Creeping Sharia in Limerick, Ireland: censorship by the Limerick Leader

Free speech, and therefore free thought, appears to be dead in Limerick, Ireland.

Creeping Sharia?

Sharia in fact.

In response to the following news article I posted an apt response. That response was then censored.
http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/business/business-news/limerick-school-apologises-for-upset-over-charlie-hebdo-1-6564147

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Comment Removed:

In Response to Limerick school apologises for upset over Charlie Hebdo
"Creeping sharia, in the minds of the pseudo-liberals on the cultural left - turning them all into new-fascists.

Apology for the murder of artists, and for censorship of art artists were just barely murdered for.

Conflating religion with race, and race with being human. Doublespeak. Belief maintenance. Heresy trials.. Excommunication. All these things happen within the de facto fascist cult religion of the new left today.

Jim Jones.
David Koresh.
L. Ron Hubbard.
Joseph Smith.
Mohamed.

Charismatic charlatans all. Abusive cult leaders. But the WORST of these is Mohamed.

Additional related thoughts:

Leftist religion loves Islam and hates the West and the fruits of the Enlightenment

http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/01/leftist-religion-loves-islam-and-hates.html"

Moderation Team

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Here's a response I just posted on their site, a response which may also be censored:

Creeping sharia? Sharia in fact.

Free speech, and therefore free thought, and the ability to be an intellectually and emotionally honest human being is dead in Limerick.

Thank goodness your little speck on the Internet cannot control what happens nowadays. The editors and operators of this site are partners in abuse. Child abuse. Adult abuse. The abuse that comes directly from life within a cult.

DeWayne Wickham, Coward and Murder Apologist - Regarding Censorship of Charlie Hebdo

Greetings,

I am writing to file a complaint regarding the following employee of Morgan State University: DeWayne Wickham. The main focus of my complaint is one of journalistic malpractice, where this man who's the head of the journalism department in my view advocates for the murder of artists - such as the artists recently murdered at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

A journalist should report the facts, not censor them. It's not your job to treat religion and cults with kid gloves, or to "protect" people from well-founded honest opinions about religions and cults.

Recently Mr. Wickham published the following article in USA Today:

Wickham: 'Charlie Hebdo' crosses the line
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/01/19/charlie-hebdo-cross-line-free-speech-covers-islam-limits-wickham/21960957/

Here's my reply to that article:

De facto apology for, and support for, murderers and their actions. In the wake of the murder of 12 people this is the best you can do?

Papers which refused to show the art of artists just barely murdered for their art need to find useful apologists for their despicable and cowardly actions. USA Today has such a man on staff apparently.

Want to know about Islam? Ask an ex-Muslim. You'll get more honest answers about the totality of the situation. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, Maryam Namazie, Salman Rushdie, Walid Shoebat, and so on. Also you'll get more honest answers from people who left other cults such as Mormonism. Ex-Mormons usually more easily sympathize & empathize with the plight of people in other cults. The two main differences between Islam & Mormonism are time-since-founding and that the core edicts of Islam are more dangerous & destructive & abusive than Mormonism.

Apology for murder. Apology for censorship. Apology for having a new de facto sharia, a new "Islamic-State-Light" in America and Europe. That's what people like DeWayne Wickham are apparently advocating for.

As for me I'll stand with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, Maryam Namazie, Salman Rushdie, Walid Shoebat, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Steven Pinker, Sam Harris, and Caroline Fourest.

Here's a related article by Ms. Fourest:
Violence Against Charlie Hebdo: The Globalization of Moral and Intellectual Confusion
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-fourest/violence-against-charlie-_b_6509802.html

Cowardly "journalists" who aren't really journalists quickly apologize for murder and their own pusillanimous actions, search, find, and scratch for every possible reason for their cowardly actions. It's lame - but you're part of the "old media." Old-media is who's doing the censoring of art artists were just barely murdered for. Thank goodness for the Internet, where we need not ask amoral cowards to be our filters.

The "left" really does *nothing* to help Muslims leave the abusive cult they're in. So-called "journalists" stand by and watch murder happen, and then quickly go on and apologize for (and de facto support) the actions of the murderers. It's your job to report on the facts - that's it - not to be cowardly rear-end-covering filters in the wake or terrible murder and murder-enabled artistic censorship.

Additional related articles:

We Are Charlie: Free Speech v. Self-Censorship
by Douglas Murray
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5016/charlie-hebdo-attack

Charlie Hebdo stood alone. What does that say about our ‘free’ press?
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2015/01/charlie-hebdo-stood-alone-what-does-that-say-about-our-free-press/

Salman Rushdie on Charlie Hebdo: freedom of speech can only be absolute
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/15/salman-rushdie-on-charlie-hebdo-freedom-of-speech-can-only-be-absolute

Charlie Hebdo Editor To Chuck Todd: When You Blur Our Cover, 'You Blur Out Democracy' - Hebdo Editor Scolds Outlets For Not Showing Cover: ‘You Blur Out Democracy’ With Censorship
http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/18/hebdo-editor-scolds-outlets-for-not-showing-cover-you-blur-out-democracy-with-censorship-video/

Men Without Chests: How C.S. Lewis Predicted Charlie Hebdo Censorship
http://thefederalist.com/2015/01/08/men-without-chests-how-c-s-lewis-predicted-charlie-hebdo-censorship/

Sam Harris' new entry on the murder of Hebdo artists, and the subsequent censorship.

After Charlie Hebdo and Other Thoughts
http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/after-charlie-hebdo-and-other-thoughts

Leftist religion loves Islam and hates the West and the fruits of the Enlightenment

"I am an Islamophillic leftie and you cannot change my mind. You can show how the Quran and Mohamed are reprehensible and evil, you won't change my moral and cultural relativist mind. You can advocate that we really stand up for the value of comedy, satire, and art which help free people from mental and physical slavery, and you still won't change my Islamophillic tendencies. I love Islam and hate Ametica, the West, and the Enlightenment, and I'm a traitor to all three. Mohamed was an advocate for social justice and women's rights. And all things are relative. Plus I belong to a de facto death cult that advocates for very low rates of reproduction, so in the end the brain washed people will of course win!"

...says your average watcher of Democracy Now(?), and appreciators of Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky, Glenn Greenwald, and Reza Aslan. Also your average BBC, New York Times, MSNBC, CNC, Sky News, Toronto Star, CBC, and PBS Newshour editor. And your average UU member or leader.

So the left has their denialist de facto religion with dogma, heresy trials, and excommunication also.

PBS Newshour censorship of Charlie Hebdo art people died for!

PBS Newshour refused to show the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo. Here's the complaint I just filed with them:

Regarding your refusing to show the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo: The PBS Newshour is complicit with murder, and is acting as apologists for murder.

12 people just died for god's sake!

Excellent clarity from Douglas Murray:
https://youtube.com/user/DouglasMurrayArchive

Related complaint sent to the BBC regarding censorship of Charlie Hebdo:
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/01/complaint-sent-to-bbc-regarding.html

The above referenced complaint also relates directly to the PBS Newshour.

"Old media," such as the Newshour can go the way of the Dodo (no offense to Dodos). Your main audience appears to be Luddites with no access to the Internet.

Latest issue of Hebdo available online

http://issuu.com/charliehebdo/docs/charlie_hebdo_14.01.2015_no1178

Very good lines on paper. Blood paid for this issue.

The future belongs to those who slander, and draw outrageously funny cartoons about, the prophet of Islam.

Children in Islam reportedly love Mohamed more than their parents - the sign of a cult.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30790412
"...for a Muslim, the Prophet Muhammad is more important than their own parents..."

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From Indian TV:

Paris attack: Taslima Nasreen says freedom of expression is absolute

Speaking on the killing of Charlie Hebdo journalists, Bangladeshi author said that the freedom of expression is absolute and that the state failed to act against radicals.

Video at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/video/paris-attack-taslima-nasreen-says-freedom-of-expression-is-absolute/1/412838.html

Islamofactia.

Islamotruthia.

Quite true that the left is out to lunch on this issue.

More info recently found:
https://www.youtube.com/user/DouglasMurrayArchive/videos

According to Mr. Murray behind closed doors European leaders know the truth. But they dare not speak it in public.

We don't need you to censor truth and facts on our behalf. We don't need you to be our filters of reality, and to hide us from the truth 12 people just died for.

Complaint sent to the BBC regarding censorship of Charlie Hebdo

Hello,

I am writing to make a complaint regarding the BBC News division, and the matter of your choosing to now show copies of Charlie Hebdo.

It's almost as if you view these papers as a type of pornography. You also don't show graphic images of sexual activity. And also you refuse to show caricatures of the Islamic prophet Mohamed, even after several deaths of associated publishers & so on.

This is outrageous and highly immoral, these actions of yours.

You're not reporting the news. Your censoring it. Managing it.

You're acting in this matter very much like "old media." New media remains relevant because it's uncensored and often unfiltered.

We don't need the BBC to filter our eyes from sexuality. And we don't need the BBC to filter our eyes from caricatures of Mohamed.

Islam is not a race, it's a religion. I am an ex-Mormon and so I know what it's like to believe in a charismatic charlatan prophet. Joseph Smith had a 14 year old wife & he was married to women who were still legally married to other men. Mohamed had a 6 year old wife, and he was a warmonger & murderer.

So the bottom line is that you're not reporting the news accurately. Instead you're acting as a lame old-media-style filter. And you're acting as an enabler for murder.

Your actions in this matter essentially are complicit with, and an act of apologetics for, murders. And for what? For lampooning the prophet of a religion. An abusive religion. A religion which never had a Reformation, or maybe it's having one now with our help. But it will only have one effectively if we are willing to be honest, and to treat Islam with the same level of criticism we use for other religions.

We don't need your help to keep us from cartoons, especially when the cartoonists involved were murdered for what they drew.

Publish images of the latest issue of Hebdo.

p.s. Hebdo applied a near equal level of scrutiny toward all religions. That's the way it should be. Why should everyone be required to treat Islam with kid gloves? Because it's people are supposedly oppressed, or because it's a "race," or because angry Muslims will try & kill us for being critical of Islam? Which is it?

Muslims are oppressed by their own religion, and by the fact that Islam *never* had a proper Reformation like Christianity did. Maybe Islam is having it's Reformation now (where afterword it can have it's big boy pants on and be able to deal with cartoons like adults instead of like spoiled little brat kids) - but it will only have an effective reformation if we're willing to be honest about Islam.

Islam is not a race, it's a religion.

Everyone should be perfectly willing to be critical if all other religions.

Leftists often don't know what it's like to live in real religions, such as Mormonism, Islam, Scientology, the Jim Jones or David Koresh cults, and so on. All they know is about the light & fluffy stuff they hear in Anglican or Unitarian Universalist meetings. But those are no longer *real* religions, where people really *are* brain washed.

What's one key sign of a cult? When children view the cult leaders as being more important than their families.
In Islam children are taught to value Mohamed more than their parents.

That's abusive, and a key sign of a cult.

Can we handle honesty? Apparently some of us cannot. But news orgs should not keep of from cartoons of all things! Especially when the associated artists were murdered for their work.

Muslim Sex Slaves: Sex Neaks Out, even in the otherwise repressed Muslim brain, albeit in highly dysfunctional ways

The sex slave women can be "...naked from the waist up..." Ok, so not that I'm not already for all women being in such a state (naked from the waist up at all times - not a so-called "sex slave"), it's clear that lust finds it's way into the brains of the muftis in Mecca and into the woman in the following video. Too bad they're so fucked up that they cover themselves & their kin in bags. But sex sneaks out, albeit in incredibly dysfunctional ways. And because they're so repressed they engage in incredible acts of misdirected anger AKA 9/11.

Reza Aslan is the Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth; & more on Mormonism

Comments on Reza Aslan news book: Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

Also on the Mormon Church History Museum, & the Mormon Pioneer Trek program

July 18, 2013 - 7:40am

More info: http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/
Pages by a friend with more info on Mormonism & Islam: http://nowscape.com/

Related books:
Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed at All
by David Fitzgerald
http://www.amazon.com/Nailed-Christian-Myths-Jesus-Existed/dp/0557709911

Aslan's book:
http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X/

Debate between Sam Harris & Aslan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKjcvZoxT9Q

Bart Ehrman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_D._Ehrman

Life of Brian film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCd-ogwLQ38

Tariq Ramadan to speak in Salt Lake City - commentary

The Salt Lake City Public Library & several other public & private groups have invited slick Islam apologist Tariq Ramadan to speak. Speech title: "Islam and Human Rights: How will the Arab Spring bring Peace to the Middle East?" Some of the sponsors of his March 20, 2013 visit: Friends of the City Library, University of Utah, Westminster College, Gandhi Alliance for Peace, with more listed at http://www.slcpl.lib.ut.us/events/view/1965/

My commentary in response:

Links, videos, and books for your research:

Ibn Warraq's review of a book by Caroline Fourest on Tariq, a book entitled Brother Tariq: The Doublespeak of Tariq Ramadan. Book review: http://www.city-journal.org/2008/bc0229iw.html
                       
Ibn Warraq speaking at the Secular Islam Summit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lTjhxBk_b8

In the book Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Christopher Hitchens wrote the forward. On page xviii Hitchens states the following about Tariq Ramadan:

...end of quote.

Here are links to views & videos critical of Ramadan's views & history:

Article including an interview with Fourest:
http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk/home/?q=node/236

Tariq Ramadan’s Arab Winter by Samuel Helfont
http://www.newrepublic.com/book/review/tariq-ramadan-islam-arab-awakening#

The Flight of the Intellectuals: The Controversy Over Islamism and the Press by Paul Berman
http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Intellectuals-Controversy-Islamism-Press/dp/1935554441

Terror and Liberalism by Paul Berman
http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Liberalism-Paul-Berman/dp/0393325555

Panel discussion: Independent Voices on the Middle East, which includes Paul Berman and Ibn Warraq
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD4MXr-wEzU

Ibn Warraq and Paul Berman talk about "Is the West Best?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOO2-yflku0

Ibn Warraq's review of Fourest's book on Ramadan:
Brother Tariq and the Muslim Hoods: Towards a Taxonomy of Islamic Subterfuges
http://www.newenglishreview.org/Ibn_Warraq/Brother_Tariq_and_the_Muslim_Hoods%3A_Towards_a_Taxonomy_of_Islamic_Subterfuges/

NER Interview with Ibn Warraq - The Albatross of Liberal Guilt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yQc9yx519M

Christopher Hitchens and Tariq Ramadan Debate: Is Islam a Religion of Peace?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA5CXjS05pU

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has debated Ramadan in the past on more than one program. Hirsi Ali worked on the film Submission (a film critical of Islam) for which Theo Van Gogh was killed. Thus Hirsi Ali's views are a counterweight to that of Ramadan's.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaking at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies. Has a lot of great background & research info which is critical of the apporach of people like Ramadan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKv2CRreXI4

Hirsi Ali responding to questions at Ohio State University - further background info:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmIBFTEUqz4

Additional background info from Hirsi Ali on Islam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe_cuzsmmHU

Irshad Manji debates Ramadan about cartoons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cLDNPgg-Uw
part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjrBYYLhU30

My own blog post on all these issues:
Liberal Socialist Democrats against Islam - yes we are here too
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2013/02/liberal-socialist-democrats-against.html

I frankly feel like all the groups who are sponsoring Ramadan's Salt Lake visit have been hoodwinked by his charms, charisma, and slick presentational style. Your own presuppositions have allowed you to be sucked in. But, the City Library is a public institution, and as such they're subject to public comment about events and about how public money is spent.

So, how about having Ayaan Hirsi Ali or Sam Harris in to speak about "Islam & World Peace" and how to achieve it? Hiding the truth & facts about Islam & it's founding prophet is not a path toward peace. Neither is forcibly sticking our heads in the sand. Honesty, and being willing to state that the emporer has no clothes is perhaps the most important thing we can do in this case, and in the case of all religiouns founded by charismatic charlotans.

Discrimination again atheists in Islamic countries

Moohamed didn't like detractors. In his Quran he states:

"...4:56 Lo! Those who disbelieve Our revelations, We shall expose them to the Fire. As often as their skins are consumed We shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment. Lo! Allah is ever Mighty, Wise..."
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/4/index.htm#56

Even today, in Islamic countries atheists are threatened with death or jailed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination_against_atheists#Islamic_countries

For example, we have the case of Alexander Aan - jailed in Indonesia for posting "God does not exist" on facebook. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Aan

Group advocating his freedom:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/307997139292825/

Lars Hedegaard - Danish journalist narrowly escapes death:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2273988/The-bullet-flew-past-ear-Danish-anti-Islam-writer-narrowly-survives-doorstep-assassination-attempt.html#axzz2KnjRINo9

A quote from Mr. Hedegaard:

“Criticism of religion is not only the starting point of all criticism. It is the prerequisite of any kind of criticism. In a society where religion cannot be criticized, everything becomes religion from the length of your beard to what hand to use when wiping your backside. Where there is no criticism of religion, life and society in their entirety become religious and the littlest squeak against the existing order is an act of blasphemy.”

Additional info:
http://www.economist.com/news/international/21567059-ex-muslim-atheists-are-becoming-more-outspoken-tolerance-still-rare-no-god-not

Info about other people persecuted by Islam - about Theo Van Gogh, Salman Rushdie, and 9/11 liberals:
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2013/01/sam-harris-on-when-crazies-get-guns.html

Happy World Hijab Day! It's gonna be a good one.

Hey. Guess what? It's World Hijab Day!

News about the issue:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21283301

And a very appropriate response:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160709130948/http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/2013/02/01/world-hejab-day/

From Maryam Namazie:

"What next?

Maybe we can all try to mutilate our daughters on World Mutilation Day or marry off our girls on World Child Marriages Day? How about a day when our male guardians can track our whereabouts to make sure we aren’t leaving the country.

I know adult women have a right to wear the hijab (given the threats and compulsory nature of it in most places – this is very often just a formality but nonetheless) but to ask others to wear it is a tad absurd – if I’m being polite.

I am sorry but I don’t think I am the cause of fitna/chaos in the world and therefore find the veil abhorrent.

So here is my tribute to the hijab..."

Click here for the original article. The above image comes from there.

Videos with Maryam:
https://www.youtube.com/results?q=Maryam+Namazie

Here's a related video by Tawfik Hamid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxfo11A7XuA -- about how sexual repression in Islamic cultures has bad effects on men & women.


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February 2nd addendum:

I found a discussion board on the issue, where UK soldiers seem to hang out:
http://www.arrse.co.uk/naafi-bar/193904-world-hijab-day-2.html

And also check out where some Islamists are chatting about the issue:
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?101696-Feb-1st-World-Hijab-Day

Here's a relevant quote from the second site:

"...Islam and muslims have a hugh PR problem in the West. We need to help non muslims understand our religion and Islamic culture. Seriously, you need to think of it as a form of dawah..."

Indeed, and World Hijab Day isn't helping our view of your religion.

Two views from Saudi: Hi guys (or gals)!

My video on Islam & Unitarianism has had two views (so far) from Saudi (as per the stats page for the video). They're checking me out...

Here's a video of an atheist visiting Mecca:

The previous occurrences of the account were deleted via trolls.
For example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGmOpVrYJ5Q has been terminated. So watch the newest incarnation of the atheist in Mecca video while you can.

And here again is a film where an apparent atheist visits a Mormon temple, to view the ceremony where they show a film:

and here's the version of the Mormon temple ceremony that has live actors:

Hi again, guys and (hopefully) gals from Saudi Arabia. Thanks for checking out my videos. I'm glad you were able to stop by...

Happy Christmas, tossing out the bad nuts, Islam, Unitarianism, being a 'progressive,' and fighting sociopathy and psychopathy

Merry Christmas. Happy Christmas. Merry Solstice. I don't have a problem with these really.

After leaving Mormonism around 1994 I did have more of a preference for the solstice idea, and I made note of Saturnalia and Mithra. Here's a related video by Stephen Fry: 

Recently I happened across the facebook page for the First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City. Back in August there was some rather high unpleasantness at a Sikh church in Wisconsin. 

In response to the violence by some nut a lady named Shahla Khan Salter posted an article on a Candian Huffington Post site. Then this Unitarian person found the article & posted it.

This is from a fellow Unitarian and our Muslim sister for Progressive Values and friend, Shahla Khan Salter, 

"And many of us believe, that in creating all of humanity God placed upon us responsibilities to our fellow human beings regardless of faith -- a duty to love and look after our neighbours and not just our neighbours of the same faith, a duty to speak out for justice and not only to help those of our own faith, a duty to work towards peace for all of humanity and put an end to war, famine and oppression, without regard to faith.

God doesn't care if you are Muslim or Christian, Jewish or Hindu, Jain or Buddhist, B'hai or Sikh -- or any of the other classifications by which we categorize ourselves to better understand our journey here on earth.

God only cares about the way in which we treat one another.

"Do you know what is better than prayer, fasting and charity? It is keeping peace and good relations between people." -Prophet Muhammad

So to our Sikh brothers and sisters in North America and beyond we say this: The shooting of members of the American Sikh community at gudwara in Milwaukee, Wisconsin yesterday was a tragedy that has shocked us all. We offer our condolences to you at this time and hope and pray that your communities -- your loved ones, families, friends, priests, and places of prayer and reflection -- remain safe now and in the future. 

Sat Sri Akal. God is the Ultimate Truth. Yes. Salaam. Peace."

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/shahla-khan-salter/miliwaukee-temple-shooting_b_1747360.html

And here's an additional article by the woman:


http://sjpaderborn.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/no-banning-innocence-of-muslims-is-not-the-solution-by-shahla-khan-salter-on-the-huffington-post-canada/

...where she says: 

1. Merely because the depiction is suggested doesn’t make it true;

2. Because there is no coercion allowed in Islam according to the Holy Quran, human beings are free to believe as they choose; and

3. Our Prophet Muhammad practiced a virtually super-human degree of patience, which we are supposed to emulate.

----


Response:


There's always a certain number of nuts in the world. It is rather unfortunate that Sikhs were targeted as noted. But, it's also important to not conflate & whitewash & mix things up in confusing ways. Nor is it good to use the crazed acts of some nuts as a means of glossing over actual history about a separate religion from Sikhism.

Unitarians don't have a creed, supposedly, and so as a 'member' of two local congregations I'm not bound to any dogma that states that I have to adhere to the Reza Aslan school of Islamic thought.

A related blog post from the past:
Unitarian Universalist fawning appreciation of Mohammad and Islam
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2010/12/unitarian-universalist-fawning.html

With the more recent violence at a school, here's some more recent thoughts:
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2012_12_01_archive.html

As for Islam, one need only click on what he wrote as shown in the Skeptic's Annotated Quran, on the following categories:
Injustice
Intolerance
Cruelty and Violence
Women

As an atheist having a certain god threaten to burn off your skin, put it back on, and then burn it again, is not a particularly pleasant prospect. Quranic quote:

"...4:56 Lo! Those who disbelieve Our revelations, We shall expose them to the Fire. As often as their skins are consumed We shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment. Lo! Allah is ever Mighty, Wise..."
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/4/index.htm#56

So, I'm definitely against nut jobs hurting people. Baring genetic manipulation of future generations there's always going to be a certain percentage of potentially violent nut jobs. Maybe we can spot them easier and fight them more, and keep guns away from them. But let's not mix apples & oranges, ok?

And, here's an interesting video about charismatic charlatans taking advantage of people:

So, as for Muslims for progressive values, it seems to me it's a bit easier for Christians to redefine Jesus into a nicer guy since a.) Jesus probably never existed (additional site), and b.) Jesus never went on theocratically inspired war campaigns. Mohamed did on both fronts.

Maybe being a 'progressive' religionist involves just as much whitewashing as the people who painfully try to apologize for the evils in the Old Testament of the Bible? When I read the words of people who actually believe that Mohamed was such a great progressive, I am not only shocked and amazed, I'm also saddened, because I know what the words in the Quran actually say. Death and murder are very hard to transmute into peace and love. The words are right there, in the Quran. The increasingly more frequent violent actions of psychopaths at chuches & schools has nothing to do with "religion only being about love." Religion, much of it, hasn't been about love at all. And being a "progressive" shouldn't mean being a liar nor a whitewasher about a charismatic charlatan who had sex with a 9 year old and who engaged in religious warfare, peace be upon him.

Anyway, as for Christmas, really it's about the Real New Year - with the days getting longer after winter solstice. Gift giving. Love. Family. That's all good. But we aren't going to be children either, not solely. So let's tell the truth also.

Rationalism, Naturalism, Cultural Relativism, and having an accurate view of the world

The rationalist may not enjoy admitting to the biological evolutionary naturalistic roots of what he concludes is "rational." A good analogy is how Spock was portrayed as viewing the world: logical until mating season came around, but even then his actions were in the end logical to him.

It's is indeed rational to eat, breath, have sex, love, make babies, have fun, and so on - so the rationalist will naturally conclude because his brain and being are coded to conclude as much. So be it. Humans aren't fully rational though, whatever the fuck rational may actually mean.

In any case, the idea that we can divorce ourselves from emotion is an illusion and is in many ways a potentially damaging self deception. Go without food long enough, or other of our primary biological needs, and the supposedly strict rationalist will very quickly go right off the rails. Pretend like you've got a "rational mind" divorced from your "emotional mind" and you're frankly drive yourself and others crazy.

On cultural relativism: I don't have a problem with judging how people acted in the past. There's a limit to my own tolerance regarding past behavior, and I believe everyone has a limit. My mentioning of Mohamed's 9 year old wife was to show one example. Maybe people did marry at 14 in the past more, but there's all sorts of things that used to happen which we now have concluded were incorrect actions. Incorrect now, and, incorrect then. For example: slavery, the oppression of women, having kings rule with an iron fist, and so on.

Pinker has spoken of an progressing moral zeitgeist as has Dawkins. Also Harris has some good ideas on a science of morality. Thank goodness we now have a much wider scope for our in group morality.

Down at BYU in the psychology & religion departments, they may strongly decry the "hedonistic" nature of "the world," and try to get their students to be wary. They go to their churches on Sunday where Mormon bishops interrogate youngsters about masturbation, and where all the youngsters learn to fear normal natural human sexuality. But, meanwhile, their founding prophets have been reasonably documented as doing things which the Mormon Church would excommunicate people for. So that's the point. Hypocrisy.

Don't masturbate Johnny, but meanwhile worship a god who had literal sex with the wife of another man. Don't have oral sex, Julie and Jim, but meanwhile Brigham & Joseph got to have sex with the wives of other men and with under age girls.

My own experience with Mormonism has made me more of a strong naturalist, on both sides of the cultural spectrum. So for example I'm all for people having as many babies as they want - if that's what deep down they feel like doing. The exuberance of the gays has a companionship with the exuberance of a large family. I try not to disparage either course of action because deep down people are doing what they feel included to do as animals. So be it. And, as rather intelligent animals maybe in the long term we can engineer and way to stay alive when the sun gets 10% hotter.

http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2010/12/funeral-talk-that-i-gave-in-february.html

The bottom line is that I don't think everything is relative. All societies past & present can for example be evaluated against the following yardstick: How well did each help humans be happy & thrive, and how much did each hold people down & make them unhappy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_of_morality

What was it like, when God had sex with Mary?

Today I found a Family Guy clip about the conception of Jesus, and that reminded of the following question:

What was it like, when God had sex with Mary?

Even in Catholicism, how did the Holy Ghost overshadow Mary's vajayjay?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajayjay

Here's Mormon references for your spiritual and humor-bone edification:
http://www.mormonwiki.org/Conception_of_Jesus
http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon385.htm

Here's the relevant Family Guy clip:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2fhb16QP-dA

And my own video commentary is attached below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OymNAUmVUBY

Relevant clip from an older film, showing Elohim knocking on the door of Mary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgBNVcY6ro8&t=2m58s

Also, whodathunkit, Joseph Smith thought Jesus was married also?

The whole video is interesting and is mostly accurate.

Here's more on the Catholic version, where a guy in a sheet gets to have sex with her...
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_life_of_jesus/jesus_is_born_02/lk01_35.html

The Mormon oral sex letter stating it's bad:
http://lds-mormon.com/worthy_letter.shtml
http://lds-mormon.com/worthy_letter1.shtml

And yet, Joseph & Brigham had 14 & 15 year old wives & also wives who were still married to other men:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Joseph_Smith%27s_wives
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brigham_Young%27s_wives

---

Additional thoughts, regarding the issue of marrying young & whether people in the past married at 14 or 15:

In this case I would have a slightly easier time sympathizing with 17 or 16. There are some older looking 14 year olds. Both Joseph & Brigham took other men's wives as brides. Also consider Aisha:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisha
and the lego version of Moohamed's meeting with her at age nine:
http://mattseanbachman.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/mohammed-lego.png

Relevant quote: "...According to traditional sources, Aisha was six or seven years old when she was betrothed to Muhammad and nine when the marriage was consummated..."

Maybe on a Fiddler on the Roof type of scenario 14 is ok, if one or the other are 14 or 15 are they are in love. But some older cult leader took taking a 14 year old to wife, that's when the icky poo factor comes in more. Also Moohamed having a 9 year old one was not so good.

Moohamed was a great man though, nine year old fully consummated bride and all, according to the national Unitarian organization:

http://www.isna.net/uploads/1/5/7/4/15744382/uu_muslim_interfaith_guide.pdf
[previously at: http://www.uusc.org/files/BBToolkit_uu_muslim_interfaith_guide.pdf ]

But Islam is about social justice, right? According to muff brained Unitarians, Amy Goodman, and Reza Aslan. Sometimes we go to Unitarian meetings, but we don't go to the congregation where they said Mohamed was a "great man who cared about women & treated them well," and for the one we do sometimes go to we'll be monitoring any religious education curricula to ensure it's not whitewashing dogma. Liberals can have dishonest religion too...

Related blog post:
Unitarian Universalist fawning appreciation of Mohammad and Islam:
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2010/12/unitarian-universalist-fawning.html

I'm personally all for "marrying young" and evening having babies young if a couple feels so inclined, but when when at least one of the parties is under say 18 or 21, then the age difference should be less than can be common for people over 18 or 21. And the whole cult or warlord leader taking yougin' to wife is a different scenario from similarly aged youngsters hooking up.

Films, Cartoons, and Mohamed: Islam is a cult - just older and larger

A film comes out. Then some cartoons. Vociferous people demand censorship. Other people don't want "oil thrown on a fire."

Listen to recent BBC programs on the issue.

Read the comments on Charlie Hebdo's blog.

Let the comments from everyone wash over you. I did, and here's what I've come to conclude:

Islam is a wacky abusive cult, just like any other cult. What's the difference between Islam, Mormonism, and Scientology? Time, and the level of violence advocated by and allowed for by the core doctrines. Even regular Christianity, in it's many flavors, has cultish aspects depending on which church or denomination we're talking about. 

Listen to what Islamic believers say about Mohamed. They love him more than they love life, more than their family, and so on.

Any criticism against Mohamed is taken so personally that the believers advocate censorship at the very least, and violence more commonly. With the recent debate over the film Innocence of Muslims, and the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, I constantly heard talk of "red lines." "You've crossed my red line" this, and "don't cross my red line" that. 

When you cross a person's so-called "red line" what happens? What'ja gonna do? Complain? Sue me? Hit me? Kill me? Talk of "red lines" are threats. And threats for what? Regarding complaining about whom? A 6th century war mongering pedophile?

Have you ever heard of the wives of Joseph Smith? How about Brigham Young?

Why do cult leaders get to have so many wives? Charismatic charlatans really enjoy sex - with other men's wives, and with underage girls. 15, 14, 9? WTF! God gave you a message to do what? FOAD - that is the appropriate response to such people. But, you can always tell cult leaders by their actions.

They say: God gave me a message.

Reply: A message to do what?

They say: To fuck your wife and your daughter.

Reply: What if I say no?

They say: God will send you to hell... and, maybe I'll have my friends lean on you, or kill you.

They say: I am God's messenger. To deny my words is to deny the word of God.

Joseph fucking Smith, Brigham fucking Young, David fucking Koresh, L. Ron fucking Hubbard. And fucking Mohamed, peace be upon him - all the same deranged controlling fucks who want to use lies, violence, and damaging virulent meme sets to control others. 

So yes, the only differences between Mormonism and Islam are this: Time, and the level of violence allowed by core doctrines.

I am an ex-Mormon. Thank god I wasn't a Muslim. But if I were, I hope that I'd have the balls to stand up to the cult members & their leaders.

People who have had no experience with real religion have no fucking idea what they're talking about when they use such phrases as "don't provoke," or "oil on flames," and so on.

It's our duty to provoke, to cajole, to help people oppressed by mind controlling cults fucking O-U-T of their religions. And to help force their religions to be more civilized. Christians were forced to have a sense of humor, by two world wars, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment. Islam never had either on a permanent basis. Like it or not, we're helping them have theirs now. B grade film makers are helping, as are naughty, brash, and brave French satirical magazines.

In a civil society, cartoons & films are N-O-T banned, even if they offend your cult-originated deranged sensibilities about "your prophet." And in civil societies, you don't get to censor or threaten with violence me or anyone over a cartoon or film.

Many people in Islamic countries are unhappy because they are in Islamic countries being oppressed. Their hatred and anger is derived from their status. So, when the "oil" of films or cartoons are poured upon their hatred, they become angy - becuase they are currently in a prison.

BUT, the one thing secular people who want to censor films & cartoons & art critical of Islam don't realize is that art & speech critical of Islam will help to free these people. The volume needs to be turned up as loudly as possible, not turned down.

Related views:

By Sam Harris. And a previous extended interview where Harris talks about cult leaders.
By Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
By Pat Condell.

Additional copies of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons:
http://www.noelshack.com/2012-38-1348042554-20120919-100853.jpg
http://www.noelshack.com/2012-38-1348042543-20120919-100843.jpg
http://www.noelshack.com/2012-38-1348042534-20120919-100905.jpg
http://www.noelshack.com/2012-38-1348042594-20120919-101202.jpg

Copies of a related posts I've put up elsewhere:

--------------------- 1

Oh, no! More cartoons are coming! More drawings on paper! Run. Hide. Or, if you're an Islamist, go on a murderous rampage.

The volume should be turned up. We have, with the protests, the personification of a spoiled brat child. What if, by comparison, Rome threatened the Monty Python troupe with death for their film Life of Brian? What would be the "appropriate response" from that group & related artists? MORE OF THE SAME, and higher quality parodies as well. In the instance of the film we have a poor quality parody. We need higher quality parodies. Maybe that's REALLY why the Muslims are upset. A B movie is a B movie. We all want higher quality production values in our art.

Sam Harris on the issue:
http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/on-the-freedom-to-offend-an-imaginary-god

BBC World Have Your Say programs on the cartoons:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/whys/whys_20120919-1912a.mp3
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/whys/whys_20120919-1423a.mp3
[the above links will only be available for a few days, but here's an archive for you]

Ayaan Hirsi Ali:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnARvLa3Pd8

A parody of my own about Joseph Smith & his church. Should I be killed for this by Mormons? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERKfXjG-7Xc Should my parody be banned? Damn, I'm glad I wasn't a f-in Muslim, but if I had been I hope I'd have enough balls to stand up to people still being repressed by the cult & their leaders. 

--------------------- 2

Crazy repressed nuts kill a guy over a B film...
Part of the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAiOEV0v2RM

The killers of the U.S. ambassador to Libya have by their actions moved this otherwise low grade laughable B movie into a very important status, and in my view it goes to show that more higher quality and more accurate films (and campy and crapily made films) need to be made.

We need a Monty Python style Life of Brian type film about Mohammed. Christians, through the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and two world wars, have been forced to have a sense of humor about their religion. Muslims need to have a sense of humor about their religion as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_movie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_brian

--------------------- ps

The film Sumission Part 1, that Theo Van Gogh was killed over and why Ayaan Hirsi Ali has to live with constant security. Sam Harris has to have security guards travel with him. The Charlie Hebdo artists have to have this also. Having to live your life with security guards always around does tend to sharpen your mind about things, and your views about what really is important to say - and about the value of free speech, calling a spade a spade, honesty, and stating when the emperor has no clothes.

--------------------- ps2

Also, regarding certain libertarian ultra right wing nutjobs who claim that Palestine doesn't exist, I don't support them either, nor do I wish to be drawn into blind support for whatever Israel wants to do. People do have a right to live on their own land and to be left alone. But people also have a right not to be suicide bombed. So there's trouble on both sides there. But one key bottom line is that freedom of speech must not be abridged. 

The "moderate" Muslims want censorship. They want their sharia also. That's not moderate though. We need freedom of speech. For the critics, for the cartoonists, for the sane people, and for the nutjobs. Everyone. Censorship is not an option. That's our red line.