Via Portal Atheist : apparently the Global Atheist Convention was not only a success (completely exhausted) as a spectacle. The above post refers to an article in The Australian that sums up the convention, and, more importantly, it makes no value judgments, not insults atheists, like some other disgusting newspapers do.
Some quotes from the article in The Australian:
About the Convention:
"But what will you talk about - nothing?" Someone HAD asked David Nicholls, president of the Atheist Foundation of Australia and co-convener of the conference. Far from it: most sessions ended before the audience was ready to let the speaker go.
About Islam:
The Bangladeshi writer and women's rights activist, who was exiled from her homeland 14 years ago, then Physically attacked in India When She sought refuge in Bengal, Placed under house arrest and finally hounded out of there too, still has Several fatwas hanging over her and the price on her head. India, the country That likes to think of Itself to the largest democracy in the world, she pointed out, Placed the religious rights of Muslim minority excellant above her freedom of expression.
She Recalled Doubts about her religion as a child, and how she troubled her mother with questions: why do we have to pray in Arabic - if God is omniscient, he can not Understand our prayers in Bengali?
When she was six her mother Told her her tongue would fall off if she said anything against God. Already the empirical scientist (she is a doctor), she locked herself in the bathroom, said "God is the son of a bitch", " God is a pig "and Other Bengali choice epithets, and then Waited in front of the mirror. After a few minutes, she Knew That Was not what her mother said true.
She saw through the inconsistencies in the Koran, she said, the first time she read it, in translation in Bengali. "All religion, but Islam Particularly, is for the interests and comfort of men," she said, "Why would women believe in any religion?"
About the absurd to think that the Christian Bible was inspired by an omniscient being:
Myers took issue with the Notion of a good and all-knowing God, That if suggesting "God is so powerful he Refuses to be bound by some arbitrary demand he make like a goddamn difference in the world", he could not have Given us at least some useful suggestions? "Like` Wash your hands'? We Waited till the 19th century for doctors to learn that. Instead we got the Bible in a detailed order to snip off the ends of our penises. "
About the idea that believers are more moral, matter more to the next, and do more for the poor:
The rules for the more rigorous of the New Testament, such as the order That the rich give away to the poor Their possessions, there are a lot of very rich Clearly Christians around who are giving little thought to the future of Their souls, he said . Americans who, According to polling, are far more religious than Europeans, do not even approach the Scandinavian welfare Measures Largely secular societies take to protect the Vulnerable in Their society.
Also in October pointed Singer That three of the four great philanthropists of the 20th century Were professed atheists: Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Andrew Carnegie. (The exception was Nelson D. Rockefeller, a Protestant.)
And lastly, on the financing of the Convention:
Speaking of money, the government funded tier of the conference: the organizers and speakers worked free and Depended on the charity of well-wishers for the unavoidable costs. Much was made of this by some speakers, the federal government Gave $ 20 million Towards the Catholic World Youth Day last year, and the Victorian government Gave $ 4.5m Towards the Parliament of World Religions - but in this Supposedly secular society, requests for funding an atheist Were conference turned down.
This last part, now it is absolutely disgusting, supposedly secular governments use millions of dollars of taxpayers' money - regardless of belief or non-belief of these - to fund religious events, but do not contribute a penny to an event pro-rationalism and pro -reality. I am not that mean that the government had an obligation to fund whatever it is, but if one does, should do it all ...
Finally, Richard Dawkins on Islam (for those who say he only criticizes Christianity):
For dialogue with the Islamists, he said it was "a remarkably effective tactic to say` If you try to argue against me, I'll cut your head off, '"but the argument That cam from a position of intellectual weakness.
"I do not think we Should Go out of our way to insult Islam because it does not do any good to get your head cut off," he continued. "But We Should Say That I may always refrain from publishing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, but it's because I fear you. Do not for one moment think it's because I respect you. "
