About 21 years ago, a new web community called Care2 was created as a means for liberal and environmental activists to come together and share information about their causes. I joined it in late 2004 and was an active member of it for nearly a decade. Over the years, I made many wonderful friends in it, some of whom I am still linked to in Facebook. I also made many enemies.
Monthly Archives: July 2019
A Critical Analysis of the Kitáb-i-‘Ahd (Book of the Covenant)
This is the 13th in a series of blog entries that subject the Baha’i Writings to a skeptical, non-Baha’i analysis. A list of the previous blog entries is here.
The Book of the Covenant is the will and testament of Baha’u’llah, which he had made public after his death. Baha’u’llah himself had commanded his followers to make their own wills in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas:
Unto everyone hath been enjoined the writing of a will. The testator should head this document with the adornment of the Most Great Name, bear witness therein unto the oneness of God in the Dayspring of His Revelation, and make mention, as he may wish, of that which is praiseworthy, so that it may be a testimony for him in the kingdoms of Revelation and Creation and a treasure with his Lord, the Supreme Protector, the Faithful.
Baha’u’llah is said to have written this will with his own hand, thus allowing anyone familiar with his writing style to authenticate it. I will include quotes from the Kitáb-i-‘Ahd in orange and bold. My source for this document is:
https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/tablets-bahaullah/6#301774724
My Spiritual Odyssey
On October 20, 2018, I gave a talk about 50 minutes long at Westside Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Worth detailing my life and religious and political views and how they evolved over the course of my life. I spent the first half of the discussion merely speaking for myself in general, and the last half answering questions from the audience to focus more on specific topics.
For a short version of that story see:
My Spiritual Journeys
I made reference to other issues that I have also dealt with on this blog, including:
An Honorable Skeptic
Why more people should join the Unitarian Universalists
Why I Abandoned the (Haifan) Baha’i Faith
Spiritual Orientation
Radical Reincarnation
Misdefining terms for purposes of propaganda
A bitter rant about Ayn Rand
Reopening Old Wounds Among Unitarian Universalists
Over two years ago, a massive controversy over racially biased hiring practices in the Unitarian Universalist Association caused its leadership to experience a turnover to try to solve the problem of white supremacy among them.
With the election of a new President of the UUA at the 2017 General Assembly (GA), it seemed like we could start to move forward to heal the racial divisions. But then came the GA of June 2019, which was held at Spokane, Washington. Imagine the shock among the attendees when the minister of the UU church at that city, Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof, backstabbed the rest of them with a book he had written and was trying to distribute at the GA without prior notice. This book, titled The Gadfly Papers: Three Inconvenient Essays by One Pesky Minister, attacked all the efforts to solve the racial problems, angering many non-white UUs. When the UUA leadership tried to talk to Eklof about what he was doing, he refused to meet with them, putting them in the awkward position of expelling him from the GA itself! After that happened, UUs in both Facebook and Reddit had an uproar about it.
Freedom of Speech must have Logical Limits
Read this outrageous story.
A woman who encouraged her boyfriend to kill himself has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court
(CNN)Attorneys for Michelle Carter filed an appeal of her conviction with the United States Supreme Court Monday.
In the filing, Carter’s attorneys urged the Supreme Court to consider, “the questions whether Carter’s conviction for involuntary manslaughter violated the U.S. Constitution.”Carter was found guilty in 2017 and sentenced to 15 months in a Massachusetts jail for her part in the death of her boyfriend, 18-year-old Conrad Roy III, who killed himself in his car in Fairhaven, Massachusetts in 2014.After his death, investigators discovered Roy had texted Carter as he contemplated and attempted suicide, with her encouraging him to do it when he had doubts.“I thought you wanted to do this. The time is right and you’re ready, you just need to do it! You can’t keep living this way,” one of dozens of texts from Carter to Roy reads.Massachusetts highest court upheld her conviction following an appeal in February.Her attorneys argued in Monday’s filing that her freedom of speech may have been violated and should be protected under the constitution.“Michelle Carter did not cause Conrad Roy’s tragic death and should not be held criminally responsible for his suicide,” said attorney Daniel Marx of Fick & Marx LLP. “This petition focuses on just two of the many flaws in the case against her that raise important federal constitutional issues for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide.”“As Justice Gorsuch ruled in a recent case, ‘A vague law is no law at all,'” added Marx’s partner, William Fick. “Ms. Carter’s conviction should not stand.”
Warning: I am about to go totally Klingon on this matter:
First, only an irrational extremist thinks in absolutes like that. WORDS CAN KILL! Send her to prison for life, not just 15 months! She committed MURDER, premeditated and cold-blooded.
Second, if she really thinks she had a right to do what she did, she should prove herself by committing suicide too. Otherwise she is a hypocrite. If both of them had committed suicide, it would have been tragic but understandable. She was instead a coward who chose to live without him.
A Mormon webpage on how to STALK people!
News flash! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does NOT merely allow members to stop attending and drift away quietly. Even if the former Mormon moves away and does not attend church in their new location, Mormon authorities will HUNT THEM DOWN!
False Advertising by Hebrew Christians
As a matter of ethical consistency, I believe there needs to be clear definitions of words, including in religion. Thus I was dismayed to discover on TV a show titled “Jewish Voice” that featured a “rabbi” that talked about Jesus as the Messiah, which is a basic teaching of CHRISTIANITY, not Judaism. Jews actually do NOT believe that Jesus was the Messiah, and certainly do not believe he was God incarnate, as most Christians believe!
Mormon Missionary, made a PERVERT
What a shocker this story is!
https://www.ksl.com/article/46585870/utahn-accused-in-sextortion-of-over-50-teens-charges-say
Dale Husband's Intellectual Rants 