Gulf Coast Humanists

The following is a poem I found in a collection of Yeat’s poems

THE INDIAN UPON GOD

W. B. Yeats 1889

I passed along the waters edge below the humid trees,

My spirit rocked in evening light, the rushes round my knees,

My spirit rocked in sleep and sighs, and saw the moorfowl pace,

All dripping on a grassy slope, and saw them cease to chase

Each other round in circles, and heard the eldest speak:

Who holds the world between his bill made us strong or weak,

Is an undying moorfowl, and he lives beyond the sky.

The rains are from his dripping wing, the moon beams from his eye.

I passed a little further on and heard a lotus talk:

Who made the world and raiseth it, he hangeth on a stalk,

For I am in his image made, and all this tinkling tide,

Is but a sliding drop of rain between his petals wide.

A little way within the gloom a roebuck raised his eyes

Brimful of starlight, and he said: the stamper of the skies

He is a gentle roebuck, for how else, I pray, could he

Conceive a thing so sad and soft, a gentle thing like me.

I passed a little further on and heard a peacock say,

Who made the grass and made the worms and made my feathers gay,

He is a monstrous peacock, and he waveth all the night,

His languid tail above us, lit with myriad spots of light.

The Following is a talk given by Barbara G. Walker

GOSPEL TRUTH

by

Barbara G. Walker

 The four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were accepted as canonical in the fourth century C.E. by the Roman church, which called its version of Christianity the only genuine one.  But there were many other gospels written under the names of all the other apostles.  Early Christians liberally practiced pseudepigraphy, which means an anonymous writer signing his work by another's name.  Scholars have pretty conclusively proved that all the gospels were created by this kind of forgery, excepting only a few of Paul's epistles.

The writer of Luke rather naively admits in his very first verse that he is not the apostle Luke, but a later compiler of "many" writings done by others who claimed to have links with former eyewitnesses.  The connections seem uncertain and mutually contradictory; but the present writer, pseudo-Luke, declares himself possessed of "perfect understanding of all things" and therefore qualified to write a definitive text.  Humility does not seem to be one of his virtues.

The four gospels were not written anywhere near the time of Jesus.  They were not even mentioned by anyone until the time of Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons, who died at the beginning of the third century.  The gospels allude to the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, which occurred in the year 70 C.E., so obviously they were written later.Bible apologists like to pretend that such allusions constitute "prophecy" and therefore confirm the books' divine origin; but this excuse clearly violates probability.

 Temporal confusion occurs in Matthew's chapters 16 and 18.  In the first, Jesus refers to his future church, to be founded on the "rock" (petra) of Peter: actually a late interpolation introduced, probably during the 4th century, by the church itself.  In the second, Jesus refers to his church as  already existing: an obvious anachronism, since Christianity did not even exist as an organized religion until the late second century.  Such discrepancies occur throughout the gospels, indicating random bits drawn from many sources over time.

 Closer to the time when Jesus is supposed to have lived, there is no mention of him in any contemporary literature whatsoever, which certainly does not reflect gospel claims of his widespread fame as a preacher, his miracles witnessed by thousands, or his public trial and execution marked by an earthquake, a darkening of the sun, and dead people rising from their graves and strolling about the town; neither did his own subsequent resurrection seem newsworthy.  If any of these remarkable things had actually happened, surely one would expect them to have been remarked upon in contemporary chronicles.

The gospels are veritable treasure-troves of events that never actually happened, beginning with the tale of Jesus's birth.  No Roman census ever required people to return to their cities of origin in order to register, which was the purported reason given for the Holy Family's journey to Bethlehem.  The story seems to have been devised to place Jesus's birth in the same area as that of "The Lord" Adonis (Hebrew Adonai, "Lord"), who was born in a Bethlehem cave.  Some Gnostic Christians claimed that Jesus was born in a cave, not in a stable like that other savior god, Dionysus.

Neither was Jesus's infancy threatened by any massacre of children by King Herod.  Herod died in 4 B.C.E., whereas the "census" in question took place in 6 C.E., giving Christian scholars at least a ten-year period of uncertainty regarding Jesus's birth date.  If Herod had ever undertaken such a universal slaughter of infants, surely it would have been noted in Jewish histories, instead of its real origin in the myths of Krishna and other savior figures.  Herod never did such a thing.  But if he had, why would Christians believe in the benevolence of a God who would permit such a heinous crime against the innocent?

The flight into Egypt of Jesus's parents was yet another pseudo-event created in order to imitate a specific prophecy.  As the writer of Matthew artlessly admits, it was done to fulfil the prophet's exact words, "Out of Egypt I have called my son" (Matthew 2:15).

Matthew speaks frequently of incidents being manufactured to fulfill a prophecy.  In 21:4-5, Jesus tells his disciples to commandeer an ass and a colt.  If the owner of the animals objects, they are to say: "The Lord hath need of them."  So Jesus rode the animals (both, presumably) for his triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem, and the writer ingenuously explains: "All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 'Tell ye the daughters of Zion, behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.'"   The gospel writer pretends that it was a Jewish custom to release a prisoner at Passover, so Pilate allowed Barabbas to go free instead of Jesus, because that was the choice of the crowd.  There is no evidence that any such custom ever existed in either Jewish or Gentile tradition.

Matthew 26:54 has Jesus forbidding his followers to defend him from the executioners.  He says that if he wanted to, he could summon twelve legions of angels to defend him.  However, if he should avoid the execution, "How than shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be?"  In other words, the sacred king had to be killed, because the prophets said so. 

Judas seems to have been God's agent in bringing about the final act of the drama.  He was inexplicably -- and certainly unfairly -- punished for thus facilitating God's plan.  Part of Judas's story was inserted to fulfil another prophecy, drawn from Zechariah 11: "So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver."  Judas was said to have received that amount for identifying Jesus to his captors.  But why should Jesus need to be identified, when the whole town had witnessed his triumphal procession and his fame had spread far and wide?  The story is clearly a patchwork whose parts have been badly joined.

As for God's plan, how absurd is it that a God would send himself to earth as his own son, to be abused and murdered, to fix something that he had made badly?  Not only is the original creation made to seem faulty, but the plan of reclamation seems nonsensical.  And if Jesus is God, why does he beg himself in the garden of Gethsemane to excuse himself from the execution of his own plan?

Silliest of all, perhaps, is the story of Jesus's temptation by the devil, who offered him "all the kingdoms of the world."  If Jesus is God, he already owns all the kingdoms of the world anyway; or are readers of this story to believe that the devil owns them, and God does not?  Also, if God created the devil in the first place, how is it that one of his creations is tempting him by offering him all the rest of his creation?  If God is in control of Satan, how can Satan tempt him?  If God is not in control of Satan, how can God be considered all-powerful?  The questions implicit in gospel stories only highlight their foolishness. 

As for the much-revered "teachings" of Jesus, how many people really know what they are, aside from the "Golden Rule" which was really a repetition of Buddhist, Akkadian, Egyptian, and Hellenistic precepts, articulated also by the Jewish sage Hillel.  Jesus himself admits that the Rule is not his original idea (Matthew 7:12)  The Lord's Prayer is similarly lacking in originality, having been cobbled together out of phrases taken from pre-Christian literature that was commonly used by the Israelites.  And concerning the sentiments expressed by this prayer: why would anyone revere a God who was believed capable of leading one into temptation -- an activity seemingly more appropriate for a devil?

Despite incessant exposure to what is called "bible study." few Christians seem to be aware of the gospel truth that Jesus deplored and rejected family ties.  In Luke 14 and Matthew 10 Jesus declares that no one can be his disciple who does not hate his whole family: father, mother, wife, children, sisters and brothers.  The word "hate" was softened by later deliberate mistranslations, but the original Greek, miseo, meant specifically "hate" and was so translated into King James English.

Jesus says he has come not to bring peace on earth, but a sword (of strife): the only New Testament prophecy, as Robert Ingersoll dryly observed, that turned out to be entirely correct.

Jesus has no pity for slaves or for the poor, whom he dismisses with the remark that they will be always around, and deserve no particular attention (John 12:8).  Slavery, or serfdom, was a Christian institution throughout feudal Europe.  Indeed, Paul actively endorses slavery and commands slaves to be obedient to their masters (Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22, Titus 2:9-10).

Although Jesus exhorts his hearers to "judge not, that ye be not judged," only five verses later he forbids giving "pearls" (holy things) to "dogs" or "swine," which certainly implies harsh judgment of the people thus described (Matthew 7:1, 6).  Did he give his sermon on the mount, as Matthew says, or on a plain, as Luke says?  Gospel writers differ on such crucial matters as the expressions of the Beatitudes, or the content of the Lord's Prayer, or Jesus's words at the Last Supper and on the occasion of his death, and on many other matters.

Perhaps the gospel precept most widely ignored through the ages, though it is embedded in Jesus's own words, is that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25).  The church claiming to have been founded by Jesus became the richest institution in the civilized world, and its princes were among the greatest feudal lords and landowners in Europe.  The church also helped to enrich members of secular nobility who fought its wars and endorsed its authority; certainly it was never even suggested that their wealth would keep them out of heaven.  In 1325 Pope John XXII issued the bull Cum inter nunnullos, which made it a heresy to say that Jesus and his apostles were poor and owned no property.  The Inquisition was instructed to prosecute those who thought Jesus was a poor man.  So much for camels and needles' eyes.

Jesus promised that anyone believing in his divinity would be able to exorcise demons, speak in tongues, safely handle deadly snakes, drink poison without harm, and cure the sick by laying on of hands (Mark 16:17-18).  Various Christian sects have been trying to follow these instructions for two millennia without much verifiable success.  To this day they continue to try, though many have died of snakebite or poison, have killed others while trying to exorcise them, and have manifestly failed to cure diseases without medical aid.  Failures are usually passed off as the result of insufficient faith, rather than insufficient common sense.  But the fact remains that Jesus's word in this matter -- as in many another -- is hardly trustworthy.

Pagan contemporaries of early Christians scoffed at the gospels' miracle tales as common fables, such as were promulgated by a multitude of "beggars and vagabonds," as Celsus called them, who pretended to work miracles and become gods.  "The magicians of Egypt," he said, "cast out evil spirits, cure diseases by a breath, and so influence some uncultured men, that they produce in them whatever sights and sounds they please."  For a few coins, he explained, magicians will perform even greater miracles in the midst of the Forum.  Actually, throughout history, greater miracles than those of the New Testament have been attributed to a number of saints and also that perennial favorite, the Blessed Virgin.

Jesus also promised that the end of the world would occur within the lifetimes of his own generation (Matthew 24:34, Luke 9:27), a conspicuously false prediction indeed.  However, it has never been as thoroughly forgotten as it deserves to be.  Many Christian sects have based their existence on this premise of Doomsday, which was a Persian idea to begin with, as were Jesus's self-assumed Persian-style titles of Messiah and Son of Man.  Some still want to believe that the Last Days are coming within their own lifetimes, as has been announced in nearly every century throughout the Christian era, only to be put off yet again to another future date.  On this issue, certain segments of the public appear to be endlessly gullible.

The canonical gospels used today have been extensively worked over, mistranslated, re-translated, added to, subtracted from, reworded, and produced in so many different versions that it seems absurd for anyone to claim any particular set as "the inerrant word of God," as some of the more naive worshipers do.  Yet even in their early days, the canonical gospels were neither unique nor rare.  Christian bishops of the fourth and fifth centuries spoke of hundreds of different gospels still in circulation.  Copies of a few of these -- the so-called Gnostic Gospels -- were rediscovered during the 1950s; others were absorbed into the Apocrypha.  Most were destroyed, in conformity with the dictates of the early church.  But there is plenty of evidence that the miracle tales and the biography of a sacrificed savior-god were common elements of popular literature in the Greco-Roman world and throughout the middle east.

Of particular interest to the patriarchal elements in Western culture are the intensely sexist passages in the gospels that formed the basis for centuries of consistent denigration and abuse of women.  For example, In 1 Timothy, chapter 2, Paul claims that he does not lie, but speaks "the truth in Christ," and goes on to say: "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.  But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.  For Adam was first formed, then Eve.  And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."

In other words, women must be quiet and subservient because Eve was created after Adam.  One has to believe in the literal truth of the Genesis creation myth in order to countenance this justification for sexism; and if there is no literal truth there to be believed, Paul's excuse is void.  Even so, there are alternative interpretations to be considered.

Suppose the myth was otherwise interpreted, to say that the being created later was the superior one; with Adam, God was just practicing, and with Eve, he finally got it right?  One could point out that Adam's raw material was just dirt, while Eve's was complex living tissue.  There could be a belief like those of earlier civilizations, that the female sex was closer to divinity because only females had the power to bring forth new life.

But that was not the path taken by gospel writers and interpreters like Paul and all his theological successors.  The fact remains that a completely untenable myth embedded in Judeo-Christian scriptures became the predominant support for the indefensible repression of one half of the human race by the other half.  And yet the "gospel truth" of this support was actually nothing but a crude lie, invented by writers who literally didn't know what they were talking about.  Paul's interpretation was even devoid of moral truth: for if "the woman being deceived was in the transgression," then what he was saying is that it is a dreadful sin -- a primal sin, as it were -- to be gullible and to be deceived.  Carry that line of reasoning a little farther on, and it begins to sound like the original sin is faith itself!

Creation myths have been created by every group of people, all over the world, because human beings know themselves to have come out of nonexistence into existence at some point in time, and therefore assume that some identifiable origin must be attributed to everything else.  Unfortunately, all such myths are completely innocent of historicity and therefore useless to support any belief whatsoever.

Today's more informed Bible scholars and theologians know perfectly well that Jesus was never an identifiable single person, but rather a composite figure drawn from numerous savior-god traditions.  They know that there never was a single coherent philosophy that could be called Christian, dating from the early years of our era.  But today's theologians seldom dare to make this knowledge clear to the general public.  Why not?

The answer is money.  If the real truth of "gospel truth" should become widely revealed, the financial loss would be devastating.   Religion is, and always has been, the biggest money-making business on earth.  Religion sells a nonproduct, salvation, for enormous sums -- and never needs to make good on its promise.  To induce people to pay in advance for something that need never be delivered in reality: that is the very definition of successful scammery. 

If there is anything most pertinent to be said about Gospel Truth, it may be that it is the world's greatest oxymoron.

• FUNDAMENTALISM IN AMERICA HOW AND WHY IT THREATENS THE NEXT THREE GENERATIONS

• By Barbara G Walker April 15, 2007

A recent television documentary called "Friends of God" was put together by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of Nancy Pelosi. The program opens with views of gigantic stadiums filled with thousands of enthusiasts singing "I am a friend of God" with ecstatic arm-waving and blissed-out smiles. Next we see billboards along many Southern roads with messages like EVOLUTION IS FROM THE DEVIL and EVOLUTION IS A LIE. A survey is quoted, to the effect that 54 million American adults do not believe in evolution.

Evangelist Ken Ham proudly says that he speaks to thousands of children each year, telling them that evolutionary ideas are evil. Some of the children are shown being asked, "Do you believe in evolution?" The answer is "No." "Why not?" Each child answers, "Because the Bible says it is wrong'." Only one little boy seemed confused, or had not fully assimilated his indoctrination, because he couldn't explain why he didn't believe in evolution.

Evangelist Buddy Davis tells a group of schoolchildren why the word "dinosaur" is not in the Bible. "It is a new word, made up by scientists who don't believe in God." Actually, he says, dinosaurs were created by God on the sixth day of creation, and the Bible calls the dinosaur "Behemoth." Reverend Davis evidently is ignorant of the fact that the Hebrew title Behemoth refers to the elephant, and was used throughout European history as a synonym for India's elephant-headed god Ganesha, whom the Church called a demon. Reverend Davis is ignorant also of the fact that there were hundreds of different species of dinosaurs, some of them no bigger than a chicken.

Joel Osteen, described as the "most-watched" TV evangelist, declares that the book "Refuting Evolution" has sold more than 280,000 copies. He also states that each Sunday more Americans attend church than attend all Super bowl games and other sports put together.

However, sports are being Christianized to attract converts. Bob Vaughan, president of the Christian Wrestling Foundation, organizes regular wrestling matches peppered with evangelical propaganda. In his wrestling career, Vaughan says, he has suffered broken bones and many other injuries, but "pain is good" because it reminds us that Jesus died in much more pain "because of our sins.

We are shown also the "Cruisers for Christ" organization of vintage car enthusiasts; truck stops throughout the South boasting Trucker Fellowship Meetings, fundamentalist restaurants, and Bible study classes; and in Kentucky, a Biblical Miniature Golf Course, with holes displaying paintings of the parting of the Red Sea, the road to Calvary, the garden of Eden, etc.

Orlando, Florida, has the Holy Land Experience competing with Disney, Sea World, and Universal Studios. It attracts more than a quarter-million visitors a year. Robed impersonators of biblical figures are shown instructing children in front of sets that supposedly "re-create" biblical sites.

Even comedy shows have gone fundamentalist. Self-styled "America's Conservative Comedian"

Brad Syne tells his audience with tongue only partly in cheek, "If you don't like my show, you're going to hell."

The "Battle Cry" programs, sponsored by an organization called Teen Mania Mysteries, puts on "inspirational" rock concerts attended by more than two million teenagers a year. Some of these attendees are shown loudly affirming their faith, and many volunteer to go door to door to "make converts for Jesus." One

boy explained that he was going to Bible college to become a "creation scientist."

Although it is theoretically illegal for churches to endorse political candidates, students at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Virginia are sent on door-to-door missions to campaign for Falwell's political choices. Falwell also publishes "voter guides" which are sent to all Virginia churches.

He is shown addressing a large crowd, saying that the whole Democratic Party is going to hell. The Reverend Rich Scarborough echoes Falwell, saying "America is at war with the devil." His audiences are told to "vote values," which means, he explains, "vote biblically." Rob Schenk and other congressmen are shown holding meetings in the Senate Office Building in Washington to denounce Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics.

Jeff Chapman, a preacher in Pikesville, Tennessee, has ten children and a wife currently pregnant with the eleventh. He says reproduction is a God-given duty because God created reproduction "first," whatever that may mean. All his children are home-schooled, he says, because he wants to "pour Jesus into them." They

are attractive children; all dressed alike, the girls in long skirts all the same pattern and color. The wife, a small sparrow like creature, asserts that she is very happy.

Members of the New Life Church in Colorado are shown exchanging salacious smiles as they declare that Christians' sex life is wonderful. A man interviewed by Pastor Ted Haggard agrees as they indulge in meaningful nudges. Ted Haggard was a leading TV evangelist and president of the National Association of Evangelicals until he was forced to resign in disgrace in 2006, after being caught in a motel room with a male prostitute. He has since undergone "therapy" at the hands of sane fellow clergymen, and now declares himself "100 percent heterosexual."

Setbacks like this one do nothing to stem the tide of evangelical power and influence. Jim Bakker is back on TV with a 2-hour show, twice a day, every weekday, appealing for and evidently getting massive contributions from people who don't remember his moral turpitude and his time in jail.

If any non-religious organization set out to solicit money on pretenses as transparently false as the evangelicals claim, its leaders would soon find themselves in court. But on the religious front, where most people seem to think its okay, a massive scam is going on. And its effects will be far-reaching indeed.

Social psychologist and writer Carol Tavris says: "We are in the middle of a gathering storm, a dark age, in our nation's history, with fundamentalism, religious zealotry, blind patriotism, scientific illiteracy and social hysteria ascendant. Perpetrators of this madness have seized control of the major institutions, from the media to the judiciary."

And law professor Susan Haack foresees a darker future; "Here are some things I worry about." she says: "the many more than usual term papers on science and religion in my `Science and Values' class this year - several observing that `atheism is a religion'; those dreadful television programs about Angels, Miracles. and Unexplained Phenomena; articles in Newsweek about God and Health, Women in the Bible, and Billy Graham's Last Crusade; continuing struggles over science teaching in public schools, now in the form of evolution disclaimers -"it's only a theory" - in biology textbooks; religious resistance to stem-cell research; and a U.S. president who, instead of merely giving lip-service to religion, apparently really believes that evangelical stuff.'

McGill University professor Mario Bunge is similarly pessimistic: "Can the present regressive movement continue?" he asks. "Of course it can, and more so in the United States than in the rest of the world. American fundamentalists control the government, which is in cahoots with the corporate world, and they face no opposition to speak of.

"If the United States continues to turn back the clock, it will cease to be at the head of science, technology, and industry -- the pillars of modernity. A nation increasingly committed to ideologies invented several millennia ago cannot survive the intellectual competition of the European Union or of countries that, like China and Japan, do not engage in military adventures and instead devote an increasing fraction of their gross national product to research and development."

Ed Doerr, President of Americans for Religious Liberty, has this to say: "Since the 1970s, we've seen the rise of a Religious Right composed primarily of Protestant fundamentalists led by Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Tim LaHaye, D. James Kennedy, etc., and augmented by Catholic and Jewish fundamentalists. Allied with secular special interests, they've dominated the Republican party, achieved significant power and media influence, and succeeded in advancing their pernicious agendas: eroding public education in favor of tax-supported, often discriminatory faith-based schools; reducing public welfare programs in favor of tax-supported, often discriminatory faith-based charities; using public schools to promote fundamentalist `creationism' and 'abstinence-only' sexuality education; increasing restrictions on reproductive freedom; and indifference toward the global problems of overpopulation and climate change."

University librarian Earl Lee writes: "The phenomenal growth of the Mormon Church proves that people will believe anything -- no matter how bizarre. It is all too true that `magical thinking' accompanies religious belief. The television evangelist who exhorts his audience to `make miracles happen' is no different from the tribal shaman who prays for rain. When the evangelist tells sick people to `claim your healing' he is no different from the witch doctor who tries to cast out devils (also a popular practice among today's Christians). Ultimately, religious belief leaves people vulnerable to all kinds of manipulation and deceit. Faith, and the obsessive desire to believe, is the real threat to civilization."

Writer James Morrow wonders: "Has a recrudescent `witch universe' taken up residence in the human psyche? When I ponder the theocratic dreams of George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden, when I consider the alacrity with which evangelists lie to their children about Charles Darwin and America's `Christian' roots, then I fear that my species is indeed succumbing to something like Renaissance demonology."

The analogy is admittedly imperfect, but there are certain parallels between what is happening in the U.S. today and what happened in the 4th and 5th centuries in Europe, when the Christian church was concentrating on the acquisition of money, property, and political power, condeming pagan learning, closing schools, burning libraries, destroying temples, and thus initiating Europe's Age of Darkness. Literacy withered away to almost nothing, science was forgotten, art became crude, and religion began to rule an abjectly superstitious population with a rod of iron.

By the end of the fifth century, Christian rulers forcibly abolished the study of philosophy, mathematics, geography, astronomy, and medicine -- for it was claimed that all diseases were caused by demons and could be cured only by exorcism. Christian authorities declared that "the spread of knowledge" was one of the diabolic symptoms of the apocalypse. Pope Gregory the Great denounced all secular learning as folly and wickedness, and forbade Christian laypersons to read even the Bible. He commanded the burning of the library of the Palatine Apollo "lest its secular literature distract the faithful from the contemplation of heaven." Yet the c^ontemplation of real heaven was forbidden also; church father Lactantius declared that "no Christian should study astronomy."

This is a terrible history, and even more terrible is the possibility that anything like it might recur as a result of modern fundamentalist anti-intellectualism, superstitious mythology, growing illiteracy, and unquestioning acceptance of irrational beliefs. Could our grandchildren and great-grandchildren find themselves locked into a new Dark Age of spiritual bondage?

It is certain that religion coupled with supreme political power becomes tyrannical, gives rise to witch hunts and inquisitions, and brainwashes even the brightest minds, to the general deterioration of the culture. This is exactly what our Founding Fathers hoped to avoid by establishing separation between church and state, because to them the history of religious persecutions in Europe was all too recent and vivid. Today we have forgotten that history -- are we therefore condemned to repeat it?

Fundamentalism threatens our country from both within and without, but our uniquely American fundamentalism rolls on like a juggernaut and no one seems willing to argue with its theological absurdities, or to demand an end to its being pushed onto our children through schools and television sets. We have all the

tools we need to combat such a threat. For nearly two centuries, Bible criticism has been readily available to show how confused and erroneous are the texts of God's alleged Word, and how crude are his mistakes. What Sam Harris aptly called the "mountains of life-destroying gibberish" found in both the Bible and the Koran cannot be credited by rational minds, and so fundamentalism likes to encourage irrationality and blind credulity. When a majority of citizens in any nation are willing to accept this kind of mind control and even pass it on to their children, surely civilization is on a downgrade.

Religion may indeed bring comfort to the faithful. But religion in its fundamentalist form brings also a kind of paranoia, since on some level the faithful know their ideas can't stand up to objective investigation. Eventually, this makes them willing to commit atrocities in order to destroy doubt and preserve whatever brand of superstition their leaders provide.

We may say in our complacency, `This is a free country, it can't happen here." But atrocious things do happen in civilized countries, given the right charismatic and fanatical leader - - as Germany's Holocaust taught us only a half-century ago, and Islamic fundamentalists' rapid erasure of modernism has shown even

more recently. We do need to be concerned about these matters, and we do need to speak out against religious fanaticism. Otherwise, it is possible that liberal religion might some day become an oxymoron.

There is, as Kendrick Frazier says, `a dangerous capturing of mainstream, liberal. open-minded religious viewpoints by those with far more extreme, narrow, rigid, authoritarian, judgmental religious viewpoints. There is a willingness, even a devout - many think God-sanctioned - determination to impose these viewpoints on everyone else." When that happens, inquisitions and holy wars are not far behind. DON'T TOLERATE INTOLERANCE -IT CAN BECOME INTOLERABLE.

Notes: see FREE INQUIRY. vol. 25, no. 6; SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, vol. 30, no. 4

The following talk was given by Rosemary Hagen at our May meeting

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Human trafficking amounts to modern day slavery.  It is a $12 billion dollar illegal business, ranking behind drugs and  illicit arms sales. It is gaining fast on drugs and will be number two shortly.

Trafficking in persons violated the universal human right to life, liberty and freedom from slavery. Trafficking of children, which is a thriving business, violates the inherent right of a child to grow up in a protective environment and the right to be free from all forms of abuse and exploitation.

'The purpose of trafficking is to make money  in the nastiest possible ways. Forced labor, forced prostitution, slavery or servitude, and the newest making scheme-- forced removal of body organs to sell are some of the kinds of trafficking.

A couple of months ago I attended a conference in New  York City  sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Organization.  The UU-UNO. The subject was human trafficking.  This is a non governmental organization an NGO located at the United Nations.  It is there to  help the UN in any way that it can.  About  200 attended the conference at various times.  Seventy UU teen agers were permanent members as were around 50 members of various UU congregations from Canada and the United States.

The conference was held at the Un,  Hunter College and the 35St Community Church.  Two of the three days were rainy .  It was a welcome experience even though I  had to sit without my shoes throughout the first morning.  At Hunter college a group of grad  students studying International Relations joined  us for a day.  The most important thing I learned about trafficking was that every one should know about it.

The United States State Department date estimates over 800,000 women, men and children are trafficked across international borders each year.  Other estimates say many more. About 85% are women and girls an up to 50% are minors. Data also says that the majority of the victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation, although certainly domestic service and working in food services make up some of the forced work.

Human trafficking exists all over the world.  It has erupted because of extreme poverty--poverty so bad that parents  have to sell their children, or sometimes their organs.  Jobs are offered in other countries that sound so fantastic  that the teen agers who accept know that they probably can't exist, but they are forced to take the risk to help their family, to support themselves.  Some of the middle class   people who answer the ads may go for adventure. They get no adventure they get horror instead. Natural disasters can help to cause trafficking.  To escape the horror of the Tsunami or Hurricane which has wiped out their family, homes, towns and cities people will jump at job offers.  Wars, the aftermath of wars, refugee camps, where corrupt guards demand payment or rape also are responsible for people taking any  job offer.  Many countries are unbelievably poor.  Too late the women realize there is no job. They find themselves trapped with there young girls in cities they do not know, ruled by people who speak languages they  do not understand.   If they object, to make they submit, they are raped, sometimes gang raped, starved and beaten.  When their captors consider them " seasoned" they are sold or taken to houses of prostitution.

But middle class teens in the United States are subject to trafficking too.  A sizable number are kidnapped, runaways are picked up, drug addicts too. And as I will show you later, so are the homeless.  Yes, trafficking exists inside the United States with United States citizens, and it does the same thing to them as it does to illegal immigrants.  Women are forced to become prostitutes or domestic workers. This is what is called Modern Day Slavery.

Men usually are forced to work as slaves in the fields, or as roofers, restaurant workers, landscape workers.  Girls as young as three and four are kidnapped and put into sex rings.  Boys as young as two are bought, stolen or kidnapped and forced to become camel jockeys.  This is a thriving sport wherever there are camels. Jockeys  must  be very light. Two year old boys are  ideal.  Of course it is dangerous, some fall and are killed. But there is no problem, kidnap another one, or find a poor family who will sell their two  year old.  These kids are kept in dormitories, given a minimum of food to keep  them lean, no education and ride camels until they are too heavy...about 14 or 15.  They are then sent back to society. No skills. No education. Sometimes the boys are permanently injured, crippled for life.  Girls in the sex rings are cast out at that age too.  They are too old and diseased to continue their prostitution.  Each  years thousands of kids are exploited in the commercial sex trade.  Some figures say millions.  Figures on trafficking are seldom accurate. The trade is illegal.  There really are few statistics available.  But people are agreed that child sex tourism is a multi million dollar industry that includes tour guides, websites and brothel maps. Countries heavily involved are  Cambodia, Thailand, Costa Rica, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Brazil and India.  Supply countries presently  are Russia, and the Eastern European Countries of Rumania, and the Ukraine.  In Asia: China, Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand..  And  young, very young children are wanted because they are pure and free of disease and middle aged men like the young.

But let's talk about Florida.  Trafficking here is rampant.  We are number three in the nation.  In our area, Southwestern Florida, Florida's six most recent slavery cases  involving prostitution  or slave labor were in the citrus groves or tomato fields, or  for prostitution around the city of Immokalee.  First, I must mention a group of Immokalee Farm Workers called the Coalition of Immokalee Workers who have formed a group for better jobs, working conditions and to help one another. In most of these cases I will describe, the Coalition helped to break them.

In a particularly vicious operation Miguel Flores of LaBelle and Sebastian Gomez of Immokalee were charged with slavery and extortion.  Flores controlled hundreds of workers in agricultural camps between Florida and North Carolina.  He charged his laborer's exorbitant prices for food, keeping them constantly in debt.  They were paid $15 a day and forced to work six days a week.  According to one victim, female camp  residents were raped and guns were  used by guard to keep order. Flores warned his workers that if they ever spoke about what was happening  he would cut out their tongues.  The Coalition of Immokalee Workers had no trouble finding a dozen witnesses willing to testify and Flores and Gomez are now spending fifteen  years in prison.

In April of 1998, Rogerio Cadena and fifteen others were charged with smuggling twenty women and girls, some as  young as fourteen into the United States from Mexico with promises of jobs in housekeeping, landscaping and child care. The women paid $2000 each to get to the United States and were held in three trailers as prostitutes. Their clients were agricultural workers.  Beatings and threats of reprisal against their families in Mexico held them in line.  A couple who did escape were caught, returned to the brothels, and badly beaten.  Victims who became pregnant were forced to have abortions and the cost was added to their debt.  The girls tried to get help three times:  They found a cell phone in a closet and called 911.  The owners of the brothels sent the 011 people away, assuring them it was a mistake  They called 911 again.  Again 911 was told it was a mistake. The next time they dialed operator and the police came, but they were sent away by the brothel owner who told them it was a false alarm.  Finally the Coalition of Farm Workers and some of the Johns broke up the ring. Although six of

Cadena's  people pleaded guilty in the case, nine others managed to slip back across the border and escape.

Las year in Naples a house was raided by Naples police. Twenty women from China and Guatemala were held as slave prostitutes, ages between 12-20.  The house was in a wealthy neighborhood and was purchased for $500,000.  Owners of the slaves can easily afford this.  A pimp reported to the police that he paid $2500 for a girl and in a  year she would earn him $75.000 to $275,000.  None of the women who were freed spoke English, and none of them even knew where they were or the country they were in.  This is one of the advantages the traffickers  have.  The victims do not know t he language of the country they are in.  That makes it almost  impossible for them to get help.  Also, if they do try to escape, they have no idea where to go to find help.

At about the same time as the Naples prostitute slave ring, a trailer was found with twenty-thee agricultural workers crammed into it trying to live. They were all forced to work in the fields for nothing.

The Coalition uncovered another operation through its worker network. Seven hundred citrus workers were being  held as slaves in work camps, forced to work in the groves during the day.  Juan and Ramiro Ramos were the contractors. The men were brought to the fields in chartered vans and returned and returned  nightly.  If the van drivers objected to what was going on, for of course the slave workers told them, they were beaten  In one case a van driver was shot execution style through the head next to his van.  The men were kept in line by promising them money when their debt was paid, by beatings, and by  threatening to  harm their families in Mexico.  The two Ramoses along with a cousin, Jose, were arrested.  They had been questioned by a Highlands County sheriff's officer earlier about the murder of the van driver.  A search of Ramoses home uncovered an arsenal of guns including a savage 7mm rifle, an AK47 semi automatic rifle, a Browning 8mm semi automatic pistol, and a Remington 700 mm mag. rifle.

The prosecution presented testimony stating that 670 social security numbers used by the Ramoses for pay roll were false.

At one time during the trial the defense approached the bench and asked the judge, K Michael Moore to dismiss the charges on the grounds that the prosecution of the Ramoses was selective and arbitrary.  They maintained that the growers knew about the slave labor camps and should  be prosecuted too.

At the sentencing, Judge Moore  stated that "others at a higher level of the fruit picking industry seem complicit in one way  or another with how these activities occur." The growers shield themselves through the contractors, and so far  it has worked.

The most recent case of human trafficking involves the homeless and was tried in Jacksonville, Florida this  year.  The crime was committed in 2006.  The labor camp owner got 30 0 men from Homeless Shelters all over the East Coast.  The men were eager for work, many of them in debt, some of them alcoholics or drug addicts. They were given jobs in the fields and worked fourteen hour days, were paid $50 a week and fed.  They were not allowed to leave the camp.  The camp store was open for them, but the only things they could buy was crack cocaine and beer.

The owners of the camp were black, and all of the victims, most of them addicted from this treatment were black.  The owners got  up to 30 years for slavery, forced use of drugs and illegal  distribution of drugs.

Well, what can we do to help?  A single person can not do much.  But you can spread the word.  I think this is the most important thing. Let your kids know, tell them to tell others.  The middle class is not exempt. The boy who was kidnapped at the school stop two or three months ago and taken to the woods and tied to a tree was certainly a possible traffic victim.  Luckily he escaped.  There are cases like this all over the United States. In Minnesota awoman, Patty Wetterling, ran for Congress on the issue of kidnappings.  Her son, age 9 was abducted and has not been seen since.

But the most hopeful thing I have read is that a few weeks ago a convention on Trafficking was held in Ocala and police, social workers and other people connected  to victims of crime attended it.  So now they know officially.  Since then I  have read of three arrests of people with boats loaded with enough gas to take them far down into the Carribean or Mexico.  The police are accusing them of attempted smuggling or trafficking.  Smuggling involves bringing people to another country for a fee, and then letting them go when they arrive. Trafficking of course, delivers them to their owners.

There are organizations in Florida which are there to help trafficking victims.  Here are their phone numbers:  Call 1-888-373-7888.  This is the Trafficking Hotline and it means HELP IS NEEDED NOW.  Coalition of Immokalee Farm Workers  PO Box 603 Immokalee, Fl. 34143 email  workers@ciw-online.org   This organization will send  you information about what they are doing if  you ask for it.  Interfaith Action  interfaithaction.org  This group's office is next door to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, and they work closely together.  Practically every church including the UU are working with Interfaith Action.  Florida Coalition Agaist Human Trafficking (239) 390 3350.   Call Shawn RamseLee County Sheriff's office  (239 ) 477 1050 for information on the Sheriff's Human  Trafficking task force.

Florida Freedom Partnership PO Box 144727

Coral Gables, FL 332114-0106. TOLL FREE 1 (866)443 0106  Local (305) 443 0102.  www.floridafreedom.org

Another positive thing that  has happened is ECPAT, the world tourism organization has created a Code of Conduct for the protection of children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism.  This code is world wide. The International Hotel and Restaurant Association  has passed a resolution condemning sexual exploitation of children and recommending that all members consider measures to prevent use of their premises for commercial sexual exploitation of children.  So at leas the kids are getting noticed.

These codes involve training of workers to recognize possible trafficking and how to report it without endangering the person reporting  it.  The Radisson Hotel chain and the Marriot have signed it so far in the United States.  That's one thing we can do.  As the motels and  hotels we patronize if they have signed the cod of conduct against sexual exploitation of children.

The police in London  have come  up with a successful gimmick.  They use an IPOD.  First, they show the victim a book of flags of all of the countries in the world.  When the correct country is found, the policeman puts a tape in that language into the IPOD and the victim is told his/her rights, where he/she is, and how help will be given.  Here, in UUCOV, we have done some things.  We  have  had the Interfaith Action group from Immokalee  here twice, and our half and  half charity  program has sent money to the Coalition of Immokalee Farm Workers and to Interfaith Action too.  Interfaith action is an organization which has just about every church in the United States committed to  help it, and is working along with the farm workers to improve salaries and conditions.

UUCOV has also fought poverty through the help of the UUSocial Concerns organization and its work with the poor in Central America, Mexico and Africa.  It has introduced the poor to the cooperative business system, and they are selling coop coffee and tea.  Because this is fair trade coffee, the people who grow it and sell it through their coops get a fair price and are able to keep their children in school and out of the coffee fields.

A Korean Councilman in New  York City said at our conference that until society will accept punishment for the Johns, there will always be a demand for prostitutes. He said that the police in his district break up a whore house about every two months, but they are back in action in another two months.  He believes it is because nothing happens to the Johns.  The 70 teen agers at the UN conference thought the Johns should be fined and put in jail.  But that has not happened yet.

In 2002 Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.  The bill allows victims to stay in the United States, to get medical and psychiatric care if they promise to  help with t he prosecution of their case.  They are not sent back to their homes unless they want to go and are welcome there.  This is particularly important for children who  have been sold by their parents.  Return them and they might be sold again.

The victims, if they are able are allowed to work, and if they have successfully held a job for three years are put on a path to citizenship if they wish it and are given a permanent work card.

The final thing I want to do is read to  you the recommendations to break the web of human trafficking. It was written by a group of teen representatives at the UU-UNO conference.  We adults were supposed to be  helping with UU_UNO held its annual meeting at the same time, so the kids did it themselves.

Be it hereby resolved that:

All nations to encourage their tourism industries, educational facilities, and other commercial businesses to adhere by the end to child prostitution, pornography and trafficking of children for sexual purposes' Code of Conduct.  We call  upon the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office to ensure that all hotels used for UU continental and district events have signed said code.

We call upon all nations to also encourage the awareness of this issue, with a focus on the following:

A. countries of origin, transit, and destination

B. those likely to be victimized by human trafficking

C. those likely to demand the services of those trafficked.

We encourage all nations, corporations an non-profit organizations to pursue the three pronged approach recommended by the European Union to combat human trafficking, involving prevention of trafficking, prosecution of traffickers and protection of the human rights of trafficked persons.

We call upon all NGO's to provide rehabilitative support and participate in projects set forth by NGOs that address human trafficking within their communities. 

We call upon all NGO's  to provide rehabilitative support--including, but not limited to, medical treatment, safe and secure shelter, clothing, protection and psychological counseling.port and participate in projects set fourth b y NGO's that address Human Trafficking within their communities.

We recommend that all nations:

A. Institute a policy of granting visas to t hose victimized by trafficking.

B. Notify victims of said policy and their rights as victims in a language  understood

by the victim.

C. Instititute a rest period for victims of trafficking as outlined in the Hage Ministerial

Guidelines for EU member states.

D.Promote anti trafficking criminal provisions, task forces, research commissions,

and law enforcement.

E. Increase the severity  of punishment for Human Trafficking.

Therefore, as liberal, religious people guided by compassion, and committed to social justice and the U U _UNO's vision of a world without slavery , we call all peoples to urgent action to address Human Trafficking and inspire a 21st century Abolitionist Movement, as we reaffirm our commitment to the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and to the independent web of existence of which we are all a part.

Next  year there will be another convention, on another subject.  I plan to go.  Perhaps some of  you will join me.

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