Sanal Edamaruku has suffered persecution and injustice wrought by the religious. He continuous in his fight for justice, equality and rationality in a country where such ideals are desperately rare.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2013
I’d seen Wafa Sultan’s TV interview with an Islamic scholar quite a while ago, and was reminded of her in Eric MacDonald’s recent article:
Another example of how religion poisons everything.
Here’s a link to Wafa Sultan’s full lecture, filmed at the Center for Inquiry’s 2012 Women in Secularism Conference, on how Islam treats women:
A summary is that Islam is “a hateful and intolerant ideology”.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2013
Most of my arguments and pot-shots against religion have concentrated on Christianity and Islam simply due to the level of exposure that these two religions have here. Other religions, of course, cannot escape from the exposure of their own injustice and barbarity. Here’s one article on Hinduism and the terrible caste system:
What can I say about Hinduism? Trash, unjust, evil, barbaric. Yup, this can be equally well to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
Buddhism is another on the list as its core beliefs are ingrained with injustice. But that’s a topic for another article.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2013
Indonesian atheist faces a jail sentence for challenging Islam. It may be that the sentence gets suspended or perhaps he may get a very draconian punishment. But it’s clear that religion poisons.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/06/14/dont-diss-gods-in-indonesia/
Mechanisms protecting religion or giving religion special privileges will result in injustice, barbarity, and loss of freedom. Evil is what evil does; this incident in Indonesia is a good example.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2012
It seems Father Robert Barron thinks that “true” atheists have a joyless, hopeless mentality.
Well, Father Robert Barron must be a buffoon; as an atheist I know how precious life is, that we have this one moment in time to enjoy, to love and be loved, to help others, to wonder in amazement at what this world brings, to create monuments, to fight against injustice.
I love helping others, I enjoy the rewards and recognition of hard work, I love travelling and meeting people around the world, I love taking photos which I hope others will also enjoy. All this without the falsehoods and injustices that religions bring. A life free from religious tyranny and enslavement.
There is no evidence for a god. And religions have empty words built on delusion and lies. So, yes, live a full of joy. Father Robert Barron doesn’t get it.
UPDATE 2nd May 2012: Eric MacDonald provides a more detailed response on Father Robert Barron’s “ideas”.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2012
The Koran, much like the Bible, is full of injustice, intolerance, cruelty, violence, contradictions, and hate. It’s true, though, that violence is much more likely to come from Muslims than from Christians. Christianity has had its violent past but it is now largely neutered but Islam is increasingly expressing more closely its core fundamental believes manifested as violence. In that respect I can see, without condoning, why Germany seems against the free-issuing of Korans:
But such differential prohibitions are not for the common good. Most people who have rejected religion are those that have studied religion and found it to be nothing more than man-made nonsense. Instead of such censorship, I would rather concentrate on secularising governments and making fun of religion by highlighting the nonsense/injustice/hatred/etc. in these religions, and showing the incompatibility of religion to the truths revealed by the beauty of science.
I, for one, will take it as extremely insulting if any person of faith makes the assumption that their faith gives them the moral edge on me. I want to hear a lot more apologising from the faith based communities for the evil that they’ve done before they even start clearing their throats and telling me I wouldn’t know right from wrong without their permission. I’m sorry, I won’t be, can’t be spoken to in that tone of voice and nor should any of you.
— Christopher Hitchens
I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology.
— Thomas Jefferson
There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That’s perfectly all right; they’re the aperture to finding out what’s right. Science is a self-correcting process. To be accepted, new ideas must survive the most rigorous standards of evidence and scrutiny.
— Carl Sagan
Faith is the surrender of the mind; it’s the surrender of reason, it’s the surrender of the only thing that makes us different from other mammals. It’s our need to believe, and to surrender our skepticism and our reason, our yearning to discard that and put all our trust or faith in someone or something, that is the sinister thing to me. Of all the supposed virtues, faith must be the most overrated.
— Christopher Hitchens
I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious ideas of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God. So far as religion of the day is concerned, it is a damned fake… Religion is all bunk.
— Thomas Edison
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2012
From Laughing in Purgatory:
The fight worth fighting; against ignorance, intolerance, and barbarity.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2012
Edward Tarte on reading the Bible non-stop aloud in church:
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011
This is reported by the BBC and others:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11223457
US church defiant despite condemnation of Koran burning
Terry Jones said he had prayed over the matter but insisted the Koran-burning would go ahead
A small US church says it will defy international condemnation and go ahead with plans to burn copies of the Koran on the 9/11 anniversary
This is just plain wrong. As much as I think that the Koran (and the Bible for that matter) is full of nonsense, I don’t think a public event to glorify the burning of the book is the correct way to highlight the nonsense. A critical review of the Koran with critical arguments and appropriate mocking is the best and honest way. All that this book-burning will do is push people further to the extremes and everything that is associated with such extremism.
For a quick (mostly correct) check on the nonsense in the Koran look at these links:
And for balance, here’s a check for nonsense in the Bible:
Although there is a lot of nonsense in the Bible, “Christian extremism” is now rare and has not really existed in any tangible form for some time (eg Spanish Inquisition) but this Koran-burning event is an unwelcome and unneeded move in that direction of extremism; it rather smacks of the naive and irrational burning of the “The Satanic Verses” by Muslims and the book-burning events by the Nazis. If a Christian wants to question and explore what the Koran says then Christians have already done most of the hard work:
Please note that I do not endorse everything at this site (as I think Christianity is absurd too) but what I was attempting to do was show a better way for a Christian to criticise the Koran than book-burning.
Here are some links that I do (mostly!) endorse:
What I would ask is for you to examine the evidence, the arguments and make up your own minds. But make sure that it is an honest assessment of the evidence otherwise the effort is just a waste of your time.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2010