"We hear so often about Muslims as victims of abuse in the West.... but in fact... Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion. It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm." Read more to see the list of attrocities against Christians in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Islamic Terrorists have been link to sporadic violence in Uzbekistan for more than a decade. A man of god, Ulugbek Kodirov, entered the United States with a student visa but he never enrolled in school. He had the godly mission of killing Obama because he 'knew this was what he was supposed to do for Islam'. According to a plea deal, 'Kodirov said he did not care if he got shot and killed as long as he killed President Obama". Yesterday, he was put in jail for 30 years. He said he was acting at the direction of an Islamic terror group in his home country. The Tyranny of God.

My thoughts...

Religions are human insititutions, unable to guide human beings to live moral lives. There is nothing divine about them and as a symptom, they are as corruptible as everything else man-made.

Many religious people believe that their god can heal them. A speaker for the Healing on the Streets (HOTS) Bath in the UK for example says that "Christians believe in, pray for and experience God's healing". "We're Christians from churches in Bath and we pray in the name of Jesus. We believe that God loves you and can heal you from any sickness".

We love paperback but now with new technology making books more accessible and often at lower costs, The Tyranny of God is now available as an iBook/e-book on Apple's iTunes Store. This article takes you through how the e-book looks like on the iPad and a guide to finding the e-book on Apple's iTunes store.

The Russians are about to start buying Australian Dollars. According to Russia's most senior central bankers, Alexie Ulyukayev. He said everything was ready, accounts are open, agreements are signed and the buying could begin at the start of February.

There is an article published on theage.com.au, published 13th of December 2011 by Deborah Smith. titled, "Scientists close in on elusive 'God particle'". Smith writes:

AFTER a 50-year hunt, scientists at the world's largest atom-smasher are closing in on their prey - an elusive subatomic particle called the Higgs boson.

At a seminar in Geneva tonight, researchers are expected to release data that will provide the first hint of the existence of the boson, known as the ''God particle'' because of its importance. It is a final piece; the last undiscovered particle of the many predicted to exist by the standard model of particle physics.

There were quite a few interesting comments attached to the article. A special mention goes to this comment made by a user Dennis B:

More wasted money, no doubt from another Labour Govt like policy.

But the one that really stumped me was this comment from a user named The Beak:   The arrogance of Science: The "God particle" indeed!!!! So what do they expect: Find it and God will be scientifically explained away? Will they then take over as the new gods?   I did not even want to comment on the stupidity of such a comment because I sympathise. It might not entirely be the commenter's fault.   The problem, as far as I see it is the continued practice of scientists and writers giving scientific concepts and ideas, names and terms that has Abrahamic religion connotations. Why call the Higgs boson the 'God Particle' in the first place? (If one of the commenters is correct, the term came from Nobel Prize Winning Physicist, Leon M. Lederman, "The God Particle".)   I posted my comment on the article:   Comments like the one from theBeak is one reason why science should stop using terms in popular mythology. People who only have religious references and read little or none about science confuses these terms with the only thing they know of. In this case, the god particle has nothing to do with the god of the bible at all. The same goes for mitochondrial Eve and chromosomal Adam.

Why indeed, do scientists or writers continue to use biblical terms when trying to explain new scientific ideas and discoveries? Do they really need to do it to make it more digestible? Do they need it to get funding or what? If they do, then it is a sign that society in general, must raise its standard of scientific understanding so that people can appreciate the endeavour more.

The practice of using religious terms for scientific concepts confuses people. See what happens when people are confused though. In this case, just because the Higgs boson particle was named the God Particle, this obviously religious person, theBeak, presumes s/he already understands what is being discussed. Because people do not understand the project, they label such important projects as total waste of money without any sense of appreciation why such projects are important to humanity.

Related Article: Scientists close in on elusive 'God particle

There is an article written by Eric Herschthal published on the 15th of December 2011 on thejewishweek.com titled: This Just In: God Exists! Or, The Latest Claims of Religion on Science. Herschthal was writing about the works of Alvin Plantinga, a theist philosopher from Notre Dame, who argues, it is theism, not naturalism, that deserves to be called ‘the scientific worldview’. Further, Plantinga argues that a higher power, cannot be proven to exist but then, there's no need to prove that he exists like the fact that one plus one equals two, there is simply no need to be proven true. 

There is an article written by Eric Herschthal published on the 15th of December 2011 on thejewishweek.com titled: This Just In: God Exists! Or, The Latest Claims of Religion on Science. Herschthal was writing about the works of Alvin Plantinga, a theist philosopher from Notre Dame, who argues, it is theism, not naturalism, that deserves to be called ‘the scientific worldview’. Further, Plantinga argues that a higher power, cannot be proven to exist but then, there's no need to prove that he exists like the fact that one plus one equals two, there is simply no need to be proven true.

Like Herschthal, I disagree with Plantinga with a 'hmmm'.

However, Herschthal then continues to say that he is with Stephen Jay Gould on this issue. He writes:

Science and religion set out to address entirely different sets of questions.  Both are concerned with answering profound and eternal truths about the world.  But they are truths of different kinds.  Science investigates truths about the physical world, while religion concerns philosophical truths.

This is where I disagree with Herschthal. I posted this comment on the article, I do not know if the news site will approve it, but I will record it here because it is an interesting discussion. 

Interesting topic. I agree with you Eric when you say that religion is 'the scientific worldview' is preposterous. Unlike you however, I disagree with Gould's non-overlapping magisteria (NOMA) argument. Science and religion are concerned with answering profound and eternal truths about the world. The difference is -- religions especially Abrahamic religions -- says it already knows the truth.

One can argue for the existence of a deistic god and may still feel scientific about it because even though there is no evidence for the statement, it can be argued to be a hypothesis. But to offer theistic arguments for the existence and nature of the Abrahamic god is very unscientific. It is faith-based. Science is not faith-based, it is evidence-based. Therefore, science and religion are not mutually exclusive and they encroach in each other's territories because they both attempt to answer the same questions. And almost always, their answers to the same questions, conflict. Noma denies this. Yet, the conflict between science and religion has concrete effects. It plays out in our politics and in the way we are all governed, live our lives and treat other people. This eventually leads to people from both sides of the discourse feeling, rightly or wrongly, that they are denied their right to live according to their beliefs.

Related article: This Just In: God Exists! Or, The Latest Claims of Religion on Science.

[Have you heard of the NOMA argument made by Gould? What are your thoughts on it? Feel free to post your comments.]

Rick Perry's Ad Campaign to be US President:

Rick Perry, the candidate running for the 2012 US Presidency just released a television campaign openly anti-gay and obviously still wants creationist stories disguised as Intelligent Design be taught in science classes. Hearing a candidate for the US Presidency like Rick Perry not only publicly letting everybody know that he is anti-gay and that he does not believe in the separation of the Church and State, but to use them as his political platform to run for the US Presidency is mind-boggling. It is news I can expect from the Middle East but in America?

Find out how human beings evolved from earlier life forms on Earth for over 4.4 billion years, from single-celled organisms to the diverse multitude of species alive today. This article comes with a diagram of the evolutionary Tree of Life.

There are at least two Islamic parties in Egypt: the more pragmatic Muslim Brotherhood and the Al-Nour Party. The Al-Nour Party is the party that is pushing for a stricter interpretation of Islam be enforced in the country. To them, democracy is subordinate to the Koran.

A spokesman, Yousseri Hamad, says, "In the land of Islam, I can't let people decide what is permissible or what is prohibited. It is God who gives the answers as to what is right and what is wrong".

Here we go... another mere mortal pretending to be speaking and acting for some supernatural deity. Individuals or groups of individuals who want to install their own set of rules justify it by saying that what they say and do are the words and actions of their god. This allows them to violate the rights of others the freedom to think, let alone the freedom to speak out and their childrens' right to be properly educated.

Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, is a 20-year-old university student in Egypt. She maintains a blog and on Sunday, 23 rd of October, she posted nude photos of herself to show her “screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy”. This is significant, especially at a time when Islamists in Egypt are trying to secure power.

It takes the sacrifices of courageous people like Aliaa to challenge the thinking that tyrannises so many people in her part of the world. Click here to visit Aliaa Magda Elmahdy Blog.

Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, is a 20-year-old university student in Egypt. She maintains a blog and on Sunday, 23 rd of October, she posted nude photos of herself to show her “screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy”. This is significant, especially at a time when Islamists in Egypt are trying to secure power. I

It takes the sacrifices of courageous people like Aliaa to challenge the thinking that tyrannises so many people in her part of the world. Click here to visit Aliaa Magda Elmahdy Blog.

Obama is winding up a nine-day trip to Asia with the mission of letting everybody know that the US is now focussing on Asia. The US would only do such a thing if they see it necessary, from a strategic perspective, to position itself where they would expect economic growth in the future. With the uncertainty and potential sluggish markets in Europe forecasted in the next few years, it is a logical move. What sort of opportunities might there be for the US, China and the rest of us?

Record numbers of young, white British women are converting to Islam. Of the British citizens going through the conversion, more than half were white and 75% of them were women, according to an article Richard Peppiatt, (Women & Islam: The rise and rise of the convert, published on The Independent. Many of them apparently find it a struggle to assimilate their previous beliefs with that of their newly adopted religion More than three-quarters told researchers they had experienced high levels of confusion after conversion, due to the conflicting ways Islam was presented to them.

Record numbers of young, white British women are converting to Islam. Of the British citizens going through the conversion, more than half were white and 75% of them were women, according to an article Richard Peppiatt, (Women & Islam: The rise and rise of the convert, published on The Independent. Many of them apparently find it a struggle to assimilate their previous beliefs with that of their newly adopted religion More than three-quarters told researchers they had experienced high levels of confusion after conversion, due to the conflicting ways Islam was presented to them.

Record numbers of young, white British women are converting to Islam. Of the British citizens going through the conversion, more than half were white and 75% of them were women, according to an article Richard Peppiatt, (Women & Islam: The rise and rise of the convert, published on The Independent. Many of them apparently find it a struggle to assimilate their previous beliefs with that of their newly adopted religion More than three-quarters told researchers they had experienced high levels of confusion after conversion, due to the conflicting ways Islam was presented to them.

Rajat Gupta was orphaned at 18, a native of Kolkata, received an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology. He later earned a scholarship to Harvard Business School and secured a position at the consulting firm, McKinsey & Co.

According to Matthew 1:18-25, Mary became pregnant with Jesus while she was engaged (but still unmarried) to Joseph. After Joseph found out about the pregnancy, he wanted to break off the engagement. But then an angel came to him in a dream, told him about Jesus, and persuaded him to go through with the marriage. Did other members of his family initially disapprove of his activities?

According to the gospels, Mary became pregnant with Jesus through a divine action. Luke 1:26-35 says that the angel Gabriel visited her beforehand and told her that "the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." And Matthew 1:18 says "she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit." Is there a natural explanation?