There are no gods. Once you get past that false premise, everything else about religion is pure, uncut bologna.
http://m.cbsnews.com/storysynopsis.rbml?pageType=general&catid=57491583&feed_id=999&videofeed=999
As Sam Harris has argued it’s a waste of time to target the general population rather than those whose race and religion (Arabic and Islamic) are most correlated with violence. Our homeland security policies are another example of cultural relativism gone bad.
330 schoolgirls & teachers poisoned in 1 month in Afghanistan. #Islam keeps giving & giving. Or is that taking & taking lives & liberties from women. As described in Jonathan Turley’s article, Islamic men work to close schools that dare teach girls and women and, failing that, work to disfigure or kill them.
Interesting then, the comparison with the US religious right and the zeal to inculcate youth with the poison of fairy tales and un-humanistic dogma. While the US right isn’t throwing acid on or outright killing girls, they do share the common goal of steering learning to insular private schools, many feeding off the public teat, where their crazed teachings can be passed on without the challenge of rational thought.
The US religious right is only better than the Taliban by a matter of degree, the goal is the same.
Today’s WashPost A1 headline is “The Two Faces of Freedom.” It’s about the state of Islam since Arab Spring and like the cultural relativist rag that it is, it buries the lede. The very last sentences of the article quote one of the persons interviewed for the article:
“Every Muslim will reach our phase and be like us,” he says. “Our duty is to convert others, and if they don’t let us express ourselves, we will have to fight.”
Tunisia prior to Arab Spring was like Egypt in that Islam was suppressed in favor of a secular state. The downside of that arrangement was that it was effected by a dictator.
Now, with the freedom to speak out and to practice Islam to its foul fullest you get in Tunisia what you hear wherever Islam, and especially where the strict version known as Salafism is practiced:
“We must adopt Sharia law,” making sharia the law of the land. If the state “tries to silence us, will use any means - violence too.”
While the recent announcement that Tunisia’s constitution would not be based on Islamic principles was good to hear, with Islam, a religion that is forsworn to obliterate all other religions, you can never be too sure.
Isn’t this a charming story of a muslim ice skater? Is it fair to call children who are raised religious and still practice it as blinded by Stockholm Syndrome? “We are in a cult that insists you not go out with your head uncovered and really, your father thinks you’re a whore going out there and showing off in front of all those men.”
Religion is anti-humanist and anti-woman, among many other negative attributes.
Angelique,
Atheists are some of the most loving, humanistic folk on the face of the planet. Many of us, including me, came from religious backgrounds.
We share a common skepticism about religious claims. We simply don’t see the proof of god. There just isn’t any.
From there we see the tremendous damage done to humanity in the name of religion. This can be attributed to almost every religion, be it Judaism, Islam, Christianity or scores of others.
You say you are aware only of the one true god, as Muslims refer to allah. But, as pointed out in an earlier tweet, your lack of awareness of the literally thousands of other claimed gods does not mean the claims never occurred.
All of them are constructs of humans. They reflect the prejudices and fears of mankind. They frequently clash, not just with each other, but within the “holy” book of any given religion.
And someone still needs to explain to me why I should follow a religion for which there is not only no proof of the supposed all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing being, but one that is so incredibly predisposed to inflict pain on mankind.
If god were to suddenly reveal itself I would have no problem looking it in the eye and calling it a mean-spirited, hateful thing.
The bible and koran both have god authorizing rape of young girls. They both advocate murder, genocide and slavery. Where’s the goodness in that?
All I can hope for, Angelique, and for all religious persons, is that you step outside and look inward at what you are vested in so heavily. Look at the number of religions and their various claims and don’t be afraid to find a new answer to what’s real.
Thanks for listening.
Note: Moved from a different blog site. Original Post Date 11/09/2010
Today’s Washington Post has a story about members of ADAMS (All Dulles Area Muslim Society) waiting to hear what President Obama will say in a scheduled speech at Indonesia’s largest mosque.
The ADAMS group, according to WaPo, is one of the largest mosques in the U.S., with more than 5,000 families worshiping in a 25,000 square foot facility in a Northern Virginia suburb of Washington.
Imam Mohamed Magid finds himself worrying about Muslim’s place in American society after a year in which things have not gone well. Most recently it was a congregant of ADAMS who was arrested and charged with plotting to bomb several Washington METRO subway stations.
The Post reports that ADAMS quickly issues press releases denouncing extremism whenever there is news of an arrest or a foiled terror plot. This includes after the Fort Hood slayings and the arrest of its own member.
It is reported that the imam worries about the effect on how they are viewed in light of such events, but sees this as a trial by fire through which Islam will come out the other side as an accepted part of society.
Oddly, Magid compares the plight of Muslims to the tribulations of African-Americans, Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans, Polish Americans. These groups of people all had their problems integrating into American society, but they brought with them only different languages and customs, not a religion bent on the destruction of all others. This is not to say that Christianity hasn’t left its violent mark on the world. There’s too much history for any denial of such.
But we don’t have to repeat our mistakes. We can be smart and learn from history. There’s no reason we need to stand idly by as practitioners of Islam sneak their Trojan horse through the door by being the nice neighbor and inevitably demand that we accept their crazy version of what’s appropriate behavior. See the troubles facing English and German governments as Muslims demand their unique, human rights-unfriendly, ideas be enforced.
Christopher Hitchens wonderfully wrote that islamophobia is an incorrect usage to describe the feelings of right-minded folk regarding Islam, as a phobia is an irrational fear of an object or class. There’s absolutely nothing irrational about fearing a surging population of people across the world whose religion preaches violence against all who deny its supremacy.
Discussion of “extremism” without thinking all the way through to its basis is fatal. In the case of Islam, extremists are nothing more than literalist in their reading of the Koran. The Muslim living next door and generally acting within American societal norms, is only acceptable because he or she chooses to ignore the basic tenets of their chosen religion. The same applies of course, to a degree, to your Christian neighbor.
So Obama is stupidly going to speak to a large congregation of Muslims. He’ll say that the U.S. is a tolerant nation where all religions can coexist. Except what he should be doing is not even dignifying their religion with a single comment. He’s our political and economic ambassador, not our religious ambassador.
Note: Moved from a different blog site. Original Post Date 11/09/2010
According to a report in the AP, Indonesian Minister of Information Tifatul Sembiring is crying ‘she forced me to do it’ in response to a video showing him shaking hands with First Lady Michelle Obama.
The problem for him is that he touts his conservative Muslim values, which prevent him from casual touching of females not of his family.
This is just another example of the twisted, bizarre values promulgated by Islam and a fine example of ancient thinking. This is also a fine example of why the world should not only not accommodate Muslims, we should actively point out as publicly and unceasingly as possible all of their dignity damaging dogma.
