On Wednesday’s Radio Show…
April 30th, 2008, 6:00 PM EDT
• Hillary, “you’ve got a friend.” Legendary singer-songwriter Carole King tells Alan why she’s supporting the Clinton campaign.
• Army Specialist Jeremy Hall served our nation bravely in Iraq, but now he says he’s the target of military discrimination because he’s an atheist. Spc. Hall and Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation will discuss their battle for religious freedom.
• It’s been five years since President Bush declared an end to “major combat operations in Iraq.” Alan asks why the White House is now revising the meaning of “Mission Accomplished.”
It boggles the mind that we speak of bringing Liberal Secular Democratic government to Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan as a way to leave the tyranny of Sharia Law and Monarchical Dictatorial rule. Yet the Religious Conservatives here in the US argue that Liberal Secular government as the reason Europe is “falling apart” or “America is degrading” and “the cause of the destruction of the American family”. C. Rice with the administration has said that the only way for there to be success in Iraq is if they adopt a more Liberal form of government. Wow, that does not comply with the talking points of conservative pundits. What a paradox of political ideals within conservative thinking. This paradox shows an oxymoronic political argument of what is good for Islamic nations with Sharia Law and what is good for the US. If the key to a free society is a detachment from Religious Law why do we have proponents of Biblical Law being added to our Secular Constitution? There are many Biblical Laws declared as covenants or direct orders from God that are by modern legal standards immoral, unethical, and illegal. Yes, I said it Crimes. If we enforced all Biblical Law especially those in the Old Testament we would be living the nightmare that was Europe from 1400’s until the middle of the industrial revolution. Have we forgotten the witch-hunts, forced conversions, and religious wars between Christian sects. The Religious Law of the Middle East is oppressive and outdated, true. But we must not regress in our social evolution. There is no guarantee that Christianity or any other religion will never experience a Deformation. Religious bigotry, hatred, or violence is and has been either the main reason or the fringe cause of the majority of Human conflict through out history. Sadly I am not the first to say so, many before me have expressed this yet we continue repeating history.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
This is for those who doubt the need for secular government in the US.
We do not consider that much of the covenants or Biblical law is not legal in our modern secular world. Christianity, Judaism, and Islamic religious beliefs have one thing in common, the Old Testament and many of the same prophets. Think about or read the Old Testament or New Testament and consider what verses are by modern legal standards, not legal. The list is long. If you do not believe me, please do the research for yourself. Here are some verses that are against the law in the U.S.A. and the modern secular world.
(Leviticus 20:13/24:16/24:10-15/25:44//27:29/, Numbers 15:35-36/31:31-40, Deuteronomy 22:28-29/21:15/21:18-21/22:13-24/13:6-18, Hosea 2:2-13/9:12-16, Exodus 35:2/21:7, Zechariah 13:3, Judges 11:30-40, Daniel 11:30-39, Jeremiah 12:14-17, Matthew 5:25, Samuel 15:3/10:21, 1st Samuel 15:3, 1st Timothy 2:12, Psalm 12:3/137:8-9 These are only a few examples. Concubines and multiple wives are illegal in the modern world yet are permitted within the Bible. I am thankful for secular, rational government otherwise we would live in a nation reminiscent of Afghanistan under the Taliban. Yet there are some people here in the U.S.A. that would be perfectly fine with Biblical Law becoming the Law of the Land. This is why we must defend the separation of Church and State by denying or refusing government Promotion of Religion. If we do not we loose our precious Liberty. Some Christians would argue that Christ would not enforce these verses. They would be incorrect due to the very fact that Christ was Jewish and held Moses Law in high regard. Christ mentions Old Testament Law many times through out the Bible. Jesus refers to Moses directly in verses (Matthew 5:17, John 5:45-47, Luke 24:44, John 6:19-23, and Hebrews 11:23-29). At any time Christians can revert to the now illegal aspects of the Bible. There is much in the Bible that is unethical, immoral, and despicable. Unfortunately it is the God of the Bible who is the one acting with such ugly behavior. This is the reason why religion and government must always be separated as our constitution has wonderfully provided for.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Well said, John.
Alan, is Howard Zinn still coming on Thursday, and can you say which hour? Or was that last week?
April 30th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Ok. going away from here, will listen as i can.
April 30th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Why has everyone started stating their name in “First Word” as of late? I don’t care who you are Southern Pride and others…
April 30th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Did anybody else hear Geraldine Ferraro on Fox American Election news this evening?
How ridiculous this woman is becoming who continue’s to believe and say the only reason American’s found objection to her comment “If Obama were a white man he would not be in his position”
Is because she’s bearing down the weight of some sort of reverse racism! She loves saying this.
Whatever lady.
There are plenty of young, charasmatic, brilliant-speaking politicians like Deval Patrick from Mass. who the media used to blast Obama for stealing speeches from.
Obama’s blackness may have piqued some interest but it is his God given fiber that won over white and black voters may I say. (He wasn’t black enough last year.)
But tonight she’s just drowning in the Hillary tank when she told America on FOX that “Obama has (purposely) inoculated himself” from Wright. She suggests Obama and Wright staged this whole thing. It’s all part of the Obama plan!
Yes, it’s all part of the big, racist, black man’s plan to manipulate America Mrs. Ferraro. She makes another claim that criticizing Obama will draw hoards of racism jeers for Hillary and then snickers at the end.
“We’ve all been snookered!”
If this is how your logic works I can whip out my pen and pad and go to town on how all the conspiracies are keeping normally smart people from using their brains.
Go to sleep Geraldine.
May 1st, 2008 at 2:47 am
Friday for Zinn. Ty.
May 1st, 2008 at 8:43 am
Oh, and Gail (Gayle) sure sounded bothered. Oh, Carole King was interviewed, appalling. Damn wiboowul conspeerasee!!
May 1st, 2008 at 8:50 am
When your friends sound like your enemy we must be afraid, very afraid. Some conservatives love to hate secular government and the unrelated idea of atheism. This is disturbing when Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, the Saudi Ambassador to the US said in a Frontline PBS interview concerning the war between the Soviet’s and Afghanistan, “Osama Bin Laden would say, Thank you for bringing the Americans to help us get through the secularist, atheist Soviets.” This was Prince Bandar’s recital of a conversation with Bin Laden back in the 80’s, does it sound like the same expression of hatred toward secular government that many conservatives here in the US spew over the airwaves? Yes. When conservatives mention their displeasure of intellectual elitists or liberal college professors they sound very similar to the exact words of some people in Iran (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad). Some conservatives like to place the woman in a subservient role in society. They constantly are complaining about the women’s liberation movements of the 60’s and 70’s (Limbaugh). Many complain that a woman’s place is in the home, while the man’s role is that of the sole provider. Some complain about sexual identities being confused by women in the workplace or being dominant to men in some relationships or marriages. This sounds like most of the M. Eastern Islamic States, like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. It may not be as extreme, but it is non-the less strikingly similar ideologies. There is a lot of similarities that disturb me, the largest one is that of Biblical Law being added to Constitutional Law here in the US. We cannot say, as Condi Rice, that the best hope for a free Iraq is “secular government” (Newsweek quote) and yet claim that the only way to improve the US is more religion in our own governmental system. We have religious freedom only due to our secular government. Secular government is not atheism; rather it is only the removal of religion from government while the government thus respects religion’s existence outside of government. That is the wall of separation that Jefferson insisted upon and is within the constitution. If we throw our secular government away we will be no better than those Theocracies we seem to fear so much. We are under threat by not only foreign Theocracies (religious governments or nation states); rather we are under the grave threat by our home grown Theocratic movements. When some conservatives mention the need to do away with secular government in the USA, they usually mean only their form of God or religion fusing with the Law. This consequently means a loss of the freedom for all religious belief, the ability to believe in no God, or the freedom to believe that you are not sure if God exists or not. Thus, the people who wish for an American Theocracy wish only for themselves, and that is a sin in and of its self.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:52 pm