Court Says Church Can Brew Hallucinogenic Tea

by USA Today, Mar 24, 2009.
[extract]

"PORTLAND, Oregon. — A church in Ashland can import and brew a hallucinogenic tea for its religious services, under a federal court ruling issued March 19.

"Judge Owen M. Panner issued a permanent injunction that bars the federal government from penalizing or prohibiting the 'Church of the Holy Light of the Queen' from sacramental use of 'Daime' tea."
_more_


The suit was filed under the 'Religious Freedom Restoration Act'.

It is a 1993 United States federal law aimed at preventing laws which substantially burden a person's free exercise of their religion. The bill was introduced by Howard McKeon of California and Dean Gallo of New Jersey on March 11, 1993.

The law reinstated the Sherbert Test, mandating that strict scrutiny be used when determining if the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing religious freedom, has been violated. In this, the court must first determine whether the person has a claim involving a sincere religious belief, and whether the government action is a substantial burden on the person’s ability to act on that belief...

=========================================

Selected reader comments from the USA Today report :-

"Me thinks perchance the judge is overstepping his authority just a wee bit. Perhaps a little to much tea sampled as part of the research for the case."

"Yeah every day I see evidence of that. (Especially when I read these boards and I'm assuming the folks posting don't have any experience with hallucinogens.) If you haven't tried it don't knock it. But you will only experience 'god' while under the influence if you are expecting it.
Otherwise just like with LSD, peyote, mescaline, etc, you will have an experience that is reflective of your subconscious. No training is required. However having someone with you as a 'babysitter' is recommended."

" 'What happens to some people's minds when they go to law school?' I believe that if there are enough wrong interpretations of the Constitution, the U.S. will self destruct."

"How long do the effects last? Is it safe for them to drive motor vehicles after the services? If they are arrested for DUI will their 'puke' lawyer file another law suit?"

"The Brazilian 'Church of the Holy Light of the Queen' bible translators use a centuries old tradition of passing down Bible verses orally. Sadly, the 'telegraph principle' once again took hold, thereby explaining their scripture's entry for John 14:6 'no one comes to the Father except through tea'.
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'Bad Moon Rising' by C.C.R.

This is a brief departure from Que's usual material.
Normal service will be restored as soon as possible.





CAUTION: If you wish to continue to enjoy the song without knowing exactly what it is about, it might not be a good idea to read the lyrics below!



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YouTube page :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmEGm-mraE


Released in 1969 by Creedence Clearwater Revival, written by John Fogerty. It was the lead single from their album Green River, and the group’s breakthrough hit.
(It was released in the same year as the Woodstock Festival and the first steps on the Moon by Neil Armstrong.)



BAD MOON RISING

I see the bad moon rising
I see trouble on the way
I see earthquakes and lightnin'
I see bad times today

CHORUS:
Don't go 'round tonight
Well, it's bound to take your life
There's a bad moon on the rise

I hear hurricanes ablowing
I know the end is coming soon
I fear rivers over flowing
I hear the voice of wreckers and ruin

CHORUS

All right!

Hope you got your things together
Hope you are quite prepared to die
Looks like we're in for nasty weather
One eye is taken for an eye

CHORUS

CHORUS

===================================

When you see the lyrics you probably get a different impression of the song.
Obviously it is about death and destruction due to earthquakes, lightning, hurricanes, and flooding.
Note the line in the second verse, "I know the end is coming soon".
(I don't think it means the end of the song...)
Also the last line, "One eye is taken for an eye." Perhaps that is a religious reference to some people having to suffer in the same way that they offended.
Are your impressions the same as mine, or are they entirely different?

A few comments from the YouTube page :-

"I remember hearing this song, I always liked it. But damn, I never realized the lyrics were so dark, or deep. I like it even more now I think, lol."

"Such an upbeat music for a song about bad omens."

"Maybe murders, robberies, explosions, and bad weather have happened all throughout history. You never know. Maybe the end of the world was 100 years ago..."

"Incredible song... - when music was still true and could touch your soul."

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James Lovelock -- Apocalyptic Doomsayer

[ see Updates below ]

"Gaia" Scientist Says Life Doomed by Climate Woes
by Peter Griffiths, Reuters, February 25, 2009.

Climate scientist Lovelock sees death "on grand scale".
Vast areas will become deserts, or [will be] flooded.

[extracts in italics]
"Climate change will wipe out most life on Earth by the end of this century and mankind is too late to avert catastrophe, a leading British climate scientist said.
"James Lovelock, 89 ... said higher temperatures will turn parts of the world into desert and raise sea levels, flooding other regions.
"His apocalyptic theory foresees crop failures, drought and death on an unprecedented scale. The population of this hot, barren world could shrink from about seven billion to one billion by 2100 as people compete for ever-scarcer resources.
" 'It will be death on a grand scale from famine and lack of water,' Lovelock said."

Note that the writer calls it an apocalyptic theory, and Mr Lovelock says that most life on Earth will be wiped out. He seems absolutely sure that it will happen, without a doubt.

Theories are never considered right or wrong. Instead, they are supported or challenged by observations in the world. They are proposed as true but are expected to satisfy careful examination to account for the possibility of faulty or incorrect observation. ( Wikipedia )

"Attempts to cut emissions of planet-warming gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) in an attempt to reduce the risks are probably doomed to failure, he added.
"Even if the world found a way of cutting emissions to zero, it is now too late to cool the Earth.
" 'It is a bit like a supertanker. You can't make it stop by just turning the engines off,' he said before the release of a new book on climate change."

So is this news media article designed to help drive sales of his new book? A skeptic would probably say yes!
(Actually a supertanker will stop - eventually! - if you turn the engines off, due to water and air resistance.)

" 'I don't see the efforts of governments around the world succeeding in doing anything significant to cut back the emissions of carbon dioxide,' he said.
"Efforts should instead be focused on creating safe havens in areas which will escape the worst effects of climate change."

This seems very much like the "places of safety" (eg. Petra) specified by some 'Church of God' splinters. -- They are places where the dedicated followers have been told they will find refuge during the Apocalypse.

" 'Don't blame me for the terrible predictions,' said Lovelock..."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*UPDATE*
29 May 2010
... James Lovelock speaking at the Hay festival :-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/31/hay-festival-climate-change-debates

"Who knows? Everybody might be wrong," he says. "I may be wrong. Climate change may not happen as fast as we thought, and we may have 1,000 years to sort it out."

Extract from the Comments section of the article :-
"This is what Lovelock said about global warming ..."

.. on CRU scientists ..

I was utterly disgusted. My second thought was that it was inevitable. It was bound to happen. Science, not so very long ago, pre-1960s, was largely vocational. Back when I was young, I didn't want to do anything else other than be a scientist. They're not like that nowadays. They don't give a damn. They go to these massive, mass-produced universities and churn them out. They say: "Science is a good career. You can get a job for life doing government work." That's no way to do science.

I have seen this happen before, of course. We should have been warned by the CFC/ozone affair because the corruption of science in that was so bad that something like 80% of the measurements being made during that time were either faked, or incompetently done on computer models. I remember when the Americans sent up a satellite to measure ozone and it started saying that a hole was developing over the South Pole. But the damn fool scientists were so mad on the models that they said the satellite must have a fault. We tend to now get carried away by our giant computer models. But they're not complete models. They're based more or less entirely on geophysics. They don't take into account the climate of the oceans to any great extent, or the responses of the living stuff on the planet. So I don't see how they can accurately predict the climate.

.. on predicting temperatures ..

If you look back on climate history it sometimes took anything up to 1,000 years before a change in one of the variables kicked in and had an effect. And during those 1,000 years the temperature could have gone in the other direction to what you thought it should have done. What right have the scientists with their models to say that in 2100 the temperature will have risen by 5 deg. Celsius?

The great climate science centres around the world are more than well aware how weak their science is. If you talk to them privately they're scared stiff of the fact that they don't really know what the clouds and the aerosols are doing. They could be absolutely running the show. We haven't got the physics worked out yet. One of the chiefs once said to me that he agreed that they should include the biology in their models, but he said they hadn't got the physics right yet and it would be five years before they do. So why on earth are the politicians spending a fortune of our money when we can least afford it on doing things to prevent events 50 years from now? They've employed scientists to tell them what they want to hear.

.. on scientists ..

Sometimes their view might be quite right, but it might also be pure propaganda. This is wrong. They should ask the scientists, but the problem is scientists won't speak. If we had some really good scientists it wouldn't be a problem, but we've got so many dumbos who just can't say anything, or who are afraid to say anything. They're not free agents.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*UPDATE*
30 March 2014
Father of the ‘Gaia hypothesis’ James Lovelock: environmentalism has become a religion  
[extract:]
"Environmentalism has “become a religion” and does not pay enough attention to facts, according to James Lovelock.
The 94 year-old scientist, famous for his Gaia hypothesis that Earth is a self-regulating, single organism, also said that he had been too certain about the rate of global warming in his past book, that “it’s just as silly to be a [climate] denier as it is to be a believer” and that fracking and nuclear power should power the UK, not renewable sources such as windfarms."

2 April 2014
Climate Change Believers And Deniers Equally Silly Says Environmental Guru
[extract:]
" 'It’s just as silly to be a denier as it is to be a believer. You can’t be certain.' "
.

2012 End-of-World in Student Science Fair !!

The Dallas Morning News has reported that a 13 year old student entered a project titled "2012: Is it really the end? Exploring the Mayan calendar" in the Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair.

Students Explore Science at the Fair
by Katherine Leal Unmuth, The Dallas Morning News, Sunday, March 1, 2009.
[extract]

"Joseph Carroll, 13, of Plano's Rice Middle School, stood in a neat suit before his somberly titled project: "2012: Is it really the end? Exploring the Mayan calendar." Joseph said he decided to take up the project because the last day on the calendar, Dec. 21, 2012, is also his birthday.

"Based on his research, Joseph determined that it is likely the prophecy will come true. Joseph said he tested the accuracy of the calendar and found its predictions were accurate 94 percent of the time, so he concluded the prophecy is likely to come true.

" 'Knowing this information can be helpful in preparing for future events,' he wrote in his conclusion."
[extract ends]
====================================

It is disturbing that 13 year-olds are thinking about this sort of thing. They have nearly their whole lives in front of them. They should be thinking about what they want to do when they grow up, and also where they want to go, and what they want to achieve. It must be depressing for people so young to be convinced that their world will end in a few years. They will still be teenagers by that time, and won't be able to see the world through an adult's eyes.

This is an extract from a previous post on the subject :-
A Nation of Conspiracy Theorists & 2012 End of World Hype
"Are there any influential people out there working in government health departments? If so, I predict that you might have to make plans for an influx of disturbed patients in the next few years. Also, there could easily be many young people putting their education plans on hold because they are convinced that they, and the colleges, and the universities, might not exist after December 21, 2012. (I’m not kidding!).
EXAMPLE: Chinese Man Fears End of World Attacks Father

I am wondering if the project proposals were seen by teachers before the Science Fair. If so, any project obviously based on pseudoscience should have been rejected as not eligible for a science fair. (Pseudoscience does not adhere to the scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, and often lacks scientific status. In other words, it is wild speculation.)

The 13-year-old seems to have accepted that an ancient calendar is capable of making predictions. In reality, it isn't the calendar that makes the predictions. It is people who are interpreting it in certain ways that are making the predictions. (Be wary of any interpretations. Nobody knows if the interpretations are correct, without having evidence which proves them beyond reasonable doubt.)
=========================

UPDATE:
The project received an honorable mention in the "Mathematical Sciences" division.
The list of prizes is on _this page_

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From the 'Daily Common Sense' blog :-

http://www.dailycommonsense.com/2012-is-a-business/


YouTube page :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Ls6s4tvEw
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