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.
We talk with Michael Largo, author of the entertaining, enlightening, encyclopedic tome God’s Lunatics: Lost Souls, False Prophets, Martyred Saints, Murderous Cults, Demonic Nuns, and Other Victims of Man’s Eternal Search for the Divine. His previous nonfiction works include Genius and Heroin, The Portable Obituary, and the award-winning Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die. For more about Michael and his books visit FinalExits.com.
Writer/activist Christopher Hitchens has announced he’ll be stepping out of the public light to undergo chemotherapy to treat esophageal cancer. This is bad and scary news and we’re hoping for a speedy and relatively painless recovery.
Meanwhile, Hitchens has just published Hitch-22, a controversial memoir in which he reveals hitherto unknown details of his early life, and tries to explain his convoluted journey from hardcore Trotskyite to (for lack of a better term) neocon apologist. It’s not a dull read, although much of the name-dropping will go over the heads of average American readers who only know Hitch from his recent elevation to the ranks of the Four Horsemen. (Keep Wikipedia or Google handy and you’ll do just fine.)
Hitch-22 is available in hardcover, as an audiobook (read by Hitch himself) and in Kindle format.
You’ve heard the old crock about there being “no atheists in foxholes.” It’s equally a crock when applied to life jackets.
In a recent issue of Popular Mechanics, WWII navy veteran Donald Blum discusses his experience after the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in 1945. (You may recall that the Indianapolis delivered the first atomic bomb to the US airbase on the island of Tinian. Soon thereafter, on her way to the Philippines, the Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese torpedo. The survivors of the sinking spent four and a half days fighting off sharks and dehydration. Of a crew of 1196 only 316 lived. Many people know this story only from the 1975 film Jaws, in which Captain Quint reveals that he was one of the 316.)
Says Blum, “How is it I [survived] and so many did not? I firmly believe it was because I didn’t think I had anywhere to go–others believed heaven was waiting for them.”
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:
To say that Islam has been getting a bad rap these last few years would be a massive understatement. All religions–all cultures, for that matter–have their ups and downs, and for the last few decades Islam has definitely been seen by the West as “down.” 9-11 didn’t help matters.
It’s been extremely easy for the Western media to build a black-and-white case against the whole of Islamic civilization: they attacked us; they’re evil; it’s East versus West; we need to kick ass. This oversimplification of things is made all that much easier by the shocking ignorance of Islam and Islamic history displayed, not just by the man on the street, but by our elected officials and influential policymakers. One need only look at the complicated and bloody history of Christianity and Western civilization to sense that the history of Islam and the Middle East is no less complicated. Only a fool would believe that every Muslim is a rabid jihadist determined to destroy Western freedoms, and that every Christian is a saintly martyr who just wants what’s best for everybody–yet that seems to be the worldview espoused by all to0 many of our fellow citizens.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has denied activist Michael Newdow’s lawsuits to challenge “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” on the currency. We think the Court was cowardly and disingenuous. Unfortunately, this is likely to be the last gasp in the decades-long struggle. You can find links to the full texts of the Court’s opinions (including Judge Stephen Reinhardt’s scathing 120-page dissent) here.
In other news…the city council of Roswell, Georgia has resoundingly turned back a suggestion to begin council meetings with prayer. A surprising victory, but one we welcome nonetheless.
I’m about to start an Islam/Middle East themed reading project, and if anyone wants to join me, you are welcome. My selection process is complex and meticulous: I’ve scanned my bookshelves and made a list of books on the topic that I own but have not yet read.
The first three out of the gate are all written by immigrants who now live and work in the United States:
No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan
A God Who Hates: The Courageous Woman Who Inflamed the Muslim World Speaks Out Against the Evils of Islam by Wafa Sultan
The first two look to be more or less sympathetic toward Islam, but since I haven’t read them yet, it’s hard to tell. The third pretty much telegraphs its intention right there in the title. (Wafa Sultan, you may recall, is the firebrand who shouted down a couple of Muslim men during an Al Jazeera exchange in 2006.)
If there’s enough interest, I might blog the first book chapter-by-chapter, like I did with Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth. Let me know!
Or at least so says Christopher Hitchens, responding to Robertson’s claim that the devastating Haitian earthquake (which may have killed upwards of 200,000 innocent people) was the result of “a deal with the devil” made during the Haitian Revolution in 1791. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called Robertson’s remarks “utterly stupid.” Barry Lynn of Americans United said they were callous and grotesquely insensitive. And Keith Olbermann says Robertson is full of “senile crap.”
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.
In other news…the city council of Roswell, Georgia has resoundingly 
Or at least so says
Hitchens rewrites the 10C
Friday, March 5th, 2010Tags: christopher hitchens, ten commandments
Posted in atheism, commentary, ethics, history, religion | 1 Comment »