A Broad Spectrum Of Disbelief

Here’s something that’s been bugging me, so allow me a little rant.

It seems like every time an atheist makes a comment about some aspect of religion that bugs them, they are quite forcefully and specifically told to shut up. Religion is not a topic one is supposed to discuss in polite company (along with politics and sex, and we know how often that rule is broken). Atheists are made to feel like every time they criticize theism, they are stepping over some boundary of propriety. Due to my upbringing, I often find myself gauging the sensibilities of my listener to see if I might offend them, but I notice that never does a Christian (I don’t have much contacts with Hindus, Muslims and members of other religions) stop and think before they “thank god” or “god bless me” or otherwise inject their religious beliefs into a conversation.

A Difference Of Degree?

You may or may not be aware of the recent clashes the Taliban influenced populace of Afghanistan has had with authorities over the inadvertent and unintentional disposal of a few Qu’rans, resulting in daily protests, suicide bombings and other violence. All over some janitor burning a few books that were probably in the way. I often wonder how this actually can seem to be so horrendous to the protestors that they would resort to such extreme measures to voice their discontent. I can’t imagine getting that upset over the loss of a book.

Islamic WTF?

People think we atheists pick on Christians too much, but tend to shy away from picking on Muslims. Actually, just about everything we object to, while often directed to some inanity of Christianity, could be easily extrapolated to any religion, because it’s theism that atheists don’t buy into.  Christianity is just the most pervasive form of theism on the planet, and a known target. In addition most atheists, if they were once part of a theistic community, were probably Christians, or at least live in a predominately Christian area. There are not a lot of formerly Islamic atheists out there. At least there are not many talking about it, even if they exist.

Thoughts On The Demise Of Bin Laden

One part of me says, “it’s about time”. The other part is somewhat sad. I guess you could describe it as mixed emotions.

Mark Twain once said

I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.

Epic Fail

Don’t get me wrong. This is not a post meant to disparage any religion, especially the Muslim religion. You know, the “religion of peace”.

Muzzammil Hassan was a cable TV producer, who set up his own cable studio to broadcast  shows that “promote[d] understanding of his Muslim culture”. He started the studio with his wife, Aasiya Hassan, the 37 year old mother of his two children. They wanted to counter the negative stereotypes of Muslims perceived by Americans since 9/11. On Feb 12, 2009, he stabbed her to death with two knives he had purchased about an hour earlier at Wal-Mart, six days after she had filed for divorce.

God is NOT great.

By now you’ve read about the latest Islamic Andy Warhol, looking for his 15 minutes and 72 virgins, who tried to set off a car bomb in Portland, Oregon during a public tree lighting ceremony, while shouting “Allahu Akbar!” – Arabic for “God is great!”. What’s with this Allahu Akbar!” shit?

I Get Email

PZ regularly posts some of the crazy email he gets to his blog. I’d love to be able to say I get the same shit, but I don’t. Oh, occasionally some whack job Christian shows up here, and leaves really odd comments (I’m looking at you, Gideon), but they usually do it right on the blog, rarely by email. I’ve gotten a few over the years, but never anything to get worked up about.

…A Lot Of Truth In That

Our Secretary of State, on behalf of her employer, has rejected the notion that religion can be defamed. That’s the official United States position before the world. A resolution condemning religious defamation has been proposed before the United Nations General Assembly. Amazingly, this proposal actually was endorsed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, by a vote of 20-17 (with 8 abstaining and 2 absent). One wonders what kind of minds operate behind that particular council.

Can We Give Texas Back to Mexico?

Texas has a fairly long history of being ruled by different countries, hence the term “Six Flags over Texas” (Spain, France, Mexico, Independence, US, Confederacy, and back to the US). Flying the current US flag these days over the Capitol in Austin seems to be contrary to the principles that resulted in the creation of that flag in the first place. Texas is quickly becoming the “Stupid State”, and because of its size and buying power, is trying to drag the rest of the country down into a pit of  religious based ignorance with it.

Book Burning

I guess I have some obligation to comment on the proposed September 11 Qur’an burning by some low rent superstition peddler in Florida who seems to be seeking his church’s 15 minutes of fame, presumably to increase his membership from 50 to 55.