Free Speech Mother Fucker(In A Nice Way)

I’m confused. If Islam is a religion of peace then one shouldn’t have to worry about one’s security for simply criticizing the doctrine of Islam and the interpretations of that doctrine by it’s adherents. So why isn’t this the case? Ayana Hirsi Ali canceled her trip to Australia because of security concerns. 
It seems we’re not even at the point of being able to openingly critic ideas one finds abhorrent. If we support free speech should we support one’s right to speak out about how they see Islam, meaning it’s doctrine, and how they see some of it’s adherents interpreting it’s doctrine which can lead to behaviors? Negative behaviors that impact others? Like banning gay marriage? Or not allowing women to drive? Or work? Or go anywhere without a guardian?
It baffles me. I see many liberals, progressives and lefties openly criticize Christianity but when it comes to Islam they take it off the table. Are they proponents of free speech?
Do they have to couch what they say about Christians with statements like, “Not all Christians…” when they talk about Senators who use Christian doctrine to justify denying women reproductive rights? I’m not seeing that. Or when Westboro Baptist Church uses Christian doctrine to say things like, “God hates fags” when we can draw a direct line from that belief to the doctrine of Christianity? 
It seems many liberals are able to distinguish different interpretations of Christianity from one another but when it comes to Islam they lump all Muslims together as a monolith who interpret the Quran and Hadith in the same way. 
Similar to the Old Testament we can draw direct lines between beliefs and behavior in the Quran as well. Allah condemns non believers ad nauseam. He commands its adherents to kill them. Many Muslims ignore these commands, thankfully. I applaud them. 
The vast majority of Christians are able to ignore many of the horrific commands by Bible God. Bible God commands adherents to kill those who eat shrimp, work on the sabbath, children who curse their parents, those who wear mixed fabrics and people who may claim other gods are the one true god. 
How are Christians able to ignore these verses? Why aren’t we seeing Christians killing those who work on the sabbath? How are they able to ignore the more toxic ideas in their holy book? 
They’re able to do this because the work of those who spoke out against those bad ideas over the centuries and forced Christianity to capitulate. To capitulate to the values of modernity. Christianity slammed up against reasoning and science and had to reconcile with it or vanish. It reformed itself. Not internally but externally. That’s what I see Ayaan doing. Criticizing a bad idea, attempting to force it into the modern world.
But more importantly, do I not have the right to criticize how I see the Bible? Do I have the right to condemn those bad ideas in the Bible? Can I say the God of the Bible is an abhorrent monster? I find him disgusting. Can I not say that? According to the Bible I can’t. Adherents should kill me for doing so. But they don’t. Why not?
That’s what we’re talking about with Ayaan. She’s simply speaking out about how she see’s things. But let me grant you that she’s a bigot. Are we saying bigots don’t have the right to express their bigoted ideas and expect to feel safe? 
Cuz that’s what I’m hearing. 
When you take ideas off the table for criticism or mockery, expect to have your ideas taken off the table. Ideas that are not offensive don’t need free speech protection. It’s the one’s we find offensive that do.

Silence

This killer article by Robyn Blumner Here is what inspired the following.

Let’s try the headline like this, “Democrats diss blacks, but still count on our votes”. That shouldn’t hit anyone who opposes bigotry any differently than having the label “atheist” in the headline. But it does. Why is that? 

This is equivalent to the raging bigotry of Donald Trump. It’s raging bigotry. Top DNC officials, who have since resigned, and at least one who was picked up by Hillary Clinton, wondered if smearing Bernie Sanders as an atheist would be a wise move to help Hillary Clinton win the nomination. That’s a fact. 

When will Hillary disavow this bigotry? How can she when a line can be drawn from her to this type of bigoted thinking? Hillary is the Queen of identity politics so it’s troubling when she does not reach out to atheists but, instead, does the opposite. She appears to endorse bigotry towards atheists. How? By appointing the former head, who also resigned in shame, to her campaign. I think the appointment was within an hour of resigning. That’s a throat clearing endorsement of the behavior of the DNC. I hear incessant shouting about how Trump is a bigot from Hillary supporters but not a peep about the DNC’s bigotry or that of Clinton. Why is that? Is some bigotry good?

This is only one reason, and a deal breaker, why I can no longer support a party who brushes bigotry under the rug. And the reason they can brush it under the rug is because many of my fellow liberals are silent. Silent. 

If you’re appealing to Trump supporters to NOT support Trump because of his bigotry, and he is a flaming bigot, shouldn’t we call out the bigotry of the DNC and Hillary as well?

Let’s pile this on. 2013 Hillary finally came out for marriage equality. When it was nice and safe. Well into adulthood Hillary was more than happy to tell us, one time from the Senate floor, about her bigotry toward gays and lesbians. Those against gay marriage had nothing but a bigoted position. To deny equal rights to people based on an immutable characteristic is bigotry. Even when wrapped in a holy book.

Remember, when Hillary points her finger at Trump for his bigotry she has 3 pointing back at her.

I love Bernie Sanders. I love his ideas more. If we found out Bernie had bigoted ideas we should call those out. If we discovered some of his ideas were bigoted we should discard those immediately. I have no allegiance to any politician. Maybe this will help demonstrate what I mean? Bernie asked me to vote for Hillary. Bad idea. I’ve rejected that idea of Bernie’s and I’ll keep the good ideas. Like no TPP, end Citizens United, publicly funded elections, regulate Wall Street, etc.

I find it very sad the party who gladly and eagerly takes the moral high ground on fighting bigotry is in fact bigoted. What’s sadder is the silence.

Sermon 4

“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” – Jesus

This seems to be a metaphor. I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad metaphor but let’s assume salt can lose its flavor. So if one has lost its flavor what does that mean? A relationship with God? Faith in Christ? I’m not sure. Whatever it is it seems one is “good for nothing” and should “be cast out”. What does that mean? If one loses Faith in Christ they are worthless? Why? What if one who had lost Faith in Christ, or never had it, ended suffering for another? And what if the other had Faith in Christ? And what if that other was able to continue to spread the word of Christ due to having the suffering end? That would be worthless? Good for nothing? I don’t know. And why the confusion? Wouldn’t a divine being be able to communicate sufficiently enough to convey its message without producing any confusion?

Sermon 3

I like to ask questions. Wonder. Do you like to wonder? The questions I ask are not contingent on my existence and are not necessarily my views. So…

Is this sound advice?

“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

Does this include criticism of the belief Jesus is divine? Would that be persecution? If it is persecution doesn’t that help insulate the belief Jesus is divine and possibly cause division and not foster an arena for cooperation? If Heaven is the goal isn’t persecution a good thing? So is this good advice from a divine being?

Sermon 2

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” – Jesus

Should one do good for reward? If there was no reward should one still do good? Should one refuse helping another if a reward is not offered?

Also, to help understand the idea of mercy is this an example of mercy?

“But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven.”

Should one still ascribe to have these qualities if one knew they wouldn’t be blessed? Should one be and do good for a reward? Should one be or do good for another reason? If one doesn’t get a reward should one not be or do good? If one knew they would not be God’s child for being merciful should they still be merciful?

Sermon

And Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭3-6‬ NIV)

Is Jesus saying, “No matter how dire things may seem here on Earth, and the more dire the better, one is rewarded with the ultimate goal, Heaven”? So a child born into poverty with horrible access to fresh drinking water, good healthcare and diet is better off than a child born into the opposite of that? Isn’t that the claim Jesus is making? And if that claim is true should one become as poor as possible, therefor, guaranteeing a spot in Heaven?

Love can’t be proven?

Love

Let’s say someone tells you they’re an animal lover. Would you believe them?

Now let’s say they have 5 100lb dogs and they feed them each 2oz of wet food per day and keep them all in a 10ft sq room all day and night and never walk them.

Would you still believe they were animal lovers? They continue to profess they are.

If we can’t prove someone loves someone or something then can we prove they don’t love someone or something? What would one need to see to believe someone doesn’t love someone or something?

Or what would one need to see to believe someone loves someone or something? Isn’t it quite easy to demonstrate love?

Faith vs Hope

Faith vs Hope

Are these terms synonymous? I don’t think so and I’d like to show you why. I’ll do this by demonstrating how these terms are used.

When I ask a believer why they believe in God they sometimes tell me it’s Faith. I’ve never been told it’s hope straight away. When I ask them to define Faith I’m sometimes directed to this:

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1-3 NIV)

Then the term hope is introduced. But this is not how the term hope is typically used.

Here’s how I define Faith: belief based on insufficient evidence. Or pretending to know things one doesn’t know.

And hope from a quick google search and I accept this definition:
1.
a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.
“he looked through her belongings in the hope of coming across some information”
synonyms: aspiration, desire, wish, expectation, ambition, aim, goal, plan, design; dream, daydream, pipe dream

Now believers have told me I should use or have Faith their God exists. They’ve never told me I should have hope, ever. Hope comes up later when I challenge Faith as a way of knowing. An unreliable way of knowing.

When we hope for things we have an expectation they may not come true.

“I hope my stock in Apple goes up.”

Is that a claim one knows their stock in Apple will go up?

Let’s plug Faith into that sentence.

“I Faith my stock in Apple goes up.”

Or this. Is this what Christians mean?

“I hope Jesus died for my sins and was resurrected and ascended into heaven”?

Now plug Faith into the sentence used to demonstrate usage for the definition of hope if you would. Does that feel right? Feels really awkward to me.

Don’t Christians use Faith as a way of knowing? Every Christian I’ve asked is a 10 on a scale of 0 to 10 in their confidence a God exists. 0 being no way one exists and 10 being certainty. Is certainty hope? I certainly hope not. Or I hope hope not. Or I certainly Faith not. Or I….

Based in what?

What are honor killings based in? What is the denial of homosexuals having marriage equality based in? What is circumcision based in? What were witch burnings based in? What is the command to kill apostates based in? What is denying women an education based in? Believing  family members will burn for eternity for having differing beliefs is based in what? Or believing family members will not be rewarded with eternal bliss for having differing beliefs is based in what? Disowning a child for rejecting a claim about how the universe works simply for demanding evidence is based in what? Demanding my child be subjected in school, where they are a captive audience, to undemonstrated claims about how the universe works and infringe on my child’s First Amendment right is based in what? Being expected to remain silent and accused of being “angry” or “militant” or breaking a taboo or protesting too much by challenging ideas  about how the universe works is based in what? Being forced to deny the Theory of Evolution and providing no evidence to the contrary is based in what? Being forced to deny the Big Bang Theory and providing no evidence to the contrary is based in what? Being forced to deny Climate Change and providing no evidence to the contrary is based in what? Embracing an anti-science attitude in the face of mountains of demonstrable evidence while you post this attitude on the internet, brought to us by science, is based in what? Believing one is broken, vile, unworthy and expected to prostrate oneself, begging for forgiveness for “wrongs” committed, not by them but by someone who had no idea what the difference between right and wrong are in the first place is based in what?