Only Atheists should hold Public Office?

There's a commentary in Yahoo that I found interesting, it was written by Andrew Riggio, a Yahoo contributor. Of course, it represents his own point of view, but I thought it was worth sharing after noting various religious interference on political issues that not only happen in the US, but also in the Philippines, and in the rest of the world. I should begin this article with a saying - Religion is politics!

Here's the link to the commentary:

Only Atheist should hold public office (Yahoo! Contributor)

I also would like to add on this one... most Christians are actually non-violent simply because they are not the type who strictly complies with the Bible standards particularly in the "Old Testament", noting that most of them, particularly among the bigger denominations, never cares to read the bible, while those who read adjusted themselves by ignoring some Bible standards in order to comply with "real existing laws".

A Personal Opinion

Riggio has a point on this one, religion serves as guide to religious people. However, religion-driven people think of it as more than just a belief system - which is subjective to a group. They thought of it as if it's God's command. And this kind of primitive mentality (brought about by an evolutionary process), is more likely to cause disaster. People has to adapt to an ever changing society and sometimes, dogmas prevent it from happening. But who goes to say that religion does not bring anything good (progress for that matter)? It does, it's just that it wouldn't be right if we let it control everything, I mean, who are the pastors, the clergy, or the Imams/Rabbis who decide for the group anyway? Aren't they men also? Surely they are not gods and they are also prone to errors, along with their scriptures, which was written by primitive men a long time ago.

Iran plays down U.S. naval moves

Tehran, Iran - Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Saturday that it considered the likely return of the U.S. warships to the Gulf part of routine activity, backing away from previous warnings to Washington not to re-enter the area.

The statement may be seen as an effort to reduce tensions after Washington said it would respond if Iran made good on a threat to block the Strait of Hormuz - the vital shipping lane for oil exports from the Gulf.

"U.S. warships and military forces have been in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East region for many years and their decision in relation to the dispatch of a new warship is not a new issue and it should be interpreted as part of their permanent presence," Revolutionary Guard Deputy Commander Hossein Salami told the official IRNA news agency.

The apparently conciliatory comments may be a response to the European Union and Washington's rejection of Iran's declaration it was close to resuming negotiations with world powers and with the Pentagon saying it did not expect any challenge to its warships.

Crude prices have spiked several times this year on fears that diplomatic tensions could escalate to military clashes as well as uncertainty about the effect of sanctions on the oil market.

Along with the EU, which is set to agree an embargo on Iranian oil next week, Washington hopes the sanctions will force Iran to suspend the nuclear activities it believes are aimed at making an atom bomb, which a charge Tehran denies.

There has been no U.S. aircraft carrier in the Gulf since the USS John C. Stennis left at the end of December at a time when the Revolutionary Guard was conducting naval maneuvers.

On January 3, after U.S. President Barack Obama signed new sanctions aimed at stopping Iran's oil exports, Tehran told the Stennis not to return - an order interpreted by some observers in Iran and Washington as a blanket threat to any U.S. carriers.

"I recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf," Iran's army chief, Major General Ataollah Salehi, said at the time. "We are not in the habit of warning more than once."

New Maneuvers

Washington says it will return to the Gulf and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said any move to block Hormuz - through which around a third of the world's sea-borne traded oil passes - would be seen as a "red line," requiring a response.

Citing operational security, the Pentagon will not say when the next carrier will return to the Gulf but officials say it is only a matter of time and they do not expect any problems.

In the coming days or weeks, the Revolutionary Guard will begin new naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf. Salami told IRNA these would go ahead as planned in the Iranian month of Bahman which runs from January 21 to February 19.

Iran has said it is ready to return to talks with world powers that stalled one year ago, but the West, concerned about Tehran's move of the most sensitive atomic work to a bomb-proof bunker, says it must first see a willingness from Tehran to address the nuclear issue.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday "time is running out" for a diplomatic solution and urged Russia and China to drop their opposition to sanctions on Iranian oil.

Iran is OPEC's (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) second biggest exporter and blocking its crude exports through the EU embargo or U.S. moves to punish banks that trade with Iran could have a devastating impact on its economy but there are no signs so far that such pressure would force it to stop what it calls its peaceful nuclear rights.

Indonesian atheist faces jail after Facebook post

Indonesia - An Indonesian civil servant who declared himself an atheist on Facebook was arrested and is now facing jail for blasphemy after being attacked by an angry mob, police said on Friday.

Alexander An, 30-years-old, who wrote "God doesn't exist" on his Facebook page, was beaten by a mob of dozens on Wednesday in his hometown in Pulau Punjung, West Sumatra province.

"He is suspected of having blasphemed against Islam," local police chief Chairul Aziz told AFP.

"The man told police investigators that if God really exists and has absolute power, why didn't he prevent bad things from happening in this world."

An said on his Facebook page that he was brought up as a Muslim, like the vast majority in Indonesia, where blasphemy is a punishable crime carrying a maximum five-year prison term.

Dozens of locals stormed into his office after a heated debate with them on Facebook over religion, police said.

An was also an administrator of a Facebook group promoting atheism with 1,243 followers. His postings no longer appeared online following his arrest.

Indonesia is a third-world country that's also notorious of persecuting anti-Islamic beliefs. It was quite remarkable that after beaten by a mob, An was the one who ended up behind bars, an example of backward mentality existing in a highly-religious Islam-dominated country. But, that's Indonesia where opinions not aligned with the religious belief of the majority is a crime.

Are Religious People better adjusted Psychologically?

Psychological research has found that religious people feel great about themselves, with a tendency toward higher social self-esteem and better psychological adjustment than non-believers. But a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that this is only true in countries that put a high value on religion.

The researchers got their data from eDarling, a European dating site that is affiliated with eHarmony. Similar to eHarmony, eDarling uses a long questionnaire to match clients with potential dates. It includes a question about how important your personal religious beliefs are and questions that get at social self-esteem and how psychologically well-adjusted people are. Jochen Gebauer of the Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin, Constantine Sedikides of the University of Southampton, and Wiebke Neberich of Affinitas GmbH in Berlin, the company behind eDarling, used 187,957 people's answers to do their analyses.

As in other studies, the researchers found that more religious people had higher social self-esteem and where psychologically better adjusted. But they suspected that the reason for this was that religious people are better in living up to their societal values in religious societies, which in turn should lead to higher social self-esteem and better psychological adjustment. The people in the study lived in 11 different European countries, ranging from Sweden, the least religious country on the planet, to devoutly Catholic Poland. They used people's answers to figure out how religious the different countries were and then compared the countries.

On average, believers only got the psychological benefits of being religious if they lived in a country that values religiosity. In countries where most people aren't religious, religious people didn't have higher self-esteem.

"We think you only pat yourself on the back for being religious if you live in a social system that values religiosity," Gebauer says. So a very religious person might have high social self-esteem in religious Poland, but not in non-religious Sweden.

In this study, the researchers made comparisons between different countries, but another study found a similar effect within one country, between students at religious and non-religious universities. "The same might be true when you compare different states in the U.S. or different cities," Gebauer says. "Probably you could mimic the same result in Germany, if you compare Bavaria where many people are religious and Berlin where very few people are religious."


Source aps

Golshifteh Farahani Nude Video

Golshifteh Farahani

The nude photo of Golshifteh Farahani has been published by Madame Le Figaro magazine. The photo only shows a partially nude farahani who covers her two breasts with her hands, however, in the video, there is an actual part where she unveils, and exposes her breasts.

The publication has actually attracted a wave of visitors to her Facebook page, along with people from Iran and the Middle East.

The Paris-based actress left Iran last year in protest against restrictive Islamic codes that the Iranian cinema industry has to follow under Ahmadinejad's conservative cultural policies.

Now she said the government has sent a communication telling her not to travel back to her homeland.

Farahani appeared along Leonardo DiCarpio in the Hollywood film Body of Lies as a nurse who helps an injured American secret agent to recover to carry out his mission in a Muslim country.

Atheist society president forced to resign when Muslim students protested over cartoon of Muhammad having a drink with Jesus

University College London

UK - A row has erupted over an atheist society at a top London University after posting a cartoon sketch featuring the prophet Muhammad having a drink with Jesus on its Facebook page.

A student Muslim group is demanding the offensive image of Jesus and Mo having a drink at the bar, taken from an online satirical sketch (http://www.jesusandmo.net/), be removed from the social networking site.

The president of the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist society at the prestigious University College (UCL), Robbie Yellon, has stepped down over the controversy.

But the Society still refuses to take down the image, claiming its right to defend "freedom of expression."

Secretary for the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies, Michael Paynter said: "Robbie stepped aside because he signed up as president to organize events and run a student society."

"He did not appreciate the stress he would be under when dealing with a controversy like this, so he wanted to make way for someone else," he added.

CARTOON SPARKS AN ONLINE DEBATE

Elias Skourletos: 'Jesus and Mohammed are just historic figures such as Churchill and Hitler and we have every right to express our opinions on them.' (Comment on Atheist Society's Facebook page).

Martin Foreman: 'The right to offend is essential in a free society and must be defended.' (Comment on Atheist Society's Facebook page).

Richard of York: 'The thought that saying nothing won't cause offense, offends me.' (Comment on Richard Dawkins website).

Richard Dawkins: 'This sums up the gentle inoffensiveness of Jesus & Mo. Inoffensive, that is, to all who aren't out there eagerly scouting for offense opportunities.' (Comment on Richard Dawkins website).

Rational Conclusion: 'You cannot put regulations on things that offend because offense is subjective. A person can be offended by damn near anything. If we went about putting a halt to things that people find offensive we'd have almost nothing left.' (Comment on Richard Dawkins webstie).

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association's protest against the photo has been backed by UCL's Union.

A UCL Union statement said: "The atheist society has agreed they will take more consideration when drawing up publicity for future events."

"The society was asked to remove the image because UCLU aims to foster good relations between different groups of students and create a safe environment where all students can benefit from societies regardless of their religious or other beliefs," UCLU added.

The image that started the controversy was taken from an online twice-weekly satirical comic strip called Jesus and Mo, and has been running since 2005.

The Association aims to continue its protest until the image is taken down, claiming it is offensive and has wider implications.

The association's national spokesperson, Adam Walker, said the two student groups had worked well together in the past and said the offense was unnecessary.

He said: "The principle is more important than who is being attacked - this time it is Muslims and Christians but in the future it could be atheists themselves."

"There is no need to print these things other than to cause offense and history has told us that these things cause offense."

"I wouldn't say we're specifically pursuing UCL atheist society, its more about the broader principle," he added.

The row has prompted debate on the internet with prominent academic and author Richard Dawkins backing the atheist society.

A spokesman for UCL said: "A situation has arisen surrounding publications by the UCLU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society on its Facebook page of a cartoon entitled Jesus and Mo, representing Jesus and Muhammad sitting in a pub."

"A number of complaints about the cartoon have been received by UCLU from UCL students."

"UCL believes that managing the conduct of student societies is primarily a matter for the UCL Union and not the university centrally."

"We understand that the Union has asked the Society to take the cartoon down, and this request has been refused."

Apparently, this is not the first time a comic strip has caused large-scale controversy.

In 2005, cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten sparked world-wide controversy.

The newspaper claimed the publication was an attempt to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship.

But Danish Muslim organizations that objected to the depictions, describing them as Islamophobic or racist, responded by holding public protests attempting to raise awareness of Jyllands-Posten's publication.

Further examples of the cartoons were soon reprinted in newspapers in more than 50 other countries, further deepening the controversy.

This led to Islamic protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence, including the bombings of the Danish embassy in Pakistan and setting fire to the Danish Embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, storming European buildings, and burning the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, French and German flags in Gaza city.

Iranian actress banned from her home country after posing nude

Golshifteh Farahani as she appeared in Madame Le Figaro. The subsequent posting on her
Facebook page drew both criticism and praise from around the world.

An Iranian actress who has starred with Leonardo DiCarpio and Russell Crowe has been banished from her home country of Iran because she posed nude in a French news magazine.

The actress was none other than Golshifteh Farahani, a beautiful Iranian actress. She says she has been contacted by the Iranian government, telling her that she is no longer welcome in the country and advising her not to return home.

The offending photo was a black-and-white art shot featuring the 28-year-old Farahani posing against a black backdrop with her hands strategically placed over her breasts. It was first published in Madame Le Figaro.

Farahani became the first Iranian to star in a Hollywood film with her role as
Aisha in Body of Lies, with Leonardo DiCarpio.

The image was then posted on her Facebook page, drawing visitors from around the world, including from Iran and the Middle East.

While many criticized her "indecency", others praised her for "the courage to remove a taboo among the women in Muslim countries."

Iran's anger at the image is not just because of Farahani's nudity, but also because she has made it known that her decision to pose is in protest against restrictive Islamic codes.

Golshifteh Farahani

That was also the reason why the now-Paris-based actress left Iran last year.

She told the Daily Telegraph that she was told by a ministry of culture and Islamic guide official that Iran does not need any actors or artists. "You may offer your artistic services somewhere else."

Farahani has had a mercurial relationship with her home country.

She began acting in a theater at the age of six and her first film, The Pear Tree (1998), earned the then 14-year-old Farahani the Best Actress award at Iran's annual Fair Film Festival.

She immediately became a leading actress in her home country, yet her performance in the 2007 film Santouri has never been seen in Iran and is still banned.

She starred in M for Mother (2006), which after a huge success in Iran, was chosen to represent Iran for the Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards in 2008.

Farahani's role as a nurse in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies (2008), which also starred Hollywood big-hitters DiCarpio and Crowe, made her the first Iranian to act in a major Hollywood film.

As a result she was banned from leaving Iran, and now that she has left the country and is living in Paris, she was banned from returning.

Nevertheless, at least, she was brave to cross the line of traditional Islamic conservatism that only few would dare. To Iran, she may have been a disgrace, but to the modern day world, she was a heroine. Farahani only fought for herself - fighting for the right of being herself, and no fundamentalism could stop her.

Additional Photos