Tag: religion

The rise of Silicon Valley’s techno-religion

In downtown Berkeley, an old hotel has become a temple to the pursuit of artificial intelligence (AI) and the future of humanity. Its name is Lighthaven.

Covering much of a city block, this gated complex includes five buildings and a small park dotted with rose bushes, stone fountains and neoclassical statues.

Stained-glass windows glisten on the top floor of the tallest building, called Bayes House after an 18th-century mathematician and philosopher.

Lighthaven is the de facto headquarters of a group of people who call themselves Rationalists.

This group has many interests involving mathematics, genetics and philosophy.

One of their overriding beliefs is that AI can deliver a better life – if it does not destroy humanity first.

The Rationalists believe it is up to the people building AI to ensure that it is a force for the greater good.

They were talking about AI risks years before OpenAI created ChatGPT, which brought AI into the mainstream and turned Silicon Valley on its head.

Their influence has quietly spread through many tech companies, from industry giants like Google to AI pioneers like OpenAI and Anthropic.

Many of the AI world’s biggest names – including Dr Shane Legg, co-founder of Google’s DeepMind; Anthropic’s chief executive, Dr Dario Amodei; and Dr Paul Christiano, a former OpenAI researcher who now leads safety work at the US Centre for AI Standards and Innovation – have been influenced by Rationalist philosophy. Mr Elon Musk, who runs his own AI company, said that many of the community’s ideas align with his own.

Mr Musk met his former partner, pop star Grimes, after they made the same cheeky reference to a Rationalist belief called Roko’s Basilisk.

This elaborate thought experiment argues that when an all-powerful AI arrives, it will punish everyone who has not done everything they can to bring it into existence.

But these tech industry leaders stop short of calling themselves Rationalists, often because that label has over the years invited ridicule.

The Rationalist community is tightly entwined with the Effective Altruism movement, which aims to remake philanthropy by calculating how many people would benefit from each donation. This form of utilitarianism aims to benefit not just people who are alive today, but also all the people who will ever live.

Many Effective Altruists (EA) have decided that the best way to benefit humanity is to protect it from destruction by AI.

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In First, Ben Gvir Leads Settler Raid On Al-Aqsa Mosque Under Heavy Guard

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir led hundreds of settlers in storming Al-Aqsa Mosque complex on Sunday, were they loudly performed Jewish Talmudic prayer, under a heavy police guard, and attempted to antagonise Muslim worshippers.

Videos seen by Middle East Eye showed hundreds of settlers storming the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque where some could be seen dancing and shouting, seeking to disrupt the Muslim place of worship.

The status quo in Jerusalem has long maintained that Jewish prayer is forbidden on the raised plateau in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, where Al-Aqsa Mosque stands.

However, over the past century, Zionist groups have repeatedly violated the fragile arrangement, launching unprecedented attacks on what’s considered one of Islam’s holiest sites. 

Residents in Jerusalem’s Old City told MEE that before and after Ben Gvir’s raid, the area had come to resemble a “military base” due to the “many checkpoints” that had been set up and the “heavy Israeli security presence”.

They said that Israeli forces severely restricted Palestinians from accessing the mosque, with only a few local residents allowed to pass. Speaking to reporters after the raid, Ben Gvir said: “The Temple Mount is for the Jews, and we will remain here forever.”

Since becoming a minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Ben Gvir has led at least 11 assaults on the mosque. Meanwhile, several other far-right politicians have advocated for the destruction of Al-Aqsa and the construction of a  temple where they claim Jewish temples once stood.

Among the hundreds of people to take part in Sunday’s raid was right-wing Likud lawmaker Amit Halevi, who has repeatedly advocated for Israel to destroy all water, food and energy sources in Gaza.

In June 2023, he tabled a bill that would divide Al-Aqsa Mosque between Muslims and Jews, a plan that would see shared access from the courtyard of the Dome of the Rock to the end of the northern border of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Palestinians fear that the incursions at Al-Aqsa, which have intensified since Israel went to war on Gaza in October 2023, are laying the groundwork for the mosque to be divided similar to how the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron was in the 1990s.

Muslims currently have limited access to that site, and just last month, Israel transferred the authority of the mosque from the Palestinian-run Hebron municipality to a settler council.

Aouni Bazbaz, the director of international affairs at the Islamic Waqf, the organisation that administers Al-Aqsa Mosque, described Sunday’s raid as “painful and regrettable”, telling MEE that it was a threat to the “historical status quo and an incitement to violence”.

“There were terrifying numbers of people [Israeli settlers] present and some were important figures,” he said. “This was part of a project. The extreme religious right seeks to undermine the status quo and to clearly follow the example of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

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How one million white Europeans – many seized on the south coast of England – were sold to the Muslim world and brutally exploited in the slavery scandal the Left DON’T want to speak about

When Englishman Thomas Pellow was 27, he led a slave-hunting expedition to the West African coast. His orders were to plunder the villages, kill the adults and capture the children.

But Pellow was not a mercenary employed in the transatlantic slave trade, which sent millions of its victims across the ocean. He was a slave himself – taken prisoner as a child by the Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail. And 300 years ago, he was far from alone. 

The sultan owned an estimated 25,000 European slaves, many seized in raiding expeditions on the south coast of England as well as countries as far afield as Iceland.

Though it is almost forgotten today – suppressed, perhaps, by some squeamish historians – the Muslim trade in both black African and white European slaves was deeply feared for three centuries.

Yet, at the time, dozens of memoirs, many of them bestsellers, were published by former slaves who had escaped from captivity, with horrendous stories of torture, rape and cold-blooded murder.

Now, a book by historian Justin Marozzi unflinchingly reveals the extent of slavery in Arab countries, which was conducted with unequalled brutality.

More shocking still, he shows that it continued in much of the Islamic world well into the 20th century – and, for hundreds of thousands of West Africans born into life as slaves, carries on to this day.

For Marozzi to investigate these stories, let alone publish, is courageous. His book invites an inevitable backlash from Left-wing academics and broadcasters who focus solely on the slave trade triangle between Europe, West Africa and the Americas that operated from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

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Imam ‘Marriage Counselling’ for Underage Girls, Polygamy Spreading in Berlin Amid Islamist Immigration, Says Integration Officer

Multicultural neighbourhoods in Berlin are now home to Islamic imams giving marriage counselling to underage girls following a mass influx of Palestinians and other hardline Muslim migrants, an integration officer has claimed.

Güner Balci, a Turkish-born integration officer for the Berlin borough of Neukölln, told news magazine Der Spiegel that she has moved out of the neighbourhood where she grew up in the German capital so that her “daughter could develop freely” after the area became a hotbed for Islamism.

Balci said that when she grew up in Neukölln, there was only one mosque, but now around 30 are located in the area, many of which she claimed preach adherence to hardline Islam.

“I know of imams who offer marriage counselling for 14-year-old girls and find it acceptable for a man to take a second wife. If you look behind the structures, you quickly see: Ah, one mosque is financed from Qatar, the other has connections to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and so on,” she told the paper.

Balci, who is tasked with helping migrants integrate into Berlin society, said that while Neukölln was never “particularly woman-friendly”, the area has seen “culturally and religiously determined gender separation” be established and enforced by clan criminals and radical imams.

She said that it “began with the influx of Palestinian families from Lebanon” in the 1980s and has only continued to grow since.

“They brought with them a very patriarchal culture. The girls in this milieu were almost invisible; you actually only saw them when they took their younger siblings to kindergarten or went shopping with their mothers,” Balci said.

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Muslim Migrants Found NOT GUILTY of Attempted “Honor Killing” Despite Being Caught on Tape Violently Assaulting Daughter Allegedly For Not Wanting to Marry Older Muslim Man

A stunning verdict was reached earlier this week in the case of two Muslim immigrants living in Washington State who stood accused of one of the most unimaginable crimes.

As Fox 13 reported, both the mother and father were found not guilty on Thursday of attempting an “honor killing” of their 17-year-old daughter. Back in October, they were accused of trying to murder their daughter after she refused to go to their native Iraq and marry an older man.

A jury in Lacey, Washington found 44-year-old Ihsan Ali, the victim’s dad, not guilty of second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault. Instead, they found him guilty of second-degree and fourth-degree assault and unlawful imprisonment.

The victim’s mom, 40-year-old Zahraa Ali, was found guilty of violating a protective order but acquitted of second-degree attempted murder, second-degree assault, and second-degree burglary.

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The Fall Of The Israel Lobby—And Christian Zionism—Has Begun

My homily last Sunday was entitled The False Doctrine Of Christian Zionism Is Starting To Fall Apart.In this message, I said:

It is the Epstein case that is creating the cracks in the lie of Christian Zionism. Make no mistake about it: The Epstein pedophile network and the Israeli genocidal wars in the Middle East are indissolubly linked.

The reason the ruling class in Washington, D.C., and New York City are so determined to support Israel no matter how demonic its actions might be is directly due to Epstein’s (the Mossad’s) blackmail campaigns. And the members of Congress that are not blackmailed into submission by the Mossad are bribed into submission by AIPAC.

Americans put Trump in office because they saw the filth and corruption of Washington, and they thought Trump was truly different. Now, they are awakening to the truth that Trump has been neck-deep in Israel’s corrupting clutches all along. And they are also now seeing Israel for the vile, demonic state that it always has been.

The truth about Epstein, the truth about Israel, the truth about the Mossad, the truth about Netanyahu, the truth about Congress, the truth about Trump and the truth about Scofieldism-Dispensationalism is now beginning to shine through the cracks of Christian Zionism.

From Candace Owens to Clayton Morris to Tucker Carlson to Piers Morgan to Joe Rogan to Larry Johnson to Max Blumenthal to Phil Giraldi to Judge Andrew Napolitano to Pepe Escobar to Scott Ritter, and on and on, they are all courageously shining the light of truth on the deception of Christian Zionism.

Short videos from my podium at Liberty Fellowship are circulating

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The myth of a ‘Judeo-Christian’ West: Why the label doesn’t hold up

The psychological operation called “Judeo-Christianity”

In recent Zionist delusions in the West, a narrative has come back into vogue, according to which Christianity is closely linked to, and in a sense indebted to, Judaism, since Jesus was born a Jew. Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century, the term “Judeo-Christianity” was coined, with accompanying adjectives.

Now, there is a problem: it is a propaganda term.

Historically and theologically, there is no cohesive “Judeo-Christian” tradition. It is a modern political invention, promoted especially after World War II and during the Cold War, to create the illusion of shared values between Christianity and Judaism, mainly to gain the unconditional support of the West for the State of Israel.

The term is a contradiction in theological terms. Christianity is based on the belief that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and the savior of humanity. Judaism explicitly rejects Jesus as the Messiah, considers him a false prophet, and, in many rabbinical texts, denigrates him harshly. Jewish deicide hatred led to the crucifixion of Christ.

These are mutually exclusive worldviews; they cannot both be accepted unless they are stripped of their fundamental doctrines.

The term has been used as a weapon for political loyalty, becoming popular especially in the United States—is this a coincidence?—as a way to align American Christians with the State of Israel.

Its real purpose? To forge emotional loyalty, blur boundaries, and ensure that Christians unconditionally support Israeli foreign policy under the illusion of shared values. Evangelicals have been particularly targeted, told that supporting Israel is a biblical duty, misrepresenting Genesis 12:3 out of context as referring to a modern state created in 1948, not to the spiritual descendants of Abraham, when, as already discussed, the State of Israel and the biblical Israelites are two very different things.

What some Judeo-Christian elites really say about Jesus

Let’s leave aside the filters of politeness and quote some of what Talmudic Judaism says about Jesus:

Sanhedrin 43a: Jesus was executed for practicing witchcraft and leading Israel astray. He is boiled in excrement for eternity.

Gittin 57a: Jesus is in hell, burning in boiling excrement.

Shabbat 104b and Yebamot 49b make veiled and vulgar references to Jesus and his mother.

These texts were so inflammatory that the Catholic Church banned them for centuries; Jews themselves modified and censored these passages in public editions to avoid negative reactions, but in uncensored versions and private studies, these passages still exist and are quoted. Yet Christians are told that this is a “shared tradition”?

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New Guidelines Will Allow Federal Workers To Express Religious Beliefs At Workplace

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memo on July 28 aimed at protecting religious expression among federal workers, allowing them to display religious items and discuss religion in the workplace.

OPM Director Scott Kupor said in the memo that federal agencies must ensure that employees have the right to express their religious beliefs “to the greatest extent possible,” in accordance with the Constitution, unless such expression would cause “an undue hardship on business operations.”

“Federal employees should never have to choose between their faith and their career,” Kupor said in a statement announcing the latest guidance for federal agencies.

The memo outlines forms of permissible religious expression by federal workers in the workplace, such as displaying Bibles, crosses, crucifixes, and mezuzahs on desks and within designated workspaces.

Federal agencies must also allow their workers to engage in “individual or communal religious expressions,” provided that such conduct does not take place during on-duty time, according to the memo.

It states that federal employees should be able to engage in conversations about religious topics, including encouraging co-workers to participate in religious expression of faith, such as prayer, and “attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views,” so long as such efforts are not harassing in nature.

According to the memo, federal workers may engage co-workers in polite discussion, while not on duty, about why they believe their faith is correct and why a “non-adherent should re-think” their religious beliefs.

However, it stated that if the nonadherent requests that such attempts stop, the employee is expected to honor that request.

Federal workers are permitted to invite co-workers to church services, even if they belong to “a different faith.” Supervisors may also post on bulletin boards invitations to Easter service at their church.

The memo also states that park rangers leading tours in national parks may join their tour groups in prayer and that Veterans Affairs doctors may pray over their patients for recovery. Security guards stationed at the front desks of federal office buildings may also display religious items on their desks.

Kupor said the guidance is intended to ensure that the federal workplace is compliant with the law while also fostering an environment that is “welcoming to Americans of all faiths.”

“Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, we are restoring constitutional freedoms and making government a place where people of faith are respected, not sidelined,” Kupor said.

In February, Trump signed an executive order to establish a task force within the Department of Justice that is aimed at “eradicating anti-Christian bias” in the federal government.

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Islamic State-Backed Militant Group Attacks Catholic Church in Congo, Nearly Three Dozen Dead

The death toll has risen to at least 34 people in a savage attack by Islamic State-backed rebels on a Catholic church in the eastern Congo on Sunday, according to a local leader.

Dieudonne Duranthabo, a civil society coordinator in Komanda, in the Ituri province, told The Associated Press (AP) that the attackers, armed with guns and machetes, stormed the church in Komanda town at around 1 a.m.

The rampage also extended to several houses and shops that were torched.

“The bodies of the victims are still at the scene of the tragedy, and volunteers are preparing how to bury them in a mass grave that we are preparing in a compound of the Catholic church,” Duranthabo told AP.

Video footage from the scene posted on Aljazeera shows burning structures and bodies on the floor of the church.

Reportedly at least five other people were murdered in an earlier attack on the nearby village of Machongani.

The Allied Democratic Force (ADF) is believed to be the perpetrators of both attacks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The ADF is a rebel group that historically has operated along the border between Uganda and Congo. It was formed in Uganda in the late 1990s following alleged discontent with President Yoweri Museveni.

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Money, sex and a Buddhist monk: Head of China’s famed Shaolin Temple under investigation

China’s famed Shaolin Temple announced on Sunday that its abbot is under investigation for suspected embezzlement and “improper relationships” with women, reviving decade-old allegations against the controversial, high-profile monk.

Shi Yongxin, known as “CEO monk” for his entrepreneurial endeavors that transformed the Buddhist monastery into a commercial empire, is suspected of criminal offenses including embezzlement and misappropriation of project funds and temple assets, the temple’s authority said in a statement.

The 59-year-old monk was also accused of seriously violating Buddhist precepts by maintaining “improper relationships” with multiple women over an extended period and fathering at least one child, according to the statement.

Buddhist monks in China have traditionally been expected to take a vow of celibacy.

“(Shi) is currently under joint investigation by multiple departments. Further information will be released to the public in due course,” the statement added.

CNN has not been able to contact Shi.

Established more than 1,500 years ago in the forested mountains of central China, the Shaolin Temple is both a religious and cultural icon, renowned for its age-old tradition of Zen Buddhism and Shaolin kung fu – a distinct form of Chinese martial arts.

Shi, who became the abbot of the Shaolin Temple in 1999 and was a member of China’s rubber-stamp parliament for two decades, has frequently appeared in the media spotlight.

Known as the first Chinese abbot to hold a Master of Business Administration degree, he was often seen globetrotting with an iPhone in hand, meeting world leaders and industry titans – from the late Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, late South African president Nelson Mandela, and Henry Kissinger to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

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