PLURALISM

Breaking up is never easy. The situation can be a painful and degrading experience that nobody likes to find themselves in. The way you feel right now, the sinking feeling of sadness, being hurt, or even angry are all completely normal reactions to an ending of a relationship. But even in the midst of your grieving, if you still have feelings for this person, there are things you can do to get him back .

A skeptic is an individual who does not see the good or the possibilities of good in anything. The skeptic is most generally negative by nature and lives a very boring and mundane life, their attitude is the reason they live the pathetic life that they do. They are the cancer to the optimist. An optimist is open minded and most generally sees something good in everything. They see the glass half full not half empty. If you were to visit a well seasoned skeptics home, you would find a whole slew of them living under the same roof. Why, because the negativity of a good skeptic spreads like wild fire. Now, why is it so important to you; the optimist, to get to know as many negative and skeptical people as humanly possible, the answer; MOTIVATION.

Poverty in its full meaning and implication is the inability of the individual or group to adequately access the very things that essentially support daily living including food, water, health and other key necessities of life that makes for both productivity and sustenance. The simplest meaning of this is that poverty is total lack of the capacity to generate the resources or materials that sustains daily living both for the individual and the group, and also confers dignity on human life by giving the individual access to minimum decent living. This means that ones the individual is empowered with the capacity for productive, dignifying and decent living, then poverty has been definitely eliminated or considerably alleviated.

There are two types of "evolution" occurring in our species. The first is Darwin's "competitive" evolution that is based on the adage of "survival of the fittest". The second is a Spiritual evolution that entails human beings reclaiming their rightful place in the Universe as the Divine Beings that they (we) are. Darwin's process is clearly based on a fundamental force called "the fear of not surviving" or death where as the Spiritual Evolution is based on an entirely different and contrary energy which is that of "Life". In other words these two processes are not only driven by contrary forces they are also headed in contrary directions! It has been proposed that Darwin's process is a normal and positive process for our species. After all, many would say, "hasn't it been this process that has moved us into the technological age with all our wonderful gadgets?". Some would even say that this proces...

It's Obama time, and there is something wonderful in the air - the celebration of multiculturalism. The fact that more and more couples of different faiths and cultures are intermarrying is undeniable. An estimated one third of today's marriages are mixed unions. Over my 12 plus years as an interfaith minister and counselor for intermarrying couples and their families, I have seen some dramatic changes. I see a greater acceptance of such unions simply for the reason that they are not so novel anymore.

Does religion really matters when it comes to marriage? Can it make two souls become one as well? Does it work for a Catholic and an Islam? Most of the time, religion is one of the reasons why some relationship don't work. Let's talk about Annie and John's love story. Annie's parents are devout catholic and John's are a devout Islam. Both have strong convictions on what they believe in and no one wanted to give up on their faith. Yet for two souls with different faith and beliefs to be married as one is something to really work hard for to make it work.

One of the main reasons why the British Army is considered to be the best in the world is due to its regimental system, established and perpetuated for hundreds of years because it works. At the heart of it is esprit de corps, a sense of comradeship, loyalty to a cause and each other, a bond that can be stronger even than the bond of family.

The bestowal of one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months in office, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo. The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for 'his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.' Critics - some in parts of the Arab and Muslim world - called the committee decision premature. Obama's press secretary woke him with the news before dawn and the president felt 'humbled' by the award, a senior administration official said. When told in an email from Reuters that many people around the world were stunned by the announcement, Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, responded: 'As are we'. The first African-American to hold his country's highest office, Obama, 48, has called for disarmament and worked to restart stalled Middle East peace mov...

President Hamid Karzai's dismissal of Amrullah Saleh, the head of Afghanistan's National Directorate for Security (NDS) - the equivalent of MI5 - and Hanif Atmar, the head of the Interior Ministry, on Sunday exposed deep divisions within the Afghan government and Nato members over an emerging peace talks process. The move has been hailed as a boost for negotiations on reconciliation with insurgents by those in favour of the talks, including some British officials and Pakistan, but criticised by their American counterparts. Mr Saleh and Mr Atmar were sacked after the Taliban carried out a rocket attack on a gathering of tribal elders in Kabul last week during a speech by President Karzai. Although the rockets missed the building were the peace conference was being held, the breach was deemed a serious assault on the Afghan government. But Mr Saleh said the reasons for his dismissal went beyond the security failure, adding that he had worked to undermine efforts to...

Most Islamic studies teachers in public and private schools in Java oppose pluralism, tending toward radicalism and conservatism, according to a survey released in Jakarta on Tuesday. The study shows 62.4 percent of the surveyed Islamic teachers, including those from Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah — the country’s two largest Muslim organizations — reject the notion of having non-Muslim leaders. The survey was conducted last month by the Center for Islamic and Society Studies (PPIM) at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta, involving some 500 Islamic studies teachers throughout Java. It reveals 68.6 percent of the respondents are opposed to non-Muslims becoming their school principle and 33.8 percent are opposed to having non-Muslim teachers at their schools. Some 73.1 percent of the teachers don’t want followers of other religions to build their houses of worship in their neighborhoods, it found. Some 85.6 percent of the teachers prohibit their s...

Everybody is bashing the Comelec for refusing to accredit the Ang Ladlad as a partylist group of gays and lesbians for the coming elections. They accuse the Comelec of deciding on the petition on the basis of morality, which is beyond its authority and competence to decide. That may be true, of course. But could the Comelec have acted otherwise? This country is not the kind of society some would like it to be. It was thus a very valid fear on the part of the Comelec that a far greater backlash would have swallowed it had it chosen to rule otherwise. Let us not be too harsh on the Comelec by saying it overstepped its bounds as electoral overseer because if there was only some way the poll body could have avoided deciding on the Ang Ladlad challenge, that would have been the way it would have taken. The Comelec did not relish the job of deciding on that petition. Unfortunately for the poll body, it was doomed from the first moment the Ang Ladlad set its sigh...

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has pledged to ensure the fulfillment of people's civil rights and Tionghoa Confucius, according to Indonesian citizenship law. "The government will ensure the fulfillment of civil rights and race Confucius Tionghoa accordance with the mandate of Law Number 12 Year 2006 on Citizenship of Indonesia," the president said in a National Lunar New Year celebrations at the Jakarta Convention Center, February 20 last. About 6,000 people, including vice presidents, a number of ministers of United Indonesia Cabinet II and inter-faith leaders attended the event held Confucian High Council of Indonesia (MATAKIN). The theme is taken "Once Promises spoken, four horses Could not Attract Back." Lunar New Year celebration began in 2000 nationally since the late Abdurrahman Wahid, who is remembered as the father of pluralism - allowing a national celebration. The President appealed to all parties involved to continue to improve t...

By: KH. Abdurrahman Wahid  When Indonesia was standing, there is a very interesting thing, namely the term "independence". With the words used in different usage, then gained some sense and meaning. The word independent means loose or free. Today, the word independence was also used by security forces, such as freedom from arrest or could be interpreted freely. However, the word freedom is more than free. For a nation, free means free from colonialism. It is used to show the political independence, economic and rest. Economically independent, meaning not at all dependent on other countries in all respects. Politically, it means that apart from the occupation of other parties. For example, the escape of Indonesia from Dutch colonial opinion so that our nation is able to quickly develop a political culture, economics, and others own. A sentence like to maintain the independence of the country has achieved, whether through war or by way of negotiations, referring to aspec...

Depok (ANTARA News) - Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) in Depok, west Java, disperse forcibly drag queen contest that was held at the Hotel Bumiwiyata in town, Friday. FPI chairman Habib Idrus Al Depok Depok Gadri in saying that the Depok city with religious and predominantly Muslim. So the event was not worth it here. In addition, he argues, is illegal drag queen contest because it has no permit from the local community leaders, Depok Municipal Government, and the police. Dozens of FPI members went to a place with a drag queen contest riding a motorcycle around 10:30 pm, complete with his trademark attributes. They immediately went in and forcibly disperse until the drag queen show trickle out. FPI threatened if the show still be held Islamic organizations that will bring the masses in larger quantities. Indonesian Ladyboys Forum Communications Chairman (FKWI) Indonesian territory of West, Merlyn Sofjan, denied the existence of transvestites contest. "` We are gathered here to...

RUU APP is not a new discourse in this country regulatory legislation. He is also not a new draft law prepared. This bill has been prepared more than 3 years ago, by the government. However gaungnya not as loud now. Even until the mid-year 2005, this bill can be said to disappear from circulation, in the sense of not getting publicity means. This bill rediscover its popularity when the preparation of the National Legislation Program Period 2004-2009 Parliament. PBB, PKS, and PPP urged that this bill be a priority. Finally in June 2005, this bill into Parliament Initiative proposal with 30 signatures proposer (from a minimum of 13 signatures). Why is this bill in trouble (which I call the result of broad political constellation) It's not a difficult matter to find some substantial weaknesses of this bill. Here I will give several reasons: 1. God spoke on-call As a state law, all legal products are appropriately generated and rooted in the ideology of the State, in this case the Panc...

In the immediate aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, international pressure mounted for political reform in the Middle East, particularly the Arab world. For its part, the Bush administration elevated democracy promotion in the Middle East to a key strategic priority. The administration’s policy sprung from the belief that strong linkages exist between the Middle East’s long history of autocratic rule and the emergence of a transnational terrorist movement with its roots in many of those same countries. Numerous independent analyses likewise have suggested that the Middle East’s dysfunctional, autocratic political systems are helping to breed Islamist extremism. An Islamist “Tsunami” Yet, despite the critical importance assigned to political opening in the Middle East, a number of factors, including ongoing turmoil in Iraq and competing priorities of the Global War on Terror (GWOT), have intervened to complicate U.S. democracy promotion efforts. In particular, variou...