Isn’t this the sort of thing the Taliban kills people over? We sure want to be like them, don’t we?
Support the Blog — Buy This Book!
For Kindle and with free ePub version. Only $9.49 Great reading.
Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
Put this ad on your blog!
Syndicate
Subscribe to Main Blog feed here:
Subscribe to Comments too (below):
Junk Email Filter
#26 Tired old argument that doesn’t make any sense
Some of the most immoral people I know are Christians. All those people who like to bomb abortion clinics and kill doctors are Christians. All those people who blow themselves up in crowds are God fearing Muslims. All these people feel that they have done good and are approved by their God.
How has their God brought good to the world? How has their God made them more moral?
I have found that Atheist’s and non-Abrahamic (Abrahamic = Christian, Jewish, Muslim) religious people to be much more moral than the typical Christian bible thumper. Buddhists have never tried wipe another people out because they aren’t Buddhists. There has never been a forced conversion by a Wiccan.
Even now there are some Mormon missionaries praying on the fears of my neighbor who is dying from cancer.
WWII was caused by a group of people who considered themselves good Christians.
be careful what you wish for, you may get it…..
# 27 BubbaRay said, “Got a source for those numbers?”
My kids 5th grade world history book.
your religion insults my religion…..
wait till that fires up the sides!!!!
#30
It’s because acts of violence by non-Abhramic religions is not widely reported in Western media. It still happens, lately in Indian Hindus have been killing Christians. http://tinyurl.com/6s2hqs Sadly we are not given a very good understanding of the world through school or media. It’s very one sided.
But regardless it doesn’t matter. What matters is the magnitude and acceptance of the behavior within the religion. That killing in the name of God is accepted in Islam in the Middle East makes it a much bigger problem than a small group acting on a limited basis. When you add to that another powerful idea like Nazism to the religion then you have a VERY big problem.
[Deleted — duplicate post — ed.]
“If the whole world becomes Atheist, we will have anarchy and people will lead a life of no fear on any repercussions for their evil deeds.”
Speaking as an Atheist, I am totally offended by your remarks. I am an ethical person without any need to believe in silly afterlife fairy tales. Maybe we should ban criticism of Atheism as well.
We should keep religious people in the asylums where they belong. I’ve always thought that churches, mosques, and synagogues should have locks to keep those people inside, so that the rest of us can truly feel safe on the outside.
Out of all the people in the world who are clinically insane, I have to give special credit to religious believers for having built their own asylums, some of which are quite beautiful and expensive.
#34 I didn’t use Hindus as an example because they are one of the bad apples. But even Hindu violence pales beside Christian, Jewish and Muslim violence. The whole caste thing is pretty screwed up as well plus they like to kill untouchables and not get put on trial for it. The Hindus killing Christians probably has more to do with them mostly being untouchables escaping their caste limitations.
This is a truly horrific step backwards. Just when we need to come together in the world and denounce all that separates us into Us and Them, the premier organization for unity is attempting to outlaw criticism of that which is more divisive than anything else in human history, religion.
If this comes to pass, I would hope that we secede from the U.N., let it devolve into a Muslim organization with exactly 57 nations, and start a new international federation. We cannot take huge steps backward like this and expect to survive as a species.
I disagree with bulldozing the UN building. It has long been a part of the New York City skyline and I’m not going to give it up for a bunch of moronic fundamentalists. Convert it to useful space for other offices or residential living quarters or some such. Or, convert it to the building to be used for the new international inter-governmental organization of peace that will replace the U.N. if this goes through.
Not surprising. When you liberalize other sins, then you have to invent new sins to replace them.
As an Atheist I am offended by the misconception that there has to be some great man in the sky for me to behave well. I live a very ethical life that has its own rewards here and now, not some future after I am dead. If heaven and hell is what you need to keep yourself in line then I feel sorry for you.
As far as the U.N. thing. correct me if I am wrong but for an actual binding resolution to pass the U.N. it has to be approved by the security council. Any member has veto power. Who here thinks that China, Russia, the U.S., The U.K. or France are all going to say yes to this?
I put this as some major F.U.D.
# 41 Jezcoe said, “As far as the U.N. thing. correct me if I am wrong but for an actual binding resolution to pass the U.N. it has to be approved by the security council.”
Even then, it isn’t law of the land in the U.S.
But what if I attend the “Church of Your Religion Sucks and You’re Whole Ancestry are Going to Hell”? Say that ten times with a mouth full of food.
Wouldn’t be surprised if it became law in the US too. Violating the Constitution is pretty normal for legislators. Recently they passed a bill to give DC a House seat.
#44 – I heard something about this. Now, Obama, being a Harvard Law guy isn’t going to sign this unconstitutional bill, is he?
CAN I ASK?
Will this STOP Muslims from killing CHRISTIANS, in the middle east?
NOPE..
There is a campaign to protest this type of crap. Everyone should get on board. They have a page on facebook but I they’re setting up a regular page soon, too.
http://facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=50200339561&ref=ts
Blasphemy Day International is an international campaign seeking to establish September 30th as a national day to promote free speech and stand up in a show of solidarity for the freedom to mock and insult religion without fear of murder, violence, and reprisal. It is the obligation of the world’s nations to safeguard dissent and the dissenters, not to side with the brutal interests of thugs who demand “respect” for their beliefs (i.e., immunity to being criticized or mocked or they threaten violence).
If you oppose this crap, spread the word for this day of protest!
#41 – Jezcoe,
I mostly agree with you, except for some minor points.
As an Atheist I am offended by the misconception that there has to be some great man in the sky for me to behave well. I live a very ethical life that has its own rewards here and now, not some future after I am dead. If heaven and hell is what you need to keep yourself in line then I feel sorry for you.
Yet, if that’s all that’s keeping some religious fanatic from killing me, I’ll be glad they have their religions. Unfortunately, it’s far more likely that for someone who needs god to tell them whether to kill, their god will likely say yes, immediately, and by stoning to death publicly and painfully.
As far as the U.N. thing. correct me if I am wrong but for an actual binding resolution to pass the U.N. it has to be approved by the security council. Any member has veto power. Who here thinks that China, Russia, the U.S., The U.K. or France are all going to say yes to this?
I put this as some major F.U.D.
You’re probably correct that any member has veto power. Unfortunately, I think we’ll have to count on China and Russia for this one. The U.S. is likely to go with anything that makes religion … shall we say … sacrosanct. France, already well on its way to becoming a Muslim nation, may also agree to this.
Quiz: Who can tell me why the U.N. millennium development goals for sustainability do not mention population reduction, not even by educating women?
Hint: 3 countries vetoed it. But, which three? And what connects them?
Here’s the answer, which can be decoded using ROT13 at this URL, simply paste the text below into the box and click cypher. (Yes, I’m deliberately making you work for the answer.)
http://rot13.com/
Answer to paste:
Vena, Gur Ingvpna, naq Gur Havgrq Fgngrf nyy bccbfrq nal zrnfher gung zvtug npghnyyl vapyhqr erqhpgvba bs ovegu engr, be jbefr, ovegu pbageby. Guvf jbhyq or n ivbyngvba bs tbq’f pbzznaqzrag gb or sehvgshy naq zhygvcyl*, naq vf vapbafvfgrag jvgu n gurbpenpl. (Ohfu jnf fgvyy va cbjre urer.)
* Bs pbhefr, guvf jnf ernyyl n zvfhaqrefgnaqvat. Tbq npghnyyl fnvq “or hfrshy naq zhygvcyrk.”
Final question: Any one out there so geeky they were able to read the ROT13 code without pasting onto the ROT13 site?
#46: Yes, you can ask.
This resolution won’t stop anyone from killing others even if they have no idea what religion the victim is, either.
# 46 ECA said, “Will this STOP Muslims from killing CHRISTIANS, in the middle east?”
No, and it won’t stop the ones who have murdered more in the last 100 years than all other groups combined. Atheists.
Unintended consequence:
Since (some) Theists insist that Atheism (see: not collecting stamps as a hobby) is (a) religion, would Atheists get the same treatment?
Or would their ‘eternal verities’ suddenly change, as many before (eating shellfish as a sin, e.g.) have?
J/P=?
Sorry, just picturing all the televangelists I once ran at a radio station doing a ‘perp walk’…..
#48 Misanthropic Scott
My point about a distant reward (heaven and hell) not being necessary for the establishment of society seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. I was addressing the belief that without a God of some sort everything would degenerate into an orgy of killing and blood and fire and I don’t know zombies maybe. It is a silly claim.
As far as making me work for an answer. I will address it here. Spoiler Alert.
Iran (according to the U.N. website) was last on the security council in 1956. The Vatican is only an observer nation with no voting status. So I am sorry I find your information dubious and could find no reference to it other than your code.
On another note. Yes the U.N. is kind of a useless organization. I believe that it drains the resources of some of the third world nations who have representatives there. I think it was P.J. O’Rourke who said that the only thing that the U.N. charter would actually allow is to repel an alien attack. That said, I believe that it is important to keep open lines of communication between nations no matter what is going on and until a better solution is proposed the calls to close the U.N. are shortsighted and a little idiotic.
@Paddy-O
Paddy you are such a troll. You know that atheist != communist. The governments you are bloviating about were communist dictatorships not atheist dictatorships. Were the Chinese communists atheists? Its not like their culture believed in Yahweh and Jesus to start with.
# 53 Improbus said, “Paddy you are such a troll. You know that atheist != communist.”
The guys in charge were militant atheist’s. Too bad you lack anything resembling an education.
Paddy-O, I find your reasoning a little dubious that it was atheism that caused the tragic killings you are talking about.
The Soviet Union I could equally put weight on poor government, anti- semitism, anti-science and a small power base (namely Stalin) doing whatever necessary to quell dissent.
China. I think that you can chalk a good portion of those deaths to Communism. The Great leap Forward contributed to the famine that killed an untold amount of people. You can put that on anti-intelectualism and the short sightedness of Mao more than any sort of Atheistic tendancies.
Same with Cambodia. It was the people who were educated that got killed first. To place the stupidity that the human race is capable of squarely on the the shoulders of a belief or a non belief in God is a poor argument to make. I think that it ignores too many factors about why the cultures that devolved into a mass killing phase did so. It is too simple to point a finger at one thing and say “Aha! That is it.” You do yourself a disservice make such a simple distinction.
BULLSHIT!!!
This is an old video. It hasn’t gone anywhere and the resolution has died. Most of the countries supporting this in the UN already ban any critical speech.
Dobbs is just another O’Reilly or Limbaugh wannabe. He can’t provide any audience unless he spouts extremist nonsense. Although posts like this are great fodder for the “hate” crowd, the more intelligent should not be fooled into Dobb’s bullshit.
#3, Cow-Patty,
Stupid arse that you are.
Bardot was fined for fostering “hate for an identifiable group”. She was not criticizing the Muslim religion, whether or not it requires criticism is another matter. She was fined for fostering hate.
An even more famous case was when Ernst Zundel was expelled from Canada for promoting hatred towards Jews. Somehow advocating that all Jews deserve to die is not covered by freedom of speech.
#57 “The guys in charge were militant atheist’s. Too bad you lack anything resembling an education.”
That would be “militant atheists”. Seems you are the one lacking an education.
And your argument that millions of people died because of atheists is like saying millions of people died because of left-handers. There’s no causal link, and your argument fails. Try again.
# 58 Jezcoe said, “Paddy-O, I find your reasoning a little dubious that it was atheism that caused the tragic killings you are talking about.”
And I find it dubious when someone says that “religion” caused killings. Ultimately, people kill…