Archer, well said - nothing to add - the key word here being "Worship". I'm amazed Lord Acton received such high ratings from you all considering he was a Liberal.

Mike, one of these days you will understand the meaning of Atheism - its amazing I have many Christian friends but when I ask them do they know other Atheist their answer is, in most cases, NO. and that my dear friend speaks for itself. When will you get it! Hilter, Starlin and Mao WHERE NOT ATHEISTS they where totalitarian maniacs. Hitler had God on his belt (please read your history). The Abrahamic religions are the curse of civilization; they are the cause of all strife and depredation in the world.Their killing and mayhem was under the banner of religion and the killing by those fascists, communists, and totalitarians where not flying the banner of Atheism quite the reverse. You really have a warped sense of history.

Archer, so, what is the solution once we take the f#$%ing needle out of our arm? Also your reference to my agreeing with the present statist position couldn't be further from the truth. Please, I would like to hear your solution.

Mike, Those that are ultra anything are dangerous whether they are from the right, left, christian or atheist - though to be accurate atheist's by their very definition have nothing to be ultra about. The only agenda they may is one of secular humanism. P.s. thanks for the otherwise good review.

To prove this quote; The US today: Now – let’s all stand in lockstep with hand over heart and patriotically summarize: We spend more than 65% our total taxes on the Pentagon - having military in 143 countries in 700 bases; We illegally invade other sovereign states; we ship our manufacturing jobs to China (a communist country, but we still have an embargo with Cuba); We skew the unemployment and the cost of living figures; We are the only developed nation without a single-payer health system and a current health system that costs twice as much as other countries and yet America is rated by the WHO number 37th with regards to the quality of health care; We pay the foxes, like Geithner, Summers and Rubin (the crooks who created the need for a bail-out) in charge of guarding the chicken coop; We have one-sided government electoral system – winner takes all (not a proportionate representation) and allow fraudulent and easily hackable voting machines (no paper trail) and, allow openly corrupt contributions/bribes by way of corporations through their army of lobbyists; We have now killed nearly two million Iraq's and Afghans mostly civilians women and children and displaced nearly 4 million; We have spent over a $trillion on a war based on lies and sacrificed 5,000 of our own military personnel and 2,000 international troops; We have a political propaganda machine that would make Goebbels blush; We admit we torture prisoners of war despite the ratified Convention Against Torture, US law, and the Geneva Conventions and yet no one is held responsible (we do this torturing here in America and secret gulags abroad); We allowed in 1999 the FSMA (Finacial Services Modernization Act) which did away with the Glass-Steagall Act. And, then, which was unforgivable we sat back and allowed our government to do away with habeas corpus, a law that has existed for 800 years since the Magna Carta: Two key elements are the Magna Carta and Habeas Corpus. Articles 38 and 39 of the Magna Carta said: 38 In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses to the truth of it. 39 No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. We employ over a hundred thousand mercenaries as part of our armed forces (paid thugs & terrorists); We commit black-flag (covert) operations around the world displacing democratically elected politicians and placing their once free citizens under dictators who do our bidding, like we did in Iran in 1953. We allow all the organs of the media to be owned by the corporatocracy and the military industrial complex that dictate what news to show to the sheeple by way of their lying Jackals like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly. We have a stock market manipulated by the Federal Reserve and the top richest families in America; We have a country not administered by the White House but by the Pentagon and the CIA; We have the worst hunger and poverty and incarcerated Americans per capita than any other civilized nation. Through forced poverty and no opportunity for decent jobs - young Americans are being enlisted into the armed services as cannon fodder to fight illegal resource wars for their corporate masters. The disparity between the rich and the poor is growing, we have become nothing but slaves to corp. America. We allow the sheeple of America along with the Supreme court to vote on fellow American’s constitutional rights to be married and have equality under the law. We allow the CFR (Council on Foreign relations) and “The Family” (a Christian based political club at the highest level) to dictate foreign policy; We allow Christian fundamentalism to enter the political arena to dictate home and foreign policies – leading to wars - with Armageddon as the desired result to fulfill “prophesy.” We refuse to have a proper 9-11 investigation and settle for a white-wash to cover up mass crime. We now have Americas’ intelligentsia leaving the US in hordes; We have the worst educational system in the industrial world with students getting into thousands of dollars in debt to pay for their education which is free or heavily subsidized in other industrial nations – we produce half-educated people who know nothing of ethics and morals, we praise knowledge over character; We also have the worst quality of life amongst the developed nations, as an example we only get 12 vacation days, the UK 25 days, France 39 days, Germany 35 days, and Italy 42 days – many families in America are working multiple jobs just to survive; We are not the freest country on earth, far from it, our emails and phone calls are monitored as well as our medical records – an American citizen can be imprisoned without a trail and kept there indefinitely; We are also mentally traumatized by the threat of medical bills and the loss of our pensions, which many Americans think Medicare and Social Security are entitlements NOT they have been paid into by each of us – Medicare and Social Security should be getting better as Americans are now dying earlier than their parents. And, yet, we all go about our daily lives as if nothing is happening and all is well at Wal-Mart – as Marie Antoinette said “let them eat them cake” (ok, she may not said it but it fits the analogy) and as the Romans did feeding the unwashed masses bread and circus’s. Be very careful because America will soon close its doors to stop both people and their assets leaving the country. Until Americans becomes enlightened, more educated, and demand campaign finance reform with public financing only, it will continue to force its way out of quagmires while being stepped on by corporate greed and power hungry despots. The present system so blinds those, who are their loyal teabaggers and brownshirts, against their own interest – how can we be so dumb. The rulers fractionalize our societal communities to their own advantage, inciting violence and discourse, while they are our real enemies. The strategy of our corporate masters is to divide by conflict – put group against group, racial, political, religious, sexual, economic, and so on; while all this is all going on the real crime is being perpetrated, the rape and pillage of the American people by corporate greed and self-interest – to understand more fully the process of fractured society read John Kozy’s “The Disintegration of Fractured Democracies” Global Research April 1, 2010. Christian far-right fascists stand in their pulpits and spew hate and derision. If we continue to allow this theft of a nation and the theft of our rights and the constitution we will deserve the disastrous outcome of a country verging on civil war. We must immediately demand a return to work of the unemployed by re incorporating them into the economy, but better still a demand for sustainable income. We are way past that tired nationalistic mantra of “they need to pull themselves up by their boot straps and get a proper job” As Chris Hedges commented: If we do not immediately reincorporate the unemployed and the poor back into the economy, giving them jobs and relief from crippling debt, then the nascent racism and violence that are leaping up and around the edges of American society will become a full-blown conflagration. When, for temporary security, we give up laws and constitutional rights our forefathers fought so hard for we begin to lose our freedom and with it our liberty. As Benjamin Franklin said: “Those who would give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety”. And: "Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power." Unfortunately, that gate has long been sold. So, where do we go from here? For starters we can be more involved by educating ourselves to the real problem, the story of “America in a State of Emergency” by going online and checking other news medias and commentaries. All the main programming on TV is owned by big corporations so you will only hear what they want you to hear. Next, find a good blog site and start discussing your views, but be careful as the big boys have infiltrated most of the blogs with paid shills. Try Global Research or Information Clearing House. And lastly, but by no means least, as John Kozy states in his last sentence of the above commentary “Nations and the institutions they support fall unless governments, like decent men and women, exhibit compassion, generosity, and a concern for the welfare of real, living people. That’s all that saving America requires.” They also fall unless good men and women actual become involved instead of always thinking that some one else will clean up the mess – if you want to save your country GET INVOLVED.

Wow Waffler there would be no one left to switch out the light

So why are we in Afghanistan and Iraq?

I told a women not to smoke because she was pregnant and wow did I get a mouth full.

Ken, you and your kind will bring America to its knees and then rescued by Liberals - you are all the same. Sad, really sad...

Perfect! Mike, you need a sabbatical in the streets of Calcutta and the Dharavi Slum of Mumbai. You may change you comments with regard to inalienable rights and natural law. They fight tooth and nail just to survive on a daily basis - we, you and me, have taken their freedom and rights away. The only right they have is to die.

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. Stephen Hawking

Mike, you always talk of inalienable rights and natural law of which none have anything to do with reality. Rights, in reality, are most definitely bestowed upon the people by their rulers - we had more rights before rights were forged in stone. When people became societal we lost our rights. P.s. nothing is permanent not even your rights or your freedom everything changes - at least Einstein agreed on that point.

Nice sounding words but totally abused in the world of today - by the way God's son did. The American people gave up their power many years ago to the likes of religion and Sams club.

Yes, the corrupt hide behind documents with a thousand or more pages. Reason, no one has ethics anymore, the rulers and the people.

Yes, the lies and force flag ops are the worst example - the stupid leading the stupid.

The prison you all call home is a fine example.

By making the distinction that there are good Christian makes the argument there must be bad Christians - it is farcical to admit there are no bad Christian's. It's like saying there are only good human beings. Yours last comment really makes me laugh - it is so far from the truth that only someone ignorant of past liberal achievements and no knowledge of the true meaning of liberalism can make. American rulers now define their slaves as religious and national fundamentalists. As for the rest of your comments regarding slavery and the bible a slave is a slave and means exactly the same today as it did then. Your reasoning to excuse God and the bible is laughable.

Mike, Prayer doesn't free the soul meditation does - there is a BIG difference, try it! So, you are now making the distinction between good and bad Christians - when you hit that slippery slope you have lost your argument. Thank you for agreeing that justice and rights are absolute and nothing to do with religion - it's UNIVERSAL LAW. The universal principle is within each of us - if you like, we are all God. All that is without is within. Your friend Robert P.s. to name one of many Christians, Hippo supported slavery. The Old Testament supported regulated slavery and it was only through compassionate liberal constitutionalists that slaver became a crime against humanity. No where in the bible does God condemn slavery, quite the reverse: 'When a slave owner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished. But if the slave survives a day or two, there is no punishment; for the slave is the owner's property.' (Exod. 21:20-21) and in the new testament: Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. (Matt. 24:45-46) Slavery and race have been a longtime bed fellows of Christianity. I admit there were many good Christian abolitionists.

Mike this was written by a friend: Slavery is, obviously, supported in the Bible. Slavery was defended in the Old South by good white Christians who relied on the Bible to justify their immoral, unjust, and oppressive culture. What many don't realize, though, is how extensively intertwined Christianity and slavery were in the Old South. In many ways, the Civil War as a much a defense of Christianity as it was a defense of slavery: the elimination of slavery meant the elimination of an institution grounded in Christian doctrine. Written by a friend.

As usual Mike you twist my words to fit your own distorted vision of what you wish and desire. All I wish is that you leave the freedom and liberty to the people and not confuse it with your desires and religious dogma. Lastly, prayers have been proven to be force as they produce no evidence of reality - prayers are like a placebo no different...

Perhaps the other two words should be "New" and "World" Do not become the subject of other peoples rubbish - free yourself from these thoughts and allow the creative self to expand.

You are all on the wrong tree. The crud is fast becoming Americans - who are the real terrorists - you judge for yourself after seeing this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0&aia=true

Our greatest enemy is ignorance...

So true... The universal principle is absolute on the subject of freedom; first, we must divorce ourselves from myth, that there is a creator responsible for our rights - the belief in God and prayer is superstition; secondly, it's important to realize that no matter how much prayer is involved freedom remains the same. We are responsible for the freedom we have and the freedom we bestow on others. What we claim to be freedom and what we experience are usually two very different outcomes. As I have said in previous posts; freedom is HIGHLY subjective - one man's freedom can be another man's hell. It would very much seem that the term (theological philosophy) Natural Law is responsible for man's feeble excuse for life after death and designates himself as purveyor over all that exists. FREEDOM simply is the happiness you experience on a day to day basis free from the influences of religion and tyranny. Tyranny and religion have always been bedfellows and until we accept each other for who and what we are there will never be true Freedom. While one man is unjustly imprisoned or accused of being different freedom shall not exist.

Morality has nothing to do with God as shown by our sordid past - today's latest news from the Vatican is no exception.