"Saturday is the sabbath; you make us laugh." So states Is Mise.

Well I don't recall the old sky pilot defining what day the sabbath was to be observed on, just some mention of a seventh day, but then again when reading a fairy tale some broad interpretation is permitted I guess.

The Saturday you refer to was set down by man, Vis it has nothing to do with that ascribed to by the sky pilot.

If Mr Aly is scary for you, I would suggest you deluded Christian fundamentalists scare the hell out of most rational people.

Monty Python have nothing on your lot, except I don't laugh at you, I just sit and consider your completely irrational belief in a mythical entity long ago dismissed by most as just that, mythical. Go figure.

Hi Geoff,

Probably most of us on this thread are atheists, who would partly agree with your assessment of religions, including Islam, as involving "completely irrational belief in a mythical entity long ago dismissed by most as just that, mythical."

The problem with Islam is that it isn't an innocent, harmless set of beliefs, but a set of instructions, to spread the religion - that "completely irrational belief in a mythical entity long ago dismissed by most" - across the entire world, by force if necessary.

Mind your head.

Joe

//The problem with Islam is that it isn't an innocent, harmless set of beliefs, but a set of instructions, to spread the religion - that "completely irrational belief in a mythical entity long ago dismissed by most" - across the entire world//

All major religions proselytise. I would argue that they probably wouldn't be major religions if they didn't.

Mormons tend to give the most grief with Jehovah's Witnesses a close runner-up. Sadly, I have never been offered a personality test by the Church of Scientology. Maybe I'm just not pretty enough. I used to be troubled by Catholics, but I lapsed many moons ago. And when I was at high school I was troubled by Pentecostalists, but your teenage years are when you discover music and there was no way I was going to sign up to any religion involving Christian rock. I would rather gouge out my own eardrums with a fork than listen to that crap.

Hindus, Sikhs, Baha'i, Jains, Protestant denominations not already named, Muslims, Jews, Taoists and Confucianists haven't tried it on at all; the Buddhists made a half-arsed attempt which doesn't really count.

//by force if necessary//

Well if you're worried about religions that want to proselytise by force, you should be worried about Jedis. No, sorry, my bad: that's a religion who want to proselytise by The Force.

When discussing force, it is always worth referring back to the great scientific genius who first put the concept on a sound scientific footing, Sir Isaac Newton. The second law of motion is not really relevant here, but I'll remind you of the first and third: 1) Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. 3) For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Of course, that is only force in the mechanical sense. When discussing international politics, one should look to examples from history. In the before time, in the long-long ago there were Spanish Inquisitors and their ilk who tried to spread religion by force. They had instructions to do so in their holy book, and believed they were doing the right thing. They lost.

In the not so long-long ago, a bunch of Krazy Krauts tried to spread their ideology by force. They lost.

Lessons we learn from history: Newton's Third Law of Motion does not necessarily apply outside of physics. Sometimes an action is met with a much larger and overwhelming reaction which crushes it into submission. Sometimes they happen really quickly (e.g nukes in Japan) and sometimes they happen quite slowly (the Spanish Inquistion turning from vile fascists into the butt of a Monty Python joke).

Speaking of the Pythons, they also took a fair amount of piss out of the Nazis. Where are our modern day Pythons? I reckon a few good jokes would go a long way to defusing vagISIL propaganda and reducing unwarranted paranoia. And if we come up with a funny enough joke, we might not have to fight them at all:

http://tinyurl.com/q7944em

Geoff,

You laughing,
"If God made Sunday the sabbath, following in his ways, why do you all go to church and pray to him, making him work extra hard on his day off, so funny it just makes me laugh"

You not laughing,
"Monty Python have nothing on your lot, except I don't laugh at you, I just sit and consider your completely irrational belief in a mythical entity long ago dismissed by most as just that, mythical. Go figure."

Do you know whether you are coming or going, laughing or not laughing?

"Long ago dismissed by most"

Most what? People?

I have never been a fan of Waleed Aly.
Having avoided watching any of his shows.
Call me a bigot, but as soon as I see him on the screen or on the radio I turn him off.
I now see he has joined the Islamic Choir joining Dr Imran Syed and other "Islamic Scholars" in Australia.
Every Muslim on TV seems to be an Islamic scholar.
Can you buy a certificate with your name on it saying in Arabic that you are a Scholar.