If you dig into the statistics concerning Islamic terrorism then what you find are some surprising facts. First, let's start with the hopefully obvious observation. Almost every single day news reaches us of yet another barbaric atrocity that has been inspired and motivated by Islam. What should of course be immediately clear is that such actions do not in any way represent the vast majority of Muslims who number about 1.6 billion (about 23% of the human population on the planet). Most simply … [Read more...]
Knocking over the trophies of god
Paul Poulton is a singer/songwriter, author and speaker who has written a small posting that caught my attention. He writes ... Social media is now a part of people's lives and it's a lot harder for people who have faith to make a statement without it going unchallenged. ... and since he is posting this on social media, I now feel that it is my duty to challenge it :-) He is mostly writing about Stephen Fry making the observation that the god described in the bible is quite morally … [Read more...]
Climate Change denier Senator Inhofe tossed a snowball in the senate
Least you wonder, no my title here is not a subtle play on words to conjure up a metaphor, it is a literal description, US Senator Jim Inhofe, brings in a snowball that he picked up outside, holds it up and then tosses it across the senate floor. His entire argument was, "Look, there is lots of snow outside, it is really cold, so obviously this Climate Change claim is a complete hoax". Somebody asked on twitter - "Is he really that stupid?" Sadly yes ... yes he really is, this is on par … [Read more...]
The brutal murder of secular activist and writer Avijit Roy
I'm personally sickened and appalled to learn that secular blogger Avijit Roy was been murdered in Bangladesh yesterday. The IHEU (International Humanist and Ethical Union) has the details, so I'm cutting and pasting the following directly from their website ... “Abhijit Roy lives in America and so, it is not possible to kill him right now. He will be murdered when he comes back.” These were the words of an Islamist activist referring to Avijit (or Abhijit) Roy early last year. The man … [Read more...]
BBC Poll of British Muslims – What does it really tell us about Islamophobia?
So there has been a poll of British Muslims that was commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and the results are now out. There is both good news but also some rather worrying stuff as well. First, what did they actually do? They polled one thousand and that is supposed to be a number that is statistically representative of the population of close to three million Muslims in Britain, however, I do have a problem with this. Primarily, the term "Muslim" is actually quite vague, as vague as say the term … [Read more...]
Packing for Mars … would you be willing to go?
There now exists a shortlist of 100 who have signed up for a one way trip to Mars ... yes really. So the 100 who have signed up truly believe they are going, and the Mars One folks claim they are serious about really doing this. If curious about what happens when, then here is their proposed roadmap ... Hannah Earnshaw So what has caught my eye today is that one of the five British candidates on that shortlist, Hannah Earnshaw 23, has an article in the Guardian where she writes all … [Read more...]