Imams Kicked off Flight on Way to Conference on Islamophobia

[Мастер]

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Imams-co ... 52099.html

Oh the irony. It's just too much.

[Lance]

Wow.

[KLA2]

... the United Nations General Assembly has ... the following political description of terrorism: "Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism

It works. :(

[MM_Dandy]

It is indeed a sad state of affairs. If only they resembled middle-aged white terrorists, instead.

[tubeswell]

I predict that religious persecution will continue whilst there is still religion. The sooner we transcend religious dogma of all types, the more freedom we will all have to build bridges.

Hey! Wow! - 'Freedom bridges'! (My new foreign policy slogan. Bring on the cushy job in the UN please.)

[MM_Dandy]

What was Timothy McVeigh's religion?

[Lianachan]

On the radio a few months ago, I heard somebody saying that all muslims in the UK should be made to wear an identifying armband or badge of some kind at all times. This wasn't just some nutter in a phone in, either, it was an elected official of some kind.

Obviously somebody with a limited grasp of history.

[Мастер]

What was Timothy McVeigh's religion?

According to the Wikipedia page, he started out Catholic, but later declared that science was his religion.

[Heid the Ba]

I'm waiting for crap like this some time I'm flying out of Glasgow and I'll point out that the guys in the Celtic tops sing pro-IRA songs, the guy in the Rangers top has a UDA tattoo and there is a bloke in the corner in Che Guevara t-shirt.

[Arneb]

In other news, the religious predilections of the RAF terrorist group in Germany (70s to 90s) is still inknown.

You really think we need RELIGION to butcher each other? HA!

[Мастер]

In other news, the religious predilections of the RAF terrorist group in Germany (70s to 90s) is still inknown.

At least one of them seems to have changed sides :P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_Mahler

[tubeswell]

In other news, the religious predilections of the RAF terrorist group in Germany (70s to 90s) is still inknown.

You really think we need RELIGION to butcher each other? HA!

I wasn't talking about terrorism. I was talking about religious persecution, which arises from religion as a social phenomenon. Religion as a social phenomenon is based on religious dogma (called 'doctrine' by blinded devotees). Religious dogma is written by morons for morons, and its is the moron's attempt to apprehend the complexity of the universe in an oversimplified manner.

Maybe once upon a time at the birth of human civilisation (~10,000 years ago, give or take) people 'needed' religious dogma as a buffer for lack of knowledge to promote social cohesion in their small communities (where it is relatively easy to maintain a dominant hegemony). But religious dogma has become dysfunctional to the point of destructiveness, especially over the last thousand years or so. And in today's global village it is positively explosive. So it is time for it to be transcended.

But what will we replace it with? A new religion of peace, love and understanding that is relevant for today's generations? Who will tell who what is the 'best' thing for everyone to believe? And who will accept being told that it 'should be so'?

Unfortunately religious dogma (of one sort or another) is widely pervasive. Its power over the gullible has long since been harnessed as a consequence of the maintenance of the capitalist economic mode of production, (which is the dominant economic mode at present). The capital MOP needs a reserve 'pool' of lumpen proletariat (to drive down the cost of labour), and to this end, has conveniently provided the conditions for perpetual ignorance/lack of access to education amongst large sections of the populace for generations. Religious dogma has become the self-inflicted tie that binds the masses to the economic yoke of capitalism.

Yet religious dogma has become dysfunctional in as far as the formenting of religious conflict serves as a mighty big distraction to other pressing problems confronting humanity (like climate change and self-inflicted global warming), and diverts crucial resources and attention away from where the focus for common survival is needed.

Therefore it is no longer expedient or practical for the capitalist MOP to foster acceptance of religious dogma. But in the quest to transcend to something better, the capitalist MOP is confronted with a 'barer' truth of how to ensure fair and equitable distribution of the rewards of participating in the capitalist economy. There, I said it.

[MM_Dandy]

Are you saying that we persecute others because we are religiously oppressed?

[Superluminal]

On the radio a few months ago, I heard somebody saying that all muslims in the UK should be made to wear an identifying armband or badge of some kind at all times. This wasn't just some nutter in a phone in, either, it was an elected official of some kind.

Obviously somebody with a limited grasp of history.

Hey, the Nazi's tried that, worked out pretty good for the Jews.

[tubeswell]

Are you saying that we persecute others because we are religiously oppressed?

Interesting hypothesis. In my experience people typically lash out at something that makes them feel uncomfortable or presents/exposes some personal threat or flaw that they would resent in themselves. Maybe denial of religious oppression is expressed in insecurity towards other religious beliefs, in the same kind of way that denial of aspects of one's own personality (that one doesn't care to acknowledge) can be expressed in condemnation of that trait in others. e.g.: person A hates (say) eating cream donuts and sees person B eating cream donuts, so A attack's/condemns the actions of B, because A doesn't like to think they would do the thing that they observed B doing. (Yet A maybe be just as capable of eating cream donuts as B, is just that A may be in denial about eating cream donuts and is therefore unable to deal with it in any other way than to condemn B).

[MM_Dandy]

So...religious oppression is like eating cream doughnuts?

[tubeswell]

I guess its like anything you want it to be.

[KLA2]

So...religious oppression is like eating cream doughnuts?

[tubeswell]

Of course what I meant was its like whatever fantasy you want it to be, that is.

[Arneb]

tubes, I wasn't just referring to terrorism. My point was that we humans don't need religion to be intolerant, aggressive, oppressive and generally mean towards each other. Religion may serve as the wrapping for the turds we serve each other, but we'd perfectly capable of serving each other turds even if the wrapping were different, or not there at all.

[tubeswell]

tubes, I wasn't just referring to terrorism. My point was that we humans don't need religion to be intolerant, aggressive, oppressive and generally mean towards each other. Religion may serve as the wrapping for the turds we serve each other, but we'd perfectly capable of serving each other turds even if the wrapping were different, or not there at all.

Thanks Arneb. Point well understood already.