NRA Lies Exposed in Orlando

Orlando murder scene

A friend I see every day in a nearby park while walking our dogs was not dismayed by the mass shootings in Orlando.  I was aghast and asked him how he could support public access to assault rifles.  His response outraged me.

An NRA member, he cited the 2^nd Amendment of the Constitution, which grants the right to bear arms so that the country would have a well-armed militia.  That’s a fairly typical claim.  The Founding Fathers lived in a different time, when they faced hostile Indians as well as the British.  Both threats, however, have long since vanished.  My friend also used spurious pro-gun quotes from the Founding Fathers, another dishonest NRA ploy.

Jefferson

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the rest were too smart to think everyone should have a gun and carry them around.  They wanted an armed militia.

My friend then said the $19 trillion federal deficit would blow up and we would need guns for defense.  That, of course, is nonsense.  The deficit needs to be addressed, but we owe the money to ourselves.  The U.S. has the strongest economy in the world and can handle the debt load.  Besides, a large chunk of it occurred when then-President George W. Bush cut taxes while committing the U.S. to war in the Middle East.   

President Obama has actually reduced the deficit.

Regardless, there’s been no uproar or civic unrest fueled by the deficit.  To pretend something violent is going to happen, outside of possible austerity efforts as happened in Greece, reflects more paranoia than common sense.

Then my friend insisted we needed guns to defend ourselves against the United States government.  That has been a repeated National Rifle Association canard, as if average citizens, armed with any weapons, could stand up to the best equipped military in the world.

More significantly, the U.S. government isn’t going to attack its citizens.  Who would it govern?  Besides, a quick examination of history shows that the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have never been sent into action against American citizens not would ever be since the armed forces are under civilian command.

Ohio National Guard at Kent State

The only two instances when government soldiers shot at Americans occurred in 1770 when British soldiers fired into a threatening crowd and killed five people.   A jury, made up of Americans, found all of the soldiers, except the commanding office, not guilty of any crime.

The other occasion occurred 200 years later, May 4, 1970, when ill-trained Ohio National Guard shot and killed four students at Kent State University. Again, a jury found the Guardsmen were not liable.

That’s it.  In our entire history, U.S.; troops have not fired on American citizens.  They aren’t going to start now.

Nor did my friend see anything wrong with everyone carry weapons.  That’s an idea easily refuted.  All he had to do is look at a time in the American West, when, for close to 60 years, guns were normal adornments.

Sample Western gun control

What happened when towns like Deadwood, Wichita or Tombstone incorporated?  They immediately passed laws preventing anyone from wearing guns within the city limits.  They didn’t confiscate guns.  They didn’t ban guns.  They simply restricted their use so gunmen didn’t willy-nilly kill people.  Guess what? Death rates fell.

In states in this country with gun control, the death rates from weapons are far lower than in states that have limited restrictions.  It’s as simple as that.

Adding to the absurdity, the terrorist who killed at least 50 people in Orlando was able to legally obtain guns even though he was on the FBI watch list because Congress voted down a bill that would have permitted the FBI to restrict his ability to obtain weapons.  The FBI could prevent him from getting on a plane, but can’t stop him from purchasing weapons used for mass murder.

I find that completely insane.

My friend said I am naïve.  I think his views are both dangerous and illogical.  He said I’ll see the truth in 20 years when the government attacks fellow Americans.  I doubt he’ll ever recognize how absurd that statement is.

After all, the NRA and its followers have made ridiculous claims before.  For example, in 2012, NRA President Wayne LaPierre claimed that a reelected Obama would erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights.  Wrong again.

And wrong on allowing average citizens to easily obtain and then use assault rifles. 

Long-time religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious history.  He also speaks at various religious organizations throughout Florida.  You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net.  He is the author of the famed Unauthorized Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Information; Noel: The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative Religion.  His most recent book is Passover in Prison, which details abuse of Jewish inmates in American prisons.  His books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.  He can also be followed on Twitter.

You can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

Facts Keep Blog Growing

I was really excited to see that my religious history blog just topped 84,000 readers.  To me, that is tremendous.number of readers.  However, after a little research, I’ve learned that my site would need many more visitors to be considered a popular blog.

The busiest blog is run by the Huffington Post and claims 110 million readers.  The 15^th largest blog, Kotaku, lists 10 million readers.  My little blog doesn’t match up.

Those darn facts.

But that’s why I started the blog.  Too many people know what they believe apparently without the foggiest idea how their religion developed or any historically supporting information.  That’s quickly apparent as soon as acquaintances find out I’m a religious historian.

For example, this week, I was walking my two dogs in the park and met a couple with two dogs of their own.  In a few minutes, after asking about my background, they are asking detailed questions about religious history and have done so each day thereafter.  We have also been joined by another woman who is eager to talk about religion and belief.

This is a regular occurrence.  My wife gets upset because, at any party we attend, when I mention my interest in religious history, the topic ends up dominating the conversation.  Fed pap for years, people really do want to know what historians have found out.  Some even purchase several of my religious history books, which are available online through Amazon, Kindle etc.

Church where Jesus was baptized?

The problem is that we are surrounded by conjecture and pure nonsense being palmed off as accurate.  For example, the news media recently reported that a church located “where Jesus was baptized” along the Jordan River has been deserted and needs repair after years of neglect. 

The church is there; it definitely needs help after landmines surrounding the area deterred visitors.  It is also old, but not 2,000 years old.  Moreover, it not likely to have anything to do with Jesus.  The Jordan River is 156 miles long.  According to Matthew, the baptism took place somewhere along the river. Pick a spot, any spot.

In the Gospel of John, John the Baptist was said to have dunked followers at Bethabara beyond the Jordan and at Aenon.  Bethabara, by the way, is where the Bible says Elijah parted the river.  However, its exact location is still uncertain. The location of Aenon is also unknown.  

Helena

The church was built by a pious believer without any concern for specifics.  That’s nothing new, since Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother and now a saint, journeyed to Jerusalem some 300 years after Jesus died and picked specific spots that supposedly were part of Jesus’ life.  Today, we know she was wrong.

More importantly, the baptism itself contradicts Catholic theology that Jesus is God incarnate.  Historians accept that Jesus must have been baptized simply because such an event runs counter to Christian teaching.  The Gospel authors would not have repeated such a claim unless it was true because of the contradiction.

So they denigrated John the Baptist, insisting that John said that Jesus should baptize him.  They did that because John was popular.  Indeed, the cult that grew up around him has never disappeared, although the bulk of followers eventually folded into Christianity centuries ago or returned to Judaism.  Besides, John is a real person, referred to in detail in the book by Jewish historian Josephus, who wrote in the first century C.E.  Jesus didn’t make an appearance in the text except in an insertion dated more than 300 years later.

John the Baptist icon

If Jesus was baptized, his followers did not see him as a God, but rather has a man who was awaiting the end of the world.  By the way, that’s why John was baptizing anyone within reach.  It was the final ritual cleansing before the world ended.

In reality, that’s what the original followers of Jesus thought and wrote: he was a prophet of the apocalypse.  Paul decided that Jesus was a good person, but did nothing special in his life and was chosen by God to be the messiah – God’s representative on Earth – when crucified.

Only later writers spun a different story and elevated Jesus to a higher religious status.

Those darn facts again.

I can’t and won’t say the later scribes were wrong.  I don’t challenge anyone beliefs.  No historian can.  We only know when the beliefs started and how they developed.  Their veracity is another matter completely.

However, there’s plenty to write about just sticking to the facts, which at least 84,000 people are interested in learning about.  Overall, I've posted more than 360 essays since I started in 2011.

In my blog, I look into religious claims, current religion-related events and people, providing evidence and commentary.  Occasionally, I even foray into American history and politics. You should check it out: blogspot.com under the name William P. Lazarus.

You’ll be joining a small, but growing crowd.

Long-time religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious history.  He also speaks at various religious organizations throughout Florida.  You can reach him at wplazarus.com.  He is the author of the famed Unauthorized Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Information; Noel: The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative Religion.  His most recent book is Passover in Prison, which details abuse of Jewish inmates in American prisons.  His latest novel is Adventures in Bonding. His books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.  He can also be followed on Twitter.

You can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

"James Bond' Causes Chaos in New Novel

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Armed with a gun with no bullets and a distorted view of the world, Bond is convinced the wealthiest man in town is guilty without a shred of evidence, takes on a motorcycle gang and, generally, causes nonstop confusion in this this funny but deadly account of murder and mayhem.

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No Answers in Political Rhetoric

Holmes

In his 2015 book Nonsense, former Harvard research coordinator Jamie Holmes explained how to boost creativity through “the power of not knowing.”  At the same time, he inadvertently explained the rise of such political figures as Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders.

As Holmes pointed out, humans do not like ambiguity.  We like answers, everything neatly explained in nice little boxes.  When that is not possible, we become creative.  We look for reasons.  In fact, ambiguity drives creativity.  Holmes cited multiple examples how the lack of one definitive solution led to multiple creative answers, including the telephone, better vehicles, easier ways to transfer money and so on.

However, politicians are expected to have plans, simple answers to complex problems.  If you want to end the influx of illegal immigrants – no matter that the numbers have fallen in recent years and associated problems are minimal – build a wall.  Simple answer, even though the cost would be astronomical and unfeasible.

Great wall of Mexico?

Too expensive? Mexico will pay for it, even though Mexico, as a sovereign country, may have alternative uses for its revenue.  The U.S. has no way to force any country, must less Mexico, to spend a dime.  In the past, if there’s something we wanted, we just slipped the country the money to cover costs anyway.

Want to solve inequity in the social system?  Just change the tax code.  No matter that’s been tried numerous times, creating the highly complex code no one understands.  Moreover, there’s no evidence that such gerrymandering will actually help resolve social ills, which are deeply ingrained and related to far more than income.

Climate Change?  Deny it.  Trust religion, the most simplistic of all attempts to resolve ambiguity.  Religion thrives by asserting “truths” as if anything a member of the clergy proclaims is actually gospel.  Don’t worry about death: “true believers” are rewarded.  Others are punished.  Who are “true believers?”  The ones we say are. 

Heaven?

Such thinking drives terrorists to kill opponents, because they will be “rewarded” in their imaginary Valhalla. 

Unfortunately, there are no clear cut answers to the ISIS threat.  There’s no obvious solution to Climate Change, to immigration or to the disappearance of fresh water, increased pollution, impact of chemicals on our lives and more.  The most creative and intelligent members of society will need to address those concerns.  Many are.  Ideas are being debated; proposals are being made.

You won’t hear them in political debates or rallies where politicians pander to the crowds’ desires for instant, complete answers.  The work is being done in the quiet laboratories and in the minds of unheralded people who recognize that the lack of a concrete answer opens the arena to creativity.

No answers here

Such solutions will require flexibility, experience, awareness of repercussions of what seems like an answer, ramifications of any decision and the willingness to change minds and accept the ambiguity of reality.

In the interim, we are all burdened by politicians who are spouting what in reality, as Holmes described in another context, is nonsense.

Worse, they attract hordes of followers demanding simple answers.

Long-time religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious history.  He also speaks at various religious organizations throughout Florida.  You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net.  He is the author of the famed Unauthorized Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Information; Noel: The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative Religion.  His most recent book is Passover in Prison, which details abuse of Jewish inmates in American prisons.  His books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.  He can also be followed on Twitter.

You can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

Biblical Exodus Account Confirmed?

Crossing the "Red Sea"

Several friends yesterday eagerly forwarded a story to me about Egyptian archaeologists finding the remains of an army at the bottom of the Red Sea.  They were all excited about the “proof” of the biblical account of an  Egyptian army being drowned while pursuing fleeing Hebrew slaves, an event that serves as the base of the Passover holiday and Judaism itself.

The story was actually first published in 2014 on the website World News Daily Report (WNDR):

Egypt's Antiquities Ministry announced this morning that a team of underwater archaeologists had discovered that remains of a large Egyptian army from the 14th century BC, at the bottom of the Gulf of Suez, 1.5 kilometers offshore from the modern city of Ras Gharib. The team was searching for the remains of ancient ships and artifacts related to Stone Age and Bronze Age trade in the Red Sea area, when they stumbled upon a gigantic mass of human bones darkened by age.

Faked image of dead Egyptians

The scientists lead by Professor Abdel Muhammad Gader and associated with Cairo University’s Faculty of Archaeology, have already recovered a total of more than 400 different skeletons, as well as hundreds of weapons and pieces of armor, also the remains of two war chariots, scattered over an area of approximately 200 square meters. They estimate that more than 5000 other bodies could be dispersed over a wider area, suggesting that an army of large size who have perished on the site.

Sounds plausible?  No, it isn’t, even though the professor and the school apparently exist.  For starters, WNDR only prints fake news.  Other recent stories from that source include: a tale about the capture of a giant prehistoric shark, the birth of a dinosaur from a fossilized egg and a recently discovered account of an eyewitness to a miracle performed by Jesus.

Moreover, the on-line site contains the disclaimer that “All news articles contained within worldnewsdailyreport.com are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental, except for all references to politicians and/or celebrities, in which case they are based on real people, but still based almost entirely in fiction.”

The Red Sea story would have died without a whimper, but another website, Disclose.TV, picked up the fake report and recycled it last fall.  It’s now getting extra life on the internet.

Real archaeological dig in Israel

Such fallacious reports continue to bedevil religious folks because so many want the tales to be true.  They are thirsting for any evidence to support biblical accounts.  So far, very little has ever been found, none of which verify anything in a biblical account.

Just for example, this story had to be wrong simply because the supposed relics were located in the Red Sea.  The Bible says the Hebrews crossed the Sea of Reeds, a shallow body of water now incorporated into the Suez Canal.  Later translators simply made a mistake in naming.  In addition, there’s no evidence yet found which demonstrates any group of people lived in the Sinai Desert or that Canaan (now Israel) was ever invaded by an outside group.  Cultural artifacts there remain unchanged for thousands of years, according to real archaeological findings. 

Maybe someday, some evidence will turn up to support the beloved Moses-dominated saga, but to date, despite, extensive digging, nothing has.

The Bible is old, not accurate

The idea that the Bible may be inaccurate, of course, hasn’t filtered through the brains of the devout. That’s why stories like this continue to be published and circulated by gullible believers.

That won’t change anytime soon.  Willingness to swallow even the most-obvious lie remains the hallmark of faith.

Long-time religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious history.  He also speaks at various religious organizations throughout Florida.  You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net.  He is the author of the famed Unauthorized Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Information; Noel: The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative Religion.  His most recent book is Passover in Prison, which details abuse of Jewish inmates in American prisons.  His books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.  He can also be followed on Twitter.

You can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1