Dr Rajiv Desai
An Educational Blog
ATHEISM
ATHEISM: _____ Caveat: This article has no desire to insult anybody in any way at all. If anyone feels offended, it is a regrettable misunderstanding because the criticisms are aimed at the objectives of the belief, never at believers as individuals. I recognize and respect right of all individuals to believe in their faith and their God if that helps them to live better life in the brief period of human existence allotted to them. But religious beliefs and doctrines become dangerous if they threaten the liberty and the integrity of the individual or of the society. _____ _____ Prologue: According to Psalm 14 of the Bible, people who don’t believe in God are filthy, corrupt fools, entirely incapable of doing any good. Before the 18th century, the existence of God was so accepted in the western world that even the possibility of true atheism was questioned. This is called […]
INTELLIGENCE AGAINST TERRORISM
INTELLIGENCE AGAINST TERRORISM: I thank everybody for visiting my website. This is the 100th article on my website. For this important occasion, I have chosen a topic that is the talk of the town. Everybody worldwide is concerned about rise of terrorism and this article is a small step to eradicate terrorism using our intelligence. _______ _______ Prologue: In February 2001, CIA director George Tenet publicly testified to Congress that “the threat from terrorism is real, it is immediate, and it is evolving.” Furthermore, “Osama bin Laden and his global network of lieutenants and associates remain the most immediate and serious threat.” Nevertheless, the Intelligence Community gave no specific warning of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Although all observers grant that terrorist groups are very difficult targets and that undetected movements of small numbers of their members in an open society cannot realistically be prevented, serious questions remain. Look at […]
TERRORISM
TERRORISM: _ The image above shows victim of terrorism. _ Prologue: The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of some people who are evil, but because of good people who don’t do anything about evil people. In human history, terrorism is widely recognized as the world’s most famous enemy of mankind. As history itself will admit that terrorism is annihilation with far-reaching and destructive effects, it is also the cruelest of crimes against humanity. Its remains have turned neighbors into enemies and have made our societies and the whole world unsafe for living. Its aims and applications are global and uncompromising. Neither terrorism nor perpetrators are new. Even though it has been used since the beginning of recorded time, not history itself can keep, with precision, the number of lives and properties lost to terrorism. Terrorism has been most succinctly defined as “the intentional use of, or […]
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (FREEDOM OF SPEECH)
_____________________________________________________________________________ FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (FREEDOM OF SPEECH) _ _ Caveat: Please do read my articles on ‘Internet censorship’, ‘Science of Religion’ and ‘Torture’ whereby I have discussed freedom of expression on internet, blasphemy & sacred texts and clash of moral duties respectively. The reason for writing an entire article on ‘Freedom of Expression’ is to respond to an attempt made by Indian media to block my article ‘Hybrid Smile’ on my facebook page. Here I have discussed in depth the scope of freedom of expression and the limitations of freedom of expression. In order to make the article vibrant and inclusive, I have taken liberty to include views of some which may sound offensive to some community or some leaders or some people. I do not agree with some of the views of others posted in this article but for the sake of freedom of expression, I have allowed those […]
SUPERSTITIONS
SUPERSTITIONS: _ _ Prologue: I was traveling from Yanbu to Jeddah by plane and it was my first experience with Saudi Airline. Just before takeoff, as plane was standstill, I heard “Allāhu Akbar (الل أكبر)” [god is greatest] thrice and then plane took off. I never heard similar thing in Indian airlines planes praying Hindu Gods. Is Indian Airlines plane less safe than Saudi Airlines plane simply because a prayer is not recited before takeoff? Has superstition become pervasive in contemporary culture? Did you know that insects could be tried for criminal acts in pre-industrial Europe, that the dead could be executed, that statues could be subjected to public humiliation, or that it was widely accepted that corpses could return to life? What made reasonable educated men and women behave in ways that seem utterly nonsensical to us today? Strange histories present a serious account of some of the most […]
