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The Only Question Left for Ferguson

In September, Henry Kissinger responded to ISIL's beheading of an American by saying "a measured response is inappropriate." This is an insult, Kissinger told NPR, "which requires that we demonstrate that this is not an act that is free.”  He argued further that, "when an American is murdered ... there should be a response that you cannot, you would not analyze in terms of a normal response to provocation.” And the people of Ferguson, MO., would certainly agree.  The sense of frustration and outrage that Americans feel over the beheading of one of their own by ISIL is the same frustration and outrage that the people of Ferguson feel over the shooting of Michael Brown, only in Ferguson, the brutal treatment of American citizens has been going on for far longer. Yet when Kissinger suggests we should respond with violence to the former he is applauded as a statesman, while the citizens of Ferguson, who are simply applying Kissinger's advice to the latter,

Escaping the Bondage of Beliefs - The Yellow Brick Road in Our Head

Most of us never realize that our beliefs are a form of bondage. This is because our beliefs, which we rely on to define our identity, are also an invisible prison that we help to design and create. Ironically, it was from this very prison that Christ himself came to free humanity. Yet rather than spending our energies trying to escape it, we work to fortify it instead. As a result, our beliefs become our castle, with walls we build ever higher and moats we dig ever deeper, with each passing thought. This castle is built not of stones, of course, but of ideas. In fact, in the same way minerals form into rocks which may eventually become mountains, so ideas can form into beliefs and eventually become religions. The only difference is that, for many, it is much easier to move one than change the other. Unlike most prisons, however, the doors of our beliefs are all locked from the inside; and we alone hold the key.  If you have ever seen movies like The Exorcist , Poltergeist , or Pa

Stonestreet, Prager, & Huckabee: Liars for Christ

John Stonestreet is a Christian apologist who seems to believe that anyone who’s not a Christian is destined to go on a shooting spree or join a terrorist group. This is ironic, of course, since most "terrorist groups" are filled with religious fanatics like Stonestreet himself. Stonestreet "believe" this is true , however, because, as far as he’s concerned, secularism is a kind of societ al insanity that inevitably turns people into homicidal maniacs. Like believing a vow of clerical celibacy magically turns priests into pedophiles or pederasts, the sheer ridiculousness of such a claim makes it hard to take seriously. But that hasn’t stopped Stonestreet and other Christian fanatics from repeatedly making such claims nevertheless.   For them, the problem with the world today is that "secular society is a curse," as Dennis Prager put it, because “life is meaningless if there's no God." Ironically, the only people who agree with Stonestreet

How Pop-Christianity Reaps What ISIS Sows

Terrorism is defined as “the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims,” but that “violence and intimidation” can be used in more ways than one.   While those who commit acts of violence on innocent victims use terrorism directly, those who exploit the climate of fear that such “violence and intimidation” produce use terrorism indirectly.   Radical groups like ISIS, for example, use terrorism to scare people into believing in the God of Islam, but others use the fear of terrorism to scare people into believing in the God of Christianity. Both constitute forms of manipulation used by religious extremists who seek to turn our fear into a dependence on a deity, regardless of what name we call it.  By using other people’s violence to peddle their own religious beliefs, Christians like Mike Huckabee and John Stonestreet become surrogates for the very terrorists they condemn by willingly advancing the message that such terrorists seek to convey through their