Iran confiscates Buddha statues to stop promotion of Buddhism

Originally posted by buster2010

Christianity is still allowed to be practiced so your post here is meaningless. The religion hasn't been driven out has it.

Clearly, rather than conceding the point, you have been forced to be pedantic.

Christians are suffering a great deal of persecution in Iran.

Originally posted by superman2012
I noticed that you left out some parts that would explain this...

I left nothing out. I posted the facts.
The fact is .. the government of Iran is confiscating statues of Buddha in Tehran.
They said that the confiscating would continue to 'protect' Iranian heritage.
This goes against their own laws of supposed religious freedoms.
It's just that simple.

Originally posted by mideast
you just get information by western imperialist MSM,

As I stated earlier .. you just get your information via the STATE RUN Iranian government which if full of pro-Iranian blame-the-zionists-for-everything propaganda. Iranian media isn't exactly a beacon of free information.

Originally posted by buster2010
Christianity is still allowed to be practiced so your post here is meaningless. The religion hasn't been driven out has it.

Death Sentence for Christian Pastor Who Refuses to Convert to Islam
The Iranian government sure does seem to be trying to do just that ...

Originally posted by superman2012

The OP has a long standing history of twisting a headline/article to make Iran the boogeyman.

I could be mistaken but the Iranian regime's persecution of other religions doesn't require much twisting.

• Iran: Protestant Pastor Sentenced to Six Years

• Iran: Pastor to Hang for Apostasy in Iran

• Iran: Christians jailed for three months over evangelizing activities

• Iran: Iran confiscates Buddha statues in crackdown on 'cultural invasion'

Note the last link is the Guardian, a quality left wing British broadsheet.

Originally posted by superman2012
The OP has a long standing history of twisting a headline/article to make Iran the boogeyman.

Dead wrong. I'm stating the facts. And the fact is that Iran is confiscating Buddha statues. It's just that simple. Trying to deflect or throw mud (lies) at me won't change that fact. Save your venom for the government of Iran. Considering how it treats the innocent citizens of Iran, it deserves it.

Originally posted by mideast
OP is blind enemy of both Iran and Islam. And she is no fan of Buddhism.

:shk: You have NO IDEA what my religious beliefs are .. and they are not the topic.

The government of Iran is confiscating statues of Buddha. It's just that simple.
The government of Iran is not following it's own rules about religious freedom. It's just that simple.
Those are what the discussion is about.
Not me.

As this thread has shown, the government of Iran doesn't follow the laws of the land. It may say that the laws protect religious freedom, but the actions of the government of Iran say different ...

Human Rights Watch - Iran 2012

The government denies freedom of religion to adherents of the Baha’i faith, Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority. On May 21, security forces arrested at least 30 Baha’is in a series of coordinated raids in several major cities. At this writing authorities were still holding the defendants without charge. All those arrested were affiliated with the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education, a correspondence university established in 1987 in response to the government’s policy of depriving Baha’i students of the right to pursue higher education. According to the Baha’i International Community, there were 100 Baha’is detained in Iran’s prisons as of October.

Authorities discriminate against Muslim minorities, including Sunnis who account for about 10 percent of the population, in political participation and employment. They also prevent Sunni Iranians from constructing mosques in major cities. In recent years officials have repeatedly prevented Sunnis from conducting separate Eid prayers in Tehran and other cities. On September 5, in Fars province, paramilitary Basij militia attacked members of Iran’s largest Sufi sect, the Nematollahi Gonabadi order, killing one. The authorities then launched a campaign of arrests against members of the group in several cities.

Authorities also targeted converts to Christianity. In September a revolutionary court convicted six members of the evangelical Church of Iran to one year prison terms on charges of “propaganda against the state,” allegedly for proselytizing. On September 25, authorities summoned Yousef Nadarkhani, the pastor of a 400-member Church of Iran congregation in northern Iran, to court and told him he had three opportunities to renounce his faith and embrace Islam. Nadarkhani refused to recant and faced possible execution as of this writing. In 2010 the judiciary had sentenced Nadarkhani to death for “apostasy from Islam” despite the fact that no such crime exists under Iran’s penal code.

The government restricted cultural and political activities among the country’s Azeri, Kurdish, Arab, and Baluch minorities, including organizations that focus on social issues. In April security forces reportedly killed several dozen protesters, most of them ethnic Arabs, in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan. Authorities arrested dozens and executed nine men allegedly connected to protests on May 9. Security forces also arrested hundreds in Iran’s Azerbaijan region following large-scale protests in August and September, part of a pattern of harassment against environmental and Azeri civil society activists.

Death for "apostasy from Islam".
No such law on the books.
But they convicted the Christian of it anyways.

So there you have it ... so called 'religious freedom in Iran'.

Amnesty International - Iran Report 2012

Members of religious minorities, including Christian converts, Baha’is, dissident Shi’a clerics and members of the Ahl-e Haq and Dervish communities, faced continuing persecution following repeated calls by the Supreme Leader and other authorities to combat “false beliefs” – apparently an allusion to evangelical Christianity, Baha’ism and Sufism. Sunni Muslims continued to face restrictions on communal worship in some cities and some Sunni clerics were arrested.

•At least seven Baha’is were jailed for between four and five years after they and over 30 others were arrested in raids targeting the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education. The Institute provides online higher education courses for Baha’i students, who are barred from universities. The seven were among over 100 Baha’is held in connection with their beliefs, including seven leaders who had 20-year prison terms reimposed in March, reversing a 2010 appeal court decision.

•Up to 100 Gonabadi Dervishes (a Sufi religious order), three of their lawyers, as well as 12 journalists for Majzooban-e Noor, a Gonabadi Dervish news website, were arrested in Kavar and Tehran in September and October. At least 11 were still detained, mostly without access to lawyers or family, at the end of 2011.

•The retrial of Yousef Nadarkhani, a Christian pastor charged with “apostasy”, began in September. Born to Muslim parents, he was arrested in October 2009. He was sentenced to death in 2010 for refusing to renounce Christianity, to which he had converted, but the sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court in June.

•Sayed Mohammad Movahed Fazeli, the Sunni prayer leader of the city of Taybad, was held between January and August following protests in Taybad against his enforced resignation as prayer leader.

and the summary on Iran from Amnesty International -

Freedom of expression, association and assembly were severely restricted. Political dissidents, women’s and minority rights activists and other human rights defenders were arbitrarily arrested, detained incommunicado, imprisoned after unfair trials and banned from travelling abroad. Torture and other ill-treatment were common and committed with impunity. Women as well as religious and ethnic minorities faced discrimination in law and in practice. At least 360 people were executed; the true total was believed to be much higher. Among them were at least three juvenile offenders. Judicial floggings and amputations were carried out.

... and dont' even think about being a homosexual in Iran. It'll get you killed.

THIS is what some people on this thread are defending.

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by DarknStormy

Originally posted by SaturnFX
Then tell me Why are they removing Buddha statues in Iran?

Heard of Idles?

Even if the Buddhists were worshipping Idols .. which they are not .. then that would be their right to do so under relgious freedom.

The Buddhist setup is a lot like the catholic one ... they have monks and nuns .. they have monasteries ... they have monks and nuns in robes, like Catholics have habits and cassocks ... they have rituals .. they have a spirit world ... they have little statues of buddah like Catholics have little statues of Jesus and the saints ... they have revered lamas who are the reincarnation of past masters come back to help, like the Catholics have revered Saints who help from heaven.

The buddah statues are a part of all this.

Yes and guess what? Catholics and Christians should know better than to worship a man who can never take the place of god, its as simple as that. Thats why Christianity will not be around for much longer... It collapses around itself in hypocracy and bs.

Originally posted by buster2010

So he wears an old badge that supported a American placed dictator that allowed American companies to rape Iran's natural resources. Why would he want to go back it sounds like he didn't like it in the first place.

It would be logical to assume that he doesn't wear the badge supporting the Shah of Iran when he returns to Iran. Naturally he wishes to avoid being put to death.

What is puzzling is what motivates you to defend a regime made up of fundamentalist Mullahs who are widely opposed by the Iranian people?

Defying an official ban, hundreds of thousands of Iranian supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi demonstrate in Tehran on Monday, June 15, 2009

A riot-police officer strikes a man with a baton near Tehran University on June 14, 2009.

Protests in 2009 in Iran against the current regime

Why exactly do you support a regime that is widely opposed by the Iranian people?

Originally posted by DarknStormy
Catholics and Christians should know better than to worship a man who can never take the place of god, its as simple as that.

Catholics and Christians can worship whoever or whatever they want .. it's as simple as that. Careful ... you are sounding like the Iranian government ... picking and choosing what people should and or shouldn't be worshipping. It's their business to worship what they wish no matter what we may think of their choices.

Thats why Christianity will not be around for much longer... It collapses around itself in hypocracy and bs.

It's been around 2,000 years ... It'll probably be around a long time yet.
It's 'been around' for a long while in human history.
2 billion people on the planet are Christian. It's not going anywhere anytime soon.

reply to post by FlyersFan

... and dont' even think about being a homosexual in Iran. It'll get you killed. THIS is what some people on this thread are defending.

Who's defending killing homosexuals? Please source or at least quote when you are making outlandish silly claims.

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by superman2012
The OP has a long standing history of twisting a headline/article to make Iran the boogeyman.

Dead wrong. I'm stating the facts. And the fact is that Iran is confiscating Buddha statues. It's just that simple. Trying to deflect or throw mud (lies) at me won't change that fact. Save your venom for the government of Iran. Considering how it treats the innocent citizens of Iran, it deserves it.

Originally posted by mideast
OP is blind enemy of both Iran and Islam. And she is no fan of Buddhism.

:shk: You have NO IDEA what my religious beliefs are .. and they are not the topic.

The government of Iran is confiscating statues of Buddha. It's just that simple.
The government of Iran is not following it's own rules about religious freedom. It's just that simple.
Those are what the discussion is about.
Not me.

I was stating facts too. From your source. That you overlooked mentioning. Why? Because it didn't fit in with your hate filled stance towards Iran. I get it.

Originally posted by ollncasino

Originally posted by superman2012

The OP has a long standing history of twisting a headline/article to make Iran the boogeyman.

I could be mistaken but the Iranian regime's persecution of other religions doesn't require much twisting.

• Iran: Protestant Pastor Sentenced to Six Years

• Iran: Pastor to Hang for Apostasy in Iran

• Iran: Christians jailed for three months over evangelizing activities

• Iran: Iran confiscates Buddha statues in crackdown on 'cultural invasion'

Note the last link is the Guardian, a quality left wing British broadsheet.

edit on 18-2-2013 by ollncasino because: (no reason given)

Neither are many other countries, but that isn't what this thread is about though is it?

reply to post by greatfriendbadfoe


They are doing really good, my friend does leave there. It's incredible how they all work together and do not think about the rest of the world.

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by superman2012
I noticed that you left out some parts that would explain this...

I left nothing out. I posted the facts.
The fact is .. the government of Iran is confiscating statues of Buddha in Tehran.
They said that the confiscating would continue to 'protect' Iranian heritage.
This goes against their own laws of supposed religious freedoms.
It's just that simple.

...and yet you continue to leave out the parts that would explain this. 'Tis okay little one, I have grown to expect it from you.

reply to post by ollncasino


I did read the original post, that is sufficient.

The fact that more links were added at a later point of time just proves my point that no research was done prior to posting this article.

I can swamp you with links to main stream media articles claiming in all lenght about how man made CO2 causes global warming, but that still doesn't make it true, now does it ?

Originally posted by FlyersFan
Catholics and Christians can worship whoever or whatever they want .. it's as simple as that. Careful ... you are sounding like the Iranian government ... picking and choosing what people should and or shouldn't be worshipping. It's their business to worship what they wish no matter what we may think of their choices.

It is their choice but it doesn't exactly mean they are right though.

It's been around 2,000 years ... It'll probably be around a long time yet.
It's 'been around' for a long while in human history.
2 billion people on the planet are Christian. It's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Most of those 2 Billion wouldn't go to church let alone give 2 hoots about Christianity. Those numbers are put together under the assumption that every Westerner and who ever else may practice Christianity are Christians. I'm sure I would slot into that 2 Billion yet I don't give a toss about Christianity let alone look at a church when I walk past one.

Originally posted by superman2012
reply to post by FlyersFan

 

... and dont' even think about being a homosexual in Iran. It'll get you killed. THIS is what some people on this thread are defending.

Who's defending killing homosexuals? Please source or at least quote when you are making outlandish silly claims.

You put those two sentences together. That's disingenuous. The statement that 'this is what some people on this thread are defending' was referenceing the ENTIRE POST that I made. The side note about being homosexual in Iran was just that. A side note. But it does remain true that if anyone blindly supports the government of Iran, which apparently many on this thread do, then they support the slaughter of homosexuals.

reply to post by ollncasino


More unsubstantiated claims.

I've been to Iran more than once and rest assured, there is no prosecution of Christians going on. I do also have two closer friends, both from Iran, and I know a couple of their friends too.

So you are either a liar or an uneducated fool, because these are the two definitions used to describe someone making false claims.

So which one is it ?