Faced with the spectacle of the cruelties perpetrated in the
name of faith, Voltaire famously cried 'Ecrasez l'infâme!'.
Scores of enlightened thinkers followed him, declaring
organised religion to be the enemy of mankind,
the force that divides the believer from the
infidel and which thereby both excites and authorises murder.
Richard Dawkins is the most influential living example of this
tradition, and his message, echoed by Dan Dennett,
Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens, sounds as loud and
strident in the media today as the message
of Luther in the reformed churches of Germany.
The violence of the diatribes uttered by these evangelical
atheists is indeed remarkable. After all, the Enlightenment
happened three centuries ago; the arguments of Hume,
Kant and Voltaire have been absorbed by every educated
person. What more is to be said? And if you must say it,
why say it so stridently? Surely, those who oppose religion
in the name of gentleness have a duty to be gentle, even with
especially with – their foes?
mmmm some interesting points in this article - but as always
there seems to be this abiding need for one or the other rather
than a meeting/acceptance of both, read the comments, does
God HAVE to be linked with religion?? Why can't we be
subscribers to science AND God, not neccessarily a religion
just a belief until proved differently that there
IS more to this world/planet/universe than meets the eye -
walk the middle way believe nothing unless it is your
own experience

On the other side of the coin - Blaming Women- not just
found in the Southern States!!
"This is also the type of thinking
that has led to the subjegation of women in Judeo-Christian
cultures.Women are thought to bear the brunt of god's
punishment because Eve "seduced" Adam into eating the
apple (Good ol' Adam was too
chicken-shit to take responsibility for his own actions and
blamed his wife for everything when god confronted them)."

This Capricorn Full Moon highlights the balance between
giving and receiving, between your inner child and adult...
between what you do for a living and what you do for a life.
Consider it your official midyear reality check.
Opportunities to heal and break long-term negative patterns
that sap your energy and self-worth are a gift of this
Full Moon... if you're willing to forgive and dissolve all
separation. You're being urged to continue evolving
and shifting your priorities from material to spiritual...
to align yourself with a community and global vision
that also sustains you on a personal level.

And so...I leave you with some words of navigation and
wisdom from White Eagle. "If you do what you can to
purify your own physical atoms by right thinking,
right speech, right action, right living...
then imperceptibly you will find a raising of your
consciousness and a happiness of which you have not
dreamed." {moonsurfing}


This August we have 2 eclipses -- a solar eclipse at the
new moon on Friday, August 1 and a lunar eclipse at the
full moon on Saturday, August 16. It's believed by those
of us who monitor planetary energies that these eclipses
will have a greater impact than typical.
One area that may be catalyzed is
relationships, whether it's between people, between people
and authority figures, or between countries.
Also, August will be a potent month for
completing our projects and getting things we've had on the
"back burner" shifted in full swing.......
know that predictions and prophecies have been a part of the
human landscape for thousands of years. Prophecy, a kind of
advance Divine knowing of a future event,
has been offered by oracles and seers of many cultures
including the Mayans,
North American Indians, Hebrews, Tibetans, and Christians.

Because of the fluid nature of the future, a prophecy or
prediction can only provide a potential future outcome.
If it's true, it can only be a relative truth,
based on what is happening during the moment in time
it is received.
The future that's predicted, therefore, can radically change
by the time it arrives.