Since religious zealots are so en vogue these days here is a reminder of a good old tradition: stoning. A cruel punishment for the eager masses to participate. Since more and more people are calling for tougher punishments for all sort of crimes and even anti-social behavior they should remember WHY we developed a more human system of imprisonment and punishment in the west.

A legal system that is not based on religious rules, nor morals based on any Gods. And the notion was to regard criminals still as fellow citizens - and not as ‘bad apples’ that had to be destroyed or locked away forever.

I think the mob should do the dirty work themselves and have the images burned into their souls - so they never forget.

First dig a whole for your victim.

Call some friends, find some stones - and let’s begin …

It should be said, that stoning is a slow process - it takes some serious battering to kill someone - and watch their agony.

Stoning is still used in some countries.

More? video of an actual modern stoning (not recommended as family entertainment)

What constantly amazes me is that American Christians are against abortion, but for a harsh and brutal prison system - and even for the death penalty.

Plus many of them own guns for ’self defense’. An eye for an eye? Are your sure you are not Jews - worshipping a pretty violent and nasty God? Or simply hypocrites?

“The American Christian fundamentalists are nothing like the Taliban.”

The Taliban used football fields to execute people. They enforced stoning and other cruel laws of the Sharia. They suppressed women, they disliked music, drugs and movies - all that fun stuff. A terrible regime of orthodox believers. Agreed the Taliban were terrible.

American Christian fundamentalists so far haven’t killed anyone - their actions are within the law of the land. Physical violence isn’t anywhere near the Talibans bloody actions. So the American fundamentalists are ‘better’ then their afghan counterparts?

Measuring a society or group just by their usage of physical violence is a bad and not very precise tool.

The basic concept of fundamentalism is that their version of ‘reality’ is the only truth that is acceptable. Anything else can (maybe) tolerated, but never accepted.

Visit www.americanfundamentalists.com to view the image in a larger size - and learn some other stuff as well.

But acceptance of plurality is the most important cornerstone of our modern democracies. This very acceptance is shown in the rule of law that everyone is the ’same’: we all have the same rights, the same obligations - although we are different individuals and by no means the same.

Religions fundamentalists and modern states both have laws and rules, which more or less make sense. But the very difference is who made the law: either they are eternal, because they were made by some God or they are in constant development, because they are made by man and still adapted, expanded and changed.

This also shows a very basic psychological element of the fundamentalist: with a rule set given by your eternal Overlord you have a ‘perfect’ and static system to live by. Not much surprise there. Very different to a pluralists society that continuously changes itself. Although your life might be difficult at times you at least know with a fundamentalist mindset what is right or wrong.

We are right! We are right! We are right!

Here we encounter another problem with fundamentalists: anything that is ‘wrong’ according to his/her believe basic system has to be changed. These people are on a holy mission. Now this is very contrary to ‘in the name of the people’ when you want to change society ‘in the name of the Lord’.

In a Democracy you need the consent of the majority, you need to agree. In a fundamentalist system there is nothing to agree on, no need for debate or even change. Anything that comes from the Lord is not open for discussion. This is especially explosive when a Priest or any other Leader ‘claims’ to speak the Lord’s words. How do you ask God if that person is really his Prophet? You can challenge any law, policeman and politician in court, but again there is no discussion with the word of God.

Lets come back to our American Christian fundamentalists. They are much smarter then the Taliban. They won’t use physical violence to change society - they simply change the laws so society has to adapt. Instead of accepting plurality they use lobbyism, votes and money to enforce only their fundamentalist views.

This is one of the greatest weaknesses of Democracy, that it’s very openness to change and populism allows it’s own destruction. Once again it is important to mention the Hitler lesson (Newsflash: Orangeguru says Christians are Nazis). He was voted into power and slowly abolished democratic laws one by one with popular consent until there was only ‘ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer’ (one people, one country, one Führer).

How the erosion of American pluralist consent is progressing can best be documented by the fierce fight about ‘intelligent design’ and abortion. Slowly the fundamentalists ideas are introduced and cemented into popular opinion as the only truth in small steps. I especially admire the propaganda and rhetoric’s to actually use pluralism to enforce fundamentalism: hey, why don’t you teach ‘intelligent design’ - it’s just another form of science?!

Abortion is wrong / terrible for other reasons - not because your God said so.

But the war on abortion speaks even louder: here pressure groups have been working for decades to enforce their mostly religious point of view onto American society. On PBS.org is an excellent documentation ‘The last abortion Clinic’ that show you how fundamentalist lobbyism can work wonders against pluralism.

So, is there such a thing as an American Taliban? Yes, there is! The methods might be different, but their attitude is very much the same. Most of all over the recent years we can see the ‘just anger’ and aggression against anything liberal and pluralistic getting fiercer and fiercer.

And it’s that religious righteousness I am most afraid of.

Some people say that all technology serves only one purpose: procreation. Well in this case it’s also a workaround for some cultural and religious taboos (by Markus Kison):

The CharmingBurka deals with Freud’s idea, that all clothes can be positioned between appeal and shame. I decided for the Burka, because this cloth is positioned on the very side of shame and add a digital layer to it. With this layer women can decide on their own, where they want to position themselves virtually. This means that the Burka is sending a picture, which the wearer has chosen, via Bluetooth. Every person next to her can receive her picture on his mobile and that way see her self-determined identity. The virtual appeals can not be gathered by the laws of the Koran.

Therefore the Burka is equipped with a bluetooth antenna, micro-controller and uses the OBEX protocol, already working with most mobile phones.

Thanks to Edosan for this link.

Dead, but still alive as an anti-gay martyr.

The American subculture of professional Christians is really amazing. They preach the word of god with the aid of technology and megachurches. They ‘collect’ huge amounts of money, but they hardly lift people out of poverty. They rage against some other subcultures, but rarely embrace forgiveness and tolerance.

Would they kiss a gay person or someone with aids like Jesus kissed a Leper or a Whore?

More? For kicks - watch the farting preacher and Ted Haggart admitting he fucked da gay on drugs - and watch him again raving against da gays.

Again and again in recent years the Muslim world exploded. Once again pride is more important then sanity. Once again people say ‘we have to respect religion’. Once again flags are burned and artists are threatened. Once again the west doesn’t ‘respect’ Islam.

I am sick and tired of this - and I guess this is also a growing feeling here in Europe from what I have read in European news and blogs.

Sure we Europeans have a long and troubled past with the middle east - because of religion and later colonialism. France and Britain have retreated from the region and the Arabs got to run their own countries. But the cold war and oil once again drew in other superpowers and foreigners. The current trouble spots Iran (read about operation Ajax) and Iraq (more about the troubled history) are a result of foreign intervention, especially by the US. It is a big historic joke that the US tries to bring democracy to a region where it’s oil interests kept totalitarian regimes in power for so long.

Another great success of American foreign policy

Overall Europe continued to trade and support these tyrants and bad regimes as well. Nobody protested against Saddam as long as he was in power, nobody really cared in Europe. But we continued to allow exiles into the EU. Especially London and Paris were full of middle east exiles and rich visiting Sheiks as well. Ayatollah Khomeini planned and executed the Iranian revolution from France. Many other radical islamists went to Europe and stayed underground - because their home countries prosecuted for various reason. Over time many Muslim communities sprang up all over Europe: Turks, Kurds, Iranians, Iraqis and many more. Many of them could live here while their home countries were at war. They were allowed to run businesses, build Koran schools and mosques.

Riots of the underprivileged people are nothing new.

Sure there are a lot ’second class citizen’ ghettos in Spain, France, Britain and Germany. But poverty not only hits illegal immigrants, but also second generation Muslims and so called native citizens. The french riots last year showed that integration isn’t perfect, but poverty and lack of jobs is a problem for almost everyone in Europe and not just a ‘tactic’ against Muslims.

Modern Europe was always interested to see the middle east grow and get on it’s feet. Sure, there was always a certain amount of guilt, because of the colonial past. We also tried to forget about the terrible crusades and the long history of wars between Muslims and Christian Europe. Nobody here in Europe would seriously consider to recapture Jerusalem or Istanbul - instead many hope that Turkey will join the EU one day. The EU has supported many peace initiatives, supported for example the Palestinians although they blew up the Olympic Games here in Munich. Europe was always more interested in long term talks, understanding and trade. We called this soft power in contrast to hard military invention - or in current terms old European ‘weaselism’ against the new American century.

European tourism to the middle east before the Age of Enlightenment

But still there is religion and huge amount of anger against Europe or any infidel in the Muslim world. It doesn’t matter if we sent help to Iran or Pakistan after earthquakes or pay for the Palestinian elections (so radical Hamas can win them in a democratic way). For the radicals and uneducated masses any reason is good enough to burn flags (never though I see a Danish flag on fire) and threaten Europe with bombs again.

The attacks in Spain and London are certainly ‘understandable’, because these countries supported the war on Iraq - which a huge amount of Europeans despised and tried to stop. But any ‘understanding’ stopped with murders like against Theo van Gogh or the bombing of tourists.

The current Holy Anger against some old cartoons from Denmark show how Europe and the Middle East have really progressed. Europe has left behind religions fanaticism and developed stable democratic societies - we are currently trying to transcend the nation state. Yes, Europe has progressed better and more since the middle ages then the Middle East.

House of Saud - power, sand and oil - but no democracy in sight.

Yes, you can call me an European cultural snob any day - I would be proud to wear that title! I prefer the rule of law over tribal loyalty. I prefer equal rights over woman in bee keeper suits. I prefer democratic elections over Kings, Sheiks, Mullahs, Royal Families and old hereditary or religious traditions. I prefer a freedom of press and disgusting jokes over Fatwas against Artists and Newspaper Editors - or raging protests against a simple beauty contest (yep, that was in Nigeria - but still the same frame of mind). Give me a corrupt Silvio Berlusconi over a President Ahmadinejad or terror leader like Yassir Arafat.

A ‘mature’ society must be able to cope with different ideas, even insults and threats in a civilized manner. That includes any nation. Burning the Danish flag because one of it’s newspaper published a stupid cartoon is rather strange. Threatening to bomb and kill people over a stupid joke is simply daft.

Kemal Atatürk showed the world that a modern country and Islam can exist side by side.

While Europeans demonstrate against wars in the Middle East and against Terrorism - the people in the Arab world seem more to protest for war and revenge - and support even terrorism. Still many Muslims dream about recreating the old Caliphate. But dreaming such dreams of old empires and conquest are out of date. Hitlers ‘Lebensraum’ idea didn’t work, neither did the communist dream of a united workers planet.

I am sure there are many people in the Middle East and Muslims who only want peace and do not support radical ideas - but it’s about time these people start to show us that they are in control and support a peaceful global society.

Muslims have to give up their conspiracy theories about Europe (and to a certain degree America) and start building their own stable societies and economies. Most of all they have to take responsibility and don’t hide behind your religion to build a better world for everyone. Once Damascus and Baghdad were on top of the world and leading centers of wisdom and enlightenment, highly tolerant and global trade powers. My dear Muslims, if you want that to happen again, then start to teach your kids, build up your economies and use your brains instead of guns and explosives.

*repost from 2006*

A highly interesting article over at the Scientific American Mind. Neurosciene is still very young, we hardly know how our brains and minds work.

Life is harsh when you kick start the human spirit.

Humankind has spent a long time worshipping gods - since the modern Cro-magnon appeared and kicked the Neanderthal out of existence. One of the main difference between us and our ancestors is our imagination and therefore adaptability. No other ancestor started language, cave paintings or complex cultures.

But our imagination is also our greatest enemy. Where we lacked knowledge we invented ‘things’ to fill the gaps. So in shock and awe about nature we invented spirits, ghosts and gods to explain thunder, death and a lot of other annoying things.

Me Artist! Me Paint! Me Talk to Horsy Spirit! Me Shaman! Bow to me!

As our mental capabilities expanded so did our cultures, language and religions. If you look at the history of religions you also see how their concepts and liturgy evolved in complexity. But the human intellect is an amazing thing - and once our basic civilization was established smarter heads started to questions the gods themselves (like Epicurus).

They already concluded that nature is everything and that the gods are nothing. Even things like the atom were discussed long before they had the means to research it’s existence. Human imagination can work far beyond your cultural and technological limits.

But religion also proved to be a great tool over power - and rulers always like to have a divine backing. The people can ruled much easier if their leaders are in favor with the gods - not matter how dubious those connections are. And almost all cultures have creations myths that make THEM the chosen ones. For example the Japanese track themselves back to the sun goddess Amaterasu. I personally like the imagination and complexity of Hinduism. You hardly find a more colorful universe of gods.

The Enemies of my Religion are also our Enemies. Let’s crush them, because we are the Chosen ones …

As religion is an attempt to explain the universe (and therefore a search for the ultimate truth) it leads to science. Almost all early European scientist were dedicated Christians, who were VERY curious how god managed to run the whole show. Too bad that they discovered that the old stories of all religions weren’t true: the earth was neither the center of the universe nor was it formed out of a slain giants body.

But parallel to the myths of religion (and fairy tales) we humans discovered spirituality, our own psyche, the secrets of our minds and a new love for the beauty of the universe. Almost all major religions have their smaller departments dedicated to more serious spiritual paths - which are often more demanding and more abstract then the normal liturgy for the common follower. A truely dedicated lifestyle of a Yogi or Jesuit priest is NOT everyone - it’s very demanding. And people are unwilling to really give everything for their gods. Self preservation is usually stronger then religion.

Are you a true follower of your God(s)?! Spiritual nakedness and Yogi tea are not for everybody you know …?!

Life - the last twenty thousand years - was quite harsh to humans. Simply getting enough food was tough enough. Life was always very unfair and scary. Religion also helped to cope with fear and survival - tight rules and rituals helped tribes to survive and unite under a common banner/purpose. Religion also helped us to ‘organize’ power and hierarchies.

Religion helped us to survive and was one of the first components of our cultures. But culture will continue to evolve - even the evolution of ideas is pretty unstoppable.

Many people say that science is the true enemy of the gods or any religion. But no - our cultural evolution is the true ‘enemy’ (if you can speak in such terms anyway).

Cultural evolution brings not only full stomachs, but a separation of powers, the rule of the law, a more mutual sharing of technologies, education, medical supplies and science.

In the early 1500s European Christianity was becoming more and more aware of those ‘other’ religions and world views - simply because travel and trade was coming back to roman standards. In a monotheistic religion/society it’s much more shocking to hear that there is an alternative to just the one ‘true’ god. Polytheistic societies never had that problem to such an extend - they could cope with (just) another god …

The same Country and same God - three different groups fighting to the Death. A bit odd isn’t it?!

Luxuries like human rights, democracy, free markets and the separation of powers didn’t appear until the late 1700s in Europe. Instead of just fighting for survival, we could dedicate (again) more resources to social evolution and exploration, because we finally had the understanding how to help ourselves and survive.

Also we started to rule ourselves less by divine appointment, but by social and political ideas. The concept of the national identity was supplanting religious identities - especially in Europe after those devastating and fruitless religious wars.

So in some way Martin Luther’s idea split the Christian atom (much more then the catholic (western) and orthodox (eastern) separation before). This big bang lead to the Age of Enlightenment. But it was paid with a lot of blood and burned bodies.

He challenged the Power of the Church and tried to put believe back into Christianity.

Looking back in our history one could say we have fought many wars between conflicting cultural ideas: from tribes uniting under one religion, to great religions fighting each other and social ideas fighting religions to establish a new order within a bigger cultural context.

Overall our cultures evolved to ever increasing social structures: from tribes to kingdoms, from kingdoms to nation states, from nation states to continental entities (like the EU).

But old ideas never completely die: we still have tribalism as well as religion amongst us. The wars of the 1990’s in the Balkans and current conflicts between Muslims and Christians show how deep these old ideas are still embedded in our cultural DNA.

The Founding Fathers of America - one of the greatest moments in History. They put the Nation before God, the Citizen before their Rulers.

The idea of the nation state or even atheism are pretty new - hardly a couple of centuries old - compared to tens of thousands of years of tribalism and religions.

I say no more gods please - they had several thousand years to enlighten us, put an end to suffering, spread universal love and understanding. Gods and religions have failed to do so - although they had more then enough time and cost us a huge amount of life’s.

We are currently struggling to implement new concepts into our cultural evolution: a truly global society, universal human rights, total religious freedom (or betters say to protect ‘true’ believers from each other) and a free flow of information. No surprise people are scared and more blood is shed. But overall our current democratic, socialist and capitalist ‘ideas’ have feed and clothed more people then ever - safety and education are still on the rise although we still experience huge humanitarian catastrophes (like in Darfur or Africa in general).

Since democracy, technology and science have started to spread - we as a race have prospered more then ever. Gods didn’t build schools and hospitals, fed and clothed the poor, educated and explored the human potential - and this potential also includes our spirituality and imagination.

*repost from 2005*

From the BBC:

Praying for patients undergoing heart operations does not improve their outcomes, a US study suggests.

A study found those who were prayed for were as likely to have a setback in hospital, be re-admitted, or die within six months as those not prayed for.

The Duke University Medical Center study of 700 patients, in the Lancet, said music, image and touch therapy did appear to reduce patients’ distress.

Heart experts said patients could benefit from feeling more optimistic.

Image: Sassoferrato - The Virgin in Prayer

How do you introduce spirituality to kids in a free and open way? The chance of indoctrination instead of education is very big. Too often the voice of (any) god becomes the instrument of parental instructions. How can we show the wonders without destroying them?

It’s a feature - not a bug!

My basic question: Is there a religion without fear?

Although we seem to find the motive or promise of love or eternal bliss in so many religions - we also find the element of fear and some form of damnation in them as well. There always seems a special place for the faithful: like Heaven or Valhalla. Even the concept of Nirvana is in it’s metaphorical meaning similar to a blessed place - compared to the wheel of reincarnation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Until the late 12th century almost any cultural life or innovation had died in Europe. Christian mysticism and symbolism had completely taken over all the great minds. Thanks to the Arabs and many wars we started to exchange ideas again and rediscover lost authors and wisdom of Greek and Roman origin.

Not only animals, but also culture, art and science can be completely eradicated. Beware of religious fundamentalism, it won’t tolerate any knowledge beside itself and keep it’s followers dumb.

I have searched far and wide - but I haven’t found a single religion nor spiritual discipline that made pathetic behavior for it’s followers mandatory. Do you know one?! But people love being pathetic, doesn’t matter if they are new age incense burners or old school Catholics. They all go for it! You can see sparkling eyes and hear thundering voices during sales presentation as well as in churches and meditation centers. Being pathetic seems to work like an universal fudge to help us poor humans to make ourselves and our believes larger than life - whenever we need to feel bigger …

The show must go on! Why do we love pathos? Does it help us to be better believers or sinners?

Religious or spiritual practices mostly work with rules and rituals to help, educate and guide it’s followers to god/enlightenment. It doesn’t matter if you go the way of the Yogi, Buddha, Tantra or Catholic, you are expected to follow certain rules or better say ‘frame of mind’ to reach enlightenment. Since practice makes you perfect, this is always an ongoing process with no brakes and bonuses. Spirituality mostly means working with yourself, which can be pretty boring, annoying and most of all very personal.

Read the rest of this entry »

Science us the ultimate tools to understand and appreciate the beauty of this great cosmos. Intelligent design doesn’t need an intelligent designer …

Imagine you are little kid - and suddenly strangers arrive at your home and tell your parents you are the next Dalai Lama or some other spiritual higher being. Then you are fucked. Your childhood - gone. The chance to be a normal person - gone. The ability to develop and lead a boring life - gone.

You will be trained and indoctrinated according to some old tradition. You will continue a line of people and rulers you never met and maybe never wanted to meet.

Is this really the continuation of a spiritual line or simply the total rape of a young life in the name of religion? It’s certainly nice to breed your leader according to your ‘books’ - but is it real?

It is amazing how deep dualistic thinking is entrenched in western thinking, culture and most of all language. We love pairing opposite concepts: up & down, good & evil, left & right, north & south …

How boring and most of all WRONG. Life is a bit more complicated then rhetorical polarities and mental compartments. Reality doesn’t work in words - it’s simply there. To be experienced and not to be judged with simple concepts or believe systems. So if you want to free yourself - then first of all get rid of old mental patterns, mental scales and system to sort the world into.

A free person is a person without systems or words. A tough assignment for any modern mind, which is filled with a gazillion concepts, meanings, explanations and metaphors.

American TV show about a Christian white male trying to be a Muslim for 30 days. This is fun … more or less …

From Wikipedia: In Hinduism, a mudra (Sanskrit literally “seal”) is a symbolic gesture made with the hand or fingers. Along with asanas (postures), they are employed in yoga meditation practice. Each mudra has a specific meaning, and they are a central part of Hindu iconography. With the onset of Buddhism, many mudra practices were absorbed into the culture. Common hand gestures are to be seen in both Hindu and Buddhist iconography. An example would be the outward-facing open palm known as Abhay (without fear) mudra, a gesture meant to dispel the fear of the devotee.

More? Mudras in pictures and another one.

Meditation is still trendy and cool - and gets even more acceptance in the western world. But why do people meditate? Often they join groups and classes without a religious context or spiritual goals. Do they meditate to get their minds off things or stress? Or simply to switch off? But what is the best reason to meditate? To find god? To find yourself? To find tranquillity? Or to find nothing at all?

Finally some serious videos about spirituality and on how to meditate. Let’s hope more teachers embrace modern technology and spread the good work over the intranets. Enjoy!

European classical music is great - when you ignore about a thousand years of religious singsang. Literally for centuries composers were obliged to repeat the same topics over and over again: kyrie eleison (Greek for ‘Lord have mercy’) etc.

Musical freedom and the development of more complex music came AFTER the catholic church had lost it’s stranglehold on ‘popular culture of the middle ages’. Actually the protestant revolution actually helped a lot to trigger that change.

Today when we hear real and fake Gregorian Monks chant it - it sooths our hectic souls. The new age movement has totally swallowed that old Christian groove. There are even pop versions of it - the group ‘Enigma’ has made a very healthy living from it.

But overall have you heard one Kyrie Eleison you heard them all.

More? Kyrie @ Wikipedia

Oh, Lord thanks for the inspiration for this spiritual allegory. I will write about a young man and his path of love. A strong love that will make him worthy to be your son. This story will be a strong and idealistic symbol - a symbol so clear and easy to understand that many people will follow the idea. Everybody will understand that it is only a spiritual story … hopefully …

Too bad I wasn’t around for a year - since there have been so many nice sex scandals in the USA with the defenders of Family Values and Anti-Gayness … the Republican party. Funny enough all these white middle aged farts are oppressed souls who preach against their own sinful lives: Ted Haggart - the drug addicted gay prostitute shagger, Lary Craig - the toilet surfing Senator and Mark Foley - the fan of young stiff male flesh.

Ah, the irony.

But still the word liberal is used as an insult over there and compassion is only a thing for rich people. When will these americans ever wake up and smell the abuse?

This conflict has been ranging since 2003 longer then WWII - and it won’t go away any day soon. Hardly anyone supports this war in the US of A. Finally all american magazines, TV stations and almost all political pundits have turned from being pro-war to anti-war … or at least do some more serious reporting.

Europe has been much more critical from the beginning - since we cheese eating surrender monkeys had our fair share of it.

This is the first blogged war: soldiers, voters, journalists and civilians tell their stories in a gazillion postings. YouTube has tons of war pr0n and charming calls for peace …

I dare to ask: made it ANY difference?

The Bloggers have lost this war. No matter how well these arm chair activists have debunked every talking point of President Shrub and his cronies - the war is still raging. The political fallout was minimal, because the US Democrats are spineless and the american public mostly ignorant for what is done in their name.

Overall it is almost amusing how the political american left and right blogosphere has used the war to establish itself - celebrating it’s self proclaimed importance. This is satire at best when I read the continuing phoney rage against the war and the political opponents.

Muuuu … there is cash for you!

Discussing the war is now a business and therefore contributes to the economy of the industrial military complex. Daily Kos profited as much from it as Michelle Malkin.

Although politicians read blogs and have their own it is still money that makes the political system go round. Grass roots poltical funding has made the Howard Dean a phenomenon in the 2004 US elections, but it has turned just into another cash cow. And the biggest and baddest money fountains are still in the hands of companies and lobby groups.

So blogs are just political opinions and unless you can translate that into serious money and votes it won’t change ANYTHING.