According to the predominately American Evangelical Fundamentalists Jesus was not some sort of pacifist and was and is in favour of war and genocide. As we have seen before in the documentary "Jesus Camp" these extremist Christians see nothing wrong in pushing their message on children as young as five or six. They are told that America is a Christian nation and they as true Christians must do all they can in their life times to make America a Christian nation where other religions are not tolerated because they the Christians believe God would want them to kill all non-believers .
First another Jesus loves guns, war and Genocide according to large numbers of Evangelical Christians and other Conservative Christians-- Christian Sunday Sermon in Support of War and Genocide:
How Christian fundamentalists plan to teach genocide to schoolchildren: Good News Clubs' evangelism in schools is already subverting church-state separation. Now they justify murdering nonbelievers by Katherine Stewart at The Guardian, May 30, 2012
The Bible has thousands of passages that may serve as the basis for instruction and inspiration. Not all of them are appropriate in all circumstances.
The story of Saul and the Amalekites is a case in point. It's not a pretty story, and it is often used by people who don't intend to do pretty things. In the book of 1 Samuel (15:3), God said to Saul:
"Now go, attack the Amalekites, and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys."
Saul dutifully exterminated the women, the children, the babies and all of the men – but then he spared the king. He also saved some of the tastier looking calves and lambs. God was furious with him for his failure to finish the job.
The story of the Amalekites has been used to justify genocide throughout the ages. According to Pennsylvania State University Professor Philip Jenkins, a contributing editor for the American Conservative, the Puritans used this passage when they wanted to get rid of the Native American tribes. Catholics used it against Protestants, Protestants against Catholics. "In Rwanda in 1994, Hutu preachers invoked King Saul's memory to justify the total slaughter of their Tutsi neighbors," writes Jenkins in his 2011 book, Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can't Ignore the Bible's Violent Verses (HarperCollins).
This fall, more than 100,000 American public school children, ranging in age from four to 12, are scheduled to receive instruction in the lessons of Saul and the Amalekites in the comfort of their own public school classrooms. The instruction, which features in the second week of a weekly "Bible study" course, will come from the Good News Club, an after-school program sponsored by a group called the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF). The aim of the CEF is to convert young children to a fundamentalist form of the Christian faith and recruit their peers to the club.
There are now over 3,200 clubs in public elementary schools, up more than sevenfold since the 2001 supreme court decision, Good News Club v Milford Central School, effectively required schools to include such clubs in their after-school programing.
The CEF has been teaching the story of the Amalekites at least since 1973. In its earlier curriculum materials, CEF was euphemistic about the bloodshed, saying simply that "the Amalekites were completely defeated." In the most recent version of the curriculum, however, the group is quite eager to drive the message home to its elementary school students. The first thing the curriculum makes clear is that if God gives instructions to kill a group of people, you must kill every last one:
"You are to go and completely destroy the Amalekites (AM-uh-leck-ites) – people, animals, every living thing. Nothing shall be left."
"That was pretty clear, wasn't it?" the manual tells the teachers to say to the kids.
Even more important, the Good News Club wants the children to know, the Amalakites were targeted for destruction on account of their religion, or lack of it. The instruction manual reads:
"The Amalekites had heard about Israel's true and living God many years before, but they refused to believe in him. The Amalekites refused to believe in God and God had promised punishment."
The instruction manual goes on to champion obedience in all things. In fact, pretty much every lesson that the Good News Club gives involves reminding children that they must, at all costs, obey. If God tells you to kill nonbelievers, he really wants you to kill them all. No questions asked, no exceptions allowed.
Asking if Saul would "pass the test" of obedience, the text points to Saul's failure to annihilate every last Amalekite, posing the rhetorical question:
"If you are asked to do something, how much of it do you need to do before you can say, 'I did it!'?"
So the mass murdering of Native Americans/Amerindians according to these conservative Christians was justified because the Native peoples were unbelievers. So is this their plan for all non-believers not just atheists by all non-Christians ie Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Mormons .
Also see: Child Evangelism Fellowship: The Christian Group Recruiting Kids in Public Schools : A fundamentalist Christian organization views children as a market for religious recruiting. by Valerie Tarico at Alternet.org,June 6, 2012
Re: War on women
Rachel Maddow: Mississippi Is About to Be the First State in the Country With Zero Abortion Clinics by Lauren Kelly at Alternet.org, June 30,2012
In this segment from last night's Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow starts by mentioning the truly bizarro effort by Rand Paul to get a "personhood" amendment attached to a federal bill about flood insurance (srsly), and then launches into a discussion about how abortion is now effectively banned in Mississippi. That's right, although all Americans have the legal right to obtain an abortion under Roe v. Wade, in Mississippi that legal right does not matter -- because the state is now on the verge of closing its last remaining abortion clinic. It will now have the dubious distinction of being the only (first?) state in the country to have zero -- none! zilch! -- abortion clinics. No abortion clinics, no safe abortions.
Watch the segment below to hear how the last Mississippi clinic was shuttered. It's an outrageous story.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Forced Transvaginal Ultrasounds and Fetus Burials? 5 Healthcare Mandates Republicans Want by Annie-Rose Strasser ,Alternet.org,June 29,2012Republicans are in complete upheaval over Obamacare, fired up by the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the law yesterday. They have continuously claimed that the government is ramming this legislation down the throats of the American people, and now they are calling it an unwanted financial burden on everyday Americans. In fact, the individual mandate — the portion of the law that Republicans most vociferously oppose — wouldn’t even affect most Americans. It might be time for Republicans to take a look back at their own record of health care legislation that they did like — and that forced American people, particularly women, into a lot of things: Forcing women to get transvaginal ultrasounds Ordering women to cremate and bury their miscarried fetus: Requiring doctors to lie to female patients (about high risk of cancer after abortion) Making a dying woman consult two doctors before she can get a life-saving abortion Mandating people pay extra to give medical device companies a tax break"Conscience Clause" Allows Prison Guard to Confiscate a Rape Victim's Morning After Pill by Robin Marty from RH Reality Check via Alternet.org, June 29, 2012
We've watched the definition of "conscience clause" be expanded to include everyone from nurses and data entry workers at hospitals to bus drivers refusing to drop off patients at clinics. But now a prison guard refused to allow a rape victim to take the second dose of emergency contraception (which prevents fertilization) claiming it was "against her beliefs." That's a new one. Via Addicting Info: A Tampa woman whom we only know as R.W., was raped. She was treated by the rape crisis center, who gave her two emergency contraception pills, one to be taken immediately and one to be taken 12 hours later. When she reported the rape to the police, they uncovered an arrest warrant on R.W. for failure to pay restitution and failure to appear. After she was arrested, a Hillsborough County guard confiscated her second pill, claiming it was against her religious beliefs. But this is exactly what happens when "conscience" is allowed to trump a woman's rights to avoid pregnancy. R.W. is suing the sheriff's office, and as well she should. This isn't just about women denied access when jailed (Although that in itself is problematic -- should a woman fear reporting a crime because she may be arrested? Not to mention the fact that women who are sexually assaulted while in jail may also be at the whim of a guard or someone in authorityin obtaining access to emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy). No, this case also brings to light how those who are "in charge" when it comes to dispensing are able to inflict their own moral beliefs onto someone else. In states like Kansas, which seek to expand conscience clauses well beyond health workers, the putative "rights" if those who wield power are being allowed to trump those of the patient in need.RE: Mitt Romney and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (The Mormon Church or LDS) Mormonism's sexism and racism highlighted in this artice by Neet Lind. With Mitt Romney a mormon running against Obama the ties to his church is important because the extremist views of The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints (Mormon church or LDS) if this influence Romney's policies as President it will habve a largely negative effect on women, Blacks, Aboriginal Americans and other minorities. Born Evil: That's What the Mormon Church Taught Me as a Brown and Female Child: The daughter of a Navajo mother and a white father, tells a painful story of racism and sexism in the Mormon Church. by Neeta Lind at Daily Kos via Alternet.org, June 25, 2012 also see: TO THOSE WHO ARE INVESTIGATING "MORMONISM" By RICHARD PACKHAM Revisions as of June 15, 2011 at Exmormon.org and on the elites who are now in control : Conservative Southern Values Revived: How a Brutal Strain of American Aristocrats Have Come to Rule America America didn't used to be run like an old Southern slave plantation, but we're headed that way now. How did that happen? June 28, 2012
It's been said that the rich are different than you and me. What most Americans don't know is that they're also quite different from each other, and that which faction is currently running the show ultimately makes a vast difference in the kind of country we are. Right now, a lot of our problems stem directly from the fact that the wrong sort has finally gotten the upper hand; a particularly brutal and anti-democratic strain of American aristocrat that the other elites have mostly managed to keep away from the levers of power since the Revolution. Worse: this bunch has set a very ugly tone that's corrupted how people with power and money behave in every corner of our culture.
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