Despite an international outcry and effort to pay traditional “blood money” in the Saudi legal system, the Kingdom has cut the head off a Sri Lankan maid for allegedly smothering an infant child when the nanny was just 17. The maid was decapitated by a swordsman in Riyadh under the country’s Sharia based legal system.
Rizana Nafeek was sentenced to death in 2007 but Sri Lankan government appealed the death penalty and many international groups decried the ludicrous trial and draconian sentence. While under arrest, the maid signed a confession written in Arabic that she did not understand and later retracted. It did not matter.
Saudi Arabia beheaded as many as 76 people last year.
Source: National Post
Spindell –
There are two type of ignorant and uneducate people:
(1) Those who don’t know because they’ve never been exposed to facts
(2) Those, like “mickey”, who don’t want to know or deal in facts. Addressing them would undermine his claims.
“mickey” –
Religion, in the absence of any proof of “gods” (there is no testable scientific proof) is just another extremist ideology with claims of the supernatural. Other than that, it is exactly the same as fascism and communism in every way. Your feeble attempt to insinuate that atheism has anything to do with communism demonstrates your ignorance. Not just that you are poorly educated, but that you’re proud of it.
All atrocities throughout history were perpetrated by extremist ideologies, some just claim the fictions of “gods”. Contrary to the substandard education you received, atheism is an absence of ideology, an absence of any unprovable claims, and not an ideology unto itself. Atheists only concern ourselves with what exists, not political or religious dogmas.
As Bertrand Russell once noted, christianity (or any religion) and communism (or any political ideology) oppose each other so strongly because they are so similar. They want the same things – money and power – and use the same methods to achieve them – violence and brainwashing.
“Your feeble attempt to insinuate that atheism has anything to do with communism demonstrates your ignorance. Not just that you are poorly educated, but that you’re proud of it.”
Smith,
Before taking me on in any topic I think you need to take a remedial reading course, since judging by your snide comment you didn’t understand what I clearly wrote. I didn’t insinuate that atheism has anything to do with communism. However, more to the point your writing discloses the same kind of fanaticism you pretend to decry.
“Contrary to the substandard education you received, atheism is an absence of ideology,”
Again you attempt to demolish a “straw man ” version of my thinking by offering a proof that has no relationship to what I wrote. Bravo to your childish attempt to smear me, it shows you at the emotional level of a ten year old going “Nyanhh, Nyanhh, Nyahh” on the schoolyard. Interestingly the same type of tactic used by the religious nuts you decry, who so believe they’ve got the true version of the meaning of life.
Mike,
You’re welcome to try that answer in a poli sci or a comparative religion class. Just don’t expect a good grade. Zealotry does not a religion make. Although the word “zealot” has a religious etymology it does not apply solely to religions. OED says:
zealot /ˈzɛlət/, n.,
a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals.
Communists may be political/ideological zealots (and I know from your stories you’ve known some that certainly qualify as zealots) but that does not make Communism a religion. The only time a political ideal can be fairly described as a religion is in the various forms of theocracy (a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god). Communism by its very definition (post-Marx) is an atheistic state and ergo not a form of theocracy.
“You’re welcome to try that answer in a poli sci or a comparative religion class. Just don’t expect a good grade.”
Gene,
I don’t need no stinkin courses to make my mind up. :).
“re·li·gion (r-ljn) n.
1a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
1b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
2. The life or condition of a person in a religious order.
3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
4. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.”
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/religion
Please note 3 & 4 above. Karl Marx is Communism’s spiritual leader as in 3. Yes I know the definitions of spiritual in the main relate to “other worldly” but I contend that Marx’s theory of history and mankind postulated a trait in the way humanity organizes itself that is little different than the preachings of prophets speaking for a Deity. Number 4 also dovetails with 3. As you alluded to the true Communists (i.e. party members) I have known, were every bit as zealous in the pursuits as “true believers” in a God-shaped Universe and just as averse to reasoning that countered their beliefs. The preservation of Lenin’s and Stalin’s corpses for so many years is indicative of the “religious” fervor of their followers.
Wow! That is one scary cat!
It was in Hitlers mind to replace, but the same deceptive spirit in the Catholic church that oppressed many spawned the military. Hitler did the same thing spawning another military.. We got one military fighting the other. Both thinking they were right. Jesus obviously is not in either one.
It was in Hitlers mind to replace, but the same deceptive spirit in the Catholic church that oppressed many that spawned the military. Hitler did the same thing spawning another military.. We got one military fighting the other. Both thinking they were right. Jesus obviously is not in either one.
Gene H:
my brother had a cat just like that, he never touched her. he got the cat from his mom and his wife was the only one who could touch her.
some cats are just a&&holes.
That cat seriously hates that guy. Kind of makes me wonder what the guy did to deserve it.
raff
just turn up the sound on this video with your dog in the room
the platypus song:
raff
turbo charged with overdrive
Gene are you suggesting that both dogs and cats are 4 wheel drive animals?? 🙂
Bron,
A quadrupedal mammalian monotreme, one step further removed in commonality.
A dog is not a cat despite both being quadrupedal placental mammals.
THENwhatisaplatypus?
Actually I was paraphrasing (poorly)what someone else said about “the way it has been practiced” its a religion. Not technically of course.
Then you should know better than to say Communism is a religion when it is not, no matter how zealously practiced. Precision is important. Similar to a thing is not a thing proper. A dog is not a cat despite both being quadrupedal placental mammals.
By the way I have been to those websites to and read all about it the different typs of government and ideoligy. Im just having a conversation and not tryin to give a political science class here.
What I really ment that as practiced in Eastern Europe it was practiced to the zeal of the most extream religions. Certainly not a religion since it recognizes a god.. other than man
Communism is most certainly not a religion. It’s an extremist political/economic ideology that by in large eschews religion as an exploitive tool used by the bourgeoisie to oppress the proletariat, however, there is such a thing as religious communism where a command economy and social organization is built around religious principles. In fact, such political practice was found in the pilgrims of Plymouth Colony, the Shakers, and the Hutterites in early American history.
Is it make up your own facts day and I just missed the memo or something? Did they quit teaching history and political science while I slept? Apparently so.
Gene,
Au contraire. Communism is most certainly a religion for those dedicated to it. That it is atheist bears no relationship tp the religious nature of its folloeers. There is a canon (party line) to adhere to and not following that line makes you the focus of a purge. It has its sins and transgressions as with religions. Most importantly it is followed with complete faith in its perfection.
No.. that wasnt the discussion. It turned into that. It started as P Smith saying we should get rid of all religion because they have killed so many people.. I just said the non religious have killed hudreds of mlions. Someome else pointed out that communism is a religion. I must agree. It is a godless reigion .