Hey Mormon Missionaries: Where is the Lamanite DNA? Holding onto our values after leaving religion.

Comments about video:

Mr. Beeb is becoming more smart every day. We may go to the Utah State Fair again this weekend. They have some interesting art & paintings.

Yesterday during my lunch walk I got approached by bike by a couple of Mormon missionaries. They started with Moroni 10:3-5 that if you just pray & get a feeling that Mormonism is true that you will become convinced. They asked me how come people in the middle of Africa can get sucked into Mormonism. I told them that this happens because of a failing with how the human brain works. Next they told me that only when science & religion work together can both move forward. I told them there's been no Lamanite DNA found. They said that there's been Jewish DNA found in American Indians. However this is from a LATER migration - AFTER Columbus. Scientists can tell when a given genetic influence happened by genetic drift. Google T.G. Schurr, and also "Where is the Lamanite DNA," and also Simon Southerton for more info on all this. They ended with "you just have to have faith." I responded with: I think we need to rely on human nature, and try to value the good parts of human nature while curtailing the bad.

I can help you leave the Mormon Church, while holding onto your values.

Cultures which have had ZERO to do with your current or former religion have plenty of values! THAT'S the key thing both the ultra-rightie and the ultra-leftie should learn.

IMG 2762 9-13-2013 7:30am

Agent Orange, Syria, and Vietnam - yes they are linked

I didn't have anything to do with Kennedy, LBJ, or Nixon's war in Vietnam. Sesame Street & Mr. Rogers were the main things happening in my life then.

Amazingly the damage from that "old" war is still happening:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23632245

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/world/asia/us-moves-to-address-agent-orange-contamination-in-vietnam.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/22/3514489/4-decades-after-war-ended-agent.html

http://www.civilbeat.com/voices/2013/09/06/19831-remember-agent-orange-the-us-own-chemical-weapons-history/

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/seanthomas/100235050/spare-us-the-hypocrisy-over-chemical-weapons-america-what-about-agent-orange/

WTF indeed.

Anyway it's not exactly hypocritical for new leaders who had zero to do with past sins to try & stop other world leaders from using chemical weapons. But it's more than a little bit hypocritical to not offer direct help & compensation to CURRENT victims of agent orange in Vietnam - while at the same time denying that agent orange was a chemical weapon as such (intended to hurt people - what bullshit).

Anyway, as for Syria, I'm still in the "wait" camp. It's not evil to fight against evil, as long as you're willing to fight for it at home and abroad. Will Obama & John Kerry be fighting for recognition of agent orange as a chemical weapon that did hurt people, and that is continuing to hurt people? Will they be fighting to jail all those who purported this act (the use of agent orange) during America's not so cold war?

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Copy of letter shared with national leaders:

Regarding Syria, as soon as we've admitted that agent orange use in Vietnam was illegal by both U.S. and international standards, and as soon as we start compensating past & current victims of agent orange in Vietnam & elsewhere, only then should we consider action against Syria.

The people who authorized agent orange use in Vietnam should be in jail, in my view. Children in Vietnam are continuing to be deformed.

So, we've got our own chemical weapon use history. Let's own up to what we've done as a country before we strike out at another for supposedly similar sins.

Syria is a messy business right now. We don't have to be the "air force for al qaeda," and it's unclear whether the government there used the weapons. But even if they did, we should own up to our own past mistakes fully & completely before striking out at another country for similar sins.

Star Trek; Sneaky Biology; Built in human morality; Fun includes work; Can I join your church?

Commentary on Star Trek Enterprise.

On the new Star Trek movie franchise: Not Star Trek - should instead be called "Kiddie Trek" or "Millennials Trek."

The original Star Trek is rather like Shakespeare. Should we change the stories of Shakespeare? No. Changing the basic story lines of the original story lines is not what they do with Shakespeare & it's not what people should do with Star Trek.

Roddenberry wrote cowboy stories. We need cowboys in space. If we use robots forever, what happens when the sun gets 10% hotter & the sun boils off? The childless liberal hippie may well be extinct, but the "breeders" won't be. Childless liberals get what they want: no place on the great mandala.

Biology can sneak up on everyone, left & right. Thank goodness.

See what birth control does now: We have people who think that the child-free life is just as good as one with children. Catholics have a point. It's not what's in the Bible - it's basic human morality, nature, instincts, and survival.

In Mormonism & other religions they teach you to be afraid of sexual thoughts.

If you're a Mormon wife, maybe you shouldn't wear your temple garments at night, or even during the day. Wearing them interferes with your ability to be intimate with your husband. No wonder he's looking at porn so much even though he's married to you.

Religion can fuck you up, but religion is a natural phenomenon. So we have to separate the lies from the truth. That's why I like Bart Ehrman. He helps separate the lies from the truth.

You have can you religion & your values. You can be pro-life, and wary of birth control. You can be wary of the homosexual agenda. Why? Because you can tie into natural normal human morality & human nature. You can use your brain to evaluate the outcomes of various activities & thought processes.

You don't have to believe in the lies of your religion to hold onto your values. True humanist values! True naturalist values! Being natural includes having stigmas for destructive behaviors - that's the key epiphany that I've had.

We don't have to lie to say the truth.

Can I join your church? If I don't believe in the divinity of Jesus, but I think there's some valid & good human values in the Bible & in other books that humans have written?

Humans write human stuff. Some of the groups that have Bart Ehrman debating, I think they actually believe the guy. They can't move along the road because they're afraid that without their god everything is permitted. They look at the ultra-leftie liberals & thin this. But, you can codify your values without having to believe in lies. Examine things objectively and make judgements. Judging can be highly valuable.

Remember the Great Mandala song by Peter, Paul, and Mary. "...Win or lose now you must choose now..."

Fun includes work, hippie, and not just staring at your own naval all your life.

September 4, 2013 7:37am