Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

Religion Poisons Everything

That quote, from the late Christopher Hitchens, seems apposite in the wake of the news that a 14 year-old girl has been shot in the head because, according to the Taliban spokesman (it is always, of course, a spokesman), her activities in highlighting Taliban atrocities needed to be stopped.

He said the teenager’s work had been an “obscenity” that needed to be stopped: “This was a new chapter of obscenity, and we have to finish this chapter.”

It is at times like this when I come close to despair for humanity’s future.

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8 responses to “Religion Poisons Everything”

  1. The Book Mountain | Geoff Coupe's Blog

    […] Geoff Coupe's Blog Reflections on life at "De Witte Wand" Skip to content HomeAboutGardensWedding AlbumWines I Have Known ← Religion Poisons Everything […]

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  2. Al Feersum Avatar
    Al Feersum

    Well… it’s not all religions that have this effect – though I will concede that pretty much all of the Abrahamic faiths. Dharmic and Taoic faiths tend to be… less… um… militant, I s’pose you could say, and more tolerant of differences.

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    1. Al Feersum Avatar
      Al Feersum

      Oh, and sure, there will always be extremist fundies attached to any faith, so in that sense, yes, religion poisons everything. Hence, I have no truck with it.

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  3. Al Feersum Avatar
    Al Feersum

    Oh look. Another one.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19906528

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    1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
      Geoff Coupe

      Gawd – why am I not surprised? Blasphemy laws are a very bad idea. Mind you, so is religion, as far as I’m concerned…

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  4. Al Feersum Avatar
    Al Feersum

    Still, there is another aspect: scientists can also be militant fundamental extremists…

    Rep. Paul Broun:
    MD, Medical College of Georgia, 1971
    BS, Chemistry, University of Georgia, 1967

    A doctor, and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. So he understands The Scientific Method, and the principals of analysis that it requires… yet…

    So yeah, poison, distortion, twisty little evil thoughts: ‘Hang them goldarn n!ggers and homos! They ain’t natrul! We gots a dang muslin sympathizer fur president! Look, even his name is Saddam bin Laden! What’s next? You want to see a homo in office? Vote Republican like a good ole American and it’ll never happen by the Grace of God!”

    Ah well… sometimes we need people like this to further our advance of science, even if it is just to shut them up with proof that they’re stupid.

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    1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
      Geoff Coupe

      “Lies Straight From The Pit of Hell” – You just couldn’t make it up. Oh, wait, Rep. Broun just did… And the full horror is: people voted for him.

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  5. Al Feersum Avatar
    Al Feersum

    The absolute limits of religious arrogance….

    http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2012/11/04/the-absolute-limits-of-scientistic-arrogance/

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