The Hazards of Belief

Turtwig

What scares me the most is that each of these kids will have the right to vote and if these families produce more offspring than any other demograph. Fundie voting power and influence will grow, not a good thing.:(

pH

What can happen when your deeply held religious convictions cause you to complain about them sodomites.


Pauline Howe, a 67-year-old grandmother, was questioned by police after council officials decided that her complaint about a gay pride march amounted to a "hate incident".

...

Mrs Howe referred to homosexuals as "sodomites" and blamed "their perverted sexual practice" for sexually transmitting diseases as well as the "downfall of every Empire".

She argues that she is not homophobic, but was expressing her deeply held religious beliefs.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6424895/Pensioner-questioned-by-police-after-complaining-about-gay-pride-march.html#

Sam Vimes

MrPudding

Doesn't get much better:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8346378.stm

Praying to your imaginary friend and getting busted.

MrP

Galvasean

pH wrote: »

She argues that she is not homophobic, but was expressing her deeply held homophobic religious beliefs.

Fixed that.

Mena

All I can really say is :rolleyes:

Hospital sees increase in eye condition after Knock 'visions'

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/1202/1224259894300.html

Stercus Accidit

I'd sue Joe Coleman if I were them.

And I was damn well expecting this, lol tbh.

toiletduck

I was just gonna post that. A real shocker to be sure...

MrPudding

Shame they did not carry out an IQ testy at the same time. It would be interesting to see the results.

MrP

Genghiz Cohen

Mena wrote: »

All I can really say is :rolleyes:

Hospital sees increase in eye condition after Knock 'visions'

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/1202/1224259894300.html

There are none so blind as those who stare at the sun....

Galvasean

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

I'd sue Joe Coleman if I were them.

And I was damn well expecting this, lol tbh.

Love to say I told ya so.
I'm pretty sure I said the apparitions were a result of retina damage at the time.

Turtwig

Can I go one futher and postulate that, because ours eyes* are the best indicators at the amount of sunlight hitting us, these people will be more prone to skin cancers?

Stretching I know...but hey.

*Supposedly the eye is the main determinant of the level of defense against the sun the body should be at.

Galvasean

From today's Indo:
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/asia-pacific/rogue-elephant--on-a-rampage--kills-11-villagers-1969674.html

WILDLIFE officials in southern Nepal are hunting an elephant that has reportedly killed 11 people in the past two weeks, including one who was trying to worship it as an incarnation of Ganesh, the Hindu elephant god.

......

......

The elephant is also reported to have killed an 18-year-old man who tried to pray to it, and offered it a garland of flowers.

Flamed Diving

He angered Ganesh!

Dades

The elephant is also reported to have killed an 18-year-old man who tried to pray to it, and offered it a garland of flowers.

I couldn't help but think of the Darwin Awards after reading that article. :pac:

robindch

As a god, are you allowed to persecute your own believers in good faith?

Seems a tad shortsighted to me.

pts

Looks like Scientology's hatred of psychology has tragic consequences again:

Celebrity florist 'may have accidentally drowned daughter then killed herself'

5uspect

Ah Islam, the peace loving religion.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0102/breaking3.htm

GLaDOS

5uspect wrote: »

Ah Islam, the peace loving religion.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0102/breaking3.htm

Just stumbled across, this article, nothing new, but I thought it was nicely written, especially regarding religious tolerance

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/ian-odoherty/i-have-no-respect-or-tolerance-for-sharia-1235057.html

I have no respect or tolerance for Sharia



So the story gets more interesting. The so-called "Qatif Girl", the truly heroic woman who now faces 200 lashes after being gang-raped had more than just the authorities of this savage kingdom to worry about -- it has recently emerged that her own brother tried to kill her when he realised she had been repeatedly violated.

Here in the West, if a brother discovers his sister has just been gang-raped he will have murder on his mind, for sure, but it would be directed towards those responsible, not his sister.

But in the twisted world of male Islamic pride, the poor girl who had been through an experience so traumatic that it is actually impossible to even contemplate, the family's spurious "honour" maintained precedence.

Although a world where "honour" consists of killing a rape victim is a world where "honour" has a very different meaning from how we understand it.

And that sense of honour being besmirched is what has driven those charming Sudanese chaps to go completely mental at the "leniency" shown to Gillian Gibbons.

Once their Friday prayers to the most merciful Allah were over, they spent the day demanding that the woman -- who was surely misguided in going to such a backwards hell-hole in the first place -- be executed by firing squad.

But what has been particularly nauseating has been the British government's handling of the affair. According to the Foreign Office, they were "very disappointed" at the verdict.

Really? Why didn't they simply say that the next aid bundle to Sudan, worth nearly £200m, was off the table and if anything further happened to the woman then crippling sanctions would be applied?

But no, instead we got a load of mealy-mouthed rubbish about how this was a localised incident, that it didn't represent Islam and hopefully we can all hold hands and sing songs around the proverbial camp fire. But the problem is that this is representative of Islam.

Anywhere in the world where Sharia law is practised, such barbaric and disgusting practises take place on a regular basis.

Don't believe me? Well, Iran has been in the news for the most recent example of a woman being sentenced to death by stoning. But they are also partial to hanging gay people and women with too much attitude.

And they quite like a bit of eye-gouging as well, when the mood takes them, such as the woman who had her eyes gouged out in a public square because she fought off a man who tried to rape her. Check that out on the internet when you fancy losing your lunch.

Or what about precious little Palestine, where 50 women have been killed by their own families this year alone, and where the beating of women who aren't sufficiently "modest" is common under the fanatics of Hamas.

Or Afghanistan, where women are routinely raped and murdered by family and strangers with impunity? Or Chechnya? Or Somalia? Or anywhere Sharia is practised.

And yet we are constantly instructed by the multicultural, liberal, chattering classes to show "respect" and "tolerance" towards Muslims who want to practise their cultural heritage in Western countries.

Well, you know what? I don't have any respect or tolerance for not just the actions, but also the mentality.

And before you start to think that this is something that is happening thousands of miles away, refer yourself back to the case of Birmingham woman Banaz Mahmoud, who was kidnapped, raped and tortured by her uncles last year before being killed and buried in a suitcase. Her crime? She had a boyfriend. She was one of at least 12 women killed by their families in Britain last year to protect their "honour".

And before we start to think that these are isolated incidents by extremists, the Muslim Council of Britain, the supposed "moderate" wing of mainstream Islam, still claim that death is too good for Salman Rushdie and they regularly rail against gays.

Oh, and for the record, 40pc of British Muslims want Sharia to be instituted in Britain. Hardly a lunatic minority, surely?

While we don't have the same sort of problems here -- yet -- we still have a situation where Ali Selim, the chief spokesman for Irish Muslims and a supposed moderate, refuses to condemn Osama bin Laden, and thinks that what goes on with those two women in Sudan and Saudi are "internal matters" and none of our business.
And, of course, anyone who writes about this is immediately accused of being Islamophobic and racist.
Well, I am Islamophobic in the sense that I'm phobic towards the notion of treating women as third-class citizens, flogging people and killing them for having an independent thought.

I'm phobic towards the idea of killing Theo Van Gogh because he made a movie they didn't like. I'm phobic towards killing a Japanese translator because he worked on the Satanic Verses.

I'm also rather phobic to the notion that the Muslim world has the right to riot and kill each other because of a few unfunny cartoons in an obscure Danish publication.

As regards the spurious accusation of racism which is bandied about against anyone who criticises Islam, let me make this clear -- you cannot change the colour of your skin. Pigmentation is irrelevant. But you can dislike someone's superstition and in Islam's case, even among other superstitions, they are particularly horrible.

No, my Muslim friend, it's your religion and your Sharia law I am criticising. It has nothing to do with the colour of your skin. And you know what? In a free democracy we still have the right to say things like that.
- Ian O'Doherty

Dave!

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/10/malaysia.church.bombings/?imw=Y

2 more churches in Malaysia firebombed in 'Allah' row


(CNN) -- Two more churches in Malaysia were firebombed Sunday, bringing the total to six since a court ruled that non-Muslims can use the word "Allah" as a term for God.

No one has been hurt in the attacks, which began Friday. They follow a high court's ruling that Christians can use the word "Allah" in literature printed in the country's official language, Malay.

In Malay, the word for God is "Allah," as it is in Arabic.

But many in the predominantly Muslim country, including the government, believe the word should be exclusive to Islam.

The government has banned the use of the word in Christian literature, saying it is likely to confuse Muslims and draw them to Christianity.

It has also appealed the high court's ruling.

The bombings may be an attempt to intimidate judges to overturn the decision, said the Rev. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches in Malaysia.

Political leaders from a range of parties deplored the attacks on the churches.
Video: Protests over 'Allah' ruling

Prime Minister Najib Razak visited one of the targeted churches on Saturday and called for calm.

Emphasizing his resolve to maintain ethnic and racial harmony in society, Najib also said the Muslim faith prohibits insulting other religions or destroying their sanctuaries.

In recent months, authorities in Malaysia have seized more than 20,000 Bibles because they refer to God as Allah.

The seizures have fed fears among minority groups, which see signs of encroaching Islamic fundamentalism in the predominantly Muslim but multiracial country.

A Roman Catholic weekly newspaper, The Herald, challenged the ban in court after the government threatened to revoke the newspaper's license for using the word in its Malay edition.

Hearings on the case went on for two years before the high court's ruling last week.

Malaysia has some of the tightest government restrictions on religion in the world, according to a study published last month by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. The country was among the 10 most restrictive countries out of 175 in the survey.

But it had relatively low levels of social tension between religious groups, the report found. The Pew study covered events from mid-2006 to mid-2008.

Galvasean

The phrase, "Yo man, that is OUR word!" comes to mind.

Galvasean

Don't make deals with the devil, or else an earthquake will like, totally come and wreck your country about 200 years later.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/13/crimesider/entry6092717.shtml

Turtwig

Galvasean wrote: »

Don't make deals with the devil, or else an earthquake will like, totally come and wreck your country about 200 years later.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/13/crimesider/entry6092717.shtml

Didn't God make a deal with the Devil in the book of Job?

Flamed Diving

Malty_T wrote: »

Didn't God make a deal with the Devil in the book of Job?

Shhh...

GLaDOS

Wasn't sure where to post this, it's more the hazards of Atheism but thought it was an intresting insight into a typical American community

http://www.skepticmoney.com/is-rising-sun-high-school-filled-with-hate/

Galvasean

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Wasn't sure where to post this, it's more the hazards of Atheism but thought it was an intresting insight into a typical American community

http://www.skepticmoney.com/is-rising-sun-high-school-filled-with-hate/

I joined the guy's Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=230219508056
Nice to see him getting support from around the world.

GLaDOS

Galvasean wrote: »

I joined the guy's Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=230219508056
Nice to see him getting support from around the world.

Just joined it there too, I'm guessing you're the Sean from Ireland who left the comment

Galvasean

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Just joined it there too, I'm guessing you're the Sean from Ireland who left the comment

Complete and utter coincadence.

Turtwig

Galvasean wrote: »

Complete and utter coincadence.

Amazing coincidence too that he links to the palaeontology forum here on boards, JC'd be having a field day with all these coincidences.

Galvasean

I have fans now. Sweet.