God to see ya

By RAVI DYKEMA

Bumper sticker seen on an old red Toyota Corolla recently,
“God bless the whole world
No exceptions”

Never before in my lifetime has religion exerted such an obvious influence on human affairs. Many people around the world seem to believe that divine intercession is the key ingredient that will heal Earth’s and humanity’s ills. Getting the divine to intervene, many appear to think, requires personal appeals such as prayers, actions such as choosing to live by the tenets of a particular religion, and, for some folks, convincing others to join their faith. The last of these, converting non-believers, implies that God gets all goose-bumpy and charitable when His Earthly fan-base numbers hit, say, 30%. Please forgive my irreverence above, but I get all defensive when someone tells me that my lifetime’s accumulated wisdom is bunk, which is how a conversion appeal sounds to me.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reports that, in 2003, 52 percent of Americans had reservations about voting for a candidate who was not religious. A 2006 study by University of Minnesota researchers states, “Atheists are less likely to be accepted, publicly and privately, than any others from a long list of ethnic, religious and other minority groups.” (See “Going Godless,” p. 32)

Karen Anderson speaking to me for an article in this issue (see p. 24), says, “These extreme movements are all rooted in a profound fear; they’re convinced that modern, secular or liberal society wants to wipe out faith . . . When people feel their backs are to the wall, as [some people] do in all three of the major world faiths, that’s when they can lash out and become aggressive.”

A March 7 letter to me states, “During this critical time, the New Age Study of Humanity’s Purpose is redoubling our efforts to spread the comforting Sacred Knowledge that is pouring forth to Humanity from the Company of Heaven . . . This is truly a joint effort, involving embodied Lightworkers and the Legions of Light in the Heavenly Realms. Please know that YOU, Precious One, are a vital part of this holy endeavor.” (Their capitalization)

A full-page ad on last Easter in the Denver Post, reads, at the top, “Because He lives you can have eternal life.” At the bottom of the ad I read: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall have eternal life.” The ad was placed by Hobby Lobby Inc. Their website states that on Easter 2007 a similar ad appeared in 290 newspapers viewed by 47 million people.

Pope Benedict quoted a 1391CE text while making a scholarly point during a September 12, 2006 lecture at a university in Germany. The quote contained, “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,” In reaction, Al-Qaeda and the Iraqi Mujahideen Shura Council threatened in a joint statement: "You and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose the jizya tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (being killed by) the sword. ... God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the Mujahideen." (From the Wikipedia website.)

Please, please, please folks, take a chill pill and read the articles in this issue of Nexus.
God to see ya.