For the past week I’ve had a bit of free time on my hands, so for fun (and perhaps also for a bit of Critical Thinking practice), I’ve been hanging out in a couple of Facebook groups where Muslims attempt to debunk Atheism.

It has been exactly what you might expect …

Number of silly utterly insane arguments presented – lots

Amount of credible evidence presented – zero.

I must confess to being a bit naive, for I truly had no idea just how loopy things would get. Purely for your entertainment and amusement, here now are some examples (I’ll not be providing any names).

Rain

A Muslim posts this …

And Allah sends down rain From the skies, and gives therewith Life to the earth after its death: Verily in this is a Sign for those who listen. (Qur’an Surah An-Nahl Verse 65)

Well, that is just too good to ignore, so I made the following observation …

Quoting from a book of supernatural myths is not a rational or logical argument. Do you actually believe rain is caused by a supernatural entity and do you seriously dismiss the perfectly rational explanation that explains it in precise detail … and this is your persuasive argument for God? If so, then I invite you to edit the wikipedia page all about rain … http://en.wikipedia.org/wi​ki/Rain and see if you can successfully persuade every single Meteorologist on the planet that their scientific understanding is wrong and instead “God did it” is a better explanation – or perhaps come to terms with the clear fact that the Qu’ran is simply wrong.

Oh come on now, you know exactly how he will respond, right? … well, here it is …

i dont agree what have u commented because u seem a man with total insanity

Now that also is just too good to ignore … here is my reply (and yea, I was mean)

so if you don’t agree, then that’s a yes then … you do actually believe a supernatural entity is the most logical explanation for rain, and every single Meteorologist on the planet is wrong … and yet you claim I’m insane … I’d be tempted to call you a complete idiot, but I can’t because there are many other idiots out there who would be offended to be associated with such stupidity.

That was the end of that dialog, he quickly walked away from that thread.

First Woman On the Moon

The following claim is made …

Sunita Williams

First Indian Lady who went to the

Moon on 09/07/11 nd returned 2

days back has accepted ISLAM.she

said that from the Moon,the

whole Earth looked very black nd

dark except two places that were

Bright nd shining when she

looked thru the telescope nd the

places were MAKKAH nd MADINA

nd in the Moon all the frequencie

s was failed but still she heard the

sound of AAJAAN- Subahanall ah.

Allah bless all….

Yep exactly, this is truly WTF!!! … so I carefully explain it is nonsense and spell out the facts … and yet still, really … WTF!!! Its truly scary to find folks who are that decoupled from reality. I was also advised in that dialog “a wise person would wait until verified the fact by official release”, to which I can only reply, “what is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence” (Thank you Christopher Hitchens).

Proof that God is real

One chap suggested the discovery of Noah’s Ark and linked to an evangelical YouTube video. After quickly whacking that nonsense, he follows up with a YouTube video from a 911 truther, so I then whack that one. We then get numerology, evolution is wrong, counting the number of times specific words occur in the Quran, Dawkins is an idiot, etc. … all from one chap. Basically he was buying into every single crackpot idea out there.

What is also amusing is that he (a Muslim) was using all the Discovery Institute stuff to make his anti-evolution stance. Oh and as for “Dawkins is an Idiot” quip, well somebody had posted the picture with famous atheists on it. His response to that was to suggest that Dawkins and Marx were idiots … to which it was quickly pointed out to him that it was not Dawkins and Marx, it was Carl Sagan and Charles Darwin.

The Qu’ran and Science

And sure enough, this old chestnut pops up on a regular basis … the claim made is that the Qu’ran describes modern science, and that is proof that God wrote it. Funny thing is, when you ask for just one example of a modern scientific concept described in the Qu’ran that is not some vague poetical phrase to which any meaning can be applied, there is suddenly a heck of a lot of verbal shoe shuffling, ducking and weaving – net result = zero references provided, and for most of us that is not a surprise.

All in all, it was a descent into utter insanity and irrationality, so why do it? Well, apart from the pure amusement gained, and also the opportunity to sharpen your critical thinking teeth, it is also an occasion to introduce some to logic, reason and science (perhaps for the first time). For not only are there active posters, there are also many lurkers watching and listening, perhaps sitting on the fence and pondering over the utter insanity if it all.

To openly and honestly ask questions and have a real dialog is impossible. Leaving Islam marks you for death (I’m not kidding), many popular preachers openly proclaim that leaving Islam is treason and so you should be killed for doing so. In that climate, real open honest dialog is impossible … but having a dialog like this does expose many to thinking that they would normally be insulated from.

If you are a Muslim and are having serious doubts about Islam, you are not alone. There are many out there who can help you. A good place to start is with the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. They have many folks who have renounced Islam and can help you as well. they also have many links with other groups of Ex-Muslims in other nations.

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