In our live presentation to the Atlanta Freethought Society, “The Crescent and the Moonpie: Islam and the American South,” we look at the history of Islam in the Antebellum South, then jump forward to discuss how Muslim communities are being received in 21st century Dixie.
Mentioned in the presentation:
US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan and former heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali. Both men are native-born Southerners (Hasan in Virginia, Ali in Kentucky). Both are adherents of Islam, yet they took very different paths.
In case you hadn’t heard, the Louisiana senate unanimously declared Sunday, June 20th, a “Statewide Day of Prayer” for those affected by the massive oil spill. Really, you have to read full text of Senate Resolution No. 145 to get the full flavor of foolishness. Did you know that “in times of great distress and need, we, the people of this land, have always turned to private, public, and corporate prayer”? (Italics mine.) Did you know that “prayers woven together through common effort can themselves become an awesome and powerful force”?
Louisiana Senator Robert Adley was quoted as saying, “Thus far efforts made by mortals to try to solve the crisis have been to no avail. It is clearly time for a miracle for us.” The precise nature and extent of the expected miracle hasn’t been spelled out, so anything or nothing can subsequently be interpreted as the answer from on-high.
We’ve gotten used to hearing that Creationism and Intelligent Design are peculiar to the United States. Other places, especially Europe, not so much.
Unfortunately, that is changing. There’s increasing pressure from religious factions in the United Kingdom, and Australians continue to play the occasional game of whack-a-mole with Creationists.
Now the Russians are feeling the heat. The Russian Orthodox Church has launched its own version of “teach the controversy,” insisting that “several theories” about the origin of life should be taught alongside the Darwinian theory of evolution. Archbishop Hilarion (love the name) decries the “monopoly of Darwinism” in Russian schools. Of course, the good Archbishop does not decry the monopoly of Russian Orthodoxy in his own pulpit, and I’m sure he would shrink at the suggestion that “several theories” of religious belief be taught regularly alongside his own. Good for the goose and all that jazz.
Oh, and if you read the article all the way through, you’ll also find the Russian version of “Russia is a Christian nation.” Enjoy!
May 20th is, in case you hadn’t heard, Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. A Facebook group has been created as a form of free speech protest. According to the creator of the group:
“We are not trying to slander the average muslim , it’s not a muslim/islam hatepage. We simply want to show the extremists that threaten to harm people because of their Mohammed depictions, that we’re not afraid of them. That they can’t take away our right to freedom of speech by trying to scare us to silence.”
Normally, I would not be in favor of gratuitous denigration of another’s beliefs. However, if another’s beliefs are inherently irrational; to wit, threatening to kill someone because they draw a picture–even a respectful and flattering one–of your favorite prophet, then gratuitous denigration on a mass scale may indeed be called-for.
If there’s a better example of chirpy, blithe, willful ignorance than this conversation self-perpetuating feedback loop between Bill O’Reilly and Sarah Palin, I would love to see it. O’Reilly interviewed Palin during the recent May 6th observation of the recently-ruled-unconstitutional National Day of Prayer. Both spout the usual half-baked talking points about this being a Christian Nation, the Founding Fathers based the Constitution on “God and the Ten Commandments,” etc. Behold:
The Supreme Court has ruled that a Christian cross erected on federal land in the Mojave desert can say (for now). Among other things, certain justices (<cough> Scalia <cough>) have decided that crosses are a universal symbol for the dead. Never mind the only dead people you’ll find one planted over are Christian and never, say, Jewish or Muslim. For more google Salazar v. Buono.
If you care, tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer, a Congressionally-declared event recently ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge. (In the shadow of the NDP is the lesser-known but laudable National Day of Reason–check the calendar for events near you).
A judge has ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional, handing Dan Barker’s Freedom from Religion Foundation a victory in its lawsuit against the federal government. President Obama (who participated in the NDP last year) immediately said he would participate again this year. The feds will appeal, and it’s likely this will be settled in the Supreme Court (although, the way that body has been ruling lately it’s likely the decision will be overturned). And for those that are interested, there’s a counter-observance the same day as the NDP called the National Day of Reason.
A federal judge has ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional. Let the weeping and gnashing of teeth begin. Expect to hear a whole heckuva lot of whining from conservatives, and shrill talk about activist judges, yadda, blah, etc. The courts got this one right.
Our second and final report on the American Atheists Convention in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Day Two speakers included Secular Coalition for America’s Sean Faircloth, Mexican-American atheist Indra Zuno, activist and fundraiser extraordinaire Todd Stiefel, psychiatrist Andy Thomson, Freethought Radio’s Dan Barker and journalist Wendy Kaminer.
Plus: More adventures in NYC: shameless tourism, good food, and bad jazz.
In our live presentation to the Atlanta Freethought Society, “The Crescent and the Moonpie: Islam and the American South,” we look at the history of Islam in the Antebellum South, then jump forward to discuss how Muslim communities are being received in 21st century Dixie.
Our second and final report on the 
Enough already with the political prayer
Monday, June 21st, 2010In case you hadn’t heard, the Louisiana senate unanimously declared Sunday, June 20th, a “Statewide Day of Prayer” for those affected by the massive oil spill. Really, you have to read full text of Senate Resolution No. 145 to get the full flavor of foolishness. Did you know that “in times of great distress and need, we, the people of this land, have always turned to private, public, and corporate prayer”? (Italics mine.) Did you know that “prayers woven together through common effort can themselves become an awesome and powerful force”?
Louisiana Senator Robert Adley was quoted as saying, “Thus far efforts made by mortals to try to solve the crisis have been to no avail. It is clearly time for a miracle for us.” The precise nature and extent of the expected miracle hasn’t been spelled out, so anything or nothing can subsequently be interpreted as the answer from on-high.
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Tags: grasshopper chapel, louisiana, oil spill, robert ingersoll
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