1. Richard Dawkins Explains 'The God Delusion'

Comment #28944 by LinuxIsTheTrueGod on March 31, 2007 at 6:50 pm

@32. Comment #28604 by Yorker

Yorker said, "...how is it that a person can reject god and become atheistic if there's a biological reason for belief?"

Yorker, do you have blonde hair or brown(let's keep it simple and ignore red, etc.)? I ask this because following your logic, if you had brown hair, then that means you don't "believe" in the "blonde hair gene."

2. She's No Fundamentalist: What people get wrong about Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Comment #25454 by LinuxIsTheTrueGod on March 13, 2007 at 7:46 am

Russell Blackford -

You wrote: "I didn't even imply anything about "taking up arms". So why slip that in at all?" You're right, I was wrong to say that.

If Hirsi Ali is campaigning against FGM in her country (which I believe is the only one that practices it) then the "more power to her!" Also, if she is against forced marriages then good, no one should stop her. I would even donate to her cause, I think these things are horrible too.

BUT I think she is wrong to believe that this has anything to do with religion. I believe she currently lives in the US which just happens to be the most religious country among the developed countries, and the US is arguably the BEST (not its foreign policy though)! Also she says "censorship is pervasive" which isn't unique to only the Muslim world and has nothing to with with Islam, actually most of the countries in the region that have the worst record on censorship are supported by "Western" nations.

3. She's No Fundamentalist: What people get wrong about Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Comment #25334 by LinuxIsTheTrueGod on March 12, 2007 at 7:34 am

@ Comment 40 by joshuaslocum - I AGREE, FGM is horrible and shouldn't happen but your arguments are not exactly warranted:
1. Wrong, many things are nonvoluntary, just like many circumcisions, etc.
2.Exactly, this is a very good reason no woman should ever have to do this.
3.Right, another good point why FGM is horrible.
4.I think many places in Africa and other parts of the world lack proper facilities for most medical needs. So I think this has nothing to do with FGM.
5. Yes, I think we all agree this is bad!
But this really has nothing to do with Islam and more to do with the culture of the country in which Ali comes from, I don't think any where else in the world they follow this stupid practice.
Russell Blackford - "We're at a time in history where we pretty much have to choose sides." makes you sound a lot like a priest/mullah/etc. I guess you want us to take up arms and fight the "insane believers of God" which again sounds a lot like priests/mullah/etc. I know you didn't say that, or even imply it, but you saying we have to "choose sides" isn't much better.

4. Response to Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris

Comment #25331 by LinuxIsTheTrueGod on March 12, 2007 at 7:06 am

@ Comment 77 by Corylus - Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I agree that putting people in any category that makes them "different and lesser" is wrong. But I fail to see how religion is any worse than categorizing people based on clothing, money, looks, hair color, education, etc. "The problem with religion is that it is another way of putting people into categories" sounds like people aren't able to overcome differences and for this reason we should all think/act/look the same. Following this logic, I guess the problem with communism and capitalism or any other ideology or thought is that they are "putting people into categories." I agree with everything else that you said.

@ 73 by fonex_86 -
You're right, I guess I was having a bad day. But what I meant about religion having nothing to do with war is that it seems to me that the people with power (politicians, priests, mullahs, kings, businessmen, etc.) could care less about religion, ideology, etc. and manipulate the people based on things that they believed in. Most of the "religious wars" happened during times when mankind was blind to many things and of course these people which mostly lacked education would believe such things. The priests/kings/etc. were smart enough to know that the one way they could mobilize the people was through their faith in God which since birth they were brainwashed to believe.

5. Response to Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris

Comment #25270 by LinuxIsTheTrueGod on March 11, 2007 at 2:22 pm

I never have heard of a war caused by religion or for religion. Its all about POWER! Religion has nothing to do with it, and to think if religion vanished from mankind we would progress into some kind of higher life form is nothing more than a belief.

6. She's No Fundamentalist: What people get wrong about Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Comment #25269 by LinuxIsTheTrueGod on March 11, 2007 at 2:01 pm

stuartM02(comment 38) - "I would say plastic surgey as practised today is a huge degree more moral than FGM." sounds a lot like "Killing 1 person is a huge degree more moral than killing 2 people." So what is the difference between a woman choosing FGM and one that is forced? Does having the "choice" make it any better? I actually agree with you though.

7. She's No Fundamentalist: What people get wrong about Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Comment #25249 by LinuxIsTheTrueGod on March 11, 2007 at 9:42 am

@ Comment #25225 by Russell Blackford "However, she did indeed leave a society where these things prevailed for the relatively rational, emancipated and liberal West" How is female genital mutilation any different than breast implants, plastic surgery, etc. I'm not saying female genital mutilation is OK, I think it's horrible and should be abolished, but to say that the West is any better is incorrect when there are so many plastic surgeries taking place.

8. Ayaan Hirsi Ali Feature

Comment #25195 by LinuxIsTheTrueGod on March 10, 2007 at 7:26 pm

It seems like the atheists on this site are conservative idiots who want to go to war with everyone who doesn't think the same way! Maybe you people do need religion, I don't!
All of the comments thus far seem to applaud Ali for her critical analysis(her personal experience) and for showing the Left's alignment with muslims, but it seems like it is you, the atheists on this site who are aligning themselves with some idiot who just says "I don't like religion."

9. She's No Fundamentalist: What people get wrong about Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Comment #25194 by LinuxIsTheTrueGod on March 10, 2007 at 7:13 pm

Christopher Hitchens has never been wrong? He supported/supports the war in Iraq!
http://www.weeklystandard.com/content/public/articles/000/000/005/995phqjw.asp

I think Hitchens might be wrong about Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Ali equates Islam with "genital cutting[does this include circumcision?] and forced marriage" which is completely wrong. I'm no Islamic scholar, but I'm pretty sure the Qur'an doesn't state anything about "genital cutting and forced marriage." She loves the West, maybe she would have liked it even more if she came to the US 200 years ago. Maybe if the West stopped supporting the loser rulers of Muslim nations things would be much better.

10. How my eyes were opened to the barbarity of Islam

Comment #25189 by LinuxIsTheTrueGod on March 10, 2007 at 6:47 pm

I don't know where to start, the article or the comments? Why is this article on richarddawkings.net? This article is not of the same standard that I have become accustomed to on this site. Just like the article, I will not give any evidence why her article sucks but just say so. She tells of her experience inside Afghanistan, during the rule of the Taleban she doesn't say, which may or may not be true. I don't see how she can by her anecdotal evidence come to the conclusion that her "eyes were opened to the barbarity of Islam." Maybe her "eyes were opened to the barbarity of the Taleban." or her "eyes were opened to Afghan society." or maybe she was pissed that her husband was psycho, whatever. I'm not going to apologize for her experience or her imagination but then she goes from Afghanistan to "Islam, not Israel, is the largest practitioner of both sexual and religious apartheid" Sure, Islam isn't a country, it's a religion! Israel, the country, was created on land already inhabited(consequently by Palestinians) which angered them obviously. Yeah, all religions are hocus pocus, but hold your applause when you read such stupid articles.