Are you an atheist? Better be a humanist.

Dear Alom Shaha,

Thank you for sending me your ‘The Young Atheist’s Handbook’. I haven’t started reading the book. But I’ve listened to your interview today. I understand what you have said.

I was thinking of Sam Harris’s recent article while listening to you. You probably have read the article. Sam Harris said TSA screeners at airports should not waste time screening old people, children, and others who do not look like Muslims and they should profile Muslims, or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim and they should be honest about it. Sam Harris’s Muslim-profile-program is more dangerous than the notorious Homeland Security program in the Bush era!

I never feel bad when I am asked to take my shoes, my belts, my jewelry, my scarves, my coats etc. off and to go through metal detectors repeatedly. I feel safe when I see people of all ages, of all colors, of all ethnicities, of all nationalities,of all genders, and of all beliefs get screened. I feel safe when I see a 2-year-old baby’s sandals and an 85-year-old wheelchair lady’s orthopedic footwear are removed for screening, for these are the things terrorists would think of using as shoe-bombs because these are the things people would not be suspicious about. It will scare the crap out of me if I see only ‘Muslims and Muslim-looking people’ are going through security screening and others are free to board a plane. If I see that Sam Harris without being properly screened is going to board the plane I am supposed to board, I would most likely decide to cancel my flight because I would be afraid of him. I would think that he accidentally carried a gun, and he would accidentally shoot people on the plane and I would accidentally die. I do not want to take any risk. Who knows, for he might get suddenly mentally sick and start thinking that all ‘Muslim looking people‘ are terrorists or they all are Osama Bin Laden and it is better to finish them off. I would not trust Muslim looking people, and I would also not trust Christian looking people, Jewish looking people, Hindu looking people, Jain looking people, Buddhist looking people, or any other religious looking people! How would I know about their plans!They may have some secret plans! Muslims have been terrorizing and killing people in many parts of the world. It is Muslims who become suicide bombers these days, but faith-heads of any religion can become suicide bombers. I would not trust even die hard atheists and die hard atheist looking people. They might think of blowing up the plane, because the plane is full of fucking believers! You never know.

We both look like South Asian. South Asian Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs,Parsis, Jews, Bahá’ís, Bramhas, Animists as well as atheists look more or less the same. How would Sam Harris identify Muslims? It will really be a tough job for him or anyone else. If we are identified as ‘Muslim looking people’, then we will have to spend more time going through rigid security checks than Sam Harris inasmuch as he does not look Muslim. But we are not any less godless than Sam Harris! The question of identification of Muslims is very much related to the color of skin.

It is true that fear, hatred, and hostility of some Western people toward Islam and Muslims helped to make Muslims all over the world more religious, more fundamentalists, and more terrorists. We who were born into Muslim families but became atheists and have been fighting Muslim fundamentalism for decades know very well how difficult this fight has become.

We know there is a conflict. But the conflict is not between the West and Islam. Or West and East, or Christianity/Judaism/Hinduism and Islam. The conflict is between secularism and fundamentalism, between rational logical minds and irrational blind faith, between innovation and tradition, between humanism and barbarism, between the future and the past, between the people who value freedom and the people who do not.

Atheists need more enlightenment to become humanists. I dream of a day when all atheists will be free from racism, misogyny,homophobia,megalomania and other silly things.

Humanistically

Taslima

All great feminists are atheists

‘The church is a terrible engine of oppression, especially as concerns women.’–Elizabeth Cady Stanton

‘I have endeavored to dissipate these religious superstitions from the minds of women, and base their faith on science and reason, where I found for myself at last that peace and comfort I could never find in the Bible and the church…The less they believe, the better for their own happiness and development…

For fifty years the women of this nation have tried to dam up this deadly stream that poisons all their lives, but thus far they have lacked the insight or courage to follow it back to its source and there strike the blow at the fountain of all tyranny, religious superstition, priestly power, and the cannon law.’ —Elizabeth Cady Stanton

”We would be 1,500 years ahead if it hadn’t been for the church dragging science back by its coattails and burning our best mids at the stake.”–Catherine Fahringer

”The tragedy is that every brain cell devoted to belief in the supernatural is a brain cell one cannot use to make life richer or easier or happier.” —Kay Nolte Smith

”It is impossible to exaggerate the evil work theology has done in the world.”–Lydia Maria Child

”There is yet another consideration which is fatal to the Christian religion, and that is its persecuting spirit. It calls in the aid of Ecclesiastical and civil laws, and the iron hand of custom to condemn, and if possible to punish those who may express different opinions to its own…Perish the cause which has no more rational argument in its favour than that which the stake or prison can supply.” —Emma Martin

”Christianity is an insult to the wisdom of the nineteenth century. To place before its progress and development a leader, ruler, king, saviour, god, whose knowledge was less than a modern five year old school girl, is an outrage upon humanity.”–Ella E. Gibson

”Possessing no proof of its (God’s) existence, the church has ever fostered unintelligent belief. To doubt her “unverified” assertion has even been declared an unpardonable sin.”–Matilda Joslyn Gage

”There is no book which tells of a more infamous monster than the Old Testament, with its Jehovah of murder and cruelty and revenge, unless it be the New Testament, which arms its God with hell, and extends his outrages throughout all eternity.” —Helen H. Gardener

”Less power to religion, the greater power to knowledge.”–Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner

”Let us inquire what glory there was in an omnipotent being torturing forever a puny little creature who could in no way defend himself? Would it be to the glory of man to fry ants?”-Charlotte Perkins Gilman

”A believer is not a thinker and a thinker is not a believer .”–Marian Noel Sherman

”Ethical teaching is weakened if it is tied up with dogmas that will not bear examination.”–Margaret Knigh

”The greatest contribution nonbelievers have made to the world has been the Constitution of the United States. Consider how very heretical to a religious world was the idea of a Constitution predicated on “We the People.”‘-Siver Queen

“The religious scriptures are nothing but rules and laws made by men. Whatever you hear from the priest, may have been the opposite to what a woman priest would say. No one can say the religious Scriptures are really the revelation of God. Men has advertised them as the revelation of God to keep the womankind in dark.”–Begum Rokeya

”There was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages.”-Ruth Hurmence Green

”It’s an incredible con job when you think about it, to believe something now in exchange for something after death. Even corporations with their reward systems don’t try to make it posthumous.”–Gloria Steinem

The great feminist Robin Morgan is talking about the importance of separation of church and state.

Mary Wollstonecraft, Simone de Beauvoir, Anne Royall, Harriet Martineau, Lydia Maria Child, Ernestine L. Rose, Margaret Fuller, Emma Martin, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy N. Colman, George Eliot, Susan B. Anthony, Ella E. Gibson, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Lucretia Mott, Frances Wright, Betty Friedan, kate millett, Germaine Greer, Katherine Hepburn, Sonia Johnson, Lois Waisbrooker, Elmina D. Slenker, Lillie Devereux Blake, Marilla Ricker, Annie Besant, Susan H. Wixon, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Helen Gardener, Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Josephine K. Henry, Clara Zetkin, Etta Semple, Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Voltairine de Cleyre, Emma Goldman, Zona Gale, Margaret Sanger, Marian Sherman, Dora Russell, Meridel Le Sueur, Margaret Knight,Katha Pollitt, Barbara Smoker,Polly Toynbee,Joan Smith, Jennifer Hecht, Queen Silver, Vashti McCollum, Ruth Hurmence Green, Catherine Fahringer, Susan Jacoby, Meg Bowman, Barbara G. Walker, Rosalind Franklin, Sherry Matulis, Kay Nolte Smith, Sonia Johnson, Louise Antony, Meera Nanda, Gisèle Halimi, Barbara Ehrenreich, Ayn Rand, George Sand, Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan, Andrea Dworkin, Nawal El Saadawi, Lucy Parsons, Antoinette Fouque, Eve Ensler, Meredith Tax, Begum Rokeya, Sukumari Bhattacharji, Maitreyi Chatterjee are among tens of thousands of atheist feminists and female atheist writers/philosophers/playwrights/actresses/artists/astronomers/physicists/scholars etc.

Obama should end National Day of Prayer. God & government are a dangerous mix.

”You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Two reasons; first of all, I think he’s a good actor. Ok. To me, that counts. Second; he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn’t fuck around. In fact, Joe Pesci came through on a couple of things that god was having trouble with. For years I asked god to do something about my noisy neighbor with the barking dog. Joe Pesci straightened that cock-sucker out with one visit. ” — George Carlin

The USA has a bizarre thing called National Day of Prayer. It is an annual day of observance held on the first Thursday of May, designated by the United States Congress. Each year, the president signs a proclamation, encouraging all Americans to pray on this day. Its  constitutionality  is being challenged in court by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

“The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging President Obama to protect freedom of conscience by ending the unconstitutional National Day of Prayer. The  Foundation needs 25,000 signatures before May 31.

Please sign  ‘We the People’ petition.   ‘We the People’ is set up by the White House to offer the public a way to petition the President.

 

End the unconstitutional National Day of Prayer, which violates the 1st Amendment. God and government are a dangerous mix.

Congress, in 1952, abridged freedom of conscience when, at the instigation of Rev. Billy Graham, it designated a National Day of Prayer, ordering the President to proclaim “a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.”

The U.S. President has neither the moral nor the constitutional authority to dictate to Americans to pray, much less to tell citizens what to pray about or set aside an entire day for prayer.

Whether to pray, or believe in a god who answers prayer, is an intensely precious, personal decision protected under our First Amendment as a paramount matter of conscience.

Don’t let Christian evangelicals hijack our secular Constitution.

 

A globalized stupidity. It’s  called  ‘World Day of Prayer’.  The sad thing is, it is organized by women.  Prayers are contagious.    There is a  Global Day of Prayer too. They have funny  prayer alert.  If the USA continues to celebrate National Day of Prayer, many countries will be influenced by the USA and will start celebrating  prayer day by violating constitution.

Many  countries  mix gods and governments.  But the separation of religion and state is urgently necessary.  We do not need god’s inhuman, barbaric, unethical laws.  We do not want  anyone  to  say  that god created some people rich and some people poor, to justify the gap between rich and poor. We do not want anyone to   justify women’s oppression  by saying  men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other.

 

I respect  Jessica Ahlquist for her fight to get a prayer banner removed from her  school.   We need more Jessica. We need  organizations like  Freedom From Religion Foundation in every country. We need to fight ignorance. We need to secularize the world.  No  sane person wants a National Day of Superstition.

 

 

 

 

 

The London 2012 Olympics. We demand Justice for Women.

Here is a list of  suggestions/demands  ‘the League of the International Rights of Women’ made. I support their ideas. What about you?

”Universality of the Olympic Charter
The Olympic Games will open in London on 27 July 2012
“The Olympic Movement has always been about more than just a sporting competition” [IOC (International Olympic Committee) President]

The only Law that governs the Games is the Olympic Charter based on universal values which each member of the Olympic Movement swears to observe (Olympic Oath).
The Olympic Charter proclaims:
• A goal: ‘to contribute to building a better world’ (Chapter 1, Rule1.1)
• Universal fundamental ethical principles, such as: ‘Any form of discrimination [including gender discrimination] is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement’ (Principle 5)
• A commitment to equality: ‘implementing the principle of equality of men and women’ (Chapter 1, Rule 2.7)
• Neutrality in sport: ‘No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted on any Olympic sites, venues or other areas’ (Chapter 5, Rule 51.3)
The Charter as a lever for the rights of women:
Where cultural and/or religious traditions govern political institutions and social mores, women are still subject to constraints linked to gender stereotypes and taboos.

In the stadium, under the same law, wearing similar attires, women athletes share with men the joy of exertion and striving for the highest goal.

 

1. To ban countries that exclude women from their delegation (Principle of non-discrimination):

In 1992 a feminist association the Atlanta + Committee (an offshoot of the League of the International Rights of Women)
denounced the absence of women from 35 delegations to the Barcelona Games: South Africa was excluded from the Games for 30 years for racial apartheid. Why has sexual apartheid not received the same treatment? The foundation stone laid by the Atlanta + Committee has now become part of Olympic history:
‘On the eve of the centenary celebrations of the modern Olympic Games, entirely new demands have been put forward by a European-founded feminist coalition. Quoting the Olympic Charter, which bans any form of discrimination in the Olympic Movement, the Atlanta + Committee publicly urges the IOC to exclude from the Atlanta Games any delegation that comprises only male athletes’ (extract from Vol. III of A Century of the IOC).
The number of delegations that do not include women has shrunk from 35 in Barcelona in 1992 to 3 in Beijing in 2008, thanks to pressure from the Atlanta + Committee. But why do the Games still accept countries that so openly violate the Olympic Charter?

 

2. To ensure neutrality in sport by banning the wearing of political or religious symbols (Rule 51 on the neutrality of sport):

As far back as 1994, Tehran delegates at the Brighton conference on ‘Women and Sport’, asked for the rules governing sport attire to
be amended to allow the wearing of garments that are imposed on all women by the Khomeini regime. In 1996 an Iranian woman athlete took part in the Atlanta Games clothed from head to toe. In 2008 at the Beijing Games, 14 delegations had veiled women: an athlete from Bahrain took part in the 400 m race totally covered, openly demonstrating a political and religious stance. In 2010 in Singapore, at the first session of the Youth Games, the IOC accepted – with the approval of FIFA – the participation of female Iranian football players covered from head to foot.

 

3. To stop supporting separate Games for women, which institutionalize sexual segregation in sport (Principle of non-discrimination):

Since 1993 and every four years, Iran has organised Games – replicating the Olympic format – for women from Islamic countries.
There is one major difference: the total absence of the media or male spectators. Since 1995, the Atlanta + Committee has
denounced the presence of IOC observers at these Games. The IOC justifies this by claiming that it is a step forward as it allows these women to take part in competitions. However, during apartheid in South Africa the IOC had declared that competitions organised for Blacks only were unacceptable. Why does it now approve segregation that  goes against the Olympic Charter?

 

4. To demand effective parity between men and women within Olympic disciplines and events (Principle of non-discrimination):

 

Age-old disparities… The Modern Games (1896), as conceived by Pierre de Coubertin, excluded women, apart from a few disciplines that were considered secondary (golf, tennis, sailing) .

Thanks to Alice Milliat’s (one of the first women sport managers) and others persistence, in 1928 women were finally admitted to track and field events.

Since then, a long battle has been waged on two fronts: to increase the number of female participants (29% in 1992 in Barcelona, 42% in 2008 in Beijing) and to widen the range of sports open to women.

At the London Games the introduction of female boxing will open another door.

Although they show some progress, global statistics still hide the persistent lack of equality.E.g. at the Games in Beijing in 2008:
• There were 1704 more male athletes than female athletes.
• 165 medals were given to male athletes compared to 127 to female athletes because of a lower number of disciplines opened to women.
…still hidden in the ‘details’
There is now parity as regards the number of sports open to both men and women. There are discrepancies, however, as to the corresponding number of disciplines and events. Examples of disparity: in boxing, canoeing and wrestling there are fewer events for
women, e.g. canoeing has three events for men and only one for women.

 

5. To observe the minima determined by the IOC and increase the number of women participating in the decision-making bodies (Commitment to the promotion of equality)

Women are still a small minority in the governing bodies of the Olympic Movement, such as the IOC, NOC, OCOG, International and National Federations.
At its 105th session in Atlanta in July 1996, the IOC decided that the NOCs should allow women at least 10% of the seats in all decision-making bodies by 31 December 2000. This rate should have reached 20% by December 2005.

We are still very far from this goal! Here is a striking example: of the 19 members of the 2012 London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), only one is a woman: the  Princess Royal.

 

6. In and around the Games: eliminate gender discrimination based on sexual stereotypes (Building a better world)

To fight against sexism, homophobia and transphobia.

• In the Olympic Movement sport has an educational role and contributes to the building of identities.

Within the framework of the Games, it is important to reject gender stereotypes and the sexualisation of the sportsman’s or
sportswoman’s image. The wording is also important: for example, describing an event as a ‘women’s event’ but not describing an event as ‘a men’s event’ is a way of saying that sport is first and foremost for men.
• Everyone has the right to take part in sport
Only a small number of sportsmen and women openly declare their homosexuality. These Games must demonstrate that the Olympic movement is aware of this issue and ready to make a lasting commitment to fight homophobia in sport at all levels.
The 2012 Games must be a secure and welcoming place where everyone must be able to take part without fear in respect of their sexual orientation.

 

Paralympics
In the same spirit, why not include the paralympic events in the Olympic Games so that all athletes can benefit from the same public and media exposure!

Fight against organised prostitution around the Olympic sites

During every large sporting event, prostitution increases dramatically. It would simply be unacceptable for London if, once again, a sporting event were accompanied by organised prostitution, as was the case at the football World Cup. Buying sex is not a sport, it is downright exploitation.

7. To pay homage to women pioneers in sport: the Marathon Gold Medal should be given to both the male and female marathon winners by the IOC President (Principle of non-discrimination)

The Marathon is still at the heart of the Games: before the closing ceremony the only Gold Medal personally given by the IOC President is to the (male) Marathon winner.
Why not to the female winner?
At the first modern Games in Athens (1896), Stamatha Revithi, a Greek woman also known as Melpomene, was refused the right to compete in the Marathon because she was a woman.
She persevered, ran a solo race, finished it in a respectable time and became a legend!
Why not organise the Marathon for both men and women, the latter starting their race before the male competitors so that the winners of both sexes can share the applause?

 

Our message addresses everyone but especially the Olympic Movement

This is a reminder

• to those who argue that ‘these demands are outside their remit’:
In 1958 in an open letter to the President of the IOC, Olav Ditlev-Simonsen, of the Norwegian NOC, was the first to request the exclusion of South Africa because of its apartheid policy.
• to those who prefer to compromise with requests, devoid of any connection with sport, made by certain countries:
The Olympic Oath they have sworn makes them ambassadors of the Olympic values and not of their own country’s policy.
The IOC’s only response to our many requests has been:
To welcome the growing number of women athletes participating in the Games.
This answer avoids the truth: women are still excluded, as a matter of principle, from certain delegations, just as Blacks were from the South African delegation.

The IOC never argued with the antiapartheid movement that they should be satisfied with the growing number of Black participants from other countries. It acted according to the Charter.
To keep silent on the breaching of Rule 51 and other rules of the Olympic Charter.

 

Enough is enough!

Why is it that what was considered by the Olympic Movement to be intolerable for Blacks is tolerable for women?

We demand an end to gender-based discrimination and stereotypes. 

London must mark the turning point:

Great Britain is the birthplace of modern sports based on standardised rules and their application;

British feminism has left its mark on the history of modern societies and on democracy;

The Games are taking place in Europe, where it is claimed an ambitious plan is being developed

The 2012 Olympic Games provide a historic occasion for affirming the rights and duties of women and men in sporting competitions and for reminding participating countries of the obligation they have to respect that equality. ”

 

 

 

Why do you give your children Chrstian names, or Muslim names or any religious names?

 

You are an  atheist but you name your children after  gods or prophets or heroes  and  heroines  of   the religious scriptures. Why don’t you stop doing it?

And,

Why is it necessary to have a family name ?

Having a first name  related to religion and  a surname related to  father or husband’s surname  proves  that  you are a victim of  the misogynistic patriarchal religious system  and you do not denounce  the system rather you try to  keep the system  intact.

 

I have no  family name. Nasreen is not derived from my father or my grandfather or my husband nor is it   derived from  my mother or my grandmother.  Nasreen is  a Persian word  which means a wild rose.  I feel good for not having a patriarchal family name. I feel good for not having a  given name that comes  from the Koran or the Hadith. I am grateful to my parents for  not  having named me after Prophet Muhammad’s mother  or daughter  or wives.

 

We can live our lives  happily without having a family name, but many people think  that the  things will be totally messed up  without  it.  Iceland is not a messed up country. Icelandic names differ from  Western family name systems. For example, a  man  named  Gunnar Svensson  has a son named Eric and a daughter named Björk.  Eric’s  last name will not be Svensson  like his father’s; it will become Gunnarsson, literally indicating that Eric is the son of Gunnar (Gunnars + son).  Björk also would not have the last name Svensson; she would have the name Gunnarsdóttir. Again, the name says that Björk is  “Gunnar’s  daughter” (Gunnars + dóttir). Not everybody’s surname  carries  father’s name, many choose to  have  matronymic names, instead of father’s name they pick mother’s name.  For example,  Eric and Björk’s mother’s  name is Anika Stefánsdóttir.  If parents decide or  Eric and  Björk want to  pick their mother’s name for their last names,  Eric’s last name will be Anikasson, and  Björk’s last name will be Anikasdóttir.  Iceland is not alone, some  other countries also  have a different family name system or no family name system. Who doesn’t want to be a separate human being!

 

I love names that come from  nature. Let me  translate some common  names of Bengali  people:  Rose, Jasmine, Sky, Moon, Sun, Earth, River, Sea, Forest, Love, Wind, Soil, Flower, Peace, Beauty, Happy, Orange, Apple, Bird, Music, Poem, Strength,  Rain, Smile  etc. I call them true secular names.

 

Let’s be 100% secular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Women who believe in religion are masochists

 

 

I understand why men believe in religion, but I do not understand why women believe in religion. Or perhaps I understand. Either they’re ignorant or they’re  masochists. No woman who  lives with dignity and honor will accept humiliation and abuse of women. No woman with self-esteem worships  gods that hate women . Religion demands women to be chaste and silent. Religion wants women to be obedient and  submissive to their husbands. All religions treat women as  inferior beings. Women should read god’s texts and get angry with god. Women should  stop worshiping  god.

Women   pray more  then men, are more likely to believe in God, and are more religious than men.  Some  evolutionary psychologists try to justify it.  I do not agree with them. They say, ‘women are inherently more risk-averse than men’. Aren’t women  constantly taking risks more than men just  for  living their lives? They take risks of being  raped, abused and murdered when they’re at home or at  workplaces or just anywhere outside! Women have always been  forced to stay behind, to practice religion, and to keep the anti-women patriarchal system intact.   Even during the age  of Enlightenment,  women were not  allowed to get an education, and even though the coffeehouses  for intellectual exchange were generally accessible to everyone, but that  did not allow women to participate, or  express their opinions. Women’s place was in the kitchen, it is still in the kitchen.

If women do not fight to stop being oppressed by a shameful patriarchal and oppressive religious system, then shame on women! Shame on women  for not protesting, for not fighting, for allowing a system to continue that will affect our children as well as our children’s children. We badly need to create a gender equal society where misogyny has no place.

 

Let’s see what some of  the religious scriptures say about women:

Women in the Bible

 

“A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding. These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. She is to bring two doves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.” Leviticus 12: 1-8

“Women should remain silent in churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission…”1 Corinthians 14:34

“Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting to the Lord.” Colossians 3:18

 

Check it out:

GENESIS
2:22 Eve created from Adam’s rib.
3:16 Cursed with painful childbirth and domination by husband.
4:19 Man marries two wives.
12:13-19 Abraham prostitutes wife.
19:26 Lot’s wife turned into pillar of salt for disobeying god.
19:30-38 Lot impregnates his two daughters while drunk.
25:1-6 Keeping many concubines is OK.

EXODUS
20:17 Wife as property.
21:4 Wife and children belong to master.
21:7-11 OK to sell daughters. Female slaves can be used for sex.
Polygamy permitted. Unwanted female slaves can be set “free” without payment of money.
22:18 Kill witches.

LEVITICUS
12:1 Childbirth a sin, Women unclean after childbirth.
15:19-32 Menstruating women are unclean.
21:9 Burn daughters.
21:13-14 Priest must marry virgin, not “used” woman.

NUMBERS
1:2 Census lists only men – women do not count.
5:11-31 Fidelity test for women only.
30:1-16 Woman’s vow invalid unless approved by her father or husband.
31:17-18 Kill all except virgins. Keep virgins for yourselves.
CH 12 Miriam punished for rebuking Moses.

DEUTERONOMY
20:14 Take women, livestock as plunder.
22:13-21 Stone non-virgin bride.
22:23-24 Stone rapist and rape victim.
22:28 Rape victim must marry rapist; rape victim’s father compensated for depreciation of his property.
25:11-12 Cut woman’s hand for touching foe’s penis.
24:1-5 Man can “send” wife from HIS house. Man must not marry “used” woman.

JUDGES
5:30 Women are spoils of war.
14:20 Samson gives wife to another man.
CH 19 Concubine pack-raped and butchered.
21:10-12 Slaughtered all inc. women and children. Saved virgins for wives.
21:21 Abducted girls for wives.

2 SAMUEL
5:13 David took many wives and concubines.
CH 13 Ammon rapes his own sister.
16:21-22 Absalom sleeps with his father’s concubines.

1 KINGS
11:3 Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

2 KINGS
9:30-37 Brutal murder of Jezebel.

2 CHRONICLES
11:21 Hoards of wives and concubines.

ESTHER
CH 1-2 Queen Vashti dethroned for disobedience; setting “bad” example to all other women.

PSALMS
51:5 Sinful since conception.
127:3 Sons are heritage from god.
PROVERBS
CH 5 Beware of wicked women!
31:3 Do not waste strength on women.

ISAIAH
3:16-26 Lord punishes haughty women.
4:4 Filthy women.
13:16 Ravish wives, dash infants.
19:16 Will be like women! (insult to Egyptians)

EZEKIEL
9:6-7 Slaughter all including children.
CH 16 Prostitutes, stoning, promiscuity…
CH 23 Tale of two adulterous sisters

 

NAHUM
3:4… wanton lust of a harlot… prostitution… witchcraft.
3:5 I will lift your skirts over your face!
3:13… Your troops are all women. (insult to Nineveh)

MATTHEW
5:32 Husband can divorce wife for adultery.
CH 25 Sexist tale of ten virgins.

I CORINTHIANS
11:2-10… Woman created for man.
14:34 Women must be silent in churches.

EPHESIANS
5:22-24 Wives must submit to husbands in everything.

COLOSSIANS
3:18 Wives submit to husbands.
3:22 Slaves must obey masters in everything.

I TIMOTHY
2:11-15 Woman must not have authority, she must be silent. Women can be saved with childbearing.
5:9-10 Widows should be faithful to husband and must wash saints’ feet.

1 PETER
2:18 Slaves submit to masters, even masters who are harsh.
3:1 Wives submit.
3:5-6 Sarah calls husband master.

.

 

 

Women in the Quran

 Your women are your fields, so go into your fields whichever way you like. (Sura 2:223)

The share of the male shall be twice that of a female. (Sura 4:11)

Oh! ye who believe! When ye deal with each other, in transactions involving future obligation in a fixed period of time reduce them to writing and get two witnesses out of your own men and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses so that if one of them errs the other can remind her. (Sura 2:282)

And if the husband divorces his wife (for the third time), she shall not remain his lawful wife after this (absolute) divorce, unless she marries another husband and the second husband divorces her. [In that case] there is no harm if they [the first couple] remarry .(Sura 2:230)

And forbidden to you are wedded wives of other people except those who have fallen in your hands [as prisoners of war] (Sura  4:24)

 

And if you be apprehensive that you will not be able to do justice to the orphans, you may marry two or three or four women whom you choose. But if you apprehend that you might not be able to do justice to them, then marry only one wife, or marry those who have fallen in your possession. (Sura 4:3)

 

It is not within your power to be perfectly equitable in your treatment with all your wives, even if you wish to be so; therefore, [in order to satisfy the dictates of Divine Law] do not lean towards one wife so as to leave the other in a state of suspense.(Sura 4:129)

 

If you fear highhandedness from your wives, remind them [of the teaching of God], then ignore them when you go to bed, then hit them. If they obey you, you have no right to act against them. God is most high and great. (Sura 4:34)

 

O Prophet, when you [and the believers] divorce women, divorce them for their prescribed waiting—period and count the waiting—period accurately . . . 4 And if you are in doubt about those of your women who have despaired of menstruation, (you should know that) their waiting period is three months, and the same applies to those who have not menstruated as yet. As for pregnant women, their period ends when they have delivered their burden. ( Sura 65:1,4)

 

 

 

 Women in Hinduism

 
“Almighty God, you have created this womb. Women may be born somewhere else but sons should be born from this womb” – Atharva Veda 6/11/3

“O Husband protect the son to be born. Do not make him a woman” – Atharva Veda 2/3/23

 

‘A virtuous woman is one who dies on the funeral pyre of her dead husband’ -this one?’ –Atharva Veda (18-3-1)

“Lord Indra himself has said that a woman has very little intelligence. She cannot be taught” – Rig Veda 8/33/17

 

“There cannot be any friendship with a women. Her heart is more cruel than hyena” – Rig Veda 10/95/15.

 

”Women are without energy. They should not get a share in property. Even to the wicked they speak in feeble manner” – Yajur Veda 6/5/8/2

 

‘…but woman, the Sûdra(untouchable), the dog, and the black bird (the crow), are untruth: he should not look at these, lest he should mingle excellence and sin, light and darkness, truth and untruth’ –Satapatha Brahmana 14:1:1:31
 

 ‘There is no creature more sinful than women; women are blazing fire; they are poison; they are snake; they are living lies..’  Mahabharata, 13:40

 

‘“Men must keep their women dependent day and night, and keep under their own control those who are attached to sensory objects. Her father guards her in childhood, her husband guards her in youth, and her sons guard her in old age. A woman is never fit for independence!’‘  –Manusmrti 7:149-150

 

Endless. You can read more.

 

Wife Beating. How does it feel?

 

 

Women-haters  beat their wives.   Patriarchal culture and  customs allow wife beating.    Almost all religions, monotheistic or polytheistic, advise women  to be submissive.

In Muslim countries wife beating manuals have been always  selling well.  But recently an ordinary  wife beating manual, ”A Gift For  Muslim Couple” caught  the attention of media  because it was selling in Canada, where domestic violence is considered a  crime.

It is a manual to control, restrain, scold, and beat wives into submission to create a happy, healthy, and satisfying marriage; a marriage to last a lifetime.The book says, research has shown men are looking for successful methods to achieve a happy satisfying life long marriage. Absolute control of and submission by their wives is the key.

‘There are many lessons in this book–

  • The necessity “to restrain the wife with strength or even to threaten her.”  
  • “How the husband should treat the wife with kindness and love, even if she tends to be stupid and slow sometimes.”
  • The absolute rights of the husband, which include his wife’s inability to leave “his house without his permission,” and that his wife must “fulfill his desires” and “not allow herself to be untidy … but should beautify herself for him. (‘She cannot leave the husband’s house without his permission./She should not  refuse when he calls her for intercourse /She should not call him by his first name when calling him.’ page 45)
  • How a husband should  scold her, to use harsh words,  “beat by hand or stick,” withhold money from her or “pull her by the ears,” but should “refrain from beating her excessively.”  

 

People who demand  banning of the books that criticize religion do not say a word against the book that advises men to beat their disobedient wives. The book  advocates domestic violence in order to attain a life long happy marriage.

The book was a big seller in North America. Canada talks  about the book.

Moderate Muslims are angry. They condemn  the book for inciting violence against women. They even demand ban on the book.

 

The book is 100 years old. Maulavi Ashraf Ali Thanvi, the author of the book  died in 1943.   I like old books about  prophets and religions written by early biographers and  scholars. They did  not try to whitewash  the  anti women or the  anti science parts of   religious scriptures or did not try to hide  prophet’s dirty linen under the carpet.   Today’s scholars or  religious apologists   interpret the   ‘holy  texts’   as if the author of the   texts is a  rational, modern,scientific and humane.   They  try hard  to make god sounds like an  advocate for equality and justice rather than  an ignorant and misogynist.  They do it because in the 21st century it is not politically correct to treat women as inferior  beings or slaves.   Religion and superstition remain where they were, only the tips and tricks for  making  people fool  have been changing over time.

 

 

If people who believe in equality between men and women think that  ”A gift for Muslim couple’    is 100 years old and it is out of time and out of place and it should be banned, then what about the book which is 1400 years old and which also asks men to beat their disobedient wives (Surah Nisa 4.34) and incite violence against women!  Anybody thought of banning the Quran as well as  other misogynistic religious scriptures?

 

 

I am against banning books.  I want people to  learn  what really the  religious scriptures  say, how barbaric, inhuman, hateful and misogynistic those texts are! In the meantime let’s try to  prevent the apologists of  religion from  whitewashing religion’s   justification for domestic abuse  and encourage people to have a scientific outlook.

 

[57% of boys, 53% of girls in India think wife beating is justified.]

 

 

Forbidden Words

 

[Dwikhandito ( The life divided), the third part of my autobiography has been banned in Bangladesh since 2003. The book was also  banned in West Bengal, India in 2003 but Kolkata  high court lifted the ban on the book in 2005. The book is now  free but heavily censored. The readers are still not allowed to read a few pages of the book .  I was physically attacked by the Muslim fundamentalists for  writing this book.

A price (unlimited amount of money) was set on my head.  Here are the forbidden words! Translated from original Bengali.]

 

 

 

” …. I could not accept at all that the religion had ever brought any light to  mankind. Religion had not spread anything other than darkness. Religion had grown out of ignorance and the fear of death. The monotheistic men had created religion for their own pleasure and to enjoy themselves in this life. Islamic history tells us that the Arabs used to live in caves and newborn girls were buried alive, and Muhammad ended all this misery. But I believe that more misery has been created after the advent of Islam. Previously, women were business people, they used to take part in wars, chose their own husbands and also divorced their husbands. Muhammad’s first wife Khadija was a businesswoman and Muhammad was her third husband and was also much younger than her. If girls were buried alive, then there would be fewer women in this world. The men used to marry more than one woman, but where did they find all these women? There would be scarcity of women if they were buried alive. But that did not happen. The Arabs used to pass their days in merriment and pleasure, they used to dine and drink well, they believed that there was no other life than this one and they used to enjoy themselves as much as possible in this world. Muhammad brought an avalanche upon this belief. He used the religion he created as a  weapon to seize power. He killed people unhesitatingly, he bathed in the blood of members of other tribes, he brutally killed people of other religions, and he hoisted the flag of victory after invading Jewish areas with his own troops and looting their wealth and raping their women. This religion was never a spiritual one, it was a political one from beginning to end. He did not deprive himself of any earthly pleasures. He had done everything he wanted to do and he did it all in the name of Allah. After killing somebody, he said that he did it on the orders of Allah. Of course, he said at the outset that nobody can speak against the orders of Allah. Muhammad divided the hours of the night to spend time with his more than a dozen wives in the harem. He created a scene on the night he was due to spend with his wife Hafsa. Hafsa went to her father’s house that day but when she returned before the scheduled time, she found the bedroom door locked from inside. Why was the door shut? Who was in the room? Her husband, prophet Muhammad, the  messenger of Allah, was in the room having sex with a slave girl called Maria. Hafsa was furious and told all the other wives about this. Muhammad, to hide his own guilt, dragged  Allah down from the sky and said that he didn’t do it willingly, it was Allah’s will and he had only obeyed Allah’s orders, it was nothing more than that. There is a saying in Bengali, ‘The thief is bragging after stealing’. This episode was also like that. Far from being humble after doing wrong and without speaking to his wives in a subdued voice with his head bowed, he proclaimed a word of caution to his wives that Allah had told him, ‘If you divorce any of your wives, then Allah will provide more beautiful, more tolerant, more submissive, more shy and more trustworthy maidens or widows for you to marry’. Muhammad married his foster son’s wife Zainab and this time too he justified his misdeed by mentioning the name of  Allah who, apparently, had told him to marry his daughter-in-law. Muhammad’s very young, beautiful and wise wife, Ayesha, said something excellent, ‘I see that your Lord always  rushes to you to satisfy all your desires’. His friends used to look at Ayesha and Muhammad was very jealous of that so he put all his wives behind a curtain and gradually he ordered all women to cover themselves with an extra set of clothes. Islam is supposed to have given women much honour. Is this called  honour! Allah’s resounding voice comes across the seven skies, ‘Men have the right to dominate over women, because Allah has created men as superior human beings to women and because men spend their money for women.’

 

What can I say! This is the character of the  hypocrite  known as our prophet and his hoax in the name of Allah. Millions of believers in this world are still keeping this religion alive but there is nothing behind it except the game of politics. Bangladesh is no exception. As his boat was sinking, President Ershad was desperately clinging on to Islam to find a port as he couldn’t find one any other way.

 

‘A carrot for the next life has been dangled in front of you,

Fear and temptation are always there before you.

Now wear a blinker of dark blindness over your eyes,

The more blind you are, the more faithful you will be.

Take your eyes out and throw them with this belief,

And lock up the cells of learning in your brain.

Well done! You are now a true faithful…’

 

Cruelty, thy name is sharia

 

‘A Sri Lankan woman is facing decapitation with a sword on a witchcraft charge in Saudi Arabia.  A Saudi man said that   his 13-year-old daughter  suddenly started acting strange after seeing a  Sri Lankan woman in a shopping mall.  The Sri Lankan woman was accused  of casting a spell on his daughter. Police  arrested the woman. The punishment for practicing  witchcraft  and sorcery  in Saudi Arabia is, beheading.  Two  persons were beheaded on witchcraft charges last year.  Sharia, or Islamic law, is the basis of the legal system in Saudi Arabia  The number of execution is increasing in the country. In  2010,  26 people were executed. In  2011, it was  76.’

Watch how people get  beheaded in  public places.  Eight Bangladeshi men were beheaded last year.   They say Allahu Akbar, Allah  is Great loudly while  beheading.   An Indonesian maid was beheaded not long ago. They enjoy beheading  people with a sharp  sword. Hateful, revengeful, venomous god-lovers are not prevented from continuing  their unethical and inhuman practices of Islam. We witness cruelty everyday but we shut our mouth  because  it is not politically correct to oppose  Islamic barbarism!