He's from Denmark

"Islam is the one and true religion. The Quran says so - and then it gotta be true. So i REVERTED to islam. Because all people are BORN into islam. That is a biological fact. So when you "convert" to islam you actually revert - because you are only returning to the one and true religion. That is a fact"

http://www.youtube.com/user/reverttoislam


It's going to be a long hard ride fellow anti-theists. Give the man an axe. He's from Denmark you know.

Right and Wrong is human made

I like the point he makes about the concept being invented by humans and then attributed to their gods. He states that there is no one or nothing to miss us if we all perished tomorrow and it's perhaps that thought that drives believers deeper into their faith as this reality is just too much for them.

Have they actually considered what Heaven will be like when they get there? No board games by the sound of it. And no one ever comes back to tell us.

The comment from Mr Smith that I have reproduced below is in response to the Times article, "A time for Tolerence". Most of us tend to move on and become more accepting of others despite our backgrounds. My parents were racist but went out of their way to help my friend at infant school who was in the foster home and of South American descent. My father didn't like gays but the two transvestites who grew up in the local hardened community of terraced back to backs(Imagine Quentin Crisp) were revered and 'protected by the local 'mafia' and could go anywhere in relative safety. The locals were offered a new pub to name that was part of a housing development and wanted to call it after 'Brenda' one of the transvestites but the brewery vetoed it and it became the 'Firey Fred after Freddie Trueman, the Yorkshireman and cricketer.

Confusing times. I lived in London for many years and developed my own likes and dislikes, noticed cultural trends and had conversations with people from many cultures and faiths. I even spent a while living on the Broadwater Farm Estate after the riots.

Anyway, I digress. Christian faith does indeed appear to be eating itself from the inside, without any help from us militant atheists.

Derek Smith wrote:

I was born directly after WWII into a country where morals were, to a great
extent, dictated by various religions. We were taught that Jews were sinners
because – well they never said why. Gays were beyond all hope because they loved
people. Blacks were all right in their place and the same with Germans. But
there was a lot of resentment against those living together or, much more worthy
of condemnation, children of such couples. Special contempt was reserved for
those who were stripped of their loved ones by the war before they could marry,
especially if they had a child.

I was treated with care by some parents
as I was allowed to play with Tommy, whose mother wasn’t married. That would
have been bad enough but his father was an American GI. And, just to make things
much worse, was an African. I found out later that he had been from South
America but not being white was enough.

As religion lost its influence
so tolerance has become more widespread. My children have little comprehension
of differences in the way I was taught. My daughter didn’t think to tell me that
one of her friends was overtly gay before she introduced me to him. It didn’t
concern her so why should it concern me? ‘You’ll like him.’ she told us. And we
do.

This country has moved on tremendously in my 60 years. It would have
gone much further had it not been for religion. Most people I know are
bewildered by the church’s problems with gays and women. As my daughter said
about women priests: ‘They should keep up at the back. We’re not waiting for
them.’

We’ve just had an international rugby player ‘come out’ as
homosexual and most of my non-religious, and rugby fan friends wonder what all
the fuss is about.

Don’t look for tolerance in religions. But it is
blossoming everywhere else.

Dear Professor Nutt

Dear Professor Nutt

In previous correspondence with you the Government has highlighted the value that we place on receiving high quality scientific advice from the ACMD.

It is precisely for this reason that we asked you to find evidence in support of a pre-determined Government policy that was acceptable to readers of the tabloid press. Your total failure in this regard raises doubts about your independence as a scientific advisor.

Not only have you singularly failed to produce the requested evidence, you have not even attempted to distort existing evidence. There has been no massaging of the statistics, no exaggeration of the significance of minor studies and anecdotal testimony, no attempt to suppress embarrassing data. All contrary to established Government practise. Indeed, I am left wondering what qualifications you have to fulfil this high profile role or whether you have any proper understanding of the role of science in informing policy decisions.

You may wish to take a leaf out of Sir John Scarlett's book. Sir John was given the far more demanding task of finding evidence of WMDs in Iraq, a task that he performed masterfully, working closely with such distinguished professionals as the Prime Minister's press secretary. The resultant dossier was widely regarded as the definitive statement of the threat posed by the then Iraqi regime, and doubted only by some dodgy journalists and one rather eccentric weapons expert, both of whom were soon disposed of. You will note that Sir John's career has blossomed thanks to this fine tradition of public service.

Your recent remarks have highlighted comparable risks among legal drugs and sporting activities. This is totally unacceptable. It is not your role to go around informing people about things and giving them facts. It completely undermines government policy. All of the evidence must be presented to the public through trusted, Right Honourable statesmen, such as myself.

It is for these reasons that I have lost all confidence in your ability to provide me with the evidence that the Government would like to see. Nor do I trust you to keep your trap shut about the true state of affairs.

I would therefore ask you to step down from the council with immediate effect.

Regards

Alan.
See it in context here.
Thanks to Platitude of the Day

No more kosher lifts

It has been decided that lifts and escalators can no longer be used on the sabbath. Lifts used to have a 'sabbath' mode that allowed them to stop on every floor so that no-one had to do any work by summoning the lift or pressing a floor button. Article here.

This is important stuff. Doesn't it say in the bible that anyone who works on the sabbeth should be killed?

Poo and the Bible

Try taking the quiz here to find out how well up you are on biblical references to poo. Seems like God had a thing about poo as well as first born children.

7 reasons why religion is a form of mental illness

Article by Sweet Tea
The Southern Skeptic Fairy

I would like to propose that religious beliefs be placed in the DSM as a category of mental illness for the following reasons:

(1) Hallucinations - the person has invisible friends who (s)he insists are real, and to whom (s)he speaks daily, even though nobody can actually see or hear
these friends.

(2) Delusions - the patient believes that the invisible friends have magical powers to make them rich, cure cancer, bring about world peace, and will do so eventually if asked.

(3) Denial/Inability to learn - though the requests for world peace remain unanswered, even after hundreds of years, the patients persist with the praying behaviour, each time expecting different results.

(4) Inability to distinguish fantasy from reality - the beliefs are contingent upon ancient mythology being accepted as historical fact.

(5) Paranoia - the belief that anyone who does not share their supernatural concept of reality is "evil," "the devil," "an agent of Satan".

(6) Emotional abuse - ­ religious concepts such as sin, hell, cause feelings of guilt, shame, fear, and other types of emotional "baggage" which can scar the
psyche for life.

(7) Violence - many patients insist that others should share in their delusions, even to the extent of using violence.