Yes, quotes can be taken out of context; whereas others speak quite loudly for themselves regarding the viewpoints of the speaker or writer. Often, we don’t know which. You decide.

As I’ve matured, however, I’ve come to see that quotations, especially multiple ones across a spectrum of time from one person, or across a spectrum of many people regarding an idea, can be quite revealing of that person or that idea. Get me here?

Good. Because I ask of you, dear reader, two favors.

First: consider the quotes below in a compare/contrast context with regard to modern atheist arguments.

Second: do NOT–I repeat, do NOT–look up, Google, or otherwise, the source of these quotes, until after you have read every last word of this BLOG entry. Then verify them for yourself.

Christianity is a rebellion against natural law, a protest against nature. Taken to its logical extreme, Christianity would mean the systematic cultivation of the human failure.

The reason why the ancient world was so pure, light and serene was that it knew nothing of the two great scourges: the pox and Christianity.

The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity.

We’ll see to it that the Churches cannot spread abroad teachings in conflict with the interests of the State.

Originally, religion was merely a prop for human communities. It was a means, not an end in itself.

The best thing is to let Christianity die a natural death. A slow death has something comforting about it. The dogma of Christianity gets worn away before the advances of science. Religion will have to make more and more concessions. Gradually the myths crumble. All that’s left is to prove that in nature there is no frontier between the organic and the inorganic. When understanding of the universe has become widespread, when the majority of men know that the stars are not sources of light, but worlds, perhaps inhabited worlds like ours, then the Christian doctrine will be convicted of absurdity.

Hmm…does that mentality sound familiar? Think about those quotes first, then scroll down for further instructions.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Scroll down, please, to see who uttered those quotes.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

This man was responsible for those quotes^*. He also was responsible for the murder of millions of innocent people–around 11 million, comprising about six million Jews and 5 million Gentiles either of other faiths, or no faiths at all. He wrought incomprehensible degrees of evil that will haunt mankind for the foreseeable future, yet even he and his diabolical horrors are being forgotten or even denied in many quarters.

This man clearly and obviously was NOT a Christian, based on his worldview as revealed in those private quotes, but instead a poser, pretending to be religious in public for the sake of manipulative populist propaganda. If anyone you know claims he was Christian, send them here…claim resoundingly refuted!

Indeed, he was a false prophet, of the kind long warned.

Hitler wasn’t the only false prophet in history, and will not be the only one to come. Only now, in the illumination of history, do we see this. Millions of gullible Germans (and even a nontrivial number of neo-Nazis today) did/do not see this.

Beware the next, and the next, and the next false prophet (there will be many).

The next false prophet, whether worldwide or only in your personal sphere of influence, may arrive in far more subtle, persuasive and “nice” packaging. He/she likely will not be obvious, at first anyway. He may look and sound really smart, compassionate, understanding, and speak ever so eloquently in your language, perhaps even directly to your heart. “He” may be “she” (~50% chance, biologically speaking). He/she may write or speak of love, kindness, tolerance and peace–playing the Utopian angle oh so well.

He/she might preach not of religion, but of non-religion–of “science, logic and reason” as the ultimate answer to everything, and of the “badness” of religion based on what people have done. [That insidious tactic conveniently projects a supposedly nonexistent "God" onto imperfect people for his/her argumentative benefit, in what amounts to a massive anti-God ad-hominem!]

Your next false prophet might not be even a famous figure, but a neighbor, friend, lover, or instructor, offering a very enticing, alluring, and sensible-sounding worldview for you to buy, whether posing as a “Christian”, or whether otherwise “religious”, New Age, humanist, secular, “tolerant”, or entirely anti-religious.

Be advised, be alert, and be aware. Enticing deceptions and diversions lurk throughout this world.

Oh, and as for my supposedly “independent” thinking? No, not completely. I’ve been wrong and arrogant to claim my thoughts entirely as my own, no credit elsewhere. Thinking–yes, including science, logic and reason–is a gift from God–a powerful tool for our use or abuse. Thought is an imperfectly used gift/tool, for sure (by having free will, I’m a sinner just like everybody else). And every day I try–not always succeed, mind you–to use that gift for, not against, its ultimate origin.

^*Source: Hitler’s Table Talk 1941-1944, Oxford Univ. Press

Instead, it involved the latest “Big Blue Marble” image offered by NASA, as it appears on the MSNBC Photo BLOG. Namely, as Mike Gundy might say, “That ain’t right!”

The image is greatly distorted compared to the real proportions of the earth’s features as centered along the same longitude (roughly 100 degrees W). Please click on the thumbnail below, which takes you to the full-sized, side-by-side comparison I threw together this morning. [It might be slow to load on a low-bandwidth connection. Hit the "Esc" key to return.]

Notice the NASA image has North America about twice its proper size with respect to the Earth’s sphere. To again quote Mr. Gundy: “Git yer facts straight!”

The news of casualties from the tornadoes is terrible; but those deaths did not happen due to an absence of warnings!

Now, via this link to James Spann’s Facebook page, watch Diane Sawyer tell a baldfaced whopper to the entire nationwide viewing audience.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150546942749936

“No warning”? ABSOLUTELY WRONG! I resent such misrepresentations and join James in calling them out.

Even if some lazy ignoramus behind the scenes wrote the script for her, she–of all people–should know better than to regurgitate it, facts unchecked! That violates the fundamental core tenet that every journalism student learns in high school and college.

This has to stop. And Diane Sawyer needs to perform an on-air retraction of her false claim.

James Spann, for those who don’t know, is a highly respected TV meteorologist in Birmingham (at an ABC station, no less!), whose courage I hugely admire for publicly calling attention to it. Folks, James was on the air all night last night, tirelessly and continually delivering the warnings and updates of all kinds to his viewing audience, and doing so with clarity and purpose. I saw this for myself, real-time, as part of a regimen to remain situationally aware as the outbreak was unfolding (and as I was analyzing and forecasting the event in the short term).

For the sad truth of the casualties that did happen, the other side to the truth is that the NWS and outlets like James’ saved many more lives last night. Then here comes Diane Sawyer, blurting out a gross falsehood and, in doing so, denigrating the hard work and dedication of the entire Integrated Warning System (including national and local forecasters, spotters, and conscientious, hard-working media members such as James). He has every right to be upset; and I am also.

The sort of “hit without warning” stupidity, in on-air reporting of tornado events, is nothing new. It has been going on for many, many years. When you hear such statements, challenge them. “It hit without warning” almost never is true anymore for strong and violent tornadoes. It is possible that a killer tornado can hit “without warning”? Yes. Rarely, it can and does happen. But it didn’t happen last night.

Those tornadoes were warned and warned well. If the victims didn’t get the warning, it wasn’t because there was no warning! It is up to everyone to make sure he/she can receive warnings when they are issued–whether by having a weather radio, an automated alert system via phone alarm or app, or tuning in to their own local version of James Spann who is providing the life-saving information–to make sure sturdy shelter is accessible in seconds when a watch is out, and to make sure elderly and infirm loved ones are not left vulnerable. And don’t depend on outdoor sirens; they’re for outdoor use, and often sound far away from the threat.

I’m glad that James called attention to this, and am glad to join him in doing so–because maybe, just maybe, this is the event that finally motivates on-air TV personalities and reporters who are not meteorologists to get their facts straight with regard to whether the tornadoes had warnings.

[EDIT] That wasn’t the only bogus information ABC News propagated either. According to this entry in the FEMA BLOG: “This evening, ABC mistakenly reported that individuals can sign up for weather alerts through FEMA. We’ve seen a lot of interest from the public following that report and we wanted to correct that point: FEMA does not send out alerts as this is a local responsibility. ”

Wow. As James said, don’t let facts get in the way of a good story…

[EDIT 2 Days later] Something good came of all this–largely thanks to James Spann and his multimedia followers, I suspect. I found out secondhand, through a friend who watched, that Diane Sawyer did do another story noting the goodness of the warnings. James also got some airtime in the story. While not a retraction, per se, that should suffice to set the record straight. Next time, Dianne, don’t go blurting unsubstantiated and potentially libelous (to the forecasters) rubbish to begin with!