In Response to a Stupid Meme

There is no Christianity in the modern world. In its place is a bunch of squabbling sects; each with it's own vision of the Truth. The only real danger these little "c" christianities pose is when one or an alliance of a few powerful ones gains ascendancy within a government. That situation helped drive much of the warfare in post-Reformation Europe. The US avoided that problem largely -- and probably accidentally -- by mandating religious freedom so people no longer had to fight over stupid stuff. If you disagreed with your church, join another or make up your own.

The adherence to Scriptures is highly selective in modern Christianity and different sects emphasize different parts. God may hate fags but He loves bacon! In a real sense, Christians have gone from believing their religion to believing in their religion.

Maybe Islam is in a transitional state analogous to the Reformation. I don't think so but it may just be too early to tell. More likely, IMO, is that most Muslims really believe their religion is big "T" Truth and internalize its principles. All of them. That is not remotely like the situation in Christianity since the 19th Century.

Anyway, here is the Stupid Meme of the title.

Ridicule is Still the Final Test of Truth

Today (Jan 8, 2015) USA Today's Opposing Views posed an article by Anjem Choudary entitled:

Why did France allow the tabloid to provoke Muslims?

Choudary is described as "...a radical Muslim cleric in London and a lecturer in sharia."

Read the editorial but the answer to that question should be obvious to everyone in the Western World: Freedom is an inherently offensive state of existence. No matter what you may believe, there will be someone who will ridicule it. Someone will burn a Koran, dip a Crucifix in urine or photoshop the Flying Spaghetti Monster into the creation image of the Sistine Chapel. However, as HL Mencken wrote, "..the razor edge of ridicule is turned by the tough hide of truth." If you really think what you believe is true then what is there to fear? Your pet theories or dogma will survive if truth is really on your side.

Muslims who cannot stand to have their peculiar neuroses ridiculed deserve to be shot by their intended victims.

Tasteless, Terrorist Street Art

I don't know the context of this yet. I could be harmless.

H/T to Burn The Koran For Freedom and Urban Infidel

Edited to add:
Thank to USA2RKBA for the link to Fresh Stuff from Bunny Bin Laden. I guess whomever Bunny Bin Laden is he or she thinks this is funny. Like the hooker in Saigon who charged fifty cents for a blowjob, her taste was all in her mouth.

Holy Smoke!

The good folks over at BurnTheKoran link to an article on HillBuzz criticizing General David Petraeus out for his comments on Pastor Terry Jones' threat last month to burn a Koran as part of his September 11 observances. In one of the comments, someone named Aussie writes in part:

The Koran is seen as a 'holy book' and it should be respected as such.

It is never a good idea to hand an Armed, Godless Heathen a straight line like that.

In the interest of fairness I propose a test: I'll burn a Douay Bible, a King James Bible, a Book of Mormon and a Koran. My hypothesis predicts that:

1. Some Catholics will call me names.
2. Some Protestants will call me names.
3. Some Mormons will call me names.
4. Muslims will go ape shit and riot.

Any takers?

Why not burn a few Bibles?

Some Muslims in Afghanistan are upset because of plans by members of the Dove World Outreach Center to burn some Qurans on Sep 11.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Hundreds of Afghans railed against the United States and called for President Barack Obama's death at a rally in the capital Monday to denounce an American church's plans to burn the Islamic holy book on 9/11.

The crowd in Kabul, numbering as many as 500, chanted "Long live Islam" and "Death to America" as they listened to fiery speeches from members of parliament, provincial council deputies, and Islamic clerics who criticized the U.S. and demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. Some threw rocks when a U.S. military convoy passed, but speakers shouted at them to stop and told police to arrest anyone who disobeyed.

The New Black Panther Party appears to be outraged too.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Members of the New Black Panther Party showed up in Gainesville Monday to let The Dove World Outreach Center know it is outraged by its plan to burn the Koran.

"I believe in peace but if you aggress me, I am going to fight back," said State Chairman of the New Black Panther Party Mikhail Muhammad.

It is not aggression to destroy your own property no matter how holy someone else may consider it to be. I'm not very likely burn a Quran unless it was really cold, the gas was off and I need to start a fire in the old fireplace. Even then I'd just use what I have to and save the rest for later. Toilet paper maybe.

I guarantee that if things really get that bad, I'll burn every Quran, Bible and Book of Mormon I can lay my hands on long before I'll destroy something useful like Gray's Anatomy, Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers or the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. I even give those awful Twilight books a higher regard than the holiest of the holy books the world's religions have managed to produce.

I wonder if even the educated Mulsims can understand the difference.

I live in a country that is supposed to recognize every person's goddamn right to do with his property pretty much as he sees fit. The people in Florida are not harming anyone nor putting anyone in danger. They are not threatening a single Muslim by burning his holy book. The only threats I hear are from the faith-based homicidal maniacs who froth at the mouth over any perceived insult to their religion.

Tit-for-tat: If the Christers down in Florida burn some Qurans then let the Muslims burn some Bibles. That's a proportional response. Threatening to kill someone because he destroyed his own property is not.

Good Muslims?

Amy Alkon, The Advice Goddess comments on an article in MailOnline reporting that,

The widow of a July 7 suicide bomber yesterday launched a High Court bid to be represented at the victims’ inquest - saying she had also suffered the loss of a loved one in the atrocity.

Read the rest of the MailOnline article here: I'm a victim too says the widow of 7/7 bomber, in legal aid claim that could delay inquest

What caught my eye was this comment from someone calling himself "Norsefire".

Considering the status of women under Islam I doubt her dead husband ever discussed this with her but that doesn't matter -- The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim. Especially the incubators.

Amy replies with,

The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.

That's horrible thinking. We don't win here by emulating the commandments of Islam (to murder people who don't share their beliefs) but by maintaining enlightenment values and protecting our society. The best way to do this is to inform people about what Islam really is. About the two Islams -- the Islam that is a religion, practiced by Muslims who are clueless as to what's really in the Quran, and the Islam that is practiced true to the Quran (commanding the death or conversion of the rest of us), which is totalitarianism masquerading as religion.

I'm pretty sure Norsefire is trolling. I doubt the reference to "V for Vendetta" is coincidental. For those who don't know the story, Norsefire was the name of a political party in the graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd. In a fictional England, they solved the Muslim problem (along with the Gay problem, the Jewish problem, the Chinese problem, the Atheist problem and few other bêtes noires) with the brutality typical of collectivism.

Nevertheless, a lot of the rhetoric on the Internet does describe the conflict with Islam as a "war". See the Gates of Vienna as an example: "We are in a new phase of a very old war." Which is not an entirely inaccurate description.

I hope Amy is right and this "war" (battle, conflict, whatever) can be kept cold with the fight managed in the information space. However, Islam is not noted for its rationality. There simply has never been an Islamic equivalent to the Western Enlightenment.

Islam did have its own particular cultural and scientific achievments but turned against science in the twelfth century. The influential Muslim theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali in The Incoherence of the Philosophers argued against the very idea of any laws of nature because such laws would limit God. According to al-Ghazzali if I put piece of cotton in a flame it does not burn because of the heat but because God wants it to burn. After al-Ghazzali, there was no more science worth mentioning in Islamic countries so the culture was never forced to question its traditional worldview.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an exceptional and admirable woman who not only abandoned Islam but became an atheist. A double win for sanity. I would be delighted if more Muslims living in the West would abandon their silly Middle Eastern superstitions and embrace apostasy. Since most Western Governments just don't get the high cost of abandoning Islam (or are too pussified to protect them), I would happily contribute to a fund to buy the apostates a gun and training so that each could protect himself (or herself) from the inevitable attempts at murder.

What are the odds of that happening?

Whoring for Allah

Planet Iran claims to have obtained a document advertising "temporary marriages" for pilgrims en route to the shrine of Imam Reza.

Temporary Marriage (Marriage is among the traditions of the Prophet Mohammad)

In order to elevate the spiritual atmosphere, create proper psychological conditions and tranquility of mind, the Province of the Quds’eh-Razavi of Khorassan has created centers for temporary marriage (just next door to the shrine) for those brothers who are on pilgrimage to the shrine of our eighth Imam, Imam Reza, and who are far away from their spouses.

To that end, we call on all our sisters who are virgins, who are between the ages of 12 and 35 to cooperate with us. Each of our sisters who signs up will be bound by a two year contract with the province of the Quds’eh-Razavi of Khorassan and will be required to spend at least 25 days of each month temporarily married to those brothers who are on pilgrimage. The period of the contract will be considered as a part of the employment experience of the applicant. The period of each temporary marriage can be anywhere between 5 hours to 10 days. The prices are as follows:

• 5 hour temporary marriage – 50,000 Tomans ($50 US)
• One day temporary marriage – 75,000 Tomans ($75 US)
• Two day temporary marriage – 100,000 Tomans ($100 US)
• Three day temporary marriage – 150,000 Tomans ($150 US)
• Between 4 and 10 day temporary marriage – 300,000 Tomans ($300 US)

Our sisters who are virgins will receive a bonus of 100,000 Tomans ($100 US) for the removal of their hymen.

After the expiration of the two year contract, should our sisters still be under 35 years of age and should they be so inclined, they can be added to the waiting list of those who are seeking long-term temporary marriage. The employed sisters are obligated to donate 5% of their earnings to the Shrine of Imam Reza. We ask that all the sisters who are interested in applying, to furnish two full-length photographs (fully hijabed and properly veiled), their academic diplomas, proof of their virginity and a certificate of good physical and psychological health which they can obtain through the health and human services of the township of their residence. Please forward all compiled material and send to the below address by the 31st of the month of Ordibehesht, 1389 (May 21st, 2010).

Attention: For sisters who are below 14 years of age, a written consent from their fathers or male guardian is required.

If the Olympics ever has an event called "Lying with a straight face", the above would be a slam dunk for the gold. On a brighter note Americans could earn a thing or two from Imam Reza about how to treat women: I hear the Nevada brothels demand up to 50% as the house cut.

Missionaries Arrested in Dearborn.

I am not a Christian. That should be obvious from the title and content of this blog. I find missionaries annoying and politely refuse their literature when offered. I read it all 30 years ago and occasional survey of the latest offerings indicate they haven't come up with anything new since then. Nevertheless, they have a right to practice their religion and that right is protected by the Constitution. Which makes the following article from freep.com particularly disturbing.

Four Christian missionaries trying to convert Muslims were arrested and jailed Friday for disorderly conduct at the Arab festival in Dearborn, police said.

"We did make four arrests for disorderly conduct," Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad said Saturday. "They did cause a stir."

The four, who were said to be at the Dearborn Arab International Festival with a Christian group called Acts 17 Apologetics, were later released on bail.

Haddad said that he's not taking sides in any dispute, but added that police have to keep the peace at a festival that draws 300,000 over three days.

"Everyone's space should be respected," Haddad said. "It's Father's Day weekend. ... People are here to have a good time, and it's our job to ensure security."

The Free Press reported last year on the growing number of evangelical Christians targeting Dearborn to convert Muslims.

OK, Christian proselytizers can be annoying. I've had few not take "no" for an answer and accuse me of doing Satan's work. I usually reply with something like, "Why yes, I do. I build airplanes." Then I walk away.

None have followed me yet: They probably don't get the joke.

I also know that Christians, despite any protest to the contrary, can at least threaten violence. Twice in the past 40 years Christians have threaten me physically. Not the vague "kill all the atheists!" rhetoric I expect from the sublimely idiotic but specific threats accompanied by baseball bats. Both times, me and my model 36 showed them the error of their ways. No shots were fired even though both times there were enough attackers that they could have overwhelmed me with only a couple of casualties.

I guess meeting Jesus wasn't on the agenda.

I find the idea that the Christians might have been disruptive at an Arab Festival a little far fetched. Muslims do have a reputation for religiously inspired violence. I wonder if the arrests were prompted by the proselytizers getting out of line or the crowd getting ugly.

H/T to the The Unwanted Blog