guillaumeb
guillaumeb's JournalThe marvel of the GOP tax plan, and how it will affect me:
On the GOP tax plan:
In 2016, the standard deduction for a married couple was $12,600.
The personal exemption was $4,050 per person. So, for a family of 3, that becomes a combined exemption of $24,750.
So under the new law, my former $24,750 drops to $24,000. That translates into an additional $750 in my income being subject to taxes.
For a family of 3 or more, add an additional $4,050 for each qualified dependent.
So a family with 3 children will see an additional $12,150 in income being subject to taxes.
Surprise, Trump voters!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy your tax increase.
Fantasy thinking versus reality
Archeological evidence suggests that humanity has experienced the religious impulse for over 300,000 years.
When humanity developed writing, these religious impulses were written down and the resultant writing constitutes direct evidence of the religious impulse.
The religious impulse is so strong that, 300,000 years into the human journey, the vast majority of humans state that they are believers in religion.
Some people will argue that the religious impulse is a vestige of the past, and some suggest that they feel that humanity will evolve in some fashion and that religion will slowly wither on the vine.
Some people will argue that religious belief is illogical, that because something cannot be proven according to science, that it cannot be correct.
I would argue that equally illogical is assuming that an impulse that has existed for 300,000 years will magically evolve into non-belief. This seems to me to be magical thinking and wishful thinking.
The reality is that religion persists, and has persisted, for 300,000 years. Fantasy is assuming some sort of evolution into homo logicae, or logical man. No matter how much we advance, there are things that science cannot answer, and can never answer. And as long as science has such limits, humans will look for answers that science cannot provide.
Todays sermon is on Faith, and our text is from Hebrews, 11:1.
Hebrews 11:1
11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is defined in scripture as what is hoped for, and an acknowledgment that one has faith in things not seen.
First, of course, among these things not seen, is God, the Creator.
One must have faith in the existence of a Creator because one cannot necessarily ever see the Creator. That is not to say that the Creator cannot be seen, but that our knowledge of the Creator is based on our limited human understanding. But with faith, one can literally and figuratively see the evidence of the Creator in all of creation.
Faith of course does not constitute proof in any scientific sense of the word because faith is a personal recognition of things hoped for, based on things not seen.
So, if a non-theist asks for evidence, or proof, of our faith, we can respond with the definition of faith. Another way to describe faith is as a willing suspension of disbelief.
And if a non-theist cannot, or will not make that particular leap of faith, I understand that it is their personal intellectual and emotional decision. All of us, theist, agnostic, and atheist, do make leaps of faith in life, but we do not all make the same leaps of faith.
But, theist, agnostic, or non-theist, we should realize that whenever we make a statement that cannot be proven, we are engaging in an emotion based reasoning process.
Guillaume
Important note: My name and DU post name is indeed Guillaume, but not the French theologian Guillaume Bignon. We share only our first name, and our faith.
I am also not Guillaume Apollinaire. He has been deceased for many years.
Neither am I Guillaume de Machaut. He has been deceased for even longer than Apollinaire.
Blue Christmas: Churches acknowledge that the season of joy isnt always joyous
From the article:
The service was one of several events in the Washington area and many more across the country that have marked one of the longest nights of the year. They are acknowledgments that despite the mall music and tinseled trees the season can also be the darkest time of year for those who are grieving, no matter the source of their grief.
To read more:
http://religionnews.com/2017/12/18/blue-christmas-churches-acknowledge-that-the-season-of-joy-isnt-always-joyous/
The roots of the Christmas tree: Pagans celebrate Yule
From the article:
Yule honors the winter solstice... when pagans focus on the sunlight to come after a season of dark, and engage in rituals that predate Christianitys adaptation of these practices.
To read more:
http://religionnews.com/2017/12/19/the-roots-of-the-christmas-tree-pagans-celebrate-yule/
EDITED TO ADD:
In retrospect, and writing at 5.13 CST, what is funny are the various responses from atheists explaining to me the pagan origins of many Christian religious rituals. And I am actually the one who posted this, and previously posted about the non-Christian origins of other Christian practices and beliefs.
Illustrating why it is a good practice to read the entire article and not respond reflexively to the title. Now if only I could remember to also do that.
Chinese Muslims shackled by police state, high-tech surveillance
From the article:
The students friends think he joined the thousands possibly tens of thousands of people, rights groups and academics estimate, who have been spirited without trial into secretive detention camps for alleged political crimes that range from having extremist thoughts to merely traveling or studying abroad.........
The government has referred to its detention program as vocational training, but its main purpose appears to be indoctrination.......
Chinese authorities had extended the scope of the program to Uighur students abroad. And Egypt, once a sanctuary for Uighurs to study Islam, began deporting scores of Uighurs to China.
To read more:
http://religionnews.com/2017/12/17/chinese-muslims-shackled-by-police-state-high-tech-surveillance/
There is often talk of theocracies, where a country's laws are based on religious texts. What do we call an officially atheist country that persecutes theists? An atheocracy?
A dark horse emerges victorious in Alabamas election: the black voter
From the article:
So as the precinct numbers rolled in Tuesday night, they did not surprise me...... Predictably, 80 percent of white evangelical voters cast their ballots for Judge Roy Moore......
But according to CNN, 96 percent of black voters backed Jones. Among black women, the figure was 98 percent.
So in a moment where the foundational fault lines of the American creed have been laid bare by the spilled blood and suffering of my black brothers and sisters at the hands of law enforcement, it turns out that black Christians, not white evangelicals, are the story.
In every movement for social justice in this country, people of faith have been very prominent as leaders and followers.
And this is not said to in any way diminish the work of non-theists in the same causes.
To read more:
http://religionnews.com/2017/12/15/a-dark-horse-emerges-victorious-in-alabamas-election-the-black-voter/
The Trump Presidency is only possible because of media complicity.
Yes, in accounting for the Electoral College victory, GOP gerrymandering and suppression were critical factors. And as the evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia increases, that was also a factor.
But prior to the election, the US conservative, corporate media played an enormous role because it was that right wing media that created and normalized Trump. And this media creation, Donald Trump, was allowed to present himself as a legitimate candidate.
Prior to that, the US media created another President, Ronald Reagan. This second rate actor was coddled and protected by a media that was well aware of his intellectual deficiencies. The media ignored that and presented Reagan as a cowboy figure, while ignoring his blatant racism and open appeal to racists.
And then we had the media enabled creation of George W. Bush, a product of a connected political family from the northeast who cast himself as a cowboy type much in the mold of Reagan.
Now we have Trump, who in any sane universe would be seen as the failed businessman that he is, but thanks to reality television, he can call himself a successful businessman.
Thank you, conservative, corporate, media enablers. Thank you for totally ignoring any semblance of journalistic integrity as you normalize Trump's behavior, or present it in a both sides do it framework to minimize how bad Trump really is.
Its time for a sexual counterrevolution
From the article:
They are fewer by the day. With idols falling fast in media, politics and entertainment, The New Yorkers Masha Gessen writes that a new sex panic might be upon us....
Thankfully, we can find in religions and secular ethics some powerful correctives to what is broken in sex culture today. First, a brief diagnosis of what has gone wrong:
We can credit the sexual revolution for honoring the joys of sex and creating space for more people to enjoy it in more ways, provided that no one is forced or harmed. But in elevating the pleasures of sex, the revolution contributed to the development of a greedy fixation on it that now prevails among some men.
To read more:
http://religionnews.com/2017/12/14/its-time-for-a-sexual-counterrevolution/
Trump and the Religious Right have made the Religious Left unavoidable.
From the article:
To be fair, the Religious Left was never exactly napping. Aspects of the movementwhich constitutes an amorphous group of interfaith activists that goes by many names and takes many formshave operated since Americas founding, marching and praying in support of abolition, labor reform, and civil rights.
To read more:
https://thinkprogress.org/2017-is-the-year-trump-and-the-religious-right-made-the-religious-left-unavoidable-3e89528104b6/
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