Monkey Minds

Man complains about Buddhas at Kansas City Zoo

The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Zoo gets a complaint about Buddha statues in an Asian-themed area.

David Engle, of the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kan., complained after visiting the zoo on Sunday. He says it’s “phenomenal to me” that the zoo would put up two smiling statues of Buddha when “We can’t have a cross or a nativity scene on public property.”

Engle, who says he is Christian, called the statues idolatry and “infuriating to God.”

Buddha is the name ascribed to Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism.

Zoo Director Randy Wisthoff says he has never heard complaints about the statues before.

He said they were bought a few years ago, along with concrete pagodas and a terra cotta warrior, to provide an Asian theme for the zoo’s Tiger Trail.

He plans to discuss the complaint with the zoo’s board.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star,

http://www.kcstar.com

So Help Me, Me!

God received a legal reprieve when a judge tossed a lawsuit because the Almighty wasn’t properly served notice. Seems Heaven has an unlisted address.

Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers sought a restraining order against the Supreme Being for making “terrorist threats” as well as as for inciting death, destruction and disaster upon Earth’s inhabitants, according to an Associated Press report.

However, Douglas County District Court Judge Marlon Polk ruled that because the Divine Defendant cannot be served notice, the suit must be dismissed with prejudice.

Chambers, a law school grad who never took the bar exam, countered that if God is, in fact, all knowing then He’s aware of the suit and, thus, legally has been served. And, because the Lord is omnipresent, He has access to the court proceedings.

Chambers says he filed the liturgical litigation to prove a point that all persons, even the Holiest One, should have equal access to the courts.

However, one wonders if God legally can be sworn in as a defense witness as He must vow to Himself that He will be truthful when questioned (although, that should be a given).

Perhaps, God should follow the example of George Burns (and screen writer Larry Gelbart) who created such a scene in the movie Oh, God! when Burns as God, testified for John Denver’s character and swore to tell the whole truth “so help me, Me!”

Buddhas For Barack

My God can beat your God. 

Vote Democrat and you’re a godless pagan.

How would Jesus vote? (Probably not for Romans)

John McCain campaigns in Iowa today trying to drum up votes in the state that kicked off Barack Obama’s presidential aspirations.

While Sarah Palin’s personal exorcist already expelled any incantations which witches may have snuck past the Secret Service, John McCain still remains vulnerable to all those left-winged Wiccans brewing October Surprises.

Thank goodness that theology trumps thaumaturgy on the campaign trail. Before McCain’s folksy talk in Davenport about the evils of his opponent with the non-Christian name, a minister delivered an invocation to send any politically incorrect deities packing:

“There are plenty of people around the world who are praying to their god, be they Hindu, Buddah [sic], or Allah, that (McCain’s) opponent wins. I pray that you step forward and honor your own name.” Ends with “in Jesus’ name.”  quote

 

Buddhas and Bramas for Barack! Allah for anyone with a Muslim sounding name. Never mind that the Hindu god Ganesha is an elephant, the symbol of the GOP, or that Buddha was not a god at all but an enlightened human (and not even that confusing father-son-spirit trilogy of Christianity). And never mind that the Judeo-Christian “God” delivers little political pandering aside from all that the Ten Commandment and “love thy neighbor as thy self” business — with no caveats if those neighbors display bumper stickers different from yours.

No, those “other gods” supporting Barack Obama be damned. And who cares that the Jewish Adoni, the Christian Father and the Muslim Allah are technically one in the same. The one true GOD of GOP has spoken and must be obeyed.

With GOP rallies sounding more like witch-hunts and Klan-hate fests, one wonders why any God would be interested in politics at all. Perhaps S/He confronts more concerns than mortgage bailouts (greed, after all, is one of those deadly sins) such as genocide in Darfur, AIDs in Africa, poverty, global warming and extinction of nearly one-fourth of the creatures S/He created. If politicos want Holy endorsements, maybe they need to respect God’s own position planks more.

Many teachings of the Tibetan Buddhist leader Dalai Lama (bless him in his recovery from surgery) talk about the proper role of leadership. However, two reflect the wranglings of this tiresome election:

 

Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

and 

It seems that when men become desperate they consult their gods. And when the gods become desperate, they tell lies!

 

© 2008 winkingbuddha.com

 

 

Sign of the Times

A Baptist church a few blocks from us posts this sign:

Serving God since 1986

Wonder where He took His business before then

© 2008 winkingbuddha.com