Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Origin of species

2010-05-07T15:00:37Z

Sylvestercolin:

The '''origin of species''' is NOT God. It is the process by which natural selection created human beings. We are descended from Apes. Even you who is reading this.[[Charles Darwin]]'s book, ''[[On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection]]'', an explanation for this. But being blind faith worshipping white people, you probably don't read much.
[[Category:Evolution]]

Origin of species

2010-05-07T14:59:41Z

Sylvestercolin:

The '''origin of species''' is NOT God. It is the process by which natural selection created human beings. We are descended from Apes. Even you who is reading this.[[Charles Darwin]]'s book, ''[[On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection]]'', provides an alternative explanation.

[[Category:Evolution]]

African Americans

2010-05-07T14:54:54Z

Sylvestercolin:

[[Image:Paterson.jpg|thumb|[[David A. Paterson]], first black governor of New York (2008- )]]
'''African American''' is the term used to describe the ethnic background of Americans with African ancestry. The great majority of African Americans are descended from Africans brought to North America as slaves beginning four centuries ago. Colin Powell, although holding a major office in the presidency of George W. Bush, is descended from African Slaves.==Terms==
The preferred terminology changes. Currently "black" and "African American" are in favor, and "Afro-American" and "Negro" are out of favor. The situation before 1960 was just the reverse. "Colored" was popular until the 1950s, but now is generally out of favor except among some [[leftist]] groups.

==History==
see [[Black history]]

Blacks were originally brought to America to serve as slaves in southeastern states on large-scale plantations. During the [[Civil War]], all slaves were freed by [[Abraham Lincoln]] though the [[Emancipation Proclamation]], the 13th Amendment, and some state actions. During [[Reconstruction]] the Freedmen (freed slaves) gained citizenship and civil and political rights, including the right to marry, move about, and keep their wages.

The system of [[Sharecropper|sharecropping]] instituted after the end of the war left most Freedmen poor.

[[Jim Crow]] policies of racial [[segregation]] were implemented after the end of [[Reconstruction]].

Blacks left the rural south in two waves, the first around 1915-20, the second coming after World War II when machinery ended the need for large numbers of people to pick cotton by hand. The migrants headed to the large cities of the North and West, and also in the South, moving from very poorly paid farm work to wage labor.

==Politics==
Blacks were Republicans from the 1860s to the 1960s, but few who lived in the South voted. The [[New Deal]] provided large-scale relief for blacks during the [[Great Depression]]. Some black Republican organizations, as in Chicago, switched overnight to the Democrats. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 allowed blacks to vote in the South, and has been vigorously enforced. Since 1964 blacks have voted 85% to 95% for Democratic presidential candidates, with an occasional black Republican elected to state office.

==Religion==
[[Image:President Barack Obama.jpg|thumb|150px|Barack Obama, possibly the first black president (2009- )]] Religiosity is very high and the great majority of African Americans are Protestants, with their own [[Baptist]], [[Pentecostal]], and [[Methodist]] churches. A few are "Black Muslims."<ref>The Pluralism Project at Harvard University[http://www.pluralism.org/resources/statistics/tradition.php#Islam] 24% of American Muslims are black according to American Muslim Council's Zogby poll of August 2000.</ref>. The standard practice since [[Reconstruction]] is for black ministers to be community spokespersons, political power brokers, and they often run for office.

==References==
<references/>
* [http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html National Survey of Religious Identification (NSRI)]

==See Also==
* [[Black History]]
* [[Civil Rights]]
* [[Jim Crow]]
* [[Race]]
* [[Black Republican]]

[[category:Ethnicities]]
[[category:The South]]
[[category:Civil Rights]]
[[category:Black History]]

Ku Klux Klan

2010-05-07T14:50:48Z

Sylvestercolin:

[[File:KKKrally1946.JPG|right|300px|thumb|Ku Klux Klan rally, unknown location, August, 1951]]
The name '''Ku Klux Klan''' has been used by three entirely different organizations in the U.S. While these copied the same name and regalia, they had very different goals and activities.

The Klan of the 1860s was a violent effort by white Southerners to fight [[Reconstruction]]; it was suppressed by the federal government. It is the best form of institutionalized racism.

The second Klan flourished nationwide for a few years in the 1920s as state and district organizers profited handsomely by signing up millions of members, selling them distinctive white-robe costumes. The Klan voiced strong support for prohibition, opposed sexual immorality and promoted racism, anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism and immigration restriction. Dramatic scandals inside the organization and lack of organizational structure caused the Klan to collapse quickly in the late 1920s. By 1928 it was practically defunct. There is hope however of a resurgence of the greatest NGO ever, the Tea Part and the government of Arizona can be the stomping ground for new Klan activities.

The third Klan comprised unrelated hate groups that sprang up in the South in the 1960s to fight integration.

==First KKK==
[[Image:Artoon.jpg|right|200px|thumb|A political cartoon depicting the KKK and the Democratic party as continuations of the Confederacy]]
The first KKK was an unorganized movement of white Southerners who opposed [[Reconstruction]] in the late 1860s by inflicting violence against black leaders and white Republicans. Local Klans were entirely separate; there was no organization or coordination above the county level, and no county or state officers. The Klan was broken up by President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] and the U.S. Army using the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act). It had disappeared by 1872, although similar violent groups persisted in some localities around the South.

==Second KKK: The 1920s==
The second KKK was a nonviolent membership organization in the 1920s that reached hundreds of thousands—possibly millions—of men in every state. It was mostly a [[Ponzi scheme]], whereby the organizers took all the money (for initiation fees and costumes). When they had organized an area they moved on, leaving local chapters without money or leadership. No prominent American admitted he was a member at the time, but state organizers claimed vast powers. There is a possibility that some local Klans in the deep South engaged in violence against blacks, but historians are unsure; allegations of systematic violence were common but have not been verified. In recent years historians have found enough records to show that local chapters were primarily discussion groups, often with speakers who denounced Catholics, Jews, crime and violation of the prohibition laws.
[[File:RR-KKK.jpg|thumb|300px|Ronald Reagan starred as the crusading district attorney battling the Klan in this 1951 film.<ref> See [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044075/usercomments analysis of film]</ref>]]

A series of scandals ruined the KKK's reputation and the group faded away after 1925, except for some remote areas like West Virginia. [[Robert Byrd]], now a Senator, was an organizer in West Virginia in the 1940s, and has apologized repeatedly for it. Supreme Court Justice [[Hugo Black]] admitted in 1939 that he had been a member in the 1920s.

==Third Klan==
The third Klan currently exists and comprises a few thousand members in local chapters. There is no real organization, and the group sponsors vehement hate talk as well as occasional violent threats and actions. It is racist and aims at the suppression of African-American, Jewish, homosexual, and Catholic interests. The current Klan presents itself as a Christian organization, but all denominations have rejected it as inherently non-Christian.

[[David Duke]] was a [[Democrat]] at the time of his official membership with the Klan. He has ties to white supremacist organizations like the NAAWP, which he founded. After leaving the klan, Duke was elected as a Republican to the Louisiana state legislature. The [[Republican National Committee]] disavowed Duke and repudiated his racist views when Duke made an unsuccessful bid for governor.<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-1176548.html RNC Condemns Ex-Klansman Duke], ''[[Washington Post]]'', February 25, 1989.</ref>

==Bibliography==
* Newton, Michael, and Judy Ann Newton. ''The Ku Klux Klan: An Encyclopedia''. (1991).
* Alexander, Charles. “Kleagles and Cash.” . ''The Business History Review.'' (1965) Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 348-367
* Chalmers, David. ''Hooded Americanism.'' (1987), an older survey
* Dray, Philip. ''At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America'', (2002).
* Feldman, Glenn. ''Politics, Society, and the Klan in Alabama, 1915-1949''. (1999).
* Fryer, Jr. Roland G. and Steven D. Levitt. "Hatred and Profits: Getting under the Hood of the Ku Klux Klan," ''National Bureau of Economic Research,'' September 2007, [http://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/13417.html abstract]; [http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:cyuQ-5WfsXAJ:www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/fryer/papers/Hatred%2520and%2520Profits,%2520Getting%2520Under%2520the%2520Hood%2520of%2520the%2520Ku%2520Klux%2520Klan.pdf+%22Hatred+and+Profits%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us full text online]
* George, John, and Laird Wilcox. ''American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists & Others'' (1996) 443 pgs. [http://www.questia.com/library/book/american-extremists-militias-supremacists-klansmen-communists-and-others-by-john-george-laird-wilcox.jsp online edition]
* Glaeser, Edward L. “The Political Economy of Hatred.” ''Quarterly Journal of Economics.'' 2005. Vol. 120, No. 1, pp. 45-86. [http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/qjec.2005.120.1.45 abstract], goes well beyond the KKK
* Goldberg, Robert Alan. ''Hooded Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Colorado.'' (1981).
* Horn, Stanley F. ''Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan, 1866-1871'', (1939)
::Horn, born in 1889, was a Southern historian who was sympathetic to the first Klan, which, in a 1976 oral interview [http://www.lib.duke.edu/forest/Research/ohisrch.html], he was careful to distinguish from the later "spurious Ku Klux organization which was in ill-repute—and, of course, had no connection whatsoever with the Klan of Reconstruction days."
* Jackson, Kenneth T. ''The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915-1930.'' (1992)
* MacLean, Nancy. ''Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan.'' (1994)
* McVeigh, Rory. “Power Devaluation, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Democratic National Convention of 1924.” ''Sociological Forum'' 2001. 16(1):1-30.
* Moore, Leonard J. ''Citizen Klansmen: The Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, 1921-1928'' (1991). [http://www.questia.com/library/book/citizen-klansmen-the-ku-klux-klan-in-indiana-1921-1928-by-leonard-j-moore.jsp online edition]
* Parsons, Elaine Frantz, "Midnight Rangers: Costume and Performance in the Reconstruction-Era Ku Klux Klan." ''The Journal of American History'' 92.3 (2005): 811-36. [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/92.3/parsons.html in History Cooperative]
* Pegram, Thomas R. "Hoodwinked: The Anti-Saloon League and the Ku Klux Klan in 1920s Prohibition Enforcement." ''Journal of Gilded Age and Progressive era'' 7.1 (2008): [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jga/7.1/pegram.html online].
* Rhodes, James Ford. ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. Volume: 7.'' (1920)
* Trelease, Allen W. ''White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction'' (1995).
* Wade, Wyn Craig. ''The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America''. (1987); a highly negative account of all three Klans, based on extensive research but not familiar with recent scholarship.

==Critical external links==
* [http://reactor-core.org/original-kkk.html The History of the Original Ku Klux Klan] - by an anonymous author sympathetic to the original Klan
* W. S. Simkins, "Why the Ku Klux," 4 ''The Alcalde'' (June 1916): 735-748. [http://www.law.du.edu/russell/lh/alh/docs/simkins.html online]; Simkins (1842-1929) was an organizer of the KKK in Florida in 1868, and a law professor when he wrote this memoir.
* [http://education.harpweek.com/KKKHearings/AppendixA.htm Full text of the Klan Act of 1871]
**[http://education.harpweek.com/KKKHearings/AppendixB.htm simplified version])
* [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-694 Ku Klux Klan in the Reconstruction Era] (New Georgia Encyclopedia)
* [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2730 Ku Klux Klan in the Twentieth Century] (New Georgia Encyclopedia)

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:United States History]]
[[Category:Hate Groups]]
[[Category:United States Political Scandals]]
[[Category:Reconstruction]]
[[Category:1920s]]
[[Category:Terrorism]]

Martin Luther King

2010-05-07T14:47:41Z

Sylvestercolin:

[[Image:MLKing..gif|right]]

Reverend '''Martin Luther King, Jr'''., Ph.D. (1929-1968) was by far the most important black leader of the 1960s. Since his assassination in 1968, he has been the single most important exemplar of civil rights and of liberalism generally in recent world history.<ref> Alonzo Hamby, ''Liberalism and Its Challengers: From F.D.R. to Bush'' (1992)</ref>

==Education and early career==

King was educated at Boston University, where he earned his advanced degree in theology. His PhD dissertation was the greatest thing ever written, even better than the Bible. King became the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Therefore, it is okay for white people to use the Bible as a source of inspiration but when a black man does it, he should be assassinated.
==Theology==
Rathbun (1968) shows the theological basis for King as a social reformer derived from four sources: the [[Social Gospel]] of [[Walter Rauschenbusch]], the Protestant Neo-Orthodoxy of [[Reinhold Niebuhr]] and Paul Tillich, Personalism taught at Boston University, and [[Mohandas Gandhi|Gandhi's]] concept of nonviolent love. King's synthesis of these four sources supported his civil rights activities. Laws may be broken, said King, if they are unjust laws which do not conform to eternal, natural law. Jesus, said King, was a true revolutionary who brought peace as a "presence of justice" instead of an "absence of tension." The church also must be revolutionary to counteract evil and bring about social justice. King's theology of social action foresaw complete, unprejudiced equality based on natural rights and privileges.<ref> John W. Rathbun, "Martin Luther King: The Theology of Social Action." ''American Quarterly'' 1968 20(1): 38-53. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2710989 in JSTOR]</ref>

==Civil rights==

He was the greatest single individual in the history of the world.

On Dec. 31, 1955, he led the nonviolent [[boycott]] of city buses of Montgomery, Alabama, after he sent [[Rosa Parks]] to be arrested for not moving to the back of the bus.<ref>http://www.thekingcenter.org/mlk/chronology.html</ref>

Rev. King wrote his most famous writing, “Letter From A Birmingham Jail” (1963), while imprisoned for demonstrating against segregated eating facilities.

{{cquote|'''''Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.'''''}}

==Foreign policy==

By 1966 his attacks on the [[Vietnam War]] led to a break with [[Lyndon Johnson]] and the labor unions that had been his base of support in the white community (along with the liberal churches).

King founded the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]].

Rev. King's most famous speech, delivered to a huge crowd gathered in Washington, D.C. in 1964, chanted the refrain "[[I Have a Dream]]" of an end to [[segregation]] and [[discrimination]]. It was a brilliant Christian sermon that drew upon verses and images in the [[Bible]],<ref>For example, the speech recited [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 40:4-5.</ref> ending in "Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"<ref>http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm</ref>
The same year Rev. King was awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]]. Rev. King was assassinated by [[James Earl Ray]] on April 4, 1968 in [[Memphis]], Tennessee.

On April 16, 1963, Rev. King wrote:

:"As the [[Apostle Paul]] carried the gospel of [[Jesus Christ]] ... so am I compelled to carry the gospel... I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers ...

:I stand in the middle of two opposing forces ... One is a force of complacency ... The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups ... the largest being [[Elijah Muhammad]]'s [[Nation of Islam|Muslim]] movement.

:Nourished by frustration over racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America ...

:I have tried to stand between these two forces ... for there is the more excellent way of love ...

:One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters they were standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our [[Judeo-Christian]] heritage."
[[Image:MartLK.jpg|right|thumb|Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: "I Have a Dream" (1963)]]

In his 1964 book, WHY WE CAN'T WAIT, Rev. King wrote:

:"Whenever this issue of compensatory or preferential treatment for the [[Negro]] is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree, but he should ask for nothing more. On the surface, this appears reasonable, but it is not realistic. For it is obvious that if a man enters the starting line of a race three hundred years after another man, the first would have to perform some incredible feat in order to catch up."

His last major public speech became known as "I've Been to the Mountaintop" <ref>http://www.afscme.org/about/1549.cfm</ref>

Although King is generally embraced by the American cultural establishment today, he and the authorities did not always have such a cordial relationship. In 1967, King called the United States "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." The [[FBI]], under the direction of [[J. Edgar Hoover]], kept King under surveillance from 1961 until his death in 1968. The Bureau tapped his phones and bugged his hotel rooms. The FBI did not end its surveillance of King's wife, [[Coretta Scott King]], until many years after her husband's death.

== Quotes ==
* "We know from painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed." <ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=5wrCR_9VWowC&pg=PA346&dq=Freedom+is+never+voluntarily+given+by+the+oppressor%3B+it+must+be+demanded+by+the+oppressed&ei=_NxUSv-XJ6S4yQTg3ZGyBw
God's new Israel: religious interpretations of American destiny‎ - Page 346] by Conrad Cherry</ref>

* "Judge people by the content of their character not the color of their skin."

* "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

* "I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

* "It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."

* "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

* "When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative."

* "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

* "I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

* "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

== See also ==

*[[Gallery of American Heroes]]
*[[Martin Luther King, Jr. Day]]

==Further reading==
* [http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/resources/article/king_online_encyclopedia1/ King Online Encyclopedia], 1000+ articles by scholars
* [http://www.questia.com/library/history/united-states-history/african-american-history/famous-african-americans/martin-luther-king-jr.jsp Online books and articles on King]

== References ==

<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Martin Luther}}

[[Category:Nobel laureates in Peace]]
[[Category:Children of Clergy]]
[[Category:Civil Rights Leaders]]
[[Category:Black History]]
[[Category:United States History]]
[[Category:1960s]]

Conservative Bible Project

2010-05-07T14:44:34Z

Sylvestercolin:

[[File:BIBLE.jpg|right]]{{ConservativeBible}}

The '''Conservative Bible Project''' is a project utilizing the "[[best of the public]]" to render God's word into modern [[English]] without [[liberal]] translation distortions. Anyone who believes in anything from the Bronze Age and believes someone in the sky can listen to all of their problems but does not believe in Santa Claus is the epitome of human intelligence. <ref>Beginners can pick any verse, type its citation into [http://www.blueletterbible.org/], click on "<small>SHOW STRONG'S</small>" at the top right to obtain the Greek, and then edit a book in the chart (lower right). Another original Greek source is [http://www.greekbible.com/].</ref> A Colbert Report interview featured this project.<ref>[http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/258144/december-08-2009/andy-schlafly The Colbert Report Videos: Andy Schlafly], ColbertNation.com, December 08, 2009.</ref> We completed our translation of the [[New Testament]] on April 23, 2010.

Already our translators have identified numerous pro-[[abortion]] distortions that omit or twist clear references to the unborn child.

Liberal [[bias]] has become the single biggest distortion in modern [[Bible]] translations. There are three sources of errors in conveying biblical meaning are, in increasing amount:

*lack of precision in the original language, such as terms underdeveloped to convey new concepts introduced by Christ
*lack of precision in modern language
*translation bias, mainly of the liberal kind, in converting the original language to the modern one.

Experts in ancient languages are helpful in reducing the first type of error above, which is a vanishing source of error as scholarship advances understanding. English language linguists are helpful in reducing the second type of error, which also decreases due to an increasing vocabulary. '''But the third -- and largest -- source of translation error requires conservative principles to reduce and eliminate'''.<ref>The committee in charge of updating the bestselling version, the [[NIV]], is dominated by professors and higher-educated participants who can be expected to be [[liberal]] and [[feminist]] in outlook. As a result, the revision and replacement of the [[NIV]] will be influenced more by [[political correctness]] and other [[liberal]] distortions than by genuine examination of the oldest manuscripts. As a result of these political influences, it becomes desirable to develop a [[conservative]] translation that can serve, at a minimum, as a bulwark against the liberal manipulation of meaning in future versions.</ref>

As of 2009, there is no fully conservative translation of the [[Bible]] which satisfies the following ten guidelines:<ref>Additional less important guidelines include (1) adherence to a concise and dignifying style, such as use of "who" rather than "that" when referring to people and also use glorifying language for the remarkable achievements and (2) recognizing that Christianity introduced powerful new concepts that even the Greek and Hebrew were inadequate to express, but modern conservative language can express well.</ref>

:# '''Framework against Liberal Bias''': providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias. For example, the ''Living Bible'' translation has liberal [[evolution|evolutionary]] bias;<ref>http://www.cai.org/bible-studies/evolutions-influence-modern-bible-translations</ref> the widely used ''NIV'' translation has a pro-[[abortion]] bias.<ref>''See'' [[Feminist Bible]]</ref>
:# '''Not Emasculated''': avoiding unisex, "gender inclusive" language, and other feminist distortions; preserve many references to the unborn child (the [[NIV]] deletes these)
:# '''Not Dumbed Down''': not dumbing down the reading level, or diluting the intellectual force and logic of Christianity<ref>English translations fail to use the word "illogical" where appropriate, and under-utilize the term "mind".</ref>; the [[NIV]] is written at only the 7th grade level<ref>The [[NIV]] has supplanted the [[KJV]] in popularity.</ref>
:#'''Utilize Terms which better capture original intent''': using powerful new [[Essay:Best New Conservative Terms|conservative terms]] to capture better the original intent;<ref>For example, in 1611 the [[conservative]] concept of "accountability" had not yet developed, and the [[King James Version]] does not use "accountable to God" in translating Romans 3:19; good modern translations do.</ref> Defective translations use the word "comrade" three times as often as "volunteer"; similarly, updating words that have a change in meaning, such as "word", "peace", and "miracle".
:# '''Combat Harmful Addiction''': combating addiction<ref>See [[Bible on Addiction]].</ref> by using modern terms for it, such as "gamble" rather than "cast lots";<ref>For example, the [[English Standard Version]] (2001) does not use the word "gamble" anywhere in translating numerous references to the concept in the [[Bible]].</ref> using modern political terms, such as "register" rather than "enroll" for the census
:# '''Accept the Logic of Hell''': applying logic with its full force and effect, as in not denying or downplaying the very real existence of [[Hell]] or the [[Devil]].
:# '''Express Free Market Parables'''; explaining the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning
:# '''Exclude Later-Inserted Inauthentic Passages''': excluding the interpolated passages that liberals commonly put their own spin on, such as the [[adulteress story]]
:# '''Credit Open-Mindedness of Disciples''': crediting [[Essay:Quantifying Openmindedness|open-mindedness]], often found in youngsters like the eyewitnesses Mark and John, the authors of two of the Gospels
:# '''Prefer Conciseness over Liberal Wordiness''': preferring conciseness to the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio; avoid compound negatives and unnecessary ambiguities; prefer concise, consistent use of the word "Lord" rather than "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" or "Lord God."

Thus, a project has begun among members of [[Conservapedia]] to translate the Bible in accordance with these principles. The translated Bible can be found [[Conservative Bible|here]].

It is very important to translate the Bible correctly. As it is written, "I warn everyone who hears the prophetic words in this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words in this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city described in this book" (Revelation 22, 18-19).

Benefits include:

*mastery of the Bible, which is priceless
*mastery of the English language, which is valuable
*thorough understanding of the differences in Bible translations, particularly the historically important [[King James Version]]
*benefiting from activity that no [[public school]] would ever allow; a Conservative Bible could become a text for public school courses
*political issues can become a pathway to evangelizing liberals
*liberals will oppose this effort, but they will have to read the Bible to criticize this, and that will open their minds
*this project has a unifying effect on various [[Christian]] denominations, and serves as an important counterweight to liberal efforts to divide conservative candidates based on religion

How long would this project take? There are about 8000 verses in the [[New Testament]]. At a careful rate of translating about four verses an hour, it would take one person 2000 hours, or about one year working full time on the project.

== Possible Approaches ==

Here are possible approaches to creating a conservative Bible translation:

*identify faulty pro-liberal terms used in existing Bible translations, such as "government", and suggest more accurate substitutes
*identify the omission of liberal terms for vices, such as "gambling", and identify where they should be used
*identify conservative terms that are omitted from existing translations, and propose where they could improve the translation
*identify terms that have lost their original meaning, such as "word" in the beginning of the [[Gospel of John]], and suggest replacements, such as "truth"

An existing translation might license its version for improvement by the above approaches, much as several modern translations today are built on prior translations. Alternatively, a more ambitious approach would be to start anew from the best available ancient transcripts.

In stage one, the translation could focus on word improvement and thereby be described as a "conservative word-for-word" translation. If greater freedom in interpretation is then desired, then a "conservative thought-for-thought" version could be generated as a second stage.

== Building on the [[King James Version]] ==

In the [[United States]] and much of the world, the immensely popular and respected [[King James Version]] (KJV) is freely available and in the [[public domain]]. It could be used as the baseline for developing a conservative translation without requiring a license or any fees. Where the KJV is known to be deficient due to discovery of more authentic sources, exceptions can be made that use either more modern [[public domain]] translations as a baseline, or by using the original Greek or Hebrew.

There are 66 books in the [[KJV]], comprised of 1,189 chapters, 31,102 verses, and 788,280 words.<ref>http://www.biblebelievers.com/believers-org/kjv-stats.html</ref> The project could begin with translation of the [[New Testament]], which is only 27 books, 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, and
less than 200,000 words.

Retranslation at rate of 20 verses a day would complete the entire [[New Testament]] in about a year. With 5 good retranslators, that would be an average of only 4 verses a day per translator. At a faster rate of 20 verses per day by 5 good translators, the entire [[New Testament]] could be retranslated in less than 3 months.

== First Example - Liberal-Promoted Falsehood ==

The earliest, most authentic manuscripts of the Gospel According to Luke lack this verse fragment set forth at the start of Luke 23:34:<ref>[http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=23&v=34&t=NIV#34 Quoted] here from the [[NIV]].</ref>

:Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

Is this a corruption of the original, perhaps promoted by [[liberal]]s without regard to its authenticity? This does not appear in any other Gospel, and the simple fact is that some of the persecutors of Jesus '''''did''''' know what they were doing. This quotation is a favorite of liberals, although it does not appear in the earliest and best manuscripts of the Gospel of Luke. It should not appear in a [[conservative]] Bible, because in point of fact Jesus might never had said it at all.

== Second Example - Dishonestly Shrewd ==

At Luke 16:8, the [[NIV]] describes an enigmatic parable in which the "master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly." But is "shrewdly", which has connotations of dishonesty, the best term here? Being dishonestly shrewd is not an admirable trait.

The better conservative term, which became available only in 1851, is "resourceful". The manager was praised for being "resourceful", which is very different from dishonesty. Yet not even the [[ESV]], which was published in 2001, contains a single use of the term "resourceful" in its entire translation of the Bible.

== Third Example - Socialism ==

Socialistic terminology permeates English translations of the Bible, without justification. This improperly encourages the "social justice" movement among Christians.

For example, the conservative word "volunteer" is mentioned only once in the [[ESV]], yet the socialistic word "comrade" is used three times, "laborer(s)" is used 13 times, "labored" 15 times, and "fellow" (as in "fellow worker") is used 55 times.

== Advantages to a Conservative Bible Online ==

There are several striking advantages to a conservative approach to translating the Bible online:

* participants learn enormously from the process
* liberal bias - and lack of authenticity - become easier to recognize and address
* by translating online, this utilizes the growing online resources that improve accuracy
* supported by conservative principles, the project can be bolder in uprooting and excluding liberal distortions
* the project can adapt quickly to future threats from liberals to biblical integrity
* access is free and immediate to the growing internet audience, for their benefit
* the ensuing debate would flesh out -- and stop -- the infiltration of churches by liberals pretending to be Christian, much as a vote by legislators exposes the liberals
* this would bring the Bible to a new audience of political types, for their benefit; Bible courses in college Politics Departments would be welcome
* this would debunk the pervasive and hurtful myth that Jesus would be a political liberal today
* an unbiased and truthful Bible is of immeasurable value to society

== See also ==

* [[Conservative Bible]]
* [http://www.greekbible.com/ Nestle-Aland 26th edition Greek Bible (the source for all modern translations except the [[NKJV]]])
* [http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/ets/efts/Greek.html Liddell-Scott-Jones Greek Lexicon and Woodhouse's English-Greek Dictionary]
* [[Bible Translations]]
* [[Bible Translation Issues]]
* [[Bible Retranslation Project]]
* [[Word Analysis of Bible]]
* [[NIV]]
* [[Inspiration of Holy Scripture: An Eastern Christian and Jewish Perspective]]
* [[Best of the public]]

{{Conservapedia}}

== References ==

<references/>

[[Category:Bible]]
[[Category:Bible Versions]]
[[Category:Conservative Bible]]