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Orlando

Jan 18th, 2012 3:13 pm | By

Oh hey, I’m excited now – Jessica Ahlquist is a speaker at the Moving Secularism Forward conference - which is exciting for Me Me Me because so am I. Yip!

The annual joint conference of CFI and the Council for Secular Humanism takes place March 1–4 at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, FL and includes presentations from Daniel Dennett, Jamila Bey, PZ Myers, Ophelia Benson, David Silverman, Ronald A. Lindsay, and more.

New speaker announced: Jessica Ahlquist! Jessica, our volunteer high school coordinator, just won the case against her public high school’s display of a prayer banner. She’s participating in a Saturday morning session on “Outreach and Advocacy Strategies” moderated by campus organizer Debbie Goddard.

It’s fun having teenage … Read the rest

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Who gave these kuffar the right to speak?

Jan 18th, 2012 1:10 pm | By

And then there’s this “Urgent – Calling all muslims” at Islamicawakening on Monday -

Brothers, the Queen Mary Athiest Society, sister of the shaytaani UCL Athiest Society (which published pictures of Rasoolullah(saw)) are holding an event today at Queen Mary University of London at 7:00 pm on ‘ Is Shariah in violation of human rights’.. We need your presence. Who gave these kuffar the right to speak?

The kuffar have no right to speak, at a university in London. That’s an interesting thought. Also the comment addresses “Brothers” – so apparently “all muslims” actually means only half of all muslims – and then the “kuffar” who was speaking at Queen Mary that evening is a woman, so her right to … Read the rest

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Threat threat threat threat

Jan 18th, 2012 12:53 pm | By

On Rhys Morgan’s (currently very busy) Facebook page – a guy called Safwan Ahmed, a graduate of Rhys’s school, posted to say

take that blog down before i fly kick you!

Rhys said no, Ahmed replied

inappropriate and offensive! take it down before you lose the remaining half of your penis.

Someone tried to tell Ahmed that threats are a serious matter and can be reported to the authorities. Ahmed replied

nah no argument cbf wasting time with u. sorry if you were looking for a rebuttal, i will deal with this matter personally.

More back and forth, culminating in Ahmed’s

hahahahha scott you amuse me in the sense that your a fucking sad prick! look at my avatar? id

… Read the rest

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Another chorus of “god hates atheists”

Jan 18th, 2012 12:21 pm | By

Steve Ahlquist (Jessica’s uncle) just posted several Youtube videos on the Support the Removal of the Cranston High School West Prayer Facebook page, including this gem of majoritarian bullying (which we have seen before – remember that Mississippi high school?) -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtULr3eKaQA

 

 … Read the rest

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Jesus and Mo promote peace, tolerance and respect

Jan 18th, 2012 11:39 am | By

A new Jesus and Mo.

With an apt dedication:

Today’s comic is dedicated to Rhys Morgan, Jessica Ahlquist, One Law for All, and Salman Rushdie. Heroes, all.

Of course, author himself belongs in that company.… Read the rest

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Independent reports disruption of meeting at Queen Mary *

Jan 18th, 2012 | Filed by

Enquiries by Tower Hamlets police are ongoing.… Read the rest

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Paula Kirby on the pile-up of censorship efforts *

Jan 17th, 2012 | Filed by

It is no longer just the religious who would inhibit our freedom of expression: increasingly, secular bodies are buying into this invidious idea too, all in the name of ‘tolerance’ or ‘community relations’ or ‘respect’.… Read the rest

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QED

Jan 17th, 2012 5:14 pm | By

Well at least I know exactly what I’m going to talk about at QED. Oh yes. Suddenly as of today there was only one possible topic.… Read the rest

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Behold, theocracy in action

Jan 17th, 2012 4:00 pm | By

Ann Marie Waters on last night at Queen Mary College.

This week I was due to give a talk to students at Queen Mary College, London on sharia law and human rights. Rather fittingly – and as if to prove my point – my human rights were quashed by a person demonstrating one of the effects of sharia law; the threat of violence for criticising religion.

Or to put it another way, both are instantiations of theocracy. Both are what you get when you have theocracy. You get god-centered everything, with humans expected to obey the imagined god slavishly and harsh punishments if someone thinks god is being defied.

Just before I was due to start, a young man

… Read the rest

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How defamation law can be used to chill legitimate debate *

Jan 17th, 2012 | Filed by

Criticising the motivations of public figures, or calling on them to be more candid about their motivations, should not be actionable.… Read the rest

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Freedom of expression under threat by violent extremists *

Jan 17th, 2012 | Filed by

Ann Marie Waters asks, is it the role of speakers and students to face off against potentially violent Islamists in defence of our free speech?… Read the rest

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Just a kind request

Jan 17th, 2012 11:56 am | By

And then there’s Rhys. He had the contested Jesus and Mo image as his Facebook profile picture for a week, then took it down. He also received a lot of bullying.

I uploaded the image to Facebook and set it as my profile picture for about a week. I then changed back to another photo and went on my usual life.

Until today. Someone who is a Muslim discovered the picture and found it offensive. He politely requested I remove the image -

“…just a kind request to either hide it or completely delete the picture…”

a request I declined because I do not follow Islamic scripture or rules. This quickly descended into a bit of a debate as

… Read the rest

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“If I hear that anything is said against the holy Prophet Muhammad”

Jan 17th, 2012 11:17 am | By

Yesterday evening, One Law for All Co-Spokesperson Anne Marie Waters was to speak at a meeting on Sharia Law and Human Rights at the University of London. Maryam continues:

It was cancelled by the atheist group organisers after police had to be called in due to Islamist threats. One Islamist filmed everyone at the meeting and announced he would hunt down those who said anything negative about Islam’s prophet. Outside the hall, he threatened to kill anyone who defamed the prophet. Reference was made to the Jesus and Mo cartoon saga at UCL.

The University’s security guard – a real gem –arrived first only to blame the speaker and organisers rather than those issuing death threats. He said: ‘If

… Read the rest

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He annoyed the religious sentiments of Muslims in the past

Jan 17th, 2012 10:58 am | By

Now to look at each one in more detail, though not calmly.

Protests from “influential Muslim clerics” in India have prompted the organizers of a literary festival in Jaipur to take Salman Rushdie’s name off the list of speakers. He was scheduled to speak at three events during the five day festival.

The BBC explains in the way it invariably does.

Mr Rushdie sparked anger in the Muslim world with his book The Satanic Verses, which many regard as blasphemous.

No he didn’t. Mr Rushdie wrote a novel. Some people chose to become enraged about the novel and its author. He did not “spark” anything, nor did he do anything wrong. Many regard many things as blasphemous. If we take … Read the rest

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1 shut up. 2 shut up. 3 shut up.

Jan 17th, 2012 10:35 am | By

Damn. Things have gone crazy – so crazy that it’s hard to keep up. Just to give you the bare list -

Salman Rushdie

will miss the opening day of the Jaipur literary festival, organisers say, after protests by influential Muslim clerics in India.

A talk on sharia and human rights

organised by the Atheism, Secularism and Humanism Society at Queen Mary, University London, had to be cancelled after threats of violence. The talk was due to be given by Anne Marie Waters of the One Law For All campaign, which campaigns against the use of Sharia in the UK.

Rhys Morgan was

called into a meeting with his head of year at his sixth form college, about the Jesus

… Read the rest

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Rhys Morgan threatened over Jesus and Mo *

Jan 17th, 2012 | Filed by

His sixth form college is considering expelling him if he doesn’t remove the cartoon from his profile.… Read the rest

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New Humanist on disruption of sharia talk at U of London *

Jan 17th, 2012 | Filed by

“He shouted ‘listen up all of you, I am recording this, I have your faces on film now, and I know where some of you live’.”

 … Read the rest

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U of London: meeting on sharia disrupted by threats *

Jan 17th, 2012 | Filed by

One Islamist filmed everyone at the meeting and announced he would hunt down those who said anything negative about Islam’s prophet.… Read the rest

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They will take more consideration

Jan 16th, 2012 4:35 pm | By

The UCL Union has a statement on its attempt to meddle with the UCLU Atheist, Secularist & Humanist Society’s Facebook page.

UCLU (the representative body of UCL students) has a duty to foster and encourage freedom of expression among our members, ensure diversity of our membership is recognised[,] and pursue equal opportunities for our members.

Following a number of complaints from UCL students, UCLU requested that the UCLU Atheist, Secularist & Humanist Society (UCLU ASH) take down a cartoon from a Facebook event page advertising one of the society’s regular social events.

The society was asked to remove the image because UCLU aims to foster good relations between different groups of students and create a safe environment where all students

… Read the rest

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Developments

Jan 16th, 2012 3:11 pm | By

I hadn’t kept up with developments in the UCL/Jesus and Mo fuss until I got that email. There were developments.

The New Humanist reported that the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society at UCL reported that progress had been made.

While debate raged online, however, both the UCL union and the atheist society have been working to resolve the matter, and the ASHS have this morning announced that progress has been made, with the union agreeing that they can not ask the society to take down the image. This is explained by the society’s president, Robbie Yellon, in a statement on their Facebook page:

Good, good. Except…wait. What’s that in the third paragraph of that statement?

Unfortunately, the Union

… Read the rest

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