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REPLY TO DONVAN RE: WE SHOULD ALL BE HERETICS

Reader comment on item: Michael Mukasey: No to Islamic Law in the United States
in response to reader comment: not really....

Submitted by DANIEL REDMOND (United States), Nov 4, 2007 at 08:39

The term "Muslim Personality Disorder" reminds me of an amusing faux news item I read on the internet describing "Islamic Slicing Syndrome" in which Muslims, out of pure force of habit, inadvertently cut off their own heads with a sword. Yes, Islam is an exceptionally violent myth reservoir, a collection of bizarre edicts and compulsions that lead to enormous levels of human suffering. I have seen photographs of Muslim mothers lacerating the foreheads of their babies in religious ceremonies. In such cases religious fanatacism has managed to even overcome the innate maternal impulse to protect one's own offspring from harm.

The irrational nature of Muslim militancy was displayed graphically to the world last year when, in response to a few Danish cartoons that characterized Muslims as violent, Muslims across Europe and elsewhere went on a rampage of violence in protest. In the Middle East an irate Muslim pumped five bullets into the back of a sixty year old Catholic nun in an effort to prove just how peaceful Muslims really are.

I agree that there most likely is a sort of "hard wiring" in the human brain that lends itself toward belief in various mythologies. Personally I strongly suspect that Jesus Christ is a totally mythical figure as well. There is little or no evidence to indicate the actual physical existence of a Jesus Christ and none of the writers of that era from the Middle East---at least forty of them known to have existed---make any reference him. There is only scant mention of a being called "the lamb" in the Old Testament and only in later edtions of the Bible are more elaborate references found, indicating they were probably fictional. Considering the absurdity of the whole Virgin Birth story it is easy to see how this entire Christ figure was a fabrication.

I have a hard time being too critical of Christians, however, because as an American most of my friends and neighbors are Christians and they are decent honest people. But I have been able to view religion from the uncommon vantage point of having been raised without it. My parents were both Atheists, as were the only set of grandparents I knew as a child. When I was a kid and my Christian kid friends tried to explain to me what they were being taught in church I was simply incredulous; I couldn't believe anyone would fall for such obvious nonsense. Pressing them on some of the irrationalities of it all they would usually admit that it didn't make much sense to them either.

But for the true believers there seems to be an endless ability to rationalize away any criticism of their beliefs, no matter how often their deity lets them down. I have seen people form a "prayer chain" to try to keep a sick baby alive. When they baby died anyway they all shook their heads and muttered "God must have needed him more than we did." I'm scratching my head and thinking 'so God ignores your prayers, takes the baby's life anyway and you think that's okay?' It makes no sense to me.

On Easter Sunday of 2006 in the Bronx, New York a family was on their way to church with their two year old toddler dressed in his Sunday best and strapped into his car seat when a bullet fired by a drug dealer a block away punched through the back door of the car and killed the toddler. It was the most awful kind of crime, violence against an innocent child. Yet I am sure that these believers had---at least up until that moment---been certain that their God was looking after them and protecting their child as well. Now the question that arises in my mind is this: If the Christian God isn't going to protect a toddler from a violent death while on his way to church on Easter Sunday, then why would anyone believe he was going to protect anyone else under any circumstances from anything? Did he 'need the baby more than they did?'

Even in such extreme cases it is not uncommon for those who have suffered a tragedy to give God a pass. Clinging to the belief system becomes more important than facing verifiable reality, even if it rationalizes the death of a child. Such is the power of myth in the human psyche.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (38) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Iran, Relegion, free trade policies, all in a mess not econmics??? [349 words]Firozali A Mulla MBA PhDFeb 17, 2008 02:17120386
One Day freedom But it is a bliss YES SIR I need this type of news [114 words]Firozali A Mulla MBA PhDJan 25, 2008 12:21118967
Islam and selling to them the right way? [196 words]Firozali A Mulla MBA PhDJan 15, 2008 11:44118248
#811: Pipes on "Annapolis Blues" in the Jerusalem Post [95 words]Suren SukhtankarNov 2, 2007 10:44112908
2DO WE HAVE A TRUE "DEMOCRACY" IN AMERICA? [749 words]DANIEL REDMONDNov 3, 2007 10:29112908
Is this democracy? [444 words]Firozali A Mulla MBA PhDJan 15, 2008 23:58112908
Firozali, do not complain [170 words]AngelMar 31, 2009 13:43112908
THE REPUBLIC [83 words]Dennis PattersonFeb 5, 2011 19:29112908
1DO WE HAVE A TRUE "DEMOCRACY" IN AMERICA? [4250 words]---Feb 21, 2011 14:52112908
RATHER LONG-WINDED [43 words]DANIEL REDMONDFeb 21, 2011 18:28112908
Legacy of monotheism [41 words]David W. LincolnOct 28, 2007 04:41112487
Muslim Heretics [1005 words]gary fouseOct 24, 2007 01:01112226
WE SHOULD ALL BE HERETICS [282 words]DANIEL REDMONDOct 25, 2007 22:25112226
Heretics [284 words]gary fouseOct 26, 2007 22:12112226
THE LUNACY OF RELIGION [293 words]DANIEL REDMONDOct 27, 2007 18:41112226
RESPONSE TO MR. FOUSE [459 words]DANIEL REDMONDOct 28, 2007 17:29112226
Heretics [130 words]gary fouseOct 28, 2007 20:45112226
DEAR MR. FOUSE [256 words]DANIEL REDMONDOct 30, 2007 00:39112226
Heretics [15 words]gary fouseOct 30, 2007 20:27112226
YES, MR. FOUSE, CHRISTIANS ARE "NOT INVOLVED" [152 words]DANIEL REDMONDNov 1, 2007 18:45112226
not really.... [290 words]donvanNov 2, 2007 17:01112226
heretics [111 words]gary fouseNov 2, 2007 21:18112226
FOLLOW-UP COMMENTS TO MR. FOUSE [203 words]DANIEL REDMONDNov 4, 2007 07:41112226
REPLY TO DONVAN RE: WE SHOULD ALL BE HERETICS [729 words]DANIEL REDMONDNov 4, 2007 08:39112226
Dismissive [197 words]donvanNov 5, 2007 09:41112226
The HOLY book of Islam is Quran, with Q hard in Queensland [106 words]Firozali A MullaJan 25, 2008 20:10112226
Islamic Law in the United States? [121 words]Firozali A.Mulla MBA PhDOct 23, 2007 05:20112181
Comment on Islamic Law in the United States? [159 words]Firozali A.MullaNov 1, 2007 05:37112181
committee hearings and demonstrations? [61 words]greykangarooOct 23, 2007 01:33112171
Squirm Factor [58 words]AthosOct 21, 2007 18:45112112
Laws of Personal Status [306 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Fred SchlomkaOct 21, 2007 09:58112077
don't forget eruvs [38 words]ira levineOct 21, 2007 17:19112077
RESPONSE TO IRA LEVINE [286 words]DANIEL REDMONDOct 29, 2007 20:23112077
shari'a law at odds with humanity [64 words]Phil GreendOct 20, 2007 10:34111997
and 2 women... [303 words]TajOct 28, 2007 03:49111997
RESPONSE TO MR. PHIL GREEND ON SHARIA LAW [555 words]DANIEL REDMONDOct 31, 2007 03:07111997
THE BROWNBACK / MUKASEY DIALOGUE [253 words]DANIEL REDMONDOct 20, 2007 01:18111989
He who holds the votes, makes the rules [64 words]jennifer solisOct 19, 2007 14:39111932

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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