Common Islam, you can do better!

Okay. I am sick of Islam. Over the last few weeks I have been in contact with an Islamic girl over facebook. She has attempted to convert me many times. I have generally stayed silent and just let her do her little cyber missionary thing. But the other day I got board and finally asked her why she believed in god.

                Her first argument was, she was born a Muslim. I said this was a worthless argument because technically everyone is born an atheist. We are not born believing in a particular religion. You just happen to be born into a family that expects you to follow a certain religion after they teach it to you.

                Her next argument was about how Islam was the religion of peace and all that stuff. To this I quickly pointed out that Islam generates more religious violence than any other religion and that Islam being the religion of peace isn’t proof god exists.

                She than gave me cases where atheists turned to Islam. I in turn gave her many more cases where Muslims turned to atheism and were hung, stoned or beheaded for that, then gave her a few examples of were Muslims turned to atheism and were lucky enough to be in a tolerant country.  After which I pulled the famous Dawkings line “what is the price of apostasy” (I love that one) I than explained to her that simply because someone turns to a particular belief system doesn’t mean it’s correct. 

                After which she gave me a video pointing out the sheer impossibility of this being the outcome of the earth we live in. I than gave her a random number generator and asked her to put in the numbers one and one hundred billion. Then asked her if the result was a mirical simply because the odds were against it happening.

                Now this is not an isolated incident, I have had many debates with Muslim missionaries. And I have some tips for them

1. When attempting to convert an atheist please don’t mock Christianity, we already know it doesn’t make sense.

2. Stop calling Islam logical simply because its more logical that Christianity. It’s still illogical. If I say 1+1= 5 that’s wrong, if I say 1+1=3 that’s still wrong it’s just makes more sense because it’s closer to the answer!

3. Don’t get into an evolutionary debate saying its wrong than ask “were did the single cell organism come from?” that just makes the atheist think he or she convinced you that evolution is correct 

4 This last one is more personal than anything else. DO NOT manipulate the words of famous philosophers to suit your means. And expectably to not do it about Christian philosophers.

5. Stop posting links about how great Allah and Muhammad are. That gets boring and doesn’t prove that Islam is correct.

           So please, islamic missionaries, if you want to convert us, step up your game!

How to get what we want

What do we need and want?

That's what people seem to ask

They think of what they can improve by adding to what they already have

They don't think that adding will solve problems

But maybe we need to do something else

maybe we need to start taking away

taking away the negative aspects of our world.

not through force

but through a much more effective means

education!

If this world is ever to change we need to be enlightened

enlightened by science

enlightened by  philosophy

enlightened by art

enlightened by logic

with enlightenment we can change things instead of just throughout resorses at a problem

with enlightenment we can actually make a difference rather than attempt to make a difference

Draw Muhammed day

          Today is draw Muhammed day (down here in Australia anyway.)  so this blog entry will be about just that. At the bottom of this page there will be a few of my drawings.


          Most people who first here of draw Muhammed day consider it an anti Islamic thing. but this is just unexamined. Draw Muhammed day is a response to the censorship. To TV stations allowing all religious profits and icons to be shown and made fun on TV but the Islamic ones.


          This however is not limited to Islam. If the media refused to put images of Jesus up I'm sure we would be drawing him too.


          It is also a protest against religouse violence! It is a message To those that would harm, fight and kill over cartoons but it is also a message to those who allow them to do this! that if you threaten violence we will not listen! if you act like a bully we will not co-operate!


          This pic was drawn by me

          And this by a friend

Church and State

          Today I will be talking about a few of the reasons why I think there should be a separation of church and state. Why the idea of basing policies on religion is stupid and ultimately shallow. Why the government should not give churches tax exempt status and why teaching religion is schools isn't a good thing.


          Okay in a nutshell I think there should be a separation of church and state is based on how religion can be used. while in rare occasions religion can bring good morals to a person or group it can also be used in another way. it can and has been used to separate socites, for prejudice and violence. this happiness on a much bigger scale when a country is a theocracy.


          Next up is the idea of a politician having Christine values or religious values. In some countries this is viewed as positive, in some it is viewed as negative (sadly there a few of them.) This is not a good thing because the particular person in power will always do as the church says. he or she will not do something because it is moral but because the church thinks its moral. This is shallow because they are saying that the church is always right without thinking about it. they are just going with what sounds good.


          As for giving the church tax exempt status. This idea is one of the most stupid i have ever come across. the churches make more cash than any company. to the point were they have there own country. Now if the churches were taxed the money would go to the government. and one thing is true of most politicians. they all want to help there country, they would gladly spend this money to help others.


          Last of all is teaching religion in schools. religion has no place in the science class room. evolution is proven. religion is not. There is also the issue of what religion to teach, if you are going to teach students on unproven theory you have to teach them all unproven theory's since the dawn of time.


Those are just a few reasons why i think church and state should remain SEPARATE


Sorry about my grammar

A free world

A free state is a good state.


A free state is one that respects freedom of speech


A free state is one that respects freedom of travel


A free state is one that let's it's citizens do what they will with there own bodies


A free state is not a religious state


A free state is not an atheist state


A free state is one that is worth fighting for

A free state does not bow down to terrorist demands


A free state offers he same rights to all. Even it's enemies


Can you name a state like this? If not it may be time for a change

Media Sucks

This blog will mainly apply to Australia as it is about the Australian media. Particularly the television. And how stupid I think it is. How idiotic and stupid it is becoming. I will be talking about a few things. The news and how shallow it is. The TV shows and how stupid they are becoming and lucky last the effect I can see this having on our everyday life. Now there is a chance that I am over reacting. And I suspect this may be happening to other western countries. But I cannot say.  I can tell you this however. The Australian media has become bland, simple and shallow.

Now as I said. Let us start with the TV. The three main channels in Australia. (Channel 7, channel 9 and channel 10.) Have become pathetic mirrors of one another. Every night when i turn the news on no matter what channel I see the same thing. The exact same stories. The sad thing is, most of the time they are not even stories. Most of the time it shows people how to lose weight, It shows women how to look prettier and it repeats the same stupid stories designed to shock the middle class Caucasian culture of witch the Australian media is mostly made out of. NONE of the media ever talks about controversy. What they call controversy is basically a topic that 80% of the public has the same opinion on. Like boat people or those “violent gen y gangs.” Once in a while 60 mins will come up with a good peace. But those times are becoming few and far between.

The next up is the TV shows that are not news or current affair based. The best example of this is. Reality TV. This is the worst crap ever to blight Australian TV. You get to see a bunch of random people sing or cook or play games on an island somewhere. There is a small amount of thought put into these but it is nothing compared to a real scripted TV show with good character development.

Now the effect that this is having on Australian society. I have seen a few examples of this, mainly in retail. Good intellectual shops are closing down. For example there was the great shop called Socrates near my house. It was in the middle of a great shopping centre (aka mall). This shop was devoted to mind games, puzzles, board games and philosophy. It is now a store with random trinkets such as buddas and oddly shaped candles that people think somehow defines there personality. This is looks and it is shallow. Another example of this is the sheer lack of coverage on world events. Most people in Australia don’t know a thing about the world outside our little island continent.

Please Australia. Stop falling for this stupid media. Start turning the channel if you hear about another wonder bra or revolutionary hair treatment. You are too good for this crap!

On that note I will quickly move to another topic. Draw Muhammad day is almost upon us. This is a day were we can tell all religious extremists that we will not bow down the terrorism. So get drawing people!

Washing of the Brain.

Today I will rant on about probably the major problem atheists have with religion. Indoctrination. Particularly the religious doctrinarian of children. Indoctrination basically brain washing. I have wondered about this for a while, a few weeks ago I was in my class studying social issues and the topic of sexism came up. Anyway my teacher was pointing out all the sexist organisations and she mentioned the church, I suddenly felt the need to speak up and say religion was not a sexist institution, than I thought about it for a second. I am an atheist and I had what was basically a non voluntary reaction to insulting the church, which is something I do all the time. Another example of this was a few days ago I read something about a church being burned down on purpose. This seemed like a hateful action until I realised that I would not care so much if it was someone’s house burned down. I mean the church has money. It could easily be rebuilt. Now I don’t know why I thought these things. I know that if the victim had been someone non religious I wouldn’t have been so bothered about it. I think this may be cultural in nature. I know in Australia religion is compared to race, sexuality and gender. So there may even be a cultural aspect to respecting religion that I was until recently unaware of.

Now a small cultural consideration isn’t too bad if it is only about respecting people. What is bad is people who are completely obsessive, violent and stupid about their religion. I am talking about the people who run plains into buildings, I am talking about the people who bomb abortion clinics, I am talking about those that would stop the pursuit of knowledge simply because it did not correspond with their fairy tale!  Think about it logically, would your god be okay with the suffering of people in his (because it couldn’t possibly be a she) name. If not than rethink what you are doing. If so than rethink your commitment to this god.

One of the worst things religion can do is indoctrinate children. To fill a person’s head with lies while they are still vulnerable and not yet mature enough to think about them. To tell them they are going to burn in hell if they don’t do as they are told. To tell them they are going to be burned in hell if they ask questions about what you are teaching them. To tell them certain people don’t deserve rights because of brief sentences in a 2000 year old book!

To all the religious parents out there. I will conclude with this. If your religion is right than your child will follow it because it is correct. So teach them about all religions so than your child will follow one because they want to. Not because they feel obliged to. If you feel the need to scare your child into following your religious views, ask yourself. Does my child believe through his or her own will or because I brainwashed her or him?

here are a few links that god me thinking about this issue
.http://www.youtube.com/user/kidsinministry#p/u/54/sNIJGLeI0w0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fq4wZ_lQjc&feature
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT3d5RFNATA&feature=related

DEATH!!!

Today I will rant on about one of the biggest controversial issues in the entire world. The death penalty. Some countries see this as acceptable, China Indonesia ect. Some see it as unacceptable, Australia England ect and some are right in the middle still debating over it. America is probably the biggest one of these.

I personally am against the death penalty. My main reason for holding this point of view is probably a direct result of my atheism. As far as I am aware you only get one life. Only one chance. If that goes away you are gone, dead and your conciseness does not live on in some incorporeal form. I know that this is a hard thought for some people to grasp. Not being self aware, I myself cant imagine what it would be like and I'm not really eager to see what it would be like.  I should probably add that as I am Australian I may have a cultural bias towards the issue as it is illegal over here.

I have heard many of the arguments for the death penalty. Some are sound and others are very week. I however find all of them unconvincing. The worst one would have to be killing for religious reasons, for example stoning a woman for adultery or burning a witch.  This is completely pathetic and it is one of the reasons I am a very outspoken atheist. I am fine with you believing crap, but when you kill people over it I am not okay with that.

Another reason I here is that it is justice. Now I contest this. How can it be just to wipe a person from existence. To destroy all their thoughts, their emotions, their fears, there loves and their hates. This reminds me of a video game, fable two, one of the first things you have to do is kill off a bandit leader who is raiding people, after you do this your teacher tells you “think off all your experiences and memories, Thag (the bandit) and his men had just as many now they have none. Do you feel the weight of responsibility?” and you the player can ether say you do or do not realise the seriousness of what you have just done.  Another good pop culture example of this is in lord of the rings the fellowship of the ring Frodo tells Gandalf the gray that his uncle should have killed Gollum when he had the chance Gandalf than responds by saying something along the lines of “many people who live deserve to die, and many people who die deserve life, can you give it to them?” though both of these are taken from popular culture and were probably not meant to be philosophically pondered over they both have a good point, a life is valuable.

Probably the top argument I hear is the large amount of money it takes to keep people in jail instead of death. While I realise that this is a lot of cash, I also ask to those people. How much is a human life worth in dollar terms?  And if you answer, would you tell people not to pay above that amount if it was your life on the line?

Now I am by no means saying that killing is wrong in all cases.  I can see a use for it in war. In self defence. But once your foe no longer poses a threat to you killing him would be an action of vengeance which is a pointless waste of resources.

Just a few of my thoughts on the topic. I would also like to thank Microsoft for being completely awesome and kick ass by already having the words “Frodo” “Gandalf” and “Gollum” in there Microsoft word dictionary.

Got him!

This blog will be a short one So I hear they got the arch terrorist Osama bin laden. It took the CIA around ten years to do it. But they got him! There a few things that could come out of this.

The al-Qaida remanets could view him as a martyr and the death of their religiously insane leader could inspire more acts of violence against not only America but western culture as a whole. Thou chances are America will take most the brunt of it as most the world views them as the strong hold of western views.  The other thing that could happen is that it demoralises the al-Qaida terrorists and they cease there attacks. But based on history I don’t think that this will be the outcome. Most of the time when someone is so warped by their religion that they intend to kill for it, they don’t give up after one guy dies no matter how important that guy is to their organisation. But the really sad thing is that this will not stop the war in the Middle East. No that will not stop until every drop of oil is gone from there sands and moved into western cars.

Any way back on topic. Bin laden has been killed. Identified. And buried at sea (no country wanted the remains apparently.) but there is a lesson in all of this. We should watch religion. I have no problem with people believing whatever they want. But when they attempt to force those beliefs on me through violence and acts of terrorist coercion that’s when I see a major problem with it. So yeah just realise what actions you are taking due to your ‘faith’