Is there freedom of religion and tolerance in Islam?

Guess what? There's no turning back if you're born Muslim or a muslim convert. You're stuck with this one and only religion for the rest of your life. Unlike the other religions, the religious practices and choice has always been an "open door" policy, Islam, on the other hand, is strict in the sense that it forbids the conversion to another faith.

As life progresses, it is perfectly normal that we may find content, guidance, faith and peace of mind with another religion and wish to convert. We have the freedom to exercise our choice as long as it doesn't offend others. Apparently, this is not the case if you're Mr. Abdul Rahman. Mr. Rahman is an aid worker in Afghanistan who was arrested and charged with religious offense because of converting back to Christianity from Islam. If Islam is a religion of "peace, tolerance, kindness and integrity" as it claims then there should not be this much of an outcry over Mr. Rahman's personal decision. Instead, educated Islamic clerics around the world should stand up and defend Mr. Rahman's right, not just some selected Christian ministries. Nobody can decide for Mr. Rahman. It's his decision and his rights and we should all respect that.

There's also a similar case in India where Christian converts are constantly being harassed and threatened by the Muslim majority.

For more commentary, see BBC's Mood hardens against Afghan convert and even the Pope is pleading for the release of Mr. Rahman.

Hey dude!!! Where's my donut?

That's right. "Where's my donut?" will probably be your question the next you visit Tim Hortons, besides questions like "where the hell is the service?". It is official that Tim Hortons is going for IPO this month. Now, it'll join many other giant fast-food chains and will soon shed its family-oriented practices and become the puppet of its investors.

If you think the service is bad and the donuts are small, wait for a few month until they start cutting workforce and chopping down the food servings to please its investors. That's when you realise the donuts are too small to be fulfilling and the line-up becomes astronomical.

Welcome to the dark side, Tim Hortons!

Pro freedom of speech activists spoke out in Canada

They've been muffled, litigated and threatened, but they've fought hard and long, and, finally, they prevailed. They're the pro freedom of speech activists and supporters of Canada and today they took a stand on the streets of Toronto and in front of the Danish consulate, voicing out the right to publish the controversial caricatures of Muhammad.

Peter Kent, a former news anchor and the Conservative candidate of St. Paul's, Ontario, now the representative of the Canadian Coalition of Democracies stood with democracy and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by saying:

"Any democracy worth its salt should be strong enough to endure the most controversial speech," said Kent, who ran as a Conservative but failed to unseat Liberal Carolyn Bennett in a Toronto riding in the January election.

"That speech cannot be corrupted or compromised or silenced by intimidation or fear of violent reprisal," he said.

"We in Canada and free people around the world have the right to offend and to be offended. We do not have the right to respond to offence with violence."

Other pro freedom Canadian bloggers have also addressed this issue in my one of previous posts. For the curious readers you can find more under Mr. Pat Srebrnik's blogs DontAxe and ITYS - I Told You So where he closely follows the UPEI student newspaper controversy.

We're all human beings

Who would've thought that an imam in a Western society has to endure so much hardship? The imam not only has to guide his people with sound judgements, but has to especially endure the difficulties in a post 9/11 society.

An imam in the Western community is not just a leader of his people but also a councilor, a teacher, a matchmaker, a husband, a father, a symbol of hope and, best of all, the righteous path which bridges the Islamic beliefs with the Western culture. It's amazing how much he endures and he's truly the champion amongst all religious leaders. I certainly have never seen any monk, pastor, or priest who is both a religious figure and also a marriage councilor at the same time.

With the increasing media coverage on Islam, we unconsciously become the victim of the vast Western propaganda and often turn a blind when it comes to Muslims. Most Muslims are decent human beings, just like you and me, and are actually friendly and kind at heart. They're just like the everyday Chrisitians, Catholics, Jews and Buddhists you meet at every street corner. The more you know them the more you feel comfortable around them.

We're all human beings and a family living under the same roof. Irrespective of the faith, we can all live in harmony if we just show a little bit of our altrustic side.

In your face, McCartney!

I don't know if any of you are following this but the ex-Beatle apparently got a good smack when he went head-to-head with the Newfoundland Premier Mr. Danny Williams over the seal hunt issues on CNN's Larry King Live.

The accusation flied both ways, with McCartney and his wife, Heather Mills, charging Mr. Williams of being a supporter for the inhumane seal hunt, and with Mr. Williams defending that McCartney were being used by animal activists and not knowing enough to see the whole picture. Well, I do agree with Mr. Williams that sometimes the animal activists can go a little too far and blend truth with slander just to attract sponsorships and recruitments.

For the annual seal hunt, it is a tradition which spanned thousands of years, from the moment when the aboriginals stepped onto the North American continent to what is happening nowadays, to feed an ailing industry and to bring work to the under-privileged. Like all other meat producing industries, the process of turning cute harp seals to canned by-products must be gruesome and has to undergo the same euthanizing and bloodly killing processes.

I know we're all for the protection and well-being of animals but sometimes we can go a little bit too far. The animal activists claim that the seals may be endangered, but they're not even close and aren't on IUCN's red list. Fisheries and Oceans Canada says it the best:

The most recent (1985) advice from NAFO (Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization) indicates that pup production is in the neighbourhood of 500 000 animals, with an associated population of animals one year and older of about 2.0 million seals. Due to uncertainties in the data, these estimates cannot be considered firm. Nevertheless, there is sufficient evidence to show that the population was not endangered by the levels of harvest in the early 1980's and is almost certainly increasing under the recent harvest levels.

So why are they, the animal activists, knowingly testify with false information and obsolete data? Well, they do it for a number of reasons but the main one is to attract sympathy and attention. Thanks to the awareness they raised throughout the 90's, many governing bodies, including the European Union, had already either imposed a strict ban on all trades of the goods or derivatives from harp seals or regulated seal hunt, but then why're the activists still talking about this issue?

They still wouldn't let it go so they could earn the sympathy, attention and monetary support from innocent and naive bystanders like you to do their dirty deeds. Seriously, if they're all for animal protection and well-being they could have gone against China, for letting the illegal poaching of animals roam free, they could've gone to South America to protect the entire macaws species from extinction. They could've helped raise the awareness of global warming so fewer exotic species would go extinct. They could've told people to do their parts to combat global warming. But, no, with their mentally challenged, perverted mind, they couldn't do that.

The ultimate culprit is NOT the carnivores like me, the ultimate culprit is the human behaviour, the reliance of fossil fuel and the production of greenhouse gases, the effects of which could be mitigated through awareness. In fact, the domestication of common farm animals (i.e. pigs, cows, sheeps, etc.) and household pets (i.e. cats, dogs, etc.) have actually prolonged their survival and allowed them to surpass for generations. Now, if you take away the domestication, not only would we be hungry but also the species, being neglected for long, would eventually die off and decimate. You being the animal activist, would you want this to happen? I definitely don't think so!

Yes, I agree with you that treating animals inhumanely during slaughter is not right, but we should protest with boundaries and should not go so far as to harm others. If we can't even be reasonable, we're no better than the murders and torturers whom slaughtered animals inhumanely. Think about it!

And, please you do not have to spread hateful materials like this and definitely don't distribute them in front of our young.

Is your Wi-Fi being piggybacked?

With the immense growth of the technology sector worldwide, we unknowingly transform our daily lives onto the ever popular realm of the electronics age. Be it a gadget, a piece of software, or even a communicating method, the transformation is real. To live and breath in the society one must submit and willingly accept the digitized world.

However, the convenience a technological advanced society enjoys also has its own setbacks. These advancements inherently becomes a popular playground for criminals, perverts, pedophiles and terrorists, whom navigate through loopholes and dodge obstacles to attract potential preys, recruits and victims. From a light indulgences, such as the hijacking of a neighboring Wi-Fi, to more serious offenses, such as cannibalism, adultery, and the multi-billion Internet business - pornography, the deviance is real and could not be avoided.

We live in a world where curiosity, satisfaction, and a sense of accomplishment and belonging dictates our every move. We can hardly escape the temptation and hunger to strive for more and be on the top. To fault is human and humans are not perfect beings and will never be. However, we could ease the temptations and sufferings with the reliance on religious beliefs and the partnership with the opposite sex. These acts alleviate, divert and make the pains oblivious to our existence. But, regardless of all the good intentions, they also have their own downfalls. Religious beliefs sometimes turn into fanatics, idols, cults, and radical movements. The union of the opposite sex doesn't fair too well either. Most of the time it results in divorce, the separation of family, broken hearts and shattered dreams. We thought, initially, that with either a religious conviction or a union between the opposite sex, we would finally bring enjoy, satisfaction and solutions to all problems. As time elapses, we realize not only this is not true, but they also brought additional variables, grief and sorrow into our lives. So, how could one cope with all the suffering?

To ease the suffering and pain, one must set realistic goals, preplan the path, make sound decisions, be responsible and avoid deviant behaviours. One must be true to him or herself and offer assistance and a helping hand to those in need. Avoidance, retribution and taking a shortcut will never work. Only hope and a caring heart could resurrect one onto the path of salvation.