101. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights

Comment #120085 by Gymnopedie on February 1, 2008 at 8:47 am

hao and rod-the-farmer,

AHA brings up the point about why aren't the men covered in Infidel (a great read, I might add). She is simply laughed into silence every time she brings it up without a chance for logical discussion or debate. It really shows how backwards and closed their minds are.

102. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights

Comment #120072 by Gymnopedie on February 1, 2008 at 8:31 am

The tradition of the veil is established in the Hadith if I remember correctly. The first mention of it is in a story where Muhammad and one of his wive's are trying to test whether it is really the angel Gabriel giving him the word of Allah or simply a trick of a djinn. The story finishes with something along the lines of the wife uncovering herself and the angel immediately flees at the site of an uncovered woman, proving it really is the angel sent by Allah, being as only a lowly devil could be in the presence of an uncovered woman he does not know.

If anyone remembers where exactly that story is I could definitely use a reread. I'll look for it in the meantime.

103. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights

Comment #119180 by Gymnopedie on January 31, 2008 at 11:28 am

I think some people advocating censorship have a knee-jerk reaction to any post that advocates killing, as if they don't know that all killing isn't murder - the point of my earlier posts.

The difficult question is how to address societies in which they enslave half of their population and have stone-age laws about killing anyone they disagree with. Does anyone seriously think the people want a government like this? How would you even know? You can't even take polls in these places because of fear for your life for opposing the theocratic regime.

Just take the example of the women in these societies. I'm sure they really like having to cover up their bodies all the time, submit to the wish of any male, have no power in the courts, be beaten by their husbands with no legal repercussions, be raped by their husbands with no legal repercussions, etc... Now is there a single person here who honestly thinks the women of these states want that over a free society?

104. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights

Comment #119020 by Gymnopedie on January 31, 2008 at 9:13 am

When the situation is immediate, then I have little trouble in wishing for the death of these ridiculous theocratic thugs. It is a terrible thing to think about killing people to save other people's lives, but, sadly, that might be the reality here.

It's all warm and fuzzy wishing that I didn't want some people dead, but it is people's lives and people's freedom we are talking about here. To take an extreme example: It would have been great to convince Stalin/Hitler/etc... that what they were doing (or what they were going to do) was unquestionably wrong, but I think we can all agree we wouldn't lose any sleep if they got shot dead as soon as they attempted to give orders to slay innocent people.

105. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights

Comment #118981 by Gymnopedie on January 31, 2008 at 8:36 am

Why do we seem to have such a hard time admitting we want our enemies dead? We are talking about fascist tyrants who want the Afghan people to not have one ounce of freedom.

If diplomacy fails, then why is it offensive to say "kill them"? But how in the world could diplomacy work in this situation? The judge will pardon this guy and move on to his next blasphemy sentence? The judge will try to make things far more quiet next time? I'm not trying to say diplomacy is useless, because it obviously is our first and best tool as a country, but what about when government corruption is this deep? What about when diplomacy straight out fails?

I think those are difficult questions.

106. Richard Dawkins on The Big Questions

Comment #118957 by Gymnopedie on January 31, 2008 at 8:04 am

Was I the only one who noticed the Muslim fellow refused to condemn the death sentences against blasphemers? Is he one of the supposed "moderates"? That was awfully disturbing, I thought.

107. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights

Comment #118854 by Gymnopedie on January 31, 2008 at 4:42 am

I haven't heard any US representative make a strong statement on this issue yet. It seems like they pretend to care so deeply about human rights and democracy, but when an issue comes up they just sort of giggle like school children with their hands in their pockets and whisper "Oh shit..." to one another for three weeks.

108. MySpace: No place for Atheists?

Comment #118527 by Gymnopedie on January 30, 2008 at 6:25 pm

ahh BaronOchs, you reminded me of all the "Shut dowen teh [fill in favorite mythology] grououp!!1!11". I love how in retaliation to the Fuck Jesus and Fuck Islam groups, they made a "Fuck Atheism" group. Absolutely classic. At least they can all unite under one cause!

109. Scientists discover way to reverse loss of memory

Comment #118377 by Gymnopedie on January 30, 2008 at 4:14 pm

Seems too good to be true.

One step closer to becoming bionic people. Bring it on!

JesperB: Learn Theology? There is some sort of linguistic dissonance occurring in my brain each time I read that.

110. MySpace: No place for Atheists?

Comment #118343 by Gymnopedie on January 30, 2008 at 3:50 pm

MySpace is for people who haven't left the mindset of a 4th grader. The only good thing about it is the networking offered for bands, but I think even that is becoming a bit obsolete as more websites offer a means of low-cost advertisement and networking.

Facebook isn't really all that much better being as they do extensive advertising for Christian groups. I assume they give them a huge financial break because the massive amount of advertisement they have done has got to be well over 5000 dollars in costs. But yet again, Christian groups have the money, so who knows.

It's all about marketing, anyway. If discrimination lands them cash and no legal troubles, then why wouldn't they as long as they don't care about anything but the money? This whole scandal just shows the owner is a money hungry disgusting amoral pig. What a surprise...

111. MySpace: No place for Atheists?

Comment #118086 by Gymnopedie on January 30, 2008 at 10:09 am

Another reason to not use MySpace!

112. Belief in Belief

Comment #117541 by Gymnopedie on January 29, 2008 at 4:40 am

I still don't get why people worship that old hag Mother Theresa.

113. Ore. Court: Boy Has Say in Circumcision

Comment #117094 by Gymnopedie on January 28, 2008 at 8:50 am

The old "pick your battles" is the most useless and inane thing to bring up when these seemingly "trivial" issues arise. The beauty of activism is that everyone picks his or her own battles and we cover an immense amount of ground, from the most serious to the most mundane. If someone wants his life goal to battle the overpricing of subwoofers in home entertainment systems, then great! So be it! Let every person choose his or her own battle that best suites his or her own interests and can be fought best by that person.

114. New atheists or new anti-dogmatists?

Comment #117088 by Gymnopedie on January 28, 2008 at 8:32 am

Well, at least someone understands!

Once you understand the criticism is against dogma and religion is a branch of the dogma tree, then you can clearly see what is wrong with the whole "Stalin was..." argument.

Great article!

115. Heath Ledger Death: Baptist Group To Protest At Memorial

Comment #115766 by Gymnopedie on January 24, 2008 at 4:54 pm

Awww the troll is gone! That was the most fun I've had reading comments in ages.

116. Heath Ledger Death: Baptist Group To Protest At Memorial

Comment #115621 by Gymnopedie on January 24, 2008 at 12:16 pm

I don't understand why anyone gives two shits about the WBC and their inane protests. I think this is one of those "forget about them and they go away" sort of deals. The media and internet are the only things keeping these creeps alive. They aren't representative of the majority of Christians and hardly (only in the most ridiculous cases) represent the fundamentalists and literalists.

Move on...

117. Three Little Pigs 'too offensive'

Comment #115207 by Gymnopedie on January 23, 2008 at 6:46 pm

Goldy, Al-rawandi, I addressed your point: If you see racism, call it out for what it is: racism! If a politician is advocating a harsh anti-Muslim policy and his actual motivation is racism, then expose the racism. Critisizing Islam is not racist as Islam is not a race. What part am I missing here?

118. The real danger in Darwin is not evolution, but racism

Comment #115174 by Gymnopedie on January 23, 2008 at 5:39 pm

Wow. All that because the author doesn't understand what the word "race" meant in Darwin's writings.

119. Top 10 Reasons to Believe Logic Over Religion

Comment #115169 by Gymnopedie on January 23, 2008 at 5:33 pm

I guess I just don't get why herbal remedies and "such" wouldn't be considered alternative medicine. What else would they be called?

120. Death Sentence for Afghan Student

Comment #115133 by Gymnopedie on January 23, 2008 at 4:15 pm

The glory of Sharia law.

What exactly goes through the head of the clerics who do these sentencings? Absolutely nothing? I can't even imagine what such a bizarre power trip would feel like.

121. Three Little Pigs 'too offensive'

Comment #115061 by Gymnopedie on January 23, 2008 at 1:31 pm

If you think of Islam and can't separate it with the image of a certain socially constructed group, then grow up, don't complain to the rest of us. If you see racism, expose it for what it is: racism!

Islam is not a race, end of fucking story.

122. Top 10 Reasons to Believe Logic Over Religion

Comment #115053 by Gymnopedie on January 23, 2008 at 1:22 pm

notsobad, what exactly are you implying about herbal remedies? I don't really understand what you are getting at there. And likewise for chiropractic you mentioned earlier. Surely you aren't saying chiropractic is evidence based medicine...?

123. Top 10 Reasons to Believe Logic Over Religion

Comment #114986 by Gymnopedie on January 23, 2008 at 11:25 am

As Gr8hands said, there is no such thing as alternative medicine, just alternatives to medicine. It a treatment works, it becomes part of mainstream medicine. If a treatment doesn't work (like acupuncture or whatever new age nonsense you please), then it is often adopted by charlatans and called "alternative medicine".

124. Top 10 Reasons to Believe Logic Over Religion

Comment #114938 by Gymnopedie on January 23, 2008 at 8:05 am

The Ron Paul part made me throw up a little. The man is a grade-A nut for all the reasons mentioned above, and more. He is a doctor yet supports "alternative medicine"? He denies evolution, doesn't make a clear stand on the separation of State and Church, and supports quack medicine. Three strikes...

Very B grade article that homogenizes male stereotypes and armchair philosophy.

125. Gigantic fossil rodent discovered

Comment #112643 by Gymnopedie on January 17, 2008 at 4:23 pm

Sheesh, I remember seeing the giant capybaras at the Detroit Zoo and being amazed at those oversized guinea pigs. Too bad we don't have one of those!

126. Huckabee Wants A 'Faith-based' Constitution

Comment #111979 by Gymnopedie on January 16, 2008 at 6:17 am

I think we all knew he thought like this, anyway. It's scary to think we have 2 nuts on the Supreme Court who have made the same statements.

127. Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up

Comment #109698 by Gymnopedie on January 9, 2008 at 2:09 pm

I don't really care so much about an author having his or her credentials on the book cover or in the preview as long as it is relevant to the topic. When I saw the book at the book store yesterday, I assumed the approach he took had something to do with math, but in a 2 minute skim through, I found nothing of the sort. So it is the misleading aspect of it that I dislike, although I think that point is minimal.

128. Hook, line and rapture

Comment #109143 by Gymnopedie on January 8, 2008 at 12:32 pm

Laugh out loud funny! Great stuff. But, sadly, his bit about Christians looking forward to the rapture is quite true, and thus, very scary.

129. It was a bad year for God.

Comment #109136 by Gymnopedie on January 8, 2008 at 12:24 pm

Looking back, it was a REALLY bad year for the old man in the sky. Poor God, so persecuted.

130. Blind Faiths

Comment #108802 by Gymnopedie on January 7, 2008 at 3:57 pm

Al-Rawandi,

I should have been more clear about the word "suicide". You are quite right as far as I can tell that all the schools disapprove of suicide, but then again do not consider suicide bombings suicide (it is called martyrdom, not suicide). Sura 2:154 also implies that suicide bombings are not suicide in the common way the term in used. Words we commonly use have a completely different meaning in traditional Islam, such as unbeliever, innocent, etc…

131. Blind Faiths

Comment #108776 by Gymnopedie on January 7, 2008 at 3:01 pm

Al-rawandi,

You take the blame off of the ones who committed the act of violence and blame it on the teachers and religious leaders. Are you saying the terrorists of 7/7 are innocent and were simply brainwashed? Religion is brainwashing in the most general sense as it nearly always subverts critical thinking and reasoning. You are implying much more than that; that religion turns people into mindless zombies who are puppets of the religious leaders. Anyone who is not oppressed in the most severe sense can escape religion, and to imply anything other than that is unbelievably condescending.

To say religions are all the same at heart or that Christianity and Islam are the same is a lie. There is a fundamental difference between Christianity and Islam: their leaders. One is a pacifist to the extreme and the other is a warrior who actively fought and led battles. If a religious person is to follow the example of the religion's founder/leading figure, then there is bound to be an enormous difference between Christians and Muslims, which there is.

And what major school of Islamic Jurisprudence condemns suicide in all situations, including acts of Jihad?

132. Blind Faiths

Comment #108727 by Gymnopedie on January 7, 2008 at 1:31 pm

al-rawandi

I'm not sure what your point is when you point out countries which have a recognizable Islamic threat and those that do not. First of all, there have been Jihad activity in some of the aforementioned countries (perhaps all of them). For example: http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1734869.ece. A critic of Islam is beaten in Norway by multiple men. She is an activist in Norway and does most of her work in Norway, so there is obviously a threat there.

Or a more familiar example would be AHA, which I need not recount here.

You cite brainwashing as the reason for the 7-7 bombers? We are talking about well off adults here. How about you get serious.

133. Blind Faiths

Comment #108634 by Gymnopedie on January 7, 2008 at 11:23 am

I must admit that it was writers like Sam Harris, Hitchens, and AHA that made me stop using meaningless blanket terms like Neo-Con, and Neo-Liberal. I feel we should all be mature enough to address arguments rather than build and burn straw-men. (I hope.)

I must say I'm utterly shocked that people (especially here) are still blaming the West in some sort of masochistic fashion for terrorist threats and terrorist attacks. Have you not ever listened to the terrorists? Have you never read the texts they claim to abide by? It's the equivalent of the "Stalin was an atheist..." but to the issue of terrorism/Islamic radicalism.

134. A War On Science

Comment #105411 by Gymnopedie on December 31, 2007 at 1:25 pm

Isn't the theistic (or divinely guided) version of evolution just another form of ID? I just don't see the difference between one fairy-tale and the next, except that one more closely resembles science.

135. Carl Sagan's COSMOS begins airing on Jan 8th

Comment #104443 by Gymnopedie on December 28, 2007 at 1:48 pm

An absolute classic. I couldn't help but smile with glee when I saw the commercials for this series once again.

136. Borders Tags Atheist Book with 'O Come All Ye Faithless' Cards

Comment #100344 by Gymnopedie on December 18, 2007 at 2:05 pm

Maybe I'm just dense here, but how is this offensive to Christians? I thought the complaint would be more along the lines of "bad taste" than outright offensive. Maybe someone can explain this one to me.

137. Abstinence Programs Face Rejection

Comment #100166 by Gymnopedie on December 18, 2007 at 10:38 am

It seems obvious the people who promote the abstinence only education probably are not human, or apparently skipped puberty and went right on to be self righteous assholes.

The whole issue is a clash of ideology and science. No matter what the facts are, the ideology must be promoted. A baffling mentality.

138. CBC News: Sunday - Richard Dawkins

Comment #100142 by Gymnopedie on December 18, 2007 at 9:47 am

"Fancy Darwin talk"

I stopped taking him seriously right there.

139. This Is Not a Test

Comment #99907 by Gymnopedie on December 17, 2007 at 7:55 pm

M31, I think you are right in your correction. I should have said something more along the lines of "Nader didn't get a serious amount of votes..." or "Nader didn't receive an amount of votes proportional to the general public support he receieved...". I think the point is easily taken, even if I have trouble articulating it.

140. What Your Brain Looks Like on Faith

Comment #99824 by Gymnopedie on December 17, 2007 at 4:00 pm

Rtambree, your comment makes me wonder what would happen if everyone put themselves through the fMRI. Everyone is exposed as an atheist and finally they all turn to one another and say "So you didn't buy that bullshit either?"

141. This Is Not a Test

Comment #99823 by Gymnopedie on December 17, 2007 at 3:56 pm

No one voted for Nader because people ignore him on the ballot as they think they are "wasting" their vote on a candidate that does not have a chance. The entire voting system is due for a remake. We should either have a trickle down voting system or a ranking system. Then we no longer have the issue of "wasting" votes.

142. This Is Not a Test

Comment #99818 by Gymnopedie on December 17, 2007 at 3:51 pm

If you care about secularism and maintaining the Constitution, then vote your secularism. The democrats, however boring, won't put nutjob theocrats in the supreme court and won't automatically vote down everything that promotes science.

I'll say it again: Vote Your Secularism!

143. Dawkins: I'm a cultural Christian

Comment #99790 by Gymnopedie on December 17, 2007 at 2:42 pm

Christmas is so far removed from Christianity that I often forget Christians hold it so dearly as the birth of Santa.

144. This Is Not a Test

Comment #99787 by Gymnopedie on December 17, 2007 at 2:37 pm

He's no theocrat, he just wants a theocracy! Duh...

145. U.S. Congress Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith

Comment #98242 by Gymnopedie on December 13, 2007 at 10:43 am

Although the resolution is a disgusting piece of filth and it is a shame it got passed, it is just symbolic legislature. I wouldn't get too excited over this stuff. They could pass these resolutions all day long and it wouldn't matter in any significant way. What matters is that we have a majority of Supreme Court Judges who understand the Separation of State and Church. If we lose that majority to a right-wing nutjob because of a wacko president in the next election, that is something to worry about. So in conclusion, vote your secularism if this sort of thing truly disgusts you. If not, then this sort of trash could get serious in the future.

146. U.S. Congress Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith

Comment #97947 by Gymnopedie on December 12, 2007 at 9:39 pm

I think Santa Claus and his reindeer are voting on it later this month.

And since when do only Christians celebrate Christmas?

147. Ayaan Hirsi Ali versus Timothy Garton Ash

Comment #97938 by Gymnopedie on December 12, 2007 at 9:21 pm

What in the world did Timothy Garton Ash say just before 57:00 mark? He makes a point about censorship and is censored! How ridiculous.

148. Ayaan Hirsi Ali versus Timothy Garton Ash

Comment #97918 by Gymnopedie on December 12, 2007 at 8:40 pm

Which is why he renounces the term...

149. Controversial Anti-Muslim Dutch Film Adds to Already Simmering Tensions

Comment #97782 by Gymnopedie on December 12, 2007 at 4:10 pm

Multiple posters have mentioned this guy is a racist or possibly is one. I think that is a serious enough charge for those people to provide evidence for it. If he is, let it be known with evidence. If he isn't, then what is your point? Letting that sort of garbage float around in a forum like this makes Islam look like a race/ethnicity.

So, evidence, please?

150. Controversial Anti-Muslim Dutch Film Adds to Already Simmering Tensions

Comment #97595 by Gymnopedie on December 12, 2007 at 12:04 pm

"The Koran is a matter of interpretation..."

Yea, I'm pretty sure saying that would get you killed in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, and probably a few more places. It is that moderate Muslim voice that needs to speak out much, much more.