Religion is a poison. It is a cancer that eats away a person’s empathy and love. Instead of trying to learn to live with your fellow man, religions like Islam demands that those who believe differently be destroyed. Devoid of mercy or compassion, these murderous fools are willing to destroy their lives, and the lives of others, in the mistaken belief that a bronze age god cares about the mundane details of existence. The so-called “religion of peace” should rather be given the moniker of “religion of pieces”, for it seems some of their members have a hard time holding themselves together.
If you want a bunch of examples from one country just this month, look no further than Pakistan. The country has been rocked by multiple incidents over the past few days. It began in the early days of October, when 11 people were killed in a mosque in Kyber Pakhtunkhwa province. A few days later, another 5 lives were taken in a separate attack. Now, more recently in the city of Mastung, 50 people have been slain during a celebration in a mosque, victims of an unidentified group that no doubt had some petty theocratic dispute.
It’s a confusing act for those of us outside the faith. We forget that there are far more internal conflicts within Islam than with the secular world. Religion is not monotheistic, and the various interpretations are not confined to mere intellectual disagreements. To these deluded fools, the stakes could not be higher in their deadly game of pretend. I promise you that until humans have the foresight to reject these violent and dangerously insecure faiths, these tragedies will continue to happen with frightening regularity.
As I’ve spoken many times before, criticizing Islam is a tricky business. Accusations of racism abound, despite the fact that an idea, and not an ethnic group, is being attacked. There are few things as contentious as the Hijab, that restrictive piece of clothing forced upon women that suggests that the desire that men feel for them is their fault, and more importantly, their responsibility.
It should come as no surprise that constantly wearing a piece of fabric on your head, or all over your body, is not natural, and that there are consequences for doing so. A study in 2012 found that women who wear concealing clothing were likely to have serious vitamin deficiency, which would lead to a number of health problems later in life, including bone density issues, as well as muscle weakness. So, not only is the restrictive dress code of Islam bad for women psychologically, it turns out that it’s also causing a lack of vitamin-D, but it can also lead to serious hair loss, bad odors, and infections galore.
I’m sure there are still soft-headed idiots that will claim that restricting the choices of women is an important part of Islamic culture. This sort of excuse is ridiculous. The health and wellbeing of people is far more important than outdated, sexists traditions that seek to put limitations and control on the opposite sex. So, the next time someone wants to celebrate women wearing the Hijab (like making statutes celebrating it)*, you at least have something to show them.
*On a side note, the statue looks like someone trapped in an iron mask. Fitting, wouldn’t you say?
Islam is the world’s most insecure religion. Every other day, they are jailing, or even stoning, apostates and non-believers. Of course, if you start to point out how violent and insecure they are, you get instantly accused of “Islamophobia”, their magic word that’s used to silence any critic. The mere mention of racism is enough to stifle most soft headed liberals who retreat at the idea of hurting anyone’s feeling, or challenging their identity. It’s what has allowed this barbaric religion to continue to abuse and even kill those who oppose their homogony.
Their obvious bigotry has become so open now that Canadian Muslims have decided that it would be acceptable to hold a march AGAISNT gay and trans people. They are billing it as a “Million Man for Kids”. The Alberta Muslim Social Association’s facebook page claims that the organization “…was built to bring families together in a safe and fun atmosphere.” Well, it’s all fun and games until someone in your family isn’t controlled by their Abrahamic faith, or likes someone of the same sex. Then it’s time to destroy them. Just listen to their bullshit mission statement:
As someone once said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”, over the past few months, thousands of parents, community leaders and activists from the Abrahamic tradition and others have justly voiced their concern regarding gender ideology and the protection of kids demanding more control and transparency over school curriculums. These concerns haven’t stemmed from a place of hate but rather from the obligation of protecting and preserving our children and future generations.
The good news is that these clowns have had zero success in spreading the word of their hate-march. In fact, if you look at the comments on their page, it’s almost universally negative. If I had to guess, it’s doubtful more than a handful of these hate-mongers are going to show up. If you want to tell these assholes how you feel, don’t be shy! They deserve to know what we think of them.
During a scheduled debate between Lawrence Krauss and Muslim apologist Hamza Andreas Tzortzis (he’s the clown I spanked a few days ago over his supposed arguments for God), a fundamentalist group called the “Islamic Education and Research Academy” forced the students to segregate themselves according to their sex. A few students, who had decided not to observe this ridiculous custom, were being ejected for failing to comply with the misogynistic seating arrangements. Single women were being forced to sit in the back (so as not to tempt men who apparently lack any form of self control), despite previous assurances from the organizers that this would not occur.
After his courageous walkout, students were again allowed to sit wherever they wanted, and apart from this disruption, it seems as though the debate went smoothly (despite some objections from culturally backward assholes, that is). Thanks Dr. Krauss for standing up for what you believe in!
This video, hilariously titled “Dan Barker gets OWNED by Muslim Hamza Tzortzis”, showcases perfectly the kind of pathetic, nonsense arguments you get into when talking to these apologists. Tellingly, the video does not offer a chance for Barker to reply, so I thought I might do him that solid. Let’s take a look at his argument, shall we?
Asinine Assumption #1: We know God exists, so arguments for God isn’t “God in the Gaps”
Buying into a belief system doesn’t make it true. For something to be “proven”, it needs to pass a number of rigorous tests. The first, and most important, is falsifiability: the ability for an idea to be disproved. This is perhaps the most difficult concept for god-pimps like Hamza to understand. In their limited world view, they simply accept, with no real evidence, that their all powerful creator simply exists and his very nature defies all attempts to categorize him. Such a conceit must be rejected immediately without effort: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and a book inspired by an illiterate child rapist fails to impress.
Asinine Assumption #2: The specific wording of your God matters
When this guy starts blabbing on about how the word ‘the’ in ‘the merciful’ must inherently mean that God is superior to human beings, I just have to shake my head in profound disbelief at the childish nature of this kind of thinking. What the fuck does that prove?
Asinine Assumption #3: Islam invites differences of opinions, considers these a ‘mercy’
Either he’s deliberately being deceitful, or he’s decided to ignore the fact that Islam is still fighting its own theology with other variations of the faith. There has been very little ‘mercy’ in the way Sunni treat Shia, or Shia treat Sunni. And let’s not forget the efforts of the Taliban to destroy the cultural heritages of other faiths. Clearly, he’s in the minority opinion that his religion invites diversity.
Asinine Assumption #4: The Qur’an is a scientific book
This is a common trope of all religions: they claim their obscurist, vague book describes in detail real scientific phenomenon that would have been impossible for desert people to know. For instance, did you know that
1. Humans were created out of a clot of blood.
2. The Sun revolves around the Earth.
3. The Moon is further away than the stars.
4. Your sperm is produced in your spine.
5. Bees eat fruit, not pollen!
6. Birds fly because god wills it.
7. Mohammad flew into the heavens on a winged horse called Buraq.
8. Fresh water and salt water cannot mix.
Need I go on?
Asinine Assumption #5: We believe things based on testimony
If there’s one thing you can rely on, it’s the fact that human beings are the worst, least trustworthy witnesses around. Not only is memory a total wash: it’s notorious for fabricating things. In science, we actually plan for the human element, doing our best to take ourselves as much out of the equation as possible. The idea that knowledge is based on testimony is a religious idea, not a modern one.
Asinine Assumption #6: Islam has no problem with non-believers or apostates
The classic mistake most of these religious apologists make is that they assume their liberal interpretation of their religion is shared by others. That’s simply untrue. The fact remains the vast majority of Muslims do believe non-believers are doomed to hell, and apostasy is a crime punishable by death. Several Muslim countries have these laws in the books, and only international pressure has allowed the stay of executions for unlucky individuals who dare question the ‘truth’ of Islam.
Sorry, I’m a little confused now…who exactly got OWNED here?
With the glory days of Islamic enlightenment a long and distant memory, the only thing it seems this religion can muster is violent outrage these days. If it isn’t a piece of shit Imam claiming that all freethinkers should be prosecuted and jailed, it’s a bunch of religious thugs stirring up violence in order to remove any rivals. In Bangladesh, a country of some roughly 140 million Muslims, the outrage caused by the non-movie The Innocence of Muslims has given people an excuse to act out their violent opposition to other religious faiths. They’ve traded hurt feelings for burnt temples, as thugs set fire to 40 Buddhist temples, injuring 20 people (though luckily it appears that no one was killed). All they needed was the accusation of a Buddhist child having desecrated a Qur’an for the violence to erupt. It really is that easy to get them riled up.
Of course, it’s irrelevant the accusation turned out to be complete garbage: the fact remains their religious insecurities and insanity are a potent enough combination that one only needs to create a spark for this pile of rubber tires soaked in gasoline to be set ablaze. And rather like this noxious combustion, Islam seems poised to continue this campaign of terror, all under the false pretense of ‘hurt feelings’.
As some of you might remember back in 2006 with the Dutch cartoon controversy, the images of Muhammad had been out for some time before violence erupted. It was only when a few influential mullahs got their hands on them that the problems really began. And just like that situation was merely an opportunity for certain individuals to gain more power (and for others to gain an early ticket to oblivion), so too will the outrage industry of Islam continue to oppress other minorities, masking their systematic attack on other faiths as expressions of humiliation or marginalization. It’s time to see through this deception, and hold the people who exploit the insanity of this fucking religion accountable.
When you believe in a dogma without question, odds are you’ve managed to find fertile ground for your racist, sexist, or bigoted ideas. Like this South African man who apparently forgot apartheid wasn’t quite over:
A Muslim police officer in Johannesburg says his religion does not allow him to share a toilet with black colleagues, according to a report on Wednesday.
“I am a Muslim and they need to consider my religion. I have to sit when I urinate and I cannot use a dirty toilet. People are narrow-minded and I am a committed Muslim.”
While I’m not a fan of Islam, there isn’t even a theological justification for what this man is saying. He’s just simply a racist d-bag who happens to think everything Mohammad said was the word of God (except for the times when Satan was talking to him), and he wants validation for his shitty behavior through religion.
Don’t you also find it telling the way he tries to turn it around and accuse everyone else of prejudice? This strategy is pretty common in religious circles. These clowns think their beliefs make them a ‘race’, and it’s therefore racist to speak out against their unverifiable claims about the universe (Jews and Muslims make this accusation so often, it’s lost all meaning anyway). It takes guts to tell someone that they have no true understanding of what the word ‘race’ even means. What do you expect when you believe in things without evidence (or even in direct conflict with it)?
What do you do when your uppity, independent minded 19 year old daughter has the gall to refuse an arranged marriage with a stranger twice her age? Why, you burn her with a hot spoon, that’s what! What better way to preserve your cultural heritage than by torturing your loved ones into submission. Hey, isn’t that what Islam means?
Yusra Farhan won’t be winning any “Mother of the Year” awards, especially considering this isn’t the first time she’s been caught abusing her daughter. In Feb 8th, the whole troop was arrested after they tied the poor girl (who has not been named) to a bed and beat her mercilessly after she was caught talking to a boy. Since this violates their “Iraqi culture”, they decided that the best way to solve the problem was through ritualistic abuse. You know what they say: families that commit felonies together, stay together.
Remember last year when 24 people died because a US pastor made a public display of burning the Koran? Despite President Obama begging the guy not to do it, Pastor Terry Jones held a mock trial for the book, found it guilty of 3 crimes against humanity and set it on fire. Huge protests erupted in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, and like every crazy protest in these countries, a bunch of people got killed.
So despite everyone on Earth knowing how insane Muslims are regarding their fucking book, a bunch of NATO soldiers were discovered burning a few copies themselves. Admittedly, there was no malice in the burning; just the regular disposal of garbage. Of course, nothing done over there is ever simple, and when the locals discovered the fact that their shitty little book was getting cooked, they collectively lost it. Religious fundies were quick to stoke the flames, and the protest has spilled over to Pakistan (always looking for an excuse to burn American effigies, I suppose). So far, 2 foreign advisers have been killed (both by a armed Afghan police officer) and a number of protesters who tried to bomb a UN compound.
President Obama publicly apologized for what happened, but I have to wonder when we’ll stop feeding their insanity. The Koran is just a book; and like all religious tomes, it’s nothing but a collection of falsehoods and pointless platitudes. The fact that we continue to condemn any destruction of this book furthers their assumption that the Muslim faith is superior. Why else would the most powerful man on earth apologize for a few having been singed?
This week, Carisa joins me as we talk about the Westboro Baptist church getting hacked, the burning of a Koran in Afghanistan, and the Richard Dawkins / Archbishop of Canterbury debate.
It takes guts to stand up for what you believe in when you live in a repressive country. While we in the West enjoy the freedom to post nude photos of ourselves whenever we want, there are some countries – in this case Egypt – where doing so can get you in a lot of trouble. It was in the spirit of protest that Aliaa Magda Elmahd posted naked pictures of herself on her blog to highlight the fact that the country has no artistic representations of the female form. With Mubarak out of power, the country is in turmoil as the “liberals” try and fight off the growing power of religious fundamentalists, and Aliaa’s nude posts has divided a nation that is still struggling with deep rooted Islamic “values”
Her move comes as Salafis have been pushing their attitude that women should be kept out of the public eye, promoting Saudi Arabia-style segregation of the sexes. On Salafi parties’ campaign banners, photos of the few female candidates are replaced by drawings of a flower.
It’s no mystery that Islam has a serious problem with women’s bodies, and their sexuality in particular (why else would you smother them in a giant bed sheet?). As far as they are concerned, women should be out of the public eye and remain both submissive and ignorant. Aliaa’s moves has made the liberal camp nervous. Conservatives were quick to accuse liberals of corrupting morality, and while they’ve tried to distance themselves from her, the very values they espouse makes it difficult to condemn. This is still a country where women wear headscarves and almost never show off any skin. To display one’s naked body is tantamount to pornography there.
It’s difficult to ascertain how this will play out, but I worry for the safety of this young women. Honor killings are not uncommon in Egypt, and she’s already received threats on her life. No doubt some violent young man would like nothing more than to make an example out of her. I fear that the cost of such bravery may be too high.
Every so often, I hear someone claim that honor killings have nothing to do with Islam. While it’s true that the practice is actually older than the religion (it is, after all, the “new kid on the block” compared to the other two Abrahamic Religions), it seems as though this barbaric ritual has found fertile ground in this religion. While the practice has its roots in much older Arab patriarchal societies that tried desperately to control women’s reproductive rights, it’s now become a kind of punishment for any perceived infraction of their twisted morality.
Take the story of 17 year old Rand Abdel-Qader as an example: this young women had the misfortune of falling in love with a British soldier stationed in Basra, and when the family found out about the infatuation (the innocence of which cannot be overstated), they teamed up to strangle her to death and left her body in an unmarked shallow grave. Her father’s only regret now is that he did not murder his daughter while she was still an innocent child:
‘Death was the least she deserved,’ said Abdel-Qader. ‘I don’t regret it. I had the support of all my friends who are fathers, like me, and know what she did was unacceptable to any Muslim that honours his religion,’ he said.
‘I have only two boys from now on. That girl was a mistake in my life. I know God is blessing me for what I did,’ he said, his voice swelling with pride. ‘My sons are by my side, and they were men enough to help me finish the life of someone who just brought shame to ours.’
If you’re hoping for some kind of happy ending to this story (like this shitty father being incarcerated for murder), then I’m sorry to inform you that the cops were congratulating him for having the balls to kill his own child. The worst they’ve done is fire him from his job, although the local government official did give him money to lay low in Jordan for a while. Isn’t it nice to know you have the support of your community when you’re an infanticidal, religious douche bag?
If you’re planning to take a pilgrimage to Medina, you might want to make sure that you’re practicing “Islam” the way the locals want you to. That’s a lesson a Canadian Imam by the name of Usama Al-Atar learned rather painfully, as he was singled out from a prayer group, strangled, beaten, and then taken to jail.
According to CTV, he’s been released, but details are extremely sketchy. The police claim that he assaulted someone, but according to witnesses, the religious police found his praying to be “inappropriate” and quickly mobilized to silence him.
Let’s remember that Saudi Arabia is still the only country on earth where women aren’t allowed to drive or vote (although this is supposedly changing in 2015). Typically, this isn’t a very positive sign. Are we really that surprised that they would also mistreat foreign visitors, accuse them of crimes they didn’t commit, then lay bogus charges on them? What the fuck did this guy expect when entering one of the most religiously conservative countries in the world?
I hope this serves as a lesson for any other Muslim thinking of travelling to the country for a pilgrimage: in their eyes, you’re probably worshiping wrong, and they’re going to do something about it.
It’s hilarious how most Muslims are convinced that their restrictive religious repression of women is somehow intended to protect them. You hear this all the time in Islamic countries; they think we let our women “run around unprotected” while they “bravely” restrict every part of their lives in the misguided belief that it’s really all for their own good. The culture of Islam makes women seem like dangerous, seductive weapons that cloud the judgement of men. Why else would they execute victims of rape, if not to vindicate the idea that it is always the woman’s fault for seducing the rapist in the first place?
In the light of this prism, the slavery of women is viewed as an extension of man’s submission to God, but as the old adage goes: ladies first! Rebelliousness, seen in any light, is to be extinguished, as was the case with actress Marzieh Vafamehr, who found out herself living out the plot of her new movie “My Tehran for Sale“. The scenario involves a young woman struggling to live in a country of contradictions, where young people live secret lives together in a brutal religious theocracy. This important movie is currently being distributed on the sly, since the country has banned it.
According to an interview with the director of the movie, the government sought a number of bogus charges, including failure to cover her hair with a hijab, consuming alcohol on set, and being part of the production (she wasn’t). The sentence is the kind of thing you’d expect from a theocratic and misogynistic society: 90 red-hot lashes and a whole year of rotting in jail, all for the “crime” of acting in someone else’s movie. Considering the number of women that often fail to survive the aftermath of such unnecessary brutality, I hope she’s made of tougher stuff.
The contradictory nature of Iran is why there are really two pictures of this place: one filled with young women who live out their lives in a secret world that resembles our own, and the other populated by religious thugs who patrol the streets looking for these secret places. When these worlds clash, the only ones to bother talking about it tend to be Persian Christian Missionaries operating out of the Alpharetta, Georgia. Their presence there only exacerbates the situation of course; religion is precisely the problem in Iran. Another faith is hardly the solution.
We have to ask ourselves what we can do ourselves to expose the evils of this religion outside of the sphere of influence of Christianity. It’s our duty to see that the injustices of any faith are given the proper attention they deserve. Until we do, how can we continue to claim the moral high ground?
