Towards Positive US-Iran Cultural Relations

I am a citizen of the United States and a representative of the American Nation of people. The US Government is merely an administrative unit which has vastly overreached its legitimate powers. Unfortunately most Americans — and perhaps most people elsewhere — confuse the US Government with the American Nation. The former is nothing. It [...]

The Senate’s Compliance in the Iraq War

Breaking headline: Iraq report rips U.S. leaders : Senators: Invasion misused intelligence. Don’t you think this is a little late? Yes, the Bush administration lied. They willingly exaggerated the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) as a pretext for invading Iraq. And you (John D. Rockefeller, the Senate Intelligence Committee, and the rest of [...]

Notes: On the unity of world religious culture

I recently ran across the following quote from 20th-century Christian author, C. S. Lewis in his book, The Abolition of Man. These remarks preface an assemblage of quotes that relate to what Lewis termed Natural Law, which he more or less equated with ancient Chinese term, the Tao: The idea of collecting independent testimonies presupposes [...]

Notes: the spiritual children of Abraham should not battle each other

Some entries in this blog are formal articles. Others, like this one, take more the form of working notes, outlines for later development, or ‘thinking out loud’. Some are complete, and some are just sketches. For now I will label such entries as ‘Notes’. I am aware of and distressed by the current suffering of [...]

Countering Political Evil

At the Watchblog Third Party Website, Joel S. Hirschhorn wrote an good article titled The Evolution of Evil. He identifies as an essential problem the current two-party system. To quote Joel: Most corrupt and legally sanctioned forms of tyranny hide in plain sight as democracies with free elections….  Nothing conceals tyranny better than elections. Few [...]

Comments on “A Common Word between Us and You”

Comments on “A Common Word between Us” In October of 2007, 138 Muslim leaders, clerics, and scholars published an open letter to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI titled, A Common Word between Us and You. The letter was unambiguously positive and well motivated. The summary of the letter states succinctly (and correctly): “The future of [...]

A Reply to Osama bin Laden

A Reply to Osama Bin Laden John S. Uebersax PhD Preface Following the attacks of September 2001, Osama Bin Laden has delivered several addresses to Americans (e.g., October 2004; April 2006; September 2007). Since the American people themselves, and not their government or corporations, were addressed, and further since the people were the victims the [...]

On Religious Inclusivism and Exclusivism John S. Uebersax Summary Here we make two main points: Religious inclusivism – the view that “all religions are but different paths to the same goal” — is often presented as a means to promote peace. However, if religions actually are true to varying degrees, then radical inclusivism merely tries [...]

Recognizing the Power of Prayer

The thing about prayer is that everybody knows it works, but they act otherwise. The problem is not that prayer doesn’t work, or only works sometimes; it’s that people forget to pray. Scripture teaches, the saints affirm, and I am personally convinced that prayer works. And it always works. You are not just some lump [...]

The Kucinich Plan For Iraq

Rep. Dennis Kucinich has drafted a plan for ending the US military involvement in Iraq. http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rep__den_070108_the_kucinich_plan_fo.htm “There is a compelling need for a new direction in Iraq, one that recognizes the plight of the people of Iraq, the false and illegal basis of the United States war against Iraq, the realities on the ground which [...]