what happened to free speech

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

WHS

I was born in a Muslim province of an African country where people have suffered and still suffer at the hands of Islamic extremism, usually funded by Wahabis from Saudi Arabia or by drugs money, and I know quite a lot of muslims there who are sick to the back teeth of the violence, live quite peacefully with their christian neighbours, but are quite simply too scared to speak out for fear of their own lives. Of all the victims of Islamic extremism, I'd dare to bet that most are actually moderate muslims who are seen by the extremists as 'not sticking to the true faith' and they have had enough of it, but they can't do anything about it. That's why it's good that programmes like this have been made; it gives people a chance to debate, but unfortunately there are safety considerations, and if the safety issues are not considered there'll never be a debate.

As an aside, while some think that muslims are planning to take over Europe, why are there no Islamic party MPs in nearly all European countries? OK, Britain has a different electoral system to many other countries, but the paranoid BS of the islamophobes had any substance at all, there'd be about 10 seats in the Dutch parliament held by a muslim party, annd several seats in Germany, France, Italy and Spain; it's actually 0, zero, zilch, nada, and I'll tell you why; the vast majority of muslims vote for secular parties like the liberal or the social democratic parties, parties who are very cricital of religion. A few more vote for Christian Democrat parties, who aren't exactly religious zealots either. That's because most muslims know only too well the dangers of religious power and extremism and they don't want to encourage it. Pretty much like most Christians and most atheists, actually.



Oops, I'm making that stupid mistake again of thinking that facts actually matter.

Smashing posts from Mich and NF. The violent "Islam" you are seeing these days is funded by $Billions of petro-dollars. They are the Man City of the religious world and their influence/poison is spreading. Bear in mind the violence eminates from a portion of a portion of the followers. You could split the followers along 3 lines - sunni, suffi, shia. Have you ever heard of a Suffi/Shia suicide bomber (please provide a single example). Then within the sunnis there are several factions - the violent faction is just one of them an they are a faction of that faction. The problem is that faction has literally Billions of dollars of oil money behind it....

Also to add that the extremism originates from a "Key Ally" of the US and UK......

[Gibbon]

For instance why would an atheist want to believe they were "a good person"?

Because "the good life is at once a life of contentment and one of moral virtue and the two are inescapably intertwined"

Paraphrased from Marcus Tullus Cicero aprox 48 BCE.

His 'The Good Life' is probably the most influential book that I have read. It goes into the reasons why it is to a persons advantage to behave in a moral way without any religious doctrine. It also influeneced a lot of the early church fathers and interestingly looks into the transmigration of the soul.

[SupremeSpod]

In the big scheme of things, humans are young and under-developed, latecomers to the universe; only in the last 400-500 years have a small proportion of them started to understand their environment.
It is not a surprise then that the vast majority are mired in ignorance and superstition, their understanding of cause and effect poor in the extreme.
Thankfully there is a small, but growing, cognitive elite: atheists, ready to slowly lead the rest of you from your infantilism* and fairy tale beliefs.

Changed childishness to infantalism, it's more accurate.

What you fail to mention is that our presence is probably transitory anyway.

Yet another species to become extinct in the fullness of time.

[shaunbhoy]

there is a small, but growing, cognitive elite

Which you would simply love to feel you were a part of, you pompous dork. Sadly however, that is not the case.
Hard luck Mr Thicky!!

HTH