Posted on 01/10/2012 5:29:50 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Believing in no god is a step up from believing in an evil god.
[ Believing in no god is a step up from believing in an evil god. ]
In a way yes, but they will probably become commies......
Who will still separate heads from necks in the name of the state instead of allah.
It is too much to hope for that the Muslims would become Christians. But I think becoming atheists is a major step in the right direction. A totally secular society such as the Soviet Union will fail, but if Muslims can use atheism to get out of the 7th century, so much the better. If they were the least bit rational, their people would have a better chance in life.
“I believe that when a religion is adopted by a state it stifles progress.”
Off hand, I’m not so sure history shows that to be true in and of itself, but it might depend on what’s meant by progress.
They’re taking the Allah out of Allahu Akbar! Ho could that hurt us?
Not to mention, How?
Sounds to me like an interest in rational thinking is on the rise, given the sprouting of young atheists. I can't imagine that the imams are going to allow this to go very far. Maybe, at this point, they'll just see it as a passing fad, like Americans do.
I actually think this will spread, especially among women who have only known a God that oppresses them and punishes them for their mere existence. This may end up being the philosophy, evne more than basic freedom, that overthrows the Imams. Once that happens, the people of Pakistan will see the Imams as mere people, not as all knowing representatives designated by God to keep them in their place.
One reason why Islamic clerics try to drive out Christians from Muslim-majority areas is because they don't want Muslims who might be questioning Islam to have anyplace else to go, theologically.
Extremism begets extremism.
In central and South America they suffer the “Old Europe disease”, the wealthy truly not enjoying their wealth unless they are surrounded by poverty and squalor. Their champagne and caviar lack flavor unless they can look out a window and see beggars starving in the streets.
But in turn, this breeds deep resentment among the beggars, who see radically egalitarian socialism, to utterly crush the wealthy and impoverish them, as the solution to their own poverty. And this is an equally vile belief, because once a peasant is uplifted by power and wealth, as the new “Jefe”, they behave just as boorishly as the wealthy and powerful they displaced. Same as the old boss.
So in Muslim nations, where the power is oppressive Islam, with pretense that it is a religion, forced on all despite its barbarism and stupidity in the modern world, the reaction is atheism, often socialist atheism. In Arab nations it is Ba’athism.
It is a rejection of Islamic government, where the oppression is just as real, but with less of an Islamic face on it. Same as the old boss, but perhaps less sanctimonious about it.
Yet they do not completely discard Islam in the process, only mitigate it somewhat. Even the Soviets could never quite pull this off, so Islam remains. Perhaps this is because atheism really has nothing to offer people.
In Africa, however, there is a different choice. Millions of black Africans are leaving Islam and becoming Christians, mostly Anglicans. At first, many do so just so they can say they are not Muslims, but Christians. Yet they soon realize that Christianity offers them something that just “not-Muslim” does not. And this is why their departure has turned into a flood.
Could it be the same in Pakistan?
Globally, food prices have been going up. Eventually, more people are going to decide that studying for a marketable skill is a better idea than studying the Qur'an, and the need to hold a job supersedes any duty to pray 5 times a day.
Good luck, young squires. Good luck.
Meet the new boss—same as the old boss. How about Castro following Batista.
Who knows. All I do know is that the Middle Eastern crazies could do with a little Atheism right now. That area is too insane to convert to Christianity and right now they need to take a break from religion.
Very wise, very wise indeed.
I honestly think that in time, there will be a huge conversion, but quite frankly, just not yet. Probably not in our lifetime, but in time Earth will see it’s change for the better. At the moment this is the best possible step in the right direction.
Agreed. This Christian would prefer Pakistan was Atheist rather than Muslim.
Granted that must only be a minority of the Atheists and Agnostics in Pakistan...but it is nothing like the 2,800,000 Christians in Pakistan that are also oppressed and are apparently not as newsworthy.
Lets apply such thinking to mathematics, hmmm:
The nerve of accepting one value for the sum of 2 and 2 and rejecting all others...
To Geography, hmm:
The nerve of accepting that the world is fairly close to a sphere in shape, and rejecting all the other shapes...hmmm.
To astronomy, hmmm:
The nerve of accepting that we only have one moon, and rejecting all the other possible numbers of moons we might have...
I think that reason is not well served by simply presuming instead that there is actually no sum that 2 plus 2 is equal to, no Earth of any kind of shape, and no such thing as a moon...even if some of the particulars about such things were in doubt.
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