From: [email-masked] (Kelley Miller)
Date: 8 Apr 1995 18:31:13 GMT

In the spirit of the Christian Tracts I find almost everywhere, I present
the following:

_____________________________________________________________________________

  The text below is especially designed
for anti-fundamentalist activists who 
may wish to distribute paper copies. The ASCII 
text will print on two pages with any word 
processor.  Two sided copies can be purchased
in quantity for about 6 cents each.
  The statement that "millions have been 
deceived ..." (see Scientific Misunderstandings) 
has been questioned. This is very likely true,
but is based on informal sampling. The fabrication 
in question has spread word of mouth and in church 
bulletins for about 20 years.  Publicizing this 
deception is a potent weapon against those who have 
dishonored Christianity in America.
  Suggestions for reformatting: Margins: L/R .7",
T/B .6", justification full. Remove hard returns.
Font size: title 18 pt, text 12 pt.  Return plus 
1" down after subtitles.  Hard page before SLAVERY.  
  "Fundamentalism Exposed" is copyright free.  You 
may edit, revise, use or distribute in any way.  
Corrections or comments are welcomed. Formatted 
hard copy mailed free on request.

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     [email-masked] (Daniel VanArsdale)    0 0       
                                              v 
The love I felt for you still remains.       (  ) 
                           --Kate Wolf        ww 
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                     FUNDAMENTALISM  EXPOSED  

Did the earth and its fruit trees exist before the sun and all
the stars?  Did God command, "slay both man and woman, infant and
suckling," to get revenge?  The Bible says so.  "Fundamentalism"
is the belief that every word of the Bible is literally true and
the word of God.  The Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, summaries of
early Christian faith, do not require such a belief.  The
Catholic Church teaches that parts of the Old Testament are
"imperfect and obsolete."  But today fundamentalism dominates
religious broadcasting.  Dishonest pseudoscientific movies and
CBS television specials have promoted Old Testament literalism,
including the Noah's Ark story.  These have gone unchallenged in
broadcast media.  Thus fundamentalism is growing in America,
along with its political agenda.  This includes a plan to get tax
money (vouchers) for the religious indoctrination of children. 
The following verses from the King James Version of the Bible
show that fundamentalism is a false doctrine.  And history
reveals that it has promoted the oppression, torture, and murder
of millions of innocent people.  Please help expose this
dangerous error by distributing this uncopyrighted leaflet.

CONTRADICTIONS  "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the
man should be alone; I will make him an help meet.  And out of
the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and
every fowl of the air" (Gen 2:18-19).  But in Gen 1:20-27 the
fowls are created before man, and from "the waters."  Others: Gen
6:20 versus 7:3; 37:28 vs 37:36; Ex 6:3 vs Gen 22:14; 2 Kgs 9:27
vs 2 Chr 22:9; Mt 1:16 vs Lk 3:23; Acts 1:18 vs Mt 27:7,5: 2 Sam
24 vs 1 Chr 21.  There are also numerous "copying errors," for
example: 2 Sam 10:18 vs 1 Chr 19:18; 1 Kgs 4:26 vs 2 Chr 9:25;
Ezra 2:5 vs Neh 7:10.

SUBORDINATION OF WOMEN  "And he shall rule over thee" (Gen.
3:16).  "The head of every man is Christ; and the head of the
woman is the man.  Man . . . is the image and glory of God: but
the woman is the glory of the man.  Neither was the man created
for the woman; but the woman for the man" (1 Cor 11:3-9).  "And
Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the
transgression.  Notwithstanding she shall be saved in
childbearing" (1 Tim 2:11-15).  Paul uses the story of the
creation of Eve from Adam's rib (Gen 2:21-23), and her deception
by the serpent (Gen 3:1-16), to reassert the spiritual and social
subordination of women.  See also 1 Cor 14:34-37; Lev 12:1-5;
15:19-30; Num 31:31-40; Ps 51:5; Deut 21:10-14; 22:13-21 (death
for failing an unreliable test of virginity).

CHILD KILLING  "So Joshua . . . utterly destroyed all that
breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded" (Josh 10:40).  The
Old Testament claims that God commanded the killing of infants
and children to accomplish genocide, group vengeance, and
punishment.  Imagine if someone killed your child and justified
it by saying God told him to do it.  See Josh 6:17-21; Deut 2:30-
34; 20:16-17; Isa 14:21; 1 Sam 15:1-3; Num 31:1-2 and 17; Ex
12:29; Gen 7:23; Josh 7:24-25; 2 Kgs 2:23-24.

TORTURE NOT PROHIBITED  "She shall be burnt with fire" (Lev
21:9).  "He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the
presence of the holy angels" (Rev 14:10).  There is no record of
torture being practiced under Mosaic law.  But the Bible nowhere
specifically condemns it, and commands execution by burning. 
Subsequently both Catholic and Protestant leaders authorized
grisly judicial tortures and executions.  Hundreds of thousands
of "witches" were tortured until they confessed to such crimes as
causing storms or flying through the air to meet the devil. 
Bible believers argued that a few hours of torment here on earth
mattered little since God had revealed that the unbeliever would
suffer eternally in the flames of hell.  John Calvin, influential
Protestant leader who taught the authority of Scripture, ordered
the execution of Spanish physician and philosopher Miguel Serveto
by "slow burning" because of a disagreement about the Trinity
doctrine.  Is this more excusable than the crimes of Charles
Manson?   See Ex 22:18; Lev 20:14; Num 11:1; Mt 13:38-42; 18:8;
Rev 9:3-6.

SLAVERY  "And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your
children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall
be your bondmen for ever" (Lev 25:46).  The Old Testament claims
God authorized the hereditary enslavement of "heathens," and
prescribed methods of branding them.  The New Testament commands
obedience to masters.  The Bible was used to justify the
murderous kidnaping and enslavement of millions of Africans. 
What if the second commandment had prohibited slavery, instead of
graven images?  See Ex 21:6; 20-21; Num 31:32-40; Ps 2:8-9; 1 Tim
6:1; 1 Pet 2:18.

RACISM  "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be." 
Fundamentalists perpetuate an unscientific belief in racial
origins from the sons of Noah.  The "sons of Ham" must suffer the
consequences of a curse (Gen 9:18-27).  Traditionally this means
Africans, and their enslavement was touted as a fulfillment of
Biblical prophecy.  And others are punished for their ancestry
(Deut 5:9; 23:2-3; 1 Sam 15:2-3; Ex 20:5).  Dehumanizing
accusations of incestuous origins, incest, bestiality, and child
sacrifice are attributed to God (Gen 19:30-38; Lev 18:24; 20:23). 
The accused are then targets for genocide or enslavement (Deut
20:16-17; Isa 25:10; Jer 49:2; 2 Sam 12:31; 1 Kgs 9:20-21).  

UNJUST DEATH PENALTIES  "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live"
(Ex 22:18).  "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a
woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall
surely be put to death" (Lev 20:13).  God also commands death for
heresy, ceremonial offenses, cursing one's parents, adultery, 
female unchastity, and blasphemy.  See Ex 22:20; 31:15; Lev 20:9,
10; 21:9; 24:16; Num 1:51; Deut 13:6-9; 21:18-21; 22:20-21. 
Fundamentalists agree the ceremonial law is superseded, but are
not clear about the other penalties (Mt 5:18; Gal 5:1; 2 Tim
3:16).  Most are harsh advocates of the death penalty.  Paranoid
belief in widespread satanic activity may also trigger judicial
persecution. 

QUESTIONABLE PROPHECIES  "And the stars of heaven shall fall" (Mk
13:25).  "They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them" (Mk 16:18).  Believers have
died testing this prophecy.  Mark 16:9-20 is not in the earliest
manuscripts.  Rather than admit this forgery and save lives,
fundamentalist leaders cling to their idolatrous worship of the
King James Version of the Bible.  See also Jer 36:30 vs 2 Kgs
24:6; Ps 104:5 vs Heb 1:10-11; 2 Sam 7:13-17; Isa 13:16; 52:1;
Amos 5:2; Zech 14:17; Mt 16:28; Rev 1:1.

SCIENTIFIC MISUNDERSTANDINGS  "So the sun stood still in the
midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day"
(Josh 10:13).  This, and 2 Kgs 20:11, suggest ignorance of the
earth's rotation.  There is no material evidence for its halting
or reversal.  Yet millions have been deceived by a fabricated
report that NASA scientists confirmed such events.  See also Isa
24:1; Mt 4:8; Gen 1:10 and 16-17; Rev 6:13; Gen 30;37-39; Lev
11:20-23; Isa 30:6; 2 Chr 9:23.

PERSECUTION BASED ON RELIGION  "Then answered all the people, and
said, His blood be on us, and on our children" (Mt 27:23-26). 
Though contradicted by the other gospels (Mk 15:14-15; Lk 23:23),
this curse fueled centuries of cruelty against Jews.  For the
future, Saint John sees grotesque divine torture for all but
144,000 of "the children of Israel" (Rev 7:2-4; 9:3-11).  Some
anti-Semitic publications feature Bible verses (Mt 26:3-4; Jn
8:44; Rev 2:9).  The Bible is also used to justify Israeli
occupation of Arab lands and the oppression of the indigenous
people.  Israeli human rights violations in the West Bank include
extrajudicial executions, the imprisonment of thousands
without trial, and the expropriation of traditional land and
water rights for exclusive use by armed settlers. Yet Jewish
and Christian fundamentalists support this military rule as a
fulfillment of prophecy, and some look forward to its extension
to the Nile and Euphrates rivers (Gen 15:18).  The tragedy is
compounded by Islamic fundamentalists who use the promise of
heaven to motivate acts of terrorist revenge.
-- 
*.....your Friendly American Heretic      /\/\ Internet is the last bastion  * 
*    [email-masked]/Kelley L. Miller  / /__\ of true free speech.  Let us *
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******************* Know god, no peace...No god, know peace ******************