51. Fear of censure deflects The Golden Compas

Comment #93762 by Alkal on December 4, 2007 at 6:56 am

Maybe the negative publicity will just make people watch the film, then read the books...like with the da Vinci, the book was good, but the film....

52. Islam and the modern world don't mix

Comment #91383 by Alkal on November 28, 2007 at 7:37 am

The Taslima Nasrin case in India i even more politically charged than it appears.The reason she is in India is because of the Hindu majority who will do all they can to denounce Islam, even while creating a religious theocracy on their own- remember their batty behavior for the shooting of the film "Water" or the cleansing of the Guuvayoor temple because a Christian had stepped in.

There are layers and layers

Lets just ban ALL religion.

53. 'Muhammad' teddy teacher arrested

Comment #90805 by Alkal on November 26, 2007 at 12:12 pm

but isn't Mohammed a common name?
I mean, are people committing heresy when they call their sons Mohammed and take pictures of them???

54. Lessons in hate found at leading mosques

Comment #83647 by Alkal on October 30, 2007 at 7:23 pm

... why are they so worried about women who will go hell, it would make them enjoy their 72 virgin heaven more, wouldn't it, being bereft of all these women...


Anyhow ALL religion needs to be BANNED

55. Don't write off religion - it can be the key to a stable family

Comment #82704 by Alkal on October 27, 2007 at 9:21 am

Why aren't moderate religious people anti-fundamentalists? They are anti-non-religous folk more.

Also what values in religion, that you should be good because the big sky fairy will be goo din return. That aint a value it is commerce.

56. Don't write off religion - it can be the key to a stable family

Comment #82561 by Alkal on October 26, 2007 at 5:58 pm

I have always wondered at the "moderates".
Its like this. My parents were atheists. SO I grew up atheist. They exposed me to different religions, in the sense, I was allowed to read what I wanted and even harbor thoughts of conversion- I wanted to be a Buddhist - and was not discouraged. Instead I was told to read up about it and the other faiths...
Now religious people, no matter how mild- do give their children the option NOT to practice their religion. But how many would allow them to be religious in a different faith- or to red up about it?

Its like saying, I am a white supremacist but I am not racist, and I imbibe values of love to my family... don't they ever wonder?

57. American kids, dumber than dirt: Warning: The next generation might just be the biggest pile of idiots in U.S. history

Comment #81911 by Alkal on October 25, 2007 at 11:34 am

As another hard working foreigner in the US, I am also one of the geniuses in my class. i just take the facilities here as an inspiration to work harder, and to be brighter than I was before....

58. Report on Hindu god Ram withdrawn

Comment #79110 by Alkal on October 16, 2007 at 6:54 am

In the case of India more often than not, culture is used interchaneably with belief.. and it leads to religious control and bigotry of lunacy that exceeds proportions... Marriages are arranged on the basis of caste, region, more division_ "because that is our culture" is the refrain. Old landmarks, superstitions are adhered to, religious holidays are state-granted... "because that is our culture" they say... and protesting voices are silenced by the "This is anti-hindu" and "This is anti-india" sentiments... it is a confusing hodgepodge, yet the government will do nothing, because of the vote banks...
Hate speech has become rife, with Hindu hardliners - and the excuse "every one else also does it"
The amount of money thrown away on stupid ritual, blind tradition and religious fervor is humongous, and the supposed "values" that religion is supposed to promote have long vanished. Pseudo science, false claims( the NASA photos are an internet fraud) also the chain emails have reached manic proportions( refer to how artist MF Husein has to spend his time in Dubai for daring to paint a Hindu Goddess in the nude....--> I do not have the link here)And no one dare say anything. worse is that this is seen as silly and laughable, not the tragedy that it really is, a tragedy that keeps one sixth of humanity from acquiring a "serious" status in the world and no longer being counted on as exotic freaks, part of a circus show.
I feel strongly about it, more so because I hate to be classed with this sort of people, I am an Indian and invariably I get lumped with lunatics of this sort....( got a little carried away)

59. Report on Hindu god Ram withdrawn

Comment #78957 by Alkal on October 15, 2007 at 2:16 pm

The really sad thing s that people do believe this nonsense... and they would do anything to keep it on, even if it means denying reality.
Arguments against rationality range from a "This is faith" to a "Even the Christians believe" One can never talk any sense into these mindsets.

And the tragic thing is that this behavior percolates into the granting of basic human rights to women"lower" castes and makes social events like weddings essentially tradition-controlled and anachronistically feudal events. Ills of every nature permeate the society, and reform is seen as attack.

What is sad is that this blindness afflicts nearly one billion people and the developed world does not look at as the horror that it is suborning the basic human rights of so many of humanity.

60. Anthropologist finds cultural emphasis on group over individual might hinder democracy

Comment #78533 by Alkal on October 13, 2007 at 1:46 pm

... and does this not show wrong it is t allow "freedom of religion" when in reality that freedom suborns the individuals rights....

61. Fox News Attacks 'Godless' Free Thought Radio

Comment #78295 by Alkal on October 12, 2007 at 11:32 am

What is that show again, maybe I can get soem theists to listen to it...

62. Ban teachers from religious dress, Quebec group says

Comment #77697 by Alkal on October 10, 2007 at 7:56 am

"Religious freedom" they call it. But are the wearers of that symbol not forced to wear it by the strange rules of the religion they belong to? Be it the naqab, or a turban or a cross or other things, isn't their not "choice" in wearing it. If there is not, and in most cases it is a result of religious indocrination and abuse( a girl at the age of 10 would not want to keep her head wrapped up all the time, nor a boy of 7 grow his hair and wrap it up) is nto freedom of religion superseding freedom of the individual.

63. Airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god

Comment #70886 by Alkal on September 17, 2007 at 6:58 am

My computer is not working... now where do I find a goat?????

64. A Table for One

Comment #70885 by Alkal on September 17, 2007 at 6:56 am

I loved the part about "if there is not a crisis f faith, why would you go to Calcutta. That place is enough to make you doubt that existence has a meaning!!!"
True true true

I LOVE COLBERT

65. Can the rest of us have our planet back?

Comment #70183 by Alkal on September 14, 2007 at 9:19 am

I think he should have mntioned the nonAbrahamic faiths as well, they need to loeave the planet alone too, for the rest ofus.

loved the part about truth in he pub

Am a fan now

66. Christians disrupt Hindu Prayer at Senate Invocation

Comment #57614 by Alkal on July 20, 2007 at 8:07 am

The funny thing is that the Prayer was directed to A SUPREME BEING. Nowhere was any deistic plurality mentioned.... Since it was a prayer, couldn't our patriots have chosen to interpret it is as directed to their invisible buddy in the Sky not the Hindus?

But of course, it aint a prayer unless it is "Hallowed be thy name"( and hollowed my mind for using my senses as an echo chamber for what the Good Book says)

I did not understand why there was any need to court arrest. After all they could have made the sign of the cross( or oops that is Catholic.?? ) and it would be a Christian prayer....

But then again I am trying to understand and reflect which is anathema to religious nuts....

67. Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #56877 by Alkal on July 17, 2007 at 3:41 pm

SHe makes such sense...

68. Now this is how to critique Ken Ham's creation 'museum'

Comment #55265 by Alkal on July 10, 2007 at 11:36 am

It is so funny that the creation museum does not take into account that there are a few billion people WHO DO NOT believe in the Flood story from Christianity.....
How does one convince them. The Bible story is so tacky- all of the Bible stories are.. no imagination no nothing THe other myths are so much more intertesting... Hindu creation,the Greeks etc...

69. Small, Yes, but Mighty: The Molecule Called Water

Comment #55263 by Alkal on July 10, 2007 at 11:28 am

This is sheer poetry...

About the ark, even if ALL the water on earth were to be taken, seas etc etc, it would not flood the entire earth, someone had proven it mathematically

70. A force for good?

Comment #55053 by Alkal on July 9, 2007 at 10:28 pm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kafeels_mother_feared_he_was_on_wrong_path/articleshow/2189805.cms

Do they need any more proof of Religion as Child abuse, leading to nightmarish situations?

71. Sean Hannity with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #54858 by Alkal on July 9, 2007 at 6:38 am

I think I posted it before completing my argument.

Plus he quickly changes the topic. And is no match for the logic...

72. Sean Hannity with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #54857 by Alkal on July 9, 2007 at 6:36 am

One thing I can never understand how the theist position of the "starting point" makes for more "majesty".

They refuse to even acknowledge the wonder of "Creation" by saying , "God did it, can we eat now..." ( or some such thing)

Also the whole insistence on "God, god, god" after a while becomes idiotic,

73. Won't anyone stand up for God?

Comment #54567 by Alkal on July 7, 2007 at 8:35 pm

Poor lil God, does he need defenders now, poor pathetic creature.

74. Unorthodox Atheist

Comment #54103 by Alkal on July 5, 2007 at 11:32 am

That is one weird sory, just saw Reed's blog, Its very well written

75. Christopher Hitchens and Al Sharpton

Comment #53595 by Alkal on July 2, 2007 at 6:48 am

At least Hitchens sounds educated. The reverend is belligerent, ignorant sounding and well, if he is the best religion has for their point of view, they need a better speaker.

76. Science of the Soul? 'I Think, Therefore I Am' Is Losing Force

Comment #52632 by Alkal on June 27, 2007 at 3:03 pm

Why are the Republican Presidential hopefuls considered "intelligent" that their non-belief in evolution is s discussed.
In reality, it takes a more developed mind- one which has the ability to reason and move beyond the lower bases of knowledge to be able to understand science and the religious lot actually always go for the more poorly educated lot- because they are easier to convince.
It takes brains to reject religion. Most folks don't have the brains to :D

77. 'I have never been happier' says the man who won gold but lost God

Comment #52537 by Alkal on June 27, 2007 at 8:01 am

The best part is that he is so refreshingly honest and open, completely rational and so wonderfully humane. A truly great person. Lives like this are never meaningless. This is his purpose( at the risk of sounding like a person of faith....but I meant this in a poetic sense)

78. Bill O'Reilly and Kirk Cameron on Atheism

Comment #52306 by Alkal on June 26, 2007 at 5:07 pm

Cameron is an ass, and if he is the best the theists have... well a person who does the Banana spil and believes it.. well

79. The Stupidity of Fox News is Truly Beyond Belief

Comment #52303 by Alkal on June 26, 2007 at 5:02 pm

ANd I respect George CLooney more!

80. The Stupidity of Fox News is Truly Beyond Belief

Comment #52302 by Alkal on June 26, 2007 at 4:59 pm

The guys actually says "these scientists" refering to atheists. So he does admit that religious people are non-scientfic?
"90%of Americans blieve, so it must be so" as if the rest of the world does not matter.

"miracle of childbirth" Its Faux News alright.

81. God Hates the World

Comment #52300 by Alkal on June 26, 2007 at 4:42 pm

I could not watch the last part, it was just too insane to see.

And the horrible part is that AL RELIGIOUS people are as batshit crazy about their particular brand of emotion that invisible creature up there may have for this earth... the scary part is that it take something so extreme for us to see how wrong this nonsense is. We have all been brainwashed into accepting the stupid irrationality -even if it is "moderate" -that religion is. SO much so that we ae immune to the braindead-ness we live with and need horribly jolts like this to wake up to how wrong it really is.

82. The Blasphemy Challenge

Comment #52287 by Alkal on June 26, 2007 at 4:12 pm

I would deny it all and sell my soul also...( wonder if a non Christian blaspheming matters???)

83. In Defense of Witchcraft

Comment #52251 by Alkal on June 26, 2007 at 3:17 pm

The problem is that rational people understand this, the irational will keep on coming back to the circular "But witches are not the same as our god"!

84. Look Forward to Anger

Comment #52226 by Alkal on June 26, 2007 at 2:15 pm

The sad thing however is that Hindu hardliners will take this and use it to justify their anti-Muslim stance. Hate begetting more hate...

85. Look Forward to Anger

Comment #52225 by Alkal on June 26, 2007 at 2:14 pm

The interesting thing is that this guy is good with his "rage". It takes a lot of political and oter educational attainment to read and understand Rushdie...And folk like this guy here like bieng all sound and fury...