Who Owns the land and by What Right?

Here are eight of the possible views of land ownership:

#1 Historic Right

#2 Worldview/Religion/Moral Claim

#3 Present Possession

#4 Military Might (The most popular view with most people in most of history)

#5 Best Use

#6 Diplomacy/Compromise

#7 Legal Claim

#8 Visitor Status (No one group, nation, religion, ideology, etc. “owns” the land. All humans are merely visiting. We must share.)



In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

Danger of the Cliché, “to love”

Christians for many centuries, over and over, have stated, "God is love." Most famously, St. Augustine said, "Love God and do as you like." All this sounds so good, so pious, so wonderful,
but, tragically, like so many philosophical and moral assertions, the devil is in the details:-(--
not the God of Jesus.

The same St. Augustine of the famous "love" quote supported the persecution of other Christians, torture, killing, etc.
Augustine abandoned his common-law wife of 10 years, with plans to marry an aristocratic Roman lady instead.

From 300 A.D down through hundreds of years of cruelty, abuse, intolerance, injustice, and slaughter to the present, 2025, Christian denominations in the name of "love" have committed horrific actions.

Millions of humans have been slaughtered, burned, hanged, shot, bombed, and drowned--all in the name of Jesus and this religious ideal of Christian "love." A Roman Catholic leader. Bernard of Clairvaux, often called the apostle of love called forth the 2nd Crusade!

A more recent American case is that of devout Christian soldier Stonewall Jackson who ordered the death of many thousands during the American Civil War. And the chaplain of his army, the famous R. L. Dabney, not only strongly supported this ‘Christian’ war, but American slavery, even publishing a study after the Civil War defending enslavement!

They gave all thanks to Jesus Christ and God for their killing successes, and yet at the same time, emphasized the importance of love to God and others. Read the excellent and powerful biography, Stonewall Jackson: Portrait of a Soldier by John Bowers.

In a secular sense, General Jackson was a great war general! And what a devout believer and how personable and kind to those of his own kin and group.

But what a ruthless killer of others, and in his killing, he gave all the praise for his winning battles to the Christian God! He often prayed, worshiped, and read his Bible in the midst of lethal fighting!

Not that Christianity has a corner on these strange demonstrations of "love." When I lived in the Middle East, I visited a Palaestinian restaurant. On the wall was a sign which listed all the characteristics of love in Islam.

Yet, then (and in the past and now)multi-millions of Muslims quote the Qur'an and the Hadith to justify slaughtering enemy civilians.

“So it goes.”
(quoting the satirist, Kurtr Vonnegut).

And check out secular history. Humanists who reject religion for all its horrors, also, often define "love" as a worthy human goal, yet their actions are contrary to love, too.

Here’s a minor example of how “empty bucket” the word “love” is. Back during my university days (late 60's), Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlavsky came to the University of Nebraska to do a poetry reading. Allen kept emphasizing that "love" is the answer to the world's problems.

I, a naive, college student from a small village in southeast Nebraska was impressed,
but an older student and former beatnik told me, "Don't to be deceived."

Later I learned how deceptive these new age leaders' talk of "love" was. One of the young girls in our college group was, allegedly, left pregnant and alone by Orlavsky who moved on with Ginsberg to their next poetry readings.

Young men of other worldviews tried to persuade us that a man could have multiple relationships with women and it was "love."
Forget all the tragic results of these "love" affairs.

And since then, all manner of distortions continue to be put forth as "loving" up to 2025.
Thinkers have even claimed the intentional carpet bomb killing of hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians, including children, fire fighters, doctors, etc. is an action of love and justice!

And more and more, acts of euthanasia, abortion, lust, etc. are said to be expressions of love!
Indeed, the devil is in the details. Evil hogs them.

Why is it God always gets left holding the bag of evil?

Enough of the very bad news!

What is the nature of true caring--the kind that doesn't result in hell on earth?

The great Vietnamese Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh gives some very good clear examples if you wish a definition which isn't centered in the New Testament. However, since I am a Friend of Jesus, that is where I find my understanding of what love is.

Check out Luke 10:27. Jesus said, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."

Well, the problem is still in the details again though, because most of the leaders, warriors, slave-owners,abusers, immoral and unjust individuals etc. of the last 2,000 years have claimed to believe Jesus' words, indeed have done their evil with this verse on their lips, praying to Jesus and reading the Bible as they did their horrific deeds.

So, we need to go deeper.

A lawyer questions Jesus--sounds legalistic doesn't it--asking exactly, "WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?"

(Remember, in Jewish culture, men wouldn't even eat with Gentiles!)

Jesus reverses the thinking of humans such as that lawyer by giving the Parable of the Good Samaritan, pointing out we should be loving like a heretic and national enemy and show active compassion and practical deeds of help including personal involvement, the giving of our money and our time.

This is a continuation of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5: 38-48) where he even contradicts such Jewish heroes as David and says that we should love our enemies.

And so his followers wouldn't get the wrong idea (like so many later would despite his very words), Jesus emphasizes that "loving one’s enemies" means practical actions on our part.

For instance, if an enemy nation conquers you and its soldiers abuse and execute your people and these killers demand you behave as a servant by carrying their military bags for a mile, then you are to offer to carry these enemy killers' things for another extra mile!

When enemies "HATE YOU, BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU, PRAY FOR THOSE WHO MISTREAT YOU.."(Luke 6: 27-38).

Of course, for most of us (like Jesus' disciples who wanted to kill the Romans and call fire down to destroy the Samaritans, etc.), we need even more directions of what the word "love" actually means and so the N.T. provides many more definitions and examples. The best is 1 Corinthians 13:

Love is patient,
love is kind
and is not jealous;
love does not brag and is not arrogant,
does not act unbecomingly;
love does not seek its own,
is not provoked,
does not take into account a wrong suffered,
does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. (NASB)

How can we possibly love individuals of HAMAS or Iran or Russia!?
Muslim jihadists?
Criminals who rape, abuse, kidnap, murder?
A co-worker who lied about us so that we lost our job?

One way is to remember as Martin Luther King cautioned, we aren't called to "like" evil doers, but are rather called to show them benevolence in order that they might turn from their evil ways.

This is Jesus' walk, what it means to be Friends.

To love everyone into the realm of the LIGHT--the GOOD, the TRUE, the Just:-)

In the LIGHT,

Daniel Wilcox

Be wise men and women--bring presents to every impoverished, homeless child via World Vision

During this senseless, unjust time of social delusion, oppression, persecution, abuse, and war between Christians, Muslims--endless conflict and suffering...
similar to the tragic time of infant Yisho (Aramaic), whose birthing mother only had an animal trough for her new born...

Follow in the long journey of the wise humans and bring gifts to those in need...
a goat, clean clothes, adequate food, a fishing kit, clean water, education, loving care...


Bring deliverance from hate,
disease, poverty, human rights violations,
exploitation, the ravages of current conflicts--Orthodox Christian Russia's horrific invasion of Christian Ukraine, the mass civilian slaughter by monotheists (Muslims, Jews, Christians in the Middle East, the Congo, the Sudan, Nigeria...

Through the peace-spreading
and poverty-ending by World Vision, or some other reliable,
world-changing nonprofit.

Give hope!

Do how Jesus/Yeshua parabled of the unexpected, kind, caring acts of one traveling individual of the hated Samaritans.

Herald the Glad Tidings for the Good, the True, the Just, the Kind, the Caring...

In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

BLOOD BROTHERS: Christian Palestinian-Israeli Memoir by Elas Chacour

Guest Post: Professor Randal Rauser's opposition to Evangelicals' Defense of the Slaughter of the Canaanites.

Many Evangelical Christian leaders defend the horrific slaughter and genocide of the Canaanites in the Old Testament. They also defend many of the other immoral and unjust texts including those which support slavery, forced marriage, etc.

Here is a recent short article by Professor Randa Rauser where he explains a number of contrary points from his recent powerful book, Jesus Loves the Canaanites, a book of moral realism that shows why and how Evangelical leaders such as Frank Turek, Paul Copan, and many others who defend the slaughter are very wrong.

Frank Turek on the Slaughter of the Canaanites. And My Response.: The perfectly awful apologetic defense of the Canaanite slaughter in this clip concisely captures why I wrote Jesus Loves Canaanites. Let’s begin with the video (it’s only six minutes). I’ll then post my commentary below. ? The video begins with a question posed by the moderator of what appears to be an in-church training event. […]

Words of Hope and Moral Choice even in the worst evil

In Every Crisis
when flailed, blind-sided,
going down fast in
a basket abyss shrivel of worth-loss
and hope fails all drowned,
do we launch deeper into the deep?

do we weep,
do we shrive?
thrive?

for in every crisis
chry-sal-is*


*From crawler to butterfly--chrysalis
Even in the worst, most evil events, each of us still has the difficult possibility of heeding Viktor Frankl’s shocking words about their horrific experiences in Auschwitz Concentration Camp:

“Between stimulus [even trying to survive at Auschwitz!] and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
“As we see it, an analogous relationship between the realm of human freedom and a realm superior to man is quite imaginable,
so that man is endowed with free will...”
Viktor E. Frankl, survivor of Auschwitz Concentration Camp. However, his wife died in Bergen Belsen.

“(26 March 1905 – 2 September 1997 was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, and a Holocaust survivor, of Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, Kaufering and Türkheim. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy (literally "healing through meaning") a meaning-centered school of psychotherapy…part of existential and humanistic psychology theories. He is the author of over 39 books; he is most noted for his best-selling book Man's Search for Meaning based on his experiences in various Nazi concentration camps...
"In 1941 he married his first wife Tilly Grosser, who was a station nurse at the Rothschild hospital. Soon after they were married, she became pregnant but they were forced to abort the child. Tilly died in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp. His father Gabriel died in the Terezin concentration camp (Theresienstadt) in 1942. His mother and brother, Walter, were both killed in Auschwitz."
from Wikipedia

In the Light of Moral Realism,

Dan Wilcox

Please write for 40 Prisoners of Conscience in danger in Russia

FROM Amnesty International:
"...recent reports of torture and ill-treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses while in custody of [Russian]law enforcement officials. At least 40 people, including minors, were arrested during raids of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ homes in Surgut on 15 February."

"Amnesty International has examined evidence and carried out interviews with several persons who claim they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment while in custody to extract “confessions” of participation in an “extremist organization”. Some victims reported threats of rape."

"Jehovah’s Witnesses Sergei Loginov, Artur Severinchik and Yevgeniy Fedin remain remanded in custody and are at serious risk of further torture and other ill-treatment. They are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of religion."

"Write a letter in your own words...to a Russian Government official.
You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.

Yuriy Yakovlevich Chaika
Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation
Prosecutor General’s Office
ul. B. Dmitrovka, d.15a
125993 Moscow GSP- 3
Russian Federation
Fax: +7 495 987 58 41; +7 495 692 17 25
Electronic form in Russian: https://bit.ly/2HxUenq
Twitter: @GenprocAmbassador Anatoly Antonov

Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington DC 20007
Phone: 1 202 298 5700 I Fax: 1 202 298 5735
Email: rusembusa@mid.ru
Twitter: @RusEmbUSA

EXAMPLE OF EMAIL OR LETTER:

"Salutation: Dear Ambassador

"Dear Chairman of the Investigative Committee,

I am writing to express my utmost concern following recent reports of torture and ill-treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses while in custody of law enforcement officials. At least 40 people, including minors, were arrested during raids of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ homes in Surgut on 15 February.

Amnesty International has examined evidence and carried out interviews with several persons who claim they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment while in custody to extract “confessions” of participation in an “extremist organization”. Some victims reported threats of rape.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Sergei Loginov, Artur Severinchik and Yevgeniy Fedin remain remanded in custody and are at serious risk of further torture and other ill-treatment. They are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of religion.

I therefore urge you to immediately and unconditionally release Sergei Loginov, Artur Severinchik and Yevgeniy Fedin; and ensure that they are protected from torture and other ill-treatment, that allegations of torture and other ill-treatment against Sergei Loginov, Artur Severinchik and Yevgeniy Fedin, and other Jehovah’s Witnesses, are promptly, effectively and impartially investigated, and all responsible brought to justice.

Yours sincerely,

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

READ THE FULL URGENT ACTION: Word or PDF
GET INSPIRED: Read about the people you have helped
READ TIPS for writing effective letters and emails
CONTACT US: uan@aiusa.org
See more at https://www.amnestyusa.org/take-action/urgent-action-network/
--



Stand up for the oppressed, imprisoned,abused, and impoverished,

Daniel Wilcox

Samia's Dream: See the World Free from Child Marriage

"Samia pursues change by engaging with her peers and speaking out about children’s rights and protection. She dreams of a world free from child marriage, child labor, and all forms of violence against children.

FROM World Vision, written by 15-year-old Samia, a Bangladeshi member of World Vision’s Young Leaders Network, a program designed to empower young people ages 12 to 17 to make their voices heard in the global campaign to end violence against children.
http://www.worldvisionadvocacy.org/2019/03/06/samia-child-marriage-violence-children/

"I am a Young Leader and a member of the Child Forum Ashar Alo, which means “Hope of Light.” I am from Bangladesh, a place of natural beauty; it’s full of rivers and has the largest mangrove forest in the world. I believe that many of you have heard about it.

"However, apart from all the wonderful things, we have many problems such as poverty, child marriage, child labor, and both physical and emotional violence against children. For this reason, many girls in my country cannot get their rights and suffer every day.

"In our Child Forum, we come together to help those children, especially girls, because in our society girls are still left behind, and they are vulnerable to superstition and many forms of abuse.

"Many girls are unable to enjoy their rights as human beings. For example, in my country the rate of child marriage is 52.3 percent, and 72.6 percent of women who have ever been married have experienced some type of partner violence. These numbers are very high and terrible for any country and society.

"If we give people knowledge, they will understand what is right and what is wrong, and hopefully they will end all forms of violence.

Samia, 15-year-old Bangladeshi advocate to end child marriage

"These are big problems in our country, but for me, the main issue is the lack of protection because of illiteracy and the cultural beliefs that maintain and accept violence against girls as a regular thing. However, besides old traditions that support violence and child marriage, many parents feel they have to marry off their children due to poverty.

"Cultural beliefs, illiteracy, and lack of knowledge cannot be an excuse anymore to justify violence. If we give people knowledge, they will understand what is right and what is wrong, and hopefully they will end all forms of violence. Luckily, my parents are conscious that violence against girls and child marriage is a problem because they have learned that these things have a negative impact on children’s lives. I shared my learning with them, and they understood.

"But many parents do not understand this problem. They think girls are born to do household work and if they get married early, they can be happy in life. Many parents of my friends believe in that way.

Samia speaks out against child marriage and violence against children

"Here I want to say that everyone is equal; girls and boys are the same. I firmly believe that we, the girls, can equally contribute to society and, together with boys, we can end violence against children. But we need encouragement from the people around us.

"Sadly, all over the world, girls are prevented and discouraged from talking and making their voices heard. In our community, people think that girls are a burden. This is not right!

"We, girls, can do many things to change the world and change the attitudes of society, and this is what we are doing today in our Child Forum. This is the reason why I am here today writing this blog.

"I am here to show my determination to work together in ending child marriage and all forms of violence against girls. My dream is to see our world free from child marriage, free from child labor, and free from all forms of violence against children."
--World Vision

---

In the Light of Human Rights,

Daniel Wilcox

Guest Post: "Vote...with Your Life" by a doctor to the impoverished, Sarah Thebardge

FROM SARAH THEBARGE:
"A while ago, a horrible thing happened to me. Someone I trusted used, abused and violated my personhood, while I was undergoing chemo in a life-threatening fight with breast cancer.

"It took me years to get over it. Years of tears. Countless questions. And hours upon hours of quality therapy.

"I kept asking my therapist how I could get past it. How I could move forward when it was impossible to go back and change the past. How I could live with a terrible stain that could never be erased. How I could live in a world where such injustice was possible...tolerated, even.

“You live your life well,” my therapist said. “Because the way you live your life is your way of voting how the world should be.”

"And in those words I found the peace, the forgiveness, the strength I needed to move forward.

"I forgave because I think the world needs more forgiveness.

"I befriended a refugee family because I think that marginalized, invisible people need to be seen with love and dignity.

"I started a college fund for these five little Somali sisters, and I’ve willed my house to them, because I think the world needs more engaged, intelligent, powerful women to lead it...

"I practice medicine in the U.S. and in developing countries around the world because I think the world needs as many compassionate healers as it can get...

"I don’t do it perfectly, but I try to do it well: I try to vote with my life for the way I think the world should be.

"With every single thing we do, every single day, we can cast a vote for the way the world should be.

"We can vote for Love.

"We can vote for Compassion.

"We can vote for Forgiveness.

"We can vote for everyone’s voice to be heard.

"We can vote for women who have been discriminated against.

"We can vote for people of color who have been oppressed.

"We can vote for refugees and immigrants to be welcomed as our guests.

"We can vote for justice to be served...

Read the rest of Sarah Thebardge's inspiring, encouraging article at:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/sarahthebarge/2018/11/vote-with-your-ballot-then-vote-with-your-life/

"She studied Medical Science at Yale School of Medicine, and Journalism at Columbia School of Journalism.

"Sarah has practiced international medicine extensively, volunteering in Togo, West Africa, Kenya and the Dominican Republic. Her next book, WELL, about three months she practiced medicine in Togo, launched in November 2017.

Part #3: Animal Rights--The Case Against A. R. Activist Peter Singer by Stella Young

The case against Peter Singer
The Drum By Stella Young

"Australian bioethicist and philosopher Peter Singer has argued the case for selective infanticide.

"Singer, who is arguably better known for his views on animal rights, has views about disability that have been discussed far less here in Australia than they have in the US where he lives and works. I am open about not being a fan of Singer's work, a statement that's often met with confusion among friends and colleagues. "But he does such great things for animal liberation!" they exclaim.

While that may be true, animal liberation is not the only subject of Singer's work. He also believes that parents should be given the choice to have their disabled babies killed after they are born.

His argument is not about the right to terminate pregnancy based on the presence of a disabled foetus, although he does believe this as well, but the active killing of babies born with particular disabilities.

I was once one of these babies.
[emphasis added]

Let me be clear: Singer does not object to my life as it exists now. I am now what he considers to be a person with a right to life. But I, along with all other babies, was not born this way. All babies are born without the capacity to make conscious choices about their preference for life, and so Singer does not consider that they have a right to life in the same way as humans who are capable of this choice. This is especially true, he says, where the infant has a disability.

In his book Practical Ethics, Singer argues the case for selective infanticide. He deems it unfair that "At present parents can choose to keep or destroy their disabled offspring only if the disability happens to be detected during pregnancy. There is no logical basis for restricting parents' choice to these particular disabilities.

If disabled newborn infants were not regarded as having a right to life until, say, a week or a month after birth it would allow parents, in consultation with their doctors, to choose on the basis of far greater knowledge of the infant's condition than is possible before birth."

FROM Stella Young is a comedian, television presenter, disability advocate and was formerly editor of ABC's Ramp Up website. She is an ambassador for Our Watch.

READ THE REST OF THIS POWERFUL ARTICLE AT:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-15/young-case-against-peter-singer/4199120

IMPORTANT NOTE FROM PREVIOUS SECTIONS OF THIS SERIES:
I didn't post this "case against Peter Singer" because I am opposed to animal rights. On the contrary, Singer makes some good points. Furthermore, I think all humans ought to NOT eat or enslave sentient animals!

Furthermore, I think that animals, besides the human primates, homo sapiens, do have inherent worth.

Furthermore, no animals ought to be caused to suffer as an 'end justifies the means' by humans.

HOWEVER, what is problematic is that some animal rights activists including Peter Singer demean humans--such as his claim that infants AREN'T "PERSONS"!--and claim that all animals are equal to the human species.


Related Questions



In the LIGHT,

Daniel Wilcox

Christianity and Abuse

Religion gets even worse:
Christian leader Paige Patterson, former President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and head of one of its seminaries tells a woman to accept abuse from her husband!

So she got black eyes this time.

What did Patterson then say?

Paige Patterson said, "And sure enough, he [husband] did. She came to church one morning with both eyes black.

And she was angry at me and at God and the world, for that matter. And she said, “I hope you’re happy.”

And Patterson said, “Yes ma’am, I am...I’m sorry about that, but I’m very happy.”
--

Patterson was happy because he saw the abusive husband in the back of the church!

This is so immoral and revolting--for him to tell her to accept abuse! Oh but a happy ending NOT. Contrary to what Patterson claims, the end doesn't justify the means...accept abuse so that eventually your husband will change.

We've heard this before in human relations: Waterboard (or other forms of torture) and you will rescue innocent people from terrorists...bomb hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, and you will rescue others in the future...refuse equal treatment toward others and you will be blessed by God, ETC. ad nauseam....

American Christians often go off the deep end into unethical, unjust, unequal beliefs and behaviors, BUT Patterson's speech has definitely reached an abyss, a low below low.

How hellish to state that some forms of abuse aren't that bad, and that a woman ought to submit to abuse and obey such a husband and stay in the same house with him.

This sounds like the Muslim university professor here in California who defended the Quran's statement that husbands ought to beat their wives.

When I strongly protested, he explained, ah, but the beating is only a "light" beating, not a harmful one.

Good grief. More and more religion is showing its toxic character. Of course, it has in the past...it's only repeating.

Even a little abuse is far too much!


Stand up against toxic, abusive religion...

And seek the Good, the True, and the Just,

Daniel Wilcox

The TRAGEDY OF HOPE

Remember this heart-warming news photo of a Black boy named Devonte hugging and being hugged by an Oregon police officer during these troubling, divisive, demeaning times?

Photo: Johnny Nguyen, AP

In the midst of tragedy and loss and despair, came contrary acts and words of loving hope.

His adoptive parent Jennifer Hart:
“We are all ripples. There is no such thing as a small act of kindness. What may be small or simple to you, might mean the world to someone else. In some cases, these simple acts of touch the lives of countless people, often times in ways we can never fully grasp. Our family is still riding waves of the aftermath of Devonte’s hug.”

Jennifer: “My son has a heart of gold, compassion beyond anything I’ve ever experienced, yet struggles with living fearlessly when it comes to the police. … He wonders if someday when he no longer wears a `Free Hugs’ sign around his neck, when he’s a full-grown black male, if his life will be in danger for simply being.”

ONLY ONE MONTH AGO, Jennifer wrote: And “9 years ago, the adoption of these three humans was finalized. ‘Finalized’ the terminology seems so unfitting for the situation. It was just the beginning. A new beginning of an expansion of my(our) understanding of love. I am a better human in every possible way for knowing these children. They have been my greatest teachers. Contrary to the common notion that we can’t choose our family, we absolutely can. We choose by loving – and that’s worth celebrating every damn day.”

Friends called Jen and Sarah “Hart Attacks” because of how loving they were.

YET 2 WEEKS AGO, IT APPEARS THAT JENNIFER INTENTIONALLY MURDERED HER ADOPTED SON DEVONTE, HER SPOUSE OF 18 YEARS, AND THEIR OTHER 5 TEENS!

After receiving a knock on the door from Children’s Protective Services which she didn’t answer, she and Sarah loaded their teens in their car and drove off down through Oregon to the California coast of Mendocino; then suddenly Jennifer stopped at a pull-out, started again, and drove very fast off a 100 foot cliff!:-(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

The horrific tragedy of hope.

How could this possibly have occurred?

Could all of the “HOPE,” social activism, and funny photos by Jennifer and Sarah have all have been a sham, covering a ruthless sociopathology?

Could all of the seeming joy, hope, and fun for these formerly abused, neglected kids have been real, but because the kids often acted out and misbehaved, (how abused children often do) then Jennifer lashed out, abused?
I used to be a child care worker at a hospital for emotionally disturbed children, and taught at-risk teens for many years.
It take a HUGE amount of time, and unending patience to help children and teens from dysfunctional, drug-infested, abusive backgrounds.

MAYBE the documented cases of abuse by the Hartss--of hard spanking, food withdrawal, etc. were done by Jennifer (and maybe Sarah) because they—like most dysfunctional parents, despite their care for their kids--didn’t have the patience, fortitude, and professional distance to deal with 6 misbehaving kids and teens!
Heck, I remember medical staff at the children's mental hospital who sometimes “LOST IT,” (not hitting, but definitely angrily losing their temper and using the isolation room as punishment, rather than hopeful help).

BUT that still wouldn't explain why Hart decided to murder the kids she claimed to love. Also, why did she and Sarah keep them away from others, except when they attended public gatherings? This sounds like cultish control, not genuine caring.

Or there's the bizarre, highly unlikely but possible, claims of a conservative Christian commentator that the two parents were very dysfunctional “liberals” who took their anger over Hillary’s loss to Donald Trump out on their kids (who they had USED as social props)!?:-(

What a Gross political demeaning charge!

Regardless, of Jennifer Hart’s horrific actions, especially murdering her kids and her spouse, and her unknown motivations--
the Hart Family is a glaring example of the tragedy of hope at present, where the supposed "Good News" of Christianity in the U.S. is centered on selfishness, inequality, injustice, threats of war attacks, verbal put-downs and demeaning speech, immoral actions...all in the name of Christ, of God. And many of these conservative Christian leaders also claim that God has foreordained most of the billions of humans to eternal torture for their God's glory!

Shameful and despairing…

Reject this!

Seek the Light, seek Hope

The Ugly History of Father Serra: Founder of California Missions

Just finished a very depressing history but powerful biography, Junipero Serra: California’s Founding Father
by Stephen W. Hackel, Associate Professor of History,
University of California, Riverside

As usual, history is very different from—and stranger than--what most people,
based on popular understanding, assume. What an informative, tragic contrast
to the glowing presentations of California Missions in schools,
at the California Missions themselves, and the general public knowledge.

#1 The most shocking discovery in the reading is that Father Serra, brilliant achiever (from an island off the coast of Spain), priest, professor, missionary, was an agent of Inquisition in Mexico! Very troubling.

I thought that the Franciscans, started by St. Francis, didn’t do such horrid stuff.

#2 Tragically, one discovers in this thorough biography that the Franciscans (and the Jesuits, etc.) were guilty of plenty of abuse, intolerance, and injustice.

Serra and other monks punished, whipped, and kidnapped-back natives who ran away from the Missions:-(

They sent out Spanish soldiers to capture "fugitive" natives and bring them back to the Missions to be physically punished.

And the soldiers—some excons-turned soldiers
sent up from central Mexico--were definitely not a good representation of the Christian religion nor of civil society.

Some soldiers used to chase natives and lasso young women and then rape them.

#3 Father Serra—and evidently many other Franciscan monks—beat, whipped, and abused their own bodies, too. Really sickening.

Hackel explains that such behavior was probably why Serra whipped natives. If it was important for a priest to beat and lash his body into submission, then, surely, natives needed the same treatment.

And, also, since Serra considered natives his "children," he was following standard practice in Spanish society of how to punish wayward children.

But most of these behaviors were contrary to native Californians, who didn't abuse their children.

#4 Serra and the other monks were caught up with the incessant adoration of the Virgin Mary and praying to Roman Catholic saints. Serra claimed miracles had been performed by Mary and by St. Joseph, the travelers' saint.

#5 Serra and the other Spanish missionaries gave very strong veneration to their dead leaders' bones—especially the thigh bone of one former Franciscan saint. Very weird.

What is this with many religions’ obsession with the bones of their leaders!? Even Buddhists still venerate a toe of the Buddha! Religions are very so bizarre and irrational.

Of course, I realize the truth of the statement in Not Without My Daughter, “That every religion not your own seems weird.”

But adoring old bones?!

#6 I will grant that Serra, as Hackel emphasizes, was an amazingly determined, dedicated, brilliant, courageous zealot and that he did seek to protect the natives from some of the worst abuses of the Spanish System.

But at other times, Serra was an overbearing, abusive, intolerant ‘father’ (as he considered the Indians his “children”).

He, also called the natives "infidels" and, so, besides all the bad actions already mentioned, he opposed the Spanish Governor’s efforts to move acculturated natives into voting for their own leaders.

#7 Serra liked to have total control of the missionary endeavor. In fact, he went outside of Franciscan and Spanish official channels, and met with the Viceroy of Mexico in order to counter the Spanish ruler of Alta California who he opposed.

When Serra was ordered to not communicate with the Viceroy again, he used Catholic theological 'reasoning' to interpret that to mean he couldn't send official documents to the Viceroy, but that he could still send personal letters!

#8 Serra, as has been the case of so many famous human leaders, was a zoo of contradictions:

"He stated that he was always obedient to his superiors, but...
he did largely what he pleased, with few checks on his own authority and actions beyond the narrow confines of his order and mission...

"He had a domineering personality but was bereft of an individual self; he was opinionated, strong-willed, determined, and passionately devoted to his life's work but was typical of his age in that he had no real identity of his own beyond his order."
ETC.
Junipero Serra, page 242

Serra may not have been has bad as Columbus who enslaved and slaughtered so many "Indians," however Serra doesn’t deserve to be called “California’s Founding Father.”

BUT then neither do any of the other manipulative, oppressive, destructive leaders of early Alta and American California. Hackel writes that the Americans were even more cruel and destructive when they took over, ousting the Mexicans.

Several times I almost quit this negative tome and returned it to the library unfinished, but I hiked on to the conclusion and am thankful I did. But I doubt that I will ever visit a California Mission with as much appreciation as I used to do.

And I now remember my long hours spent with our kids helping them do their Mission Projects in 4th grade, and feel ashamed.

Evaluation: C+

8/8/17



Live for the Light of Truth, Goodness, Justice, Reason, Math, and Beauty,

Daniel Wilcox

Guest Post: OUT OF THE SHADOWS by Joe Payne

Read this powerful, lucid article by Joe Payne on the present tragic lives of young teens caught in prostitution and human trafficking...

But, even more importantly, about caring humans
who are helping them escape to new life:

OUT OF THE SHADOWS:

As human trafficking becomes more visible on the Central Coast, authorities are collaborating
in an unprecedented way to prosecute abusers, help victims, and end the cycle.

By Joe Payne
Photo by Jayson Mellom
Illustration by Alex Zuniga

May 18, 2016, marked a grim milestone in Santa Barbara County, as a Santa Maria jury found Humberto Carranza and Cameron Jones guilty of several counts of trafficking of a minor for sex....

Contact Arts Editor Joe Payne at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
Copyright © Santa Maria Sun
http://www.santamariasun.com/cover/15091/out-of-the-shadows-as-human-trafficking-becomes-more-visible-on-the-central-coast-authorities-are-collaborating-in-an-unprecedented-way-to-prosecute-abusers-help-victims-and-end-the-cycle/
--

RISE UP!

Support law enforcement, behavioral wellness helpers, and writers such as Joe Payne who are standing up against the darkness of injustice, abuse, human trafficking, and prostitution.

Work for human rights,

Daniel Wilcox

Discern True Ethics

Follow the true precepts that many humans have discovered in history and the recent past.

These are the ethical “oughts” that millions of us give lip service to, but often ignore or, even worse, intentionally violate.

There are, also, now many naysayers and ethical skeptics who claim that ethics are only subjective “likes” and “dislikes,” not actually true.

Some even claim, 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do.' So they say that while you might not like the female mutilation of little girls, it is none of your business whether or not 80% of Egyptian parents do choose this as a good action. According to relativists, moral rules are only a matter of private or cultural opinion.

However, this doesn't appear to be true.

We humans wouldn't even be able to have functioning criminal justice systems if humans functioned by their subjective likes and dislikes in court. In fact, it is exactly when humans act subjectively that societies and the nations of the world aren't just!

On many moral issues, we don't need to reinvent the moral wheel, but live up to what we already understand.

Think how far more messed up the world would be if the following lists of “oughts” were regularly broken and violated.

And consider how wonderful the country of Palestine/Israel would be if Israelis and Palestinians committed to doing even a few of these basic ethical actions toward each other.

Or the Russians and Ukrainians worked together instead of killing and stealing. And if Sunnis Muslims and Shia Muslims forgave each other and sought to help each other instead of blowing up mosques, hospitals, schools, and markets!

First, the most basic moral truth, probably early discovered and discerned very early in human evolution:

#1 --Act fairly toward others.

Think how different the current presidential campaign would be if only this rule was followed!

#2 --Be courteous and sensitive to others.

#3 --Treat each person you encounter as an 'end,' not a 'means.'

#4 --Live honesty. Tell the truth. Be a person of your word.

#5 --Seek to understand; learn to listen to other people’s views, trying to see life from their perspective.

#6 --Avoid ad hominem, personal attacks, obscene slurs, put-downs, etc.

#7 --Give generously to others in need. Don’t take what doesn’t belong to you.

#8 --Support equality, human rights; oppose slavery, human trafficking, torture, and all forms of abuse.

#9 --Choose another human to be committed to in intimacy and fidelity. Don’t be promiscuous, or live in polygamy.

#10--If both of you desire to have children, (further the human species), create to bless and guide and free.

#11--Care for the elderly and the young. Oppose killing those who are disabled and unborn infants.

#12--Care for yourself.

#13--Work hard and diligently. Recreate. Exercise.

#14--Oppose self-destruction, whether by suicide or living dysfunctionally in eating and drinking to excess.

#15--Be compassionate, empathetic, understanding, patient, and persevere.

#16--Seek peace. Refuse to engage in violence or support violence.

#17--Never attack, only defend and protect.
Vote against first-strike wars, the intentional bombing of civilians, conquests, and holy crusades/jihads.

#18--Treat life and others as of great value and worth.
Oppose revenge, pornography, prostitution, obscenity, manipulation, subjugation, racism, sexism, and any other form of harm.

#19--Work to end poverty; help others to become all they can be.

#20--Support the improvement of all lives on earth.

#21--Protect the environment. Show concern for animal life. Don't litter or waste.

#22--Seek earnestly for new ethical truths not yet discovered.

Do this by considering the ethical method of the Categorical Imperative.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary--
Categorical Imperative: “a moral obligation or command that is unconditionally and universally binding”

“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.”
Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals














In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

Ex-wife of Muslim Shooter Says, "He Beat Me." What Does the Quran Order?

"According to public records, [Omar Mateen] had a permit to carry a concealed weapon and was a licensed security guard. He had worked for G4S, a security company. His ex-wife said that at one point Mateen worked as a guard at a nearby facility for juvenile delinquents.

The ex-wife said her parents intervened when they learned Mateen had assaulted her. Her father confirmed the account and said that the marriage lasted only a few months.

Her parents flew to Fort Pierce and pulled her out of the house, leaving all her belongings behind. The ex-wife she said never had contact with Mateen again despite attempts by him to reach her.

“They literally saved my life,” she said of her parents.

According to Florida court records, the two formally divorced in 2011.

After learning about what happened in Orlando, she said: “I am still processing. I am definitely lucky.”

After the couple split, a friend of Mateen’s said the young man became steadily more religious. The friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Mateen several years ago went on the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia known as the umrah.

“He was quite religious,” the friend said.

He said Mateen had hoped to become a law enforcement officer but that plan never panned out.

The last time he spoke with Mateen was about three weeks ago. There was no indication when they talked that Mateen intended to carry out the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

The friend said that if Mateen had sympathies for the Islamic State or other terrorist groups, he kept that to himself.

“He never spoke about that stuff,” the friend said.
--
Mateen regularly attended the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, and was there as recently as two days ago, said Imam Shafiq Rahman on Sunday.

Fort Pierce Islamic Center

But Rahman said he did not know Mateen well, even though Mateen had frequented for several years. The imam said Mateen would pray with his father and son, and his three sisters were active volunteers at the mosque, which had about 150 congregants.

“He was the most quiet guy, he never talked to anyone,” Rahman said, gripping a loop of black and red prayer beads as he held forth in a dingy corridor adorned with images of the Arabic alphabet rendered by children who come here for religious instruction.

“He would come and pray and leave. There was no indication at all the he would do something violent.” Mateen never sought any spiritual guidance from him, Rahman said.

Friess reported and Brian E. Crowley contributed to this report from Fort Pierce, Fla. Jennifer Jenkins and Alice Crites contributed from Washington.
dam Goldman reports on terrorism and national security for The Washington Post.

--

Quran 4:34 - "Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great." “beat them”--'to strike'.

Quran 38:44 - "And take in your hand a green branch and beat her with it, and do not break your oath..."

Sitora Yusufiy, the ex-wife of Orlando shooting suspect Omar Mateen, spoke on Sunday outside of her home in Boulder, Colo. Credit Autumn Parry/Daily Camera , via Associated Press






Quran 8 Sura Al-Anfal
12. (Remember) when your Lord inspired the angels, "Verily, I am with you, so keep firm those who have believed. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes."

13. This is because they defied and disobeyed Allah and His Messenger. And whoever defies and disobeys Allah and His Messenger, then verily, Allah is Severe in punishment.

14. This is the torment, so taste it, and surely for the disbelievers is the torment of the Fire.

15. O you who believe! When you meet those who disbelieve, in a battle-field, never turn your backs to them.

16. And whoever turns his back to them on such a day - unless it be a stratagem of war, or to retreat to a troop (of his own), - he indeed has drawn upon himself wrath from Allah. And his abode is Hell, and worst indeed is that destination!

17. You killed them not, but Allah killed them. And you (Muhammad) threw not when you did throw but Allah threw, that He might test the believers by a fair trial from Him. Verily, Allah is All-Hearer, All-Knower.
--
Hadith and Sira
Bukhari (72:715) - A woman came to Muhammad and begged her to stop her husband from beating her. Her skin was bruised so badly that it is described as being "greener" than the green veil she was wearing. Muhammad did not admonish her husband, but instead ordered her to return to him and submit to his sexual desires.

Bukhari (72:715) - "Aisha said, 'I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women'" Muhammad's own wife complained of the abuse that the women of her religion suffered relative to other women.

Muslim (4:2127) - Muhammad struck his favorite wife, Aisha, in the chest one evening when she left the house without his permission. Aisha narrates, "He struck me on the chest which caused me pain."

Muslim (9:3506) - Muhammad's fathers-in-law (Abu Bakr and Umar) amused him by slapping his wives (Aisha and Hafsa) for annoying him. According to the Hadith, the prophet of Islam laughed upon hearing this.

Abu Dawud (2141) - "Iyas bin ‘Abd Allah bin Abi Dhubab reported the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) as saying: Do not beat Allah’s handmaidens, but when ‘Umar came to the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) and said: Women have become emboldened towards their husbands, he (the Prophet) gave permission to beat them." At first, Muhammad forbade men from beating their wives, but he rescinded this once it was reported that women were becoming emboldened toward their husbands. Beatings in a Muslim marriage are sometimes necessary to keep women in their place.

Abu Dawud (2142) - "The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife."

Abu Dawud (2126) - "A man from the Ansar called Basrah said: 'I married a virgin woman in her veil. When I entered upon her, I found her pregnant. (I mentioned this to the Prophet).' The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: 'She will get the dower, for you made her vagina lawful for you. The child will be your slave. When she has begotten (a child), flog her'" A Muslim thinks he is getting a virgin, then finds out that she is pregnant. Muhammad tells him to treat the woman as a sex slave and then flog her after she delivers the child.

Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 969 - Requires that a married woman be "put in a separate room and beaten lightly" if she "act in a sexual manner toward others." According to the Hadith, this can be for an offense as petty as merely being alone with a man to whom she is not related.

Kash-shaf (the revealer) of al-Zamkhshari (Vol. 1, p. 525) - [Muhammad said] "Hang up your scourge where your wife can see it"

Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradhawi, one of the most respected Muslim clerics in the world, once made the famous (and somewhat ridiculous statement) that "It is forbidden to beat the woman, unless it is necessary." He went on to say that "one may beat only to safeguard Islamic behavior," leaving no doubt that wife-beating is a matter of religious sanction.

Dr. Muzammil Saddiqi, the former president of ISNA (the Islamic Society of North America), a mainstream Muslim organization, says it is important that a wife "recognizes the authority of her husband in the house" and that he may use physical force if he is "sure it would improve the situation."

Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the head of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious institution says that "light beatings" and "punching" are part of a program to "reform the wife" (source).

Dr. Jamal Badawi endorses corporal punishment as "another measure that may save the marriage". He isn't clear on how striking a woman will make her more inclined toward staying with her assailant, unless the implication is fear of more serious consequences if she leaves.

Egyptian cleric, Abd al-Rahman Mansour, said in a 2012 televised broadcast that, in addition to discouraging the wife from filing divorce, beatings would inspire the wife to "treat him with kindness and respect, and know that her husband has a higher status than her."

During Ramadan of 2010, another cleric named Sa'd Arafat actually said the woman is "honored" by the beating. No one else seemed terribly surprised or upset by this.

An undercover report from progressive Sweden in 2012 found that 60% of mosques there actually advised beaten women not to report the abuse to the police. These women were also told that they must submit to non-consensual 'sex' with their husbands.

In the birthplace of Islam, about half of Saudi women are beaten at home. "Hands and sticks were found to be used mostly in beating women, following by men’s head cover and to a lesser extent, sharp objects."

In 2016, the Council of Islamic Ideology proposed a bill - ironically named the Protection of Women against Violence Act - that actually included exceptions for "lightly beating" defiant wives.

According to Islamic law, a husband may strike his wife for any one of the following four reasons:
- She does not attempt to make herself beautiful for him (ie. "let's herself go")
- She refuses to meet his sexual demands
- She leaves the house without his permission or for a "legitimate reason"
- She neglects her religious duties
--
Ahmad Al-Tayyeb: "With regard to wife beating... In a nutshell, it appeared as part of a program to reform the wife. [According to the Koran], first 'admonish them,' [then] 'sleep in separate beds, and beat them.'"
--
"The second means of treatment is 'sleeping in separate beds.' Why? Because this targets the honor... A lot could be said about this. The strength of a woman lies in her ability to seduce the man. The man is strong and can do whatever he wants, but the woman has a weapon of her own. This weapon can be targeted. Many women will come back to their senses, when they realize that this is what's involved.
--
"By Allah, even if only one woman out of a million can be reformed by light beatings... It's not really beating, it's more like punching... It's like shoving or poking her. That's what it is."

Respected Quran scholars in the past interpreted verse 4:34 with impressive candor. Tabari said that it means to "admonish them, but if they refused to repent, then tie them up in their homes and beat them until they obey Allah’s commands toward you." Qurtubi told wife-beaters to avoid breaking bones, if possible, but added that "it is not a crime if it leads to death."
https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/quran/wife-beating.aspx
--
“ Nearly half Saudi women are beaten up by their husbands or other family members at home and many of them are hit by sticks and head cover, according to a university study published in local newspapers on Tuesday.

“The study showed that nearly half those covered by social security and more than a third of the female students at the university are beaten up at home,” Dr Lateefa said, quoted by the Saudi Arabic language daily Almadina.

“Husbands were found to be beating their wives more than others….they are followed by fathers, then brothers then sons…hands and sticks were found to be used mostly in beating women, following by men’s head cover and to a lesser extent, sharp objects.”http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/179143/saudi-women-beaten-wsticks-and-sharp-objects-daniel-greenfield\

Muslim apologists sometimes say that Muhammad ordered that women not be harmed, but they are actually basing this on what he said before or during a battle, such as in Bukhari (59:447), when Muhammad issued a command for all the men of Quraiza be killed and the women and children taken as slaves. (Having your husband murdered and being forced into sexual slavery apparently doesn't qualify as "harm" under the Islamic model).

But, in fact, there are a number of cases in which Muhammad did have women killed in the most brutal fashion. One was Asma bint Marwan, a mother or five, who wrote a poem criticizing the Medinans for accepting Muhammad after he had ordered the murder of an elderly man. In this case, the prophet's assassins literally pulled a sleeping infant from her breast and stabbed her to death.

After taking Mecca in 630, Muhammad also ordered the murder of a slave girl who had merely made up songs mocking him. The Hadith are rife with accounts of women planted in the ground on Muhammad's command and pelted to death with stones for sexual immorality - yet the prophet of Islam actually encouraged his own men to rape women captured in battle (Abu Dawood 2150, Muslim 3433) and did not punish them for killing non-Muslim women (as Khalid ibn Walid did on several occasions - see Ibn Ishaq 838 and 856).

In summary, according to the Qur'an, Hadith and Islamic law, a woman may indeed have physical harm done to her if the circumstances warrant, with one such allowance being in the case of disobedience. This certainly does not mean that all Muslim men beat their wives, only that Islam permits them to do so."
The Religion of Peace
--

How tragic is humanity and its religions!

The Horror of God Belief

Sometimes, days are from Hell. This week seems to be the case.

Christians and Muslims are saying some basically obscene things about God.

Think about this blasphemous statement:"But it is going exactly the way God planned it."

WHAT?!

God planned for millions of little children to be raped, abused, murdered...

God planned for the countless slaughters going on now around the world, for the beheading, burning, torturing, raping...

God planned the Jewish Holocaust and the other 4 million non-Jews who died in the Concentration Camps...

The Great War, 10 million dead in the trenches alone...

The U.S.and English Civil Wars...

The Taiping Rebellion...

The 30 Years War...

The Black Death...

The Crusades...

The prophet Muhammad at 50 years of age marrying a 9-year-old girl and beheading 500-900 Jewish young men...


Oh but life "is going exactly the way God planned it."

God planned the tsunami that slaughtered 250,000 Asians in only a few hours a few years ago?

God planned the killing of the little Jewish infant by a Palestinian terrorist in Jerusalem several months ago?

God planned every cancer?

God planned every infant born with anencephaly?

God planned every elderly person suffering from severe alzheimer's?


TO HELL WITH THIS VIEW OF THINKING.





Hoping for the Light in this religious world of darkness,

Daniel Wilcox

Is Muhammad Killing Free Speech?

As readers know from my past blogs, I am no friend of obscene speech ("Pure and Profane Speech" May 16, 2011).
Furthermore, it is important in theism and humanism to be respectful of other people's worldviews, religions, and beliefs (unless a particular belief calls for harm, abuse, or slaughter).

No, I am no friend of the gross cartoons against various religions drawn by Charlie Hebdo magazine or the recent racist image by a Palestinian cartoonist comparing Jewish people to vermin. Sick and repulsive.

But all forms--including reprehensible expressions--of free speech need to be defended from right-wing theocrats, politically correct leftists, and violent jihadists.

I am fairly well read in Islam and understand why the ban on images, Muhammad in particular, came about. Also, Islam is seeking to carry on the tradition of Judaism not to idolize.

However, #1 the ban has strangely turned into the very thing it was meant to prevent, the glorification of a human! #2 the ban now serves as a pretext, even a command, for Muslims to persecute, abuse, and slaughter others.

And #3, worst of all, the ban is contrary to free speech. Free speech is so important; free speech is the fundamental right of every human. Without free speech, it isn't possible to seek truth in philosophy, science, aesthetics, society and culture.

Whatever worldview a person holds he/she needs to understand his/her own perspective shouldn't be forced at gunpoint upon others. But tragically that is what millions of Muslims are doing around the world right now, and what Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists, etc. have done in the past.

Sadly, this anti-free speech jihad of Muslims seems to go back to the founder. According to most historians, Muhammad himself ordered the murder of a woman poet because she wrote a satirical poem against him and his views!

When free speech is killed, the murder of actual humans is on the way.

Let us be free.

In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

The Seven Bad B's

For years now we’ve heard of the subjugation (and often abuse, mutilation, “honor” killings, etc.) of women by the Saudis, the Afghans, the Iranians, the Iraqis, the Egyptians, the Somalis, etc.—based on Islam.

Most of the subjugation, mistreatment, and inequality comes from Islam's Sharia Law.

Also, the Qur'an states a husband is allowed to beat his wife.

Because nearly all Muslims think that the Qur'an is eternal and perfect, most Muslims believe this. And many men thus feel justified in mistreating their wives.

Furthermore, Muhammad was a polygamist, even married a 6-year-old little girl when he was 50 (consummated the relationship when she was 9). And he married the recently divorced wife of his adopted son, etc.

Because of this, most Muslims believe in polygamy. And those wealthy enough practice the barbaric custom.

In many cases, like Muhammad, wealthy older men marry very young girls:-(.

Sometimes forgotten, however, are the negative views of women in Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism, indeed, in nearly all religions. For instance, according to most of Buddhism there can never be a woman Buddha.

In Buddhism, in order for a woman to advance to enlightenment, she must be reborn as a male!

Talk about negativity.

In early Judaism women were property. “In Jewish law a woman was considered property rather than a person. She either belonged to her father or husband."

"She was not allowed to study the Law."

"In the synagogue women were shut apart from the men so they could not be seen."

"Nor could a woman actively participate in the synagogue services; she had to passively sit and listen. Nor could she teach the children in any formal manner."

"One Jewish morning prayer said by free Jewish men was to thank God that they had not been born a Gentile, a slave, or a woman."

"One Rabbi is quoted as saying not to talk much with women because, 'Every one that talks much with a woman causes evil to himself, and desists from the works of the Law, and his end is that he inherits Gehenna.’"

"A strict Jewish Rabbi would not greet a woman on the street, not even his wife, daughter, mother, or sister."
(William Barclay, The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, rev. ed. pp. 66-67)

Furthermore, read the verses in Numbers from the Jewish Bible. (See a few paragraphs below.) Very disturbing!

Even today, among some Jewish religious groups, women must be separated from the men by a partition in synagogue worship, etc.

When I lived in Israel and we visited the synagogue in Bet Shean, it was surprising and disconcerting to see the synagogue's main room filled with only men.

Women were restricted to a side room separated by a latticework wall. We could see them back behind that screen.

And other strong discrimination is happening right now in Israel:
"Taiseer and Lana Khatib will be forced to live apart under a ruling by the Israel high court, which upheld a 2003 law banning many Palestinians who marry Israelis from living in the Jewish state."

"..the husband, an Israeli citizen, will be forbidden legally from living with his Palestinian wife."
NBC News

Even when women win awards in science, there is discrimination:
"JERUSALEM — January 14, 2012 A few months ago, the Israeli Health Ministry awarded Channa Maayan, a pediatrics professor at Hebrew University, a prize for a book she had co-written on hereditary diseases common among Jews."

"For the ceremony, Maayan wore a long-sleeve top and a long skirt in deference to the acting health minister, Yakov Litzman, who is ultra-Orthodox, and the other religious people attending. But that was hardly enough."

"Not only did Maayan and her husband have to sit separately, because men and women were segregated at the event, but she was instructed that a male colleague would have to accept the award for her because women were not permitted on stage."

Then there are the abusive cases:
"...ultra-Orthodox men spit on an 8-year-old girl whom they deemed immodestly dressed;"

"the chief rabbi of the air force resigned his post because the army declined
to excuse ultra-Orthodox soldiers
from attending events where female singers perform."
Ethan Bronner, The New York Times

In orthodox Judaism and conservative Christianity, women are required to cover their hair.

In Christianity, while the situation for women was sometimes better than among other human groups, women still weren’t allowed to preach, to own property, to vote in government, to make decisions, and so forthl

In fact, even now many churches still don’t let women lead in church including the largest denominations—Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Southern Baptist.

What is the basis for this subjugation in religion in all its negative shades from ancient times to the present?

Why are we men so negative toward women, either secularly emphasizing the vulgar or religiously emphasizing their inferior status and imposing restrictions on them?

Much of the problem would seem to be because of men’s 7 Bad B’s:
Brawn, Brains, Boasting, Boozing, Bets, Bucks, Booty

Booty (from the Jewish Bible):
“The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself...61,000 donkeys and...of women who had not known man intimately...32,000.
Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately."

"But all the girls who have not known man intimately, spare for yourselves."

"You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation take a count of the booty that was captured

...and divide the booty between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation.’”
Numbers 31:17-35, 53 NASB

booty: plunder taken from an enemy in time of war
slang: buttocks, vagina, sexual intercourse
The Free Dictionary


Thank God, this ocean of men’s darkness isn’t the final statement in secularism or religion.

To be continued--

What is your perspective on this?

In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox