This from a BBC News story about the recent "knighthood" of Salman Rushdie and the resulting furor:

"It has seriously wounded the beliefs of 1.5 billion Muslims and followers of other religions."

My question: how is anybody "wounded" by any of this? You (and millions of others) believe in a creator god who expects a certain code of conduct from all of us and who is all-powerful and all-knowing and will punish or reward each of us in an eternal after-life.

I, and others, do not.

You are vocal about your beliefs and, indeed, feel some need to "spread the word". I am not shy about sharing how I feel about the whole idea, especially when somebody else brings it up.

Who's wounding whom? Are you "wounded" any time somebody disagrees with you? If so, the problem lies with you.

The quote, actually, was that "the beliefs of 1.5 billion Muslims and followers of other religions" are what has been "wounded".

Again, how? Is it because your belief is based on fantasy and mythology and it's hard enough to quell your own doubts without people making public statements critical of the whole idea of a supernatural creator-being?

Or do you just feel disrespected whenever someone disagrees with you?

There is a commonly expressed sentiment that we need to "respect" the beliefs of others. How many people actually apply this idea themselves? Do Muslims respect the beliefs of Salman Rushdie? Do most Christians respect the beliefs of Muslims? Or Jews? Or atheists?

Some people no doubt feel that our society is dependent upon religion and it's rules of conduct, that a belief in eternal life and it's promise of reward or punishment is the only thing keeping us from descending into chaos. If this is true, why do we need laws? Just for the atheists? Do atheists commit more crimes than "believers"? And can the various religions even agree on what the rules are?

How about this for an idea: believe what you want about "God", an after-life, the "creation", the "Bible", express your opinions if you so desire. But... don't be "wounded" when other people disagree. Is that so much to ask?

Almost done moving and everything, a new post coming soon!

Well I had a little chat tonight with a Mr. Steve Malzberg on WOR AM720 about four hours ago and I am not dead so I must be stronger for it. It was a first for me and I would love to go again but with the idea that I will give a better account of myself next time. It's hard to do live talk radio with a pro who has the microphone and come off sounding as good as I would like to (go figure).

Next time!

I just heard Newt Gingrich say, on Face the Nation (videotaped this morning), that "...we're up against a savagery and a ferocity that we don't understand..." and I wanted to say, stop right there. Don't speak for me. Don't think you speak for all of us. We don't understand? You don't understand.

These people (he's talking about the "Global War on Terror, or GWT, and these "terrorists" around the world, though the subject was the Iraq war) act as so-called terrorists because they have no particular reason not to. They have little to live for in this world, especially (in their minds) when what they have in this world is compared to what they shall have in the next world if they just... Live a good life? Serve Allah? Kill the infidels? This is not at all hard for me to understand, religion can be an extremely powerful tool, probably the most effective tactic used historically to influence large numbers of people. Declaring war against them, if we could even pin down who "they" are, is pointless, homicidal, suicidal and completely wrong.

How should we respond? They do, after all, want to "kill us all" (some few anyway) and while they'll never be able to, I don't think we should just sit on our fat asses and let them blow up buildings and airplanes and whatever either. What should we do? Well, lot's of things that are both proactive and reactive but mostly, educate the stupid motherfuckers. Of course, this would have to include "attacking" their precious religion (not that the majority of Muslims think that way anyway, which is also part of the point, or the pointlessness of this "war") and we can't do that, can we?

This, in my opinion, is the problem with religion. I mean, I'll let you have theism, I'll let you have trying to live by so-called Christian values, or Hindu or Buddhist or Taoist or Jewish or even Muslim (the real Muslims) values but the idea of organized religion has to go if we're ever going to get anywhere. It vests too much power in all the wrong places, namely flawed humans and the old "scriptures".

Somewhere, by someone (I wish I could remember who right now) it's been said that the people are the only people fit to govern the people (or maybe I just now made it up but I hope you get my drift). We the people can better decide than one or two or a few of us can how best to create a society in which we can all live free. One of our basic freedoms has to be free of each other's "religious" beliefs. Believe what you will about an after-life, a creator god, whatever but KEEP IT TO YOURSELF, OK?

We can also attempt to educate them to the fact that we're not all like George Bush (or Newt). And maybe we could start setting a (much) better example of how a Democratic Republic functions and maybe instead of wanting to kill us they'd want to be like us. Maybe.

A tornado pretty much obliterated a small Kansas town Friday. At the risk of sounding cynical I ask if anyone sees the hand of God in this story. First the story:


Tornado flattens town in Kansas
A massive tornado killed at least nine people and flattened almost all of a small town in Kansas on Friday.
More than 60 people were injured when the tornado - said to be up to a mile wide - hit the town of Greensburg.

More than 95% of the 1,500-population town was destroyed, including the hospital and schools as well as homes, local officials said.

A new wave of tornadoes hit southwest Kansas on Saturday evening, affecting at least six counties.

The National Weather Service forecast the development of strong tornadoes in central Kansas and Nebraska during Saturday night.

Earlier, a tornado in central Nebraska damaged buildings and power lines, officials said.

Direct hit

Greensburg, around 120 miles (200km) west of Wichita in southern Kansas, received a direct hit by the tornado late on Friday.

The tornado was described as a "wedge", a particularly wide formation carrying winds of up to 250mph (400km/h).

You could hear the top half of our house start tearing up
Greensburg resident
Aftermath of tornado

Storm chaser Darin Brunin told CNN that the tornado appeared to be at least a mile in diameter.

"A big tornado like that, that moves slower, it can tend to do a lot more damage because it's over an area for a longer amount of time," he said.

Residents said warning sirens went off 20 minutes before the tornado struck, giving them a chance to get to storm shelters.

The storm ripped homes from their foundations and even damaged basement shelters.

"You could hear the top half of our house start tearing up," one man said.

"We were under a bed in the basement. We were just fine, but windows were breaking and smashing."

One of the few buildings still standing is the courthouse. The city hall, schools, businesses as well as homes were destroyed.

At least eight people died in Kiowa County, where Greensburg is located, and one in the neighbouring Pratt County, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Adjutant General's Department said.

Sharon Watson said officials were looking into reports of two further storm-related deaths in the area.

'Catastrophe'

Rescuers spent Saturday combing through the wreckage for both victims and survivors.

Thirty survivors were reportedly pulled from the rubble of the town's partially-collapsed hospital.

Residents were evacuated and the National Guard brought in to provide security.

"This is a huge catastrophe for this small town," City Administrator Steve Hewitt told a news conference.

"My home's gone, my staff's homes are gone."

"We've got to find a way to get this to work and come to work every day and get this thing back on its feet. It's going to be tough."

Mr Hewitt estimated that 95% of the town had been destroyed and warned that it could take days for rescuers to reach survivors trapped in basements and under rubble.

He warned the death toll could rise.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6628613.stm

Published: 2007/05/06 02:28:21 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Several possibilities here as regards my question. One, the atheistic viewpoint, need not be iterated (right?). Anybody?