Daily Archives: April 2, 2015

Head Of Local Interfaith Center: Anti-Islamic SEPTA Ads Do Not Represent Our Philadelphia

Posted: April 2, 2015 at 5:52 am

April 1, 2015 2:07 PM

Weekdays: 9 a.m. 12 noon Which Philadelphia talk show host c...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) Rev. Nicole Diroff, associate executive director of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia, spoke with Talk Radio 1210 WPHT midday host Dom Giordano about the ads going on SEPTA buses that many people feel are anti-Islamic and the rally that they had to garner support for their removal.

Yesterday in Love Park, Civic and religious leaders gathered to say that these ads that up on SEPTA buses do not represent our Philadelphia, do not represent the Philadelphia that theyre a part of, and inviting people to be part of a Dare to Understand Campaign in responseto have an elevated positive response spreading different images throughout this region. People of diversity standing together in cooperation and collaboration.

While the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia does believe in the freedom of speech, Diroff says that they disagree with the message that it sends.

So, I think that we are finding that our Muslim partners and friends do not find these ads accurate, and for me personally, the emotional response that they give to me is one of pain and hurt, and so we are responding with an emotional response of love and hope. As a Christian minister myself, I am acutely aware of the ways in which many of our scriptures can be taken and interpreted in many many different ways. They can be used to back lots of different positions. So, were trying to respond with something thats elevated beyond the content of the ad.

Rev. Diroff has received an exceptional amount of financial response to go along with the outpouring of emotions by already raising more than $27,000 for more ads to support the billboard placed on I-76.

Though she hopes that the ads will not spark any violent responses, a fear remains that it will happen.

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Head Of Local Interfaith Center: Anti-Islamic SEPTA Ads Do Not Represent Our Philadelphia

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Dont confuse reporting of lies as freedom of speech

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NGO head says journalists are not above the law and the police only arrested TMI staff because a report was lodged against them.

PETALING JAYA: Staff of The Malaysian Insider were arrested for their tendency to habitually pass off false and inaccurate information as truth, said the head of the Centre for Political Awareness, Huan Cheng Guan.

He said that contrary to the accusation that the government and police were stifling freedom of speech, TMI broke the law by putting out a highly erroneous article on hudud and implicated the Conference of Rulers in the process.

The error is very serious because if it were perceived as truth, the possibility of a Malay uprising is there, he said, in a statement today, adding that it was only right that TMI take responsibility for its actions, which to date it has refused to do.

He pointed out that the news portal refused to amend the article which till today can be accessed from its site and that the police only took action because a report had been lodged with them by the Keeper of the Rulers Seal.

Action was taken based on the police report lodged by the Keeper of the Rulers Seal and not because of any other person/parties, he said.

He also condemned watchdog bodies like the National Union of Journalists, among others who did not seem to realise that TMI had flouted a Code of Ethics by deliberately deceiving the public with false statements.

The role of such watchdog bodies should be to pressure fellow journalists to report truth. They and other critics should not derail the whole scenario by accusing the government of victimising TMI, Huan said.

Defending the governments action and arguing that they acted within the parameters of duty, he added, Had this occurred in other authoritarian governments, the whole portal would have been closed down, owners fined and guilty ones immediately charged.

He made reference to 16-year-old Amos Yee of Singapore who insulted the late Lee Kuan Yew and Christians in a YouTube video, saying that was a good example of how strict enforcement shows no mercy.

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Dont confuse reporting of lies as freedom of speech

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Is Atheism Unnatural – HD Hamza Tzortzis – Video

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Is Atheism Unnatural - HD Hamza Tzortzis
Is Atheism Unnatural - HD Hamza Tzortzis.

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Top 10 Best Quotes About God, Religion And Atheism – Video

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Top 10 Best Quotes About God, Religion And Atheism
This week, we count down the most inspirational quotations about mankind #39;s relationship with the great deity, from Friedrich Nietzsche to Frank Zappa. TWITTER: https://twitter.com/TriviaTripHQ...

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Atheism is a belief based on ignorance – Video

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Atheism is a belief based on ignorance
Atheists delight in ignorance.

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Home School – Old Earth vs. Young Earth & Atheism – Video

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Home School - Old Earth vs. Young Earth Atheism
Perry Marshall #39;s talk to high school students at One Day Enrichment for T.E.A.C.H. (The Evangelical Alliance of Christian Homeschoolers) in Oak Park Illinois, March 20, 2015. Perry is author...

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Atheism Theism, General chat – Video

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Atheism Theism, General chat
Atheism Theism, General chat.

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Atheism Theism, General chat - Video

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*SHOCKING! STATE ATHEISM VS ISLAM* – The Young Turks – Video

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*SHOCKING! STATE ATHEISM VS ISLAM* - The Young Turks
http://WWW.Facebook.com/MrJohnFontain http://WWW.TheGodSolution.com FREE QURAN: http://www.quranproject.org.

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Madison, Wis., Council Votes To Ban Discrimination Against Atheism

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Updated at 5:20 p.m. ET

In what is believed to be a first in the United States, the Common Council of Madison, Wis., has voted to amend the city's equal opportunities ordinance "to add nonreligion as a protected class."

The legislation adds atheists to the categories of people who could potentially face discrimination. It was co-sponsored by 14 of the council's 20 members and approved without objection Tuesday night.

Atheism is defined in the ordinance as "the disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods."

"This is important because I believe it is only fair that if we protect religion, in all its varieties, we should also protect non-religion from discrimination. It's only fair," said Alderwoman Anita Weier, the bill's chief sponsor, according to Madison's WISC TV.

The addition of atheism to the ranks of protected classes comes at a time when "religious freedom" laws are in the spotlight particularly in Indiana, where a controversial new law is seen as allowing businesses to refuse service to people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Madison's amendment will take effect when it's officially published, a step that follows the mayor's signing of the council's proceedings.

Several representatives from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is based in Madison, spoke in favor of the bill at Tuesday night's council meeting.

"We encourage freethought activists including the increasing number of local public officials who are atheists or agnostics to work to introduce and replicate this protection at their city, county or even state levels," says Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF's co-president.

The new legislation inserts the words "or atheism" after "religion" in several sections of the city of Madison's legal code.

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Madison, Wis., Council Votes To Ban Discrimination Against Atheism

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Deepak Chopra: The problem with atheism

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Story highlights We all fall somewhere on the sliding scale of belief and unbelief, Deepak Chopra says Skepticism is a way station on the way to a higher, more fulfilling kind of spirituality, he says

Standing back a bit, faith is on a rheostat, not an on-off switch. Putting God into the position of yes/no, belief/unbelief doesn't really reflect the modern state of faith. There are gradations of belief. In fact, 17% of people who identify as atheists still go to church -- they have social and family reasons for their choice rather than religious ones.

We all fall somewhere on the sliding scale of belief and unbelief. Secular society has sharpened our demand for truth. To me, this is a positive development. If belief in God can't stand up to proof, it won't sustain a person through difficult times.

Deepak Chopra

I consider skepticism a way station on the way to a higher, more fulfilling kind of spirituality.

Millions of people have walked away from organized religion to become more spiritual, not less. They call themselves seekers; their disbelief is a starting point for starting their own investigations.

Where the census form asks what faith they belong to, they might not have a ready answer, but that's not important. What's important is walking your own spiritual path. As a lifelong goal, it's one of the most rewarding.

What's not rewarding is to base your belief or unbelief on secondhand opinion. Being a knee-jerk skeptic is as limiting as being a knee-jerk fundamentalist. In both cases, the mind is being conditioned by others.

In my own conception of God as the source of consciousness, creativity, intelligence, love and evolution, the reason to be spiritual is to increase all of those qualities.

Unfortunately, the goal of many faiths is to obey dogma and accept a cultural mythology. Atheism can do good by casting a skeptical light on cultural mythologies, but believing in nothing but the material world is cold comfort.

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