, ultimately, whether a person could be both sexual and holy.
King called the business-card-size papyrus “The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife.”
But even without that provocative title, it would have shaken the world
of biblical scholarship. Centuries of Christian tradition are bound up
in whether the scrap is authentic or, as a growing group of scholars
contends, an outrageous modern fake: Jesus’s bachelorhood helps form the
basis for priestly celibacy, and his all-male cast of apostles has long
been cited to justify limits on women’s religious leadership. In the
Roman Catholic Church in particular, the New Testament is seen as divine
revelation handed down through a long line of men—Jesus, the 12
apostles, the Church fathers, the popes, and finally the priests who
bring God’s word to the parish pews today.
Oct. 1, 1997
Luke Woodham fatally stabbed his mother at home before opening fire at
his high school, killing two students and injuring seven others. The
attack was stopped
when Assistant Principal Joel Myrick retrieved his .45 caliber handgun
from his truck and confronted Woodham, detaining him until authorities
could arrive.
Myrick’s action stopped Woodham from going across the street to the middle school as he had planned.
2. Parker Middle School
April 24, 1998
A 14-year-old student showed up to his middle school dance carrying a
.25-caliber pistol. He opened fire inside the dance, killing one teacher
and wounding another as well as two students. The rampage ended when
James Strand, owner of the banquet hall the dance was happening in,
grabbed his personal shotgun and confronted the 14-year-old killer.
Strand held the teen at gunpoint for 11 minutes before finally getting
him to drop the weapon and lie on the ground and searching him for
additional weapons.
3. Appalachian School of Law
Jan. 16, 2002
A 43-year-old former student armed with a .380 handgun killed
Dean Anthony Sutin and Professor Thomas Blackwell with point blank shots
and went on to kill fellow student Angela Dales as well as wounding
three others before being confronted at gunpoint by law students Tracy
Bridges, a county sheriff’s deputy, and Mikael Gross, a police officer,
after retrieving their personal handguns from their vehicles. The gunman
was then apprehended by other students.
Gross and Bridges lost valuable response time accessing their handguns because of the law school’s standing as a gun-free zone.
4. New Life Church
Dec. 9, 2007
2 parishioners were killed and 3 wounded when a gunman toting a
Bushmaster AR-15 opened fire at New Hope Church. Hearing the rifle fire,
Jeanne Assam grabbed her personal concealed carry firearm and
confronted the gunman from a distance of 20 yards. According to 5280 Magazine:
She fires five quick shots. Murray falls backward. Assam
moves to the middle of the corridor and rushes forward. She’s a few
dozen feet from Murray now, exposed in the middle of the hallway. “Drop
your weapon, or I will kill you!” she yells. Murray sits up to face her.
He’s still holding the rifle. Boom-boom-boom. Bullets rip past her and
pepper a wall. While Murray shoots, Assam fires three times.
Through the haze of gun smoke, Assam sees the man struggling on the
floor. He props his head against a wall. Her weapon is up, trained on
the man. She sees his hands moving near his shoulder. He’s trying to
pull the pin on a grenade. He’s going to kill everyone around here,
Assam thinks. She instinctively steps back and fires two more shots.
5. New York Mills AT&T Store
May 27, 2010
A 79-year-old man entered an AT&T store in New York Mills, New York
carrying a .357 magnum revolver in his hand and a list of employees he
planned to kill in his pocket. Hearing the hand cannon go off, Donald J.
Moore drew his own personal weapon and killed the gunman before he
could complete his plan. One employee was wounded in the shooting.
6. Sullivan Central High School
August 30, 2010 When a 62-year-old man armed with two handguns forced his way
into Sullivan Central High School in Tennessee, he was immediately
engaged by School Resource Officer Carolyn Gudger. Gudger put her body
between the gunman and a student and started what would turn out to be a
more than 10 minute gun-to-gun encounter. Gudger used the time to
slowly move the man to a less crowded part of the school. When other
officers arrived on the scene, a brief gun battle erupted ending with
the gunman mortally wounded.
7. Freewill Baptist Church
March 25, 2012
Aaron Guyton was inside the recreation building of his grandfather’s
church when he saw Jessie Gates, a member of the congregation, pulling a shotgun from his vehicle.
Guyton leapt into action, locking the doors to the church where
services were going on. Gates kicked in the door and pointed the shotgun
at Rev. Henry Guyton and several parishioners. Drawing his concealed
handgun, the younger Guyton held Gates at gunpoint while two members of
the church took him to the ground. Rev. Guyton then took the shotgun
from his hand.
8. Clackamas Town Center Mall
Dec. 11, 2012
Two people were killed and a third was seriously wounded at Clackamas
Town Center near Portland, Oregon when a rifle-toting gunman opened fire
in in the busy food court. Nick Meli, a shopper in the mall, drew a
personally owned firearm on the gunman, who immediately retreated to a
service corridor and killed himself. Meli did not fire his weapon for
fear of striking bystanders yet authorities say his actions caused the
gunman to cease his attack and end his own life.
9. Mystic Strip Club
January 11, 2014
After being refused entry to the strip club for belligerent behavior and
racist comments earlir in the night, Thomas Elliott Hjelmeland returned
carrying a handgun and wearing a Halloween mask. As soon as he entered
the club, Hjelmeland opened fire, striking bouncer Brian Rizzo, a
patron, and a waitress. Another bouncer, Jonathan Baer drew his
concealed handgun and shot Hjelmeland, killing him.
Following the attack Baer posted to Facebook: “I did what I felt was
right to stop the shooter…I carry every day, and will continue to, and
will so with the hope that I will NEVER have to pull it out again.”
10. Austin, Texas Construction Site
April 30, 2014
An irate former employee came to a construction site and opened fire on his co-workers.
The site’s foreman, a Concealed Handgun License holder, drew his
firearm and opened fire. Both men were wounded in the exchange of
gunfire but the foreman’s actions ended the attack and no one else was
wounded.
11. Cache Valley Hospital
May 16, 2014
Armed with two handguns, a man entered the Cache Valley Hospital emergency
room and began making demands. After demanding to see a doctor, he
racked the slide on one of his handguns and told hospital employees
“someone is going to die today”. While a security guard tried to keep
the gunman’s focus on him, two corrections officers who happened to be
at the hospital on an unrelated matter engaged from another direction.
The gunman was shot three times and no other people were harmed.
12. Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital
July 25, 2014
A patient at a psychiatric clinic killed his case worker at point blank
range and then turned his gun on his doctor, Lee Silverman, striking him
several times. Before the gunman could leave the office and continue
his rampage, Dr. Silverman drew his own concealed handgun and pumped
three rounds into the gunman’s torso, mortally wounding him. Police and
hospital staff hail Dr. Silverman as a hero and credit him with saving
dozens of lives.
After writing yesterday about the now-famous/infamous debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham, I BuzzFeed, there is a clever listicle that is a collection of 22 photos showing creationists holding up questions they have for people who “believe” in evolution.
don’t want to make this blog all creationism all the time, but indulge me this one more time, if you will. On
These questions are fairly typically asked when evolution is questioned
by creationists. Some are philosophical, and fun to think about, while
others show a profound misunderstanding of how science works, and
specifically what evolution is. I have found that most creationists who
attack evolution have been taught about it by other creationists, so
they really don’t understand what it is or how it works, instead they
have a straw-man idea of it.
Because of this, it’s worth exploring and answering the questions
presented. Some could be simply answered yes or no, but I’m all about
going a bit deeper. With 22 questions I won’t go too deep, but if you
have these questions yourself, or have been asked them, I hope this
helps.
I’ll repeat the question below, and give my answers.
1) “Bill Nye, are you influencing the minds of children in a positive way?”
I’m not Bill, but I’d say yes, he is. More than just giving them
facts to memorize, he is showing them how science works. Not only that,
his clear love and enthusiasm for science is infectious, and that to me
is his greatest gift.
2) “Are you scared of a Divine Creator?”
No. In fact, if there is a Judeo-Christian god, that would have
fascinating implications for much of what we scientists study, and would
be a rich vein to mine. Perhaps a more pertinent question is, “Are you
scared there might not be a Divine Creator?” There is more room for a
god in science than there is for no god in religious faith.
3) “Is it completely illogical that the Earth was created mature? i.e. trees created with rings … Adam created as an adult ....”
It might be internally consistent, even logical, but a bit of a
stretch. After all, we can posit that God created the Universe last
Thursday, looking exactly as it is, with all evidence pointing to it
being old and your memories implanted such that you think you’re older
than a mere few days. Consistent, sure, but plausible? Not really.
The history books have been known to skew the truth towards whatever
political party is currently in
power. However what the history books
have refused to tell you over the years is that the history of the
American slave trade dates back to African on African slavery, the
Europeans simply bought the slaves from other Africans and brought them
to the New World. Once the slaves arrived in America they were also
purchased by their fellow Africans, especially in states such as
Louisiana where as much is 28% of all Blacks owned slaves.
The first slave owner in the United States went by Anthony Johnson.
Johnson was once captured in his native Angola by an enemy tribe and
sold the Muslim slave traders. He was eventually sold as an indentured
servant as a merchant working for the Virginia company.
Sometime after 1635, Antonio and Mary gain their freedom which is when he changed his name to Anthony Johnson.
In 1651 Anthony Johnson owned 250 acres, four white slaves and one black.
