So, the rabid "Al Qaeda in Iraq" instigators have a cute little manifesto on the internet, so here is my response to them as well as to our own home-grown fascists, the radical "Christians."
We have those rabid Westboro church members going to Sweden to "hunt down" the Swedish King, for some bizarre reason related to gays, and we have the foul 700 Club loon Pat Robertson coming unhinged, calling for jihad against everyone and their mother.
And of course we have George Bush Jr., King George II. (The sequel is always worse huh?) And Jr. is no exception to that truism of modern religion with all its idol-worshipping and genocidal-maniac mentality: ignorance is the key to power. Bush, in his idiocy, just about sums up the ideology of organized religion.
So, what is a semi-educated, de-brainwashed individual to do to combat this duelling juggernaut of radical "Christians" and radical Islamists, this duelling spiral to hell on earth?
Learn about Gnosticism. Which translates to "knowledge." More below...
As we all instinctively know, education is the key to stopping creeping chaos in the world and it is key to defeating the radical Christians and Islamists. Knowledge, or gnosis, is the only force able to defeat fascism masked as religion: Freedom of Religion doesn't mean freedom to persecute, torment, and impose your "religion" on others, but rather quite the opposite. It means that you have freedom to practice your religion free from persecution.
(And getting the basics to people doesn't hurt: food, shelter, and protection from fascists, especially if you can provide the means for them to help themselves per greenhouses, solar technology, other sustainable technologies that don't require fossil fuels but rather equipment and know-how.)
Both of those forces, the radical Christians and the radical Muslims, identical in their virulence, attempt to dumb down the world population so that they can get at the public's money. If they can't get it in "church" they go to their political cronies, i.e. Jr. and Bin Laden, to get them their dirty money so that they can further their filthy crusade of Hell on earth. The only good thing "christians" have done is allow the truth about Jesus to survive their fascism across 2 millenia.
Indeed Bush and Bin Laden are the biblical false prophets manifested in a collective form which is described in the Revelation as "The Beast." They span the world, in multiple religions, but with a multi-headed, centralized control mechanism: organized religion. The Beast must be stopped before the critical mass arrives at which time the human race will indeed be doomed. Only gnosis or knowledge can defeat these forces of evil that are insulated from criticism within "churches" and "mosques" and "temples," using the tried and true techniques of fear, superstition, guilt, and violence.
The original Christians, the Gnostics, of which Jesus was likely a member, were against physical churches and were fighting against people like Zarqawi, Bin Laden, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and George Bush.
Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter (Grateful Dead) decided one day to notice St. Stephen's brave stand against the tyranny of the church authorites of his time, much as Jesus did in his time, with their much-lauded song about him (called "St. Stephen").
Stephen is known as the first Christian deacon and then, unfortunately, as the first martyr after Jesus' rebellion was unceremoniously put down by the Roman and Jewish religious authorities 70 years prior to Stephen's own rebellion.
Here is a summary of Stephen's story. He was stoned by rabid church-for-money freaks, by a Paul-inspired (then Saul) mob.
Stephen's story sums up my message here today, my little manifesto against organized religion.
And Stephen's story is right in the Bible! Let the words spread the knowledge, the gnosis, and remember that Moses REALLY didn't like idols (1st Commandment), and churches qualify as idols to me.
Context: Stephen is accused by a planted witness who said that Stephen was claiming that...
"11Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
12And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
13And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
14For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.(Acts, vi, 12 14).
To which Stephen replied:
44 "Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built the house for him.
48 "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet (Isaiah)says:
49" 'Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
50 Has not my hand made all these things?'
51 "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him-- 53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."
54 When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. (Acts, vi, 44-58).
I don't know about the modern Gnostics with the "magic" component and all, and so I can't comment on its validity, but I know from my studies on the ancient Gnostics that they put a lot of emphasis on women, per the Gospel of Philip , and the "Bridal Chamber," and being anti-temple and anti-idol, all the while discrediting those who would make money on God with idols and temples and priests (per the Gospel of John).
Here's a sample of the Gospel of Thomas, which likely has objectionable portions added later, but which has many elements of gnostic teachings (discussion of women (the holy "bridal chamber" contrasts sharply to the post-Nicene eunich Catholic priesthood), criticism of physical temples (Stephen (above), Jesus'
"Destroy this temple,") and, most of all, discussion of "Christhood" (sort of like the Buddhist concept of nirvana, see Gospel of Philip):
108. Jesus said, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to him."
Jesus' promise of eternal life through knowledge or gnosis:
1 "And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."
Always remember that these teachings were outlawed by the "church" in 325 AD at the Council of Nicea and the Gnostics were put to death along with any other religious sect within their vicious reach. The real history of Christianity has yet to be told.
In other words, the "christian church," born in 325 AD, was born out of mass violence, all the while forsaking Jesus' real teachings with its edited, adulterated version of his teachings.
One day, academics will not be able to ignore the true story of Jesus and when that true story gets out, the political landscape will be forever changed... for the better:
Humankind just needs to get over the hump...