Tony G, Tulsa (9/26/2009 5:45:44 AM)

I understand where he came from, as a child, I had Catholicism shoved down my throat, in my 20's, I learned about the alterations in the Bible, its re-editing in 320 AD, and the kicker for me is.
Christmas was a LIE. They have no clue when Jesus was born, so they made up a day to compete with pagan rituals during the winter solstice.

Centrist, the burbs (9/26/2009 6:12:32 AM)

I can't imagine what it's like not to believe in God. I think I would lose hope.

Tony G, Tulsa (9/26/2009 6:17:01 AM)

I didn't stop believing in GOD!
I gave up believing other's version of God, and started looking for his truth in my own life.
works well for me.
A lady at an AA meeting said it best.
" I had a whole in my soul, and God filled it "

gadfly, Broken Arrow (9/26/2009 8:50:30 AM)

Centrist: W/o god, there is no hope -- hope for what?

Tony G -- "God filled the hole in my soul?"

These are mental exercises -- mental placebos for individuals who were not socialized to be independent educated adults. One can "hope" for things in this life -- and enjoy actually trying to fulfill such a hope.

Hoping for something that "might" happen, after one dies, is an unfortunate way to spend one's life. And people "hoping" for something after death would be far bette roff studying Buddhism.

A "hole in one's soul" -- there is no soul -- unless soul is being used as a metaphore for the self.

Then any such "soul" should be filled with things that exist -- not delusions.

nucleardad, Tulsa (9/26/2009 9:29:20 AM)

Now wait a minute.....I always heard that athiest's are constantly harassed and ridiculed by Christians in America. How they have to deal with persecution, hate, descrimination and intolerance due to their un-belief. But this guy says:
"I came here for freedom," he said. "I love this country more than anyplace else. I love Tulsa Of all the people I've met, Americans are the best people. They're really nice people."
Apparently this fellow hasn't developed that chip on his shoulder and persecution complex that American athiests all have.

opinion, tulsa (9/26/2009 10:45:18 AM)

Well some one can’t imagine how some one do not believe in delusion some one always question and need answer with evidence ,no moor silly story some one fined the real hope, hope in life ,love ,better life after became non believer , more confident, no moor believe in something ,no one has answer no one in the earth has one single information about god or one answer where is god, how he looks like ,where he came from, who made him and everything around god angels evil soul…..??????
ter became non believer ,

Proud Muslim, Tulsa: Coolest place in the world (almost) (9/26/2009 10:51:42 AM)

I disagree with Mr. Husibi in about every way, but he has a right to choose his religion, or lack thereof.

Few Clothes, America (9/26/2009 12:35:04 PM)

Opinion. A moor is a group of people that began in Europe. Are you trying to spell more?

Fined is when you get a traffic citation and you have to remit money to the court. Are you trying to spell find or found?

Are you Oklahoma educated?

Few Clothes, America (9/26/2009 12:41:26 PM)

We were taking on motor fire in an open field in South Vietnam and all we could do was stay prone and scream. The atheist in my platoon screamed "God, make it stop". When it was over he looked around sheepishly and never brought up that incident or being a atheist again.

nucleardad, Tulsa (9/26/2009 1:34:31 PM)

Hey Few Clothes,

No athiests in fox holes, huh? Great story!

Few Clothes, America (9/26/2009 3:19:34 PM)

Amen. Nucleardad.

justiceawaits, Claremore (9/26/2009 3:21:01 PM)

After all this time people are still argueing, even killing each other over who has the best
"invisable friend who lives in the sky".
Jesus said it best when he said"love god with all Your heart and Love thy neighbor as you would Yourself".
Yet the ones who profess their Christianity are often the least tolerant of others. Mulims and other religions have their Haters to.
While I don`t choose to be an athiest myself,
I can certainly see where he is coming from.

Centrist, the burbs (9/26/2009 5:18:10 PM)

justiceawaits that might be true for some people and is seen undoubtedly in many nations with religious wars but I think there are many people that are actually more tolerant because of their belief in God.

I believe everyone has a choice whether to believe or not and they should not be denigrated by their choice.

Like Few Clothes, many people turn to God in the worst of situations. I choose to believe and know that I have been touched and used for God's works many times than I can count. I think most of do not notice enough how much he does for us or uses us to help others.

godless, (9/26/2009 8:01:26 PM)

you said "No athiests in fox holes, huh?"

maybe so. However, there are indeed "atheists in foxholes." lots of 'em. I'm not sure what an athiest is.

Darkstar, (9/26/2009 8:47:04 PM)

An atheist is a man who watches a Notre Dame - Southern Methodist University game and doesn't care who wins.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Darkstar, (9/26/2009 8:49:22 PM)

An atheist is a man who believes himself an accident.
Francis Thompson

Darkstar, (9/26/2009 8:50:30 PM)

But in America, if you're an atheist, you lose.
Michael Newdow

R U 4 Real?, BFE (9/26/2009 9:11:18 PM)

I would not trust this guy.

aint missbehavin, no thanks (9/27/2009 1:55:52 AM)

Whelp heres where I stand on the non believers.I believe!...but if thats how you choose to travel,well we can do that here in America and this fella ought to be glad he's here insted of there....Pick a good book up.

peaceonearth, tulsa (9/27/2009 11:39:24 AM)

Shame on this man. He is a disrespect to muslim community, and his statement is 100percent incorrect. Islam is a religion of peace and we have no respect for any organizations that have to do with any deaths of any kind. He needs to go back to the FAKE school he states he went to and get his facts straight about the quran.

DeltaDon, Geneva, Switz & Tulsa (9/27/2009 1:26:34 PM)

As a physicist, I cannot buy the white bearded guy in the sky who was patterened after the god Zeus. But I have experienced the extraordinary power, precision and infallability of an extraorninary force that guides everything and comes with its own exacting rules (not the 10 commandments). I wouldn't call it god, that would be diminishing. It's is a higher power, and it can be leveraged but its more of a system. Each of us has access to it and it can be used for good or evil, happiness or destruction. But each choice we make brings an immediate response. To choose good brings a magnitude of good. Evil brings brings a magnitude of evil all in many unexpected ways. Man has tried to manage the system by writing texts to control our actions. (Bible,Torah,Koran)but that is like using a garden hose to control a forest fire. Learn the rules of the universe and use them to create your perfect existance.

makoske_d, Muskogee (9/27/2009 6:06:28 PM)

Mr. Husibi spoke to us today at the Tulsa Atheists Meetup. The article resulted in threats against Mr. Husibi, his family and his business. I fail to see what a "peaceful" religion purveying an "ultimate truth" would have to fear from one person with an alternate view. People with true faith should reach out to a lost person but that is an area where religion routinely breaks down.

Mr. Hasibi explained at our meeting that he had no need for the myths and stories of any religion or any God that could allow the senseless religion based slaughter he witnessed as a Syrian soldier in Lebanon. No atheists in foxholes? War was proof to him that a God with any sort of benevolence could not exist.

Thank you Mr. Husibi for your courage to offer another way to order our lives.

opinion, tulsa (9/27/2009 8:15:17 PM)

Don Makoske We must find a way to come together to halt the kind of repression Mr husibi is experiencing MR husibi -aman who seem to consider himself ordinary -is doing extraordinary things Thank you sir for witnessing reason and logic to an insecure ,unreasonable and dangerous world .

Basil, Tulsa (9/28/2009 8:34:31 AM)

Atheism is the most irrational of all belief.

To be an atheist, in reality, you must conclude that "nothing created everything"--which is also a title a new book illuminating the irrationality of atheism. You can debate the details, but there is no rational foundation to say that all matter came into being from nothing. Most atheists only go back to the big bang, or evolution picking up at a point after creation of the cosmos, but they have no legitimate theory explaining the existence of the physical world.

Basil, Tulsa (9/28/2009 8:38:06 AM)

I applaud his realization that Islam is false and bravery to leave it, because all Islamic scholars teach that the penalty for leaving is death. They consider murdering an apostate an honorable act--which is an evil justification to commit such a heinous act. Keeping people bound to Islam at all costs is their goal, even if it takes intimidation by the threat of murder.

FUTURE WORLD, Tulsa (9/28/2009 6:46:05 PM)

He's playing a serious game that might cost him his life. They will put a Jihad on his head. Like Salmond Rushdie.

Pizzagirl, Tulsa (9/29/2009 9:37:23 AM)

Atheism, just like any other belief system, requires you to believe something. No one knows for sure who runs the show, so we make an opinion on it. Sadly peeps take it too far, and think their way is the only way, and I've seen this with just about everyone, including Atheists. In fact the insecure ones are usually the most vocal(not speaking of rights issues)!

Tim Denver, Denver (9/29/2009 1:43:28 PM)

Now, if only more evangelicals would leave the faith.

Basil says "You can debate the details, but there is no rational foundation to say that all matter came into being from nothing." Agree "someone" had to create the big bang; however, it still doesn't prove the existence of a "Christian" God. I truly believe God is too big to fit into one religion.

Basil, Tulsa (9/29/2009 2:47:27 PM)

Tim, good to see you back. I always appreciate your thoughtful remarks.

That's one thing I've appreciated about Orthodoxy. It leaves much more to mystery, rather than attempting to offer convoluted explanations about everything. Much has been revealed, but much more remains a mystery.

We frequently speak about God in "apophatic" terms, meaning we define God by narrowing our understanding by saying what God is not. This still leaves room for the realization that in His vastness, we can only perceive less than a tip of the iceberg of God's true nature.

Tim Denver, Denver (9/29/2009 4:15:36 PM)

Good response, Basil.

Rocketman, Tulsa (9/29/2009 4:19:45 PM)

Now, if only more gay men would go straight.

(Just gigging you Tim)

flyingtheo, Broken Arrow (9/30/2009 9:28:35 AM)

On the topic of Islam, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahkmadinejad has vowed to wipe Israel (and all Judeo Christians for that matter) off the face of the map as must be done to clear the way for the return of the 12th Iman.
A majority of Shiite Muslims traditionally believe that the “12th Imam” (Islamic religious leader), born in 868 A.D., was placed by God into hiding (known as occultation) until the day of judgment. Southern Baptist author and evangelist Anis Shorrosh explained that many Shiites also refer to the 12th Imam as the Mahdi, an Arabic word that generally references a messiah, or a guide.

“This man will come to show them the way, because the prayer of every Muslim five times a day … ends with ‘Show us the right path, not the path of those who have incurred your anger or those who are lost, but those upon whom grace has come,’” Shorrosh said.

Though most strains of Islam have a belief in the Mahdi, Shiites traditionally believe he is Mohammed ibn Hasan, the 12th in the line of imams who were descendents of the prophet Mohammed. Though they do not know when the Mahdi will return, they believe he will come to end the misery of his people. Some strains of Islam even hold a belief that Jesus will be the Mahdi who will return and proclaim Islam as the true religion.

Basil, Tulsa (9/30/2009 11:45:59 AM)

Flying theo,

That's very interesting, thanks. I've heard very little about Islam's escatological teachings. Sounds like this idea of the 12th imam may set them up to embrace the antichrist when he emerges from whatever rock he crawls out from beneath.

Syrian Muslim, (10/6/2009 1:43:25 AM)

I was sorry to read this article, and I pray for Mr. Husibi. It has been well-known in the Islamic community (esp the Syrians)that he is a Atheist and has been for years. No one cared about this decision even if they don't share it, and everyone continued to be nice to him. He was in the hospital recently and many people visited him and checked on his wife to see if she needed any support. I wonder now why he is suddenly giving lectures? I doubt anyone threatened him, but he doesn't need to attack others' faiths and beliefs. Sounds like a sad attempt to get attention.

asman, (10/24/2009 7:05:00 PM)

I am a strong believer of GOD, The name of my god is BILLAH, The Great.He claims as creator of this universe and rejects the claim of Muslim god Allah.
I have frequent correspondence with Him through special hot line. He is very friendly and open to all. Once I asked him, " Who are your choosen people"? He answered, ' Atheist'.