and all sorts of things that have zilch to do with religion..Just sayin'.

Last edited Sat Jan 1, 2022, 02:47 PM - Edit history (1)

One of the first stories that my wife told me about her religion (Roman Catholic) when I first met her was about how her ancestors ran away some 500 years ago.

They were called "cimarrones", and were among the very first "illegals" here in América.

In the Patía valley they climbed a mountain, to the top of el cerro del Manzanillo, to see if they could see África. When they couldn't see África, they played their drums and cried.

Whenever their descendants were sad, like their ancestors before them, they would also climb to the top of el cerro del Manzanillo, and look out to see if they could see África, and when they could not, they would play their drums and cry.

Over time all of those tears coalesced to form a lake.

El cerro del Manzanillo is a magical mythological and geographical place.

As it happens, my wife was born very close to it, and when she was a child more than half a century ago, there was a rumor going around Patía that la Virgen María had appeared at the top of el cerro del Manzanillo, so her and her friend climbed to the top to see if they could see Her.

Now, my wife's religion happens to be a religion of war, and her music happens to be the music of war, and her culture happens to be a culture of war. Her ancestors had their reasons.

But that doesn't mean that all religion is about war, or that all music is about war, or that all culture is about war.

That's just a stereotype.

Here's a dissertation on my wife's religion.

It mentions four songs. One of them is in english, and a couple of lines are quoted.

RELIGIOSIDAD AFROPATIANA
Funerales de Angelitos: Arrullos

https://repository.javeriana.edu.co/bitstream/handle/10554/6623/tesis149.pdf;sequence=1

From page 44:

El Palenque del El Castigo

"Stolen from Africa, brought to America,
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival"

I tried, I really did.

useful." - Seneca the Younger

No WTF about it. If the next generation was brought up without religious brainwashing, we’d have a better world.

There's all sorts of lower level charlatans working at local churches to separate fools from their money. Organized religion is nothing more than a scam designed to take advantage of the weak minded. How many churches are self-funded and don't ask for or accept donations? While there certainly are some, they generally fall under cults which compel followers into labor which generates revenue for the church. Or in other words, just a different type of scam.

Imagine how many cultures all over the world that one would need to distroy to make the world entirely non-religious.

WTF!!!

‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 album The Beatles (also known as "the White Album&quot . It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership.[1] The song was composed into three distinct sections, referred by Lennon as "the Dirty Old Man", "the Junkie" and "the Gunman (Satire of '50s R&R)". He derived the title from an NRA magazine and explained that the lyrics were a double entendre for guns and his sexual desire for Yoko Ono.’

Leonor González Mina - Violencia (en vivo) - Teatro Colón



Violencia (Compositor: José Benito Barros Palomino)

Oigo un llanto que atraviesa el espacio para llegar a Dios.
es el llanto de las niños que sufren,
que lloran de dolor,
es el llanto de las mujeres que tiemblan con desesperación,
es el llanto, es el llanto de Dios,
Violencia, maldita violencia,
porque te empeñas en teñir de sangre la tierra de Dios,
porque no dejas que en el campo nazca nueva floración,
violencia, porque no permites que reine la paz,
que reine el amor,
violencia, porque no permites que reine la paz.

I hear a cry that crosses space to reach God.

It's the cry of suffering children,

Who cry in pain,

It's the crying of women who tremble desperately,

It's crying, it's God's crying,

Violence, damn violence,

Because you insist on staining the land of God with blood,

Because you don't let new flowering be born in the countryside,

Violence, because you don't allow peace to reign,

Let love reign,

Violence, because you don't allow peace to reign.

Doy el primer paso - Canción de bienvenida al papa Francisco


Artistas colombianos entonan "Doy el primer paso", tema musical que da un mensaje de reconciliación y unidad en vísperas de la llegada del papa Francisco a la república de Colombia.

Letra y música: Iván Benavides
Participan: Carlos Vives, Goyo Martínez de ChocQuibTown, Herencia de Timbiquí, Inés Granja, Jorge Celedón, María Mulata, Nidia Góngora y Canalón de Timbiquí

Last edited Fri Dec 31, 2021, 07:19 PM - Edit history (1)

I wonder if the wise may be missing some wisdom.

Bojaya Massacre: After 17 years, victims' remains returned

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2019/11/15/bojaya-massacre-after-17-years-victims-remains-returned

The women of Bojayá: Colombia Reports’ personalities of 2016

https://colombiareports.com/women-bojaya-colombia-reports-persons-year/

"Hace 500 años sufrimos este gran terror. Pedimos a los violentos no más repetición."

Las Alabaoras de Bojayá le cantaron esta canción (y la tabla) a Juan Manuel Santos y a las Farc



El día de la ceremonia de la firma del Acuerdo Final, las Alabaoras de Bojayá le cantaron esta canción (y la tabla) a Juan Manuel Santos y a las Farc. Como expresa lo que muchos colombianos sienten y como por problemas de sonido no lo pudieron oír los que vieron la transmisión del evento por televisión, La Silla transcribió la letra como un testimonio de este canto fúnebre chocoano...

Nos sentimos muy contentos,
llenos de felicidad,
que la guerrilla de las Farc
las armas van a dejar,

Coro:
Que la guerrilla de las Farc
las armas van a dejar.
Santa María danos la paz.
Santa María danos la paz.

Nos violaron los derechos,
de nuestra comunidad,
ni a la pesca ni al trabajo
no nos dejaban llegar.

ni a la pesca ni al trabajo
no nos dejaban llegar.
Santa María danos la paz.
Santa María danos la paz.

Queremos justicia y paz
que venga de corazón
pa que llegue a nuestros campos
salud, paz y educación.

pa que llegue a nuestros campos
salud paz y educación.
Santa María danos la paz
Santa María danos la paz

Presidente Santos venimos a felicitar
por su grande valentía
de trabajar por la paz.

por su grande valentía
de trabajar por la paz.
Santa María danos la paz.
Santa María danos la paz.

Hace 500 años
sufrimos este gran terror.
Pedimos a los violentos
no más repetición.

Pedimos a los violentos
que no más repetición.
Santa María danos la paz.
Santa María danos la paz.

De extremo a extremo,
nosotros queremos paz
y por esas alabanzas
es que hemos venido acá.

y por esas alabanzas
es que hemos venido acá.

De extremo a extremo,
nosotras queremos paz
y por esas alabanzas
es que hemos venido acá.

y por esas alabanzas
es que hemos venido acá.

Oiga señor Presidente
hágasenos para acá
y con esos otros grupos
díganos que va a pasar

y con esos otros grupos
díganos que va a pasar

De extremo a extremo,
nosotras queremos paz
y por esas alabanzas
es que hemos venido acá.

y por esas alabanzas
es que hemos venido acá.

Con esta nos despedimos
no dejamos de pensar
a las víctimas de Colombia
no las pueden olvidar.

a las víctimas de Colombia
no las pueden olvidar.

De extremo a extremo,
nosotras queremos paz
y por esas alabanzas
es que hemos venido acá.

y por esas alabanzas
es que hemos venido acá

The hemisphere’s most senseless war

After 52 years of victimization by either leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and the state, Colombians were harshly confronted by the fact that all the violence was in vain, that absolutely nothing that was promised had been achieved.

After decades of war propaganda and the dividend of peace still abstract to many, the truth hurts. The reds are still here, the oligarchy was never overthrown and drug trafficking is thriving.

Meanwhile, 265,000 Colombians did lose their lives, nobody knows how many tens of thousands of civilians have disappeared and should be presumed dead too, and millions of Colombians had their lands taken away after being displaced.

A place of Sanctuary.

That's why so many people were huddled in the church.

Every culture needs a place of refuge, a place of sanctuary.

If only we had more respect for other cultures.

A song in memory of Deah Barakat, 23, Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and Razan Abu-Salha, 19, killed on Tuesday, February 10th, 2015 by a deranged man. The particular form of derangement suffered by the killer, Craig Stephen Hicks, is a sort of anti-theist variation of the "disenfranchised white American male with illusions of grandeur" syndrome, and this is what I'm attempting to explore in this composition.

Lyrics:

He was 46 years old, he had 2 parking places
He got angry if one of the residents took one of the visitor spaces
In the apartment complex that might provide one little clue
That this middle-aged man had accomplished little that he set out to do
He spewed anger at all of his neighbors and he hated religion so much
Maybe that's why he moved to the Bible Belt, because hatred is such a good crutch
He spewed anger about all religions with his back against the wall
Why stop at just hating one of them when you can just hate them all
Another angry white American man with a gun
Another angry white American man

He was 46 years old, he didn't live among his peers
Neighbors mostly younger by about 24 years
Neighbors from all over, some in religious dress
But what in hell the man was thinking, we can only try to guess

He was 46 years old, his neighbors had a meeting last year
To talk over what they might do about this man they feared
He carried a loaded pistol, no telling what might inspire
Him to pull it out one day and fire, fire, fire

Perpetrator[edit]
Craig Stephen Hicks was studying to become a paralegal at Durham Technical Community College at the time of the shooting.[27][37][38] He had moved to Chapel Hill in 2005 from Bethalto, Illinois.[39] He has been divorced twice, with one marriage lasting only five months.[26][39]

Though he was described by the school as an "exemplary student",[40] Hicks was described by neighbors as threatening.[26] In 2013, he reported a dispute between a tow truck driver and a car's owner to police, and walked to the parking lot with a gun.[26][41] A friend of Yusor stated that Hicks was "holding a rifle" while complaining about extra cars in the neighborhood and noise from their game of Risk.[26] Another resident and a friend of Barakat and Yusor Abu-Salha told the Associated Press that

Hicks complained about once a month that the two men were parking in a visitor's space as well as their assigned spot. 'He would come over to the door. Knock on the door and then have a gun on his hip saying 'you guys need to not park here.' ... Both Hicks and his neighbors complained to the property managers who warned them to call the police if they were harassed again.[42][43]
Hicks had a fixation on the 1993 movie Falling Down strong enough for his ex-wife to make specific mention of it after the shootings. The movie centered on a divorced and unemployed man who suffers a mental breakdown and goes on a violent rampage. She described Hicks as "watching it incessantly" and finding the movie "hilarious", showing "no compassion at all".[40][44]

Hicks posted on Facebook comments and images that were critical of all religions and religious violence, and his profile read "Atheists for Equality".[45] He was critical of Christian opponents of the Park51 project, stating: "Seems an overwhelming majority of Christians in this country feel that the Muslims are using the Ground Zero mosque plans to 'mark their conquest' ... bunch of hypocrites, everywhere I've been in this country there are churches marking the Christian conquest of this country from the Native Americans." He also posted, "I hate Islam just as much as Christianity, but they have the right to worship in this country just as much as any others do," and also opined on the same page that it would be OK if we had a Muslim president.[46][47][48] Hicks had set a banner image on his page to one stating: "I don't deny you your right to believe whatever you'd like; but I have the right to point out it's ignorant and dangerous for as long as your baseless superstitions keep killing people."[49] In another Facebook post, Hicks stated: "I give your religion as much respect as your religion gives me ... there's nothing complicated about it, and I have every right to insult a religion that goes out of its way to insult, to judge, and to condemn me as an inadequate human being—which your religion does with self-righteous gusto."[50] His wife described Hicks as a champion of individual's rights, and said "This incident had nothing to do with religion or the victims' faith but was related to a longstanding parking dispute that my husband had with the neighbors." Neighbors confirmed that Hicks had frequently complained about parking and noise issues for years, and would confront residents while armed.[45]

Hicks had thirteen firearms in his house.[46]

‘The Oxford English Dictionary defines antitheist as "One opposed to belief in the existence of a god". The earliest citation given for this meaning dates from 1833.[4] Antitheism has been adopted as a label by those who regard theism as dangerous, destructive, or encouraging of harmful behavior. Christopher Hitchens offers an example of this approach in Letters to a Young Contrarian (2001), in which he writes: "I'm not even an atheist so much as I am an antitheist; I not only maintain that all religions are versions of the same untruth, but I hold that the influence of churches, and the effect of religious belief, is positively harmful."[5]’

Your opinion about my judgment of certain Christian leaders actions in todays society as being anti theist is typical of exactly why the effect of religious belief is positively harmful.

And I say this as an old-school atheist for as far back as I can remember.