Post 53 (Bharatvarsh):
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->1. An end to one-way multiculturalism and to the cultural masochism that goes with it. The Koran does not mandate the wearing of veils or genital mutilation, and until recently only those who apostasized from Islam faced the threat of punishment by death. [Hitchen's is clearly mistaken on 2 of the 3 counts, the prophet himself put to death people who apostised and the veil is mandatory as Taslima has shown in her recent article, don't know about female genital mutilation]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->A while back, I was looking up whether there was any substantiation for the Christian Council of Macon mentioned in the What They Don't Tell You about Christianity site. What I found had more than just information on the 6th century christian bishops who voted on whether women are human in christianity.
Anyway, on the same page, I found the following on <b>Islam and female genital mutilation</b>:
http://atheiststation.org/mpc/docs/Site/...0View.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"Reduce, but do not destroy. Cut slightly, without exaggeration, because it is more pleasant for your husbands."
Mohammed's words to Muslim women, in response to questions about the Muslim law regarding female circumcision. Its goal is to suppress sexual desire and destroy sexual pleasure for women.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->So you see, it all comes from mohammed himself: the mouthpiece of the ever-invisible, ever-unknowable Allah.
And that's why today there's still Genital mutilation of women in Iraq's Kurdistan and many other islamic countries. Not just in islamic parts of Africa where it has been documented but also among muslim in the Middle-East:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->With these activities in Iraqi Kurdistan, that were conducted by a courageous group of Kurds â both men and women â it is now known and proofed that FGM is not solely an African problem.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The first-mentioned web page ( http://atheiststation.org/mpc/docs/Site/...0View.html ), in wanting to be equally dismissive of all religions in general, states the following about Confucius:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"One hundred women are not worth a single testicle."
From the Confucian Marriage Manual
Confucius (551-479 BCE)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Now there's a big difference between this on one hand, and Allah's right-hand-man mohammed pronouncing all of his Pink Unicorn's commands and the 'divinely inspired' christian councils determining the (non-)humanity of women.
The difference is simple: Confucius does not claim any divine mandate, he's not speaking for any God, nor is he 'Divinely guided' by any God.
He was a philosopher-statesman, who was not aiming to create a religion, but only trying to set some guidelines for Chinese society. Among the many sensible things he suggested and observed, he, being very human and therefore flawed, stated something obviously ridiculous, comparing testicles with a hundred women. And as any Confucian can tell you, they are free to set aside and ignore any suggestions offered by Confucius, particularly any incorrect or irrational ones.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->and until recently only those who apostasized from Islam faced the threat of punishment by death<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->I think Hitchens agrees with you that islam has always murdered/tried to murder apostates, but what he appears to be saying (I find the sentence confusing myself) is that islam has now expanded this to murdering non-(ex-)muslims - any who are critical of the terrorist religion.
Even this is not strictly true. Once again, mohammed and his invented religion being the example: he's the one to command death or conversion of all unbelievers (non-muslims). Now, that means even unbelievers who don't say anything about islam, good or bad, are to be converted or killed.
Since Islam doesn't tolerate criticism at all (nor did christianity when it was in power, and if it were to regain power today it will slowly go back to like how it was in the Dark Ages), this is all the more the case with those critical of Islam.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->1. An end to one-way multiculturalism and to the cultural masochism that goes with it. The Koran does not mandate the wearing of veils or genital mutilation, and until recently only those who apostasized from Islam faced the threat of punishment by death. [Hitchen's is clearly mistaken on 2 of the 3 counts, the prophet himself put to death people who apostised and the veil is mandatory as Taslima has shown in her recent article, don't know about female genital mutilation]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->A while back, I was looking up whether there was any substantiation for the Christian Council of Macon mentioned in the What They Don't Tell You about Christianity site. What I found had more than just information on the 6th century christian bishops who voted on whether women are human in christianity.
Anyway, on the same page, I found the following on <b>Islam and female genital mutilation</b>:
http://atheiststation.org/mpc/docs/Site/...0View.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"Reduce, but do not destroy. Cut slightly, without exaggeration, because it is more pleasant for your husbands."
Mohammed's words to Muslim women, in response to questions about the Muslim law regarding female circumcision. Its goal is to suppress sexual desire and destroy sexual pleasure for women.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->So you see, it all comes from mohammed himself: the mouthpiece of the ever-invisible, ever-unknowable Allah.
And that's why today there's still Genital mutilation of women in Iraq's Kurdistan and many other islamic countries. Not just in islamic parts of Africa where it has been documented but also among muslim in the Middle-East:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->With these activities in Iraqi Kurdistan, that were conducted by a courageous group of Kurds â both men and women â it is now known and proofed that FGM is not solely an African problem.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The first-mentioned web page ( http://atheiststation.org/mpc/docs/Site/...0View.html ), in wanting to be equally dismissive of all religions in general, states the following about Confucius:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"One hundred women are not worth a single testicle."
From the Confucian Marriage Manual
Confucius (551-479 BCE)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Now there's a big difference between this on one hand, and Allah's right-hand-man mohammed pronouncing all of his Pink Unicorn's commands and the 'divinely inspired' christian councils determining the (non-)humanity of women.
The difference is simple: Confucius does not claim any divine mandate, he's not speaking for any God, nor is he 'Divinely guided' by any God.
He was a philosopher-statesman, who was not aiming to create a religion, but only trying to set some guidelines for Chinese society. Among the many sensible things he suggested and observed, he, being very human and therefore flawed, stated something obviously ridiculous, comparing testicles with a hundred women. And as any Confucian can tell you, they are free to set aside and ignore any suggestions offered by Confucius, particularly any incorrect or irrational ones.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->and until recently only those who apostasized from Islam faced the threat of punishment by death<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->I think Hitchens agrees with you that islam has always murdered/tried to murder apostates, but what he appears to be saying (I find the sentence confusing myself) is that islam has now expanded this to murdering non-(ex-)muslims - any who are critical of the terrorist religion.
Even this is not strictly true. Once again, mohammed and his invented religion being the example: he's the one to command death or conversion of all unbelievers (non-muslims). Now, that means even unbelievers who don't say anything about islam, good or bad, are to be converted or killed.
Since Islam doesn't tolerate criticism at all (nor did christianity when it was in power, and if it were to regain power today it will slowly go back to like how it was in the Dark Ages), this is all the more the case with those critical of Islam.