By Tim McGirk / Jerusalem (TIME Magazine)
Biblical scholars have long argued that the Dead Sea Scrolls were the work of an ascetic and celibate Jewish community known as the Essenes, which flourished in the 1st century A.D. in the scorching desert canyons near the Dead Sea. Now a prominent Israeli scholar, Rachel Elior, disputes that the Essenes ever existed at all — a claim that has shaken the bedrock of biblical scholarship.
Elior, who teaches Jewish mysticism at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, claims that the Essenes were a fabrication by the 1st century A.D. Jewish-Roman historian Flavius Josephus and that his faulty reporting was passed on as fact throughout the centuries. As Elior explains, the Essenes make no mention of themselves in the 900 scrolls found by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947 in the caves of Qumran, near the Dead Sea. "Sixty years of research have been wasted trying to find the Essenes in the scrolls," Elior tells TIME. "But they didn't exist. This is legend on a legend."
Elior contends that Josephus, a former Jewish priest who wrote his history while being held captive in Rome, "wanted to explain to the Romans that the Jews weren't all losers and traitors, that there were many exceptional Jews of religious devotion and heroism. You might say it was the first rebuttal to anti-Semitic literature." She adds, "He was probably inspired by the Spartans. For the Romans, the Spartans were the highest ideal of human behavior, and Josephus wanted to portray Jews who were like the Spartans in their ideals and high virtue."
Early descriptions of the Essenes by Greek and Roman historians has them numbering in the thousands, living communally ("The first kibbutz," jokes Elior) and forsaking sex — which goes against the Judaic exhortation to "go forth and multiply." Says Elior: "It doesn't make sense that you have thousands of people living against the Jewish law and there's no mention of them in any of the Jewish texts and sources of that period."
So who were the real authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls? Elior theorizes that the Essenes were really the renegade sons of Zadok, a priestly caste banished from the Temple of Jerusalem by intriguing Greek rulers in 2nd century B.C. When they left, they took the source of their wisdom — their scrolls — with them. "In Qumran, the remnants of a huge library were found," Elior says, with some of the early Hebrew texts dating back to the 2nd century B.C. Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the earliest known version of the Old Testament dated back to the 9th century A.D. "The scrolls attest to a biblical priestly heritage," says Elior, who speculates that the scrolls were hidden in Qumran for safekeeping.
Elior's theory has landed like a bombshell in the cloistered world of biblical scholarship. James Charlesworth, director of the Dead Sea Scrolls project at Princeton Theological Seminary and an expert on Josephus, says it is not unusual that the word Essenes does not appear in the scrolls. "It's a foreign label," he tells TIME. "When they refer to themselves, it's as 'men of holiness' or 'sons of light.' " Charlesworth contends that at least eight scholars in antiquity refer to the Essenes. One proof of Essene authorship of the Dead Sea Scrolls, he says, is the large number of inkpots found by archaeologists at Qumran.
But Elior claims says these ancient historians, namely Philo and Pliny the Elder, either borrowed from each other or retailed second-hand stories as fact. "Pliny the Elder describes the Essenes as 'choosing the company of date palms' beside the Dead Sea. We know Pliny was a great reader, but he probably never visited Israel," she says.
Elior is braced for more criticism of her theory. "Usually my opponents have only read Josephus and the other classical references to the Essenes," she says. "They should read the Dead Sea Scrolls — all 39 volumes. The proof is there."
Monday, March 16, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Gitmo Prisoners Defend 'Blessed' 9/11 Attack
(CNN) -- Five Guantanamo prisoners accused in the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the U.S. staunchly defended their actions, calling the operation "blessed" and "great" and the accusations against them "badges of honor."
"You are the last nation that has the right to speak about civilians and killing civilians," the five said in a response this month to the U.S. government's war crimes charges.
"You are professional criminals, with all the meaning the words carry," the response said. "Therefore, we will treat you the same. We will attack you, just like you have attacked us, and whomever initiated the attacks is the guilty party."
The six-page response from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who plotted the attacks, and four others castigates the actions of the United States and its allies in the Middle East and calls the United States "the terrorist country number one in the world."
The military commission set up to hear the men's cases at the Guantanamo Bay inmate facility received the signed document Thursday, and a military judge ordered its release on Monday.
The five are members of the al Qaeda terror network. Mohammed, who has taken credit for planning the attack, and the four other prisoners call themselves members of the 9/11 Shura Council.
"With regards to these nine accusations that you are putting us on trial for; to us, they are not accusations. To us they are badges of honor, which we carry with pride. Many thanks to God, for his kind gesture, and choosing us to perform the act of Jihad for his cause and to defend Islam and Muslims," the response stated.
Reacting to the charges of "attacking civilians," "attacking civilian objects" and "deliberately causing grave bodily harm," the five asked who really pursued such actions. "Is it us, or is it you?"
It ties the United States to attacks in "Palestine and Lebanon by providing political, military, and economic support to the terrorist state of Israel, which in turn, is attacking unarmed innocent civilians." It also noted American actions in Iraq and the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
As for "crimes in violation of the law of war," it cites Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Lebanese land and the displacement of Palestinians, the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and the mistreatment of prisoners at places such as the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Answering another accusation, hijacking and/or endangering a vessel or an aircraft, the five said, "if you do not respect the innocent in our countries, then we will do the same, by exposing you to danger and hijacking in the air, at sea and at land."
Quranic verses were cited in the filing, and the men underscored their defense of "oppressed" Muslims.
"Our religion is a religion of fear and terror to the enemies of God: the Jews, Christians and pagans. With God's willing, we are terrorists to the bone."
It also predicts that the United States "will fall, politically, militarily and economically."
"Your end is very near and your fall will be just as the fall of the towers on the blessed 9/11 day," the court filing said.
"We ask from God to accept our contributions to the great attack, the great attack on America, and to place our nineteen martyred brethren among the highest peak in paradise," the response said, in reference to the al Qaeda militants who hijacked the airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and a field in Pennsylvania.
"You are the last nation that has the right to speak about civilians and killing civilians," the five said in a response this month to the U.S. government's war crimes charges.
"You are professional criminals, with all the meaning the words carry," the response said. "Therefore, we will treat you the same. We will attack you, just like you have attacked us, and whomever initiated the attacks is the guilty party."
The six-page response from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who plotted the attacks, and four others castigates the actions of the United States and its allies in the Middle East and calls the United States "the terrorist country number one in the world."
The military commission set up to hear the men's cases at the Guantanamo Bay inmate facility received the signed document Thursday, and a military judge ordered its release on Monday.
The five are members of the al Qaeda terror network. Mohammed, who has taken credit for planning the attack, and the four other prisoners call themselves members of the 9/11 Shura Council.
"With regards to these nine accusations that you are putting us on trial for; to us, they are not accusations. To us they are badges of honor, which we carry with pride. Many thanks to God, for his kind gesture, and choosing us to perform the act of Jihad for his cause and to defend Islam and Muslims," the response stated.
Reacting to the charges of "attacking civilians," "attacking civilian objects" and "deliberately causing grave bodily harm," the five asked who really pursued such actions. "Is it us, or is it you?"
It ties the United States to attacks in "Palestine and Lebanon by providing political, military, and economic support to the terrorist state of Israel, which in turn, is attacking unarmed innocent civilians." It also noted American actions in Iraq and the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
As for "crimes in violation of the law of war," it cites Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Lebanese land and the displacement of Palestinians, the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and the mistreatment of prisoners at places such as the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Answering another accusation, hijacking and/or endangering a vessel or an aircraft, the five said, "if you do not respect the innocent in our countries, then we will do the same, by exposing you to danger and hijacking in the air, at sea and at land."
Quranic verses were cited in the filing, and the men underscored their defense of "oppressed" Muslims.
"Our religion is a religion of fear and terror to the enemies of God: the Jews, Christians and pagans. With God's willing, we are terrorists to the bone."
It also predicts that the United States "will fall, politically, militarily and economically."
"Your end is very near and your fall will be just as the fall of the towers on the blessed 9/11 day," the court filing said.
"We ask from God to accept our contributions to the great attack, the great attack on America, and to place our nineteen martyred brethren among the highest peak in paradise," the response said, in reference to the al Qaeda militants who hijacked the airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and a field in Pennsylvania.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Today's Quote
"The most heinous and the most cruel crimes of which history has record have been committed under the cover of religion or equally noble motives."
--- Mohandas Gandhi
--- Mohandas Gandhi
Sunday, March 8, 2009
More Americans Say They Have No Religion
Study finds percentage of Christians in the nation has declined
A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.
Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.
Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.
"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said.
Catholics on the decline in Northeast
In the Northeast, self-identified Catholics made up 36 percent of adults last year, down from 43 percent in 1990. At the same time, however, Catholics grew to about one-third of the adult population in California and Texas, and one-quarter of Floridians, largely due to Latino immigration, according to the research.
Nationally, Catholics remain the largest religious group, with 57 million people saying they belong to the church. The tradition gained 11 million followers since 1990, but its share of the population fell by about a percentage point to 25 percent.
Christians who aren't Catholic also are a declining segment of the country.
In 2008, Christians comprised 76 percent of U.S. adults, compared to about 77 percent in 2001 and about 86 percent in 1990. Researchers said the dwindling ranks of mainline Protestants, including Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians, largely explains the shift. Over the last seven years, mainline Protestants dropped from just over 17 percent to 12.9 percent of the population.
The report from The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., surveyed 54,461 adults in English or Spanish from February through November of last year. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.5 percentage points. The findings are part of a series of studies on American religion by the program that will later look more closely at reasons behind the trends.
Organized religion playing less of a role
The current survey, being released Monday, found traditional organized religion playing less of a role in many lives. Thirty percent of married couples did not have a religious wedding ceremony and 27 percent of respondents said they did not want a religious funeral.
About 12 percent of Americans believe in a higher power but not the personal God at the core of monotheistic faiths. And, since 1990, a slightly greater share of respondents — 1.2 percent — said they were part of new religious movements, including Scientology, Wicca and Santeria.
The study also found signs of a growing influence of churches that either don't belong to a denomination or play down their membership in a religious group.
Respondents who called themselves "non-denominational Christian" grew from 0.1 percent in 1990 to 3.5 percent last year. Congregations that most often use the term are megachurches considered "seeker sensitive." They use rock style music and less structured prayer to attract people who don't usually attend church. Researchers also found a small increase in those who prefer being called evangelical or born-again, rather than claim membership in a denomination.
Evangelical or born-again Americans make up 34 percent of all American adults and 45 percent of all Christians and Catholics, the study found. Researchers found that 18 percent of Catholics consider themselves born-again or evangelical, and nearly 39 percent of mainline Protestants prefer those labels. Many mainline Protestant groups are riven by conflict over how they should interpret what the Bible says about gay relationships, salvation and other issues.
Pentecostals stay steady
The percentage of Pentecostals remained mostly steady since 1990 at 3.5 percent, a surprising finding considering the dramatic spread of the tradition worldwide. Pentecostals are known for a spirited form of Christianity that includes speaking in tongues and a belief in modern-day miracles.
Mormon numbers also held steady over the period at 1.4 percent of the population, while the number of Jews who described themselves as religiously observant continued to drop, from 1.8 percent in 1990 to 1.2 percent, or 2.7 million people, last year. Researchers plan a broader survey on people who consider themselves culturally Jewish but aren't religious.
The study found that the percentage of Americans who identified themselves as Muslim grew to 0.6 percent of the population, while growth in Eastern religions such as Buddhism slightly slowed.
A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.
Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.
Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.
"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said.
Catholics on the decline in Northeast
In the Northeast, self-identified Catholics made up 36 percent of adults last year, down from 43 percent in 1990. At the same time, however, Catholics grew to about one-third of the adult population in California and Texas, and one-quarter of Floridians, largely due to Latino immigration, according to the research.
Nationally, Catholics remain the largest religious group, with 57 million people saying they belong to the church. The tradition gained 11 million followers since 1990, but its share of the population fell by about a percentage point to 25 percent.
Christians who aren't Catholic also are a declining segment of the country.
In 2008, Christians comprised 76 percent of U.S. adults, compared to about 77 percent in 2001 and about 86 percent in 1990. Researchers said the dwindling ranks of mainline Protestants, including Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians, largely explains the shift. Over the last seven years, mainline Protestants dropped from just over 17 percent to 12.9 percent of the population.
The report from The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., surveyed 54,461 adults in English or Spanish from February through November of last year. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.5 percentage points. The findings are part of a series of studies on American religion by the program that will later look more closely at reasons behind the trends.
Organized religion playing less of a role
The current survey, being released Monday, found traditional organized religion playing less of a role in many lives. Thirty percent of married couples did not have a religious wedding ceremony and 27 percent of respondents said they did not want a religious funeral.
About 12 percent of Americans believe in a higher power but not the personal God at the core of monotheistic faiths. And, since 1990, a slightly greater share of respondents — 1.2 percent — said they were part of new religious movements, including Scientology, Wicca and Santeria.
The study also found signs of a growing influence of churches that either don't belong to a denomination or play down their membership in a religious group.
Respondents who called themselves "non-denominational Christian" grew from 0.1 percent in 1990 to 3.5 percent last year. Congregations that most often use the term are megachurches considered "seeker sensitive." They use rock style music and less structured prayer to attract people who don't usually attend church. Researchers also found a small increase in those who prefer being called evangelical or born-again, rather than claim membership in a denomination.
Evangelical or born-again Americans make up 34 percent of all American adults and 45 percent of all Christians and Catholics, the study found. Researchers found that 18 percent of Catholics consider themselves born-again or evangelical, and nearly 39 percent of mainline Protestants prefer those labels. Many mainline Protestant groups are riven by conflict over how they should interpret what the Bible says about gay relationships, salvation and other issues.
Pentecostals stay steady
The percentage of Pentecostals remained mostly steady since 1990 at 3.5 percent, a surprising finding considering the dramatic spread of the tradition worldwide. Pentecostals are known for a spirited form of Christianity that includes speaking in tongues and a belief in modern-day miracles.
Mormon numbers also held steady over the period at 1.4 percent of the population, while the number of Jews who described themselves as religiously observant continued to drop, from 1.8 percent in 1990 to 1.2 percent, or 2.7 million people, last year. Researchers plan a broader survey on people who consider themselves culturally Jewish but aren't religious.
The study found that the percentage of Americans who identified themselves as Muslim grew to 0.6 percent of the population, while growth in Eastern religions such as Buddhism slightly slowed.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Today's Quote
"I've begun worshipping the Sun for a number of reasons. First of all, unlike some other gods I could mention, I can see the Sun. It's there for me every day. And the things it brings me are quite apparent all the time: heat, light, food, a lovely day. There's no mystery, no one asks for money, I don't have to dress up, and there's no boring pageantry. And interestingly enough, I have found that the prayers I offer to the sun and the prayers I formerly offered to God are all answered at about the same 50-percent rate."
--- George Carlin (in his first book, Brain Droppings)
--- George Carlin (in his first book, Brain Droppings)
Monday, January 26, 2009
Rev. Ted Haggard Accused Of Preying On 20-year-old Male Congregant
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A prominent evangelical pastor who was fired amid allegations that he used drugs and patronized a male prostitute in 2006 is embroiled in a fresh controversy involving allegations of a second inappropriate relationship.
The Rev. Ted Haggard had a sexual relationship with a second man - a 20-year-old volunteer at his megachurch -- and the church agreed to pay the man in exchange for his pledges not to talk publicly about the relationship, the Rev. Brady Boyd told CNN on Monday.
The young man's lawyer and the church's insurance company negotiated a settlement that provided the man money to pay his college tuition, moving expenses and counseling, Boyd said.
"This was compassionate assistance. It was to help him move forward, not a settlement to keep him quiet," said Boyd, senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Haggard founded New Life in his basement in 1984 and oversaw its growth to an influential megachurch with roughly 15,000 members.
Haggard is the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a group that says it represents millions of people in 45,000 church congregations nationwide. He and other evangelical leaders participated in weekly conference calls with senior White House aides during the Bush administration.
In November 2006, allegations surfaced that Haggard had a three-year relationship with Mike Jones, a male escort, involving drugs and sex for money.
After those allegations became public, New Life fired Haggard and he resigned as president of the national organization.
Now new allegations have opened old wounds.
On Friday, New Life Church announced in a letter to the congregation that Haggard had another inappropriate sexual relationship with a 20-year-old volunteer at the church.
In the last three weeks, Boyd said, the young man told him that he was considering going public with his story because Ted Haggard was portraying himself as a victim in an upcoming HBO documentary called "The Trial of Ted Haggard," which is scheduled to air Thursday.
"I counseled him it wasn't going to help him or the church's healing. Plus it was in violation of the agreement we signed with them," Boyd said.
An interview with the former volunteer is scheduled to air Monday evening on KRDO-TV of Colorado Springs, Colo. Haggard is scheduled to appear on CNN's Larry King Live on Thursday night.
Controversy involving Haggard erupted in November 2006, when a former prostitute, Jones, said the pastor had paid him for sex over three years and had used methamphetamine in his presence. Haggard admitted in interviews that he received a massage from Jones but denied having sex with him. He also said he bought methamphetamine, but threw it away instead of using it.
The assertions received widespread news coverage and sparked charges of hypocrisy, particularly because Haggard had condemned homosexual sex in a documentary called "Friends of God."
In a settlement with New Life, the church and Haggard agreed that he would retain his six -figure salary for a year, leave the Colorado Springs area, receive counseling, and not speak publicly about what had happened for one year, according to a church staff member with knowledge of the settlement but who was not authorized to speak on the record.
Jones told CNN on Monday that he has spoken with the former church volunteer who apparently also had a relationship with the former pastor.
"My anger is so much at the church," he said. "They tried to keep this quiet when all along I've taken a beating feeling like I was the only one when clearly there were others."
Despite the fresh scandal, Boyd said he is hopeful for the future.
"We've added 1,500 people in the last 18 months," he said. "We're trying to adopt 100 orphans into families in the church.
"We had a leader with flawed character and we're trying to clean up from the residue of the past. This will not always define us I can promise you that in the days ahead, we won't be identified with scandal but helping the widows and orphans."
The Rev. Ted Haggard had a sexual relationship with a second man - a 20-year-old volunteer at his megachurch -- and the church agreed to pay the man in exchange for his pledges not to talk publicly about the relationship, the Rev. Brady Boyd told CNN on Monday.
The young man's lawyer and the church's insurance company negotiated a settlement that provided the man money to pay his college tuition, moving expenses and counseling, Boyd said.
"This was compassionate assistance. It was to help him move forward, not a settlement to keep him quiet," said Boyd, senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Haggard founded New Life in his basement in 1984 and oversaw its growth to an influential megachurch with roughly 15,000 members.
Haggard is the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a group that says it represents millions of people in 45,000 church congregations nationwide. He and other evangelical leaders participated in weekly conference calls with senior White House aides during the Bush administration.
In November 2006, allegations surfaced that Haggard had a three-year relationship with Mike Jones, a male escort, involving drugs and sex for money.
After those allegations became public, New Life fired Haggard and he resigned as president of the national organization.
Now new allegations have opened old wounds.
On Friday, New Life Church announced in a letter to the congregation that Haggard had another inappropriate sexual relationship with a 20-year-old volunteer at the church.
In the last three weeks, Boyd said, the young man told him that he was considering going public with his story because Ted Haggard was portraying himself as a victim in an upcoming HBO documentary called "The Trial of Ted Haggard," which is scheduled to air Thursday.
"I counseled him it wasn't going to help him or the church's healing. Plus it was in violation of the agreement we signed with them," Boyd said.
An interview with the former volunteer is scheduled to air Monday evening on KRDO-TV of Colorado Springs, Colo. Haggard is scheduled to appear on CNN's Larry King Live on Thursday night.
Controversy involving Haggard erupted in November 2006, when a former prostitute, Jones, said the pastor had paid him for sex over three years and had used methamphetamine in his presence. Haggard admitted in interviews that he received a massage from Jones but denied having sex with him. He also said he bought methamphetamine, but threw it away instead of using it.
The assertions received widespread news coverage and sparked charges of hypocrisy, particularly because Haggard had condemned homosexual sex in a documentary called "Friends of God."
In a settlement with New Life, the church and Haggard agreed that he would retain his six -figure salary for a year, leave the Colorado Springs area, receive counseling, and not speak publicly about what had happened for one year, according to a church staff member with knowledge of the settlement but who was not authorized to speak on the record.
Jones told CNN on Monday that he has spoken with the former church volunteer who apparently also had a relationship with the former pastor.
"My anger is so much at the church," he said. "They tried to keep this quiet when all along I've taken a beating feeling like I was the only one when clearly there were others."
Despite the fresh scandal, Boyd said he is hopeful for the future.
"We've added 1,500 people in the last 18 months," he said. "We're trying to adopt 100 orphans into families in the church.
"We had a leader with flawed character and we're trying to clean up from the residue of the past. This will not always define us I can promise you that in the days ahead, we won't be identified with scandal but helping the widows and orphans."
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Today's Quote
"I would like to call your attention to ... an evil that, if allowed to continue, will probably lead to great trouble.... It is the accumulation of vast amounts of untaxed church property."
--- Ulysses S. Grant
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