"Leaving Islam?" Bus Ads Censored in Detroit--Lawsuit

[WhipperSnapper]

Leaving Islam? Has a fatwa been put on your head? Is your family threatening you?

Those are the questions posed by a bus ad that has run in a few cities, but apparently it won't run in the Detroit area, not without a fight even though ads touting atheism have run. The ads are sponsored by a group called Stop Islamization of America (I love it). They are aimed at helping people who are facing persecution and violence from their families and other religious nuts. You can read more and see the ad here:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/27/detroit-transit-sued-for-nixing-leaving-islam-ad

Mrs. Geller said SIOA began its national city-by-city ad campaign in response to bus ads in Florida inviting people to convert to Islam.


The SIOA ads read, "Fatwah on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam? Got Questions? Get answers!" and provides a Web address that links to organizations that serve Muslim apostates. The bus ads are running in Miami through June 15 and began running in New York last week and will run through late June, Mrs. Geller said.


Part of the conflict centers on whether Muslims are free to leave Islam without retribution, and whether their families will punish or kill them for conversion.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ny-bus-ads-20100527,0,5184295.story

http://www.freep.com/article/20100529/NEWS05/100530023/SMART%5C-s-refusal-of-%5C-anti-Muslim%5C--ads-spurs-lawsuit

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Here's an interview with Pamela Geller, the woman behind the ads:

http://www.breitbart.tv/the-b-cast-interview-leaving-islam-bus-ads-trigger-miami-showdown/

(It's about 78 minutes long, I lost interest after the first 10 minutes.)

Here's another:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_wqt9edqOQ

 

[CKent]

The ads are sponsored by a group called Stop Islamization of America

If they accept donations I may have just found a new charity to donate to.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

If they accept donations I may have just found a new charity to donate to.

I think it might be related to a network of Stop Islamisation of <enter region> organizations in other countries, namely Europe. You can find the American SOIA here:

http://sioaonline.com/

 

[RedCOMET]

Remember guys.. Islam is a religion of Peace!

 

[peonyu]

Remember guys.. Islam is a religion of Peace!

"We are so peaceful that we will kill you with our love of peace infidel!!!"

 

[Throckmorton]

This is a good idea. We atheists need to put up ads for people leaving Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.

 

[CKent]

This is a good idea. We atheists need to put up ads for people leaving Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.

Those other religions don't widely threaten death for apostates. It's a part of the insanity of islam.

 

[Danube]

This is a good idea. We atheists need to put up ads for people leaving Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.

I think the DNC has that covered

 

[mk]

Remember guys.. Islam is a religion of Peace!

Islam is a religion of peace. When everyone is a devout muslim and of course belongs to the same sect. When gays are dead, sinners and blasphemers are dead and women know their place.
Then it really is the religion of peace.

 

[Throckmorton]

Those other religions don't widely threaten death for apostates. It's a part of the insanity of islam.

Tell that to the FLDS

 

[kylebisme]

Here's an interview with Pamela Geller...

Google turned up a good writeup on her blogging too. :\

 

[MotF Bane]

This is a good idea. We atheists need to put up ads for people leaving Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.

What's wrong with Buddhism or Hinduism? Hell, even Judaism doesn't have a terrible record to my knowledge.

 

[MotF Bane]

Google turned up a good writeup on her blogging too. :\

But the big question - is she a lunatic 9/11 truther?

 

[MotF Bane]

Islam is a religion of peace. When everyone is a devout muslim and of course belongs to the same sect. When gays are dead, sinners and blasphemers are dead and women know their place.
Then it really is the religion of peace.

Christianity was no better over the span of the last, oh, thousand years. Islam just took a dive into practicing insanity more recently.

 

[Genx87]

Christianity was no better over the span of the last, oh, thousand years. Islam just took a dive into practicing insanity more recently.

Islam has been like this from its founding. We only started noticing once we got smacked across the face on 9-11.

Islam needs to move on like Christianity did hundreds of years ago. The thing I wonder is if it can? It doesnt have a central figure that directs the masses. And does the Quran have a new testament that is much less violent?

 

[DanDaManJC]

Islam has been like this from its founding. We only started noticing once we got smacked across the face on 9-11.

Islam needs to move on like Christianity did hundreds of years ago. The thing I wonder is if it can? It doesnt have a central figure that directs the masses. And does the Quran have a new testament that is much less violent?

Lest we all forget the Muslim world was actually "better" during the western dark ages. They were involved in global trade, developed several arts and sciences (algebra being the big one) and so on.

During those times too... how much was the Muslim world's war mongering more attributed to empire building (like the Romans, Greeks or Persians before them), under the guise of a jihad, as opposed to the fundamentalist loony Muslims we see now-a-days? I don't really know enough history to tell.. but given the fact that kings and empires have been war mongering independent of their religion since the dawn of man, I'm assuming Muslim imperial war mongering isn't anything unique to Islam.

On a similar note, were the British and before them, the Spanish conquests of the new world cases of Christian war mongering? The Spanish were very adamant about converting the locals to Catholicism and they were pretty brutal about it (note the Aztecs and others).

All this said, modern fundamentalist Islam is undoubtedly a big problem to say the least. It seems after the enlightenment, the west chose to tend towards rationality and scientific reasoning... and the the Muslim world stuck to its theocracy. Just look where that got us

 

[FaaR]

Those other religions don't widely threaten death for apostates. It's a part of the insanity of islam.

Christianity and the bible is being widely used in America as a bludgeon to attack and spread hate against primarily gays and other of non-traditional sexual orientations, but also atheists, feminists, "liberals" and even scientists.

It is also being forcibly fed down peoples' throats by certain rightwinger christian conservatives who want to bring their religion into government, bring prayers and other religious functions into public schools and so on.

Many attempts to replace science classes in school with creationism, aka "intelligent design" have been done by these progress-hating christians: some of them successful. See recent controversy regarding texas school textbooks for one example.

Islam is NOT the only dangerous religion. Woe those who think christianity is all rainbows and happy bunnies. Many of the oppressive aspects in islam are also present in the bible, it's just that most christians don't know about any of it because they've never bothered to read the fucking thing. They just think they're being christian by going to church, praying, hating gays and putting a "honk for jesus" bumper sticker on their car.

Just as a small example of all the despiccable crap you can find in the bible, you find that women are supposed to be subservient to, and inferior to men, and inherently offensive and sinful creatures, menstruation is dirty and sinful, labor pains is womens' righteous punishment from god. It's OK to own slaves, gluttonous fat people should be stoned to death, unbelievers should be stoned to death, on and on.

Many US politicians will state with conviction they believe each and every word of the bible are true, and coming straight from "god". If that doesn't give you the creeps, well, what would???

 

[Jaskalas]

Many US politicians will state with conviction they believe each and every word of the bible are true, and coming straight from "god". If that doesn't give you the creeps, well, what would???

Exchanging Bible for Koran and God for Allah.

Becoming the world's super power, the United States did alright as a god fearing nation. There's nothing wrong with that which time will not cure. Our people are free to slander the dominant religions in this country.

Try drawing Mohammad, and compare that to drawing Jesus. Which group is going to kill you for which offense? That you'd attempt to equalize the two is a outrageous defense of a barbaric and violence ideology that oppresses a great many more people.

You should thank god for the Battle of Tours and Charles Martel for giving you the freedom to say the things you do, and the capacity to slander religions for if we were an Islamic nation you would lose your head.

I stand by your right to speak against religion, but ffs do not turn that freedom against itself.

 

[FaaR]

Exchanging Bible for Koran and God for Allah.

Both are merely different shades of the same color. Both are oppressive, patriarchal religions and contrary to free thought, liberty and truth.

That you'd attempt to equalize the two is a outrageous defense of a barbaric and violence ideology that oppresses a great many more people.

What on earth are you talking about?! I'm not defending anything.

Every single word of my previous post is true. If you don't agree with me, it's just because you don't really know enough of christianity. These things are all in the bible, 'the word of "god"'. Just because you choose to ignore your own teachings doesn't make them go away.

You should thank god for the Battle of Tours and Charles Martel for giving you the freedom to say the things you do

I don't have to thank any imaginary fantasy illusion for anything, and not your battle or your Charles Martel either. There are no gods. We made them up in our own image, and persisting in believing in flying spaghetti monsters like silly little children...is ridiculous. That's as nice as I can put it.

and the capacity to slander religions

You can't slander a RELIGION. Religions are ideas and concepts, not people. I can slander christians, but I can't slander christianity.

I stand by your right to speak against religion, but ffs do not turn that freedom against itself.

Wut?

I don't even get what you're trying to say. Anyway, blasphemy is also punishable by death according to the bible. By all rights, you SHOULD be screaming for my head right now. If you don't, you're simply not a christian. Just like if you ignore all the other rules and prescriptions of the bible that most christians ignore either out of ignorance or because of their own convenience - like not working on sundays (yea, death penalty for that one also), or not eating pork (not sure if you're supposed to be put to death, but bacon's not allowed nevertheless...just like in the koran).

So you're cheering yourself on for ignoring your own "god's" rules and not being a christian while calling yourself a christian, but condemning muslims for living in accordance to their teachings, is that what you're saying...? Seems a tad schizophrenic to me, but hey, religion never did make much sense to me.

 

[DanDaManJC]

I stand by your right to speak against religion, but ffs do not turn that freedom against itself.

I can't really speak for Faar, but I'll put in my 2cents.

What we're attacking is this notion that Islam has always been fundamentally this radical and barbaric religion. As mentioned in my post before... the Muslim world was much more sophisticated artistically and scientifically then the west during our middle ages.

How do you reconcile that fact with this idea that Islam is fundamentally flawed? Yes the Muslims invaded... but to counter that, how much of that was normal imperial ambition as opposed to a fundamentally "Osama Bin Laden style" hatred of the west?

I'm not here trying to be justify the current Muslim world's current absurdities... but rather this overarching generalization about Islam that simply isn't true.

 

[CKent]

Christianity and the bible is being widely used in America as a bludgeon to attack and spread hate against primarily gays and other of non-traditional sexual orientations, but also atheists, feminists, "liberals" and even scientists.

It is also being forcibly fed down peoples' throats by certain rightwinger christian conservatives who want to bring their religion into government, bring prayers and other religious functions into public schools and so on.

Many attempts to replace science classes in school with creationism, aka "intelligent design" have been done by these progress-hating christians: some of them successful. See recent controversy regarding texas school textbooks for one example.

Islam is NOT the only dangerous religion. Woe those who think christianity is all rainbows and happy bunnies. Many of the oppressive aspects in islam are also present in the bible, it's just that most christians don't know about any of it because they've never bothered to read the fucking thing. They just think they're being christian by going to church, praying, hating gays and putting a "honk for jesus" bumper sticker on their car.

Just as a small example of all the despiccable crap you can find in the bible, you find that women are supposed to be subservient to, and inferior to men, and inherently offensive and sinful creatures, menstruation is dirty and sinful, labor pains is womens' righteous punishment from god. It's OK to own slaves, gluttonous fat people should be stoned to death, unbelievers should be stoned to death, on and on.

Many US politicians will state with conviction they believe each and every word of the bible are true, and coming straight from "god". If that doesn't give you the creeps, well, what would???

An apostate is one who has renounced a religion. My specific point was that any Christian who finds their religion insane can leave. Any Muslim who feels the same will be threatened with death.

 

[kylebisme]

But the big question - is she a lunatic 9/11 truther?

No, but then neither am I. I'm a truther who attention in class and has the emotional fortitude to come to terms with the fact that the official story for how the WTC buildings comes down stands in flagrant violation of the laws of physics. What do you figure is keeping you on the side of the falsers?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Google turned up a good writeup on her blogging too. :\

She's definitely a loon, but I am happy to see the bus ads offering encouragement and help for people who would like to renounce Islam.

What's weird is that she seems to admire Atlas Shrugged so much that she used it as her blog's name and even headlines her blog with a piece of artwork that seems Objectivist-like. However, she seems to be a huge Palin fan, but Atlas Shrugged advocated atheism and the Objectivist philosophy staunchly opposes Christianity. (It also vehemently opposes Islam.)

 

[palehorse]

No, but then neither am I. I'm a truther who [paid?] attention in class and has the emotional fortitude to come to terms with the fact that the official story for how the WTC buildings comes down stands in flagrant violation of the laws of physics. What do you figure is keeping you on the side of the falsers?

It was a trick question, you moron... ALL 9/11 truthers are lunatics.

everyone knows this.