Video: Sam Harris on “The Monotheistic” God

The Billboard: Sam Harris

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Books: Nomad – Ayaan Hirsi Ali

In this book Ayaan follows up on her family situation from where it left off in her first book Infidel.  At this point, Ayaan has moved to the USA yet still faces some of the same issues she faced when she was living in the Netherlands.  As an ex-Muslim, she focuses her efforts on the immigration issues in the west, particularly in the Muslim community. With this she proposed a wonderful idea she referred to as the “Enlightenment Project,” inspired by European history.  “The intellectual tradition of European Enlightenment, which began in the seventeenth century and produced its greatest works in the eighteenth, is based on critical reasoning. It employs facts instead of faith, evidence instead of tradition. Morality in this worldview is determined by human beings, not by an outside force.” I am proud of a woman like Ayaan, for her story and tremendous courage, and her experiences result in ideas that can be applicable to understand and facilitate change.  Personally, I enjoyed her book Infidel more than this one, but each stands on its own to carry out the important messages Ayaan is trying to convey.

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Background drawing by Ghadah Alkandari

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Video: Lawrence Krauss vs. Hamza Tzortzis: Islam or Atheism – Which Makes More Sense?

Finally this debate is available online, after some controversy at the commencement of the seminar when Professor Krauss realized the audience was to be segregated (Professor Krauss’ protestations here). This is not one of my favorite debates, as it was infuriating at times, especially when you listen to an obnoxious speaker such as Hamza Tzortzis.  He emphasizes the use of sophisticated and complicated words and portrays that he is well-read, but the end result is that his arguments are useless. For instance, his example of linking the Arabic language to the language of the Quran and then suggesting that they are not the same!  This makes no sense at all!! What do you mean exactly? Are you saying that no one who speaks Arabic can understand the Quran, or no one actually has properly interpreted it? Does your argument lead to the conclusion that each individual person will have his or her own interpretation of it? He depends on the same argument over and over in most of his other talks such as the infinity argument, which Professor Krauss painted out as “wrong science”. Krauss, who was confident, blunt and strong in making his case (from the start of the debate before it even began) pointed out that the actual question of the whole debate is inappropriate. And this is, that unlike Islam, Atheism is not a belief system, it is common sense. If you have the patience, I recommend watching the whole debate. Enjoy!

Articles: Islam and Science

The theory of evolution by natural selection is all about change and adaptation. Nothing stays the same or stands still, if it does, then things will die out and won’t be passed on for the future. This applies to, as simple as, the survival of a tree to the survival of an idea in an adult human brain. The future of the people of the Middle East, is to learn to adapt and accept change.

Read on!