Rumor-busting website Snopes has confirmed, however, that the quiz is in fact real. It apparently belonged to a 4th grade student at Blue Ridge Christian Academy, a private school in South Carolina. The quiz and its answers were based on a DVD produced by Answers in Genesis (AiG), an organization that promotes a literal interpretation of the book of Genesis.

Now, since the school is a private one, they can teach kids whatever they want. But that doesn’t mean that atheists–including myself–can’t criticize the school and its teachers for pushing pseudoscience onto young children.

Answers in Genesis, however, sees things differently. On their website, the group’s president Ken Ham accuses “intolerant” atheists of “attempting to impose their belief system (yes, their religion) on the culture.” He compares criticism of Blue Ridge’s curriculum to an attempt by the Obama administration to revoke the asylum status of a German homeschooling family. (I fail to see how atheists expressing their opinions is comparable to the government’s attempt to forcibly remove people from the country.)

Ham says that “atheists have grown more confident about having something of a license to go after Christians” (that “license” would be the First Amendment, asshole). He further accuses “secularists” of wanting to “impose their anti-God religion on the culture.” (Uh oh–he’s onto us!)

If there is an organized effort by atheists to shut down religious schools in the U.S., or to restrict their teachings, I’m not aware of it. Ken Ham, like many on the religious right, has a very active persecution complex. Any criticism of Christianity, no matter how slight, is perceived to be part of a larger conspiracy with the ultimate goal of eradicating religion altogether.

It’s a shame that deranged fundamentalists like Ken Ham have access to any sort of education environment, but I guess that’s the price we pay for living in a free society. (At least now we can identify the scientifically illiterate ones by the school they went to: “Oh so you went to Blue Ridge Christian Academy and now you want to work at NASA. Next applicant please.”)

The fact of the matter is: criticism of young earth creationism does not amount to “persecution” of Christianity, and anyone who believes otherwise is delusional. But then, anyone who believes that humans once rode dinosaurs didn’t have much of grasp on reality to begin with.

Jennifer was an atheist who found that science and reason failed her. But what did she find instead?

Black Holes – Monsters in Space

Serious. What seems so obvious and self-evident and true becomes a great puzzle to a group of people or a myth to be debunked or a superstition to be discounted.

Why is it that some people are so easily sucked into disbelief?

Children have no problem believing in what they cannot see. Monsters, Inc. was such a funny movie because we could all relate to the concept of believing in frightful creatures that popped out at night when we were alone in the dark.

Of course children stop believing in monsters because adults tell them they aren’t real and that they don’t need to be afraid. But how does the all wise adult know there are no monsters? He or she relies on what they can see.

They in turn crush something inside their child that recognizes the unseen world, teaching her to trust only in her physical senses, not her internal sense that this universe is greater and more complex than even science can know.

Am I saying there ARE monsters? Yes, there are. In religious terms we call them demons. Am I saying that every child afraid of a monster is seeing demons? No. I remember distinctly thinking something was in my room at night, only to realize it was the shadow of a tree moving with the wind or a pile of clothes I’d forgotten was on the chair.

Truly our imaginations can “make us” see things that aren’t there. But how foolish to use that as proof that spiritually evil creatures don’t exist.

Because I don’t see black holes when I look at space, am I going to say those scientists who acknowledge them are superstitious? that they are making things up? that they’re believing a myth? No. I’m going to acknowledge that they have equipment that allows them to see into space in a way I can’t see. I’m going to trust in their expertise, research, calculations, and conclusions.

Why don’t spiritual matters work the same way?

Well, they actually do. More than once the Bible records a person who is given spiritual sight so he can see what otherwise he could not. Elisha, for example, saw his master caught up by a whirlwind into heaven after a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them.

We can poo poo such a thing, claim it never happened

But we can poo poo black holes too and say they don’t exist.

Oh, someone may counter, they do exist. You just have to infer its presence through its interaction with other matter and with electromagnetic radiation such as light.

But the same is true spiritually. God’s presence can be inferred through all kinds of evidences–Scripture, His miraculous work in the world, nature itself, the experiences of countless believers.

What about all the countless believers in a different god? Doesn’t that prove the myth aspect of the spiritual? No, actually not. All it proves is that there are counterfeits–that the spiritual world includes more than God, that as the Bible makes clear, there is a spiritual war going on between darkness and light.

Here’s what God told Paul when He revealed Himself and called the apostle to Him.

“For this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:16b-18 – emphasis mine).

Some things require spiritual eyes to see. I’m pretty sure a person who says, The supernatural does not exist, isn’t a candidate for spiritual eyes.

That would be like saying, Prove to me the existence of black holes but don’t use inference. Well, you’d be told, you need to infer their existence from their interaction with matter and with light. Hypothetical, the doubter says, nothing more than indirect observation from which you’re finding what you hoped to find. You have no proof.

Well, actually, if I were a scientist and saw what they saw, calculated what they calculated, tested what they tested, I could reach the same conclusion. But the doubter unwilling to accept inference as proof will discount it all.

How odd that we so easily accept as true the fallible research of humans struggling to know that which is so distant from us, so other, and yet we do not accept the infallible record of God revealing Himself so that He will no longer be distant from us, so that we can comprehend, at least in part, His very otherness.

I can only conclude that seeing the spiritual requires spiritual eyes.

On May 5, an estimated 200,000 islamist gathered in the capital, Dhaka, to protest – about the illegal building construction? Improper use of the building? Lack of building Inspectors? Poor wages and conditions of the workers employed in the garment industry?

No

They want atheists to be hanged (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22423815)

Interesting set of priorities, eh ?

Now as an atheist myself, I say if . . .people want to believe in a God, then good luck to them. If it gives them strength and comfort during difficult times then that is all to the good. If belief in a God encourages them to live a good life and be good to other people, again that’s a good thing

Sadly, too often that is not the case. History has plenty of examples of Christian and Muslim intolerance towards those who don’t share their beliefs

The existence of a God is pure conjecture. As an atheist, I do not advocate hanging all those who believe in a God. So why do those who choose to believe in a God feel so threatened by those, like me, who don’t?

Let’s suppose for a moment that I am wrong and that there is a God and that he (or she, or it) created all life. Did this deity give Mankind the power of Free Will ? Or is our fate predetermined?

If the former, then God allowed for the possibility that individuals could disbelieve in the existence of a God.

If the latter, then atheists have no choice in what they believe. God created them to be atheists

So, (still supposing there is a God) an atheist’s non-believe in a deity comes indirectly (freedom of will) or directly (predetermined) from this very God and if God is happy for there to be atheists in the world, why are christian and islamists so arrogant as to defy the Will of their God?

How did we lose virtually everything godly, noble and brave in just 51 months?  How did so many stupid bills and silly solutions go unchecked by reason and common sense?

We can search all around us for answers but I believe that the answer lies in something that we may have never considered.

There are clues all around us.  Coffee houses are everywhere; caffeine is now in everything from soda to cough medicine.  Look at the checkout counter and you will see energy drinks, energy bars, and 5 hour energy.  The national epidemic is fatigue and exhaustion.  Not a day goes by without a news item about drowsy pilots, surgeons, and air traffic controllers.

Be honest you face fatigue.  Sleep has never been harder to get than now.  However, I am going to pinpoint the most dangerous fatigue of all.  It is the fatigue that explains how we lost our nation.

While men slept.  That phrase says so much.  Jesus said in Matthew 13: 24, 25 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;  but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

Ever since the Twin Towers were destroyed on September 11, 2001 a shroud of heaviness has been on our nation.   The moment it looked like we were vulnerable, men from the bottom of society began to make their move.

They hatched a scheme to birth a new America.  However, their scheme was not new at all.  It was a reprocessed agenda that had been tried before and in each and every case it fails spectacularly. Obamacare, the mass distribution of wealth, amnesty for 11 million illegal immigrants, are all the current manifestations of socialism.

An article written in 1995 was prophetic.  It is entitled Why Socialism Failed by Mark J. Perry.  He said, “Socialism will never work in America.  Socialism is the Big Lie of the twentieth century. While it promised prosperity, equality, and security, it delivered poverty, misery, and tyranny. Equality was achieved only in the sense that everyone was equal in his or her misery.

In the same way that a Ponzi scheme or chain letter initially succeeds but eventually collapses, socialism may show early signs of success. But any accomplishments quickly fade as the fundamental deficiencies of central planning emerge. It is the initial illusion of success that gives government intervention its pernicious, seductive appeal. In the long run, socialism has always proven to be a formula for tyranny and misery.”

The tyranny and misery is wearing us out and Obamacare has not even kicked in yet!  What but fatigue explains how we shrug at Homeland Security buying enough bullets for a 100 year war?  Why did we watch a marital law drill in Boston and not even bat an eye?   How is that we can shrug at Benghazi?  It is fatigue.

John Boehner eyes droop and his words falter from exhaustion after trying to confront the White House.  Many times I felt he needed to fight but he was just too tired.

However, the most dangerous fatigue is the one that uniquely strikes the child of God.  The source of the believer’s exhaustion is the Immorality that vexes our soul.  2 Peter 2:7-9 says, “and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.”

How many Pastors entered Pulpits on November 4^th, 2012 too weary to stand for their convictions? Godly men were too tired to confront the juggernaut of “Hope and Change.”  They stood in pulpits before their people too tired to stand for their convictions.  Knowing full well that the abortion, same sex, socialist locomotive was leaving the station and taking their values and vows to God with it.   Many Pastors still told their people to vote for Obama.  My guess is that many did it with a heavy heart and a fatigued conscience.  They robotically spouted the company line.

The disastrous outcome of this administration is out in the open now.  So much so that I will predict that not one Spirit-filled Pastor will dare respond to this blog and defend their endorsement of the current administration.  I will let you know.

Yes, it is the exhaustion of the righteous that is the greatest threat.  We are too tired to stand against a state owned media, a bevy of Hollywood loud mouths, the unrelenting torrent of hate speech to anyone who dares question the regime.  A great part of the exhaustion also stems from the feeling of helplessness that says, “I know evil is on the move but what can I do about it?”

So what do we do?   We let these verses sink into our soul: Isaiah 40: 28 “Have you not known?
Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”

Tomorrow:  Getting the energy and the strategy to get our country back.

Aliens: I already talked about how Film Brain believes this is the case. I’ve seen this pop up a few times, even in movies. The reality is simply that aliens do not disprove the existence of God and there really is no reason to believe that is the case.

The size of the universe: Atheists seem to think that the size of the universe disproves God, even though whether the universe is big or small has nothing to do with whether He exists or not. For me, the size of the universe actually confirms the existence of God since I feel it shows His greatness. When I see an image of a galaxy I ask myself how can people see that and not believe in God.

The multiverse: It is true that if the multiverse is eternal that may refute God, however, I don’t see how multiple universes disprove God. In fact, it makes sense to me that there are multiple universes. I don’t know how to explain it, but it has something to do with God’s power and greatness. Not only that, there are religious scriptures that talk about multiple universes too, including the Amitabha Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita.

The Higgs Boson: I saw this one on Reddit. How does it do it, I don’t know, but apparently according to them it does. However, since the Higgs Boson is just a particle that explains certain things in our universe, it has absolutley nothing to do with God.

Allah has created the first creation that is the entire worlds.

Also, Allah has created every man in the life of this world from Adam and still He is doing up to the last human being.

The disbelievers as well as the atheists deny the Resurrection after death.

They claim that the revival from death is impossible.

They say how come that a dead man which becomes dust in his grave revives again?

Allah reminds them that it is He who has created the first creation then he asked them:

Were We then wearied by the first creation?

Were We then worn out by the first creation such that We will be worn out by their second creation when We revive them for resurrection after death?

In Arabic language, this interrogative form means that Allah was not fatigued by it, and likewise He will not be wearied by restoring it.

Nay, yet they are in doubt about a new creation, which will be at the Resurrection.

They are in doubt about a new creation after death.

The verse 50:16 says:

Verily, Allah has created man, the son of Adam, and Allah knows what his soul whispers to him.

Allah has created man and He knows what his soul speaks to him.

And Allah is nearer to man than his jugular vein.

Allah is more aware of man and He is closer to him than his jugular vein.

What is closer to man than this jugular vein?

—————————————————————-

The verses 50:15-16 in different translations

QARIB:

15) What, were we wearied by the first creation? No, indeed; yet they are in doubt about a new creation.

16) Indeed, we created the human. We know the whisperings of his soul, and are closer to him than the jugular vein.

SHAKIR:

15) Were we then fatigued with the first creation? Yet are they in doubt with regard to a new creation

16) And certainly we created man, and we know what his mind suggests to him, and we are nearer to him than his life-vein

PICKTHAL:

15) Were we then worn out by the first creation? Yet they are in doubt about a new creation.

16) We verily created man and we know what his soul whispereth to him, and we are nearer to him than his jugular vein.

YUSUFALI:

15) Were we then weary with the first creation that they should be in confused doubt about a new creation?

16) It was we who created man, and we know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him: for we are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein.

i believe the children are our future.  teach them well and let them lead the way                      – the late, great Whitney Huston

On Tuesday, January 12, 2010 mother nature unleashed her full fury. A catastrophic 7.0 earthquake rocked the nation of Haiti to its core. Striking directly under the country’s most populated city, the carnage was biblical. 250,000 dead, devouring entire neighbors, wiping out all government facilities and in a spectacular display of power, brought down the presidential palace.

Cite Soleil was a disaster even before the plates shifted. A sprawling slum of Port-au-Prince, it had no sewer system or electricity. No hospitals nor clinics. No schools, no jobs but they did have hope.

The richest cities in the world would have been challenged in recovering from one of the worse natural disasters in world history. But Port-au-Prince was not the richest. Not even close. In an unprecedented output of sorrow, aid flowed in from a shell-shocked  international  community, that had routinely written the Caribbean island nation off as damned. But Cite Soleil could not be helped. As the final act, with their meager existence in tatters, the grifters moved in, staking their claim to a pile of dirt.

Victims of their own success – in 1804, Haiti beat back their French colonist, becoming the world’s first all black republic – the losers, and colonists’ friends, refused the victors entry into world commerce, thus leaving the once proud Haitians in absolute isolation, ultimately existing in a lonely world.

What I use to be directly from Source of Inspiration                                                 I use to be so sure about everything and loved to give my opinion. Each year teaches me how the illusion of life makes my opinion absurd. The irony is  understanding that makes me wiser.

On May 1, 2013 in the city of Columbus, Texas, a starters’ gun sounded off. The first of four young men, representing the Mighty Cardinals of Columbus High, blasted out the blocks, rounding the first turn. A seamless passing of the baton, placed the team’s destiny in the hand of a young man, known only as runner two. With blistering speed, he blazed a trail down the straight-a-way. Rock solid focus led to a steady exchange of the baton, and now the team’s fate, rested entirely on runner number three. So smooth was his glide on the final curve, he appeared to be sliding on glass. Runner number four, with a name we all now know, Derrick Hayes,  whose nerves ran ice cold, secured the passing of the baton, and with only one thought… raced for daylight.

So gifted were these young athletes, in a race of only 400 meters, they reached the finishing line, nearly ten yards before their closet opponent. Victory in their grasp, they earned a berth to the Texas State High School Track & Field Finals.

By all broadcasts’ standards, Derrick Hayes’ celebration was gracious. But on that day, in Columbus, Texas, something happened that clouded the real issue, and a disqualification for finger pointing is all the world knew. Whatever the real reason, we may never know, but it makes little difference, when you see the forest instead of the trees.  One of the fastest boys 4×100 relay team, has been banned from attending the State Championship Meet.

“It was a reaction,” father KC Hayes said. “I mean you’re brought up your whole life that God gives you good things, you’re blessed.” (KHOU)

There is no question what was in Derrick Hayes’ head, when he pointed toward the sky. It was an acknowledgement of his faith. But rather the interpretation of rule 4-6-1 (Unsporting conduct is behavior that is unethical or dishonorable…) that led to the disqualification, was fueled by an anti-religious zealot or a moron in power, the community reaction should have been united.

The atheists should have been outraged as being defined as paranoid. The Christians should have marched down to city hall, because ending prayer in school is one thing, (separation of church and state gives rise to a healthy debate), but being stripped of your victory for  pointing a finger toward the sky, is quite another. Teachers should have drawn the line. Already challenged in reaching troubled youth, without having the worry of dedicated students feeling victimized. And to assure the civil community of concerned citizens was complete, all parents should have banded together and not have allowed this ridiculous decision to stand.

Participation in high school sports requires a minimum 2.0 grade point average. All of the young men are students at the school, and winning one of the sports most exciting races in jaw dropping time, illustrates four dedicated, hard-working and talent young men. They won the race fair and square and hearts were pumped with the chance to bring their school a state crown. With a gauntlet of challenges that each of those young men walks through every day (peer pressure, drinking, dating, studying, drugs) how could it be, that they were treated criminal. They did not deserve this. Shame.

Laws against youth offenders are already questionably strong (in Delcambre, Lousiana, the city council passed a law 8-1, making pants sagging illegal, imposing a maximum 6-month jail sentence). Why invent hardship, then arrest them when they do something wrong?  How could a lone official, conjure up such an off-base, out-of-nowhere interpretation, literally altering the course of events, and the community not band together?

If you were an athlete, you understand the agony of this ill-gotten defeat. If you are a parent, you know how you feel, when your kids are feeling low. And if you are a realist, even though Nike tells us to just get back up, people are different, and some blows, land harder on some shoulders than others.

Knowing the Haitian people had won their freedom fair and square, what if the world community had stood up to the bullies by dismantling an unreasonable  request? What if the colonist, that then ruled the world, were forced to relent to a united and unyielding international front, would Cite Soleil be a different place?

It has proven to be a difficult lesson for a team which showed how well it can win. It must now show how well it can handle loss. – Andrew Horansky and Tiffany Craig / KHOU 11 News

The only lesson to be learned here is not for the team but for the community of adults. Because when things like this happen, and we do not band together, than how different are we now, than in 1804, when the victor fell victim and never recovered thus forever doomed to living in a lonely world.

-an Opinion from thepublicblogger

*Since the original publication of this post, new information has been broadcast, a little blurry, but it suggest  Columbus High was disqualified before the results were made official. If true, the team in question were never winners of the race.  @ thepublicblogger, this topic is closed.

Yes, homosexuality is called a sin in the bible BUT let’s not forget all of the other things:

Fornication (sex out of wedlock). In particular for women this was a GRAVE sin. A sin for which a woman would be stoned.

Adultery (extra marital sex). Having sex with someone’s spouse or with someone besides your spouse was also deemed a great sin in which both the man and woman would be killed.

Tattoos. Many of the pagan cultures that were around at that time commemorated their dead by cutting their skin or tattooing themselves. Christians were forbidden from practicing this.

Creating an image of a God. How many of us have seen that picture of the white guy with shoulder length brunette hair that’s supposed to be Jesus? Sorry ya’ll, creating ANY image of God, even if that image is supposed to be Jesus, is sin.

Cursing, Coarse Joking, Gossiping. If you have ever cursed, gossiped, or made a nasty joke, you sinned.

Drunkenness, wild parties, orgies. I don’t even think this one needs explaining.

The POINT is that if we held the Bible, word for word, up to each of our lives, we would all fall gravely short. Condemning anyone of sin is not the job of a human being. That is God’s domain. I do not know what God means for us to do with each other or what he was after when he thought up salvation. But, I DO know that no one sin is worse than another. It’s all unholiness to God.

Perhaps maybe a little compassion is what we need more than anything. Don’t rush God’s sword because when it does come, it won’t be homosexuals or drunks or gossipers or fornicators that have to worry, but those who aren’t saved that will.

As far as my opinion on Gay Marriage, I stand in the middle. I know what the Lord says, but I also know that love when we find it must be held on to. Spend the short time we have on Earth first, loving God, then doing what makes you happy. (My opinion).

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As I mentioned before the backyard debates under Tiki torches and whiskey nights ensued.  Criticisms from the neighbor’s family, the Catholics, came first when during one conversation I mentioned that The Bible was like any other book of mythology, full of great stories attempting to curb morality in a civilized direction for those in power.  This type of comment is usually balked at when uttered aloud, and this instant was no different.  I believe the reply was “Did we just call The Bible mythology?”  This led me to expand upon my independent work.  The beginning was reading Daniel Dennett’s Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon.  I had heard of Dan Dennett via The Atheist Tapes, a BBC television series I caught on Netflix.  If you enjoy my work on Facebook, you will enjoy the show immensely, and I suggest that you find it as soon as you can.  This book acted as my intellectual Pandora’s Box.  I started to search out lectures on YouTube.  I would save them and then bump them down to MP3 files installed on my portable music player for classes.  I soaked in Dennett’s work on consciousness and the evolution of religion, but there was much I needed to learn.  That is what began my discovery of disbelief, but it would take one more year to sharpen my skills to the point of knowing what I was talking about.

The following summer, last summer, I made a vow to read.  Not just to read some, but to read some of the most difficult work around the subjects of theology and disbelief.  I started with The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, and would continue down that line with some of the most amazing works.  Max Weber’s The Protestant Faith and the “Spirit” of Capitalism was one of the most difficult.  It was written 50 years after Darwin’s revealing book, but it was written in a hand so complex that I was forced to read the same passages over and over again to sort out the particulars.  Not to mention, the original essay was composed in German, English, and Latin making the pure English translation (which is oozing with the remnants of the other two languages) real work to understand.  Yet once understood, I realized why it was such a powerful work, and is considered one of the West’s most important social observations.  I didn’t just stick to things that supported my new line of thinking.  I read Michael Behe’s Darwin’s Black Box, a wonderful title that argues design with everything that a biologist might have to offer to the design theory.  Yet, his math exposes more evidence for the likelihood of evolutionary causation than any other text I have encountered thus far.  With so much information last summer it may seem a little overwhelming, but I haven’t had difficulty keeping my facts straight because of an emotional change that I will get to a little later.  Also, there are more titles that would reveal my journey, but I haven’t the room to continue them here.  I am working on a bibliography of my research and if anyone would like more of the titles that I have researched feel free to hit me up and I can make sure that you get a copy of that bibliography.  Some people might have become tired of absorbing so much, but I seemed to only gain steam.

I must take a moment to mention that early in the summer about June 5^th or so, the largest separation that my relationship had suffered to that point occurred.  Maddie took Ivy to Springdale and a real separation between spousal partners began.  I wouldn’t see Ivy for long stretches of time as Maddie and I fought like idiots.  This separation and time by myself may have been the major catalyst behind the personal advancements in my field, but regardless of the reason by the time the fall semester was upon me I had secured a work study position at the library opening even more doors.  I began to listen to debates while I worked away at data entry and filing tasks.  This would expose me to the complete circle of the four horsemen of the New Atheists movement, and their commentary over secular humanism.  Dan Dennett was a part of this group as well as, Sam Harris, Dawkins, and another one of my heroes Christopher Hitchens.  I, once again, don’t have time to get into the particulars of each one of these distinguished writers and educators, but let it be said, if you do half of the research I have done concerning the world of cognitive neuro-sciences’ role in evolutionary theory and objective morality a new way of thinking will become available to you.  A mouthful, right?  Armed with all of this new information I began the Northwest Arkansas Atheists Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nwaaeithests.  This was an outlet for me to start self publishing some of the research that I had worked so hard to accumulate.  This was also a place for me to cut some teeth with a new identity I have since adopted, a writer.

One of the events I attended was a theology lecture over Christian Universalism, a term that was new to me at the time.  This was conducted on the University of Arkansas campus.  I took my digital dictation machine, and recorded the entire lecture with the series of questions that came at the end of the colloquium.  I listened and took notes from the recording.  The research gave me the ability to compose my first article. This article I titled “Christian Universalism Can’t Cover Everything” was published on the 16^th of December, 2012, and is still available for viewing at this address: https://www.facebook.com/nwaaeithests/posts/183684175104154.  There was no overwhelming success, but it was the most pride I had felt from a written piece.  Not because it was so well written (but it is *giggle*), and not because the subject was extraordinarily fascinating.  The reason it was such a win for my confidence was because it was true.  Not in a metaphorical sense of the word, but it is the true account and my true feelings about the event considering how deep into my research I was at the time.  With a few nudges from you, my diligent readers, I wouldn’t mind republishing on this site; it would be easier to read that is for certain.  This was also the time that Maddie and I tried to reconnect our relationship and make the family strong.  It was fantastic, from the make-up sex to the fact that I could once again wake up to my daughter’s voice every morning fired me up for life.  I felt like we had overcome a major hurdle in the lifespan of any relationship, and that Maddie and I would grow strong.  In this I would be wrong, but in my devotion to my family and the emotions that I spoke of earlier this change would curb my work to its current trajectory.

This curb is represented by my focus on objective morality and the pathologies of blind faith.  Much of my near future publications will be composed of those subjects almost entirely.  Getting to the bottom of objective morality concerns me greatly because my daughter must be taught to navigate this world safely, and my future students will also benefit from my understanding the piles of data that are rolling in daily.  I believe understanding the pathological nature of blind faith falls under this morality dome too, but is a smaller part of the grand picture.  This gave me urgency.  The outlet for that feeling came in the most unsuspecting way: fiction.  I am in the Creative Writing program at the university and have been called upon to compose fiction for school.  This, obviously, was for no class.  I wrote this because I was inspired by the explosion of my newly acquired focus and knowledge.  I couldn’t help myself.  I was driven to finish it, and it turned into a 30 double spaced page short story.  I am also very proud of it.  In case details of time have slipped past you because of my odd chronology, we are now only six months in the past.  My story is nearing its end, but there are a few more details that need to be told for this to truly be my complete story.

I will now take you into the spring of 2013.  I exited 2012 sick as hell.  One of the worst colds I have had in years seemed to linger for months into the new year.  It was tragic really, we had all survived the predicted Mayan end times, well all of us that actually survived it which I imagine was most of the human race considering the number of us that seem to still be about, and here I was with a never-ending cold.  Maddie was fully moved back in and we were planning for the future.  Getting her some treatment for anxiety and depression, as well as, gearing me up to have a great semester.  I had begun a new fiction story, also based around the morality and pathology line. Maddie was trying to secure her divorce from an old lingering marriage.  Ivy was growing and learning at her regular accelerated rate.  I was reading Grimm tales and some other short fiction that I didn’t enjoy, but I didn’t really suffer because, if you haven’t guessed it—I love reading.  I enjoy reading for research mostly, but fiction is a part of my art as well.    Things in my relationship started to change again, thus the middle of April would change my life forever.

Maddie had grown very distant.  We were not having the usual amount of sex, and when we did it wasn’t the passionate amazing thing that had always seemed to be one of our hallmarks.  I would wake up to her on the couch at 6 in the morning, and when asked about it she blamed my snoring.  It was just previous to these changes that I started the blog that you now read.  I did what I always do and threw myself into the fray.  I also got to participate in a new music venture, which I am happy to report you all can hear at this web address: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.rey1/posts/4947419769973.  This track is quite a change from the hard rocking Cover of Darkness that occupied so much of my life just a few years ago.  The weirdness in the relationship seemed to be a phase thing as Maddie still wanted to participate in my life and I hers.  I caught her naked in the neighbors garage the evening I recorded the drums for the song I gave the link to.  I will spare the particulars of that event for the sake of boring the shit out of all my good readers.  Until past weekend I hadn’t seen or heard my daughter’s voice in 2 and-a-half weeks.  For those that doubt that there is need for understanding of objective morality I challenge you to go through what I have been through recently and come out the other side with no questions.  Family being one of my chief concerns, I struggled mightily with myself in that time. 

I observed myself going to those basic instincts of agent finding.  Seeking someone to blame for the events that robbed me of my family.  Seeking someone to thank when things went my way over those weeks despite my suffering.  A would catch myself in old habits of looking to the sky with emotions flying out of me at an uncontrollable rate, and wondering if this was a punishment; dually wondering if my successes were some kind of reward.  The shock passed.  The lawyer helped me organize what I needed to focus on, and the strategy I would need to employ.  Salvaging what I can of my family is currently my only concern.  I cannot trust Maddie with myself any longer.  The bigger issue at hand is that this is the home Ivy has known since she was 3 months old, and she was torn away and kept from everything she knows.  You don’t need to be a cognitive neuroscientists or a morality scold to know that it is not a healthy event in a child’s life.  She was here this weekend so I feel much more normal again.  That brings us to right now.

What does it take to become an Arkansas Atheist?  I have no idea.  We all reach these kinds of changes while walking our own paths.  It has meant for me turning from my entire childhood theological training, announcing to the world that I don’t believe, learning at a rapid rate from scholars the world over, arguing for what I see is a truth in objective morality, damning the harm that religion does, trying to convince others that the good deeds religion takes credit for are already in us as one human to another, knowing that to do right by other people possesses intrinsic worth, and that my love for my family and work is a truly noble path.  Just as my father described my grandfather at his funeral.  I am proud of who I have become, and of my potential to do more.  More for my daughter and for all of you, my supporters and audience, my family abroad.  Thank you for following these posts, I have had great response and learned that I touched some lives already.  A new song from the band Clutch states, “If you’re gonna do it/ you better take it to the stage/ or don’t do it at all,” and that is what I have always believed.  So here I am again, on a different type of stage.  The planetary stage, giving my audience everything I have—vulnerable and true.

Although I have not investigated this matter, it does seem plausible that birds use a small fraction of potential airspace, and we can say something similar about people. Each of us can choose from an astonishing range of possibilities, but we typically go round and round in the same routines. Some routinization is necessary, but no doubt we could greatly expand our “flight patterns.”

I’ve been thinking lately about applying common sense to uncommon situations, and this would be one way to expand one’s range of possibilities.

I’m remembering an “Aha!” I experienced at a conference on consciousness studies a few years ago. Ironically, in focusing on the theme of consciousness I started noticing unconsciousness everywhere I turned. At the plenary presentations, for example, I was struck by the way highly competent individuals seemed unable to handle extremely simple tasks. One would think prominent authors who have spoken in public hundreds of times would be aware of how close they should stand to a microphone in order to be heard. Not so. Furthermore several famous speakers showed us slides that were absolutely illegible in a large auditorium. Nor did most of them bother to define technical terms. In one session four experts discussed quantum mechanical effects within microtubules. Not one of them defined “microtubules,” even though they knew that this conference included many who were unfamiliar with their particular field of study. Evidently microtubules are little doohickeys inside of our cells, but I would have liked something beyond the notion that it’s a teeny-tiny biological whatchamcallit.

Our intellectual sophistication is partly the result of specific training for specific situations. Like rats who have been moved to an unfamiliar maze, once we are outside of our usual social and vocational context we may suddenly overlook what “ought” to be obvious.

I’d like to watch for opportunities to cope more effectively with unfamiliar, uncomfortable situations. Perhaps this practice could help me become freer than birds.

Having gone off-topic for a couple of weeks I’ll come back to theism and atheism in my next post.

Roger Christan Schriner

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Our modern world, where ideas spread far and wide with just one click, continues to fight for something as basic and crucial as freedom of conscience. In 2013, we’d like to think otherwise, but the truth is we have a long way to go before we can score a victory in this fight.

 The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recognised atheist discrimination in its 2013 Annual Report. Discrimination against atheists thrives in all societies, even in a modern society such as America. In March, the German shoe company Atheist Shoes called out the US Postal Service for discrimination against atheists. The company conducted a study which found that boxes shipped to the U.S. with tape that read “ATHEIST” were much more likely to be delayed or lost en route than packaging without the label. Similarly, the incredibly talented atheist singer Shelley Segal recently faced atheist discrimination when she was booted from the venue where she was supposed to perform.

 If atheists are discriminated against in a modern country like the US, atheists face intolerable discrimination and persecution in Muslim-majority countries. Currently in Bangladesh, Islamists are demanding the hanging of atheists. On 25th April and 2nd May atheists around the world rallied in support of the country’s atheist activists.

 In Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and the Maldives, atheists can face the death penalty simply for expressing their views. In many other countries, atheists face the curtailment of basic rights including the right to marry, the right to citizenship, exclusion from public sector jobs, prohibition from holding public office, and restricted access to public education. This year the UN Rights Council was informed about the extensive discrimination atheists are facing around the world. From Alber Saber to Alexander Aan, from the case of Asif Mohiuddin who was stabbed by Islamists and later arrested by the Bangladeshi government, to the case of world-renowned Turkish pianist Fazil Say who faces retirement after being convicted for blasphemy by his government; from the case of Sanal Edamaruku who was issued an arrest warrant by the Indian police because he debunked a miracle believed by many, to the case of Tunisian atheists Jabeur Mejri and Ghazi Beji who were sentenced to seven years in prison for blasphemy by a Tunisian court, there’s a long list of cases of persecution and global discrimination against atheists.

 There is also discrimination against theists, usually – but not always – by other theists. In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, a Muslim American cab-driver Mohamed A. Salim – a war vet who has served in Iraq – was attacked for being Muslim. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reports that “between 9/11/2001 and 3/11/2012, 1,040 charges were filed that were related to the attacks by an individual who is – or is perceived to be – Muslim, Sikh, Arab, Middle Eastern or South Asian. ” Muslims in the US often face work related discrimination. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) recognised the danger of growing public intolerance against Muslims as early as 2002.

The Middle East, according to Fiorello Provera of the European Parliament, is “the most dangerous place for Christians to live” and cited Ayaan Hirsi Ali who blamed the international community for failing to deal with what she considers a war against Christians in the Muslim world. In Egypt, Coptic Christians face discrimination and persecution. In April,Copts were attacked by a mob of over 200 which left many injured. Such attacks against Coptic Christians are common in Egypt, a country that does not recognise religious conversions from Islam to Christianity.

 In Iraq, 1,000 Christians were killed in Baghdad between the years 2003 and 2012 and 70 churches in the country were burned; in Iran, converts to Christianity face the death penalty and in 2012 Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani [here is his full story] was sentenced to death by the Iranian regime for practicing Christianity in Iran, although new reports suggest he is still alive. In Saudi Arabia, private Christian prayer is against the law and recently Saudi Arabian officials detained 53 Ethiopian Christians after they were caught holding a prayer meeting in a private home.

 In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the situation for Christians and other minorities such as Hindus is no different. In March, a mob of thousands attacked Christian homes in Joseph Colony of Lahore and burned the whole neighbourhood down. In the upcoming Pakistan elections, Christians won’t have any representation and have therefore decided to boycott; Ahmadi Muslims also distanced themselves after a politician made his anti-Ahmadi stance clear in a anti-Ahmadi stance clear. In a rare incident, Christians in Pakistan fought back when they were attacked by a Muslim mob.

 In Myanmar, Muslims are currently facing systematic persecution by Buddhist monks which left many dead. In Indonesia, Ahmaddiya Muslims continue to face discrimination and violence from Sunni Muslims and this month suffered attacks from extremist Muslims for reciting the Koran. In India, Ahmaddiya Muslims face regular discrimination by their fellow Muslims and are not permitted by Muslim leaders of other sects to sit on the All India Muslim Personal Law Board – an independent body of Islamic religious leaders that the Indian government recognises as representatives of Indian Muslims.

 Jews also have a long history of persecution and discrimination against them which still exists today. In July 2010, a jury found that the owner of the Hotel Shangri-La in Santa Monica discriminated against Jews during a charity event. In 2012, Emory University apologised for years of its anti-Semitic stance. In March this year, Britain’s Labour Party suspended Lord Nazir Ahmed for claiming “Jewish conspiracy” when he was arrested for texting during driving and causing a car accident.

 After all the cases listed above, there shouldn’t be any doubt in anyone’s mind that both believers and non-believers need to work together for freedom of conscience and can achieve this common goal by bridging the gap through communication. Anyone who believes in freedom of conscience and supports the right to belief and disbelief is an ally. There are plenty of theists and many groups who promote freedom of conscience, tolerance and dialogue. I recently came across Alif Laam Meem, a fraternity of American Muslims from the University of Texas who held a protest in Dallas against domestic violence and supporting women’s rights. There is also a campaign started by a group of overseas Pakistanis known as Bolo Pakistan (‘Speak Pakistan’) that is against hate and intolerance.

 In such times we should seek out allies – not enemies. An atheist and a theist might disagree on many things, and maybe there can never be an agreement on some things, but both can agree on at least one thing: freedom of conscience is under attack and we must save it, together.

In the verse 50:1, Allah Exalted is He, made an oath by His strength and omnipotence that the Quran is the glorious and the honored book and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. However, the disbelievers have certainly not believed in Muhammad and in the Quran.

The verse 50:2 says:

The disbelievers marveled that Allah made this oath: they wondered when they were told that they will be resurrected after death; they do not believe that.

In addition, they do not believe that Allah sent a messenger, from their own lineage, who is one of them, to warn them if they do not believe in Allah.

They consider it odd that there should have come to them a warner from among themselves to threaten them with the punishment of the Fire after resurrection.

So the disbelievers say: This warning is a strange thing!

They say that what Muhammad proclaims, i.e. that they will be resurrected after death, is a strange thing, is an impossible thing that will never happen.

The verse 50:3 says:

Mockingly, the disbelievers say:

When we are dead and have become dust shall we be brought back again? Shall we return to life again?

That which Muhammad claims would be a far-fetched return!

Thus, they belied Muhammad and denied resurrection after death.

It is interesting that man is the man regardless the great advances in knowledge, communications and technology.

The Arabs more than 1444 years ago denied resurrection after death.

Also, the Atheists today deny resurrection after death.

—————————————————————-

The verses 50:1-3 in different translations

QARIB:

1) Qaf: By the glorious Koran!

2) No, but they marvel that from among themselves a warner has come to them. the unbelievers say (in mockery): ‘this is a marvelous thing!

QARIB:

3) What, when we are dead and turned to dust? That indeed would be an unlikely return! ‘

SHAKIR:

1) Qaf: I swear by the glorious Quran (that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah)

2) Nay! They wonder that there has come to them a warner from among themselves, so the unbelievers say: this is a wonderful thing:

SHAKIR:

3) What! When we are dead and have become dust? That is afar (from probable) return

PICKTHAL:

1) Qaf: By the glorious Quran,

2) Nay, but they marvel that a warner of their own hath come unto them; and the disbelievers say: this is a strange thing:

3) When we are dead and have become dust (shall we be brought back again)? that would be a far return!

YUSUFALI:

1) Qaf: by the glorious Qur’an (thou art Allah’s messenger).

2) But they wonder that there has come to them a warner from among themselves. so the unbelievers say: “this is a wonderful thing!

3) “What! When we die and become dust, (shall we live again?) that is a (sort of) return far (from our understanding).”

Gamma Atheist offers some of his own ideas and lists resources he’s used in his own parenting. There’s no one instruction manual for raising children, but hopefully these resources help.

Every day – throughout the day, my Twitter account gets flooded with messages from atheists.  Each send their tweets repeating the same old refuted arguments.  It gets boring after a while, especially when their tweets and questions are already answered in my blog posts.  

If atheists sincerely want to discuss God, Faith and religion, where are they?  Why don’t they contact me here, text me, instant message me etc?  What are they afraid of.  I am making myself available in multiple ways instead of relying on Twitter which only allows a certain amount of tweets to be sent.  

Where are you atheists? Why are you afraid to directly engage me?

I’m more than sorry because I haven’t post for a very long period (almost a month). This time I will be leaving you with a long video. It is from “The Point” [1] a web show that is becoming better every time I see it, but that’s just my appreciation. I would like you to watch and listen carefully because although the discussion focuses on USA issues, it could lead us to analyze the cases in our countries. So please relax and prepare all your neurons to be very critical with the content of the discussion about Atheists, Religion, Science and Morality.

I first knew about this video by the RDFRS News Channel [2].

[1] The Point.

[2] RDFRC News

It seems that atheists are once again becoming as vocal as they were at the height of the Communist world movement, when Communist leaders proclaimed that religion was nothing more than the opium of the people.  Once I heard an Easter story about a Communist bloc country.   People were “retrained” in the party mentality.  The party bosses were so pleased with their success that they determined to test it when Easter came around.  At a large gathering they challenged anyone in the considerable assembly to say something relevant about Christ.  There was a long silence.  Then one man came to the microphone.  Looking out at all the comrades he shouted:

“Christ is risen!”  Immediately the thunderous response echoed back:  “He is risen indeed!”   The expression of religion may be thwarted and ridiculed, but the basic convictions of “homo religiosus” will not be denied.

The new atheists have a new contention:  “religion keeps people from becoming mature.”  When I read that, I had to wonder just how much experience of the human condition they have.  Where are these superbly mature persons not held back, in contrast to religious people?  It has been my experience that there are gravely immature persons in multiple situations, from the soap-opera world of daily life to the bellies of the work place in factories, to the halls of congress.  In every situation there is co-dependency, sycophant sucking up, lack of critical thinking…  This is true whether the persons involved are religious or not.  I do not think that religion is at fault for keeping people immature.  Some religious practices and some religious communities may do so (just like every other human institution) but religion is not the causative factor.

My belief is that a hallmark of maturity, one way of measuring the depth of maturity, is indwelling.  Indwelling is the ability to dwell in intimacy with another with inter-dependency (in contrast to co-dependency).  It is the ability to collaborate without possessiveness, obsession or need to control.  There is profound collaboration with complete freedom.  There is love without devouring need.  Each is capable of full-functionality at a high level without the other but freely chooses to surrender to the other for the sake of indwelling.  This is the type of relationship Jesus holds out to us as the Christian ideal in today’s gospel.  God indwells with us and we with the Trinity in a mutually respectful relationship that is highly sensitive to the freedom of the other.  Those who achieve this kind of maturity not only indwell with the Divine Persons but in turn are able to indwell in the same manner with human persons, with spouses and close friends.  Here is maturity, a maturity that requires the use of the all four archetypes as faculties of our psyche but also requires that we are not used by those archetypes.  We are not governed by activism, by the need to dominate others, nor by the measure of our intelligence.  We have boundless love but are not without healthy boundaries.

A short article about the potential harm of faith based belief in Armageddon hindering critical thinking in the global warming field of conversation.  I would like to expand upon that line of thinking to general selfish world-growth apathy.  If you think that the end of the world is coming in your lifetime than you may work very hard to continue to build a personal or family legacy, but might not seek to better their community, country, and planet.  A person that thinks like this is a liability, on many levels not only global warming, to the future success of the human race and our integral roles in the ecosystems in which we exist.

It’s not new for me and Syrians like me to feel alienated in our own country. Throughout the years we have struggled with a conservative society in which concepts like free speech, gender equality and civil rights are partly rejected by most of the people. That being said, Syrians were generally moderate and tolerant in comparison to most neighbours in the Middle East and despite my alienation I never for once looked down at my fellow Syrians as inferior or less human.

Syria was ruled for the last forty years by the Assad family,who came to power via a military coup and installed a brutal dictatorship that robbed the people of basic rights and liberties, plunging the country into police state corruption. The Assad family came from a very poor Muslim minority called the Alawites. Alawites are a fraction of the Shiite sect of Islam. To bluntly summarize the origins of this sectarian divide among Muslims, it all started after Mohammad’s death, when his cousin and son-in-law Ali, along with Mohammad’s daughter Fatima and their sons Hassan and Hussein, entered into a dispute over power  with Mohammad’s wife Aisha and his best buddies Abu Bakir and Muawiyah ibn ʾAbī Sufyān. The conflict ended with the latter team getting into power, their supporters became what is known as the Sunni sect while Ali’s supporters became what is known as the Shiite sect. The conflict never really ended and over a thousand years later they are still fighting that outdated battle, with Iran playing the role of leadership for the Shiites  and Saudi Arabia playing the same role for the Sunnis . They have been engaged in a sort of cold war style conflict by fuelling sectarian strife in other countries, including Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen and now Syria.

Anyway back to Syria, where the Sunni majority and Alawitesminority have been coexisting in harmony for years. As soon as the Assad family came to power it used the existing sectarian divide to ensure it remained thereby appointing over 90% of all army officers (especially the high ranking ones)from the Alawite minority, in addition to filling the key positions and presidential inner circle with Alawites as well. The regime worked hard to incite fear of what the Sunnis would do to minorities if they ever came to power, while keeping the majority of Alawites in poverty to retain control overthem. In 2011, the Arab spring knocking down one dictator after another inspired the Syrian people to revolt against the regime. Thousands of Syrians from all religions, sects, and ethnicities marched in the streets in peaceful protest demanding freedom, democracy and the end of Assad’s tyranny. There are no words to explain the joy I felt marching with them for the promise of a new,better Syria. I looked with disgust at those who justified the dictatorship in fear of extremism and sectarianism. They all gave the example of the brutal Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who managed to keep the lid on sectarian hate in Iraq with an iron fist, before it erupted after his downfall, claiming thousands of lives. But that was not acceptable to me, knowing that this man dropped chemical weapons on his own people, murdering tens or even hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Kurds without discrimination. Somehow the concept of accepting the lesser of the two evils looked so evil in itself.

The Assad regime never wasted time or gave diplomacy the slightest chance; it immediately started a harsh  crack down on the demonstrators, shooting live ammo at peaceful protesters and soon enough  even bombing and shelling rural demonstrations in an effort to quell the revolution. The killing continued in a monstrous and sectarian fashion, targeting the Sunni population specifically, in efforts to turn the revolution into a sectarian civil war so that the regime could convince the Alawite minority that it is fighting for their protection from impending slaughter. In the stench of death rose up religious extremism as, in their helplessness, people started seeking the help of god and  the comfort of believing in  a better life awaiting  those who were stolen from this one. The Syrian secret service focused its efforts on the utter destruction of any Alawite opposition, which wasn’t hard as some of the sectarian fuelled Islamist Sunni opposition began to shun them, accusing them of being an extension of the regime for merely belonging to a minority that too suffered injustice under Assad’s rule. One massacre after another left every Syrian with horrific images of slaughtered civilians, children, women and the elderly. An unrivalled display of inhumanity and sectarian bigotry sent shocking waves of sadness and anger, claiming every drop of compassion and mercy from everyone who bared witness to the atrocity.

Soon enough the peaceful protests ended, only to be replaced by a rebellion of armed, mostly Islamist, militias,  first started by army defectors who refused to shoot civilians but later, thanks in part to Saudi petrodollars, infused with foreign Jihadi elements.

With every massacre people got more and more sectarian. To most Alawites these children who are slaughtered are being killed so that their children may live, while to Sunnis these dead children are the justification for the killing of the Alawite’s children once the regime is toppled. Who pays the price for this never ending circle of hate, prejudice and bigotry? Innocent children, of both sides, these children who were born merely human, not Sunni, Alawite or even Muslim to begin with, they were born pure and untainted with our savage differences posed by our irrational beliefs.

People have gotten so sectarian and hateful that I started to abstain from talking about politics with them in real life. Now, as I browse through Facebook and Youtube all I see in the top comments are promises to annihilate a sect without mercy. My greatest disgust was when I saw a comment made on a Facebook status of a secular revolutionary activist, who said that justice is to punish those who committed murder, regardless of their sect. This particular comment had over two hundred likes, surpassing all others  on the above mentioned status, and it said“sorry but it themes that you didn’t suffer yourself from the loss of a child slaughter with machete then disfigured with rocks and feet. They very few Alawites who aided the revolution will be spared but the others will be killed along with their children to answer for their crimes against our sect”. I kept wondering in my head, how could two hundred people cheer for this horrific vengeance disguised as a perverted sense of justice?

It is safe to say that the majority of Syrians think in that sense today. Never did I feel alienated from all of them this way. They all now feel like hordes of Daleks (hateful aliens in the popular Sci-Fi series Doctor Who), full of fear and hate, shouting “EXTERMINATE…EXTERMINATE”. It saddens me to see every drop of humanity in them consumed by a war that has claimed the lives of over 80,000 people, and yet I fear what they will inflict upon everyone else in the days to come.

Once we were a home to some of the greatest civilizations humanity ever witnessed, we walked tall with our people’s innovation, science,philosophy, medicine and art. We gave safe refuge to hundreds of nations and cultures that fled to our land. We were the center of the old world and the hub for world trade. Our land was invaded countless times yet always welcomed and assimilated the invaders into its own complex mix of cultures. How could we shame such proud history with hate, and anger? How could we let religious myth poison our hearts and minds? Fuck your gods for if they are not false they stood idle watching tens of thousands of innocent lives suffer and die. Fuck Ali, Fatima, Hassan, Hussein, Aisha, Abu Bakir, Muawiyah and all Mohammad’s motherfucking companions, for they are no different from Assad, causing the death of people just so that they can cling to power. These corrupt power-seekers have been herding you like cattle for thousands of years, turning brothers against each other and all their heads combined are not worth a single hair from the head of an innocent child.

Here we stand, the very few human survivors on the new planet of Dalek Syria, calling out for help from the rest of the world. French archaeologist André Parrot once said “every civilized man has two home lands, his motherland and Syria”. Whoever you are, and wherever you are, in the name of the humanity we share, help us save the cradle of civilization from complete destruction and its people from devastating civil war. Raise awareness of the brutal crimes of the regime and demand international military intervention, before this spins further out of control into a fountain of death and suffering.

Wael Alkel

(Many thanks to Christopher Roche for editing and proof reading)

Syrian children sit in the rubble.

Click on Homeless man’s A/B test of generosity based on faith for the result.

Not that this proves anything.

Hat tip to Marginal Revolution.