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against the death penalty, | think Jesus could have done so on the cross and said, ‘This is an unjust punishment, and | deserve clemency.’ ” Such western fundamentalists have been waging a battle against the teaching of meditation in publicly funded schools, as though slow, deep breathing is inextricably connected with the practice of eastern religious disciplines. What’ s next, forbidding the teaching of empathy because that’ s what Christians and Jews are supposed to practice? It was a pleasant surprise when Barack Obama acknowledged “unbelievers” among others in his inauguration speech. However, | don’ t exempt unbelievers from criticism. | ridicule officially atheist China’ s leaders for banning Tibet’ s living Buddhas from reincarnation without permission. According to the order, issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, “The so-called reincarnated living Buddha without government approval is illegal and invalid.” That regulation is aimed at limiting the influence of the Dalai Lama, even though China officially denies the possibility of reincarnation. (| used to believe in reincarnation, but that was in a previous lifetime.) China is a Big-Brother, slave-labor-driven, human-rights-violator, Maoist dictatorship, from which the United States borrows trillions, then HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015077