One disturbing aspect is that the founders of Ateizm.org are at a great disadvantage. They cannot fight this effectively in the Turkish legal system because they have what appears to be a well-justified fear of the consequences if they reveal their true identities. As the individuals responsible for the most extensive criticism of Islam on the internet in Turkey, they may well be targets for attack by extremists - and they are clearly in no position to hire expensive security for themselves as Ayaan Hirsi Ali is forced to do outside of the Netherlands.

It would be easy to say that the terrorists are produced out of frustration when a community implodes from neglect or indifference. We often feel sorry for people who are overwhelmed with poverty and despotic governments that have social systems stacked against them. The Palestinians are a classic example of that mythology- a mythology that is carefully nursed. Of course, nothing is further from the truth. Sadly, corrupt regimes and failed social systems are found the world over. Nevertheless, it is clear that very few of those societies produce suicide bombers. There are no Cubans lining up to be ‘martyrs.’

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has canceled his visit to a Rome university following protests by secular professors and students, the Vatican said today.

Such a cancellation of a scheduled papal event is extremely rare, and the few times it has happened in recent decades, the Vatican cited security concerns. No specific reason was given in a brief Vatican announcement and Vatican spokesmen could not be reached for comment.

There are numerous misconceptions about what atheism entails and who atheists are - not at all unsurprising, since even the basic definition of atheism is so misunderstood at times. Because we find people making these mistakes and assumptions in the forum, in the chat room and even in private email, it is important to address them and explain where they err.

Secular-nationalist and Islamc paty coalitions were most succesful in Indonesia in 2007. Secular-nationalist parties won about 55% of 38 regional elections held across the nation whle nationalist runnin g alone won 31% while Islamic groups running alone only obtaned 8%. According to Jeirry Sumampow, of the People’s Voter Eduction Netword(JPPR) most Indonesians prefer leaders who represent a broad spectrum of their society. A continuing problem is the lack of success for female candidates and only three won elections. Jeirry emphasized that corruption remains a major issue in politics and incumbents appear to use their term in office to build coalitions within their constituencies.

The road to democracy is not a smooth one, but Indonesia, the world’s most populous nation, demonstrates that a Muslim society can be a democratic one. Perhaps, Indonesia is a model for Pakistan.

OK, it should be flamingly obvious that Ezra Levant's hearing before the Canadian Human Rights Commission for having the audacity to exercise his right to free speech and free press to publish the infamous Mohammed Cartoons are going to be a high point in the struggle for freedom against Islamofascism and the nanny state. Mr. Levant is posting videos of the hearing on his YouTube channel, and we here at Wizbang think that the events shown there are so damned important, we're going to post the embedded YouTube videos here.

We also encourage anyone with the ability to do so to download and save the videos, as YouTube has a remarkable history of removing videos that show Islam in a bad way (also known as "speaking truth to psychos&quot.

Today, the country of Saudi Arabia proudly beheaded an Indonesian maid who suffocated her Saudi employer to death with a pillow. The maid is already the second to be executed this year by Saudi Arabia by means of decapitation. In fact, beheading is the Saudi state's official means of carrying out the death sentence because of its strict interpretation of Islamic law. A moderate Muslim state, indeed.