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Cobourg Atheist - News and Resources from Canada
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Written by John Draper
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Wednesday, 28 July 2010 07:39 |
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Too many politicians want us to respect other cultures but the implicit assumption is that all cultures respect human rights. While it is true that many individuals do respect human rights this is not true of their culture. While most Muslims are quite ethical and care about other people, even those in other faiths, this is not true of their culture. That is, it’s not true of the official version of their religion as spelled out by their holy book, the Qur'an, and it’s not true as preached by a large number of their holy imams. In particular, Sharia law does not respect the rights of women and has no place in our society.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a tireless advocate of these points and continually slams Islam for having no respect for the rights of women. Although some Muslim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey have secular governments, fundamentalist Muslims are working to reduce the fragile separation of Mosque and State that exists there.
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Written by John Draper
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Tuesday, 27 July 2010 06:57 |
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Scientology is getting more into the news recently. Russia has now decided it's a hate-mongering organization (Moscow Times) and is treating it as a criminal organization; England and France long ago decided that it hardly worth being called a Church; Australia is debating whether it deserves to be given a tax exemption (article1 and article2); last year, the St Petersburg Times in Florida ran an exposé of Scientology practices; famous Scientologists John Travolta and Tom Cruise have been getting scornful press; and more. What surprises me is why Scientology can get away with their totally unethical and sometimes criminal activity. Too many people seem to think that because it's a "religion", it should be left alone. But it didn't start out as a religion - it just calls itself one because 1) it allows it to be tax exempt and 2) they can get away with talking about mystical things without men in white coats carting them off.
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Written by Mark Clement
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Monday, 26 July 2010 07:22 |
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If a person can simply accept that there is no God and appreciate that the world is a self-generated 'natural' occurrence then one can cherry-pick the holy books for anything that is fundamentally 'good' for all of humanity and in that process he/she will realize that 'goodness' is an inbuilt human trait and that the 'goodness' factor exists to improve humanities ability to survive. If one is honest and rational in that process, they will also realize that humanity also includes 'bad' qualities and he/she can then work to eliminate or at least reduce those 'bad' qualities that work against survival and enjoyment of a life.
Complex arguments from theologians or philosophers are of minimal help to the ordinary citizen of the world. The majority of humanity must find easily understandable reasons for a better appreciation of 'goodness' that can be translated into everyday living. Reliance on external, imaginary creator guidance or leadership from those who profess that a 'God' speaks to 'them', puts members of the human species into a position of subservience. Such authoritarian guidance only works to reduce self-directed rational thought about our existence and, unfortunately, seems to be a natural means for developing autocratic states. i.e. "do it my way or suffer punishment."
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Written by John Draper
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Sunday, 25 July 2010 07:37 |
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The first reason Christians choose their religion is because of which religion their parents are. That is, at least initially they have no say in the matter. But at some point, some Christians change their Religion. Many become atheist or agnostic or simply "non-practising" but others embrace another version of Christianity. But why do they choose a particular version. The reason Catholics became Protestant is usually because they dislike one or other of the Catholic Dogmas - and there are many to dislike: teachings on gay sex, sex outside marriage, abortion, priests must not be women, priests must be celibate, literal interpretation of "This is my body", worshipping saints, papal authority and infallibility - the list is long. Abuses by clergy (hypocritical behaviour) don't help. Another reason is that some Protestant Churches (e.g. Pentecostal) offer a more emotional experience. In any case, it is not hard to see why Catholics become Protestant - but why do Protestants become Catholic? Why do Anglicans become Catholic and from a different slant, why do Orthodox Catholics (Greek, Russian etc) not become Roman Catholics?
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Written by William Hopper
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Saturday, 24 July 2010 07:19 |
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A lot of religion's power lies in the laity's fear of what happens to us when we die. The "flaw" in atheism (they say) is that it cannot explain the "afterlife". Well, here ya go: an atheists explanation of death:
What I have learned is this: The brain works on an electric charge that is roughly equal to your average car battery. This electricity jumps from neuron to neuron, interacting with other bits of electricity to create a sense of self. In order to leap across the space between neurons the electricity needs stuff like Adrenaline, Dopamine, Serotonin etc.. Using one of these, a thought (the electric charge) crosses the gap between neurons and thus keeps us functioning. As long as this process keeps happening, we are alive.
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Written by John Draper
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Friday, 23 July 2010 06:56 |
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We know that Church attendance is dropping in North America and Europe - especially in traditional religions like the Methodists, Catholics and Anglicans. Why is this? One of the reasons is that people are migrating to emotional, fundamentalist religions like the Baptists and Pentecostals. Others are leaving altogether - maybe not giving up on the idea of a god, but giving up on organized religions. Because humans have a built in need to believe, some will turn to mysticism or some vague belief in a "higher power". Others will say (and think) that they still belong to the Church of their childhood but rarely actually go to Church.
This has not gone unnoticed in the Methodist Church in the U.S. where, after a steady decline for decades, there are now 7.8 million members. Also, the average age of clergy and parishioners has been steadily rising indicating "a creeping crisis of relevancy" amongst young people. And like many Churches, they are running into financial difficulties.
However, rather than die quietly, the Methodist leaders in the U.S. decided to be scientific(!) and pay big bucks for a survey. Can you guess what the survey said? As I would have expected, there is no magic bullet, no single action to take. But there is a list of four things that "fuel vitality".
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Written by Bill Broderick
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Thursday, 22 July 2010 07:19 |
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Being put to death by stoning must be one of the most cruel punishments imaginable. One would think it would be reserved for some of the most horrendous crimes imaginable. It isn't. At least, not in Iran, where some 200 people are on death row in Tabriz Prison, 35 of them women awaiting their turn to be stoned for crimes that seem by Western standards to be almost frivolous-among them, the crime of being raped. In Iran and other Muslim countries where it's practiced, it's mostly meted out girls and women.
The practice appears to have been adopted by Middle Eastern people pre-biblical times and has continued up to the present day. Basically, it consists of the victim being buried vertically in the ground up to the waist in the case of a man, and up to her neck in the case of a woman. Women may be covered by or wrapped in a white sheet. A crowd of men then forms a circle around the victim and hurls fist-size or larger rocks until the authorities decide the victim is dead.
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Page 7 of 74 |
Copyright © 2010 Cobourg Atheist. All Rights Reserved.
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News Update
Sept 4, 2010
1. Hindus are being asked to join a massive demonstration planned on Sept 11 at ground zero against the mosque planned to be built there. Hindus have suffered at the hands of Islam over many years and now want to speak out. More.
2. An Anglican Church in Ottawa scheduled showing the movie Collision featuring Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson. But to keep it on neutral ground, they booked a pub, the Heart and Crown, to show it. When the pub owner saw the advertising material for the movie, he cancelled the reservation - because it might offend religious pub-goers. The pub bills itself as an "Irish Catholic Institution"! The movie screening was moved to the Church. National Post.
Quote of the Day
A quote from Catch-22 by Joesph Heller - from the web site Unreasonable Faith "And don't tell me God works in mysterious ways,"..... Why in the world did He ever create pain?... What a colossal, immortal blunderer!... His sheer incompetence is almost staggering" and lots more - here. Priceless! |
A Recent Poll
Attitudes to Religions - Time
Aug 19, 2010
Americans unfavourable towards:
| Muslims |
43% |
| Mormons |
29% |
| Catholics |
17% |
| Jews |
13% |
| Protestants |
13% |
Support "gound zero" mosque?
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