I’m glad to know that people are still finding these articles and occasionally finding value in them. I feel a little more optimistic about the world right now. I see much more activity around non-belief and looking at the world more objectively. I saw an interview with Stephen Hawking last week and was thrilled to hear him be far more outspoken than in the past. The thesis of his new book is exactly what you said: we don’t need God to have a universe. I would argue that having God makes the universe worse all the way around… Sam Harris and others have written on that topic.

Thanks again, Maria. I think your English is excellent.

http://www.ajc.com/news/islamic-web-site-warns-477785.html

What a shame that we still live in such a primitive world.

—-
Islamic Web site warns ‘South Park’ creators
By Ty Tagami
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

5:05 p.m. Tuesday, April 20, 2010
A Web site that promotes Islam is warning the creators of the television cartoon “South Park” that they could be killed for airing a recent show that depicted the Muslim prophet Muhammad in a bear suit.

The site says in an entry posted Thursday that the authors of the irreverent cable show, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, could wind up like Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. He was killed by a radical Islamist in 2004 after making a movie that featured a beaten, naked Muslim woman covered in writings from the Quran.

The post includes a photograph of van Gogh with a knife protruding from his chest.

“We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh for airing this show,” says the site, revolutionmuslim.com. “This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.”

The post encourages readers to contact Stone and Parker, and apparently provides addresses for their production company and for Comedy Central. (The Web site was not functioning Tuesday afternoon.)

In a blog post Monday, CNN says it contacted the author of the warning, Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee. He said the addresses were provided to give people the opportunity to protest rather than as a threat, according to CNN.

The anti-”South Park” post includes audio from a sermon in which the speaker says assassination is justifiable punishment for those who defame Muhammad.

The man delivering the sermon, U.S.-born preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, is in hiding in Yemen and is on a list of al-Qaida leaders targeted for capture or assassination, according to CNN.

CNN says Al-Amrikee, the author of the post, said the al-Awlaki sermon was included in his post to remind Muslims that insulting the prophet is a severe offense for which the punishment in Islam is death.
—-