Being an American makes you the most popular kid in the village.

Rick Steve’s programs on travel in Europe have been enjoyable to watch. He is soft spoken and can show his enthusiasm without getting too worked up. When I heard about him making a program about Iran, I did not know what to expect. The PBS documentary he made was exceptional. He also kept a daily diary of his time in Iran and his entries there about talking and listening to people there are an eye opener. Here are some excerpts:

The Islamic Revolution is a “revolution of values.” People here tell me they support it because they want to raise their children without cheap sex, disrespectful clothing, drug abuse and materialism, believing it erodes character and threatens their traditional values. To conservative Iranians, America stands for all of the above. The people I’ve met here don’t want their culture to be…

Mousavi Supporter www.huffingtonpost.com/

If one remembers the results by county of the 2004 elections it was a swath of red with small pockets of blue, even though the popular vote was much closer. It was a clear demarcation of rural (generally poorer and less educated) versus urban (and generally more educated). There is a very similar line in the Iran elections. The religious lines are similarly drawn with the conservative (more rural) clearly supporting incumbent Mr. Ahmedinijad and the liberal supporting Mr. Mousavi.

It is the religious aspect that is of interest. One may also recall that former President Bush was

Ahmedinijad Supporters photos.upi.com/

intensely unpopular outside USA in 2004. Mr. Ahmedinijad is also very unpopular outside Iran. The two candidates also resemble in personality. Both have simple very conservative philosophies (albeit very different ones) and are seen by their supporters as having strong religious values and strong national security values, even if…

church-and-mosque-in-sweden http://www.tukler.com/bildhtml_en/1847-12.html

Looking at all the catholic news recently, there was one a few months ago that perhaps should have received some more attention. A very high level meeting occurred in April between the Vatican and a delegation from Iran. The outcome of the meeting was a joint communiqué issued in which there were a number of items that the participants agreed on. And they committed to keep meeting, with the next meeting scheduled in Tehran within two years. The full communiqué is available here.

Here are the first three items they agreed on:

1. Faith and reason are both gifts of God to mankind.

2. Faith and reason do not contradict each other, but faith might in some cases be above reason, but never against it.

3. Faith and reason are intrinsically non-violent. Neither reason nor faith should be used for violence; unfortunately, both of them have been sometimes misused to perpetrate violence. In…