Brain Contour

If only. Oh if only. If only the criterion in the selection of the World’s Friendliest Countries by Forbes is the “ability to make friends,” the Philippines would have made it to number 1. In December 2009, Forbes released its annual listing of the “World’s Friendliest Countries” and the Philippines, known to have the friendliest of smiles, missed the top 10. What happened? Where were we short of? Thailand and Malaysia placed comfortably in the top 4 and 5 spots, respectively.

According to the research company FreshMinds, there were 23 factors used to rate each country, with more than 3,100 expatriates surveyed between February and April 2009. Each factor was weighted to arrive at a score. Scores were integrated and the final eight measures were selected. The measures were: organizing school for my children, organizing my finances, organizing my health care, finding somewhere to live, making friends, making local friends, setting up utilities, and joining local community groups. Based on these criteria, the top 10 World’s Friendliest Countries were revealed:

Atheist Ireland publishes 25 blasphemous quotes after the new Irish law on Blasphemy took effect on New Years day 2010. The group, Atheist Ireland, wants the law repealed:

This new law is both silly and dangerous. It is silly because medieval religious laws have no place in a modern secular republic, where the criminal law should protect people and not ideas. And it is dangerous because it incentives religious outrage, and because Islamic States led by Pakistan are already using the wording of this Irish law to promote new blasphemy laws at UN level.

We believe in the golden rule: that we have a right to be treated justly, and that we have a responsibility to treat other people justly. Blasphemy laws are unjust: they silence people in order to protect ideas. In a civilised society, people have a right to to express and to hear ideas about religion even if other people find those ideas to be outrageous.