Wanking Organized Religion

Women are being raped in Africa.(link) In fact, it is such a problem there, that a device has been invented that attaches to a rapist's weiner and can't be removed except through surgery.(link)

The reason I mention this jarring subject is that our evangelical President Bush(link) has decided that U.S. tax payers will fund Christian religious groups efforts to help stop the spread of AIDS in 12 countries in Africa. 15 billion dollars over 5 years (12 billion more than the U.S. was giving before) to preach to the people of Africa about Christian sexual values.(link)

The group A-B-C will encourage citizens to abstain from sexual activity or remain faithful to one partner, and at last resort, use a condom. In general, talking about safe protected sex is taboo throughout Africa. It sucks that Bush is doing little to address that, keeping the conversation of sex based on religious repressive values. Let's just hope that evangelical Christian organizations can get their heads out of the guilty sandbox about sex enough to have an impact on the suffering there.

I'd like to be optimistic about this. But, given his relatively extreme religious roots, I think we can safely assume that all Bush really cares about is funding the growth of Christian values and churches in Africa and elsewhere. I see this news as Bush taking advantage of his position again, only this time its not for his oil interests, its to plant more fucked up, guilt-oriented, fear of God, Christianically Modified Seed around the world.(link) Do we really want the United States to endorse, with our tax dollars, religious missionaries spreading Christian guilt as a solution to fight AIDS?

The church will do little to help prevent the spread of AIDS; that's my opinion anyway. Where am I coming from? Two words: ex alter-boy. In fact, in 1989, I was an alterboy for the Pope for a mass that was initially meant to turn Father Junipero Serra, buried in the church I grew up going to, into a Saint (which he didn't end up doing because Native Americans protested that Serra was a fucking tyrant who killed thousands of natives to build his missions.) So, I have my well developed opinions about living under the guilted hand of organized religion.

Organized religion builds up God as a judgmental, finger-pointing, all-powerful parent who will torture you if you are shameless about your life of "sins." This kind of religious perspective really cuts out all the good stuff about our spiritual existence. Namely, that we all can stop right now, have compassion for ourselves no matter what has taken place on our paths and we don't need some all powerful church to enable this. Everyone has the capacity to be a heavenly creature; heaven starts here on earth, right now, in this moment!

Also, organized religion, as in the Vatican, demands more and more money in the name of this judgmental God's forgiveness of our "sins." And what are our sins? They are part of our path, they come from our very natural existence as animals on this wild planet of ours. Guilt does nothing to help us, guilt just represses. Compassion is the answer, guiltless compassion for ourselves and the planet.

Not to mention that the wealth of the church sets a precedence that money is part of the path to God. What would happen if people stopped giving these large religious institutions money and realized that the true path to God is right here in this Universal moment within and around ourselves, that no worship or money can help us reach that place of spiritual enlightenment (its all about reflection and a compassion within).

Read Harpers "Jesus Without The Miracles." (link)


A great article talking about the Jefferson Bible(link), where Thomas Jefferson took the bible and he cut and pasted what he thought were the most important teachings of Jesus. Totally aside from the whole Christian guilt, miracle factor, just his teachings (compassion, treating others as you would want to be treated, etc..) The article goes into that there was a lost gospel according to Thomas (another Thomas!) that focused on the same thing, and it wasn't found until after Thomas Jefferson's death.(link) The Vatican totally denies that this lost gospel is part of the bible, because it doesn't focus on the Jesus that they push in the bible, the one who died for our "sins", the miraculous son of God. In fact this gospel speaks more of Jesus being a human being, and that Thomas might have been related to Jesus in some way (his brother?) This news actually makes me interested in Jesus again. It makes me want to learn more about him and what he had to say!

Anyway, I digress, but whatever, its my blog and I can do that!