Digg and Diggnation

The Digg social network is in trouble. Digg is a place where people can share what they find on the web with others. There is a rating system of sorts – based on people ‘digging’ a post/site, which when done so is considered ‘dugg’ by the one doing the ‘digging.’ It had and has the potential to be a very useful site. However, as anyone who keeps up with developments in social networking and the like knows, Digg is in trouble. It is dropping users, with less and less people using the site and tools associated with the site. Recently Digg got an overhaul which has done nothing to stop the slide.

There was once a newsletter with the top ‘dugg’ stories of the day, but that seems to have vanished. I found it to be a useful newsletter.

To find out what Digg is all about visit:

http://digg.com/

I have been using Digg a fair bit of late and have always considered it to be a very useful site and experience.

My profile is at:

http://digg.com/particularkev

There is also a web television show known as Diggnation. I have just watched the latest episode of the show and I confess to believing the show is rubbish. It is not worth watching in my opinion and comes complete with terrible language and crass content. If the quality of the show is how we should take Digg it is no wonder it is in trouble. It is hosted by two men, with one being the founder of Digg – which does nothing for the credentials of Digg.

I still hold out hope for Digg, as it can yet be a very useful and worthwhile site and service.

Visit Diggnation at:

http://revision3.com/diggnation/

 

Hundreds Injure Church Members in Bekasi, Indonesia

Police barricade ineffective; church leaders demand a suitable venue for worship.

DUBLIN, August 9 (CDN) — Leaders of a church in West Java, Indonesia demanded justice from police after a fifth attack from Muslim protestors left at least a dozen people injured yesterday.

As some 20 members of the Batak Christian Protestant Filadelfia Church (HKBP Filadelfia) in Bekasi gathered for Sunday worship on a church-owned plot of land in Ciketing, at least 300 members of the Islamic People’s Forum (FUI) and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) broke through a police barricade and ordered them to leave, Theophilus Bela, president of the Jakarta Christian Communication Forum, told Compass. When the church members refused, the protestors assaulted the group with sticks, stones
or their bare hands.

A report in The Jakarta Post reported that as many as 700 protestors took part in the attack on the congregation, which numbers 1,500 in total. A video clip of the attack shown on local broadcasting network Metro Treve confirmed only that a large and physically aggressive mob was present at the site.

Indra Listiantara, a researcher with the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said local residents identified the attackers as members of the FPI who had already attacked the church on previous occasions, including Bekasi FPI leader Murhali Barda, according to The Jakarta Globe.

When church members decided to leave, the mob “hunted us down and hit us,” church leader Hendrik Siagian told local news magazine Tempo.

Those injured included church member Franky Taumbunan, 26, who was kicked several times while he attempted to protect his elderly father. Berliana Sinaga, 22, suffered bruising after several men hit her in the head and face, the Post reported.

Several church members required medical attention, Bela confirmed.

Police chief Iman Sugianto, however, said he blamed the church members as he had warned them not to hold services in the area because they were disturbing the residents, according to the Post.

The church has filed charges against the FUI and FPI for assault and defiling a religion, the Globe reported yesterday (Aug. 8). The Rev. Luspida Simanjuntak also demanded that the Bekasi administration offer the church an alternative venue.

Church members only resorted to worshiping on the plot of land in Ciketing after officials sealed a house used for worship in the Pondok Timur housing complex in Jejalen Jaya sub-district, Bekasi, Bela said.

The church purchased a plot of land in Ciketing in 1998 and began to construct a church there after gathering consent from 200 local residents and local officials; a 500-strong mob, however, burned down the partially-completed building in November 2000, he said.

In June 2007, the church purchased a house in the Pondok Timur housing estate for use as a temporary place of worship while they submitted a formal application to construct a church building in Ciketing. The application, however, remained unanswered for more than a year, while radicals stepped up their protests against the use of the house in Pondok Timur.

In October 2009, the church secured permission from the chief of Jejalen Jaya sub-district to hold services on the plot of land in Ciketing. The group then built a small structure there to store items such as tables and chairs.

Following protests in Ciketing, local authorities sent an official letter to the church rejecting their building application, Bela said. When church members continued to meet at the house in Pondok Timur, authorities also sealed that building in June.

Following an appeal from church members, Bekasi Mayor Mochtar Mohammad then reportedly promised to let the group meet in public areas and agreed to send police to safeguard church activities. (See http://www.compassdirect.org, “Muslim Protestors Surround Worshipers in Bekasi, Indonesia,” Aug. 4.)

But Christians and Muslims alike have questioned the sincerity of such promises. Yesterday’s attack came just one day after Jakarta Gov. Fauzi Bowo and Jakarta Police Chief Timur Pradopo attended the 12th anniversary celebrations of the Muslim extremist FPI. On Friday (Aug. 6), an FPI leader also visited Jakarta police headquarters to offer the Front’s assistance in enforcing religious bylaws during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Post reported today.

Following weekend attacks on the Bekasi church and on a congregation of the Ahmaddiyah, a Muslim sect, moderate Muslims flooded social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook with criticism of the FPI, demanding that the government take action to prevent further violence.

In an effort to resolve the issue, church members plan to hold their next Sunday service in front of the State Palace, said Judianto Simanjuntak, one of several church legal advisors, the Post reported today.

Report from Compass Direct News

IRAN: MANDATORY DEATH PENALTY FOR ‘APOSTATES’ SCRAPPED

Proposed amendment reportedly shot down after international outcry.

LOS ANGELES, June 29 (Compass Direct News) – A member of Iran’s Parliament reportedly revealed last week that the country’s Parliamentary Committee has stricken the mandatory death penalty for those who leave Islam from proposals for an amended penal code.

Citing a BBC Persian news service report on Tuesday (June 23), United Kingdom-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) announced on Friday (June 26) that a member of Iran’s Legal and Judicial Committee of Parliament, Ali Shahrokhi, had told the Iranian state news agency (IRNA) of the decision to eliminate the mandatory death penalty amendment, which had drawn international protests.

The Parliamentary Committee had come under intense international pressure to drop clauses from the Islamic Penal Code Bill that allowed stoning and made death the mandatory punishment for apostates.

The new penal code was originally approved in September 2008 by a preliminary parliamentary vote of 196-7.

In Friday’s statement, CSW said that the bill must now pass through a final parliamentary vote before being sent to Iran’s most influential body, the Guardian Council, which will rule on it.

The council is made up of six conservative theologians appointed by Iran’s Supreme Leader and six jurists nominated by the judiciary and approved by Parliament. This body has the power to veto any bill it deems inconsistent with the constitution and Islamic law.

The Christian and Baha’i communities of Iran are most likely to be affected by this decision. Iran has been criticized for its treatment of Baha’is, Zoroastrians and Christians, who have all suffered under the current regime.

Joseph Grieboski, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, said the timing of the announcement of the decision during protests over contested elections might not be coincidental.

“Were the regime to maintain [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad’s presidency then pass and enforce a restrictive penal code, the international pressure on Iran would be unbearable for the regime,” said Grieboski. “I do not consider it a sign of opening up. Instead, I see it as a sign of self-preservation.”

Security Backlash

Huge protests over the election results demonstrated considerable opposition to the Iranian government’s heavy-handed tactics, and although the official churches have taken no official stance, many Christians have supported the opposition, according to sources connected to social networking sites.

In the face of the massive protests, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, Hassan Qashqavi, released a statement condemning Western involvement in Iranian affairs and accusing the BBC and Voice of America networks of spreading “anarchy and vandalism.”

This passing of blame bodes ill for minorities in the country, including Christians, whom the Iranian government sees as pawns of the West; they could expect even harsher treatment in a feared post-election clamp-down.

“Since minorities, especially Baha’is and Christians, are often seen as fronts for the West, we can expect that they will feel the greatest backlash by the regime during the protests, and I would argue an even worse crackdown on them if Ahmadinejad and [Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei come out of this,” said Grieboski.

An Iranian Christian who requested anonymity told Compass that both Christians and Iranians as a whole were tired of the dictatorial regime and asked for prayers for relief.

“The people are really tired, they have no hope, mentally, financially, spiritually, it is really difficult to live in Iran,” the source said. “You can’t have a private life, you can’t make a decision about what you believe, women can’t even decide what to wear. We just pray for the whole nation.”

The Iranian source was reticent to predict how the government might react to Christians following the elections but said that if there were a reaction, they could be among the first victims.

“So what the reaction of the government will be we can’t be 100 percent sure,” the source said, “but they could have a very radical reaction.”

Iranian Christians Maryam Rostampour, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh Esmaeilabad, 30, who were arrested on March 5 for their Christian activities, are still held in the notorious Evin Prison. The facility has drawn criticism for its human rights violations and executions in recent years.

Compass has learned that the women have been placed in solitary confinement.

Report from Compass Direct News