Bigotry is Bigotry

I would like to respond to the editorial written by Ray Sigler titled “Not bigotry, just facts” in the Saturday April 17, 2010 edition of the Belleville News-Democrat.


As a person who studies gay rights issues I found that most of what Mr. Sigler wrote was pretty standard boilerplate in the anti-gay mindset - that gays aren’t happy, gay equals adultery and of course the ever classic example of the selective biblical literalism, that gays are an abomination like eating shellfish or wearing two different types of cloth at the same time. And the ever popular unbiblical axiom, “love the sinner, hate the sin”. A phrase, mind you, that is mentioned nowhere in the Bible.

But it was the last paragraph that sounded familiar. In it he writes that if we allow gays to serve openly in the military; “It can and will cause problems if a radical homosexual is trolling among those who do not want to practice deviant behavior.” Ignoring the fact that gay people are serving secretly right now in the military. The idea that sexually rapacious homosexuals might force themselves on their unwilling heterosexual comrades in arms rang familiar. It reminded of the racist myth of a century ago of sexually out of control black men who wanted to rape white women.

If Mr. Sigler doesn’t want to be called a bigot maybe he shouldn’t use the language of bigotry. Replacing the word black with the word gay doesn’t make it any less bigoted.

The Cover-Up Worse Than The Scandal

I would like to respond to the editorial cartoon of Glenn McCoy on April 10, 2010. This cartoon’s first panel shows a woman bearing a sign saying “Down with Gay Pedophiles” while another person with press written on them exclaims “You Can’t Say That!!” In the second panel that same person crosses out the “Gay Pedophiles” and replaces it with “The Catholic Church” and then he says “That’s better”.


The first error is that the first panel implies that there is a link between gayness and pedophilia. It has been proven for decades that sexual orientation alone plays no part in whether a person becomes a pedophile. If Mr. McCoy had done any research he would have found this out. It’s merely a cynical distraction from the larger issue; the scandal of priests sexually abusing children and the Church covering it up. Instead of directly addressing this scandal the Church scapegoats the media and homosexuals hoping this will pass without them really fixing the problem.

The second panel implies that the press has a pro-gay bias and is anti-Catholic. All the press did was report on the scandal and the systematic cover-up that had been going on for a century - maybe more. This was all the Church’s fault. They believed that their organization was more important than the people in it and are now paying the price for that conceit. If the Vatican learned anything from Watergate it is that the cover-up is worse than the crime

A Dis"honor"able Killing

I would like to tell you the true story of a horrible crime done in the name of “family honor”. These are religiously motivated honor killings are prevalent in the Muslim world. The usual victims of these killings are women and are done by male family members when a perceived action by a female relative seems to break some conservative Muslim moral standard.


An act as simple as being raped or having any kind of relation with a male person, even Platonic ones, who is not related to her is an offense punishable by death. But a death by the cruelest ways possible. The most common method of execution is stoning to death by the male relatives. Once the offending female is dead then family honor is magically restored. And an innocent woman is murdered at the hands of own family.

Now back to the story. This true story takes place in Kahta, in the south-eastern province of Adiyaman in the country of Turkey. A 16 year old girl, one of nine children, known only by her initials M.M. did what, in the saner parts of the world, would be considered normal for a girl her age. She had friendships with males. Even though her grandfather had beaten her for having such relations, she persisted. It was then that that a family council meeting was held to deal with this perceived act of family dishonor. The decision was made and was carried out by the male members of the family. The punishment was death. But not by a simple stoning.

It was an informant who later told what had happened and the girl’s body was discovered dead by the authorities. She was found bound in the seated position and she was put into a 6 foot deep hole under the chicken coop and then the soil replaced and then the family reported her missing to cover their tracks. A forensic report had shown that she had great quantities of dirt in her lungs and stomach which meant she was buried alive and was conscious during the entire ordeal. The father and the grandfather were arrested for murder and were being held in custody pending trial.

It is said that 200 of the 4,400 murders in Turkey are honor killings. There is no honor in killing this innocent girl for something as simple as a perception of wrongdoing. And why is it that the great majority of these victims are women? The answer is simple religious based misogyny. Although the story I told you is an extreme example of it. Every major conservative monotheistic religion has women cast as something as evil and in need of male control. This archaic perception must be changed now!



The Article:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/04/girl-buried-alive-turkey

Atheist Morality

I have read a lot responses to my previous article that I and other non-believers wrote. They were the usual standard theist arguments that have been refuted for decades. This latest article, “Rebuttal to atheists” by John Simon, in the January 10, 2010 editorial of Belleville News-Democrat is no different.
This editorial, for the most part, is the standard guilt by association argument. Comparing all atheists to some of the worst figures in history and Christian morality superior in every way. But one comparison made me chuckle, it was comparing atheists to Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was a Catholic, in his speeches and his written works he cited, on numerous occasions, Christian themes and biblical quotes to support his ideology.
Christianity has a lot of blood on its hands. The systematic torture of countless thousands of witches and heretics for one.
Other parts of this editorial he generalized that atheists don’t care about the less fortunate because we don’t believe in a god. Bill Gates is an atheist and through his philanthropic foundation has helped millions of suffering people around the world. Atheists, working alongside Christians, have helped in the rebuilding of New Orleans. Raising money for “Doctors Without Borders” and breast cancer research. We do this because it is the humane thing to do and aren’t compelled by some vague threat of a nonexistent hell. Morality existed long before religion got its grubby little hands on it.

An Ode To Atheism

This poem was written by an ancient Roman poet named Titus Lucretius praising the Greek philosopher Epicurus as the savior of the human race. But if it is read more generally it could be interpreted as praise for any one of the champions of disbelief and doubt from the past all the way to the present day. The last two lines are particularly strong. The poem is as followed :

“When before our eyes man’s life lay groveling, prostrate, Crushed to the dust under the burden of religion ( Which thrust its head from heaven, its horrible face Glowering over mankind born to die ), One man a Greek was the first mortal who dared Oppose his eyes, the first to stand firm in defiance.
Not the fables of gods, nor lightening, nor the menacing Rumble of heaven could daunt him, but all the more They whetted his keen mind with longing to be First to smash open the tight barred gates of Nature. His vigor of mind prevailed, and he strode Beyond the fiery battlements of the unmeasured world. Raiding the fields of the unmeasured All.
Our victor returns with knowledge of what can arise, What cannot, what laws grant each thing its own Deep-driven boundary stone and finite scope. Religion now lies trampled beneath our feet, And we are made gods by the victory.”