Atheism Corner

Humanity in Progress

Israel Got Issues With Free Speech

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Israel’s parliament has spent time and energy passing a law which is, amazingly enough, anti democratic and anti free speech, and all of this is because it seems that Israel’s prime minister and foreign minister are determined to show the world and their own voters that they will go to great lengths to protect the Jewish settlers in the occupied territories.

On this blog we frequently applause Israel, it is the only real democracy in its region, and even after this joke of “Arab spring” it will stay alone as a democratic country for a long time to be. Israel had been fighting terror as well as state funded terror which is the modern way Arab nations wage war, for as long as it has been in existence, and all that time has succeeded in keeping a viable democracy and a free speech policy, until now.

This is probably one of the lowest moments in Israeli history, when the parliament passes a law that forbids the public criticism of Israeli citizens actions, and in effect is a call to reduce the basic and alimentary human rights of anyone. This law is not only shameful but it also offers a glimpse into Israeli society, and it also shows that there is growing tensions between different political views, as well as the clear boycotting policy of a few of the Israeli-Jewish political left organizations.

There are, it seems, plenty of people who live within the boarders of Israel proper, who feel that the Jewish settlers are not helping the country, and that in fact they are doing their own thing for their own cause, costing a huge amount of funds to the Israeli taxpayer as well as calling for the protection of the army, mainly because these people live in an Arab Muslim area, which is hostile to them.

The attempt to silence criticism and to forbid public organizations to act against what they think and feel is wrong is barbaric and disgusting, the fact that the law passed casts a shadow over this proud country, and the only thing that is to give us some hope is that this law is already challenged by many in the Israeli society, some of whom are on the same political side as the settlers but who will not see the freedom of speech molested in this way.

And why all this on a Atheist blog? well, the reason these settlers are there is very much religious, they are religios fanatics who believe in the coming of the massayah and to bring forth his appearance believe that they should inhibit these parts of the country, on the other side you have the Muslims, who, clearly, have a very different idea of what the massayah will want, when and if he ever comes by.

The IDF and God

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If God Took Them, Why Would He Not Remember Them?

This story comes from the troubled land of Israel, the Israelis have gone through many wars to keep Arab armies from invading and (in their own words) massacring the entire Jewish community of this country. So far this country has been successful at beating the outside forces every single time, however this comes at a dear cost, and there are many families that have no father, brother, uncle, sister and mother as a result of these wars and acts of terrorism.

As it turns out there are not so many Orthodox Jews in Israel, they make up less than 10% of the total population, most of the country is made of secular Jews who define themselves as non-religious or traditional (they will keep the holidays but not the Saturday for example). The Orthodox Jews have some political power as they are the balance of power between the right and left sides of the political map, and they try and get away with as much as possible with that small advantage.

So they got this uniform wording for remembrance ceremonies for the fallen soldiers that mentions god in the opening statement, instead of what was before just “The people of Israel” has now moved on to god. Naturally many people, especially ones who have lost one dear to them, are upset over this. Add to this the fact that many of the Orthodox Jews do not join the army (and are free to do so) because they need to pray for the country (or so they say, who knows what they pray for) and you got an explosive mix, the non soldiers force the families of dead soldiers to pray to their god.

So far 50,000 Israelis signed a partition to have the original text restored and get god out of this deal, if he placed the Jews in a see of hostile Arab nations that want nothing but to kill Jews (for the sake of God of course) and if he made all these wars for his believers to cut away at each other, there is probably no way he would not remember that – he does not need humans reminding him.

Russell Crowe & His Jewish Mates

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Twitter Goes Nuts For Crowe Speaks His truth

In yet another delusional news item about how religious people get deeply offended by other people, Russell Crowe, who usually keeps to acting (pretty well I think) and going a little too physical on some people sometimes had a thought out on Twitter, he said that to him the tradition of circumcision is a barbaric act that he hopes will not stay in this modern world.

And the craziness followed, because one man who speaks his mind, about something that should be perfectly clear to anyone, is not acceptable. He eventually apologized and this came to an end.

It will be surprising to some of you that in Israel, land of the Jews, where most men are circumcised, many think that Russell Crowe is right and that this is one tradition everyone will be better off without. Many of Israels Jews prefer to have the procedure in a hospital done by a doctor and not a religious person, not in a house and not followed by lavish lunch. This is the first sign that the Jewish community itself started having doubts about this brutal tradition.

This is mainly a question of habit, not real belief, and most secular Jews do not buy into this any more, the reason is clear, there is no god and if there was one it would really be better off asking people to sacrifice parts of their week old sons, not to mention he could have done something to help this poor nation in the last 2,000 years.

So, Mr. Crowe touched a nerve there, and instead of honest people picking it up and doing something good with a bit of realism they force the actor to explain how he did not mean what he meant, and ruin a perfectly good moment to start a change.

Spencer Tunick & the Jewish God

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One Jew that is Not Welcome in Israel

Everyones favorite nude photographer Spencer Tunick is trying to get one of his photos in the lowest place on earth – the dead sea. But since the dead sea is located within the boarders of the Jewish state of Israel he is meetin gstrong opposition from the parties of god in this country, who obviously think god did such a terrible job at desinging the look of the human body that can not tolerate any sight of naked skin, not even if they never actually see the image. The idea of having naked people running around the desert is too much to bare.

If Israel was a model country, in which all religious Jews would be an example to decency and high moral behavior I would say that could (maybe) make some sense, but we are talking about a country that has its former president waiting at home for his imprisonment for sexually attacking a couple of women who worked for him (not with him – for him), and that was chosen as president by the religious parties in Israel because he was observing the Shabbat and visiting temple on a regular basis. When this is the former president it is no wonder that a Rabbi who teaches at one of the smaller cities of the country has been arrases under heavy suspicion of raping a multitude of his boy pupils who did not report it simply because he was regarded so highly by everyone.

So I guess a small photo of a couple of dozens, or maybe a hundred naked people in the dead sea would really be the end of it, like they say – you first have the president (married, by the way) sexually assulting female workers and it ends with a couple of people getting naked for a photo shot in the dead sea, or maybe it should be the other way around?

In any case, no photos from the holy land yet.

 

Israel and Its Problems

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Israel has got to be a problem for any atheist out there. A country that has been formed around one religion with the express idea of having it as a safe place for all Jews to come to is one that should be almost ridiculous to anyone who has no faith or does not accepts religion dogma. Its almost like you would have “Pinocchio land” for all of those who believe in the story and want to live by it (praising whales, never burning wood furniture and so on).

On the other hand this country was formed as a result of mass genocide that has lasted for hundreds of years in almost any country around the world in one form or another, and which resulted in the systematic mass murder of the European Jewish population by the Nazis. Mass murder is not stranger to humans, it is believed that this kind of killing started with the dawn of man, and Jews are not the only ones who have been persecuted and killed, there were many other nations (that disappeared because of it) and many modern nations have been through this, however Jews are the only ones to have suffered a systematic, almost mechanic method of exterminating humans beings with the direct purpose to eliminate them and take advantage of anything the have or own. The state of Israel was established on the smoking ashes of millions of Jews and the global understanding that these people better have a country for themselves otherwise this thing could repeat itself.

Feeling hostility to Israel and what it stands for (Jewish state) is pretty normal from any atheist, but let us not forget the many Muslim states that have been there even before the Jewish state. These countries have not been established as a result of mass killing or persecution, but rather have been there as tribes who have evolved a sense of culture or common bloodline. And while Israel is a democracy that allows freedom of religion and expression, many Muslim states do not allow any new Churches or Synagogues built, and old ones can not be fixed or maintained, meaning that eventually there will be only Muslim masques.

Israel is a result of religious hatred and religious persecution over hundreds of years, it is a result of one nation that did not break even though it was exported out of its country and spread across half of the globe. Its people wanted to go back to their original land and practice their religion, as strange as it can sound to anyone who does not believe.