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Is it blasphemous to lampoon a prophet?

Redemptionsong

Well-Known Member
Not really. After all, the Jews are even stricter monotheists than most Christians. They went to war with the Romans a few times (and lost, obviously) but eventually they came to an understanding and the Romans stopped demanding that they sacrifice to the Emperor, and instead they just were to pray for his health. The Romans really didn't care how many gods you worshipped or what you believed as long as you didn't rock the boat socially with your behavior. The Christians went out of their way to cause trouble. At first the Romans ignored them since Christianity was mostly found amoung slaves and the poor but eventually the fanatics started getting them attention. They would go around harassing people, attacking temples and shrines, fighting with each other (between sects) and trying to get themselves killed ("martyred"). The Romans thought they were a bunch of suicidal, anti-social loons at first when you look at early Roman comments about them. They were persecuted off and on due to this behavior and also because they were so weird and and a suspicious group to the majority of people, but the persecutions were exaggerated a ton by later Christian writers who were basically writing myths a few centuries removed. It's atrocity propaganda. Weirdly a lot of the same executions and tortures they tried to pin on the Romans, the Christians actually used when they ran the show.

Jews and Christians share a belief in the same God. Jesus was a Jew!

I can't agree with this summary of early Christian persecution. If you read the New Testament you'll better understand the beliefs that motivated the persecuted Church.

When Christianity became the state religion you have something entirely different . Can you actually have government based on grace rather than law? I don't believe you can.
 

Hermit Philosopher

Selflessly here for you
Hi Hermit,

I just turned the page of my Bible and read these words, 'Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.' [2 Timothy 3:12,13]

Jesus did nothing but good and was persecuted. Men who worked for good, such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, were assassinated by men of hate.

You can create all the laws you like, but you cannot eradicate evil or hatred through legislation. Law provides us with the framework for a just society, but you need sinless people to create a sinless society.

IMO, we all need the Lord if our hearts are to be changed!


Hello Redemptionsong

I very much agree with your last sentence. I don’t remember talking about eradicating evil, so I don’t really have an opinion on the res of your comment. :)


Humbly
Hermit
 

Saint Frankenstein

Here for the ride
Premium Member
Jews and Christians share a belief in the same God. Jesus was a Jew!

I can't agree with this summary of early Christian persecution. If you read the New Testament you'll better understand the beliefs that motivated the persecuted Church.

When Christianity became the state religion you have something entirely different . Can you actually have government based on grace rather than law? I don't believe you can.
It's debatable if Jews and Christians worship the same god.

I know what the NT says. It's irrelevant as it is not historical fact and probably wasn't written to be read as so.
 

rosends

Well-Known Member
It's debatable if Jews and Christians worship the same god.

I know what the NT says. It's irrelevant as it is not historical fact and probably wasn't written to be read as so.
I don't know if I have mentioned it here but the way I had it explained to me is that there are 2 "things":

the God figure
the idea of God

Jews and Christians shre a God figure, but each has a different idea of God (what God is)
Jews and Muslims share a God idea but each has a different God figure (in that the God figure says different things according to each)
 

JerryMyers

Active Member
Yes, it is a law, at least where I live. And the right to ridicule is a protected part of it. Your imposing your moral sense does nothing to clarify the law.

Really ? Can you show me that part of the First Amendment which, unequivocally, gives the right to mock or ridicule ?? Or are you trying to impose your immoral understanding of the Law on others ??

If you see that as a distinction which would matter then there is no common understanding that we share in order to have a discussion. Chaucer was basing his writing on real events and people. Claiming that, because he doesn’t name a biblical character, that makes a difference, means that you and I are talking about very different ideas.

Right, if you cannot see the difference between using real Biblical characters and using fictional characters in a satirical humor and its effect on the sentiment of the followers of that particular Faith, then, you and I are talking about very different ideas.

If that’s the limited way in which you choose to understand Chaucer, then that’s fine. I disagree, but it shouldn’t make a difference. He is mocking sensitivities. Are you only defending Christianity and not the feeling of Catholics now?

I disagree, Chaucer is not mocking sensitivities, he’s mocking the church for not practicing what it preached. He was not trying to change Christianity or the Christians, he was only trying to highlight the failures of the church. So, your question “Are you only defending Christianity and not the feeling of Catholics now?” was really irrelevant.

Actually, Chaucer was ridiculing much that Christians were and believed. The picture of Muhammed was aimed at a particular belief in Islam. Christians don’t have the right to feel offended by Muslims do? Chaucer issued a retraction and apologized. I guess you feel he had nothing to apologize for if he didn’t offend anyone.

What exactly was “Chaucer ridiculing much that Christians were and believed” about ?

BTW, Chaucer’s ‘retraction’ was included at the end of his book. The fact that this was included in his book tells us ‘the retraction’ is more of a safe clause rather than a retraction. If he believed he had offended the Christians and truly regretted it, he could and would have retracted the book rather than to include ‘the retraction’ in the book and proceed with the release of the book – that would be like you knowing your speech is going to insult the audience but decided ‘hey, let’s insult them and at the end of the speech, I will issue an apology and all my insults will be forgotten” !

The point which you seem to ignore is that Christians all around the world wouldn’t use this as an excuse to behead anyone because the criticism is protected under the law. Maplethorpe died with his head attached.

Why are you so obsessed with beheading ?? I am beginning to believe you may be liking it !!

Because every group’s sensitivity would drive how you speak and act. One group says it is offended by the use of nouns, and you have to stop using nouns. Another group is hurt by verbs, so no verbs for you. Should my being offended by someone’s wearing a cross mean that no one should be allowed to wear a cross?

Is that your understanding of what it means to be respectful to the sensitivity of others ?? You DO need psychiatric help, buddy !

And if you can show how this defines me as a voting member of a particular political party then you might be on solid ground, but you can’t. Go ask the cast of SNL for whom they voted and tell them that if they believe in mockery, they must have voted for the person you connect this to.

What has this got to do with any political party or the SNL satires ?? SNL satires have always been about poking fun at the folly of an individual, groups or establishments – it was never directed to a Belief or Faith with the intention to upset the sentiments of the followers of any Faith. Try to keep up and stay focus although it might be very hard for you !

You can dance all you want to justify how you misrepresented my words, but the fact is, you made the immoral move to delete “often” and change what I said. You have offended my sensitivity. Off with your head.

How can anyone misrepresented a statement like “provoking and mocking the beliefs of others is a much more effective way to make the world a safer place” ?? You can salsa all night but it is what it is and anyone who said something like that should have his head examined. Period.

No. You won’t excuse a civics lesson when it offends. Why should I excuse grammar if it offends?

If grammars easily offend you and civic lessons must include materials which upsett the sentiments of others, then, without a shadow of doubt, you DO need psychiatric help… FAST !!

Wait, I have to defend WHY I am so sensitive about something? And you now don’t want to change and allow for my being sensitive and instead question it? This flip-flopping of your position seems hypocritical.

Well, you cannot defend sensitivity - you can only defend your actions or your words.

Your inability to follow the logic of the argument, and your need to change positions and be inconsistent is a sure sign of a troubled childhood, and tells me your political leanings, also.

It sounds more like your inability to follow the moral logic of the argument that you keep shifting the goalposts.

Swing and a miss there, buddy. I was pointing out that being offended allows, by your logic, extra legal means to respond to even protected behavior. You are aghast that I, being offended, would hack an account, but beheading someone sits well with you. Interesting.

Ahh.. there’s that word again – ‘beheading’ – I think you really like the idea of beheading more than you want to admit it !! Interesting.

BTW, I am not aghast, no reason to be especially for such a stupid and silly threat - I am just pointing out to you that hacking is not only immoral, its also a crime.

Really? You should study the first amendment, then. Speaking from ignorance just embarrasses you.

Yes, really. Which part of the First Amendment you believe states, unequivocally, mockery, to insult and to ridicule are protected rights ?? Show it. Don’t embarrass yourself by making statements based on assumptions.

But other laws DO mention rape. No other laws mention mockery. Try to stay focused here, and if you don’t know something, you can ask instead of saying something ridiculous.

Of course, other laws would mention rape, but then, we are talking about the First Amendment here, not about other laws. Try to stay focused here, and if you don’t know something, you can ask instead of saying something ridiculous.

You really think this? That the ability to ridicule means that revealing troop locations is protected? You really need to study First Amendment law before you make claims like this.

What nonsense are you babbling about here ?? Let me say it again - if you truly believe mockery, to insult and to ridicule are, unequivocally, part of the First Amendment, show it. That should not be difficult if you have study it as you claimed.

No. You are having a hard enough time following what I said. Don’t try to add more to it. To BE offended isn’t a “right” but if people have a protected right to offend, then those who take offense will take offense. You would rather no one has the right to offend, and that isn’t the way of the world. Try to keep up.

This is what you said - “You believe in the right not to be offended. That is not what I believe in.”. If you don’t believe in the right NOT to be offended, it means you believe in the right to BE offended – you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that. And now you are changing your position by saying “To BE offended isn’t a “right” ?? So, it’s rather comical of you to say I have a hard enough time following what you said WHEN you yourself are having a hard enough time following what you said !! What a joke !!

Great. And yet here you are defending that behavior and blaming the victim. Did you see the statement by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed? You should read it.

Who’s defending that behavior and blaming the victim ?? How did you come to that conclusion ? Stating the fact “that almost all major Muslim leaders and organizations in France also condemned the beheading. So did many Muslims around the world” is NOT defending that behavior or blaming the victim, it means we condemn that behavior !!

Yes. The world wants to say “hey, like the rest of us, feel offended but don’t behead anyone, shoot anyone, or blow anyone up.” And you want Muslims to say “Well, only if you change how you teach your civics classes.” Because those are even remotely equivalent. Well done.

Ahh, there’s that word again – ‘beheading’ – you ARE really obsessed with beheading, aren’t you ?

And stop putting words in my mouth – where and when did I ever say I want Muslims to say “Well, only if you change how you teach your civics classes.” ?? Your responses lack credibility, buddy !!

You have a whole lot of “French should…” statements. If you, or Muslims think that the French should change, then you and the Muslims should get into politics and change the laws. That’s how change happens in a governed society.

Of course, I have a lot of “French should…” statements because I am talking in the context of the incident that happened in France… It would be silly of me to have a lot of “the Chinese should…” statements when the incident happened in France !! Try to focus and keep up !! If you are unable to keep up, let me know, I can always slow it down for you… no problem.

Oh look – examples of people making statements that the LEGAL SYSTEM decided weren;t protected, not some guy with a knife! Amazing – the law works.

Seems to me you are incapable of doing anything unless there’s a LEGAL SYSTEM which tells you what you can do and what you cannot do.

To answer that, you would have to study LAW, not murder. No Jew picked up a knife or a gun and killed anyone. You have a problem with the entire governmental/legal system and want to use your discomfort to justify murder as a reasonable and expected outcome. That’s sad.

Well that confirmed what I just said – you are incapable of doing anything unless there’s a LEGAL SYSTEM or the LAW to tell you what you can do and what you cannot do – you probably have a very deprived and controlled childhood which erodes your capability to think and act on your own. That’s sad. I feel for you, buddy.
 

danieldemol

Veteran Member
Premium Member
And we are back where we started – who’s going to say which belief is an error, false and untrue ?? You ??
Your question seems loaded with the suggestion that any one person should decide which beliefs are in error for everyone. In my opinion individuals should decide for themselves what constitutes false beliefs, as such there is no problem whatsoever with me as an individual deciding certain beliefs are erroneous for myself.

Well, you just don’t brush aside the role your parents played in your life as without them, you won’t even exist ! Likewise, without the contribution of Muslims to ancient science, development of modern science might not be as we know it today.
And no doubt likewise the contributions Muslims made to science might not have been the same without the contributions of the polytheist Hellenic civilisation whose knowledge the Muslims built on, but the grand history of science is largely a distraction to the point, which is that Muslims are woefully underperforming today due to erroneous beliefs holding them back from conducting research.


Firstly, what make you think Muslims “believe the earth is a disc (as opposed to spherical), or that the sun revolves around it” ??
It is a fact that there are some Muslims who believe this, it was even reported on by "Arab News" which said, "Even the facts that Earth is spherical, that it revolves around the Sun (and not the other way around), and that our planet and our universe are very old (billions of years) are now rejected by thousands, if not millions, of Arabs and Muslims." Here is the article again since you appear not to have bothered reading it fully the first time around;
Why Muslims should not fear science

Secondly, evolution is not only rejected by Muslims and Christians, it’s also being rejected by Science - Science Proves Evolution Wrong-Human Evolution Is False - Wise-Health-Wealth
Science is not like a person that accepts or rejects anything. When people say "science proves something wrong", what they would usually mean is that the scientific consensus is that the evidence is against a certain belief. However that is certainly not the case with evolution. Did you know that, "Nearly all scientists (97%) say humans and other living things have evolved over time"1?
1 Section 5: Evolution, Climate Change and Other Issues

That only proves the faulty logic of your thinking.…. just as your erroneous belief on evolution.
Empty assertion does not prove anything

Blasphemy can be educational ??! Well, coming from someone who believe in evolution, I guess I should not be surprised.
Yes, you are the one who argued that Muhammad's blasphemy was educational.

How can provocation be educational if it is morally wrong ?? That’s like saying stealing is morally wrong but its educational so, lets continue stealing to educate ourselves further !!
I did not say somone getting provoked was wrong, I said doing something with the intention of provoking or hurting someone's feelings is wrong, doing something educational, even if it is wrongfully percieved as an act of provocation is not morally wrong. Even with the best of intentions there are always going to be insecure humans with excessively fragile egos who will get hurt by it. God is able to reliably judge a person's intentions, unlike humans who often have misunderstandings.

Fact is, we can roughly know the minds of the provokers, but we can’t really read the minds of those who are being provoked
So we can read the minds of provokers but not the provoked? Talk about double standards. And speaking of double standards you haven't condemned Muhammad for His blasphemy against the polytheists and disrespect towards and criticism of their beliefs and others. If it was good enough for Muhammad to blaspheme it is good enough for the west to blaspheme

.
So why, in God’s Name, would anyone provoke others for their beliefs and risk the possibility of a violent retaliation and put many innocent lives in danger too?
You are clearly misdirecting blame here. No one is responsible for the actions of the retaliator except the retaliator himself. It is therefore clear since people are responsible for their own actions that it is the retaliator who is to blame for endangering innocent lives.

Not only that the law of proportionate response is derived from the principle of justice. Personally i think revenge is not always moral, but hypothetically assuming revenge is moral it is only morall in equal proportions that is, an eye for an eye. If Moses were to formulate a principal as followed by the morally bankrupt people who put innocent lives in danger instead of saying, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" He would have said, "for an eye, the life of anyone sharing the same religion or nationality as the accused in the neighbourhood and torch a dozen houses down as well". In other words if you need revenge for being insulted, insult that person back, to do more than that is a sign of moral bankruptcy.

What exactly is “only a little of what you have said in this paragraph is historically likely to be true from a scientific perspective” ??
I probably should have been more specific on what you got wrong, but it seems like a tangential topic to the subject matter.
 

rosends

Well-Known Member
Really ? Can you show me that part of the First Amendment which, unequivocally, gives the right to mock or ridicule ?? Or are you trying to impose your immoral understanding of the Law on others ??


In the constitution, the text makes no exceptions “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…” so without anything else, the law of freedom of speech is unequivocal, allowing mockery. If you want to, you can then study those elements subject to prior restraint and satire. Here is a resource. Satire




I disagree, Chaucer is not mocking sensitivities, he’s mocking the church for not practicing what it preached. He was not trying to change Christianity or the Christians, he was only trying to highlight the failures of the church. So, your question “Are you only defending Christianity and not the feeling of Catholics now?” was really irrelevant.

So you say. I disagree. While Chaucer criticized church practices he also criticized and mocked underlying church doctrine and the beliefs that were central to the Church and its conception of Christianity.


What exactly was “Chaucer ridiculing much that Christians were and believed” about ?


The central belief in and mechanisms for forgiveness, a Christian doctrine.

BTW, Chaucer’s ‘retraction’ was included at the end of his book. The fact that this was included in his book tells us ‘the retraction’ is more of a safe clause rather than a retraction. If he believed he had offended the Christians and truly regretted it, he could and would have retracted the book rather than to include ‘the retraction’ in the book and proceed with the release of the book – that would be like you knowing your speech is going to insult the audience but decided ‘hey, let’s insult them and at the end of the speech, I will issue an apology and all my insults will be forgotten” !

So he knows it will offend but only pretends to apologize, not caring that it offends. Off with his head!


Why are you so obsessed with beheading ?? I am beginning to believe you may be liking it !!


Ask Samuel Paty


Is that your understanding of what it means to be respectful to the sensitivity of others ?? You DO need psychiatric help, buddy !

No, that’s a logical extension of your intention to be sensitive to everyone’s feelings. Not offending is about not offending. If I am offended, by your logic, you have to change.


What has this got to do with any political party or the SNL satires ?? SNL satires have always been about poking fun at the folly of an individual, groups or establishments – it was never directed to a Belief or Faith with the intention to upset the sentiments of the followers of any Faith. Try to keep up and stay focus although it might be very hard for you !

Um, because they use mockery as the most effective tool and you decided that because I recognize that as a valid technique, I must have a particular political affiliation. Do you not recall your own claim? You should review what you said.


How can anyone misrepresented a statement like “provoking and mocking the beliefs of others is a much more effective way to make the world a safer place” ?? You can salsa all night but it is what it is and anyone who said something like that should have his head examined. Period.


It is a pity that you refuse to read what you wrote in comparison with what I actually wrote. You removed a word and changed a tense both of which affected meaning. That’s immoral. Shall I wait while you reread?


If grammars easily offend you and civic lessons must include materials which upsett the sentiments of others, then, without a shadow of doubt, you DO need psychiatric help… FAST !!


So if someone is offended by a lesson, that requires psychiatric help, or do you have a list of what subjects are allowed to offend and which are not? Grammar can’t offend but civics can? Who elected you to the position of making this list?


Well, you cannot defend sensitivity - you can only defend your actions or your words.

And you defend all sensitivity. Got it.


It sounds more like your inability to follow the moral logic of the argument that you keep shifting the goalposts.

If it sounds like that to you then you aren’t paying attention. The goalposts have always been the same. The law. If it protects something then anyone who doesn’t like the law can work to change the law, but killing someone who acts in a protected way is indefensible.


BTW, I am not aghast, no reason to be especially for such a stupid and silly threat - I am just pointing out to you that hacking is not only immoral, its also a crime.


So is killing someone. But if you recall, this thread is about the response to a perceived insult which, in the case of Samuel Paty, was that he was killed.


Of course, other laws would mention rape, but then, we are talking about the First Amendment here, not about other laws. Try to stay focused here, and if you don’t know something, you can ask instead of saying something ridiculous.


If we are talking about the first amendment, why did YOU bring up rape? You seem fascinated with rape. I was talking about freedom of speech.


What nonsense are you babbling about here ?? Let me say it again - if you truly believe mockery, to insult and to ridicule are, unequivocally, part of the First Amendment, show it. That should not be difficult if you have study it as you claimed.


This is the third time you have mentioned this challenge. I deleted the second time, but I answered after the first time. Mockery is protected as demonstrated in what I cited above. Here’s a nice quote for you. You can look up who said it

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”
— Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan


This is what you said - “You believe in the right not to be offended. That is not what I believe in.”. If you don’t believe in the right NOT to be offended, it means you believe in the right to BE offended – you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that.

That’s actually not true. I do not believe in the right to die. That doesn’t mean I believe in the right not to die. Not believing in a particular right doesn't create a converse belief in the existence of a legal right. I don’t see being offended as a legal right. Claiming I said that is immoral. I am offended. You must change.



Who’s defending that behavior and blaming the victim ?? How did you come to that conclusion ? Stating the fact “that almost all major Muslim leaders and organizations in France also condemned the beheading. So did many Muslims around the world” is NOT defending that behavior or blaming the victim, it means we condemn that behavior !!


If you condemn the behavior and don’t blame the victim then you should be spending energy explaining why what he did was wrong, or why the consequence was understandable. But you do. The head of the UAE, on the other hand, didn’t.


Ahh, there’s that word again – ‘beheading’ – you ARE really obsessed with beheading, aren’t you ?
As much as you are with rape.

And stop putting words in my mouth – where and when did I ever say I want Muslims to say “Well, only if you change how you teach your civics classes.” ?? Your responses lack credibility, buddy !!


Um, so you are saying that Muslims are all OK with how Samuel Paty taught his class about French law? Talk about flip flopping. If it is helpful, I can trace, through your quotes, how you have just changed position. Let me know - I'm here to help you understand.


Of course, I have a lot of “French should…” statements because I am talking in the context of the incident that happened in France… It would be silly of me to have a lot of “the Chinese should…” statements when the incident happened in France !! Try to focus and keep up !! If you are unable to keep up, let me know, I can always slow it down for you… no problem.


Another swing and a miss. The issue is with your use of the word “should” as a suggestion about how the society should change. I’ll go slower if you can’t follow the argument.


Seems to me you are incapable of doing anything unless there’s a LEGAL SYSTEM which tells you what you can do and what you cannot do.


No, I’m incapable of knowing the legal value of an action without considering the laws. Are you advocating a system which lacks a set of governing laws? Do you have a driver's license? Or do you just drive any way because you don't need any rules?


Well that confirmed what I just said – you are incapable of doing anything unless there’s a LEGAL SYSTEM or the LAW to tell you what you can do and what you cannot do – you probably have a very deprived and controlled childhood which erodes your capability to think and act on your own. That’s sad. I feel for you, buddy.

When every person thinks and acts on his own, society crumbles, but if that’s what you believe in…[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Poland: three women on trial for posters of Virgin Mary with LGBTI rainbow halo

Three women in Poland are facing up to two years in jail after sharing posters depicting the Virgin Mary with a halo in the rainbow colours of the LGBTI pride flag.

In a joint statement, Amnesty International and other leading human rights organisations have urged the Polish authorities to drop the charges against the three human rights defenders - Elżbieta, Anna and Joanna - ahead of the first hearing in their case, scheduled for tomorrow (4 November) in the town of Plock.

More than 140,000 people have joined an international campaign calling on Poland’s Prosecutor General to drop charges against the three women who are being prosecuted for ‘offending religious beliefs’.

Catrinel Motoc, Amnesty International’s Senior Europe Campaigner, said:

“Given the complete lack of evidence of a crime here, it is clear that these three women are being tried for their peaceful activism.

“Having, creating or distributing posters such as the ones depicting the Virgin Mary with a rainbow halo should not be a criminal offence.

“The charges against Elżbieta, Anna and Joanna should be dropped, and the Polish authorities should amend their legislation on the right to freedom of expression to bring it in line with international human rights standards.”
 

PearlSeeker

Well-Known Member
If you happen to live in a secular society, such as France, you may believe that secularism provides a framework for democracy where:
1. There is a separation of state and religion
2. There is freedom to practice one's faith (theist, agnostic or atheist), without harming others, and to change faith if one so wishes.
3. There is equal treatment of faiths and ideologies by the state, so long as a citizen acts within the law.

Does the lampooning and portrayal of Muhammad amount to blasphemy, and is this harmful to Islam/Muslims?
It's disrespectful to Muslims (no matter where you live). But it's also disrespectful to perform such extreme punishment in a democratic secular country.
 

Muffled

Jesus in me
It's disrespectful to Muslims (no matter where you live). But it's also disrespectful to perform such extreme punishment in a democratic secular country.

I don't believe I am obligated to give Muhammad any more respect than he deserves. It is historical fact that Muhammad had multiple wives. That falls short of the perfect will of God.
 

PearlSeeker

Well-Known Member
I don't believe I am obligated to give Muhammad any more respect than he deserves. It is historical fact that Muhammad had multiple wives. That falls short of the perfect will of God.
It's not that you should respect Muhammad per se but you have to respect that Muslims give him respect and what is insult to them.
 

danieldemol

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I believe that would be under a slander law but who will the grieving party be? And I suppose the Muhammad cartoons could be considered slanderous as well.
Well unless you have words of condemnation of the lgbt crowd from Mary how can you claim that her support for it is slander?
 

JerryMyers

Active Member
Your question seems loaded with the suggestion that any one person should decide which beliefs are in error for everyone. In my opinion individuals should decide for themselves what constitutes false beliefs, as such there is no problem whatsoever with me as an individual deciding certain beliefs are erroneous for myself.

Not really. Unless you are assuming I am asking you to determine which beliefs are in error on behalf of everyone. How you come to that assumption is a mystery to me.

And no doubt likewise the contributions Muslims made to science might not have been the same without the contributions of the polytheist Hellenic civilisation whose knowledge the Muslims built on, but the grand history of science is largely a distraction to the point, which is that Muslims are woefully underperforming today due to erroneous beliefs holding them back from conducting research.

Only that’s a false observation. Yes, some Muslims may be underperforming in some part of the world, but that should not be translated as all Muslims around the world are underperforming and that is also true in other communities irrespective of its race or faith.

It is a fact that there are some Muslims who believe this, it was even reported on by "Arab News" which said, "Even the facts that Earth is spherical, that it revolves around the Sun (and not the other way around), and that our planet and our universe are very old (billions of years) are now rejected by thousands, if not millions, of Arabs and Muslims." Here is the article again since you appear not to have bothered reading it fully the first time around;
Why Muslims should not fear science

I have travel quite extensively around the globe in my career and I have never met a Muslim who believe what you are implying here. Yes, there are probably people who may still believe that or the world is flat but to say only Muslims have that erroneous belief is simply not true.

Science is not like a person that accepts or rejects anything. When people say "science proves something wrong", what they would usually mean is that the scientific consensus is that the evidence is against a certain belief. However that is certainly not the case with evolution. Did you know that, "Nearly all scientists (97%) say humans and other living things have evolved over time"1?
1 Section 5: Evolution, Climate Change and Other Issues

Yes, science is not like a person but science is still interpreted by man.

BTW, when I said “evolution is not only rejected by Muslims and Christians, it’s also being rejected by Science”, I am referring to the evolution as presented by Charles Darwin, that is, there’s no Supreme Creator, God and the first man was not created by God. I am just not sure whether we are talking about the same evolution here.

Yes, you are the one who argued that Muhammad's blasphemy was educational.

First of all, there’s no such thing as Muhammad’s blasphemy because Muhammad never commit blasphemy and if he did, he could not have been selected by God to be His prophet and if blasphemy is educational, then, by your logic, killing is also educational.

I did not say someone getting provoked was wrong, I said doing something with the intention of provoking or hurting someone's feelings is wrong, doing something educational, even if it is wrongfully percieved as an act of provocation is not morally wrong. Even with the best of intentions there are always going to be insecure humans with excessively fragile egos who will get hurt by it. God is able to reliably judge a person's intentions, unlike humans who often have misunderstandings.[/quote]

Yes, but. we get upset by actions as we cannot see intentions. So, actions which provoke or hurt someone’s feeling are also morally wrong, not just intentions.

So we can read the minds of provokers but not the provoked? Talk about double standards. And speaking of double standards you haven't condemned Muhammad for His blasphemy against the polytheists and disrespect towards and criticism of their beliefs and others. If it was good enough for Muhammad to blaspheme it is good enough for the west to blaspheme

No, we react by the actions of the provokers but we can only react to the one being provoked only if he reacts. In other words, we know the actions of the provokers will upset someone but we cannot know how that someone will react. So, if you knew your action will upset the sentiment of a certain group, why would you still do it ? Unless you feel upsetting the sentiment of others is the only way to educate.

You are clearly misdirecting blame here. No one is responsible for the actions of the retaliator except the retaliator himself. It is therefore clear since people are responsible for their own actions that it is the retaliator who is to blame for endangering innocent lives.

No I am not misdirecting blame here. I am just stating the fact. Retaliators are created because provokers are there, it’s not like provokers are created because retaliators are there. Thus, it’s only logical thinking that to stop or minimize retaliation incidents, we also need to learn to refrain ourselves from doing things that could provoke and invite retaliations. Of course, it goes without saying, retaliators also need to make changes in their response to provocations as violent retaliations benefit no one but can also invite counter-retaliations which could be equally as violent.

Not only that the law of proportionate response is derived from the principle of justice. Personally i think revenge is not always moral, but hypothetically assuming revenge is moral it is only morall in equal proportions that is, an eye for an eye. If Moses were to formulate a principal as followed by the morally bankrupt people who put innocent lives in danger instead of saying, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" He would have said, "for an eye, the life of anyone sharing the same religion or nationality as the accused in the neighbourhood and torch a dozen houses down as well". In other words if you need revenge for being insulted, insult that person back, to do more than that is a sign of moral bankruptcy.

Of course, revenge is not moral and in fact, in Islam, in the eye of the Almighty God, forgiveness is much better than revenge. Then again, expecting people to forgive instead of retaliating in revenge cannot happen overnight as people tends to react emotionally rather than rational thinking. I believe to make the world a better place, that change starts with the man in the mirror.
 

JerryMyers

Active Member
In the constitution, the text makes no exceptions “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…” so without anything else, the law of freedom of speech is unequivocal, allowing mockery. If you want to, you can then study those elements subject to prior restraint and satire. Here is a resource. Satire

That’s unequivocal ?? Not really, you seem to suggest absolute freedom of speech/expression under the First Amendment when that’s far from truth. In fact, in 1919, the Supreme Court ruled speech that presents a “clear and present danger” is not protected by the First Amendment and in 1939, the Supreme Court ruled that forms of expression that “inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace” are fighting words that are not protected by the First Amendment. That too is not unequivocally clear as ‘clear and present danger’ and ‘to incite an immediate breach of the peace’ are subjected to how each person interpret that.

So you say. I disagree. While Chaucer criticized church practices he also criticized and mocked underlying church doctrine and the beliefs that were central to the Church and its conception of Christianity.

I think it would help if you could be specific on how and what “underlying church doctrine and the beliefs that were central to the Church and its conception of Christianity” was he really mocking.

The central belief in and mechanisms for forgiveness, a Christian doctrine.

Which part of Chaucer’s book you think imply that he was ridiculing the central belief in and mechanisms for forgiveness ??

So he knows it will offend but only pretends to apologize, not caring that it offends. Off with his head!

On the contrary – he did not know or have the intention to offend and he included the safe clause to cover himself in case some of his readers misinterpreted his satire and was offended.

Ask Samuel Paty

Ask someone who’s no longer around ? That summed up your thinking logic !!

No, that’s a logical extension of your intention to be sensitive to everyone’s feelings. Not offending is about not offending. If I am offended, by your logic, you have to change.

Yes, of course. If you are offended by my actions which provoked you and the followers of your Faith, then, yes, I should change.

Um, because they use mockery as the most effective tool and you decided that because I recognize that as a valid technique, I must have a particular political affiliation. Do you not recall your own claim? You should review what you said.

Well, you see the SNL satires as mockery, I see them as humor poking fun at the folly of others ….. and who cares what political affiliation you have as no one should judge you by your political affiliation, race or Faith.

It is a pity that you refuse to read what you wrote in comparison with what I actually wrote. You removed a word and changed a tense both of which affected meaning. That’s immoral. Shall I wait while you reread?

Which word did I remove and which tense did I change ?? Mind pointing that out to me ?

So if someone is offended by a lesson, that requires psychiatric help, or do you have a list of what subjects are allowed to offend and which are not? Grammar can’t offend but civics can? Who elected you to the position of making this list?

No, I said “ If ..…… and civic lessons must include materials which upset the sentiments of others, then, without a shadow of doubt, you DO need psychiatric help…”. I did not say if grammars and civic lessons offend you… - try not to change what I said to suit your response.

And you defend all sensitivity. Got it.

And you defend all that are morally wrong. Got it.

If it sounds like that to you then you aren’t paying attention. The goalposts have always been the same. The law. If it protects something then anyone who doesn’t like the law can work to change the law, but killing someone who acts in a protected way is indefensible.

Well, that confirms what I said of you. You are incapable to follow the moral logic of the argument as your thinking logic is only confined to the law and no one is saying we don’t need any law. In most cases, it’s not the Law that need changes, it’s the people – something which you just cannot understand.

So is killing someone. But if you recall, this thread is about the response to a perceived insult which, in the case of Samuel Paty, was that he was killed.

Yes, Samuel Paty was killed but his death is unnecessary and the killing could have been easily avoided and that’s why we said the killing is senseless. Senseless because it makes no logical sense for anyone to mock and provoke the sensitivity of others which could incite a retaliation and senseless because violent retaliations is not going to bring good to anyone or improve the image of the retaliators’ Belief or Faith but only will make it worse.

This is the third time you have mentioned this challenge. I deleted the second time, but I answered after the first time. Mockery is protected as demonstrated in what I cited above. Here’s a nice quote for you. You can look up who said it

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”
— Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan

Well, if you care to study the First Amendment in more details and consult the legal experts who specialize in the First Amendment, you will know that speech inciting illegal actions or soliciting others to commit crimes are not protected under the First Amendment.

That’s actually not true. I do not believe in the right to die. That doesn’t mean I believe in the right not to die. Not believing in a particular right doesn't create a converse belief in the existence of a legal right. I don’t see being offended as a legal right. Claiming I said that is immoral. I am offended. You must change.

Stop dancing round the bush, just tell me – did you or did you not say “You believe in the right not to be offended. That is not what I believe in.” ??

If you condemn the behavior and don’t blame the victim then you should be spending energy explaining why what he did was wrong, or why the consequence was understandable. But you do. The head of the UAE, on the other hand, didn’t.

Well I believe both sides have to make changes as to incite anger and violent retaliations are both morally wrong. You, on other hand, only recognize that to retaliate with violence is morally wrong but you would not want to admit that actions which incite anger of others is equally morally wrong.

As much as you are with rape.

Oh, grow up ! I mentioned rape once to make a point while you mention beheading numerous times, probably to irritate me just for the fun of it. Way to go, kiddo !

Um, so you are saying that Muslims are all OK with how Samuel Paty taught his class about French law? Talk about flip flopping. If it is helpful, I can trace, through your quotes, how you have just changed position. Let me know - I'm here to help you understand.

Oh, don’t let me stop you… please, show me all my quotes and how I change positions.

Another swing and a miss. The issue is with your use of the word “should” as a suggestion about how the society should change. I’ll go slower if you can’t follow the argument.

Yes of course, I used ‘should’ in the context of for the better of the society… or you prefer I use ‘I command …’? I’ll go slower if you can’t follow the argument.

No, I’m incapable of knowing the legal value of an action without considering the laws. Are you advocating a system which lacks a set of governing laws? Do you have a driver's license? Or do you just drive any way because you don't need any rules?

Not really. Driving any way without any consideration to other road users would be morally wrong and irresponsible and I don’t need the law to tell me that. You, on the other hand, need the law to tell you what is wrong and what is right because you lack moral values.

When every person thinks and acts on his own, society crumbles, but if that’s what you believe in…

Society crumbles when moral values and sense of responsibility crumble. Lootings, thefts, killings and such, continue to make headlines not because there’s no law but because there’s no moral values and sense of responsibility in those people who commit those crimes. Its sad that you can’t see that.
 

danieldemol

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Yes, science is not like a person but science is still interpreted by man.

BTW, when I said “evolution is not only rejected by Muslims and Christians, it’s also being rejected by Science”, I am referring to the evolution as presented by Charles Darwin, that is, there’s no Supreme Creator, God and the first man was not created by God. I am just not sure whether we are talking about the same evolution here.
I'm interested in discussing this further with you but it is getting of topic.

Do you mind if I start a new thread and add your quotation here to it?
 

rosends

Well-Known Member
That’s unequivocal ?? Not really, you seem to suggest absolute freedom of speech/expression under the First Amendment when that’s far from truth. In fact, in 1919, the Supreme Court ruled speech that presents a “clear and present danger” is not protected by the First Amendment and in 1939, the Supreme Court ruled that forms of expression that “inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace” are fighting words that are not protected by the First Amendment. That too is not unequivocally clear as ‘clear and present danger’ and ‘to incite an immediate breach of the peace’ are subjected to how each person interpret that.

You asked for the constitution and the unequivocal statement. As written it is an unequivocal statement which allows absolute freedom. Through the years, court cases have defined a series of exclusions which are subject to prior restraint. One of them is “direct incitement to violence.” This has to do with directing someone to act violently. None is “offensive” speech or “mockery.” Those are protected. What the teacher did is not considered "fighting words" (see the required elements in RN II).

I think it would help if you could be specific


Other than his questioning of the notion of forgiveness via pilgrimage regardless of sincerity, there is also the issue of determinism and the Christian attitude towards women. If you don’t want to see that, I can send you some scholarly journal articles, but I think the topic is not a necessary branch to pursue. If you want to see Chaucer as simply criticizing a particular institution and not some of the traditional (and by his day, he thought outmoded) beliefs and doctrines, then you can feel free to read it that way.

Ask someone who’s no longer around ? That summed up your thinking logic !!
“No longer around” is an interesting way of dismissing him. Swing and a miss again.


Yes, of course. If you are offended by my actions which provoked you and the followers of your Faith, then, yes, I should change.

So you put all the power in the hands of anyone and any group which claims offense at any time, and you intend to lead your life changing to accommodate anyone who claims offense. If you think that that’s a way to live then allow me to tell you to change because that attitude offends me.
Well, you see the SNL satires as mockery, I see them as humor poking fun at the folly of others ….. and who cares what political affiliation you have as no one should judge you by your political affiliation, race or Faith.

And I see the showing of a picture as part of a class not as mockery but as sincere teaching. And you are the one who jumped to a conclusion about my political affiliation and judged me by it (post 156). Strange that now you say it shouldn’t be relevant.
Which word did I remove and which tense did I change ?? Mind pointing that out to me ?
I did in post 177. Now that I reread it, I see that the change of tense was an inference I made. So we’ll just stick with the immoral omission of a word.


No, I said “ If ..…… and civic lessons must include materials which upset the sentiments of others, then, without a shadow of doubt, you DO need psychiatric help…”. I did not say if grammars and civic lessons offend you… - try not to change what I said to suit your response.


You are lost again. You told me (#178) not to be offended by grammar so I pointed out that you think it is acceptable to be offended by a civics lesson. The murderer in France was offended by a particular civics lesson, and I am offended by your disdain for grammar. You think one should be ignored and one reacted to.

And you defend all that are morally wrong. Got it.

Actually, I defend the legal right to be wrong according to someone else’s morality. Maybe that’s too subtle for you so you reduce it to a simplistic, wrong formulation.


Well, that confirms what I said of you. You are incapable to follow the moral logic of the argument as your thinking logic is only confined to the law and no one is saying we don’t need any law. In most cases, it’s not the Law that need changes, it’s the people – something which you just cannot understand.

My logic is determined by the existence of law, that’s true. Unless you want to tell me what the transcendent moral code is that everyone should accept, I will have to be driven by a legal code that is uniform and consistent for all.
Yes, Samuel Paty was killed but his death is unnecessary and the killing could have been easily avoided and that’s why we said the killing is senseless. Senseless because it makes no logical sense for anyone to mock and provoke the sensitivity of others which could incite a retaliation and senseless because violent retaliations is not going to bring good to anyone or improve the image of the retaliators’ Belief or Faith but only will make it worse.


I’m just going to let this hang here for a minute. You are now saying that his killing was senseless because it makes no logical sense for him to do something which provokes someone else to kill him. You aren’t saying it was senseless because it is illogical for someone to kill him, but it is senseless because he didn’t have to provoke someone to kill him. So the blame for his death is on him, not on his killer. Wow.


Well, if you care to study the First Amendment in more details and consult the legal experts who specialize in the First Amendment, you will know that speech inciting illegal actions or soliciting others to commit crimes are not protected under the First Amendment.


“Soliciting others to commit crimes”? If you are talking about criminal solicitation then you are way off base. Saying something that someone else reacts to is not solicitation. Just pulling phrases from various websites and cobbling them together doesn’t make a very good argument. I quoted a Supreme Court justice who said that a certain type of speech is protected and you say it isn’t because it is solicitation? Speech that is not protected is a direct incitement to follow the words of the speech, not speech eliciting a response. Read up on Brandenburg.

Stop dancing round the bush, just tell me – did you or did you not say “You believe in the right not to be offended. That is not what I believe in.” ??

That is what I said. And you took that and imputed something else. I don’t believe that there is a right not to be offended. You took that and claimed that I mean that “to be offended should also be a right” which I never said.


Well I believe both sides have to make changes as to incite anger and violent retaliations are both morally wrong. You, on other hand, only recognize that to retaliate with violence is morally wrong but you would not want to admit that actions which incite anger of others is equally morally wrong.

Actually, I recognize that to retaliate with violence is LEGALLY wrong in addition to being morally wrong. But since I’m not talking about morality (because different people subscribe to different moral codes) the moral aspect of any behavior is irrelevant to what I have been saying. So claiming my position on an issue of morality is arguing facts not in evidence.

Oh, grow up ! I mentioned rape once to make a point while you mention beheading numerous times, probably to irritate me just for the fun of it.

No, just to remind you that the core issue here was that a teacher was beheaded because of his exercising a legally protected right in his classroom. What you are defending isn’t some nebulous “retaliate with violence” but a beheading.

please, show me all my quotes and how I change positions.

You said that both sides have to change (178) but in 187 you ask “ – where and when did I ever say I want Muslims to say “Well, only if you change how you teach your civics classes.”

So I am pointing out that either you do demand changes on both sides (which would be “stop killing” on one, and “stop teaching things that drive Muslims to kill” on the other) as per 178 or as you insist in 187, you never claimed that Muslims would demand that the way the class is taught needs to change so they must be OK with the way things are taught.

Which one is it? Are you demanding changes or not?

Yes of course, I used ‘should’ in the context of for the better of the society… or you prefer I use ‘I command …’? I’ll go slower if you can’t follow the argument.

I’ll type slowly for you. You took my pointing out that you have “France should” statements and said that it wouldn’t make sense to speak of another country. So I simply clarified that my argument was centered on your making a recommendation for a change in the law and not in the lawlessness. I wrote, “If you, or Muslims think that the French should change, then you and the Muslims should get into politics and change the laws”.


Not really. Driving any way without any consideration to other road users would be morally wrong and irresponsible and I don’t need the law to tell me that. You, on the other hand, need the law to tell you what is wrong and what is right because you lack moral values.

So we don't need laws and rules for drivers -- we just need a moral code and that will solve who has the right of way, or how many seconds you have to stop at a stop sign.

So if you stopped at a red light but there was no one around, you would go through it because there are no other drivers around for you to consider? And speeding is not wrong on an empty stretch of road because you can’t contextualize it through a moral code? But you drive in a way that considers other road users so if you have a green light and want to turn, but the person on your right, who has a red, wants to go through it, you would allow his illegal consideration to determine how you drive. It would morally wrong for you not consider what he wants I guess.


Society crumbles when moral values and sense of responsibility crumble. Lootings, thefts, killings and such, continue to make headlines not because there’s no law but because there’s no moral values and sense of responsibility in those people who commit those crimes. Its sad that you can’t see that.

“Lootings, thefts, killings and such, continue to make headlines not because there’s no law but because there’s no moral values and sense of responsibility”. Except when the people perpetrating these acts think that they are acting morally because their own moral codes justify these behaviors. You are OK with that, I guess.

There is no singular moral code which everyone agrees to. There are laws to which all people in a place are bound. Trying to explain that all people have to be moral according to YOUR idea of morality, and until then, they have to expect that others will act illegally makes no sense.
 
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SeekerOnThePath

On a mountain between Nietzsche and Islam
Jews and Christians share a belief in the same God. Jesus was a Jew!

Jesus worshiped YHWH.
Christians worship Jesus.

Jesus worshiped the same God as Jews because, yes, he was a Jew.

Christians don't worship the same God as Jews and which Jesus did.

Christians deviated away from the God of Israel.
 

PearlSeeker

Well-Known Member
Jesus worshiped YHWH.
Christians worship Jesus.
Not so. Jesus called JHVH "Father". (Most) Christians worship Father and Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit. It's not just Jesus. Christians have worshiped the same God as Jews. They just came to hold a belief that there are three divine persons that are actually one being (triune God). This belief wasn't clear at first. It took almost four centuries to formalize in Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (381). Not all Christians agreed with this. There were and still are also nontrinitarian groups.
 
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