MUSLIMS ARE JUST A RED HERRING HERE

Posted on March 25, 2015 by

On the terrorist wars
Many of us, observing the antics of ISIS, have come to the opinion that this is what Muslimism is like. NO THIS IS NOT WHAT MUSLIMISM IS LIKE, THIS IS WHAT RELIGION IS LIKE –at least all of the monotheistic religions Please, let’s not allow them to continue to divide and conquer as they please
These Religions require unquestioning obedience to a deity and if you should go against that deity’s will he will order his clergy to seek you out and punish you most cruelly
And clergy are the only ones who can converse with this god—so in essence, it is the clergy to whom you must submit. And that’s religion. It worked reasonably well – before science arrived–as a method to maintain tribal peace by insisting on conformation in respect to ideas and attitudes.
Though religion in this secular world has been forced to appear far more tolerant now that they can no longer punish their dissidents, this is not because basic religion has changed and fundamentalist groups are here to remind us of that. What has changed is that our secular society has stripped religions of the power to punish their followers. They, necessarily, have had to adjust to public opinion assuming an air of tolerance When fear can no longer work, salesmanship and psychology manage to take its place . But even here, religion’s true character seeps through, for they still hang on to their ancient scripts, full of cruel penalties and, in the privacy of the pulpit, the clergy can still play effective mind games that warn their flock about the price of disobedience, threatening dire punishment beyond the grave should they ignore the tenets of their deity.
So, no, what we see playing out in Africa is not Muslimism, it s plain old religion free from secular restraint and we should not lose sight of that fact, for it can reemerge with full power here too. Indeed, it is knocking at the door as we speak.
Don’t let religion get off the hook on this one . Though many branches seem quite tolerant, note that ancient book their clergy still carry under their arms—. and its basic message: an absolute authority (god/clergy) demands your complete submission to its will, irrespective of your personal values. Cheers,, Andy

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WHY WE MUST DEMAND HARD EVIDENCE ALWAYS

Posted on April 13, 2018 by

 

When you think about it, ideologies are parasites. Just as Darwin’s
insect can infect a fly’s brain, thus directing the fly to work for it
instead of for the fly’s own welfare, so an ideology can infect the
human brain to best perpetuate itself.

Consider a man directing a plane towards a wall. Surely this man would
much rather go home to enjoy a sumptuous meal with his wife and his
children but here he is holding the controls that will lead to his own
demise. He is infected by an ideology. He is not only about to lose
his life but with it all his hopes, his ideas, and his dreams. No
longer can he help his brother or his friends and he leaves his wife
with the difficult task of bringing up his children all on her own.

Worse still, can you see a man willingly take his loving wife and his
beautiful daughters out, look straight into their fear filled eyes
then kill them? No man would even think of doing that but an ideology
can and often does.

Ideologies show no compassion for humans –or for human nature for
that matter– while there appears many types of ideologies– Fascism,
Communism tried to crush the human spirit but at great cost we
survived those earlier infections but now ideologies are thriving
everywhere and we need to find a way of curbing their insatiable
thirst. Ideologies still remain highly active and dangerous to all of
us.. Remember once you are infected you will do whatever it wants you
to do.
Question everything, demand material, measurable evidence always.

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Don’t drive through the rear mirror

Posted on March 16, 2018 by
  • I think one of the most disingenuous  practices in today’s society is this attempt to defend one’s claims on the grounds that there is a spiritual-and thus unassailable-dimension to be considered in its evaluation… What good does this meme (spirituality) do? What, pray tell, are its parameters?

For every free ad we get in the community section of our local papers, there will be a dozen or more ads that include the word “spirituality” in them. Churches, of course, use the word abundantly – -it effectively bypasses scientific evidence that might be troubling to their story. But many others, like the new age group, while rejecting the church’s dogma, hang onto this escape from accountability with as much gusto as do their mainstream friends.

Andy Mulcahy

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OUR CULTURES DIVIDE US

As we see, Shias are slaughtering their fellow believers over a touch of trivia .All kinds of tribes feel the need to defend  their beliefs from those who could not care less about those beliefs.  Look at our treatment of of our native Indians We felt a compulsive urge to make them believe what we believed, like we were deathly afraid if they did not our world would fall apart. We made a deliberate attempt to wipe out their culture and today many Indians live n ramshackle shacks as they try to keep a culture alive by hanging on to outdated methods —(The Fraser river is  no longer swollen with fish.)

 

So why do we keep defending these tired old subcultures when there is an inclusive culture staring us in the face? People from every race, from every nation, from every language all work to together to help every race, every nation, and every language. These are the scientists and their supporters who work tirelessly, to find cures for every human being, no matter who.

And here is just a small example of what they have been doing to help us—you and me .How about

 

INSULIN Most diabetic patients manage to live normal and full lives which has affected the lives of millions of people around the world.

PENICILLION to combat bacteria. Before that, if you got a cut on your leg and it became infected you would have had to choose between death or amputation…

 

 

2) Vaccination – Originally in the Western World the concept of vaccination – using small doses of disease to teach the body to protect itself from certain viruses – was a controversial one. However it is only thanks to vaccinations that we have managed to stop the spread of many epidemics and even completely eradicate some of the world’s most deadly diseases.

1) Penicillin – Discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, this is the one that everyone learns about in school, and was the big ‘game changer’ for modern medicine. Essentially the discovery of penicillin is responsible for the development of all the antibiotics that we use today to combat bacteria. Before that, if you got a cut on your leg and it became infected you would have had to choose between death or amputation…

 

Adam Sinicki

Vaccination. This has stopped the spread of many epidemics and has eradicated some of the world’s most deadly diseases

 

X RAYs thank Rontgen for this

 

And most important– DNA

Rings a host of discoveries that benefit humanity

 

So here we see an inclusive culture designed to help people and this, I suggest, is the culture—the only culture we should be supporting, indeed, the only culture we should  defend – not those divisive sub cultures that are trying to destroy any other culture but their own.

 

.are

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IS IT A TREAT, A SIN A SPORT?

Posted on March 13, 2018 by

Religious authorities have taught us to be ashamed of our bodies and
that is a shame. Because if you see yourself that way you will see
everyone else that way too. Worse still, if sexual urges lead us to
become disgusted with our bodies, again, passing this attitude on to
others helps us understand why a man might take up a rifle to kill a
gay person for what appears to be no sensible reason. If you are
disgusted with your own urges you will be much more disgusted with that
of someone else and why shoot yourself?
Moral to this story. Be proud of yourself. Remember how proud you
were of yourself as a baby? Before you were taught this malicious lie Better still, you will treat your fellow man better. You will respect
your fellow man again.

Subject: Sex, Do it or ignore it. Sex is not important enough to take
seriously and all these minds that masturbate in their heads
fantasizing about others engaging in varied types of it are just
obsessed.It should be easy to see that this biological practice
–necessary for species survival — has no moral value, despite its
preoccupation in the minds of sexually obsessed perverts.

Yes, to a teenager it looks like it is some kind of divine experience
but a year later the couple are more likely be thinking about what to
have for dinner while copulating.

Smarten up mature guys and dolls who still carry the torch for coitus,
sex is not, never will be, sacred in any way. Morality? Forget it,
Ethics? of course. Treat each other with respect..

 

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slipping one in

Posted on July 17, 2017 by

In these days of political correctness, one has to be careful to hide one’s distaste for those you dislike. This is particularly frustrating to those who do not care for the Jews, because of all the stories we have heard over the ages about them from some of our best writers/poets

But here are some hints that you can use to vent your frustrations without looking like a bare faced bigot, indeed may even help you appear especially tolerant—even very concerned—about the welfare of foreigners

Concern yourself not with the Jew but with the nation of Israel. True, all our rants against it will have no effect on Israel itself, Canada is outside the loop on matters involving the middle east but every Jew in Canada will hear your denunciations and take them personally

 

And since Israel is constantly in conflict with the Palestinians, show Continue reading →

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THE BLOATED BALLOON

Posted on June 19, 2017 by

Is this the canary in the cage? The U.N. says twenty million people are starving to death right now unless sufficient aid can be raised. And with a population exceeding seven Billion this is just a foretaste of our impending doom. No way can this small planet produce enough food to sustain such an enormous demand for any great length of time and yet neither the United nations nor any country has so far taken any steps to punish those who still actively discourage the use of contraceptives.
Granted we will, enraged, hunt down these culprits as the end draws near but what good will that do us?

Nor have we, the public, registered much concern. Is that because we do not want to face the enormity of the problem? Or are we distracting ourselves by trying to stop pipelines and closing coal mines as if that will take care of this problem for us. It seems like we are trying to stop the flow in a river without a thought to the big lake above.

What we need, what we must demand, is that our lawmakers make it a punishable offense to actively take steps to discourage, by any means, the use of contraceptives. Let us make this happen–better than expending our energy like puppies chasing their tails
Cheers Andy.

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ATLAS SHRUGGED

Posted on April 17, 2017 by

 

Stats indicate there has been  a steady rise in the number of people  who have chosen  atheism in place of religion in most western countries This has made sense to me and to all those atheists, humanists, skeptics, who felt that reason, diplomatically presented, could prevail against the myths of the church.

But now I am beginning to wonder about this. The recent attempt in Texas to pass a law that will punish anyone caught masturbating—whether passed or not—suggests to me that we are losing the battle in the trenches. Here  we see  a blatant attempt to induce guilt and shame in young men that would enhance the church’s power to  demand  the tithe to save them from roasting in  hell.

Secondly, the stated purpose of this law is to ensure that the population level remains stable, and this, despite recent reports informing us  that 20 million people in 4 countries are now facing starvation as famine sweeps the land..

This proposed law  is so absurd  that it makes it clear  to me  that reason has failed so completely in its battle with  religion that we need to find a more effective approach  if we want to bring sanity to our world.

This and similar events  have finally convinced me that  reason is no match for implanted beliefs.

So from now on I will always reject biblical claims but let me be clear about this:  I do not intend to state that there is no such a thing as  a god.  I will not argue about this, there is nothing to argue about .If anyone askes me if I believe in this god myth I will simply say i am not interested in that  sort of stuff and I am suggesting we atheists will be  better off by just shrugging religion to one side, making it clear to them that we are really not interested..

I mean many centuries have passed without any measurable evidence to support this deity fantasy so what is there to talk about? . This may have been a legitimate topic in the seventeen century when evolution was still being questioned but not now.

All we are doing by arguing with believers is keeping their hopes alive by debating them as if they have a legitimate point that needs further examination. It’s time to tell them that, sorry, your claim makes no sense at all—come back with measurable, empirical evidence and we will talk .. In the meantime, “ which(say)  political party do you prefer?”

So, I suggest we all treat this question of whether such a thing as a god exists or not  as one of no real interest to us. I think this would be a much more productive approach than arguing endlessly about whether such a thing as a god exists or not.—

Goodbye Michael Shermer, Hello Richard Dawkins

It was Nietzche who told us God was dead, but he

would be laughing in his grave if he knew

how many are still heaving over the corpse,

frantically trying to revive it.”

Andy Mulcahy

(don’t be silly asses, take off the holy glasses)

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Humanism, obstacles to overcome

Posted on April 8, 2017 by

Congratulations to  Phyllis Webster for her interest and for arousing our awareness of the The Kasese Humanist Primary School in Uganda, towards which, as Alan says, VSHA has made donations.Yes, Phyllis deserves our thanks and should be credited with her effective support of that humanist school, but that credit is to her and her alone, not to VSHA.

We are not alone among Canadian Humanist groups that seek their salvation in a foreign country or in a political cause of some kind. Perhaps it is easier to avoid the opposition we arouse in those too close to us. Christianity, not Muslim nor Sikh dominate our landscape and here is where we live. True, some of our religious leaders have said some hurtful things about we humanists.

Tough, but we are Canadian Humanists, this is our turf and this is the country we need to lead into a secular, critical-thinking life style.

And for the record we are not there yet.

 

An example: we often point out how badly our women are treated but the topic slowly fades into the background like white noise. Few people really even mention the cause of this attitude towards women and mos important, why it keeps regurgitating itself.

Or do we quietly accept, as Margaret Wente once suggested in her Globe article, that  when you look at how women are treated elsewhere, Canadian women should not complain too much?

 

Fact remains that because of religious attitudes drilled into man young man, lots of our women fall in love with a guy who will later keep her cringing in the kitchen, nervously awaiting the next blow.

How many? Check with the Women’s Transition Houses–they have no trouble getting enough customers  all across the country . As soon as they find homes for battered women, more housewives are waiting at the door for protection.

 

Now women’s groups fight to get laws that would help protect them but where are we ? What are we doing to eradicate this perverse attitude? Is this not where humanism enters the fray? We know where this attitude towards women comes from and while I take considerable pleasure in commending those humanist groups who have successfully stopped the spread of these books to schools, it seems to me we should have, by now discredited this book of misogyny to an extent that would render it impotent– more work needs to be done here and those who support such books need to be exposed  and openly challenged.

 

And note that “god” is still in our constitution

Laurie, Fern both existing members of VSHA, Blessing and a few once encouraged Robinson to present a petition to remove the name god from our constitution. The petition failed and you should read the editorials in our local papers, most bristling in outrage that anyone would even dare to suggest such a thing .

>

Now of course, since Dawkins brought atheism out into the sunlight it will probably be much easier to get this done. But we have yet to get it done, like the blasphemy law–which hopefully will soon be a thing of the past– it could block progressive legislation and makes it little easier for someone to avoid punishment for a hate crime against a non theist. We need to get it out of there. This is Canada and it is our Canada .

 

And in my opinion we Canadian Humanists, despite the flak our Christian spokesmen may toss at us, need to focus on selling the humanist lifestyle. We want, we need, to have a seat at the table, so that the media, the advertisers and the politicians listen to our opinions too

We are not there yet and we won’t get there by sitting on the fence.

Cheers

Andy.

 But it still needs to be done. Let Muslims, Israelis, Sikhs work their own problems out. We have a need, a responsibility, to all those who suffer under the  sharp tongue of religious driven dogma, to be sitting at that table defending their rights

Cheers, Andy

===============================================

> The Bible rules America. God help their women.

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Us or Religion?

Posted on September 20, 2016 by

When we finally woke up and saw that
there was no such a thing as a god, why did we not just call ourselves atheists?

Because some felt that something was needed to fill the void. What void? Well, many still bought the idea that religion had been holding civilization together, after all, religion has always took credit for all good things and especially our moral standards

But things are not always what they seem-here is an example:
ake Western culture’s pride in the discoveries of Galileo. Can religion take credit for Galileo’s great achievement? Not too likely-The Pope made it clear that his tootsies would burn to a crisp if he did not recant

So who can take credit then? Why, Sapiens could. This species’ insatiable curiosity to observe and evaluate everything in its sight made it most likely that one of its members would make this discovery..

Similarly, this species tends toward cooperating and negotiating, have enough intelligence to see that there are consequences to pay if they step out of line.

So it seems to me it has been our genetic nature -not religion–that has had this civilizing effect on our culture —

As I once said, If you are banging your head against the wall to get rid of that headache, just stop and it will go away and so will religion, just let it go.
Cheers, Andy

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TRUTH ETERNAL

Posted on September 10, 2016 by

TRUTH ETERNAL
Words have evolved from our earliest, primitive days and many have become so outmoded as to interfere with clear thinking. “Truth” in my opinion, is one of these words.. I see “Truth” as a mirage that lures those thirsty for knowledge away from the very evidence that could empower them.
Understandably, our ancestors looked for a secret code, a holy grail, a final answer to all things — some kind of explanation for the demon haunted world they lived in.
But surely, with better than four thousand years of acquired knowledge under our belt we should know better today.
First off, we now know that we are limited to a mammal’s comprehension of this universe. Our eyes have evolved over millions of years for specific purpose – – to find prey and avoid predators. Our brains have evolved over millions of years for similar purpose. We are probably no more able to comprehend certain aspects of this universe than can a horse save its foal from drowning by lifting it up out of the creek.
Further, our brains limit how much data we can process. For instance, if twenty stations were beaming into our TV set at once, all we would see is a blurry mess. Only by reducing the amount of stations hitting on our set could we begin to make sense of things and then most clearly only when we were down to just one station.. Similarly, the kaleidoscope of universal knowledge is too much for us to take in, and we are forced to abstract (falsify) information from the universe in order to make
sense of things..
It should be apparent, therefore, that the ancients concept of truth as representative of ideal or fundamental reality is limited to the simple world they knew – -a flat earth beneath a star studded canopy or heaven, in which everything could be explained as the whim of a deity.
In place of using Truth as a criterion, I think we would find better answers to our problems by following Korzybski’s suggestion to look on the real world as the “territory” and our understanding or perception of that territory as our “map” of that real world or “territory.”
And when we approach a problem from this point of view, it soon becomes clear that whether a given map is useful to us will depend not only on how accurately it may represent that territory, but also on whether we can easily comprehend, and therefore use, the information it supplies.
For instance, if we are driving cross country, we use a road map, which we know is not an accurate copy of the territory, but if we used a more accurate map, say an aerial photograph, we would find it difficult to discern our route. Our maps need to be limited to the type of information needed for that specific task.
In other words, our map is primarily evaluated by its usefulness, not by its “truth”. While we want it to be representative of the territory, we must also be able to understand it, so we must reject the “true” map — a map that is identical to the territory– because too much information would obstruct our view.
We appear mentally unable to contemplate all things at one time: our method is to wade into the information, sifting for relevant facts that, when combined, will give us an orderly, cohesive picture of our subject. As we said, if a road map were made from aerial photographs, and thus to scale, it would be difficult to find our way to the next city.. “Truth,” in this case, obstructs.
And, since we need to make our maps functionally useful, it follows that truth is not what we are really after when we look for answers. “Usefulness” would be a far better criterion of the information we seek than is “truth”.
One instance: Newton’s laws were considered to represent the truth until Einstein and his lads came along with their new, revised, version, yet engineers continue to build bridges and buildings in accordance with Newtonian laws. Why? Because they work.
So I suggest that, if we can’t dump the word entirely, the least we can do – – since the word is most often used to steer us away from further investigation – – is to be alert to that danger whenever it is so used. When people say they are seeking the Truth, they most probably are trying to avoid current evidence.

Andrew Mulcahy

==================================

“Pity the poor philosopher who fervently, desperately
seeks the “Truth”
in order to avert his gaze from the reality before his eyes.”

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Thinling on the Unknown

Posted on September 10, 2016 by

Thinking on the unknown:
Thinking on the unknown:
It is possible there are many things in this vast universe that we will never know about. Seems unlikely that always efficient nature would endow us with knowledge that is not needed to ensure the continuity of our species. We are limited to a mammal’s comprehension of this Universe. Our eyes have evolved over millions of years for specific purpose – – to find prey and avoid predators. Our brains have evolved over millions of years for similar purpose. We are probably no more able to comprehend certain aspects of this universe than can a horse save its foal from drowning by lifting it up out of the creek.

While this is no problem for our species, since nature supplies us with the intellectual capability needed to help us survive as a species, it is one hell of a problem for our philosophers who may be driven to embrace theology, where words like” Truth”, and “Spiritual” still mean something:))
Andrew Mulcahy
—————————–
Naturalism is in, hypocrisy is out

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