http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/03/physics-science-theology-universe
Stephen Hawking makes the claim that it is not necessary to invoke God as the creator of the universe and the assertion that physics alone made it. He may be correct in his first statement, but to rule out a possibly important role for God is in my view unjustified. It is certainly possible that God sets up and maintains or underpins the laws of physics and allows them to work, so that being able to explain the big bang in terms of physics is not inconsistent with there being a role for God. (Before any commentators start discussion of "God" they should have to define just what they mean. A deist non-interventionist god is not what most ordinary believers have in mind)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/02/parents-arrested-suspected-honour-killing
The parents of a Muslim teenager thought to have been the victim of an "honour" killing were arrested today on suspicion of her murder, almost seven years after she went missing. The remains of Shafilea Ahmed, 17, from Warrington, Cheshire, were discovered by the river Kent near Sedgwick, Cumbria, in February 2004, five months after she disappeared from her home in Great Sankey.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/02/germany-central-bank-decide-sack-thilo-sarrazin
Germany's central bank today took the unprecedented step of sacking a board member after he repeatedly criticised the country's Muslim population and said "all Jews share the same gene". In a brief statement, the Bundesbank president, Axel Weber, and four other board members said that they had been in unanimous agreement in dismissing Thilo Sarrazin, who caused an outcry when he said Muslims were sapping Germany's intellectual and economic strength.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/sep/02/lord-sacks-stephen-hawking-creation-row
The chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, hit back at Stephen Hawking after the astrophysicist said God did not create the universe. In his new book, The Grand Design, published next week, Hawking concludes that science excludes the possibility of a deity and that it is unnecessary to "invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going". But his findings were described by Sacks as an "elementary fallacy" of logic. (As the original article is behind the Times Murdoch paywall it is hard to see if the Rabbi's argument has any merit - on the scant evidence in the Guardian the answer is probably no)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11161486
A three-day period of mourning has begun in Pakistan after bomb attacks on a Shia Muslim procession in Lahore city killed 31 people on Wednesday. At least 170 people were injured when three bombs exploded targeting the procession. At least two of the attacks were suicide bombings, police said. The Pakistani Taliban said it carried out the attacks in revenge for the killing of a Sunni leader last year. (So much for the idea of a monolithic "Islam" - they hate each others' guts. With this faith violence is never far away)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-11164901
The parents of so-called "honour killing" victim Shafilea Ahmed have been arrested on suspicion of her murder, police sources have said. Shafilea went missing from her home in Warrington in September 2003, aged 17. Her decomposed body was found in the River Kent in Cumbria in January 2004.
Edmund Adamus, an adviser to the Archbishop of Westminster, said five decades of liberalising abortion and gay rights laws had made Britain more anti-Catholic than countries where Christians can be subjected to violent persecution. The director of pastoral affairs in the diocese of Westminster blamed Parliament for allowing the country to become "the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death". (That's rich coming from a devotee of a zombie cult)
Chinese students in the South West province of Yunnan will receive chastity lessons from a conservative US Christian ministry. Booklets produced by Focus on the Family, a Christian ministry based in Colorado, will be distributed to all high-school and university students in Yunnan to teach them how to reject sex before marriage. The group states that it believes “sex is given by God as an expression of love to be shared and enjoyed exclusively between a husband and wife”. (Hmm.. raging teenage hormones versus abstinence - no contest. Abstinence programs are a waste of time and money. Better sex education particularly re contraceptives is the way to go)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/02/science-religion-philosophy
In finger-wagging style, Mary Midgley warns that "serious scientists know that their enquiries are endless; any answers always raise a swarm of new questions" (Serious scientists know that they cannot explain all the major puzzles of existence, 28 August). But who ever said otherwise? Well, I did apparently. (Nicholas Humphrey answers Mary Midgley, queen of non-comprehension and misquotes)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/sep/02/stephen-hawking-big-bang-creator
God did not create the universe, the man who is arguably Britain's most famous living scientist says in a forthcoming book. In the new work, The Grand Design, Professor Stephen Hawking argues that the Big Bang, rather than occurring following the intervention of a divine being, was inevitable due to the law of gravity. In his 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, Hawking had seemed to accept the role of God in the creation of the universe. (No he didn't, he was just sloppy with the use of the term "god" as shorthand for physical law)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/political-science/2010/aug/31/1
It is now well-established that the evidence is overwhelmingly in favour of the view that MMR does not cause autism. The front page of the Mail on Sunday at the weekend has the headline "FAMILY WIN 18YR FIGHT OVER MMR DAMAGE TO SON" and a strap-line reading "£90,000 pay out is first since concerns over vaccine surfaced". (Evan Harris op-ed)
http://www.alternet.org/story/147945/6_heinous_ways_religious_frauds_try_to_make_gays_straight
6 Ways Religious Frauds Try to Make Gays and Lesbians Straight. Thanks to the unscientific, unregulated underworld of ex-gay therapy, frauds and hacks of all stripes are getting away with any kind of therapy they can think up.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=186363
Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome ‘Oh Lord,’ a homegrown Iranian search engine sure to highlight very high resolution photos of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the regretful testimony of green movement opposition activists. “They are not just developing a search engine, they want to develop an Intranet, instead of an Internet, which would be some kind of local Internet and only give access to state institutions and internally approved sites,” Pujan Ziaie, a senior IT strategist in Iran’s ‘green’ opposition movement told The Media Line. “The discussion began a few years ago and is based on a feeling that the Internet is a Western weapon. They are threatened by it but they cannot ignore it so they are trying to imitate what China has done.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7972538/Are-we-living-in-a-designer-universe.html
The creators of the world were closer to men than to gods, argues John Gribbin. The argument over whether the universe has a creator, and who that might be, is among the oldest in human history. But amid the raging arguments between believers and sceptics, one possibility has been almost ignored – the idea that the universe around us was created by people very much like ourselves, using devices not too dissimilar to those available to scientists today. (Yeah, right. What shall we call them, Intelligent Designers? A poor effort from Gribbin)
Christians could learn a lot about life from listening to heavy metal, according to a Church of England cleric. The Rev Rachel Mann claims that the much-maligned form of music demonstrates the “liberative theology of darkness”, allowing its tattooed and pierced fans to be more “relaxed and fun” by acknowledging the worst in human nature. (There is something cringe-making about the C of E trying to be "with it")
The senior Irish cleric facing calls to resign over cover-ups in the Catholic church has vowed to join the Pope’s forthcoming visit to Britain. Cardinal Seán Brady has faced widespread criticism over his handling of a clergy child abuse scandal, and for his refusal to apologise after a priest was allowed to evade questioning over an IRA bombing. But he defiantly told an Irish newspaper that he would not be stepping down and that he hoped to attend many of the engagements during Benedict XVI’s historic state visit to Scotland and England in three weeks’ time. (Oh good - just what Ratzinger needs is a reminder of his church's widespread pedophilia standing next to him. More ammo for protesters)
A man searching for a legendary “ghost train” was killed when a real locomotive came down the tracks and hit him. Christopher Kaiser, 29, had gathered with around 12 others on the anniversary of a crash that happened near Statesville, North Carolina at 3am on Aug 27, 1891.
Barack Obama has publicly displayed his personal frustration for the first time with conservative opponents who have persistently questioned both his Christianity and his eligibility to be president. Referring to the conspiracy theory that he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii, Mr Obama said: "I can't spend all of my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead." Struggling to hide his irritation, he said in a television interview: "The facts are the facts. We went through some of this during the campaign – there is a mechanism, a network of misinformation that in a new media era can get churned out there constantly."
Italians have reacted with indignation after Muammar Gaddafi lectured 200 young actresses and models on the superiority of Islam, a day after saying that Europeans should all become Muslim. Silvio Berlusconi’s increasingly close relationship with Col Gaddafi is becoming a source of embarrassment for the Italian prime minister, according to opposition MPs and even members of the government.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11133178
An Iranian newspaper has called Carla Bruni, France's first lady, a "prostitute" after she attacked Iran's plan to stone a woman to death. The president's wife is part of a campaign to save the life of 43-year-old mother of two, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Ashtiani is accused of cheating on her husband and then helping to kill him. She is now facing capital punishment for her crimes. France has urged the European Union to threaten new sanctions over the case.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20100828_Suit_says_priest_impregnated_teenager.html
A Pennsylvania couple secretly videotaped a Roman Catholic priest having sex with their 18-year-old daughter in the basement of their home and are now suing, saying he got her pregnant. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Berks County Court, alleges that the Rev. Luis A. Bonilla Margarito carried on a sexual relationship with the teenager while he was chaplain of Reading Central Catholic High School and she was a senior there.
A German central banker, who stirred controversy last week with disparaging remarks about Muslims living in Germany, is now being pressured to resign following his comment yesterday – widely perceived as anti-Semitic – that “all Jews share a certain gene.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/29/saudi-arabia-ban-moroccan-women-stereotype
In banning Moroccan women from a pilgrimage in case they are prostitutes, Saudi Arabia is failing in its Islamic duties
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/29/claudy-bomb-catholic-church-criticism
A leading Catholic figure in Northern Ireland has described criticism of the church's role in covering up the involvement of a priest in the Claudy bomb massacre as "dancing on the head of a pin". Father Tim Bartlett claimed today that too much attention had been paid to the church's part in moving James Chesney out of Northern Ireland after the 1972 atrocity. (Well he would say that wouldn't he?)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/28/AR2010082801106.html
Conservative commentator Glenn Beck on Saturday drew a sea of activists to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where he championed a religious brand of patriotism and called on the nation to recommit itself to traditional values he said were hallmarks of its exceptional past. "Something that is beyond man is happening," Beck said. "America today begins to turn back to God." (Beck's messianic streak is more than showing. The US is more at risk from demagogues like him and Palin than al Qaeda)
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100829/tuk-men-held-after-edl-demo-ends-in-viol-45dbed5.html
More than a dozen men are in custody after a controversial demonstration by far-right group the English Defence League ended in violence. Several previous confrontations between EDL - which stages demonstrations against "radical Islam" - and Unite Against Fascism supporters have led to violence. In April, police arrested nine people after far-right demonstrators clashed with officers during a protest against a planned mosque in Dudley in the Midlands. (Not so much anti "radical Islam" more pro violence)
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100828/tts-uk-belgium-church-abuse-ca02f96.html
The former head of Belgium's Catholic Church suggested to a sexual abuse victim it would be better to delay a public statement on the case until the bishop involved resigned in 2011, a Church spokesman said on Saturday. Jurgen Mettepenningen confirmed transcripts in Belgium's De Standaard newspaper of a meeting Roman Catholic Cardinal Godfried Danneels held with Bishop Roger Vangheluwe and a sexual abuse victim of the bishop in April 2010.
About 2,500 screaming, adoring Glenn Beck fans packed the concert hall of Washington's Kennedy Center on Friday night to shower affection on their hero. Beck used the event, dubbed “America’s Divine Destiny,” to portray himself as an instrument of God prepared to lead America out of its spiritual darkness.
A Saudi Arabian princess who had an illegitimate child with a British man has secretly been granted asylum in this country after she claimed she would face the death penalty if she were forced to return home. The young woman, who has been granted anonymity by the courts, won her claim for refugee status after telling a judge that her adulterous affair made her liable to death by stoning.
The number of priestly ordinations in Ireland has dipped below England and Wales for the first time in living memory, new figures reveal. The recruitment crisis is a clear indication of how low the church has sunk in a country that once used to export Catholic missionaries to all corners of the globe and often provided Britain with a significant proportion of its priests. According to new figures released by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ireland, just 16 men are due to start training for the priesthood this autumn, less than half the 39 that signed up for the priesthood last year. In the 1980s Ireland would regularly draw more than 150 new recruits to the priesthood every year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/27/fidel-castro-osama-bin-laden-us-spy
Fidel Castro has more reason than most to believe conspiracy theories involving dark forces in Washington. After all, the CIA tried to blow his head off with an exploding cigar. But the ageing Cuban revolutionary may have gone too far for all but the most ardent believer in the reach and competence of America's intelligence agency. He has claimed that Osama bin Laden is in the pay of the CIA and that President George Bush summoned up the al-Qaida leader whenever he needed to increase the fear quotient. (Cigars have rotted his brain)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2004/jun/27/themonarchy.medicineandhealth
Prince Charles has never made a secret of his love affair with alternative medicine. Now he has infuriated the medical profession by backing a controversial cancer treatment which involves taking daily coffee enemas and drinking litres of fruit juice instead of using drugs. Charles gave an enthusiastic endorsement last week to the Gerson Therapy, which eschews chemotherapy in favour of 13 fruit juices a day, coffee enemas and weekly injections of vitamins. (Can someone drum into this irresponsible idiot's head that anecdotes are not data)
Muslims and Jews in the United States remain among the most ardent supporters of Barack Obama, whose overall job approval ratings have been falling sharply, according to a new poll.
Relief organisations in Pakistan are discriminating against Christians when they distribute flood aid, the Vatican said on Friday, as one million more people were displaced by fresh floods. Christians and members of other minority religions are being treated as second-class citizens, said Father Mario Rodrigues, the Lahore-based director of Catholic Mission. "They often receive little assistance or are excluded altogether," he told Fides, the Vatican's news agency.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/28/philosophy-science
Is physical science – as some people say – omnicompetent? Can it (that is) answer all possible questions? If, for instance, we ask why human beings sometimes behave so appallingly – or how we know that they shouldn't behave so appallingly; or what is the best way to deal with inner conflicts; or whether depression is a physical or a mental trouble – can we look to the physical sciences for an answer? How would we even start to hunt for it there? (It's dear old Mary Midgley rambling on about something or other. Bless. Sit her down with her strawman and get her a nice cup of tea)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/aug/27/child-abuse-catholic-church
The Roman Catholic church was accused today of using the legal system to suppress evidence of clerical sex abuse after a Jesuit-run school lost an appeal against a court ruling giving a former pupil the right to pursue a £5m civil action.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/08/27/MNFM1F3R8E.DTL
A conservative Saudi cleric was told to stop giving unauthorized edicts after he called for a boycott of a supermarket chain that employs women as cashiers, the office of the kingdom's most senior religious leader said Thursday. The move is the first public reprimand of a prominent cleric following a royal decree that limits the issuance of fatwas to the country's most senior group of clerics. Fatwas are religious edicts that provide guidance in matters of everyday life to pious Muslims.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11114627
The widow of a 7/7 suicide bomber has lost her High Court bid to overturn a decision refusing her legal aid. Hasina Patel had wanted legal aid for representation at the forthcoming inquest into the deaths of 52 people in the attacks in London. She was married to suicide bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan. But Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Silber said the decision by the Lord Chancellor "cannot be described as unreasonable or irrational".
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/26/BAQQ1F3RJI.DTL
A second man has sued the Santa Rosa Roman Catholic Diocese, alleging he was molested by a priest sent from Ireland to work in California in the 1980s despite having been the subject of boys' complaints in his homeland.
The Roman Catholic church in Ireland has been accused of lacking “moral authority” over its failure to apologise for helping a priest suspected of a notorious IRA bombing evade justice.
The Republican campaign manager who helped win a second term for President George W Bush on his anti-gay marriage platform has been accused of hypocrisy after he announced that he is homosexual. Ken Mehlman, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said he now wished to become an activist for homosexual rights and promote same-sex marriage. He hit back against accusations of hypocrisy, saying that one person could not have changed the Bush campaign strategy. During his tenure as chairman of the RNC, the party’s strategists encouraged state referendums banning homosexual marriage.
A man who appeared on Canada’s version of X Factor was among three arrested as part of an alleged plot against targets in Canada and abroad, police have said. The two other suspects made a brief appearance in court on Thursday on charges they had plans to make bombs and had plans to use them. Police arrested Hiva Alizadeh and Misbahuddin Ahmed in Ottawa on Wednesday and Khurram Syed Sher in London, Ontario on Thursday. Alizadeh, 30, and Ahmed, 26, appeared in court Thursday. All three are Canadian. (The Telegraph wins the "Most Pointless Image" prize for the accompanying photo)
Iranian authorities have banned all advertisements for pets, pet food and other pet products. The decision by Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance comes after the fatwa was issued by powerful cleric Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi. While keeping dogs as pets has become increasingly fashionable in Iran in recent years, the fatwa cited Islamic tradition, which dictates that dogs are unclean.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/26/relevance-doctors-religion-atheist
Read in isolation, the headline of the Guardian's report into newly published research on doctors' attitudes and behaviour ("Atheist doctors 'more likely to hasten death'") might lead you to think that there are a bunch of humanist physicians poised, with potassium chloride-filled syringes, over the bedside of sick patients. However, the article itself informed us that the problem did not appear to lie with the average atheist doctor but rather with the average very religious doctor. (Op-ed by Evan Harris)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/aug/27/radicalised-prisoners-terror-warning
Britain faces a potential "new wave" of home-grown terrorist attacks as a result of an escalating rate of radicalisation of Muslims inside the prison system, according to a report published today by a leading defence and security thinktank. The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) says that up to 800 "potentially violent radicals" who have not been convicted of terrorist offences could be released from prisons in England and Wales over the next five to 10 years and will pose a significant challenge to the security services to identify them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/26/new-york-muslim-taxi-driver
A college student who did volunteer work in Afghanistan has been charged with slashing the neck and face of a Bangladeshi taxi driver who said he was Muslim. A criminal complaint alleges Michael Enright uttered an Arabic greeting and told the driver: "Consider this a checkpoint" before the brutal attack occurred on Tuesday night inside the yellow cab on Manhattan's East Side. Police say Enright, 21, was drunk at the time. Enright is being held on charges of attempted murder and assault as hate crimes, and possession of a weapon. The handcuffed defendant did not enter a plea during the brief court appearance.
'I don't like British people’ says Japanese politician. Ichiro Ozawa, a politican tipped as a future Japanese prime minister has declared Americans are simple-minded and the British are not very likeable. (But the whale-murdering Japanese are positively cuddly...)
Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, said blocking a proposed mosque near the site of the Sept 11 attacks would be "compromising our commitment to fighting terror with freedom".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/7955868/Crop-circle-conundrum.html
Crop circles were revealed as a hoax almost 20 years ago, so why do so many people still flock to Wiltshire, convinced of their extraterrestrial powers? (That's between them and their respective shrinks. A good article from David Jenkins)
It is however to say that if Barack Obama weren't in the White House, those Americans of decent will probably would never have heard of this controversy in the first place, because Fox wouldn't have whipped it up, and no one else would have in its stead. (A look at Fox's role in the "Ground Zero mosque" row)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/24/record-women-candidates-afghan-election
A record number of women are running in Afghanistan's critical parliamentary elections next month despite many being inundated with threatening phone calls, including death threats from insurgents. Amid ever-rising violence, which some people fear could foster a repeat of last year's catastrophic presidential election, women are struggling to campaign at all outside a few areas, poll monitors say.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/23/smug-atheism-goes-against-spirit-science
Smug atheism goes against the spirit of science. Atheism's failure to explore the metaphysical sits in opposition to science's drive to understand everything about the universe. (Can we say breathtaking inanity? I rather think we can.)
The wife of the imam behind the proposed Islamic cultural centre near the Ground Zero site of the September 11th terrorist attacks has compared the treatment of Muslims in America to discrimination against Jews.
At least eight MPs from Somalia's Western-backed government were reportedly killed when a gunman and a suicide bomber believed to be linked to al-Qa'eda attacked a Mogadishu hotel. (More from the religion of peace)
Adolf Hitler is likely to have been descended from both Jews and Africans, according to DNA tests. (Along with millions of other people)
The British government and the Catholic Church colluded to protect a priest suspected of involvement in a 1972 bombing in Northern Ireland that killed 9 people, it was revealed today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/23/pope-benedict-catholic-heaven-physical
To mark the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin last week, Pope Benedict gave a homily at Castel Gandolfo reflecting on the dogma of the Assumption (the idea that the Virgin Mary was bodily taken up into heaven at her death) and seeking to explain what exactly "heaven" is. (More codswallop from the writer who thinks theology is crucial to education)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/24/reconciling-islamic-values-democracy
The sovereignty of God and that of the people often conflict in Muslim politics – but Turkey shows this needn't be the case. (Bungle, for it is he, holds up the creeping Islamisation of Turkey as some sort of example. It's an example alright, but not the one he pretends it to be)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/23/bbc-religion-editor-church-of-england
The Church of England has called on the BBC to appoint a religion editor to act as a "trusted guide" for people with faith as well as those without. The Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Manchester and the Church of England's senior spokesman on communications, said it made no sense to have editors for arts, science and business but not for religion. (Oh yes, this is a yawning gap in the editorial staff - not)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/23/jerusalem-segregated-train-carriages
The company building a light railway across Jerusalem is considering segregating some carriages along gender lines to serve the city's ultra-orthodox Jewish population. The railway, which is due to be operational next spring, could have separate compartments for men and women, Yair Naveh, the chief executive of CityPass, said today. (Judaism, inspiration for Islam)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/24/report-claudy-bombing-priest-chesney
Northern Ireland's police ombudsman today publishes a report into the 1972 bombing of Claudy, in Derry, which killed nine people and injured 30. The report, from Al Hutchinson, will look into allegations that the British government and the Catholic church were involved in a cover-up to protect a priest suspected of involvement in the attack. Father James Chesney was transferred to a parish in the Irish republic, which is outside the UK criminal jurisdiction. He died of cancer in 1980 aged 46.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-11059007
The father and brother of an actress who appeared in the Harry Potter films have denied threatening to kill her. Afshan Azad, 22, played Padma Patil, a classmate of the wizard from the film series based on JK Rowling's books. Her father, Abdul Azad, 54, and brother, Ashraf Azad, 22, both from Longsight, Manchester, are accused of making the threat on 21 May. Both entered not guilty pleas to the charges at Manchester Crown Court on Monday. (How do they feel about their family "honor" ?)
http://www.alternet.org/story/147908/why_we_must_always_be_skeptical
Why does skepticism matter? Not just in science, or history, or other academic pursuits where rigorous devotion to the truth is crucial. Why does skepticism matter in everyday life? (Good piece by Greta Christina)
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/the-third-replicator/?th
All around us information seems to be multiplying at an ever increasing pace. New books are published, new designs for toasters and i-gadgets appear, new music is composed or synthesized and, perhaps above all, new content is uploaded into cyberspace. This is rather strange. We know that matter and energy cannot increase but apparently information can. (Sue Blackmore op-ed - and yes, it is about memes)
The Catholic Church has issued a list of dos and don'ts to pilgrims hoping to attend public events during the Pope's visit to Britain next month. Catholics hoping to see Pope Benedict XVI at gatherings in London and Birmingham may bring sunblock, banners and torches - but not animals, candles or vuvuzelas.
Malaysian Islamic authorities have been evicting unmarried Muslim civil servants from government-owned housing if they are caught with their partners alone in a private place, according to reports.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/22/bible-twitter-makeover
In the beginning was the word. And then came 140 words. And at the rate that Twitter versions of the Bible are developing, there could be more than 140,000 words in the next few months. Rivalling the speed of Creation, as described in the first two chapters of the book of Genesis, tweeting the holy book has spread rapidly across the internet since the Guardian highlighted a Durham evangelist's daily version last week. (...and the point of this?)
It's the latest must-have accessory for the world's biggest stars and it
costs just £20. Robert De Niro, David Beckham, Gerard Butler, Demi Moore
and Kate Middleton have all taken to wearing 'mystical' black silicone
wrist bands – which they believe will boost their performance. The Power
Balance bands incorporate a hologram which its manufacturer claims is
'infused with healing and restorative powers'. (Gullible lackwits)
The Virology Journal published a paper on July 21 speculating that a woman said in the Bible to have been cured by Jesus had influenza. Now, the journal has retracted the paper and apologized for publishing it online. Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Robert F. Garry, publicly apologized for publishing the article, saying it "clearly does not provide the type of robust supporting data required for a case report and does not meet the high standards expected of a peer-reviewed scientific journal." He also apologized for any "confusion or concern" the article may have created among readers. (How the hell did that get by peer review?)
Julian Clary's painful experiences during his schooldays helped turn his memoirs, A Young Man's Passage, into a bestseller, but they have now attracted the interest of the Metropolitan Police. Mandrake hears that detectives investigating new allegations of child abuse at one of Britain's top Roman Catholic schools are keen to speak to the comedian about his years as a pupil there. It can be disclosed that Father David Pearce, a former teacher at St Benedict's School, in Ealing, who was convicted last year of abusing eight pupils, features in Clary's book.
The Pope’s historic visit to Britain is in danger of being overshadowed by a growing row over the exiling of three members of a religious community he is due to visit. Benedict XVI will beatify the famous Victorian convert to Rome, Cardinal Newman, as the highlight of next month’s trip and will also go to the Birmingham Oratory which he founded. But the small Roman Catholic community in Edgbaston and its parishioners are in turmoil after three priests were forced out to separate monasteries across the world. (The visit is already overshadowed by the widespread rape of children and its concealment)
A homosexual Church of England priest has announced plans to "marry" his Nigerian male model boyfriend, who is 40 years his junior.
A leading Baptist minister has been charged with molesting young boys during trips to America. Robert Dando, 46, was arrested this week during a visit to Fairfax County, Virginia. He is said to have sexually abused two boys, starting when they were aged seven and eight, over a period of up to five years during visits to a family friend in the U.S. Dando has resigned from Worcester Park Baptist Church near Kingston in South-West London.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/20/english-defence-league-bradford-ban
The home secretary, Theresa May, tonight authorised a ban on a march by the far-right group English Defence League (EDL) due to take place in Bradford next weekend. The move prevents any marches in the city over the August bank holiday weekend, when the EDL had said it was planning to stage a demonstration that members had described as "the big one".
http://www.pinkbananaworld.com/content-detail.cfm?ID=384067
Mexico City’s Mayor Macelo Ebrard filed a civil suit claiming defamation against Cardinal juan Sandoval Iniguez of Guadalajara. In so doing, he has upped the stakes in the high-profile political argument over same-sex marriage in Mexico. On one side of that argument is Mexico’s emboldened secular government, and on the other is the influential Roman Catholic Church. The suit comes after Ebrard demanded that Sandoval retract his accusations that Ebrard had bribed the Supreme Court of Mexico in order to gain a favorable ruling on same-sex marriages. Cardinal Sandoval refused to do so stating that he had evidence of corruption. He made the accusations while at an event in Aguascalientes. He also used a slur to attack lesbians and gays and attacked the Supreme Court’s decision.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/20/rightwing-blogs-islam-america
New York blogger Pamela Geller is a key force in the campaign to stop Islamic centre near Ground Zero
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/20/russian-tycoon-crackdown-employees-sins
Prosecutors in Russia have been urged to launch an investigation after a wealthy dairy tycoon pledged to sack female employees who have an abortion. In a message to workers, Vasily Boyko-Veliky, the eccentric president of Russkoye Moloko (Russian Milk), also said he would dismiss anyone in a civil marriage who did not have it confirmed in a church ceremony.
A female motorist rang her local council to ask if one of its car parks was haunted, as her vehicle had apparently found its way into another parking space while she was shopping.
Women-only train carriages have been introduced this week in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, in an attempt to avert groping and sexual harassment on packed commuter trains.
Fourteen crosses erected along roads in memory of fallen highway patrol officers in Utah have been declared in violation of the US Constitution. The crosses were found to be in breach of the First Amendment, which enshrines the separation of church and state, and the ruling could have implications for roadside memorials all over the United States. Fellow officers began erecting the 12-foot high, white crosses along state highways in Utah in 1998. They were paid for with privately raised money but most stand on publicly owned land.
A Muslim woman is suing Disneyland, accusing the company’s California theme park of discrimination for telling her she could not serve customers if she chose to wear a headscarf. Imane Boudal, 26, asked her employers at Disneyland’s Grand Californian Hotel several months ago whether they would permit her to wear a headcovering while working as a hostess, a spokesman for a worker’s union said. But when no reply was forthcoming, she decided to don the headscarf anyway, timing her decision with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Leigh Shelton, a spokesman for the Unite Here Local 11 union said.
Neither the pope nor the bishop of Leeds are likely to go as far as Cardinal Sandoval, the Mexican who this week accused civic authorities of bribing the courts. But they will not be at all happy about the charity commission's rejection of Leeds-based Catholic Care's application to restrict adoption to heterosexual couples. Lesbian and gay Catholics and many other members of the church will be delighted that this attempt to institutionalise discrimination has been defeated.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/19/saudi-arabia-judge-paralyse-convict
A Saudi judge has asked several hospitals whether they would punitively damage a man's spinal cord after he was convicted of attacking another man with a cleaver and paralysing him, local newspapers reported today. Saudi Arabia enforces strict sharia law and occasionally metes out punishments based on the ancient code of an eye for an eye. Abdul-Aziz al-Mutairi, 22, was left paralysed after a fight more than two years ago, and asked a judge to impose an equivalent punishment on his attacker under sharia law, reports said. (Disgusting - but nothing surprising - after all it is Saudi Arabia)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100820/sc_livescience/whydo20ofamericansthinkobamaismuslim
There are plenty of rumors about President Obama. Some people think he wasn't born in America; others are convinced he's the Antichrist. But the most resilient (and most widely-believed) rumor is that he's Muslim. A new poll from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 18 percent of Americans surveyed believe that Obama's faith is Islam-a number that has increased by 7 percent since March 2009.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100820/tts-uk-pakistan-floods-ca02f96.html
Pakistan said it will clamp down on charities linked to Islamist militants trying to exploit anger among flood victims, amid fears their involvement in the relief effort would undermine the fight against groups like the Taliban. While Pakistan's government overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster has struggled to reach aid to millions of people, Islamist charities with much smaller resources have moved in swiftly to fill the vacuum.
You might think, in a world of advertising regulations requiring companies to be able to back up claims for their products, that selling a magical amulet that guarantees you the protection of seven “Angelic friends” might be pushing your luck. Further claiming that these angels “watching over you and protecting your life” will protect you from violence, make you richer, help you find a partner, bring you luck at poker and generally fling open (”like magic”) “numerous doors to opportunities and good fortune” might almost be seen to be taking the mick a little. (This crap amulet's adverts have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority.)
Natural phenomenon, elaborate hoax – or a sign from God? The Wiltshire locals think they have the answer, says Clive Aslet . (Grow up - they are all artificial. Anyone who says otherwise is a fantasist)
A role reversal comedy shown on Saudi television in which a woman marries four husbands has hit the very nerve it satirised - male pride and double standards. The comedy was an episode in Saudi Arabia’s most celebrated satirical series, Tash Ma Tash or No Big Deal, a take-off of social prejudices shown annually during the holy month of Ramadan. The central character takes four husbands, explaining herself using the conventional arguments Saudi men use to exercise their legal and religious privilege of marrying four times. “What this does is hurt us,” said one imam, Sheikh Saad Al-Buraik. “In the name of comedy, they make fun of our religion and beliefs.” (Humorless git)
Richard Dawkins's latest media foray highlights the alleged indoctrination of children into believing in the existence of a God and adhering to a particular creed. He claims this invariably creates individuals who cannot think critically or follow an argument through to its logical conclusion. This is demonstrated, supposedly, by their inability to come to exactly the same conclusion as him with regards to the origins of the universe and of mankind. (Another bloody strawman argument - a waste of space. The answer is to teach comparative religion)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/19/liberty-coalition-terror-laws
Coalition ministers are to be warned today that their current plans to overhaul counter-terrorism powers risk tacitly condoning torture and banning a wide range of political and religious groups.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/19/rupert-murdoch-republican-party
It's amusing, in a perverse sort of way, that media mogul Rupert Murdoch would donate $1m to the Republican Governors Association. You'd think it would be enough that Murdoch's Fox News Channel relentlessly promotes the Republican cause through programmes hosted by "fair and balanced" hosts such as Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. Or that Fox has placed several members of the Republican government-in-exile on its payroll, including Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee and Karl Rove. As Eric Boehlert of the liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America puts it, "Logically, shouldn't the GOP be giving $1m to Fox News, not the other way around?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/18/ground-zero-mosque-republican-attacks
Republicans are ratcheting up attacks on proposals to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York ahead of November's midterm elections after Barack Obama endorsed the plan. But even as some prominent Republicans compare the building of the mosque with Japanese attacks on the US, others are warning the tactic could backfire. A leading Democrat has called for an inquiry into those behind opposition to the mosque, suggesting it is being covertly funded.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/19/pope-benedict-meet-abuse-victims
Pope Benedict is likely to meet some of the people abused by priests when he visits Britain in September, according to a Catholic church source. Involved in drawing up the itinerary for the 16-19 September visit, the source said he would be "surprised if it didn't happen" given the gaps left in Benedict's schedule, announced on Wednesday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/19/australia-judge-witness-remove-niqab
A Muslim witness in an Australian fraud trial must remove her full veil while giving evidence, a judge has ruled. Western Australia district court judge Shauna Deane said it would be inappropriate for the woman to testify with her face covered by the niqab but did not specify what the woman could wear. The judge said the woman's decision to wear the full veil came down to "reasons of modesty" and a "personal preference" in her interpretation of Islam, rather than a religious requirement.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100819/tuk-charity-service-loses-gay-adoption-b-45dbed5.html
A Catholic adoption service is facing closure after losings its latest battle with the Charity Commission for the right to be able to discriminate against gay couples. Catholic Care, which is based in Leeds, said that for religious reason it wanted to offer its adoption services to heterosexual prospective parents only. But the independent regulator for charities in England and Wales found against Catholic Care. The charity said it had to bar gay couples from its adoption assessment and advice service to retain its funding from the Roman Catholic church. (So the church would rather they closed - how very caring and compassionate)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/17/english-defence-league-march-ban
Police chiefs have called on the home secretary, Theresa May to ban a march by the far right English Defence League (EDL) due to take place in Bradford later this month. The move follows a campaign that saw more than 10,000 people in Bradford sign a petition, while community, religious and anti-racist groups joined local politicians in calling for the march to be banned.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/17/ramadan-clash-9-11-anniversary
Islamic groups in the US fear an overlap between the end of Ramadan and the anniversary of 9/11 will lead to criticisms that Muslims are celebrating the 2001 terrorist attacks. Islam follows a lunar calendar, so Ramadan begins approximately 10 days earlier every year. This year, Eid al-Fitr – the festival that marks the end of fasting – falls on or around September 11. Some groups worry that the coincidence will increase suspicion and hostility towards Islam at a time when feelings towards their religion are already running high.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/bin-laden-deputy-rallies-turks-2053576.html
Al-qa'ida's local number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has urged the Turkish people to pressure their government to sever ties with Israel and withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
The first stone was thrown by a Taliban fighter and then the crowd followed suit. The woman fell after the first hail of blows to her head and witnesses in the crowd of around 150 reported that she must have died soon afterwards. The man, covered in blood and severely injured, survived the stoning. One of the Taliban shot the prone body three times, leaving with the warning that this will be the fate of those involved in "un-Islamic" activities.
Two registrars are being investigated after allegedly refusing to conduct same-sex partnership ceremonies because they went against their religious beliefs. It is claimed they swapped their shifts at a register office informally to avoid the civil unions. Both work at Lambeth town hall in Brixton, south London, where ceremonies for same-sex couples have been offered since 2005. The allegations were made by another registrar at an equality seminar in May.
Vasily Boiko-The Great, who controls a major agricultural holding, has written to his 6,500 employees, ordering those "living in sin" to get married in church within two months or be fired. The deadline, 14 October, is a Russian Orthodox festival. He has also banned any of his employees or their wives from getting abortions, saying he does not want to work with "killers." The farming tycoon said he was forced to resort to extreme measures after Russia was struck by an unprecedented drought and thousands of wild fires this summer. "Such an extreme situation is punishment for the Russian people's sins," he told daily newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. "I need to take extreme measures including looking at the way my employees treat God."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/16/fatwas-saudi-king-islam
Last week, the king of Saudi Arabia issued a royal order decreeing that the only Islamic scholars allowed to issue fatwas will be those approved by himself. The move has been welcomed by some as an attempt to impose discipline on the chaotic business of fatwa-issuing and also put a stop to "strange" fatwas, like the recent one on breast-feeding adult men in order to overcome the kingdom's strict rules on gender segregation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/16/barclays-fined-for-sanction-breaking
Barclays is to pay $298m (£190m) in fines to the US authorities for "knowingly and willfully" violating international sanctions by handling hundreds of millions of dollars in clandestine transactions with banks in Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma. Lloyds TSB agreed to pay $350m in January 2009 for its dealings with Libya, Sudan and Iran, while Switzerland's second biggest bank, Credit Suisse, struck a deal in December paying $536m for violating sanctions against Iran. (The fines are laughably small and obviously do nothing to deter bankers from sanctions breaking. They don't give a shit how murderous a regime is)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/16/taliban-afghan-civilian-deaths-nato-un
Nato and the United Nations are cautiously considering a Taliban proposal to set up a joint commission to investigate allegations of civilians being killed and wounded in the conflict in Afghanistan, diplomats in Kabul have told the Guardian. (Will this include those victims of the Taliban's judicial murders?)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/16/catholic-church-celibacy-rule
It is estimated that 1,000 people in Britain and Ireland are the children of Catholic priests
http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/192956/NHS-alternative-therapy-blast/
A HEALTH board has been criticised for spending almost £70,000-a-year on a specialist to provide patients with an alternative therapy. NHS Tayside – cutting 500 jobs in the next year in a £30million economy drive – has advertised for a “specialty doctor in homeopathy,” who is required to hold only two sessions a week.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=queer-notions-how-christian-homopho-2010-08-09
Anti-gay Christians cite "Gay Genes, Revisited" to make the case that homosexuality is not hardwired; people with homosexual inclinations can change their behavior and even minds through therapeutic interventions. See, for example, the references to "Gay Genes, Revisited" on these Mormon and Catholic sites.
His Hollywood star son has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons lately - now Mel Gibson's father has left people reeling with an outrageous radio outburst. The Braveheart actor's father, Hutton Gibson - a devout Catholic like his son - has reportedly blasted the Vatican and labelled Pope Benedict XVI as 'gay' on a US radio show.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/15/AR2010081502756.html
President Obama's remarks Friday and Saturday on a proposed mosque and Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero sparked heated exchanges on the Sunday morning news shows.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/opinion/16douthat.html
There’s an America where it doesn’t matter what language you speak, what god you worship, or how deep your New World roots run. An America where allegiance to the Constitution trumps ethnic differences, language barriers and religious divides. An America where the newest arrival to our shores is no less American than the ever-so-great granddaughter of the Pilgrims. (Op-ed on the so-called Ground Zero mosque)
Domino's Pizza, which was among the first fast food outlets in Britain to serve halal-only takeaways, has ditched the menu after poor sales. The chain enraged customers 18 months ago by completely removing pork from its pizzas in favour of halal-only meat at its branch in Hall Green, Birmingham. But the pizza firm have been forced into an embarrassing U-turn back to their original menu due to poor sales. (The article fails to report on the animal cruelty angle)
A man and woman have been stoned to death in northern Afghanistan after being accused by the Taliban of having an affair. The 23-year-old woman and 28-year-old man were killed because "they had an affair," said Mohammad Ayob, the governor of Imam Sahib district in Kunduz province. "Two people were stoned to death by Taliban in Mullah Quli village late yesterday," he said. The village is under the control of the Taliban.
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/uk/MoD-open-to-Humanist-chaplains.6475762.jp
ACCORDING to a much-quoted military maxim there are no atheists in a foxhole when the shelling begins. But the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is now edging towards official recognition for the needs of non-believers serving in the armed forces by considering the appointment of Humanist chaplains. Military sources have revealed they are "sympathetic" to the idea of establishing a organisation to represent the interests of non-religious servicemen and women.
Eleven militant Palestinian groups based in Syria warned on Sunday against a "concession and compromise" policy ahead of a possible round of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The message from the groups, which include Gaza rulers Hamas as well as the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine factions, appeared directed at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
http://www.thejc.com/news/israel-news/36758/islamic-movement-tried-remove-evidence-jewish-jerusalem
An investigation into the failure of law enforcement agencies to prevent what is alleged to have been an attempt to wipe out Jewish history on Temple Mount 11 years ago looks set to cause widespread controversy. The publication of the report into the removal, by night, of 6,000 cubic metres of mud from beneath the Al Aqsa Mosque by the Muslim Wakf authority that oversees the management of the mosque compound, has been suppressed for months by the government. The dirt was dug out to make way for a new underground mosque, but Israeli archaeologists and politicians claim that another motive of the Wakf and the Islamic Movement - which financed the work - was to remove evidence of Jewish history from the site where the two temples of Jerusalem stood.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=184762
In what city officials are calling “one of the largest acts of deception in recent years,” Jerusalem municipal employees last week cleared away some 300 “fictitious tombstones” from a historic Muslim cemetery located in the heart of the capital. The cemetery abuts the planned site of a future “Museum of Tolerance.” On Thursday, city officials confirmed that the fraudulent markers had been cleared from the site, and pointed blame at “Islamic officials” who they said had sanctioned the placement of these markers in an attempt to “illegally seize state lands.” City officials added that the work was often done hastily, and that “under the fictitious tombstones, plastic bottles, cigarette butts and sewage has been found.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/world/middleeast/14israel.html
The latest skirmish in the war for every inch of this coveted city focused this week on the dead. Did Israeli government bulldozers, working in the middle of the night, destroy hundreds of historic Muslim graves? Or were the removed tombstones outrageous fakes placed on parkland in a ruse? Each side in the dispute — a fiery branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel and the right-wing Jerusalem municipality — is accusing the other of shamelessness and indecency.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/us/politics/15mosque.html
Faced with withering Republican criticism of his defense of the right of Muslims to build a community center and mosque near ground zero, President Obama quickly recalibrated his remarks on Saturday, a sign that he has waded into even more treacherous political waters than the White House had at first realized.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/14/AR2010081401796.html
One day after President Obama defended the freedom of Muslims to build an Islamic complex near New York's Ground Zero, he offered a less forceful version of that position on Saturday: Yes, Muslims have that right, Obama said -- but that doesn't mean he believes it is the right thing for them to do.
With just over a month to go before the Pope arrives in Britain, the Catholic Church is facing a £2.6m shortfall in donations needed to pay for the visit. The Church officially needs to raise £7m to pay for the pastoral elements of Pope Benedict's state visit, although sources involved in organising the trip have told The Independent that the final bill will be closer to £8m. (...and the rest)
If you have an urge to inspect mangled Israeli tanks, toy with a rocket launcher, or explore a genuine rock-cut guerrilla bunker, Hezbollah's multi-media theme park in south Lebanon is just the place. (Uncritical puff piece about this terrorist group)
Women's activists say Ireland's deep economic crisis may have driven more women to consider an abortion. But, as Ireland prepares to defend its abortion legislation in the European Court of Human Rights, a growing number cannot afford to be among the thousands who travel to Britain for the procedure and may be forced into the hands of underground abortionists.
Campaigners may try to disrupt the Pope's visit to Britain by blocking the road outside one of his destinations. At the first public meeting of the Protest the Pope group, there was support for an attempt to stop Benedict XVI reaching an event in London next month. The audience was told that the pontiff must travel down a narrow suburban road to reach the campus of St Mary’s University College in Twickenham, where he is due to address 3,500 school children and students “in celebration of Catholic education”. A man calling himself Ray was applauded when he said: “Waldegrave Road is a narrow street. I don’t actually know how they intend getting the Pope in. Is he going to be helicoptered in or not? If he’s coming in by road, there’s a really good chance of blocking that road off. Let’s go for it.”
Two Shiite Muslim television stations in Lebanon have cancelled a controversial programme about Jesus, saying they do not want to stir up sectarian conflict in the country. The 17-episode show, which was produced in Iran, describes Jesus from an Islamic point of view. Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet and a teacher, but not the son of God. The debate has particular resonance in Lebanon, an Arab nation of four million people with a grim history of sectarian strife. The country’s population is divided into 18 sects, including Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Christians and Druse.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/14/drug-companies-bury-negative-research
This week the drug company AstraZeneca paid out £125m to settle a class action. More than 17,500 patients claim the company withheld information showing that schizophrenia drug quetiapine (tradename Seroquel) can cause diabetes. So why do companies pay out money before cases get to court? (Ben Goldacre on Big Pharma on drug trials)
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/medical-miracle-jesus-journal-retraction-100813.html
That is, the study's authors diagnosed the woman Jesus treated as having had influenza. Had the researchers examined some newly found document, mummified body, or other forensic evidence, that would be one thing. But using the gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke in the New King James version of the Bible as the entire data set made "Virology Journal" look like "Mad" magazine or "The Onion." (Idiot paper based on gospel fable withdrawn from science journal)
United Methodist minister David Jenkins was meeting with fellow clergy last year in the small Kansas community of Sharon Springs when one of the pastors made what sounded like a routine request. The clergyman noted that the Todd Becker Foundation was coming to town, and the evangelical Christian organization, which purports to warn youngsters about the dangers of drunk driving, wanted to line up local religious leaders to help with its presentation.
They date back to at least ancient Roman times, but Friday the 13th superstitions won't be getting much of a workout this year. Luckily for triskaidekaphobia sufferers, today is 2010's only Friday the 13th. That must come as a relief, after 2009's nine Friday the 13ths—the maximum possible in a year, at least as long as we continue to mark time with the Gregorian calendar, which Pope Gregory XIII ordered the Catholic Church to adopt in 1582.
Souvenirs to mark Pope Benedict’s trip to Britain next month have little to do with the spiritual – and everything to do with tat, says Christopher Howse.
Brazil is to officially record any UFO sightings in its vast airspace and make the information available to researchers, according to a government decree published this week. (A waste of time and resources. Nothing conclusive in the way of UFO evidence will result from this sort of thing - it never does)
An Australian psychic helping police search for missing six-year-old girl has instead discovered the body of a missing mother-of-two. The Australian psychic, who has not been named, told police a premonition about Keisha Abrahams, who has been missing for 12 days, drew her to Sydney's sprawling Nurragingy Reserve, where she discovered a woman's torso wrapped in plastic on Wednesday. Police said it was not the missing girl. But they did not rule out asking the psychic, who has not been named, to help them in their search. (A coincidence which the so-called "psychic" - there is no such thing outside of fiction - will no doubt cash in on. If the police ask this person for help they are gullible fools)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/12/iran-stoning-sentences-commuted-ashtiani
Iran appears to be quietly changing the sentences of Iranians awaiting death by stoning to hanging after international outcry following the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two. Mariam Ghorbanzadeh, 25, who was six months' pregnant and miscarried after being beaten up in Tabriz prison this week, was initially sentenced to death by stoning for adultery but her sentence has been commuted to hanging in a rapid judicial review. The decision is thought to have been driven by the Iranian authorities' desire to avoid further international condemnation over the barbaric punishment.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/12/ground-zero-mosque-islamophobia
The battle over plans to build a mosque near the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York is fuelling a surge in anti-Muslim protests across the US, including opposition to new Islamic centres from California to Georgia. Religious leaders and civil rights activists warn that a tide of Islamophobia that has swept the country since the destruction of the twin towers is being heightened by political exploitation of the New York dispute before nationwide elections and is increasingly bound up with hostility to immigrants and other forms of racism.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/13/muslim-brothers-jailed-fire-church
A Malaysian court sentenced two Muslim brothers to five years in prison today for torching a Christian church during the height of a dispute over whether non-Muslims could use the word Allah to refer to God. The firebombing was the first in an unprecedented string of arson attacks and vandalism at places of worship last January that threatened to undo decades of religious harmony in the Muslim-majority country. Eleven churches, a Sikh temple, three mosques and two Muslim prayer rooms were assaulted before the tensions abated.
There is a distinct creepiness to the controversy now raging around a proposed Islamic cultural center in Lower Manhattan. The angry “debate” over whether the building should exist has a kind of glitch-in-the-Matrix feel to it, leaving in its wake an aura of something-very-bad-about-to-happen.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/11/stop-edl-bradford-march-petition
Later today a delegation from Bradford will go to the Home Office to hand in a petition, signed by over 10,000 local people, calling on the home secretary to ban the proposed English Defence League (EDL) march in our city at the end of the month. The EDL is a racist, anti-Muslim organisation that is coming to Bradford with the sole intention of whipping up tensions and trying to provoke a riot. It is made up of football hooligans, racists and even former loyalist paramilitaries who are now living in England. (Marsha Singh has it dead right)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/12/sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani-confesses-murder-iran
The Iranian woman whose sentence to death by stoning sparked an international outcry is feared to be facing imminent execution, after she was put on a state-run TV programme last night where she confessed to adultery and involvement in a murder. Speaking shakily in her native Azeri language, which could be heard through a voiceover, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani told an interviewer that she was an accomplice to the murder of her husband and that she had an extramarital relationship with her husband's cousin. (A confession after being tortured is no confession. What a vile "legal system")
Muslims observing Ramadan can keep up with ancient traditions using high-tech offerings on their iPhones and iPads, including the iPray and iQuran apps that remind users of prayer times. (Hi-tech comes to the aid of medieval theology)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10941653
Pope Benedict XVI has not accepted the resignations of two Irish bishops who resigned at Christmas. Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field announced their resignations on Christmas Eve 2009. The pair, who were both auxiliary bishops of Dublin, said they hoped their resignations would help bring peace to the victims of sexual abuse. They were bishops during the period covered by the Murphy Commission which examined abuse in the Dublin diocese.
The Obama administration has been criticised for sending to the imam behind controversial plans for a mosque next to the site of the September 11 attacks to the Middle East.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/10/megrahi-libya-lockerbie-obrien
This week, Cardinal Keith O'Brien reiterated his objection to the death penalty, a position that I admire and support. However, in order to make headlines, he chose a path of cynicism and hubris. O'Brien twisted the facts around the compassionate release of the Lockerbie bomber to support his platform and criticised anyone who objects as perpetuating a "culture of vengeance". I would argue that many "objectors" are fighting for justice, which often requires more courage, faith and conviction than simply showing compassion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/09/tony-blair-memoirs-special-edition
There is one guaranteed way of avoiding the fixed grin of Tony Blair when his ardently awaited political memoir, A Journey, finally hits the book shops on 1 September with a thud — 624 pages, for a reported advance of £4.6m. Although the cover of the regular edition features the former prime minister in sincere stare straight-to-camera and regular-kind-of-guy unbuttoned collar, there is also a special edition with none of those features. For a mere £150, each signed copy will have a curiously liturgical appearance, in a cloth slip case as crimson as a cardinal, with the title stamped in gold. (Pass the sickbag - this one's full)
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100811/tts-uk-pakistan-floods-ca02f96.html
Pakistani Taliban militants have urged the government to reject Western aid for victims of devastating floods, saying it would only be siphoned off by corrupt officials. The call from the militants battling the government came as the United States stepped up aid for victims of the floods which have killed more than 1,600 people, forced 2 million from their homes and disrupted the lives of about 14 million people, or 8 percent of the population. "We urge the government not to take Western aid," a Pakistani Taliban spokesman, Azam Tariq, said by telephone from an undisclosed location. (The Taliban showing a total lack of compassion for the flood victims - what do they suggest, praying for aid?)
Plans to install Muslim-friendly squatting lavatories in a British shopping centre have been dropped. Last month the Exchange Shopping Centre in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, disclosed plans to build two "Nile squatting pans" alongside the traditional western lavatories in its newly refurbished lavatory blocks. The decision was made after staff underwent cultural awareness training. But now the lavatories are to be ripped out after Rochdale Council put pressure on the centre's parent company, DB Estates, to rethink the idea, that has caused public outrage nationwide.
Richard Dawkins, the outspoken atheist, has courted fresh controversy by likening the burka to a bin liner. The 69-year-old author and Oxford academic said he is filled with “visceral revulsion” when he sees women wearing the traditional Islamic covering. But he held back from advocating a ban on the all-enveloping cloak, insisting that such legislation would fly in the face of Britain’s liberal tradition.
The lawyer defending a woman sentenced to death by stoning in Iran has applied for asylum in Norway, but hopes Iranian authorities will allow him eventually to return to his practice.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/62a2591c-a3a6-11df-a100-00144feabdc0.html
German authorities on Monday closed down a mosque in Hamburg and banned an Islamic organisation after saying there was evidence that they were connected with the radicalisation of extremists. The mosque was already known as a place where perpetrators of the September 11, 2001 attacks on buildings in New York and Washington met.
A comprehensive study of global lesbian, bisexual and gay rights, seen by The Independent on Sunday, reveals the brutal – and, in many instances, fatal – price people pay around the globe for their sexuality. The research, which was conducted by the charity network the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), shows that 76 countries still prosecute people on the grounds of their sexual orientation – seven of which punish same-sex acts with death.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pope-acts-against-incest-priests-group-2046517.html
The Legionaries of Christ, the Roman Catholic group that combines an estimated £21bn fortune with intense moral turpitude and extreme conservatism, is facing its nemesis this month. For years the organisation was protected by John Paul II, the Polish pope, and his former secretary Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Archbishop of Krakow. Now the reputation of Father Marcial Maciel, a Mexican who founded the group in 1941 when he was studying for holy orders, is at last falling victim to the reforming drive of John Paul II's German successor, Benedict XVI. Incestuous father of three – or perhaps six – children, serial paedophile, morphine addict, lover of la dolce vita, and pretend CIA agent, Maciel, who died in 2008, aged 87, built up a huge religious empire.
It is the time of the year when school is out for Israel's ultraorthodox students. But this year, a Jewish morality police is patrolling in force to make sure they do not have too much fun. Leading rabbis and heads of religious colleges, or the yeshivas, have warned students to continue their studies of the Torah, dress appropriately and avoid "the great danger, spiritually and concretely, of hitchhiking". The ultraorthodox, who make up roughly 10 per cent of all Israelis, live a closeted life. They voluntarily choose not to own a television or radio, and are barred from using the internet.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/08/uk-medic-afghan-murdered-christian-group
Karen Woo travelled to the remote Nuristan region of northern Afghanistan with hopes of making a difference, with undimmed passion to help others, and with no little trepidation for the physical and mental challenges ahead. One thing she would not have travelled with was a Bible.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/09/abu-bakar-bashir-arrested-terrorist-group
Radical Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, once imprisoned for his links to the terror group behind the Bali bombings, has been arrested for alleged involvement with a new militant network. His lawyer, Muhammad Ali, said Indonesia's elite anti-terror squad swooped in on the 72-year-old cleric early this morning in west Java's Ciamis district. Bashir is best known as the founder and spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaida-linked group responsible for the 2002 bombings on Indonesia's resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, many of them western tourists.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/opinion/08macdonald.html
THE American clergy is suffering from burnout, several new studies show. And part of the problem, as researchers have observed, is that pastors work too much. Many of them need vacations, it’s true. But there’s a more fundamental problem that no amount of rest and relaxation can help solve: congregational pressure to forsake one’s highest calling.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/us/08mosque.html
While a high-profile battle rages over a mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, heated confrontations have also broken out in communities across the country where mosques are proposed for far less hallowed locations. In Murfreesboro, Tenn., Republican candidates have denounced plans for a large Muslim center proposed near a subdivision, and hundreds of protesters have turned out for a march and a county meeting. In late June, in Temecula, Calif., members of a local Tea Party group took dogs and picket signs to Friday prayers at a mosque that is seeking to build a new worship center on a vacant lot nearby.
A leading Christian charity is set to receive £5million in Government funds originally intended to combat Muslim extremism. The Church Urban Fund, the Church of England’s poverty relief arm, is expected to be given the substantial sum by the Department for Communities and Local Government later this year. It would constitute by far the largest single grant from Whitehall to a church group in recent years. The move would prove particularly contentious as the money is likely to be diverted from Preventing Violent Extremism, Labour’s £140million programme aimed at stopping young Muslims turning to radical Islam.
An Iranian website featuring a series of cartoons portraying the Holocaust as "the great lie" has caused outrage in Israel. The site claims that the massacre of six million Jews during the Second World War was a fabrication designed to allow Zionists to seize control of the Middle East and its resources. Dedicating itself to "all those who have been killed under the pretext of the Holocaust", the Iranian website's introduction is accompanied by the strains of Henry Mancini's The Pink Panther. The website, which is not affiliated to the Iranian government, was set up by an Iranian cultural organisation calling itself Bulwark of Faith and Thought. (Faith and thought? A bit like trying to mix oil and water)
A Turkish migrant arrested in New Zealand for allegedly beating his wife says police failed to understand that the couple were simply engaging in a lively traditional dance. When Allaetin Can, a kebab shop owner, appeared in court on Thursday, a judge adjourned the case and ordered police to watch a DVD of dancers performing the "kolbasti" then decide whether to drop the charge against him. Officers were called after a passer-by reported seeing Mr Can hitting, kicking, and strangling his wife Elmas during a fracas in a car park outside their shop. "We are always dancing," Mr Can said. "I'm happy to dance with my wife and my family. What's wrong with that?" "My wife was nervous and confused when police came," he told the Taranaki Daily News. "Her English no good. If English was good, no case." (And the authorities believed him and dropped the charges)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-10905562
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has attacked the US over the release of the Lockerbie bomber. Cardinal Keith O'Brien said the Scottish government was right to free Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi last year on compassionate grounds. US lawmakers want Scots politicians to explain their decision to a committee but the cardinal said ministers should not go "crawling like lapdogs".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/08/iran-mohammad-mostafaei-rights-lawyer
An 18-year-old Iranian is facing imminent execution on charges of homosexuality, even though he has no legal representation. Ebrahim Hamidi, who is not gay, was sentenced to death for lavat, or sodomy, on the basis of "judge's knowledge", a legal loophole that allows for subjective judicial rulings where there is no conclusive evidence.
Most arguments for spiritual belief that I encounter are so bad, they don't even count as arguments. But some believers in religion or spirituality do try to make real arguments for their beliefs, and try to defend them with evidence and logic. This evidence and logic are never very good... but they are sincere attempts to engage with reality instead of ignoring it. So I want to do these arguments the honor of taking them seriously... and pointing out how they're completely mistaken. (Greta Christina takes on the existence of the soul)
Threshold Editions, the imprint upon which megapublisher Simon & Schuster dumps books it’s too ashamed to release under its own name, made a ballsy bet: that Pamela Geller -- a deeply unhinged blogger who famously claimed that Barack Obama is the bastard child of Malcolm X -- has an audience sufficiently large and loyal to justify a six-figure advance. Makes sense! If MSNBC, Fox, NBC and CNN have Geller on, the pool of inbred, 50-something Tea Partiers desirous of an icky melange of silicone and Tom Tancredo talking points cannot possibly have gone dry. Right?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/07/ben-goldacre-sarahs-law
Home Office figures for Sarah's law – fact or fiction? Claims that 60
children have been protected from child abuse by pilot scheme are
impossible to verify. (The invaluable Ben Goldacre is on the case)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/06/iran-ebrahim-hamadi-death-penalty
The case of Ebrahim Hamidi underlines how in Iran, as in Kafka's The
Trial, citizens are victims of the legal system.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/07/english-defence-league-bradford-march
"We definitely don't want them in Bradford. We have been working hard in
the past 10 years to get this community back to where it should be and
we don't want all that spoiled by people who are coming just to cause
trouble, to try to divide people." (Neo-nazi bootboys, the so-called
English Defence League represent no one, certainly not England. They are
racists out for a punch-up or worse. Pity the poor
police which have to deal with them)
Call me Hitler. Call me Joan of Arc. But you probably won't, to echo
Melville in Moby-Dick, want to call me Ishmael. In the week since I
wrote a column about "the limits of multiculturalism", I've been called
an awful lot of things. A "stupid, vile bitch", "a bigoted toe-rag", a
racist and an anti-Semite. The blogosphere, according to colleagues, has
gone mad, and so has the twittersphere, and so has the nuttersphere, or
whatever it is you call the message boards.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10896758
Romania's central bank has denied anti-Semitism after minting a coin
depicting the prime minister who stripped Jews of their citizenship in
1939. Miron Cristea is one of five Romanian Orthodox Church patriarchs
the bank has honoured with a silver-minted coin. But after a complaint
from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the bank's governor has agreed to
review the coin. "We did not wish to send a racist, xenophobic or
anti-Semitic message," said Mugur Isarescu. (Then you should have
done your homework, sunshine)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/05/keeping-terrorism-theology-apart
The basic point of Quilliam's briefing paper – reported on in more
detail here – is that the problem of politicised Islam stretches beyond
terrorism to include Islamist ideology more generally. Islamism, it
says, is "the ideology that provides the justification for both
extremism and acts of terrorist violence". Although most Islamists
reject violence as a means for achieving power and the more successful
Islamist movements abroad engage in electoral politics (in Egypt and
Turkey, for example), Quilliam says violent and nonviolent Islamists
broadly share the same ideology and disagree only on tactics. (More
of the West is to blame for violent Islamists guff)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/05/jalalabad-taliban-music-stores
Until recently, shoppers in the fetid underground shopping centre in
central Jalalabad had the blare of Bollywood pop songs to contend with
as well as the heat and humidity of the bazaar that sprawls underneath
one of the Afghan city's busiest roads. But the screeching music has now
gone, along with nearly all the crowded little kiosks that used to do a
brisk trade in CDs and DVDs. Fear is spreading that Taliban members, who
believe music to be un-Islamic, are closely monitoring the city's moral
climate.
An old girl of the Blessed Edward Jones Catholic School in Rhyl, Carol
Vorderman will be introducing performances of music, dance and drama
before Pope Benedict XVI takes to the stage at a prayer vigil in Hyde
Park next month. Although twice divorced, Miss Vorderman has always
taken her faith seriously and regards it as one of the greatest honours
of her professional career to be doing what amounts to a "warm-up act"
for the Pope. (She cannot take her faith seriously if she is
divorced. A divorced Catholic is hypocrite)
Over the past 10 days, like a submarine just below the surface, the
outline has become visible of a massive Whitehall row, the outcome of
which could be almost as important to our country as fixing the deficit.
The argument is about the influence that Islamism should have in the
British state. Islamism should never, by the way, be confused with
Islam. Islam is a religion, practised by millions of British citizens
who have never sought to overthrow anything in their lives. Islamism is
a revolutionary political doctrine, supported by a small minority of
Muslims, whose aim is to overthrow secular democratic government and
replace it with Islamic government. (Good piece by Andrew Gilligan)
Anwar Sayed, a Muslim school teacher who is accused of fraudulently
obtaining up to $752,000 (£430,000) in government grants by falsifying
student numbers, is in hospital after being stabbed in the chest and
face. His lawyers have said that the attack was linked to the debate
over whether a prosecution witness should be allowed to testify in the
full veil. The 36-year-old woman had applied to the judge, saying that
she would feel uncomfortable and exposed without the veil.
A Muslim woman has sparked a national debate in Australia after she said
she would feel uncomfortable giving evidence in a A$1 million (576,000)
fraud trial unless she were able to wear a burka. (What next, someone
who refuses to testify unless he can have a bag over head?)
Indian temples have been asked to stop their elephants from blessing
Hindu pilgrims after fears were raised that the tourists were passing
tuberculosis to the animals. More than 50 elephants housed at Hindu
temples touch the heads of up to 500 pilgrims a day as a form of
blessing. In recent years, four temple elephants have died of
tuberculosis, prompting forest officials to call for the ban. (This
should be implemented immediately - the poor animals are hardly willing
and informed participants)
Vimto, the Merseyside-made purple fruit drink, has enjoyed a 39pc rise
in profits after an earlier Ramadan increased shipments to the Middle
East. The region has become a sizeable export market for Vimto, which is
used as a tonic by Muslims fasting during Ramadan, to give them an
energy boost. Nichols, the owner of Vimto, said 2010 profits will be
"significantly" better than last year, after selling more of the soft
drink abroad and introducing a new cherry flavour. (Nice free plug
for Vimto although it likely doesn't need one - Wikipedia tells us "Vimto
enjoys over 80 years of dominance as the beverage of choice during the
fasting holy month of Ramadan (observed by 1.2 billion Muslims) in the
Middle-east at the time of iftar or sunset feast.")
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/7928961/Julia-Roberts-Im-a-Hindu.html
Julia Roberts, the Hollywood actress, has disclosed that she is a
practising Hindu who goes to temple to “chant and pray and celebrate”.
The 42-year-old, who married the cameraman Daniel Moder in 2002, said
the couple worship at temple together regularly with their three
children. She added that she hopes to be reincarnated as “something
quiet” after the stresses of celebrity. (How about a sloth?)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/05/changing-the-script-daniel-schultz
For proof that American religion has become, at least in the popular
mind, the province of conservatives, consider that even a book meant to
reclaim Christianity for progressives cannot escape the conservatives'
version of history. To be fair, Daniel Schultz, author of Changing the
Script is not a historian, but a minister in the liberal United Church
of Christ – a denomination descended in part from the English Puritans
who settled in Massachusetts. Still, even for a non-historian, this is
quite an egregious error.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/04/keeping-tags-text-women-saudi
Want to know whether your wife, sister or daughter has left the county?
Well, in Saudi Arabia, there's an app for that. Reportedly, male
guardians or mahrams in Saudi Arabia are now receiving text message
notifications when their female charges leave the country unaccompanied.
"iMahram", a friend of mine jokingly called it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/04/anne-rice-christianity-religion
I was upset when Anne Rice found God, and Beck turned out to be a
Scientologist. What is it about their faith that puts me off? (Op-ed
by Jessica Reed)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/05/ufo-files-welsh-roswell-national-archive
UFO enthusiasts called it the "Welsh Roswell" and insisted that one
evening in 1974 an alien craft crashed in north Wales and the government
secretly removed dead extraterrestrial bodies, the latest files from the
National Archives reveal today. (As nothing happened at Roswell this
is a poor choice. The UFO world is entirely faith-based)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/05/california-proposition-8-ban-overturned
A ban on same-sex marriages in California has been ruled
unconstitutional by a federal judge, marking a major turning point in a
controversial debate that has divided America. In a politically charged
judgment, US District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker handed gay rights
advocates a critical victory after a 13-day hearing. Crucially, he also
ordered that the ban, approved by the voters and known as Proposition 8,
should be lifted immediately, allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry
while the case moves to a higher court for appeal. (But the religious
busybodies will appeal, obviously)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10870522
A lawyer who defended a woman sentenced to be stoned to death in Iran is
now in Turkey, according to the UN refugee agency. Mohamed Mostafaei was
detained in Turkey because of passport problems but has applied for
asylum, the agency said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/03/BAF11EODM9.DTL
A federal court ruling on the right of same-sex couples to marry in
California is scheduled to be released today - and opponents of gay and
lesbian nuptials are already making plans to appeal. Chief U.S. District
Judge Vaughn Walker of San Francisco will decide whether Proposition 8,
the November 2008 initiative that defined marriage as the union of a man
and a woman, violated gays' and lesbians' right of equality under the
U.S. Constitution. (No doubt the bloody Mormons are rallying. It was
their money and support that passed prop 8)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/03/london-public-relations-reputation-laundering
It has a strong claim to be the world capital of everything from finance
to design, but now London can add a new, more dubious distinction: it
has become the reputation laundering destination of choice for foreign
heads of state whose controversial activities may have stained their
countries' public images. An investigation by the Guardian has revealed
that the capital's public relations firms are earning millions of pounds
a year promoting foreign regimes with some of the world's worst human
rights records, including Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, Kazakhstan and Sri
Lanka. (Can we say unprincipled scum ready to take anyone's money? I
rather think we can)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/03/afghanistan-taliban-war-pakistan-president
Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, warned today that the US-led
Nato coalition was losing the war in Afghanistan and should replace its
mistaken approach with a long-term strategy to win over the Afghan
people. (Nothing to do with that highly porous border then)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/03/burkas-bikinis-reality-afghan-lives
Reprising a legendary 1985 National Geographic cover, this week's Time
magazine cover girl is another beautiful young Afghan woman. But this
time there is a gaping hole where her nose used to be before it was cut
off under Taliban direction. A stark caption reads: "What Happens If We
Leave Afghanistan". (A baffling opinion piece that seems unsure of
the point it is trying to make - if any)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/03/testimony-girl-forced-into-prostitution
Manchester police have praised a 14-year-old girl for her bravery after
she testified in court against the men who forced her into prostitution.
Nine men were jailed after she was able to identify her abusers and the
places to which she was taken. They were convicted yesterday at
Manchester crown court of offences that included sexual activity with a
child, controlling a child prostitute, facilitating child prostitution
and paying for sexual services with a child. Another man was acquitted
in connection with the case. (A side effect of multiculturalism?)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/aug/03/mosque-ground-zero-new-york
Plans to build an Islamic cultural centre in lower Manhattan, near the
site of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre, today
received approval for the first step in the construction process.
(The final insult?)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/03/christian-voice-homophobia
What's happened to Channel 4? The channel that once brought us Queer as
Folk last night gave air time to someone whose organisation equates
homosexuality with paedophilia. As part of their 4thought.tv slot, which
this week is looking at the troubled entwinement of homosexuality and
religion, Stephen Green, the national director of Christian Voice, was
invited to rage against the "sin" of homosexuality. (But then, let's
face it, who apart from another fundie nutter is going to pay attention
to the obviously deranged Green?)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/03/bbc-papal-visit
The BBC is to air a documentary about the Catholic clerical abuse
scandals next month as part of a season of factual programmes to
coincide with the first papal visit to the UK for 28 years. Benedict:
Trials of a Pope features film-maker Mark Dowd going in search of what
the BBC calls "the real Joseph Ratzinger". The hour-long BBC2
documentary also looks at how the Catholic church has tried to "fashion
a positive message about Pope Benedict by training up an army of young
religious spin doctors called Catholic Voices".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/03/bbc-world-service-africa-have-your-say
The BBC Trust has today dismissed a complaint about a BBC News website
talkboard headline that asked "Should homosexuals face execution?". The
headline was posted on a talkboard discussion for a World Service
programme for African listeners ahead of a draconian anti-homosexuality
bill being discussed in the Ugandan parliament last December. Appearing
on a BBC News premoderated talkboard, the thread was designed to provoke
debate ahead of the latest edition of interactive World Service
programme Africa Have Your Say. (Just not acceptable. Someone still
needs their arse kicked)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/03/vicars-arrested-suspected-sham-marriages
Two clergymen suspected of officiating over sham marriages were arrested
by immigration officers today. The Rev Brian Shipsides, 54, and the Rev
Elwon John, 43, were held at their homes in Forest Gate, east London,
and investigators began searching their churches, All Saints and St
Edmunds. On Saturday three people were arrested as a Nigerian man
prepared to wed a Dutch woman at All Saints. The groom and a Nigerian
woman will appear in court in October.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/03/four-guilty-bungled-honour-killing
Four men who murdered a couple in a bungled attempt at an "honour"
killing were jailed for life today. Their intended victim was a Muslim
man who was having an affair with a married woman, but they firebombed a
different house. Abdullah Mohammed, 41, and his wife, Aysha, 39, were
overcome by smoke and fumes at their home in Blackburn, Lancashire, and
later died in hospital. Hisamuddin Ibrahim, 21, described as the
ringleader who ordered the arson attack, was jailed for a minimum of 28
years at Preston crown court. Habib Iqbal, 25, Sadek Miah, 23, and
Mohammed Miah, 19, were respectively jailed for minimum terms of 25, 21
and 19 years. All four were convicted of the double murders yesterday.
British women have the right to chose whether they wore a burka in
public, Baroness Warsi, the country’s first female Muslim cabinet
minister has said. (No one should have the right to go masked in a
public place. The majority of women who end up wearing a burka, bar a
few out to make some kind of point, are unlikely to have had a free
choice in the matter)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/aug/02/tony-blair-faith-foundation-short-film
Let me show you how my faith inspires me. This was the challenge that my
Faith Foundation recently set young people from across the world in our
first film competition, Faith Shorts. Faith is an incredibly powerful
force and as globalisation pushes us closer together, it is more
important than ever. It is the lens through which many hundreds of
millions of people view our complex and diverse world. Technology and
modern media are bringing those from other faiths and cultures together
faster than ever before. Too often, young people hear a distorted view
of other faith traditions. To be religiously illiterate in this world is
foolish and dangerous. (Oh great, an ignorant lecture from an
unctuous and odious war criminal. Pass the sick bag, this one's full
already)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/aug/02/mongolia-far-right
Good grief, a slide show of Mongolian Nazis - hardly the Aryan
supermen of Nazi myth but fascist scum just the same.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/golfers-sabbath-ban-stornoway
They are the guerrilla golfers of Stornoway: a small and unassuming
group of rebels who over the last few months have done what golfers
anywhere else in Britain do naturally – played the game on Sunday. But
each time this group carry their golf bags on to this compact but
windswept 18-hole course on the sabbath, it is a deliberate act of
defiance. On the Presbyterian islands of Lewis and Harris, Sunday is the
one day of the week when playing Scotland's national game is banned. For
the deeply orthodox Protestants of the Western Isles, Stornoway golf
course is emerging as one of the last battlegrounds in their
increasingly vain fight to keep the sabbath sacrosanct.
Senior figures at the Prince of Wales's complementary health charity,
which closed amid a criminal investigation this year, are opening a
college to promote holistic medicine in the NHS. The College of Medicine
aims to raise the acceptance of "an integrated approach to health" among
doctors, politicians and the public by running courses and publishing
books, journals and films. A Clarence House spokesperson said the Prince
of Wales was aware of the institution, but "has not been involved with
setting-up the college, is not launching it and has no official role
with it". (So, who is funding these clowns? If not Windsor, who?)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/iran-image-new-london-embassy
Iran is attempting to reinvent its reputation in the UK by building an
embassy building in central London featuring a contemporary art gallery
and cultural centre. The Iranian foreign ministry has submitted a
planning application for the six-storey building on a South Kensington
street corner, featuring a dramatic cantilevered arch, acutely-angled
walls and irregularly punched-out windows, a recent architectural vogue.
Its architect believes the building, which will cost at least £100m and
is sited in a sensitive area of historic buildings, will embody "Iran's
public image in London". (The term for such a makeover is "gilding a
turd")
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/iran-stoning-woman-brazil
Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has stepped into the
international outcry over Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman
sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, by offering his country as a
refuge, a move which raised hopes her life will be spared. The surprise
offer prompted an immediate reaction from Iran, which considers Brazil a
key ally. Iranian officials softened their tone with Ashtiani's family
over the weekend and official media reported full details of the story
for the first time.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100801/tts-uk-russia-heat-fires-ca02f96.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/02/sir-fred-goodwin-persecuted-says-banker
A senior banker has compared the public condemnation of Sir Fred Goodwin
(above), the disgraced former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland,
with the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany. Sir Angus Grossart
said that the attacks on his "good friend" bore "shades of Kristallnacht",
a 1938 anti-Jewish pogrom. (What utter bloody offensive nonsense -
this trivializes the horror inflicted on Jews by Nazis)
PRIMARY school students are being taught that man and dinosaurs walked
the Earth together and that there's fossil evidence to prove it.
Fundamentalist Christians are hijacking religious instruction classes
despite education experts saying Creationism and attempts to convert
children to Christianity have no place in state schools. Students have
been told Noah collected dinosaur eggs to bring on the Ark, and Adam and
Eve were not eaten by dinosaurs because they were under a protective
spell. (So, let's get this right, the educational authorities are
colluding with fundamentalists in order to lie to children? Am I missing
anything here?)
http://www.spectator.co.uk/rodliddle/6169658/does-the-prime-minister-understand-the-real-islam.thtml
The Prime Minister has decided that Turkey should be a member of the EU
in order to form some sort of bridge with the rest of the Muslim world.
He has also made the same mistake that the last government – and most
apologists on the left made about Islam. He said of those people
critical of Islam: ‘They see no difference between real Islam and the
distorted version of the extremists. They think the values of Islam can
never be compatible with the values of other religions, societies or
cultures.' (Another know-nothing politician who claims to know what
the "true" Islam is. Islam is a primitive, violent and cruel religion
but only because it hasn't had time to grow up. The trouble is the
amount of damage done to everyone else while it is doing so)
Female council workers have been banned from wearing miniskirts because
bosses fear their employees' attire could be offensive to some families.
In a memo to staff, Southampton City Council warned female staff that
skirts must be of "reasonable" length and also told male workers to
ensure they are dressed appropriately. The leaked email, sent to about
400 social workers, youth workers, educational welfare officers and
others in the children's services department, advised employees to dress
"in a way that shows respect to children and families." (Perhaps
council-issued burqas would help?)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10740954
Unfortunately, online interaction has other characteristics which are
very different from those of a casual conversation in a cafe. Not least
the fact that many services make comments visible to large numbers of
people and search engines ensure that a permanent record is kept of
every inane observation, spiteful aside or potentially libellous comment
on a respected public figure. This is something that TV nutritionist
Gillian McKeith has just discovered the hard way, and her experience
offers a salutary lesson for anyone who wants to use social media tools
to enhance their reputation rather than expose themselves to public
ridicule. (Bill Thompson on the ghastly Gillian McKeith's Twitter
debacle)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/world/europe/31muslim.html
Before Abi left her parents’ house in northern Germany last year, she
asked her father, “Daddy, what can I bring you from my journey?” He
looked up from his book and answered, “Some perfumed oil.” “Will do,”
she said, hugging him goodbye. He is still waiting, more than a year
later, for her to return. Abi, now 23, and her husband never made the
trip they said they had planned to Saudi Arabia to visit Mecca and
Medina. Instead they became part of a growing number of young Muslims
from Germany and other European countries who travel to the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, eventually ending up in the camps of
groups affiliated with Al Qaeda or the Taliban.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/world/asia/31women.html
Women’s precarious rights in Afghanistan have begun seeping away. Girls’
schools are closing; working women are threatened; advocates are
attacked; and terrified families are increasingly confining their
daughters to home. For women, instability, as much as the Taliban
themselves, is the enemy. Women are casualties of the fighting, not only
in the already conservative and embattled Pashtun south and east, but
also in districts in the north and center of the country where other
armed groups have sprung up. As Afghan and Western governments explore
reconciliation with the Taliban, women fear that the peace they long for
may come at the price of rights that have improved since the Taliban
government was overthrown in 2001. (The betrayal of these girls and
women will be one result of an early pull-out from Afghanistan)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/nyregion/31mosque.html
An influential Jewish organization on Friday announced its opposition to
a proposed Islamic center and mosque two blocks north of ground zero in
Lower Manhattan, intensifying a fierce national debate about the limits
of religious freedom and the meaning of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The decision by the group, the Anti-Defamation League, touched off angry
reactions from a range of religious groups, which argued that the
country would show its tolerance and values by welcoming the center near
the site where radical Muslims killed about 2,750 people.
A Christian zoo accused of promoting creationism has been endorsed by
the Government as a top destination for school trips, it emerged today.
Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, near Bristol, which supports the view that life was
created by a divine force, is among a series of attractions to be
awarded an official education kitemark. The zoo’s website says science
has attempted to “remove any notion of God from our understanding of
life”. The endorsement – from the Government-backed Council for Learning
Outside the Classroom – was criticised by secular groups who claim
children risk being exposed to “anti-scientific dogma”.
The head of an Oxford University centre for Jewish studies said he was
“astonished” when a lecturer claimed she was discriminated against for
converting to Christianity. Dr David Ariel insisted he was “not even
aware” of Dr Tali Argov’s faith until she began a claim for unfair
dismissal, and added that about half of his staff were not Jewish. He
said that the Israeli academic, who claims she was sidelined and
eventually made redundant after joining a church, was one of a number of
staff members who left to rescue the centre from its “dire” financial
straits.
Israeli rabbis are to clamp down on the growing number of devout Jewish
women wearing the burka by declaring the garment an item of sexual
deviancy. At the insistence of the husbands of some burka-wearing women,
a leading rabbinical authority is to issue an edict declaring burka
wearing a sexual fetish that is as promiscuous as wearing too little. A
small group of ultra-orthodox Jews in the town of Beit Shemesh chose to
don the burka, usually associated with women in repressive Islamist
regimes, three years ago in a bid to protect their modesty. (Pathetic
- women colluding in their suppression)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/29/gaza-children-militant-summer-camps
The boys sitting in the shade of an awning erected on a Gaza beach are
only half listening to the man addressing them through a megaphone.
After all, school's out for the summer and there is football to be
played and the sea to be swum in. Some of the 100 or so boys whisper
among themselves, others are busy burying their own or a friend's legs
in the hot sand. But when the man asks, "What is our slogan?" they snap
to attention, responding in unison: "Resistance!" This is summer in
Gaza, Islamic Jihad-style.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/30/iran-stoning-sentence-mohammadi-ashtani
The Iranian woman whose sentence of death by stoning was commuted to
hanging after an international campaign, today sent a message from
inside Tabriz prison calling for further support so that she might be
reunited with her children. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old
mother of two, said she thinks of nothing other than hugging her
children and that she was mentally broken when authorities flogged her
99 times in front of her then 17-year-old son, Sajad. (Islamic
barbarism in action)
Threshold Editions, the imprint upon which megapublisher Simon &
Schuster dumps books it’s too ashamed to release under its own name,
made a ballsy bet: that Pamela Geller -- a deeply unhinged blogger who
famously claimed that Barack Obama is the bastard child of Malcolm X --
has an audience sufficiently large and loyal to justify a six-figure
advance. Makes sense! If MSNBC, Fox, NBC and CNN have Geller on, the
pool of inbred, 50-something Tea Partiers desirous of an icky melange of
silicone and Tom Tancredo talking points cannot possibly have gone dry.
Right?
Larry Adams has become an overnight internet celebrity of the worst
kind: at a National Organization for Marriage (NOM) rally in
Indianapolis, a camera caught Adams holding a sign with two nooses on it
and the words “solution to gay marriage.” Beneath this violent slogan
Adams had posted a lengthy Leviticus quote about putting men who lie
with men to death. (Adams = scum)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-10781151
A Sussex vicar has been found guilty of carrying out hundreds of fake
marriages to bypass immigration law. Of the 383 weddings the Reverend
Alex Brown conducted over four years at the Church of St Peter and St
Paul in St Leonards, 360 of them were shams. The prosecution claimed he
"knew full well that the vast majority of the marriages were shams". The
jury at Lewes Crown Court convicted the 61-year-old of conspiring to
facilitate illegal immigration.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/28/daily-mail-emmerdale-jam-rags
The inhabitants of Beckindale, setting for ITV's Emmerdale, are no
strangers to calamity, having variously endured shootings,
conflagrations and sundry apocalypses bestowed by the great god of
ratings. Last week, however, a new and unlooked for catastrophe befell
the good folk of Beckindale when the phrase "jam rags" appeared on a
blackboard shopping list. Jam rags, for the uninitiated, is a not an
especially delicate means of referring to sanitary towels. Can no one
protect us from this outrage? Step forward Mediawatch, aka the late Mary
Whitehouse's acolytes, whose finger-wagger-in-chief expressed
consternation in the Daily Mail. Mail readers, however, remained –
forgive me – sanguine. Their collective online reaction might be
summarised: "OMG, hysterical. Made my day. LOL." (80 thought the
Mediawatch brigade had long faded into irrelevance but here they are.
Also see
Mediawatchwatch)
The time has come. The Government has denied our rights as consumers,
and as patients, for too long. My campaign starts here: fund hoodoo folk
magic on the NHS. You might think this is ridiculous, that the African
conjuring practices clearly do not work, and that magic and nonsense
have no place in the NHS. But you would be wrong. The Department of
Health has released a statement about magic and nonsense – in the
specific form of homeopathy – on the NHS, and it has come down firmly in
its favour. (Tom Chivers)
If you’re looking for a textbook example of how not to use social media,
it’s your lucky day. Gillian McKeith – nutritionist, television
presenter, celebrity poo enthusiast – has given a lesson that should be
taught in primary schools. Full disclosure: I find this all immensely
entertaining. McKeith has built a career on a) peddling scientific
nonsense and b) making overweight people cry on telly. She has also
frequently threatened journalists and bloggers with lawsuits when she is
herself criticised – notably threatening an academic, John Garrow, for
suggesting that her enzyme treatments be put to scientific test. So, as
I say, this is all extremely funny. (Tom Chivers)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7914808/Atheists-could-set-up-free-schools.html
Atheist state schools could be established under the Government’s
education reforms, Michael Gove has said. The Education Secretary said
he would be "interested" to look at proposals for non-religious schools
from figures such Professor Richard Dawkins. Prof Dawkins, author of The
God Delusion, said last month that he approved of the idea of setting up
a "free-thinking” school. Last month, Prof Dawkins, a former Charles
Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford
University, said he approved of the idea of atheist schools. “I would
prefer to call it a free-thinking free school,” he said. "I would never
want to indoctrinate children in atheism, any more than in religion.
“Instead, children should be taught to ask for evidence, to be
sceptical, critical, open-minded."
A lecturer at Oxford University’s centre for Jewish studies claims
colleagues discriminated against her after she converted to
Christianity. Dr Tali Argov says she was overlooked for promotion,
stripped of her privileges and cold-shouldered at social gatherings. She
says staff wanted to vet her lectures to make sure that, as a Christian,
she would not criticise Israel. Eventually she claims she was made
redundant from her post at the prestigious Oxford Centre for Hebrew &
Jewish Studies, despite offering to take on new roles.
The Vatican has been accused of hypocrisy after Swiss Guards launched a
crackdown on tourists wearing skimpy clothing. Visitors said that at a
time when the Catholic Church is battling scandals over paedophile
priests and decades of cover-ups, it should have more important things
to worry about. Tourists entering St Peter's Basilica have long been
required to dress modestly, but from early this week the Swiss Guards –
the Pope's private army – appeared to have extended the rules to the
entire Vatican City State.
A US Republican politician, Ron Ramsey, who is supported by the
controversial Tea Party, has come under fire for likening Islam to a
“cult” and casting doubt about whether it is even a religion.
Tennessee’s current lieutenant governor said he had reservations about
whether the American Constitution, which guarantees “freedom of
religion”, applied to followers of the world’s second largest faith.
Critics denounced the 54 year-old’s comments, made at a party meeting
earlier this month, as a part of “disturbing” trend in American
politics.
The US has passed a bill to protect American writers and authors from
"libel tourism" in British courts by decreeing that foreign libel
judgments are not enforceable in the United States.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-catalonia-bullfighting-20100729,0,1162449.story
The independence-minded region of Catalonia became the first on the
Spanish mainland to outlaw bullfighting Wednesday after impassioned
debate. (A cruel blow to those who regard cruelty to animals as
gratifying or entertaining or part of their culture. In other words an
excellent result)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/27/colonel-imam-video-afghanistan-pakistan
The former Pakistan intelligence agent known as the godfather of the
Taliban emerged in a video today pleading for his life, four months
after he was captured by an Islamic extremist group. One of the most
famous former officers of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency,
Colonel Imam said his life was in danger unless the authorities meet his
kidnappers demand to free a number of prisoners held for terrorism. But
Imam's jihadist pedigree and continuing support for the Taliban – its
spiritual leader, Mullah Omar, is said to have sent messages to the
captors asking for the former agent's release – appears to mean nothing
to the even more radical Islamic extremist group now holding him.
(More radical than al Qaeda? The mind boggles)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9193960
Al-Qaida's No. 2 has slammed France's push to ban the Islamic full-face
veil and urged Muslim women in a new audio message on the Internet to
defend their headdress in a holy war against the "secular Western
crusade." Ayman al-Zawahri says the drive by France and some other
European nations is a discrimination against Muslim women.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9193958
A Utah Supreme Court decision that overturns polygamous church leader
Warren Jeffs' 2007 criminal conviction won't automatically make him a
free man. Even if Utah doesn't retry him, Texas and federal prosecutors
are waiting to move forward with their own cases.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jul/27/vatican-gay-priests
Not the least interesting aspect of the exposure of the double life of
some gay Catholic priests in Rome is the way it was handled by the
Italian media. Panorama, the news magazine that carried out the
investigation, tipped off the rest of the press last Thursday afternoon.
Italy's biggest news agency, Ansa, carried a brief dispatch on the
magazine's exclusive at 5.32 pm. By 7 o'clock it was number six on its
"billboard" of the day's top stories. Yet not a single national
newspaper picked up on Panorama's story. It was only the following day –
by which time the Rome diocese had responded with a statement berating
the magazine for "defaming all priests" – that the Italian press felt
able to run "balanced" reports leading with the diocese's advice to gay
priests to "come out" – and get out.
Jeremy Clarkson has joined the debate on whether burkas should be permitted in
Britain in his own inimitable style. The outspoken presenter provoked a flurry
of complaints after telling viewers of Top Gear on Sunday night that he had seen
a Muslim woman wearing saucy underwear beneath her gown. (A flurry of
complaints? Some people need to get a life. Clarkson is an oaf but this is
pathetic)
Homeopathy will continue to be available on the NHS despite an
influential health committee condemning it as medically unproven. Health
minister Anne Milton said complementary and alternative medicine "has a
long tradition" and very vocal people both in favour of it and against
it. A report by a group of MPs said homeopathic medicine should no
longer be funded on the NHS and called for a ban on the medicines
carrying medical claims on their labels. The Commons Science and
Technology Committee said there is no evidence the drugs are any more
effective than a placebo - the same as taking a sugar or dummy pill and
believing it works. Last month, doctors attending the British Medical
Association (BMA) annual conference backed this view, saying homeopathic
remedies should be banned on the NHS and taken off pharmacy shelves
where they are sold as medicines. The treatment was described as
"nonsense on stilts" and that patients would be better off buying
bottled water. Ms Milton said the Government welcomed the MPs' report
but "remain of the view that the local National Health Service and
clinicians are best placed to make decisions on what treatment is
appropriate for their patients". (So thank you doctors and health
committee but we will carry on with this crap regardless. The NHS is
cash-strapped but this nonsense must be funded)
A mosque is seeking compensation from police after officers accidentally
swooped on the place of worship during a drugs raid. Officers smashed
down the door to the mosque – which is the British headquarters of the
Nation of Islam – on Thursday morning after getting a warrant so search
a neighbouring lock-up garage. During the search of the garage in
Brixton, south London, officers noticed a doorway leading to another
room. Believing this area to be covered by the warrant, they smashed the
door down. But when they stepped through the door they realised they
were in a mosque and quickly left. Worshippers at the Nation of Islam, a
black nationalist sect led in the US by controversial minister Louis
Farrakhan, said they were "disgusted" by the raid. Layf Shakur, 40, who
regularly worships at the mosque, said: "I saw the riot vans and at
first I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "It would be like seeing
your local church raided by police. "I don't see how they mistook a
mosque for a drugs factory. (Stop your bloody whining, no harm was
done.)
Police fear dozens more women around the world have been raped by cult
leader Michael Lyons. Officers said many victims were too scared to come
forward after falling into the clutches of his intimidating group. They
said Lyons, known in spiritualist circles as Mohan Singh, was a
calculating criminal masquerading as a healer. Lyons was jailed for 10
years yesterday after being convicted of raping one woman and assaulting
another. However police say many more women around the world may also
have been victims.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/27/sex-abuse-catholic-order-challenge
A Roman Catholic religious order will today appeal a court decision that
could see it pay up to £5m to a victim of alleged clerical sexual abuse,
the largest compensation claim of its kind in Britain. The Society of
Jesus is attempting to overturn the decision of Mrs Justice Swift, who
said there was "entirely compelling" evidence that Patrick Raggett had
been the victim of a "sustained course of sexual abuse and assaults" by
Father Michael Spencer at Preston Catholic College, Lancashire, between
1969 and 1976.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/99153999.html
The Livingston Parish School Board will begin exploring the possibility
of incorporating the teaching of “creationism” in the public school
system’s science classes. During the board’s meeting Thursday, several
board members expressed an interest in the teaching of creationism, an
alternative to the study of the theory of evolution, in Livingston
Parish public school classrooms. (An alternative? Utter nonsense)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/26/ctia_san_francisco/
Cellular trade body The CTIA is challenging a San Francisco ordinance
that requires radiation labels on every mobile phone sold, claiming that
such a rule breaches the US constitution. The ordinance, passed by the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors in June, requires buyers to be
informed "at the point of sale" about the radiative properties of
different mobile phones. The CTIA reckons that requirement undermines
the FCC's (national) rulings and is thus unconstitutional – states can't
go around overruling federal bodies. (Cell phone radiation is
non-ionising and
not a health risk)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10762468
A suicide bomb near Peshawar has killed seven people near a gathering
mourning a cabinet minister's son murdered in a suspected Taliban
attack, police say. About 20 people were also injured when the bomber
struck on foot near the home of Provincial Information Minister Mian
Iftikhar Hussain in the town of Pabbi. Three policemen and four
civilians died. The minister was not among the mourners. The Taliban
told the BBC they killed his 28-year-old only son two days ago.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-10761200
The Roman Catholic Church has defended asking parishioners to make a
contribution to the cost of going to see the Pope on his visit to
Glasgow. Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate a public mass for 100,000
people at Bellahouston Park on 16 September. Anyone who wants access to
the mass will need a Pilgrim Pass and the church suggested a donation of
£20 per pass. (For that kind of fee I hope he does a few tricks)
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=182543
When women’s rights activist Wajiha Al-Huwaidar flew out of Saudi Arabia
last week for a holiday in Italy with her family, she was hoping for a
brief respite from what she describes as the ‘gender apartheid kingdom.’
She wasn’t so lucky. As she left, her husband received an automated SMS
text message from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informing him that his
wife, legally considered his ‘dependant’ under Saudi Arabia’s strict
gendered guardianship system, had left the country.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/20/recipe-state-funded-madrasas-segregation
Faith schools are likely to boom, in this most secular of nations. An
ICM poll for The British Humanist Association – of which I am president
– finds 72% of people concerned at academies being set up by religious
organisations. So far 273 faith schools are bidding to become academies,
free to teach creationism or any nonsense they like. In the Lords,
Baroness Murphy described one example: "Take the case of the Ebrahim
Academy in Whitechapel, an academy school for boys … The school day
begins with tahfeez, which is reciting the Qur'an and getting the
pronunciation right, which takes up half the day. Then the national
curriculum takes up the second half of the day. It is a state-funded,
tax-funded madrasa for the Islamic faith." (Polly Toynbee op-ed)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2010/jul/25/niqab-ban-mp-philip-hollobone
A Tory MP has been warned he could face legal action if he follows
through on a threat to refuse to meet constituents wearing the veil.
Lawyers for Liberty have written to Philip Hollobone insisting that his
stance is unlawful and that they "will be happy to represent any of your
constituents that you refuse to meet because they are veiled".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/26/iran-stoning-case-lawyers-relatives-arrested
Authorities in Iran have issued an arrest warrant for an acclaimed
Iranian lawyer and arrested his wife and brother-in-law over his
involvement in the case of a woman sentenced to death by stoning. Lawyer
Mohammad Mostafaei's office in Tehran was ransacked, and he was
interrogated in Evin prison for four hours on Saturday over his human
rights activities and involvement in the case of Sakineh Mohammadi
Ashtiani, the 43-year-old mother of two who was convicted of adultery
and whose plight in Iran has drawn international attention since her
children launched a campaign for her release almost a month ago.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/24/ben-goldacre-bad-science-spin
Even those carrying out formal academic research are guilty of twisting
scientific facts to suit their purposes. (Ben Goldacre)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10748228
Rallies are being held around the world to highlight the continued
imprisonment of an Iranian woman sentenced to death for adultery.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was originally told she would be killed by
stoning but the sentence was put on hold following an international
outcry.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/24/queen-should-have-let-nick-griffin-in
"Thoroughly un-British!" How typical that in decrying his disinvitation
from this week's Buckingham Palace garden party, Nick Griffin should
unwittingly remind us exactly why he should have been there. That the
BNP leader should regard excluding people from something as profoundly
"un-British" is another one of those cruelly self-parodic flashes that
are his speciality – and yet this useless idiot is still regarded as a
lethal threat by some. (Op-ed from Marina Hyde)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/22/shirley-sherrod-sue-andrew-breitbart
The focus of the latest race row to engulf the White House has swung to
the rightwing blogger who instigated the furore by posting an edited
version of a speech made by one of the federal government's senior black
officials. Andrew Breitbart found himself at the centre of the storm
after he posted parts of a speech by Shirley Sherrod, the head of rural
development for the agriculture department in Georgia, on the internet.
(Sherrod mulls suing Breitbart)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jul/23/shirley-sherrod-media-journalism
When Shirley Sherrod spoke at an NAACP event and shared a 24-year-old
story of overcoming her prejudices, little did she realise the same
speech would come back to in a new, highly edited form, putting her at
the centre of a national controversy, costing her a job at the
department of agriculture and almost ruining her reputation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/24/catholic-church-gay-priests-exposed
The Catholic church, already reeling from a string of clerical sex abuse
scandals, is facing new embarrassment after an Italian magazine
published an investigation into what it termed the double life of gay
priests in Rome.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/24/gao_snake_oil/
Companies selling DNA kits have been deceiving customers with
"fictitious" and "misleading" medical advice, an undercover sting
operation by Congressional watchdog the GAO has discovered. One of the
companies, 23andMe, was co-founded by Mrs Sergey Brin - Anne Wojowcki -
and boasts veteran Silicon Valley socialite Esther Dyson as a director.
All the companies investigated have been referred to the Food and Drugs
Administration and the Federal Trade Commission for "appropriate
action".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/10566358.stm
At least 50 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in a Pakistani
tribal village on the border with Afghanistan, officials said. At least
100 people were wounded in the explosion in Yakaghund village in the
Mohmand tribal region. The bomber came on a motorbike and blew himself
up near the gate of the local administrator's office, witnesses said.
Mohmand is part of Pakistan's tribal regions where the Taliban and
al-Qaeda have a strong presence. (No shit)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/08/abu-hamza-human-rights-ruling
Europe's highest court today said it would not allow Abu Hamza and three
other men held in Britain to be extradited to the United States to face
terrorism charges until it is satisfied they will not be treated
inhumanely. The European court of human rights' decision released this
morning means it will in effect sit in judgment on parts of the US's
criminal justice system.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10551784.stm
The European Court of Human Rights has ordered a halt to the extradition
to the US on terror charges of radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri. Abu
Hamza, jailed in the UK for soliciting to murder and racial hatred, and
three other British men complained about the length of sentence they may
face if convicted in the US. (Unbelievable - kick them out)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jul/08/octavia-nasr-cnn-tweet-fired
Twitter, with its strict 140-character limit, was never going to be the
best medium to make a nuanced point about Middle East politics. But
Octavia Nasr gave it a go. The cost was great: Nasr was fired as CNN's
senior Middle East editor after 20 years with the US-based news channel.
The offending tweet was sent on Sunday morning following the death in
Beirut of Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, who was
instrumental in the establishment of Hezbollah in Lebanon. Using her
official CNN Twitter account Nasr wrote: "Sad to hear of the passing of
Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a
lot."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/08/anglican-schism-history
The struggle in Southwark over Jeffrey John is part of a global Anglican
schism, which started in the US about 30 years ago and has since then
destroyed the coherence of the Anglican communion and turned it into a
loose grouping of national churches united only by their conviction that
the others are heretics. The first issue was women priests. Although a
couple of Chinese women had been ordained as an emergency measure in
Hong Kong during the war, they renounced their orders after the 1948
Lambeth conference, the 10-yearly gathering of Anglican bishops from
around the world, which as far as possible decides what the communion
stands for.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/08/iran-death-stoning-adultery
Twelve Iranian women and three men are on death row awaiting execution
by stoning despite an apparent last-minute reprieve for a mother of two
who had been facing the horrific sentence after being convicted of
adultery. Human rights groups and activists welcomed a wave of
international publicity and protests over the case of Sakineh Mohammadi
Ashtiani, 43, who was awaiting execution in the western Iranian town of
Tabriz after what her lawyer called an unjust trial and a sham
conviction.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/10554523.stm
Three people have been arrested in connection with a plot to bomb
targets in Norway, police in Oslo have said. Two of the plotters were
arrested in Norway and one in Germany, said the head of the Norwegian
security police, Janne Kristiansen. The men - a Uighur from China, an
Iraqi and an Uzbek - are said to have ties to al-Qaeda and to be linked
to bomb plots in the US and UK, Ms Kristiansen said. The three, all
Norwegian residents, had been under surveillance for a year. (Yet
three more examples of the murderous devotees of the "religion of
peace")
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/10550576.stm
Cameroon's government has rejected the claim by a gay asylum seeker in
the UK that he would face persecution if he returned home. On Wednesday,
the Supreme Court in London ruled in favour of the man, and a similar
claimant from Iran. (Well they would say that wouldn't they?)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10555652.stm
Three men have been found guilty of plotting to murder by becoming
suicide bombers. Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Khan and Waheed Zaman, all from
east London, were convicted of conspiracy to murder by a jury at
Woolwich Crown Court. The men had been recruited in 2006 by the
ringleader of what became known as the airline bomb plot. Last year a
jury cleared the trio, who will be sentenced on Monday, of knowing the
target had been airlines. They face life imprisonment. (Britain reaps
the benefits of the failed multicultural experiment)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10551784.stm
The European Court of Human Rights has ordered a halt to the extradition
to the US on terror charges of radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri. Abu
Hamza, serving seven years in the UK for soliciting to murder and racial
hatred, and three other British men complained about the length of
sentence they may face if convicted in the US. Their cases will be
delayed for further submissions to the Strasbourg court. (These
people know very well how to use the human rights legislation that they
would abolish given the chance. They are of no ornament or benefit to
the UK)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/08/gay-clergyman-jeffrey-john-bishop
A gay but celibate clergyman has been blocked from becoming a bishop for
the second time, following a row over his inclusion on the shortlist for
the choice to run the Anglican diocese of Southwark. Jeffrey John, the
Dean of St Albans, was under consideration for the post and would have
replaced the Right Rev Tom Butler, who retired earlier this year. In
2003 Dr John had been forced to stand down from his appointment as
suffragan bishop of Reading.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10180564.stm
Two gay men who said they faced persecution in their home countries have
the right to asylum in the UK, the Supreme Court has ruled. The panel of
judges said it had agreed "unanimously" to allow the appeals from the
men, from Cameroon and Iran. They had earlier been refused asylum on the
grounds they could hide their sexuality by behaving discreetly.
The head of the (sic) Nasa has said Barack Obama told him to make
"reaching out to the Muslim world" one of the space agency's top
priorities. Charles Bolden, a retired United States Marines Corps
major-general and former astronaut, said in an interview with al-Jazeera
that Nasa was not only a space exploration agency but also an "Earth
improvement agency". (Are there any Muslim countries that could make
a meaningful contribution to NASA's space missions? Looking around, no.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/06/catholic-priest-america-church-funds-male-escorts
A Roman Catholic priest has been arrested over claims he stole $1.3m
(£750,000) in church money over seven years. He allegedly spent it on
male escorts, clothing, luxury hotels and restaurants.
In the five years since suicide bombers killed 52 people in London,
placatory government policy on Islamist terrorism has achieved little
but store up trouble for the future, argues Douglas Murray. To coincide
with the fifth anniversary of July 7 this week, the Centre for Social
Cohesion is releasing Islamist Terrorism: the British Connections. It is
a 500-page, telephone directory-sized work that aims to present an
overview of every traceable Islamist convicted of Islamism-inspired
terrorist offences and attacks over the last decade. It also examines
the scope of British-linked Islamism-inspired terrorism threats
worldwide since 1993, listing many foreign combatants and extradition
cases and British citizens convicted abroad.
A European Union lawmaker has called on member governments to open their
secret files on UFOs, saying people need to know about close encounters
of the third kind. Mario Borghezio, an Italian member of the European
Parliament, said that the EU needed its own "X Files" archive where
anyone could see information on UFOs – including data gathered by the
military. Mr Borghezio said all European governments should go public
and stop what he called a "systematic cover-up." (The UK has opened
up its files - and they are boring. There is no big secret and no
conspiracy except in the minds of fantasists like Borghezio. The
Telegraph couches this as a call by the EU - instead of a single
gullible Eurotwat)
The Vatican has given Italian investigators permission to open up the
tomb of a mafia gangster in an attempt to solve one of Italy's most
enduring mysteries – the kidnap of a teenage girl nearly 30 years ago.
It has long been suspected that the tomb, in an underground crypt, may
contain not only the body of the mobster but also the remains of
15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi, who is thought to have been kidnapped by
his gang in June 1983. The saga of Miss Orlandi's disappearance is one
of the murkiest intrigues to have embroiled the Vatican in modern times.
In describing the BMA's recent vote against homeopathy on the NHS as a
"witch hunt", Dr James Le Fanu has misunderstood the nature of
evidence-based medicine, writes Martin Robbins. Dr James Le Fanu’s
description of a ‘witch hunt against homeopathy’ echoes comments made by
the British Medical Association (BMA)’s deputy chairman, who described
homeopathy as ‘witchcraft’, but is unlikely to play well with witches
already offended by the comparison with an “ethically dubious”
alternative medicine. Dr Le Fanu is confused by the sudden interest in
attacking homeopathy, after the BMA voted to stop providing it on the
NHS, and cites two possible reasons for it. It could, he suggests, be a
cunning NHS PR stunt to divert attention from other criticism. Or it
could be part of a devilish conspiracy by the medical establishment to
seize some prime property in London. As someone involved in these
attacks I can offer a third reason, one that seems to have escaped the
doctor - ordinary people are fed up with the absurd sight of taxpayers’
money being wasted on magical pills from the 18th century. (An
excellent takedown by Marty Robbins)
Iran's culture ministry has released a catalogue of acceptable
hairstyles for men to help them avoid "decadent Western cuts". Both
spiky hair and ponytails have not made the cut, however. The pictures of
mostly clean-shaven male models sporting short hair, some styled with
gel, are contained in a "journal of Iranian hairstyles approved by the
ministry of (culture and Islamic) guidance". "The proposed styles are
inspired by Iranians' complexion, culture and religion, and Islamic
law," said Jaleh Khodayar, who is in charge of a Modesty and Veil
Festival later this month where they are to be promoted. (Do they
have any idea quite how bloody silly they sound? No, of course not.
Having a sense of humor and living in a deranged theocracy are not
compatible)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/05/pakistan-terrorism
The recent attacks on a prominent shrine in Lahore demonstrate how the
unrest in Pakistan is caused by a minority of few who cannot tolerate
the plurality of beliefs in Pakistan. The Tehrik-e-Taliban are lying
through their teeth when they claim that they do not attack public
places. It's becoming more and more apparent that these militants aren't
resisting American hegemony; this a war to determine Pakistan's future
and, by proxy, the future of Islam.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/04/turkey-youtube-google-internet-rights
An internet rights group has launched a legal challenge in Turkey over a
ban on access to a host of Google-owned sites. The case, in which the
Internet Technologies Association argues that the restrictions illegally
discriminate against millions of users, is the latest front in an
ongoing dispute that raises questions about free speech in a country
attempting to join the EU.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/05/female-genital-mutilation-kurdish-iraq
The old Kurdish midwife's hands trembled alongside a bowl that she
positions to catch dripping blood. She picked up a razor blade and
sliced through a corner of paper, mimicking the ritual cut she has
performed at least 500 times, on young girls' genitals. "In the name of
God, the most compassionate and merciful," Naksheen Moustafa said.
"That's it! It's simple. I have never had a problem with this procedure
in all the time I have done it." But in a small home on the outskirts of
the same village in northern Iraq, Jiana Ali Mohammed sat on the floor,
her wide eyes staring into the middle distance. Jiana, now 17, underwent
female genital mutilation twice as a seven-year-old; once by a midwife
in the morning, and the second time later that day by her grandmother,
who thought the job had not been done properly. Her clitoris and labia
were sliced away, a procedure far more invasive than the symbolic nip
described by Moustafa. Jiana bled for days and lost movement for a while
in her lower limbs. (A disgusting and cruel procedure that must be
stamped out. What kind of sick mind dreamed this up in the first place?)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10509127.stm
The cost to taxpayers of the Pope's visit to Britain could rise to £12m
- up to £4m higher than previous figures, the government has said. That
bill for the September trip does not include policing costs for the
government, Lord Patten said. The main event, a mass to beatify Cardinal
John Henry Newman, has been moved from Coventry airport to a smaller
venue outside Birmingham. The Pope will visit Edinburgh, London and
Glasgow during the four-day trip. The trip will also cost the Catholic
church £7m - a figure which could also rise. (It's going to cost a
lot more than that - just
ask the Aussies)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/04/AR2010070404004.html
For a country that is trying to demonstrate its reliability as a partner
of the West, Turkey faces an awkward moment next week: An Istanbul judge
is set to weigh the legality of enormous tax-related fines imposed on a
media firm whose newspapers had sharply criticized the government. The
case, which pits Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan against one of
Turkey's wealthiest businessmen, has exposed what some observers say are
the prime minister's autocratic tendencies. Critics also point to recent
arrests of journalists and Erdogan's allegations that some Turkish
columnists are agents of Israel.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10505173.stm
A leading conservative Anglican has warned the Church of England could
split if an openly gay man is appointed Bishop of Southwark. Dr Jeffrey
John, the Dean of St Albans, is said to be among a number of clergy
nominated for the post. His supporters say Dr John is the right man for
the job in a liberal diocese. But traditionalist Canon Chris Sugden said
his appointment would lose the allegiance of orthodox parishes and
clergy.
The Roman Catholic Church will be asked to pay more money to cover the
costs of the Pope’s official visit this year. The Papal visit of
Benedict XVI has caused concern in Whitehall over the planning and
financing of the high-profile visit, the first papal state visit to
Britain.
An Australian Catholic priest has been jailed for almost 20 years for
"sadistic" sex attacks on young boys that spanned more than 18 years.
John Sidney Denham, 67, was sentenced to 19 years and 10 months after
pleading guilty to a range of charges, including multiple counts of
indecent assault against boys aged five to 16. Denham was found guilty
of abusing 39 boys at schools in Sydney and elsewhere in New South Wales
between 1968 and 1986.
Pakistan is to convene a national conference on tackling terrorism as
country's leaders seek to contain the menace of militant movements they
once backed. Yousuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister, announced plans to
develop a new strategy at the weekend following calls by Nawaz Shariz,
the main opposition leader that it was time to negotiate with the
Pakistan Taliban. "We have this problem in our home," he said. "Why
shouldn't we take initiatives?" While that call was rebuffed the leaders
did agree that years of support for Jihadist groups has backfired as
militants target the government.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/7871748/Jesuss-face-seen-in-Google-Earth-image.html
The 'face' of Jesus Christ has been 'seen' in an image picked up by
Google Earth. The resemblance was found by a 26-year-old man as he used
the mapping website to look for holiday destinations. (Pareidolia
strikes again. How the hell do these people know what Jesus, assuming he
was a real person, looked like?)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/05/pakistan-terrorism
The recent attacks on a prominent shrine in Lahore demonstrate how the
unrest in Pakistan is caused by a minority of few who cannot tolerate
the plurality of beliefs in Pakistan. The Tehrik-e-Taliban are lying
through their teeth when they claim that they do not attack public
places. It's becoming more and more apparent that these militants aren't
resisting American hegemony; this a war to determine Pakistan's future
and, by proxy, the future of Islam. (Islam is inherently intolerant)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/04/pope-uk-visit-yom-kippur
The government is trying to avert fresh embarrassment over the pope's
first visit to the UK after learning that a key appearance coincides
with the holiest festival in the Jewish calendar. The latest problem
arises over the pope's historic address at Westminster Hall on 17
September, which is the same date as Yom Kippur, also known as the Day
of Atonement, a solemn occasion marked by 25 hours of fasting and
prayer.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10500869.stm
Lebanon's top Shia Muslim cleric, seen as a key figure in the founding
of militant group Hezbollah, has died at the age of 74. Grand Ayatollah
Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah was regarded as Hezbollah's spiritual guide
after the group was founded in 1982, a charge both denied. An implacable
critic of the US, he had a wide following among Shias and backed the
1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. But he was known among Shias for his
moderate social views. He held particularly progressive views on the
role of women in Islamic society. (So he was only half a git - is
that it?)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/10501668.stm
Police investigating claims of child abuse by Belgian clergy have told
the BBC they are probing death threats against witnesses and
magistrates. Last month police raided a meeting of Belgium's Catholic
bishops as part of their investigation, seizing computers and documents.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jul/02/lahore-shrine-bombings-pakistan
After last night's bombings in Lahore, an ancient sanctuary, which for
centuries was a place for prayer and meditation, has been rudely
introduced to Pakistan's very modern conflict. Nothing short of a shift
in national culture will rescue the soul of Pakistan's Islamic
traditions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/03/ian-jack-church-building-conservation
The social, constitutional and moral consequences of the church's
shrinking importance are often debated, but perhaps the real threat,
which all of us can care about, is aesthetic. More numbers: three
quarters of England's 16,000 parish churches are listed as buildings of
architectural and historic interest in Grades I, II* and II. Churches
listed grade I comprise 45% of all England's buildings – castles,
mansions, banks, railway stations, markets – in the same first rank. In
the words of an official from English Heritage, this means that less
than 2% of the England's population is directly responsible for the care
of nearly half of England's finest architecture. (Good piece only
marred by a gratuitous and unnecessary swipe at Richard Dawkins)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/02/tories-out-in-force-gay-pride
When the Conservatives last had their hands on the tiller of power, none
of their MPs would admit to being homosexual, they voted against
lowering the age of consent for gay sex, and invented a law which made
it illegal for schools to mention homosexuality. How things change:
tomorrow, eight years after Alan Duncan became the first Tory MP to come
out of his own volition, Nick Herbert, the openly gay Conservative
policing minister, will give a speech at Pride London about "how the
Tories have come a helluva long way".
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100701/ten-uk-gibson-90f61ed.html
Oscar-winning director and actor Mel Gibson, who caused a media storm
four years ago over an anti-Semitic statement, is again making headlines
for using an apparent racial slur in an argument with his ex-girlfriend.
Celebrity news website Radaronline.com Thursday published excerpts of an
audiotape of Gibson telling Oksana Grigorieva, whom "The Passion of the
Christ" director is battling in court, that they way she is dressed made
her look like a "pig in heat." "If you get raped by a pack of n***ers,
it will be your fault," Radaronline reported Gibson as shouting at
Grigorieva during an argument she taped, apparently using an expression
that is deeply insulting to African Americans. (Further confirmation,
if any were needed, of Gibson's deeply unpleasant character)
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100702/tts-uk-pakistan-bomb-ca02f96.html
Pakistanis demanded a tougher government crackdown on militants at
protests on Friday a day after suicide bombers killed dozens in the
country's most economically important province and traditional seat of
power. In the second major attack in the eastern city of Lahore in the
Punjab heartland in a month, two suicide bombers struck Pakistan's most
important Sufi shrine on Thursday night, killing at least 42 people and
wounding 175.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/10486173.stm
A Rwandan priest accused of helping to orchestrate the 1994 genocide in
his native country has been held in Uganda, police say. Jean-Bosco
Uwinkindi was arrested after entering western Uganda from the Democratic
Republic of Congo. He is accused of ordering the killing of Tutsis,
including women and children, after they had sought refuge in his
church. The prosecution alleges that in investigations after the
genocide, some 2,000 corpses were found near the church.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jul/01/queer-christian-proud
Listening to certain Christians, you would think that opposition to
homosexuality is one of the most basic principles of the Christian
faith. But on Saturday, as a small group of Christians turn up to
protest against the Pride festival in central London, they will be
easily outnumbered by the Christians who are participating in Pride,
celebrating diverse sexuality as a gift from God.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/01/pakistan-law-curb-media
Pakistan is considering a controversial new law that would restrict
media coverage of suicide bombings and could be used to quell criticism
of the government and army on the country's private television networks.
Under the proposed changes, TV journalists could be jailed for up to
three years for broadcasting "anything defamatory against the organs of
the state". (Shooting the messenger is never going to help -
conspiracy theories will take the place of news - you could say they
already have)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9154442
Two suicide bombings that killed 42 at a popular Sufi shrine in
Pakistan's east stirred outrage in this terror-scarred nation Friday.
Several people blamed the U.S. presence in Afghanistan for spurring the
attacks, while some faulted a minority sect that itself was viciously
targeted weeks ago. (The problem is Islam)
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100702/tuk-uk-britain-pope-paisley-fa6b408.html
Protestant preacher Ian Paisley said on Friday it was a mistake to have
invited Pope Benedict to Britain and criticised the Catholic Church's
response to the child sex abuse scandal. "I believe that any man that
destroys a child's life, as we have seen scores of young people in this
day and generation -- and then the church having to wait until it is
uncovered -- is an absolute disgrace."
It was a small victory for science, and an even smaller one for
taxpayers. But opponents of public-sector mission creep will be cheered
by this week's news from the British Medical Association conference in
Brighton. It has recommended that the NHS should no longer fund
homeopathy, on the grounds that there is no evidence that it works, and
that it runs counter to all principles of evidence-based medicine.
(Talking of holy water scams...)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia_pacific/10472269.stm
A South Korean professor who claimed he could make tap water into holy
water will face fraud charges, police say. The man, named as Prof Kim,
claimed he could digitally capture the elements of holy water from
Lourdes, France, that believers say has healing powers. He had sold
devices to more than 5,000 people, making almost 1.7bn won ($1.3m,
£870,000). (The ignorant suckers almost deserve to be ripped off. I
did say almost...)
Legalising assisted suicide creates a “slippery slope” that leads to
doctors killing patients without their consent, according to an expert.
(This slippery slope argument is silly - take a look at
Oregon for one
- or is this expert implying that British doctors can't wait to start
bumping people off?)
Al-Qaeda is preparing to launch its first online propaganda newspaper in
English, a move that could help the terror group recruit inside the US
and Europe. The group has begun promoting the paper, called Inspire,
with animated online graphics promising a "special gift to the Islamic
nation." (Time for some hackers to take the site down)
Children as young as five are being used by the Taliban to lay bombs and
carry weapons in a deadly new tactic in Afghanistan, it can be
disclosed. (What a bunch of heroes these Taliban are)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/30/india-city-widows-discrimination
In the dark, damp back-streets of Vrindavan, more commonly known as the
"city of widows", India's forgotten widows chant for their supper. For a
few hours, their prayers earn them enough meagre rupees to survive.
These women were once revered as mothers, sisters and daughters; some
will die in Vrindavan without seeing any relatives again. (A cruel
and heartless Hindu culture - India should be ashamed)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/01/italy-crucifix-ban-human-rights
A European ruling banning crucifixes in Italian schools should be
overturned, nine governments said in an appeal today. The European Court
of Human Rights ruled in November that crucifixes in Italian public
schools violate education freedoms. The case, part of a larger debate
over the role of religious symbols in public places, has sharpened
divisions between secular and religious groups. Italian courts have
previously ruled the display of crucifixes is part of Italian national
identity and not an attempt at conversion , an argument expanded by New
York University legal scholar Joseph Weiler on behalf of the governments
of Italy, Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, San Marino, Romania
and Russia, who are appealing against the ruling. (Interesting
rag-bag of countries taking action)
The phrase “Under God” was spray painted over the weekend on one of six
billboards in North Carolina displaying a portion of the Pledge of
Allegiance and purposely leaving that line out. Charlotte-Mecklenburg
police were notified about the vandalism Sunday but a CMPD spokesperson
says right now it doesn't appear as though there's any surveillance
video that would have caught the person on tape. The North Carolina
Secular Association paid $15,000 for the statewide campaign to remove
Under God and make the pledge more inclusive. The organization's founder
responded to the vandalism with a statement saying: "This act shows just
how needed our message is. Inserting Under God on our billboard is like
inserting it into the original pledge in 1954. It divides us as a
nation."
The Pope launched a team to stem the secularisation of Catholic
countries and "re-evangelise" the West. Benedict XVI announced the
creation of a new Vatican department dedicated to tackling what he
called "a grave crisis in the sense of the Christian faith and the role
of the Church." He expressed deep concerns that previously staunch
Catholic countries in Europe and North America were facing "the eclipse
of a sense of God". Tens of thousands of worshippers are deserting the
Church over issues such as clerical sex abuse and the ban on married
priests. "I have decided to create a new body with the aim of promoting
a renewed evangelism," in countries that are going through "progressive
secularisation of society", the 83-year-old Pope said. (The
man's insensitivity and arrogance takes your breath away)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/25/AR2010062504356.html
A satellite TV station co-owned by Rupert Murdoch is pulling in Iranian
viewers with sizzling soaps and sitcoms but has incensed the Islamic
republic's clerics and state television executives.
In Islamic Iran where clerics rule, unofficial "prayer sellers," who
promise to intercede with the divine to solve all manner of life's
problems, are seeing their business boom. Backstreet spiritual guides
like YaAli are tolerated by the authorities and increasingly sought
after by Iranians seeking help from on high. "People from all walks of
life -- mostly young women -- come here asking for prayers that can
solve their problems," says YaAli sitting on a chair in a crumbly old
alley in Tehran. (Iran - welcome back to the Middle Ages)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10449430.stm
The NHS should stop funding homeopathy and it should no longer be
marketed as a medicine in pharmacies, doctors say. Medics voted on the
issue at the British Medical Association's annual conference in
Brighton. They dismissed the highly-diluted remedies as "nonsense" and
potentially harmful to patients as it can lead them to shunning
conventional medicines. The Department of Health homeopathy said
treatment was under review. (Naturally the BBC balances the report
with some believers)
http://www.slate.com/id/2258484/
Let's get one thing straight: Agnosticism is not some kind of weak-tea
atheism. Agnosticism is not atheism or theism. It is radical skepticism,
doubt in the possibility of certainty, opposition to the unwarranted
certainties that atheism and theism offer. (Inaccurate, pointless
article by Ron Rosenbaum about those nasty "New Atheists" which gets the
drubbing it deserves. Update - see what Ophelia Benson
has to say.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/29/uae-rape-victims-women
In the United Arab Emirates, a country that prides itself on modernity
and its willingness to advance women's rights, the criminal court in Abu
Dhabi has sentenced an 18-year-old Emirati woman to a year in prison for
illicit sex after she reported that six men had gang-raped her. Sadly,
her treatment, though outrageous, is not unusual in the UAE. It comes as
no surprise that more than half of Emirati women questioned in a survey
in January by the YouGov Siraj consulting organisation said they would
not report sexual assault or rape to police. (The elephant in the
room in this piece is Islam's attitude to women)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/jun/28/simon-jenkins-spoof-science
Well, wow. Ever rolled a little snowball for fun and seen an avalanche
sweep down a mountainside? Me neither, but I find it easier to imagine
now that "SpoofJenks" has crunched across the internet. It began small.
Yet another vacuous attack from Simon Jenkins on science in general, and
one scientist in particular popped up. In this case the target was
Martin Rees, dedicated and distinguished cosmologist, who had the
temerity to engage with the public in the Reith Lectures. The BBC also
received collateral damage for spending too much time revering science,
as did my own experiment at Cern, the particle physics laboratory near
Geneva, just for being there. Rees was labelled shameless and two-faced,
scientists were said to "just want money". (A response to
anti-science ignoramus and Guardian journalist Simon Jenkins)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8708541.stm
A female pig by the name of Barbie lies anaesthetised on a bed, a pulse
monitor clipped to her snout as it pokes out from under a blanket. Staff
in blue medical scrubs crowd around her, examining an image of the
inside of her colon, shown on a computer screen above the bed. Unusually
in the pig world, Barbie was raised by Jews. Researcher Sharon Goldfarb-Albak
strokes the animal's head tenderly. "I love pigs! The Bible says don't
eat pig, so I don't eat pig, but that doesn't mean I can't pet them and
make them my friends," she says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/10432827.stm
A Catholic Church-backed commission of inquiry into clerical sexual
abuse in Belgium has announced it is shutting down in protest at police
raids. Commission head Peter Adriaenssens said the commission had been
used as "bait" by state prosecutors. Offices were searched last week and
all of the panel's 475 case files removed.
Ann Widdecombe is in line to be appointed by the Government as the next
British ambassador to the Vatican, The Sunday Telegraph has learned. In
a move designed to stress a commitment to the Catholic Church, the
Coalition has decided that the former Conservative MP would represent a
suitably high-profile appointment. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary,
is understood to have endorsed the nomination, which will be sent to the
Vatican for final approval before an announcement is made later in the
summer. (Doris Karloff gets her dream job)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/27/pope-causes-outrage-over-condemnation
Groups representing the victims of clerical abuse tonight expressed
outrage after the pope criticised raids on the Catholic church by
Belgian police. Last week, police raided the home of a retired bishop,
opened the grave of at least one archbishop and detained Belgium's nine
current serving bishops as they met, seizing their mobile phones and
only releasing them after nine hours. Pope Benedict described the raids
by officers investigating abuse claims as "surprising and deplorable"
and demanded that the church be allowed a role in inquiries into child
molesters in its ranks. (It seems this arrogant old man still doesn't
get it - the rape of children is a criminal matter for the civil
authorities not the church)
The Pope has criticised a "deplorable" police raid on Catholic Church
property in Belgium as part of a sex abuse investigation. The pontiff
condemned the "surprising and regrettable methods" used by officers.
(Because of course the Vatican's methods have proved so successful in
the past)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/26/abortion-ireland-bishop-michael-burrows
A small item in the Church of England newspaper last week has gone
relatively unnoticed, yet it hints at a profound shift in religious
attitudes to women's reproductive rights. In particular, it's an
indication of how attitudes in Ireland, traditionally Britain's most
socially conservative neighbour, have liberalised in recent years.
Writing in his diocesan newspaper on 18 June, the Church of Ireland's
bishop of Cashel and Ossory, the Rt Rev Michael Burrows, urged Anglicans
to rethink their stance on both abortion and gay unions. It's time, he
said, for Ireland to "come of age".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/27/leicester-secularism-mayor
The new Lord Mayor is picking a fight with the local Anglican
establishment. Councillor Colin Hall's first move was to appoint fellow
secularist campaigners as his Lady Mayoress and his chaplain. The former
post went to Eleanor Davidson, who conducts humanist celebrations, and
the latter to Allan Hayes, president of Leicester's secular society.
Last week Hall refused to attend the traditional cathedral service that
welcomes new Lord Mayors. He had asked for the service to be more
inclusive of other faiths, and of humanism; he wanted the Lady Mayoress
to read a humanist text, and his chaplain to give an address. When the
bishop asked to see the sermon in advance, the mayor and his secularist
sidekicks pulled out.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/26/conservatives-health-select-committee
Of all the MPs who could have been appointed to the Health Select
Committee on Thursday, Conservatives Nadine Dorries and David Tredinnick
are perhaps the most controversial choices. One attracted ridicule for
claiming that an unborn foetus could punch its way out of the womb,
while the other is a supporter of astrology who once asserted that blood
doesn't clot under a full moon. The inclusion of either on any select
committee is worrying, but for both to have been elected to the health
committee is an extremely disturbing development.
Not long before Hillel Ben Sasson attended his first demonstration in
the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, Aryeh King − perhaps
the person most identified with Jewish settlement there − declared that
in the battle over the capital of Israel, the left had been defeated.
“In the past they organized demonstrations,” King told Haaretz last
November, “but now we have made them understand that they have lost the
battle. They can’t even recruit 20 people, and if there is a
demonstration it’s Europeans who take part. Israelis don’t show up
anymore. We have won.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/10411717.stm
Roman Catholic bishops in Belgium have expressed their disappointment at
a police raid on the offices of a Church commission investigating sexual
abuse. Bishops' conference spokesman Eric de Beukelaer said the
confiscation of the commission's files violated victims' confidentiality
and hindered its work. (It still hasn't sunk in - if you rape
children or conceal the rape of children there should be no hiding
place. The bishops expressed disappointment did they? How do they feel
about pedophilia? Slightly miffed?)
Scientists who believe in man-made climate change have better scientific
credentials than global warming sceptics, according to a study. The
research indicates that scientists who blame human activity for global
warming have published more relevant and influential papers than those
who question man's impact. The analysis of climate scientists claims the
"vast majority" of climate change researchers agree on the issue, and
that those who oppose the consensus are "not actually climate
researchers or not very productive researchers".
The Vatican has protested after Belgian police drilled into the tombs of
two Roman Catholic Cardinals in a search for evidence of paedophile
priests. Police officers raided the St Rambouts Cathedral in the town of
Mechelen, north of Brussels, on Thursday acting on allegations that a
cache of files concerning a sex abuse cover up was hidden in the crypt.
A Church spokesman confirmed that police officers opened the tomb of Leo
Jozef Suenens, Belgian prelate between 1961 and 1979 and the grave of
Jozef-Ernest van Roey, who was his predecessor as head of the Catholic
Chrurh in Belgium from 1926 until his death in 1961. (The Vatican is
still trying to hinder justice)
Jesus may not have died nailed to the cross because there is no evidence
that the Romans crucified prisoners two thousand years ago, a scholar
has claimed. (There is also no evidence that he ever existed - see
The Jesus Puzzle)
Saudi Arabia is reviewing its terrorism strategy after the detection of
a female run network that was fund raising for al-Qaeda. Heila al-Qusayyer,
the middle class mother now described as al-Qaeda's 'First Lady' was
running a cell of 60 alleged militants. She is believed to have been the
Arabian peninsula's principal fund-raiser for al-Qaeda. Qusayyer holds a
degree in geography and was married to a former executive from Aramco,
the all-powerful state oil company, who gave up all his worldly
possessions to become a radical preacher.
A Malaysian version of X factor has forsaken the world of pop to conduct
a search for the nation's next religious leader. Contestants on Young
Imam chant passages from the Koran, not pop covers. While the concept is
based on the hit British and American shows, the young Malaysian men are
out to prove they are the best mullah in the land. (This sounds even
worse than the original which is saying something)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/25/health-select-committee-david-redinnick
Depending on the phase of the moon, "surgeons will not operate because
blood clotting is not effective and the police have to put more people
on the street". These are the words of David Tredinnick. Being of a
somewhat sceptical disposition, I had a sneaking suspicion that this
statement, vomited forth in the House of Commons on 14 October 2009,
might not be entirely correct. I'm fairly sure that I have shaved on a
full moon, cut myself, and not bled to death due to lunar-influenced
failure of coagulation. (Typically good piece by Adam Rutherford)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/25/triple-murder-india-honour-killings
Triple murder in India highlights increase in 'honour killings'. New
custodians of age-old prejudices behind increase in 'honour killings' in
India
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i96cPQE_WX5ctKCpHLWQyXPSnDaQD9GINCU80
A Baptist minister who toured the country to talk about his conversion
from Islam to Christianity is no longer the dean of Liberty University's
theological seminary following allegations he fabricated or embellished
facts about his past, the school said Friday. The university founded by
Rev. Jerry Falwell said that a board of trustees committee concluded
Ergun Caner made contradictory statements. Although it didn't find
evidence that he was not a Muslim who converted as a teenager, it did
discover problems with dates, names and places he says he lived, a
statement said. (But he's lying in a good cause, right?)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/25/pakistani_censhorship/
Pakistan announced Friday that it will monitor Yahoo, Google, MSN,
Hotmail, YouTube, Amazon, and Bing, and will block links and content
that it deems anti-Islamic.
"If any particular link with offensive content appears on these
websites, the [link] shall be blocked immediately without disturbing the
main website," Pakistan Telecommunication Authority spokesman Khurram
Mehran told the Associated Press.
In addition to the link-blockage of the seven named high-traffic sites,
Pakistan web-watchers have also completely blocked 17 lesser sites,
including, for example, Islam Exposed, which includes links to
blaspheming articles such as "Muhammad, A Symbol Of Terrorism" along
with over-the-top posts such as "Joe Lieberman Spews Excrement!".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/25/saudi-arabia-youth-identities
MTV's True Life documentary series recently featured a group of young
Saudis grappling with the kingdom's rigid social norms – and their cry
for change stirred bitter emotions in conservative quarters. They
weren't talking about politics, but about themselves and their desire to
live the life they choose. Their demands may seem mundane, but in a way,
they are far more radical than calling for democracy or political reform
because they strike at the core of Saudi Arabia's social system and its
religious underpinnings.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/25/dawkins-atheist-school
So, Richard Dawkins has promised – no, that's too strong – intimated
that he might set up an atheist school, as he would presumably have the
right to under new government "free school" plans. During a chat on
mumsnet he responded to a few suggestions that he start "an atheist free
school" by saying he liked the idea very much. (Very silly piece by
Nick Spencer - the comments are interesting)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/24/rees-makes-religion-out-of-science
A "mammoth of research" is about to rise behind London's St Pancras
station, a biomedical centre costing £600m and housing about 1,250
"cutting-edge" scientists. Ask not its value. Science jeers at the idea.
The UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation has already been
dubbed a "cathedral of science", justified by faith, not reason.
(Simon Jenkins is an anti-science twit)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/25/human-foetus-no-pain-24-weeks
The human foetus feels no pain before 24 weeks, according to a major
review of scientific evidence published today. The connections in the
foetal brain are not fully formed in that time, nor is the foetus
conscious, according to the Royal College of Obstetricians and
Gynaecologists. The findings of two reports commissioned by the
Department of Health strike a blow to those seeking to reduce the upper
time limit for having an abortion, currently at 24 weeks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/jun/25/press-freedom-malaysia
Malaysia has banned three works of political cartoons that criticise the
government, claiming that they pose a security threat. Mahmood Adam, the
home ministry's secretary-general, explained: "All three publications
have been banned for their contents that can influence the people to
revolt against the leaders and government policies... The contents are
not suitable and detrimental to public order."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/24/belgium-catholic-church-sex-claims
The Roman Catholic church was once again at the centre of a child abuse
scandal today when police raided the headquarters of the church
hierarchy in Belgium. They carried away computers and hundreds of files,
amid rumours that church leaders were continuing to cover up abuse cases
despite a public plea for forgiveness last month.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/10406344.stm
German police are investigating the stoning of a Jewish dance group
trying to perform on the street in the city of Hanover. Youths
reportedly shouted "Juden Raus" (Jews Out) as they attacked the dancers
of the Chaverim ("Friends" in Hebrew) dance troupe last weekend. Police
said several Muslim immigrant youths were among the attackers and two
youths were being questioned. (What a surprise, Muslim immigrants!
Who'd have thought it?)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/10405996.stm
The Sri Lankan foreign minister has said that a UN panel on human rights
will not be allowed into the country. GL Peiris said that there was "no
need" for the panel to come to the country and they would not be allowed
in. (That should stop the speculation about human rights abuses,
right?)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gKWi6HkcKYSqidIP8OadAAn1s9JAD9GHND380
Five young American Muslims were convicted of plotting terrorist attacks
and sentenced to 10 years in jail Thursday in a case that highlights
concerns about Westerners traveling to Pakistan to link up with al-Qaida
and other extremist groups. Prosecutors said e-mail records, documents
and witness statements proved the men from the Washington, D.C., area
used the Internet to plot terror attacks in Pakistan and allied nations
and meet militant organizations in the country. They sought life
imprisonment for the defendants.
http://www.alternet.org/story/147289/why_sarah_palin_will_never_lead_the_religious_right
Despite her claim to a conservative form of feminism, Sarah Palin will
never lead the religious right for one simple reason: She's a woman.
(Good piece by Sarah Posner)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/jun/23/survey-eu-scientists-dangerous-eurobarometer
Despite World Cup and Wimbledon fever, a survey published this week
suggests that more Europeans are interested in scientific discoveries
and technological developments than are interested in sport. According
to the latest Eurobarometer survey for the European Commission, 80% are
interested in science and technology whereas 65% are interested in
sport. However, the same survey found that 57% think scientists should
be doing more to communicate their work to the general public and 66%
believe governments should do more to interest young people in
scientific issues.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/10403961.stm
Belgian authorities have raided the offices of the country's most senior
Catholic prelate as they investigate child sex abuse claims. A spokesman
for the Brussels prosecutors' office confirmed that the palace of the
Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels had been sealed off. Officials were
searching for evidence concerning abuse allegations, he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8755338.stm
Prince William is to follow his father by becoming a fellow of Britain's
national academy of science. (Why?)
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100624/tsc-smuggler-has-brush-with-the-law-over-c2ff8aa.html
A South Korean shopkeeper will face charges for smuggling thousands of
arctic fox penises from China to sell as love charms, customs officials
said Thursday. "We found out that some Buddhist shops and
fortune-tellers are selling such parts out of superstition that amulets
made of them will bring back husbands who have left their wives or help
women find husbands," one official said.
A hospital support group aimed at helping parents overcome the grief of
having a stillborn child has been banned from using the word "angels" in
case it upset non-religious families.
ITV will broadcast just one hour of religious programming this year
while Five will not show any, the channels have admitted to the Church
of England. Adding to fears that Britain’s commercial television
stations no longer see the value of traditional shows about faith,
Channel 4 has scrapped the post of commissioning editor for religion.
The channels say audiences are no longer interested in programmes solely
about religion, so they cannot afford to continue making them.
A Lord Mayor has banned the traditional Christian prayers at the start
of council meetings, calling the practice “"outdated, unnecessary and
intrusive". Colin Hall said religion had no role to play in the conduct
of council business. Mr Hall, who has just taken over the mayorship in
Leicester, said the “majority” of councillors and city council staff
were not practising Christians therefore there was little point in
having the prayers, which were introduced in 1997 and stopped for a year
between 2005 and 2006.
More than 40 per cent of Americans believe Jesus Christ will return to
Earth by 2050, according to a poll.
Four women and 11 men were sentenced to flogging and prison terms for
mingling at a party, judicial officials said. The men, who are between
30 and 40 years old, and three of the women, who are under the age of
30, were sentenced to an unspecified number of lashes and one or two
year prison terms each. The fourth woman, a minor, was sentenced to 80
lashes and was not sent to prison.
Dutch police are to use "decoy Jews", by dressing law enforcers in
Jewish religious dress such as skullcaps, in an effort to catch
anti-Semitic attackers. Lodewijk Asscher, Amsterdam's mayor, has ordered
the new decoy strategy to cut the number of verbal and physical attacks
on Jews, amid fears that anti-Semitic "hate crime" is on the rise. "Jews
in at least six Amsterdam neighbourhoods often cannot cross the street
wearing a skullcap without being insulted, spat at or even attacked,"
according to local reports.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/23/libya-human-rights-image-amnesty
Human rights observance in Libya is failing to keep pace with the
country's improved international image, with abuses rife and state
security forces enjoying impunity for their actions, Amnesty
International reports today. Floggings used as punishment for adultery,
indefinite detentions and abuses of migrants, refugees and asylum
seekers, as well as the legacy of unresolved cases of enforced
disappearances of dissidents are documented in a 135-page report – the
product of Amnesty's first visit to Libya in five years during which the
human rights organisation enjoyed partial co-operation from the
authorities.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100623/ap_on_hi_te/us_cell_phone_radiation
In this city known for producing laws both path-breaking and
contentious, legislators have forcefully stepped into another debate —
this time over the potential danger of cell phone use. With the Board of
Supervisors' 10-1 vote in favor of an ordinance Mayor Gavin Newsom has
indicated he will sign, San Francisco has waded into the as-yet
unresolved debate over the relationship between long-term use of cell
phones and health problems such as brain tumors. It would be the
country's first law requiring cell phone retailers to disclose the
phones' specific absorption rate, or SAR, to customers. SAR measures the
maximum amount of radiation absorbed by a person using a handset. The
Federal Communications Commission limits SAR to an average of 1.6 watts
per kilogram of body tissue, but information about radiation levels is
not usually readily available when people purchase phones at stores.
(Pointless. One no scientific tests have found any danger, two it is
non-ionizing radiation and three Joe Public won't understand SAR anyway)
Christians should not feel “embarrassed or awkward” about wanting to
convert others to their faith, according to the two most senior clerics
in the Church of England. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York
admitted that many are nervous about sharing their beliefs in a society
“fixated on personal choice”, and that priests had committed “abuses of
power” in the past. But they added that spreading the word of God is not
just “marketing another lifestyle choice” and that even in multi-faith
Britain, followers of other religions want churchgoers to be “upfront”
about their beliefs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jun/22/channel-4-religious-programming
Channel 4 is launching a new religious strand to be screened daily after
Channel 4 News. 4thought.tv, a series of five-minute films, featuring an
individual speaker talking directly to camera, will debut on 5 July.
Comparisons with Thought for the Day, the long-running Radio 4 religious
slot broadcast during the Today programme, are likely, although Channel
4's equivalent will draw on a wider range of themes and presenters.
(The point of this being?)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/22/faisal-shahzad-pleads-guilty-new-york-times-square-bomb
The man suspected of attempting to bomb New York's Times Square pleaded
guilty last night, saying he was "part of the answer to the US
terrorising the Muslim nations and the Muslim people". US citizen Faisal
Shahzad, 30, is charged with 10 separate terrorism and weapons counts,
some of which carry mandatory life sentences, the US district court
judge warned.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/21/cardinal-vatican-corruption-investigation
A cardinal under investigation in a sprawling corruption scandal denied
wrongdoing and insisted today he acted for the good of the Catholic
church while handling real estate transactions for the Vatican office
that funds missionary work abroad. Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Naples
told a press conference said he forgave his accusers and was going ahead
serenely while accepting the "cross" that the investigation had brought
on him. Prosecutors are trying to untangle an alleged web of kickbacks
involving billions of euros worth of contracts for such mega-projects as
preparing 2000 Holy Year events in Rome, the 2009 Group of Eight summit
and rebuilding the quake-shattered town of L'Aquila.
Harking back to the far-off days when he was a grad student, physicist
Stephen Hawking recalls how physicists bristled at the idea of a big
bang, with its echoes of the biblical Genesis story. "One would have to
appeal to religion – an act of God – to determine how the universe
started off," is how he describes the objectors' attitude. In those
days, the very question of whether the universe actually had a beginning
was a controversial one, he adds.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10368700.stm
The archbishops of Canterbury and York have announced last-ditch plans
to try to avoid a split in the Church of England over female bishops. Dr
Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu will propose a new concession to
opponents of women bishops.
Visitors to an art exhibition will be invited to pose for photos wearing
a burka, it has been disclosed.
A secret Vatican file on a disgraced Roman Catholic German bishop
alleges he is a "severely alcoholic man" who sexually preyed on young
priests. The dossier was seen Pope Benedict XVI before he accepted the
resignation of Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg last month. The new
allegations have come to light following his demands last week that the
Vatican review his case. He has accused Germany's Archbishop Robert
Zollitsch and Bavaria's Archbishop Reinhard Marx of not behaving a
"brotherly" manner and pressuring him to resign.
A new film based on the legend of Pope Joan – an Englishwoman who
purportedly disguised herself as a man and rose to become the only
female pontiff in history – has sparked debate in the Roman Catholic
Church. The film has fuelled disagreements over whether Pope Joan really
existed or, as the Church has always maintained, she was a mythical
figure used by the early Protestant Church to discredit and embarrass
Rome. For a Church that even in the 21st century remains staunchly
opposed to the idea of female priests, a female Pope was anathema.
(Oh dear have the women-hating clerics been offended? Good)
Iranian police have issued warnings to 62,000 women who were "badly
veiled" in the Shiite holy province of Qom as part of a crackdown on
dress and behaviour. Colonel Mehdi Khorasani, the provincial police
chief, said police had also confiscated around 100 cars for carrying
improperly dressed women and said that "encouraging such relaxations are
among the objectives of the enemy." The population of Qom is more than
one million, with most of them concentrated in the city itself which is
Shiite Iran's clerical nerve-centre.
Pakistan is continuing to support militant groups further undermining
coalition efforts in Afghanistan and increasing the risk of terror
attacks overseas, according to a new report by security analysts. "A
number of militant networks – including al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba and
Jaish-e-Mohammad – remain entrenched in Pakistan and pose a grave threat
to the state and the region," said Seth Jones, one of the authors.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10360528.stm
At least 26 people have been killed and 53 wounded in a twin car bombing
in central Baghdad, Iraqi officials say. (Yet more inter-Muslim
murder.)
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/international/article475879.ece
Iran on Sunday executed Abdolmalek Rigi, leader of the Pakistan-based
Jundallah group, which has taken responsibility for several violent
attacks inside Iran. “After the decision of the Tehran revolutionary
tribunal, Abdolmalek Rigi was hanged on Sunday morning in Evin prison,”
said a court statement. A leading Iranian lawmaker said Tehran was now
planning to file a lawsuit against Britain and the U.S. for supporting
Rigi. “Based on Rigi's confessions, America and Britain were backing
terrorist acts committed by him in Iran,” said lawmaker Parviz Sorouri,
the ILNA news agency reported. (A lawsuit? Idiots)
Being an atheist in America means being less than human. I know from
personal experience, not from being an atheist but from being raised
Christian in a conservative Christian town and holding negative biases
about atheists. Like many others I thought that a belief in God was the
foundation of morality, that Christians were superior to others and that
atheists were a threat to believers. I didn’t, however, reach this
conclusion consciously after weighing the facts and examining the issue
independently. “We’re All Born Atheists”: A Religious Person Defends
Non-Belief (This is written by what Richard Dawkins calls an "I'm an
atheist but....." person)
The leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has warned that
the roots of the financial crisis will not be addressed unless the banks
learn not to sacrifice morality for profit. (And in a spirit of
openness the Vatican will publish its accounts and investments. Don't
hold your breath)
Experts including three Nobel laureates and Richard Dawkins, the
prominent atheist, are calling on the new Government to make teaching of
the theory a compulsory part of the curriculum. They say it is necessary
because of the increasing number of schools that do not have to follow
the curriculum, and because of the “threat” posed by the religious
concept of creationism.
Although himself an avid football fan, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, the
head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, is worried that
the forthcoming Papal visit could be marred by vuvuzelas. (You can buy
them
here. Thanks to the NSS for the info)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/19/creationism-northern-ireland
Last month Nelson McCausland, DUP assembly member and Northern Ireland
culture minister, wrote to the trustees of National Museums Northern
Ireland about how "to ensure that museums are reflective of the views,
beliefs and cultural traditions" of the region. This included a more
specific stipulation – referring explicitly to the Ulster Museum, the
letter called for alternative views of the origin of the universe to be
accommodated. In other words, creationism was to be incorporated into
the museum's natural history displays. That an elected minister should
make such a suggestion is a development that should be taken seriously.
(The development may well need taking seriously but not the
creationist crap. Wilful ignorance should bring no reward)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/9134358
Senior judicial officials have been accused of attempting to cover up
the findings of a top level inquiry into comments by Cherie Blair as she
spared a violent criminal jail. The National Secular Society (NSS) made
a formal complaint after the wife of former prime minister Tony Blair
told a devout Muslim he would not go to prison because he was a
"religious person".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/18/all-woman-gaza-freedom-flotilla
Israeli naval forces are on alert as an all-female ship prepares an
attempt to break the blockade of Gaza. Organisers say the Mariam – named
after the Virgin Mary – is to sail from Beirut in the next few days.
However one woman who will not be on board is Haifa Wehbe, a sultry and
often scantily clad Lebanese singer. Wehbe's request to join the vessel
has reportedly been vetoed by Hizbullah, the militant Lebanese Shia
organisation, on the grounds that her "nudity, degradation and immodest
dress" would damage the reputations of all the Arab and European women
on board.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/17/ngo-urges-european-union-oppose-islamic-bid-censorship/
An initiative by Islamic states to create a United Nations watchdog to
monitor religious sensitivity in the news media is setting off alarms
among critics, who warn of censorship in the guise of religious
tolerance. The Geneva-based U.N. Watch, a non-governmental organization,
says the resolution due for a vote Friday would instruct the U.N. Human
Rights Council's special investigator on religious freedom to "work
closely with mass media organizations to ensure that they create and
promote an atmosphere of respect and tolerance for religious and
cultural diversity." The resolution, which alludes to the Danish
cartoons that provoked Muslim riots worldwide, was tabled by the
56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). "The Islamic
bloc is attempting to turn an international shield for religious freedom
into a sword for religious-motivated state censorship," said Hillel
Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch. "It's part of a larger campaign
to invert the real danger of Islamist extremism and terrorism around the
globe into an imagined narrative of Western victimization of Islam and
its adherents."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/17/zuckerberg_faces_criminal_investigation_in_pakistan/
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is being investigated by Pakistani
police under a section of the penal code that makes blasphemy against
Muhammad punishable by death. BBC Urdu reports — according to a Google
Translation — that Pakistan's Deputy Attorney General has launched a
criminal investigation against Zuckerberg and others in response to
Facebook hosting a "Draw Muhammad" contest on its site late last month.
On May 19, Pakistani authorities blocked access to Facebook over the
contest, and this ban was lifted on May 31 after Facebook removed the
page in Pakistan and other countries. Asked to comment, a Facebook
spokeswoman told us the company does not comment on legal matters.
(Pakistan has more to worry about than this - the country is in crisis
with Islamist murderers on the loose and they are worrying about bloody
Facebbook)
In the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001, Gary Faulkner,
like many other Americans, became obsessed with the idea of capturing
and killing Osama bin Laden. What made Mr Faulkner different from many
of his fellow countrymen, angry and confused after the death of 3,000
people, was that he was prepared to try to do the job himself.
(Perhaps he and bin Laden will end up sharing a dialysis machine)
More than 100,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews took to the streets across Israel
yesterday for a showdown between religious and secular society over the
way the Jewish state runs its education system. The protests brought
central Jerusalem to a standstill as a group of religious parents
prepared to go to prison for defying a court order demanding their
daughters attend classes with girls of different ethnic origin. Parents
of European, or Ashkenazi, origin do not want their daughters to be
educated in the same classroom as schoolgirls of Middle Eastern and
North African descent, or Sephardim, claiming that they are not as
religious. (I suppose that we should be grateful that they at least
believe in girls' education. A bunch of religious parasites who
contribute nothing to Israeli society)
A dramatic event that will determine the course of the 21st century will
take place in 2014, according to a Cambridge University academic. Prof
Nicholas Boyle claims that events of the fateful year will decide
whether the world enjoys peace and prosperity over the coming decades or
suffers war and poverty. He believes financial turmoil could be the
trigger for the crisis, and that the reactions of American leaders will
be crucial to its outcome. He also thinks new global organisations will
be key to securing stability rather than nation-states. Prof Boyle
argues that 2014 will be important because previous five centuries have
also hinged on events that took place in the middle of their second
decade. In 1517 Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door of
Wittenburg church, sparking the Reformation and the rise of
Protestantism. (20:20 hindsight equals book plug)
Vincent Nichols, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and
Wales, wants no vuvuzelas near Benedict XVI. Although himself an avid
football fan, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, the head of the Roman
Catholic Church in England and Wales, is worried that the forthcoming
Papal visit could be marred by vuvuzelas. "I have had enough of them
already," says the Archbishop of Westminster. "I hope they stay in South
Africa. Personally, I think the football would be more enjoyable without
this constant cacophony." (Now that Nichols mentions it what a jolly
wheeze. Perhaps the NSS could sell vuvuzelas before Ratzinger's trip)
Not content with taking on America and the West, Iran's combative
president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has attacked a key policy of his
supporters in the religious establishment. Mr Ahmadinejad baffled
conservatives in the ruling elite by declaring his opposition to the
annual crackdown on "immodest appearance and behaviour" in the young.
Police use the onset of summer to issue fines to women found wearing
make-up and nail polish, or figure-hugging clothes. Veils are tightened
to stop showing so much hair, with light, nearly transparent
head-coverings a particular target. Men deemed to be 'harassing' women
while driving are also stopped. (Perhaps the Poison Dwarf is worried
that a crackdown would be to the Green Movement's advantage as a
rallying call)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/18/the-mcbs-wonderland-election
Imagine an election with only one declared candidate running … and he is
not going to win. It may sound like a form of democracy better devised
in Alice's Wonderland, but unfortunately it's home grown: this is how
the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is due to decide on its next leader
this Sunday. (Imagine a piece by Bunting that makes sense - a first
perhaps)
A radical preacher who claimed that “every Muslim should be a terrorist”
has been banned from coming to Britain, The Daily Telegraph can
disclose. In her first major test of being tough on extremism, Theresa
May, the new Home Secretary, said she was banning Zakir Naik from
entering the UK. Dr Naik, a 44-year-old Indian televangelist, had been
due to give a series of lectures at arenas in Wembley Arena and
Sheffield.
On the 30th anniversary of the cult film's release, the official
newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has declared it a "Catholic classic".
It points out that Jake and Elwood Blues battled police, a psychotic
ex-girlfriend, country and western fans and neo-Nazis in order to raise
enough money to prevent the closure of the church-run orphanage in which
they grew up. (Pathetic attempt to appear "with it")
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/17/birmingham-stops-muslim-surveillance-scheme
A project to place two Muslim areas in Birmingham under surveillance has
been dramatically halted after an investigation by the Guardian revealed
it was a counterterrorism initiative. Bags are being placed over
hundreds of cameras which were recently installed in the neighbourhoods
of Washwood Heath and Sparkbrook, to reassure the community that their
movements are not being monitored until a public consultation takes
place. (Note the use of the term "Muslim areas" - hardly a sign of
wishing to integrate.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/17/jewish-ultraorthodox-parents-jailed-schooling
The parents of 43 ultra-Orthodox girls were tonighton their way to
prison for two weeks today after defying a court order over their
children's schooling that has highlighted the division between Israel's
religious and secular communities. More than 100,000 ultra-Orthodox men
marched through Jerusalem to show their support. "They are going to jail
with joy," said Barry Dubin, 28. "We ultra-Orthodox parents will not
cave in to the courts." The parents are Ashkenazi, originating from
Europe, and are in a long-running battle to have their daughters
educated separately from Sephardi girls originating from north Africa
and the Middle East.
Civil servants should learn more about religion, according to Britain’s
ambassador to the Vatican. Francis Campbell said that politicians are
usually aware of the importance of faith because of their “lived
experience” in constituencies. But he claimed that government officials
are less knowledgeable, and suggested they try to find out more from
devout colleagues. Mr Campbell, Britain’s first Roman Catholic
ambassador to the Holy See, said that the Western belief that religion
was in decline had been proved wrong and that faith should be an
important consideration in foreign policy. (Utter nonsense)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/16/san-francisco-mobile-phone-radiation
San Francisco – where composting is compulsory and plastic bags are
banned – has passed the first law in the US requiring retailers to
display the amount of radiation given off by mobile phones. The city's
mayor, Gavin Newsom, hailed the law as a victory for the public's right
to know what their mobile phones are doing to them even though some
critics say there is no significant scientific evidence that they are
hazardous to health. (This is pure PR - non-ionizing radiation is not
harmful)
On June 11th, the FPPC, in an unprecedented ruling against the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, found the Salt Lake City based Church
guilty on 13 counts of late campaign reporting. The Mormon Church was
fined $5538 in an agreement worked out ending the 19 month long
investigation. The Church was the primary backer of California’s
Proposition 8, which ended gay marriage in California two years ago.
An Indonesian teen was recently forced by village elders to marry a cow
– after he was caught having sex with it. The young man passed out
during the ceremony in front of hundreds of curious onlookers. Ngurah
Alit, 18, was caught in flagrante delicto behind the cow in a rice paddy
field near the village of Yeh Embang in Jembrana. Caught, literally,
with his pants down, Alit admitted his crime but claimed the cow seduced
him and "wooed him with flattering compliments."
The Roman Catholic hierarchy has launched a PR campaign ahead of the
Pope’s visit to Britain, amid fears that the public associates the
Church with child abuse. A new booklet aims to explain the purpose and
importance of the papal trip and the Church’s contributions to society
for those who are only aware of “current controversies”. The head of
Catholics in England and Wales, The Most Rev Vincent Nichols, said that
the four-day tour in September will be a “very significant moment” for
the country particularly in straitened economic times. (just cancel
the damned thing)
Rory Bremner, the political impressionist, said he fears joking about
Islam could lead to his death due to the "chilling" issue of
fundamentalism. Bremner said self-censorship was the biggest obstacle
today for comedians addressing topical issues, due to fears of
retribution by extremists. He said: "The greatest danger now is that one
of the toughest issues of our time is religion. "When [I'm] writing a
sketch about Islam, I'm writing a line and I think, 'If this goes down
badly, I'm writing my own death warrant there.' Because there are people
who will say, 'Not only do I not think that's funny but I'm going to
kill you' – and that's chilling."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/jun/15/free-speech-muslim-preachers
Sources tell me that the Home Office is currently considering issuing
two exclusion orders. One would be against a Jamaican-born Muslim
preacher called Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips and the other against Zakir
Naik, who is due to arrive in the UK on Friday to begin a speaking tour
to huge audiences at the Sheffield Arena, London's Wembley Arena and the
LG Arena in Birmingham's NEC. Naik is based in Mumbai, India and has in
recent years built up a huge international following among Muslims. His
lectures and debates on the topic of comparative religion are played
continuously on Peace TV – the satellite channel that he founded.
(Bungle pleading for Britain to allow Islamist
hatemongers into the country)
Screaming hate and brandishing vile placards, Muslim extremists and
far-Right groups clashed yesterday in ugly scenes that marred a parade
by soldiers. Around 40 members of a group called Muslims Against the
Crusades (MAC) arrived with inflammatory banners featuring slogans such
as 'Butchers return' and 'What are you dying for? £18k'. They were soon
confronted by 100 people, some wearing English Defence League T-shirts,
who shouted 'scum' and 'Muslim bombers off our streets'.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100615/tod-singer-charged-over-cooking-christ-s-870a197.html
A popular Spanish singer has been charged with blasphemy for a satirical
skit he filmed in 1978 in which he "cooks" a crucifix. Musician Javier
Krahe faces a fine of £159,000 after stills from the spoof cookery show,
which involved baking an effigy of Christ for three days, were shown on
television in 2004 during an interview with the star.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j6kjNKtAwyeNpbE2Zt8JSOIPISFgD9GB5EU80
The National Council of Churches accused Kenya's government on Monday of
involvement in a grenade attack on a rally against a draft constitution
that would allow abortions in life-threatening pregnancies and recognize
Islamic courts. The accusation over Sunday evening's attack, which
killed six people, could set a contentious tone between the groups
supporting and opposing the draft constitution, which the country votes
on Aug. 4. Political analysts said leaders of the groups needed to tamp
down emotions or violence could flare.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid_wales/10308556.stm
A former vicar has been jailed for 14 months after admitting a string of
sex offences against a young girl. Richard Hart, 60, formerly of
Beguildy, Powys, admitted nine counts of indecent assault and one of
indecency with a child between the ages of nine and 11. He was serving a
jail sentence for possessing more than 56,000 images of child abuse,
Merthyr Crown Court heard.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/10312261.stm
A British National Party (BNP) activist delivered leaflets blaming
Muslims for the heroin trade intended to stir up religious hatred, a
court has heard. Anthony Bamber, 54, of Preston, printed and distributed
the documents claiming Muslims were responsible for importing the drug
from Pakistan and Afghanistan. They demanded that followers of Islam
"apologise and pay compensation" for the trade, Preston Crown Court
heard. Mr Bamber denies distributing material intended to stir up
religious hatred.
The Pope has described priests as "gifts to the world" - as it emerged
that five clergymen had been suspended in Italy following allegations of
sex abuse. The pontiff made his remarks to a packed St Peter's Square in
a bid to mend bridges following a series of sex scandals that have
rocked the Roman Catholic church in recent weeks. It is thought that the
Pope was aware of the five suspensions which involved one 51-year-old
priest and another four in their sixties, none of which were named.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7149515.ece
Pakistan’s military intelligence agency directly funds and trains the
Afghan Taleban and is officially represented on its leadership council,
according to a report by a British academic. The study, published by the
London School of Economics, also alleges that Asif Ali Zardari, the
Pakistani President, met Taleban leaders imprisoned in Pakistan and
promised them early release and future support.
An order of nuns in a town famed for its ancient abbey have angered
residents by selling off land on which a Tesco supermarket will be
built. The Order of the Holy Paraclete in Whitby, North Yorkshire, is
disposing of 16 acres of farmland and outbuildings around St Hilda’s
Priory to developers. It will use the proceeds to build a modern home
for its 50 Anglican nuns, while the fields will be turned into a
£40million retail and housing development including a Tesco store.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/12/AR2010061203796.html
NEW DELHI -- Nestled between the wedding sari boutiques and hipster jean
shops, there's a store in the city's most popular shopping mall that's
playing with the gods. The fashion, art and design store has funky throw
pillows depicting a psychedelic-looking Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of
knowledge, music and the creative arts. She's lounging on her pink lotus
while swans float nearby and smaller versions of her likeness play the
flute, drums and sitar. Not all that long ago, that kind of cheeky
irreverence about Hinduism's most-sacred deities might have caused riots
in the streets. Krishna on a mouse pad? Monkey-headed Hanuman on a drink
coaster? Unimaginable a few years back.
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2010/womens-rights-inspired-by-muhammad/
A new Islamic propaganda campaign called ‘Inspired by Muhammad’ [1] has
been launched, and advertising posters are now going up in London
featuring slogans such as ‘I believe in social justice. So did Muhammad’
and ‘I believe in women’s rights. So did Muhammad’.[2] It’s hard to tell
if this campaign is run by sadly deluded people who actually believe the
slogans are accurate or if this is an example of dissimulation for a
kufr audience.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/10302946.stm
Pakistani intelligence gives funding, training and sanctuary to the
Afghan Taliban on a scale much larger than previously thought, a report
says. Taliban field commanders interviewed for the report suggested that
ISI intelligence agents even attend Taliban supreme council meetings.
Support for the Afghan Taliban was "official ISI policy", the London
School of Economics (LSE) authors suggest. Pakistan's military denied
the claims. (Well they would say that, wouldn't they?)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/13/kevin-mckenna-benedict-visit-scotland
Hopelessly muddled piece that tries to claim the the bible inspired
human rights and other progressive features of society. No evidence is
offered.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/12/bad-science-goldacre-superstition
As someone who strives – sanctimoniously – to be right, I'm a
masochistic fan of research showing that people who are wrong have
better lives than I do. This is why I particularly enjoyed a study from
Psychological Science showing that being superstitious improves
performance in a whole string of different tasks. (Ben Goldacre Bad
Science column)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/11/project-champion-numberplate-recognition-birmingham
A counterterrorism surveillance project targeted at two Muslim
neighbourhoods in Birmingham could be halted after human rights lawyers
pledged to seek a judicial review. There were angry scenes at two public
meetings in the city this week, when officials were confronted over the
findings of a Guardian investigation into the scheme to gather data
about vehicles entering Sparkbrook and Washwood Heath.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/world/europe/12pope.html
Addressing the sex abuse crisis for the first time from the seat of the
Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI begged forgiveness on Friday,
saying the church would do “everything possible” to prevent priests from
abusing children. “We, too, insistently beg forgiveness from God and
from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to
ensure that such abuse will never occur again,” Benedict told thousands
of priests and faithful gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for
celebrations marking the end of the Vatican’s Year of the Priest.
(Hand rapist clergy over to the cops - simple as that)
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/11/afghan-taliban-hang-year-old-boy-punish-family/
A 7-year-old boy was murdered by the Taliban in an apparent act of
retribution this week. Afghan officials said that the child was accused
of spying for U.S. and NATO forces and hanged from a tree in southern
Afghanistan. Daoud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the provincial governor of
Helmand, said that the killing happened days after the boy's
grandfather, Abdul Woodod Alokozai, spoke out against militants in their
home village.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/10294529.stm
A Finnish court has sentenced a Rwandan preacher to life in jail for his
participation in Rwanda's genocide. Francois Bazaramba, 59, moved in
2003 to the Nordic country, which allows prosecutions for crimes against
humanity wherever they are committed. The court said he had intended to
"destroy in whole or part the Rwandan Tutsis as a group", AP reports.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/10/priest-accused-immigrants-wedding-fraud
A vicar allegedly presided over hundreds of sham marriages in a "massive
and cynical scheme" to exploit vulnerable people and enable illegal
immigrants to stay in Britain, a court has heard. Rev Alexander Brown
married 383 couples in the four years to July 2009 at the Church of St
Peter and St Paul in St Leonards, Sussex, a 30-fold increase on the 13
marriages held there in the preceding four-year period.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/10/geert-wilders-cabinet-seat-election
The Netherlands' Muslim-baiting maverick Geert Wilders has staked a
strong claim to a seat in a new Dutch cabinet after almost tripling his
party's parliamentary presence in an election breakthrough.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/10/la-dodgers-psychic-baseball-mccourt
Frank and Jamie McCourt, the multi-millionaire owners of the LA Dodgers,
have been revealed to have employed a Russian scientist to beam thought
waves to boost the team's chances. According to Bill Shaikin of the LA
Times, the McCourts paid Vladimir Shpunt several hundred thousand
dollars over five years to apply his "V energy" and help the Dodgers to
victory. Between 2004, the first season under the McCourts' ownership,
and 2009, Shpunt was retained for Dodgers matches, despite the fact that
he knew little about baseball.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i2ezFw5Ue4aoa4teUqfXWtcaW2AA
Eight Roman Catholic women staged a one-minute demonstration for women's
ordination Tuesday in St Peter's Square before police intervened. The
protesters wearing lavender stoles, the symbol of the movement for
women's ordination, unfurled banners reading "Born to be priests" and
"Vocation is important, not gender" in the illegal protest. Three police
officers, two in a golf cart and one on foot, stopped the protest, the
fourth such action according to Erin Hanna, head of the US-based Women's
Ordination Conference, admitting that they had no permit.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/10284299.stm
Kenyan police are hunting for an alleged cult leader who is said to have
instructed a self-confessed serial killer to take up his killing spree.
Philip Onyancha, 32, was arrested on Sunday after confessing to killing
17 people, mainly women. He said he was recruited into a cult while at
school by a teacher, who told him to kill 100 people and drink their
blood for good fortune.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/first-woman-to-lead-friday-prayers-in-uk-1996228.html
A Canadian author will become the first Muslim-born woman to lead a
mixed-gender British congregation through Friday prayers tomorrow in a
highly controversial move that will attempt to spark a debate about the
role of female leadership within Islam. Raheel Raza, a rights activist
and Toronto-based author, has been asked to lead prayers and deliver the
khutbah at a small prayer session in Oxford. Ms Raza received death
threats after leading a mixed-gender prayer congregation in Toronto five
years ago.
An independent councillor listened to Bob Dylan on his iPhone while
prayers were said at the start of a council meeting. A colleague on
Wellington Town Council in Shropshire accused Pat McCarthy of
"disgusting" behaviour after he wore headphones during a recital of the
Lord's Prayer on Tuesday night. (Funny that the Telegraph fails
to mention the National Secular Society's
campaign against council prayers)
Geert Wilders, the controversial anti-Islamic Dutch politician, came
third behind tied Liberal and Labour parties after elections in the
Netherlands left no obvious winner or combination for a coalition
government. Results from Dutch exit polls show that Mr Wilders and his
hard-right Freedom Party, PVV, could become the kingmakers in a new
coalition, which is likely to take months to emerge.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/09/comedy-central-jc-christian-jesus
A new organisation has been formed by the US religious right to attack a
programme that hasn't yet reached pilot stage. JC, a Comedy Central
cartoon about Jesus trying to live a normal life in New York, does not
have a completed script, but Citizens Against Religious Bigotry (Carb)
are calling on advertisers to force the channel to abort it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/09/madrid-gay-pride-bans-israelis
A delegation of gay residents of Tel Aviv has been banned from joining a
gay pride march in Madrid because authorities in the Israeli city have
not condemned the recent attack on the Gaza flotilla. "After what has
happened, and as human rights campaigners, it seemed barbaric to us to
have them taking part," explained Antonio Poveda, of Spain's Federation
of Lesbians, Gays, Transexuals and Bisexuals. "We don't just defend out
own little patch." The Tel Aviv group have reacted angrily to the
decision, claiming that the Madrid activists were getting their
priorities wrong by mixing the nine flotilla deaths with gay pride.
(How long do these fools think they would survive at the hands of Hamas?
A truly pathetic and ill-informed gesture. They should try a gay pride
march in Gaza)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/10/netherlands-election-coalition-islam
The Netherlands' anti-Islamic MP Geert Wilders appeared on course for
major gains in a general election yesterday, more than doubling his
party's seats in the Dutch parliament and overtaking the incumbent
ruling Christian Democrats, according to exit polls last night. Wilders'
Freedom party looked to have taken third place in a close-fought
election which in the end was tied between rightwing free-market
liberals and the centre-left Labour Party, according to the projections.
Prisoners are converting to Islam to win benefits and gain the
protection of powerful Muslim gangs inside jails, the Chief Inspector of
Prisons has warned. Up to a third of Muslim prisoners adopted the
religion while serving their sentence, a new report by inspectors has
found. Inmates say their reasons for converting include the protection
of belonging to a gang and perceived material perks offered to Muslims.
A Muslim community leader, Noor Ramjanally, who claimed he was kidnapped
by members of the British National Party was caught out lying by covert
surveillance cameras designed to protect him, a court heard.
A Bishop has been accused of double standards for arranging a pilgrimage
to Turkey - nine days after saying flying was "damaging God's planet".
(Shock horror, a hypocritical bishop. Whatever next?)
A majority of people in Britain associate Islam with terrorism and the
repression of women, a poll has shown. The survey coincided with the
launch of an advertising campaign aimed at combating negative
perceptions of Muslims. In the online poll of 2,152 UK adults, 58% of
people said they associated Islam with extremism and 50% associated the
world religion with terrorism. The poll also found that 69% believe
Islam encourages the repression of women. (People would do better
than to define themselves by their religion all the bloody time.)
Children raised by lesbian parents develop into psychologically sound
adolescents and have fewer behavioural problems than their peers, a
long-running study has found. Teenagers brought up by lesbians achieved
better results in school and had a more active social life, the research
discovered. They were also less likely than children of heterosexual
parents to engage in aggressive behaviour of break rules.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/07/ahmadi-massacre-silence-pakistan
I often find myself defending Pakistan against the unbidden prejudices
of the outside world. No, Islam is not the cause of terrorism. Yes, the
Taliban is a complex phenomenon. No, Imran Khan is not a major political
figure. This past week, though, I am silent. The massacre of 94 members
of the minority Ahmadi community on May 28 has exposed something ugly at
the heart of Pakistan – its laws, its rulers, its society.
(Disgusting but sadly not surprising. Islam is by its very nature
intolerant of religious minorities. Ask the Christians in Iraq, the
Copts in Egypt)
http://www.alternet.org/story/147128/hedges%3A_the_christian_fascists_are_growing_stronger
Tens of millions of Americans, lumped into a diffuse and fractious
movement known as the Christian right, have begun to dismantle the
intellectual and scientific rigor of the Enlightenment. They are
creating a theocratic state based on “biblical law,” and shutting out
all those they define as the enemy. This movement, veering closer and
closer to traditional fascism, seeks to force a recalcitrant world to
submit before an imperial America.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/08/religious-liberty-anglicanism-theos
Does this mean that the liberal state has the right to curb whatever
forms of religious expression it wants? Quite simply, yes. It must
protect the new space it has created, of relative religious freedom,
from reactionary religion. It must decide what is tolerable and what is
not – we must trust our elected representatives to draw these
ever-shifting lines. This is how religious liberty works. (80 must go
and have a little lie down - Theo Hobson is making sense)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jun/08/muslim-prisoners-potential-terrorists
The blanket treatment by staff of the 10,300 Muslim prisoners in England
and Wales as potential terrorists risks creating young men ready to
embrace extremism on their release, the chief inspector of prisons warns
today. The chief inspector also voices scepticism over claims by high
security prison staff that gangs are forcing non-Muslim prisoners to
convert to Islam through intimidation. Her report says that while
conversions are common they are more likely to be the result of better
food at Ramadan, the benefits of protection within a group and the
discipline and structure provided by observing Islam through prayer.
(This sounds a little too complacent)
The far-right Party for Freedom, which has campaigned on a ticket of
ending the "Islamic invasion", is expected to double its representation
in the Dutch parliament, giving it enough seats to become a potential
ruling coalition candidate. The party is predicted to win 18 seats in
the forthcoming elections. It currently holds nine. Led by anti-Islam MP
Geert Wilders, the party claims that 40 per cent of social security
payments go to non-Western immigrants and that people of Moroccan origin
are suspected of committing crime five times more often than the
indigenous Dutch.
The Pope has claimed that the international community is ignoring the
plight of Christians in the Middle East. A working paper released during
Pope Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to Cyprus to prepare for a crisis summit
of Middle East bishops in Rome in October also cites the "extremist
current" unleashed by the rise of "political Islam" as a threat to
Christians. In his final Mass in Cyprus on Sunday, the pontiff said he
was praying that the October meeting will focus the attention of the
international community "on the plight of those Christians in the Middle
East who suffer for their beliefs."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/05/god-atheism-islam
I am an atheist. I imagine that the typical Cif belief reader may not
think this is a particularly big deal, but it is for me, because I'm not
just an atheist – I'm an apostate from Islam. Apparently there are
people who would happily kill me for making such a statement. But I'm
not expecting to be killed, or even threatened; despite what the BNP and
certain elements of the press might want you to think, the overwhelming
majority of Muslims are not rabid fundamentalists who respond with
violence to every perceived slight.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jun/06/belmarsh-inmates-plotted-behead-guard
Inmates at one of Britain's highest-security jails hatched a plot to
behead a prison officer and post the killing on the internet, officials
have revealed. The Prison Officers' Association said it had received
"credible intelligence" of a kidnap plot by a group of Muslim extremist
inmates at Belmarsh prison in south-east London. The plot was
subsequently foiled, but officers warn that serious attacks on prison
guards have hit an all-time high.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/06/us-gay-scandal-pastor-church
Ted Haggard is back and about to start preaching again. Haggard, once
America's leading evangelical pastor, who was brought down and removed
from his own mega-church after admitting to a gay sex scandal, has set
up a new ministry and will hold the first service in his new church
today. His wife, Gayle, who has stood by him throughout his troubles,
will be the church's co-pastor.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/04/iran-protest-victim-neda-agha-soltan-film
Iran is jamming satellite broadcasts in attempts to stop people seeing a
new film telling the story of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman who was
shot dead during the mass protests that followed last summer's disputed
presidential election.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/03/australian-woman-al-qaida-yemen
An Australian woman who converted to Islam and moved to Yemen to raise
her children in a Muslim society is being held in prison in Sana'a in
connection with alleged al-Qaida activity. Shyloh Jayne Giddens, 30, has
been held without charge in Sana'a's political security prison since 15
May. She was detained with several other foreigners on suspicion of
involvement with the al-Qaida branch responsible for the failed attempt
to bomb a US airliner on Christmas Day.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/02/flotilla-raid-turkish-jihadis-troops-israel-claims
A hardcore of 40 Turkish jihadis on board the Mavi Marmara was
responsible for the violence that led to nine deaths and dozens of
injuries on the flotilla taking aid to Gaza, the Israeli government
claimed today. The allegation came as Turkish newspapers reported that
three of the four Turks killed in the onslaught had declared their
readiness to become martyrs. (Onslaught? Winching some guys down from
a helicopter is an onslaught? These jihadis show things in a different
light)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/01/sun-poll-gay-cabinet-homophobic
Should black people be cabinet ministers? If any national newspaper
asked this question there would be protests. Riots, even. Yet today, in
light of the David Laws exposé, the Sun saw fit to commission a YouGov
survey in which it asked: "Should gay people be cabinet ministers?" But
by asking, the tabloid has exposed something else, something important
and something its editor and that of all rightwing newspapers should
take note of. There is now a yawning chasm between the press and the
public in their attitudes towards homosexuality.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/02/israel-force-impotent-hamas-idea
But Hamas is not just a terror organisation. Hamas is an idea. A
desperate and fanatical idea that grew out of the desolation and
frustration of many Palestinians. No idea has ever been defeated by
force – not by siege, not by bombardment, not by being flattened with
tank treads, and not by marine commandos. (An idea? More like a
Islamist terror group that wants nothing more than Israel's annihilation
)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/02/religion-free-speech
Let's get the legal question out of the way first. Laws against
proselytising and preaching are clearly antithetical to free speech and
free expression, and thus illiberal, and in that sense a bad thing. On
the other hand there are or can be forms of proselytising and even
preaching that are at least intrusive and at most coercive. Going door
to door, setting up a pulpit in a library or a park or a museum,
flooding a shop or airport with missionaries handing out leaflets, all
risk intruding on the rights of other people. I have a default view that
I have a right not to be hassled by strangers merely because I'm out in
public, much less merely because I'm at home and they want to sell me
something; I tend to resent violations of that "right". Making leaflets
available is one thing, thrusting them at people is another. To some
extent the free speech right to proselytise thus depends on how the word
is defined. (Op-ed from Ophelia Benson)
CREATIONISM and intelligent design will be taught in Queensland state
schools for the first time as part of the new national curriculum.
Creationists dismiss the science of evolution, instead believing that
living things are best explained by an intelligent being or God, rather
than an undirected process such as natural selection. The issue of
creationism being taught in schools has caused huge controversy in the
US, where some fundamentalist religious schools teach it as a science
subject instead of Darwin's theory of evolution. In Queensland schools,
creationism will be offered for discussion in the subject of ancient
history, under the topic of "controversies". (What controversies? One
the one hand is science and on the other fairy tales)
A senior clergyman has spoken out against the trend for people to
describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious”. The Chancellor of
Lincoln Cathedral also criticised the “disdain” expressed by those who
maintain “you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian”. Canon Mark
Hocknull said that spirituality should be seen as a gift to a whole
community rather than a personality trait. His comments come after
academics identified the rise of the “fuzzy faithful” in Britain –
people who have a vague belief in God but do not necessarily belong to a
particular denomination or attend services. Only half of Britons now
consider themselves Christian, a recent report showed. The deference
shown to traditional religious institutions has declined in recent
decades while more and more people, inspired by celebrities, self-help
books and therapy sessions, have developed individual beliefs about a
divine being.
Five women presenters have resigned from the Arabic news channel
Al-Jazeera after being accused of not dressing modestly enough. In a row
which has split the channel, the five complained about harassment from a
senior editor, whom they accused of making "offensive remarks" about
their appearance. After the channel refused to back them, the five
women, some of the best-known faces in the Middle East thanks to the
channel's popularity, quit. Three others have registered protests while
staying with the station.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100531/tts-uk-pakistan-violence-ca02f96.html
At least four gunmen attacked a hospital in Pakistan's eastern city of
Lahore on Tuesday morning, killing up to a dozen people and holding
several hostage before escaping, a senior doctor told Reuters. Dozens of
people wounded in Friday's attacks on two mosques of a minority
religious community in the city were being treated in the hospital,
which is a major institution in the city. More than 80 people were
killed in those attacks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/30/AR2010053003018.html
Albert Snyder, an industrial equipment salesman from York, Pa., says he
was once a quiet guy who had no taste for the limelight. Now he has a
Web site and interviews scheduled back to back. The most important
person in the Senate is rallying support for him, and 48 states and the
District of Columbia have come to his aid. Snyder and his late son,
Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, killed in Iraq, have become the public
faces of more than 200 families that have seen funerals of loved ones
picketed by members of a tiny church who say the deaths of U.S. soldiers
are God's retribution for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.
Mysterious near death experiences may be caused by a surge of electrical
activity in the brain moments before it dies, it has been claimed.
Doctors believe that a burst of brain activity occurs just before death
and this could account for vivid "spiritual" experiences reported by
those who come back from the brink. The researchers suggest this surge
could be why some patients who have been revived when close to death
report sensations such as walking towards a bright light or a feeling
that they are floating above their body.
Charles Moore reviews 'Nomad' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and finds the author's
view of Islam convincing - and depressing.
Senior clergy and bishops have launched a campaign prevent one of the
country's few officially recognised hermits from losing her home. Karen
Markham hoped to leave her worldly concerns behind to pursue a life of
solitude and contemplation when she became one of Britain’s few
officially recognised hermits. But Miss Markham has been forced to break
into her daily routine of prayer, religious reading and gardening to
engage in a public campaign to save her from becoming homeless.
A Malaysian minister has defended an Indian company's plans to build an
animal testing medicine lab in his state, saying that God created
monkeys and rats for experiments to benefit humans. The plans by India's
Vivo BioTech Ltd. to set up a biotechnology centre in southern Malacca
state has come under fire by activists because it will conduct tests on
dogs and primates to make medicines. The activists say Malaysia has no
regulations on animal research, which could lead to test subjects being
abused.
The Pope is facing new accusations that he failed to defrock a priest
who had confessed to molesting young boys despite being asked to do so
by a bishop. The case involved an American priest, the late Rev Alvin
Campbell, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1985 for abusing
seven boys. After he was jailed Bishop Daniel Ryan of the diocese of
Springfield, Illinois, wrote to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future
pope, asking for Campbell to be defrocked immediately, instead of going
through a church trial which would be harrowing for victims. But
Cardinal Ratzinger turned down the bishop's plea because the abuser
himself refused to agree to it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/vatican-paedophile-priests-punishment-catholicism
The Vatican official in charge of catching paedophile priests has said
their punishment in hell would be worse than receiving the death penalty
on earth. Monsignor Charles Scicluna issued the warning to seminarians
at St Peter's basilica, in Rome, during prayers for abuse victims.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/28/AR2010052801856.html
Americans are almost evenly divided between those who feel science
conflicts with religion and those who don't. Both sides have scientific
backers. Biologist Richard Dawkins rallies atheists by arguing that
science renders religious faith unnecessary and irrational. Geneticist
Francis S. Collins (before becoming NIH director) organized evangelical
scientists to offer a vision of science and faith reinforcing each
other. (That's it, make up stuff about Dawkins, what responsible
journalism)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100530/ap_on_re_as/as_bangladesh_facebook_ban
Bangladesh says it has blocked the popular social networking website
Facebook over a page that urges people to draw images of Islam's prophet
Muhammad. (A little late of the mark there, Bangladesh)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article7140000.ece
A gay couple in Malawi sentenced to 14 years hard labour for holding the
country’s first same-sex engagement were pardoned today after a meeting
between the president and the UN Secretary General. Steven Monjeza, 26,
and his partner Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were jailed last week,
prompting an international outcry. Malawi’s first openly gay couple,
they had been behind bars since December, when they were arrested two
days after holding a public engagement ceremony in front of 500
onlookers. They were charged with gross indecency and performing
unnatural acts.
Christian 'Pregnancy Crisis Centers' Masquerading as Health Clinics Tell Women Abortion Causes Cancer and Infertility -- And You're Helping Pay for Them Under the dubious free speech protection, CPCs are going to disgusting lengths to scare women out of seeking abortions -- with the help of federal and state funding.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/opinion/27kristof.html
We finally have a case where the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy is responding forcefully and speedily to allegations of wrongdoing. But the target isn’t a pedophile priest. Rather, it’s a nun who helped save a woman’s life. Doctors describe her as saintly. The excommunication of Sister Margaret McBride in Phoenix underscores all that to me feels morally obtuse about the church hierarchy. I hope that a public outcry can rectify this travesty.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/opinion/25gyatso.html?hp
WHEN I was a boy in Tibet, I felt that my own Buddhist religion must be the best — and that other faiths were somehow inferior. Now I see how naïve I was, and how dangerous the extremes of religious intolerance can be today. (Op-ed from the Dalai Lama. See what A C Grayling makes of it)
Web developers in Pakistan have launched a version of Facebook for the Muslim world after the social networking site was blocked for showing “blasphemous” images of the Prophet Mohammed. Six young IT experts in the city of Lahore have set up MillatFacebook – using the Urdu word for nation – which they hope will become a hub for Muslims around the world. Omar Zaheer Meer, one of the founders, said the site was launched on Wednesday and had already attracted 8,000 users. The aim, he said, was to register their disapproval of the images of the Muslim prophet and to offer an alternative to a site that has also been criticised for its lax and confusing privacy controls. (That's the idea - instead of constructively debating with the non-Muslim world build yourself a religiously defined ghetto)
The Archbishop of Canterbury has imposed the first punishments on Anglican national churches judged to have inflamed tensions over homosexuality in the church. Dr Rowan Williams announced that provinces which had ignored his “pleading” for restraint would be banned from attending official discussions with other Christian denominations and prevented from voting on a key body on doctrine. He admitted the 80 million-strong Anglican Communion was in a time of “substantial transition” but held back from taking the most serious step of expelling national churches from it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/29/celibacy-tragedy-christianity-catholicism
When it's not the object of irreverent humour, the vow of celibacy – in effect a vow of chastity – undertaken by the Catholic clergy is an issue of great seriousness. We were reminded of its seriousness in March, when the occasionally freethinking cardinal of Vienna, Christoph Schönborn, suggested the issue of celibacy should be the object of "unflinching examination" within the church and enforced chastity may be linked with the secretive cultures of sexual abuse being exposed one after the other. His call was quickly shot down by the Vatican, and Schönborn fell back into line.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/may/28/rightwing-group-climate-change
And so to Mesa County in Colorado where this week the first labour pains of what seems to be the birth of a new movement in the US were felt. Dozens of protesters attended a meeting of School District 51's Board of Education to hand over two petitions aimed at keeping political views out of the county's classrooms. According to reports in the local press, Rose Pugliese, a local lawyer and failed Republican candidate for the board of education, authored both of the petitions. The first, which gained 600 signatures of support, simply wished for teachers not to express their "personal, political views" to pupils, whereas the second, which gained 700 signatures, sought to stop the teaching of global warming to children. (Don't like the facts? Then legislate them away)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/27/brazil-world-cup-evangelists-north-korea
Brazil's green and yellow-clad football team touched down in South Africa this morning with their eyes set on a record sixth World Cup victory. But another Brazilian delegation is also on its way to the tournament with a very different goal in mind: hundreds of Brazilian evangelists determined to use the competition to convert, preach and bolster their churches' flocks on the continent.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/29/martin-gardner-bad-science-goldacre
This week a man called Martin Gardner died, aged 95. His popular maths column in Scientific American (and 50 books on maths) spanned the decades. In 1952 he published a book about pseudoscience, quacks, and credulous journalists. How much do you think has changed over 60 years? (Ben Goldacre tells us the loons are still with us - as if we didn't know)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/29/liberal-religion-faith
The compromises of coalition government are presenting many of us who are political liberals with the unsettling prospect of seeing cherished principles watered down in favour of policies driven by conservative ideology. For theological liberals this is an all too familiar state of affairs. For much of the last hundred years theological conservatism and its close ally, fundamentalism, have been in the ascendant across the world's major faiths, and liberalism in steady retreat.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/28/english-defence-league-guardian-investigation
MPs expressed concern tonight after it emerged that far-right activists are planning to step up their provocative street campaign by targeting some of the UK's highest-profile Muslim communities, raising fears of widespread unrest this summer. The EDL claims it is a peaceful and non-racist organisation only concerned with protesting against "militant Islam". (Liars)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9102394
Farmers sold pigs to help raise money to build the towering cross on southern Illinois' highest point as a year-round testament to faith. The 11-story monument draws thousands of visitors each year, and supporters say it has promoted self-growth and reflection for nearly half a century.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/10181380.stm
Gunmen have launched simultaneous raids on two mosques of the minority Ahmadi Islamic sect in Lahore, killing more than 80 people, Pakistani police say. The attackers fired guns and threw grenades at worshippers during Friday prayers. Three militants later blew themselves up with suicide vests. Pakistani forces have secured both buildings, but are still searching for militants who fled the scene. Lahore has been the scene of a string of brazen attacks. It is unclear who carried out the attacks, but suspicion has fallen on the Pakistani Taliban, Ali Dayan Hassan of Human Rights Watch told the BBC. Mr Hassan said the worshippers were "easy targets" for militant Sunni groups who consider the Ahmadis to be infidels.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/28/let-arab-woman-lead-way-un
The UN is creating a unified body to promote gender equality – and who better to lead it than an inspirational Arab woman? When the history of the global struggle for women's equality is written, 2010 may be remembered as the year when the United Nations began living up to its full potential. The general assembly is currently studying reforms to the tangled web of agencies, offices and programmes that work to promote women's equality in order to create a single "gender entity" with an expanded budget, led by an executive at the rank of under secretary-general.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/may/28/asa-marie-stopes-abortion-services-ad
The first UK TV commercial offering advice on abortion services has generated 350 complaints to the advertising regulator. Launched on Monday night on Channel 4 at 10.10pm, the ad for sexual health charity Marie Stopes simply asks the question "Are you late?" in reference to how missing a period could mean pregnancy. The Advertising Standards Authority has received 350 complaints from viewers offended by the commercial. The ASA will assess the complaints to see if there is grounds to investigate whether the TV commercial breached the advertising code.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/28/us-dont-ask-dont-tell-gay
America moved a vital step closer to repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" anti-gay legislation that forbids homosexuals from serving openly in the US military. Gay rights activists have long sought to repeal the controversial 1993 law, which has seen thousands of Americans forced out of the armed services since it was brought in under President Bill Clinton.
The records of religious dissenters, including William Blake, Daniel Defoe and JS Mill, have been published online for the first time.
Young men’s attendance at church is plummeting because services have become too feminine, according to a campaign group. Christian Vision for Men claims that 49 per cent of all males under the age of 30 have left congregations over the past 20 years. It says that sermons dominated by love, compassion and grace do not entice men because they are “not male concepts”. In order to entice them back into the pews, the campaign group is asking vicars to show the World Cup on big screens above the pulpit and even serve beer while the football tournament is on. (Desperate measures)
A concert by Sir Elton John has tested the limits of Morocco's drive for modernity, exposing the Muslim nation's complex and ambiguous attitudes toward homosexuality. Islamists in the North African kingdom were outraged by the gay pop star's visit, while the royal palace, government and his many fans supported his appearance. Authorities had beefed up security with thousands of police and plainclothes officers patrolling the concert. No violence was reported, despite calls from The Justice and Development Party, or PJD, Morocco's largest authorised Islamist group, for the show to be stopped.
A Spanish town could become the first in the country to ban the wearing of the burqa in municipal buildings, according to the mayor's office. A proposal for the town of Lerida was being drawn up to ban the face-covering Islamic veil in the municipality's buildings, a spokesman for the mayor's office said. The town had asked its legal services to look into the possibility of banning the garment in all public spaces in the name of the fundamental rights of women, the official said.
Sex and the City 2 is "blatantly anti-Muslim", according to early reviews of the movie. The eagerly-awaited sequel, which opens this week, sees Carrie Bradshaw and co travel to Abu Dhabi on an all-expenses paid trip. There they encounter misogynist attitudes from Middle Eastern men and make jokes about Muslim women wearing the niqab. Kim Cattrall's character, the man-eating Samantha, insists on flouting the Emirates' conservative dress code by wearing skimpy outfits. Writing for Slant magazine, Ed Gonzalez said: "Such is the arrogance of this self-congratulatory movie. It takes the Sex and the City girls to the Middle East so they can cavalierly thumb their nose at the region's retrograde gender politics." (Why not? It is not arrogant but right on target - it is scandalous how women are treated in Islam)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/26/northern-ireland-ulster-museum-creationism
Northern Ireland's born-again Christian culture minister has called on the Ulster Museum to put on exhibits reflecting the view that the world was made by God only several thousand years ago. Nelson McCausland, who believes that Ulster Protestants are one of the lost tribes of Israel, has written to the museum's board of trustees urging them to reflect creationist and intelligent design theories of the universe's origins. (Reality is not an option for this man)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/02/conservatives-philippa-stroud-gay-cure
A high-flying prospective Conservative MP, credited with shaping many of the party's social policies, founded a church that tried to "cure" homosexuals by driving out their "demons" through prayer. (This story is being recycled following a complaint from Philippa Stroud that pretty much denies everything on "curing" gays. This does not alter the fact that she believes in occult practices and demons. Verdict? Barking)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/26/new-york-mosque-muslim-community
After hours of debate, a New York City community board has voted to support a plan to build a mosque and cultural centre near Ground Zero. "It's a seed of peace," board member Rob Townley said. "We believe that this is a significant step in the Muslim community to counteract the hate and fanaticism in the minority of the community."
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/14/20100526/tpl-opening-salvo-fired-in-libel-reform-81c5b50.html
The opening salvo in efforts to secure reform of Britain's libel laws was fired today with a private member's bill demanding greater defence for freedom of speech. Private member's bills rarely turn into law, but with the coalition government including libel reform in its upcoming civil liberties agenda, Lord Lester of Herne Hill's bill could form a model for how the legislation is framed.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/25/second_scientology_ddoser_jailed/
A second US man has been jailed over controversial denial of service attacks against the Church of Scientology two years ago. Brian Thomas Mettenbrink, 20, of Grand Island, Nebraska, was jailed for a year and ordered to pay $20,000 in compensation to the Hubbardists at a sentencing hearing on Monday, AP reports. Mettenbrink had earlier pleaded guilty to taking part in attacks protesting internet censorship by the Church and organised under the loose banner of Anonymous. As part of an earlier plea bargaining agreement, Mettenbrink admitted using custom software from a message board run by Anonymous to throw useless traffic at Church of Scientology websites. Some sites became intermittently unavailable in January 2008 as a result of the efforts of Mettenbrink and many others. The attacks began after the Church demanded the takedown of videos featuring Tom Cruise at an awards event. In sentencing, US District Judge Gary Feess likened the cyber-assaults against Scientology to a "hate crime".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/feb/23/republicans-religion-secular-america
If you're part of secular America – that is, if you're an atheist, an agnostic, a religious liberal or even a mainstream believer who thinks religion should be kept out of politics and vice-versa – then you should be very afraid of what the Republican party has in store for you in 2012.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/may/25/afghans-believe-us-funding-taliban
It's near-impossible to find anyone in Afghanistan who doesn't believe the US are funding the Taliban: and it's the highly educated Afghan professionals, those employed by ISAF, USAID, international media organisations – and even advising US diplomats – who seem the most convinced. One Afghan friend, who speaks flawless English and likes to quote Charles Dickens, Bertolt Brecht and Anton Chekhov, says the reason is clear. "The US has an interest in prolonging the conflict so as to stay in Afghanistan for the long term." (As conspiracy theories go this is loonier than most)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/25/gay-rights-africa-malawi
An African statesman who shares a political platform with Kofi Annan, Tony Blair and Bob Geldof has condemned homosexuality as an "abomination", dismissing individuals' right to privacy with the riposte: "You want to make love to a horse?" Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president of Nigeria, indicated his support for the sentencing last week of a gay couple in Malawi to 14 years in prison with hard labour, insisting that countries have the right to enforce their own laws.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/26/does-god-exist-advertising-standards-authority
A "There definitely is a God" poster displayed on buses triggered more complaints than any other in 2009 and the third highest of all time, according to Advertising Standards Authority figures published today. The battle over whether God exists helped cause a 10% increase in complaints to the regulator, to almost 30,000.
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has criticised David Cameron’s coalition government for failing to support marriage. The Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, expressed regret that even the word "marriage" had been omitted from the Government’s policy plan published last week. He said the document "contains a number of welcome initiatives in support of the family’ but that ‘it lacks any specific reference to marriage"
Seven young members of a satanic sect have gone on trial in Russia accused of four gruesome murders in which they "ritually sacrificed" their victims before cooking and eating parts of them. Prosecutors say the murders took place on 29 and 30 June 2008 in a remote forested area close to Yaroslavl with two victims killed per night. The self-styled devil worshippers, which included a young teenage girl, lured three girls and a boy aged from 15 to 17 to the spot by plying them with alcohol and inviting them to sit round a bonfire.
Police in the northern city of Thessaloniki arrested 43-year-old Swiss Stephan Meyer, an electrician from Zurich, after airport security found 197 human bones and three skulls in the man's luggage as he tried to board a flight from Thessaloniki to Germany. Mayer was due to pass the bones onto a representative from the Russian Orthodox Church in Germany, pretending that the bones were from the skeletons of Orthodox saints.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/may/24/mmr-doctor-andrew-wakefield-struck-off
Andrew Wakefield, the doctor at the centre of the MMR scare, has been struck off the medical register after being found guilty of serious professional misconduct. He was not at the General Medical Council (GMC) hearing to receive the verdict on his role in a public health debacle which saw vaccination of young children against measles, mumps and rubella plummet. The GMC said he acted in a way that was dishonest, misleading and irresponsible while carrying out research into a possible link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, bowel disease and autism. (What took so long? There no knowing quite how much harm this man has done. Of course he can now bask in the admiration of the anti-vaxxers, a group that, unmoved by evidence, puts its kids in harm's way - and your kids too)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/23/female-priest-ordained-italy-maria-longhitano
A 35-year-old Sicilian became the first Catholic woman to be ordained in Italy on Saturday. Maria Vittoria Longhitano is a member of the breakaway Old Catholic church. But she was made a priest at the Anglican church of All Saints in Rome ‑ an act some in the Vatican are likely to see as provocative, not least because the organist at the service was dismissed by the Catholic hierarchy after deciding to change sex. The Old Catholic church broke with the Vatican in the 19th century in protest at the adoption of the doctrine of papal infallibility. It is in full communion with the Anglicans.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/23/david-mitchell-prince-charles-quatar
A schoolmaster at Gordonstoun in the 1960s, confronted with the young Prince Charles struggling to remember his royal vocab or hesitating over a princely sum, will at some point have snapped: "Think, boy! Think!" That teacher has a lot to answer for. (David Mitchell on the architect's nemesis, thicko Charlie Windsor)
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=176209
Masked gunmen from an Islamist group torched a UN-run summer camp for children and teens in Gaza on Sunday, Army Radio reported, the top UN aid official in Gaza said. John Ging says the assailants tied up the guard early Sunday, burned tents and vandalized bathrooms. UN officials say the attackers left behind three bullets and a note threatening to kill Ging and others unless the UN cancels its activities for some 250,000 Gaza children.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/23/editorial-homophobia-africa-anglicanism
Homosexuality is not a sin or a crime. There is no caveat or quibble that should be added. The repression of gay men and women by legal means and public intimidation is an offence against the basic principles of a free and just society. Where it exists, which it does to varying degrees in many countries around the world, it must be confronted and defeated....The Anglican hierarchy in Britain has avoided speaking out too frankly on this matter to avoid a schism, but the church's quiet diplomacy has done nothing to help the victims of homophobic repression. Increasingly, it looks like complicity. (Observer editorial)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lincolnshire/8697714.stm
An Indian psychic is helping to search for cat which went missing from a Lincolnshire village. Oliver, a four-year-old tabby and white cat, went missing from Boothby Graffoe in October. Owner Sue Machen, 56, has paid £1,000 for Hertfordshire-based company Animal Search UK to hunt for the animal. It has employed psychic Sarita Gupta, who is based in Bangalore, to help in the search, a move which has been criticised by a sceptics' society.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/23/france-veil-ban-burqa
France, by contrast, is largely pursuing its own burqa and niqab debate within the context of the country's commitment to the secular society, or , as it is referred to on the other side of the Channel. When the country imposed a ban on religious symbols, including the Islamic headscarf, in state schools in 2004, it was not because they weren't French enough, but because they were not secular. A burqa and niqab ban can, according to this reasoning, be imposed outside any nationalistic debate.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100522/tsc-copernicus-s-remains-reburied-in-pol-c2ff8aa.html
The remains of Nicolas Copernicus, the 16th century father of modern astronomy, were reburied in a Polish cathedral Saturday as a cleric expressed regret for Church condemnation of his theories. (Only 467 years late)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/22/ramadan-yusuf-rethinking-islamic-reform
Next week in Oxford, two of western Islam's leading religious thinkers – Hamza Yusuf and Tariq Ramadan – will come together for the first time to discuss the hotly debated topic of Islamic reform. Does it matter? And why should we pay attention to what they have to say?
His Holiness Sant Baba Jeet Singh Ji Maharaj attempted to sue Hardeep Singh through the British courts despite allegedly never having set foot in the country. Jeet Singh claimed that an article written by Mr Singh in a British newspaper suggested he was the leader of a cult and promoted blasphemy and the sexual exploitation and abuse of women. However, in what critics described as a victory for freedom of speech, a judge yesterday refused to let the case go ahead.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7736060/Ghost-picture-mystery-resolved.html
A 15-year-old mystery surrounding a photograph which supposedly showed the ghost of a schoolgirl standing in an inferno has been resolved, after a researcher found the image is copied from a postcard.
Hartwig Hausdorf, a German academic, believes that the reason Voyager 2, an unmanned probe that has been in space since 1977, is sending strange messages that are confusing scientists, is because it has been taken over by extraterrestrial life. (Of course, it is the most obvious and likely explanation, this man is a genius)
Israeli contractors building a controversial "museum of tolerance" in West Jerusalem have been accused of digging up and damaging hundreds of human skeletons from an ancient Muslim graveyard. Reigniting a dispute that has simmered for six years, Israel's left-leaning Haaretz newspaper claimed that overseers badly botched a "clandestine" five-month operation to excavate the highly-sensitive Mamilla Cemetery. The allegations are almost certain to rouse anger among Palestinian campaigners who argue that the site holds the remains of some of the Prophet Mohammed's compatriots as well as soldiers in the army of Saladin, who recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in the 12th century.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/20/abortion-advert-outcry
Forty years after abortion was legalised in Britain, open, positive discussion of the subject is still frowned upon. Most women understand the gut-gnawing frisson of panic that accompanies every day of a missed period that might herald an unwanted pregnancy, and most can empathise with the sense of shame at not knowing where or how to discuss the options. Next week, the first ever television advertisement by an abortion provider in the United Kingdom will air on Channel 4, promoting a safe, impartial helpline for women seeking advice on unplanned pregnancy – but the backlash has already begun.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/may/20/abortion-ad-blocked-northern-ireland
Channel 4 has banned an advertisement for abortion services from being broadcast in Northern Ireland. Millions of viewers in England, Scotland and Wales will be able to watch the TV ad for Marie Stopes International (MSI) on Channel 4 at 10.10pm tonight. But the UK's fourth channel has been prevented from screening the commercial for MSI in Northern Ireland because abortion is still illegal in the province.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/may/19/mark-souder-sex-scandal-republicans
If he wants forgiveness, Republican congressman Mark Souder had better hope God digs irony. The "family values" Christian lawmaker from Indiana, who has a long history of bashing extramarital sex, was revealed on Tuesday to have had an affair with a staffer. In the next of many layers of irony to this story, Souder filmed a video with his mistress six months ago singing the virtues of abstinence. The Washington Post reports that the "affair began after [the aide Tracy] Jackson was hired in 2004" – which means he was more than likely having sex with her at the time. (Yet another hypocrite bites the dust)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/may/19/abortion-advertising-television-uk
The first commercial to offer advice on abortion services will be screened on British TV next week, campaigners said today, provoking an enthusiastic welcome from advocates of women's sexual health, and outrage from anti-abortion groups. The advert from Marie Stopes will be screened on Monday, offering what the organisation says will be "clear, non-judgmental information" on unplanned pregnancies and abortion services.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/world/africa/19malawi.html?src=me
A gay couple in Malawi were found guilty on Tuesday of unnatural acts and gross indecency, the consequence of their holding an engagement ceremony in an insular nation where homosexuality is largely seen as nonexistent or something that must be suppressed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/19/AR2010051901653.html
The French government decided Wednesday to impose a $185 fine on women who wear a full-face Islamic veil in public, pushing ahead with a controversial ban despite signs of tension between France's Muslims and the Christian-tradition majority. President Nicolas Sarkozy said his government was forwarding the legislation to parliament because it had a "moral responsibility" to uphold traditional European values in the face of an increasingly visible Muslim population, estimated at more than 5 million, the largest in Western Europe.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/19/facebook-blocked-pakistan-muhammad-drawings
Pakistan today blocked Facebook indefinitely in response to public outrage over a competition on the social networking site that encourages people to post drawings of the prophet Muhammad. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, which controls internet access, directed service providers to block the website "till further notice" in compliance with a high court order obtained by a group of lawyers yesterday. The court action was triggered by a Facebook page entitled Everybody Draw Mohammad Day — May 20 which contains over 200 images, many of them certain to offend Muslims, who consider all depictions of the prophet to be blasphemous.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=175779
It was a scene Saudi women’s rights activists have dreamt of for years. When a Saudi religious policeman sauntered about an amusement park in the eastern Saudi Arabian city of Al-Mubarraz looking for unmarried couples illegally socializing, he probably wasn’t expecting much opposition. But when he approached a young, 20-something couple meandering through the park together, he received an unprecedented whooping. A member of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Saudi religious police known locally as the Hai’a, asked the couple to confirm their identities and relationship to one another, as it is a crime in Saudi Arabia for unmarried men and women to mix. According to the Saudi daily Okaz, the woman then allegedly laid into the religious policeman, punching him repeatedly, and leaving him to be taken to the hospital with bruises across his body and face.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/18/AR2010051804441.html
A TRIAL that could determine whether one of Asia's fast-developing countries evolves into a democracy has been making lurid headlines this month around the region. Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition leader in Malaysia and one of the foremost advocates of political freedom in the Muslim world, stands accused of consensual homosexual sodomy, which in his country is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. That Mr. Anwar would be prosecuted on this charge is itself a human rights violation.
Among other things, The Call Founder Lou Engle has predicted legalized abortion will lead to a second American civil war and written, “The ‘most dangerous terrorist’ is not Islam, but God. One of God’s names is ‘the avenger of blood.’ Have you worshipped that God yet?”
A teenage Jehovah's Witness who was crushed by a car refused a blood transfusion before he died. Joshua McAuley, 15, is understood to have declined the treatment advised by doctors and was not overruled by members of his family. McAuley was treated at Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham after he was pinned against a wall by a car in a freak accident. (A pathetic waste of a life)
An Indian holy man who tried to sue a British journalist over claims he was an impostor had his libel action halted by the High Court yesterday. His Holiness Sant Baba Jeet Singh Ji Maharaj attempted to sue Hardeep Singh through the British courts despite allegedly never having set foot in the country. Jeet Singh claimed that an article written by Mr Singh in a British newspaper suggested he was the leader of a cult and promoted blasphemy and the sexual exploitation and abuse of women. However, in what critics described as a victory for freedom of speech, a judge yesterday refused to let the case go ahead.
Elton John is to headline Morocco's biggest music festival despite calls from Islamist opposition that he should be turned away. Religious conservatives argued that the gay singer would tarnish the image of the north African kingdom were he allowed to perform at the Mawazine World Rhythms festival in the capital Rabat. Despite the opposition, the singer will head the festival, beginning on May 21, which brings together musicians from 50 countries and is backed by King Mohammed.
The Vatican has insisted it is not responsible for sex abuse cases in the United States because bishops are not technically employees. It has made the claim in response to court cases relating to incidents in which Catholic bishops knew about paedophile priests but failed to inform the authorities. Plaintiffs who filed lawsuits in Louisville, Kentucky, say it means the Church should be held to account. But Vatican lawyers have said they will argue that bishops are not paid by Rome and therefore not technically its responsibility.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/17/singh-ken-clarke-libel-reform
If you followed the case in which the British Chiropractic Association sued me, then "Singh victory in libel battle" sounds like old news; but yesterday another Singh had a successful day defending himself in his own libel case. In August 2007, Hardeep Singh wrote an article for the UK-based Sikh Times, in which he discussed the actions of His Holiness Sant Baba Jeet Singh Ji Maharaj. The article suggested that the teachings of His Holiness were not in line with Sikh doctrine and linked his followers with political infighting in UK temples. (Simon Singh on libel law reform)
In France, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands they have been getting agitated over the full burka. Again. And – like the Icelandic volcanic ash – the problem drifts over to us, posing huge challenges on how to think about this issue and how to react. As always, the British power elite casts itself – unconsciously perhaps – as more tolerant and enlightened than its European counterparts. Voltaire, after his period of exile on these isles, said we were. What better reference do we need? (A surprisingly sensible piece from Yasmin Alibhai-Brown)
At least 30 ultra-orthodox Jewish demonstrators have been arrested in angry protests at the removal of ancient burial remains to make way for construction of a bombproof hospital emergency room in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.
A lesbian couple claim they have been forced out of their church for holding hands during a service. Kersten Pegden and Nina Lawrence said they were told other members of the congregation thought their behaviour was "overtly sexual". The couple, who have now stopped attending St Nicholas Anglican Church, Corfe Mullen, Dorset, said other couples held hands and they believed their sexuality had influenced the complaints.
The home of a Swedish cartoonist who sparked controversy by drawing the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog has been attacked with a petrol bomb. The property belonging to Lars Vilks in the village of Nyhamnslaege was slightly damaged during the incident, the latest in a series of similar attacks in the country. Police later arrested a 21-year-old Swedish national of Kosovar origin, from the southern city of Landskrona, at his home 25 miles away.
The sequel to Sex and the City is facing embarrassment as Abu Dhabi, the Gulf city in which it is set, is considering banning the movie. Less than two weeks before the release of Sex and the City 2, it is unclear whether the film will be shown in the oil-rich city, the scripted setting where Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha, go on holiday. Emirates' officials had already turned down a request to film on location, forcing the cast crew to head to Morocco to recreate the Abu Dhabi setting. In 2008, the original film was not shown in the United Arab Emirates, where censors routinely remove scenes such as kissing, nudity and expletives.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/16/texas-schools-rewrites-us-history
Cynthia Dunbar does not have a high regard for her local schools. She has called them unconstitutional, tyrannical and tools of perversion. The conservative Texas lawyer has even likened sending children to her state's schools to "throwing them in to the enemy's flames". Her hostility runs so deep that she educated her own offspring at home and at private Christian establishments. Now Dunbar is on the brink of fulfilling a promise to change all that, or at least point Texas schools toward salvation. She is one of a clutch of Christian evangelists and social conservatives who have grasped control of the state's education board. This week they are expected to force through a new curriculum that is likely to shift what millions of American schoolchildren far beyond Texas learn about their history.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/16/geert-wilders-pvv-holland-netherlands
The party that won most seats in the municipal elections in Almere earlier this year – although it failed to form a governing coalition – would like to ban the wearing of headscarves in public buildings such as the Stadhuis, as well as banning the construction of new mosques. That party is the far-right Freedom Party (PVV), of Geert Wilders, the populist firebrand behind the anti-Islamic film Fitna, who has accused Muslims of trying to "colonise" his country.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/16/dubai-sex-tourism-prostitution
This was not Amsterdam's red-light district or the Reeperbahn in Hamburg or a bar on Shanghai's Bund. This was in the city centre of Dubai, the Gulf emirate where western women get a month in prison for a peck on the cheek; the Islamic city on Muhammad's peninsula where the muezzin's call rings out five times a day drawing believers to prayer; where public consumption of alcohol prompts immediate arrest; where adultery is an imprisonable offence; and where mall shoppers are advised against "overt displays of affection", such as kissing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/may/16/church-of-england-fears-bbc-cuts
The Church of England says it fears that the BBC is in danger of "losing sight of its essence – the DNA that makes it an enduring part of national culture", and that religious broadcasting will suffer as a result. Amid concerns about and increased competition among digital channels, the Church insists that faith matters must form a central part of the BBC's "critical role as a guarantor of public space". (In today's largely secular Britain why should the Beeb have to pander to Christians?)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8684194.stm
The Episcopal Church in the US is set to go ahead with the controversial ordination of an openly lesbian bishop. Saturday's ordination comes despite warnings from the Archbishop of Canterbury that it will deepen an already bitter dispute on sexuality.
http://www.alternet.org/story/146760/why_is_anyone_still_catholic
For any Catholics who might be reading this, I have a question for you: Why are you still Catholic? Presumably, I don't have to tell you about the rash of child-rape scandals in the Catholic Church. I don't have to tell you about the cover-ups, the shielding of child rapists in the priesthood from law enforcement, the deliberate shuttling of child-raping priests from town to town to protect them from exposure -- thus enabling them to continue raping children. I don't have to tell you about the Church using remote, impoverished villages as a dumping ground for priests who raped children. I don't have to tell you that this wasn't a few isolated incidents: it was a widespread, institutional practice, authorized by high-level Church officials. Including Cardinal Ratzinger -- now Pope Benedict XVI -- who, among other actions taken to protect child-raping priests, delayed the dismissal of a child rapist in the priesthood... for the "good of the universal Church."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/14/neo-nazi-ian-davison-jailed-chemical-weapon
A white supremacist who dismissed other extreme groups as weak and gutless was jailed for 10 years today after becoming the first Briton to be convicted for producing a chemical weapon. Ian Davison, 42, whose Aryan Strike Force idolised Hitler and flew swastika flags on secret training days in Cumbria, was castigated by a judge for recruiting his teenage son Nicky, a part-time milkman and would-be soldier, who was given two years' detention for possessing material useful to commit acts of terror.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/14/malawi-homosexual-couple-face-prison
A man whose same-sex "marriage" has become a symbol of the struggle for gay rights in Africa has vowed to become a martyr rather than give in to homophobia, campaigners say. Tiwonge Chimbalanga and his partner Steven Monjeza are facing a possible 14 years in prison with hard labour after becoming the first gay couple in Malawi to declare their commitment in a public ceremony .
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/14/belarus-slavic-gay-pride
The centre of Minsk, capital of Belarus, is blocked for at least 15 minutes, then four cars with the Belarusian national flag as licence plates sweep past. A young guy next to me is calling his mum to tell her that he is so excited and just saw with his own eyes the bulletproof car of Alexander Lukashenko, sometimes described as Europe's last dictator. Just over a week ago, the Belarusian leader was sent a letter asking him to authorise Slavic gay pride this coming weekend. So far, there has been no response.
Hightower: The Right-Wing Loons Should Stop Blaming "God" for the Oil Spill. It wasn't God whose insatiable thirst for profit put a risky oil-pumping contraption afloat on mile-deep water. BP executives did that.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/scouts-appeal-for-muslim-leaders-1970548.html
The scouts have launched an urgent recruitment drive targeted at Britain's Muslim community. The move is an attempt to plug a shortfall in group leaders as the number of young people applying to be Scouts continues to rise. There are 33,500 people on the organisation's waiting list, and the number is rapidly growing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7704532/Fay-Weldon-claims-to-have-psychic-powers.html
The writer Fay Weldon claims to have a "second sight" that gives her secret knowledge of what other people are thinking. The 78-year-old spoke for the first time about her supposed psychic powers in a revealing interview on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs this weekend. The feminist author said she first noticed her special gift as a young child, and still uses it today to gain a deeper understanding of human feelings that enriches her work. (She is barking mad)
One quarter of Church of England dioceses are running deficits, according to a report that suggests parishes prepare for staff cuts that could affect pastoral care and worship. The report, commissioned to help churches to improve “efficiency and effectiveness”, found many dioceses have cashflow problems and that, on average, there is one lay person on the staff for every five clergy. Although the Church raises about £1bn a year in donations to match is salary and pensions bill, the rising cost of those pensions means parishioners face handing over more money every year.
Muslim preachers in Istanbul are to being given singing lessons after complaints about their out-of-tune calls to prayer. The city's long suffering residents have complained of the cacophony that rises from its alleys and travels over its rooftops five times a day. Mustafa Cagrici, the reformist mufti of Istanbul, has launched a scheme to ensure all muezzin that perform the call to prayer in the city's mosques are given basic training in holding a tune
A Swedish cartoonist whose sketch of the Prophet Mohammed enraged many Muslims, was attacked while giving a lecture about freedom of speech. Lars Vilks, who depicted the Prophet Mohammad with the body of a dog in 2007, said he was headbutted by a man sitting on the front row as he spoke at the University of Uppsala, about 44 miles from Stockholm. "He head-butted me and I fell into the wall and lost my glasses," Mr Vilks said. He added he was unharmed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/11/female-genital-mutilation-us-nicking
At the end of last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a revised policy statement on female genital mutilation (FGM) called "ritual genital cutting of female minors," suggesting that the federal and state law in the US should permit paediatricians to offer a ritual "nick" of girls' genitalia as a compromise to appease the cultural needs of their immigrant clients. International women's rights organisations from the US, Africa, and Europe were quick to respond to this outrageous proposition calling on the AAP to retract its 2010 statement and revert back to its much stronger 1998 statement on the subject. (There is no place for this disgusting and barbaric practice in a civilized society - even in "symbolic" form)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/11/man-jailed-acid-attack
An acid attacker who left a 25-year-old man severely disfigured in a horrific plot to avenge his family's "dishonour" was jailed for 30 years today. Mohammed Vakas was found guilty by an Old Bailey jury of plotting to murder Awais Akram. The victim was targeted because of his intimate relationship with Sadia Khatoon, 24, a married businesswoman he had met on Facebook, the court heard. When her husband, Shakeel Abassi, and Vakas, her brother, found out about it, they persuaded her to lure Akram out of his flat to the scene of the attack.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/may/12/bbc-church-of-england
The Church of England has expressed concern that the BBC's controversial strategic review could lead to less religious programming. In its submission to the BBC Trust on director general Mark Thompson's strategy review, the Church of England said plans to refocus programme output must not mean giving up on content that appeals to smaller audiences, including religious output.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8675040.stm
Three men who stabbed a man and doused him with acid over an online affair have been jailed at the Old Bailey. Awais Akram, 25, was disfigured after being attacked in Leytonstone last July for a relationship with Sadia Khatoon. Her brother Mohammed Vakas, 26, of Walthamstow, was given a 30-year sentence for conspiracy to murder. Mohammed Adeel, 20, of Walthamstow, and Fabion Kuci, 17, of Harlesden, got 13 and eight-year sentences for conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm. (Britain does not need scum such as these)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article7114135.ece
Driving through Dublin city centre one day last week I saw a woman pushing a little baby girl in a pram. At least, I think she was a woman. Her hands looked young and slim and there was a glimpse of a heel under the ankle-length black burka that obliterated any other hint of humanity, let alone femininity. She was nothing more than a moving black silhouette, peering through a tiny lace grid, though no eyes were actually visible.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/08/ayaan-hirsi-ali-interview
Ayaan Hirsi Ali enters an apartment in New York followed by a bodyguard. The 40-year-old, who for the last six years has been unable to turn up at a venue without it being checked by security, is a writer, polemicist and critic of Islam. She is also a Somali immigrant, an ex-Muslim, a survivor of child genital mutilation, an exile many times over, a former Dutch MP, a black woman whose language would not, in places, look amiss in a BNP pamphlet, a remarked-upon beauty and a lady-in-peril, identities that lend her as a figurehead to disparate causes and bring on confusion in the people she meets. (Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/10/prevent-counter-terrorism-policy-failure
We have been warned that regardless of who forms the new government we should brace ourselves for savage cuts in public spending. Presumably all government programmes will be scrutinised for value to the community and cost-effectiveness. Hopefully high on the list will be the Preventing Violent Extremism programme (Prevent), which has not only proved to be highly contentious but has also cost the UK taxpayer a staggering £140m in 2008-09 alone.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7121062.ece
Open warfare broke out in the Vatican over the clerical sex abuse scandal at the weekend as Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, accused one of Pope Benedict XVI’s closest aides of covering up past scandals. Cardinal Schönborn, 65, seen as a possible future Pope, accused Cardinal Angelo Sodano, 82, the former Vatican Secretary of State (Prime Minister), of having blocked investigations into sex abuse crimes committed by his predecessor in Vienna, the late Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/10/karzai-failing-afghan-women
The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, is hosting a "peace jirga" in Kabul at the end of this month. Its purpose, he told a news conference, will be to "get guidance from the Afghan people on how to move forward reintegration and reconciliation, where reconciliation may be possible" with the Taliban. (Op-ed on the plight of Afghan women)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/opinion/10mon4.html
Supporters of abortion rights held a lunch recently in honor of a momentous victory for their cause: 40 years ago, New York became the first state to fully legalize abortion. That 1970 law began to reduce the death and injury toll from back-alley abortions and set the stage for the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, which made abortion legal nationwide and recognized a constitutional right to privacy. But abortion-rights groups are newly anxious about new assaults on women’s reproductive rights, including a fight over abortion that snarled the last days of the health care reform debate. Anti-abortion groups are newly emboldened.
Ergun Caner's rise to the top of conservative evangelical celebrity -- and to the presidency of the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell -- was fueled by how aggressively he capitalized on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, to portray himself as a personal example of the power of Jesus to save even someone raised as a jihadist, which he claimed to be. There's only one problem with that part of Caner's story: it appears not to be true.
The Pope will travel to Portugal this week amid hopes that he might shed light on one of the Catholic Church's most intriguing mysteries – the so-called Third Secret of Fatima. During his four day visit, Benedict XVI will pray at the shrine of Fatima, one of the best known centres of Catholic pilgrimage in the world and the focus of endless conspiracy theories and Doomsday predictions. Its cult is founded on the belief that three shepherd children witnessed a series of apparitions and prophecies of the Virgin Mary in 1917.
A Brazilian archbishop said adolescents are "spontaneously homosexual" and in need of guidance. Speaking at a Brazilian bishops' conference, Archbishop Dadeus Grings - a conservative priest who has made controversial statements in the past said that society's woes are being reflected in the sex abuse scandal enveloping the Roman Catholic Church. "Society today is paedophile, that is the problem. So, people easily fall into it. And the fact it is denounced is a good sign," said Archbishop Grings.
An Australian senator has called the burka "unAustralian" and said it should be banned, sparking anger among the country's Muslim community. Cory Bernardi, a Liberal from South Australia, complained that the full Islamic veil was a "repressive domination of men over women" and established "different sets and expectations in society". Writing on his blog following an armed robbery in Sydney by a man wearing a burka and sunglasses, he said: "It is un-Australian – and it's symbolic barrier is far greater than the measure of cloth it is created from. For safety and for society, the burka needs to be banned."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/10/islam-sufi-salafi-egypt-religion
Whenever religious freedom is discussed in Egypt, the topic inevitably turns to the status of the Christian Copts. Thousands of articles have been written about Egypt's Copts and how they are denied their religious freedoms, but it almost never occurs to anyone that even Sunni Muslims are being deprived of their basic rights to religious freedom and worship.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5izsadZHuzuaPVN-g_GfOupXTzj6w
Iran hanged on Sunday five militants, including a Kurdish woman, convicted of bombing government offices and a gas pipeline to Turkey and described as "enemies of God", state media reported. The five, including the woman Shirin Alamhouli, were executed in Tehran's Evin prison, the official IRNA news agency said, quoting a statement from the capital's prosecution office. The four others who were hanged were Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heidarian, Farhad Vakili and Mehdi Eslamian.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8667761.stm
As a little boy growing up in Blackburn, Ilyas Iqbal dreamed of becoming Mr T. But now, at the age of 23, he says his passion for action films has led to his conviction for terror offences. In March this year, Ilyas was prosecuted along with his brother, Abbas Iqbal, and his best friend, Mohammad Ali Ahmad. The three were accused of forming a terror cell known as The Blackburn Resistance.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/06/times-square-bomb-pakistan-taliban
American officials say there is growing evidence that the Pakistan Taliban played a role in the failed plot to bomb Times Square at the weekend. But it remains unclear whether the group instigated the attempted attack or took advantage of an approach by Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani American charged with terrorism for allegedly planting the bomb.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/09/muslim-women-italy-veil
Veiled Muslim women have become the true upholders of western traditions of female dress, says Italy's top imam, who angrily condemned the decision to fine a woman in Italy for wearing a veil that completely covered her features.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/may/09/child-sex-abuse-church-victim
One of the longest-running legal cases in UK history, centred on systemic sexual abuse at children's homes in the north-west of England, is poised to end after a judge found in favour of two men who claimed they had been sexually assaulted while in care. A judgment handed down in the high court on Friday determined that the men had been abused while in the care of the Nugent Care Society, formerly Catholic Social Services, in Liverpool. It also cast doubt on the testimony by two former staff members at the homes who had denied the men's claims.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6470UU20100508
Pope Benedict on Saturday accepted the resignation of a German bishop who has been accused of sexually abusing minors, the latest in a string of Roman Catholic prelates forced to resign over an abuse scandal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/08/women-middle-east-religion
The other day, my wife related how one of the office "boys" at the NGO where she worked in Cairo had been alone in the building with a female cleaner. In itself, it shouldn't been an issue, but when the office's accountant confronted the office boy (who is actually a middle-aged Egyptian), he stated that this was unacceptable. The reason: the woman could have tried to seduce him.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/06/saudi-king-abdullah-women-photo
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is not normally associated with radical moves but the 85-year-old monarch is making waves with signals encouraging greater tolerance of women's rights. In recent days Abdullah's appearance in an unusual group photograph has become a talking point across his realm and the wider Arab world. The king and his brother Crown Prince Sultan were flanked by 40 women dressed in modest abayas but mostly with their faces bare, a novelty that is seen as evidence of rare liberalism at the top.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/07/iran-youths-arrested-lustful-behaviour
Iranian police detained 80 young men and women for "lustful pleasure-seeking" activities at an illegal concert, Tehran's chief prosecutor has been quoted. The socially conservative Islamic republic launched a crackdown two years ago on "indecent western-inspired movements", such as rappers and Satanists, as part of a widening clampdown on conduct the authorities deem immoral. (So now these kids will go to prison where they will be beaten and raped.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/07/youtube-islamist-anwar-awlaki-al-qaida-times-square-bomb
His name is synonymous with fiery internet sermons, angry calls for Muslims to rise up in jihad. For Americans, the militant preacher Anwar al-Awlaki has now emerged as a key link between the most serious "homegrown" terrorist plots on US soil – including last week's abortive car bombing in New York's Times Square. Faisal Shahzad, who was charged in New York on Tuesday with driving the bomb to Times Square and described yesterday by General David Petraeus of US central command as a "lone wolf" has reportedly told law enforcement officials that he was a "fan and a follower" of Awlaki. US officials say the militant preacher is seen as a highly influential figure in mobilising English-speaking Muslims to plan al-Qaida-style atrocities.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/07/philippa-stroud-conservatives-gay-vote
The Conservative candidate who founded a church that tried to "cure" gay people by driving out demons failed in her attempt to become an MP. Philippa Stroud, the high-flying Tory hopeful who was tipped to take Sutton and Cheam from the Liberal Democrat Paul Burstow, was narrowly beaten into second place in a 73% turnout.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/07/lord-carey-council-prayers-battle
The former archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, today backed the saying of prayers before council meetings as a pressure group prepared to launch a legal battle on the issue. He said he believed the action against Bideford town council in north Devon was an "attack on freedom". The National Secular Society has intervened in a long-running controversy over the saying of prayers at Bideford and is to seek a judicial review, arguing the practice breaches the European convention on human rights. It hopes that if it wins its case, hundreds of other councils will be forced to stop prayers. (They can pray at home - not on taxpayer's money in council meetings. I am sure their prayers will be heard there as much as anywhere else))
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/04/parties-fight-islamophobia
The intolerance towards Muslims must not be tolerated, but the main political parties have not pledged to take sufficient action to combat anti-Muslim prejudice. Legitimate criticism of Muslims who spew extremist rhetoric and commit criminal acts is acceptable. However, the ugly trend of bigotry against law-abiding Muslims sweeping Europe should not be ignored by whoever comes into power as it is influencing debate here in the UK. (Muslims get more than enough "tolerance" in the UK. It is they who will not assimilate and expect special treatment - and the spineless politicians oblige them)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/05/AR2010050504997.html
WE DON'T yet know precisely where or with whom accused Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad trained in Waziristan, the lawless Pakistani tribal area that is home to al-Qaeda, the Taliban and a toxic mix of other Islamic terrorist organizations. It's not been reported whether he visited South Waziristan -- which was recently cleared by the Pakistani army -- or North Waziristan, where the surviving militants are now concentrated. A few things, however, are known: Waziristan has been connected to two failed plots to terrorize New York in the past few months. The North Waziristan-based leader of the Pakistani Taliban has declared, in videos recorded several weeks ago, an intention to carry out attacks on major American cities.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/05/AR2010050503326.html
It is the case of the missing statues. Over the past few weeks, nearly a dozen bronze busts and abstract sculptures have been taken from their pedestals in parks and squares across Tehran, apparently with the use of heavy lifting equipment and trucks. It would be an unusual but not necessarily buzz-worthy series of heists -- but for one thing: The thieves are targeting artworks that explicitly depict national, as opposed to Islamist, heroes. An abstract work representing a mother and daughter and another of a man's bare chest also have gone missing.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has cited The Daily Telegraph’s investigation into MPs’ expenses as an example of the media acting for the good of society. (It's a pity the church didn't pursue child rape allegations with the same rigor)
A Muslim woman in Italy has been fined 500 euros (£430) for wearing a burka in what is believed to be the first case of its kind. The Tunisian immigrant, Amel Marmouri, 26, was fined by police in the city of Novara, in the northern Piedmont region. The town council is controlled by the right-wing Northern League, which has pushed for much tougher immigration controls and at a national level forms part of Silvio Berlusconi's coalition government.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/05/saudi-women-drivers-seat
The issue of women driving in Saudi Arabia resurfaced recently with a headline in the Saudi-run Elaph website predicting they will be allowed to drive within two months. Such predictions have appeared in the past without being fulfilled – much to the dismay of many women who would like to drive their own cars. But with recent progressive changes in the kingdom, the prospect of women driving seems more plausible now than before.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/04/christian-sex-toys
When Abdelaziz Aouragh first thought up the idea of an online sex shop for Muslim couples, I bet he didn't imagine for a moment the amount of interest his new venture would generate. But the site actually attracted so many visitors (70,000 hits within the first four days) that eventually it crashed, and Aouragh was forced to find a new web host to deal with the volume of traffic he was getting.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/04/iran-civil-rights-activist-honour-killing
An Iranian civil rights activist who is due to be deported from the UK tomorrow could face the death penalty and fears being murdered by her family in an "honour killing" if she is sent back to Iran, according to her British partner. Bita Ghaedi, 34, fled Iran to the UK in 2005 to escape a forced marriage and in fear of her family discovering she had a secret lover. She has since spoken out against sharia law, forced marriage and human rights abuses in her homeland and has been filmed criticising the regime for TV channels widely available across the Middle East. She is currently in Yarl's Wood detention centre awaiting deportation, which is scheduled for 7pm tomorrow following the failure of a fresh asylum claim.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/04/elton-john-egypt-concert-ban
Elton John is due to give a private concert in Egypt later this month. Or rather, he was, until the Egyptian musicians' union stepped in. Mounir al-Wasimi, head of the union, announced on Sunday that he is "co-ordinating" with the authorities to stop the concert going ahead because Elton John is gay, believes Jesus was gay too, and has been critical of organised religions. Now, you might be wondering why that should be of any concern to a musicians' union or why a union set up (presumably) to promote music should be trying to ban a concert, but it's none of your business. As Wasimi points out, his union is the only body "authorised to allow performances by foreign singers in Egypt".
America's failure to rise up against the intimidation of cartoonist Molly Norris and South Park animators is a sad sign, says Alex Spillius. The trouble with terror is that it can be terrifying. Just ask Molly Norris, a cartoonist from Seattle. As far as we know, she hasn't been explicitly threatened by Islamic extremists, but evidently she feared she might be. Her error was to post on her website an illustration with many different household objects with speech bubbles all claiming to be the likeness of Mohammed, including a tea cup, a domino and a box of pasta. It was part of a mock campaign to dedicate May 20 as "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/world/europe/03maciel.html
The two former Mexican seminarians had gone to the Vatican in 1998 to personally deliver a case recounting decades of sexual abuse by one of the most powerful priests in the Roman Catholic Church, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado. As they left, they ran into the man who would hold Father Maciel’s fate in his hands, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, and kissed his ring. The encounter was no accident. Cardinal Ratzinger wanted to meet them, witnesses later said, and their case was soon accepted. But in little more than a year, word emerged that Cardinal Ratzinger — the future Pope Benedict XVI — halted the inquiry. “It isn’t prudent,” he had told a Mexican bishop, according to two people who later talked to the bishop. (More damning evidence of Ratzinger's slowness to act over abuse allegations)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7114628.ece
The Church of England is expected to pave the way for the consecration of women bishops when it publishes final proposals this week. The legislation, to be debated by the General Synod in July, will trigger a departure of some traditionalists to the Roman Catholic Church.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/02/sharia-law-islam-immigration
To deepest Metroland for a conference which might have been called "The Islamisation of Britain: How scared should we be?". In fact, it went under an altogether coyer banner, "The numbers game: Britain's changing demographics and its implications for Christian-Muslim relations". But the mood at London School of Theology, (formerly London Bible College), was not entirely neutral. An overwhelmingly Christian audience wanted reassurance. There were prepared to listen, but they had serious concerns and wanted explanations too, particularly from the one Muslim speaker, academic Jabal Buaben.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/may/03/europe-defend-free-expression
As we celebrate World Press Freedom Day, we see that freedom of expression is threatened not just in Europe but around the world. Google left the Chinese market because of censorship concerns. An episode of the popular American comedy programme South Park was censored after Islamists threatened the show's creators for their depiction of the prophet Muhammad.
When hundreds of Church of England clergy defected to the Roman Catholic Church nearly 20 years ago, it dealt a damaging blow to Anglican unity and strained relations between the two Churches. These relations will now be stretched to breaking point with the revelation that the Vatican is secretly plotting with English bishops over plans for a new wave of converts. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has already expressed his dismay at the way Pope Benedict XVI last year made his offer to disaffected Anglicans to join the Catholic Church. He would have been encouraged by the lack of clergy who have so far responded to the invitation, but The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that schemes to allow for an exodus of Anglican priests are being discussed at the highest levels of the Vatican. This is likely to prove highly embarrassing for the Pope and deepen suspicions that he is preparing to poach clergy from England only months before he visits Britain.
Two explosions at mosques in Somalia's capital Mogadishu have killed at least 30 people and wounded scores, witnesses said. It was the second attack in a week on a mosque in Bakara Market – an area of Mogadishu dominated by members of the country's two main insurgent groups, Hizbul Islam and al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab. Saturday's attack was in the Abdalla Shideye mosque which is often used by al Shabaab officials to deliver speeches
The trouble with terror is that it can be terrifying. Just ask Molly Norris, a cartoonist from Seattle. As far as we know, she hasn't been explicitly threatened by Islamic extremists, but evidently she feared she might be. Her error was to post on her website an illustration with many different household objects with speech bubbles all claiming to be the likeness of Mohammed, including a tea cup, a domino and a box of pasta. It was part of a mock campaign to dedicate May 20 as "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/02/muslim-veil-religion
The first thing you want to ask about Gary McFarlane, the man who lost his case against unfair dismissal from Relate because he refused to counsel gay couples, is whether a fundamentalist Christian heterosexual with strongly held views about homosexuality was necessarily the best person to give advice on gay sex. The second is why it didn't occur to McFarlane before he signed up with Relate, which advertises courses on counselling gays, lesbians and bisexuals, that his religious beliefs might prove an obstacle.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/02/britons-somalia-al-qaida-insurgency
A growing number of Britons are answering the call to jihad in Somalia and joining the ranks of militants linked to al-Qaida ahead of an American-backed drive next month to strengthen the country's army. Sources say that the influx, which includes Britons of Pakistani origin, is heading to the Horn of Africa as the US tries to shore up Somalia's government in the face of a broadening Islamist insurgency.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/02/conservatives-philippa-stroud-gay-cure
A high-flying prospective Conservative MP, credited with shaping many of the party's social policies, founded a church that tried to "cure" homosexuals by driving out their "demons" through prayer. Philippa Stroud, who is likely to win the Sutton and Cheam seat on Thursday and is head of the Centre for Social Justice, the thinktank set up by the former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, has heavily influenced David Cameron's beliefs on subjects such as the family. A popular and energetic Tory, she is seen as one of the party's rising stars.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/29/AR2010042902888.html
The Belgian lower house of parliament on Thursday approved a bill to ban wearing the full Islamic face veil in public, a move that could make Belgium the first European country to make the practice a criminal offence. The draft law, cast as a security measure by proponents, was overwhelmingly backed by 136 lawmakers. Just two abstained.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/30/AR2010043001527.html
Belgium's vote to ban full face veils in public is the furthest any European country has gone to confront a tiny minority whose choice in clothing has come to symbolize the issue of integrating some Muslim minorities. The issue is being debated elsewhere in Europe, especially in France, and the example of two countries moving toward a ban has raised the stakes in a dispute pitting politicians and public opinion against Muslim leaders and human rights groups.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8648099.stm
India's Supreme Court has dismissed all cases against a Tamil actress who spoke in support of the right of women to have pre-marital sex. Actress Kushboo was accused of outraging public decency and 22 cases were filed against her in 2005. Kushboo said she was "relaxed and relieved" after the court order.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8656085.stm
Pope Benedict XVI is to appoint an envoy to overhaul a conservative Roman Catholic order whose Mexican founder abused young children over many years. Marcial Maciel's actions were "immoral" and the Legionaries of Christ order had to be "purified", the Vatican said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8654326.stm
Muslims in Malawi have been angered by government plans to ban polygamy. A spokesman for the Muslim Association of Malawi told the BBC the proposed law would discriminate against the country's Muslim minority. He said with about 6% more women than men in Malawi, if polygamy were banned, many women would be left without a husband and become prostitutes.
A Muslim protester who daubed a war memorial with graffiti glorifying Osama Bin Laden and proclaiming 'Islam will dominate the world' walked free from court after prosecutors ruled his actions were not motivated by religion. Tohseef Shah, 21, could have faced a tougher sentence if the court had accepted that the insults - which included a threat to kill the Prime Minister - were inspired by religious hatred. (Tossof Shah is a vile little shit - note that this remark is not racially or religiously motivated.)
A vicar has been warned by council officials about flying a flag depicting Jesus Christ outside his church because it was deemed to be “religious advertising”. Rev Mark Binney, vicar of St Andrew’s Church, Hampton, Worcs, said he had been told he needed planning permission if he wanted to fly a flag “advertising Christianity” in future. The flag was put up outside the church in the week preceding Easter Sunday displaying the words 'This is Holy Week' and an image of Jesus on the cross. Mr Binney said the warning was “appalling”, and he felt it was part of a gradual erosion of Christianity in Britain.
On a remote island in the Pacific, a group of villagers are counting down the days until they welcome their “god” the Duke of Edinburgh back to his rightful home. The people of Yaohnanen on the island of Tanna believe a man descended from one of their spirit ancestors will return next month to live among them. While he was away he lived in a vast palace, but when he comes home he will sleep in a hut and hunt wild pigs with his tribe.
The Pope will bow before the Turin Shroud on Sunday as more than two million people are expected to see the so-called burial cloth of Christ as it goes on display. The Pontiff, 83, beset in recent months by the paedophile priest scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church across the world, is likely to attract hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Turin for a glimpse of both him and the cloth said to bear an image of Christ's body and face.
Anyone who forced a woman to wear a burka would face a fine of €15,000 (£13,000), according to leaked extracts of a proposed French law banning the face-covering Islamic veil. While women caught wearing a burka or niqab would face a €150 penalty, President Nicolas Sarkozy would fine those making others wear them one hundred times that amount, and would sentence them to one year in prison. "No-one may wear in public places clothes that are aimed at hiding the face," says the text of a new law that is to be presented to parliament in July, according to a copy seen by Le Figaro.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/apr/30/prince-wales-health-charity-fraud
The Prince of Wales's complementary health charity ceased operating today following the exposure this week of an alleged fraud and money-laundering scandal at the organisation. The trustees of the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health, of which Prince Charles is president, said last night they had brought forward a planned decision to wind up the charity as a result of a continuing police investigation by Scotland Yard. Between 2005 and April this year, the charity was paid £1.1m by the Department of Health to advise on the regulation of massage, aromatherapy, reflexology and other complementary therapies. (Good riddance)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/30/afghanistan-women-feminists-burqa
As a committed feminist, there are few symbols of women's oppression that Parween hates more than the burqa. But compromises are necessary in a country where fighting for women's rights can be a controversial and dangerous business, and she is not above donning the all-concealing garment if it helps her to stay one step ahead of the authorities.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/30/pakistan-girls-acid-attack
Men on a motorbike sprayed acid on three sisters in the Kalat, south-western Pakistan, yesterday, causing serious burns. The sisters, aged between 14 and 20, were on their way home when attacked. The girls' father, Abdul Karim, said that he had no idea of the motive. Up to 135 women were victims of similar attacks in 2009, either being set on fire or having acid thrown on them, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said. (A disgusting and sick culture. If found the perpetrators are unlikely to be tried in this toilet of a country)
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/04/29/10/priests-think-abuse-doesnt-break-celibacy-ex-bishop
Some paedophile priests believe molesting children does not breach their vow of celibacy, a retired Australian Catholic bishop said in a magazine interview. Geoffrey Robinson, former auxiliary bishop of Sydney, told The Australian Women's Weekly he had made the observation during years of work with victims of child abuse within the church. "We've met it often enough to see it as a factor. That's what the vow of celibacy refers to, being married. If it's not an adult woman, then somehow they're not breaking their vow," the 72-year-old said. (The mind boggles at how screwed-up these men are)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8651043.stm
A Nigerian senator accused of marrying a 13-year-old Egyptian girl says he has done nothing wrong. Ahmad Sani Yerima, 49, told the BBC that his fourth wife was not 13, but would not say how old she was. (Scum. Ophelia Benson has a thing or two to say about this piece of human refuse)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/29/religion-gay-rights
The former archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey today accused judges of moving towards a new "secular state" that would downgrade the rights of religious believers. Attacking a "deeply worrying" court ruling, Carey claimed the judiciary was now tipping the legal balance against believers in "a deeply unedifying collision of human rights". (Humans have rights, religions don't.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9054703
A bill allowing same-sex civil unions that prompted some of Hawaii's biggest protests is headed to the governor after the state House of Representatives gave it final legislative approval Thursday. The House voted 31-20 in favor of the measure, which had been stalled but was unexpectedly revived on the last day of this year's legislative session. The Senate passed it in January.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/29/boy-scouts-sexual-abuse-dykes
America's Scouting movement is fighting to keep secret thousands of "perversion files" on suspected child molesters after it was ordered to pay record damages over the sexual abuse of a former Scout. In a growing scandal threatening to rival the crisis hitting the Roman Catholic church, the Boy Scouts of America has been accused of covering up decades of child abuse in order to protect the reputation of what is now a billion-dollar organisation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/29/pakistan-punjab-taliban
Pakistan's heartland Punjab province is an extremist "bomb" ready to explode, the region's highest official has warned, with the recent targeting of minority groups seen by some as evidence of jihadists' grip on the area.
Creators of US cartoon The Simpsons have given a nod of support to rivals at South Park whose recent episode depicting the prophet Mohammed was censored. The opening titles of The Simpsons were altered to acknowledge the controversial decision by channel Comedy Central to change the 201st episode of South Park after the previous edition depicted the prophet disguised in a bear costume. South Park's creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, were sent a warning by a New York-based radical Islamic website for the 200th episode. The programme also lampooned Jesus and Buddhism
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8651417.stm
A relationship counsellor's bid to challenge his sacking for refusing to give sex therapy to gay couples has been turned down by the High Court. Gary McFarlane, 48, from Bristol, was sacked by Relate Avon in 2008. He claimed the service had refused to accommodate his Christian beliefs. Lord Justice Laws said legislation for the protection of views held purely on religious grounds cannot be justified.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/7636158/General-Election-2010-why-we-need-the-Science-Party.html
Over the past week, the people of Hinckley in Leicestershire have been treated to a strange sight: a man in a white lab coat prowling up and down the streets, shaking hands with anyone he can find. "You look like a mad scientist!" screeched one schoolgirl. "That's kind of the point," he replied. The man was Dr Michael Brooks: bestselling author, consultant to New Scientist magazine and, with my colleague Sumit Paul-Choudhury, co-founder of the Science Party. He is standing on a manifesto that has the fibre and substance lacking in the offerings of the main political parties.
Around 33 million Britons still believe in old wives' tales, new research has claimed. Feed a cold, starve a fever, carrots make you seen in the dark and not swimming until an hour after eating are among the most popular myths. Almost three quarters of the adult population still believe most body heat disappears through the head and that adults should consume at least eight glasses of water a day. The study, carried out by the Brooke charity, revealed people often choose superstitions and cultural beliefs to relieve ailments, rather than a proven medical cure.
Indian military scientists are studying an 82-year-old who claims he has not had any food or drink for 70 years. Prahlad Jani is being held in isolation in a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gurjarat, where he is being closely monitored by India's defence research organization, who believe he may have a genuine quality which could help save lives. (Utter nonsense)
Military prosecutors have indicated that they plan to seek the death penalty against the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/apr/28/france-sarkozy-niqab-ban
President Sarkozy must be having nightmares every night. Little did he know last June that his idea of banning the niqab in France, "the country of human rights", would so lamentably backfire. Today, he is struggling to put an end to l'affaire. And it is of little satisfaction to him that Belgium should be the first country to legislate against the full veil.
http://www.alternet.org/story/146634/exposing_the_christian_right%27s_new_racial_playbook_
"When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line. The true Negro does not want integration." That was the assertion made by a young Rev. Jerry Falwell in a sermon he preached at his Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, 1958, four years after the Supreme Court struck down school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education. But at a gathering of the religious right earlier this month at the late preacher's Lynchburg compound, integration was not only the topic of the day, but touted as the future of the conservative Christian movement.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/27/conservatives-suspend-candidate-homophobic-remarks
The Conservatives today suspended a parliamentary candidate who said homosexuality was "not normal behaviour". A Tory spokeswoman said the comments by Philip Lardner, the party's candidate for North Ayrshire and Arran, were "deeply offensive and unacceptable". They acted after comments posted by Lardner on his website (pdf) were brought to their attention. Under the heading 'What I believe in', Lardner said: "Homosexuality is not 'normal behaviour.'"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/apr/27/prince-charles-charity-arrests
Royal aides were last night facing fresh questions about their oversight of one of Prince Charles's most prominent charities, following two arrests on suspicion of fraud and money laundering at the Foundation for Integrated Health. Sources close to the charity, which campaigns for the wider application of complementary medicine in the National Health Service, said the charity's board and Clarence House both faced scrutiny of how an official, who has since resigned, could allegedly defraud it of up to £300,000.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/apr/28/acupuncture-childbirth-pain-study
Pregnant women hoping to give birth without drugs have been known to adopt any number of natural remedies, from water baths to self-hypnosis and extreme screaming, to minimise the agony of labour. But a study published today finds there is no evidence that acupuncture, another popular complementary therapy, reduces the pain of childbirth. (The accupuncturists meanwhile supply no more than anecdotal evidence)
In the UK, there exists parliamentary legislation intended to protect minorities from incitement to racial hatred. Yet on campuses across the country, hate speakers are straddling the line between that which is legal and that which is not. The wave of hate speakers that has hit UK campuses this academic year has proven the current legal provisions to be at best, insufficient and at worst, wholly impotent. Occasionally, extreme abusers of this law have been punished. So often, though, despite considerable evidence catalogued against speakers, university authorities and government ministers alike hold their hands up in a silent display of mock remorse. Prevention would be so simple, yet time and again, those who hold a duty of care have been found wanting. (When freedom of expression is the excuse for hate speech)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/apr/26/chimps-emotional-response-death-film
A video of the reaction of chimps to the death of an elderly group mate challenges procedures for dealing with terminally ill animals in captivity. (Yet more evidence narrowing the gap between us and our cousins)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/apr/26/prince-charles-aide-homeopathy-charity-arrested
An aide in Prince Charles's campaign for wider use of complementary medicine in the NHS was arrested at dawn today on suspicion of fraud and money-laundering at the prince's health charity. A 49-year old man, understood to be a former senior official at the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health, was taken into custody at a police station in north London. He was arrested alongside a 54-year-old woman, who was being held at the same address. The arrests follow a police investigation into £300,000 unaccounted for in the books of the charity, of which the Prince is president.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/27/bnp-manifesto-launch-nick-griffin
Nick Griffin's manifesto feigns engagement with widespread popular concerns over the economy, public sector cuts and war, while ignoring others, like climate change – which is presented as a myth. Above all, it seeks to profit from the current high profile of the immigration debate. (Jim Wolfreys deconstructs the toytown Nazi's election manifesto)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9048983
A Muslim Frenchman at the center of a firestorm over polygamy said Monday that keeping mistresses is the French way of life. The man's case came to light after his wife was fined for driving with a veil covering her face, and his comments are an ironic riposte to those in French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government who want to push immigrants to better integrate into French society. The 31-year-old Frenchwoman drew nationwide attention last week to a driving fine she received for apparel that hinders her vision. But it soon emerged that her husband may have four wives — although it was doubtful the marriages were made official under French law.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/16/20100427/ttc-pope-urges-catholics-to-give-interne-6315470.html
Pope Benedict XVI has told an Italian conference that Christians should take up technology and bring a measure of soul to the internet world. Skip related content Speaking at the "Digital Witnesses: Faces and Languages in the Cross-Media Age conference the pope exhorted followers to get online and provide a spiritual element to online communications. He praised media workers for their initial efforts. "I exhort you to walk the roads of the digital continent," he said, according to Catholic.net, "animated by the courage of the Holy Spirit." "Without fear we want to set out upon the digital sea embracing the unrestricted navigation with the same passion that for 2,000 years has steered the barque of the Church." (It is a good bet that there already loads of priests in internet chat rooms already)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/england/8644018.stm
A Labour candidate has been suspended after allegedly saying on an internet forum that he would not want any children of his to marry a Muslim. John Cowan, who is said to have admitted paying cash to a cleaner claiming benefits, called the row a "storm in a tea cup". (It would be the equivalent, if she converted, to relinquishing her human rights. Of course that is not acceptable)
President Obama met and prayed with the Rev. Billy Graham for the first time Sunday - days after his administration dumped the ailing evangelist's son from a national prayer program. (You can bet that Graham's rabid anti-semitism was not discussed)
In 1999 Uganda’s President Yowerie Museveni declared that Uganda’s homosexuals should be rounded up and imprisoned. Homosexuality has long been punishable by a lifetime prison sentence in Uganda, but lately the situation has deteriorated… Last December I broke the story that Engle was probably taking TheCall to Uganda. Since then, plans for the event have firmed up and gay rights groups are scrambling to gather opposition to TheCall Founder Lou Engle’s plan to to stage, on May 2nd, one of his antigay, sexual purity obsessed mass prayer rallies at the Makerere University Sports Field in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, which will call upon God to save the nation from “witchcraft,” human sacrifice, and homosexuality.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/25/middle-east-child-abuse-pederasty
Some Muslims are fond of condemning western morality – alcoholism, nudity, premarital sex and homosexuality often being cited as examples. But Muslims do not have a monopoly on morality. In the west, child marriages and sex with children are illegal. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for many Muslim countries.
A Lebanese television psychic who was condemned to death for witchcraft by a Saudi court while visiting the country will not be beheaded, his lawyer said yesterday. May al-Khansa said that the Saudi ambassador in Beirut informed the Lebanese justice minister, Ibrahim Najjar, that the execution of Ali Sibat would not take place.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/polygamy-and-fraud-claims-fan-burqa-row-1954234.html
The fining of a French Muslim woman for driving whilst wearing a niqab, or face veil, has somersaulted, in the space of a weekend, from political embarrassment to political windfall for President Nicolas Sarkozy. Controversy raged yesterday after the Government alleged that the husband of the fined woman was a suspected polygamist and social security fraud with possible links to an extreme Islamist organisation. The interior minister, Brice Hortefeux, who made the allegations in a letter released to the press, was accused by moderate Muslim groups and left-wing politicians of cynical "exploitation" of the affair for political gain.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8642911.stm
"Sectarianism kills" and "We are for civil marriage, not civil war" read the colourful banners at Sunday's protest in the centre of Beirut. Hundreds of young Lebanese gathered to march for secularism in a country that lives under a deeply divisive sectarian system. Being Lebanese in Lebanon comes second to being a Christian or a Muslim, Shia or Sunni, Orthodox or Catholic.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8642385.stm
Hundreds of civil society activists have marched on the Lebanese parliament in an unprecedented rally in Beirut. The protesters are calling on all Lebanese to help bring an end to the country's divisive sectarian system and replace it with a secular system.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8642806.stm
Scores of schoolgirls in the Afghan province of Kunduz have fallen ill over the past week, in what authorities allege is mass poisoning by insurgents. On Sunday, 13 girls were taken ill. This follows two separate incidents earlier in the week when about 70 girls complained of dizziness and nausea. An inquiry has already begun, health officials told the BBC. (This sounds like hysteria but who could blame the girls in that culture)
Former Nazi Paul Schaefer, who founded a secretive German cult in southern Chile in the 1960s and was later convicted of sexually abusing children, has died of heart failure in a prison hospital.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/24/editorial-politics-of-god
There were an unremarked few seconds of Thursday night's debate that hinted at challenges to come, when the three leaders were invited to dissociate their parties from the pope's visit in five months' time. Matters of faith are inching their way into political discourse, driven both by militant atheists and activist faith leaders such as the former archbishop Lord Carey, a privy counsellor as well as a member of the Lords, who recently complained that Christians were suffering discrimination and demanded that there should be separate Christian courts. Orthodox Jewish groups and fundamentalist mosques join the clamour. So it was significant that Nick Clegg could open his answer with "I'm not a man of faith…".
http://www.jconline.com/article/20100424/NEWS0501/100423039
This scientific experiment is raising some eyebrows. A Purdue University student is asking women around the world Monday to show a little cleavage, or some short shorts, as a humorous test to disprove an Iranian cleric’s theory that immodest dress has the power to make the Earth shake. She calls it “boobquake,” and it has become an Internet and international sensation in just a few days.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_14951494
Two former priests say they told church authorities years ago about allegations that Belgium's longest-serving bishop abused a boy but were stonewalled until he was forced to resign Friday. Norbert Bethune, who was dismissed after a doctrinal conflict with superiors, and retired priest Rik Devillle told Belgian media that they reported the allegations to Godfried Danneels, then archbishop.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/24/AR2010042400567.html
Two-thirds of French people want a law limiting the use of face-covering Islamic veils such as the niqab and the burqa, with only a minority backing the government's plan for a complete ban, a poll showed Saturday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/24/bad-science-evidence-voting
What can science and evidence bring to an election? First there are the micro-issues: we can assess the validity of claims made by politicians by seeking out the evidence. David Cameron, for example, claimed that UK cancer services were bad because fewer people die of cancer in Bulgaria than in the UK, which many have already debunked: he used death data from a country with inferior monitoring standards, and a far lower life expectancy, but more than that, he used death data, which is driven not just by treatment success, but also by the number of new cases to start with, which can vary widely for all kinds of reasons. (Piece by Ben Goldacre)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/23/france-muslim-driver-fined-veil
A Muslim woman has accused French police of attacking her freedom after she was fined for wearing a niqab while driving in the city of Nantes. The 31-year-old, who says she has worn the full veil for nine years and never been told not to wear it behind the wheel, was flagged down by two police officers and told that her niqab – which did not cover her eyes – was a safety risk.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/23/belgian-bishop-admits-molesting-boy
A Belgian bishop has confessed to molesting a boy, becoming the first high-ranking prelate to be directly implicated in child sex abuse since the outbreak of the global scandal enveloping the Roman Catholic church. Shortly after the Vatican announced that the pope had accepted his resignation , Roger Vangheluwe, the bishop of the Flemish city of Bruges, said that before he took over his diocese "and for a short time afterwards, I sexually abused a young boy close to me".
The alleged victim of a US priest accused of being a serial paedophile is suing the Pope and the Vatican in an attempt to gain access to secret files containing internal investigations into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/22/christianity-reason
He returns to the claim repeatedly: faith entails no departure whatsoever from the rational high-ground. For example: "Although some persist in portraying religious belief as irrational, the fact is that its proponents regard it as eminently reasonable". (Op-ed by Theo Hobson)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/22/student-islamic-societies-radical
Muslim groups on campus radicalise members by inspiring civic and political participation, not by breeding extremism. (Yes, of course they are all little angels. Opinion/fantasy piece by Faisal Hanjra)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/apr/22/7july-bombers-inquests-legal-aid-refused
Relatives of the 7 July suicide bombers applied for legal aid for representation at their inquests, officials said today. Ministers rejected the two applications after ruling that they did not meet the criteria for public funding. The government has already agreed that legal aid will be offered to the families of the four bombers' 52 victims and to survivors of the 2005 tube and bus attacks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/21/conservative-party-gay-eu-poland
David Cameron is to dispatch the most senior gay member of his frontbench team to Poland to encourage the Tories' rightwing allies in the European parliament to abandon their homophobic views. In a move designed to defuse criticism in tonight's leaders' television debate that the Tories have allied themselves with extremists in the EU, Cameron has revealed that the shadow environment secretary, Nick Herbert, will attend a gay rights march in Warsaw in July.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/22/belgium-niqab-ban-women
Belgium appears to be the leading contender in the race to become Europe's first country to ban the face-veil, on the grounds that it is "not compatible with an open, liberal, tolerant society". France, Italy and the Netherlands, meanwhile, are also contemplating their own laws on the issue.
On Tax Day last week, a federal judge in Wisconsin overturned a 58-year infringement on Americans' constitutional rights. In her ruling, Judge Barbara B. Crabb wrote that the National Day of Prayer Proclamation violates the First Amendment. The case, Freedom From Religion Foundation v Barack Obama & Robert Gibbs, was originally filed against George W. Bush in 2008. In the judgment, Crabb wrote that the National Day of Prayer "goes beyond mere 'acknowledgment' of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function in this context. In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7105187.ece
The owners of Marmite sought an injunction against the British National Party today after it included images of the brand in a political broadcast. The video, which featured the party leader Nick Griffin addressing viewers about the election, was available on the far-right party’s website this morning and featured a jar of Marmite. (Warning: this article has a picture of Griffin on the set complete with picture of Churchill in the background. Churchill would have despised Griffin and his ilk. What an odious little man he is - he looks like he uses Marmite in place of hair gel)
Sikh police officers will be banned from allowed to join firearms or riot teams unless they remove their turbans, under new police guidance. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) announced Sikh officers serving in the units would have to ditch the traditional head covering in favour of a patka - a smaller piece of material - in order to wear bulletproof helmets. The turbans were deemed ''unsafe'' because they cannot fit under the protective headgear and do not themselves offer sufficient protection. ACPO rejected the notion of designing a special bullet proof turban made from ballistic material, but said such equipment was worthy of ''future exploration''. (Bullet proof turbans?)
The roots of Islamic fanaticism can be traced to Adolf Hitler's radio messages broadcast around the Arab world during the Second World War, according to a new book. "Your only hope for rescue is the destruction of the Jews before they destroy you!" Hitler said in a 1942 message, one of thousands broadcast across the Middle East in an attempt to woo the Arab world. In a broadcast aimed at provoking an anti-Semitic uprising in Egypt, he said: "A large number of Jews who live in Egypt, along with Poles, Greeks, Armenians and Frenchmen, have guns and ammunition.