A personal commentary and editorial on news, events, social media, and just about anything else. Occasionally I will rant about something. I strive to argue and make my points with facts. I am not politically correct as it is a term connected with Marxist ideology.

Friday, June 26, 2015

My letter to the Editor of Fort Smith Arkansas Southwest Times Record

Dear Editor, 

    As an 1985 graduate from Southside High School, I never imagined our class' 30th anniversary would coincide with the recent Fort Smith Public School board's decision to rid our high school of our mascot, Johnny Reb and our fight song, Dixie. Perhaps it was an effort to cave to those political forces in our nation today in an effort to be perceived as good people to those wanting power and control and not symbolic olive branches.

   Those who bear an unquenchable anger about our nation's history and founding are emboldened by decisions like the one made by this school board. Actions of appeasement are a signal to grievance bullies to continue pushing political correctness and censorship on free individuals. 

   I would like the school board to understand that censorship is not civility. Furthermore, censoring the symbols of history dishonors those brave men and women that fought and died to preserve our precious God given rights and freedoms. Such actions taken so close to Independence Day are disturbing to me. What will the history of our nation look like once the disturbing and offensive parts are blotted out? 

   As a student, I played trombone in the Southside band at many football and basketball games. I can say racism was not even remotely part of the spirit for me or the vast majority of anyone else I knew. The Southside teams' name, the Rebels, and the song Dixie were rallying aspects of teamwork, excellence, friendship and school spirit:good qualities! Like the verse in Dixie; old times there, (at Southside High School) are not forgotten! 

   It is wrong to tie Southside with the horrific church massacre in South Carolina. The accused perpetrator, now in custody, is not an alumni of our school nor does he represent us. People of all races are mourning the deaths of those at that South Carolina church. 

   While there are good people with different views on this, I believe changing the mascot, fight song and identity of the school will be deeply hurtful to me and the many students who attended Southside High School. 

   My times at Southside were not always fun or enjoyable, yet I have good memories and friends from those years.

   I ask those serving on the school board to reconsider this decision. 

Michael Robinson 
Knippa, Texas 

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Comment Debate with an Athiest

Recently, a person identifying as an atheist took issue with a comment I left on YouTube video many months ago, I have found that some atheists consider Christians and persons of other religions to hold believes which cannot be intellectually defended and thus are easy marks for an atheist ridicule.

I have found over the years one of the best ways to grow in my own faith is to ask hard questions and engage others who threaten to shake the foundations of my beliefs. I look forward to opportunities to engage others with different viewpoints as mine in order to sharpen my wit and exercise my ability to engage in critically reasoning pertaining to my religious beliefs.

For those atheist bullies out there wishing to kick the skeptical beach sand in my theological beliefs, I have found the best way to deal with them is to face them.

That being said,  The conversation I had with this atheist was respectful and generally civil in nature, He brought up some good points,

I will say it is difficult to keep track of the discussion on a YouTube comment section. It is easy to miss things and the written replies are easily missed.  I would have preferred holding the following conversation on an email platform.

In looking back on our debate, I regret not following through further with the teen pregnancy issue and offering more discussion about the possible connection between the poverty percentage states and religion. Yet as you can see below, the conversation we had was somewhat extensive.


Atheist: Yeah, and it turns out when we observe people in the world around us the religious people are the ones causing most of the harm.
  Especially by your own moral standards, go look up where the most porn is viewed in the United States, ironically it's the bible belt.  Or how about the states with the most teen pregnancy all very highly statistically populated by Christians.  Or the prison population in the U.S. mostly religious people, the amount of atheist that are incarcerated is minimal percentage wise.  I can keep going too, how about the divorce rate when you compare religious people to the non religious.. 
Me: 
Perhaps the reason atheists make up a minimal percentage of persons who are incarcerated is because atheists make up approximately 2.4% of the population in the US: http://pewrsr.ch/1gRaCXh
Let me regress a bit: You assert that the religious people in the world are causing the most harm.
Doctrines and beliefs of world religions vary greatly . I would assert a small number of  particular religions: ie: Radical Islam that are causing the most harm. However if one considers the murderous regime of Stalin under atheistic fascism to represent atheism, then I'm not sure what group- Islam or Stalin would win the prize for the most harm done in the world throughout history.
Interesting how you bring up my moral standards. Tell me, what do you know about them?
On the example of Christians watching porn, are you implying that being religious makes one morally better in some way?. I wish it were the case. Christians often fall to temptation sin and temptation. The hope a Christian has is to admit these shortcomings and strive to repent with the help of Jesus Christ.There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
 It is faith which saves a follower of Jesus, not works.

Regarding the Christian divorce rate: http://bit.ly/1jQH6Dh

Athiest: Ohh so you don't like it when the shoe is on the other foot?  I noticed you didn't mention teen pregnancy?

MeTeen pregnancy or or sex outside of marriage is just a temptation to which some Christians yield. Sadly, It is part of the overall sin sick human condition. Again, Christians fall prey to sin and evil. Yet as Christians we are called to repent. People of faith are imperfect and depend on a perfect Savior Jesus Christ for redemption and salvation. Some realize the human condition is flawed and compromised by sin. 

Atheist:
You do recognize that the states with the highest teen pregnancy rates are also some of the most religious correct?  And the states that are less religious have far fewer teen pregnancy's.

Me:

I don't necessarily accept the premise you are offering. It would help if you could list the states you say have the highest teen pregnancy rates. Also, What does religiously correct mean anyway? Please define. There could be other factors such as the poverty in those states, high school graduation rates,  and many other factors besides "religiosity" behind those higher teen pregnancy rates. See:  http://bit.ly/1cyPe72

Athiest: You're correct, but the most impoverished states are also some of the most religious as well, meaning the majority of the population identify as Christian.

Me: Please provide a list of states to which you are referring. Again correlation does not necessarily indicate causality. 

Atheist: How about Arkansas or Kentucky. Why don't you go look it up as I suggested at first?

Athiest:  Here.
Top 10 states with highest teen birth rates:
Mississippi , New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada, Kentucky, Georgia.

Top 10 most conservatively religious states: Mississippi , Alabama , South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana  Utah , Arkansas, North Carolina, KentuckyOklahoma


Atheist: http://www.livescience.com/5728-teen-birth-rates-higher-highly-religious-states.html

Athiest:
It's so convenient that Christians can just repent, I actually find this act immoral because they use it as a loop hole so they can do whatever they want without accountability or consideration towards others. It doesn't matter what they do as long as god forgives them. All accountability to others goes out the window especially when it comes to the way they treat others outside of there own religion. It's like they think they have a free pass to be assholes to anyone and everyone. To me it's a huge joke, Christianity is not moral in my eye's it's divisive at best. It's down right harmful to society it's a plague to us all.

Me:
The type of repentance you describe, the loop hole kind comes from a misunderstanding of scripture and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

 It is called Cheap Grace and yes, it is indeed damaging and it also not how the process of true repentance works. Paul wrote about it in the book of
Romans:What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

I can see how those that are looking at professed Christians would be turned off by such behavior. Other Christians are turned off by it too. 

Repentance is humbling, often difficult and emotionally painful process. Amends must be made and  consequences if any accepted and forgiveness asked. Also someone who repents makes an honest effort to turn in another direction away from the sin or error. 

Atheist
I'm glad you brought poverty up as well, it only provides more evidence in my favor to support my position.
1. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the U.S. Census Bureau would indicate a correlation between high levels of poverty and large concentrations of religious Americans. For instance, the Pew Forum lists Mississippi as the most religious state, with 82% saying religion is very important in their lives. The state also has the highest percentage of poor people in the country (20.8%).
 No. 2 in terms of poverty is Louisiana (17.6%), which ranks fourth on the religious scale. With the exception of Oklahoma, the rest of the top 10 most religious states are all found in the South: Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Kentucky. All of these states rank near the top for highest concentrations of poor people, ranging from 14.6% to 17.3%

Me: Thank you for the list of states and the link. I will review the material. No more time tonight though. Thank you for the lively discussion. 

Athiest: No problem. I was eating earlier when you asked me to do that. Sorry if I was initially grumpy, I get hangry sometimes. :D
 Have a good night!

Thanks same here, I forgot one more thing to add to that one list on poverty.
At the other end of the scale, New Hampshire, which has the lowest poverty level, also has the lowest percentage of citizens for whom religion is very important: 36% (when combined with Vermont). The second least religious state, Alaska, has the fifth lowest poverty rate.

Me: Oh, Ok! Have a good day. I read your link to the article. Will try to post a comment later. I'm getting ready for work. 

Atheist:
 I was doing some research here and it turns out Atheist are also more intelligent then Theist.  Atheist tend to be better critical thinkers and dismiss claims that are not rational (AKA) religion.
   I think a lot of it has to do with how people come to knowledge, many theist will say they came to knowledge by faith and we know that faith is belief without evidence.  Critical thinking goes out the window when you start using faith as a way of knowing things.
  If one examines how they obtained the knowledge of there belief I've found many people are very close to becoming Atheist.

IT looks to me like people are becoming less religious at this point in time in our part of the world. the data backs that up as well.
  http://priceonomics.com/america-is-becoming-less-religious-secular/  I don't know who these people are that you think are about to become religious, all the statistics say otherwise.  It seems +john hammond is right people aren't turning towards your religion they're turning away from it. 

Just to rubber stamp all that I can give you examples of religious leaders leaving as well.http://www.alternet.org/belief/5-religious-leaders-who-gave-faith-and-became-outspoken-atheists-and-agnostics
This is a really interesting site check this out the stories by people are an interesting read.http://clergyproject.org

Me:
So if I am reading correctly what you wrote it appears you are making the assertion that claims coming from a religious source are not rational. Also it appears your working definition of faith is belief without evidence. Correct? Also curious: how would you define evidence?

 It will be later this evening before I can read the material in your link. It appears you have used the term religious a number of times. What do you mean by the word religious? 


I do have one question for you. Do you equate disbelief with intelligence. Can some one have a attitude of disbelief without basing the disbelief on any reliable data, research and facts? Could an atheist mindset be based more on attitude than research or based on a false hypothesis. If that is the case, then is is possible that an atheist might be inclined to make a Type I or Type II error. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_I_and_type_II_errors
In reading the link you provided about Evidence, I noticed that the article states:"Evidence, broadly construed, is anything presented in support of an assertion."  The article goes on to mention the type of evidence (legal) Types of legal evidence include testimony, documentary evidence, and physical evidence. The parts of a legal case which are not in controversy are known, in general, as the "facts of the case."'I would assert that the documents, books and letters contained in the Bible and Pentateuch contains Testimony evidence, documentary evidence and even physical evidence- there are archaeologists who research archeological sites in the Middle East and have found physical evidence of the accounts of certain events written about in scripture.  Is the evidence conclusive? Perhaps not, but I think it is safe to say there is evidence and there are scholars both of the Jewish and Christian religions that study these things. 

AtheistYes, claims based on faith are not rational or reasonable. 
The way I see people using the word faith is as if it's a good epistemology and it's not.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence  What do you mean?
  Religious: relating to or believing in a religion.


Me:

I am glad you clarified the working definition you are using for the word "faith". My working definition is somewhat different. I would explain faith as prescribed philosophical discipline followed for living rather than a means of revealing evidence or knowledge not currently known. In fact the word disciple is connected the word discipline. There are other religious disciplines such as Zen Buddhism. Have you ever read the Zen and Archery? I don't pretend have vast knowledge of Zen but the discipline clearly followings a prescribed philosophical parameters. Would you assert that Zen Buddhism is irrational? 

Athiest: I practice a form of Zen martial arts or Zen meditation. I have trained in martial arts for over 25 years.  You could say I'm an expert in these matters.
  Zen is a concept much like Chi in kungfu
 It's a form of meditation. It's not a way of attaining knowledge. 


Me: Very neat! I have a great respect for the Zen discipline. I sure you could teach me a thing or two about it. Likewise, my understanding of Christianity is more of a discipline than attaining knowledge. 


Athiest:
I was a christian for over 20 years as well, I grew up seeing all the big names in the 90's Ken Ham, Kent Hovind,Ray Comfort and many more. I've been on both sides of the coin you could say.
  When you say Christianity is a discipline for you, I get that.
However I would disagree that Christianity is a discipline, because you are using faith on some level to attain knowledge that a belief is true, wouldn't you agree?
  I think Christians need to be a lot more humble about there beliefs and stop proclaiming them as true without empirical evidence.

Zen is the art of going inward to attain peace ever your mind and body. Just think of the Yin-Yang that's Zen, it's about attaining balance. It's not a belief though, there is no belief required. 
  You can't tell me christianity isn't a system that requires beliefs, is that what your trying to say?

Me:
I would say Christianity does require a prospective disciple to reach a personal verdict based on the evidence presented in the books and letters contained in the old and new testament to be the "unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ in the Church Universal and God's word" to to that same person. Upon reaching a verdict, that person then freely decides whether or not to take on the yoke of discipleship of Jesus and obedience to Jesus and such as way of living is preferred over that persons default way of living. So yes, it does require belief but not based thin air but based on evidence that one is free to accept or not.

I would venture to say that someone committed to the art of Zen must have some belief in the existence of inward peace and balance and the belief that such a state can be achieved through study, meditation and discipline and such as state is preferred over that person's default way of living. Otherwise, why commit to it?

Athiest:

I'm not sure what you are trying to say about christianity? Are you saying the bible is evidence and people can choose to accept it or not? 
  We'll if that's what you're going by, why not follow all the other holy books as well?
  Just because a book say's something and people believe it, that doesn't make it true.
  You're comparing your religion to meditation I don't see any parallels.  One is a belief and the other is a physical practice nothing more it doesn't take belief it's just about relaxing basically.
  It's like comparing riding a bike to believing in Santa it doesn't even make sense.

Me:
The Bible is a collection of books and letters written by many authors within a time period of well over 1000 years.  http://www.everystudent.com/features/bible.html
I don't doubt there are other books and manuscripts of other faiths, yet can you name a comparable book writing over such a period of time by so many writers? I am not saying other books of faith do not have value or truths contained in them--They do.

It is true not everything written in a book is necessarily factual, but again, the Bible is a collection of books of the written by Jewish people and their ancestors. There exists and peculiar common thread pointing to the existence of God.  

Of course, one is free to not accept the evidence and testimony in the Bible. It's up to the each individual. As I pointed out earlier, I suspect those that flippantly dismiss profoundly historic documents are doing so because of attitude rather than scholarly research and evidence. 

Religious disciplines and ways of living often clash with the popular, if it feels good, do it hedonistic freedoms promoted by the secular worlds, so there is risk there. It has been said that Christianity is a hard, serious religion that requires a great deal from its disciples. 

I would say that Zen Buddhism is a lot more than just a way of relaxation. It requires much from those that practice it and yes, I think there is a belief component to it. Have you read Zen in the art of Archery? 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_in_the_Art_of_Archery

You are free to believe what you want to believe. 

Friday, February 27, 2015

My response to: 5 Things to Know About ISIS and the Theology of Evil by Jim Wallis

http://sojo.net/blogs/2015/02/26/5-things-know-about-isis-and-theology-evil

While Jim Wallis makes some solid points and cogent observations, his partisanship shows through his analysis particularly where he writes, "While it’s a common Fox practice to turn everything into a partisan issue against President Obama, O’Reilly is also spreading a very dangerous theology." According to Wallis , Fox News makes it a practice to turn everything into a partisan issue against Obama: everything. Really, Jim? 

Perhaps Wallis is nonplussed that Fox News does report news and commentary that is legitimately critical of President Obama's policies and actions. Such reporting is often lacking on other networks whose biases lean in support of the President and his administration. Such a statement written by Wallis runs counter to the Sojourners Comment Community Covenant (Ephesians 4:29)

While I cannot disagree that the United States Foreign Policy and previous military advances into that region have complicated and at times exacerbated political instabilities among governments, sects and tribes in the Middle East, laying that blame of these problems on our thirst and addiction for oil which in part leads to ISIS as Wallis writes, is also dangerously naive.

I do agree with Wallis it is important that the United States form military alliances from within that region to face and defeat the ISIS forces that are butchering the innocents and threatening neighbors in that region. In order to successfully do that, the United States must also bring itself correctly see ISIS as a Militant Islamic Extremist group. President Obama's refusal to acknowledge the Islamic religious component to what drives ISIS will not serve the US or its allies in defeating ISIS.

While war is an ugly thing, it is sometimes necessary to reign in an untenable situation where innocents are brutally slaughtered, raped and enslaved.

Finally, Wallis seems to imply that Governments and politicians are the only tools people have in solving world problems. Non-Governmental Organizations such as Rotary International, churches and others can also take actions and start dialogues with leaders and citizens of other countries to address other issues that fuel instability and radical extremist.

Refusing to defend civilians and neighbors in danger is not love.