The Quran – Polysemous or Duplicitous?

I’d like to address the nonsense that is passed off as reasons for thinking the Quran is a fine book, that it represents a religion of peace, that it’s all for freeing slaves, that it represents liberating feminism (Linda Sarsour) … you know the typical lines.

As an example, I’ll use a recent comment made to excuse Islam and the Quran. I’ll use only the bits relevant to this post, and I’ll paraphrase it to make it readable, and the emphasis will be mine. You can see the full comment and the context here if you wish.

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The Liar’s Holy Book

This man comes up to you and says, “I am Phil, the latest prophet of God.”

And you say, “Really? How do you know that?”

He says, “I have this book that says so. Look.”

And he hands you a folded piece of paper, which you open up, and it says, … Continue reading “The Liar’s Holy Book” →

Denise Cummins – Would You Trust Her?

This is the TL;DR summary of Cummins at work. Full details here.

Cummins writes an article I think misrepresents Bloom.
I criticise that, I think without hysteria. I don’t especially make Blooms case, but point out what I see as a misreading of it. I even open with a questioning stance, in case I’m missing something.
Cummins responds with what I think is fair to call an overly defensive moralising agenda driven reply with what amounts to the accusations of immoral motives for criticising empathy; a non-too-well disguised ad hominem loaded comment. She responds in a similar fashion to others, more condescendingly to some.
I call out her rhetoric in a follow up comment.
Cummins deletes that comment of mine.
Cummins doctors her comment to remove much of the ad hominem content.
I comment on the doctoring, in the comment stream. That comment soon vanishes.
I write again, this time sticking to the points about Bloom, addressing the doctored comments in 6.
Cummins responds calling my now vanished comments ‘hysterical rants’, citing a ‘normative’ comment policy that she doesn’t stick to herself.
Cummins closes comments.

That smacks of intellectual dishonesty to me. Continue reading “Denise Cummins – Would You Trust Her?” →

Paul Bloom Misrepresented

Paul Bloom has been pushing for some time the idea that empathy can be troublesome. I don’t think Bloom says anywhere that empathy is totally bad news. The point he is making is that in many crucial examples it seems empathy overpowers our rationality and leads us to make bad decisions.
Continue reading “Paul Bloom Misrepresented” →

Ten Answers To Christian Questions

Oh, good, another bunch of questions for atheists – as if the believers haven’t been told often enough.

10 Questions For Every Atheist – “Some Questions Atheist Cannot Truly and Honestly REALLY Answer! Which leads to some interesting conclusions…”

1. How Did You Become an Atheist? Continue reading “Ten Answers To Christian Questions” →

Islam – A Breakdown

The lack of an authoritative source, other than the texts, makes pretty much anyone a specialist on Islam, and at the very same time an ignorant fool. Don’t worry, the irony of me presenting a breakdown of Islam isn’t lost on me. Islam is a crazy world. Welcome to it. No. really, you’re welcome to it.

A question put to me has finally prompted me to write this post, because the inevitable demand for a ‘brief’ explanation of my view simply cannot be met:

On the one hand you say you understand the difference between Islam and Islamism. On the other you speak about “Islam” as if it is a violent ideology that compels its followers to violence — as if there is no difference between Islamism and Islam. I’m confused.

What follows is a convenient reference. It’s a simplistic breakdown of Islam from my point of view.
Continue reading “Islam – A Breakdown” →

Islam – Violent Ideology

Islam is a violent ideology that compels Muslims to violence – just not all the time and against all people, and this is where apparent contradictions come in. They seem like contradictions only if you buy into the sales pitch that Islam is a religion of peace.

The inerrancy of the Quran is explicit and accepted by all Muslims I’ve ever come across and read about – except for reformists. And some sects of Islam, like Ahmadiyya, emphasise peace more than others.

Continue reading “Islam – Violent Ideology” →