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 A man cries as he prays at the graves of the victims from the May Lahore attacks against Ahmadiyya community mosques July 14, 2010 in Chenab Nagar, Pakistan.
January 5th, 2013
04:00 AM ET
My Take: New Year’s resolution – don’t get murdered
By Qasim Rashid, Special to CNN (CNN)–My New Year’s resolution is to not die for my faith. I’d hoped that 2012 would bring a revolution among Muslims and Muslim-majority nations to free oppressed minds. Yet I find myself still waiting to not die. That’s the “curse” of being an Ahmadi Muslim in too much of the Muslim world. Ahmadi Muslims believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) is the long awaited messiah and Mahdi the Prophet Mohammed foretold, sent to unite mankind and establish peace. But this isn’t an evangelical piece, so please, keep reading. Instead of peace, 2012 brought increased persecution in which vigilante murder, unjust arrest and outright discrimination against Ahmadi Muslims continued. A new type of persecution also increased, from which even death is not an escape. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter On December 3, armed extremists destroyed 120 graves belonging to Ahmadi Muslims at a cemetery in Lahore, Pakistan. When I condemned the attack on Twitter, the response from some was just as ignorant. “You’re an infidel! Stop calling yourself a Muslim!” “You’re causing Fitna (or chaos) stop with these infidel beliefs!” Across Pakistan, Europe, Indonesia—and yes, even here in America—this is reality for Ahmadi Muslims. I get it. Some Muslims aren’t thrilled that Ahmadi Muslims believe the messiah has come because they expect Jesus, son of Mary, to literally descend from heaven. Ahmadi Muslims believe the Quran is clear that Jesus died a natural death many years after surviving the crucifixion. But this isn’t about persuading anyone to believe us. Instead, it is about confronting Fitna’s actual source and recognizing the biggest poison for Muslims worldwide: religious bigotry. Sometimes that bigotry is peripheral. The other day I tweeted a quote from Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison praising the head and Khalifa of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, “… under (your holiness’) leadership the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has been a true blessing for us here in the United States." Like clockwork I lost a dozen followers. Sometimes that bigotry is disguised as a compliment. “You’d be such a good Muslim, if only you weren’t a Qadiani,” someone once told me in person. Qadiani is a pejorative for Ahmadi Muslims. The “compliment” reeks of patronization, is actually an insult, and ignores the shocking possibility that perhaps I am a “good Muslim” because I am an Ahmadi Muslim. Sometimes that bigotry is direct. “You Qadiani mother--er! You will burn in hell for your beliefs! You godd- Jewish agent I’ll kill you!” No comment. The above religious bigotry I can handle. When some of the above sometimes turns to death threats, I can only foolishly hope my wife doesn’t find out. (She has this funny thing where she doesn’t want her husband brutally murdered. I know I know, women!) CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories But sometimes that bigotry is full-blown state-sanctioned persecution and violence. Like in certain Arab states where Ahmadi Muslims are incarcerated and deported for the crime of being an Ahmadi Muslim. Or like in Pakistan where simply claiming Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the messiah is a criminal offense warranting capital punishment for the use of derogatory remarks in respect to the Prophet. No exaggeration—as we lawyers like to say—that’s the black letter of the law. Fortunately, no Ahmadi Muslim in Pakistan has been executed for this crime, yet. But is it anything less than an execution when the Taliban murders 86 Ahmadi Muslims in broad daylight and the police, who admitted to knowing of the attack beforehand, look on from afar? Look, I’m not looking for special treatment. Nor do I want sympathy. But I do want one thing for the sake of humanity: That Muslims condemn all forms of religious bigotry—peripheral, patronizing, direct and violent. While this simple request is what’s right, some turn a deaf ear, despite Prophet Mohammed's pluralistic example. Ahmadi Muslim Islamic Sect has appealing message for U.S. politicians but has global enemies Mohammed championed religious equality in the Charter of Medina he signed with Jews. He assured protection of religious freedom in his letter to Christian monks at St. Catherine’s Monastery. He also afforded all Arabs carte blanche forgiveness when peacefully retaking Mecca—on the single condition that religious freedom reign free. Even Prophet Mohammed's rules of war were specifically designed to protect, not persecute, religious freedom. Every Ahmadi Muslim, Shia Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, Baha’i, Sikh, atheist, agnostic, pagan—and the list goes on—has that fundamental human right to religious freedom. Establishing that right creates the peace and mutual respect we all ostensibly want. I say ostensibly, because when it comes to religious freedom in too much of the Muslim world, I’m still waiting to not die. I’ll continue to wait, alongside millions, until Muslims recognize religious bigotry for what it is—a cancer—and expel it from their midst. Yet, my in-box will reflect that this simple plea has, for some, fallen on deaf ears. Well, I guess I better not slack on my New Year’s resolution.
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  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Editor’s Note: Qasim Rashid is a national spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA. Follow him on Twitter 
We do not share the same religious beliefs. However, we do share the same belief that every person has the "fundamental human right to religious freedom."
hinduism, illegality has no right in domain of truth absolute, even one may call his hinduism criminality, a religion.
Atheisms are nothing more than an ideology of Darwinian Fascism mixed with a tincture of religious revolting tribalism. Even though I dare believe in evolution being a relativity, My faith is in there being super intelligent mortal beings all taking up residencies deeply seeded inside all celestially megalithic cellular cosmological structures of the atomized realms in dimensional spatial relativities. After all, someone has to operate our sub-cellular molecular mechanisms of machined genetics. Sub-molecular machines operating themselves is just plain stupid!
....and your point is?
the concept of evolution and construction of compounding order can (and is) applied to more than just biology. I am not claiming there is or is not a god, but when you have energy, a 'something' and a 'nothing' it can and will compound into order once a random format of these elements has a trait where it's reaction to other random compounds results in a copy of it's own format. In other words, once something causes it's surroundings to form into copy's of itself, it will begin to evolve with infinite complexity. When you consider the sheer number of these things (in our case atoms) and time in which they have to react, it is obligatory that something like this will start.
tl;dr, Life as we see it is expected to arise. The complexity we see in it now is the product of billions of years of trial and error. Although it seems impossible, it's really not. All there needed to be is strings to snowball into what we have now. NO need for a god to design life or chemistry
Do YOU even understand what you just posted? You must give the thesauras in MS word quite the work out
a famous brony,
Chemical constraints as in changing the atomized constants of molecular consistencies wherein genetic manipulations are synthetic reproductions for the multi-variations of many distinctive cellular particularities found within higher and higher orders of cellular cosmologies is as a conundrum for science philosophers.
The DNA depositary of all cellular cosmologies of living organisms is the replications appraisals wherein all of Life's inward predilections serve and are being served via said embodiments of atomized customized for proprietary regularities. Therefore, DNA is the homelands of all deeply seeded super intelligent beings of profound smallness.
The DNA depositary of all cellular cosmologies of living organisms is the replications appraisals wherein all of Life's inward predilections serve and are being served via said embodiments of atomized customizations for proprietary regularities. Therefore, DNA is the homelands of all deeply seeded super intelligent beings of profound smallness.
lionlylamb, gobble the fertile gravel. There is no caveat to the Klein bottle, and there will be no gold watch for the unspoken zero.
Focus your nose on the test tube. Stay succulently upon yourself and fear not the coming of the essential kangaroo. Strawberries are your incidental chemistry. Present the fulcrum in advance of the gypsum cookies, for as the tree is combed, so goes the predicate. Expand quietly but do not relish.
Whether or not you agree with the plumber, harvest away ye hearties. Kalabash in Friebourg but not in spanners while it's raining. Bring out the mustard but flap flap flap until takeoff. Why would you say such a thing in the presence of the substrate? 64. 1112. Welcome to the new sandwich lumberyard. Bus stops follow movement, or do they?
The impediment to your posterior is large but can be dissected with chestnuts. Obermeyer. Glasnost and shallot cookies will do the main job when a steamshovel is too distant for pomegranate.
And remember, never ever miss an opportunity to watch an elephant paint Mozart.
if I am understanding your jumbled and poorly worded posts right, you are are saying that genes were pre-determined to carry, or evolve into, code that makes up what we have today? Says who? Where do you get that from?
Or are you trying to say that the methods of DNA as an information carrier means that something had to place the system? If so, then you need to take some classes on genetics and molecular biology. DNA is a more advanced protected system that evolved from RNA, which really is just the core chemical that developed from molecules that reproduce themselves and alter surroundings to make themselves more likely to survive and reproduce. That is how evolution works. It doesn't 'think' or 'plan." It's just a basic form of trial and error of a changing and compounding set of autoreplicant chemicals.
a famous brony,
You seem to have missed my points. DNA or the child of RNA is the residencies/homelands of super small superior beings of alchemy instructors wherefrom such beings dare mind the storehouses of cellular containments. These cellular containments are manifestations of the complexities found within the outward cosmos of which our celestial universe is found being within. We or our bodies are nothing more than atomized realms of cellular cosmologies living upon a celestial cosmology of a yet indeterminable size.
ooooooh .. ok i get it.
Kinda like Halo 4? Where our genes were preserved so we could survive the galactic purge from the rings and reformed later? With some kind of grand plan coded in?
I hated that part of the game because we can genetically prove that it isn't true, and it's retarded.
tin foil hat much? learn some science.
a famous brony,
I don't know about Halo games. What I believe in is Cosmological Order. The first order is the atomized cosmologies and the second order is the cellular cosmologies while the third order is being the cellular cosmologies. Need I explain these orders or do you want to fathom such orders on your own timeliness?
I screwed up! Dabnabit!
a famous brony,
I don't know about Halo games. What I believe in is Cosmological Order. The first order is the atomized cosmologies and the second order is the celestial cosmologies while the third order is being the cellular cosmologies. Need I explain these orders or do you want to fathom such orders on your own timeliness?
brony, lionlylamb (AKA god's oldest dreamer) is a known nut. His posts are known as "word salad". He has admitted psych issues. His only goal is to string together words he does not understand as that is "wisdom" to him. If he wanted to actually communicate, he is capable of normal conversation. His excuse for his ramblings have previously been "he's writing a book and needs a place to gather his thoughts." He's posted in other threads violently against Jews is filled with the additional delusions of any other religious nutter.
I agree, religious bigotry is a cancer, but bigotery is a direct and unavoidable byproduct of groups that self-catagorize themselves, deeming a 'difference' based on a specific trait. We see this with blacks in america, where many of them fuel the racism that claim to be fighting by further pointing out differences.
Ultimately, this is a positive goal, but it cannot be maintained as long as religion stands. Unfortuntly religion claims to define the entire life and reality of a person's world and apparent afterlife. This means that bigotry will almost surely arise when these differences are pointed out, and the acts of bigotry are not bound by the "importance of the difference." (ie, "it's not worth killing over")
Religion as a self categorization, lifestyle, and dogmatic law needs to die out in order to insure the end to this senselessness.
It sounds like you have some racist sentiments of your own to work through ... for me, pointing out differences causes me to love and respect others more as I appreciated differences ... Not everyone responds to differences with hatred .... why do you?
I don't, it's not about hatred. When people make a point to create a "club" based on a characteristic, they are say "hey, i'm different than you because I am [x]." We all are different clearly, but when you define yourself based on these differences you are pulling yourself away from others who do not share that trait. It doesn't create hatred, it creates detachment between the "group" and the "not part of the group people." This detachment allows for scape-goating, negative bias, and ultimatly, bigotry. Bigotry compounds, it's not something that someone just 'creates.'
I am not being racist in the slightest, I am saying that when people start separating themselves like "black pride" or the jewish people in europe back in the 30's with finances and trade, you create a huge gap and ultimately a negative view. See how the jews, who had good reason to be tight knit due to their already slight prejudice (goes back to the romans scattering them from their homes), became a scape-goat and pinata for problems in germany, then when the hardliners took over with their religious nationalism and bigorty it collapsed into hate,then violence, then disconnect and disregard for humans that lead to unimaginable horrors.
in a nutshell, when problems arise and groups categorize themselves, it becomes a "them and us" thing, which leads to contempt for society and human life. Religion is the ultimate firestarter of this because it claims to unfallibly transcend life itself.
Beautifully stated ... I couldn't agree more ... I am a Christian but also practice Buddhism and indigenous spirituality. I have always hoped one day to study Islam. Your vision of religious freedom is a wonderful one as it gives us all the opportunity to learn more about God from one another. In my view this vision is exactly what the world needs. As for the author, keep your voice strong ... and I will pray for your resolution to come true.
Many Muslims have pointed out that "Islam is a religion of Peace". Not all muslims are terrorists. Ahmadi Muslims are the kind of peaceful people who are non-violent. On the other hand, Pakistani Sunni Muslims are the kind of people who give Islam a bad name.
stop complaining "Jim", if that is what your real name, when you live in tough neighborhood, you should not afraid to punch back, or just get out of that neighborhood, don't expect outsiders to come to your rescue, understand
It would be better if Qasim Rashid included in his wish all of the brain washed christians as well as muslims.
Again, not all muslims are terrorists. Only certain types of Muslims are violent terrorists. Ahmadi Muslims are peaceful people. So, Ahmadi Muslims are being murdered and terrorized by the violent Sunni Muslims who hate peace.
Not all Muslims are terrorists. Ahmadi Muslims are very peaceful.
Can you name one single act of terrorism by Ahmadi Muslims? = None!
Sunni Muslims are the most brutal Muslim terrorists. Sunni Muslims are the founders of their "holy" organization called A-Qaeda. Sunni Muslims are terrorizing all infidels: Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and even other Muslims like Shiites and Ahmadis.
Just because a religion or sect is outwardly peaceful does not mean that they are "inwardly" (to their family and friends and fellow community members) good. What if a religious group never did physical harm but emotionally abused and intellectually shunted all their members? Is that really "peace?"
Again, you did not come up with a single name that Ahmadi Muslims have terrorized and killed.
Sunny Muslims are the ones which formed the Al Qaeda - they are responsible for almost all the terrorism. All the 911 bombers were Sunnis. A decade later, all the terrorism center has shifted to Pakistan now, which is mostly Muslim as well. There are only a few peaceful people like Ahmadi Muslims, who are now being brutally butchered by Sunni Pakistanis.
If that comment was directed at me, it was amazingly stupid of you and you should read my reply again.
Moby Schtick wrote, "What if a religious group never did physical harm but emotionally abused and intellectually shunted all their members?"
Then one would see a falling away of memberships, yes? Was a dumb question anyways,,,
@ Moby Schtick - I am just stating a fact that Ahmadi Muslims do not commit acts of terrorism, whereas Pakistani Sunni Muslims do. You are angry because you can not handle facts.
Jim, you moron, I'm not angry and I'm not attempting to deal with facts. I'm taking your word for it. I assume that you're right. THEN, based on the idea that you're correct, I'm asking you questions that deal with other issues.
You're an idiot because rather than address my legitimate concerns you repeat your stupid one-liner that nobody is debating.
ll
You don't seem to understand what emotional abuse/blackmail is or how it works. Plenty of beliefs/cults use emotional blackmail and psychologically cripple their members. Your reply takes a far too-simplistic view, and I bet you know that.
@Moby Schtick - Perhaps you did not read this well written, powerful article by someone who is trying so hard just to survive another year. The author is talking about saving his life from violent Sunni Muslims who just want him dead. When he uses social media, these Sunni Muslim terrorists are bullying him on twitter!! We need to point out that these Al Qaeda type of Sunni Muslim people do not give the entire Islam a bad name.
Jim, Moby is not talking about your little flavor of Muslim, he's talking about religion in general. Quit being such an apologetic and answer hif fvcking question you disingenuous dolt!
I've posted this before, but since so much of the comments here are redundent I’ll go ahead.
You do not choose what to believe. If it makes no sense to you, you will not believe it.
I don’t believe that something the Christians think of as god would set Adam up to fail in the garden of Eden, and then hold that original sin against every human being ever born. It makes no sense.
I don’t believe something the Christians think of as god would talk to Moses, and condemn everyone who either didn’t believe him or never heard of him.
I don’t believe the great flood ever happened.
There are contradictions in the bible. I can’t believe an all powerful god couldn’t give us a book that was clear/accurate.
The old school RCC made major revisions to the bible. Was everyone worshiping wrong before that? Why did god suddenly change the rules? It makes no sense to me.
The Pope excommunicated all of England when their King translated it so the masses could read it. Why would god want his word to be kept secret? Unless there is no god and the church thought it could control the masses better if they didn’t know how flawed the bible is.
If you don't believe, then why are you here? Why post about something you don't believe is real? All you're doing is validating its existence. It's okay to have opinions but when you post things like this, it almost seems like you're looking for someone to validate your opinion. There must be an AA group (atheists anonymous) some where online that will tell you what you want to hear. I'm sure they'll validate your own illusions.
Pakistani Sunni Muslims are brutally killing Ahmadi people.
Insecure much Imminenet?
When you stop forcing your theology into my schools and laws, I'll stop posting what BS it is.
Imminent,
I do agree with @New Atheist (other than the misspelling of the name!)
If you do not wish to hear/read contrary opinions, perhaps you should stick to the Christian or Islamic, etc. web sites where they ban posts and posters who disagree with them...
Imminent..we are here to help you. We know that it is all a delusion for you, but we have to try to counter the insanity that you attempt to mold into reality,
Atheists are much better than Pakistani Sunni Muslims, who are brutally and systematically killing Ahmadi people. What Pakistani Sunni Muslims are doing to Ahmadi people amounts to genocide.
I think that every time Chad posts his ridiculous drivel, we should copy and paste the text of New Athiest's excellent OP.
This is shocking to know that we take so much for granted, but some people in Pakistan need to make a New Year’s resolution like – "don’t get murdered". A person in Pakistan has to try so hard just to stay alive for another year. On December 3, armed extremists destroyed 120 graves belonging to Ahmadi Muslims at a cemetery in Lahore, Pakistan.
" A person in Pakistan has to try so hard just to stay alive for another year."
and that goes for the presidents too, look what happened to many of them? either they got assassinated, hanged, or deported
This is an important article. It shows what is happening around the world, but it also affects Americans. Watch "The Third Jihad" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XUub1no1qw&feature=share&list=UUh9qBWORox1AfiiISaAPhOg
I am not only dismayed but find the comments highly offensive by Mr. Qasim Rashid's ," My New Year’s resolution is to not die for my faith." As per article, he is the spokes person for the US, is he suggesting Ahmadi's are discriminated in the US? This is an insult and height of thanklessness to the nation where they (Ahmadis and other communities) are living better than they would ever dreamed. Even better than Qadiyan and Mecca. In a better peace which Ghulam Ahmad or any of their prophets ever lived.
Its blasphemous to utter such a non-sense.
The concept of "blasphemy" is the height of insanity: don't insult my imaginary god, or I will kill you!!! Imagine if people were murdered by believers in the Easter Bunny because they said the Easter Bunny wasn't real? Of you could be put to death for burning a copy of "The Night Before Christmas"?
Insanity.
Yes but Pakistani Sunni Muslims are brutally and systematically killing Ahmadi people.
W T F Jim, are you Rashid's lover or something? We read the article, numbnuts. We get it. Is every comment of yours going to be "yeah, but they're getting killed?" Tard.
AND THE INFAMOUS ANGELIC CONS CONTINUE TO WREAK STUPIDITY UPON THE WORLD
Joe Smith had his Moroni. (As does M. Romney)
"Latter-day Saints like M. Romney also believe that Michael the Archangel was Adam (the first man) when he was mortal, and Gabriel lived on the earth as Noah."
Jehovah Witnesses have their Jesus /Michael the archangel, the first angelic being created by God;
Mohammed had his Gabriel (this "tin-kerbell" got around).
Jesus and his family had/has Michael, Gabriel, and Satan, the latter being a modern day demon of the demented. (As does BO and his family)(As do Biden and Ryan)
The Abraham-Moses myths had their Angel of Death and other "no-namers" to do their dirty work or other assorted duties.
Contemporary biblical and religious scholars have relegated these "pretty wingie/horn-blowing thingies" to the myth pile. We should do the same to include deleting all references to them in our religious operating manuals. Doing this will eliminate the prophet/profit/prophecy status of these founders and put them where they belong as simple humans just like the rest of us.
Proprietary orientations are ever the socialists ways for protruding into and upon sacred luminosities lit by aged lights of long held socialistic revelries. The coin-flip regarding the two-sided orders of platonic diplomacies might land two out of three times upon the rooted cynicisms of bi-folded plagiarisms. While the disgusting ideas of plagiarized sarcasms leaves un-dealt many venues of social desperations needful, the commonalities regulars are ever being hemmed in upon despotism's variations. Who then has the full deck?
Correction in the article: The Holy Quran did not say anywhere that Jesus died of a natural death anywhere. He may be reading some other book for sure.
Ahsan
In 5:117 " “I said nothing to them except that which Thou didst command me — ‘Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.’ And I was a witness over them as long as I remained among them, but since Thou didst cause me to die, Thou hast been the Watcher over them; and Thou art Witness over all things."
The word used here is the arabic word "tawaffa", which is the same term used for death in the funeral prayer as well more than 20 other places in the Qur'an
Religion is just a n insane irrational dogma like Communism or Nazism. It's been around only because people behave like drug addicts that like their "opiate".
inspiration for the atheist,,,
Atheism panders to social promenades around negativities arousals being protrusions of socialized differential welfare issuances. Religions pander precipitously around the afterlife potencies or an up and coming better domain to soon be and/or becoming a this-world addendum. Accolades of resonating potentials of either social order dares be docked lavishly upon bemusing generalist orders of regular conditionings regarding socialized regular means and welfares.
Atheism is an illusion created by the corrupt attempting to qualm their own guilt and detract from the severity of their unethical, and often illegal choices. Atheism is abused by those hoping to avoid accountability.
@insipid: "Atheism is an illusion"
Atheism is the opposite of illusion. I am ruled by reality.
***
"...created by the corrupt attempting to qualm their own guilt"
corrupt how? guilt about what?
***
"... and detract from the severity of their unethical, and often illegal choices"
what unethical and illegal choices?
***
"Atheism is abused by those hoping to avoid accountability."
Religion is the lack of responsibility. Run over a child with your car? Just go in and tell it to the priest. BINGO! All forgiven, no need to tell the police. Molest a child? Just go tell another priest, get transferred to another parish and BANGO! Forgiven!
End Religion,,
What a retarded bunch of trashy embolisms in unethical pseudo-relativisms! Back to school with you and your blunted socialist irregularities meant only as being rants and raves.
lionlylamb, you have the nerveto call someone else's writing retarded? Pot, meet kettle.
his response is typical. He rails against it because it isn't his view but didn't actually answer any of my questions. He's only looking for chances to barf up his word salad.
FIRST OF ALL, ONLY GOD WILL JUDGE WHO IS MUSLIM OR NOT!!! HAVING SAID, IF THERE IS "A PERSECUTION AGAINST YOUR PEOPLE", THEN ADDRESS IT WHEREVER IT IS & NOT ON CNN WHEN WE HAVE PLENTY OF ISLAMOPHOBIC SENTIMENTS THAT ARE KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT EVEN MUSLIMS. NO WONDER, YOU MENTIONED "Sometimes that bigotry is direct. “You Qadiani mother–er! You will burn in hell for your beliefs! You godd- Jewish agent I’ll kill you!” No comment." MAY ALLAH HELPS US ALL!!!
filthy Sunni, goon
Why can't he speak the truth loud so everyone in the world knows what really happens in the name of Islam? You seem to follow the pedophile prophets advise of hiding sins. Understand that this is one of the main reasons why so many are suffering in the Muslim world, particularly women who can't approach secular courts and are advised to hide the sins of rapists and abusive husbands.
Christian versus Christian; Muslim versus Muslim. Why doesn't mankind void itself from superstition, and just let X=X?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmLjVD2VAws
Cap'n! Cap'n! The Dilithium crystals have fused my caplock! I canna control her – she's breakin's up. Or postin' in uppercase – I cann say which is worse!
Pull yourself together, man! Scotty, you have 60 seconds to unstick the CAPSLOCK key or this ship and everyone on it won't see the next Romulus Day Celebration!
All in all,
If they do try to killed anyone here in the US, they will find out real quick that this is not the Middle East...One view does not hold sway.. and they will find out first hand what a manhunt is....Murderers here are NEVER off the hook, no matter how 'justified' they believe their actions to be.
And if the other group spouts this desire to kill the OP or his family, they will find themselves a guest of the county and possible legal action. ( i hear the food sucks btw- and there might be pork)
Pakistan is a showcase of what Islam on steroids looks like
Just an advise: stop believing religious nonsense and you won't get murdered. If you believe you can fly, and jump off a bridge, what's the likelihood of you surviving? And don't tell me I should respect religion. It's like asking me to respect someone that believes the Earth is flat in today's day and age.
Exactly. Religious, arrogant, ignorant people are the primary problem in our civilization.
I wonder if the herd mentality offered an evolutionary advantage?
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being best), your comment's very first sentence scores a 0. I didn't think it was possible but then we're all reminded that there are plenty of voluntary inept, ignorant thinkers who think it's some sort of achievement to be just like you. Darwin forgot to include the offspring that should have been aborted.
What you two fail repeatedly to realize is that people kill people. I could draw parallels to claims that guns kill people, cars kill people, drugs kill people, but it's people that kill people. People look for reasons to kill others, especially the mentally disturbed. Switching to the contrast, people like you hate an imaginary concept, religion. Why? If it's not real, then why are you here? Try thinking about it for a while.
@ imminent; religion isn't an imaginary concept – it is very real. One of its foundational tenets is belief in something that is imaginary – but that doesn't make religion imaginary. We are concerned because religion can be exceedingly dangerous. yes, people kill each other – but when you indoctrinate people from birth in a religion, that religion can be the direct source of murder.
Let's say, just for argument, that in the entire history of the human species, there are been 10,000 gods worshipped at one time or another (yes, I know this number is absurdly low, but just go with it for now). Subtract 1 for the current favorite: the Abrahamic deity.
That means the current crop of theists disbelieve in (with no logical justification) 9,999 gods. That means that they are 99.99% atheist.
I just go the extra 0.01%. with the perfectly logical reason that never in the history of the human species has there been presented any evidence of any of these gods' existence.
Monotheism however, is particularly intolerant and even justifies murder and mutilation of those holding any beliefs that are not sanction by it. The madness of worship to "one god" has claimed millions of lives through out history and the blood lust of the egomaniac "one god" continues to this day.
Doesnt seem to matter to the religious how absurd their claims are. Differing claims = justification for anything
I missed the last sentence. What's liberating to the soul is practicing Step 3, along with the rest of the steps.
Most every comment on this blog exposes religious intolerance, no matter what faith. How about this idea, which has worked for millions of people with no hope, whose lives were resurrected by the divine intervention of the Almighty? It's called the 12 steps program that's used in AA and countless other recovery programs. It works for EVERYONE who makes the conscious decision to incorporate the steps into their lives, regardless of whether you are an addict or not. This is the one program that demands religious tolerance toward everyone, because it is a personal choice, not determined by following others' ideas on what faith is. It is a perfect balance of belief AND works. One cannot coexist without the other. The phrase "God as you understand him" includes everyone; and don't you dare preach that your understanding of God is better than your neighbor. That's called PRIDE, and pride goes before the fall. Pride is the devil's playground, where the devil encourages self-love above turning your life over to the care of God as you understand him (Step 3). The effect is liberating to the soul.
Could you define the statement "it works for everyone?" (Which, by the way, I find quite prideful).
I've been to AA meets. They are but cults and/or clubs where to become a member on needs follow 12 steps of social dogma while reading their good book. I've been alcohol free since Sept 5th of 09 with no thanks toward AA and their crappy religious ramblings of orchestrated assemblages.
Treblemaker.. by its very nature religion, and the gods attached to it, are intolerant. The fact that you have to be taught to be tolerant shows it is a flawed system to start with.
treblemaker – you are sounding rather arrogant. You know that pride is the devil's playground? really? And how do know this? Can you show us proof that there is a "devil" let alone demonstrate to us his attributes?
It is always interesting to watch believers start off sounding inclusive and magnanimous, and then they are caught up in their own religious delusions. It's as predictable as the sun coming up.
Grow up and gain some perspective.