Here’s something I’ve learned in all my years of blogging: if you look for something hard enough, you’ll find it. In my case, it’s examples of religious stupidity that I zero in on. I realize that cheap laughs and easy jokes may not give the complete picture of a particular religion (usually Christianity or Islam), but if I was trying to be fair I wouldn’t be having any fun.

I want you to keep this in mind, as it might help clarify some of the frustration you might be feeling if you read Rebecca Watson’s new tirade on the evils of secular sexism entitled “Reddit makes me hate atheists“. The post focuses on the story of a 15 year old girl who received a barage of innapropriate comments after posting a picture of herself with a copy of Carl Sagan’s “Demon Haunted World”. I think this opening paragraph will help set the tone of the piece:

…R/atheism is very large, and so it is jam packed with assholes. And yet! I continue to read it every day. I read it even though I usually learn nothing new from it and it only serves to create and foster inside me an intense hatred of my fellow atheists.

While there are a variety of explinations as to why some of comments were so disparaging (her post made it to the front page of reddit, which extends far beyond the confines of r/atheism), her obsession with gender issues makes it seem as though the atheist reddit forums are a cesspool of misogyny. I couldn’t disagree more.

I’ve been trolling the site for years now, watching the group grow from humble numbers to over 300,000 strong. While a great number of posts are usually rage comics, occasionally hilarious facebook threads and funny pictures, a significant portion of them are personal tales of individuals “coming out” to family members (I even remember one post from a redditor claiming to be Michel Behe’s atheit son). The support these people receive from their fellow redditors is almost universally positive. I’m constantly surprised by the patience, understanding and intelligence on display from members. Then again, I’m usually on the lookout for positive examples of human kindness on the site, so I’m not entirely surprised when I find what I’m looking for.

This, in a nutshell, is Rebecca’s problem; she’s actively looking for examples of mysoginy in the scene to justify her claim that sexism is rampant in the atheist community. While I don’t believe that our group is guiltless, I think the problem has been severely overstated. Do we have studies to show atheists are more sexist than believers? Is there any proof beyond a couple of anecdotal stories of misogyny? Seems to me like there’s a lot of speculation based on some extremely limited samples, colored by emotion and marred with anecdotal evidence. Sounds like a fucking nightmare to me.

I don’t want to claim to have more “journalistic credibility” than Rebecca, or anything equally silly (I’m more of a curmudgeon than a serious writer). Still, I think it’s important to recognize how much of your own perception is influenced by your pre-existing beliefs. Is the world as sexist as you think, or is there a chance that your preconceptions might be blinding you? I certainly wonder how anyone could visit r/atheism and develop an “intense hatred” of your fellow atheists (unless you hate rage comics, of course). Seems far more likely that this intense hatred might have been there all along…

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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.

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You’ve probably noticed the new tactic from bigoted religionists claiming that their rights (specifically the right to discriminate against people for their sexual orientation) are being infringed. Well, this strategy has now morphed into a baseless accusation of fascism by a right wing nutjob named Alan Craig. He’s determined that the threat of wider acceptance of same-sex marriage as a sign of Fascism. The authors clever word for this sheer nonsense is “Gaystopo”.

the hidden hegemonic ambitions of the Gaystapo have been exposed recently by their plans to annex and redefine ‘marriage’. They already have achieved equal rights through civil partnerships, so to covet the word and undermine a foundation-stone of our civilisation – and nurturing place for our children – betrays other more ominous intentions. They want to change our language, manipulate our culture and thereby impose their world-view on us all. Cultural domination is their aim and fascist-type intolerance of politically-incorrect dissent is their weapon. The eradication of marriage as “the life-long union between a man and a woman” is a huge next step along their way.

It’s funny how, when this “cultural hegemony” isn’t specifically Christian, the right suddenly decides that any changes to our attitudes as a culture must inherently be tyrannical in nature. He doesn’t even comprehend the fact that his religion’s main goal is to force THEIR beliefs on others. This is why unconstitutional and grossly homophobic laws like Prop 8 and DOMA make his argument so ironic. Here is an obvious example of a right leaning ideology (the same spectrum that fascism finds itself under) that imposes its set of values on others who don’t share their limited world view. He even has the audacity to call the gay rights movement, and liberalism in general, as “liberal fascism”. The combination of these two words make about as much sense as “Christian thinker”.

When readers started complaining about the author’s use of Nazi imagery, he first tried to claim that he didn’t really believe that the two were comparable, and that he really has a “live and let live attitude”. This brings up the pertinent question: “Why the fuck did you write your article, jackass?”.

I cannot be clearer that I am not, repeat not, saying all gay people are Nazis any more than I’d say all Muslims are Islamists or all Germans were fascists. It would be self-evident nonsense….Obviously they aren’t military or violent, but they are militant, intolerant, hypocritical and vindictive…It’s their way or no way – the totalitarian mind-set.

Yeah, he’s not saying ALL of them are: just enough that their “pink jackboots” footprints can be seen on the necks of poor, hardworking Christians who just want to disapprove of their lifestyle in peace. The problem is that this complete distortion of reality ignores the constant attempts by Christians to impose THEIR values and morals on others. Christians have never really feared totalitarianism; the Catholic Church singed the Reichskonkordat with the Nazis specifically to ensure that their interests would coincide with those of Hitler’s Germany. I find it quite illuminating that when they attempt to use the state to PREVENT gays from marrying, they casually ignore the fact that they themselves have used their power to put their “Jesus jackboots” on the throats of people who simply want to devote their lives to one another, and have the same legal rights as others.

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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 it’s 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 omen 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 worse 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 infantacidal, religious douchebag?

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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.

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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 clouds 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 unnessasarry 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?

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Remember Becky Fisher? She’s the nutjob behind Jesus Camp, and while that terrible nightmarish camp was shut down following the movie, it appears that she hasn’t slowed her down one bit. Here she is in Singapore doing the exact same shtick, with the added element of “teaching” kids how to raise the dead. She also has them pray for America to be “changed”: it seems she’s rather unsatisfied with “democracy” and its tendency to allow everyone a voice (she’s a much bigger fan of the way Islam does things in the Middle East).

While she’s kept a low profile since 2006, it appears that she’s merely moved away from the media’s attention and has continued her ceaseless quest to make children more ignorant about the world with this crazy nonsense.

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Oh crazy bigoted religious people…I’m not sure they know what they want, sometimes. Take this clown, Pastor Scott Lively. Last year he came under fire for publishing a book called “The Pink Swastika“, where he claimed Nazi Germany was being run by homofascists (his word). He was laying low for a little while, but now he’s back to blaming gays for everything. This time, he believes they will bring about the end of civilization and what he hopes will be the Second Coming.

We are probably all familiar with the oft-cited fact that the collapse of numerous civilizations prior to our own were heralded by a rise in sexual immorality, especially homosexuality. That alone should alert us to the grave situation we find ourselves in today. But there is a deeper spiritual significance beneath that statistic. God has chosen rampant homosexuality to be a key warning sign for judgment of the world as a whole, and not just of individual nations.

Yeah, I remember reading all about how ancient Sumer was destroyed by sexual impropriety, and everyone knows that the Aztecs were oblitereated not by not the Spanish, but rather from all the butt-fucking they were doing on the side. History is a lot more interesting when you get to make shit up, isn’t it?

Genesis is the book of beginnings which sets the tone and lays the foundation for all of our theology. It is there in the first chapter that God establishes the “one flesh” standard for human sexuality which is lifetime, monogamous heterosexual marriage.

We must have been reading a very different version of Genesis, since in the one I read, Eve has to bang her own sons in order to propegate the species. I would hardly call that monogamy! Does he forget that his own religious forefathers like Jacob and Issac has a plurality of wives?

Homosexuality is not mentioned specifically as an aspect of the pre-flood corruption, but we can assume that a society of men and women whose thoughts “were only evil continuously” (6:5) were involved in every form of sexual perversion.

To be fair, the main reason God thought his creation had become an abomination was because they were fucking his angels and creating a race of super-giants. There’s no mention of all the cray hot sexual shenanigans they were up to, though. Hey, if my creation was getting all mixed up like that, I might be tempted to nuke that shit and start from scratch.

I have made this point before, but it bears repeating. I am 53 years old. When I was born homosexuality was illegal throughout the entire world. In the space of just half a century this tiny 1-3% of the population have made themselves a global political power with greater influence in the courtrooms and legislatures of the world than the Church of Jesus Christ. This astonishing transformation surpasses that of Darwinism, Marxism, and even Islam in its speed and breadth of reach. To my thinking, this can only have been accomplished by the god of this world (Satan 2 Cor 4:4) who knows his time is short and is making his move.

Yeah, men and women were being jailed for the “crime” of banging people they were attracted to. Eventually, to the great dismay of bigots like Scott Lively, we had to stop encarcerating our own citizens for their sexual preference. Rather than believe that society has progressed, this moron is convinced that only Satan could have expediated the gay rights movement.

I don’t get these guys. Don’t they want the “End Times” to begin soon? Isn’t this good news? Remember how jubilant Harold Camping and his army of dumbass followers were when they though that Jesus was going to rain down fire and brimstone? They were positively BEAMING with excitement at the thought of 99.9% of all humanity being slaughtered by a dude with a sword in his mouth. You’d think that anything that actually speeds up the process would be welcomed. But no, these douchebags are never going to be happy unless we all fuck each other the way they want us to, and with an extremely limited amount of partners.

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When innocent people are killed and the fog of war has yet to be lifted, it’s not uncommon for the press to assume that any terrorist actions must be the work of Islamic fundamentalists. As far as they are concerned, only the Muslim faith can indiscriminately kill innocent civilians. How easily they forget men like Timothy McVeigh or Scott Roeder; men motivated by their religion (in their cases, Christianity) to commit calculated murder. The Oklahoma City bombing was, until 9/11, the most devastating domestic attack on civilians, perpetuted by a home grown Christian fundy angry at the government for the slaughter of 76 people in Waco Texas (he was not entirely unjustified for his anger. The Branch Davidians were massacred by the FBI). McVeigh saw the government as his enemy, and by extention, all those who had any connection with it were deemed enemies.

A similar angry brewed inside Anders Breivik, who viewed the left leaning political Labour Party as the enemy of European (ie. white) hegemony. Multiculturalism -and in particular the Islamization of his country- were the enemy, and so he conjured a plan to attack a youth retreat organized by the party. He believed such an attack would act as a rallying cry for his fellow citizens to take violent action against their darker skinned citizens. In total, he (and perhaps an accomplice) killed 68 people and wounded 90 more.

Breivik counts Geert Wilders as one of his, a man recently acquitted of enticing violence against Islam (makes you wonder if perhaps there wasn’t something to the accusation. In any case, Norway is now deeply scared by these events. It’s a reminder that terrorism is employed by all manner of religious fundamentalists. One does not the promise of 72 virgins to explode a car bomb: any old faith will do, so long as the principle tenants demand the destruction of unbelievers.

When will the headlines of such horrible tragedies finally read “Religious xenophobia (mixed with equally ignoble patriotism) claims more victims”?

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In the slums of Khanewal, Pakistan, the poor and indigent who suffer from treatable illnesses are sent, often by pysicians wishing to unload their patients, to the Islamic equivalent of exorcists. They are alled Pirs (or Peers), meaning “old man”, and these “saints” often perform barbaric torture rituals they believe can cleans people of djinns, or demons.

One victim of their archaic stupidity was a woman suffering from asthma by the name of Zakia. She was taken to a famous local pir called Safdar Khan, who proceeded to tie her up, sticking a hot poker through her wrists and feet while she howled in agony. He then beat her mercilessly until she stopped moving. This, to Safdar, was proof that the demon had been driven out.

Zakia is now bed ridden and can no longer walk. Her brother Zain -outraged that his superstitious idiot parents would take her to such a charlatan- knows that the police will do nothing to help him. As far as everyone is concerned, Safdar is a respected holy man whose words carry much weight. Zain, on the other hand, is just another unimportant peasant whose story will be forgotten in a few days.

The police know there was no other way which is why they haven’t said anything and the doctors come to us regularly for such things,” he said. Shani said that Safdar often ‘treated’ patients who had been referred to him by hospital officials.

“They always send us the cases that they know are for us. The possessed people are treated here. That is why the doctors will never go against us. Safdar is one of the most famous healers in this city,” he said.

Of course, if you think that’s the worst thing that can happen to you when going to get “exorcised”, you’re in for a horrible surprise:

In Notak Nasheb Sainghar, pir Javed Shah broke into Shehzadi Bibi’s house late at on Friday night and told her that her house was haunted by ‘evil’ djinns who were causing her daughters to fall sick.

Shah gave Shehzadi and her daughters glasses of water that had been drugged and the family fell unconscious. Javed Shah repeatedly raped Shehzadi the entire night. When the family woke up the next day and went to the hospital doctors refused to treat her for fear of the djinns.

What a fucking shithole of ignornace, all thanks to the power of faith.

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