"Muslum politics"?

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In the US what is "Muslum politics?" I heard a guy say this on this forum has the US made a subject all because of racial discrimination or sacriligious discrimination

H. L. Mencken says:

Religion, of course, does make some men better, and perhaps even many men. There can be no doubt of it. But making them better by filling their poor heads with grotesque nonsense is an irrational and wasteful process, and the harm it does greatly outweighs the good. If men could be made better--or even only happier--by teaching them that two and two make five there would be plenty of fools to advocate that method, but it would remain anti-social none the less. If the theologians could only agree on their doctrines their unanimity might have some evidential value, just as the agreement of all politicians that the first duty of the citizen is to obey them and admire them has some evidential value. It may not be true, but it is at least undisputed by all save a small fraction of heretics, which is certainly something. Fortunately for common sense, the theologians are never able to agree. Even within the sects, and under the more rigid discipline, there is constant wrangling, as, for example, between the Jesuits and the Dominicans. Thus the cocksureness of one outfit is cancelled out by the ribald denial of all the rest, and rational men are able to consign the whole gang to statistics and the Devil.

One of the most irrational of all the conventions of modern society is the one to the effect that religious opinions should be respected. This convention protects them, and so they proceed with their blather unwhipped and almost unmolested, to the great damage of common sense and common decency. That they should have this immunity is an outrage. There is nothing in religious ideas, as a class, to lift them above other ideas. On the contrary, they are always dubious and often quite silly. Nor is there any visible intellectual dignity in theologians. Few of them know anything that is worth knowing, and not many of them are even honest.

Why is atheism always associated with high intellect? What is inherently so brilliant about atheism?

Maybe the atheists and agnostics place a greater importance on whether the things they believe are really true. They're not taking up a religion so they can use it as ornamentation to make themselves appear more interesting by being deep or mysterious, or to look better than they really are. That's actually a very cynical and dishonest thing to do.

Sometimes people seek religion for relief from some imaginary demon or bogeyman. Troubled and compromised people are drawn to religion. I see it as a red flag if it dominates someone's life too much. If it makes a person feel better, then great, but that doesn't make it true.

I've heard there are very few atheists in prison. Why is that?

Last edited by sgrannel on 20 Apr 2008, 5:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Because smart people are more likely to figure out that religion is BS.

Thank you, Odin. That's the answer I was looking for.

well atheism is a fashion now. People are afraid to talk about religion because they see it as "BS" - cause they can't deal with it. People are so afraid of challeging atheists because they put up sh*tty arguements about why religion is "bad" why it is "oppressive", they worry about their own crappy lives and try to destroy others. I mean if you don't believe fine just don't spray all ya crap on people.

Atheist, agnostic, theist, whatever we profess ourselves to be ... we all live together on a planet called Earth. Like it or not, we're stuck with each other. We'll get to where we're going faster if we can cooperate with a little decency and compassion for the other guy.

Last edited by slowmutant on 21 Apr 2008, 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

Hey! I'm just saying it usually people who don't maintain faith are usually teens unsure of their lives or blame scripture that thousands of years old. What like its the fault of the Qu'ran, the Gospel, and Taurat that you got a crappy life? No. They are supposed to be guides and full of wisdom and the last words of Allah, or God.

I AGREE!

In a less charged language, I do believe it is a fact that atheism does correlate with higher educational attainment and probably thus intelligence. Although this does not prove causation (although what does).

Why? Why is atheism associated with high intelligence and not halitosis or hammer toe?

Having religion will not make a scholar out of a numbskull. Fools are not converted to wise men under the roof of a church. If you were a dummy before you got religion, you're going to be a dummy sitting in the pews. On the other hand, simply "not believing in God" doesn't make you some kind of whiz-kid.

Certain personality types of gravitate to different sectors of society. I strongly suspect it is that simple.

Not neccessarily. Einstein, Newton and Da Vinci all believed in Allah or God (they both mean the same). Also a lot of scientists these days believe in Allah or God. I can't remeber exactly but a study was done one time and 64% of all scientists who published things in academic journels believed in Allah or God. Funny really the atheist intlligence thing is just a stereotype. Most people in the scientific community believe that they will be ridiculed for believing in Allah or God. Funny thing really that I actually believed athiests had higher intelligence; just some do and most often don't. Still my religion commands me to love my "enemies, unbelievers and understand their concepts of philosophy (unless they harm you)" and I do! That's why I continually challenge them!

By the way I'm not a reliogious nut for you stereotypists out there.

strange, because where I live (southern US) it's the religious folks who hassle the atheists. honestly I once made the mistake of of raising my hand when the teacher asked "who believes in evolution?", and suddenly the whole class (and soon the whole grade) was trying to "save" me. not a fun experience.

anyhow, I don't preach atheism to anyone and I don't enjoy others preaching religion to me. except if it's about the Flying Spaghetti Monster, because at least that's entertaining.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is obviously just a joke. But I have no idea what the FSM is supposed to represent. Anyone know? Whenever someone is uneasy around religion, they invoke this mythical beast. I honestly don't get it.

well, it started off when a guy sent a letter to a school board which was debating whether or not to teach evolution or creationism and he basically stated his belief in a giant monster of noodles which created the universe and how if they were going to teach christian creationism they should also teach his belief. he posted the letter on in the internet, and it took off.

anyhow pastafarians are also known for attributing the rise in global warming to the decrease in the pirate population (which is 'proven" by a purposely misleading graph) and for their belief that heaven contains beer volcanoes and stripper factories. anyhow, it's just a humorous take on religion zealotry... but it's good for a laugh IMO.