why we'll probably never have any HAF members in Iran...

[Too Few Lions]

spotted this in the news yesterday, yet more crazy news from Iran. Ahmad Reza Hashempour is a 40 year old who has been arrested and sentenced to death for 'membership in anti-religion and blasphemous website'.

http://www.iranian.com/main/2012/jan/ahmad-reza-hashempour-prisoner-day

what a bunch of cunts they are in Iran. Apparently he's been found guilty of the crime of moharebeh, which roughly translates as 'waging war against God' and can carry the death penalty in Iran.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moharebeh

[Tank]

The 'Religion of Peace' strikes again!

[Sweetdeath]

Ugh, it's hard to fathom we even live in the same world as a country like that. That is seriously beyond aweful.

[DeterminedJuliet]

Gaaaahhhhhhh!!!

[Crocoduck]

I don't know if it makes me more sad or angry.

[Guardian85]

Yet one more reason to believe that everyone who believes lack reason.

[Sweetdeath]

Yet one more reason to believe that everyone who believes lack reason.

I simply can't piece together anyone with such strong belief and faith has reasonable intellect.

How can you stand there and prosecute someone who doesnt believe in a mythical god? >___< it is insane. Why do so few see how insane this is??

[Guardian85]

If you find the answer, I guarantee you will get a Nobel prize.

[Tank]

If you find the answer, I guarantee you will get a Nobel prize.

Or be burned as a heretic, depending where you are at the time!

[xSilverPhinx]

Holy crap.

There should be a concerted effort to get brains out of that country.

[Sweetdeath]

Holy crap.

There should be a concerted effort to get brains out of that country.

I know scienctists exist there, but....they're also highly religious. How the heck does that work?

[xSilverPhinx]

Holy crap.

There should be a concerted effort to get brains out of that country.

I know scienctists exist there, but....they're also highly religious. How the heck does that work?

Well, nuclear physicists are welcome apparently.

Some sciences have a higher or lesser correlation with religiousity. Biology, for instance would be one with lesser correlation with religious beliefs.

I'm guessing in a theocratic country with death penalties for blasphemy and atheists, there should also be a much higher incidence of closet atheism than elsewhere.

But seriously, this is just sad. Why they hell do people feel they need to carry out the will of their prefered mythical beings? If there is a god who didn't like atheists, that god could very well smite them on its own!  There's no shortage of possible god-caused deaths which don't include a country's law sentencing a person to death.

[Tank]

Holy crap.

There should be a concerted effort to get brains out of that country.

I know scienctists exist there, but....they're also highly religious. How the heck does that work?

Very easy. Particularly for Muslims. All a scientist does is discover what happens, nothing more and nothing less. The Koran is the infallible word of god, yet no human could possibly know god's mind. So when a scientist discovers something that appears to conflict with the Koran it was the previous human's interpretation of the Koran that was at fault. Reality can't be wrong, the Koran can't be wrong, QED the fallible human was/is wrong. This is why scientific discoveries used to flourish under Islam, but not Christianity which valued dogma (fixed interpretation of the bible) over reality and in too many places still does.

[Too Few Lions]

Very easy. Particularly for Muslims. All a scientist does is discover what happens, nothing more and nothing less. The Koran is the infallible word of god, yet no human could possibly know god's mind. So when a scientist discovers something that appears to conflict with the Koran it was the previous human's interpretation of the Koran that was at fault. Reality can't be wrong, the Koran can't be wrong, QED the fallible human was/is wrong. This is why scientific discoveries used to flourish under Islam, but not Christianity which valued dogma (fixed interpretation of the bible) over reality and in too many places still does.

good point Tank, plus the Qur'an is very short and has little real information in it, just an abridged rehash of the major biblical stories, so maybe there isn't quite so much in it for science to conflict with (although there's still plenty in there that does conflict with modern science). The Christians are catching up though, they're getting pretty good at reinterpreting parts of their holy book as allegory these days when they clearly conflict with science or history.

[Asmodean]

Who are the Iranians to fight Allah's battles for him? Is he, in his supposedly infinite power, too powerless to do his own dirty work, I wonder?