Saturday, August 01, 2009

[JesusMysteries] David Rohl on YouTube

--- In JesusMysteries@, "Cami McCraw" wrote:
>
> --- In JesusMysteries@, Michael Turton wrote:
> > > > David Rohl makes this very point in his "A Test of Time" with regrds to the proposed New Chronology (which I am open to, but not endorsing here). Older ideas die out as those who adhere to them die out. It's only a matter of time, folks!!
>
>
> ***Hi Michael & everyone,
> The moderators may or may not allow this, but since yall are all posting about 'A Test of Time', I wanted you to know that it is finally available once again- and for the first time on a DVD instead of old VHS tapes.
> -Cami
> http://stretchproductions.com/RohlProducts.html


Dear JesusMysteries group,
Thank you to all who responded to the David Rohl DVD post of last
month. A few folks had wanted some free video samples, and they can be found at YouTube, in the center of the page:
http://www.youtube.com/StretchProductions
Thanks!
-Cami McCraw
http://stretchproductions.com/RohlProducts.html

------------------------------------

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August 9th Mtg: Our Urban Ecology


The Center For Inquiry/Chicago is pleased to present:
Our Urban Ecology: Biodiversity Conservation
with guest presenter Dr. Liam Heneghan
Professor of Environmental Science at DePaul University


(Please note that this is a MORNING session.)


























Sunday - August 9th - 10:30 AM
UIC, University Center East building
750 S. Halsted (UIC campus), Room 613 (our usual place)






















































"In one of the foundational gestures of American environmental action, David Henry Thoreau walked out of town: "It is hard for me to believe," he informs us, "that I shall find fair landscapes or sufficient wildness and freedom behind the eastern horizon. I am not excited by the prospect of a walk thither; but I believe that the forest which I see in the western horizon stretches uninterruptedly toward the setting sun, and there are no towns nor cities in it of enough consequence to disturb me." The wildness towards which Thoreau sauntered is the territory that subsequently and overwhelmingly attracted the attention of the environmental movement and the ecological sciences that ultimately supported it."





















































"Professional ecologists are now, more than a century later, turning their attention to cities and suburbs ("urban ecology" is one of the discipline's young stars) They are finding that the challenge is to create a science that blends the traditional concerns of their discipline with the social sciences that have a rich history in urban areas. The Chicago region leads the way in interdisciplinary urban biodiversity conservation. I will discuss the emerging trends of this subdiscipline, the role of research in Chicago in this field, and will conclude with a call for integrating the humanities into these programs of work."
Dr. Liam Heneghan is a professor of Environmental Science, and co-director of the Institute for Nature and Culture, at Depaul University.
Please join us for this interesting meeting. This MORNING session will include the main presentation, a Q&A session, and usually some additional time for a roundtable discussion! We provide the hot coffee and we very much appreciate pastry and snack donations.




















































You need not be a Friend of the Center (member) to attend these meetings, although non-CFI Members will be asked for a modest contribution. If you find that you like us, please do join as a Friend of CFI/Chicago!




















































Questions? Just call our (part time) office phone: 312-226-0420.
Hope you can attend!



























































































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Friday, July 31, 2009

Freethought Examiner: Hate Crimes Bill - who benefits?

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The United States Senate recently passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA/S.909), a "Hate Crimes Bill" that provides authorities with the power to increase prosecution and punishment for crimes which were already covered ... Read more »


Freethought Examiner, D.M. Murdock


D.M. Murdock, also known as Acharya S, is an independent scholar of comparative religion and mythology from a "freethinking" perspective. She is the author of The Christ Conspiracy, Suns of God, Who was Jesus? and Christ in Egypt. Her work was featured in the movie Zeitgeist and Bill Maher's Religulous. Her main website is TruthBeKnown.com.


[JesusMysteries] The Large Scale Structure of the Christian Gospels

MODERATOR'S NOTE
Please remember to sign you posts!
Introduction
A very important clue of how the Five Gospels relate to each other is the patterns of their parallels. Jesus Seminar Cf's are parallels to just about everyone else, they usually add a bunch more, so I'm using that definition for the Jesus Seminar Parallels and Cf's. One pattern that leaps out at you is if you look at the parallels to Mark, is that the sayings of Jesus in Mark and John are almost always very different, then, all of a sudden, at the end of Mark, starting just before the Last Supper, and going all the way to the real end of Mark, there's 10 parallels in a row. Before that, there's never more than 2.
The Sordid Details
So, why, all of a sudden, at the end, does John dance to Mark's tune? Did John copy them out of Mark or vice versa? Was there a common source(s) they both used?
Worth noting that P52, all the way back to 120CE is in the middle of it, showing it had gotten into John at least that far back.
Now, Crossan and others think there's a Cross Gospel, close to the Gospel of Peter, but that's only part of those 10 sayings, the Cross Gospel only goes back to P52, by coincidence, and this goes back before the arrest. It doesn't go all the way back to the Thomas sayings, Mark put all the Thomas sayings in the first part of his Gospel for whatever reason.
And worth noting that it starts, right about where some, such as Crossan, believe the historical Jesus ends.
The simple solution is Mark is first, and one of the many editors of John used that part to fill in the details between the teaching part of the Jesus story and the "Doubting Thomas" so dear to it's heart. Seems it's such a perfect match, that John just using all of it makes more sense than a common Jerusalem/arrest/trial/cross gospel. But then, why did John not use the other parts of Mark too, the parts with the Thomas sayings, or the latter part of Mark with no Thomas sayings.
And of course, looking at the distribution of the Thomas sayings, it sure looks like Stephan Davies is right, Mark had a list of Thomas sayings and dropped them in, in certain spots. No common oral period produced that rather non-random pattern.
[Because of formatting difficulties for this forum, I've limited the list to Mark and John, and combined the JS Cf's and Parallels. Those with a parallel have an "X - " in front.]

By what authority
The leased vineyard
The rejected stone
Emperor & God
On the resurrection
Most important commandment?
Son of David
Scholars' privileges
Those who prey on widows
Widow's pittance
Temple's destruction
Deception & strife
Persecution & testimony
Gospel & eschaton
X - Spirit under trial
Hatred & patience
Time for flight
When & where
Coming of the son of Adam
Fig tree's lesson
My words eternal
Only the father knows
Readiness & return
X - A woman annoits Jesus
Passover preparation
X - Better not born
X - Supper & eucharist
X - Peter's betrayal foretold
X - Prayer against temptation
X - Jesus arrested
X - Temple & Jesus
X - Priest's questions
X - A rooster crows
X - Pilate's question
X - Jesus' dying words
Jesus & Galilee
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Thursday, July 30, 2009

PaleoBabble


PaleoBabble



Posted: 30 Jul 2009 10:16 AM PDT
I’ve had a couple of readers and friends email me the YouTube gem. I can’t say it’s as ridiculous as the previous paleo-pile of pulpit dreck, but it’s a doozy. I hate to ask anyone to waste the next 4:13 of their life watching it, but what follows won’t be comprehensible unless you do. So please forgive me.

I’m in an industry that is deeply involved in Bible study and the study of the ancient world. I devoted nearly 20 years to the formal study of biblical Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, and a handful of other ancient languages on the way to my PhD in Hebrew and Semitic studies. I’m therefore sympathetic to people who want to read the Bible with more discernment and comprehension, and for those who are in vocational ministry. I’m also no fan of Barack Obama, as readers of my personal blog know. Barack Obama is not the antichrist. One of his two (!) biographies (Dreams of My Father) tells you what he is in his own words: an African colonialist Marxist. It isn’t hard for anyone who reads what he says about himself and then filters what’s in his speeches through his biographical material. The problem is that most people don’t want to believe it, not that the president is hiding anything.
All caveats aside, the person who made this video should be removed from any public teaching about anything that makes use of biblical languages or that is beyond devotional Bible study. He simply knows nothing about what he’s talking about. It’s a shame to see the biblical text mishandled so badly. It’s absolutely inept.Part of the problem, though, is the tools he is using for his “analysis” - bottom level biblical study resources, not what anyone trained in the languages should be using. But that’s just it; he apparently has no training in the languages, or has forgotten any course he ever took.
Why do I say these things? Here we go.
1. The speaker presumes that Jesus originally spoke Luke 10:18 in Aramaic. We don’t actually know that. Yes, Aramaic was the common language among Jews of first century Palestine, but Jesus and the disciples were at least bilingual (speaking Greek as well, the lingua franca of the Mediterranean at the time) and Jesus was also trilingual (he knew Hebrew well enough to quote the Hebrew Masoretic text on occasion; at least that is what the gospel writers have him doing).1 But the fact remains that we don’t know what language Jesus was speaking on this occasion because we weren’t there and no one who was there had a tape recorder. But this is the least of the speaker’s problems.
2. Incredibly, the speaker doesn’t realize that Hebrew and Aramaic are not the same language. In a textbook example of why YouTube ought to have some sort of peer review (read: a cluelessness filter), the speaker says Aramaic is “the most ancient form of Hebrew” (it’s at 0:31). Pardon me, pastor (making a hopefully erroneous assumption there), but Aramaic is not Hebrew. It’s…uh…Aramaic. Perhaps the speaker was thinking that Aramaic and Hebrew use the same script (letter style). If so, let me point out that just because two (or more) languages might use the same script (font in our modern parlance) does not mean they are the same language! For example, Spanish and English use the same letter shapes/script/font; they are not the same language! Hebrew adopted the Aramaic script (the so-called “block” letter script still used today) after it went into exile in Babylon in the sixth century BC (and Aramaic had earlier displaced Akkadian / Assyrian as the dominant language of Mesopotamia). Aramaic and Hebrew are part of the same language class and sub-class. A quick use of Wikipedia (no graduate degree required) would have informed the speaker of that (and clued him in to the fact that Aramaic and Hebrew are not the same language). I don’t normally recommend Wikipedia (but it’s a step up from this video), but here’s a useful paragraph from the entry on “Aramaic”:
Aramaic belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family. Within that diverse family, it belongs to the Semitic subfamily. Aramaic is a part of the Northwest Semitic group of languages, which also includes the Canaanite languages such as Hebrew and Phoenician. Aramaic script was widely adopted for other languages, and is ancestral to the Arabic and Hebrew alphabets.
3. Now, you might be thinking, “Okay Mike, he didn’t know Hebrew and Aramaic weren’t the same language, but he still knows Hebrew pretty well - just listen!” Well, prepare for another disappointment. In what follows he shows that he doesn’t even know the Hebrew alphabet. (Just between us, but if you’re ever planning on doing any Bible teaching involving the biblical languages, it’s a good idea to at least know the alphabet).
The speaker clearly says that Jesus would have uttered the words of Luke 10:18 “in Hebrew” (0:50) and then goes on to focus on the words for “lightning” and “heights”/”heavens”. The word for “lightning” in Hebrew, we are told, is “barawk,” sounding suspiciously like the president’s name (Barack). Unfortunately for the speaker, the word for “lightning” in Hebrew isn’t spelled with the consonants b-r-k (Hebrew originally had no vowels, so it’s the consonants that matter here). It’s spelled b-r-q. In Hebrew, the “k” (letter name: kaph) is an entirely different letter than “q” (letter name: qoph). The root consonants b-r-k mean “blessing” as a noun, “blessed” as an adjective, and “to bless” when a verb form is in view. Here are the two words and their respective dictionary entries from Halladay’s Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon:

It is crucial that, even if you cannot read Hebrew, you notice that these words have DIFFERENT final letters (Hebrew is read right-to-left). I’ve noted the confused letters in respective colors, along with the meanings of the words to show that the speaker is giving his listeners misinformed nonsense. “Lightning” in Hebrew is b-r-q, plain and simple. A “q” is not a “k”, in English or Hebrew. They must not be treated as though they are.
That Barack Obama’s first name (in Arabic) means “blessing” (and not “lightning”) has been noted many times. Here’s one example. But what if this is all (typing in hushed tones now) a conspiracy! What if “Barack” doesn’t REALLY mean “blessing” in Arabic! What if Obama’s evil henchmen (granted, he has a bunch of those) have duped the public into not knowing his name really means “lightning” and Jesus really did identify him as the antichrist (which misreads the passage anyway, but we’ll get to that)? Yeah, and what if Cheerios are really made of plutonium and are poisoning our kids ever so slowly. You never know.
Sorry, this line of incoherence doesn’t work either. Below I have both words’ dictionary entries from a more comprehensive (read: scholarly) biblical Hebrew dictionary: The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the OT (HALOT). HALOT is the undustry-standard tool for all biblical Hebrew scholarship. Resources like HALOT, unlike English-based, inferior, outdated resources like the speaker uses (Strong’s Concordance) typically provide the user with the equivalent term in a range of Semitic languages. HALOT gives us the Arabic word that corresponds to Hebrew b-r-q (”lightning”), along with other languages like Old South Arabian, Egyptian Aramaic, Ugaritic, Jewish Aramaic, etc. Notice that I have turned on the pop-out windows in my electronic version of HALOT to show the “ARABIC” abbreviation and its source (a scholarly Arabic lexicon). Below that entry I have the Hebrew word b-r-k (”blessing”/”bless”). Note also the spelling - the one with the “q” on the end is lightning, not the other way around. The one with the “k” also has an Arabic equivalent for “blessing”/”bless”. Arabic and Hebrew are consistent here.


How could the speaker make such a mistake? The answer is in his resource: Strong’s Concordance and it’s extraordinarily simplistic (and often erroneous) dictionary. Now, I once used a Strong’s and loved it. I was a teenager, and after reading the Bible through once, I decided I needed some other tool to help me get more out of it. A friend recommended Strong’s. I outgrew it in a couple of years, and eventually went on to study the biblical languages for real. At that point, you realize that there are a number of other more comprehensive and accurate resources. The problem is, you have to know at least the alphabet to use them, whereas with Strong’s, you need only know English.2As you watch the video, we see the picture below (my words added in blue), where b-r-q is transliterated WRONGLY with a “q” instead of a “k” (the more scholarly lexicons I showed you above have it right):

This error was corrected in the revision of Strongs (note the b-r-q [baraq] spelling) alongside the older, incorrect transliteration:

The vowel transliterations are also wrong, but that isn’t so important here. Strong is just trying to give the reader a rough pronunciation. The real issue is the consonants.
This confusion is a good example of why Strong’s gives someone enough knowledge to be dangerous, and why it is no substitute for actually knowing Hebrew (or at least the alphabet).
4. The speaker then goes to Isaiah 14, and plainly says that it is “LUCIFER” that falls from the heights.3 The word “heights”, we are told, is “bamah”. Again, the hearer is supposed to think “Obama” when he / she hears “bamah”, and then combine that to think “barack obama”. Some fairly obvious problems shouold be apparent to those at least modestly acquainted with the Bible. Last time I checked, the antichrist and Lucifer were not the same person. Revelation 20:10 makes that explicitly clear:
and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
The beast, of course, is the antichrist in the Bible, the one whose number is 666 (cf. Rev. 13:18). In Rev. 10:10, they are separate figures thrown into the lake of fire. This means that Isaiah 14:12, the passage used by the speaker, has nothing to do with the antichrist, since it is Lucifer (the devil) who is thrown out of the heights. Same goes for Luke 10:18. It is the devil who is cast out “like lightning”, not the antichrist. And it is nonsensical to translate Luke 10:18 something like “And I saw the devil cast out like the antichrist.”
5. Regarding the “heights,” the Hebrew word in the text is actually bamot (a plural), but it does come from “bamah”. I wonder what happened to the “O” in “Obama”? Didn’t Jesus know there would be an “O” in the future antichrist’s last name? Or maybe Isaiah was the dunce. This is a classic example of the incredibly shoddy intellectual trajectory: “hey, the sounds are the same between that word in one language, and another word in another language — they must be pointing to the same thing.” Yeah. Just like Greek gune (pronounced “goonay”) is the same as English “goony” (the Greek word means “woman” - now go give that piece of exegesis to your wife or girlfriend). Just like Greek kurios is the same as English curious (kurios means “lord”). Or maybe like Hebrew kar (”pasture”; Isa 30:23) is equivalent to English “car”. There are literally hundreds of these sorts of false equivalences between any two languages. Here’s the point: a sound or group of sounds in Hebrew (or any other language) does not have the same meaning as the same combination of sounds in English. This ought to be self-evident, but I guess it’s not.
6. Also on the “heights”, the “heights” in Isaiah 14 were the place where God lives. There is nothing sinister about the term in this passage. Hence using it to draw attention to the antichrist (Barack Obama to the speaker) is utter nonsense. Logic, please. (PLEASE!!)
7. Luke 10:18 actually points to an event in Jesus’ own lifetime. He is announcing that the kingdom of God has been inaugurated on earth at the beginning of his ministry. This is why the very next verse talks about Jesus giving authority over the enemy and the spirits being subject to his disciples. There’s a ton of scholarly (i.e., not amateurish) material written on this subject. This inauguration of the kingdom may or may not be taken as the final fruition of the kingdom (i.e., you can still have a millennial kingdom on earth after this - the final installation of the kingdom - or not, if one is an amillennialist; that’s a subject for a different blog). Luke 10:18 isn’t about a future antichrist. It’s about the present kingship of Jesus over the evil one(s).
I could go on, but this should suffice. My brain is starting to hurt and my spirits starting to sag. God help us all if this is the kind of “Bible analysis” that people get from the pulpit on any given Sunday.
  1. A side note: most of the time the Old Testament is quoted in the New Testament it is the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that is quoted.
  2. This gap in resources between the scholar and the non-specialist is one reason why the company I work for (Logos Bible Software) has pioneered something called reverse interlinears. They allow you (in the digital world) to start with English and link to the very best resources in the biblical languages (without having to know those languages). Creating one of those requires hand-linking each word of a given English translation to the Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic word from whence the translation came. I’ve personally created two Old Testaments that way, and one New Testament. It takes eight months for me to do an OT and 100 days for a NT. They aren’t a perfect substitute for actually knowing the languages, but they are light years better than what’s currently out there. We’re trying to be part of the solution, not the problem.
  3. The name “Lucifer” is contrived. It is a Latin translation of the Hebrew phrase “Shining One” that occurs here.
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AANEWS for Thursday, July 30, 3009

A M E R I C A N A T H E I S T S
A A N E W S
#1266 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7/30/09
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In This Issue...
* Blair Scott on NPR Friday
* Worth Noting - Kagin, Camp Quest, Another
Cheatin' Heart Pol is Caught
* Join AA (cheap!), support the fight for separation
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* About this list...
AMERICAN ATHEISTS MEDIA ALERT
http://www.atheists.org
BLAIR SCOTT ON NATIONAL
PUBLIC RADIO FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2009
Blair Scott, the National Affiliate Director & Alabama State
Director for American Atheists, will be a guest on 'Tell Me More,'
a nationally syndicated show on NPR. The show will air at 7 p.m. EST
on Friday, July 31st from the NPR headquarters in Washington,
DC. Listeners should check with their local NPR broadcaster for
exact broadcast time of the show in their area.
Michel Martin, the host of 'Tell Me More,' and Blair Scott discussed
the increase of atheism in the United States, how that affects
local groups, the prospect of "ritual" within the atheist community,
and other issues relevant to atheism and atheists.
WHAT: Blair Scott on NPR's 'Tell Me More' discussing the nature of
atheism in the United States.
WHEN: Friday, July 31 at 7 p.m. EST (check local NPR listings for
broadcast time in your area)
LISTEN: If you cannot listen on the radio, you can listen to the show
online after it is broadcast at the 'Tell Me More' Web Page at NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=46
ON THE NET:
American Atheists: http://atheists.org
National Affiliate Director: http://alabamaatheist.org/naod
Alabama State Director: http://atheists.org/al
Tell Me More: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=46
(AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil
rights for Atheists, Freethinkers and other nonbelievers; works for
the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of
First Amendment public policy.)
**
WORTH NOTING ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/22/AR2009072203663.html?hpid=sec-religionPrograms Religious Ties Raise Concerns The U.S. Agency for
International Development funded programs that rebuilt Iraqi mosques
and used biblical lessons to promote sexual abstinence in Africa,
despite a prohibition on the use of taxpayer funds to support
"inherently religious activities," according to a new audit by the
agency's inspector general. USAID challenged the inspector general's
findings in a written response, saying that the main goals of its
programs in Africa and Iraq were secular in nature. The report
focused on projects initiated from 2006 to 2007 under the Bush
administration.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1202810/Camp-faithless-Is-Britains-atheist-summer-camp-harmless-fun-worried.html
Camp faithless: Is Britain's first atheist summer camp harmless fun
or should we be worried? You might have been forgiven for thinking
the BBC was introducing a new presenter of one of its 'yoof'
shows. Small, mousey-haired, personable Samantha Stein was given
prominent airtime right across the BBC network yesterday to talk
about a children's summer camp with a difference that she has set up
in Britain. For Ms Stein has an axe - a very big one - to grind. She
is an atheist who believes that traditional faith-based summer camps
are bad for young minds. So she has set up her own version, where
children are encouraged to reject traditional religious teachings.
Around Ms Stein, 23, was a scene redolent of a Scout or Guide
camp. In a lush, green corner of Somerset, Army-style tents were
scattered in a clearing among trees. In the middle, makeshift log
benches surrounded the compulsory, rock-ringed camp fire where,
in the evening, the flames would play a merry dance across the
circle of young faces.
http://www.thefoodsection.com/foodsection/2009/07/alabama-bans-nude-nymph-wine-labels-cycles-gladiator.html
Alabama Bans Wines With "Nude Nymph" Labels The State of Alabama's
liquor agency has banned the sale of wine which features a "nude
nymph" on its label. The label on Cycles Gladiator wine shows a naked
nymph with flowing hair flying alongside a winged bicycle. Alabama's
liquor regulations bar labels with "a person posed in an immoral
or sensuous manner."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/28/paul-stanley-tennessee-st_n_246641.html
Paul Stanley, Tennessee State Senator, Quits After Affair With
22-Year-Old Intern NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A Tennessee lawmaker resigned
from the state Senate on Tuesday after his extramarital affair
with a 22-year-old intern was revealed by an investigation into
an extortion case. "Due to recent events, I have decided to focus
my full attention on my family and resign my Senate seat effective
August 10," Republican Sen. Paul Stanley wrote in his resignation
letter.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/primaryeducation/5926261/Scientists-complain-to-Ed-Balls-over-lack-of-evolution-teaching.html
Scientists complain to Ed Balls over lack of evolution teaching
Professor Richard Dawkins and 25 other leading British scientists
have written to Ed Balls, the schools secretary, to protest that
evolution has been omitted from plans for a new primary school
curriculum.

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=18467
Arrests in terror case bewilder associates Daniel Boyd was a man of
rare conviction for these parts. The small town of Willow Spring,
N.C., was the scene of an F.B.I. investigation Tuesday at the home of
Daniel Patrick Boyd. Rare because he and his family were Muslims in
this quiet rural subdivision where the denominations generally run
from Baptist to Presbyterian. But also rare for his intensity. "How
many Christians you see standing in the yard praying five times
a day?" asked Jeremy Kuhn, 20, who lives across the street. "They
just believed more than anyone else."
**
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So, American Atheists is making it easier than ever before to join
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SILVERMAN BLOG SHAKING UP CYBERSPACE!
It is one of the fastest growing blogs in the
Atheist/Freethought/Secular Humanist community, and you can get in
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[JesusMysteries] John the Immerser

I am interested also in understanding how John the Immerser was introduced by the Pauline Christians into the accepted scriptures when he apparently was the leader of an entirely different group (especially as suggested by the fact that he is revered by the Mandeans without any association to Jesus). This subject may have also been discussed along the way.
Dave Sabatene
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

[Real World Atheism] Exodus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQkopQSOlA


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[Real World Atheism] Skeptilove

http://www.skeptilove.com/
Alison Smith is the founder of Skeptical Analysis of the Paranormal
Society, the founder of SkeptiLove, and a research assistant
for the James Randi Educational Foundation.
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Freethought Examiner: Hinduism in America on the rise

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Festivities in a new temple dedicated to the Indian monkey god Hanuman in Frisco, Texas, earlier this month remind us that a minority of religions exists within the shores of the United States that is relatively silent. The faith that is the ... Read more »


Freethought Examiner, D.M. Murdock


D.M. Murdock, also known as Acharya S, is an independent scholar of comparative religion and mythology from a "freethinking" perspective. She is the author of The Christ Conspiracy, Suns of God, Who was Jesus? and Christ in Egypt. Her work was featured in the movie Zeitgeist and Bill Maher's Religulous. Her main website is TruthBeKnown.com.


Monday, July 27, 2009

[Real World Atheism] Science Is in the Details

Science Is in the Details
By SAM HARRIS
Faith, knowledge and the nomination of Francis Collins to
be the next director of the National Institutes of Health.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/opinion/27harris.html?th&emc=th

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