UPDATE ON CURRENT CONFLICTS

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UPDATE ON CURRENT CONFLICTS

• U.N. Peace Initiative in Lebanon
• Military Overthrow in Thailand
• Iraq Demonstrations
• Meeting of India Pakistan on Kashmir
• U.S. Legalization of Torture
• PSU EDGE Study on History of Church and State

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Sep. 12, 2006 Peacekeeping Battalion// Russia
Sends an Engineering-Sapper Battalion to
LebanonYesterday at a meeting of the president
with government officials, Defense Minister
Sergey Ivanov announced that a Russian
engineering-sapper battalion will be sent to
Lebanon at the end of September. The Russian
sappers are going to the Near East on the
invitation of the Lebanese government and are not
part of the UN peacekeeping contingent. As a
source in the Defense Ministry told Kommersant,
one of the considerations that roused Moscow to
go to Lebanon independently was an aversion to
being under the command of NATO generals.
Russias Daily on line
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• Also from Kommersant photo gallery
• gtA member of the Chinese U.N. Interim Force
  mine-clearing unit in Lebanon on September 5,
  2006.
• gtAn Italian soldier paints the U.N.n sign on
  vehicles, September 5, 2006
• gtFrench Soldiers disembark from a warship after
  arriving in Beirut on September 9, 2006
• gt An Italian soldier of the United Nations
  Interim Force carries a large cross during their
  first Catholic mass at a military base near the
  village of Maraka in southern Lebanon on
  September 10, 2006.

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Thailand's coup leaders struggle for acceptance
abroad The Associated Press Published September
27, 2006BANGKOK, Thailand Thailand's military
rulers are struggling to convince the
international community that staging a coup was
the only way to maintain democracy here.  But
it's been a tough sell

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Thailand ruling military uses beauty queenAYESHA
AKRAMAssociated PressBANGKOK, Thailand -
Thailand's new junta is trying to soften its
image, using a former beauty queen to make
announcements, assigning female troops to help
keep the peace in Bangkok and telling its
soldiers to smile.

• Thawinan Khongkran, wore the Miss Asia crown in
  1987

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Meanwhile back in Iraq last year

 Thousands Protest on Baghdad Anniversary    By
Antonio Castaneda     The Associated Press
Baghdad - Tens of thousands of Shiites marked the
anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with a protest
against American troops at the same square where
jubilant crowds toppled a statue of Saddam
Hussein two years ago.
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BBC News in video and audioLast Updated Monday,
18 September 2006

• Rivals look to break fresh ground By Sanjoy
  Majumder BBC India correspondent The meeting
  was the first after the Mumbai blasts
• .. After a near deep freeze in their relations
  for two months, India and Pakistan's peace
  process received a boost after their leaders met
  in Cuba

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President
Pervez Musharraf signalled a resumption of peace
talks which have lumbered on for more than two
years.
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Musharraf, who supported the US-led ousting of
Afghanistan's Taliban regime after the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks, said former deputy secretary of
state Richard Armitage had made the threat to
Pakistan's then head of intelligence. "The
intelligence director told me that Armitage
said, Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to
go back to the Stone Age,'" Musharraf said in a
CBS interview. "I think it was a very rude
remark," Musharraf says in the interview, which
was scheduled to be broadcast today. Armitage
has denied making the comment, saying only he had
warned Pakistan that it was either with the US or
against it as the latter went after the
perpetrators of the 2001 suicide plane attacks
that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York,
Washington and Pennsylvania.

• Tuesday, October 12, 1999 Published at 1927 GMT
  2027 UK World South Asia Pakistan army seizes
  power
• Soldiers surrounded the residence of Prime
  Minister Nawaz Sharif, closed down the country's
  main airports and took over state radio and
  television.
• The action followed the dismissal of Pakistan's
  army chief, General Pervez Musharraf, who is to
  address the nation shortly.

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The House bill, which passed by 253 to 168 votes,
marked a victory for the White House, which
considers both the secret prisons operated by the
Central Intelligence Agency, and the agency's
interrogation techniques vital tools in combating
terrorism.However, John Kerry, the Democratic
presidential nominee in 2004, warned that the
bill, which protects CIA agents from prosecution
if they use certain interrogation methods,
"permits torture" and would "fundamentally
undermine our moral authority".

• Bush urges Senate to back detainee bill

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(No Transcript)
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The Christian Right History Repeats
ItselfECE510 EDGEMarch 20, 2006

• Andrew Gilpin

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The Issue

• Religion good
• Engenders spirituality, charity, etc
• Religion and government bad
• Historically has resulted in war, corruption,
  mistreatment
• This paper and presentation concentrates on the
  Christian form of this phenomenon

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Recent Resurgence

• Until late 20th century, academics believed
  religion was on the wane
• Since 1980, religion has been resurging worldwide
• Troublesome that fundamentalists want control of
  governments
• Islamic governments already created (e.g. Iran)
• Attempts to create Islamic governments in other
  countries
• Christian Right attempts to convert US, Latin
  American, and European governments into
  theocracies
• Historical precedents (abundant) indicate this is
  a recipe for disaster, as we will show

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Evolution of ReligionAll men have need of the
gods.Homer

• Early pre-historic religions were generally
  animistic
• Believed in a vague but potent and terrifying
  force
• In time, religions became more sophisticated,
  developing symbols, rituals, myths
• Increased sophistication provided opportunity and
  perceived need for priests and shamans

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The Origin of The Problem

• Priests eventually began to develop monopolies on
  the divine, providing power and wealth
• Most ancient cultures priesthoods at or near top
  of cultural hierarchy
• With this power came the usual trapping
  suppression of diverging views, and frequently
  violence
• Eventually resulted in demise of that religion as
  its culture receded, or often development of
  alternative spiritualities
• As a result of this suppression by the government
  sanctioned religion, many present day churches
  developed in the centuries immediately prior to
  the First Century AD
• Could be argued that most religions (Islam,
  Christianity, etc) developed as a result of the
  failure of the established religion to meet the
  peoples needs

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Historical Perspectives

• The debate regarding religions role in secular
  government has raged for centuries. As an
  example, two opposing views from the past
• Of all religions, Christianity is without a
  doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most,
  although, up to now, the Christians have been the
  most intolerant of all men.
• Voltaire
• "Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. 
  Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense,
  and understanding, and whatever it sees must be
  put out of sight and ... know nothing but the
  word of God.
• Martin Luther

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The Early Christian Church

• Christian church illegal until Constantine in the
  4th Century AD
• Upon legalization, alliance with the Emperor
  brought power and opportunity
• Unlikely Constantines motives were altruistic,
  but this is debated
• Church was widespread and a possible opportunity
  for Rome

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Early Diversity

• Prior to and immediately following acceptance by
  Rome, Church was diverse
• Gnostics, mystics
• Great variance in opinion regarding the nature of
  God
• Uniformity and hierarchy probably viewed by
  Constantine as advantageous
• Definitely advantageous to Church leaders
• Increased power and wealth
• Violence and suppression ensued in an effort to
  develop this uniformity

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Development of Convention

• Council of Nicea and other meetings to develop
  dogma and define heresy
• Development of hierarchal structure
• Suppression of Gnostics, Donatists, etc.
• Selection of approved scriptures
• Later, codification of the stature of females
• We must conclude that a husband is meant to rule
  over his wife as the spirit rules over the
  flesh.
• St. Augustine (post-Nicea)
• Hypatia was hacked to death by orthodox monks in
  the early years because she presumed, against
  Gods commandments, to teach men.

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Usurpation of Pagan Beliefs and Customs

• Systematic effort to broaden reach of Church
• Easter Spring Equinox
• Christmas Winter Solstice
• Suggests government collaboration with the Church

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The Dark Ages (400-1,000 AD)

• With fall of Rome, Church was established
  authority, and used it
• Byzantine plague blamed on failure to adhere to
  Christian belief - suppressed science and
  medicine
• Book burning Alexandria Library torched
• By 5th Century, John Chrysostom, Greek Father of
  the Church, declared
• Every trace of the old philosophy and literature
  of the ancient world has vanished from the face
  of the earth.
• Art suppressed Roman and Greek art destroyed
  (used to make lime for churches)

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But Were Profitable

• In Dark Ages, Church increased in wealth
• Banned lending
• Money brought violence and corruption
• Between 891 and 903 AD, Rome saw no less than 10
  popes.
• Simony selling clerical office
• Indulgences Sold forgiveness of sins
• Secular leaders sought divine endorsement,
  further increasing prestige and power of Church

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Middle Ages (1,000-1,500 AD)

• Church remained extremely powerful
• Suppressed Greek and Arab thought
• More book burnings
• Non-religious art or literature suppressed or
  banned
• Suppression and outlawing of literacy for
  commoners
• Illegal to read Scriptures
• Underground trade in translated Bibles (subject
  to death penalty if caught)

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Middle Ages (1,000-1,500 AD)

• In response to corruption, sects began to spring
  up
• Waldensians, Bruys, Lussannes, etc.
• Brutally suppressed
• Church developed own justice system in part to
  deal with divergent views and sects, defining
  heresy to its own benefit
• Forged ancient documents to justify and form
  basis
• Analog in Islamic Sharia laws

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The Historical Record Regarding Religion in
Government (cont.)

• In the Middle Ages, a corrupt Church promoted the
  Crusades and war after war in Europe
• Both the Protestant and Catholic Churches
  suppressed womens rights, burned tens of
  thousands as witches
• Millions murdered in the Inquisition to
  purifycountries
• Catholics and Protestants warred for centuries,
  causing the loss of millions of lives

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Middle Ages (1,000-1,500 AD)

• Wars provided shared cause and diverted
  attention
• Crusades (lt1,000,000 dead)
• Murder of Jews and Byzantines on the way to
  Palestine
• Sacking of all cities encountered, even Belgrade
  and Constantinople
• Atrocities a source of friction to this day
• With failure of Crusades
• Cathars, Templars

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Middle Ages (1,000-1,500 AD)

• Inquisition
• Persecution of Jews
• Church-appointed inquisitors
• Confiscation of heretic wealth
• Mercy by secular rulers rewarded with
  excommunication by Church
• Inquisition in Asia and New World
• Papal edict in 1493 justified war on those who
  refused to convert to Christianity

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Reformation (1,500 1,750 AD)

• Protestant/Catholic wars
• St. Bartholomew Massacre
• Thirty Years War
• English Wars, etc, etc
• Protestant rule as suppressive as Catholic
• Introduced pleasure as sin
• Still a prominent Christian trait (original sin,
  Catholic guilt)
• Said one Protestant in 1554 if ye make at your
  pleasure such things as to drive devils
  away..what need have ye of Christ?

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Reformation (1,500 1,750 AD)

• Witch Hunts (1,300-1,800)
• 906 AD, the Church issued the Canon Episcopi
  which decreed the belief in witchcraft was
  heresy.
• Belief in a hope of intervention in ones plight
  on earth was seen as heresy, and eventually was
  seen as witchcraft
• In part a result of the centuries long practice
  of the Church to vilify women
• Churches developed wicked opposites of Church
  structures and customs
• Crones and loss of customs
• Churches licensed healers
• Churches way of eliminating opposing thought or
  customs

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Witch Hunts

• Germany is almost entirely occupied with
  building fires for the witches. Switzerland has
  been compelled to wipe out many of her villages
  on their account. Travelers in Lorraine see
  thousands and thousands of stakes to which
  witches were bound.
• Belief carries on to present day
• Examples in Germany, France, Mexico
• Breadth and length of witch hunting and attendant
  crimes nearly without precedent

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THE ENLIGHTENMENT

• "The world is my country, all mankind are my
  brethren, and to do good is my religion."
• Thomas Paine
• Historically, Churches allowed science and
  philosphy to bolster Church positions and dogma,
  but eventually Church lost control
• Rationalism, Deism resulted

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THE ENLIGHTENMENT

• American Revolution
• 1st Amendment to Constitution strictly limited
  the ability of religion to impact government or
  the people
• The purpose of separation of church and state is
  to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless
  strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with
  blood for centuries.
• Madison

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Religion and Government- A Dangerous Mixture

• I have examined all the known superstitions of
  the world, and I do not find in our particular
  superstition of Christianity one redeeming
  feature. They are all alike founded on fables and
  mythology. Millions of innocent men, women and
  children, since the introduction of Christianity,
  have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned.
  What has been the effect of this coercion? To
  make one half the world fools and the other half
  hypocrites to support roguery and error all over
  the earth.
• Thomas Jefferson

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The Enlightenment

• Beginning in the 17th Century, people began to
  understand that many of their problems were
  caused by the mixing of governments and religion
• In the 18th Century, the US Constitution
  recognized this as a problem and sought to
  separate religion from government.
• The Government of the United States is not in
  any sense founded on the Christian religion.
• Treaty of Tripoli. Article 11 , 1798

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The Problem Continues

• Despite efforts of Founders, modern
  fundamentalists persist
• It is often heard the United States is a
  Christian country
• To understand Fundamentalist approach and
  potential chaos it could wreak, understanding of
  core beliefs is helpful

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Premillenialism

• Based on the Second Coming
• For Christ to re-appear, a series of events must
  occur
• The Christian Gospel must be taught throughout
  the world, and as many adherents as possible must
  be brought into the fold.
• At some point this process will be complete and
  the true believers will be raptured,
• On earth, the Anti-Christ will arise and there
  will be wars, natural disasters, suffering, and
  death (the Tribulation).
• Millions of non-believers will die horrible and
  painful deaths.
• Many Jews will see the light, but too late to
  be raptured, and will therefore suffer and die
  along with the other non-believers.
• Eventually, the Second Temple in Jerusalem will
  be constructed and Christ will return to oversee
  peace and prosperity
• 1,000 years later, Satan will rise one last time
  to be defeated once and for all

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Premillenialism

• This belief structure has a profound effect on
  fundamentalist approach to politics and policy
• Israeli policy (establishment of Temple)
• Environmental policy
• UN (New World Order) as Anti-Christ
• Family values issues feminism, birth control,
  abortion

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The Agenda

• Power and premillenialism through government
  influence and control
• Up till 1970, religious block largely apolitical
• Enter Paul Weyrich and others
• Conservative think tanks (Hoover, Heritage)
• Moral Majority, Family Research Council,
  Concerned Women for America, the Eagle Forum,
  Real Women of Canada
• We are talking about Christianizing America. We
  are talking about simply spreading the Gospel in
  a political context. Weyrich
• Get them saved, get them baptized, and get them
  registered to vote Falwell

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The Agenda

• Beginning in the 1980s the Christian Right
• Identified often low political offices, at the
  city, county, and state level
• Placed their members in these positions
• Often these grass-roots positions are unoccupied
  and susceptible, can be acquired with very few
  votes
• Lower level offices in aggregate have significant
  say in delegates in national conventions.
• In a state like Oregon, with 600,000 registered
  Republicans, it is possible for 2,000 to 3,000
  people to control the state party apparatus. If
  they are outvoted by one or two votes,
  parliamentary manipulations begin, and after two
  or three hours of discussion about how many
  angels can dance together on the head of a pin,
  the more reasonable people with other things to
  do leave, and in the wee hours of the morning,
  things are decided. Thats how they achieve
  their objectives.
• One Republican activist after quitting the Party
  The so-called Christian activists have finally
  gained control, and the Grand Old Party is more a
  religious cult than a political organization.
• To another, the discussion of homosexuals,
  creationism, and abortion was jarring We honest
  to goodness felt like we had fallen through a
  time-warp into a Nazi brown-shirt meeting.

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The Agenda

• Evidence of success of this program
• Robertson Iowa caucuses
• Domestic and foreign policy altered by power of
  this relatively small group
• Abortion restrictions
• Stem cell research blocked
• President advocates teaching creationism in
  schools
• President proposes constitutional amendment
  defining marriage
• Family planning limitations in foreign aid
  packages
• Bush election
• Religious base had profound influence in 2004
  presidential election

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The Agenda

• Christian Right also pursuing UN agenda
• Some dispute in Christian Right as to whether to
  get involved in UN
• UN seen as
• Secular
• Pro-reproductive care and therefore anti-family
• Pro-womens rights and therefore lesbian
• Vehicle for NWO, therefore anti-American and
  therefore anti-Christian (US is foremost
  Christian nation)
• NOW obstacle to arrival of Second Coming
• Like a coiled serpent, ready to strike at the
  throat of a nations cultural and religious
  values, and its very foundation the traditional
  family, bringing them crashing down to a cruel
  death. The anti-life, anti-family serpent at the
  UN is determined to triumph as it holds the world
  prone to be swallowed up and digested. Real
  Women of Canada

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The Agenda

• UN approach changed in 1990s
• Over 400 delegates from Right to Beijing Womens
  conference
• Prevent free-hand of globalists, feminists,
  secularists, etc

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Is this what we want?

• Emphasis religion itself is not the problem
• Combining religion with secular government is the
  problem
• Lengthy historical record showing religion not
  compatible with government
• Religion not necessary to carry out the functions
  of government
• In government, religion has a propensity to claim
  divine will
• Inconsistent with liberty, because the state
  religion defines what is acceptable
• Inherently inflexible and unresponsive to people
  because positions taken by religious government
  are divine in nature
• Not necessary
• Record in US indicates separation of Church and
  State promotes and enhances religious diversity
  and freedom
• Personal opinion Christian Right and Islamic
  Fundamentalists are not really promoting their
  religion, but in fact are promoting political
  power for themselves and their religion