A fundementalist moderate.

Moderate and fundamentalist are widely used measures of value. 

Moderate is understood to be - reasonable and not extreme, while fundamentalist is used to describe rigid adherence to a principle.

Quite often these words preface the word Christian or Muslim as if the measure of a belief reliant on an absolute set of instruction can ever be sensibly applied to the relative concept of moderate or extreme.

The use of this terminology is misleading by design. It has a powerful pejorative association which promotes confusion and misunderstanding. 

Religious belief is a simple set of constructs which succeeds mainly because of its on or off value. You either believe or you don't. The degree to which you believe plays no part in this arrangement. If it did - if you could say - I am a Christian most of the time, but occasionally I moderate my Christianity by dabbling in the Occult, then, clearly, you are not a Christian. You are either subject to the dictate of the belief, or you are not. 

Belief is in this sense comparable to Virginity. A clearly defined circumstance determines the yes or no to the question. It makes no sense beyond deliberately misleading to suggest one is a moderate virgin or a fundamentalist one. 

If you are a Christian - you believe Jesus is the son of God, conceived by a virgin birth who died and was reborn, and who will fix it for you to spend eternity in heaven. Its a pretty straightforward set of yes or no constructs. You cannot be both a believer and a denier of the factual determining aspects of the belief. 

Islam is identical in this regard, and its the same with all religion. You believe or you don't believe. That is what determines whether you are a Muslim, a Christian or whatever you belief.  The issue of piety is a separate matter, not related to the yes or no of moderate or fundamentalist belief.

Suggesting one believes a lot more than another is as ridiculous as suggesting one virgin is more extremist in the yes answer to the question of her virginity.

Often this condemnatory and misleading representation - fundamentalist - is used to somehow imply that one believer is bad while other believers - who are moderate - are less bad. The purpose this serves is to obfuscate the reality that all believers rely on the same imagined perception, the mighty all-seeing god, from which any justification for any lunacy can be established. 'Oh, he's a fundamentalist and that why he did it' protects the lunatic aspect of the belief from association. But its deceit word play. You either believe or you don't believe.

Despite the convenience it represents for journalists, there is no such thing as a moderate Christian or a fundamentalist Muslim any more than there is a fundamentalist virgin and a moderate pedophile.

Religions top 25.

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In honour of the estimable preacher and multiple doctorate awardee Erwin Lutzer, whose immaculately conceived '21 day challenge' converts atheists with flawless efficiency, I have been inspired to come up with my own 25 day challenge. Believers need spend just ten minutes each day researching each of the numerically listed blessings of Religion.

The top 25 things which would not be possible without Religion.

1.    Female genital mutilation.

 

2.    Male genital mutilation, also known euphemistically as ‘circumcision.’

3.    Entrenched misogyny. The deliberate and systematic oppression of women through Religious direction.

4.    So called honour killings.

5.    Child abuse - Instilling the terrifying notion of original sin and hell in defenseless children

6.    Child brides.

7.    Elderly men sanctioned for having sex with preteens 

8.    Elderly men sanctioned for having sex with multiple preteens simultaneously.

9.    The stoning to death of women for adultery based on the word of a male accuser.

10. The burqa

11. The ignorant bearded unwashed rotten-toothed impoverished vehicles of hate living for no higher purpose than to kill Kfirs.

12. Blasphemy laws that persecute any non believer. Historically including the most barbaric of ritual executions.

13. Exorcisms, including Witchcraft themes, that leave children dead. Often including vicious sadistic beatings.

14. The cynical exploitation of the most needy by the avaricious. Commonly practiced by Evangelicals in America. 

15. Promoting sexual prejudice toward masturbation inviting dysfunctional sexual development.

16. Promoting views on contraception at odds with prevailing wisdom often with horrific consequences.

17. Promoting a system of Church sanctioned child sex abuse so comprehensive that in Belgium for instance, 100% of Catholic Churches have recorded instances of sex abuse by Priests.

18. Giving us the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, where unwed mothers were so mercilessly ruined.

19. Attacking and retarding educational advances. Most recently Boko Haram take up the front line of the battle once dominated so convincingly by the Catholics.

20.  Attacking and in some cases committing genocide on ethnic groups in the name of God. Anatolia. Bosnia…..

21. Seducing the weak minded and vulnerable into a mental position in which they surrender their opportunity to experience a full and meaningful life.

22.  Disempowering individuals through guilt and blame into a position of submissive dependence in which lack of personal accountability makes them vulnerable to the irrational.

23. The practice of Slavery and trading of slaves by Christians and Muslims.

24. Promoting a ‘he who is not for me is against me’ premise which has provided the impetus for countless wars since the advent of Religion.

25. Normalising hypocrisy and presenting the ridiculous as fact.

And just in case there's room left, the bonus point is:

26. Encouraging, often requiring, homophobic prejudice and persecution.

Religion. Whats not to love about it.

As Mark Twain observed
"religion began when the first conman met the first fool."
All religious belief relies on the principle of blind faith to sustain dependence on that which any intelligently designed rationale knows as an entirely ridiculous proposition. Even attempting to debate this subject is ridiculous.

The Earth is 6,000 years old. Err?

Unfortunately, if statistics are to be believed some 50% of Americans really are that dumb. 

For those that know, no explanation is necessary and for those who don't, no explanation is possible.

Them that know, know that they know, them that don't know. They don't know they don't know.

An argument that can be used equally well from both sides of the fence. Those denying the theory of gravity could use this logic just as efficiently as those who believe that gravity exists.

Ultimately the most reliable truth of our age is that the truth is what you choose to believe. Anyone so lacking in rational thought as to believe the Earth is 6,000 years old (half of Americans) and that they are so self-important every moment of their lives has been carefully thought out to the most minute detail by an all seeing all powerful god who so loved his 7 day creation that he gave them Syphilis, malaria, cancer, genital mutilation, gigantism, obesity, dwarfism and a whole host of other demonstrations of his loving benevolence, deserves to discover life after death, however improbable this outcome may be.

Preaching to the converted is pretty much a waste of time beyond light relief, and that is the point of this page. Fun. Religion is the single most destructive of mans inventions and one day, hopefully soon, the overt practice and recruitment oriented advertisement of religious belief will become illegal.

Certainly the targeted abuse of children in the early capture of their vulnerable young minds is a heinous offense which should be stopped IMMEDIATELY, being no less than a cynical and malicious child-abuse hate crime. What is wrong with teaching children a compassionate kindness based regard for all other living creatures without the divisive corrosive malevolence which is the lifeblood of all religion.

Religion. Whats not to love about it.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Religion-Whats-not-to-love-about-it/   Fun fun fun.

Islamic prejudice

Today's TIMES has an exclusive feature following a comprehensive ten year study by child protection experts of a repeated pattern of sex offending across Northern England and the Midlands. Where groups of older men approach vulnerable girls 11 - 16 on the street and groom them for sex. The girls are almost all white. The men are almost all Muslim Pakistanis.

The grooming usually begins with older groups of men befriending girls aged from 11 to 16 they meet on the street. In a typical scenario, the victim is initially treated as a girlfriend and showered with presents and attention. But the relationship quickly becomes more sinister as the abuser plies the child with drink and drugs before effectively pimping her out to friends and associates.
The worst cases involve young girls being moved around the country to be repeatedly abused.

There have been 56 successful prosecutions since 1997. Fifty three were Asians. Fifty of those were Muslims.

The real story in all of this is that despite this 'Tidal wave' of horrific abuse, the story and action against those involved has been subject to a dreadful prejudice. Fear of offending the Muslim community.

A report by the Derby safeguarding children board in the wake of last years multiple arrests said there should be greater consideration of 'whether the ethnic background and culture of the perpetrators had any bearing on their decision to take part in this activity'. 

Does it seem remotely possible that believers in a religion whose prophet famously enjoyed sex with a 9 year old and whose holy book encourages the diminished importance of women through polygamy and the husbandly right to disciplinary spousal violence might in any way make believers more likely to participate in this abusive behavior or not?  

If we accept their right to practice Islamic submission in our Non Muslim Country then surely we cannot impose our Non Islamic consideration on their right to properly express the behavioral consequences associated with and arising from this same belief. That would be an infringement on their freedom of religious expression. Surely.

This tale of Islamic influence in our multi-cultural society, of how young girls are harvested straight from the street in those British towns with a high percentage of Muslim population serves as a practical metaphor for what happens next. And talking about it is simply not allowed.