Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman

He dared to insult islam and got kicked out of university and now he's been sentenced for 4 years in jail on charges of disrespecting islam and slandering the president!

This is what you get in Egypt when you write your blog and un-censor your views and ideas.

It is not hard to have a grudge against islam (in Egypt) nor Moubarak, both being undemocratic and intolerant. In the case of islam, it’s fascist, racist and terrorist represented by the ekhwan al mouslimin group.

Muslim Brothers my ass, they’re more of the muslim brothel of hate.

Religion makes you dumb!

Want a proof? check this out.

My new religion

I have found god in this new religion: the inflatable church. Please check it out, I hope it moves you the way it moved me! (for girls I don't know if "move" if the appropriate word)

Back to the mohamad caricatures

A very interesting debate has ended in France with freedom of expression trumping blind religious censorship!

Do you remember those mohamad caricatures that were printed out in a Danish right-wing paper that ignited the islamic world, caused dozens of death, riots, tons of hatred and plain rage against Danes, Europeans, westerners and christians? Well they are back and with a vengeance!

This time the setting is France. The players have changed, it's Charlie hebdo a French satirical newspaper that decided to print the caricatures in the name of freedom of expression Vs the blind religious censorship of some representatives of the muslim community. Knowing the laws of France and the attachment that French people have towards freedom of expression and satire (even at the expense of religions and gods), the bigots decided to file charges for racism and incitement to hatred. The court's response was a resounding "whatever and go fuck yourselves". I love this country!

Ok so that was hopeful thinking, the judgement is expected on March 15. The person I was "quoting" was the prosecutor and not the judge. And a minor additional detail: she didn't say whatever nor go fuck yourselves, but I swear that if you look between the lines you could see those statements written in capital letters (WHATEVER AND GO FUCK YOURSELVES for those having a hard time visualising what it would look like)! What she said was that freedom of expression trumps everything, even religious sensibilities be it muslim ones or christians ones! When will someone dare something like that in Lebanon!? Not to forget the mention in capital letters of GO FUCK YOURSELVES destined to all religious leaders who have been oppressing us with their list of what to do and not to do.

Now let's cheer for a deafening GO AND FUCK YOURSELVES by the French court, loud enough in order to be heard by our beloved religious figures in Lebanon.

How christian am I?

I sent an email to a dear friend of mine about the latest clashes in Lebanon between supporters of rival political groups, urging her to calm down, stop demonising the "other side" and urging everyone around her to do the same. Her reply was that she hasn't heard anything more christian than my email! (She knows I'm a die-hard atheist and a religion hater). So how christian am I?

If you ask me, I'd say 0%! I don't believe in Jesus as the son of god, I think the trinity is plain rubbish and Mary was banged indeed. And I'd like to add that miracles can be explained by science and are not exclusive to christianity, Jesus didn't resurrect from the dead and yes he did have lots of sex, probably with men and women or both at the same time.

I know that some of the moral principles of christianity were taught to me by my parents and through catechism classes and by the society as a whole. But can we say that those morals are really christians? Is the act of not killing or hitting or hurting someone because he is different christian? Or is it contemporary morality, a basic moral value that decent people believe in? Isn't that just humanism?

I think it's bizarre of religious people in Lebanon and everywhere to think that morality and moral values come from religion as if it's the only source of morality. Those people are ignoring the fact that they themselves aren't following religious morals but contemporary Lebanese ones that came to be after years of inter-religious conflict and bickering. In other words, you shall be intolerant has knocked out you shall not murder from the 10 commandments.

I think "christian-values" is a big word, in the same league as "eastern values" as opposed to western ones. For me morality is born by and from society, leaders and intellectuals than it is from scripture. Who can say that they follow their holy book word by word? (If you think so you aren't, believe me). Isn't that a proof that morality is ever changing? It's evolving everywhere, going back and forth, some people pushing it towards humanism while others pushing it towards extremism and hate for "the others". And coincidentally, every time a society tried to copy the morality of its holy scripture, it opened pandora's box (trapping Europe in its dark ages, and taking the arab/muslim nation to its current dark ages).

Isn't the best morality, the one that truly maximises people's happiness and their thrive for life, science, art, etc. the one that sets them free to do whatever they want as long as they don't hurt others? And who dares to say that this is christianity, islam, judaism or any other religion?

Religious morality is bad for your health, so quit already!

The why... get out

I'm overwhelmed with reasons as to why I've decided to create this blog!

But first let me ask this question that's been occupying my thoughts for days: Why aren't there any vocal lebanese atheists? Where are the sites? where are the NGOs? Where are the people who don't believe in god, who think religion is bogus; Jesus, Mohamad, Mary, Ali, Moses and Abraham deranged, fiction or both?

Fuck it, even Lebanese jews, who represent a tiny portion of the population, have their own website!

One feels so alone in Lebanon when having a conversation about how religion is made up or why god doesn't exist. Not only do people scorn you and pity you because you're going to burn in hell, but you'll get the frequent blasphemy accusation followed by the hurling of insults (this is a gross generalisation).

I know there's lots of us out there. Here's my small contribution, a small still dark corner of the web that I hope will get some light shed on it and grow into a movement of free thinkers who dare to challenge the grip that religion and religious people have on the country.

So after the why(s), now the get out… YES I AM AN ATHEIST.

Don't be afraid, out yourself now!