More Proof That The ‘Religion Of Peace’ Isn’t Peaceful…
7 February 2010 by KA 
The madness that is Muhammad strikes, and strikes again. It induces a rabid frenzy in its followers, and rains horror upon believer and non-believer alike:
Thousands mourn Karachi bomb dead
Thousands of mourners have attended funerals for those killed in a double bomb attack targeting Shia Muslims in the Pakistani city of Karachi.
The death toll from Friday’s bombings rose overnight to 33, with 165 injured.
A police official told AFP news agency more then 10,000 people had attended a funeral for 14 Muslim victims. Five Christians are to be buried later.
The attacks – the second at a hospital where victims of the first attack were being treated – targeted Shia pilgrims.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appealed for calm amid fears of growing tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
Security was tightened in Karachi as the mourners gathered.
Security in a predominantly Muslim country where all sorts of crazies are running about ready to kill and die for their ridiculous beliefs must be a nightmare. And especially in Pakistan, a country primarily founded on Islam.
And by all accounts, Pakistan is among some of the worst offenders when it comes down to any kind of tolerance whatsoever:
An old blasphemy law, which was written in 1927 during during colonial days, banned insults directed against any religion. In 1986, dictator General Zia-Ul Haw modified the law to protect only Islam. The law require a life imprisonment or a life sentence for anyone who defiled the name of Muhammad or committed other blasphemy. In 1990, a religious court ruled that the penalty for crimes under the law (Section 295-C of the country’s Constitution) is execution. 6 The law states: "Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by inputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly defiles the sacred name of the Holy prophet Mohammed…shall be punished with death and shall be liable to a fine." The law is being used in Pakistan to discriminate against religious minorities: largely Christians, and Ahmadis. Under the present law, a Muslim may blaspheme Christianity with impunity. But a Christian doing the same against Islam can theoretically be executed.
Small wonder that these uglinesses continue, considering that Pakistan was a country born in the blood of its people. The body count continues, and the texts of alleged ‘holy books’ continue to cut swathes through the populace to this day.
Religion – it brings out the best in people? When? Never. It’s gotta go.
Till the next post, then.
7 February 2010, on 11:51 am
It’s gotten to the point where I am surprised when I meet someone who in a good person in spite of their religious
convictiondelusion.7 February 2010, on 1:04 pm
Pat Condell’s latest rant is related to this topic. Whenever Islam is criticized, even liberal atheists jump to their defense…but is “multiculturalism” giving Islam the upper hand? Seems like they are counting on us suckers to “tolerate” them into power. And many in the media is afraid to call it what it is…religious acts of violence…an ‘inquisition” of sorts.
7 February 2010, on 3:22 pm
Sometimes just thinking about religions…especially the Western, Abrahamic variety…and the various original fucktards (totally bat-shit Prophets, Gospel writers, various priesthoods, etc.) that wrote and assembled all the insidious bullshit that has totally fucked up the World for thousands of years; a list of those who SHOULD have been either not conceived, aborted, miscarried…or even drowned at birth, comes to mind.
Guess who’s among the top fucktards on my list!
Hint: One begins with a capital “M”.
I still maintain that religions, in their frequent, outrageously stupid, child AND adult abusive, totally vicious doctrines, are CONCEPTUALLY insane!
IMNSHO…Unless the human race SERIOUSLY wakes up…SOON…and TOTALLY goes through a sort of “detox” and recovery from all addictive religious fucktardness; there’s not really much hope for man’s future on this planet. The planet, of course, will go on just fine without all of man’s selfish insanity. My ever increasing cynicism shows no sign of abatement with all the various religiously motivated shenanigans that CONTINUE to progress towards a total human train-wreck.
Just watching, fr’nstance, OUR government’s utterly stupid, totally spineless and corrupt, political insanity (i.e. the Corporate ‘owned’ politicians_on both sides of the aisle), Leiberman, the ‘C’ street assholes, Bachman, ‘Tea baggers’, ‘Birthers’, Palin, etc.) doesn’t help!
Yada, zama…pardon my ranting…
Gee, thanks KA!…I needed this subject today! (snark!)
Oh, and fuck today’s Super Bowl too! Like that ultra-greedy, Corporate manipulated, ultra-macho, testosterone driven, obviously violent, even blatantly childish, essentially animalistic shit really matters in the Universe…?
Not to mention the often extremely dumb half-time advertising crap …and speaking of religion…CBS’s asinine choice to run a fucking fundie driven, anti-choice ad.
[Kidding, of course?...well...sorta!]
7 February 2010, on 4:38 pm
“…directly or indirectly defiles the sacred name of the Holy prophet Mohammed…shall be punished with death and shall be liable to a fine.”
“Liable to a fine”? Once again, Python is right about religion.
Matthias: Look, I don’t think it should be a sin, just for saying “Mohammed.”
[Everyone gasps]
Muslim Official: You’re only making it worse for yourself!
Matthias: Making it worse? How can it be worse? Mohammed! Mohammed! Mohammed!
[Matthias gets stoned to death]
Muslim Official: AND a thousand dinar fine! Happy now?
7 February 2010, on 7:00 pm
^^Bill, I missed that when I read it before. That truly is laughable, and your paraphrasing of Monty Python is spot-on.
What do you do when you insist on holding onto beliefs that cannot stand up to criticism? Kill off those who provide the criticism.
And when Muslims aren’t killing of the non-believers, they’re killing each other off over something that will never be resolved–who’s the appropriate successor to their revered child molester. Insane.
How anyone can say “religion of peace” w/out an ounce of irony is beyond me.
8 February 2010, on 10:50 am
We know it’s stylish, or at least PC, to try to treat all religions equally. Living in central USA, I’ve only met a couple of Muslims, both of whom seemed harmless and nice enough. But it’s ridiculous to pretend a westerner is just as safe from violence from Muslims as, say, Hindus or Jaines.
All supernatural religions are based on a fallacy, but some advocate violence while others are precisely the opposite. I know who, all else being equal, I’d rather have as a neighbor (assuming I can’t chose a fellow atheist).
I’m disturbed by freethinkers who lean over backwards to be especially nice to Muslims. A significant number of Muslims are trying to kill us.
8 February 2010, on 12:02 pm
littlejohn – do you have any documented instances of Jainists committing violence?
8 February 2010, on 2:41 pm
I think part of what makes Islam so scary is the number of nations which not only almost fully embrace it, but which enact laws according to its most violent precepts. While I doubt your average, run of the mill Muslim has a death wish for me or anyone else, they do belong to a religion which endorses and calls for acts of violence and which largely seems to be run worldwide by its most militant adherents. The pleas for accepting Islam as a religion of peace seem to come from two camps: those who truly are moderate and who are shamed by the horrific acts done in the name of their faith but who still cling to it nonetheless and those are crazy asshats.
And KA, I think what littlejohn was saying that Muslims are much more likely to commit acts of violence than Hindus or Jaines, not that they are as likely to cause the violence. At least, that’s how I read it. Or, alternatively, perhaps he was saying that Jaines and Hinds are as likely as Westerners to be on the receiving end of violence. Maybe he’ll clarify or us.
8 February 2010, on 8:52 pm
Muslims and other afterlife believing god-botherers hate this world. They live to die and for the wish of going on to another supernatural world with their imaginary sky boss and whatever else they imagine goes along with that in this other realm. Yet they want to deprive us of living peacefully in the real world they hate. They off themselves and take some “heathens” with them, with the intention to purposely send them to hell to eternal sufferings and the survivors cheer on such atrocities against non-believers. Crazy stuff…and disturbing. They want to be in charge of this world they despise, and to take us out of this world they despise as they long for a magical place of their ancient mythological stories.
9 February 2010, on 5:29 am
It seem that a religion and culture that acts this way, has a psychological need to; this is how they get their power. I suspect that if their standard of living improved and they could consider themselves wealthy and or at least middle class educated citizens they would be less sensitive about their religion and less apt to perform atrocities. In Islamic countries there doesn’t seem to be a middle class and most live one step from the life of our ancestral cave man. This is why many have immigrated to Europe and America as a way of taking themselves out of the gutter. The problem is that although they now are subjects of a more democratic society they still cling to the old ways. This has been a problem for all new immigrants coming to democratic societies. They just don’t see the logic in: “when in Rome do as the Romans do.” Hopefully, the second generation of these immigrants will adapt to their new environment, melding into our culture and cutting the umbilical cord of their cave man like theocratic homeland. They must be made to realize that “when in Rome do as the Romans do;” and there shouldn’t be any if, and or butts about it. We must not react with fear of their potential war dancing, with feather in cap and beating drums. “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” Their attempt is to make us fear them.
In Hitler’s Germany they would have burned down their Mosques and put them all in concentration camps.
9 February 2010, on 7:45 am
“Religion – it brings out the best in people? When? Never. It’s gotta go.”
Have you overlooked the history of the 20th century? The most secular with many regimes that banned or persecuted religion, and also the highest rate of killing on record. From Honecker to Pol Pot, they have the blood of innocents on their hands.
It may be that religion is associated with violence in many cases, but you need to get a sense of scale. If that argument were used to ban religion, and the violence increased – it turned out that it was not the religion that was the problem, you would not have done humanity a service.
9 February 2010, on 2:58 pm
@KA: I think I didn’t make myself clear. I’ve never heard of a single act of violence by a Jaine. They are famous for their distaste for violence.
I suspect if you did a survey of penitentiary inmates in the US, you’d find virtually all of them believe in God, and consider themselve either Christian or Muslim.
I doubt you’d find many Hindus, Jaines, or atheists. So much for the You-Need-Xianity-to-Behave-Yourself argument.
9 February 2010, on 6:04 pm
Hitler tops the charts, & he was religious, so no, I haven’t ’skipped’ the 20th CE.
I’ve got a great sense of scale. It’s the lack of scale that most people miss when it turns out their favorite fairy tale is no excuse for anything.
You got the wrong guy. I don’t blame religion for anything, anymore than I’d be stupid enough to blame secularity for the bad behavior of people. I blame the people.
Religion’s gotta go, because it grants people immunity or favoritism, it creates an unequal playing field (the rules for 1 are the rules for all, & vice versa), & it provides a shield for the mentally unfit – folks who go on to do wild horrible shit & then everyone finds out hey, there were PLENTY of warning signs, but he kept babbling about gawd, so we let it slide.
Really, the basic premise for me, is that people use all sorts of excuses to do whatever good or bad they feel like doing, & religion’s the cheapest excuse of all, because it’s easier, everyone shrugs or grants a free pass when you holler ‘on high!’.
10 February 2010, on 1:48 am
Hitler was milder and shorter lived than Stalin and Mao, and the thinking of his regime was based on survival of the fittest.
You say in your reply that you don’t blame religion for anything, but you blog finished with “Religion – it brings out the best in people? When? Never. It’s gotta go.”
I think the word religion in your blog seems not to match the relevant categories. When you say “religion’s the cheapest excuse of all, because it’s easier, everyone shrugs or grants a free pass when you holler ‘on high!’” I struggle to know what you mean. Does this come from your personal experience?
There are mild, sane and useful people who have religious beliefs and also nutters. The same applies outside religion. Each denomination is a subculture, some will be found to have better outcomes than others.
On average is seems that religion makes people better adjusted: http://www.livescience.com/health/070424_religion_kids.html
Of course that’s only an average. I know of cases where people get screwed up by church. But that also means that it is beneficial for a large number of people.
10 February 2010, on 3:01 am
I don’t think anyone’s ever said ‘milder & shorter’ when talking about Hitler – ever. & his regime was based on the Christian blood libel of Jews, as well as the ’superior race’ – another legacy of the bible.
Also, that was social Darwinism, which is in its own category.
I think you need to look the word up.
Anecdotal evidence isn’t evidence, so no. & I think I laid it out, no ‘reading between the lines’ there. People get shorter criminal sentences if they’re religious. People get their children taken away if they’re not religious. Crazy people get into power because they hear voices. Priests get away w/fucking children. Dawkins points out in the god delusion, that if you’re a conscientious objector, you get tossed in the brig, unless you say it’s against your religion, then it’s free pass time! Hitchens pointed out in a debate, that you can get away w/almost anything, if you’re wearing reverend’s vestments.
Religion’s superstitious crap, & some of us think it’s past time that cart blanche is taken away, & everyone pays the same price or consequences for their actions.
This is no newsflash. Recently I did a post on the Militant League of Atheists – & note that Stalin originally tried to roust religion, & ended up bringing back the Russian Orthodox church. Look it up – it was in all the history books.
& as for ultimate excuses – when GWB declared ‘gawd told me to invade Iraq’, there should’ve been a full inquiry into his mental fitness as CIC, instead the US public seems to love this ridiculous nonsense.
I think that’s enough explanation.
10 February 2010, on 1:02 pm
KA is absolutely right. When religious people use Hitler as an example of the harm done by atheism and belief in Darwinian evolution, they’ve simply got their facts wrong. Hitler was a Catholic and frequently invoked God in his numerous speeches. “God’s With Us” was inscribed on every German soldier’s belt buckle during WWII. If you can force yourself through “Mein Kampf,” Hitler clearly rejected Darwin’s theory of evolution.
He simply wasn’t the Darwin-loving atheist Christians like to portray him as. His views were mixed, inconsistent and clearly insane. But he wasn’t one of us.
Mao and Stalin were atheists, and they were also evil and insane. That simply proves that being an atheist is no guarantee you’re a good person. I don’t think we ever claimed that it is.
10 February 2010, on 3:31 pm
Slightly OT; however…
You guys might find this interesting.
It’s an actual apology by an Ex-Christian gal…
“Former Christian Apologizes for Being Such a Huge Shit Head for all Those Years”
by Rechelle ~ January 27th, 2010…
http://mysistersfarmhouse.com/2010/01/former-christian-apologizes-for-being-such-a-huge-shit-head-for-all-those-years/
I think she pretty much sums up a whole caboodle of what many former Xtians, now atheist, feel…but never outright publicly express..?
Also…check out her “How I Became an Atheist – A Parable” link, at the bottom of the page.
[Kudos to Austin Cline for posting an article about it. (2/10/10)]
11 February 2010, on 3:02 am
I think the problem is greater than that of religion. It is faith that justifies atrocity. The faith may be one of the Abrahamic faiths. It may be faith in the unprovable propositions of Marxism or other ideology. Hitler, Lenin, Franco and Mao were all creatures of faith who committed mass murder. Buddhism was the preferred faith of the Japanese officer class in WW2 & the Sri Lankan ruling class in their oppression of the Tamils. Unquestioning faith in unprovable propositions justifies atrocity.
11 February 2010, on 4:46 pm
@Mark:
“There are mild, sane and useful people who have religious beliefs and also nutters. The same applies outside religion. Each denomination is a subculture, some will be found to have better outcomes than others.”
Simply stated, there are sane people and there are assholes. Religion doesn’t appear to have much to do with that. However, as KA points out, it’s easier for the assholes to get away with what they do in our society if they are able to invoke their faith as the backbone of their conviction. If an atheist had said that the earthquakes in Haiti had been the fault of the Haitians, he would have been laughed off the stage. Although a growing number see the problem with the outrageous claims of Pat Robertson, there are still a large number of people throwing great sums of money at him, encouraging this kind of deplorable non-sense hate-speech.
“On average is seems that religion makes people better adjusted: http://www.livescience.com/health/070424_religion_kids.html
“Of course that’s only an average. I know of cases where people get screwed up by church. But that also means that it is beneficial for a large number of people.”
It would appear that this study found a correlation, not causation, so more research would be warrented. In my case specifically, religion probably kept me out of some trouble growing up, but primarily because it scared the shit out of me. And frankly that fucked me up some emotionally, so I don’t think the pay-off was worth it.
Of course this study lends no credence to the veracity of religious beliefs. Non-sense is non-sense, and I don’t plan to lie to my children and tell them there is an invisible sky-monster watching their every move just because it might make them well adjusted.
14 February 2010, on 7:39 pm
@David Fisher – word.
Kind of like a loyal Obamaphile trying to justify his war spending and corporate handouts even though they have always otherwise critisized such crap.
14 February 2010, on 7:50 pm
Hitler’s regime was not based on the sonsept of survival of the fittest. It was based on bigotry and empirialism. Id advise against trying to use hitler as the relative good in a historical comparison in the future. Describing hitler as milder really isnt going to make you many friends, for good reason.
17 February 2010, on 1:14 am
@KA: I was interested in what you said about the Soviet Union and the readmission of the Orthodox church. I hadn’t heard that. But if you read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_Soviet_Union the view I was expressing is born out there: religion was suppressed because it was religion.
A Romanian friend of mine tells me of the persecution he and his family received from the teachers for believing in God. It seems pretty consistent with the Stalinist regimes.
And of course communist China is suppressing the Tibetan buddhists for their “superstition”.
There is a consistent picture there.
17 February 2010, on 1:15 am
@Fritzy: No-one should lie to their children. I tell me children what my beliefs are, and present evidence, but also tell them to investigate things where they can. But do you plan to tell your children the truth about the atheist regimes, or will you hold out the abolition of religion as the bright way forward, against the examples we have? Will you gloss over the anthropic principle of the universe? and the impossibility of the formation of the first cell from chemical processes? Will you present a materialistic view of the universe as fully proven when it is not? Will you use a God of the gaps argument when certain crucial gaps are getting bigger all the time?
I think what your church did to you is terrible, from your words religion probably kept me out of some trouble growing up, but primarily because it scared the shit out of me. And frankly that fucked me up some emotionally . My church doesn’t use scare tactics of a never ending hell. When you die you vanish. There will be a judgment at the end of the world, but there is no immortal soul that God keeps around to torture you forever.
I don’t think this is easy because the mind tends to tidy things up while reality is messy. If your life has been damaged by religion, that doesn’t mean that religion is always damaging. Since I have lived much of my life attached to a reasonably well-functioning church community my views are more positive. I hear lots of people saying how glad they are for their conversion and for their church.
But I can imagine that in the US where Christianity is more triumphalistic than here in Australia, it would get up many people’s noses. There is a local channel here in Brisbane where we see some of the televagelists. I’d rather hear my own church pastor any day. Those televangelists just turn me off.
17 February 2010, on 3:37 pm
& jews have been persecuted by everybody. & atheists get persecuted in the US (but it’s nowhere near as bad as the 2 prior examples).
Also the Falun Gong folks.
There’s also a consistent picture of religion persecuting religion, that’s gone on longer & has a higher body count (proportionate to the technological advances). The truth is that it’s more a matter of biology than ideology. You can thumb thru history books, & find that human beings are very much the same all around regardless of belief or dis-belief.
Not all atheists are communists, but all communists are atheist.
If you’re familiar w/Ayn Rand, she did a TV interview w/Phil Donohue, where she stated that there was too much mysticism embedded in the Russian culture, even in materialism.
25 February 2010, on 10:11 pm
KA
Nice post. I’m just getting back in service and have only one thing to add. I think the U.N. had determined that the nations of Islam had more deaths due to Moslems killing each other than western influence. The islamic wankers would like us all to believe and accept, carte blanche that Islam is a religion of peace. Nothing could be further from the truth.Unless of ccourse it is a truth they do not understand.