Or……not black and white, but shades of wrong."Free speech and Freethought go together. If one is hampered the other languishes. What is the use of thinking if I may not express my thought? We claim equal liberty for all. The priest shall say what he believes and so shall the sceptic. No law shall protect the one and disfranchise the other. If any man disapproves what I say, he need not hear me a second time. What more does he require? Let him listen to what he likes, and leave others to do the same. Let us have justice and fair play all round." – GW Foote.
Atheism and secularism are not merely modern fads, as many people claim. There were many people over the course of history that held sceptical views of religion, amongst other things. However fear of oppression and persecution limited their vocalism. David Hume, the 18th century Scottish philosopher was a famous example. Others include the ancient Greek intellectuals, the founding fathers of America, Darwin (who thought of himself as an agnostic),
GW Foote (who was imprisoned for blasphemy in his publication the
freethinker),
Charles Chilton Moore (For similar reasons) and many more. Indeed, from the dawn of human history when one caveman pointed to ‘Big Ugg in the sky’ there was someone else who said ‘Naaa’, and often was killed for it.
It’s with this in mind that
I feel troubled by government opposition to secularism, particularly as religion is so adept at
stifling free speech. Pending publication of the UK census taken last year, there appears to be a large percentage of non-religious people (some surveys say more than 50%) and the
Christians are barely Christian. Yet we still have to fight for acceptance, such as with the
Secular Europe Campaign.
There we have it; Jesus probably never existed at all, it being a confusion of astrology (The three kings being the three stars on Orion’s belt, the death and resurrection meaning the 3 day Sun dip in the solstice etc). However its main target is Christianity, rather than religion in general, a point raised by
jordan179 in an entry
here; religious condemnation is often disproportionate between Christianity and Islam (as well as the other religions of the world). This goes against the tendency of Islamic fundamentalists to be more violent.
Mostly. I can think of some reasons that might explain this:
- Christianity has the most global adherents.
- Most of the religious 'on our doorstep' are Christians, whereas most Islamic events we hear of by proxy.
- With the exception of the few of us brought up without religion, most of us 'were' Christian, so there’s the issue of personal rebellion. This also means many of us are more familiar with the absurdities of the Bible than the Koran.
- Christianity influences our government policy more than Islam, which is often seen as an undeserved influence.
That isn’t to say atheism is uncritical of Islam, or is particularly intimidated. There are plenty of things out there such as ‘Draw Mohammed Day’, writings of Sam Harris, the ‘Satanic Verses’ by Salman Rushdie (which earned him a fatwa) amongst others.
Here is an article by PZ Myers on the laughable errors of an example of the Hadeeth (sayings of the prophet), and
here is an American billboard campaign with specific targets. Also here’s
Jesus and Mo!
Have some Billy:
“Religion can never reform mankind because religion is slavery.” - Robert Green Ingersoll Here’s some further elaboration on my reasons, listed above:
- Few non-Muslims in the western world actually know what Mohammad is reported to have done. They can sometimes recite parts such as his marriage to a nine year old girl but they can’t name other specifics, as with Jesus’ story. The BBC did a 3 part
documentary on his life, which some condemned (an immediate reason to watch ;) ). They did their best to put a positive spin on it, but logically it was a tale of someone with some form of extreme epilepsy. Islam’s claim to Jerusalem is rather tenuous; relying on an obvious
dream of a winged horse! Informative.
- Christianity’s influence on British governmental policy stems from a number of bishops in the unelected House of Lords.
Baroness Warsi, the first unelected Muslim minister, maybe the turning point in those influences. She recently launched a fucking stupid
attack on Secularism. Doesn’t she understand secularism is the reason she is where she is now? In an Islamic country she wouldn’t be a solicitor, politician or of influence. She’d be an illiterate, burka-clad mother with a mutilated vagina.
- The other things mentioned in terms of Islamic influence are the
Sharia courts, which have absolutely no influence over non-Muslims or government influence beyond protests as the rest of us do.
- I don’t live in Bradford, so I can’t really comment beyond what logic dictates: We need more integration to end this madness. No more religious symbolism, indoctrination and faith schooling; a four year old left to their own devices will befriend other children of any creed or colour. I saw
Make Bradford British which attempted to deal with the multiculturism issue.
- Judging by some of the videos posted on the future of Europe, on Youtube, there seems to be a sense of panic that we will be ‘Islamised’ or something within 39 years...I don’t know where to start with that one... Ok, firstly, it’s scaremongering, and the only end to that can be violence. It is worrying that some still have the mindset of the Crusades; us and them, Christian against Muslim, the only way forward is through physical struggle... Haven’t we got past that? We live in a period of understanding, discussion and cognition. Europe is growing increasingly secular, with religious idolatry being cast off. It may be more difficult, at first but
followers are renouncing Islam just as any other faith. Many of those who stay in the faith do so far less strictly. The alcohol and social rules are often more liberal, and recently there was a Muslim woman on
Deal or no deal, a TV show based on the premise of gambling. Because Ramadan this year
falls during the Olympic Games, Muslim athletes are choosing to postpone their fasting until after the games are over, in effect saying ‘this life takes precedence’.
- Because Islam is a religion and not a race, you can’t be racist against Muslims any more than you can be racist against members of the Lady Gaga fan club. This also brings into question the reason for resisting this ‘invasion’. Is it a white/non-white issue? We are all a patchwork of DNA from different sources, for example we in Britain have been invaded many times in our history; the Vikings, the Romans, the Normans. Their DNA is part of us (We even have some Neanderthal genes). Let’s not even dignify that ridiculous claim that Muslims will outbreed us with our negative population growth.
- In short, Islam as it stands now is far too rigid to survive in the dynamics of a secular west. There have been and will be many more
futile exceptions but in the long run (Thousands, hundreds of thousands of years) a liberal and progressive society will be here.
Finally, happy
‘A’ week, all.