Does Anxiety Lead People to Religion?

An intriguing new vein of psychological research, however, does show that religion can act as a buffer against existential anxieties. Mike Friedman and W. Steven Rholes at Texas A&M University have shown that when Christian fundamentalists are shown inconsistencies in the Bible, those who acknowledge them become more anxious, compared with fundamentalists who maintain the inerrancy of the Bible.When asked to complete a number of word stems such as D E _ _, for example, fundamentalists who acknowledged the contradictions in their faith were more likely to reach for the word DEAD, as opposed to DEER, DEBT or DEED.The connection between faith and anxiety seems to run in both directions, in that increased religiosity predicts lower anxiety, while higher anxiety causes people to cling ever more tightly to their faith. Thomas Pyszczynski at the University of Colorado once found that when Islamic students in Iran were made to feel anxious, they were more likely to gravitate toward fundamentalist religious claims -- and endorse religiously motivated suicide attacks against the United States

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/20/AR2008042001893.html

It seems to make a lot of sense to me.

Seyyeds' minister in parting shot at Ahmadinejad

"Mr Ahmadinejad and I did not have common views on some issues," he told the Shahrvand Emrouz weekly in an interview."I was critical of the policies which caused money supply growth," Danesh Jaafari said

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g6cUcvHJClkUg5OIZIGCkMNNB8sg

Some people are coming to their senses at least. Seyyed economics is a load of rubbish.

China keeps Seyyeds alive

In 2004, Iran agreed to sell a Chinese corporation $20 billion worth of natural gas per year for 25 years - representing the world's largest natural gas purchase. By 2007, China had become the largest trading partner of rogue states Iran, North Korea and Sudan, and the second-largest of Burma and Zimbabwe.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080420/focus/focus4.html

This is a quite well written article on what a monster China has become.

Moaning Iranian Professor

The reality is that 70% of Iranians are less than 30 years of age, many are Internet-savvy, glued to satellite television and have very little toleration for the Islamic utopia promised by their leaders when the evidence of national decline is apparent everywhere.

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=456102

And yet another Iranian Professor complains about Iranian misrepresentation in the Press. That is exactly why one should call these despots Seyyeds. They put their allegaince to Islam first. And so the west recognises them as Iranains.

So the best thing to do is to kick out the Seyyeds from the UN until they have their own country, somewhere in southern Iraq.

Seyyeds desperate for oil deal

The head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Seifollah Jashnsaz, suggested in comments carried by Iranian news agencies the two energy groups only have until Friday to decide on whether to invest in the giant South Pars field.

http://www.tradearabia.com/news/OGN_141785.html

This guy at the head og NIOC is desperate. What are his credentials anyway? The world knows better than to deal with people who did not follow the UN. Soon the UN will throw the Seyyed representatives out. OPEC should do the same. There are much better Iranians outside Iran who are not religious fanatics and can get on with the rest of the world. So please do not do business with these people until a non violent regime change pushes the Seyyeds to Iraq next to their religious centres.

Iraq and U.S. to pressure Iran with diplomacy, force

"The Iraqi government now understands more clearly what they (the Iranians) are doing. They will put diplomatic pressure to bear on Iran. That's a good thing," Hadley said on the "Fox News Sunday" television show."In addition, we will continue to do with Iraqi security forces what we've been doing for some time. We will go after their surrogate operations in Iraq that are killing our forces, killing Iraqi forces."We will disrupt their networks by which they move fighters, weapons and funds in and around Iraq. And we will cut off as best we can the flow of fighters, weapons and arms into Iraq," he said

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080413/pl_nm/iraq_usa_iran_dc

So the bait is set for the Seyyed fighters to be sucked into Iraq and meet their fate.

U.S. losing credibility over Iran

It turned out to be another in the series of Bush administration big talk that time exposed as hollow.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=680408&category=OPINION&newsdate=4/13/2008

I tend to agree with that view. The US administration promised so many Iranian Americans, that it would deal with the Seyyeds, but it never did. This is now so obvious, that most Iranians see a collusion between the Seyyeds and the US.

Delusional predicate for Petraeus

Ever since President Nouri al-Maliki ordered the attacks in Basra on the Mahdi Army, Gen. David Petraeus has been laying the predicate for U.S. air strikes on Iran and a wider war in the Middle East

http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20080411/cm_uc_crpbux/op_335802

Let's look at what the US is doing. It thinks that somehow the Shiite world will support it, just because of Maliki's order to attack Basra. Fact is that the Shiites or Seyyeds, do not give two hoots about Iraqi nationalism. Seyyeds do not care for the 5000 years of ancient Iraq or Babylon. They only care for their 1400 year of dogma. It is about time the US supported the very ancient roots of the area.

Chinese-Seyyed military alliance

Imagine a Chinese-Iranian alliance for a second--with the latest and greatest Russian weapons in their respective land and naval arsenals. Not a pretty picture.The kicker is that some of China's Sizzler missiles are reported to be nuclear-tipped. Yeah, the story just keeps getting better, doesn't it?What if Iran successfully develops nuclear weapons technology, and can tip their Sizzlers with nuclear warheads?

http://www.defensereview.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1116

Well the author of this article could well be onto something. We know that the Seyyeds are driven by their dogma. So they will feel as if they are acting according to your consciousness. As true Iranians we cannot allow these weapons put Iran in harms way.

Sunnis complain about US and Seyyed collaboration

"Then suddenly something went wrong, and last week Maliki (who is now equally close to the Iranians) went to war against the Sadrists. Some claim that an under-the-table deal was hammered out in Baghdad in March between the Americans, Maliki and Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian leader would let the Americans have their way - and crush the Sadrists - in exchange for softening pressure on the Iranian regime. In return, Ahmadinejad would help them bring better security to Iraq through a variety of methods stemming from Iranian cooperation. ...Other Shi'ite heavyweights in the Arab world, like Hasan Nasrallah of Hezbollah and Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who are both very close to Iran, have been relatively silent over the ordeal."

http://uruknet.info/?p=m42790&s1=h1

It is marvelous to see how the Sunnis or Saddam Hussein heirs view the whole Iran-Iraq deal with the Sadr Brigade. Clearly the writer points to that Seyyed element, that is really out of place in Iran and Iraq. Ancient Iran and ancient Iraq (or Babylon) have a common peaceful root. It is only because of these younger religious dogmas and their bandits, that have served the pockets of oil companies, that the situation does not change. But the areas of Iraq where the Seyyed holy shrines are, will always be a bone of contention for them. Can one really call them "holy" if they have caused so much death? For me if anything causes death, then it is wrong. Nothing is above Life, and this has been said in our ancient Zend Avesta some 20000 years ago.