Prayers of thanksgiving have been held at mosques in five Bulgarian cities, including Sofia, after President Georgi Parvanov, a non-Muslim, returned safely to Bulgaria from a trip to Mexico. Parvanov's plane had had to make an emergency landing on the Azores on the way back to Bulgaria.
The prayer in Sofia was led by the chief mufti of Bulgaria, Mustafa Alish Hadji. Apparently, the Muslim leadership of Bulgaria decided to hold the prayers thanking God for rescuing Parvanov after getting several calls from Muslims asking them to do so.
Parvanov is popular among Bulgarian Muslims, who supported him in the 2006 presidential election (Novinite.com).
Showing posts with label Portugal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Portugal. Show all posts
02 February 2008
02 July 2007
EU defends sex clip compilation
Martin Selmayr, the spokesman of the European Commission, has defended the EU's use of a compilation of sex scenes from European movies as a promotion tool on YouTube. The video is getting thousands of hits a day, and has drawn protests from some MEPs, including members of Britain's Conservative Party, and the League of Polish Families.
Selmayr described the criticism as "quasi-religious bashing of the very important cultural diversity we have in the European Union," and added that "the European Union is not a Bible belt, we believe in freedom of expression and artistic creativity" (BBC).
What Selmayr seems to forget is the EU's much-vaunted diversity. He should remember that he represents an organisation that does include some pretty religious member-states (Poland is but one example). So, while the EU may not be "a Bible belt", it does contain its own Bible belts and mini-Bible belts (in Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, but also in the more secular member-states). This video, while being a great gimmick for attracting viewers to the EU's YouTube channel, does a poor job of representing the views of the more religious or conservative citizens of the Union.
Selmayr described the criticism as "quasi-religious bashing of the very important cultural diversity we have in the European Union," and added that "the European Union is not a Bible belt, we believe in freedom of expression and artistic creativity" (BBC).
What Selmayr seems to forget is the EU's much-vaunted diversity. He should remember that he represents an organisation that does include some pretty religious member-states (Poland is but one example). So, while the EU may not be "a Bible belt", it does contain its own Bible belts and mini-Bible belts (in Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, but also in the more secular member-states). This video, while being a great gimmick for attracting viewers to the EU's YouTube channel, does a poor job of representing the views of the more religious or conservative citizens of the Union.
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