^^^ "LIVE LIKE MUHAMMAD,FIGHT LIKE ALI,DIE LIKE HUSSAIN!"

Who are you fighting? Why the apocalyptic message? ie Die like Hussien? Very Unsettling

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14563647


Nigeria launches two satellites NigeriaSat-2 could help Nigeria manage its natural resources



Nigeria has successfully launched two Earth observation satellites which could be used to monitor weather in a region seasonally ravaged by disasters.

The NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X spacecraft were lofted into orbit aboard a Russian Dnepr rocket from a launch pad in the town of Yasny, southern Russia.

Nigeria collaborated with UK engineers on the project, and the satellites are being monitored from control stations in Guildford, UK, and Abuja in Nigeria.

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan praised the successful launch.

Mr Jonathan called the event "another milestone in our nation's effort to solve national problems through space technology".

The imaging satellites could have a variety of applications, including the monitoring of disaster-prone areas.

Nigerian territory stretches into Africa's Sahel, a belt of land on the Sahara Desert's southern fringe that sees extreme weather conditions.

The Sahel experiences severe droughts in the dry season and devastating rainfall in the wet season. Floods last year displaced about 500,000 people nationwide, with most of them in the Sahel region.

The satellites could also provide Nigeria with the ability to enhance food security through monthly crop monitoring, assist with burgeoning urban planning demands and, through the development of engineering skills, advance the country's technological capability.

Both satellites were built at Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) in Guildford, under contract with the Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).

But 26 Nigerian engineers worked alongside SSTL engineers in Guildford to assemble the 100kg NigeriaSat-X satellite.

Dr S O Mohammed, the head of NASRDA, commented: "NigeriaSat-2 will significantly boost African capabilities for remote sensing applications, specifically for natural resource management.

"This high resolution satellite will also greatly enhance image data available to the Disaster Monitoring Constellation. Through a comprehensive training programme, Nigerian engineers have worked on the design and build of NigeriaSat-X, benefiting Nigeria's growing space industry and inspiring development of new technologies."

http://bestplaces.nydailynews.com/Viewer/internet-billionaire-donates-125-million-create-libertarian-islands


Internet billionaire donates $1.25 million to create libertarian islands
Seasteading Institute's Facebook page

Peter Thiel has made his fortune by being part of the next big thing: He was a co-founder of Paypal and one of the early investors of Facebook.

But a new Details profile sums up his new plans: “Forget startup companies. The next frontier is startup countries.”

Thiel has donated $1.25 million to the Seasteading Institute, the brainchild of Patri Friedman, a former Google engineer and grandson of economist Milton Friedman. Here’s the gist: creation of libertarian, sovereign nations built on oil-rig-type platforms anchored in international waters and free from the laws and moral codes of any other country.

PHOTOS: Craziest homes from around the world

Plans for the prototype include a movable, diesel-powered 12,000-ton structure that could house 270 residents. The goal would be to eventually link hundreds of the structures together.

Friedman’s timeline is to launch offices off San Francisco next year, get a full-time settlement within seven years and eventually diplomatic recognition from the UN.


(Seasteading Institute's Facebook page)


“The ultimate goal is to open a frontier for experimenting with new ideas for government,” Friedman told Details. Some of the changes: no welfare or minimum wage, looser building codes and few restrictions on weapons.

Friedman thinks what could set this apart from an Ayn Rand novel – or even a remake of “Waterworld” – is the idea of entrepreneurship. He calls one idea Appletopia. A corporation, such as Apple, “starts a country as a business. The more desirable the country, the more valuable the real estate.”

Criticism of the idea hasn’t been kind. Slate’s Jacob Weisberg called it “the most elaborate effort ever devised by a group of computer nerds to get invited to an orgy.”

Yahoo News points out that Thiel made news this year for putting a portion of his $1.5 billion fortune into an initiative to encourage entrepreneurs to skip college.

Published on Wednesday, August 17th 2011, 3:46 PM

By Gina Pace

civilization v

Quite hilarious, what of other nairalanders? I think I coined the term "Vandal-x-cool" after the numerous monikers vedaxcool corrupted my sanctified nairaland name in his heated manic debates. I think he called me "bovinereal" or some such nonsense at one point in time, it was really funny though 

someone said something very interesting to me the other, he said:
back in the biblical days, there WAS OBVIOUS MIRACLES, curing of PLAGUES, changing liquids into wine, splitting waters etc(whether they were real or not, we will never know) BUT TODAY we can surely use science to differentiate between a conman and a true prophet. when was the last time anyone heard of someone doing a documented miracle?! not just something that happened by CHANCE or charlatans in churches making fake handicapped walk or crazy people sane.

Why doesn't god answer the prayers of amputees? Has there ever been one amputee that grew their limb back?

The Rochas Foundation Colleges are non profit, non-religious, non-governmental humanitarian organisations providing free education to the poorest of the poor.

The foundation has established 5 schools in different locations in Nigeria, namely Kano, Jos, Owerri, Ibadan and Ogboko where over 5,000 poor children are receiving comprehensive FREE education including free meals, free tuition, free boarding, free uniforms, free medical care and free learning materials.

Another example of a secular non profit

I choose to be a conduit of information. I am not really trying to convince people about anything, just sharing info that I find. The truth always finds its way to the top. I will agree that Al-Razi was not a Muslim but a freethinker if he did indeed postulate the earlier quotes on religion.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/10/islam-freedom-expression


When Islamic atheism thrived

It's astonishing to read about the freedom of expression afforded to Muslims in the 10th century, in contrast to our own times


Monday 10 May 2010 13.30 BST Article history

Freethinking is perhaps not one of the strongest suits of modern Islam. For one thing, the list of books that have been banned for challenging prevalent religious orthodoxies and sensibilities during the past hundred years is disconcertingly long.

Modern Islamic clerics and scholars in various Muslim countries are often highly selective of which part of the Islamic heritage to emphasise and bring to light. Out of the countless and varied sources from centuries of vigorous debates, commentaries and controversies, they seem to dig out, and revel in, interpretations that are hopelessly conservative or frustratingly and grotesquely at odds with the life of modern Muslims.

It may therefore come as a surprise to many people that there is a long and vibrant intellectual tradition of dissidence and freethinking going back to the Middle Ages. The Islamic thinkers of the early medieval period expressed ideas and engaged in debates that would appear strangely enlightened in comparison with the attitudes and views adopted by modern Islamic scholarship.

This is the basic argument presented by From the History of Atheism in Islam by the renowned Egyptian thinker Abdel-Rahman Badawi. Published in Arabic in 1945, the book was reprinted only once in 1993. It discusses the work of the Islamic philosopher-scientists of the medieval period and the way they upheld reason, freedom of thought and humanist values, while questioning and often refuting some basic Islamic tenets.


[b]Although many of those thinkers, according to Badawi, did not attempt to disprove the existence of God, they lashed out against the notion of prophethood and argued against the privileged position occupied by the Prophet Muhammad and his followers.

Most prominent among those scholars was Abu Bakr al-Razi (865-925 CE) who believed in the supreme importance of reason. He argued that the mind had an innate capacity to distinguish between good and evil, and between what was useful and what was harmful. According to him, the mind did not need any guidance from outside it, and for this reason the presence of prophets was redundant and superfluous.

Al-Razi directed his most vehement attack against the holy books in general, including the Qur'an, because he saw them as illogical and self-contradictory. He also believed that all human beings were equal in their intellectual capacities as they were in all other things. It made no sense therefore that God should single out one individual from among them in order to reveal to him his divine wisdom and assign him the task of guiding other human beings. Furthermore, he found that prophets' pronouncements and stories often contradicted those of other prophets. If their source was divine revelation as is claimed, their views would have been identical. The idea of a divinely-appointed mediator was therefore a myth.

Al-Razi understood the hold of religious belief on society, which he attributed to several factors. Firstly, systems of beliefs spread mainly through the human propensity for imitating and copying others. Secondly, religion's popularity rested on the close alliance between clerics and political rulers. The clerics often used this alliance to impose their own personal beliefs on people by force whenever the power of persuasion failed. Thirdly, the lavish and imposing character of the attire of religious men contributed to the high regard in which they were held by common people. Lastly, with the passage of time religious ideas became so familiar that they turned almost into deep-seated instincts that were no longer questioned.

In examining this chapter of Islamic history, regardless of the validity or otherwise of the views expressed, one cannot help feel amazed at the fact that the Islamic thinkers of the 10th century had the freedom to discuss and publish their "unorthodox" ideas, while the Islamic world now cannot, or will not, deal with any form of intellectual dissent. It might be reasonable to suggest then that the problem of Islam does not lie in inherited texts and traditions, but in interpretation. The Islamic heritage, like its Christian counterpart, is made up of a huge body of commentaries and interpretations that were produced in various periods of history to address problems specific to their age. We need to remember that the Christian scriptures have not changed since the middle ages. It was in the name of these very texts that innumerable so-called heretics were burnt at the stake.[/b]

There is little doubt that Islamic scholars have the task and the responsibility to review tradition and re-emphasise the human values of tolerance and freedom of thought. They do not have to look far for these values. All they are required to do is to reach deep into their own cultural coffers to retrieve the pearls and discard the dregs.

I have been looking for this man profile for a very long time. . .Just got his name wrong. . . .I used to think it was Reza instead of Razi. Thank Divinereal. What a great man he was. . .

Anytime bro, knowledge is free we just have to seek it. Al-Razi was the man dude, I like his style I won't lie I have learnt and still learning a lot from this Nairaland site sef. Even though our debates can at times get pretty hot and heavy I believe it is dialogue that will make Nigeria a better country. We are meshing/challenging different ideas from all over the world that we all have gained via our different experiences.

AL-RAZI (865-925 C.E.):

Full name- Abu Bakr Muhammad B. Zakariya. P. Kraus and S. Pines, in Encyclopedia of Islam, have mentioned al-Razi as “perhaps the greatest freethinker in the whole of Islam.” Max Meyerhof4 calls him “the greatest physician of the Islamic world and one of the great physicians of all time.” Al-Razi was the native of Rayy (near Tehran ), where he studied mathematics, philosophy, astronomy and literature, and, perhaps, alchemy. Later, he went to Baghdad to study medicine. It may be mentioned that at that time, Baghdad was reputed in the whole world as a great center of learning. Al-Razi is known to have studied and contributed to variety of subjects. His greatest medical work was an enormous encyclopedia, al-Hawi, on which he worked for fifteen years and which was translated into Latin in 1279.

Al-Razi was thoroughly a rationalist thinker. According to Gabrieli, 'he is the greatest rationalist “agnostic” of the Middle Ages, European and Oriental.' The central theme of Al-Razi’s personal philosophy was that no authority was beyond criticism. He challenged tradition and authority in every field to which he turned his attention. Like a true humanist, al-Razi puts boundless faith in human reason and it is reflected in the following excerpt, taken from his book of ethics, The Spiritual Physick:

Reason “is God’s greatest blessing to us….By Reason we are preferred above the irrational beasts,…, By Reason we reach all that raises us up, and sweetens and beautifies our life, and through it we obtain our purpose and desire. For by Reason we have comprehended the manufacture and use of ships, so that we have reached unto distant lands divided from us by the seas; by it we have achieved medicine with its many uses to the body, and all the other arts that yield us profit….by it we have learned the shape of the earth and the sky, the dimension of the sun, moon and other stars, their distances and motions…”

Al-Razi denied the Islamic dogma of creation ex nihilo. For him, the world was created at a finite moment in time, but not out of nothing. Al-Razi believed in the existence of the five eternal principles: creator, soul, matter, time, and space. He had no faith in Quran and the prophets. 'The miracles of the prophets', said Al-Razi, 'are impostures, based on trickery, or the stories regarding them are lies.' According to him, reason is superior to revelation, and salvation is only possible through philosophy. In his political philosophy, Al-Razi believed, one could live in an orderly society without being terrorized, or coerced by religious law.

Some Muslim apologists have claimed that Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi was a Muslim scientist that made innumerable discoveries and contributions to science in the 10 and 11 th centuries. I agree with the latter, he was indeed a great scientist but I think its a bit disingenuous that he be considered a Muslim (ie believing in the tenets of the religion). After reviewing some of the this man’s ideas, writings and contributions it is plain to see he was a fierce critic of prophetic religions including Islam. So I would be hard pressed to call him an adherent of the Islamic faith and more inclined to call him a medieval freethinker/rationalist.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_ibn_Zakariya_al-Razi#On_Religion


Razi wrote three books dealing with religion:

The Prophets' Fraudulent Tricks (مخارق الانبياء)
The Stratagems of Those Who Claim to Be Prophets (حيل المتنبيين)
On the Refutation of Revealed Religions (نقض الادیان).


[b]He offered harsh criticism concerning religions, in particular those religions that claim to have been revealed by prophetic experiences.[17][18][19] Razi asserted that "[God] should not set some individuals over others, and there should be between them neither rivalry nor disagreement which would bring them to perdition."[20] He argued,

On what ground do you deem it necessary that God should single out certain individuals [by giving them prophecy], that he should set them up above other people, that he should appoint them to be the people's guides, and make people dependent upon them?[20]

Concerning the link between violence and religion, Razi expressed that God must have known, considering the many disagreements between different religions, that "there would be a universal disaster and they would perish in the mutual hostilities and fighting. Indeed, many people have perished in this way, as we can see."[20]

He was also critical of the lack of interest among religious adherents in the rational analysis of their beliefs, and the violent reaction which takes its place:

If the people of this religion are asked about the proof for the soundness of their religion, they flare up, get angry and spill the blood of whoever confronts them with this question. They forbid rational speculation, and strive to kill their adversaries. This is why truth became thoroughly silenced and concealed.[20]

Al-Razi believed that common people had originally been duped into belief by religious authority figures and by the status quo. He believed that these authority figures were able to continually deceive the common people "as a result of [religious people] being long accustomed to their religious denomination, as days passed and it became a habit. Because they were deluded by the beards of the goats, who sit in ranks in their councils, straining their throats in recounting lies, senseless myths and "so-and-so told us in the name of so-and-so, "[20][/b]

[b]He believed that the existence of a large variety of religions was, in itself, evidence that they were all man made, saying, "Jesus claimed that he is the son of God, while Moses claimed that He had no son, and Muhammad claimed that he [Jesus] was created like the rest of humanity."[20] and "Mani and Zoroaster contradicted Moses, Jesus and Muhammad regarding the Eternal One, the coming into being of the world, and the reasons for the [existence] of good and evil."[20] In relation to the Hebrew's God asking of sacrifices, he said that "This sounds like the words of the needy rather than of the Laudable Self-sufficient One."[20]

On the Qur'an, Razi said:

You claim that the evidentiary miracle is present and available, namely, the Koran. You say: "Whoever denies it, let him produce a similar one." Indeed, we shall produce a thousand similar, from the works of rhetoricians, eloquent speakers and valiant poets, which are more appropriately phrased and state the issues more succinctly. They convey the meaning better and their rhymed prose is in better meter. ,  By God what you say astonishes us! You are talking about a work which recounts ancient myths, and which at the same time is full of contradictions and does not contain any useful information or explanation. Then you say: "Produce something like it"?![20]

From the beginning of the human history, all of those who claimed to be prophets were, in his worst assumption, tortuous and devious and with his best assumption had psychological problems.[17][18][19][/b]

[flash=200,200]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__khgIzMyaM&sns=em[/flash]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__khgIzMyaM&sns=em

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14504628


South Africa's government has set out its plans to introduce a universal health care scheme.

A pilot scheme in 10 areas is to start in April 2012, and will then be phased in nationally over the next 14 years.

"These first steps towards establishing national health insurance are truly historic," the health minister said.

Analysts say South Africa is one of the world's most unequal societies, where quality health care is skewed towards the private sector.

More than 80% of South Africans cannot afford private medical insurance and rely on publicly funded hospitals, which charge a small fee for treatment and are often overstretched.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the quality of care in public health institutions was "often totally unacceptable".

'More business'

"Without NHI [national health insurance], the burden of disease in the country will not be reduced because the majority of the population - and the section suffering the greatest ill health - will not access good quality health care," he said in a statement.


"If you earn above a certain income you will be required by law to make a contribution to the NHI Fund. It will not be possible to opt out of this responsibility," he said.

More details of the NHI scheme will be known later on Friday when the government's green paper on the legislation is published for comment.

It will then go back to parliament for consideration before it becomes law.

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says some people have raised concerns about paying for the scheme when they do not use it.

But Mr Motsoaledi said the aim of the green paper was to get the best out of the existing private and public health care systems - both of which needed reform.

"The private sector is held up as an example of good service and quality of care - and this is mostly justified. What is not justified is the price tag that comes with certain forms of private health care provision," he said.

"This is not only a burden to people using private health services, but a disservice to our country as a whole because it distorts pricing across the board."

All forms of primary health care will be covered by the scheme, but not other treatments like cosmetic surgery and aesthetic dental procedures.

"Private health care professionals are not opposed to the NHI because it will bring more business to them, but they want to see what the paper sets out," Dr Norman Mabasa, president of the South African Medical Association, told Reuters news agency.

Last year, the governing African National Congress (ANC) estimated initial costs to set up the scheme would be about 128bn rand ($18bn; £11bn).

"The central challenge to the stability and well-being of our nation is reducing the deep inequality between rich and poor, between privilege and deprivation. This goes to the heart of South Africa's future," Mr Motsoaledi said.

Other African countries have various forms of national health insurance, although some still find it difficult to fund.

Dr Doyin Oluwole, from US-based global health organisation FHI360, told the BBC's Network Africa programme South Africa could learn from Rwanda.

"Rwanda started free health care in 1994 but by 1999 they realised that it was not sustainable, and they introduced community-based health insurance," she said.

"As of end of 2010, Rwanda is covering over 90% with one form of health insurance or the other."

http://www.wissenbloggt.de/?p=5379


A new study conducted by the Washington based Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life says that Africans are among the most religious people on earth. The study titled Tension and Tolerance: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa was based on more than 25,000 interviews conducted in more than 60 languages in 19 countries. According to the study at least half of all Christains in Sub-Saharan Africa believe Jesus will return in their lifetime. One in three muslims in the region expect to see the re-establishment of the caliphate-islamic golden age- before they die. At least three out of 10 people across much of Africa said they have experienced divine healing, seen the devil being driven out of a person or received a direct revelation from God. About a quarter believe that sacrifices to ancestors can protect them from bad things happening. Sizeable percentages believe in charms and amulets. Many consult traditional religious healers, and sizable minorities keep animal skins and skills in their homes.

The study found that in many countries across the continent roughly nine in 10 people say religion is very important in their lives.

Do these findings surprise anyone? Surely they shouldn’t. Unless the person is not familiar with the situation in Africa.

These findings do not surprise me at all. [b]I am an African. I was born in Africa. I live and work in Africa. I am non religious though I was born into a religious home. I attended religious schools. I had a typical (African) religious upbringing. I do not believe that Jesus will return again. I do not think that the Biblical Jesus existed and even if he did, I think he’s gone and gone forever. I can't see the world coming under an islamic caliphate except what we have been experiencing since September 11, 2001. I have never experienced divine healing and I don’t think those who claim to have experienced it are honest to themselves. I have not seen a devil being driven out of any person except some self induced hysteria by some pentecostal con artists. I have not received any revelation from God except may be one day some godly people would claim that their god revealed this piece to me. I don’t believe that sacrifice to the ancestors will protect people from harm. Otherwise the ancestors would be alive today. I think charms and amulets are useless and consulting traditional healers and clerics is a waste of time.

The reasons why Africans are the most religious people in the world are not far fetched. Africans go through religious indoctrination from cradle to the grave. Africans are not allowed by family, society and the state to think, reason or live outside the religious box. In Africa religion is by force not by choice. Religion is by compulsion and not according to one’s conscience. Africans are brought up to believe that there is NO alternative to religion. When in fact there is. So in Africa, it is either you are religious or you are nobody-you are not a human being, you are nothing. There is too much social and political pressure on Africans to be religious and to remain religious. The social, political and sometimes economic price of leaving religion, renouncing religion or criticizing religion is so high.[/b]

So Africans are religious willy nilly. Africans profess all sorts of religious crap even when they know it is all nonsense.

[b]At home, religious indoctrination is the first form of orientation an African child receives. At a very early and impressionable age, infants are taught to recite meaningless syllables called prayers. Children are brainwashed by parents with various religious and spritiual myths. Their minds are infused with all sorts of religious dogmas. Parents ensure that children are brought up in their faith- the faith of the family and the faith of their fathers. Children are taught to believe and follow, and not to question religious teachings even when there is every reason to do so. Some of the findings of the Pew Forum constitute the ‘sacred’ teachings which African kids receive and are told not to challenge, examine, criticize or renounce. African children are brought up to believe them and to swallow them hook , line and sinker. Not to question one’s family religion is seen as virtous and as a mark of a good child. This religious tradition is upheld and handed down unchallenged from one generation to another in Africa.

The religious brainwashing continues in schools. Most African colleges are religious indoctrination centers. Western missionaries and Arab jihadists brought formal education(the model widely used today) to the continent. They established schools to win converts and recruit new members, not really to educate Africans. So schools in Africa are covert churches and mosques. Education is faith based. And this religious tradition is still upheld in most schools across the continent. Some of the findings of the study are what African puplis are taught everyday in schools. They constitute what African students recite and memorize as part of their compulsory morning devotions.

Pupils at one islamic primary school near my house in Ibadan sing this song everyday as part of their morning devotion.

We are soldiers. We are soldiers.

Fighting for Islam. Fighting for Islam

In the name of Allah, we shall conquer, we shall conquer

Every morning these children are made to recite that they are muslim children ; that they believe in Allah and Mohammed as his messenger. What do you expect from these children as adults after going through this religious drilling and being brainwashed superstitious messages? Do you think they will ever grow to say that religion-in this case Islam is not important in their lives. As in their homes, African students are taught to blindly accept the so called divine revelations without questions. They are induced to try and have some encounter with God or to have some spiritual experience as a manifestation of faith or piety. Children and youths are made to believe that professing articles of faith is a mark of a good student. And that education is not complete without religion or belief in God. So why should anybody be surprised that most Africans attach so much importance to religion.[/b]

This religionizing continues in politics and in the state houses across Africa. State power is used to endorse, promote and privilege religion. In Africa, prayer, piety and politics go together. Religion and politics mix. States are not separate from churches and mosques. So there is very high political pressure on individuals to be religious-and to remain religious and faithful even when they are not convinced of the religious teachings or would prefer to be faithless. Many African countries have adopted a religion or some religions as state or official religions. For instance in Morocco, the King is not only the president of the country, but also the commander of the faithful. So every Moroccan is under political pressure to be a faithful – an islamic faithful, particularly a sunni islamic faithful. The president of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh is addressed as Dr, Alhaji, Sheikh …, among others. Some years ago he added to the list of his presidential duties praying for the citizens and trying to heal the sick including those who have HIV/AIDS using some verses in the Koran. In the self-styled islamic republics, anyone who is not a muslim cannot be president. Is there any special value being a muslim adds to the post of the president? None. In Gambia, the government erected magnificent mosques in all public schools in the country. Meanwhile these are schools without good classroom blocks, no libraries or laboratories.

In Africa, politicians have made it look as if to be a good citizen one must be religious or expressly pious. African politicians have made it seem as if theocracy, not democracy is the best form of government. And that the Bible and the Koran are the best constitutions. In fact the Bible and the Koran are the best constitution no country ever had. African politicians strive to ensure that state legislations are based on these‘holy books’ and that any policy, program or proposal that is not in line with the sacred texts are thrown out. Another reason why there is high level of piety in Africa is because most Africans do not think for themselves. They allow clerics to think for them. [b]Africans consult their priests, bishops,sheikhs, marabous, traditional medicine men and women whenever they have problems or when they want to embark on a major project. And they accept whatever they give them including charms like holy water, olive oil as solutions and remedies. They do whatever they recommend they do including carrying out ritual killing and sacrifice.

Lastly Africans are deeply religious due to lack of human rights particularly religious freedom in Africa. This may sound like a contradiction. But it is not. Some may argue that the high religiosity in Africa should be due to ‘too much religious freedom’. No, it is not so. Rather it is due to no guarantee of religious freedom, no protection of freedom of conscience. Africans do not enjoy or exercise their freedom of religion or belief. Africans are denied with impunity this basic human right by state and non state actors. Africans are forced to be religious or to remain religious. That is why they are ‘too religious’. The mechanisms to protect and defend the full human rights of those who change their religion or renounce or criticize religious beliefs or those do not profess any religion at all are weak and non existent. Religious believers and non believers are not equal before the law. Many Africans are religious because they don't want to be in the minority. They dont want to renounce what the majority upholds. They don't want to denounce what the state or society revers. Many Africans are religious because they just want to play along.

Africans are among the most religious people on earth due to failure of family upbringing, failure of human rights and the rule of law, failure of educational system, social and political pressure and bad governance. Africans are religious because they cannot but be religious.

[/b]

Very disturbing documentary on prostitution and illegal activities of Nigierians in Italy.

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2011/08/201189141348631784.html

Thomas Paine - Age of Reason
I think this is very relative to our discussions: http://www.ushistory.org/paine/reason/singlehtml.htm



IT has been my intention, for several years past, to publish my thoughts upon religion. I am well aware of the difficulties that attend the subject, and from that consideration, had reserved it to a more advanced period of life. I intended it to be the last offering I should make to my fellow-citizens of all nations, and that at a time when the purity of the motive that induced me to it, could not admit of a question, even by those who might disapprove the work.

The circumstance that has now taken place in France of the total abolition of the whole national order of priesthood, and of everything appertaining to compulsive systems of religion, and compulsive articles of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, but rendered a work of this kind exceedingly necessary, lest in the general wreck of superstition, of false systems of government, and false theology, we lose sight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that is true.

As several of my colleagues and others of my fellow-citizens of France have given me the example of making their voluntary and individual profession of faith, I also will make mine; and I do this with all that sincerity and frankness with which the mind of man communicates with itself.

I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.

I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.

But, lest it should be supposed that I believe in many other things in addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them.

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church (Islam), by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

[size=14pt]All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish (Islam), appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit[/size].


I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.

It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. He takes up the trade of a priest for the sake of gain, and in order to qualify himself for that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we conceive any thing more destructive to morality than this?

Soon after I had published the pamphlet Common Sense, in America, I saw the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion. The adulterous connection of church and state, wherever it had taken place, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, had so effectually prohibited by pains and penalties, every discussion upon established creeds, and upon first principles of religion, that until the system of government should be changed, those subjects could not be brought fairly and openly before the world; but that whenever this should be done, a revolution in the system of religion would follow. Human inventions and priestcraft would be detected; and man would return to the pure, unmixed and unadulterated belief of one God, and no more.

Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet, as if the way to God was not open to every man alike.

Each of those churches show certain books, which they call revelation, or the word of God. The Jews say, that their word of God was given by God to Moses, face to face; the Christians say, that their word of God came by divine inspiration: and the Turks say, that their word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from Heaven. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all.

As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before I proceed further into the subject, offer some other observations on the word revelation. Revelation, when applied to religion, means something communicated immediately from God to man.

No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a communication, if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case, that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed to any other person, it is revelation to that person only. When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and consequently they are not obliged to believe it.

It is a contradiction in terms and ideas, to call anything a revelation that comes to us at second-hand, either verbally or in writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication — after this, it is only an account of something which that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the same manner; for it was not a revelation made to me, and I have only his word for it that it was made to him.


When Moses told the children of Israel that he received the two tables of the commandments from the hands of God, they were not obliged to believe him, because they had no other authority for it than his telling them so; and I have no other authority for it than some historian telling me so. The commandments carry no internal evidence of divinity with them; they contain some good moral precepts, such as any man qualified to be a lawgiver, or a legislator, could produce himself, without having recourse to supernatural intervention.[FOOTNOTE 1]

Leave the wild rabid arab wanna be alone. The meme of the Arabian night tales have totally infected his frontal lobes and negatively impacted his ability to reason beyond sticking his nyash in the air 5 times a day and trying his best to emulate his favorite Arab gods in speech and behavior. I am yet to comprehend his stance he has on anything beyond polemics and the usual inference that Arab mythology is the solution for the real world problems that exist in the world today.

Please as I alluded to before let us celebrate the life and ideas of Tai Solarin a great Nigerian before we were rudely derailed by this islamist and slave of the arabs worldview. Wetin concern me a man of west african origin with the middle east if not for these silly religious myths and the wrath that they have polluted my peoples minds? A stance the Great Tai Solarin stood for.

The US is still the world largest and most robust economy that isnt going anywhere anytime soon as the world doesn't even know how to function without a dominant US economy. You know the saying, "When America sneezes the whole world catches a cold." Decoupling did not occur in 2007/8. The US economy is resilient and will rebound from this decline. The overaching question is whether the economy requires optimization or a radical shift from the current flavor of capitalism. Majority of US debt is owned by US citizens and corporations not China. China has about 10% if I recall correctly and the Chinese economy lacks innovation and is only slighltly over third of the US Economy. I forsee the US remaining a very dominant player in the global economy with other countries like the BRICs expanding their roles. But the current global economic framework is based on american dominance.

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We can't deny that witchcraft is real. Either in child or adult. But the gospel is what is required to solve it. Those who go into turture and kill witches are acting on old testament scriptures.

Exodus 22:18
18 "Never let a witch live.

I've encountered some of these child witchcraft cases. Some of them even freely confess the evil they did. Which enrage the anger of such frustrated parents. And I tell you they can really be very wicked.

The truth of the matter is that witchcraft is not a person but a spirit. The person being tutured
is also a victim in the dark kingdom. Many of them want to leave witchcraft but fear holds them back. Some got it through grandma ,some got it through taking cursed sweets from classmates.

Solution to it is simple salvation through christ. Firstly you must love them , and minister Jesus to them. If there need be. Cast out the witchvraft spirit out of them. But the torture is not necessary because you only torture the human being and not the witchcraft spirit itself.

We should avoid the two extremes. It is unscritptural to label people witches the way some prophets do. If the holyghost reveals witchcraft ,the same holyghost should be able to set the victim free just like paul did to the slave girl who was a witch following paul.

Acts 16:17-18
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. 18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her And he came out the same hour.

One extreme see wiches every where the other extreme denies the existence of witchcraft . We have to be careful that Satan won't use occasions like this to promote laws that will eventually hinder captives being set free. Some few churches might have acted wrongly but that doesn't take away the fact that real deliverance is taking place in many churches.

Witches are real? Are you serious? Do you live in the world that I live in or in the dark ages? When will my people wake up? AFRICA WAKE UP!!! It is is a big shame that your eyes have been blinded by nonsensical superstition. People like the one I quoted disgust me with thier ignorance and must be shamed!!
One thing that I AM 100% SURE ABOUT is that on the charge of WITCHCRAFT ALL THE CHILDREN ARE INNOCENT!!! There is nothing like withcraft in the sense that some nigerians envision it to be. THis is CHILD ABUSE and the parents and ministers SHOULD be prosecuted.

5. Why not continue sending prophets and revelations to update the Koran as our societies advance? Muslims are having tough time interpreting the Koran now. What does the Koran say about how to pray to Mecca for an astronaut in space?

Mazaje thank you for the impressive analysis, I wonder why his god is only a real estate broker from the middle east that occassionally authors books Why doesn't his god send updates via movies, internet or some modern technology or plain and simply just show all humanity its existence?  But no, its these crazy religious people, lunatic vandalcool and his arab daddy Mo that will tell me they know the path to truth and righteousness.  Abeg carry go, not interested in being a wanna be arab.

Wow Im so impressed with the Ahmed Zewail the muslim scientist from Egypt that won the Nobel prize that is a naturalized US CITIZEN and did his research in AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES! Lets go down your useless list: Remember my question was: What have islamic nations contributed to the world IN THE MODERN AGE beyond exporting terrorism and oppression of non muslims? Modern age =post 1800s stop resting on 1000 year old laurels from a bygone era, my quoting post 10th century was to show you how outdated you golden age has been. The scientists from the modern era are all hyphenated Americans that studied in America hence utilizing Western Education and resources to achieve their ACCOMPLISHMENTS. I wonder when last a western scientist had to move to Saudi Arabia to come up with solutions to the worlds problems?

Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī:Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī (1364 in Bursa, Ottoman Empire – 1436 in Samarqand, Persia), whose actual name was Salah al-Din Musa Pasha (qāḍī zāda means "son of the judge", al-rūmī "the Roman" indicating he came from Asia Minor, which was once Roman), was a Turkish astronomer and mathematician who worked at the observatory in Samarkand.


Qotb al-Din Shirazi or Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi (1236 – 1311) (Persian: قطب‌الدین کازرونی شیرازی) was a 13th century Persian Muslim polymath[1] and Persian poet who made contributions astronomy, mathematics, medicine, physics, music theory, philosophy and Sufism.

Ali Mortimer Javan (Azerbaijani: علی جوان, Persian: علی جوان), born December 26, 1926 in Tehran, Iran is an Iranian American inventor and[b] physicist at MIT[/b]. He co-invented the gas laser in 1960, with William R. Bennett.[1] Ali Javan has been ranked Number 12 on the list of the Top 100 living geniuses.[2]

Tipu Sultan: Attitude towards HindusMain articles: Captivity of Coorgis at Seringapatam and Captivity of Nairs at Seringapatam
As a Muslim ruler in a largely Hindu domain, Tipu Sultan faced problems in establishing the legitimacy of his rule, and in reconciling his desire to be seen as a devout Islamic ruler with the need to be pragmatic to avoid antagonising the majority of his subjects. His religious legacy has become a source of considerable controversy in the subcontinent. Some groups proclaim him a great warrior for the faith or Ghazi, while others revile him as a bigot who massacred Hindus

They are all medieval scientists from a bygone era and the modern ones all opassed through western universities and educational systems. Not sure what you Sake Dean mohammed accomplished beyond opening Indian restaurants in the UK.SMH Vedaxcool iis such a fraud!

And FYI, Post Religious moral framework = Secularism, something you may not be able to comprehend in you backward arabized (everything begins and ends with arabs stories and islam) ignorant mind! Gun rights, Abortion, g.ay rights/marriage, modern rights of equality and legalization of marijuanna have gained/gaining traction in liberal democracies based on the individual rights and a POST religous moral framework. Inalienable rights are a concept created by MAN for MAN! And until "God" speaks for him/herself and writes us a legal code, your doctrine and every other religious doctrine out there is a farce created by delusional nut cases.


I will not waste any more of my precious time and energy on this character you are a dying breed plain and simple a representation of the old order.

The same right you have to advocate for a secular state is the same right everyone has to advocate for a non - secular state, when individuals like you think only your right exist, then that is when anti - religious state terrorism comes in. Can state affairs ever be separate from peoples identity? Don't people make laws based on their experience and intellect? It remains baffling how people think.

As a multi ethnic and multi religious country that Nigeria is it is impossible to advocate for a non secular or theocratic state

This is where you show your ignorance, The issue of separation of the church from the state came up simply because then the entire state was either catholic, lutheran, protestant etc, and hence the church as an institution did exact itself on the state, in Islamic state there is no such thing as the Majid giving orders to the state, Islamic state simply run on Islamic laws, the politician remains a politician, the Scholar remians a scholar, clerics go about their clerical business without ordering the state,  but at the end it remains every ones duty to ensure the state is following the law, this sort of ignorance remains baffling when you see people that claim to objective making argument that are out of sync with reality, In Islamic state, the issue of legislation is simply based on the Qur'an. and in the Qur'an it is said there is no compulsion in religion.

Dude are you still beating down that path that Islam somehow represents some superior moral order?? Sorry to inform you but Quranic law, Sharia, Islamic law (whatever you may call it) DOES NOT represent the "Law of God" for majority of the human species. It is alien and represents 7th century Bedouin barbarity from the Arabian desert. It has never worked in history and is a Utopian idea.   You claim that according to the Quran there is "no compulsion in religion" so point to an Islamic state that does not oppress it religious minorities? Nigeria will be divided before such a legal framework is ever applied to the entire country and if our values are not in sync then the country should be divided.

read the above and you can help but see mediocre thinking, mediocre life in play, From the above, it simply indicts Tai Solarin as being a mediocre thinker, it is good that common sense is prevailing a bit and you indicate Myrid of problems, the question is do religion promotes corruption? triballism? crime? Fanaticism? etc it is lack of adherance to morals of religion that makes our case worst, advocating for irreligious society has never changed any society as the French revolution showed it could become nasty.

Any institution that does not have checks and balances enables corruption to thrive including religious institutions and doctrines. Unfettered power in one individual including "Prophets" promotes corruption. That is why societies evolved into democratic systems where government power is divided amongst various institutions and not one man, one group or one religion. Religion promotes the in group vs out group mentality and therefore promotes bigotry of some form. I have provided various outright discriminatory practices that are rife in Islam including the fact that Islam does not treat all people equitably under religious jurisprudence. Muslims are treated more favorably vs people of other faiths, muslim men more favorable than muslim women etc etc. That is not Law that is CORRUPTION, nepotism and favoritism.

Look at the world today and see what societies are the most egalitarian. Is it any of the Islamic or religious states? No its secular and irreligous states (US, Europe, Japan, China etc) Even when their Muslims brothers and sisters are dying in Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Egypt etc the fold their arms and chant "death to the west" and other such nonsense.
What about productivity, is it the states that advocate taking off a whole month for unhealthy fasting and praying that rely on oil that are moving humanity forward? No, its secular and irreligous countries in the west and east that are propelling humanity forward.

The French revolution was the impetus for modern France today and the people took power away from the monarchy and Catholic church. So today France is a modern secular state.

Yet you insist people must live outside laws that alien to their customs. Yes we see how humanist you are.

Your hypocrisy is profound! I mean isn't the religion that you propagate as the solution to all of mankinds problem foreign to your black west African behind You are a real wayo man that I believe is on the payroll of wahabists in Saudi. Is Islam the framework of your forefathers or a diversion from their culture and indigenous religion isn't Islam alien to the Yoruba peoples of West Africa?

The above clearly is verbatim quote from a mediocre humanist, In the Qur'an Allah encouraged the believers to ponder on the creation, As I have dealt with you so many times on Nl, you again refuse to learn from anything, Science dramatically improved with the advent of Islam and there are clear examples from the prophet rejecting superstitious beliefs of the arabs.  But when arguing with a mediocre one expects in-depth ignorant statements like this. further more Many "classical and modern sources agree that the Qur'an condones, even encourages the acquisition of science and scientific knowledge, and urges humans to reflect on the natural phenomena as signs of God's creation. How easy Allah makes manifest truth from error.

Since science is part of the Islamic worlds value system, please enlighten me on contributions of Islam to modern science post the 10th century?  What have islamic nations contributed to the world IN THE MODERN AGE beyond exporting terrorism and oppression of non muslims?

Please leave us alone to celebrate the life of a legendary African Man that contributed to his society, while you can go and starve youself and pray in arabic and kiss the ground while facing your Arab gods holy place and advocate a foreign bedouin ideology (talk about mediocre!!!!) as the solution to makinds problems, yeah right buddy.

Ok people enough is enough.  From my point of view, I am not advocating an ANTI-RELIGIOUS state but leaning towards a more secular state were everybody keeps their faith to themselves and the states affairs are the states affairs. There must be separation of “church” (“masjid,” “shrine” etc etc) and the state. A caveat is that if ones culture or religion cause physical harm to another human being (including ones children even under the aegis of religion) then the state must intervene. I advocate the law of the land (law created via a democratic process) represent the supreme legal framework of a society i.e. takes precedence over religious or customary law.   I am a freethinker and would not impose my beliefs on others and advocate that other people of faith or lack thereof do the same.  We can all agree that Nigeria has a myriad of problems including corruption, religion, tribalism, crime etc etc. It is time to build bridges not tear each other down. Unfortunately, no amount of prayer or religious devotion will solve Nigeria’s (or any countries for that matter) problems (I wish it was that easy) so I believe it’s time to take different approach as the country is heading down the wrong path. Developing a post religious moral framework that could be embedded with service to ones nation to build the character of future Nigerian leaders (this I believe is what Tai Solarin tried to do with his school).  Morality and ethics are not relative and we need to develop a moral framework that transcends religion and culture based on the common good. Freedoms and individual rights can be equal without restricting an individual’s right to excel over others in any domain they see fit.

That being said, on the idea that science came from religion “Vandalcool” is quite misguided. Religion itself is primitive science; it represents a stage that humanity had to go through as we failed to understand the natural world.  Science and rationality trumps religion in every single understanding of the function of the natural world.  The natural world is beautiful but can be very hostile to life, with earthquakes, storms, wild animals, lightening, disease, the viciousness of other human beings etc etc it is quite easy to understand why human society create gods. Were there scientists of a religious persuasion humanities history that made discoveries/contributions to science? Yes of course but did they utilize their religious doctrine to make those discoveries or did they utilize some form of the scientific method? I would be hard pressed to be in accord with the former.

Its funny how people question Tai Solarins integrity because he was an athiest/freethinker. But these same ppl don't question their thieving "Pastors" and lunatic violent condoning "Imams." I tell you the world has gone mad. To each is own. I celebrate the life of a great Nigerian and human being. He contributed a lot to Nigerian society without taking much from it.

Vandal-x-cool dont you have some fasting to do, quran reciting or something? This is a discussion about the great Tai Solarin and of course you have to derail this topic.

"My greatest joy is the opportunity I have to contribute to the education of Nigerian children. I am a worshipper of human beings and the children of Nigeria are my gods and goddesses."


Tai Solarin

For Nigeria, there is only a known humanist. That is Tai Solarin. His experiment in his Ikenne laboratory shows that good behaviour is no monopoly of Taoism, or Confucianism,
or Buddhism, or Christianity, or Islam. Every human being
is a warehouse of goodness.

TAI SOLARIN, April 22, 1992

Hitler's views on Islam

[b]Islam and eastern religionsAmong eastern religions, Hitler described religious leaders such as "Confucius, Buddha, and Mohammed" as providers of "spiritual sustenance".[59] In this context, Hitler's connection to Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem — which included asylum in 1941, the honorary rank of an SS Major-General, and a "respected racial genealogy" — has been interpreted more as a sign of respect than political expedience.[60] Hitler expressed admiration for the Muslim military tradition and directed Himmler to initiate Muslim SS Divisions as a matter of policy. According to Nazi-era Minister of Armaments and War Production Albert Speer, Hitler stated in private, "The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?"[61] According to Speer, when discussing with Hitler events which might have occurred had Islam absorbed Europe:

"Hitler said that the conquering Arabs, because of their racial inferiority, would in the long run have been unable to contend with the harsher climate and conditions of the country. They could not have kept down the more vigorous natives, so that ultimately not Arabs but Islamized Germans could have stood at the head of this Mohammedan Empire."[61]
Hitler's choice of the Hindu Swastika as the Nazis' main and official symbol, was linked to the belief in the Aryan cultural descent of the German people. They considered the early Aryans of India to be the prototypical white invaders and the sign as a symbol of the Aryan master race.[62][/b]

Abeg Mazaje leave the guy alone,  he has no idea of what he is talking about. I will forever respect and admire the great Tai Solarin! These religious people and their absolutes based on a house of cards and fraudulent religious books. Let him continue to be a slave to his Arab god. Nonsense

Hitler's views on Atheism:

Statements against atheism
Hitler often associated atheism with Germany's communist enemy.[53] Hitler stated in a speech to the Stuttgart February 15, 1933: "Today they say that Christianity is in danger, that the Catholic faith is threatened. My reply to them is: for the time being, Christians and not international atheists are now standing at Germany’s fore. I am not merely talking about Christianity; I confess that I will never ally myself with the parties which aim to destroy Christianity. Fourteen years they have gone arm in arm with atheism. At no time was greater damage ever done to Christianity than in those years when the Christian parties ruled side by side with those who denied the very existence of God. Germany's entire cultural life was shattered and contaminated in this period. It shall be our task to burn out these manifestations of degeneracy in literature, theater, schools, and the press—that is, in our entire culture—and to eliminate the poison which has been permeating every facet of our lives for these past fourteen years."[54]
In a radio address October 14, 1933 Hitler stated "For eight months we have been waging a heroic battle against the Communist threat to our Volk, the decomposition of our culture, the subversion of our art, and the poisoning of our public morality. We have put an end to denial of God and abuse of religion. We owe Providence humble gratitude for not allowing us to lose our battle against the misery of unemployment and for the salvation of the German peasant."[55]

In a speech delivered in Berlin, October 24, 1933, Hitler stated: "We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out."[56]

In a speech delivered at Koblenz, August 26, 1934 Hitler states: "There may have been a time when even parties founded on the ecclesiastical basis were a necessity. At that time Liberalism was opposed to the Church, while Marxism was anti-religious. But that time is past. National Socialism neither opposes the Church nor is it anti-religious, but on the contrary, it stands on the ground of a real Christianity. The Church's interests cannot fail to coincide with ours alike in our fight against the symptoms of degeneracy in the world of to-day, in our fight against the Bolshevist culture, against an atheistic movement, against criminality, and in our struggle for the consciousness of a community in our national life, for the conquest of hatred and disunion between the classes, for the conquest of civil war and unrest, of strife and discord. These are not anti-Christian, these are Christian principles."[57]

During negotiations leading to the Nazi-Vatican Concordat of April 26, 1933 Hitler argued that "Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith."[58]

Poignant article on Tai Solarin:


http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/Tai_Solarin.html



Tai Solarin: His Life, Ideas, and Accomplishments (1995)
Richard Carrier


The most famous and controversial atheist and secular humanist in African history (if not the only one of any real renown) was the Nigerian nationalist Tai Solarin, who sadly passed away at the age of 72 in 1994. I wrote a paper on Tai a year after his death for a course in African History, and I was recently inspired to add this paper to my collection online for various reasons. Africa tends to get ignored in the West as somehow brutal and backward, even though its condition is even more the fault of Western nations than is the condition of other Third World continents like India and South America. We should not allow ourselves to turn our backs on what could become a very important land, a land to whom we owe a sad debt. Because of this ignorance, however, men like Tai are little known in the West, much less anywhere else outside of Africa, so telling their story on the internet is the greatest tribute I can offer. Finally, Tai's story tells us a great deal about what it means to be a godless yet selfless humanitarian in a troubled country, and yet even what it should mean in a relative paradise like the United States. He embodies the ideals of Secular Humanism in such a way that stands out even more brilliantly against the background of religion-and-war-torn Nigeria. May there be a million like him, there and the world over.

Life
Tai Solarin was famous in Nigeria as both a social critic and an educator [1]. Affectionately known as "Uncle Tai" by his admirers [2], he was usually found wearing sneakers, shorts, and a khaki hunting cap, inspiring some to remark that he looked more like a "village eccentric" than a great intellectual [3]. Although there are several people and organizations in Nigeria and Ghana attempting to educate the public about secular humanism and its ideals, Tai Solarin is by far the most interesting of them all.

Tai Solarin was born in 1922 and had a long and interesting history. A native Nigerian, he was educated in a Nigerian missionary school, served in Britain's Royal Air Force during World War II, and finished a bachelor's degree in history and geography at the University of Manchester, Great Britain, in 1952 [4]. Tai returned to Western Nigeria to become Principal of Molusi College from 1952 to 1955 [5]. Because Molusi's governing board forced him to open each school day with hymns and prayers, and march his students to church every Sunday, he protested and eventually quit [6]. He wasted no time. He started his own school in 1956, calling it the Mayflower School, followed by the Mayflower Junior School in 1959, both located in Ikenne, southwestern Nigeria, where Tai lived for the remainder of his life [7]. He briefly returned to England to pursue graduate studies at the University of London. [8]. Then, in 1976, he turned the original Mayflower school over to the government, though it was still run under Tai's direct guidance and innovative principles until his death [9]. Dr. Solarin also became chairman of the People's Bank of Nigeria in 1989 [10], a position he held until his death.

Tai Solarin married Sheila Mary Tuer in 1951 (who remained with him until his death) [11] and they had two children, a son and a daughter [12]. His mother was a devout Christian, a member of the Church Missionary Society [13], but he always maintained a loving relationship with her and all of his family, loyally fulfilling his brother's wishes by personally overseeing his religious burial in 1965 in spite of Tai's personal atheism [14]. Dr. Solarin died in his home on July 27, 1994 [15]. According to Tim Madigan, executive editor of Free Inquiry magazine, Tai Solarin and Kofi Mensah, now the leading secular humanist in Africa, were good friends and were trying to set up an organization together, but Tai's death and the increasing unrest in Nigeria have halted those plans for now [16].

Accomplishments
Tai Solarin wrote consistently for the Daily Times since 1958 and the Nigerian Tribune since 1967 [17], and he has contributed to numerous other papers in Nigeria like The Guardian [18]. He is the only known Nigerian columnist to have a continuously running column lasting over twenty years, and he routinely wrote well over thirty articles a year [19]. Tai himself could proudly say that there are people in Nigeria who have eagerly read his column for ten straight years or more [20]. Besides his writing, which included several books, Dr. Solarin often joined in public talks and symposia at schools and colleges all throughout Nigeria [21].

As a columnist, Tai was a relentless critic of Nigerian military rule, as well as of corruption in the government and church, and this had a tendency to get him into no end of trouble [22]. Tai was marked for assassination in 1966 by the corrupt civilian government left in place by the British in 1960, but his life was saved by the January 15 military coup [23]. Tai was often jailed for his public remarks, the worst being in Jos in 1984. Lasting seventeen months, Jos was the longest detention he had ever suffered in his life, all for simply suggesting that the military should surrender rule to the public within six months [24]. He was detained regularly again by the government in 1990 for similar upsetting remarks [25].

The government is not the only one that Tai's fierce remarks have upset, and he had many enemies in Nigeria and beyond. Some have publicly heaped scorn on him, including the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, who once called him "an unfeeling, dry-as-dust logic-chopper with no capacity at all for respecting human anguish." [26] (all for merely suggesting that English replace all the native languages of the country). Nevertheless, despite Tai's renown as an outspoken atheist, even some religious leaders have had kind words to say of him. Professor Sam Aluko, a Christian consultant and participant in the World Council of Churches, remarks that although he disagreed with Tai on religion, he was nevertheless his best of friends, and often agreed with many of Tai's criticisms of both the government and the religious excesses of many groups in Nigeria [27]. Loved or hated, there can be no mistake that Tai was among the best known citizens of Nigeria. He was so well known that a friend, Segun Oyebade, retells a story where an Englishman mailed a letter addressed only as "Tai Solarin, Ikenne, Nigeria," and it quickly found its way to Tai's house [28].

For nearly forty years, Dr. Solarin has persistently fought for free and compulsory education (from first grade through high school) for all Nigerian children [29]. He established the Mayflower School on January 27, 1956, and seventy students attended that year. By 1992, the attendance at Mayflower had expanded to 1,900, including over 800 girls [30]. The Mayflower Junior School had 1,300 resident students as well as 300 day students by 1992, and both schools are so much in demand that parents petition the Nigerian minister of education to get their children in [31]. Tai chose "Mayflower" as the name for his school after the name of the ship sailed by the Pilgrims in 1620, because it evoked images of escaping persecution for a new life of freedom. "It was to be a school for all children," Tai said, "discriminating against none." [32]

The original Mayflower is a full high school (junior and senior grades) [33]. In Ogun state, there are over five hundred comparable schools, and Mayflower has ranked first among them all for the past fifteen years. Some have suggested that it may be among the top ten high schools in all of Nigeria. The parents of attending students love the school so much that they raised their own funds to build new classrooms and purchase desks and chairs to fill them [34]. American humanist Norm Allen, Jr., in 1995 the Executive Director of African-Americans for Humanism and Public Relations Director for Free Inquiry magazine, visited Tai's school in 1991, and was very impressed with what he saw there. He later wrote of the experience: "I was immediately impressed by the seriousness and dedication of the students. Secular messages stressing the importance of education and self-reliance were posted all over the walls of the school. Everyone seemed inquisitive and eager to learn." [35]

Dr. Solarin was from the very beginning opposed to "white collar" education, believing that children should learn to get their hands dirty by mastering practical crafts, alongside their regular education [36]. "We go all out to tackle the problems of life," Tai explains, "instead of spending several hours of the week explaining the significance of the deity." [37] Only recently has the Nigerian government accepted the fact that primary and secondary education must include technical skills in order for their nation to be truly industrialized. Tai had been telling this to the public for nearly thirty years. True to his own words, he made agricultural science a compulsory aspect of Mayflower education [38]. Boys and girls once built their own dormitories, and continue to make cocoa from home-grown beans, and breed their own pigs [39]. As a lesson in technique and industry, students harvest three seasons of their own corn every year, instead of the usual two seasons harvested by most local farmers [40].

So successful has the Mayflower School been that employers actively recruit from its graduates, because they have earned a wide reputation for hard work and honesty that is not matched by any religious school in the region. In fact, Mayflower produced Nigeria's first female engineer, and continues to encourage students to pursue badly needed technical expertise that will benefit Nigeria. Mayflower students who are accepted into foreign universities are urged to take Summer jobs in technical roles such as plumbers, electricians, or tractor drivers, so they can bring that expertise back with them along with their university degrees [41].

Above all, Dr. Solarin teaches self-reliance as well as a commitment to Nigeria as a nation [42]. Tai has made every Mayflower student memorize a poem by William Ernest Henley that ends "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." He makes that the center of his school's curricula, and he points out that such a phrase amounts to blasphemy in Islamic states like Kano, Sokoto, or Borno [43]. Furthermore, as far as Tai knows, Mayflower is the only school that does not teach a particular religion or lead the students in hymns and prayers [44]. He has actively opposed church ownership of the schools since 1952, yet they still remain almost entirely sectarian [45]. Tai remarks that if national devotion to religion is what makes a country great, then Spain and Portugal should have become the greatest nations on earth [46]. Nevertheless, he allowed his Christian students to build their own chapel on the school grounds, as long as no school money went into its construction or maintenance, and no time was lost from their studies [47]. Tai also blames the many sectarian schools for dividing his nation. Because of their innate competitiveness, they undermine any chance of teaching a common Nigerian nationalism [48]. The result is that, rather than rallying behind Nigeria in a national crisis, people rally behind the banner of their particular creed, and that leads to ethnic violence (and has almost led to the brink of civil war) [49]. Because of this conviction, Tai's Mayflower students are not taught to give their first allegiance to any god or church, but to Nigeria "first and foremost." [50]

Ideals
As an atheist and vehement critic of irrationality and hypocrisy, Tai Solarin has few kind words for religion in his country. "Nigeria is dying today of religion," Tai proclaims, "outrageous religious beliefs." [51] Africans, says Tai, are taught by religion and superstition to fear too many things. "Witches, angels, the Devil or Satan, thunder, lightning, nocturnal birds are all objects that generate fear." [52] He tells the tale of a magistrate in Lagos who refused to decide a case because he believed "juju" men were casting spells on him [53], and his successor, Kofi Mensah, recounts tales of taboos and superstitions that have thwarted attempts at halting the spread of disease, the feeding of starving regions, or the controlling of population growth, as well as prevented progress in industry, education, and human rights (especially for women) [54]. "The worst bane of African nondevelopment," Tai insists, "is chronic dependence on the deity to solve all earthly problems." [55]

[b]Dr. Solarin says that "blacks hold onto their God just as the drunken man holds on to the street lamp post--for physical support only." H[/b]e paints an interesting analogy from a childhood memory. He made a long journey with his mother once, who gave him a "bicycle" to help him finish the journey--which was really just a wheel he had to hit with a stick to keep it going. He says that without the "bicycle" he would never have made the forty mile walk, but upon reflection he realized that he had really carried himself and the bicycle all along. Religion is like that bicycle, Tai says. We only need it when we lack the confidence and determination to face the world alone [56]. "To get the young Africans weaned from their almost congenital reliance on fate," Tai says, "they must be educated to stand on their feet." And the best way to accomplish that is for the government to copy the Mayflower School throughout Nigeria [57].

When Tai writes about his own moral and philosophical ideals, his true humanism is well revealed. "I believe in man," Tai declares, "by 'man' I mean man, woman and child. I believe that my duty to man is total service, outside man I owe none else any duties." [58] He asserts that "anything that man wants to do must be done by man himself. Anywhere he wants to go, he must, himself, aggressively propel himself in that direction." [59] These are true humanist ideals, echoed by secular humanists the world over. Tai teaches that prayer is useless, and that it is better to teach people how to solve their problems, and to give them the power and freedom to act. "I do not want to be seen giving alms to the poor," Tai once wrote, "I want to be seen teaching the poor how to live creatively by making use of his hands and feet." [60]

His humanism had led him to express a fondness for the governments of China and the U.S.S.R., because of their socialist guarantees of free medicine and education for all. But he still upholds the ideals of freedom and democracy [61]. One of Tai's favorite freethinkers is Robert G. Ingersoll, whose writings gave him the courage to accept his doubts and speak out against what he believed was harmful or untrue. Tai says of Ingersoll: "He tore off the dingy curtains across my mind's eye, and let me stand, unafraid, to wend my way through life." [62] He recommends Ingersoll as a necessary addition to anyone's library, alongside Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian, Margaret Knight's Worlds Without Religion, and Thomas Paine's Age of Reason. [63]

Many have tried to criticize secular humanism, and atheism in particular, for leaving people unhappy and lost without a moral compass to guide them. Dr. Tai Solarin says that is all rubbish. "I maintain great comfort and infinite happiness living as a humanist." [64] Although he has always taught open defiance of conservatism and "deadly orthodoxy," he has also taught that people can become, and should become, whatever they choose to be [65]. "Morality," says Tai, "is a question of leadership." He cites great atheist humanitarians who reformed their countries, whom he admires, including Jewaharlal Nehru (first Prime Minister of independent India) and Kemal Ataturk (who led the formation of the secular republic in Turkey) [66]. Tai believes wholeheartedly in the Golden Rule, and ensures that it is the basis of his students' moral education [67]. He teaches morals to his students by telling the stories of famous people who have done good through virtues such as determination or honesty [68]. Most of all, Tai stresses that the purpose of morality should never be forgotten, and that its purpose is not to gain salvation in another life, but to attain a good life here and now, within a peaceful, cooperative society. "A man is morally good," Tai instructs his students, "when he lives a happy, and symbiotic existence with other men." As a message to us all, Dr. Tai Solarin declares that "morality has to do with life and only in its mundane and down to earth consideration." [69]

When we see religious violence in Nigeria, from the religiously-inspired Kano riots of December 1980 (when four thousand people were killed and millions of dollars of property was destroyed) [70] to the attempted coup in 1991 (when Major Gideon Ockar attempted to seize the government, declaring that "true Nigeria" is the Christian South) [71], it would do well to pay attention to Tai Solarin. Not only Muslim-Christian conflict, but inter-Moslem violence, often in the form of anti-Sufism [72], has added to the rampages of anti-academic Christian groups who burn cars, destroy laboratories and other school and college property [73], to prove that religion in Nigeria has forgotten the purpose of morality: to help men and women live in peace. Unfortunately, the Nigerian people no longer have Tai Solarin to remind them.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When will you guys realize that religion is used as a political tool by the elites? I am aware that Iranians are non Arab however they are an arabized nation that have forgotten their great Zoroastrian history and civilization and adopted the desert Bedouin religion.

I am not going to resort to back and forth debate on what a diverse and open society is but it’s definitely not what Muhammed/Islam promulgated. Sharia is an intolerant 7th century tribal unevolved legal framework.

I can't imagine what bowing 5 times to say Washington DC or London or Rome or Jerusalem can do to a person’s psyche. These practicing Muslims are brainwashed slaves of Allah, an Arabian concept. They are taught to idolize a desert bedouin warrior and diefy arabic culture. And in my opinion pre islamic arabian culture is still embedded in Islam and Islamic culture.

A question I would like to ask you Black African Muslims is this, let’s say an asteroid was corralling towards earth, would you rather have it hit Mecca or Nigeria? Assuming you and your immediate family/friends would not be hurt.

Look at this nincompoop asserting "what is Arabic about Laa ila ha ilaAllah. tell me how that is arabism, you pagan man" Its in friggin Arabic bozo. You bear Arabic names, you cover your women and view it as pious (the arabic way). You worship the Arabic god "Allah", I can go on and on.

In other news bombs go off in Oslo Norway, I wonder what group of "aggrieved" people would be causing strife and mischief in the land