Mother Teresa, sometimes criticized and sometimes deified, appears to have been quite nonreligious after all.(click the title for link)

“Lord, my God, you have thrown [me] away as unwanted – unloved,” she wrote in one missive. “I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer, no, no one. Alone. Where is my faith? even deep down right in there is nothing. I have no faith. I dare not utter the words and thoughts that crowd in my heart.”She added: “I am told God loves me, and yet the reality of the darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the Call of the Sacred Heart?”She even compared her problems to hell and admitted that she had begun to doubt the existence of heaven and God.”The smile,” she wrote, “is a mask or a cloak that covers everything. I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God, a tender personal love. If you were there you would have said, ‘What hypocrisy’.”

Dave’s Musings:1) OK so she appears to have been downright Atheistic in her writings. why did she continue to do her work? Just to be a good person? Does this eliminate the remnants of the religion=morality thing?2) I hate the term “Crisis of faith”. It’s not a crisis. It’s a revelation of reality. An Epiphany of intellect. An happy-hour of honesty. Not a crisis by any means.3) One must wonder how many more religious leaders out there are faking it. Could it be… a lot?

For more information, please contact: Ellen Johnson, President (908) 276-7300 Dave Silverman, Communications Director (732) 648-9333 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 24, 2007 ATHEISTS WARN: BUSH PLAN TO FURTHER MILITARIZE MIDDLE EAST FUELS RELIGIOUS TERRORISM AMERICAN ATHEISTS cautioned today that President Bush’s plan to sell $20 billion of advanced military hardware to Saudi Arabia and five other Persian Gulf states, and provide more aid to Israel threatens to further destabilize the region and fuel religion-based terrorism. The New York Times last month described Bush’s maneuver: “(T)o contain the growing power of Iran in the region and demonstrate that, no matter what happens in Iraq, Washington remains committed to its longtime Arab allies.” Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists, said that further military assistance “can only add to the instability of this already volatile region,” and called for an international arms embargo. Johnson added that the U.S. needs to pay less attention to preparing the Arab countries for war, and instead join an international effort to develop the area and create economic prosperity, and “grow” secular institutions. “Creating jobs and economic opportunity, securing full rights for the region’s women, encouraging an authentic civil society with personal rights — all of this is needed to challenge the rampant clerical terrorism that plagues the Middle East.” Dave Silverman, Communications Director for American Atheists, said that western aid is fueling the growth of religious chauvinism throughout the area. “In Saudi Arabia, the religious police, (‘Committee to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice’) drive new American jeeps, and King Abdullah declared last year that he supports the Koran as his nation’s constitution and Islam as the state religion.” “This type of military aid is propping up dictatorial, theocratic regimes. These weapons can easily fall into the hands of religion-based terrorist who are even more ruthless in their desire to play the role of being “God’s warriors,’ ” added Mr. Silverman. AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for Atheists; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy. American Atheists, Inc. P. O. Box 5733 Parsippany, NJ 07054-6733 Tel.: (908) 276-7300 Fax: (908) 276-7402

Is preaching the gospels preaching hatred? Well, according to one preacher, he won’t be able to preach the gospels if the Congress passes the Matthew Shepard Bill. Why? Because his gospels hate gays and lesbians. And as preacher, Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr., pastor of the Hope Christian Church in College Park, Md., has stated:

“? In Sweden, Pastor Ake Green was indicted, convicted and sentenced to 30 days because of a hate crime violation. Swedish laws are very strict with regard to hate speech and expressing contempt towards a person?s sexual orientation. Pastor Greens simply read from the Bible and gave the Bible?s view on homosexual practices at his Borgholm, Sweden church. No riots were incited or accounts of personal brutality towards gays occurred after his statements. He was punished based upon statements he made in a normal weekly service.? In Australia, two evangelical pastors were charged with violating the state of Victoria?s ?hate crimes? laws last year for criticizing Islam. This ?offence? took place as part of a Christian conference. Once again there were no riots or personal injury to Muslims as a result of the statements. The judge, contrary to logic, ruled that the pastors had incited ?hatred and fear? against Muslims.? In Canada, a Catholic city councilor was fined $1,000 for simply restating the church?s teaching on homosexuality. He publicly stated that a gay couple?s lifestyle was ?not normal and not natural.? His personal beliefs were deemed ?hate speech? under Canada’s hate crimes law.”

Of course, the article linked to in the title of this posting shows where our preacher is just plain wrong in his misguided analysis of the effects of the Matthew Shepard legislation. The preacher complains that the law would violate his First Amendment right to preach from a book that espouses hatred. The professor from the University of Chicago law school provides ample proof that hate crimes legislation does not violate anyones right to hate speech, either the Nazis or Xian preachers.The Supreme Court has held that, “…the government has a perfectly legitimate interest in punishing “bias-motivated crimes” because such crimes are especially likely to inflict emotional harm on their victims, incite community unrest and provoke retaliatory violence.” What I wonder is why isn’t anyone concerned about preachers lobbying against proposed legislation designed to stop the infliction of emotional harm, inciting community unrest and provoking violence? Anyone care to answer?Peter Nuhn

The CNN appearance has been cancelled. (sigh)….. (AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for Atheists, Freethinkers and other nonbelievers; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.)

Brothers and Sisters in the Godless Army of the Secular Left:Please welcome our strongest allies and now officially declared members of the GASL – those stalwarts of secular godlessness – the United Methodists. At least according to an Institute on Religion and Democracy started 20 years ago by two conservative Roman Catholics. The article linked to in the title to this posting is about a vote taken by UMs at a Desert Southwest Conference to condemn the IRD. And this is the second time the UMs have voted to condemn the conservative agenda of the IRD. Issues: gay marriage, women ordination, embryonic stem cell research, abortion, etc.

The IRD’s United Methodist Action Director Mark Toomey, responding to the Council of Bishops document “A Call To Repentance and Peace with Justice,” characterized the Council of Bishops as “Flower children and chronic demonstrators who never really grew up and faced the real sinful world;” another IRD posting claimed “One of the strongest regiments of this godless army (of the secular left) is America’s mainstream protestant leaders … the real spirit driving the peace mongering protestant leaders is not pacifism at all. It is hatred of President Bush and of America itself.”

Oh yea, if you read the whole piece linked to in the pdf file provided in the article, you will see that the IRD is also radically changing the Anglicans and the Presbyterians as well. And they are using money they get from Coors beer. So please remember, the next time you sip a mountain water fresh Coors beer, you are providing the funds necessary to run the John Birch Society, American Enterprise Institute, and the Heritage Foundation and other radically conservative groups in America. Enjoy.Peter Nuhn