Cenk Uygur articulates the views of atheists-agnostics about religion dictating morality

[cleanhippie]

Because of the death of 31-year-old dentist and expectant mother Savita Halappanavar, who was having a miscarriage but denied an abortion because a heartbeat was allegedly detected in her dying fetus, protests over Ireland's ban on abortion are igniting. The BBC reports that about 2,000 people protested outside the Irish parliament in Dublin and another 40 protesters gathered outside the Irish embassy in London. Hundreds of women in Ireland are protesting, calling for legislative change, NBC reports.

A majority of people in the politically-Catholic country opined in a recent poll that abortion should be legal to save the life of the mother, but the laws are murky and the government has been slow to deal with the issue. The Catholic influence in governance is so strong in Ireland that it wasn't until 1985 that people over the age of 18 were allowed to purchase condoms without a prescription, Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks said (see video below). Although the Catholic Church has a powerful sway in the nation's government, there has been a sharp and steady decline in self-declared Catholics attending Mass.

Uygur then went on an explosive rant about religion, articulating a view that many of today's nonbelievers and to some extent, un-churched "spiritual but not religious" people hold, perhaps explaining in part why an increasing number of people want nothing to do with religion. For those without video access, here's what he had to say:

I think fundamentalist religious people that take it to this kind of extreme are the most immoral people in the world. So it's not like "Oh, hey, religion, it's morality or they're just the same as everybody else." No, no, no. They're not the same as everybody else. When you take stupid laws that don't make any sense that aren't even in your Bible -- it doesn't even say you shouldn't have an abortion in your Bible -- and then you apply it to everybody whether they are in your religion or they're not in your religion, whether they agree or they don't agree, and then some people die because of it, that's as an immoral act that you possibly could do. And why? Because no, no, no -- some emperor, Constantine, 1,600 years ago made a political document that he said Jesus might have said or Jesus' friends might have said 400 years before -- this is so stupid! How dare you? How dare you let her die like that?

And now we have these Neanderthals in America that want to take us back to these dark ages with thousands of these bills across the country, trying to walk back reproductive rights. I can't believe we're having this conversation and in so many states, they're winning it.

I'm so sick of people's religion, man. I'm so sick of it. And constantly, no, you have to do my religion, you have to do my religion -- f*** off. Why do I have to do your religion? I don't. I don't believe your religion. I don't believe it, get it through your thick skulls. I don't give a sh*t about it. I don't care if it's fundamentalist Christianity, fundamentalist Islam, fundamentalist anything -- It's voodoo. I don't give a sh*t! You're not going to run my life based on your dumba*s beliefs. If you come with logic and reason and we have a conversation, about, hey, here's a reasonable basis for this law, okay, fine. Then we'll talk about it. But if you come to me (saying) my sky god, I think, two thousand years ago, told a f***ing bush, and he talked to f***ing Moses, and then he said, well, if there's a seed in your body ... and then some dumba*s pope interpreted that 1,500 years ago as saying hey, maybe you shouldn't do this or that and hence, I'm going to let your wife die, f*** you! Fundamentalist bulls**t.

http://www.goddiscussion.com/104141/ireland-cenk-morality/

[fruitsmoothie45]

1. This is wonderful.

I wish I had the nerve to show this to my religious parents; maybe then they'd have a little more respect for people that don't share their beliefs.

[libodem]

2. Best rant eveh

Loved it.

[pokerfan]

3. What the GOP's (God's Own Party) abortion plank looks like in practice

No exceptions. Period. End of story. Candidates for federal office usually have trouble running on that platform and usually mumble some exceptions for the health of the mother but the plank remains because the religious wackos find it appealing.

[EarthGurl2012]

4. Wow, yes that was the Best Rant Ever.

[rug]

5. How is that articulating the views of atheists?

Atheism, as often said here, is simply the absence of belief. Per se, it is silent on morality.

[cleanhippie]

7. Ask Cenk.

[e-mail]

[rug]

11. You posted the headline.

Explain it.

[rexcat]

10. But individuals...

be they atheists or not have opinions on morality and have the right to express those opinions, at least in this country. His "rant" should be well taken considering a life was needlessly lost. For those who don't get it that would be the woman's life needlessly lost. The physicians who decided not to abort the fetus, despite the medical fact the fetus was not going to survive, killed the woman by not doing anything until it was too late. It is well known that by not terminating the pregnancy, the woman's chances of catastrophic outcome was greatly enhanced and she died, basically, for nothing other than some bad interpretation of a bad, religiously based, law.

Two lives were lost instead of one. It seems there are many in this country who are "pro-life" believe that the woman had no rights and her death was appropriate. Obviously in Ireland, since it is a "Catholic" country, as the doctors told the husband the life of the mother was not important enough to save until it was too late. That is some fucked up morality IMO.

Atheism does not dictate morality, but again, all individuals to have morals. Some based on rational thought and others based on religious beliefs. Whatever floats your boat.

[rug]

12. If that's the case it's an individual's articulation of morality not "atheists".

[truebrit71]

6. Love it!

...What a wonderful, caring God that medical staff must worship...and what a fortunate husband too...sure, he lost his wife and his unborn offspring, but GOD's law wasn't broken so it's all good...

[Iggo]

8. Halle-fucking-lujah!

[livingonradio13]

9. The Young Turks Documentary

Who doesn't love a good honest rant by Cenk Uygur?! Fortunately there's a documentary about The Young Turks coming out soon but the film maker needs help finishing his documentary.

Film maker, Andrew Napier has been following the story of TYT for the past three years and capturing great stories along the way including Cenk's move to MSNBC and Current TV. In order to keep this documentary objective and independent, Andrew needs to raise at least 60k to pay for legal fees and various other things involving the movie. Check out http://www.indiegogo.com/madashell for more information about the TYT documentary and to contribute.

Let's get the word out about this film so we can break through the right wing noise machine!