Until a century ago, it was possible for people to spend all or most of their lives without having to deal with “others” who live by very different belief systems and principles. This is no longer an option...
"A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider to be God-fearing and pious."
-- Aristotle, 343 B.C.
The ship of fools, depicted in a 1549 German woodcut
The ship of fools is an allegory that has long been a fixture in Western literature and art. The allegory depicts a vessel populated by human inhabitants who are deranged, frivolous, or oblivious passengers aboard a ship without a pilot, and seemingly ignorant of their own direction.
Ergun Caner grew up in suburban Ohio, but after 9/11, presented himself to churches and other organizations as having been raised and trained in Turkey and Egypt as a militant jihadi to wage war in the US. He and his brother Emir authored books explaining Islam to evangelicals containing many basic mistakes, displaying a rudimentary rather than expert understanding of the religion. Ergun's prominence and popularity propelled him to the position of dean at the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate School of Liberty University. In early 2010, Reformed apologist James White questioned Caner's claims to have debated Muslim scholars and representatives of virtually all religions on college campuses across the country. Legal documents located by Christian and Muslim bloggers demonstrated the fraudulence of Caner's constructed life narrative. Sound clips from his preaching contained supposed quotes in Arabic that turned out to be gibberish. Liberty's subsequent investigation resulted in Caner's not having his contract renewed for the position of dean in the summer of 2010, demoting him to professor. He took up a new post at Arlington Baptist College in 2011.
Upon the recommendation of President D.L. Moody, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to call Dr. Ergun Caner as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. Along with his administrative duties, Caner will also teach Theology, Church History and Apologetics.
Upon the recommendation of President D.L. Moody, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to call Dr. Ergun Caner as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. Along with his administrative duties, Caner will also teach Theology, Church History and Apologetics.
"Here in the South, where churches are as thick as flies on a carcass, we imagine that every community in North America has an evangelical Christian presence. This is far from reality."
Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith.... We need believing people.
-- Adolf Hitler, April 26, 1933
-- Adolf Hitler, April 26, 1933
I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!
-- Rev. Jerry Falwell
"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost..."
D. James Kennedy, Coral Ridge Ministries and Bush advisor.
It is not surprising that there is in practice not only one Christianity, there are thousands of Christianities, all of which claim to be genuine – and often exclusively true – ways of following Jesus and imagining the Divine.
Jesus was born between 4 and 6 BCE (Dionysius Exiguus, a sixth century scholar-monk miscalculated when he reformed the calendar to start with what he thought was the date of the birth of Christ) in Palestine, a small Jewish territory in the vast Roman Empire, a loose amalgamation of countless nations, languages, cultures, religions, cults, and competing deities.
No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God.
-- George Bush Sr.
HAPPY APRIL FOOL DAY 2012 
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