an arab (muslim) in Tastyspleen

[soh]

Don't feed the ego

[ReCycled]

p.s: im not 15 years old focalor,and my english is my 3rd lang,so im not very good at it

Cool, what are the other 2?

I'm sure it's Arabic and French. I spent a few months in Morocco back in 1972 and that was the colonial leftover language. Although Tunisia is directly across from Italy and gets lots of tourists from there, so who knows.

[|iR|Focalor]

To be completely honest, I'm not offended by or against someone being muslim or arab. I don't care what religion or race someone is, INCLUDING SOFIENE. What I DO find to be offensive and objectionable is someone who can't take a joke. It's not religious persecution. I have not deprived anyone of their civil rights. So whenever Jesus Jr. over here feels like climbing down off his crucifix and stops acting like I just kicked his puppy, I'm fine with getting along with him. From what I can tell, the majority of the more outspoken posters around here on the topic of religion seem to be of the atheist persuasion. Be that as it may, Islam is not the ONLY religion that might be open to criticism and shrewd jokes. I, nor anyone else, has chosen to single out Islam. We make fun of all religions equally. Because life sucks without the ability to laugh at it every once in a while.

[yahoo]

Hail to the Foc! 

[QwazyWabbit]

The first principle of propaganda is to demonize "the enemy". The sooner you recognize characterizations of "the other" as propaganda the better off you will be. Arabs hate jews and USA. For no other reason than they are propanadized "enemy". Americans don't hate anyone but they wonder why nobody loves them when their government conspires with the governments of other nations to oppress the people of those other nations or overthrow leaders. Americans mostly don't care about what's going on in the rest of the world until it impacts them directly. They also don't care about your nationality or religion until you choose to get in their face about it.

[V!RaL]

Don't worry about it sofi. You're a great guy and I knew where you were from the day I met you. 

If you're posting on these forums, That means you read posts by others, Which means you'll most likely see someone bitching out someone else for something completely stupid 5 times a day. Trolls are trolls, Don't let them get to you bro. Words aren't worth getting worked up about.

[peewee_RotA]

Don't worry about it sofi. You're a great guy and I knew where you were from the day I met you. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjnmICxvoVY&ob=av3e

[|iR|Focalor]

Which means you'll most likely see someone bitching out someone else for something completely stupid 5 times a day.

Correct. He said something completely stupid. Glad you agree.

[Whirlingdervish]

I am an atheist from California.

I believe in the process of natural selection and that the trend of evolution by adaptation and mutation has given rise to all forms of life on this planet today without any need for the assistance of a divine entity.

I find all mention of supernatural beings and their supposed wishes to be offensive considering how far humankind has come to be what we are, and I find almost all organized and unorganized religion to be chock full of the very intolerance that they cannot bear to have heaped upon themselves.

I think that people who feel the need to ascribe to a mythical construst all of the amazing things that humans have achieved, are delusional and should not be allowed in positions of authority.

I do not expect people to respect my views, because I know most of them do not hold a similar set of ideas to be self evident.


That means I won't get angry if you post a picture of someone blowing up a Darwin fish.

[peewee_RotA]

People who are deeply religious tend to see everything from a completely black and white point of view. If your opinion differs from theirs, they do not say to themselves, "Well, he just a different opinion." They say, "He has the WRONG opinion, one that is obviously influenced by the devil, who is obviously his master. INFIDEL!"

You don't have to be religious in order to have that viewpoint:

I think that people who feel the need to ascribe to a mythical construst all of the amazing things that humans have achieved, are delusional and should not be allowed in positions of authority.

 

[|iR|Focalor]

Perhaps a fear or mistrust of that which is different (including ideas) is an instinctual/intrinsic part of mankind. 'Twould be nice if we could evolve past that, but I don't see it happening any time soon. Hell, it was 100 years after the American Civil War that blacks were actually given equal rights as espoused by the speeches and mission statements of President Lincoln.

It's probably another couple of centuries coming.

[ReCycled]

I am an atheist from California......

That means I won't get angry if you post a picture of someone blowing up a Darwin fish.

lol.....

[quadz]

People who are deeply religious tend to see everything from a completely black and white point of view. If your opinion differs from theirs, they do not say to themselves, "Well, he just a different opinion." They say, "He has the WRONG opinion, one that is obviously influenced by the devil, who is obviously his master. INFIDEL!"

You don't have to be religious in order to have that viewpoint:

I think that people who feel the need to ascribe to a mythical construst all of the amazing things that humans have achieved, are delusional and should not be allowed in positions of authority.

 

On the other hand, I think a very prevalent fallacy in our culture is to make special allowances for religious beliefs, to the point of saying that all beliefs are equally valid, so long as they are someone's religious beliefs.

As has been pointed out--I believe by Sam Harris--we don't tend to make similar allowances for non-religious beliefs.  For example, we don't have any laws prohibiting someone who publicly professes to believe that Elvis is alive and well and living somewhere in his spaceship, from reaching positions of authority.  Such people simply tend not to be elevated to positions of authority because of the obvious absurdidty of what they profess to believe.

And yet, take an equivalently absurd belief--such as the Earth + universe only being 6000 years old--and not only do people professing that belief end up in positions of authority, they are bestowed editorial power over our childrens' public school curriculum.

It's well past time to dispense with the pretense that all religious beliefs--which essentially boil down to truth claims about the nature of the universe--are equally valid.

Young earth creationists (for example) should have the same chance--and liklihood--of reaching positions of authority as Elvis+spaceship advocates.

And yet in 2007, three presidental candidates--a Senator (Brownback), a Governor (Huckabee), and a member of the House of Representatives (Tancredo)--all raised their hands in the Republican Presidential Debate in response to a question about who doesn't accept the evidence for evolution.

[|iR|Focalor]

I think Muslims evolved from Jews.

[haunted]

I think Muslims evolved from Jews.

everyone 'evolved' from the jews, including atheists.