American Citizens News Network

May 3, 2008

The Facts

A document called “An Evangelical Manifesto” calls Christians “useful idiots”. It also says the word “evangelical” has lost its meaning. The manifesto was put together by some conservative Christian leaders that include Os Guiness and Richard Mouw, as reported by a CNN article. Supposedly over 80 more evangelicals have signed the manifesto, which is to be released next Wednesday, May 7 2008. A quote from the document says “All too often we have attacked the evils and injustices of others, while we have condoned our own sins”. Already some evangelicals are criticizing the document.

My View

According to the document, it accuses evangelicals of siding with one political party or the other. In other words, Christianity is being used as a political weapon. The last time history recorded such an act was around 300 AD when the Catholic Church started their rampage to force all citizens to profess the Catholic religion. If you are even remotely familiar with your history, you know what that led to over the next 1500 years. It was that history that caused our founding fathers to ensure a separation of church and state in the constitution.

Christians, no matter whether an evangelical or not, should participate in the political process. It is every American citizen’s right to do so. And I feel it is perfectly ok for them to express their beliefs. But that is where it should end. I know it’s a popular thing with our elected officials, but special interest should not be allowed to influence government policy, including religious organization. All one has to do is look at what’s happened to our government and know that it has all been brought about by the pandering of our officials to special interest.

A spokesman for the authors said the theologians and Christian leaders involved are seeking to “go back to the root theological meaning of the term evangelical”. And that just about covers what has happened to religion; it is being used too often these days to justify someone’s career or personal agenda. First they decide what they want, and then they justify it through the Bible or their religion. Just take a look around the world today with open eyes if you disagree with that.

April 28, 2008

The Facts

53 of the girls taken from the polygamist compound in Texas are between ages 14 and 17. Of those, 31 are pregnant or have had children, so say Child Protective Services as reported in a Fox News article. Officials say there is a pattern of children being forced into marriage with older men, and that some girls as young as 13 may have had children.

My View

In one television interview, a 32 year old woman from the sect admitted that there was maybe one girl who had had a baby at the age of 16. The other women with her at the time did not confirm or deny that. So I guess its ok with God if they lie, huh? Why else would they lie about this if they didn’t think it was ok with God? Or maybe they just figured they would ask for God’s forgiveness later for lying.

There have been a lot of questions asked as to why none of the men have consented to an interview. I guess now we know the answer. Basically, they are cowards who have once again made the women face the public. As I said in an earlier post on this matter, for the men, the sect is nothing more than a justification for having as much sex as they can with as many women as they can, and the younger the better. Religious persuasion is used only as an excuse. No wonder they were so outraged by the taking of the children; they knew the truth was going to come out. I suspect that once all the children’s mothers are identified, we will find out that most of the now adult mothers were also “raped” when they were teenagers. Just another of the thousands of example’s of how God and religion is abused and misused by those with agenda’s other than just serving God. I wonder now how many of our other citizens will come out in defense of these people.

April 17, 2008

The Facts

Recently the State of Texas raided the polygamist ranch in Eldorado, Texas to remove the children there. According to Texas officials, they received a phone call from a 16 year old girl saying she was at the ranch and was being sexually abused, which prompted the raid. Since then, dozens of the women from the ranch have been given a lot of air time to complain about the raid and having their children taken away from them.

My View

I have two grown daughters and I can imagine what it would have been like had they been forcefully taken from me when they were children. It has to be one of the most heart wrenching things that can happen to a parent. So I certainly have sympathy for the parents, especially the mothers. However, when you make a personal choice to raise your children in an environment that can ultimately lead to sexual abuse, you have to be prepared for the consequences.

My family has a very close lady friend who grew up in a similar environment. Not in a cult-type environment, but what most would call a dysfunctional family. She was the oldest of four children; three girls and one boy. As a child she witnessed her father being murdered in a poker game; her mother was a prostitute as were her two sisters once they became teenagers. Her brother was a drug addict. We once ask her how she managed to avoid becoming like them. Her answer was while in school she had several close friends and they often invited her to their home, at times to spend the night. Our friend said that by being around these other families she realized there was a different and better life to have, something she would not have realized until it was too late had she not had that opportunity. Her siblings never had that opportunity. So she made a decision she was not going to live the same kind of life her family was living. The results is that she has had a very productive life with a successful career, and a husband, two children, and two grandchildren who have all turned out to be respected and moral people.

I imagine that most, if not all, of the women at this polygamist ranch has never known a different kind of life. Therefore, they probably don’t realize that there is something morally wrong with living the kind of life they are living and having daughters that will become sex objects when they become teenagers. So it is understandable that they will defend their way of life and just kind of ignore the fact that their daughters are being raised for sex.

April 15, 2008

The Facts

Ben Scafidi of Georgia State University performed a study that was sponsored by four groups that consider themselves a nationwide marriage movement. The Institute for American Values, the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, Families Northwest of Redmond, Washington, and the Georgia Family Council, an ally of the conservative ministry Focus on the Family are the four groups that sponsored the study. The study says that it is costing taxpayers $112 billion a year for children of divorced families and children born out of wedlock. Now the sponsors are asking for millions of dollars to help strengthen marriages.

My View

To begin with, the sponsor group is basically ignoring the fact that 40% of children born today are born out of wedlock. I’m sure they are concerned about that, but their agenda is to conserve marriages, so they are focusing on that. While I am in favor of marriage before children (I have been married for over 41 years), I do not feel that we should be forcing marriage on couples who don’t want to be married. However, if couples chose to have children, married or not, they should be held accountable for supporting their children. Therefore, if we are going to invest millions in something, it should be to either enforce support of their children or punish those who have children and choose not to support them.

The biggest problem with this sponsor group is that they are a faith-based group who believe in the sanctity of marriage as dictated by their religious belief. Therefore, they are asking for taxpayer money to promote their religious beliefs. I appreciate the fact that they have pointed out how much this is costing the taxpayers, but that is not justification for giving them millions of dollars to accomplish their preconceived agenda.

Read the article here.

March 12, 2008  

The Facts 

NBC News had an investigative report on their evening news tonight about televangelist Paula and Randy White of the church “Without Walls”. In the report, NBC again pointed out all the extravagances of the White’s including there multi-million dollar homes (notice that is plural) and Randy White’s $170,000 Bentley convertible sports car. According to NBC, each of them received more than one million dollars a year in salaries plus perks.  

My View 

The truth of the matter is that I have already said just about as much as can be said about these crooks who go around stealing money from people in the name of God. Talk about preaching morality but not living it; New York Governor Eliot Spitzer can’t hold a candle to these people. But, as a man, you got to admit that Paula is much better looking than Eliot.  

Two other interesting facts are pointed out in a written report on NBC’s web site. A church spreadsheet showed that Paula White received $43,129 in “personal offerings” in May 2006, and many personal checks were made out to Randy White that same year. How much money did you make in all of last year? 

I’ve kind of gotten use to seeing and hearing about these televangelist low-lives, but what caught my ear today was the fact that the church took in over $35 million in 2006, yet it was $25 million in debt. Whoa! Who will pay for that debt when the church defaults; once again, the average working American taxpayer. But, hell, why not? Our tax dollars are paying for millions of other rich folks to get richer.  

Read NBC’s written report here.

January 7, 2008 

The Facts  

Over the past several months, we have heard about Muslim fathers killing or injuring their own children because they, the children, have “dishonored” the father or the family. The Muslims in question are not living in a Muslim country, they are living here in the United States, Canada, and other non-Muslim countries. 

My View 

No one should expect anyone to give up their personal belief in their God. And no one should expect anyone to change their religious beliefs if they do not want to.  However, the civilized world does not expect anyone to use their religious beliefs to justify murder. Regardless of what any so-called religious leader says, no real God expects them to do that.  

In another one of my post I said that my only problem with the Muslim religion was that it alone dictates the laws they live by. There are no other written laws that distances themselves from the Quran. Therefore, there is no “separation of church and state”. Muslims are told by many of their religious leaders that the Quran tells them to kill the infidels. And most Muslim believers are taught that an “infidel” is anyone who doesn’t believe in the Quran and practice the Muslim religion.  

We have over one million Muslims living in the United States according to the latest census. From time to time, some atrocious event will occur somewhere outside the Muslim dominated world that is directly attributed to the Muslim religion, such as the a father murdering his own children. Then the news media will invite a Muslim representative on to talk about the event. And inevitability the representative will first say that most Muslims, especially the ones living in this country, do not condom the sort of thing that happened. And when asked about the “all infidels must die” theory, the representative always say that that is a misinterpretation of the Quran taught by some radical Muslim leader, and the Muslims in this country do not subscribe to that belief.  

Here’s my point. People do not change their beliefs overnight, or just because they moved to another country. And the fact that a father will do harm to his own children because his Bible tells him to do so is proof of this. Therefore, I will always question these Muslim representatives when they tell me that the Muslims in the western countries do not subscribe to the theory that “all infidels must die”. We have to remember that these sorts of things are not generally implemented without having a large local support base. And for the moment, Muslims in our country does not have that. The Quran does say that it is ok to ally yourself with the disbelievers in order to avoid persecution (Sura 3 – 3:28). Naturally this can be interpreted in many ways.

December 20, 2007 

The Facts 

One of the stories in today’s new is about Cindy Jacobs’ prayer vigilance along Interstate 35 in Dallas, Texas. She and her husband are the heads of Generals International, a church in Cedar Hills, Texas. The following is a quote from them: “If you turn to the Bible — Isaiah Chapter 35, Verse 8 — you will see a passage that in part says, ‘A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.’” Thus, the reason for her I-35 road-side prayer vigilance. 

My View 

The first thing I have to ask is “is this another ‘mega-church’ in the making”. After reading what Julie Meyers is all about, I have to wonder. She sells herself as a “prophet”. Once again I repeat one of my own “prophecies”; all you need is some sort of “twist” to religion and you can collect a following.  

At this time I am not placing her in the company of the infamous “six” that is being investigated by Senator Charles Grassley. But many who have claimed to be prophets have gone on to become part of that company. Cindy Jacobs is highly criticized by other church leaders. To somehow associate I-35 with some biblical interpretations seems a far stretch to me. If I were trying to interpret the Isaiah verse, I might think it referred to the “highway to heaven” (read the King James version below). But, then again, I have often said that anyone with biased objectives can interpret the Bible to support that objective (notice her slight misquote of that verse). That being the case, I find it ironic that there are some businesses along that stretch of I-35 that she would like to see closed down. Agenda, agenda, agenda?  

King James version of Isaiah 35, 8: “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein”.

December 12, 2007 

The Facts 

“The evangelist Creflo Dollar has resigned from the Oral Roberts University board of regents, and another evangelist, Benny Hinn, has lost his status as a voting member of the board. ORU’s spokesman Jeremy Burton confirmed Wednesday that Dollar had resigned and that Hinn had been named a “regent emeritus” without a vote on the board.” This is a quote from Religionnewsblog.  

My View 

If you have been keeping up with the goings-on relative to the recent outcry about the misuse of riches by mega-church leaders, you know that Creflo Dollar & Benny Hinn are two of the mega-church leaders that is currently being investigated by Senator Charles Grassley for the misuse of church funds. What hasn’t been in the news is that these two are, or at least were, on the board of regents of the Oral Roberts University.  

I haven’t looked into who else is on the board of regents, or whose on the board of the other mega-churches. But if this is a sampling of regent members of Christian based universities, its no wonder these universities are loosing credibility in the eyes of honest Americans. Naturally regents are not on the Board of Directors, but you have to wonder what the regents influence is on the directors. Some universities require that members of the Board of Directors have prior approval from the regents before they can become board members. Therefore, if you continue on with that logic, does regents have heavy influence on board of director members once they become board members? We know that board directors are the ones that approve cash flow, benefits, and perks for Presidents and CEO’s of companies; which, in these cases, are leaders of the churches.  

In big corporations it is common for presidents and CEO’s to be on the boards of directors of other big corporations, and almost always, is the same people on all the boards of directors amoung several companies. And it is no secret that they wind up voting each other big salaries, big pay raises, and big bonuses. This being the case, just how are these things handled with these mega-churches?

December 12, 2007 

The Facts  

“A 16-year-old girl has died after allegedly being choked by her father over a dispute with her family over her refusal to wear the hijab, the Islamic headscarf worn by some Muslim women. Peel Regional Police arrested a 57-year-old man Tuesday morning after receiving a 911 call from a suburban home in Mississauga from a man saying he had killed his daughter, according to a Toronto newspaper Web site.” 

My View 

The article says the girl was killed because she refused to wear the hijab, which is a Muslim head dress. In the Muslim world of customs & laws, this action is legally permitted if a person refuses to abide by Muslim law. And it is this fact that I address here.  

For many years I worked and lived in several Muslim countries. Upon arrival in each of those countries we were required to go through an orientation. Basically, we were instructed in what we were allowed to do and not allowed to do. It really came down to what we were not allowed to do. And what we were not allowed to do was practice any customs that were indifferent to the customs & laws of that country. If we broke any of those rules, we were subject to arrest and punishment in accordance with their laws, which brings me to my point.  

Many Muslims voluntarily come to a westernized country. They demand that they be allowed to practice their own customs. Because we are a country of freedom, we allow them to do so. Then when they break one of our laws, they also demand they be left alone. In other words, “you will abide by all of our laws when you are in our country, but we will not abide by all of your laws when we are in your country”. And because we now believe in politically correctness, in many cases we end up doing very little about it or nothing at all. What we must remember is that with Muslims, laws & customs are one & the same. Therefore, when we want to punish them for breaking our laws they want to claim we are punishing their customs.  

I applaud the Canadian authorities for ignoring political correctness. Until we take a stand for our own rights and laws in our own country, Muslims will take advantage of the freedoms they have gained simply by coming here. Already the Muslim defenders, who claim that all Muslims are not like the terrorist, are out in force defending this father. Although some of them are saying they think it was wrong for the father to do this, they insist that we understand the fathers customs and be tolerant of that custom. Tolerant? Just what does that really mean in this case? Again, in other words, “you must change your cultural views in favor of ours”.

December 2, 2007 

The Facts 

CBS’s 60 minutes closed tonight with a report by Andy Rooney (as usual) on many of the retailer’s catalogs and sales brochures that comes to his office. There were 27 examples used. Without exception, none of them had the word “Christmas” anywhere in them. Instead, the word was replaced with “Holiday”.  

My View 

Christians, by definition, make up the majority of religious group that celebrate Jesus’ birthday on December 25th and refer to it as “Christmas”. And the tradition of giving comes from celebrating Christmas. The greeting of “Merry Christmas” is the most celebrated greeting used by Christians for recognizing Christmas and saying “Hello” to Jesus. But political correctness now dictates that the majority of Christians bow to the demands of the minority. And the majority is allowing this to happen by keeping our mouth shut because we are afraid of offending someone, even though we are being offended by them (“it’s ok for me to do it to you, but don’t you dare do it to me”.  

A 2001 survey of the top ten religions in the United States shows Christianity made up 76.5% of our residence. Judaism was 1.3% and Muslims was 0.5%. (Other sources reflect a similar percentage.) Those percentages have surly changed since then with the influx of others who are not Christians, but Christianity is still, by far, the overwhelming majority. So why are these other religions, mostly Muslim, demanding that we give up our culture for theirs? Because caving in to minority demands is politically correct today, and the majority is insulted if we don’t agree.  

The most commonly used policy through out history to destroy a people & their way of life is the policy of destroying their culture. In fact, in that belief, there are several organizations here in America for with the sole purpose of destroying our culture, some which have been here for decades. Again, politically correctness, and the abuse of our Constitution, has forbidden up from challenging them.  

If we ignore this fact there will come a day not too far in the future when someone will show up at our door and arrest us for using a term or phrase that is deemed offensive to some religious group. I know it is hard for anyone to accept this, but it will happen if we do not force our hand now. How do you think these hard lines that are used today in other countries were accomplished? In “baby” steps and they didn’t have the assistance of the population back then through the use of “political correctness”. So use the internet, email, letters, and telephone to bombard your elected representatives with your protest. Be very firm; be repetitive; keep reminding them, daily, if you have to. We have no one else to blame if we sit quietly.

November 29, 2007 

The Facts 

Richard Roberts (Oral, Jr.) announced today that he is stepping down as President of Oral Roberts University among the accusations that he and his family have misused University funds. It took him several weeks to come to this decision, but Roberts is doing this now because, he said, God told him to.  

My View 

Where do you start on this? I will never get over the fact of how these mega-preachers use God as an excuse to further their personal agenda. And I will never get over the fact that, according to them, when God calls a man to minister and that man becomes a mega-preacher, God seems to always select a child of that man to replace him when the elder steps down. I’m sure their answer would be the old adage of “God works in mysterious ways”.  

Does anyone remember when, in 1986, Oral Roberts, Sr. came on the airways and told the world that God had told him that he, God, was going to “call Roberts home” if Roberts did not raise eight million dollars and build a medical center in one year? Then in 1987 he claimed that God told him to raise another eight million dollars in three months or God was going to “call him home”. And millions of people still refuse to acknowledge what these people really are. If I were a genuine, honest servant of God serving in the capacity of leadership, I would be coming out every day exposing these people. A very few do. Unfortunately, too many are using the crutch that it is not their place to judge. But if they don’t start adopting a different attitude, these crooks are going to destroy their reputation and take them down also. Actually, the destruction has already begun.  

In the 1987 case of God talking to Oral Roberts, there was a syndicated columnist on the west coast that made the national news. He suggested that after thousands of years we finally had an opportunity to prove once & for all that God existed. He suggested that no one send Roberts any money, then in 90 days when Roberts was “called home”, that would settle it. Unfortunately, not enough people listened to him. Roberts raised the eight million dollars, and more, in less than three months and is still alive today. I guess some would say that proves God’s existence.  

I am compelled to repeat here a phrase I feel certain I coined a long time ago about what God must be saying; “stop blaming me! I had nothing to do with it!”

November 27, 2007 

The Facts 

Paula White, one of the “famous six” evangelist being investigated by Senator Charles Grassley, was on Larry King last night. She talked about several things, including her impending divorce, her latest book, how she got to where she is, and, of course, briefly about the mega-millions her organization takes in.  

My View 

Everyone who is familiar with Larry King knows that he does not conduct an aggressive or controversial interview, and he is very lenient with giving his guest time to answer questions, and to talk. He rarely challenges a guests’ answer. (These are the primary reasons I watch King; plenty of the other stuff on other programs & stations.)  

I found two things amusing in Paul’s answers. The first was how she was ordained and obtained her ministerial license. The second was her answers and comments about the money relative to being a tax free organizations and, as such, exposing her financial records. As I watch the program, I also recorded it, so I watched the latter segment again to be sure I understood what she said.  

Now, I don’t know if anyone is familiar with the interview by 60 minutes many years ago with the then governor of Louisiana, Edwin Edwards. (You might recall that he and his son went to prison later on several convictions.) The interview took place during Edwards’ third or forth term in office or campaigning for reelection; I can’t recall which (he served two consecutive 4-year terms in office the first time around, then two seperate 4-year terms). But during the interview, he was repeatedly asked about some of the kickbacks he received during an earlier term. Edwards always came back with the same answer; “it was not illegal to do that at that time, but there is a law against it now, so I don’t do that anymore”. Get it? “It doesn’t matter that it was immoral, the wrong thing to do, and screwing the citizens of Louisiana out of money, it just wasn’t against the law so it was ok to steal”.  

That Edwin Edwards interview immediately popped into my mind when I heard Paula White’s answer to the question mentioned above. Her answer was to basically reference the tax law that says anybody with a valid license declaring them a religious organization can use that tax law to not pay taxes. She did go on to say that 87% of the income was put back into the church. However, it’s what is the definition of “back into the church” and what’s included as expenses in that 87% that is in question. Her web site financial report, something she referred to, has several “catch-all” categories. And when you are talking about the volume of income she has, a lot of ”expenses” can be hid in many different categories.

November 21, 2007 

The Facts 

Quote: “The Jehovah’s Witnesses have settled nine lawsuits alleging church policies protected men who sexually abused children for many years. Authorities identified at least eight victims that McLean allegedly abused over the course of nearly a decade.  One victim estimated McLean molested her “over 100 times,” according to the U.S. Marshals Service.” Several more abuses by other members are also mentioned in the article. * 

My Views 

The fact that yet more “men of God” are found molesting children is of no surprise to me. Neither is the fact that the “church” was covering up these monstrosities a surprise to me. In these cases, not all, but many churches are more interested in protecting their reputation than they are in protecting children. Also not surprising to me is that the church has the millions of dollars of reserve money to pay out to victims (unless, of course, they have insurance to cover this, in which case, the policy holders of that insurance company will really be footing the bill in increase premiums). But what is surprising to me is that the leaders of these churches will not be personally punished, and that church members will continue to donate money to the coffers of organizations that condones this. Members can use any excuse they like, but if they continue to donate money, they are in essence saying they condone these actions. God doesn’t control these people, money does. And in this case, it could be the lack of money that brings them under control if members cease to donate.  

The bible can be used to justify anything. History has proven this fact. So the bible will continue to be abused and misused to people’s personal satisfaction.  

*http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21917798/

The Facts 

Today Pat Robinson officially endorsed Rudy Giuliani for the Republican Party nominee. Robinson basically said in his statement that although there were some philosophical differences between him and Giuliani he believed that protecting American from Muslim terrorist was the top priority and Giuliani was the best man for that job.* 

My View 

Pat Robinson is an opportunist, in addition many other bad things. He always wants a connection to the White House so he can influence policy. It’s all about power. Rudy Giuliani will most likely be the winner in the Republican general election and Robinson knows that. At this time Giuliani certainly is the leader by a large margin. And that is the reason Robinson has jumped on Giuliani’s band wagon. Since Robinson claims that God talks to him all the time maybe he, Robinson, has received a message that Giuliani is going to win next November. We all remember when he claimed God had told him that Bush was going to win by “a landslide” three years ago. Bush lost the popular vote but won with 51% of the electoral votes. I wonder how God got that so wrong. 

*http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usrudy1108,0,3215022.story?coll=ny_wire_utility

The Facts 

Republican Senator Charles Grassley was in the news today. Evidently he has been leading an investigation for the past two years into the financial status of at least six mega churches. He is demanding that these churches submit their financial records for complete audit. Grassley says the reason for singling out these six churches is the obvious lavish life styles of the church leaders. He quoted such items as a twenty-seven thousand dollar commode in one of the multi-million mansions. Those being investigated are Eddie Long, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, and Paula White. None of the six organizations that got Grassley’s letters belong to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Ready a complete report at the site below.*  

My View 

What absolutely amazes’ me is the millions of Americans that are so surprised at this. These thieves, along with many others, have been so obvious with their lavish life styles with the money they have been stealing from innocent donors. They may have refused to issue detailed financial statements, but they haven’t been able to hide their life styles. And they haven’t been trying to hide it. They justify it by saying God is blessing them. You damn right they are being blessed, but it isn’t God that is blessing them. It’s the donors, many of which could not even afford the shoes these characters have in their closet. And these TV gods are not worried about complying with any investigative demands. They have plenty of extra millions to spend on lawyers to defend them. By the way, Paula White and her husband are in the process of getting a divorce. Wonder what the divorce settlement will be? 

I admit that I have had some hard feelings for these yahoos for a long time. And this is exactly the reason for my feelings. I started asking questions about them twenty-five years ago. If you care to read some of my other views on religion, look at some of my other post on this site then go HERE.   

*http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/news/stories/2007/11/06/preachers_1106.html