FIFA rules require the anthem be played before matches.

Well, it’s like when you want your spouse to stop arguing with you in public.

There could be an implied threat in “Fuck off back to your Dawkins.” Although, you’re right, it is just a curse.

Very civil. You have convinced me that I am completely in error.

That’s not what I said. I’ll simplify it for you:

Do you think that Mulim Hijabis don’t do any of those things to please their husbands, when they are uncovered at home?

and Atheism*

That’s quite true, and despite that they still produced Omar Mateen, the Tzarnaevs and other jihadis.

People are embracing religion, and becoming more extremely religious, in response to the technological revolution. A new and extremely unpredictable world is on the horizon and people are fearful, harking back to the glory days.

“I can be strictly observant of my religion AND compete at the highest level”.

so, there are people who are born without legs. Maybe, we should cancel the Paralympics. The legless people don’t need their own special category.

Words often take on unexpected meanings which don’t always correspond with their etymology. There was a time when I thought as you do, that it would be less confusing if we used one of the alternatives that you suggested. But ultimately If everybody knows what is meant by a word, then we should have no problem using…

It’s got the right number of stars.

“Palestine,” the region you are referring to is an arbitrary construct created by the British. It is quite different for example than the concept of Palestine (“Filastin”) as it was perceived by the Muslims in the Middle Ages (for instance, the Palestine province did not include Tiberias, that belonged to the province…

There was no Palestinian “centralized government” either. Palestinian nationalism only became a thing in response to the rise of Zionism. The Palestinians were just so inept and divided that they were not able to make decisions that were in the best interest of their people.

So he’s not personally hateful. A vocal and dominant part of his society is hateful. Not more encouraging.

a. There were Jewish communities living in that region for centuries.

an·ti-Sem·i·tism

The Egyptian el-Shihaby’s own government is participating in the blockade of Gaza (link, link, link), but el-Shihaby has no problem representing his own country and shaking hands with his fellow countrymen.

Here (link). There are about the same number of Jews (5 mil) and Muslims (3 mil) in America these days.