Response to Some Atheists

(Photo Credit: http://uiucatheists.blogspot.com/2010/04/chalkin-it-up-to-free-speech-aaf-stands.html)

Yesterday I participated in Chalking Up the Quad for Free Speech, and event put on by the AAF (Atheist Agnostic Freethinkers) club of the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana. We attacked the main quad at night and drew stick figures labeled "Muhammad" up and down the sidewalks. As discussed in my earlier post, Islam prohibits the depiction of the prophet Muhammad, especially those which could be seen as disrespectful...
Like this!

The idea of the chalk event was not to make fun of Islam or piss off Muslims, it was to demonstrate the importance of free speech, something that is highly challenged today by the threats of terrorism and retribution for shows like South Park and Theo Van Gogh's film Submission.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed by some of the members of the AAF and how they failed to grasp this idea. The mission was simple: draw a stick figure and label it Muhammad. This is very powerful, and truly gets at the heart of the issue of free speech and blasphemy. Unfortunately this is not all that was said and done. Some jokes were made about throwing urine on the drawings, or writing PBUY, Piss Be Upon You. While I adamantly support everyone's free speech and their ability to express urine on the prophet Muhammad if thats what they wish to do, I do not agree that it falls in line with this particular exhibition, especially when the goal is not to specifically insult Islam as a whole, but the dogmatic inhibition of free speech associated with Muhammad.

One other comment was made last night that bothered me, personally. One of the participants made a statement that went something like:

"We can't go too far with these people, they deserve it!"

This is downright wrong. "These people" is an ugly, xenophobic term that really irks me. The mentality that its "us against them," that this is a battle between the dumb and the enlightened is not one I wish to be a part of. If we as nonbelievers fall into the same pit of disrespect as the religions we oppose, we are not on a side worth fighting for.

The issue of atheism is whether or not it is our duty to inform others of the true dangers of misbelief and dogmatic thinking. Faith is something I speak against, because I believe it is dangerous to people in general. I think the betterment of humanity can be achieved by eliminating this idea that faith is superior to rationality. It is not a moral choice for me to label those who have faith as the enemy and try to insult them and piss on their idols, etc. On the contrary! It is my moral duty to treat them as people, to work with them, not against them. If the enemy is religion, fight the religion, not the believer!

Tim Minchin, You Rock.

If you haven't seen this yet, you should.

Tim Minchin is a damn good comedian and musician from the country down below that gave us bearded dragons, kangaroos, and Aussie hair products. Not completely sure about the last one, but I use Aussie shampoo and conditioner, and my hair is fresh and soft every day!

Back on point, Tim, never one to disappoint, has posted a new video and song, this time attacking the biggest Rat of them all: the pope. (Pope Benedict XVI was born with the name Joseph Alois Ratzinger if that joke went over your head. Its okay.)

Anyway, check it out. And be sure to turn the volume up, especially if you're in a church or library.

South Park Gets a Thumbs Up From Me

First off, I do not watch South Park. Its times like these that I wish I did. In their 200th episode, South Park pictured the Islamic prophet Muhammad in cartoon form, and broadcast it across the entire world.

The problem? Depicting the image of Muhammad is an unthinkable crime in the Islamic world. The blasphemy has historically been answered with death threats, and in some instances, real murder and acts of terror. In 2005, images of the prophet Muhammad were published in a Danish newspaper's editorial column, and in response Muslims all over Europe, the Middle East, and even Africa took up arms against the cartoonists. 





"They burned embassies and churches and fought with police; at least 200 died and many more were injured." (NY Times)


In 2008 a bomb exploded outside of the Danish Embassy in Pakistan, killing 8. The attack was claimed by Al Qaeda, who said that it was in response to the cartoons.


Here's a link to the cited NY Times article.


And the carnage doesn't stop there. Public criticism of Islam has been revenged by the harshest of consequences. In 2004 Theo Van Gogh's short film Submission was broadcast on a Danish television network. The film is a commentary on the abuse of women in Islam, an extremely powerful and thought provoking short. I urge you to watch it here. (its only 10 minutes long):




Theo Van Gogh was murdered, shot to death 8 times on his way to work in Amsterdam. His film was seen to be blasphemous and unacceptable, and the artist paid the dearest price.

So where does this leave us? What can we do to support our freedom of speech?

The answer is absolutely not to fall silent. The first thing we can do is to speak our mind. Blaspheme. Think critically about these things. Religions do not inherit the right to abuse members, nor kill opponents. The idea of "relativism," that we have our rights and morals, and they have theirs--its as wrong as they come. I am not a Muslim. I have no inherent respect for Muhammad, nor the sanctity of his image. I see no rational argument for such respect: why should a man who was alive in the 6th and 7th centuries not have his face depicted, under penalty of death? These kinds of issues, religious or otherwise, should not be taboo. 

When we give up our ability to question, we give up our ability to progress toward greater understanding and morality. People deserve the respect. People are entitled to opinions and the pursuit of happiness. Ideas are not people, and deserve no innate respect.

Tomorrow, the AAF (Atheist Agnostic Freethinker) club will be chalking up the quad at the University of Illinois with stick figures labeled "Mohammad." I vehemently  support this cause, as I support the right of South Park to jest at the expense of a bullshit tradition.

More Posts Coming Soon!

Here's the deal: I created this blog because I tend to say a lot, but I have never had a proper place to say it. Usually I end up texting my friends these thoughts, which takes far too many texts and way too much energy, and in the end only one person gets to read what I have to say. Hopefully somebody will actually follow my blog, in which case my goal will be accomplished!


Anyway, right now I'm at school. I go to the University of Illinois for Aerospace Engineering, and my freshman year is wrapping up. I have finals on the (ominously near) horizon, and most likely I will not have time to post with much frequency until I'm out of school. Come mid-May I will try to post once a week about what ever happens to be on my mind!


Friend or otherwise, thank you for checking out my blog, and stick around!

Charlatan

She will be broken
All that is left of human dignity - the force that binds us all
Its all that we have - She's all that we have
We are minds driven together for the need to trust
In something greater than the individual - we question to survive
We live to strive for the elegance of our own accomplishment
We are far more than Marx imagined - drawn together
Yet you kill her
Fraudulent Lies - Without Trust, we die alone!

My Candle in the Dark

I love Science. Science isn't just a subject we learn about in grade school. Its not the thing that you have to memorize facts for and study. Science is a PROCESS. Its a growing organism. Drawing upon an statement by Neil deGrasse Tyson, science is an apple. The skin of the apple is very rough, filled with colorful and tasty facts that are intriguing and awe inspiring, but are also challenged and merely approximations. Deeper within the fruit is the real substance, the essence of well established scientific understanding. And deeper still are the seeds of law. Fundamental kernels off of which every other fact protects. The beauty of the system is that it self corrects, so every day it is more accurate than the previous. We do not claim to know everything, but those things that we do assert to know have been well established as scientific theory through multiple lines of empirical evidence that have been tested and retested and retested. The time for speculation is over. Faith is unnecessary. Yea, I like Science.

I also love learning. I like finding out that I'm wrong. You wouldn't think it to talk or debate with me, but I really do like to know when I am wrong. Being wrong about something is an incredible experience because it lets you know that you are now that much closer to finding truth. I am obsessed with truth. I can see no more noble pursuit than the search for truth, both as an individual and as a finite species. Its not like we as humans have anything else to do, everything we do and build and think is finite. We might as well do and build and think the greatest things possible, and milk everything we can out of our simple insignificant existence here in this Universe.

Finally, I love life. I want to live my life and make my decisions and learn what I can without being limited by anyone or anything else. And I want to allow others the same life that I wish for. We humans are empathetic creatures. Our brains, in some ways, literally feel what the people around us feel. Let me live how I wish to live, and I will let you live how you wish to live. This is liberty. This is freedom. This is how we allow each and every person to live to their absolute fullest, so long as we don't step on each other's toes.

One other thing. I love my freedom of speech. I will use it to try to inspire, propose, protest, blaspheme, explain, and express all that I am and think to the people around me. If I insult you as a person, I apologize sincerely. People deserve every ounce of respect. Ideas, however, do not.