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Tag Archives: Religious extremism
Origins and Orthodoxy
Posted on August 18, 2016 by Professor Taboo
The six of us were all sitting around the kitchen table discussing time-travel and the effects of gravity on time itself. A good friend of the family repeated once again what she had stated earlier, "It is all merely philosophy and theory." The word speculation would probably have been another word she would have approved and used. My political and respectful(?) response was "But how will we learn and know if we don't GET OUT THERE and collect the actual data?" She agreed.
You see, our sweet good friend comes from a long maternal ancestral line of Protestant evangelical fundamental Christian indoctrination. She has not known any other lifestyle or worldview her entire life of 32-years. Because of this and also where I currently reside — the Hill Country towns of central Texas and nearer a few of my extended family — I am confronted daily or weekly with this religious mindset and way of life which they automatically assume to be true and right from generations after generations, after generations. I ask… should we not get out there, explore, examine, scrutinize, and always ask the hardest questions in order to arrive at the most plausible truths? I think so.
From 1983 to 2002 "getting out there" was exactly what I set out to do regarding a real God, the Christian bible, then the Hebrew bible, and more recently the Quran. This post and some of my other related blog-posts are what I discovered over those 19-years and counting. This post is another condensed study and research from those years based on 20 scholars listed in this supporting Bibliography Library-Page, as well as my personal experiences with fundamental Christian evangelists, extended family, apologists and one particular Hindi futeboller from Kashmir, India. My purpose for writing another post about biblical fundamentalism, particularly Christian, is simple. Share with the public and anyone interested just how few questions are asked about the roots of earliest Christianity under the contextual dominance of the early through late epochs of the Imperial Roman Empire. It is safe to assume that mainstream Christianity, if not church leadership too, are naïve of their own faith's history and origins.
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The Nature of God?
How does a person learn who God is, what She/He/It is like, and how do we know it is truly God and not some imposter or auditory or visual hallucination? This question of course presupposes that a God exists in the first place. Ignoring this a priori step in the process of logic and reasoning would be a serious mistake. However, for the sake of time and subject matter, I will not go into the existence or non-existence of God. For a plethora of reasons much of the world believes God or a Supreme Being exists anyway.
Therefore, assuming a God(s) does exist, how can we know this God? Morgan Freeman's recent National Geographic mini-series The Story of God was pretty well received by audiences and critics as Freeman and his team traveled the world gathering various cultural perspectives of God. I Google-searched the question "How can we know God?" and it returned these first 10 resources, out of about 483,000,000 results:
"How to Know God Personally —
What does it take to begin a relationship with God? Devote yourself to unselfish religious deeds? Become a better person so that God will accept you?
You may be surprised that none of those things will work. But God has made it very clear in the Bible how we can know Him.
The following principles will explain how you can personally begin a relationship with God, right now, through Jesus Christ…"
(from the Campus Crusade for Christ International website)
From the Joyce Meyer Ministries website "Everyday Answers"…
"There was a time in my life when I struggled with all types of fears and insecurities, constantly worried about the future, my job, my ministry, and my family. Needless to say, I wasn't really enjoying my life!
However, over time, the Lord helped me to change… and He helped me understand an important key to truly enjoying life. It all begins with what the apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:10… something I believe we should all pray regularly…
"[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him…understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly]…" (AMP)."
From the Got Questions Ministries website…
"How can I get to know God better?" —
Answer: Everyone knows that God exists. "God has made it plain" that He is real, "for since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse" (Romans 1:19-20). Some try to suppress the knowledge of God; most try to add to it. The Christian has a deep desire to know God better (Psalm 25:4). — by J.I. Packer
(the next 7 paragraphs reference the Christian bible 13-times)
From the In Touch Ministries website…
"Getting To Know God" —
Did you know God wants to show you more of Himself every day? Does your time with the Lord revitalize you, or does it feel more like a ritualistic experience? In Hosea 6:6, God is clear: "I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
(the next 6 directives reference the Christian bible 3-times)
From the Every Student website…
"What does it take to begin a relationship with God? —
Wait for lightning to strike? Devote yourself to unselfish religious deeds? Become a better person so that God will accept you? NONE of these. God has made it very clear in the Bible how we can know Him. This will explain how you can personally begin a relationship with God, right now…"
(the rest of the page references the Christian bible 16-times)
And jumping to the 10th result on the Harvest Ministries website…
"Know God —
You were created to know God in a personal way—to have a relationship with Him, through His Son, Jesus Christ. How do you start a relationship with God?"
(the following 4 step procedure references the Christian bible in every step)
Noticing the pattern? The bible, the bible, the bible, and repeatedly the bible apparently has all the answers to knowing God. There doesn't seem to be any tangible physical meeting of God where you actually see God, or hear Her/His/Its voice, you cannot call God up for an interview, nor is there a global standard of where to find God or how to find God's collective global nature from any of these websites… except, in the Bible.
This has been my own experience when asking faith-followers these questions about God. In other words, the more people asked, there seems to be more than just one simple version of God! Hmmm. Maybe what should be asked is what "version" of God is most popular in the world?
According to www.Adherents.com and other sources, the world's largest religion by population is Christianity (2.1 billion), followed by Islam (1.5 billion), then the Non-religious or unaffiliated (1.1 billion), Hinduism (900 million), Chinese Traditional (394 million), and Buddhism at 376 million respectively. As a result of popularity then, let's look more closely at the Christian version of knowing God. How can it be done?
Throughout the lore and archaeological evidence of humans, when a divine spirit or Supreme Beings disclosed themselves to people, or something about existence, or about the world, in theological terms that is often defined as revelation. Because video and audio technology did not exist 50,000 years ago when forms of verbal human language began, and institutionalized morality only began long after around 10,200 BCE in the Neolithic Period, we cannot know the types of divine revelations that took place. Prior to the start of human writing (cuneiform) 5,000 years ago or around 3,000 BCE, there was still no video or audio technology available to literally record gods or God. Only rituals, song and dance, and oral traditions passed to descendants in various chiefdoms and tribes in ancient Egypt, Sumeria, and Mesopotamia were the way to know about God or gods.
Kesh Temple Hymn tablet
Today, one of the oldest known religious texts is the Kesh Temple Hymn from ancient Sumer which dates to around 2,600 BCE. Yet, other than Sumerian admonishments the hymn offers only glimpses and inference into their gods. The other oldest religious text — the Egyptian Pyramid Texts — was carved into the walls of the pyramids at Saqqarah and date to around ca. 2400–2300 BCE. However, these Egyptian texts do not reveal any specific ways to know the gods other than again by inference.
As a result of very very ancient oral traditions or storytelling, and very ancient cuneiform inferences, both from an area of the ancient world covering over 1.5 million sq. miles, how then do Christians today really know God? Are all of them experts in palaeography and epigraphy and their interpretations? Of course not. Do they speak regularly with those deceased Neolithic Sumerian, Egyptian, Mesopotamian storytellers, or ancient Hebrew, Arabian, or Greek orators? Of course not. It would be wise, therefore, to better understand what exactly it is and why Christians place so much unquestioning faith and belief in 1) a religion based on ancient storytelling, 2) widespread fluid (imprecise) cuneiform art, 3) a couple or three very small Hebrew tribes from the ancient Middle East, and followed by 4) more letters and stories about a man's life and teachings recorded 60 to 110 years AFTER the actual events occurred in the 2nd century CE.
The Fertile Crescent
Yet, despite this precarious framework of revelation, a great number of evangelical fundamental Christians would disagree with my above assessment. Why?
Special Communion
They disagree because they and apparently 2.1 billion in the world proclaim that God CAN be known. They disagree because God has made Herself/Himself/Itself available to be communed with through two or more methods. If anyone can list and explain more than these two methods, please feel free to share in the comments below! Nevertheless, take a large enough sample of those 2.1 billion Christ-believers — similar to hearing a complete sentence on the trading-floor of the New York Stock Exchange during heavy screaming — and one can start to narrow the methods down. I will borrow from Theopedia.com to explain…
General Communion/Revelation – "Also known as Universal revelation, general revelation deals with how God can be understood through his creation. More specifically, this can be manifest in physical nature, human nature, and history."
Special Communion/Revelation – "is distinguished from general revelation in that it is direct revelation from God. Examples include God's direct speech to various people (e.g., prophets; cf. 2 Peter 1:20-21), the incarnation (cf. Hebrews 1:1-2), and the Bible. Such revelation is sufficient to communicate the gospel, unlike general revelation, and thus salvation is possible only through special revelation."
Is General Communion/Revelation adequate to authenticate evidence of a God as Christians claim from Romans 1:19-20? The controversy over this religious tenet versus human reasoning (science?) started way before 2nd century CE Christianity and as early as the 7th century BCE in Mesopotamia by Assyrian and Babylonian astronomers.
The lethal controversy was over the purpose or reason for lunar eclipses. The Assyrian-Babylonian priests believed that lunar eclipses were evil omens and vindictive restlessness of the gods directed against their kings. However, due to hundreds of centuries of recorded astronomical data, by the 1st century BCE Babylonian astronomers knew an upcoming lunar eclipse would happen on May 28th, 585 BCE at sunset. In fact, their mathematical calculations were accurate within a couple of minutes! The astronomers had calculated the 18 year and 11.3 day (223 synodic month) interval between lunar eclipses. This suggested that the eclipses had a natural (scientific) cause. If lunar eclipses were predictable, then the Babylonians could appoint a temporary king (likely through coercion) who would accept the horrible wrath of the gods, thus saving the real king from a death-omen.
The most famous controversy of church tenets versus human reasoning and mathematics was between Galileo Galilei (1564-1642 CE) and the second organized Christian church, the Roman Catholic Church. As most already know, Galileo was tried and convicted as a heretic by the church for his correct Heliocentric system of our solar system. It made no difference though, God's Holy Church and Testaments infallibly ruled. It wasn't until over 350 years after Galileo's death that the church addressed their 'mishap':
"… Pope John Paul II gave an address on behalf of the Catholic Church in which he admitted that errors had been made by the theological advisors in the case of Galileo. He declared the Galileo case closed, but he did not admit that the Church was wrong to convict Galileo on a charge of heresy …"
— National Center for Biotechnology Information, October 1992
Therefore, given that the physical world has not and cannot be wholly described at a moment in time as monistic evidence, or substance monism/Neoplatonism, for evidence of God — i.e. one creation by one source during the sixth day of creation while new species are being discovered and others going extinct every decade or century — this leaves us with only Special Communion/Revelation to know God.
As stated by Theopedia and most Christian-believers, Special Communion/Revelation is their firm foundation for knowing and experiencing the Judeo-Christian God. This communion has three components:
Direct speech – through past and present prophets carried by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).
The Incarnation – through the birth, life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Holy Bible – a communal collection of ancient writings breathed by God which comprise the sixty-six books of both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
For the sake of my reader's time and mine, I will make brief comments on the first two special-revelation components which I hope will cause anyone to examine or reexamine their dubious implications. Following those comments we will finally delve into the origins and developments of the Christian Bible.
Direct speech
By popular definition prophets hear or sense the voice of God directly then obey. Innumerable documented examples reside both in ancient and modern history. About 1,550 BCE the prophet Joshua was told by God to go conquer the land and people across the Jordan River (Joshua 1:1-6), killing all the men, women, and children (Joshua 6:21). After Jericho was razed, on the further commands of God Joshua then razed the town of Ai, killing 12,000 men and women (Joshua 8:24-28). Genocide is not the only command by God either, mass suicide is also spoken by God to the more faithful zealous followers. At the fortress of Masada in 73 CE led by the apocalyptic prophet Eleazar ben Yair, though details are debateable, 960 Jewish revolutionaries committed suicide/murder for their God rather than endure enslavement by Rome.
Jones (left) and Koresh
In modern history three iconic prophets also followed God's direct speech for mass suicide of all their most faithful zealous followers. They do not need any elaboration here. They were Jim Jones in Jonestown, Guyana (Nov. 1978) of 918 followers — nearly 300 were children — Marshall Applewhite in Rancho Santa Fe, CA (March 1997) convincing 39 followers, and David Koresh in Waco, TX (April 1993) leading 85 followers — 22 of them children/teenagers — to their mass suicide/incineration.
In a 2007 co-authored article by Erich Follath (diplomatic journalist), Manfred Müller, Ulrich Schwarz (theologian), and Stefan Simons (Spiegel Online correspondent) entitled "Following Divine Orders" which focuses on the Age Old irresistible appeal of religiosity for fanatics, or rather those who are not moderate or "luke warm" about their beliefs:
"According to the three Abrahamic faiths, God only revealed the truth about Himself, humankind and the world to their respective religion; it is therefore recorded separately in their holy scriptures: the Hebrew Bible (the Torah, or Old Testament to Christians), the Christian New Testament and the Islamic Koran.
These [bibles] contain countless contradictions. Both the Koran and the Bible's Old and New Testaments bear witness to a good and merciful God. They urge humans to live in peace and harmony. This is reflected most clearly in the instruction attributed to Jesus in the Hebrew Bible: "Love thy neighbor as thyself."
But these messages of brotherhood clash with sentiments that condone intolerance and violence: "For I came to set a son against his father, a daughter against her mother …"; "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me"; "Do not think that I came to bring peace on Earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword." The prophet Mohammed also delivered harsh threats from Allah: "Fear the fire prepared for the infidels."
Throughout history, the Abrahamic religions' claim of absolute authority has exerted an irresistible appeal on fanatics, encouraging them to impose their own faith on nonbelievers and dissidents alike – if need be by using fire and the sword. To this day, nearly all religions supply the kindling that fuels wars and acts of persecution, sparks torture and murder, and inflames ethnic hatred. Examples abound: the bloody wars between Hindus and Muslims in India, or the enmity between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia.
For centuries, it seemed that the Abrahamic religions had come to terms with – and discarded – extremism. In the case of Christianity, this dates back to the Enlightenment, when the symbiosis between church and state collapsed and a new system of ethics emerged – one that was independent of faith in God and derived solely from social consensus."
Those above examples of ancient and modern direct divine revelation seriously beg the questions What exactly is the Holy Spirit and how is it (a prophet) accurately tested for authenticity? Anyone who wishes to answer these questions, good luck! I do NOT envy you. There are as many various definitions of the Holy Spirit/False Prophet debate by Christians as there are species and sub-species in the animal kingdom! It is truly unimaginable. Suffice it to say here that almost all Christ-believers, scholars and laypersons alike, ultimately and exclusively refer to their Bibles for definitive Holy Spirit or non-Holy Spirit answers. Naturally, that only leads to more questions. Therefore, "direct speech" is not a religious consensus to really knowing God.
Greek soccer fans
It is worth mentioning, the fields of psychology, neurology, and sociology have many theoretical studies associating heightened religious behaviour due to Temporal lobe epilepsy and minor forms of schizophrenia, and sociologists have found that social God-constructs can persuade individuals into states of euphoria because of large numbers of people acting together in a strongly shared belief — crowd psychology or mass hysteria, also known as Mass Psychogenic Disorder/Hysteria. Huge sporting events are good examples of this phenomena. Extreme isolation can have similar effects of hyper-religiosity and paranormal hallucinations, sometimes negative.
In theological terms, this is simply God in and as Jesus Christ; both God and man simultaneously. The first grave problem with this Christian doctrine is that it is based upon only "Christian-biased" historical sources and traditions riddled with inconsistencies. In other words, who and what Jesus of Nazareth was historically between 6-4 BCE and 30-36 CE, the generally agreed upon lifespan, cannot be verified with absolute certainty outside of the Christian Synoptic Gospels. Many Christian apologists vehemently claim that writings by Flavius Josephus, Pliny the Younger, and Tacitus are non-Christian evidence for the historicity of Jesus. F. Josephus, however, was not completely unbiased about the new Jesus-Movement called The Way by Judean-Christians; he too was involved in 1st century CE Jewish Messianism as a Pharisee. Pliny and Tacitus were indeed Roman and non-Christian, but their very brief mentions are about Christians as a whole, rather than a biography about a specific person named Jesus.
Therefore, the best that Christian-believers can hope for regarding an actual verifiable incarnation of God through Jesus of Nazareth is by Christian scribes and followers 30-90 years after his death based on oral-storytelling traditions. That is the closest that honest scholarship can provide at this time, and beyond that is a question of individual faith within crowd psychology. This now leaves us only with the Bible… what the doctrines of Direct speech and The Incarnation frequently must reference anyway.
The Canonical Bible
Many modern Christians are unaware of the origins, early development, and the 2nd and 3rd century CE controversies surrounding the final compilation of their Bibles. Some believers might even think their bible suddenly dropped out of heaven long long ago after God finished writing the 66 books, never thinking to ask "Why just 66 books? Why not 40 or 10 simple books?" And honestly, orthodoxed American society today, including many Christians, know very little of the ancient world of Jesus, the Levant, and the Fertile Crescent.
The birthplace of Jesus was Judea, the Jewish province ruled by Rome. Divided by intense religious factionalism, the people of Judea, as well as Galilee, Idumea, Nabatea, and Perea were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Messiah and God's salvation. First century CE Romans would have encountered a large mix of traditions and philosophies in this world. The Hebrews had for many centuries suffered foreign invasions and been harshly buffeted by powerful external cultural forces. The most potent of these was Alexander the Great's Greek civilization supported by several centuries of Hellenistic overlords in Egypt and Syria.
The Jews in these regions were divided over subjects ranging from the legitimacy of the priesthood to the acceptance of certain books into the Hebrew Canon. The Essenes rejected the priesthood entirely. Samaritans formulated their own unique doctrines. Various cadres of Jewish zealots pledged themselves to the expulsion of the Romans. Sadducees made up their prestige with the aristocratic clans making up the priesthood in Jerusalem and exclusive supervision of the Temple. They rejected the books of the Prophets and Writings and also became more ingratiated with Herod and Roman governors who eventually granted them local rule in the Sanhedrin. The Pharisees were more progressive than the Sadducees in that they not only accepted those books, but also believed in angels, demons, resurrection, and — like the Essenes and other groups — passionately in the coming of the Messiah, e.g. the Apostle Paul. The Pharisees also had grown a body of unrecorded commentary on Hebrew Scriptures and rulings by Jewish sages. This was intended to help Jews adapt the ancient Law of Moses to the circumstances of their own time.
Essentially, roots of the Christian New Testament began during this period of great Jewish disunity, alienation, isolation, and confusion before anything Christian was written down. Once Christ-followers began recording an anthology or testaments of Jesus' parables, prophetic and wisdom teachings, and exhortations — by around 150 CE (over a century after Jesus' death) — there was no less than 42 testaments or gospels for Christian teachings which were freely circulating as opposed to just 27-books in today's New Testament. The formulation of the Hebrew Bible, i.e. the Old Testament, went through similar reconfigurations between 500 BCE and 70 CE, i.e. approximately 600 years!
Naturally, all this diversity and variety of who and what the Nazarene was caused more confusing fractures among outlying Christians and Judean-Christians for centuries! It is like trying to answer "What is an American?" today in one single description from 324+ million citizens. To learn more about the various origins of Nazarene-Nasorean-Nasara-Nazirite, go here to my bibliography subpage: The Nasara-Nazirites.
1st & 2nd century Roman Empire
Authoritative or Not Authoritative?
For over three and a half centuries (between 337 and 389 years!) after Jesus' death, there existed no standardized written collection about Jesus' ministry or precisely what he did or taught. Everything known about him (and not known) was by word-of-mouth across 2,000 sq. miles. What is more dubious and astounding is that what little there was written down about Jesus' message was by a foreigner, a Hellenistic Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus who had never once met Jesus in the flesh, in person. No surprise, after Saul's 'paranormal conversion' to "The Way" on the road to Damascus, he fell into serious conflict with the Council of Jerusalem headed by Jesus's next-in-line brother James, Peter, Cornelius, and other Judean-Christian leaders who had personally known Jesus quite well compared to Saul. Yet, today Pauline-Christianity (aka Saul) predominates the New Testament, seminaries, and modern churches. James Tabor, professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, writes about this heavy influence from a near total stranger to the Jerusalem leaders… and their and Jesus' Neo-Jewish teachings. Tabor states:
The fundamental doctrinal tenets of Christianity, namely that Christ is God "born in the flesh," that his sacrificial death atones for the sins of humankind, and that his resurrection from the dead guarantees eternal life to all who believe, can be traced back to Paul — not to Jesus…
In contrast, the original Christianity before Paul is somewhat difficult to find in the New Testament, since Paul's 13 letters predominate and Paul heavily influences even our four Gospels. Fortunately, in the letter of James, attributed to the brother of Jesus, as well as in a collection of the sayings of Jesus now embedded in the Gospel of Luke (the source scholars call Q), we can still get a glimpse of the original teachings of Jesus…
What we have preserved in this precious document is a reflection of the original apocalyptic proclamation of Jesus: the "Gospel of the kingdom of God" with its political and social implications.
— Christianity Before Paul, The Huffington Post, November 2012 cited Aug. 16, 2016 at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-d-tabor/christianity-before-paul_b_2200409.html
With this and other additional alternative extant evidence, one has to ask "What formula was used some 300-years later to configure and reconfigure the vast oral and written testaments/gospels of Jesus?" Hitherto is a list of the most significant testaments/gospels about Jesus of/the Nazareth/Nazarene out of approx. 130 known writings not present in the New Testament today:
For a more complete list of the many known writings of Jesus and his earliest followers, go to the NNU Wesley Center's page of Non-Canonical Literature.
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Apostolic Fathers and the Canon Formula
Signs that much of these various Jesus-literatures had been accepted as authoritative by church leaders and early Christian congregations as early as the 1st and 2nd centuries CE appear in the letters of the Apostolic Fathers. During these centuries of the new upcoming churches, no official creed or universally accepted liturgy existed. In the following paragraphs, notice the similarities from the first churches to modern-day Christian churches.
The biggest and most heated controversy was a newer version of an old Jewish sectarian problem: Are the Hebrew Laws, Prophets, and Writings above, below, or void in light of Paul's Hellenistic teachings — deeds or faith? Another ongoing spinoff debate was the Gnostic challenge: There are two dualistic worlds and two Gods, and there was no Incarnation, explained as follows:
The World of Darkness was created by an inferior God, the Hebrew God, and so the Hebrew scriptures were rejected or severely de-emphasized.
Material aspects of this Dark World, including the human body, were burdens that humanity was forced to endure by the Hebrew God.
The World of Light and Knowledge was ruled by a Supreme Being. Salvation was possible only through gnosis of this divine world and the Supreme Being's mysteries, but salvation was available only to some, not all. Some Gnostics had a three-tiered class system too.
There was No Incarnation because he was not the Son of the inferior Hebrew God, nor did he become a man, suffer human pain, or die on a cross. Resurrection was merely a spiritual linking of the soul with the World of Light and had nothing to do with a human body.
Because Pauline Orthodoxy had the support of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, and their power and influences of those churches and bishops, by the 4th century CE the Gnostics would quickly be labelled heretics and harshly hunted down and most all their holy literature burned. With the four strongest episcopal sees in the Roman Empire, Ignatius, Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Hermas, and their colleagues along with their heavy power and influence… the weaker episcopal sees around the Empire and the remaining Jewish-Christians in and around Jerusalem simply could not stand up to the might of Hellenistic Constantinian Rome.
Victors and Emperors Always Make the "Authoritative" Laws and Histories
Walter Benjamin posited that "History is written by the victors." Historical records of major social, national, economic, ethnic, or religious upheavals and cleansings bear this philosophy out to some/large degrees. And so with his maternal-influenced-miracle-based sanction of the "official" Christianity, Emperor Constantine not only led the Roman Empire, but was also Head (Pope?) of the Church. He called for unity as a whole within the Church and agreement on its scriptures. Easier said than done inside one of history's largest empires.
There were no less than seven failed attempts to form an official universal Bible. On the eighth failed attempt by Eusebius of Caesarea at the request of Emperor Constantine, Eusebius' rejection of the popular Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Matthias; the Acts of Andrew, of Paul and of John; the Shepard of Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas; the Didache, 1 and 2 Clement; and the Apocalypse of Peter… got his configuration rejected (see Table of Canonical Debate below). His reasons for classifying certain texts as questionable or spurious had revealed the basic formula for inclusion. Probably more important for him was a writing's perceived apostolic authorship, though its antiquity and orthodoxy were also of significant consequence. Study closely the following table…
Athanasius of Alexandria wrote his Easter letter to the churches and monasteries in his diocese identifying the books they were to include in the testaments. Athanasius was one of the more flamboyant patriarchs. He was exiled from his pentarchy five times leading back to the Council of Nicaea due to his unyielding defense and decisions to compromise with other Roman patriarchs (which at times included Eusebius) over controversial points of Christian doctrine. His canon had been later confirmed by the church in Rome in 405 CE, in 393 at Hippo Regius in North Africa, and in Carthage twice, in 397 and then again after the growing Gnostic churches in 419 CE in reaction to the intensifying debate regarding James, Jude, and Hebrews. The Syrians used the Diatessaron as their canon for another 50-years. The Ethiopian church continues to this day to recognize a book of Clement and several other non-canonical books of liturgy. Though the various pentarchy churches had made ground toward unity, it is important to know they were never in absolute agreement on the New Testament canon and Christian doctrines.
Notice from the above Table how even the seven Patriarchs, who were themselves understudies to the Apostolic Fathers, after 300 years still did NOT completely agree on what God's Son, the Messiah, and the new and old messages was suppose to mean to all people. Yet Constantine, his bishops, and propraetors had to have orthodoxy — a long standing Greco-Roman political tradition.
It wasn't until around 400-419 CE and centuries of compromise and more compromise that the final configuration of the Christian New Testament was officially closed — closed by the declaration of the Emperor, put into law, and enforced by the torches and swords of his Roman Legions. For a God who is proclaimed as omnipotent, omniscient, and infallible, and whose traits are "proven" in the special revelations of the Canonical Bible, raises the glaring question:
Why was there three centuries of confusion, fracturing, and compromise among its early most prolific theologians… and even still to this day!?
For Jews and Christians alike, study of the Scriptures has often been an end to itself — a simple act of devotion — rather than an exercise in absolute truth. These peaceful moderates likely realize today that human interpretation, interpolation, and orthodoxy (individual or group) cannot create an inerrant testimony of the nature of a God, nor of the full nature and teachings of a Jew named Jesus based from ancient oral traditions and differing literature spread over multiple centuries… or from differing regional cultures over 2,000 sq. miles. From an early date, believers then also began to scrutinize the Bible for what it had to say to their own generation and community along with their prolific leaders. Exegesis back then was done for purposes of preaching, pastoral care, formulating codes of behavior, and finding answers to theological and ethical questions not explicitly addressed by the texts.
As it happens today, inevitably back in Antiquity, disagreements arose — over importance of texts, their relative authority to the community, how to account for known inconsistencies and contradictions, and how to explain confusing biblical stories. Like our dear family friend in the kitchen at the beginning, both sides of the debates were probably saying to each other, "Your posture is all merely philosophy and theory." But orthodoxy nonetheless developed, often based on a pseudo-definite set of human-like rules or patterns regarding multiple meanings and levels of meaning. To imagine there to be just one universal way, one universal lifestyle, one universal truth (e.g. John 14:6), one universal orthodoxy extracted from these millenia of "divine revelations" then and now… is not only an attempt to force a square peg into a round hole, but it is a blatant denial and/or ignorance of historical facts, wide-ranging scholarly critical thinking, reasoning, and probability, and/or a lack of deeper persistent curiosity.
Or it could be only tunnel-vision "faith." Right? (wink)
Blog-posts for additional information:
—Constantine: Christianity's True Catalyst/Christ
—The Suffering Messiah That Wasn't Jesus
—Correcting the Gospels of Jesus
—Masada, Texas: How Egos and History Repeat
—The "Holy" River
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Constructive Provoking?
Posted on March 21, 2015 by Professor Taboo
President Ronald Reagan and his widow and former First Lady Nancy Reagan are familiar icons of American politics. What are some of the first things that come to mind when reflecting back on his presidency, administration, foreign policy, and his stance on social issues? Take a minute to remember some of the things he and Nancy were well-known to represent and implement.
President Reagan is noted for supply-side economics pushing a laissez-faire philosophy, freer-market or less-regulated market, and significant reductions in individual tax rates for Americans. He is also noted for escalating the Cold War with the Soviet Union driving their economy bankrupt by attrition. Another notable mark by Reagan's presidency is his staunch fight and campaign to return vocalized prayers in public schools, later reduced to a "moment of silence" due to opposition by the Supreme Court and Congress. President Reagan is highly regarded in conservative Right politics and economics. This is also the family environment that sons Ron and Michael, and daughters Patti Davis, Maureen, and Christine Reagan grew up. Their father continues to be a favorite historical figure of American conservatism. But that's the public image, the general image usually portrayed. Examining closely the Reagan family dynamics with his four children, things are anything but conservatively unanimous and smooth. For a brief family background of the Reagans by PBS.org, click here.
Ron P. Reagan
In fascinating contrast to Reaganism, Ronald Prescott Reagan, son of the former President, joined forces with the Freedom From Religion Foundation in 2009. In May 2014 a controversial advertisement aired with Ron Reagan addressing the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions to legally allow government bodies to impose Christian prayer onto everyone at the opening of public meetings as well as other such intrusions beyond and outside of church-related activities and business. Here is the advertisement…
Constructive Change and How To Implement It
"In a gentle way, you can shake the world." The same man said, A people become great exactly in the degree in which they work for the welfare of others. Mahatma Gandhi was perhaps the most prolific philanthropist and social activist of the modern era. All of his remarkable social change, democratic human rights movement, and struggle for independence from the Great British Empire were made and staunchly taught non-violently. Never did he himself raise a hand nor take up arms against the powers-at-be to facilitate the necessary change. He did it even in the face of cruel demeaning rhetoric and/or physical beatings by opposition. He allowed the arrogant self-righteous to become monsters and eventually self-destruct. Gandhi was the epitomy of proper change and how to encourage it.
Though I am inline with much of the Freedom From Religion Foundation's mission statement and campaigns, here is my question and dilemma with Ron's final statement. When an ideology is CLEARLY wrong politically based upon our U.S. Constitution — that is the deterioration of separation of Church and State as Ron properly explains — is prodding or provoking or inflammatory comments to your opponents the best method to induce change? And even though Ron's patronizing of America's religious isn't physical violence, is it the BEST approach to initiate political and social change? Below I'd very much like to read your thoughts and comments about my question and Ron Reagan's ad.
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Posted in Civil Rights - Sociology - Politics	| Tagged Conservatism, Democracy, FFRF, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Political-change, President Reagan, Reagan children, Reagan family, Religious extremism, Ronald Reagan, Separation of Church and State, Social-change, Theocracy, U.S. Congress, U.S. Supreme Court	| 21 Replies
A Wider Lens
Posted on January 11, 2015 by Professor Taboo
For the sake of higher, broader awareness and education…
Though I am a history fanatic and quite familiar with the two world wars (politically and militarily), I watched an excellent 3-part series recently about events surrounding the World War I conflict, but it was NOT from the typical Western European perspective. It was from the "conscripted" perspective, or rather from the nations who were promised much from the principle Allied nations but in the end were grossly betrayed by them despite the enormous cost in life and blood of their own fathers and sons-in-arms.
As a 20th century born American, this was a perspective I knew very little about from my secondary schooling, collegiate years, or mainstream U.S. media. Today, out of necessity, I have completely relearned the events on my own accord. It wasn't too long into the study that I learned my naïvety was larger than I had expected. Humbled, I pursued a more broadly educated view for the sake of my right to vote, taxpayer-responsibility, and my now refined middle-aged American
citizenship and wisdom. Furthermore, it mattered because my own children could one day be faced with international conflicts and wars, or more disturbing, serve in my nation's armed forces in conflicts abroad that were created in 1917-18 and later 1947-48, or be casualties of future 9/11 attacks, and clueless about why! How is that possible you may ask!?
Naive is the democratic citizen who does not think their nation's foreign affairs influence or dictate their present economy, employment, and taxes, even their own family — whom could very well serve giving the "ultimate sacrifice" for that same nation's armed forces abroad. Very foolish is the same citizen who hasn't a firm grasp of the full history behind their nation's foreign affairs which led to and/or fuels conflicts abroad, and therefore perpetually binds and chains their national foreign policy, economy, employment, and taxes for near seventy years, seven decades, i.e. almost a century, with no end in sight. What has been the cost, both realized and still unrealized? The answer is likely much more than you and most could ever imagine.
I am currently reading (actually it is further reading) Alison Weir's acclaimed book, "Against Our Better Judgement: The hidden history of how the U.S. was used to create Israel." Some reviews on Weir's hard work:
"This provocative book documents a history that is essential in understanding today's world. Scholarly, yet readable, it is a must for all Americans. We all need to know what we have spent by coddling Israel and its aggressions, and why the cost has become more than we have bargained for."
— James Abourezk, former U.S. Senator
"The main messages from Weir's history are that the Jewish community has not legitimately needed a homeland-refuge from anti-Semitism and that Americans must take back their country by insisting that their elected officials place the interests of the United States before those of Israel."
— Karin Brothers, freelance writer for RINF.com
"The United States has a moral prestige in the Near and Middle East unequalled by that of any other great power. We would lose that prestige and would be likely for many years to be considered as a betrayer of the high principles which we ourselves have enunciated…"
— Loy Henderson, U.S. Senate Department
"Prodigiously documented… Alison Weir must be highly commended for throwing such a brilliantly hard light on the relationship between the United States and Israel. I hope this marvelous book gets all the attention it deserves."
— Ambassador Andrew Killgore, Publisher, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
If you are like me — a voting, taxpayer-responsible, loving parent, middle-aged (or not) American citizen who deeply cares about my local, state, and federal economy, jobs, tax-rates, and family members who serve, or could serve, in our armed forces — and you're EXHAUSTED about the U.S. constantly getting dragged into Near and Middle Eastern conflicts, then you will want, NO… you are vehemently required to learn the real roots of the blood-ridden region and history! Broaden your lens, broaden your perspective.
If you truly care about humanity and this life-giving and sustaining planet, by re-examining this history and its bridle on current affairs in the region, then you will discover just how much our nation's past is controlling our present and possibly your future generations! And hopefully, you can find the determination do something about it!
So it seems quite proper to close with this,
الله يكون معك
For starters, more information:
IfAmericansKnew.org
Behind the Balfour Declaration of 1917 – Institute for Historical Review
And my own references/blog-posts and their links:
Canaanites Killed & Removed From Native Lands
Religious Imperialism Alive Still
Posted in History - Religion - Education, Uncategorized	| Tagged Against Our Better Judgement, Al Jazeera America, Alison Weir, American foreign policy, Balfour Declaration, Canaan, Imperialism, Israel, Judaism, Palestine, Religion, Religious extremism, Symptoms of war, U.S. Foreign Affairs, War casualties, World War One Through Arab Eyes, Zionism	| 2 Replies
The "Holy" Rivers
Posted on September 22, 2013 by Professor Taboo
The Ganges River (or Ganga) in India has been the longest holiest river in any religion. Hinduism spans almost three millennia in the history of humanity and it is the longest surviving religion on the planet with more than 950 million followers. The Ganges River bears huge religious significance to the Hindu religion. The Goddess Ganga originates from the Gangotri glacier in the Hindu Himalayan mountains 13,451 feet above sea level and flows an incredible 1,569 miles to the Bay of Bengal. For 420 million people the river sustains life in the form of food, water, bathing, and agricultural irrigation. As a river the Ganges contributes to more than 25% of India's total water resources. It is the ONLY River in the world with such a massive impact and significance on so many lives.
The religious significance of the Ganges River to her people/followers cannot be overstated. Subhamoy Das from India writes from Ganga: Goddess of the Holy River:
"Hindus believe that rituals performed by the river Ganga multiply in their blessedness. The water of Ganges, called 'Gangajal' (Ganga = Ganges; jal = water), is held so sacred that holding this water in hand no Hindu dares to lie or be deceitful. The 'Puranas' or ancient Hindu scriptures say that the sight, the name, and the touch of Ganga cleanses one of all sins and taking a dip in the holy Ganga bestows heavenly blessings. The 'Narada Purana,' prophesied pilgrimages in the present Kali Yuga to the Ganges will be of utmost importance."
But the river is even more than just blessings and cleansings. Being on the banks of the Ganges has spiritual significance too:
"The land over which Ganga flows is regarded as hallowed ground. It is believed that those who die around this river reach the heavenly abode with all their sins washed away. The cremation of a dead body at the banks of Ganga or even casting the ashes of the deceased in its water is thought auspicious and leads to the salvation of the departed. The famous Ganga Ghats of Varanasi and Hardwar are known for being the holiest funeral detestation of the Hindus."
Today's River Ganges
Over at least the last four centuries the Holy River has become the most polluted river in the world. The very children, who suckle from her spiritual nipples, turn around and contaminate the very milk from which they suck oblivious to how tainted their holy water has become from the headwater of the Himalayas to the poisonous outfall into the Bay of Bengal.
Five major facts from a native Indian about the Holy Ganges River:
Approximately 1 billion liters of raw, untreated sewage are dumped in the river on a daily basis. The amount has more than doubled in the last 20 years and experts predict another 100% increase in the following 20 years. – See more at: http://www.all-about-india.com/Ganges-River-Pollution.html #sthash.f8rueAaD.dpuf
The rapid explosion of India's population in the last 25 years coupled with lax regulations on industry has put a huge strain on the river. – See more at: http://www.all-about-india.com/Ganges-River-Pollution.html #sthash.f8rueAaD.dpuf
Thousands of bodies are cremated on the banks of the river yearly with many being released into the river with hopes that their souls may have a direct path to heaven. – See more at: http://www.all-about-india.com/Ganges-River-Pollution.html #sthash.f8rueAaD.dpuf
Hundreds of unwanted or 'illegitimate' babies, cattle and other animal carcasses are also dumped in the Ganges again with religious significance – See more at: http://www.all-about-india.com/Ganges-River-Pollution.html #sthash.f8rueAaD.dpuf
The levels of coliform bacteria are over 2800 times the level considered safe by the W.H.O (world health organization). – See more at: http://www.all-about-india.com/Ganges-River-Pollution.html #sthash.f8rueAaD.dpuf
The religious, social, economic, and ecological impact of the Ganges River is so significant that should nothing be done to resolve its crisis, the devastation would reach most of the developed world on several major levels. Whether the river can be considered as holy and pure is an entirely different debate. Environmentally the river has become a major crisis. But the point of this post is not to address the obvious pollution of the river — the Indian people and their government must act — instead, the Ganges River will be my metaphor.
Before you read further, take a minute to ask and try to answer this question: What has been the cause of the great river's condition? How many causes can you list?
Like the Holy Ganges River – the Neolithic epigraphs (c. 9,800 BCE), shrines and figurines, then the practices, shrines, figurines, and epigraphs of the Indus Valley, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt (3,300 – 1,300 BCE), the earliest compositions of the Brahmanas (Hinduism) around 800 BCE, the recordings of Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism between 551 – 300 BCE, the Hebrew/Judaic (150 BCE) and Roman/Christian fragmented scriptures, or bible passages (c. 300 CE), and finally the Arabian/Muslim Quran (c. 640 CE) – have all traveled through time, collected various modifiers, additives, or contaminates, all resulting in significant derivatives from the original purest water. Click here for a more extensive timeline.
One would think that a youthful candidate-believer might think twice before drinking the, let's say, multifarious water, right?
Studies done from 2007 through 2011 in 40 countries around the world, including the United States show that the rational choice to adhere to a religion is heavily self-centered, not theological, not necessarily empirical, or not even miraculous, but instead based on the question, what will the decision cost ME?
One could then argue that the decision to adhere to a religion or religious lifestyle does involve adequate cognitive skills of survival servitude to peace and passivity, a noble cause; however, it lacks in higher rational thought and objective empirical simulation to achieve truth – that is cumulative truth for greater good as well as for a greater number.
Just because everyone seems to have a pet rock or smoke cigarettes doesn't mean it is best for 7.46 billion plus humans. It is probably the result of clever glamorous sales and marketing, or because the ramifications of swallowing the hook, line, and sinker river water have yet to play out.
But the tragedy irony of it all is that the holy river and the tributaries that feed her have been around for thousands of years collecting billions of ingredients. Worse yet, millions of consumers of the holy water have known of its additives, modifiers, and contaminants for well over two centuries and still choose to bathe in it, drink from it, and distribute it. Let's take a brief look at the various faith-stages downstream and their purity. However, for the sake of time, space, and effort I will not delve into the more peaceful tolerant religions (e.g. Buddhism) and their holy texts, but instead concentrate on the three major Abrahamic religions historically rout with violence and intolerance.
I have purposely put the following three Abrahamic religions in chronological order, top to bottom, oldest to newest because they all originate from ancient oral Judaism and earlier Neolithic practices. And like the Varanasi portion of the Ganges River, which originates from the Kanpur region, which originates before it in the Nepal Himalayas, so too Christianity, and more so Islam, are distant derivatives of oral Judaism.
Judaism – The Hebrew Scriptures
1st Temple of Solomon
The earliest written stories or narrations of the oral traditions of the Jewish people span about 13 centuries. Today's Hebrew bible probably reached its current form in the 2nd century CE. What is less well-known today is that in ancient Palestine, or the "Promised Land" to the Jews by the Hebrew God, writing was restricted to the rich nobility, governors, and high priests. It was also much too expensive for the illiterate masses which saw writing as magical and a gift from the gods; a long-held social tradition of governing. Manuscripts were the guarded knowledge of political and religious elites who were believed by the less educated commoners to be divine. William Schniedewind, the Kershaw Chair of Ancient Eastern Mediterranean Studies and Professor of Biblical Studies and Northwest Semitic Languages at UCLA, speaks about the formation of the early Hebrew Scriptures this way:
"Most biblical literature was written long before [586 – 539 BCE, the Babylonian exile]. However, the priests who took over the leadership of the Jewish community during this period preserved and edited biblical literature. Biblical literature became a tool that legitimated and furthered the priests' political and religious authority."
Notice he states "…preserved and edited" the manuscripts. Whether for political, economic, or religious status, oral stories put into biblical literature was contaminated edited by human priests-kings and their scribes. Therefore, it should be asked are the following passages from the Hebrew Bible a reflection of God, or a reflection of human writers/editors and their perceptions of their life and their world?
"Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them." (Num. 25:16-17)
"Go back and forth killing your brother and friend and neighbor" (Exod. 32:27)
"Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children" (Ezek. 9:6)
"I will wipe humankind…from the face of the Earth." (Gen. 6:7)
"Kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man" (Num. 31:17)
"Put to death men and women, children and infants" (1 Sam. 15:2-3)
And these six passages are just a small sampling of the Hebrew God portrayed in the Hebrew Scriptures. There are many more. One could compare this God to Satan or Hitler rather than a Father-figure with eternal love. But if the Jewish God is based on sacred ancient traditions and scriptures, and these passages were purposely kept and passed-on by the educated religious élite over 13 centuries as "sacred", then can this trait of the Hebrew God ever be overlooked? It begs the question, is it any wonder why Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, and Iraq have been at war, or at least political enemies, for 2,000 years? They follow a violent, jealous, dividing, warring God! Why?
Under this light, my metaphor – the holy Ganges River – has its early tributaries contaminated and we are not even past the first third of the river-timeline.
Christianity – The Gospels, Acts, Epistles and Apocalypse
Even though the Christian New Testament is the contaminated offspring of the above Hebrew Scriptures, traditions, monotheism, and laws, their decrees of adherence cannot be misunderstood. For instance:
"Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."" (John 14:6)
Tomb of the Garden, Jerusalem
In case there might be the slightest doubt of the implications of this verse (one of several), according to the early Judaic-Christian élite gospel writers, who many followers today believe are the inspired direct (God-breathed) words of the one and only almighty God, anyone other than a publicly proclaimed, spirit-filled Christian, has no entitlement, no ear to or heart from the one and only God in Heaven. In other words, this Christian God embitters and ignores everyone on Earth who isn't "Christian." Where does this theology originate I wonder?
Because the Christian-faith is downstream of Hebrew theology and Scripture over several centuries and cultural influences, here are a few problematic scriptural tenets:
Who, if any, have ever seen God?
"No one has seen God at any time…" (John 1:18)
"But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank." (Exodus 24:11)
"So Jacob called the place Peniel: "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."" (Gen. 32:30)
Does this God love or hate sinners?
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
"For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity." (Psalm 5:4-5)
How does one acquire eternal salvation?
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9)
"And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace…" (Rom. 11:6)
"You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only." (James 2:24)
Is a sinful creature created by a sinful Creator?
"(for you shall worship no other God, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)," (Exo. 34:14)
"Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies," (Gal. 5:19-20)
If it isn't apparent that the Christian New Testament has far too many baffling ancient oral and written tenets passed down to it from several writers from several centuries, then click here for a more complete (1,588 to be exact) list of contradictions.
It should come as no surprise that the Christian gospels, acts, and epistles – the Varanasi portion of the holy Ganges River if you will – cannot possibly be the pure perfect water of life and salvation as the original Neolithic, Indus, Mesopotamian, or Egyptian headwaters. Or is "purest water" even possible? Those four earliest civilizations didn't have alphabets! Communication was done by voice, song, body/hand motions, and epigraphs; a much more emotional form of communication primarily for governing, protection, and survival.
Islam – The Quran and Hadith
Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
I go on record admitting that as a Westerner, born in the United States and having traveled to most of the world EXCEPT Asia and those portions of northern and eastern Africa that are Muslim, I have a very limited understanding and knowledge of primary Islam. Therefore, it is quite difficult to get a concise consensual explanation of Islam from various sources in the West. Yet, this quandary falls in line with the point of this post: with so vast and so old a plethora of tributaries feeding the Ganges River, and Islam being at or near the river's outfall of Abrahamic religions and tenets, it should not be surprising. Islam too is not a monolithic religion and no one Muslim behaves as another. Yes, the river has become quite convoluted now.
Nevertheless, I want to be as fair and objective as possible. And who better to explain Islam than thousands of Muslims in a Gallup International poll inside 35 predominantly Muslim countries, and released by Unity Productions Foundation:
Another popular explanation of primary Islam is the plaque or card-flyer composed by Enver Musad in 1995 called The Truth About Islam. You may find it here. Unfortunately, like all the major world religions, not every Muslim adheres to one summary or interpretations of the Quran…again, supporting this post.
For the sake of time, space, and effort I will again condense the stigmas of Islam down to my three major issues:
#1 – Islam's earliest traditions and tenets come from contaminated problematic roots, as I've already explained.
#2 – The status and role of women (Sharia) in many Muslim countries.
It was only as recent as May 2005 (effective in 2007) that Kuwait allowed their women the right to vote and contest elections; and Kuwait is considered one of the more Westernized Islāmic nations. Most Muslim nations still do not give women political or social equality; a practice which has apparently continued since about 640 CE after the Quran was written. Why has it taken Muslim men some 1,400 years to interpret the Quran and resolve this? Then again, it has taken the Christian world almost as long to rectify it as well. Ah, the woes of an entirely contaminated holy river.
Corporal punishment of "rebellious" women has been a widely accepted practice based upon chapter 4, verse 34 of the Quran for centuries. However, only over the last several decades has it come under intense scrutiny. A simple Googling of the verse (e.g. WikiIslam's translation) demonstrates the confusion among Muslim scholars. Whether it is now changing or not doesn't compare to the 1,400 years of cultural Sharia, i.e. the upstream waters.
#3 – How same-sex equality is viewed by Islam and the Quran.
The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) list countries that enforce corporal punishment or imprisonment upon same-sex relationships and activities; the majority are Muslim countries.
As I've inferred in a couple of my posts and directly challenged scientifically the errancy of anti-same-sex, pro inequality groups and laws in my post Sexual & Gender Ambiguity: My Once Gross Ignorance, I take serious issue with any group or nation that allows the violation of personal civil-rights to choose their sexual activity or partner regardless of gender. There simply isn't the scientific facts to support such bigotry, hate, or even passive intolerance. Typically, the language of fervent religiosity, whether Jew, Christian, or Muslim, is evidently "above" mundane mortal science; as if Scripture and theology are impregnable and infallible. Science is sub-standard and unable to emit truths about this life, this planet, and its brilliant inhabitants.
At least the holy Scriptures of the three major Abrahamic religions all agree on the dubious "abomination." Specifically in the Quran, Sura 4:20-21, 7:80-84, 11:78-81, 26:162-168, 27:55-57, and 29:28-31 all generally infer separation from God and society. The Muslim Hadith (sayings attributed to Muhammad but not broadly endorsed as authentic by all Muslim scholars) is more pronounced on its abomination and punishment according to Sharia. At the very least, Islamic culture and society is intolerant of same-sex behaviors and relationships. This position is entirely because it is the offspring of Christianity and Judaism, the upstream. These three issues are just a sampling of other problematic edicts I find with Islam and monotheistic faiths.
You might be asking why any of this is relevant. It is relevant because most of the domestic and world political and social problems, including atrocities, are caused by ignorance ill-founded prejudices, elitism, segregation, and egocentric trans-generational teaching of those three ill-conceptions. Religious elitism, often discreetly projected behind political or military agendas, has fueled most of humanity's darkest most horrid events and eras.
Assuming the a priori condition of a God, one God does indeed exist, an additional question that bears equal importance is this: If you proclaim intimate knowledge of and experience with a one and only God in Heaven, then specifically and unanimously(?) how has this knowledge and experience come to you?
To my knowledge there are only two methods of revelation and experience from an unseen spirit-God: (1) miraculous or paranormal experience(s), or (2) through their faith's biblical scriptures and other followers. Based on these two methods, it begs the following question: Which is most reliable and most believable?
In my personal experience, when followers/believers are questioned about their biblical foundations of faith, they eventually – sometimes quickly or slowly based upon their apologetic savvy – resort to the "miraculous or paranormal" experience, which is not only harder to acutely examine by unaffiliated outsiders, but just as difficult for the believer/follower to explain! Why is this? It is exhausting because the vast majority of miraculous/paranormal experiences are extremely unique to that one person's life, personality, and immediate environs, and in almost all cases those experiences are different from other followers/believers.
This does not mean those experiences are untrue or any less valuable to the world and life of others – especially if they turn the person into a more loving giving human being for a greater number of people – and this is fine. It becomes highly individualized, which should be an attached liability clause upon its veracity. Hence, it should be kept strictly an individual "faith." But pushing (forcing?) it beyond that does make it impossible to standardize, prove, or unite "one true religious faith" – the one lie belief that has bred immeasurable death and suffering throughout all of mankind's history! The thousands upon thousands of various sects and denominations of the world's faiths bear witness that there is not and never has been one true faith.
With regard to a scriptural foundation, I have adequately shown the futility in portraying a unanimous, in-perfect-harmony life with all other "identical believers". I have also written two historically-centered posts (view the History category for those posts, especially Constantine: Christianity's True Catalyst/Christ, The Suffering Messiah That Wasn't Jesus, and Correcting the Gospels of Jesus) illuminating the less-known cultural and political factors influencing early Christianity during and after the sacking of Jerusalem in 69-70 CE by the Roman legions and Empire.
All world religions have their time-specific, contributing cultural, political, and economic influences upon their infancy and roots. Interestingly, they often have less to do with miraculous, 1-in-a-million "divine events" or teachings, and more to do with mere survival or progressive status. Think about that.
This returns us to my metaphor…
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." He could not have been more accurate, both in the literal sense of a river and in the story of man and man's perception of the world told through his many varied religious faiths and just as many deconstructions and reconstructions of spiritual truth. Like a river, the religious water has never been the same, never as "pure" as the headwater. There are as many contaminants as there are purifiers and certainly no river is better or untouched than another.
Besides, water is only one small eco-system in an infinite table of macro-systems in an even larger more infinite cosmos of systems. As I continue to traverse this Ganges River, I repeatedly ask why the big puppet shows about a mythical deity no one group of puppeteers can define with harmony or consensus. Though Heraclitus taught his principle over 2,500 years ago, it rings truer today among naïve, unexamined fundamental religiosity.
Addendum — After chatting with a blog-friend about this post, I realized the importance, no the paramount risk, we as Americans, as well as the human race, will one day face if we (Americans particularly) do NOT throw out our imperialistic, colonialist mentality (revolutionary heritage?) regarding foreign policy and perceptions. As the excellent video Inside Islam reports, as true as our domestic problems will become EVERYONE'S problems nationally, it is just as true globally with all races, all religions, all nationalities — because due to our insatiable imposing colonial-imperial self-interested heritage, ala the 1948 creation of Israel in Palestine as one example, we must NOW deal with the fires, the monsters America helped create around the world…not treating "them" Arab foreigners as ourselves or without full respect, without the highest tolerance and dignity offered.
On that note, and as I hoped I have conveyed, our personal, national, or "religious" differences are a result of our own pollution, contamination, and apathy, ignorance, violence… whether passive or direct. Let's disarm ourselves by simply starting 'at the Himalayas'. Or better yet, start with the Universe/Multiverse and cosmos, the onset, the dawn, the time and space before time and space, which much later feeds the Himalayas, which feeds the "Ganges".
"Hello. I am a human-being from planet Earth. How can we collaborate and serve each other?"
Peace for you and all.
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Posted in Civil Rights - Sociology - Politics, History - Religion - Education, Lifestyles - Mental Health - Interpersonal Relationships	| Tagged Bible, Biblio-idolatry, Christian-bible, Christianity, Deism, Elitism, Evangelism, Ganges River, God, Hebrew Scriptures, Holy Land, Islam, Jerusalem, Judaism, Koran, Muslim, New Testament, Old Testament, Pluralism, Quran, Religion, Religious extremism, Religious history, Religious separatism, Terrorism, Theism	| 16 Replies
Toss the 2-D Glasses
Posted on February 8, 2013 by Professor Taboo
(paragraph separation)
Simply put "Things are not always as they appear." Some would say they never are. Still others claim there are always the black-and-white and they never change. My experience has taught me one profound thing: A violent storm brings down the greatest oak, but a reed stands by moving to and fro.
Marty Feldman
For many centuries, perhaps even two or three millennia, there has been a two-dimensional ideology assumed, proliferated, defended, and in some cases subjugated with little more basis than ego. Sexual-orientation or sexual-matching has increasingly been shown by science and nature not to be binary, or black-and-white, but instead as varied as the full color spectrum wheel. To be more accurate, nature has been hinting to us all along: appearances can be deceiving.
The Holy Nature of Embryology
There is a widespread misnomer out there which states or implies that human beings are born only one of two ways: male or female. This misnomer subsequently implies or states that according to Sears Craftsman Tool-amics a bolt does not connect, or join with another bolt. A nut does not join with or connect with another nut; they cannot fit together. The only way the bolt and nut are happy and causing the world to be happy is if the bolt is joined with the nut. Or is it the nut joined with the bolt? Nevertheless, it would seem that nature (or Craftsman Tools) supports this binary system, right? Nope, hang on Marty Feldman! It seems you do not get out to nature much.
Going strictly by primary education or the family's birds-and-bees story, one would probably know that gender is determined by the father's sperm, correct? Of those 14-million hyper-fluid target-seekers, the winner will either have the pointy-arrow or the downward cross chromosome and SHAZAAM it's done! The embryo grows into a heterosexual boy or girl. Simple, right? Nope, strike two Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
For a quick introduction into the commonly unknown, overlooked, or ignored phenomena of inter-sexed births, read my post Sexual & Gender Ambiguity: My Once Gross Ignorance.
Gomer Pyle, USMC
Even though at fertilization the male sperm carries the DNA gender-identifier, decades prior to conception there are many variables that took place throughout the parents' hormonal-development that factor into their reproductive systems. Concurrently there are also variables still remaining to be developed over the following embryonic weeks that hinge on the mother's hormonal and embryonic condition. Yes, the embryo begins to change during the first several days, but there is still much to be sorted out.
Ultimate Ambiguity: The Chicken or the Egg?
Every living organism has inherited traits, or a blueprint passed down to them from previous generations known as genetic code. During reproduction living cells follow two subset codes called the genotype and phenotype. For about the first 21 days the embryo's development is directly controlled by the mother's genotype. This coding controls everything developing internally and inherited. After 21 days further development begins according to the phenotype coding that tells the cells how to construct all the external (physical) features of the eventual fetus. This includes the development of our hormonal or endocrine system. Amazingly at 56 days the observable fetus is neither male nor female. More amazingly, however, is that the baby's hormonal-system and sexual development, is an extremely complex transcription and translation of inherited RNA. And who did the parent's inherit their RNA from? What of those four grandparents? Where did they inherit their RNA from? Are you beginning to glimpse the exponential complexity of embryonic-fetal cell development which programs the prenatal hormonal (sexual) system?
Anterior hypothalamus and INAH3
And yet, we are only beginning to scratch the surface of human development from embryo to full grown adult. Genetic coding of the embryo and fetus is only one part of the entire blueprint. Hold on, it gets bigger and more definitive.
The Rising Reality of Sexual Orientation and Attraction
Modern neuroscience and genoscience have clearly found over the last several decades that simple physical-sexual genitalia DOES NOT wholly determine a person's sexual attractions. For the last twenty-odd years the accumulating molecular and neurological data (nature) are showing that sexual attraction and behavior are a product of a combination of genes, hormones, and evolving cells which likely determine future sexual preference from before birth.
In 1990 Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Dr. Simon LeVay began researching the origins of sexual orientation. It began when he reviewed a study done in the late 1980's at UCLA which found that an area of the human brain, known medically as INAH3, was larger in men than in women. From this evidence it was deduced sexual behavior is in part due to biological differences in the brain. Therefore, when he concluded his 1990 study he indeed found that there were structural differences (again nature) in the brains of homosexual men compared to heterosexual men.
A fascinating landmark finding in his 1990 research showed that the INAH3 region of the brain in heterosexual men was over twice as large as the same region in women and homosexual men. This definitive evidence establishes that there is a natural biological difference between gay and heterosexual men. However, LeVay is quick to point out that this fact does not prove there is a specific homosexual gene. To date, neuroscience and genoscience studies haven't made that determination. In his October 2012 lecture to Elmhurst College, LeVay cautions of a potential Gattaca nightmare (eugenics and genetic discrimination) and what biased parents or people may do to their prenatal child if it is determined they possess "the gay gene". Personally, I too find that horrifying and no different than sexual or racial hate crimes.
What has become increasingly clear from the neurological, biological, genetic, and behavioral-psychological data regarding sexual development and orientation is that none of the components can be singled out as autonomous or non-relational to its other "siblings" if you will. It is a multi-spectrum micro and macroscopic epigenesis (formation) with no permanent walls, laws or lines. Our human brain registers love as love, despite gender.
Unquestionably nature, or more precisely human nature, cannot be "cured" or "cleansed" of what is perceived morally as right or wrong. Nature is oblivious to morality and we should give eternal thanks for that… treating all humans as family.
Posted in Civil Rights - Sociology - Politics, Lifestyles - Mental Health - Interpersonal Relationships	| Tagged Anterior hypothalamus, DNA, Equal Human Rights, INAH3, Religious extremism, Religious separatism, RNA, Sexual attraction, Sexual behavior, Sexual orientation, Simon LeVay	| Leave a reply
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Rothco and Identv Collaborate to Solve 57-Year-Old Alcatraz Mystery with Cutting-Edge AI
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Rothco, part of Accenture Interactive, worked with machine learning and AI experts at Identv to help solve a 57-year-old mystery involving a famous prison break.
Recognising that digital and physical imagery are converging in fascinating new ways, the two organisations set out to tell the story of how applied artificial intelligence (AI) helped confirm the identities of two Alcatraz prison escapees depicted in a 1975 photo.
'The Long Shot'
Thirty-six people are known to have attempted escape from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, a maximum-security facility located on an island in San Francisco Bay. But the commonly-held belief is that none were successful. On the night of June 11th, 1962, three prisoners — Frank Morris, along with brothers John and Clarence Anglin — broke out of their cells and made it to the shoreline of Alcatraz island. The trio, made famous by Clint Eastwood in the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz, used sharpened spoons to bore through the prison walls and left papier-maché dummies in their beds. They are assumed to have drowned as they fled the island on a raft constructed from 50 inflated raincoats.
In 2015, evidence surfaced of a soft, grainy, old photo taken by a family friend of the Anglin Brothers allegedly living in Brazil in 1975 — 13 years after their supposed drowning. But the technology has not been available to confirm that the men in the photo are the actual escaped prisoners until now.
Rothco worked with Identv to tell the story of 'The Long Shot', bringing new life to a forgotten mystery by unlocking the hidden data in the printed photo. The Irish agency partnered with the machine learning and AI experts at Identv to unlock the photo by using a facial matching system based on a type of machine learning algorithm called a deep neural network.
Mark Hughes, chief AI scientist of Identv, describes the process: 'In the case of 'The Long Shot', we start with what is called a training process, where we feed the algorithm many images of a single person's face along with many images of different people. We repeat this process millions of times over and use mathematical models optimised during the training phase to learn how to differentiate one person's face from another."
Mark continues: "Once we have a model trained, it provides us with the ability to generate a mathematical fingerprint describing in detail the visual aspects of somebody's face. These facial fingerprints are highly discriminative. We can then compare this facial fingerprint to other fingerprints we have in a database to generate a match, similar to how today's police fingerprint matching system works. Identv has developed techniques to carry out this matching process in tens of milliseconds over millions of faces."
Rothco chief creative officer Alan Kelly, said: "The Long Shot' is a novel example of successfully applying the creative knowledge and digital tools of today to a hidden piece of the past, unlocking newfound stories and opportunities. Technology is advancing at such a rate it can leave you a little dizzy and, short of obtaining DNA proof, there will always be a little room for mystery. But as far as technology is concerned — the prisoners made it."
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Rothco and Identv Collaborate to Solve 57-Year-Old Alcatraz Mystery with Cutting-Edge AI April 9, 2020
Case Study : Brand Analytics April 9, 2020

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Oxford University Press (OUP) today reported another year of growth in its 2013/14 Annual Report. In a year of significant investment in infrastructure, digital innovation, and emerging markets, OUP achieved a total turnover of £759m—an increase of 7% at constant currency. Growth excluding acquisitions was 3.6%. The Press produced a surplus of £114m, an increase of 3.9% excluding acquisitions.
Turnover from emerging markets increased by 10.9%, to £307.3m, equivalent to 41% of total turnover. OUP's Asia Education division, comprising China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Pakistan, saw double-digit growth, driven by schools and Higher Education in India and a growing market for private school provision in Pakistan.
OUP South Africa delivered a strong performance off the back of the implementation of the new school curriculum for Secondary grades, while strong growth in Turkey was due in part to the Press's increasing provision of digital materials.
Digital sales grew by 7.5% to £144 million – representing 20% of overall sales. OUP's Global Academic Business digital turnover now accounts for almost half of its overall turnover, and the growth in digital sales in OUP's educational markets accelerated—for instance, OUP's English Language Teaching division delivered a 34%growth in digital turnover. This increase is due in part to new products such as The Oxford Learner's Bookshelf, an app that is now being used by more than 50,000 students worldwide.
OUP invested in a programme of structural change in 2013, designed to facilitate global working, improve efficiency, and manage risk. OUP's infrastructure is being transformed to create a stronger global foundation and to support the Press's future growth.
Nelson Thornes, a leading educational publisher with a range of primary, secondary, and vocational resources, was integrated into OUP in 2013/14. The combined OUP and Nelson Thornes lists have increased the Press's reach in the primary and secondary markets, placing the Press in a strong position for upcoming curriculum change in the UK.
OUP's financial success enables it to support the educational and research activities of the University of Oxford. OUP was able to transfer £50 million to the wider university.
Visit the OUP 2014 Annual Report site for full details of the report.


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Q: Can I scroll the file up or down in an inactive window in Vim? Say, I split my Vim screen into two windows. And I need to scroll inactive window. Example to scroll up/down preview window without placing a cursor into preview window.

A: You could add a couple of custom mappings:
:nmap ,d <C-W>W<C-D><C-W>W
:nmap ,u <C-W>W<C-U><C-W>W

and then use ,d and ,u to scroll down and up in the other window.

A: "this function maps Alt-down and Alt-Up to move other window
" put in your ~/.vimrc
fun! ScrollOtherWindow(dir)
    if a:dir == "down"
        let move = "\<C-E>"
    elseif a:dir == "up"
        let move = "\<C-Y>"
    endif
    exec "normal \<C-W>p" . move . "\<C-W>p"
endfun
nmap <silent> <M-Down> :call ScrollOtherWindow("down")<CR>
nmap <silent> <M-Up> :call ScrollOtherWindow("up")<CR>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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BREAKING: Biden Gives Up – He's Throwing In The Towel…
(Big League Politics) – A progressive campaign operative known for managing Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign is predicting that Joe Biden will face a primary challenge in 2024.
"Will there be a progressive challenger? Yes," said Jeff Weaver, a longtime Sanders political operative, speaking to Politico in an article published Saturday.
A former communications operative for far-left member of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also cited Biden's unpopularity and political fecklessness, predicting that a primary challenger would rise from the ranks of the Democratic Party.
"He's deeply unpopular. He's old as shit. He's largely been ineffective, unless we're counting judges or whatever the hell inside-baseball scorecard we're using. And I think he'll probably get demolished in the midterms," said Corbin Trent. "People will smell opportunity, and D.C. is filled with people who want to be president."
George HW Bush and Jimmy Carter were the last presidents to face serious primary challenges from their own party, with the latter losing to Ronald Reagan in 1980 after Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy torpedoed his reelection prospects through a primary challenge.
Biden has indicated that he's planning on running for reelection, despite taking office as the oldest President in American history. The Democrat would be 87 by the time he would leave office in a second term, stretching the age range Americans are accustomed to with Presidents far greater than any of his predecessors.
It's somewhat hard to imagine who a potential 2024 Biden challenger would be, with the Democratic Party's bench somewhat thin and the party's elected officials extremely obedient to DNC dictates insisting that they refrain from challenging the party's sitting President. Bernie Sanders is even older than Biden, and other progressives such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lack Sanders' ability to market themselves as a 1930's style leftist who speaks primarily on issues of class and the US economic structure without the pollution of toxic liberal identity politics.
bigleaguepolitics.com/old-as-s-democrat-operatives-predicts-biden-will-face-primary-challenger-in-2024/
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I know that it's still about 5 and half months away but I'm already getting everything figured out; which books I'll bring to get signed (because I can't bring all of them😩), which books I'll buy there, how I will stay hydrated while running around the hotel, how I will even talk to these amazing authors! It's a lot to think about!
I've decided that I'm going to try and read at least one book from each author before the event. I know I probably won't do that because a lot of them have series and I really enjoy reading series. So, I will probably just read a few of the authors' series. I will try my best to get to all of them but I know myself too well. I have the best intentions though! Does that count?
I thought writing about how excited I was for KissCon would help keep my excited-ness in check, it didn't, I think I made it worse… Why does this event have to be in APRIL!!! It's so far away! And don't tell me "It will be here before you know it�. That doesn't help at all it just makes me think about how far away it really is. I'm too impatient.
If you're as excited about KissCon as I am then I suggest heading over there and buying your tickets before they are sold out!


Exploring the city of Lisbon is well rewarding, but it can be a little exhausting as well. It is called "The City of Seven Hills" for good reason! This jewel of a city has some amazing food, atmosphere, and sights. In fact, with all the wonderful food we couldn't stop eating, the exercise from walking the hills was a silver lining.
The hilly, cobblestone streets of Lisbon are interesting in their own right, at some places forming two levels of streets, one on top of the other.
Fortunately, there are plenty of options for getting around besides walking, for the more leisurely explorer. There are bus, train and tram options, and even a few elevator or tram options just to go up particularly daunting slopes.
A quiet night on the steps of Miradouro Graffiti Fado. The city has a lot of colorful artwork, from graffiti to the traditional Azulejo tiles.
There are so many beautiful places to see. Lisbon is full of lovely churches, squares and monuments, and long streets full of shops, wine bars and restaurants.
Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Loreto (the Church of Our Lady of Loreto). It has beautiful murals and a massive round candelabra.
The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines is a very colorful canned sardine shop. Lisbon is famous for its sardines. Each can was adorned with a year, and a famous event that happened during that year.
Your belly will get full while sampling the overwhelming number of gourmet options, but your taste buds won't ever get enough.
The marriage of Mexican and Portuguese cuisine created one of our most memorable meals. Eating gourmet tacos and drinking mojitos is Loren's idea of heaven! Cascabel Lisboa boasts two famous Michelin-rated chefs, and is located on the top floor of the El Corte Inglés mall food court. Everything was superb!
Tacos al pastor, tampiqueña and pork belly (and a few other dishes that we tried).
Bolstered by our experience at Time Out Market, we decided to try out a restaurant recommended by Time Out magazine. Located in Chiado district, Bistro 100 Maneiras sure knows how to deliver delicious seafood dishes.
Beef tenderloin steak with rösti and tomato confit, and our favorite – spicy octopus with spices, black açorda and onion purée.
Not far from downtown Lisbon, we took a short train ride from the Cais do Sodré Station along the Tagus River to check out a couple of Lisbon's UNESCO World Heritage sites. It was an overcast and drizzly day, for which we like to try Olympus' Dramatic Tone art filter to make the scene more interesting.
Padrão dos Descobrimentos, a monument commemorating Henry the Navigator's death.
Torres de Belém (Belém Tower or the Tower of St. Vincent) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site built on a small island in the early 16th century.
Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jerónimos Monastery), is the resting place of Vasco da Gama, the famous Portuguese explorer who discovered India. This image was a three-frame taken hand-held and merged in Lightroom.
Next to the monastery is Igreja Santa Maria de Belém (Parish of Saint Mary of Bethlehem). It was easily apparent how ancient this structure is.
View of the city and the 25th of April Bridge from atop the walls of São Jorge Castle.
Next, we head to Sintra, another amazing UNESCO site of Portugal!


The Department of Internal Medicine has a 3-year Residency Training Program fully accredited by the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP). It also boasts of more than 50 specialists and subspecialists in Internal Medicine to implement the training program, all of whom are very enthusiastic to impart their expertise to the Residents-In-Training. Moreover, the Residents have a wide exposure to patients in our Out Patient Department, Medical Wards and Intensive Critical Care Unit (ICCU) and other specialty centers of the hospital.


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California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program
Our collective advocacy worked! As part of the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program for businesses and nonprofits, CAM, California Arts Advocates, and other champions secured $50 million specifically for nonprofit cultural institutions.
CAM had a direct hand in getting funds allocated specifically for our sector. Over 500 museums received a grant from the Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program in an Arts & Cultural Round (Rounds 4 and 8), and CAM provided outreach or technical support to over 1,000 museums.
Round 4 awarded over $36 Million to nonprofit cultural institutions in the spring of 2021. In September 2021, Round 8 was a continuation of the Arts & Culture program and available to organizations who did not apply in earlier rounds of the program.
CAM partnered with grant administrators in both rounds to provide program information and technical assistance to museums across the state. To support museums in applying, CAM offered live and recorded webinars, a hotline, and answers to frequently asked questions.
Nonprofit cultural institutions registered as 501(c)(3) nonprofit entities
Minimum gross revenue of $1,000
Did not receive funding in prior rounds of CA Relief Grants
Began operations prior to June 1, 2019
Organizations with specific NAICS Codes (North American Industry Classification System)
Organizations who have not received funding through any of the previous rounds of funding for the California Small Business Covid-10 Relief Grant Program.
If you applied in prior rounds for CA Relief Grant, and have not received funding in any prior rounds, you MUST apply for Round 8 which is specifically designated for cultural institutions. Applications from prior rounds do not roll over for Round 8.
APPLICATION SUPPORT FOR MUSEUMS
As a partner with the grant administering entity, Lendistry, CAM committed to assisting as many museums as possible with the grant application. All applications were completed on the Lendistry web platform.
CAM, in collaboration with Californians for the Arts, hosted free webinars to help organizations prepare for a successful Round 8 application. Webinars walked you through the application process, required documents, and tips for a successful application.
Mailing address: P.O. Box 1455, Santa Cruz, CA 95061-1455
Copyright © California Association of Museums