"We are one with the Earth and we are one with the furthest star in the furthest galaxy"....

"Millions today are moving away from the dead forms, symbols and dogmas of religious orthodoxy to the beauty and revelation of direct experience. Out of the tombs of religious establishments, this resurrection movement begins with reaffirmation of the Earth as a living, breathing entity.

"Mother Earth, Gaia, the sacred Goddess, the Greeks called her. Maka Wakan, the sacred Earth, the American Sioux named her. From the soil of this basic premise will flower the birth of a new consciousness that includes everything that is part of this sacred Goddess: every four- and two-legged animal...every winged one of the sky and fish of the sea...every grass and flower...every grain of sand and drop of water...every rock, mineral and crystal…all are as ONE and offer thanks-giving to our great Mother Goddess Earth for her support and sustenance. A new consciousness, not any theological "belief," is at the heart of this resurrection of spirituality".....

"EARTHRISE...this great Goddess Earth...rising above the horizon of the moon...can be a brilliant and glorious symbol of a new consciousness...in this month of April where we set aside a special day to celebrate our mother and our home...this sacred Earth. Where the Great Goddess of nature creates and makes all things new.".....

William Edelen, November 30, 2003

Behind every gun in the mideast bloodbath is a religious scripture. Jew and Muslims are slaughtering each other over religion. They are butchering each other over their claim that this is "sacred" ground for their religious tradition. Both are claiming that "God" gave it to them. It is religion that feeds and fuels the violence and the slaughtering of other human beings, and all being done in "Gods" name.

If I hear one more empty airhead use the stupid cliche that "without religion there would be no morality", I think I'll throw up. The fact is this: religion is the direct cause of immorality and amorality. Without religion this earth would be a far, far more peaceful place with far more harmony between cultures and people. Every war going on today on this earth has religion as the fuel keeping it alive.

Protestants and Catholics are slaughtering each other in Ireland. The Catholic Croats and Orthodox Christian Serbs slaughtered each other while both slaughtered the Bosnian Muslims. Hindus slaughter Muslims and Sikhs slaughter Hindus in India. In Pakistan Sunni Muslims and Shite Muslims slaughter each other Crusaders for God hack to death thousands in Algeria and cut off their heads. Christianity spread across Europe in the Crusades and Inquisitions and butchered or burned Muslims, Jews and Protestants. Christian missionaries swarmed down on the New World and brutalized all native peoples bringing with them violent Christianity topped off with all the other diseases of white men.

I don't know how many times I have heard some featherhead jabber about those "horrible atheists, Stalin and Hitler and the killing they did. " Hitler was no atheist, but what a joke. Hitler and Stalin were pikers, second stringers in killing, compared to those who have "killed for God".

If you start adding up the religious killing "for God" over the past 3000 years, starting with the slaughtering of nomadic people as recorded in the Old Testament by Moses and others, then you count your way through the slaughtering of Meso Americans, Aztecs, Incas and Mayas by Christian zealots; then count your way through the astronomical figures given by historians of those slaughtered in the Crusades and Inquisitions (over eight million "witches" alone) then pick up the count today in 2003 of all the killing going on around the world in the "name of God". Well, as you can plainly see, Hitler and Stalin were pikers compared to "killers for God".

"Without religion there would be no morality" many blabber about. What brainless drivel.

Behind every gun today in the bloodbath of the Mideast is a religious scripture...and the Jews say "this is our sacred ground" and the Muslims say "this is our sacred ground"...and both tell the other "God gave it to us, not you...and we are going to kill you to prove it...kill you in the name of our "God:".

As long as they both have 'religion'...there will never be peace.

There is a sin among a large segment of the Christian clergy that I find despicable. It is the sin of omission, the sin of silence. It is the sin of promoting falsehoods in order to hold your job. It is the sin of not sharing with a congregation what you know to be true about the bible and Christianity.

Those graduating in religious studies from every major university in America, as well as every major theological seminary that is independent of Christian financial pressure, know certain facts to be true.

They know that:

1. The entire bible is saturated with common mythological themes, from the creation and flood myth to virgin birth and resurrected hero mythology
   
2. The stories of the patriarchs in the Old Testament are known as 'temple legends' to enhance the history of the Hebrew people and are mostly fictional.
   
3. The gospels were not written by anyone who knew Jesus personally.
   
4. The 'Christ' myths and formulas are direct copies of Zoroastrian myths adopted by the Jesus sect.
   
5. These facts, with others, have been known for years, and taught by internationally respected scholars from major universities world wide.

   Religiously educated clergy, through the sin of omission and silence, yet continue to promote superstition.

I lost count of the ministerial colleagues, in both the Presbyterian and Congregational churches, who said to me: "For God's sake, Edelen... forget what you learned in seminary ... just play the game ... you get big churches that way."

...For those who know better and yet have chosen, through the sin of omission and silence, to promote falsehoods, I chose the word 'despicable' to define them.