EthixBytes
A Collection of Quotes, Comments, Statistics, and News Items

“It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.”
Rev. Billy Graham, Parade (1981).

“When Christians claim special knowledge of God’s truth, when they advance wedge issues, when they divide America between ‘people of faith’ and their ‘enemies,’ Christians become not the means of peace but the cause of conflict.”
Former Senator John Danforth (R-MO) in Faith and Politics.

“I’m not calling for or predicting the end of conservatism, . . . but we may be seeing the downfall of movement conservatism—the potent alliance of wealthy individuals, corporate interests, and the religious right that took shape in the 1960s and 1970s”
Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist on the Nov. 7 elections.

“The debate is over. The science is clear: Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard.”
U. S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona.

“National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘out of control,’ and just plain ‘goofy.’”
David Kuo, conservative Christian who helped run the White House’s Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, in his book Tempting Faith.

“I have it out there proudly because those who messed the name [Baptist] up have taken it off their churches. . . . if for no other reason, truth in advertising.”
Dr. Bill Self, Pastor of John’s Creek Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA (Baptists Today, 11/06).

“Corporate America is deliberately destroying the middle class to support its globalized greed.”
CNN Financial Journalist Lou Dobbs in his book, The War on the Middle Class.

“Iraq’s health minister estimated that 150,000 civilians have been killed in the war—about three times higher than previously accepted estimates.”
Assoc. Press, (11/9/06).

“From 1979 to 2001, the after-tax income of the top 1% of U.S. households soared 139%, while the income of the middle fifth rose only 17% and the income of the poorest fifth rose only 9 %. Last year American CEOs earned 262 times the average wage of the worker—up tenfold from 1970.”
James Kurth, Dallas Morning News, (10/15/06).

“Asymetrical warfare against the government.”
The Pentagon’s “double-speak”definition for attempted suicides at Guantanamo prison.

“There are 37 million US Americans who live below the poverty line, and 13 million of them are children. 45 million US Americans have no health insurance. More than two billion people on the planet live on less than US $2 a day. We spend a billion dollars a week on the war in Iraq. . . . We spend more on our prisons in the US than we do on education.”
W. Kenneth Williams, Baptist Peacemaker (Fall, 2006).

“How much is a ‘Billion’? A billion seconds ago it was 1959. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age. A billion days ago, no one walked on earth on two feet. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it!”
C Doremus Email.

“America is becoming known as a nation of gluttony and obesity, and churches are a feeding ground for this problem.”
Purdue sociology professor Ken Ferraro, who also noted 27% of Baptists are obese (the most overweight group).
Chicago Sun Times, 8/25/06.

“The U.S. last year produced nearly half of the weapons sold to militaries in the developing world.”
Sojourners Online (11/13/06).

“That cannot be true religion that needs carnal weapons to uphold it.”
Roger Williams, The Bloody Tenet of Persecution.

“An assessment of terrorism by U.S. intelligence agencies (National Intelligence Estimate) has found that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.”
Report released by the House Intelligence Committee (9/20/06).

“A pacifist is a person who realizes that in striking another, you harm yourself more—this is the moral consequence of violence.”
Ethicist John Howard Yoder.

“Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.”
St. Francis of Assisi.

Updated Saturday, December 30, 2006