Larry Kuperman

Reply to Media Ignores Gagging Sound From Canada in Current Events Stardock Forums

I could have also cited comments made by the Nation of Islam, which is included in the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of active hate groups in the United States. Numerous skinhead sites should also be on the list. How did you feel when Fundamentalist preacher Jon Hagee referred to your religion as "the Great Whore?" I know how I felt when Hagee said of the Holocaust "Then god sent a hunter. A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. And the Bible

Reply to Media Ignores Gagging Sound From Canada in Current Events Stardock Forums

Thank you Dr Guy for the opportunity (and Happy Father's Day to you if it applies!) Hate speech is generally defined as speech (including print) that incites one group to violent actions against another group. The Supreme Court definition is summarized as "abusive, insulting, intimidating, and harassing speech that at the least fosters hatred and discrimination and at its worst promotes violence and killing." The American courts usually base decisions on Chaplinsky v. New Hampsh

Reply to Media Ignores Gagging Sound From Canada in Current Events Stardock Forums

It amazes me that anyone can argue for the necessity of protecting hate speech and further, implied in lulapilgram's comment, that hate speech is part of her religous expression.

Reply to Theirs Is An Angry God in Religion Stardock Forums

Lulapilgram's article (as cited) began by quoting a letter as follows: "Dear God: Why didn't you save the school children at..." To which God is supposed to have responded "I am not allowed in schools. Sincerely, God" She then cites Supreme Court decisions, Dr. Spock, etc. and concludes "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW." God could have stopped the shootings but did not because of the banning of prayer is school, according to Lulapilgram posted.

Reply to Theirs Is An Angry God in Religion JoeUser Forums

The Biblical sources for the Sun going around the Earth: Joshua 10:12-13 12 Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. 13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood s

Reply to Yemen Justice System - For Terrorists in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

If your blood pressure can stand it, you should check out this site: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/features/yemen/ "Yemen is a friendly and hospitable Middle Eastern country on the southern rim of the Arabian Peninsula place where U.S. assistance workers and their projects are welcomed." Also: http://www.yemenembassy.org/issues/ymusrelshp/index.htm

Reply to Hitler Goes to Heaven? in Religion Stardock Forums

"No offense, but Hitler was a lay member doing word service, not an actual follower of Christ." With all due respect, Erathoniel, you shouldn't have to say that. He should have been excommunicated in 1939, then the issue would not be open to debate and millions of lives may have been saved. I do see where my friend SanChonino is coming from. Many times Christians seem to quibble over this type of issue. Someone asserts "Oh, no Christian would do that!" Someone responds by saying

Hitler Goes to Heaven? in Religion JoeUser Forums

Some time ago I got into a discussion with a fellow blogger about Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant Reformation and a notorious anti-Semite. I was amazed to find that anyone would defend Marin Luther, a man who urged his followers to kill without mercy, let alone that Luther would be regarded as a "good man." If Luther was so good, then he must have gone to Heaven, right? And if Luther gets in, why not his best known protege, Adolf Hitler? In 1543, Luther wrote his infamous

Reply to Theirs Is An Angry God in Religion Stardock Forums

Interesting video, stubbyfinger. Rather than saying that religion is the spring from which morality flows, let us say that religion provides the carrot and the stick to enforce moral belief. If you are "good" you go to Heaven; if you are "bad" you go to somewhere else. But most of the great religous leaders are considered great because they made people think about and reconsider their moral stance. Jesus was known for his parables. Why a parable? Because you have to THINK about what it

Theirs Is An Angry God in Religion JoeUser Forums

One of our members has written an article that offers the thesis that banning prayer in schools somehow led to a rash of school shootings. In fact, the author quotes God as saying "I am not allowed in schools." This is the All-Powerful diety speaking, mind you. If there is any sense to this article, full of "reap the whirlwind" it is that the shootings could have been prevented had not the All-Merciful wanted to send a message. Usually I do not respond to this kind of non-sequitur&nbs

Reply to Kicking God out of Schools in Religion JoeUser Forums

Ergun Mehmet Caner and his brother Emir Fethi Caner, the co-authors of Unveiling Islam , have been widely criticized for their hate speech by Christians and Muslims alike. Here is a quotation from an article published at the Mainstream Baptist website: "Ethics Daily has published a story about the fuel that Southern Baptist professor Ergun Caner is pouring on the fire of Middle East conflict. Elie Haddad, provost

Reply to Kicking God out of Schools in Religion Stardock Forums

The origins of the myth of Allah the Moon-God stem from the works of a few modern Christian writers (more accurately propagandists) and have widely been debunked. "One of the favourite arguments of the Christian missionaries over many years had been that Allah of the Qur'an was in fact a pagan Arab "Moon-god" from pre-Islamic times. The seeds of this argument were sown by the work of the Danish scholar Ditlef Nielsen, who divided the Semitic deities into a triad of Father-M

Reply to I Support Genocide in Current Events Stardock Forums

I haven't been able to keep up with the discussion (on my own post, I know it is shameful of me) but i wanted to point out this article: BBC pays £200,000 to 'cover up report on anti-Israel bias' which can be found here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=444074&in_page_id=1770 Consider this a supplement to the links that I have already provided on Reuters acknowledged role in th

Reply to I Support Genocide in Current Events Stardock Forums

Scotteh, you know those movies where someone says "Much of what you know is not true?" Do you know the story of Adnan Hajj and the false photographs? It first began when the blog site "Little Green Footballs" analyzed photos of Beirut burning and the photos showed IDENTICAL plumes of smoke rising from different areas of Beirut. Identical despite the fact that the wind should have been blowing them in at least slightly different manners. Identical in every aspect. It turned out that the

Reply to I Support Genocide in Current Events Stardock Forums

Thanks for commenting, all. And thank you for the support. Leauki, the thing is that I AM one of the Liberals. Pretty ironic, eh? " Od yavo ' shalom aleinu" as the song says.

I Support Genocide in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Last weekend I was informed (loudly, repeatedly and, in my not-so-humble opinion, obnoxiously) that I am a supporter of genocide. The story follows and you can judge for yourself.[more] I will confess that I could have entitled this "I support genocide?" as a question rather than a statement, but the rebuke was offered to me so aggressively that I will keep the statement form. For a decade, I have been a member of the Ann Arbor Jewish Cultural Society (

Reply to Abiogenesis and Astrophysics in Biology Stardock Forums

In 1633, Galileo was brought to trial for asserting that the Sun was at the center of the solar system. He was placed under house arrest and was ordered to "abjure" his theories. Why? Because he contradicted Scripture (Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10, 1 Chronicles 16:30 include text stating that "the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved." In the same tradition, Psalm 104:5 says, "the LORD set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved." Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that "And t

Reply to Jewish History Class-The End in Religion Stardock Forums

KFC, have you actually read Luther's pamphlet, which is available on line, or are you so convinced of your position beforehand that you don't need to read it? http://www.humanitas-international.org/showcase/chronography/documents/luther-jews.htm Here are some quotes from Martin Luther: In an earlier work, That Jesus Christ was born a Jew , Luther advocated kindness toward the Jews, but only with the aim of converting them to Christianity:

Jewish History Class-The End in Religion JoeUser Forums

I just finished teaching my Adult Education class for the year. It was truly fun, truly exhausting. We had eight sessions covering pre-history from the time of Abraham and going through the modern Jewish-American experience. I wrote about 120 pages of notes. We covered about 4000 years. We started off with definitions of what it has meant to be a Jew and what it means today. There was a lot of Bible discussion, a lot of contemporary archaeolgical works cited. My goal was for a re-exam

Reply to Vienna Spectrum Icon Packager theme? in Icons JoeUser Forums

You might try OHMY Uniq as a matching set of icons: https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=1693&libid=2 They look like they would go well.

Reply to Aqueduct; Catholicism is a beautiful idolatry. in Religion Stardock Forums

I also enjoy your posts, not just for the content, but also for your style. I should have said that first. You may know better than I, but my understanding is that there was a thriving Jewish community in Catalan before the Expulsion. They even had their own language, called Catalanic. You might want to check out http://www.jewishgen.org/Sephardic/cataloniaJews.htm Not content with physically expelling the Jews from the region (or forcing them to convert) their history an

Reply to What Will The Future Bring? in Blogging Stardock Forums

One other category that I should have included: Current Events Into the Future - What events that are going on now will extend into the future? For example, President Bush has said that we might still be in Iraq in 50 years; John McCain said that US forces might be in Iraq in 100 years. Or will there be peace in the Middle East by 2068?

Reply to Aqueduct; Catholicism is a beautiful idolatry. in Religion Stardock Forums

You wrote "And then, with the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, what did middle-ages Iberia do with their legacy? Nothing." Not true. During the period 750 AD to 1492 AD, great men working in the Iberian Peninsula gave the world major contributions in astronomy, mathematics, medicine, philosophy, hygeine (both the tooth brush and underarm deodorant originated here) and more. Aristotle was translated establishing the basis for future works, as was Galen and Hippocrates. The modern n

What Will The Future Bring? in Blogging JoeUser Forums

This is more of a series of questions, rather than an opinion piece. JoeUsers are encouraged to share their thoughts and opinions. on July 4th, 1976, I watched the Tall Ships sailing up the Hudson River in New York City. We stood at the edge of Spuyten Duyvel, spit of land that has had historical significance since the city was New Amsterdam and cheered. It was America's Bicentennial. What will America's Tricentennial be like? What are your predictions for the year 2076, a mer

Reply to Arthur C. Clarke in Current Events Stardock Forums

Thank you, Dr. Guy, for posting this. I had missed it. A lovely, truly touching blog post.