I am really tired of smug, intellectuals completely immersed in a culture that has been evolving since the renaissance under Christian influence sneering at Christianity. They are like fish who try to dismiss the necessity of water.They will no doubt argue for some vague notion of universaly derived science. Historical analysis for what it is worth applied to Ehrman's theme, certainly is Western in its conception and development. It can't be applied to the case in point because of the dirth of sources. LIttle source material is available for compiling an interpretation of Jesus as an historical figure. We must taken him on faith or not at all. For some reason, everyone wants Jesus on their particular bandwagon, from Neitsche to every other mental gymnist trying to twist themselves free of their own cultural landscape. They construe many things for what lies outside of this, but they're immersed.Trying to diminish Jesus won't eliminate their plight. Perhaps it was no God who constructed Western culture but if all things are relative, I would say it was a force beyond the merely mortal At least as that had been conceived up until about two thousand years ago.If another has spearheaded so much with so little, I would be tempted to identify him or her with the big bang creator as well.

It's not a Christian nation, it's apparently a msonic pyramid scheme, designed for the benefit of a few landed caucasian males. It's usually been true to its founder's principles. Should it change to be truly beneficial for all, which it has struggled to do in one degree or another for most of its beleagured history, that is to its credit.I just don't think there's much "Christian" in it or any other secular state for that matter.

and another thing, he casts women half his age to play opposite with him in every single movie he's been in charge of, so it's no surprise that he's finally decided to trade his wife in for someone else to mas produce testaments to his masculinity, seven more kids no doubt. i'm surprised it's taken this long. as for his religion, it's a joke. lacking the subtley to move with his church, as byzantine as it moves, he tries to cling to some out moded pre-Vatican II version. It would be laughable and of no interest, except this person gets to make movies and get his ideas out there. just because he used to be good looking.

whatever you felt for this person or continue to feel, or however wonderful you think he is or whatever life he leads does not compare to who you are and what you should be to yourself. I am not promoting narcissism, but a sense of porportion. idealizing anyone is a form of idolatry. each of us is a mysterious and wonderful unfolding in the world and we each deserve to acknowledge that about ourselves. Giving such devotion to another misses the point of our own lives. I've never heard tell of a man doing this. They learn that their lives depend on themselves and women need to learn this as well. Love is good and we should acknowledge the value of others, but not in a way that diminishes our own lives. Tormenting oneself in this way isn't the liberation that real love provides. If you love him, you carry him in your heart and nothing can diminish that. In letting him be in the world however he chooses, you release him and yourself. Freedom is the hallmark of real love.

even if we force a full disclosure of all that transpired over the bush years, it won't begin to repair the damage. the lives ruined, destroyed and just degraded can't be fixed by any amount of disclosure. i love my country but what it foisted upon itself and the world through Bush and his neo-con co-horts just defies description. Too many Americans sit in front of the t.v. brain-washed by Fox news, letting other people pay the price for their self-indulgence and deliberate ignorance. That still goes on. They're not getting off the coach, taking any responsibility, So what can be done? As long as they wallow in ignorance, continue to blame "liberals", which means anyone who isn't being mind bleeped by all the far right media out there. i've been around awhile and i'm just beyond disgusted by the whole sorry mes.

For years,Rush Limbaugh has used humor to undermine values that serve the American people. He became the spokesman for the powers that be to a certain large segment of the populous, who really weren't being served by what he espoused. Now that the bankrupt right wing agenda has delivered the complete economic devastation which it was always serving up to millions of disenfranchised Americans, a few opposition voices are getting heard. Whatever gets said now is a little late. For so long, the hateful, sentimentally patriotic vitriol was broadcast with very little response from anyone. When Colbert delivered his bombshell of truth to both Bush and the often gutless press corp, it wasn't heralded for the breath of fresh air that it should have been. The media which Limbaugh and his ilk proclaim so loudly to be "liberally slanted." has usually been slanted merely to serve the interests of the same few that limbaugh serves.

this was so lame. it does make one wonder about who's editing this site

i wish it was just about some old men croaking out old songs. how wonderful taht would be. no economic meltdown, no dead soldiers and Iraqis, just music. it's a fun comparison because that's what the republicans should have been,but they got control too long and now we have what we have. maybe we are what we are, but the world is also what they've made it. not without help from people who didn't bother to vote while they were taking over