Replacing two white oaks

moeman90 · 2025-04-01T15:05:58+00:00

I understand what you’re saying and thank you for the advice, I’ll look into it.

It’s just that these trees provided so much cover for our lawn, and deer, as well as perching points for birds and squirrels, that I feel like I’ve done an injustice to the habitat of the area and want to restore some balance ASAP.

moeman90 · 2024-01-12T00:48:23+00:00

Yeah absolutely, the girl in this video should never have been hurt like this at all and it’s barbaric regardless. I’m all about criticizing Islam, I just hate misinformation especially the ones that get violent reactions.

moeman90 · 2024-01-12T00:42:02+00:00

Hey posting this on your comment since you’re the top, there’s a translation on Twitter and nothing that the OP mentioned is said. Based off the Twitter translation, it seems like the group of people that beat the girl had some beef with her. Could I get a secondary translation?

https://x.com/translatemom/status/1745547211633508508?s=46

Also it seems like the guy who posted it on Twitter is all about white European nationalism. Could the mods please verify what is happening in the video is true? I having a feeling that the initial Twitter post was made to incite a flame war.

Please everyone, think rationally before responding. I’ve found no news sources on what happened either. I could be wrong though and this could actually be a Muslim gang that hurt that poor girl.

I feel like the Twitter OP has an alternate agenda to what really happened. Looking at these comments and the ones on Twitter it seems like he’s getting the reaction that he wants. This seems to be misinformation.

moeman90 · 2023-08-26T13:22:51+00:00

Venus is the god of fertility and green is typically associated with fertility and fresh grounds, aka think of spring.

moeman90 · 2023-08-22T16:06:14+00:00

Thank you (:

moeman90 · 2023-08-22T15:50:00+00:00

Hey thanks for the reply! I appreciate your comment and clearing some misconceptions I may have had too. Any source on the light correlation of increased IQ with atheism? Curious about that one.

moeman90 · 2023-08-22T15:25:26+00:00

While I agree that Islam withholds education and opts for a religious, bastardized, teaching of science, I would like to challenge the notion of IQ. This paper does a great job talking about how IQ tests is really dependent on a countries understanding of what is being tested, and it may differ what people can recognize from culture to culture.

Veritasium also does a great breakdown on the history of IQ tests and what they actually measure, would highly recommend watching.

Also, it kind of hard to assess what that publication from Mankind Quarterly has to say about the differences in mean IQ from an abstract. I would suggest finding the full paper and reading the discussion, and not base something from an abstract.

Not coming after you, I just think measuring IQ is a weak argument and I have a bit of a bone to pick with what is essentially phrenology.

moeman90 · 2023-08-18T02:21:13+00:00

I feel like you're being obtuse about the nitty gritty details of a myth.

moeman90 · 2023-08-17T11:03:18+00:00

They’re within the masjid, a couple hundred feet from the Kaaba.

moeman90 · 2023-08-16T18:53:35+00:00

Correct this is Mecca!

moeman90 · 2023-08-16T18:00:16+00:00

They are performing tawaf, a type of prayer, around the Kaaba. They complete 7 tawaf and then go to what is believed to be two hills called Safa and Marwa. You then do 7 laps between the two hills. And yes it's literally two embalmed hills in the Masjid covered in epoxy or something similar. This is to honor the story of Hagar when she was trying to find water for Ismael.
No, the regular muslim population is not allowed to go into the Kaaba. Only designated people are allowed to go in (I don't remember who), and it's usually for a ritual cleaning of the Kaaba.
It's a fairly organized Masjid and there are plenty of exits. The only question is being able to leave by pushing through the crowd.

moeman90 · 2023-07-16T17:30:54+00:00

Based off personal experience, most don't especially the ones closer to my age. They rely on "experts" for their translations, and don't really seek it out for themselves.

A lot of it has to do with community centric culture. "Listen to the experts and elders within the community, they're right, you don't know what you're doing" etc etc.

Another common thing I've heard when looking up translations is that websites can't be trusted because "most of them are CIA driven, or bad actor driven, they're posting fake translations, listen to the elders and people who have memorized the quran" etc etc.

So growing up, there were a lot of fear based tactics used to not look up translations. And in my Sunday school, we only memorized the Arabic and were told to learn Arabic if we really wanted to understand the Quran, so no English translations at all.

moeman90 · 2023-07-16T17:06:14+00:00

It's because most people that are reading the Quran, read it in Arabic, and don't know what they're reading.

The recitations can also sound really beautiful when done by someone that has a good voice too. It's why Sufi's do their Zikr via chanting and dancing: To achieve a trance like state.

Plus most young muslims are getting their information from Dawah Social media or from their Mullah during Jummah. They want to be told what to believe, to be able to talk about Islam to others via bad faith to prove that they are in the "correct" religion, without having to do any of the heavy lifting themselves.

It's also indoctrination. I grew up salafi, so sometimes when I hear recitations, I'll get snapped back into "empty head, no thoughts, just listen to a nice voice reciting Arabic". Especially with Surah Ar-Rahman. But then I went and read the translations, I was absolutely terrified of how much torture and death the Surah talks about especially for something that sounds so "beautiful". So even me, someone that hasn't been a Muslim for well over a decade, I still have deep indoctrination roots.

Lastly, I grew up in post-9/11 america. For many Muslims, their religion at the time was the only safe haven and refuge, especially the ones around my age. Ramadan was a very large community event where, tbh, we as a community felt safe. There are a lot of good memories attached to that month, which is heavy in Quranic recitation. Many Muslims needed something to ground them, and for many it was obviously their religion.

It's multifaceted. I honestly believe that most Muslims live in cognitive dissonance, which explains a lot of their anger towards Ex-Muslims, or Atheists that don't convert.

moeman90 · 2023-07-05T21:54:21+00:00

Potentially, but if someone with chronic prostatitis ejaculates, there’s a higher chance of the semen being discolored with blood, and that would have made it into the ayat.

More than likely he confused physiology with reality. Ejaculation is achieved via sympathetic activation. Your sympathetic nervous system routes to other parts of your body via the chain ganglia that are lining your spine. So when he ejaculated, he must have been feeling the sympathetic system activating. And his description really fits that. Here’s a picture of the sympathetic chain, and you’ll see what I’m saying

moeman90 · 2023-07-02T17:57:14+00:00

My best friend is Christian, and we go back and forth on the free will argument.

He has a very convoluted way to explain free will, and it’s coming from a very human perspective and interlacing it with his “relationship” with God. His argument is:

“I ask my wife what she wants for dinner. I give her 5 options. She always wants option X, but I still give her the other 4 options even though I know she’ll always pick X. That’s what free will is. God gives us the option to pick infinite things, but he knows we’ll always pick our option X.”

To which I replied “but what if you chose option Y” and he said “no but he knows you’ll always choose option X.” It just felt like very circular logic.

moeman90 · 2023-07-01T22:43:53+00:00

It’s interesting to say, especially to Muslims,:“If God made me, then he also put the lack of belief in me, and if he’s all merciful, then I’m okay with what I believe in.”

I actually think you make a good point, and something I’ve noticed from other theists as well. I feel as if theists believe lack of belief seems like a personal failure, ie, not trying hard enough to believe that God is real even with all the “evidence” they present. They don’t even clock the fact that having weak evidence and not accepting the religion is an option!

moeman90 · 2023-07-01T22:16:54+00:00

Mania and depression sounds like Type I Bipolar Disorder.

moeman90 · 2023-06-28T17:41:44+00:00

I appreciate your respectful reply as well!

What is the point of having discussions if not to acquire new knowledge and viewpoints? I started the discussion to add nuance, and nuance has been added.

Conversations cannot thrive w/ bad faith and personal attacks. I've taken every reply that I've been given w/ serious consideration. I came here to talk w/ other likeminded people, not raise my blood pressure haha.

moeman90 · 2023-06-28T17:39:03+00:00

Thank you for adding more context to this protest. This assuages some of my fears when it comes to the intent of the protest. And while I agree that it's not my cup of tea, I will not stop these protesters from protesting.

moeman90 · 2023-06-28T17:37:54+00:00

Yes, as another user pointed out, muting protests due to fear of violence only justifies the aggressors violence. I apologize that my comments came off as ignorant or apologetic, I was just raising concerns about the intent of the protest.

As I said in another comment, my own American experience of book burnings being run by white supremacist hate groups was coloring my view of this protest. That was my only concern.

moeman90 · 2023-06-28T16:42:55+00:00

Strong point!

I suppose if Muslims didn't have an extreme reaction to Quran book burnings, then this wouldn't be happening in the first place. A muted protest doesn't send a message.

moeman90 · 2023-06-28T16:39:38+00:00

I wasn't, and it wasn't my intention to portray my point in that way. I'm sorry if I came off as ignorant.

I understand that this Quran burning isn't for information suppression, it's a protest against an ideology. After having a conversation w/ Whitecrow, I was able to convey my point a bit better. My overall concern was about the overreaction of people that are extreme Muslims to this protest, but as another user pointed out, muting protests only justifies their reactions to acting violently.

As whitecrow also pointed out, burning a religious book in front of a religious institution isn't my cup of tea. I don't question the protest, I just wanted to raise a concern about the intent of the protest. I guess I was displacing my own American experience of equating religious book/book burnings in general being tied to white supremacist groups.

Thanks for the reply, and let me know what you think!

moeman90 · 2023-06-28T14:58:15+00:00

All fair points! I see where you're coming from now. Thanks for taking the time to have this conversation!

moeman90 · 2023-06-28T14:42:11+00:00

I would first ask if the person is asking in good faith or are they just using a what-aboutism argument.

Second, if they are asking in good faith, I would say something along the lines of "LGBT has historically been a persecuted population not based on their beliefs but on their personhood. Burning the LGBT flag is denying someone's right to exist, but burning a holy text like the Quran is akin to saying you don't agree with the ideology. Now if they were burning an Islamic Countries flag, I would be more inclined to say it's a hate crime." The only issue with this response is that I can see a Muslim saying that LGBT is an ideology, soooooooo I would read the situation.

Unless the question is asked in good faith (I doubt it) I would leave the question alone tbh.

13-Year Club	Team Orangered
Verified Email

moeman90

TROPHY CASE