THE RELIGIOUS “DEFAULT” SETTING OF AMERICA, AND GOV. ...

I have found myself in recent weeks increasingly drawn to watch the political debates in this country, not only between Dummycrooks and Republithugs, but amongst the Republithugs themselves, as a kind of mental exercise, a vignette on why our country is in trouble, serious trouble, from these "two" political parties. One need only consider the vastness of hypocrisy and corruption of a Nancy Pelosi clucking her poultry-esque matriarchal blessings on the Occupy Wall Street crowd, while her relatives are receiving the taxpayer largesse of millions of dollars from B.O.'s stimulus.

Things are not much better on the political right. Last week I watched - astounded, nauseated, and yet, not surprised at all - as a Baptist pastor, Jeffers, attacked Governor Mitt Romney for being a Mormon. According to Jeffers, Governor Romney was part of a "cult" which was not - his terms not mine - "historic Christianity."  While I am certainly no friend of Governor Romney, nor his health "care" plan, nor his neo-con foreign policy views, nor, indeed, his religion, I found myself wanting to cheer the Governor when he responded, tactfully, courteously, and in a gentlemanly fashion, that in a free and tolerant society, such comments do not contribute to any debate. Indeed, the governor pointed out that such rhetoric does not change hearts.

But underneath "Pastor" Jeffers' comments lurks the hidden dangers so tainting American political life, and that is the silly notion that somehow, the American Civil Religion version of churchianity has its default setting to "baptist-revivalist," which as any student of church history will tell you, is not a theological position that is even discoverable in the first 1500 years or so of the religion's history. In short, Jeffers' "historic Christianity" isn't historic at all.

Indeed, when one scratches and sniffs beneath the surface of this "religion," one finds a curious assemblage of beliefs that tend to a basic "fascist" (note the lower case "c") mentality: a "respect for authority," in this case, the authority of ministers who derive their ministerial magisterium not from any connection to any genuinely historical Christianity, but rather directly, though implicitly, from God. One notes also the disturbing tendency often pointed out by other students of the phenomenon - Chris Hedges among them - that this version of "historic Christianity" seems at times to give blanket endorsements to the corporate capitalist world while never challenging its manifest and patent abuses, yet another sign of incipient fascism.

I could go on and on but I think you get the idea. For once, I find myself applauding Governor Romney for pointing out, in his tactful and gentlemanly way, that really behind Jeffers' response was nothing but bigotry, wrapping itself in the dubious mantle of an historic Christianity that in many ways is no older than America itself. It reminded me, in many ways, of the attempts to impugn President Kennedy when he was running for President, for being a Roman Catholic. Then, too, this ugliness raised its head, and then too, the ugliness came from the same mob, thumping their bibles, all the while oblivious that it was the same Catholic Church that gave them many of the books in their bibles. The galloping hypocrisy of the American Civil Religion version of churchianity is an ugly, festering sore. If you don't believe me, just remember that one of its leading luminaries, Pat Robertson, actually advocated that the USA assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on his own "Christian" television network. As I watched this segment, I could think of only one thing: the capitulation of good "bible believing" evangelicals in Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, and its participation in the whole idea of a Reichskirche.

I cannot give Governor Romney three cheers, for as I said, I disagree, strongly, with many of his past policies and current stances, but I do give him perhaps two and a half cheers for pointing out - again, tactfully, gently, courteously, and with elegant grace - the ugliness beneath what can only be qualified as a brutal, ignorant, and bigoted set of comments. The sooner that political party distances itself from that ugliness, the better. But I'm not holding my breath....

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Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and "strange stuff". His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into "alternative history and science".

40 Comments

  1. HAL838 on October 18, 2011 at 6:09 am

    On topic:
    Cheers for literacy !
    They can both ‘read’ a ‘script’

    On internet monickers:
    The male assumption seems to be alive and well.



    • HAL838 on October 23, 2011 at 5:57 am

      BTW

      This seems to be why actors and politicians
      are so interchangeable 😉



  2. SpencerNorris on October 17, 2011 at 10:01 pm

    “According to Jeffers, Governor Romney was part of a “cult””

    The anti-white PC State Religion of the West is a white genocide cult.

    Under international law,genocide is genocide,whether accomplished by bullets,mustard gas,or mass immigration and social engineering.

    They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white.

    Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.



  3. Citizen Quasar on October 17, 2011 at 5:19 pm

    I finished reading ‘The Giza Death Star’ today.

    ‘The Giza Death Star’ is a tour de force of scientific analysis, nothing less. Dr. Farrell’s understanding of physics is superb. (Was that one of your under-doc degrees, sir?)

    The complexity of Dr. Farrell’s analysis was a little difficult for me to follow at times. But it was spot on. Though the book is not indexed, the very specific outline form used for the table of contents makes it very easy to locate conceptual topics for a re-read.

    A familiarity of college level physics is sufficient, but, due to Dr. Farrell’s educating style of presentation, is NOT necessary.

    ‘Giza Death Star’ left me wondering about Valles Marineris, but I guess that is addressed in ‘The Giza Death Star Deployed’ which I will be reading next.

    What does Dr. Judy Wood think of this book, Dr. Farrell?



    • paul degagne on October 18, 2011 at 4:18 am

      Quazar’s comment is pertinnant. The complexity is a bit difficult. I like Hemingway’s ICEBURG Theory of Simplicity. I had college level physics courses and it’s still a TOIL reading but it’s not impossible. Just takes that EXTRA EFFORT and most of the time it’s worth it.

      I just reread Babylon’s Bankers in preparation of reading Grid of the Gods. It’s not as persuasive as it could be but unlike Medium is the Message thought, I believe CONTENT is just as important.

      I really, really dig what Farrell had to say about author Webster Tarpley suggests about the Reformation period AND Professor Tenney Frank about foreign extraction AND about the mechanism by which planetary alignments cause solar cycles AND and the analogy between Physics and
      Economics AND shocking personal statements like:

      Preordained experts are seldom better than predictions of astrologers>” (I asked myself, “Is this true? Having read Paul Feyeraband I imagine it probably is?)

      “VENICE was a cancer consciously planning it’s own metastasis” — HOW POGNIANT (however you spell it)!

      Iceburg Theory at work? Maybe so?

      I am like MORRIS THE CAT —- pretty FINNICKY at times. I like my Cake and eat it too.

      TOO BAD — the real world doesn’t operate like that.

      In my more HUMBLE moods when I aint feeling this awful phoney intellectual-perfectionism I really do appreciate certain CONTENTS for they enable me to have periphial ( why cant Johnny spell – because he was dozing off when the teacher was explaining the principles of spelling. I went to a better school but it was Catholic and, and I wont go into that.)

      I can appreciate these CONTENTS for they really are of the nature of a Revisionism but I think more like an Alternate History which I am deeply, very deeply interested in. It WAKES ME UP!



      • paul degagne on October 18, 2011 at 4:28 am

        I forgot to finish the sentence. After that Catholic mention I should have put the word —- VISION? I stand corrected!



  4. LSM on October 17, 2011 at 1:33 pm

    just a quick thought (sorry to be a bit off-topic)-

    but has anyone not yet noticed that all commentaries on this website in the past few months come exclusively from men?- what are we doing wrong (have done) to scare the women away?-

    any thoughts on this?



    • MizGreen on October 17, 2011 at 2:16 pm

      Wrong, LSM. =) Dr. Farrell’s avid readers come from a wide base, I think — men and women, rich and poor, college educated and street educated, religious and non-religious. He hasn’t done anything yet to “scare the women away”, except possibly the hat……..j/k. =D



      • LSM on October 17, 2011 at 2:49 pm

        Hi MizGreen-

        thanks very much for your input- very appreciated-

        it’s always been clear to me that Dr. Farrell’s readers come from a wide base (otherwise we wouldn’t be here)-

        but I haven’t yet encountered a “MizGreen” or other female-sounding names on this website for a long time-

        “He hasn’t done anything yet to “scare the women away”, except possibly the hat”-

        I agree- I hate hats (including baseball caps) on ANYBODY (including Bill Ryan)- I can’t even begin to express my loathing of them on my own head- I feel fenced-in-

        and as much as I greatly respect (understatement!!!) Dr. Farrell, he doesn’t need to keep wearing the same shirt on his Nefarium videos- we get the picture already…



        • MizGreen on October 17, 2011 at 3:06 pm

          Actually LSM, I was just kidding about the hat! I don’t care if Dr. F wears a lampshade on his head, as long as he keeps writing with the same intelligence, fearlessness, cleverness, decency, and humor. Plenty of women go for that stuff =), and yes, we do post here more than you might think.

          Back on topic, I wonder if Mitt might look more human if he occasionally let a hat mess up that perfect ‘do? And I also wonder if Pastor Jeffers would look better with an old-fashioned dunce cap on his head?



          • LSM on October 17, 2011 at 3:42 pm

            “Actually LSM, I was just kidding about the hat!”-

            fine- I didn’t (why do women always beat around the bush?- ooh, forget it…)

            “Plenty of women go for that stuff =), and yes, we do post here more than you might think.”

            could’ve fooled me- very few feminine names here- so let’s cut this short for the sake of the website-

            the entire electoral process is a scam- hats, dunce caps or “pastors” are nothing more than a diversion of what’s at stake-

            it’s about time that both men and women wake up to the fact that the present system is sodomizing us all



        • Don Barnaby on October 17, 2011 at 4:02 pm

          I don’t know. I kinda like the green shirt. Must be the 1/2 irish in me. LOL



      • Mel Hatfield on October 17, 2011 at 2:51 pm

        Yep, it certainly has to be the cowboy hat.



    • Citizen Quasar on October 17, 2011 at 4:10 pm

      It’s hard to tell anyone’s sex from an internet monicker. Yet there was a post yesterday from someone presenting herself as a female.



    • Ramura on October 17, 2011 at 6:10 pm

      LSM and others who care — for the record, I am female…although the screen-name, “Ramura,” could be anything I suppose.

      Don’t have anything to say on the main topic, other than that I agree, as usual, with Joe and appreciate his pointing it out. I intend to post it on another website online…

      Shari in SF ^i^



    • Bear claw Chris Lapp on October 17, 2011 at 9:14 pm

      It’s not that women have been scared away, they just were never here in great numbers to begin with. Alternative research tends to be more populated by men. The only genre (within alt reserch) that women seem to have greater interest in is the new age, more spiritual stuff. But books on cosmic wars, or Nazis, or hyperdimensional physics, or aliens seem to attract more men. I wish this wasn’t the case. You also see this in radical politics. I believe overall women tend to be more conformist and fashion minded than men. There are probably evolutionary reasons for this?

      Women who got out of line with the tribe were either killed or traded away. Men on the other hand as the tribe’s problem solvers probably needed to take more chances, or think outside the box. Regardless women are much more concerned with appearances and social acceptance compared to men.

      In fact, even the feminist movement was started by men working for the CIA. They used operatives like Gloria Steinem as the face (1).

      (1) http://www.henrymakow.com/180302.html



    • paul degagne on October 18, 2011 at 4:43 am

      Very good point. It has merit

      BUT,

      do you want Rockerfeller Inspired Cultural-war Femminism hiding behind a mask of USER-FRIENDLINESS?

      Try that approach with a certain anthropoligist’s past research? Hundreds of mentions of cattle and one slight, short mention of a Woman’s Circle?

      His research must stem from that anthropologist’s Unconscious. You know where CATTLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN WOMAN?

      I had to laugh at that DECOLONIZING BOOK I read! There I go again pissing off my wife’s sensitivities. I am glad she doesn’t come here.



    • Puckles on October 18, 2011 at 11:43 am

      I suspect that many female readers, yours truly included, prefer to read rather than post most of the time, as we’re too busy following the leads you so generously dole out in your posts!



  5. Citizen Quasar on October 17, 2011 at 10:25 am

    This might be a bauble of the mind for someone of your intellectual caliber, this theological pole dance serves to only, primarily, rouse the commoners’ ire to distract them from the fact that these political debates are just a stage show and nothing more.

    In other words, while I understand your academic interest in this point of controversy as you have a doctorate in patristics, this little tete-a-tete looks to me like just more confetti to distract the masses from the real issues.



    • Citizen Quasar on October 17, 2011 at 10:48 am

      Meanwhile, Mexican soldiers come into the United States on a regular basis and kill Americans and the Amerikan government, though NOT being legitimate is the one the two religious clowns that Dr. Farrell refers to want to be the CEO of, and this isn’t even newsworthy.



      • Citizen Quasar on October 17, 2011 at 10:56 am

        PS

        I posted a comment a few days back that, philosophically speaking, “I am an objectivist (note the lower case ‘o’).”

        While I can only speculate as to what the meaning of fasCist might be, there is a very good reason for me distinguishing objectivism from Objectivism.

        Objectivism is the philosophy which Ayn Rand defined and described as “a philosophy for living life on Earth.” Since her death, an outfit has sprung up, presently CEOed by a former member of Israeli intelligence, that calls itself The Ayn Rand Institute.

        The Ayn Rand Institute, while being a good source of information, flat out lies about Ayn Rand sometimes, always insists that she be referred to as “Miss” Rand even though she carried on an extramarital affair, and they will block you from their forum(s) if you fail to capitalize the word Objectivism.

        “C”?



        • Jay on October 17, 2011 at 1:55 pm

          Citizen Quasar:

          Can you cite any confirmed examples from the last 20 years of Mexican soldiers crossing the US-Mexico border and killing people in the US?

          A US border guard killed someone in Mexico about 18 months ago.



          • Citizen Quasar on October 17, 2011 at 4:05 pm

            Today, October 17, 2011, on ‘The Alex Jones Show,’ Alex, who is on a working vacation in southwest Texas, interviewed a guy named “David.” (David was willing to give out his full name yet Alex chose not to do so for reasons of safety.)

            David cited a number of firsthand examples. Alex himself, while on vacation, is interviewing a number of the locals who he has a familiarity with to compare their stories now with what they have said in times past. Many of them, including local law enforcement, are in fear for their lives and will no longer talk.

            Also, there have been other documented reports which Jones has cited over the last few years, though I can’t cite them, in which armed Mexican military have crossed the border into the United States and have cornered DEA agents and retrieved drugs that they have confiscated.

            Also, during the past year or so, some county sheriffs in Arizona have complained that they have had to post warning signs in their counties because Mexican drug runners are operating there and those areas a NOT safe for tourism. While I do not recall which county sheriffs these are, I do recall seeing this on a national television newscast.

            You can find out more about this by Googling around or calling into ‘The Alex Jones Show.’

            And while I am on the topic, the ATF has recently been caught red-handed supplying hundreds, if not thousands, of guns to Mexican drug cartels. I believe this, or part of this, is referred to as “Operation Fast and Furious.”

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fast_and_Furious



        • Jay on October 18, 2011 at 5:26 am

          Citizen Quasar:

          But I didn’t ask about US guns going to Mexico, nor about Mexican drug gangs.

          Alex Thermite Jones needs to provide places, dates and some confirmation of Mexican military involvement north of the border, not simply some rumors. Remember that Jones insists that the WTC was brought down by nanothermite, not a strong position.



          • Citizen Quasar on October 18, 2011 at 7:05 pm

            Typical of your intentional lies and deceptions you pick out an insignificant point that I added as a tangential addenda and respond as if it were my central thesis. You purposefully ignore the fact that I cited county sheriffs in Arizona on national television; ditto.

            You pointing out that Alex Jones thinks that thermite caused the WTCs to come down has nothing to do with the truth or falsity of deaths from Mexican military crossing the border into the U.S.

            If you were interested in verifying whether or not there was any truth to this you would check out the sources that I cited, including you calling into ‘The Alex Jones’ show and asking him live in the ears of over 1,000,000 listeners to verify his allegations directly to you.

            However, you are NOT interested in the truth. Instead, what you, Jay, are interested in is conniving and ninnying in the comment section of a blog on the internet to try to annoy as many as you can.

            Perhaps you are a federal operative on the federal payroll. I do know that Richard C. “NO Thermite” Hoagland speaks of the federal government being the largest and most often modifier and falsifier of articles on Wikipedia so it is very likely that a blogger with the controversial profile of Joseph P. Farrell would attract a similar ilk.

            Or perhaps you are on federal probation and you have cut a deal with your probation officer to stay out of jail by doing this or you will receive time off your sentence (which you won’t) for the same.

            There is another alternative that I can think of and this is that you are a complete blithering idiot who probably still lives with his mother. How old are you? Doesn’t /didn’t she give you enough attention? What IS your major malfunction?



          • Jay on October 19, 2011 at 6:27 am

            So neither you nor A Jones can actually cite a confirmed instance of Mexican soldiers crossing into the US of A. Then as a default defense you simply call me a “government agent”, name calling is standard for those who don’t like their positions challenged, and can’t back their postions up with any facts.

            Re Thermite, yes that Jones jumped on that wagon very much proves that he is willing to go with very shakey stories–like Mexican troops operating in the US, which is just a variation of the UN troops paranoia. Obviously for thermite to work, it would have to have covered most of the steel of the central core, a project which would take hundreds of workers months to complete–something that would be noted.

            J Wood doesn’t believe the thermite thing either. What she propounds is something similar to what I’ve seen small amounts of metal do while welding.

            Alex Jones was helpful in disproving–with repeatable facts–Dick Cheney’s claims about the gun and shot load Cheney used to shoot his co-hunter and their distance apart at the time of shooting.

            I remain very interested in the truth and J Wood and R Hoagland have part of it, while Jones rarely does, particularly when he can’t cite any valid information. (That the Fed is a private central bank is not something only Jones discovered; it’s been well known for years.) So I’m about as likely to call Jones’ show as I am to call Limbaugh’s.

            If anyone is an agent of deception…



    • LSM on October 17, 2011 at 3:14 pm

      “these political debates are just a stage show and nothing more.”

      and yet the sheeple continue to believe their “vote counts…”

      right- and I shot Kennedy…



      • Citizen Quasar on October 17, 2011 at 4:06 pm

        “I am here to confess. I was the other shooter on the Grassy Knoll.”
        —Ace Ventura, pet detective



  6. Robert Barricklow on October 17, 2011 at 9:29 am

    Since Americans require the illusion of self-government we have elections.

    Ralph Nader has it that we ‘enjoy’ a two-party dictatorship.

    In this election we will be treated to The ‘RACE’ not The Issues.

    IT IS THE ECONOMY STUPID!(As the saying goes)
    Or more precisely:
    Its WHO “ISSUES” The Currency, Stupid!

    But the above “ISSUES” won’t stand a Mormon’s or Christain’s prayers’ chance in hell of getting past the ‘our’ Lamestream Media Oligopoly.



  7. sk on October 17, 2011 at 9:06 am

    I think that if you look a little close you wil see that Pastor Jeffers and Mitt Romney are both members in good standing of our State Religion of Political Correctness. The central doctrine is Asia for Asians, Africa for Africans, White countries for EVERYBODY. Try objecting to this genocidal religion and see what kind of venom is directed your way. There can be NO all white anything ,anywhere. This is what is destroying this country and every white country. I dare say that neither Jeffers or Romney will mention it.



    • Tom Everson on October 17, 2011 at 2:42 pm

      I agree. No one in either major party will speak up for the legitimate interests of White Americans. Large scale third-world immigration and forced assimilation is, according to the United Nations, GENOCIDE.



  8. Bear claw Chris Lapp on October 17, 2011 at 8:05 am

    One of the biggest emphasises that evangelicals have is there defense of Israel. In fact, modern evangelicals should probably be called an “Israel Cult.”

    One of their biggest cult leaders is the pastor John Hagee. This guy claims that Israel can do anything they want to Muslims and Christians in Palestine because God says it’s OK. He even overturns 2000 year old Christian doctrine and claims that Jews can go to heaven without receiving Christ. Of course the Israel cult agrees vehemently.

    There’s a Bible verse which I can’t remember that says something like “those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed.” I would be interested in seeing/hearing Dr. Farrell’s analysis of this verse.



  9. LSM on October 17, 2011 at 7:23 am

    “assemblage of beliefs that tend to a basic “fascist” (note the lower case “c””- LOL!- well-stated-

    I guess the biggest problem I have is that the sheeple still fall for all this political theater and the validity of a cast ballot-

    “it’s not who votes that counts, but who counts the votes” (paraphrase)- Josef Stalin

    anyway, Dr. Farrell, on a more positive note: thanks so very much for your latest ByteShow “2 cents worth” :-)- your “pennies” continue to be jaw-dropping and too bad most of the sheeple can’t (won’t) see the flip-side of the coins that continue to fall down the slot…

    may God bless- Larry



  10. romanmel on October 17, 2011 at 7:00 am

    This Baptist pastor Jeffers who says Mormanism is not like “historical Christianity” is probably one of those who declair that the King James verison of the Bible is the only TRUE interpretation of scriptures. As they so intelligently claim, “It was good enough for Paul and Silas so it’s good enough for me”. Only Baptist, evangelicals and pentecostals can exude such dumb declarations, and only excessively proud Baptists can do it with so much vitriolic rhetroic.

    I too have no love loss for Mitt Romney, but he IS NOT running for head of the Christian church. He’s running for President of the USA. There are plenty of reasons he should not be President without resorting to religious prejudice. However, the evangelical neocon sheeple who lock-step with the Republithugs as “God’s political party” will lap up the foolishness of this Baptist pastor Jeffers.



  11. Jay on October 17, 2011 at 5:26 am

    Except OWS protesters are not objecting to stimulus spending, except for a few Paul followers, and they, Paultards, erroneously believe taxes are unconsititutional.

    If you mean that Pelosi, or a relative, took TARP monies, say so. There is a huge difference and you know better.



  12. Timothy Robert on October 17, 2011 at 5:16 am

    Here’s the choice: Democrats represent sodomites and the Republicans represent banks/usury. The duality is irrational.

    I don’t expect Romney to make it anywhere.



    • Jay on October 17, 2011 at 5:31 am

      Sorry but there are plenty of republican “sodomites”; they just lie about it.

      And haven’t you ever heard of the Senator from Wall Street, Chuck Schumer, DNY?



    • Thomas on October 17, 2011 at 10:41 am

      “Sodomites?” Where did “sodomites” enter the discussion? And what do you mean by it? Tossing in a gratuitous hate meme? Want to add any other covert hate memes? Afterall, “to hate all but the right folks is the old established rule.”



  13. paul degagne on October 17, 2011 at 5:13 am

    Us former long-time Massachusetts residents got a joke about a BRAND-NEW Look-a-like POLITICIAN or handsome Romney as some women call him.

    Some in Massachusetts call him the former = DRIVE BY GOVERNOR?

    Where the hell was he the last two years of his term as governor?

    Yeah, when the going gets tough cause the #### is hitting the fan than you can really COUNT on Romney to get going, ha, ha!



    • paul degagne on October 17, 2011 at 5:23 am

      On the other hand UGLINESS IS NO JOKE. I am trying to keep my sanity in this not so pretty world. My wife is always nagging me to be a little more cheerful so my attempt at humor is an effort on my part.

      I cant seem to change my SPOTS because I think Gallows Humor is Hillarious! BETTER TO DIE LAUGHING AT IT THEN TO DIE CRYING.

      Isn’t there some Myth about a Lady of the Lake. She cried so much a Lake formed around her. I think I got this tale screwed up.

      Thank the STARS ABOVE for the River Lethe (Greek River of Forgetfulness) Maybe it’s true and we can escape all this ugliness!

      I am like Baudrilaire’s jester or clown sitting beneath the Iron Statue of Beauty?



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