Commentary: Americans Embrace Religion, Reject Religious Bigotry

People Praying

More than half a century ago, Time magazine famously asked, “Is God Dead?” The black and red cover, the magazine’s first to include only text, sparked countless angry sermons and thousands of letters from readers accusing Time of engaging in tasteless nihilism, Marxist pandering, and outright blasphemy.

The question, which typified the counter-culture movement and the intellectual radicalism of the 1960s, was far off the mark both then and now. The United States has always been and remains a very religious nation despite steep declines in attendance at churches, synagogues, and mosques – trends that have captured far more headlines in recent years than the nation’s enduring faith. America is also a majority Christian nation, though other religious groups and affiliations and those identifying as non-believers are growing.

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Commentary: Christianity and the Globalist Agenda

The power of these 10 words threatens the most powerful individuals and institutions on the planet, and what might otherwise be their total control over governments. These words express a principle that an authoritarian government cannot tolerate. They proclaim “Government is not the ultimate sovereign. God is the ultimate sovereign. And if you challenge my God and make me choose, I will obey God, and I will defy you.”

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Commentary: A.I. Can Never Become God

Artificial intelligence will not spontaneously erupt into a superintelligence. Not soon, not ever. To understand the absurdity of A.I. becoming a “god,” we need only look at the possibility from the perspective of the A.I. itself.

Let’s start with a reflection on how humans, under God’s guidance, became intelligent in the first place. Over the course of millions of years, ancestors of humans bred in conditions that shaped physical and mental characteristics leading, generally, to the propagation of traits that helped humans survive and reproduce. We must assume, therefore, any A.I. created by man immediately would manifest anthropomorphic qualities that have proven useful for our species. 

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Biden Issues National Day of Prayer Proclamation That Does Not Include the Word ‘God’

President Biden has issued a National Day of Prayer proclamation in which the word “God” does not appear once.

“I invite the citizens of our Nation to give thanks, in accordance with their own faiths and consciences, for our many freedoms and blessings, and I join all people of faith in prayers for spiritual guidance, mercy, and protection,” Biden says in the proclamation.

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Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen Is Happy Witnesses No Longer Must Say ‘So Help Me God’ During Oath

  People who testify before the U.S. House of Representatives no longer must say “so help me God” under oath, and this reportedly delights Tennessee Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen of Memphis. As this week’s New York Times reported, House Democrats altered the oath after they assumed a majority over Republicans in January. Cohen, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, reportedly said the following about people who want “so help me God” to come back: “I think God belongs in religious institutions: in temple, in church, in cathedral, in mosque — but not in Congress,” the paper quoted Cohen as saying. “And God doesn’t want to be used.” In a rebuttal, Chattanooga Times Free Press columnist Clint Cooper told his readers the Founding Fathers used God in many of the country’s founding documents. “Cohen, at that point, either was misreading history or was sorry he was called out for not having witnesses say ‘so help me God,’ like a child spotted by the teacher while shooting spitballs in class,” Cooper wrote. According to Cooper, Cohen refused a Republican congressman’s request to include “so help me God” at a Feb 28 committee hearing.…

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Sullivan County School Board Votes 4-2 to Allow Text Equating God and Allah

The Sullivan County Board of Education voted 4-2 Tuesday to adopt a controversial social studies textbook that critics say promotes God and Allah as the same, WJHL said. The adoption for the seventh-grade book doesn’t mandate its use, WJHL said. It only makes it eligible for the district’s purchase. The station quoted one parent, Richard Penkoski, who said, “It’s denigrating Christianity and favoring Islam and anybody who reads that book will get that themselves. That’s why I am against this.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on Muslims to attend the Sullivan County Board of Education meeting to oppose “Islamophobic opposition from at least one board member,” The Tennessee Star reported Tuesday. CAIR provided the email addresses for school board members and instructions for signing up for the public comment portion of the meeting. Board Chairman Michael Hughes, Vice Chairman Randall Jones, Matthew Spivey, and Randall Gilmore (pictured above, left-to-right) voted for adoption, the Kingsport Times-News said. Jane Thomas and Paul Robinson voted no. Board member Mark Ireson was absent. The book by McGraw-Hill, called “World,” was the overwhelming choice of teachers on the textbook committee, the Times-News said. It could be formally chosen following a public comment session on April 15…

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Muslims Urged to Pack Sullivan County School Board Meeting to Advocate for Textbook That Says Allah and God Are the Same

One Sullivan County School Board member is opposing the body’s planned adoption tonight of a social studies textbook that says the God of Christianity is the same as Islam’s Allah, while CAIR is calling on Muslims to pack the board room. Jane Thomas told the Kingsport Times-News that the seventh-grade “My World” book is full of “incorrect statements” also present in the earlier version and will confuse students. The book equates Allah with God. “We (Christians and Muslims) do not worship the same god. Allah is not God,” Thomas said. “It presents Allah as the same god as Almighty God.” She said the Islamic holy book, the Koran, should not be presented on the same level as the Holy Bible, the Christian word of God with a New Testament including words of Jesus Christ. She also decried the inclusion of the Five Pillars of Islam in the text. Board member Matthew Spivey said, “We can’t promote any one religion over another,” according to the Times-News. An earlier version of the book also drew opposition. Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on Muslims to attend the Sullivan County Board of Education meeting to oppose “Islamophobic opposition from at least one board member.”…

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Mark West Commentary: Her Name Was Annie

by Mark West   It was the period before Time… better known as Eternity Past. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit opened the Book of Life. In it they wrote down her name. Annie. Her beauty was angelic. Her features were flawless. Her heart was tender. Her birth was predestined. Her parents were chosen. And Annie’s life to come was joyfully celebrated. The triune God along with the angels of heaven were eager for the day when little Annie would be conceived. Annie’s future was to be a bright one. Not only would she bring extreme joy to her parents, she would also be the one to reconcile them to God, through the miracle of her birth. Annie would bring hope and relief to millions. As she grew she would become a medical doctor, and God would use Annie to discover the cure to a cursed disease that had taken the lives of so many in the world. But wait. Eternity Past would first need to intersect with Time — for a few short millenniums. As Time briefly took center stage, the day of Annie’s conception approached. And then it arrived. Annie’s first moment of…

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Commentary: C.S. Lewis Saw Government as a Poor Substitute for God

by Lawrence W. Reed   That means it contains all the flaws and foibles of mortals so a free people must confine it, restrain it, and keep a wary eye on it. “Friendship,” wrote C. S. Lewis in a December 1935 letter, “is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I should say, sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.” Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was just the sort of person I would give an arm to have as a friend across the street. I can only imagine the thrill of listening to him for hours on end. This distinguished scholar and thinker was, of course, a prolific author of works in Christian apologetics and of the seven-part children’s fantasy, The Chronicles of Narnia (which have sold more than 100 million copies and have been adapted into three major motion pictures). While teaching literature first at Oxford and then at Cambridge, he cranked out more than a score of books, from the dense but highly regarded Mere Christianity…

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Commentary: Merry Christmas – We’re All Gonna Die (Again)!

by Thaddeaus G. McCotter   One of the less salubrious effects of the anti-social network is how everything and anything is deemed the end of the world and, logically, the end of humanity. True, to the Regressives, the end of humanity does not mean the end of the world but, rather, a reprieve from us for Goddess Gaia. But why quibble and ruin the spirit of the season? Speaking of ruining the spirit of the season, to paraphrase President Ronald Reagan: “Well, here we are again.” Here at home, the Dow is down and the Donald’s ire is up. The government is shut down over the issue of funding for the southern border wall. General Michael Flynn was in court for sentencing and is still not sentenced. Michael Cohen is going to jail and the president has discussed the case with his acting attorney general, causing within the political class an outpouring of narcissistic panic about the fate of our free republic not seen since lunch. Naturally, the hashtag “#TrumpResign” is trending number one, because the onanistic resistance has mystically divined that this is the silver bullet that will make the bane of their existence pick up his money bags…

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Letter to the Editor: Giving Thanks and Living Gratefully in Today’s Republic

Dear Tennessee Star, November is best known for three special dates: Thanksgiving, Veteran’s Day, and every other year, election day. This is one of those years in which we have all three and the interesting, little-understood, facet of this month is that all three of these days are connected. Thanksgiving is the day originally designated to give thanks to God for His gracious provision for our nation. While today it is more likely an occasion for excessive eating and watching sports, it is still a good time to reflect on our tremendous blessings. Though the United States is not a perfect nation, we still have more opportunities and abundance than any other nation on earth. This is certainly something for which to give thanks, and in regard to showing appreciation, in the last 20 years, thanking our veterans for their service has become a custom for some. The veterans of the Revolution won our right to enjoy the blessings of this land at great sacrifice. Then those of the Civil War ensured that all people would be able to enjoy these blessings, again at great cost. In every other war, our armed forces met the challenge of defending our nation…

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Letter to the Editor: Giving Thanks and Living Gratefully in Today’s Republic

Dear Tennessee Star, November is best known for three special dates: Thanksgiving, Veteran’s Day, and every other year, election day. This is one of those years in which we have all three and the interesting, little-understood, facet of this month is that all three of these days are connected. Thanksgiving is the day originally designated to give thanks to God for His gracious provision for our nation. While today it is more likely an occasion for excessive eating and watching sports, it is still a good time to reflect on our tremendous blessings. Though the United States is not a perfect nation, we still have more opportunities and abundance than any other nation on earth. This is certainly something for which to give thanks, and in regard to showing appreciation, in the last 20 years, thanking our veterans for their service has become a custom for some. The veterans of the Revolution won our right to enjoy the blessings of this land at great sacrifice. Then those of the Civil War ensured that all people would be able to enjoy these blessings, again at great cost. In every other war, our armed forces met the challenge of defending our nation…

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Steve Gill Remembers When Democrat Delegates Booed God at The 2012 DNC Convention

Steve Gill

On Friday’s Gill Report, broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville, conservative commentator and Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill was in disbelief as he reflected upon the Democratic Party’s convention in 2012 where delegates voted emotionally against a Godly provision in their platform. “We were talking a moment ago about the Democrats booing God at their convention,” marveled Gill. “Now the reason this came up is that there had been a provision about God in their platform that they removed it, and then because there was so much backlash and pressure they decided to try and add the reference to God back into their platform.” He continued: And it came up for a vote and the Democrats voted against it but the chair after hearing the loud explosion of boos against God, said, ‘Oh in the opinion of the chair it passes,’ and they added God back to their platform against the votes in attendance at the Democratic convention. This is Sheppard Smith of Fox News reporting on it at the time. SPEAKER FROM THE DNC CONVENTION FLOOR: Is there any further discussion, hearing none, the matter requires a two thirds vote in the affirmative, all those delegates…

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