In a discussion about whether a person’s actions were in accord with the rules of a sanctified instruction manual, semantics are crucial. One cannot discard large portions of the Quran – that are in fact quite explicit and leave no room for differences in interpretation – and still call oneself Muslim. The same holds true for Christianity, or any other religion. One of the foundational assumptions of Islam is that the Quran is the inerrant word of God. Consequently, it holds that any innovation in the religion is a sin (although “Islamic scholars” have predictably managed to find many loopholes in that clause).

It’s about time we stopped pussy-footing around the fact that the Abrahamic religions are misogynistic, repressive and downright barbaric by modern standards. A disturbingly large segment of Pakistani society condones the brutal murdering of “blasphemers”, and their sentiments are intensely fueled by the support of prominent clerics. If any Islamic countries restore their Golden Age, it will be despite the religion, not because of it.

Right, he didn’t cite any passages in this clip. IIRC, he did support his claims in another portion of the interview (of which this is an abridged version).

People, especially women, all over the world going “Yes!” as they watch this. The ending was a home run, I thought. She was enraged to the point where most people would have lost their cool, but her brain was so *engaged* and in the moment. Impressive, indeed. Must see TV!

2. She totally ripped the beard a new one, in my eyes.

3. She is a hero, but I fear a little bit given the
religious lunacy in her country. (And mine, but she’s
not in US)

4. A smart politically aware babe? Inspiring.

Thanks, I never would have intercepted this.

but really, the practice of teaching religion to children should be banned like any crime against children

One cannot discard large portions of the Quran – that are in fact quite explicit and leave no room for differences in interpretation – and still call oneself Muslim. The same holds true for Christianity, or any other religion.

As a Jew, we have a rich history of debating the interpretation of the Torah. We went as far as to put a good amount of it in its own book and treat it like law. Every bit of it has been debated thousands of times and will continue to be debated because only children and the dullards interpret the Torah literally.

The book is supposed to be the word of God for goodness sakes. The idea that all of the ideas conveyed within it are purely on a surface level is ridiculous. Even Dr Seus exists on multiple levels.

MY VOTE FOR VEENA

MENRI is a organization created by a staff of former highly ranked military intelligence officers in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). So it should be view as a highly partisan media distribution channel both in content selection and edition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_Media_Research_Institute#Selectivity

Again, I am with Veena completely here; but most likely the Mullah has been edited here in a highly unfavorable manner. I find that as despicable as the way of many of them manipulate other people’s ideas.

Happy to observe that courage is alive in d world !

I know a lot of wonderful goodhearted people who call themselves Christian, who regard the Bible as a sound basis for their morality.

That bothers me.

Would you be ok with someone who was open-hearted, open-minded, giving, good, and fair to self-identify as “homophobic”? Wouldn’t you rather they’d step away from such a label so as to reveal the nastiness of what that word means and encourage the vilification of those ideas that endorse genuine homophobia?

That’s how I feel about Christianity. I think what is written in the Bible is at times wonderful and loving, but at other times sexist, racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, cruel, small-minded, bullying and nasty. Do I want good people to associate themselves with such ideas? Do you?