Archive for Quran

Mohammad’s By-The-Book Instructions

Posted in Atheist, belief, culture, faith, history, random, religion with tags , , , , , , , , on September 16, 2014 by chouck017894

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Making Violence “Holy”

Nowhere in the Quran is there any mention that humanity exists as a broadly diverse but interrelated whole, or that humanity is, in turn, interrelated with all else in Creation. (To be fair, neither Judaic nor Christian systems are particularly instructive in this truth of Creation either.) What Mohammad chose to stress from having lived in and conditioned by the harsh desert environment was the arid belief that all factions of life are in competition for any and all necessities of continued existence. Once he took up the role as prophet, and had his visions written down in book form (as were Judaic and Christian beliefs which he had encountered in his caravan travels), his hardened tribal approach to “faith” was to stress the idea that any natural diversities and varieties of life were to be confronted aggressively. Mohammad’s preaching and teachings thus assumed the flavor of a tribal chieftain’s directives in which belief was judged by whether or not one chose to believe in Mohammad as the prophet of Allah. Anyone who did not accept his prophet status were/are rejected as kafir (disbeliever), which has become the most shameful word in Muslim devotional rhetoric.

The continuous tribal warfare conditions which prevailed through Mohammad’s youth heavily colored his instructed contempt for the kafir, and this actively encourages arrogant belief, for throughout the entire Quran there is a vigorous undercurrent of hostility and hatred. Although Allah is declared “Lord of the worlds” (as in 6:45), the obvious Allah-approved diversity and variety of those worlds and the interrelatedness of all things in Creation are nowhere acknowledged. Instead, any differences are shamelessly presented as reason enough to practice violent acts in the name of narrow belief. The Quran, credited to Mohammad, is the by-the-book reference of Islam, a faith system which ironically assesses itself as the Religion of Peace. Oddly, justification for indulging in violence is asserted repeatedly throughout its pages. Indeed, no matter how you read the Quran the path to Islamic Paradise is a bloody one. For example, there are at minimum some 109 verses which make a direct call for Muslims to war with any and all people who do not subscribe to Mohammad’s interpretation of what constitutes holy conduct. This is an ideology that completely ignores the variety and diversity of spirit which is openly proclaimed throughout Creation. And this hostility to Creation’s variety and diversity is drummed into each child’s head with repeated recitations of hostile-flavored Quran verses, such as:

* 2:216 Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not. (This devotion to violence is a constant repetition akin to the old tribal-style self-hypnotizing practice indulged in prior to going into battle; and that mesmerizing practice of cultivated hatred continues throughout the Quran.)
* 3:151 Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers (kafirs), for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority. (The “joined companions with Allah” can be twisted to include the Trinity in Christian theology, for example.)
* 4:74 Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward. (This call is for battle, and the undisguised summons to destroy and inflict death is allegedly for Allah.)
* 4:91 If they do not keep away from you or offer you peace or withdraw their hostilities, then seize them and kill them wherever they are. We give you complete authority over them. (It is always the divine “We”, inferring Allah and his self-proclaimed messenger.)
* 5:33 The only reward for those who war against Allah and his messengers and strive to commit mischief in the land is that they should be slain or crucified, have their alternate hands and feet cut off, or be banished from the land. This will be their disgrace in this world, and a great torment shall be theirs in the next except those who repent before you overpower them. Know that Allah is forgiving and merciful. (How’s that again??)
* 8:12 Then the Lord spoke to His angels and said, I will be with you. Give strength to the believers. I will send terror into the kafirs’ hearts, cut off their heads and even the tips of their fingers.
* 8:65 O Prophet, exhort the believers to fight… (Remember, this is a religion of peace.)
* 9:28 Oh, believers, only the kafirs are unclean.
* 9:29 Make war on those who have received the Scriptures (Jews and/or Christians) but do not believe in Allah or the Last Day. They do not forbid what Allah and his messenger (Mohammad) have forbidden… (Jews and Christians, in some versions of the Quran are referred to as “People of the Book”, an ironic snub to the religions which served as his models for the faith system which is also guided by-the-book.)
* 23:97 And say: Oh my Lord. I seek refuge with You from the suggestions of the evil ones (the kafirs). And I seek refuge with you, my Lord, from their presence.
* 25:52 Therefore listen not to the unbelievers (kafirs), but strive against them with the utmost strenuousness… (In other words, indulge in Jihad. Not considered in Muslim’s evaluation of this verse is that it was penned in reference to the taking of Mecca, and not a recommendation for a life style.)
* 25:77 Say to the kafirs (disbelievers): My Lord does not care for you or your prayers. You have rejected the truth, so sooner or later, a punishment will come.
* 33:60 They (the kafirs) will be cursed, and wherever they are found, they will be seized and murdered. It was Allah’s same practiece with those who came before them, and you will find no change in Allah’s ways. (Apparently Allah hated most everything he had created, but was unable to clean it up himself.)
* 40:35 They (the kafirs) who dispute the signs of Allah without authority having reached them are greatly hated by Allah and the believers. So Allah seals up every arrogant, disdainful heart and (is) despised by Allah.
* 47:4 When you encounter the kafirs on the battlefield, cut off their heads until you have throughly defeated them and then take the prisoners and tie them up firmly.
* 86:15 They (the kafirs) plot and scheme against you, and I (Allah) plot and scheme against them. Therefore deal calmly with the kafirs and leave them alone for awhile. (It is not explained what circumstances signal the renewed attacks on the kafirs.)

Just as the numerous differing versions of the Old and New Testaments, there are also differing versions and translations of the Quran. The verses cited here are just a few examples. The purpose is simply to show that there is a great deal of hatred repeatedly expressed in the texts of all three of the western worlds’ faith systems, but as shown here, the Quran expresses total hatred repeatedly and most adamantly. No one is supposed to escape from Muslim’s contempt; not Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists–or whoever is different. The implied primary directive in Islam seems to be, hate everyone who reveres the Life Principle in a different manner; a kind of kill first and ask questions later. The inherited tribal mentality and conduct in which Mohammad was raised was thus continued, and this was/is shown in regard toward women who were/are taken captive by Mohammad’s followers. The captive women could be used freely for any of the men’s sexual pleasure; the only forbidden contact was with “unclean” women as defined in Muslim law concerning menstruation. The only other technicality about using captive women as the men pleased concerned pregnant women; they were forbidden for sexual use until after she had given birth. Such freedom of sexual availability for the men was regarded as a kind of preview of the limitless pleasures that supposedly awaits in Paradise for Mohammad’s followers.

Compassion for the interrelated aspects of all life is not a concept to which the author of the Quran could relate, primarily because it was not seen as being demonstrated anywhere in the harsh desert environment in which he dwelt. Interestingly, Islam still is concentrated and flourishes primarily in the more harsh regions of Earth; and in those regions where the faith system is dominant any religious minorities which endure there suffer considerable religious intolerance. This is indisputable evidence that Islam is hardly a religion of peace and tolerance as claimed.

Further evidence of sanctioned fanatical intolerance is found in the conventional Dictionary of Islam in which the word jihad is defined as: “A religious war with those who are unbelievers in the mission of Mohammad. It is an incumbent religious duty, established in the Quran and in the Traditions as a divine institution, and enjoined specially for the purpose of advancing Islam and for repelling evil from Muslims…”

Such is the “divine” assignment of Islam, a faith system which teaches that peace is to be violently pursued.

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Promoting Holy Horrors

Posted in Atheism, Atheist, belief, Bible, biological traits, Christianity, culture, faith, history, humanity, life, politics, random, religion, thoughts with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 15, 2010 by chouck017894

The role of religion in incidents of escalating violence throughout the world is broadly ignored and suppressed in daily “news” reporting, and this avoidance is peculiarly conspicuous in the United States.  The media’s self-imposed censorship of religious pretentiousness and deceitfulness in synthetic acts of serving civil freedom is something of an oxymoron.

The relationship between each person’s taught belief system and a cultivated tendency to fan it into physical violence rests in a complicated asymmetrical balance of emotions that are due in part to the contradictory elements that make up religious “traditions” and practice.  Much of western organized religions have become so heavily politicized and pretentious that any creditable spiritual content it had has settled like sludge to the bottom of the barrel.

The Torah, the Christian Bible, and the Quran are close cousins that have indulged in an ongoing incestuous relationship for millennia.  Each “holy” record claims common ancestors, and the love-hate infatuation of their close relatedness has bred only deformed mental attitudes that have disturbed the whole world.  Each “faith” extols the virtues of compassion, altruism, humility, mercy, peace and justice, while also relating alleged god-approved acts such as stoning, warring, enslavement, destruction and deceit.  Spiritual integrity cannot evolve in such an agitated environment for it teaches seekers to direct noble sentiment of respect only to specific persons or to some man-conceived method of honoring the Source of all things. 

That which is revered as  “faith” is, more often than not, little more than a focus on some self-proclaimed authority and a practice of bibliolatry—text worship—that  is always open to questionable interpretation.  Extreme devotion to the written word that was presented by men who awed tribal members with their improvable claims of divine favoritism is like trying to drive forward down the highway of life while staring into the rearview mirror.  It  is indispensable to know what is behind you, but it is more essential to keep your eyes on the road itself.  Too often the aim of those “authority” figures seeking to direct traffic is to stir up a sense of sanctified rage in others which feed into their sense of personal power more than it accomplishes anything with decisive merit. 

If one studies the genuine, honest history of major western religious movements—not just the faith’s approved whitewashed versions—it is a shock to find that most pages are blood-soaked.  To hold up such falsified storied accounts as examples to follow to meet one’s higher potential assures nothing but continued tragedy.  If we remove the blinders which “faith” has pressured upon us, we can see that even today the savagery of sacrificing diverse life expressions is accepted as being appealing to the Source of all that diversity!

 We need look no further than the sorry loss of spiritual integrity now being advocated throughout some African nations.  As Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity has spread across Nigeria and Congo, the teachings of the missionaries has been that the Bible is the perfect word of God.  That perverted teaching has insured the practice of bibliolatry, the literal interpretation of every word.  The result has been the heartless indulgence among the converts in beating, burning, and disfiguring of children that have been condemned by Christian pastors and priests as “witches”!   It is all done in the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, so how can it be evil?

And let us not ignore any longer the horror that has recently been advocated in the African nation of Uganda under the instigation of Evangelicals known as “The Family” from the United States.  Uganda’s president succumbed to Evangelical pressure and converted to their highly politicized form of “faith.”  Now convinced that he is fully filled with holy insight he has accepted the challenge of “wiping out” homosexuality in his earthly (and over populated) realm.  Rather than seek to understand causes from biological perspectives, he has chosen instead to dedicate his leadership to eliminating the natural diversity in life’s pool.  Thus he promoted a bill that allowed the death penalty for any gay infected with AIDS, and even advocated jail time for parents that did not report their homosexual teens to the police.  Gestapo tactics for God. 

Thus throughout Africa the Evangelical and Pentecostal missionaries still peddle their Bibles and seek to convert the largely docile people into acceptance of sacrificing innocent persons to receive favorable reward from the Prince of Peace.

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The Art of History Making

Posted in Atheist, culture, history, humanity, life, politics, random, thoughts with tags , , , , , , , on January 14, 2010 by chouck017894

History, it has been wisely observed, is what has been bestowed upon us by the victors of some ideology.  Broadly speaking, that which is so generously and glowingly offered does not prove the victors were necessarily smarter, stronger or blessed by god, but too often serves to disguise their devotion to deceit and savagery as some example of their righteousness.

The history of humanity is largely about the repeated crises caused by power-lust and opposition to it, with the victor always claiming—or at least inferring—rule attained by divine favoritism.  That might be said true only to the degree that the human species is the most cunning and vicious species of the animal kingdom.  History books and scriptural works seem to confirm that such a means of determining fitness to rule is approved by Heaven.

Among the mountainous piles of histories few lines about the silent (victimized) majority ever get included.  (Which is why this author, not a historian in the accepted toe-the-line academic sense, searched out the information that became Time Frames and Taboo Data.)  The victors then strut across the supply lines of the real producers of a unified social life while pretending elitism as they clutch the throats of journalists, chroniclers and compilers of archives, and thereby extort wealth from the real producers in society to build monuments to themselves.

 Trying to hear some objecting sounds from the voiceless majority by any chronicler seeking honesty is a practice in self-inflicted frustration.  The result, too often, is the slow draining away of one’s faith in Truth.  History is then accepted more as an instrument of exclusion, exaggeration and pretense.  Accuracy in presenting the victor’s rise to power then gets assessed with indifference, and thus the academic books contain many errors and contrived “reporting.”  And time tends to dilute the lies, which aids and abets the deceivers, allowing them to escape the responsibility for proving the legitimacy of their claims. 

This art of making history is seen in accelerated form in today’s high-tech world of television, internet and cell phones.  Tyrants still claim divine right or blessing to tyrannize the masses, still churn out in-your-face lies, and still destroy as much genuine justice and rights of individuality as possible.  Examples:  Iran and its so-called Supreme Leader and theocratic constitution; Afghanistan and its Taliban twist on the Quran and opium trade; Mexico and its Catholicism and murderous drug tsars; the United States and its delusional religionists and the demented tea-baggers; etc., etc.

There is another unfortunate thing about any history book: that is the fact that no language can represent the reality as experienced by all persons.  That catch-22 should not cause us to give up the pursuit of truth, however, for it is in that pursuit that man’s diverse societies open themselves to broader acceptance and tolerance—the keys to enlightenment. 

So we must face the reality that only the actors change, the script repeated in only slightly modified form, and little, if anything, of spiritual value ever seriously touched upon.

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Freedom of Faith & the UN

Posted in Atheist, belief, culture, faith, history, humanity, life, politics, random, religion, thoughts, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , on October 25, 2009 by chouck017894

Freedom of faith—the awareness that every being in Creation has their own link to the Creative Source—is not an ideology favored by persons hungry for worldly power. Unlike the United States where freedom of faith and of speech was set down as two of the cornerstones of democracy, many other regions of the world have not been blessed with such an intelligent approach to government.

After World War II, as nations sought intelligent means of cooperation among nations, the ideals that had led the United States into the world’s major power became the model upon which the United Nations was established in 1948.  Freedom of speech and faith was recognized as the premium means of encouraging understanding and tolerance among nations.  Thus these principles of man’s equal rights became enshrined as a universal Declaration of Human Rights to which every member nation must set their sign of approval.  And guided by that Declaration the United Nations has continued to function as the forum where promotion of peace and human rights have been honored and upheld.

But there is an upcoming annual attempt by some member nations to slyly undermine those noble principles which they declared to have accepted.  The cover for that annual move to curb religious freedom bears the innocuous sounding title The Defamation of Religion Resolution.  Buried beneath that headstone, however, is the intent to silence the words or actions that are judged to be detrimental to a particular religion—and that religion just happens to be Islam.  In other words, the true purpose of that annual proposal is the attempt to silence anyone who might hold a differing faith, or no faith at all. 

The driving force behind that annual move to savage the UN Declaration of Human Rights is none other than the Organization of Islamic Conference composed of 57 countries with a heavy Muslim majority.  Their objective, when analyzed, is hardly a peaceful one.  It is clearly, as Leonard A. Leo, chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom observed, a deceitful attempt to “create a global blasphemy law.”

Certainly the Muslim proposed Resolution is not concerned with genuine religious freedom; it is concerned totally with protecting their own  man-conceived religious practices.  Tolerance, charity and love are not exactly the strong points of Islam, as is indicated by their repressive governments where anyone deemed as offensive or who dares to speak out against a favored sect or religious practice is punished severely—even with death.

Questioning the Quran and its contradictions, for example, is enough to allow gross violations of human rights.  There are “blasphemy laws” in Pakistan, as an illustration, that are routinely used against Christians and other minorities as reason for arrests and inhumane treatment.  If the UN ever voted in favor of the deceptive Defamation of Religion Resolution, the world would then find the blasphemy laws held up as justification for selectively restricting religious speech of minority communities.  It is then but a tiny step toward selectively curtailing civil dissent and  muzzling any criticism of the political structure in power.

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