Diane K24: You are doing very important work here.
I was born shortly before the State of Israel.
In the 1960s, my parents had wandered into Fundamentalism, and I (then 14) personally met Fundamentalist (later proven pedophile) Billy James Hargis, signed my King James Bible. Hargis and Carl McIntire (Bible Presbyterian Church, Cape May, NJ) preached conspiratorial theories over radio.
Nothing these sanctimonious pseudo-prophets do surprises me, and you do important work to show the dangers they present to our Democracy.
Due to my parents -- good, if duped, people -- I was privileged 60 years ago with an inside view of what makes MAGA tick.
It was anti-Democratic and hateful then, as it is now.
Please know: You have support and we jointly have backbone against such bigotry.
As a healthy corrective, Karen Armstrong shows what real Spiritual movements are capable of in her work:
Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation -- The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions (2006, Alfred A. Knopf, 469 pp.)
In his review for the New York Times, William Grimes tells of Karen Armstrong's main themes:
"This transformation occurred independently in four different regions during the Axial Age, a pivotal period lasting from 900 B.C. to 200 B.C., producing Taoism and Confucianism in China, Buddhism and Hinduism in India, Judaism in the Middle East and philosophic rationalism in Greece.
"Moving back and forth from one culture to another, Armstrong, the author of "A History of God" and histories of Buddhism and Islam, provides a lucid, highly readable account of complex developments occurring over many centuries. For the general reader "The Great Transformation" is an ideal starting point for understanding how the crowded heaven of warring gods, worshiped in violent rites, lost its grip on the human imagination, which increasingly looked inward rather than upward for enlightenment and transcendence.
"In historical time the great transformation is remote. But Armstrong argues passionately for its relevance to a world still embroiled in military conflict and sectarian hatreds. This is the powerful undertow to her book.
"Armstrong argues that the radicalism of the great Axial thinkers has yet to be understood. Their notion of the religious life was concerned less with belief systems than with self-transformation. Most were uninterested in questions of theology. "Their objective was to create an entirely different kind of human being," she writes."
This is the key:
"Their notion of the religious life was concerned less with belief systems than with self-transformation. Most were uninterested in questions of theology. "Their objective was to create an entirely different kind of human being,"
Self transformation, love of oneself, and in equal force to self-love must be love of neighbor.
You write in that spirit, Diane! I LOVE what you do!
Thanks for all the information, Armand. I have a personal story to tell at some point. These televangelist grifters like Joel Osteen, etc., are reminiscent of Catholic Father Coughlin (in Rachael Maddow’s fine expose on “Ultra”—and he used his radio platform to support fascism in the 40’s leading up to Sen. Joe NcCarthy and Nazi meetings in NYC). I sense the maga underground is rife with it. Scary but factual:
They are the American Taliban.
We can hope that like the Puritans who tried to punish anyone not in their image - the maga-Bible thumpers will fade away in time.
36 Days to the Edge
Thirty-six days till the hour is set,
Until the ballots bear the weight of fire.
On one side, the hammering of hands,
Rebuilding brick by brick a country torn,
Healing with hope and tending wounds
That have been left to fester,
Wounds of steel and shadow,
Hollowed hearts clinging to fraying dreams.
This is the fight for the arc to bend,
For justice to rise, for love to mend.
But there’s a specter waiting in the wings,
A Party draped in Project 2025,
Where the bloodthirst whispers rise again,
“Let the streets run red, let violence reign.”
One violent day, one rough hour,
They promise the purge in power,
Chains clinking in the twilight,
And freedom—what was it?—
Tossed into the cold void.
Our cities are crossroads, our voices are veils,
Some pull the thread toward light,
While others unravel it in the dark.
We stand here—
In this fractured hourglass,
Grains of sand bleeding through broken glass,
Slicing through skin like history forgotten.
Thirty-six days to decide if we fray,
If we shred,
Or if we stitch the union again.
There are those who want one rough hour,
Who dream of clenched fists and shattered towers,
To unmake what was never theirs to begin,
To build a fortress where fear reigns within.
But we, we rebuild in the open air,
Hands dirty, hearts bare,
Holding the line for every soul
That still believes in more than control.
The ballots are anchors,
To steady us or sink us in the storm.
Thirty-six days till the tempest churns.
Will we choose the sun, or
Set the sky to burn?
Time ticks on.
America, what will we become?
The big question for sure, Gloria⭐️💙🇺🇸💙
Thank you for sharing. This is real crazy stuff. I know people who listen to this guy, but I had no idea the kinds of things he was saying. Wow!
Indeed. If more mainline Christian denominations knew this crap, they would never support Trump/Vance. Maybe.
Diane K24: You are doing very important work here.
I was born shortly before the State of Israel.
In the 1960s, my parents had wandered into Fundamentalism, and I (then 14) personally met Fundamentalist (later proven pedophile) Billy James Hargis, signed my King James Bible. Hargis and Carl McIntire (Bible Presbyterian Church, Cape May, NJ) preached conspiratorial theories over radio.
Nothing these sanctimonious pseudo-prophets do surprises me, and you do important work to show the dangers they present to our Democracy.
Due to my parents -- good, if duped, people -- I was privileged 60 years ago with an inside view of what makes MAGA tick.
It was anti-Democratic and hateful then, as it is now.
Please know: You have support and we jointly have backbone against such bigotry.
As a healthy corrective, Karen Armstrong shows what real Spiritual movements are capable of in her work:
Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation -- The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions (2006, Alfred A. Knopf, 469 pp.)
See the review:
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/24/arts/the-great-transformation-the-beginning-of-our-religious-traditions.html#:~:text=This%20transformation%20occurred%20independently%20in,and%20philosophic%20rationalism%20in%20Greece.
In his review for the New York Times, William Grimes tells of Karen Armstrong's main themes:
"This transformation occurred independently in four different regions during the Axial Age, a pivotal period lasting from 900 B.C. to 200 B.C., producing Taoism and Confucianism in China, Buddhism and Hinduism in India, Judaism in the Middle East and philosophic rationalism in Greece.
"Moving back and forth from one culture to another, Armstrong, the author of "A History of God" and histories of Buddhism and Islam, provides a lucid, highly readable account of complex developments occurring over many centuries. For the general reader "The Great Transformation" is an ideal starting point for understanding how the crowded heaven of warring gods, worshiped in violent rites, lost its grip on the human imagination, which increasingly looked inward rather than upward for enlightenment and transcendence.
"In historical time the great transformation is remote. But Armstrong argues passionately for its relevance to a world still embroiled in military conflict and sectarian hatreds. This is the powerful undertow to her book.
"Armstrong argues that the radicalism of the great Axial thinkers has yet to be understood. Their notion of the religious life was concerned less with belief systems than with self-transformation. Most were uninterested in questions of theology. "Their objective was to create an entirely different kind of human being," she writes."
This is the key:
"Their notion of the religious life was concerned less with belief systems than with self-transformation. Most were uninterested in questions of theology. "Their objective was to create an entirely different kind of human being,"
Self transformation, love of oneself, and in equal force to self-love must be love of neighbor.
You write in that spirit, Diane! I LOVE what you do!
Thanks for all the information, Armand. I have a personal story to tell at some point. These televangelist grifters like Joel Osteen, etc., are reminiscent of Catholic Father Coughlin (in Rachael Maddow’s fine expose on “Ultra”—and he used his radio platform to support fascism in the 40’s leading up to Sen. Joe NcCarthy and Nazi meetings in NYC). I sense the maga underground is rife with it. Scary but factual:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra/id1647910854