re: #16 SidewaysQuark

You’re providing perfect examples of defending “stupid”. All religions are stupid and harmful, but the way Islam is practiced around large swaths of the world is disgusting, and as it is practiced in many places, Islam is the worst religion on earth. It takes some bizarre mental contortions for a sane person religion that’s driven over 80% of its practitioners in many of its most prevalent nations desire death for apostasy is somehow as good as any other religion, and it’s a quite idiotic premise to think religions for some reason must ‘all be considered equal’, and an even more idiotic premise to think religious ideas deserve ‘respect’ just because they’re ‘religious’.

And, no, nothing I said is a ‘straw man’. Please improve your logic skills, and stop calling other people assholes when you’re apparently much better at it.

First of all, I’m not the one who called you an asshole. Try to pay attention.

I’ve neither called you an asshole nor have I said you’re stupid, though I did say your assertion that anyone here enjoys religious oppression was “idiotic”.

You can belittle my logic skills all you want, but ad hominem attacks aren’t going to work because I really don’t give a hairy rat’s ass what you think of me personally, and others will recognize them from a mile away.

Nice bit of cherry-picking & misrepresentation regarding the Pew report. It was over 80% in 3 of the 7 countries listed, which hardly constitutes “many of its most prevalent nations”:

Views of harsh punishments also vary across the Muslim publics polled. Majorities of Muslims in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and Nigeria say they would favor making harsh punishments such as stoning people who commit adultery; whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery; and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion the law
in their country. In the other predominantly Muslim countries surveyed – Turkey, Lebanon and Indonesia – most Muslims oppose these measures.

I’d suggest anyone who’s interested actually read the whole report (PDF here). Or, better yet, actually go out and get to know some Muslims in real life.