Iraqi Christian Massacre Shows Sickening Western Hypocrisy

A tragic story is illustrating the hypocritical and immoral nonchalance America has for the mass deaths of non-Christians.

All the news services are headlining the tragic murder of 58 Christians in Our Lady of Salvation Christian church of Baghdad. Al-Qaida-linked militants burst into the church during services and killed the priest and nearly everyone in the front row. They demanded that someone call the Pope to arrange for the release of Muslim women they claimed were being held captive by Coptic Christians in Egypt. Iraqi forces invaded the church, the militants blew themselves up, and 58 people ended up dead with 78 others wounded.

It was a terrible tragedy, and everyone from the Pope to presidents has been condemning it, as they should.

But where where the cries of outrage when America started our bombing campaign on Iraq? Over 150,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed by American bombs (even the U.S. Government admits this), mostly women and children. That's 2,586 times as many people as were killed this weekend in the Christian church.

You would have to blow up 58 people 365 days a year for the next seven years to equal the death toll that America has inflicted on Iraqi women, children and old men.

My fiancé and I had the pleasure of hearing Sam Harris talk last week. He described an interesting experiment.

Did Sex Create the Christmas Bomber?

Did Islam's unnatural and unhealthy teachings about sex turn a normal young Nigerian into a murderer and terrorist? Did a healthy young man's lust get twisted into self revulsion and hate?

NPR is doing a fascinating three-day in-depth biography of Farouk Abdulmutallab, the "Christmas Bomber" who hid bomb ingredients in his underwear and tried to blow up an airplane. And once again, I was struck by how truly perverse some religious beliefs are, especially regarding sex.

"I think this loneliness leads me to other problems. As I get lonely, the natural sex drive awakens and I struggle to control it – sometimes leading to minor sinful activities, like not lowering the gaze [around unveiled women]. ... This problem makes me want to get married to avoid getting aroused. The Prophet advised young men to fast if they can't get married, but it has not been helping me much..." – Farouk Abdulmutallab

Shotguns and Suicide Bombs: Is Life Really so Cheap to the Faithful?

Every Atheist blogger will be writing about this tragic story today, about a man who opened fire with a shotgun in a Unitarian Church because he was frustrated over their "liberal views." And on the same day, we find that four women, in a coordinated suicide bombing, blew themselves up in Iraq, killing at least fifty seven innocent bystanders, all Shiite pilgrims.

Most religious people have swallowed the Godly Origin of Morals Meme, hook, line and sinker. They believe that without God, there can be no morality. Never mind that actual facts don't back this up – sociologist, historians, religious scholars and atheist scholars have done plenty of studies that demonstrate that people are people, and pretty much behave just as well or badly regardless of their religion.

Unfortunately, there is a corollary to the Godly-Origin-of-Morals Meme: Not only do morals come from God, but so too does the very meaning and purpose of our lives. Without God's plan for us, there would be no reason to exist. Or so we're told. To an atheist, this idea is almost laughable, except that it's not funny today. Dozens of people died today, as a direct result of this belief.

To a religious person, life is just the very first step in an infinitely long journey, and death is the doorway to the next step. Death is unpleasant, leaves grieving loved ones behind, and perhaps leaves unfinished business on Earth, but the promise of the afterlife, heaven, and reunion with loved ones when they die, vastly mitigate the pain and sorrow of believers. In God's grand scheme of things, death is more of an inconvenience than a tragedy.

Contrast this with the Atheist's view of life and death. There is no greater gift than life, because you only get one chance, and there is no fate worse than death, because when you're dead, that's it, you are gone forever. Our lives here on Earth last a mere six to ten decades if we're lucky. There is nothing more precious than life, and our husbands, wives and children are worth more to us than anything else in the world. It is only through our children, and our deeds here on Earth, than we can have any legacy to Earth's future.

A religious person can convince himself that murder is justified, because first, the victims aren't following the morals that God explained so plainly in the Bible. (Never mind that this "plain" explanation seems to be different for every person you ask.) But worse, because death is just the doorway to the afterlife, the religious zealot can convince himself or herself that the murders aren't really hurting anyone. If the victims are innocent, but the murder helps restore God's morals to society, then the murders are really OK. It's a case of the greatest good for the greatest number – a few lose their lives (an inconvenience, nothing more), but God's laws are restored.

This sort of logic is unthinkable to an Atheist.