Mark Humphrys (politics)

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Religion - Religions - Islam


  Introduction - The threat of violence

Sceptical sites

Classical western writers on Islam

Sceptics I may not entirely agree with

Optimism

The core beliefs of Islam

Islam and freedom of thought

Killings for Islam

Islam and human rights

Islamic states

Islamic Fascism

Islam in the West

Islamophobia

Christianity on Islam in the past


Islam needs to become less confident
(Sunday Times article)


Islam

A collection of links to sceptical sites on Islam.

See also links to sceptical sites on Christianity and Judaism.

Please read the atheism page for background.




Introduction - The threat of violence

All discussion of religion must begin by acknowledging that Islam is different to all other religions because of the threat of violence to its critics. All other religions can be criticised and even ridiculed without fear of violence. Only with Islam is there a credible threat of violence to its critics. Muslims can criticise Christianity without any fear of violence, but it is an unfair, one-sided debate. Christians cannot criticise Islam without an ever-present fear of Islamic violence. It needs far more bravery to be on that side. A simple, calm, rational debate between all religions is not possible because the fear of Islamic violence is always in the background.

Obviously I, like the vast majority of the world's population, (*) think Islam is not true. There is no evidence to support any of its claims about the universe and reality. I also think it is one of the two or three main sources of violence, tyranny and human rights abuse in the modern world. However, I am deterred from speaking all of my thoughts because of the threat of violence. As a result, on this website I will freely tell you what I think about Moses, and I will freely tell you what I think about Jesus. But I will not tell you fully what I think about Muhammad or the Qur'an. I keep it understated, unsaid and intellectual. I am cautious about not inflaming the primitive, violent brain of the jihadist.

Someday, when Islam is a mature, modern, tolerant religion and there is no longer a threat of violence, I will discuss freely what I think about Muhammad and the Qur'an. Let us hope we see such a day in our lifetimes.




World population of Muslims and infidels.
It is often forgotten that 80 percent of the world's population (5 billion people) thinks Islam is not true.
After 1,400 years of preaching, conquest, genocide and forced conversion, still only 20 percent of the world's population thinks Islam is true.




Europe and North Africa and the Middle East were all Christian in 600 AD (before Islam was invented).
Such a shame that Islam was invented.
From here.





The core beliefs of Islam




Islam and freedom of thought




Sceptical sites



Robert Spencer

Robert Spencer is probably the most knowledgeable and intelligent writer on Islam in the world today.





Ibn Warraq



Classical western writers on Islam

Western writers have criticised Islam and Mohammed for centuries, before becoming more timid in the modern age.






David Hume on the "Alcoran" (the Quran) in 1760.
This is from Of the Standard of Taste (and here and search).
Scan is from vol.3 of The philosophical works of David Hume (1826).






Quote on Islam from Winston Churchill.
From pp. 248-250 of vol.2 of 1899 edition of The River War.
See as one image.




Quote on Islam from Winston Churchill.
From Ch.3 of 1902 edition of The River War.



L'Inferno (1911, silent, here with added soundtrack) depicts Muhammad in hell.
This film would probably be illegal today.




Criticism of Islam from people I may not entirely agree with





Extracts of the entry for MOHAMMEDANISM in vol.10 of The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913).
See Christianity on Islam in the past.




Comic books / illustrated books




Ali Sina


Bad stuff about Ali Sina





Killings for Islam




Islam and human rights




Islamic states




Islamic Fascism




Islam in the West




Islamophobia




Optimism

The globalised world of the Internet, with its free speech everywhere, poses an unbelievable challenge to all religions, but especially to Islam. It will be interesting to see whether belief in Islam survives through the 21st century.



The Internet

  

The Great Islamic Apostasy




Ex-Muslims Forum sums up why, despite everything, there is hope, for the first time in 1,400 years.



Islamists need to leave the West, stay home, and ban the Internet

In summary, by even engaging with the globalised world at all, Islamists are taking a huge risk. They are risking mass apostasy and the loss of Islamic faith even in their home countries. It may be that if Islamists wish to protect their faith, they should leave the West, leave Europe, return to their homelands, and ban the Internet and all foreign media.

Soviet communism could not survive in the globalised age of MTV, Madonna, Hollywood, Levis and Coca-Cola. Islamism, and even Islam itself, will have just as much trouble. And yet suicidally, Islamists are coming to the West, and allowing TV and the Internet in their home countries, which may be the process that will soon (before 2100) destroy their entire traditional culture and faith. Far from taking over the world, this may be Islamism's last stand before its traditional countries are changed forever.






The story of thousands of years of religious terror in a nutshell:
Two sweet, innocent American Muslim boys are sent to Pakistan by their family and brainwashed in a Taliban-linked Pakistani madrassa for over three years. They resist for a long time but finally start to believe the nonsense they are taught. They emerge as hate-filled young Islamist nutcases. So sad to watch their childhoods taken away.
And this story has repeated for thousands of years as ignorant old men, of many different and opposing creeds, all over the world, destroy childhoods and churn out starry-eyed young believers in (and killers for) their nonsensical, made-up supernatural ideas.
Trailer for documentary "The Karachi Kids". See hi-res version.



The network of black metal bands, "The Arabic Anti-Islamic Legion" (and facebook) represents something genuinely new in the world.
This is a group of young people from around the Middle East who grew up being oppressed by Islamists - and now hate Islam.
See article, July 2012. See the comments, where some people dispute that these bands are for real. I don't find their disputes very convincing, but it's possible of course. What is interesting is whether the oppression by Islam of young people will eventually lead to a major backlash.
Just as millions of young people of Catholic background can't stand the Catholic church, so millions of young people in the Middle East are sick of being oppressed by Islam. It may be that a mass apostasy from Islam of millions of its young people will be one of the major themes of the coming century.



Website (via here or here or here) to help people safely leave Islam.
"You have a right to be free. ... Whether you wish to convert to Christianity or some other religion, or have no religion at all, you have a right to live in peace, free from fear. If you are in the U.S. and are being harassed or threatened for leaving Islam, you have recourse."
Robert Spencer: "America is the land of the free, and apostates must know they are free here and safe here. Rifqa Bary can do it. So can you. Freedom of religion is an unalienable right. Sharia law holds no weight or legitimacy here. Apostates are free to leave Islam and to be who and whatever [they] want to be."


 

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Banned in Iran: This site is banned in Iran.

Blocked on Twitter by the regressive left and Islamists: I love debate. I love ideas. But the Western left and their friends the Islamic right do not return the favour. Their response to opposing ideas, whether expressed politely or robustly, is often to block. See Who blocks me on Twitter.

I like debate. But I do have rules. See Who I block on Twitter.

Twitter is broken, 2016 to 2022: I am on Twitter at markhumphrys. Twitter was a great place for debate before 2016. You could meet everyone in the world, and argue about ideas. Starting in 2016, Twitter became increasingly broken. It became full of reporting and bans and censorship. In 2019, Twitter even started shadowbanning me for no reason that was ever explained, or could be appealed. By 2022, everyone was looking for a better place to debate.

Twitter is saved, 2022: In 2022 Elon Musk bought Twitter and started to end the censorship. It looks great so far. Twitter seems to be saved.