Our BFFs the Saudis are rather fond of public executions, but it’s okay when they do it, because they back our regional policy… I mean, behind the scene nudges will just buff that right out, correct?
There is a shit ton of evidence for this, and it’s a common accepted historical intepretation… Islamism is a modern phenomenon, in part a response to real and perceived failures of both western, market based secularism, and Pan-Arab socialism backed in part by the soviets. Example:
It should be noted, that in the ottoman period, the ability to have a wife who could be secluded from the rest of society was very much a mark of high class status, and a privilege that most ottoman subjects did not have.
Shit be complicated, yo, and I find that people making assumptions about the arab world and Muslims in general (the majority of which aren’t actually Arabs, if I’m remembering correctly) general have little knowledge of the history or modern day reality of the Muslim world, and most especially how the current landscape was shaped by western powers since the fall of the Ottoman empire at the end of world war 1.
Hey, you talk like someone who understands something about history! Damn your complicating oversimplified stereotypes with facts and knowledge. Convoluted historical facts be hard.
If I can assume for a moment a benevolent deity (1) would know whether or not a person “believed” in him, (2) would actually care whether a certain person “believed” in him, (3) would use this as the deciding factor in whether or not this deity rewarded the person or tortured him for eternity (4) would still remain a benevolent deity…
Wouldn’t such an all-knowing deity also know whether this “belief” was done insincerely, out of fear, out of “hedging one’s bets”? Wouldn’t he still cast this person into everlasting hell? I would, and I’m not even a deity.
Pascal’s logic is the same logic that perpetuates buying a lottery ticket when the odds are 3 trillion to 1. It only benefits the lottery ticket sellers.
Personally, I think the actual deity/deities will cast all grovelling believers (of any denomination) into hell, then welcome in all virtuous (nonbelievers and believers of any denomination). atheists will receive a head nod, as if to say “game recognize game.”
Agree. I’m robustly atheist, having very consciously and deliberately lost my faith in my early 30s, but to imply that anyone with religion is less intelligent than me is, well, arrogant to say the least. Plenty of more thoughtful, intelligent people than me who believe something different. It’s liberating to realise that and still hold my own beliefs firmly, but with a light touch.
As to Ms. O’Connor, it seems like she can’t hold a faith without being a dick about it unfortunately, based on her comments above and previously. But I think that’s probably her way of dealing with a very troubled past and some pretty glaring mental health challenges, so it’s quite simple to look past it and leave her to her quiet little corner of the internet.
Please find someone trustworthy to talk to. That is not a feeling to be taken lightly. Been there, done that. Sucked on multiple levels and hurt people I love. Don’t let it fester.
