Islam, the light of the world!

[Digit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... Koran.html

and Mohammad claimed that the Sun disappeared into a well at the end of each day!
Bring on Santa Claus!

Roy.

Roy.

[Minimalist]

Weren't FAILING GRADES invented to cover situations such as this?

[Digit]

Due to an industrial injury and time spent with my brother who was dieing I missed too many lectures and was told to take the year again. Looks as though you will get a degree with your cornflakes soon!

Roy.

[Minimalist]

I can tell you that I would not be interested in a doctor who thinks praying to his invisible friend is going to cure me.

[Digit]

I'd be less than keen as well Min. I wonder if witch doctors are available on the NHS?
I'm reminded of the three witches in the opening scenes of 'The Scottish Play!'

Roy.

[Digit]

I must warn you Min that which follows should have a health warning, so sit down, relax and pick up your glass. Are you ready?

The Asharis also denied causality, or the principle of cause and effect, even though their position negates free will and personal responsibility. If I were to punch you in the face, I could argue that God and his angels had actually broken your nose: it was purely a coincidence that my fist was nearby, and any imagined connection between my punch and your injury was just an illusion!

The Asharis were trying to justify miracles, such as that of Abraham remaining unharmed when thrown into a large fire. Fire burned objects, they reasoned, not because of an innate burning quality but because God created this quality in fire at every instant. If God willed, he could suspend the burning action of fire, as he did to save Abraham. al-Ghazali extended this reasoning to other familiar situations: "Water does not quench thirst, bread does not satisfy hunger and medicine does not cure illness" – it is always God who mediates what we think is cause and effect.

The fall text is below if you can bring youself to read it.
You have been warned!


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... NTCMP=SRCH

Roy.

[Minimalist]

But the most decisive factor, at least in Sunni Islam, has been the dominance of traditionalism over rationalism,

Fundie xtians refer to that time as "the good old days."

[Digit]

I posted an article about Muslim students over here and the do gooders lined up to scream racist, as I expected, then I posted the Guardian article.
Gone very quiet over here it has!

Roy.

[Digit]

I thought this might interest you Min...

I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea. He is a weak ruler who needs religion to uphold his government; it is as if he would catch his people in a trap. My people are going to learn the principles of democracy, the dictates of truth and the teachings of science. Superstition must go. Let them worship as they will; every man can follow his own conscience, provided it does not interfere with sane reason or bid him against the liberty of his fellow-men

Kemal Ataturk

...a most impressive diktat IMO.

Roy.

[Minimalist]

I've got a couple of Turks over at atheistforum who need to see that one.

Meanwhile, it seems that he was speaking of this comment - usually erroneously attributed to Seneca:

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”

[Barracuda]

I grew up as an American Turkey. Ataturk has always been a hero of mine.

[Digit]

If he was still alive he'd be on some Muslim's death list right now I reckon.
You ought to see the crap I got elswhere when I pointed out that most Mulims are currently being killed by 'brother' Muslims.
Some people when faced with the truth turn nasty I find.

Roy.

[Barracuda]

Atatürk was on a lot of death lists when he was alive, but he died from Cirrhosis of the liver. He was a totally unrepentant alcoholic. He bragged about it.

Unlike much of the middle east, at least you can walk into a bar in Istanbul and buy a drink.

A fitting legacy...

[circumspice]

But the most decisive factor, at least in Sunni Islam, has been the dominance of traditionalism over rationalism,

This is something that has disturbed me for years. Why would any woman in her right mind want to revert back to a repressive tradition?

Headscarf controversy in Turkey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headscarf_ ... _in_Turkey

Ban lifted

Prime Minister Erdogan campaigned in his victorious 2007 campaign with a promise of lifting the longstanding ban on headscarves in public institutions. However, as the Turkish deputies voted in Parliament, tens of thousands protested outside in favour of the ban.[21]

On February 7, 2008, the Turkish Parliament passed an amendment to the constitution, allowing women to wear the headscarf in Turkish universities, arguing that many women would not seek an education if they could not wear the head scarf. The main political party, the Justice and Development Party and a key opposition party, the Nationalist Movement Party claimed that it was an issue of human rights and freedoms.[22][23][24][25] The Parliament voted 403-107 (a majority of 79 per cent) in favour of the first amendment, which was inserted into the constitution stating that everyone has the right to equal treatment from state institutions. However the move resulted in opposition throughout Turkey. The country's educational board and numerous universities vowed to defy the new law. In addition, the main pro-secular, opposition party of the Republican People's Party asked the constitutional court to block the new law passed, and viewed it is a move towards an Islamic state.[26] Thousands of demonstrators supporting the ban also gathered near the Parliament against the move by the government.[27]

[Digit]

Why would any woman in her right mind want to revert back to a repressive tradition?

It's always mystified me as to why a free person would want to be shackled. Both Islam and Judaism are male dominated and the women are raised to accept it.
I've never forgotten the Pakistani male, I won't say man, who informed us on BBC camera that his wife could die unless seen by the doctor, a man, shrugged his shoulders and said, 'I'll get another one!'

Roy.