Philip Pullman condemns the "terrible things" Islamic extremists have "done to young girls"

[Warren Stupidity]

Allowing religion to have political influence turns it into something “cruel and wicked”, the author Philip Pullman has argued, as he condemns the “terrible things” Islamic extremists have “done to young girls in the name of religion”.


Pullman, the author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, said society must resist allowing religion to “pry into places it doesn’t belong”, including politics.


Speaking of religious zealots of all denominations, he added power had now been given to a “group of men who have an unhealthy interest in other people’s sexuality”.


Pullman has previously been accused of blasphemy for his 2009 book “The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ”, with his Dark Materials trilogy being banned from some American schools.


In 2001, he reportedly told the Washington Post he was “trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief” with his work.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10701275/Philip-Pullman-condemns-the-terrible-things-Islamic-extremists-have-done-to-young-girls-in-its-name.html

The Telegraph does the interview and Mr. Pullman a disservice. He is not singling out Islam, he is a comprehensive anti-theist. The interview is about the negative influence of religion on political systems.

[CJCRANE]

1. The thing that annoys me is that the neocons were lying about "spreading liberal democracy".

They were all about taking away our rights and spreading religious fundamentalism at home and abroad.

Hence the world we see today in the 21st century.

[skepticscott]

2. Cue the apologists

falling all over themselves to argue that religion had nothing to do with this, and that if it weren't religion these same people would have been motivated to do this by something else, like the doorknob or the table lamp.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. While we're at it, Christians chopped off some skin from the tip of my dick.

Without my consent.

If someone tried to do it to me today, it would be a Death or Glory moment in their lives, I assure you.

[okasha]

6. Was it done fot religious reasons

or because it was a routine health measure at the time? Christianity does not require circumcision.

[AtheistCrusader]

7. It was done because my parents were christian, and that's what christians do, apparently.

That's also why they baptized me.

Buncha nonsense. I'm not a Christian. And I can't get my foreskin back.

[hrmjustin]

10. No! I am a Christian and I can tell you there is no rule on that.

[AtheistCrusader]

11. And yet they do.

I agree there is no commandment/rule to do so. Yet they do.

The US is an odd duck in this regard, alone, among western societies. Nobody seems to be able to pin down precisely why, but it is prevalent among white Christians, even though christianity has no such commandments.

[hrmjustin]

12. But it is not a religiousvthing but cultural.

[AtheistCrusader]

13. Where did they get the idea?

I can see a book, from where I am sitting, that suggests a source...

[hrmjustin]

14. my parents did it for health reasons. They are not Christians.

[AtheistCrusader]

15. And where did they get that idea?

20th century American medical science? Not so much.

I agree the perpetuation of it is not as simple as 'RELIGION!!!'. But it's a major factor. Certainly was for my parents. I asked. It's what they thought was 'normal'. Same with the useless baptism.

[hrmjustin]

16. Baptism is not useless.

[AtheistCrusader]

17. For me it was.

Perhaps it held some meaning for them, in case I died. Not my monkey, not my circus.

[cleanhippie]

18. It is unless one needs a bath.

[hrmjustin]

19. Usless to you but not to everyone.

[Warren Stupidity]

25. Do you believe that newborn children need to have satan cast out of them?

[hrmjustin]

29. Baptism is a rite of entrance into the church.

[Warren Stupidity]

30. Oh, right the anglicans dropped the casting out of satan part.

It was ridiculous. Yes indeed as a ceremony of inclusion it is useful.

[hrmjustin]

31. I have never seen it as casting out the devil.

[Warren Stupidity]

32. read up on the original ceremony.

It is an exorcism. Google baptismal exorcism.

[hrmjustin]

33. Well the rite used by churches today is simpler and more closer to what the bible says of it.

[okasha]

24. At the risk of shocking tbe Biblical literalists smong us,

I must point out that I have seen probably more than my fair share of uncut young Catholic men in my life drawing classes. Infant circumcision became common in the US when hospital births became the norm. Doctors advised it as a matter of "personal hygiene," and most people assumed the doctors knew what they were talking about.

[Warren Stupidity]

26. I don't know how this thread got to be about circumcision, but you are correct.

Circumcision became a secular custom in the US, and outside of the islamic and jewish faiths, generally not a religious one.

[Brettongarcia]

27. The probable subject is actually clitoridectomy.

That's a religious procedure which is rather more serious than Jewish circumcision. It's the removal of the female clitoris. Often for religious reasons.

That's one among many other forms of genital mutilation. Though we might consider castration too; often performed for religious reasons as well.

[okasha]

34. See posts

by the person to whom I was replying.

[LeftishBrit]

28. Most Christians don't

Circumcision is a requirement for religious Jews and Muslims; and some Christians and people of other faiths do it for cultural reasons.

In the UK, it is very rare for anyone to be circumcised unless they are either Jews or Muslims, or done for a medical reason. It may be that some Christian sects do so, but it's not a universal part of Christianity.

[struggle4progress]

8. From almost the beginning, Christianity has held that circumcision is not important

... not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek ...

[AtheistCrusader]

9. And yet they do.

I can't explain it. All I know, is that I too have been disfigured.

That said, it doesn't compare much to the horrors visited upon women, explicitly in the name of religion.

[rug]

20. That's not a very big reason to be an atheist.

[AtheistCrusader]

21. It's on The List(TM)

[rug]

22. I bet Prosense missed that item.

I miss The List(TM). It was so reassuring.

[AtheistCrusader]

23. I think I just stumbled across an inside joke.

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Also, thank you.

Too often, things get posted without commentary or explanation by the poster. Breath of fresh air to see you clarify there. Thank you.

[rug]

5. The Telegraph quoting the Mail quoting Pullman.

I'll pass.