Pat Condell; How do you respond, when he talks common sense?

in a comedian sort of way.

And for those who oppose Pat Condell, the stand-up comic.

A few pints, eases constipation.

Having said that, everyone has an axe to grind.

Give the guy credit! At least he stakes his claim, offers his opinion and is willing to stick his neck out. He admits he is an atheist!

Hey! It’s a free world. Let’s keep it that way! We need dialogue not dis-respect.

Isn’t that part of what made UK PLC, Great! Once upon a time?

Or have you forgotten!

I was told by friends, not to tangle with Pompey supporters because, they are the descendants of all those brave people who destroyed the Spanish armada and the sailors who served under Nelson, would have eaten the French.

He (Pat), is effective in addressing issues that the main political parties don’t want to address, but the general British public are muttering in their mushy peas and chips, or was it beer and pies.

It seems to me that fundamentalist Christians, jihadist Muslims and settlement-building Jews are causing more than their share of trouble in the world. World events are being driven by people with apocalyptic delusions, while here in Britain a paralysing liberal guilt allows religious bigots to use intimidation and violence to stamp out free speech. If you can’t get laughs out of all that, you can’t get them out of anything.’

Source: Timeout London

[I’]ve been criticising religion for years, but only in comedy clubs. Whenever I tried to do it in the mainstream media I was censored, especially by the BBC where jokes about the subject are always heavily edited, and it’s virtually impossible to say anything at all about Islam.

The internet allows all of us to bypass these self-appointed gatekeepers and communicate our ideas without interference.

Source: http://www.freethinker.co.uk/?p=580

I (the author) don’t have to agree with every word he utters, but even as a black Brit, one must accept that he has some valid points and justification.

The points he raises need to be discussed in a CALM ASSERTIVE manner, rather than the vitriolic language of hate.

Nor should we be so crushed under the immovable rock of PC (political correctness), to the detriment of of being able to express thoughts, questions and doubts.

It is the absence of dialogue, that results in the extremists being able to manipulate the minds of the citizenry.

Found this on commonsenseagainstislam and add, that I know nothing about the author. Watch the video or better still check our Pat Condell at his own site.

I am equally against stupid suggestions like ” Ban Islam“.

Wafa Sultan or Geert Wilders! Who would you rather listen to?

Dr. Sultan bitterly criticized the Muslim clerics, holy warriors and political leaders who she believes have distorted the teachings of Muhammad and the Koran for 14 centuries.Dr. Sultan said the world was not witnessing a clash of religions or cultures, but a battle between modernity and barbarism, a battle that the forces of violent, reactionary Islam are destined to lose. Read the whole article in NY Times.

I first saw Dr Sultan through3asal and ” A woman with guts” article.

Sultan’s influence flows from her willingness to express openly critical views on Islamic extremism that are widely shared but rarely aired by other Muslims. She hopes to publish a book and start a foundation to take the politics out of Islam and “change the mentality of Muslim people.” She plans to continue speaking out in Arabic to try to free Muslims from “brainwashing. Time magazine

On the other hand Wilders the MP from Holland has caused a stir on the www with his brand of ideology, with FITNA.

” I don’t believe that cultures are equal, our culture is far better, than a retarded Islamic culture.”

within the first minute of the 2 part interview.

Lots more to be found at keeptonyblairforpm including videos, images and a good debate.

Afghan Woman Brings Changes

Wazhma Frogh,

an Afghan, uses her religion to press for women’s rights.

Link:

Inside Islam, a woman’s roar

I am thoroughly impressed with the courage and pure, single minded conviction of this one woman.

Change can only take place when we seize the opportunities that we see right before our very eyes and the fact that she was willing to die for her convictions only adds to her credibility.

Would I be able to emulate her action? I leave you with that thought.

The Head Scarf, Hijab Issue

The fact that we humans are ONE as a species, is strangely illustrated by head covering.

Scarves and shawls have been a universal and common issue among many nations on our globe. For some nations, it has been the general and accepted practice at some point in their history. For others, it has always been part of their tradition, to such an extent, that the precise reasons are infused with the culture till the two are inseparable or indistinguishable.

The religious teachings in effect overlays the culture till the commanding terms are seen as law with reprisal being the norm in certain parts of our world. We would have to retrace cultural antiquity to find the origins of these practices.

“O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women to draw their outer garments around them (when they go out or are among men). That is better in order that they may be known (to be Muslims) …” (Qur’an 33:59)

NEWS

Last Thursday in Turkey a constitutional amendment was approved, allowing female students to enter universities wearing Islamic head scarves – a move some Turks see as a threat to the traditional separation of church and state.

The picture is from Carols post.

Over at American Bedu, Carol describes her life in the Kingdom of Saudi, in particular she has an article to the issue of “Why Do Some Women Veil and Wear Black Gloves?”

Some more interesting pictures at Flikr.

FRANCE

The French caused uproar in many parts of the world as the BBC states:

The French government has passed a law banning the wearing of Islamic headscarves in schools, which comes into effect at the start of the new school year on 2 September. BBC News Online examines the controversy surrounding the ban, which will affect millions of Muslims.

Q: Why was a law banning the wearing of headscarves passed?

The French had been debating this issue for two decades, but it intensified in the past couple of years, with dozens of girls expelled from secular schools for refusing to remove their head covering.

Achelois

I should also mention Achelois, as I owe her an apology for quoting her in another article but forgetting to link her post. Sorry Achelois, aptly named being;

Your interview with Shazrad “Interview: Achelois, Simply A Woman” was excellent and as a non-Muslim it gives me hope that people can have a sincere and honest dailogue.

I liked this

002.062 YUSUFALI: Those who believe (in the Qur’an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

Obviously this is a controversial issue and I welcome your thoughts.

A German’s point of view on Islam.

I may not agree with every word, but have copied the transcript in its entirety.

Dr. Emanual Tanay is a well known and well respected psychiatrist.

I have included the topic for the only reason, that, here is a person who recounts from personal experience.

If a Christian can speak about his/her experience and call it witnessing, then I feel Dr Tannay has as much a right to be heard.

A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War ll owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

‘Very few people were true Nazis ‘he said,’ but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.’

We are told again and again by ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.

It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is that the ‘peaceful majority’, the ’silent majority’, is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War ll owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. ‘Very few people were true Nazis ‘he said,’ but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.’ We are told again and again by ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is that the ‘peaceful majority’, the ’silent majority’, is cowed and extraneous. Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managaed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War ll was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were ‘peace loving’?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:

Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Lastly, at the risk of offending, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems of expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world wide, read this – think about it – and send it on.

Emanuel Tanay, M.D. 2980 Provincial St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 734-997-0256 drtanay@umich.edu