1. Pedal power takes Islamic shape in Iran

Comment #42109 by Tony B. on May 17, 2007 at 4:02 pm

Jenin,

While you are right to say that most people in the muslim would do not harm others, it is their silence as others do that is the problem. The "silent majority" in the muslim world gives tacit approval to the terrorists by not dragging them from their homes kicking and screaming and telling them "not in my name!". A teenage girl was stoned to death in Iraq yesterday in the name of islam. Watch the video as men in modern dress and talking on cell phones stand around smiling as her face is bashed in repeatedly until she dies. Can someone please tell me why muslims the world over are not marching in the streets to condem this barbarism? It is because that while they themselves might not do such a thing, deep down they agree that she deserved it. Ask your muslim friends. You'll always get the same answer: "It was horrible what happened, but...you know....gods law ...blah, blah, fucking blah...". Even here in the hyper-religious U.S.A., I have no doubt that an angry mob would form in minutes to deal with the perpitrators of such a crime. And well they should.

2. Faith-Based Fraud

Comment #41896 by Tony B. on May 17, 2007 at 9:23 am

vertigo25,

Hitchens directs his vitriol at specific individuals and institutions who have a track record of transgressions (to him, at least). The kind of hate spewed by Falwell and his breathren is directed at entire swaths of nameless people who he believes are immoral and hell-bound. I think there is a definite distinction.

3. Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73

Comment #41165 by Tony B. on May 15, 2007 at 3:04 pm

As the legendary Scot, Groundskeeper Willie, once said; "he'll make better mulch than a man".

4. Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73

Comment #41119 by Tony B. on May 15, 2007 at 2:12 pm

Dower,

He was a hateful man who poisoned society and continues to do so through his pathetic "University". The kind of people who lament his passing are the kind who think we are all hellbound trash anyway. He's not worthy of anything better. They should let his corpse lie in state at the new creation museum. Wait until RD dies. I can hear them now.

5. Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73

Comment #41114 by Tony B. on May 15, 2007 at 2:00 pm

domc,

If the trio you mentioned would follow the good reverend to paradise this very day, I'd fall to my knees and acknowledge the lord almighty. I swear to god. Are you listening up there?

6. The Creation Museum: Prepare to believe

Comment #41045 by Tony B. on May 15, 2007 at 12:06 pm

Why is Bizarro Dawkins commenting? Shouldn't he be preparing for a candle-light vigil/memorial or something?

7. The Creation Museum: Prepare to believe

Comment #41017 by Tony B. on May 15, 2007 at 10:48 am

I guess the good reverend Falwell won't be making it to the grand opening. Oh, well. He's in a better place now.

8. The Creation Museum: Prepare to believe

Comment #41005 by Tony B. on May 15, 2007 at 10:19 am

I'm with Henri Bergson. 1000%

9. State Darwin museum

Comment #41004 by Tony B. on May 15, 2007 at 10:17 am

Now we're talking. My 6 year old daughter speaks Russian and we often talk of visiting there. Her mother is a Russian native and born again christian. We share 50/50 custody of her and have only minimal contact with each other. Now, if I can just get my daughter there before her mother plans a trip to that ridiculous "Creation Museum".

10. The Creation Museum: Prepare to believe

Comment #40997 by Tony B. on May 15, 2007 at 10:01 am

This is beyond offensive. I saw a recent news feature on this "museum" and it actually has raptors frollocking with human children. This is poisoning the minds of children. They interviewed parents on the report I saw and their glee at this spectacle made me want to puke. It is a perversion of science. Just obscene. I hope it gets hit by a meteor and burns to the ground. With no-one inside, of course.

11. Vote for the Time 100 - Are They Worthy?

Comment #34589 by Tony B. on April 24, 2007 at 3:27 pm

There is no doubt whatsoever that RD belongs in the Time 100. Even if we put aside what he has meant to atheists and rationality in general, his status as a preeminent man of science alone warrants inclusion. Carl Sagan would be proud of how RD has continued his work at making the beauty and majesty of the natural world/universe accessible to all. Even (and especially) to uneducated, blue-collar joes like me.

12. Gay hate church to picket VT gun rampage funerals

Comment #34271 by Tony B. on April 23, 2007 at 5:19 pm

Cormac,

One more thing. I hope you were just being rhetorical, but I was certainly not trying to justify anything to do with "shock and awe" or the deaths of Iraqi children.

13. Gay hate church to picket VT gun rampage funerals

Comment #34268 by Tony B. on April 23, 2007 at 5:09 pm

Cormac,

My original response to you seems to have disappeared, so I'll make this one quick. I realize that peoples all over the world can point to legitimate historical greivances. That was not my point. I was just saying that while we in the west (religious or not) are generally repulsed by the likes of Phelps, his brand of extremism would be seen as moderate in the muslim world. Most of us lament the death of innocents, regardless of their race or religion. But it is easy for people who've been indoctrinated since birth to believe that "infidels" are not worthy of empathy and that their deaths are just "gods work". The Phelps clan is an educated bunch of lawyers, but their minds were poisoned by religion long before they read their first law book. The same thing is happening in the muslim world, where thousands of boys are "educated" in madrasas for years before going off into the world. Many of these people will later earn advanced degrees in sciences, etc., but they will remain loyal to islam. There are many people in the world who think just like the Phelps'. We ridicule them as extremist kooks here, but they are welcomed and encouraged elsewhere. We cannot take back the past, but these people are not killing or dying over bad treaties or thwarted access to the Suez canal. While these issues are legitimate, the muslim "joe six-pack" isn't worried about that. They are concerned with the affront to islam that is every non-muslim.

14. Here Comes the Fourth Musketeer.

Comment #33909 by Tony B. on April 22, 2007 at 3:40 pm

I met Christopher Hitchens in passing one day in D.C. and was suprised at what a pleasant man he was in person. He seemed genuinely pleased and grateful when I mentioned enjoying his book on mother teresa. A far cry from the surly (and sometimes tipsy?) guest we see on talk shows. He is definitely an enigma. A right wing attack dog on some issues, a leftist "pinko" on others. I think we do need diversity in our ranks and look forward to his book.

15. Gay hate church to picket VT gun rampage funerals

Comment #33905 by Tony B. on April 22, 2007 at 3:22 pm

Sure, the moderates dont go around waving aloft pictures of hate filled clerics and shouting Allahu Akhbar!

scottishgeologist,

I'm sorry, but I beg to differ regarding this statement. This is one of the reasons why Islam is the most dangerous of the major religions today. It is militant where christiany is mostly miquetoast. Christian moderates cringe or hang their heads in shame at the likes of Rev. Phelps and his ilk, whereas the muslim masses tend to either support or remain quiet when their breathren spew hatred or commit acts of jihad. Since 9/11 I can count on 1 hand the number of muslims (either in the media or in person) who could bring themselves to condem the attacks without adding some justification for them. This usually has sometihing to do with jewish or western oppression. The only muslims I've heard unequivically comdem these acts without adding caveats are now in hiding. Check out Wafa Sultan rip an islamic cleric a new one on youtube.com. She now lives under constant threat of death. The beliefs of the Phelps family are actually quite consistant with mainstream muslim views on homosexually, etc. Rev. Fred was even allowed to hold demonstrations in Jordan and Iran, where he was warmly recieved. I believe it was some right wing talk show host (who I probably disagree with on most things) who once said, "a moderate muslim is one who only wants to kill jews". Sadly, their is much truth in this statement.