Tag Archives: muhammad

NYC Seeks Ban on “Dinosaur” and “Evolution” in Standardized Tests. Sam Wineburg Has a Wonderful Retort.

Posted on April 3, 2012 by

When CNN reported last week on the fifty words that the New York City Department of Education seeks to ban from its standardized tests, the list was discovered to include “dinosaur” and “evolution.” Fundamentalist Christian, Orthodox Jewish, Mormon, Jehovah Witness, … Continue reading →

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Teaching What to Think vs. How to Think: Former Pastor Tim Prowse Offers His Confession to Sam Harris

Posted on March 8, 2012 by

Tim Prowse, a former United Methodist minister, has an extraordinarily honest exchange with Sam Harris at Sam Harris’s website. Here’s Prowse recounting to Harris how the practice of critical thinking brought him to a loss of faith: An interesting thing … Continue reading →

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War in 2012: My (Pessimistic) Take on the Israeli-Iranian Standoff

Posted on February 24, 2012 by

An option for dealing with Iran—the one President Obama would certainly prefer if Israel was led by a liberal politician and the Republicans were not so bat-shit crazy—is containment: let the Iranians develop their nuclear bomb(s) and live, as best … Continue reading →

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The Coming War with Iran: Will American Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Be to Blame?

Posted on February 22, 2012 by

It certainly appears that Sheldon Adelson would have more than a little bit of responsibility for America’s war with Iran, should it occur. Here’s an alarming bit of background on Sheldon Adelson in the Financial Times on Sunday: Then there is Sheldon Adelson, … Continue reading →

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Twitter Blasphemy Watch: 26,000 Now Call for Death of Hamza Kashgari

Posted on February 21, 2012 by

As of this morning, over 26,000 Facebookers are calling for the death of poet and feminist Hamza Kashgari for Twitter blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad. The number has been steadily climbing over the past week. If you find this as distressing as … Continue reading →

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Twitter Blasphemy: 18,000 Facebookers Call for the Death of Feminist Hamza Kashgari for Insulting the Prophet Muhammad

Posted on February 12, 2012 by

As of this morning, 18,000 is the number of Facebookers calling for the death of Hamza Kashgari for Twitter blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad. The number was 8,000 on Thursday, 13,000 on Friday, and 16,000 on Saturday. Does anyone know … Continue reading →

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Twitter Blasphemy: 16,000 Facebookers Agree That Hamza Kashgari Should Be Executed for Insulting the Prophet

Posted on February 11, 2012 by

The number of people who have joined a Facebook page calling for the death of Hamza Kashgari for Twitter blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad has climbed from 8,000 on Thursday to 16,000 this morning (I just checked the page). Yesterday, … Continue reading →

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When the Western Atlas Shrugs: The Economic Consequences of the Islamic Brotherhood Ruling Egypt

Posted on January 16, 2012 by

The majority of Egyptians are on the verge of getting their wish—a theocratic state—but they may rue the day that they did. The following quote comes from Middle East analyst Theodore May, and appeared as part of an opinion piece … Continue reading →

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Should Atheists Insert Themselves into Religious Discussions and Theological Disputes?

Posted on January 15, 2012 by

The reason atheists can (and should) enter into religious discussions and theological disputes, judging religions, is because Jesus, Muhammad, Moses, Krishna, and Buddha do not belong to the faiths to which they are associated. In the 21st century, these figures … Continue reading →

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Islamic Herderianism is Coming to Egypt

Posted on December 31, 2011 by

As a result of recent Egyptian elections, the (so-called moderate) Islamic Brotherhood and (all agree fanatic) Salafists will represent two-thirds of the seats in the new parliament. Erik Trager of the New Republic interviewed seven of these election winners, all … Continue reading →

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Catholic Church Christmas Bombing 2011: Boko Haram Means “Western Learning is Sinful”

Posted on December 26, 2011 by

The Islamist group that calls itself “Boko Haram”—northern Hausa language, meaning “Western learning is sinful”—and that blew up Catholics at a Christmas service yesterday, is described in the following manner by Reuters: The shadowy group from Nigeria’s Muslim north, blamed for … Continue reading →

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Tim Minchin’s “Woody Allen Jesus” Christmas Song

Posted on December 23, 2011 by

The best new Christmas song of the year (by Tim Minchin): —- Unfortunately, though Tim Minchin’s segment was taped for the Jonathan Ross Show, it didn’t actually air. It was nixed as too controversial. But Minchin, given a copy of … Continue reading →

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What a Dungeon is Saudi Arabia!

Posted on December 9, 2011 by

This woman’s life seems to me a nightmare. How do women come to comply with living like this, and so casually defend it to outsiders? ___ And, if you don’t have time for the whole second clip, at least check out … Continue reading →

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Australian Sentenced to 500 Lashes in Saudi Arabia

Posted on December 9, 2011 by

Mansor Almaribe, an Australian man visiting Saudi Arabia, didn’t insult the Prophet Muhammad, but one of Muhammad’s companions. It was enough. The Australian reports the result: a sentence of 500 lashes and a year in prison. Isn’t Sharia grand? The … Continue reading →

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WWJFKD: What Would John F. Kennedy Do (About Iran)?

Posted on December 6, 2011 by

An Egyptian elementary school teacher and Islamic Brotherhood supporter, Ala al-Din, leaving Friday prayers in Cairo last week, told a reporter for Ynet, Eldad Beck, something I regard as quite chilling: [A]ll Egyptian Muslims are willing to embark on Jihad … Continue reading →

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All-American Muslim on TLC: Do These People Represent the Future of Islam?

Posted on November 11, 2011 by

This new reality series seems hopeful: ___ I’ve long thought, and still think, that American Muslims represent Islam’s future (which I take to be the religion’s gradual but definite liberalization and rapprochement with western Enlightenment modernism). I’m betting that a century from now the … Continue reading →

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Muslims in Libya Destroy Cases of Demon Liquor

Posted on November 9, 2011 by

With the Islamist Ennahda Party winning the elections in Tunisia, we discover that freedom for Tunisians will not include freedom from religion as a human option (and so will not be freedom at all). And here are Muslim men in Libya repeating the phrase … Continue reading →

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Islamists Firebomb Charlie Hebdo Magazine. Time’s Bruce Crumley Blames the Magazine.

Posted on November 3, 2011 by

This is simply breathtaking for its grotesqueness. A French newspaper practices freedom of the press, printing some satire directed toward Islam; the paper is subsequently firebombed by religious fanatics; and Bruce Crumley, Time magazine’s bureau chief in Paris, castigates the … Continue reading →

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The Ummah Curtain: Tunisia’s “Moderate Islamist Party Ennahda” is Coming to Power

Posted on October 24, 2011 by

So long, secularism in Tunisia. Concerning the Tunisian elections, AP reports today that secularism appears to be in retreat there: [A] once-banned Islamist party is leading in many constituencies in the country that unleashed uprisings across the Arab world. But, AP … Continue reading →

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Bearing Witness to Maspero: Image of Egyptian Christians at Maspero Morgue Killed by Police and Islamic Mob Violence, October 9th, 2011

Posted on October 16, 2011 by

The image comes from Wikipedia Commons. These were among the 26 victims of October 9th, 2011, in the Cairo district of Maspero. The image was taken at the Coptic hospital’s morgue. ———- This, from the European Council on Foreign Relations, seems … Continue reading →

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