Salman Rushdie was attacked and stabbed by a young man who was under the influence of Islam. Islam, and all of the man-made "revealed" Abrahamic religions have blasphemy laws and rules which are intended to prevent people from applying their innate God-given reason to the nonsense being taught by the "revealed" religions.

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Author Salman Rushdie, the author of the 1988 book Satanic Verses, which many Muslims believe and claim is blasphemous against Mohammed and Islam, was brutally attacked by a Shiite Muslim this past Friday. The Muslim attacker, Hadi Matar, jumped up on the stage where Salman Rushdie was the guest speaker and was being introduced to the audience. Matar stabbed Rushdie about 10 times, in his abdomen, face, neck and arms. Thankfully, Rushdie is improving and has been taken off a ventilator and extra oxygen. Matar was arrested and charged with attempted murder and assault. He plead innocent. Due to the Shiite Muslim theocratic nation of Iran offering more than $3 million dollars to anyone who murders Rushdie, bail was denied to Matar.

The Iranian government has not issued a statement regarding the attack on Rushdie. However, hardline newspapers in Iran are expressing joy that Salman Rushdie, the blasphemer and apostate, has been violently attacked. One Iranian paper carried an article that said, "A thousand bravos ... to the brave and dutiful person who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie in New York. The hand of the man who tore the neck of God's enemy must be kissed." This statement makes the Deistic point that one of the root causes of religious violence is people confusing religion with God. When people speak or write against religions, they are NOT speaking or writing against The Supreme Intelligence/God.

Salman Rushdie held an important belief that recognizes an important fact. Rushdie said, "What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist." This is similar to Thomas Paine's belief and statement, "He who dares not offend cannot be honest."

The profound importance of freedom of speech was made clear by the Deist George Washington. Washington wrote, "If Men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind; reason is of no use to us " the freedom of Speech may be taken away " and, dumb & silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter."

All of the "revealed" religions* have blasphemy rules and laws. The reason they all have blasphemy rules and laws is because they all teach things that are irrational and which violate our innate God-given reason. The fact that all of the "revealed" religions have blasphemy rules and laws makes it evident that all of the "revealed" religions teach nonsense that cannot be rationally defended in a free exchange of ideas. Most people will be silenced from objectively speaking out about the teachings of a "revealed" religion which violate our innate God-given reason, through intimidation/fear of being arrested, executed and burning in hell. This not only helps the "revealed" religion to maintain its place of authority and power, it overall cripples attempts for people and society to make progress.

In The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition, Thomas Paine showed us the way to stop the "revealed" religions from spreading their harmful and irrational nonsense. Paine wrote:

"Nonsense ought to be treated as nonsense, wherever it be found; and had this been done in the rational manner it ought to be done, instead of intimating and mincing the matter, as has been too much the case, the nonsense and false doctrine of the Bible, with all the aid that priestcraft can give, could never have stood their ground against the divine reason that God has given to man."

*Revealed Religion: An organized system of belief in and worship of God based on the belief that God communicated/communicates with certain individual founders/members of the particular revealed religion. By believing in any of the revealed religions a believer is not putting their trust in God, but in the person/people making the claim of receiving the divine revelation.

Authors Bio:
Bob Johnson is a paralegal and a freelance writer in Florida. He was raised Roman Catholic, but after reading Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason, he became a Deist. In 1993 he founded the World Union of Deists and in 1996 he launched the first web site devoted to Deism, www.deism.com. He is listed in Who's Who in Hell and is the author of Deism: A Revolution in Religion, A Revolution in You and of An Answer to C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. He wrote the introduction to The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition and to Principles of Nature and also writes for Examiner.com and strike-the-root.com.