Nutter News

From the National Secular Society by Muriel Fraser

Revealing the stranglehold that the churches have on employment in Germany.

Last month a German court upheld the denial of benefits to a long-term employee who lost her job at a Catholic hospital because she left the Church.

She was fired a few days after she withdrew her name from the Church membership list and thereby from the church-tax rolls and after she made it clear that she could not be persuaded to return. In addition, her right to benefits was denied for a period of twelve weeks.

The Civil Court of the Rheinland and Palatinate decided that she had only herself to blame for losing her job. Accordingly, they withheld benefits, citing a new law which denies benefits to those who lose their jobs “deliberately or with wanton negligence”. After all, the court argued, she should have known when she took the job many years before that she would lose it if she ever left the Church. Furthermore, it was an “open question” whether this whole matter had anything to do with “religious freedom”. Tellingly, they referred to her claim as an attempt to exercise merely “negative” religious freedom.

Now, despite her long years of service, she is no longer qualified for employment in any of Germany’s church-run hospitals. This is a serious handicap, as “faith-based” institutions control 87% of the hospital beds, despite the fact that the churches only contribute 1.8% of the hospital budget and the taxpayers give the rest.

The high unemployment situation forces many Germans to retain their church membership and pay “church tax” every year because they feel trapped. They are caught between the preponderance of “faith-based” employers on the one hand, and high unemployment on the other. To add insult to injury, they also face the prospect of becoming outcasts. Judgements like this warn them that if they try to exercise their “negative” religious freedom, they risk contravening “the principle of the social state”. For sound historical reasons, Germans in general, and the non-religious in particular, are very anxious to avoid being targeted as a threat to society as what was once termed “social vermin”.

Religious organisations may tread softly in times of full employment, but once there’s an economic downturn they seize their chance. They know that their employees are trapped and that they must submit without a murmur to more interference in their private lives than other church members would tolerate. In terms of individual freedom, faith-based social services can prove to be a time bomb.

Based on an article from the Daily Mail

A poster showing a shouting Wayne Rooney daubed in red paint with arms outstretched reflecting the St George's Cross has caused a stink. It has been condemned as 'offensive', 'exploitative' and 'tacky' by MPs and nutters.

Five people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority watchdog on religious grounds within hours of the advert being posted.

Labour MP Stephen Pound said the advert was 'truly horrible.'This is such a horrible image and is so horribly war-like that it can only be described as Nike being crass, offensive and insensitive as they try to hitch poor old Rooney to their commercial band-wagon. Wayne's a good Catholic boy and I think the obvious crucifixion nuance is one part of it, but the aggressive nature of the pose is something we could do without.

Nike, who have a £5m contract with the striker, pleaded that they were merely showing him in his trademark goal-scoring 'celebration' gesture and denied they had sought to make any comparison with Christ on the cross.

Rev Rod Thomas of Church of England evangelical group Reform was not convinced: It's quite a disturbing image and because the paint is wet, it really looks like blood. It therefore brings to mind the crucifixion to many people, and why Nike would want to do that, I haven't a clue, unless it is simply as a publicity stunt. The trivialisation of Christ's suffering is highly offensive to Christians and to God. This will cause real hurt to people.

The other aspect of it is the aggression contained in it, bound up with the flag of St George, which you might see as a throwback to the Crusades, which is hardly going to go down well with Muslim countries. It's offensive on several different levels.

A spokesman for the ASA said the complainants who had see the advert either in a huge 60ft wide roadside hoarding in West London or in some national newspapers, all thought the picture was a reference to the crucifixion.

A spokesman for the advertising agency said: The red paint is not meant to be blood, it's just echoing the body paint which fans cover themselves in and the rest of Wayne's body is painted white. It's the flag of St George, and nothing else. We have had nothing but positive reaction to the poster and a lot of people have been asking if they can buy it. We have no plans to produce it as a poster.'

Based on an article from Asia Media

Netizens have condemned the man who snitched to the police about a blogger who had posted pictures  likening Jesus to a zombie. They would rather Singaporeans resolve the matter by other means, such as letting other Internet users condemn the content online.

Many shared the view of blogger "Mr Wang," a Singapore lawyer: I am not saying that it's fine to go around offending people's race or religion. But when such incidents happen, it is not necessarily the case that the best response lies in the law or its instruments."

But others outside the Net disagreed. Religious leaders and social observers interviewed believe the law has a role to play in inflicting the need to cede the right to free expression to the need to 'respect' another's faith.

The right to free speech stops when it begins to hurt the religious sensitivities of others, said unchristianlike Father John-Paul Tan, parish priest of the Church of St Mary of the Angels in Bukit Batok. That's when sometimes the law needs to come in to educate people. [hardly loving your neighbour and turning the other cheek]

These opposing reactions to the ongoing investigation of the blogger, who calls himself Char online, stem from four images he had published earlier this year which were thought to be disrespectful of Jesus Christ.

They attracted complaints from one nutter, and in March, police started investigating his alleged flouting of the Sedition Act.

Law professor Thio Li-Ann from the National University of Singapore said that in investigating the matter, the Government was being even-handed and recognising respect for religious faiths as a key principle here: Given that 80% of Singaporeans subscribe to some kind of religious faith, it is not conducive to denigrate any faith.

Chairman of the Centre for Contemporary Islamic Studies Ridzuan Wu predictably called for society to take a consistent position when any religious figure is mocked: Muslims feel it is offensive to deride the Prophet, and it is offensive to do so to Jesus Christ and other religious figures.

Seems an unlikely assertion to me. Corruption surely correlates primarily to wealth and social systems that are then related to religious observance.

Based on an article from The Times

Countries whose citizens regularly attend church are likely to be more corrupt, according to a think-tank’s report.

The study finds a link between religious devotion — calculated according to the proportion of the population that attends a place of worship at least once a week — and levels of perceived corruption among public officials and in business life.

Ian Senior, who wrote the study for the Institute of Economic Affairs, said that the apparent link was a surprise: Personally, I find it disappointing that religiosity apparently does not provide a bulwark against corruption.

He also found that high levels of corruption, as measured by Transparency International, an anti-corruption pressure group, were associated with low incomes per head, high regulation and a lack of press freedom.

Based on an article from News.com.au

Turkey's public television TRT, controlled by the Islamist-rooted government, has barred the popular Walt Disney cartoon Winnie the Pooh from air because it has a piglet as one of its main heroes, the Turkish press reported.

Several other cartoons featuring pigs also failed to win the green light from TRT management, according to the left-wing Cumhuriyet daily.

The station initially considered scissoring the scenes showing Piglet, but abandoned the idea because the small pink-skinned character, one of Winnie the Pooh's closest friends, appeared too often, Cumhuriyet and the mass-circulation Sabah newspaper said.

Pigs are regarded as unclean by Muslims and Islam prohibits the consumption of pork.

Winnie the Pooh has been aired on other television channels in Turkey and its videos are easily available at the stores.

Based on an article from the Sikh Sangat

A Birmingham-based Sikh video game creator has criticised the BBC for misrepresenting a Sikh history-based game he developed as anti-Muslim.

According to a report in Eastern Eye , an ethnic Indian newspaper in Britain, Taranjit Singh stated that BBC's Asian Network manipulated and took out of context the content of his game and made it look like one of the "Sikhs killing Muslims".

Singh, who also works as a web researcher in the Museum and Art Gallery at Birmingham, has lodged a complaint with Ofcom: Instead of trying to create discussion and offer a balanced platform for dialogue, they tried to make trouble between two communities.

The game's website describes Sarbloh Warriors as a pioneering Sikh computer game, combining the latest 3D action technology with the historical setting of 18th-century northern India. Based on true events of the period, a story has been created to take the player back in time and experience how bands of Sikhs were forced to fight back from the brink of extinction, using typical weaponry of the time against the imperial Mughals, who ruled India then.

The game, still under development, is to be released at the end of next year.

BBC's head of communications, Andrew Bate, meanwhile, told the newspaper: The BBC Asian Network always aims to cover stories responsibly and with great care. We believe that in this case we did just that so don't believe that an apology is warranted.

Taranjit Singh and the other game developers state they are taking every opportunity to get Muslims involved in creating the game and have kept contact with the Muslim Council of Britain.

Based on an article from Reuters. See also taslimanasrin.com

Indian Muslims in West Bengal urged the government to deport a controversial Bangladeshi author, saying she had hurt communal harmony with her anti-Islamic remarks at a recent public meeting.

Speaking at a seminar titled "Irrelevance of religion in the era of technology", Taslima Nasreen told a packed hall in Kolkata that she used to abuse Allah as a child and that the Koran "contains contradictions". As a eight-year-old child, I was warned by my mother that if I abused Allah I would be punished, but I did that and nothing happened to me, said Nasreen, as Muslims in the audience then walked out of the hall.

Angered by her speech, Muslim leaders have written to the government demanding her immediate deportation and plan to hold protests against her. Muslim groups said they were incensed by Nasreen's remarks, which they felt had gone well beyond what is considered freedom of speech.

Communal harmony is in danger and she must be asked to leave if she has problems with Muslims, Hasan Ahmed Imran, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Bengal, told Reuters.

The author fled her home country in 1994 after hardline Muslims called for her death following her most controversial book, "Lajja", which was banned for blasphemy and suggesting free sex.

Nasreen has since lived in the United States and Europe, before settling in West Bengal. She has applied for Indian citizenship, which Muslim leaders say must not be granted.

Based on an article from From News Busters

US nutters are perplexed after a new family movie about football, Facing the Giants, has been given a “PG” rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) apparently for having too much religious content.

The MPAA said is that the movie contained strong 'thematic elements' that might disturb some parents. They  decided that the movie was heavily laden with messages from one religion and that this might offend people from other religions.

The scene that caught the MPAA's attention may have been the chat between football coach Grant Taylor -- played by Alex Kendrick -- and a rich brat named Matt Prader. The coach says that he needs to stop bad-mouthing his bossy father and get right with God.

The boy replies: You really believe in all that honoring God and following Jesus stuff? ... Well, I ain't trying to be disrespectful, but not everybody believes in that.

The coach replies: Matt, nobody's forcing anything on you. Following Jesus Christ is the decision that you're going to have to make for yourself. You may not want to accept it, because it'll change your life. You'll never be the same.

The synopsis reads: A drama about a Christian high school football coach who uses his undying faith to battle the giants of fear and failure. In six years of coaching, Grant Taylor has never led his Shiloh Eagles to a winning season. After learning that he and his wife Brooke face infertility, Grant discovers that a group of fathers are secretly organizing to have him dismissed as head coach. Devastated by his circumstances, he cries out to God in desperation. When Grant receives a message from an unexpected visitor, he searches for a stronger purpose for his football team. He dares to challenge his players to believe God for the impossible on and off the field. When faced with unbelievable odds, the Eagles must step up to their greatest test of strength and courage. What transpires is a dynamic story of the fight between faith and fear. Facing the Giants is a powerful experience for the whole family inspiring viewers to live with faith, hope, and love!

From the Brussels Journal

The Dutch authorities fear that Submission 2, Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s soon to be released new movie, might make the Netherlands a target of angry Muslims worldwide. The movie criticizes Muslims for their intolerance of gays. In a report published last Wednesday the country’s National Anti-Terrorism Coordinator (NCTb) warns that one must seriously take into account the possibility of an international Muslim boycott of the Netherlands, similar to the boycott of Denmark by the Islamic world earlier this year over the Muhammad cartoons.

The NCTb writes that Submission 2 has already attracted attention in the Arab world and in Iran. The Dutch authorities are working on a plan about what to do if the movie does, indeed, stir up international Muslim indignation. Controversial debates or artistic quotes about Islam in the Netherlands can be abused by radical Muslims abroad to agitate against the Netherlands, the NCTb report says. It states that the Danish cartoon affair shows how minor local incidents can rapidly escalate into violent tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims. Not only political interests but also economic interests as well as the safety of embassies and Dutch troops abroad can be in jeopardy.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has announced that her new movie will be released later this year. Submission 2 criticizes the “lack of sexual liberty” of homosexuals in Muslim societies. Hirsi Ali’s first movie, Submission, which was released in 2004, criticized the discrimination of women in Muslim societies. The script of the movie was written by Hirsi Ali. The movie depicted verses from the Koran written on the naked backs of battered women. Theo van Gogh, the Amsterdam film maker who directed Hirsi Ali’s movie, was assassinated in November 2004 by a Muslim fanatic. Van Gogh’s murderer pinned a letter to his corpse, threatening to kill Hirsi Ali as well.

Based on an article from From AdultFYI

Evangelical Christians are on the front lines in the battle over indecency on US cable television, calling for a pick-and-choose pricing plan that would allow viewers to keep certain channels out of their homes.

But this policy may prove to be a bit of an evangelical own goal.

The fear among Christian broadcasters is that a proposal to allow consumers to reject MTV or Comedy Central would also allow them to drop the Trinity Broadcasting Network or Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. Cutting off that access could hurt religious broadcasters.

We do not believe that 'a la carte' is the cure for the disease, said Colby May, attorney for the Faith and Family Broadcasting Coalition, which represents Trinity and CBN, in addition to other stations. In fact, it is a cure that may very well kill the patient.

The a la carte'  plan, endorsed in an unofficial Federal Communications Commission report and likely to be proposed by Sen. John McCain, is billed as a way to avoid paying for such stations as FX, Comedy Central and MTV, which rack up high ratings with such risque or controversial shows as The Shield, South Park and The Real World.

The Christian networks' main concern is that the only ones willing to subscribe would be Christians.

If you obligate viewers to pre-select religious service, you are essentially going to find yourself witnessing to the choir, May said. In combination, all of these networks have literally thousands and thousands of anecdotal stories of people who were channel-surfing that came across one of their services and it changed their life for the better.

But such Christian groups as Concerned Women for America say lives would be better with the a la carte plan. Unfortunately, the number of inappropriate programs far outweighs the number of good, said Lanier Swann, the group's director of government relations. Our issue is to protect families.

Michael Goodman, media analyst for the Yankee Group, said a la carte may sound like a great idea, but it's bound to have serious consequences for viewers and cable firms. He argues for a more obvious approach. That's why we have remote controls. If you don't want to see it, turn the channel. Or if you really don't want to see it, use the parental controls.

But Swann said because many children are more tech-savvy than their parents, it is simply not enough. Besides, she said, the main problem is that cable subscribers are required to pay for material that they find objectionable.

Based on an article from Az Central

Islamic intolerants who have seized control of Somalia's capital fired guns in the air and cut electricity to makeshift cinemas to prevent people from watching the World Cup. The Islamic Courts Union broke up gatherings to watch the soccer matches.

As soon as the Islamists took over the security of our city, we thought we would get freedom. But now they have been preventing us from watching the World Cup, said Adam Hashi-Ali, a teenager in Mogadishu.

The unrest came as the Islamic militia's leader, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmedsaid, said he does not want to impose a Taliban-style government, a significant shift from his earlier calls for a strict Islamic republic. He added: We do not want to impose sharia law. We will accept the views of the Somali people.

Based on an article from Antara

An Islamic court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) condemned a man to death by stoning and his female lover to one year in jail and 100 lashes, a local newspaper reported.

The couple, both foreigners with the woman working as a live-in maid for an Emirati family in the northern emirate of Fujairah, were caught naked in bed in April when the woman's employer called the police after suspecting that she had sneaked her lover into her bedroom.

The woman was spared the stoning by death sentence because she was single while the man admitted to being married but said that he could not bring his wife over to the UAE.

Like the ultra-conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the court system in the UAE, which is a federation of seven emirates including the booming city state of Dubai, applies sharia, or Islamic law.

All sharia courts in the UAE hand down severe punishment that usually include the lash, a jail term and deportation for men and women who have affairs outside wedlock. But they usually refrain from more severe sentences, like stoning and beheading, which are common in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. In the past, higher courts in the UAE have commuted stoning sentences handed down on the emirate-level to prison or deportation instead.

  Screwed by the Church

From Life SIte

The Vatican has condemned Germany’s promotion of prostitution during the World Cup and called for prosecution and heavy fines on those who profit from sex industry and human trafficking.

Prostitution, in fact, violates the dignity of the human person, reducing [her] to an object and instrument of sexual pleasure. Women have become market commodities, which can be bought. And they cost less than a ticket for a football match, Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, said on Vatican Radio.

Prostitution was made legal in Germany over three years ago. The country has recently received heavy international criticism.

Archbishop Marchetto said German authorities had a special responsibility to interfere and place limits on prostitution.

He also called on the Church to examine the motives of men who seek out prostitutes, saying the Church should educate boys and men in healthy human sexuality.

[Umm...I think that the Catholic Church has learnt a lot of valuable lessons about human sexuality that could be of value to pass on to the younger generation:

• Chastity screws people up. Even priests can be, and are, horribly perverted by this policy.
• Prohibition of condoms causes untold deaths and misery due to disease
• Masturbation clearly causes nutters to go blind to the harm caused by religion

Perhaps these lessons could be succinctly summarised in that youngsters should simply not believe the unbelievable nonsense taught by this church]

Msgr. Aldo Giordano, secretary-general of the Council of European Bishops Conferences, said the open promotion of prostitution during the World Cup was a “scandal,” and entirely against the spirit of the World Cup. He also said he hoped Europeans, particularly women, would react strongly against the marketing of women during the event: The churches want to challenge this with all their strength, because it is a real sign of decadence in Europe,

From Asia News

The Pakistan Supreme Court found the two men innocent after they spent seven years in prison. This is the story of the umpteenth victim of this unjust blasphemy law features years of threats by Islamic fundamentalists and fear even after release.

After seven years in prison for blasphemy, two Christians in Pakistan have been declared innocent and released. The Supreme Court of Pakistan found Amjad Masih, and Asif Masih not guilty and ordered their immediate release. The Court of Faisalabad had condemned them both to life imprisonment in 1999 for burning a copy of the Koran, an act held to be “blasphemous” in Pakistan. In May 2003, the High Court of Lahore rejected their appeal and upheld the maximum sentence handed down to them.

For security reasons, Asif and Amjad could not be interviewed. AsiaNews talked to Kausar Bibi, Amjad’s wife, and Sadiq Masih, his father; the two relatives told the story of these two Christians, the umpteenth victims of a law held by many to be an “arbitrary tool of intimidation”.

Kausar began: “In February 1999, the police arrested my husband and Asif in Jhang, where we live, over a minor brawl. After a few days the authorities issued the bail notice, but when we went back to prison, the authorities refused to allow them to leave.”

The problem was that the bail notice was only valid for the brawl, which we knew about, but in the meantime, both of them had been accused of ‘blasphemy’ (section 295B of the Criminal Code) for having burned a copy of the Koran in their cell. ‘Try to get bail for this charge too if you want to free them,’ they told us in prison.

The Amjad family turned to the Bishop John Joseph Shaheed Trust which hired a lawyer and gave them financial support.

Although Amjad has now been released, his family still does not feel safe. His wife said they have been intimidated and threatened throughout recent years by local groups of Islamic fundamentalists, who forced her to move to her father’s house. Being recognized innocent by the law does not serve to calm extremists’ religious fervour.

Calling for the abolition of the blasphemy law is a long-running battle fought by the Church and human rights groups in Pakistan. Introduced in 1986, the law provides for the death penalty for those convicted of offending Muhammad. Alas, this law is increasingly being used by extremists as an instrument for revenge; they abuse it to settle personal scores, so much so that Muslims themselves are among those hardest hit by this law.

Based on an article from the Hindustan Times

A Pakistani Muslim man accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammad has been killed inside a court compound in a frenzied knife attack, police said.

The suspect accused of blasphemy, Abdul Sattar Gopang, was set upon by two attackers as he was leaving a court in the town of Muzzafargarh. He was stabbed in the chest 15 times.

Police described the attackers as "religious fanatics". The two, a student and a shopkeeper, were arrested on murder charges, policemen Rai Tahir said: They have no regrets, they're smiling. They say they decided to kill Gopang at the first opportunity, that it was their duty.

Gopang had been arrested in March after being accused of uttering blasphemous comments during a fight with a man.

Blasphemy is against the law in Muslim Pakistan and carries the death sentence. Cases are relatively common but death sentences have never been carried out because convictions have always been turned down by high courts citing lack of evidence.

On Thursday, a mob killed a Muslim cleric in a village in Punjab province after members of a rival religious group accused the cleric of burning pages of the Quran.

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said the cleric's killing highlighted how the blasphemy law was abused by people to settle personal or religious disputes. We've been demanding that the government change the law radically so people can't misuse it, said commission head Iqbal Haider.

Selections from an interview in  The Telegraph

In his first newspaper interview since being elected, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari suggests this country should adopt more Islamic ways.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari spoke of the London Muslim had been shot in a terrorism raid.

I was stunned. I am chairman of the east London mosque and I come from Bangladesh - I know the families in the area well. The children may squabble in the playground and there are occasional drugs - but not terrorists. After 9/11 and 7/7, this area prided itself on being mature. We don't rant and rave.

Dr Bari, a 52-year-old science teacher and author of several books on Islam in Britain, became arguably the most influential Muslim voice in the country after taking over from Sir Iqbal Sacranie this week.

His aim, he says, will be to encourage Britain to adopt more Muslim ways, as well as to encourage Muslims to be good British citizens. He thinks that non-Muslim Britons would benefit from having arranged marriages and espousing stronger family values; they would also do well to stop drinking and gambling and to follow many of the teachings of Islam.

But instead of integrating, do not some Muslims insist on imposing their values? For example, the schoolgirl in Luton who demanded to wear the jilbab left some feeling threatened.

We supported her right to wear what she wanted, Dr Bari says. It was wrong for her to lose out on an education just because of her dress. As Muslims, we are far more shocked by pupils' short skirts, but we don't complain. That is another thing the British could learn: modesty is very attractive.

He does not think that Muslims should adopt too many British practices; Britain should espouse many more Muslim traditions, he says. Arranged marriages are a good idea. These are not forced on children but it is a way of parents helping to guide their children to make the right choices. In youth, you are very emotional; you just go on instinct. Elders can look at compatibility, background, intentions. It is a wonderful system.

He warms to his theme. Pre-marital sex is wrong, cohabitation is wrong; by the time you get married, you are bored. There is no mystery. Muslim marriages tend to be more successful, more of a partnership. And gambling is terrible here. All physical and mental effort should go into earning money, working for it. I think that Muslims can help the British here.

He admits that non-Muslims are unlikely ever to forswear alcohol but says: Britain would definitely be better off without it. Alcohol addiction is worse than drugs - it destroys families.

He says: We really are doing our bit for Britain. We are flying the flag. But the British should be embracing the Muslim community rather than condemning it.

From the National Secular Society

There was a gathering last week of the great and the good from the religious power bases of Europe and beyond at the European Union in Brussels. They had been invited by Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, and the conference was co-chaired by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

The religious leaders in all their pomp made their usual self-aggrandising claims about the role of religion in Europe. They put in their bids for two things: the Christians want any revived European Constitution to have all the “faith” stuff reintroduced, and the Muslims want a law compelling “respect” for religious sensibilities.

The meeting was called as part of an ongoing commitment by the EU to consult religious bodies, although it was clear that no non-religious bodies were present. Presumably the tendency of secularists to pour cold water on the grandiose claims of the self-important religionists would not have fitted the fantasy that was being peddled.

Europe is by far the most secularised part of the world. Religion is becoming increasingly unimportant to its citizens. And yet a few riots, a few bombs and a lot of unproven claims of persecution suddenly appear to give justification for religion to take centre stage. The conference was told, for instance, that religious leaders can play a “vital role in easing social tensions”. The Danish cartoon protests and the Paris riots (largely involving youths of African or Arab descent) were given as examples of how religion could help bring peace. It was not mentioned that the cartoon riots were, in fact, incited by religious leaders.

One small beacon of hope came from Manuel Barroso when he warned the Islamists who had come there with the intention of attacking free expression that the Islamic community in Europe should not be in a position to choose between their beliefs and European values. Barroso said there had been no conclusion on what to do about the Danish cartoons. This was not a negotiating session but a brainstorming, he stressed.

But, of course, any conference about religious peace will eventually generate religious warfare, and the Brussels-based Rabbinical Centre of Europe complained they were unfairly excluded from the meeting, arguing that the two Jewish representatives at the talks did not fully represent the Jewish faith in Europe. The group said the two other Rabbis at the meeting represented mostly the Ashkenazi community and not the Sephardic community.

No-one from the “non-believing community” was invited to attend this jamboree, either.

One needs to ask: is there a hall big enough to contain the thousands of religions, sects and cults and their sub-divisions who will want to join these meetings and make their bid for power? And is there a diplomat anywhere in the world who can keep them from each others throats?

When writing to President Barroso,  MEP Sophie in ’t Veld drew his attention to violence directed against those participating in a Gay Pride March in Moscow last weekend, which she had witnessed. She told him that the hooligans were accompanied, supported and it seems in some cases even publicly blessed by Russian Orthodox priests. … We call upon the religious leaders present at your meeting tomorrow to publicly condemn the actions of the priests, and upon the Russian Orthodox Church in particular to initiate an investigation into the matter.

From The Telegraph

As the purveyors of nothing spicier than the odd dash of hot chilli sauce, Baghdad's falafel vendors had never imagined their snacks might be deemed a threat to public morality. Now, though, their simple offerings of chickpeas fried in breadcrumbs have gone the same way as alcohol, pop music and foreign films - labelled theologically impure by the country's growing number of Islamic zealots.

In a bizarre example of Iraq's creeping "Talibanisation", militants visited falafel vendors a fortnight ago, telling them to pack up their stalls by today or be killed. The ultimatum seemed so odd that, at first, most laughed it off - until two of them were shot dead as they plied their trade.

They came telling us, 'You have 14 days to end this job' and I asked them what was the problem, said Abu Zeinab, who was packing up his stall for good yesterday in a hardline Sunni neighbourhood: They said there were no falafels in Mohammed the prophet's time, so we shouldn't have them either.

It is, however, just one of many Islamic edicts to hit Baghdad in recent weeks, prohibiting everything from the growing of goatee beards to the sale of mayonnaise - because it is allegedly made in Israel.

News of the latest strictures surfaced 10 days ago, when the coach of Iraq's tennis team and two players were shot dead for wearing shorts. The killings, in Sunni-dominated west Baghdad, took place days after militants had distributed leaflets banning the wearing of shorts or T-shirts with English writing on them. They also forbade women to drive or travel on public transport with men - a rule that bus drivers have begun to enforce.

Another group of traders to have felt the Islamists' unexpected wrath is Baghdad's ice merchants, who sell large chunks of ice for storing food and chilling drinks. In a city facing constant power cuts and summer temperatures of up to 50C (122F), the service they provide is little short of essential. Yet in recent weeks, they too have fallen foul of the claim that their product was not a feature of life during Mohammed's time.

Akram al Zidawi, an ice seller, thought the threats were too ludicrous to be true - until it was too late. Two weeks ago he came back home saying that he had been threatened by the terrorists, They came back two days later and shot him dead, along with three other ice sellers nearby."

Meanwhile, barbers have been inundated with young men anxious to shave off their goatee beards. Last month, Mustapha Jawad was allegedly killed for wearing one, which Islamists deemed a Jewish facial hairstyle.

From The Times

Noor and her boyfriend used to go out a lot and listen to dance in their favourite restaurant in Baghdad. The 26-year-old university lecturer also used to enjoy going window shopping at night in the city’s once-glitzy Mansour district, dressed in the latest fashions.

That was before the “men in black”, the Taliban-style militias waging terror against the urban middle class, arrived in Noor’s neighbourhood, threatening to shoot, kidnap and shave the heads of anyone who challenged their draconian strictures.

The militias are part of a hardline religious crackdown organised by Abu Musab al- Zarqawi. On Friday he released a four-hour sermon, effectively a message of hate, calling on Sunni Muslims to confront adherents of the rival Shi’ite branch of Islam.

Zarqawi, who appears to act with impunity in Iraq despite a £13m bounty on his head, has printed pamphlets that were delivered through doors in the Amariya district of Baghdad, one of his self-declared Sunni “emirates”.

The “emir”, identified as Abu Houzeifa, announced new rules: Women cannot drive; women cannot go out after midday; women and men are not allowed to go out and walk together, they must walk separately. The rules are enforced by Al-Qaeda thugs who drive around in cars in Amariya, Yarmouk and other Sunni areas that Zarqawi has declared are his. Noor said: If they see someone breaking the rules, they shoot them.

The “men in black” have turned women into virtual prisoners in their homes. At first we were more afraid of bombs but now we are more afraid of being killed for what we are wearing, Noor said.

The atmosphere is becoming ever more oppressive. Men came to Noor’s house and told her she could not drive any more. Her father has to drive her to her lectures at the same university where she drove to class as an undergraduate.

She dare not step outside without a hijab, or headscarf. Last month two teenage girls were dragged off the al-Amal al-Shahbi street in the Amariya district. When they emerged several hours later their heads had been shaved.

The militants issued a warning that in future women walking down the street without a hijab faced death.

Zarqawi’s reign of terror in the most affluent Sunni neighbourhoods illustrates the insurgents’ all-pervasive power. None of the restrictions imposed by his militias are law, yet women have no legal recourse.

The police do nothing, even if something happens in front of their eyes, said a woman politician who did not want her name used because she and her family have been targeted. She has survived an assassination attempt but two relatives were murdered because of her job. The police don’t investigate because they are too afraid. The Americans are too scared of roadside bombs, so when they go out they accomplish their mission and return directly to base. They don’t see anything.

Noor can no longer buy CD, only men can go into music or film shops. The “men in black” have closed down some music shops and blown up others. Such restrictions are taken for granted in fundamentalist Islamic countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. But under the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi women were among the most liberated in the Arab world. Now it feels like we’ve gone back 50 years.”

From Sky

A man and a woman have been killed after they were seen having sex in a field in Pakistan. The man, Hadi Bakhsh Buledi, and the woman, identified only as Raji, both died at the scene.

Three men shot the couple when they were spotted in an "objectionable condition" before dawn in a tribal village in southern Pakistan.

Police official Abdul Majeed Abro said both victims were married to other people. Abro said it was a case of "karo-kari", referring to the custom of killing adulterers. He confirmed they were looking for three men and Raji's husband in connection with the killings.

Last year 563 married women, 75 unmarried women, 373 men and six children were victims of so-called honour killings in Pakistan, according to women's rights group Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid.

From The Guardian, by Stewart Dakers is a collector for Christian Aid

A week ago, more than a quarter of a million Christians spent many hours putting their faith on the line - they were collecting for Christian Aid. The doorstep can be an uncomfortable place. Public scepticism is very in your face. However, it is all fairly predictable and most of us are seasoned to it. But for me, this year was different.

A common objection to giving is that the monies raised will be wrongly used - for arms, for corrupt governments, for administration or for fat-cat salaries - or they will simply be lost. Another objection, one which on the poorer estates is increasingly legitimate, is that charity begins at home.

More brutally there are those who suggest that every life saved is another mouth to feed in regions where quite clearly the major problem is overpopulation; droughts, civil wars, famines, disease are natural and acceptable devices for population control, and aid is interference. This year such arguments were augmented by the emphasis on Aids; there are many adherents to the divinely ordained plague thesis.

It would be easy to dismiss such arguments simply as devices for avoiding putting hands into wallets. Or as tabloid bigotry. Or as genuine charity exhaustion. After all, every week there is some new crisis, and we have responded, massively and apparently to little avail. It is not so much compassion fatigue as a growing disbelief in its efficacy.

This year our district was fortunate to have Christian Aid's director, Daleep Mukarji, to prepare us for what lay ahead with a stirring mix of fact and fury. Perhaps he has second sight because, for the first time, a new element was to become apparent - or rather one that had previously whispered its disaffection now began to shout it openly.

In earlier years, it had not been uncommon to encounter the religious objector, who on principle, supported by tabloid versions of history, rejected any religious charity on the grounds that wherever there was conflict, there was religion. This year it was different. Public reluctance was less concerned with our programme of aid than with its Christian authority.

Objections became more specific, more informed and more menacing. I experienced too many doorstep transactions that revealed a public actively pissed off with religion and the reasons, though varied in detail, were identical in essence: Christianity had lost its way; its moral protocols no longer engaged helpfully in the everyday problems that resulted from scientific progress; it was not so much out of touch with the secular world as ethically inferior to it. Where our debates about women, sexuality or contraception were atavistic, our public address to more contemporary issues such as genetics or to biotechnology was non-existent

There was something else lurking beneath this attack. Objectors associated this moral deficit with fundamentalist doctrines that were perceived to be taking over the mainstream. On far too many doorsteps I encountered the concern that Christianity appeared to be dominated by values that the secular world had repudiated, and to be directed by factions whose agendas were viewed as medieval.

In a sense, the aid that was offered is perhaps less important than the arguments of those who refused to give. This was the voice of the streets, and it was warning us that the theological terrorism of these antediluvian creeds is significantly discrediting Christianity. If our faith continues to accommodate these redneck theologies, its witness will become irrelevant to the human - and unworthy of the divine.

From The Times

Russia’s homosexual community is under siege. It should have been preparing to celebrate the 13th anniversary today of the lifting of a Soviet-era legal ban on homosexual relations between men. Instead, plans to mark the occasion with the first gay parade in Russia have sparked a violent backlash from religious and nationalist groups, and the controversy is polarising the country’s fledgling gay community.

The controversy began last year when Nikolai Alekseyev, a gay rights activist, announced plans to stage a parade. We want to give hope to gays and lesbians in the regions, who have no influence on politics.

His proposal triggered a chorus of outrage from Russian Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish leaders. Talgat Tadzhuddin, the Chief Mufti, said: If they come out on to the streets anyway, they should be flogged. Mikhail Dudko, of the Orthodox Church, denounced the idea as the “propaganda of sin”, and one bishop likened homosexuality to leprosy.

The furore spilt on to the streets this month, when angry crowds protested outside the Three Monkeys and another club that was playing host to a gay night. Skinheads and elderly women holding icons and crosses chanted, “Death to pederasts!” and “Russia for Russians!”, and several of the clubs’ guests were attacked.

Moscow city authorities have since turned down the application for the parade, saying that it could provoke riots. Inna Svyatenko, the head of the security committee of the Moscow City Duma, said: It wasn’t long ago that homosexual relations were illegal. There is still no single generation that has grown up without this way of thinking

Based on an article from the BBC
Photos from the good folks at www.patriotguard.org

Hate preacher Fred Phelps' anti-gay campaign is testing the limits of the US constitutional commitment to free speech. His protests could hardly be better designed to provoke outrage among the great majority of Americans.

The head of the Westboro Baptist Church has over the past year been using military funerals to spread his message that soldiers' deaths in Iraq are God's punishment against America for tolerating homosexuality.

Phelps is used to being in the crosshairs of US lawmakers. Dozens of states have either passed or are considering passing laws aimed at restricting his picketing of soldiers' funerals.  Congress recently approved legislation barring demonstrators from disrupting military funerals at national cemeteries.

Phelps is the head of the Westboro Baptist Church based in Topeka, Kansas. The extremism of his views can be gauged by the name he has given his website - godhatesfags.com. His church is small, consisting of some 75 members, mostly from his extended family. It not allied to any other church group.

Yet, despite this, it has managed to get itself heard across the nation. The group has disrupted funerals up and down the country by waving signs saying "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and shouting insults at the bereaved.

In a recent interview with the BBC, Phelps' daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper explained the group's motives: We're trying to help get this nation to connect the dots - you turn the country over to fags and now those soldiers are coming home in body bags.

The Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act passed by both houses of Congress on Wednesday now only needs President George W Bush's signature. It would bar protests within 90 metres (300 feet) of the entrance of national cemeteries, including Arlington, outside Washington DC, and within 45 metres (150 feet) of a road into the cemetery from an hour before to an hour after a funeral.

In response to the demonstrations, a motorcycle group including many veterans, has been appearing at military funerals to pay respects to the fallen service members and to drown out the sound of the Phelps' group's protests.

We turn up to the funeral if we have been invited by the family, Kurt Mayer of the motorcycle group Patriot Guard Riders, told BBC World Service radio recently. We block the view of vulgar and offensive signs.

From DNA

A petition challenging the Censor Board’s decision to grant an exhibition certificate to the film Sacred Evil is likely to be heard by the Bombay High Court soon.

The petition filed by lawyer Gerry Coelho contends that granting certificate to the film, which is inspired by the life of a Wiccan, Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, was unethical and indecent on the part of the Censor Board and constituted total non-application of mind.

The objections raised by the petitioner are based on the film’s posters and promotional advertisements. Stating that the publicity material of the film gave a distorted picture about the Christian faith, Coelho wrote to the Censor Board asking for a preview of the film by members of the Christian community.

The panel of Christians, said Coelho, could point the objectionable scenes, if any, and therefore avoid hurting religious sentiments of the community. Failing to get a reply from the Censor Board, Coelho moved the HC seeking direction to the Board to act on his complaint.

The law provides that before clearing films involving sensitive religious themes the Censor Board must seek the opinion of the community concerned, said lawyer Jamshed Mistry, who is representing the petitioner.

The film, starring Sarika, is a supernatural thriller that revolves around a Kolkata Convent, where a nun is possessed by an evil spirit and a witch is called to exorcise the spirit. Its release, scheduled for May 19, has been postponed.

The petition urges the High Court to quash the film’s exhibition certificate and to direct the Censor Board to seek the opinion of the community on the film.

The Catholic Secular Forum has also raised objections against the film posters. The posters show a nun and a cross.

From DNA

The Bombay High Court on Monday directed producers of the film Sacred Evil to hold a preview of the film for members of the Catholic Social Forum and lawyer Gerry Coelho, who had filed a petition challenging the release of the film.

“The film’s producers have been asked to hold the preview on Wednesday. The CSF and Coelho will file their responses before the court on Thursday, a day before the film is scheduled to be released, said Jamshed Mistry, petitioner’s lawyer.

The petition filed by lawyer Gerry Coelho contended that granting certificate to the film, which is inspired by the life of high-profile Wiccan Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, was unethical and indecent on the part of the Censor Board and constituted total non-application of mind.

The objections raised by the petitioner were based on the film’s posters and promotional advertisements.

From The Hindu

A division bench of the Bombay High Court that is hearing a petition against the film Sacred Evil, will watch the movie and go through its screenplay, as well as the book by Ipsita Ray Chakravarti, on which it is based.

The bench of Justices F I Rebello and V K Tahilramani will also contemplate if additional guidelines need to be framed, when the censor board clears films on sensitive religious sensitive topics.

Distributors told the court on Friday, the screening of the film had been stopped in theatres in Maharashtra because of the controversy it had sparked off. They also handed over a VCD of the film, along with its screenplay and Ray's book to the court. The next hearing of the case is scheduled for June 23.

From Daily News

Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it had taken measures to limit the power of controversial religious police who hardline clerics say make society more moral but many accuse of interfering in people’s lives.

Interior Minister Prince Nayef decreed that public prosecutors would deal with all cases concerning “harassment”, stopping the ultraconservative kingdom’s unique morality squad from detaining suspects for hours, the state media said. The role of the ‘authority for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice’ ends with apprehending suspected individuals and handing them to the police, who then present them to prosecutors with a report of the incident involved, it said.

The religious police have wide powers in Saudi Arabia, which imposes a strict version of Sunni Islam, to prevent the spread of drugs, alcohol and prostitution as well as unrelated men and women mixing in public. But a number of cases in recent years have drawn attention to overzealous behaviour that provoked rare public criticism in newspapers of the organisation, which hardline clerics say is a central element of their Islamic state.

  Belief in Intolerance

From Boz News Life

An Iranian Christian who converted from Islam 33 years ago faced another tense day Tuesday, May 23, after the feared secret police reportedly arrested him in northern Iran amid growing concerns over the treatment of Christians in the strict Islamic state.

Ali Kaboli, could be charged for converting to Christianity, which under Iran’s apostasy laws calls for the death penalty.

Kaboli has been held incommunicado for the past three weeks, but news of his arrest has only just emerged. Kaboli was taken into custody on May 2 from his workshop in Gorgan, capital of Iran’s northern province of Golestan.

With the exception of one brief telephone call, he allegedly has been refused contact with any visitors. Local Christians claim he had been "threatened" in the past with legal prosecution for holding "illegal" religious meetings in his home.

From Crosswalk

A convert Christian jailed six weeks ago in northern Iran was released last night on bail and reunited with his family.

The family of Ali Kaboli, continued to decline comment on the reason for the long-time Protestant believer’s arrest or any conditions of his June 12 release by police authorities in his home city of Gorgan.

But sources said a hefty bail was posted to the court for Kaboli’s release, indicating that a formal case could be pending against him.

Kaboli was arrested without explanation on May 2.  A former Muslim who converted to Christianity as a teenager, Kaboli hosted house church meetings in his home and traveled in the Caspian Sea region as an itinerant evangelist. Under Iran’s strict apostasy laws, Kaboli could face the death penalty for converting to Christianity 35 years ago.

Umm.., I have been applying my own logic thought to this concept of 'rendered apostate'. Assume that apostasy is punishable by death. Any transgression against sharia law is proof that the transgressor no longer follows Islam. Hence the transgressor can be declared apostate. Hence the transgressor can be put to death. Firm but Fair!

Based on an article from News 24

Muslim, Christian make history

A Muslim Sudanese girl has married a Christian Ethiopian man in a ceremony backed by a controversial religious edict allowing Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men.

It was reported that the marriage of the Muslim woman and the Christian man, a mix prohibited by orthodox Islam, was recently sanctioned by a fatwa issued by contentious religious scholar Hassan Abdullah al-Turabi.

It was reported that participants in the marriage festivities said the bride was happy with her marriage to a Christian man and was convinced of the legitimacy of the idea that was backed by the fatwa of Dr al-Turabi.

The relatives of the bride were divided over such a step, that would render the woman an apostate under Islamic tradition.

Almost all Muslim scholars shared the understanding that Islam prohibited Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men, but allowed Muslim men to take non-Muslim wives since children in both cases followed the religion of the father.

Abdul Fattah Idris, professor of comparative religious laws at the Azhar University, said: Muslim women are prohibited by the sharia law [Muslim law] from marrying people of the book [Jews and Christians].

Based on an article from Christian Today

The Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) is launching a course called Pure, on several campuses across Britain, in the hope of encouraging students to remain celibate until they marry.

The evangelical Christian group wants to encourage students to avoid the temptations of alcohol and sex.

Unlike the controversial American programme Silver Ring Thing, where teenagers wear a silver ring to show they intend to remain virgins until they are married, the ‘Pure’ course will not give students a list of do's and don'ts, but rather encourage them to come up with ground rules for relationships in everyday life.

The Pure programme is believed to be the first of its kind in Britain.

In addition to spreading the gospel of sexual abstinence before marriage, the course will also offer advice on how to shake off evil thoughts that could lead to promiscuity. [Why do Christians allow themselves to be told that perfectly normal sexual thoughts are 'Evil']

Nutter and director of the UCCF, the Rev Richard Cunningham, said the biggest struggle Christians faced at university was sex and relationships. He said the course was needed because students were given condoms during freshers' week and taught biology at school. [Are the nutters saying that young people shouldn't be taught about sex]

Cunningham said: Pure was born when we were approached by a Christian union leader dismayed at the number of people in the union going out with non-Christians, feeling bitter about being single, or sleeping with their boyfriends or girlfriends. [I think the idea of going out with non-christians is probably the key driver behind this initiative. It gives the youngsters some kill joy notion that really can only be shared with a fellow nutter]

The general advice is to: always have a reverse gear" out of a physical encounter. " Taking off clothes, touching certain parts of the body - different people have different thresholds.

The UCCF, an umbrella group of university and further education Christian unions, will roll out the six-week course, comprising of weekly 65-minute sessions, nationwide in the autumn, following a pilot on 15 campuses.

The teaching of Christianity is proving totally worthless in Black Jack

Based on an article from The Telegraph

Catholic nutters from a town in Missouri are planning to fine unmarried parents for living together under the same roof with their children.

Olivia Shelltrack, her boyfriend, Fondray Loving, and the three children from a previous marriage, have been denied an occupancy permit to live in the five-bedroom house they have just bought in Black Jack, a town of 6,800.

A Black Jack law forbids more than three people living together in a single family home unless they are related by "blood, marriage or adoption".

Local officials have told Loving and Shelltrack that, because they are not married, they do not meet the local definition of "family". Shelltrack and Loving have been left with a stark choice: get married or go to court and face a £265 fine for breaking the law.

Instead the couple have taken their case to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is considering filing a lawsuit against the city on their behalf.

The US department of housing and urban development is also conducting an investigation.

I think the city wants to send a clear message that they don't want children born out of wedlock, said Shelltrack. It has become a moral issue for them. They see family in a certain way and that's the only acceptable way. They shouldn't set their own moral values and agenda on anybody. That's not how a city should be run.

Sheldon Stock, the town's special counsel, said: The city intends to enforce its ordinances and we think under the current state of the law that we have every right to do so.

The Black Jack council has refused occupancy permits to 10 unmarried couples with children in recent years.

From Community Newswire, See also www.asiahouse.org

Woman and Horse

Two Hindu organisations have today hit out at a London gallery over a new exhibition which features erotic paintings of Hindu deities.

The Asia House Gallery is staging a show by the Indian artist Maqbool Fida Husain who has repeatedly hit the headlines for painting Hindu Gods and Goddesses in sexual poses.

Today the Hindu Human Rights group criticised gallery chiefs and called on Hindus across the country to join a demonstration against the exhibition on May 27. And, in support of Hindu Human Rights, the Hindu Forum of Britain has backed their comments and called on the gallery to withdraw the exhibition.

The gallery has also come under fire for using Husain's explicit images of the Goddess Durga, who many Hindus regard as their mother, in a flyer to advertise the exhibition.

In 1996, three of his paintings depicting Hindu goddesses in the nude began attracting the ire of Hindu groups in India. Complaints against the paintings of Saraswati, Draupadi and Sita have been investigated before but have not resulted in criminal charges.

A spokesperson for Hindu Human Rights said: Hindus are certainly not anti-art and do not believe in blanket censorship of all Hindu imagery. We are against the abuse of Hindu images especially when done in an offensive way and for commercial gain and sensationalism with complete disregard for the feelings of Hindu society. The lack of consultation with the very large Hindu community here in the UK shows at best a blissful ignorance at the feelings and sentiments of Hindus or worse a willful disregard.

Ramesh Kallidai, secretary general of the Hindu Forum of Britain, said: As well as supporting the protests organised by the Hindu Human Rights group, we plan to make representations to Asia House to urge them to withdraw this exhibition. Kallidai added Hindu groups have also felt dismayed that the High Commissioner of India chose to inaugurate the exhibition despite the history of hurt and offence felt by the worldwide Indian community.

The protest will take place at the gallery, at 63 New Cavendish Street, London, at 3pm on Saturday, May 27. The exhibition of Maqbool Fida Husain's work is on until August 5.

Based on an article from The Guardian

Woman and Horse

Two paintings of naked Hindu goddesses by India's grand old man of art have been defaced in what is believed to be the first act of Hindu extremism in Britain.

On Monday Asia House announced that MF Husain exhibition was to be closed for "security reasons". While no British newspaper reported this event, the immediate reason for this was an agitation by the misleadingly named Hindu Human Rights Group which mounted a protest about the event as it charged Husain with showing obscene images of Hindu goddesses.
The Hindu Human Rights Group in its press release is demanding an apology from Asia House to the Hindu community for this exhibition. This is an outrageous attack on artistic freedom in the British context.

From The Times
From the BBC
From MediawatchWatch

Madonna's world tour began in typically provocative fashion in LA when the pop singer hung from a cross, shouted an obscenity at an image of President Bush, showed video footage that seemed to compare Tony Blair to Adolf Hitler. The singer also wore a crown of thorns, dressed up as various male icons — James Brown and John Travolta included.

Madonna performed the ballad, Live To Tell, while she was suspended on the giant mirrored cross.

The Church of England rose to the bait and criticised Madonna's appearance on the cross: Why would someone with so much talent seem to feel the need to promote herself by offending so many people? said the church in a statement.

David Muir of the Evangelical Alliance also accused the singer of: blatant insensitivity. Madonna's use of Christian imagery is an abuse and it is dangerous. The Christian reaction to this sort of thing tends to be tempered but if the same thing was done with the imagery and iconography of other faiths the reaction would be very different.

From the BBC

Madonna has defended a controversial mock crucifixion in her stage show, saying it is part of an appeal to the audience to donate to Aids charities.

I don't think Jesus would be mad at me and the message I'm trying to send, she told the New York Daily News.

The trouble with this sort of nonsense is that it means half the population will be glad to see the back of him.

Based on an article from the Warsaw Business Journal
Image from www.kingsblog.org.uk

The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Poland this week is likely to bring out the inner Catholic in even the most secular bureaucrat, but those governing Polish public television are not taking any chances.

TVP has called in a group of priests to scrutinize its content in order to make sure the broadcaster transmits no programs or advertisements deemed unsuitable or scandalous during Pope Benedict's visit to Poland. Viewers will not see commercials for beer or underwear, nor are they likely to see TV spots advertising bras, sanitary towels or contraception. Admirers of young, beautiful bodies will also be disappointed, as there will probably be no nudity shown during the Pope's visit.

TVP claims that the self-censorship was not motivated by pressure from politicians or the Church, but out of "respect for the sublime character of the religious event." A similar policy was undertaken during the pilgrimages of the late Pope John Paul II. Private broadcasters, who rely on commercials, are also considering limiting content that might be considered improper.

Bar owners will also have plenty of free time on their hands to watch the Pope celebrate mass, as the government has decided that no alcohol will be sold or served in cities on the day the Pope pays a visit.

Based on an article from The Washington Times

Reports of Iranian plans to force Jews, Christians and other religious minorities to wear color-coded badges in public sparked a flurry of outrage in the Bush administration and elsewhere yesterday, despite an emphatic denial by the only Jewish member of Iran's parliament.

Canada's National Post newspaper reported in yesterday's editions that a law passed Iran's parliament earlier this week that would require Jews to wear a yellow strip of cloth, Christians red and Zoroastrians blue.

Iran's only Jewish member of parliament, Maurice Motammed, denied the report late yesterday, calling it a "complete fabrication" and "totally false,".

By then, however, Iranian exiles had "confirmed" the report, and the U.S. government and world leaders had condemned Iran, some comparing the purported measure to Nazi laws that required Jews to wear Star of David insignia during the Holocaust.

Motammed said he had been present in parliament when a bill to promote an Iranian and Islamic style of dress for women was voted on. In the law, there is no mention of religious minorities, he said: This is an insult to the Iranian people and to religious minorities in Iran.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the idea behind the legislation was "despicable," but added U.S. officials did not have a clear idea yet of what was in the bill. He said reports of the measure had been circulating for months as it worked its way through Iran's legislature.

There's no reason to believe they won't pass this, Rabbi Hier said. It will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over this.

Such a law was drafted two years ago under then-President Mohammad Khatami but was blocked in parliament. Hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently revived the measure.

Based on an article from AINA

We have already admonished and 'educated' 32,000 women and 64 men for their clothing and behaviour, said the Tehran police chief, Morteza Talaei. He was speaking on 23 May, giving a first account of the work of the Police Guidance Patrols (religious police) introduced in the Iranian capital. In all, 7,000 shops have been visited, and 190 were fined for violating the ban on selling non "Islamic" clothes and other goods. More harshly, 230 cars were confiscated because they were creating problems with women, according to Talaei. This probably meant women who were only partially veiled in a space not considered by Iranian law to be private. Talaei also talked about 164 pedestrians arrested for similar reasons: 119 women and 45 men.

The desire to return to the origins of the Islamic Revolution and to forget about the -- albeit very limited -- reforms of Khatami, is not only the political programme of President Ahmadinejad. The Iranian parliament is continuing to work on the "Islamic national dress". This law, accompanied by commercial measures, would give more force and clarity to the current efforts of the Guidance Patrols.

The New York Post suggestion that religious minorities are to be identified by coloured badges is denied. The logic of the current Iranian Islamic Republic is not to create, first of all, ghettoes and special regulations for dhimmi, non-Muslim citizens who are second class. It is rather the contrary: everyone must follow the Islamic rules -- even veils for women who are visiting, including foreign Ministers -- and contribute to give the impression of "normality" and "universality" of Muslim civilization as defined by the mullahs.

Expecting Christians or Jews to wear visible, distinctive signs of their identity carries the paradoxical risk of an identical statement by other minorities, like Sunni Kurds or Arabs who, in so doing, would show their own identity. The interests of the Iranian system lie in imposing an "Islamic normality" without exception, with a choice of decent and neutral dresses for men and women.

Based on an article from The Guardian

A Turkish lawyer shouting: "I am a soldier of Allah," opened fire in the country's top administrative court killing one judge and injuring four others.

Witnesses described how the gunman shouted, "Allahu Akbar" (God is most great) as he fired a handgun in the court's second chamber.

The assailant later told police he carried out the attack because the court had stopped a woman becoming a headteacher on the grounds that she wore a headscarf. One of the judges, Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin, was shot in the head and died later in hospital.

Four of the judges, including Ozbilgin, had voted in February against the promotion of an elementary school teacher who wore a headscarf outside of work. The fifth had voted in favour. The judges' photographs were published by the pro-Islamist Vakit newspaper.

The court's decision was criticised by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, whose AK party has roots in political Islam. Erdogan condemned yesterday's shooting.

The attack was the most dramatic sign yet that religious-minded Turks are becoming frustrated in the predominantly Muslim, but strictly secular, country.

Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the president, who has voiced fears over the country's creeping Islamisation, described it as a black mark in the republic's history, adding that pressure and threats will not intimidate the Turkish judiciary, which will continue its constitutional duties bound to the secular and democratic republic. The opposition leader, Deniz Baykal, said the shooting showed Turkey was being dragged towards a very dangerous place.

The ban on headscarves, imposed when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk carved the modern republic out of the Ottoman empire in 1923, is regarded as one of the most divisive issues in Turkey today. With presidential and parliamentary elections next year, it has become a source of friction between the Islamist government and the secular establishment.

From The Scotsman

Some 25,000 Turks marched on Thursday to defend secularism which they said was under threat after a judge was shot dead by a gunman declaring himself a "soldier of God".

Angry crowds directed their anger at Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government which secularists accuse of having a secret Islamic agenda of bringing religion into public life.

Crowds booed and jostled government ministers as they tried to enter the Ankara mosque for the funeral of slain judge Mustafa Ozbilgin.

"Murderers get out" and "government resign", dozens shouted as police tried to clear the way for the ministers, including deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener.

In contrast to the reception received by ministers, secularist President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and top generals were applauded as they arrived for the funeral. The army is seen as the ultimate guarantor of the secular system in Turkey.

Based on an article from the Daily Mail

BBC3’s Death Detectives will show Home Office pathologist Dr Dick Shepherd cutting open bodies and describing the experience.

Tory MP Nigel Evans, a member of the Commons Media Select Committee, said: This is the worst kind of reality TV and sounds absolutely grotesque.

Nutters at mediawatch-uk branded the post mortem scenes ‘intrusive and voyeuristic’.

A Spokesman for the BBC said: You don’t ever see him cutting in to a body or see inside the body and you can’t identify the body.’

  Nutters the Same the World Over

From the Daily Express by Jane Warren

Romantic music soars as two virtual strangers couple frantically on a park bench. It’s the first sex scene in The Line of Beauty and occurs in the opening episode of Andrew Davies’s drama. It’s yet another television drama whose main selling point appears to be the promise of explicit sex on screen. Whether it deserves all the hype remains to be seen, but well watched it almost certainly will be...

Since the sexual revolution of the Sixties, many topics once deemed risqué have become mainstream and there has been a huge shift in public acceptance of what can be shown on television. Incest, rape, paedophilia, and lesbian and gay sex have even featured in soaps with family audiences. Mary Whitehouse wouldn’t have approved for sure but for all the lurid headlines, the last taboo – seeing real sex on terrestrial television – remains unbroken.

From the Daily Express letters, presumably from John Beyer

Having worked alongside the late, great Mary Whitehouse for many years I can say with certainty that she would not have approved of the latest BBC drama The Line of Beauty. However, Jane Warren is not right to say that explicit scenes have lost all power to shock us. It may be true that there is less protest about it but there are good reasons why this is so:

• Firstly, there is no effective law that will make the screening of explicit sexual conduct an offence.
• Secondly, the broadcasters know this and they know that the regulators will not intervene despite the requirement not to include offensive material in programmes.
• Thirdly, Ms Warren refers to a number of boundary-pushing dramas, each going further than the previous one, and so the public knows that protest is futile. More than 60,000 protests against Jerry Springer The Opera were summarily dismissed.
• Fourthly, the BBC, because it is licence-fee funded, knows that their funding will continue whatever they put on.

The Daily Express, in the past, has campaigned for the abolition of the licence fee. More and more people are questioning why their money should be used for the production of controversial programmes that are calculated to cause offence and fail to comply with the Communications Act. People who care about standards on television can no longer turn off and remain silent otherwise the “last taboo”, as with all the others, will certainly be broken.

From The Independent

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has told the country's newspapers to stop publishing pictures of women as they could lead young men astray.

The move surprised some observers as the absolute monarch has sought to portray himself as a quiet reformer since taking the throne last year in the ultraconservative country.

All media in the kingdom are either owned by the state or run by it, but in recent months some Saudi newspapers have published pictures of women, always with the hair covered and only their face showing. The images of women wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf were used to illustrate stories connected to women's issues, including the right to vote and drive, both of which are withheld. The Saudi embassy in London declined to comment on the apparent ban.

The King reportedly told editors in a meeting this week that publishing a woman's picture was inappropriate. One must think, do they want their daughter, their sister, or their wife to appear in this way? Of course, no one would accept this. Young people are driven by emotion and the spirit, but the spirit can go astray. So I ask you to go easy on these things.

King Abdullah had been regarded by many Saudis as a quiet reformer who might begin to loosen the strict social codes. In recent months, however, many figures in the powerful religious establishment have used mosque sermons and websites to criticise any move towards liberalisation.

The authorities indefinitely postponed a move to replace male shop assistants with women at lingerie shops. The proposal, offered as evidence of progress on women's rights, has been quietly shelved amid claims that shopowners need more time to manage the transition.

Opinion from The Observer by Nick Cohen

The United Nations held 'World Press Freedom Day 2006' earlier this month. I don't know why. Maybe the UN realised that so many of its member states stifled press and other freedoms they needed encouragement to do better. If so, the day was a wretched failure.

It began promisingly. At a meeting in Westminster, Roger Koeppel, editor-in-chief of the centre-right German paper Die Welt, gave a classic defence of freedom of expression. He had done what no British editor dared do and printed the Danish cartoons of Muhammad. He received the customary death threats, but didn't regret it, because: it is essential to protect freedom of expression because of all the pain we have invested to keep our liberal, secular society.

Dr Maleeha Lodhi, the Pakistani High Commissioner to Britain, opposed him. She denounced the tendency in the West to say, "We insult our own, so we can insult yours, too". Well, no. We do have a problem with that and we demand respect. Her 'demand' for censorship was a faithful reflection of her masters' policy. The Pakistani military dictatorship not only has blasphemy laws, but also forces journalists to resign, arrests them and holds them in solitary confinement. The monitoring agency Freedom House succinctly describes the Pakistani media as 'not free', and they aren't.

So, on the one hand, we had an editor from a liberal democracy saying: I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to my death your right to say it and, on the other, the servant of a military junta that says: We may disagree with what you say and if we do, we will send you to prison. What division could be more natural?

Next week, the Council of Europe is holding hearings on whether freedom of expression should include the right to offend religions. It is already clear that the tide is with the supporters of suppression.

Meanwhile, Franco Frattini, the EU's Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, has already banned the use of the phrase 'Islamic terrorism' to describe Islamic terrorism. You cannot use the term "Islamic terrorism", he insisted. People who commit suicide attacks or criminal activities on behalf of religion, Islamic religion or other religion, they abuse the name of this religion.

Yet the EU wishes to deny that political Islam inspires terrorists to blow up everything from mosques in Baghdad to tube trains in London, even when Islamist terrorists say explicitly that it does. You should always pay your enemies the compliment of taking them seriously. The EU can't understand what its enemies are saying, because it won't call them by their right name.

Keith Porteous Wood, of the National Secular Society, is going to the Council of Europe this week to uphold the battered cause of freedom of speech. He has files full of policy papers from religious groups agitating for the EU or UN to impose a universal blasphemy law. It won't work for the same reason that New Labour's incitement to religious hatred law hasn't worked. A law that protects all religions is self-contradictory, as each religion is blasphemous in the eyes of its rivals.

Supposedly liberal states of Europe are showing an indecent eagerness to reach for their lawyers. Their contempt for plain speaking, as much as the refusal of the European Commission to accept the 'no' votes in the French and Dutch referendums on the European Constitution, shows their waning faith in liberal democracy. A backlash from Europeans who believe they have the right to speak their minds and have their votes respected strikes me as inevitable.

I would think that a tome of all actions done 'in God's name' would make pretty unpleasant reading.

Based on an article from the WBIR

Fire investigators say a Tennessee man admitted dressing up like a ninja to burn down an adult business, all in the name of God.

Benjamin Warren faces an arson charge that could send him to prison for six years. Warren is out on bond while his case goes before a grand jury. Arson investigators had no clue Warren was a suspect until he came in to confess.

Arson investigators say Warren admitted using a fake gun to get the clerk out of the Town and Country bookstore on Clinton Highway. After ordering the employee to leave the store, Warren then pored six gallons of a flammable liquid inside the store and set it ablaze. The fire did $900,000 worth of damage to the building, which remains closed.

At the time of the arson, Warren was enrolled as a student at Crown College, a Baptist institution in Powell.

Crown President Dr. Clarence Sexton says From what he has shared with me, he felt like this (adult bookstore) industry has corrupted lots of people and families, and he felt he ought to do this at the time.

Based on an article from the BBC

Cable television operators in Indian administered Kashmir say that they have indefinitely cancelled programming after threats from militant nutters. They say they have been warned that all programmes must be permanently off air within the next 10 days.

The operators say they have been targeted because their broadcasts are deemed to be obscene by some militants. The owner of the main cable TV company in Srinagar told the BBC that the decision to stop programming was taken after several of their offices in the city were visited by militant groups complaining about the "depraved" nature of their output.

The BBC's Altaf Hussain in Srinagar says that all cable programmes - including news channels, documentaries, Western films and Hindi movies - are no longer available.

The threats against the cable companies are reported to emanate from the little-known Al-Madina Regiment militant group which warned them they would "face severe consequences" if they did not cease their programming within 10 days.

However the main militant group says the shut-down has been orchestrated to divert attention from a local sex scandal. Violent protests broke out in Srinagar last week after allegations that a number of senior government and police officials are alleged to be involved in a prostitution ring.

From The Independent

The newly appointed government minister responsible for equality is facing controversy after she refused to say whether she believed homosexuality was a sin.

Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities, a committed Catholic and member of the Opus Dei group, was embroiled in a renewed row over her religious beliefs yesterday. And critics attacked her new role as the Government's equality champion after it emerged she had missed a series of votes on equal rights since 1997.

Interviewed on BBC Radio Five Live, Kelly twice declined to say whether she thought homosexuality was a sin. She said: I'm sort of getting used to these questions as I go from one department to another. Is it possible to be a practising Catholic and hold a portfolio in government? The answer is 'yes'. Why? Because I'm collectively responsible for cabinet decisions and I firmly believe in equality and I believe everyone should be protected from discrimination.

Pressed again, she replied: I don't think it is right for politicians to start making moral judgements about people. What I think the question is, is what are my political views? As a politician, those are the ones that I'm accountable for to the public.

In a second interview with Sky News, Kelly repeatedly declined to say whether she agreed that same-sex couples should be permitted to adopt children. But she insisted she would promote the rights of all.

Kelly has missed a total of 12 votes on homosexuality and equal rights since 1997. They include a vote in June 1998 on the Crime and Disorder Bill to lower the age of homosexual consent, and two votes in 1999 on the Sexual Offences (amendment) Bill also lowering the age of consent.

She will have to implement the new Equality Act, which became law earlier this year making discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation illegal in the same way as race or gender. Pubs, hotels and religious charities will be barred from discriminating against lesbians and gay men.

Ms Kelly's comments provoked disquiet yesterday among gay rights campaigners. A poll on the gay website pinknews.co.uk found 93% of readers believed Tony Blair should reconsider Ms Kelly's appointment.

Downing Street defended Ms Kelly. The Prime Minister's spokesman, said: She repeatedly said she supported the decisions taken by the Government in this area. She repeatedly said she is totally opposed to discrimination of any kind whatsoever. She pointed out she pushed the equality agenda when she was at the Cabinet Office.

I can't see enforced services have been of interest to anyone. Non believers are simply not interested in the nonsense on offer. I would have thought the religious parents would prefer their kids to experience something with more positive affirmation of belief rather than a half hearted service with smirking and disbelief flowing freely from the child's bored peers.

From the National Secular Society

Churches in England are to demand that the Government and Ofsted rigorously enforce the law that requires all schools to hold an act of mainly Christian collective worship every day.

The demand comes on the heels of news from Ofsted that the number of schools holding a daily act of Christian worship is at its highest for ten years. According to the Times Educational Supplement, in the early 1990s only 10% of secondaries and just 80% of primaries were providing daily worship for their pupils. But in the last academic year more than 98% of primaries held a Christian assembly every day.

This enforced worship (children can only opt out if their parents request it) takes place in all state schools, whether they are ‘faith schools’ or not. Schools that fail to provide it can expect to lose points on their Ofsted inspection report.

Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society, said: The churches are putting incredible pressure on the Government and on Ofsted to enforce this iniquitous law. Large-scale surveys show that 60% of school children define themselves as atheist or agnostic, so why are they being forced against their conscience to worship a God they don’t believe in? It is an abuse of their human rights – they are not permitted to exercise their freedom of conscience.

Teaching unions have called for the abolition of the collective worship requirements because they find them difficult to fulfil. Teachers, like most of the rest of the population, are uninterested and unqualified to conduct religious services and there is simply no appetite among pupils for praying and hymn singing. John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders is quoted in the TES as saying: The concept of collective Christian worship is a nonsense and makes an ass of the law – it should have been changed long ago.

Wood added: This is straightforward indoctrination. The churches can’t get children into their services so they bring the church to school, and force the children, a captive audience, to observe by law. We encourage parents to consider whether they want their children to undergo this manipulation. They have the right to withdraw their children from it, and many are exercising that right.

From KNX1070

Gay human rights group Outrage! has today accused Iraqi police of executing a 14 year old boy in  Baghdad in early April.

Ahmed Khalil was accused of corrupting the community and creating a scandal because he had sex with men.
Ahmed was, in fact, a victim of poverty. He sold his body to get money and food to help his impoverished family survive, said Ali Hili who is Middle East Affairs spokesperson for the London-based OutRage!.

According to a neighbour, who witnessed Ahmed’s execution from his bedroom window, four uniformed police officers arrived at Ahmed's house in a four-wheel-drive police pick-up truck. The neighbour saw the police drag Ahmed out of the house and shoot him at point-blank range, pumping two bullets into his head and several more bullets into the rest of his body.

Hili is also coordinator of the Iraqi group, consisting of more than 30 gay exiles in the UK. They are in contact with an underground network of gay people in Baghdad and other cities: According to our contacts in Baghdad, the Iraqi police have been heavily infiltrated by the Shia paramilitary Badr Corps. They are seeking to impose a fundamentalist morality on the people of Iraq. Badr's policy is to murder gay people, prostitutes, unveiled women, sellers and consumers of alcohol and people with Sunni-sounding names.

Inspired by the Shia spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who has issued a death fatwa against lesbians and gays, Badr is kidnapping and executing people suspected of homosexuality, even young kids.

From The Times

Gays flee as religious militias sentence them all to death

The death threat was delivered to Karazan’s father early in the morning by a masked man wearing a police uniform. The scribbled note was brief. Karazan had to die because he was gay. In the new Baghdad, his sexuality warranted execution by the religious militias. The father was told that if he did not hand his son over, other family members would be killed.

What scares the city’s residents is how the fanatics’ list of enemies is growing. It includes girls who refuse to cover their hair, boys who wear theirs too long, booksellers, liberal professors and prostitutes. Three shops known to sell alcohol were bombed yesterday in the Karrada shopping district.

In this atmosphere of intolerance and intimidation, the militias have made no secret of their hatred of homosexuals.

The man who threatened Karazan said that he was a member of the Taib (Wolf) Brigade, a commando group reportedly infiltrated by the armed wing of the hardline Shia party the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Its orders come from fundamentalist clerics.

Karazan, a 23-year-old arts student told The Times: A number of my gay friends have been murdered, so I took this warning seriously. The family fled this month to a suburb north of the city centre.

Ali Hili, who ran a gay nightclub in Baghdad but fled to Britain this year after receiving death threats, says that he knows of more than 40 men murdered in recent months: Badr militants used chatrooms to lure them to a rendezvous and then kill them.

An actor, who would only give his name as Bashar, has gone into hiding after a death threat. Two close members of his family have been murdered by militants, who say they will carry on killing his relatives until he turns himself in.

The Interior Ministry says that it is investigating a claim by gay activists that a 14-year-old male prostitute was killed in al-Dura last month by men in police uniforms. The gunmen told the boy’s father that he was executed for “corrupting the community”.

A ministry spokesman said that the Government did not condone vigilante groups. However, Nouri al-Malaki, the Prime Minister-designate, has conceded that the Iraqi security forces have been infiltrated by militia extremists.

Hili claims that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered spiritual figure in Iraq, provoked the murders by saying on his website in April last year that homosexuals should be killed in the “worst, most severe way”.

Hili's organisation, Iraqi LGBT, runs safe houses in the capital and an underground network to help people to leave the country: We could never envisage this happening when Saddam was overthrown. I had no love for the former President, but his regime never persecuted the gay community.

From the BBC

Catholic leaders in Germany have acted to try to prevent music channel MTV from showing the cartoon series Popetown. Bishops from Bavaria say the satirical series is insulting to Catholics, and have filed a legal injunction.

The first episode of Popetown - which features a Pope on a pogo stick - is due to be aired soon.

Popetown was commissioned by the BBC in 2002, but later dropped. BBC bosses were concerned the 10-part animation, set in a fictional Vatican, would offend Catholics. It shows an elderly Pope bouncing through St Peter's in Rome on a cross-like pogo stick and satirises religious ceremonies.

In this way the Catholic faith and the Catholic church are exposed to ridicule, which is justified neither by the freedom of opinion, of art, of the press nor of broadcasting, the archdiocese of Munich and Freising said in a statement.

We will initially broadcast this first episode and then will make a decision based on the feedback of the viewers, said Mats Wappmann, a spokesman for MTV in Berlin.  MTV has invited church representatives, a youth political party and viewers to discuss the show in a debate to be broadcast after the cartoon on Wednesday.

From Spiegel Magazine

A new MTV pilot cartoon making fun of the pope has stirred up nutter outrage in Germany. Can one really show the pope hopping through the Vatican halls on a cross-shaped pogo stick?

Shortly before 10 p.m. last Wednesday, MTV presenter Markus Kavka announced that things were about to get serious: No more fooling around.

Sitting next to Kavka were Dirk Tänzler from the German Catholic Youth League, Johannes Vogel, chairman of the Young Liberals (the youth organization of Germany's free-market FDP party), Joachim von Gottberg, chairman of Germany's Organization for the Voluntary Self-Control of TV Production, and Smudo, a popular German rapper. They were there to clarify whether Popetown is an insult to the Christian faith or not, and whether the TV series should be aired.

In Germany, catastrophes of national or global importance are often showcased in an extended television feature aired on primetime national TV. And last Wednesday, MTV followed suit, airing a News Mag Special Popetown. The show featured a discussion round featuring politicians and media experts.

Such a show -- a political discussion round devoted to a cartoon series -- had never been seen before on German TV. And it's a phenomenon that likely says less about the cartoon business than about the times in general. It's become shockingly simple to anger large numbers of people -- especially if they come from the business of religion or morals.

"Popetown" might have gone unnoticed. The series was going to be shown on MTV, a channel that controls only 2.1 percent of the German market and is watched mainly by a 14-29 year old audience. But MTV made the fatal mistake of launching an ad campaign the week before Easter. The recurring image showed Jesus sitting in front of a TV after having come down from the cross and featured the motto: It's Better to Enjoy Yourself Than to Hang Around. It was obviously a calculated provocation -- after all, MTV hadn't succeeded in provoking anyone for quite some time.

Much of the outrage, not surprisingly, seems centered in Catholic southern Germany. Augsburg bishop Walter Mixa defined Popetown as "mental pollution." Joachim Herrmann, the parliamentary leader of the CSU party, sued MTV for its ad campaign. Markus Söder, the general secretary of the CSU, began thinking about introducing higher penalties for blasphemy. Edmund Stoiber spoke about a "sordid attack on large numbers of people" and charged the Bavarian Minister of Justice with developing new legislation on blasphemy.

Some members of the Christian Democrat CDU party, furthermore, demanded that MTV be stripped of its broadcasting license. The Munich archdiocese took legal mesasures to try to stop the ad being shown, and even talkshow host Thomas Gottschalk, normally known for his inability to keep his eyes off the legs of his female guests, defined the ad as "simply unacceptable." In the end, even Germany's Islamic Council had something to say on the issue.

The discussion turned out not to be very inspired -- mainly because no one really seemed to know what a "religious sentiment" is and how exactly it gets "injured" or "offended." Religion is a pretty nebulous concept, and so is that of sentiment -- when the two coincide, things can get very abstract.

Poor Dirk Tänzler from the Catholic Youth League said he found Popetown stupid rather than funny. Smudo replied that he thought the same of Germany's Catholic CSU party. They should be banned too, you know, because they offend my liberal-democratic worldview.

And in the end, the CSU and the Catholic Church were probably grateful for having been reminded of their own existence. It was wonderful to be offended -- like true believers. The Catholics have caught up with the Muslims in the ongoing competition over who can muster the most outrage. Edmund Stoiber has scheduled a meeting with the leaders of Germany's religious communities for the end of May -- "a top-level meeting about the protection of religious feelings."

Which leaves only the question of what God thinks of the whole thing. He's been invoked so often recently He's probably feeling a bit dizzy. Or maybe not: As TV presenter Henry Grndler said during the MTV debate: God is great; He'll put up with anything -- even religion.

From The Trumpet

Just as Iran wants to be viewed as the defender of all Islam, in the West we see another nation stepping up to bat for its region’s religious sensitivities. Germany—particularly its most nutter state, Bavaria—wants to be viewed as the defender of all Catholicism, especially since the Pope Benedict xvi hails from that state.

This was made clear in the controversy over the MTV cartoon Popetown. The series was met with outrage from a group “ranging from Bavaria’s Catholic governor Edmund Stoiber to the archdiocese of Munich to members of Germany’s ruling Christian Democrat Party. Germany’s moralists, apparently, are alive and kicking according to Spiegel Online. The article observed, Much of the outrage, not surprisingly, seems centered in Catholic southern Germany. Stoiber spoke about a ‘sordid attack on large numbers of people’ and charged the Bavarian minister of justice with developing new legislation on blasphemy.

Stoiber has even called a meeting of religious leaders in Germany for the end of May: a top-level meeting about the protection of religious feelings. The meeting will discuss ways of strengthening the (legal) protection of Christian symbols.

Under Edmund Stoiber, Bavaria—as the most vocally pro-Vatican province in Europe—is determined to be the protector of the faith in Europe. We particularly watch Stoiber when he is involved in religious affairs, he is the only German politician to have had a private audience with the pope since Germany’s conservatives took power in Berlin last fall. This is why we will be watching Stoiber’s conference over “religious feelings” at the end of the month. In this Holy Roman Empire, the Bible tells us that legislation in fact will be enacted that protects Roman Catholicism’s version of “blasphemy.”

From Malaysia Sun

The nutter premier of Bavaria wants to change Germany's 130-year-old blasphemy law, removing a requirement that to be a crime it must disrupt public peace.

Edmund Stoiber, in an interview last week, said that he plans to bring up the subject during a meeting next month with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Not everything that's holy should be allowed to be trampled on, he said. Stoiber pointed to the row over a Danish newspaper's cartoons of Mohammed as an example of how blasphemy can cause trouble.

But there appears to be limited support for his proposal, Deutsche Welle reports.

Lutheran leaders openly oppose it, and civil libertarians say that even loose talk in a tavern could become a crime. Prosecutors say enforcement could be a nightmare.

Muslim leaders accused Stoiber of being an opportunist. Burhan Kesici, vice president of the Islamic Federation, said that Stoiber called for freedom of speech during the cartoon flap and is now trying to appeal to conservative voters in Bavaria.

From TMCnet

A recent US poll showed an increase in the number of Americans with negative views of Islam,

Local Muslims are re-energizing outreach efforts inviting the public to an open house this week at an Islamic Center.

Participation in interfaith events and public speaking representatives of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee in recent years do not appear to have reached enough people, said Othman Atta, president of the society and a Milwaukee attorney.

Despite the bridge building, something clearly is not working, Atta said.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted in early March found that the number of Americans with a negative view of Islam had grown from 38% to 46% since a few months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The poll also showed that the number of Americans who think that mainstream Islam encourages violence against non-Muslims has more than doubled since the attacks, from 14% in January 2002 to 33%

An independent poll commissioned the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and released last month found that about 1-in-4 Americans believe that Islam is a religion of hatred and violence. And almost 60% indicated that they had no or little knowledge about Islam

That's a hard thing to overcome, Atta said. We can document it until we are blue in the face, but that message unfortunately is not going to get out to all of the people. We're offended these things that are happening, as well, and we don't consider it to be a correct application of our faith, but how do we get that message out?

From The Guardian, by Dr Giles Fraser,  the vicar of Putney

Over the past few months there has been growing evidence of a developing alliance between the British National party (BNP) and fundamentalist evangelicals. Superficially, a marriage made in heaven, both are rightwing extremists with a love of publicity and a hatred for progressive Britain. What's interesting is that their passionate liaison has ended in tears. It's a failed love affair that will encourage those who fear the emergence in this country of the alliances between rightwing Christians and rightwing secularists that are commonly forged on the other side of the Atlantic

It all started amicably enough. We are a secular political party, said BNP spokesman Phil Edwards. But people are worried at the political correctness of the Church of England and the Islamification of Britain. In response to these twin evils, BNP members helped to set up the "Christian Council of Britain".
The BNP were approached by a group of disaffected ladies and gentlemen who felt their traditional Christian views were not being represented by the liberal-left spokesmen in the Anglican church, they explained.

Last month, a media-watch organisation started spotting the same faces that appear at BNP rallies regularly appearing at protests over Jerry Springer - the Opera. Local BNP leader Graham Green said: We are totally opposed to this theatre production, and our members have been helping to hand out pro-Christian leaflets.

Despite all their talk of supporting "traditional Christians" - an increasingly transparent euphemism for fundamentalists - the idea that all human beings share a common parentage was a tradition too far for the BNP. Racists have always found it easier to warp the theory of evolution, arguing, as Edwards recently did, that white people are more highly evolved than blacks. Within weeks of setting up the Christian Council of Britain, the alliance was in tatters. If you don't believe in Darwinian evolution then you are even dafter than you appear, the BNP told the national director of Christian Voice, Stephen Green. The love affair was over.

From Radio Sweden

Sweden’s biggest association of Muslims demands the right for Swedish Muslims to practice their own laws.

Special laws for marriage and divorce, and public schools teaching Arabic and religion to Muslim children in homogenous groups. These are two of the requests in a letter sent to all the political parties in the Parliament yesterday by the Muslim association.

The Muslim association represents approximately 70 000 Muslims. The letter, signed by the chairman, states that freedom of religion is not properly practiced in Sweden. They want Islamic law to be allowed for Muslim’s in Sweden, especially when it comes to family laws.

Sweden’s Minister of Equal Opportunities, Jens Orback, is not impressed. In a comment to news bureau TT, he says that no minority will have special treatment, and that all Swedish citizens should be equal to the law.

The Swedish Muslim Council, including nine of Sweden’s Islamic organisation does not support the demands.

From Islam Watch

A broad alliance of groups have gone to the prosecutors of several German states so as to restrict the dissemination of the Quran. According to the indictment, the Quran is not just a religious and historic book, but also a political book, which is incompatible with the German constitution.

The accuser is “Bundesverband der Brgerbewegungen (BVB)”, which concerns itself with, in its own words, “defending basic rights and freedoms” against Islam. The extensive international furore, allegedly caused by the Muhammed cartoons, has made clear the relevancy of the alliance. Its homepage is decorated with a Danish flag with the words “Support Denmark! Defend the Free World.” superimposed on it.

The indictment has been filed in several states, including Hamburg, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Bayern and probably more.

In several talk-shows on German TV, conservative politicians have pointed out that the Quran is incompatible with the German constitution. The Turkish-born writer Serap Cileli said that the Quran must be considered a historic document. It is not compatible with our constitution and Human Rights.

The author of the indictment in Hamburg, Jutta Starke, says that the Quran was reported to the police two or three years ago, but that the report was dismissed on the grounds that it was a book of only historical interest.

The events of the last months have made clear that the Quran isn’t just a historical book, but very much a potent political book, a thing which we document extensively in the indictment, Jutta Starke says.

The indictment says that it is not against Islam’s spiritual message, but against the judicial and political message.

The indictment is against the 200 verses of 114 suras (chapters) of the Quran that are not compatible with the constitution, including demagoguery, incitement to murder, murder and mutilation, war, acceptance of thievery against infidels, meaning all non-Moslems. Verses are also pointed out where the equal rights of men and women are not upheld and where people of different faiths are oppressed.

Example: The unbelievers among the People of the Book (Jews and Christians): They are the vilest of all creatures. (Sura 98:6)

According to the indictment that paragraph violates Article 4 of the Constitution and Paragraph 166 of the Penal Code.

Based on an article from the Mumbai Mirror

Christian nutters and priests have demanded a ban on the movie, Tickle My Funny Bone, which apparently disparages nuns and the Church.

The Central Board of Film Certification that certifies films before their public exhibition said that most of the objectionable scenes depicted on the movie’s poster have been deleted from the movie. Tickle My Funny Bone, described as a ‘Hinglish comedy’, tells the story of a young nun who falls in love with an NRI. The nun’s attempts to flee the convent supposedly create hilarious situations.

However, Christian groups fail to see the humour in the plot; they have demanded a ban on the movie. Catholic Secular Forum, a community organisation has filed objections against the movie with the Censor Board. Christians are being made soft targets with impunity by film producers. Last year, the Censor Board allowed the release of a movie with the theme of a straying priest, said Joseph Dias, general secretary of the group.

Director Yogendra Konkar said that the Censor Board had cleared the film early this month. Scenes with nudity had to be deleted before the film was given an exhibition certificate: This was done keeping religious sentiments in mind. The movie is about nuns; but they are not shown in a bad light. It is just a comedy.

From DNA

Another forthcoming film is angering the city’s Catholic community. It’s Hollywood version of Dan Brown’s bestseller The Da Vinci Code, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks.

The community has decided to pull out all stops to prevent the film’s release. We will picket Sony Pictures’ office, said Joseph Dias, secretary of the Catholic Secular Forum. We will also file a petition asking for a ban on its release.

Sony Pictures is releasing the film worldwide on May 19.

Abraham Mathai, general secretary of the All India Christian Council, a nationwide alliance of Christian denominations, mission agencies, institutions, federations, and Christian lay leaders, said, We protested against the book also, but the protests against the movie will be at an all-India level. It hits at the founder of our faith, Jesus himself.

Bishop Percival Fernandez, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, said, The movie presents a figment of the author’s imagination as the truth. But how many from the general population will be able to tell the truth from fiction?

[Maybe the nutters have a point. India's population has a significant number of people that believe in the unbelievable nonsense of religion, so surely they have in fact demonstrated the inability to tell truth from fiction]

Based on an article from the DNA

Catholics agitating against the movies Tickle My Funny Bone and Da Vinci Code on Thursday filed a police complaint with the Vakola police station, calling for criminal proceedings against Sony Pictures’ managing director Uday Singh, Chairperson of the censor board Sharmila Tagore and others responsible for the proposed release of the movies.

The nutters want action under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings”.

Joseph Dias, general secretary of the Christian Secular Forum (CSF), the organisation which has raised the issue and filed the complaint, said, The censor board is allowing a lot of films that are derogatory to the Christian faith. We are asking the police to take action against the board and concerned authorities. We feel that the peaceful nature of the Christian community has been taken advantage of. Senior inspector at Vakola police station Uttam Navghare said: We have received the complaint. But the people whose arrest is being sought do not live in my jurisdiction.

Abraham Mathai, general secretary of the All India Christian Council, said, The censor board needs to be more sensitive while dealing with the movies representing communities. We will also file a civil writ petition asking for the cancellation of the censor board certification for Tickle...

Based on an article from Boz News Life

Indian Catholics seeking a ban of Tickle my funny bone, scored a victory after censors postponed the release.

KBC, distributors of Tickle my funny bone, about a "sexy nun" reportedly apologized saying they will not use posters showing censored portions of the film.

The General Secretary of Catholic Social Forum, Joseph Dias had urged the Central Board of Film Certification’s regional officer Vinayak Azad in Mumbai to initiate the action.

Dias said Azad had assured him that all visuals of Christian symbols – church, rosary, cross, clergy and a woman dressed as nun would not appear in the film.

From Christian Today

The executive secretary of Anglican Mainstream UK has warned the Church of England that it cannot remain neutral on the issue of homosexuality as the Anglican Communion approaches another tense time in the run-up to the election of the new Bishop of California.

Canon Dr Chris Sugden told Christian Today that a fudge from the Episcopal Church in the US on the position of homosexuality will “not be acceptable” for most people in the Anglican Communion.

Canon Sugden urged that only a full admission of: We did something wrong and we repent would be acceptable. Anything less than that would be a fudge. The Church of England cannot remain neutral on this.

Dr Williams’ predecessor, Lord Carey, likened the ordination of the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, as heresy when he spoke on the Australian ABC network earlier in the week.

Earlier in the month, the Presiding Bishop of ECUSA, the Most Rev Frank T Griswold, warned the Diocese of California not to elect another gay bishop in the forthcoming elections for the new Bishop of California.

Based on an article from the Advocate, By Scott Rose

Iraqis are being slaughtered with the blessing of Islamic religious leaders. How can you help? Start by speaking up—in particular, by demanding that U.S. politicians do their duty to protect the people of Iraq

An antigay pogrom is taking place in Iraq. Gratuitous killings of gays are permitted under Iraqi law, and it is a fact that George W. Bush approved the wording of the Iraqi constitution that makes it so. Mainstream U.S. media are not reporting on the plight of Iraqi gays, nor are they discussing how to rescue them.

For those who have not yet learned of these circumstances, here is some background.

In August 2005, the United States was party to negotiations regarding the wording of the Iraqi constitution. The United States sanctioned the results, which included a change making Islam “the” rather than “a” main source of Iraqi law. Sharia Islamic law calls for homosexual people to be killed.

Some time around October 2005, the Ayatollah Sistani, writing in a question-and-answer section of the Arab-language version of his official Web site, issued an antigay fatwa. He was asked, What is the judgment for sodomy and lesbianism? He replied, Forbidden. Punished, in fact, killed. The people involved should be killed in the worst, most severe way of killing.

Reports from gay Iraqi refugees in London who maintain contact with people in their homeland say that Sistani’s fatwa is being carried out. The Badr Brigade is said to be particularly active in antigay persecution. According to the refugees and the Iraqis with whom they are in communication, identifiably gay people are attacked in the streets and beaten to death as surrounding crowds cheer on the killers. The same sources report that unmarried men approaching the age of 30 are given one month to marry a woman and then, if they fail to do so, they are murdered.

From Christian Today

Members of Leeds’ religious communities will join together in the first faith walk around the city with the hope of fostering stronger interfaith relations.

The walk in the Hyde Park area of the city will promote greater respect as participants take in the city’s main places of worship, including the Hindu Temple in Alexandra Road, the All Hallows Church in Regents Terrace, and the Grand Mosque in Woodsley Road.

Participants will be joined by Ann Castle, Deputy Lord Mayor of Leeds, as they learn more about the different faiths first-hand.

Leeds is a multi-cultural city with many different communities living happily alongside each other," said Councillor Castle: This walk will give people an insight into different religions and help them understand and respect other people's beliefs.

The walk has been organised by the Leeds Concord Inter Faith Fellowship. The Fellowship’s secretary, Cynthia Dickinson, said: We hope that the multi-faith walk of friendship will encourage people of different faiths – or none at all – to build bridges of respect and support for different religions while celebrating their distinctive differences.

At a time when some would like to cause rifts and create division, we aim to unite with trust and tolerance.

Based on an article from The Times

Dating is a dangerous game in Baghdad. Ali Ilhiam knows that holding hands with his teenage girlfriend could cost him a beating, or worse, from militant thugs. Boys can’t be seen walking and laughing with their girlfriends any more in the new Baghdad, the  university student said. Friends of his have been dragged from their cars, imprisoned and threatened with death by self-appointed moral guardians for daring to link arms with their girlfriends in public.

Most cinemas and discos have closed, and the few restaurants popular with the younger crowd close at 8pm. Gunmen hang around former favourite haunts and check identity cards to make sure that couples are married.

Three weeks ago a gang of militiamen driving on the main road spotted one of his friends while he was embracing his fiancée near the lake.

The gunmen chased the couple as they drove away and forced their vehicle off the road. The driver, a  was dragged from behind the wheel and pistol-whipped. His terrified partner was locked in the car and made to watch. The gunmen took the couple to a makeshift detention centre and warned them that if they were seen “misbehaving” again they would be shot. They have never returned to the lake.

In recent days two young women had battery acid thrown at their legs by Mehdi army members, who are loyal to the militant cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The victims were told that they were being punished for dressing inappropriately.

In Basra late last year a couple were ambushed while walking in the zoo. The man was shot dead and his young partner was partially blinded by the gunmen, who stripped and photographed her, saying that they would send the pictures to her family. She ran home and killed herself.

Ilhiam recalled that holding hands with a girl was permissible under the regime of Saddam Hussein, but he expressed concern about the growing puritanism that is being enforced by both Shia and Sunni militias.

Ali Athra who was also in the park with her boyfriend said: Girls don’t walk the streets alone any more. We used to shop, go dancing, have parties, until a few months after the downfall of Saddam, and bit by bit, every day, we feel more repressed.

Based on an article from the Jakarta Post

The government insisted Tuesday that Muslims and non-Muslims alike in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam should be tried by the planned Islamic Court in the predominantly Muslim province.

State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra told the special committee deliberating a bill on the province's administration that non-Muslims accused of committing ordinary crimes, such as theft and adultery, would be tried under the sharia-inspired bylaws (qanun).

Yusril, responding the proposal of several legislators who wanted non-Muslims to be given the freedom to choose under which law they would be tried, said it would only create legal uncertainty. Should such freedom be given, non-Muslims will certainly choose to be tried under the Criminal Code because it carries more lenient punishment, Yusril told the hearing, held to discuss the authority of the planned Islamic Court, also known as Mahkamah Sharia.

Yusril said that in the case of adultery, non-Muslims who committed adultery with Muslims would undoubtedly opt for trial by the Criminal Code because it was more lenient than the stoning or other forms of barbaric punishment stipulated under Islamic Law.

A number of factions, such as the Christian-based Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), have proposed that non-Muslims be given the freedom to choose under which law they would be tried for ordinary crimes. Yusril said later in the hearing that non-Muslims could be exempted for trial by the Islamic Court only in cases related to domestic matters, such as distribution of wealth as well as business and monetary issues.

He added details about the Islamic Court would await the drawing up of more bylaws. It is these qanun that will decide who will be tried under which law, Yusril said. Bylaws dealing with adultery, alcoholism, gambling and obscenity are already on the books.

From MSN

Police in Pakistan have registered cases against the editor and publisher of a Danish newspaper and several other European dailies over publication of Prophet Muhammad cartoons under a blasphemy law that carries the death penalty, an officer said.

Internet giants Yahoo, Hotmail, the Internet search engine, Google, were also named in the cases for allowing access to the drawings of Muhammad that were considered sacrilegious by many Muslims. The cases were submitted by a Pakistani lawyer who runs a citizens' no-rights group.

A Pakistani lawyer, Iqbal Haider, who runs Awami Himayat Tehrik or People's Support Movement, had petitioned the Supreme Court against the publication of the cartoons under a blasphemy law that allows the death penalty for anyone guilty of insulting the Prophet or the Quran.

Cases were registered against Jyllands-Posten, its editor, publisher, a cartoonist, and newspapers in France, Italy, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands at a police station in Karachi.

It is now the government's job to contact the Interpol and bring the offenders to a court of law in Pakistan, Haider said.

A government prosecutor, who opposed the petition, says Pakistan's courts have no jurisdiction over a crime committed abroad.

From Christian Today

Religious Groups March for Peace & Tolerance. Christians, Muslims and Jews united Sunday in protest of the British National Party by taking part in a peace walk around areas of the city being targeted by the BNP in local elections on May 4th.

The walk was organised by the Yorkshire Faiths Forum under the leadership of the Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Rev Jack Nicholls: We want to spread a message of peace and tolerance in our communities, and reject the one of animosity and division. In a divided world we need to be seen as united in our desire for all communities to live in peace and harmony. This is a walk of witness to our hope..

The walk from the Al-Rahman Mosque in Spital Hill to the Firth Park Methodist Church on Stubbin Lane was punctuated by short silent vigils for peace and unity held outside each place of worship passed by the group.

Bishop Nicholls was joined in the march for peace by the Rev Inderjit Bhogal, Director of the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Faith Forum, Bernard Rosenberg, President of the Sheffield Representative Jewish Council, and Abdool Qadir Gooljar, President of the Sheffield Branch of the Islamic Society of Great Britain.

Based on an article from the BBC

A Cologne brothel advertising with a World Cup-themed banner has blacked out the flags of Iran and Saudi Arabia after threats and intimidation from Muslims.

The giant banner on a high-rise building shows a semi-naked woman and the flags of the 32 countries in the World Cup

The Pascha brothel's owner, Armin Lobscheid, said a group of Muslims had threatened violence over the advert. He said they had accused the brothel of insulting Islam by using the flags.

First there were telephone threats of violence, then about 30 hooded thugs armed with knives and sticks turned up outside Pascha.

The slogan on the ad reads: "The world is a guest of female friends" - a variant of the official World Cup slogan: "The world is a guest of friends".

Lobscheid said the banner had been commissioned in a normal business deal and we certainly didn't intend to insult anyone. He said the significance of the flags' symbols had been overlooked.

Prostitution is legal in Germany.

From the Daily Mail

Blasphemy laws could be extended to protect Muslims, it emerged yesterday. Ministers said they are willing to consider the case for changing the laws, which at present only cover attacks on the tenets and beliefs of the Church of England. The move raises the prospect of charges against anyone who criticises or pokes fun at Mohammad.

The fact Ministers are mulling a change in the blasphemy laws is a surprise as they have just passed a Religious and Racial Hatred Act in the face of fierce opposition in Parliament. Such laws were at one stage to have been abolished in favour of new religious hatred legislation but under pressure from Turkey, which wants EU-wide blasphemy regulations, Ministers may now look at extending the law. Any new blasphemy law could be used to strengthen the new religious hatred laws which were watered down in a rebellion by MPs and peers earlier this year.

From IOL

An Islamic court in the northern Nigerian city of Katsina on Monday ordered that a young man's hand be chopped off as a punishment for burglary, a court official said.

Lawal Bala Batsari, a prosecutor at the upper sharia court in Katsina, said a judge had ordered that 20-year old Idris Garba be amputated at the right wrist for stealing money and property from a house. Garba was arraigned last September after he was arrested with 14 000 naira (about $120) in cash and a video recorder, clothes and a tape deck worth a total of 27 000 naira, Batsari said. He has been given 30 days to appeal the sentence if he is not satisfied with the judgement but will remain in prison custody, Batsari said.

Katsina is one of a dozen predominantly Muslim states in northern Nigeria that have readopted a strict Islamic code since 1999, when the country returned to 'democracy' after 15 years of military rule.

Although several people have been convicted of theft since the law code was reintroduced in Katsina, no-one has yet been amputated in the state. Up to a dozen convicts have lost their hands in other parts of Nigeria.

From The Times

The fine for kissing in public in Delhi, India has increased tenfold, so couples caught flouting the law now face a fine of 500 rupees (£6.21).

Officials in the Indian capital determined that the previous tariff of 50 rupees, established in 1936, was not deterring amorous couples. Sindhushree Khullar, the chairwoman of the municipal council, said: Couples found in a compromising position cause embarrassment. We want to monitor the activities of such couples.

[The Melon Framers said: Councillors found abusing their powers cause repression. We want to monitor the activities of such nutters]

From The Guardian

Iran's Islamic authorities are preparing a crackdown on women flouting the stringent dress code in the clearest sign yet of social and political repression under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

From today police in Tehran will be under orders to arrest women failing to conform to the regime's definition of Islamic morals by wearing loose-fitting hijab, or headscarves, tight jackets and shortened trousers exposing skin.

Offenders could be punished with £30 fines or two months in jail. Officers will also be authorised to confront men with outlandish hairstyles and people walking pet dogs, an activity long denounced as un-Islamic by the religious rulers.

The clampdown coincides with a bill before Iran's conservative-dominated parliament proposing that fines for people with TV satellite dishes rise from £60 to more than £3,000. Millions of Iranians have illegal dishes, enabling them to watch western films and news channels.

The dress purge is led by a Tehran city councillor, Nader Shariatmaderi, a close ally of Ahmadinejad who helped to plot last year's election victory.

The new campaign will hold taxi agencies accountable for their passengers' attire, police will be able to impound cabs carrying women dressed "inappropriately". Agencies guilty of repeat offences will be closed. Police have reportedly been stopping women motorists recently whose hijab was judged inadequate. Police have also raided fashion stores and seized brightly coloured manteaus.

From Brunei Direct

Internet service and content providers have been told to watch content which goes against public interest, national harmony, decency and social morals.

The Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office said yesterday unhealthy and inaccurate content on the Internet could mar Brunei's image to the outside world and investor interest towards the country.

Pg Dato Paduka Hi Ismail also called on managers of cyber cafes to be extra vigilant in making sure that their users get registered in ensuring that the Internet is not abused.

Speaking on cyber cafes which have been told to use a logbook for users, he urged them to install a firewall to ensure that students do not abuse the facility at the cafes.

The Broadcasting Act requires that any licence holder that provides any broadcasting service must ensure that their service is not used or continued to be used for lottery purposes. It must also ensure that the service is not abused to advertise, supply or promote any religions besides Islam, any practice against the teachings of Islam or to attract customers for prostitution or any immoral acts.

Meanwhile, the Internet code of practice stipulates that a licence holder must ensure that content is not against the public interest or country's harmony. In particular, the content does not contain material-that brings hatred, insult or spark dissatisfaction towards His Majesty, the government or people in Brunei that attempts at reform unless through legitimate ways

Based on an article from The Guardian

Next week, an Australian will jet into Heathrow for a lecture tour of British creationists, believers in the biblical account of the origins of the world.

John Mackay, a former science teacher from Queensland, is one of Creation Science's speaking stars. He will console believers that Genesis is true, that the Earth is not millions of years old but only a few thousand and that science proves it, rather than the Darwinian theory of evolution accepted by the overwhelming majority of scientists for more than a century.

He comes here most years, though his 31 engagements from Scotland to Kent are mainly in nonconformist church halls and non-mainstream chapels rather than the loftiest pulpits or highest groves of academe. There will be talks at places like the Living Waters Fellowship at Newport, Isle of Wight, the Christian Outreach Centre in Bournemouth and the Destiny Church in Edinburgh. An appearance at Bangor University turns out to be in a hall hired by local evangelicals for the occasion.

There will even be a week-long Family Creation Conference in tents at the Cefn Lea Christian Holiday Park near Newtown in mid-Wales, for which about 40 families have signed up, at which Mackay will attempt to answer fundamental questions such as: Did bees sting before Adam sinned? Why would birds need to migrate in a good world? What would polar bears do in a world with no ice and what did great white sharks eat before Aussies went surfing?

What gives this two-month trip added point is the mounting attacks on creationism from scientists such as Richard Dawkins and Steve Jones and teachers' unions.

I am very pleased with the brilliant publicity they give us, said Randall Hardy who runs the British branch of Mackay's Creation Research organisation from an office in Ashton-underLyne. Myself, I have been a fundamentalist Christian for 40 years. I think the Earth is only 6,000 to 10,000 years old. I am saddened that more prominent churchmen do not hold to the traditional understanding of the scriptures.

Creation Research says that requests for information have risen from 400 to 1,400 in recent years. Its sister body, the Creation Science Movement, which claims to be the oldest such organisation in the world, founded in 1932, is run by David Rosevear, a retired chemist, in Portsmouth. It claims about 1,000 members and is advertising forthcoming lectures by one of its five speakers, mainly in church halls in Northamptonshire.

In some black churches too there is scepticism about evolution. Bishop Wayne Malcolm, leader of the Christian Life City church in Hackney, east London, disputes the scientific evidence for evolution. There is clearly an absence in the fossil record for intermediate levels of development. If a frog turned into a monkey, shouldn't you have lots of fronkies?

From the Khaleej Times

The Saudi authorities arrested Rabah Al Quaie, a Saudi journalist working in Al Shams Saudi newspaper, as he was referred to investigation on the charge of apostasy.

A Washington-based Saudi independent news agency said that it was likely that the charges of apostasy wiil be pressed against Al Quaie.

The news agency also stated that while Al Quaie was going to work last November, he noticed that his car’s front glass was completely broken on purpose. When he approached his car, he found a piece of paper that had a written warning stated: in the name of Allah, we intended to break your car’s glass this time, but if you do not give up such superstitious ideas, you will be harmed. It is the last warning. Having read the warning, Rabah Al Quaie called the police of Hael area, which rushed to the spot and lifted the fingerprints.

On interrogation, Al Quaie was testified but he did not accuse anybody. Rabah Al Quaie declared that he received threatening messages and calls on his mobile phone.

From The Telegraph, 
See  www.retecool.com/mirrordir/Mohammed%20Image%20Archive.htm for a comprehensive page about Mohammed images
 

Classic Inspiration for cartoon from Gustav Doré

An Italian magazine has infuriated Muslims by publishing a cartoon showing the Prophet Mohammed cut in half and burning in Hell.

The drawing appears in Studi Cattolici, a monthly magazine with links to the ultra-conservative Roman Catholic group, Opus Dei.

It shows the poets Virgil and Dante on the edge of a circle of flame looking down on Mohammed. Isn't that man there, split in two from head to navel, Mohammed? Dante asks Virgil. Yes and he is cut in two because he has divided society, Virgil replies. While that woman there, with the burning coals, represents the politics of Italy towards Islam.

Cesare Cavalleri, the editor of the magazine, said last night that he had not meant to cause offence. If, contrary to my intentions and those of the author, anyone felt offended in his religious feelings, I freely ask him in a Christian manner for forgiveness.

That was a marked change of tone from an earlier statement, when he said: We must not fear freedom of opinion. If the cartoon provoked an attack, it would only confirm the idiotic positions of Muslim extremists.

This is not a cartoon against Mohammed. It is a cartoon which addresses the loss of the West's identity. Why all the fuss over a cartoon which only represents that which has already been written centuries ago by Dante Alighieri?

Dante placed Mohammed in Hell in Canto 28 of The Divine Comedy. His work inspired a painting by William Blake, depicting Mohammed with his entrails hanging out, and a fresco in Bologna Cathedral showing him being tortured by a devil.

A spokesman for the Union of Italian Muslim Communities called it odious and racist. The rage was just calmed and here, with an absurd and criminal logic, they go and stir things up.

From MediawatchWatch

After all the palaver, the cartoon didn't even depict Mohammed.

It shows the poets Virgil and Dante on the edge of a circle of flame looking down on Mohammed. Isn't that man there, split in two from head to navel, Mohammed? Dante asks Virgil. Yes and he is cut in two because he has divided society, Virgil replies. While that woman there, with the burning coals, represents the politics of Italy towards Islam.

From the BBC 

A Christian couple have set up a website, www.whollylove.co.uk, offering sex toys and advice specifically aimed at married couples. Stella and Stan Hagarty, from Bridgend, south Wales, say sex is a great gift from God and should be celebrated.

They set up the site after visiting a sex shop to spice up a wedding anniversary, but say they were shocked at the prices and sex aids on offer.  Sex has that forbidden, dirty image but sex in marriage is God's idea and it's great, said Mrs Hagarty.

Mrs Hagarty said the Christian faith had for too long focused on the negative side of sex like pornography and prostitution, and had forgotten about promoting the positive side like sex within marriage.

My husband and I  decided to visit a high street sex shop to liven things up a bit, But we were really shocked at the price of things in there and the things on offer which seemed to focus on pornography and bondage, which is not what we see as fitting within a Christian marriage. A few days later, Stan came to me and said, 'Let's set up a Christian sex site'.

The couple researched the idea and sought advice from church leaders, who they said supported it.

Nutters have been going on about society being in the grips of Satan for as long as I can remember. But for all the notions of godly bygone eras, I bet most people would choose to live in the present day given the chance.

From The Telegraph

Pope Benedict said last night that the world was in the grip of Satan and prayed for mankind to open its eyes to the "filth around us". At an Easter Benedict XVI lashed out at man's "decadent narcissism". He said "a slick campaign of propaganda is spreading an inane apologia of evil, a senseless cult of Satan".

The prayers, written by Archbishop Angelo Comastri, the Vatican City's vicar general, were approved by the Pope, and reflected his strongly conservative outlook: Surely God is deeply pained by the attack on the family. Today we seem to be witnessing a kind of anti-Genesis, a counter-plan, a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family. Bodies are constantly bought and sold on the streets of our cities, on our television channels, in homes that have become like streets.

From the BBC

A religious group in Korea has applied for a provisional injunction to stop the release of the movie version of the novel The Da Vinci Code

The Christian Council of Korea (CCK) filed its application in Seoul against the film's distributor Sony Pictures, according to Screen International.  CCK said the film was "an insult and defamation" of the holiness of Jesus Christ and the Bible.  The group added that they were concerned about the damage that would be caused to individuals' faith because of the film's content.

From the BBC

Leading UK Catholics and members of Opus Dei have formed a group to respond to the negative impact the Da Vinci Code film is expected to bring.

The book, which has sold 40 millions copies worldwide, has been attacked for portraying the Catholic Church as a shadowy organisation that has spent 2,000 years covering up Christ's bloodline.

The Da Vinci Code Response Group, which also includes a Benedictine abbot and two priests, has condemned Dan Brown's book as "fiction trading as fact".  The group criticised its "damaging and grotesque" account of their faith.

The response group is being co-ordinated by Austen Ivereigh, the director for public affairs of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

In a statement the group said: We believe the Da Vinci Code is fun and harmless in so far as it is treated as fiction. We do not believe in condemnations, boycotts or protests. But we are also exasperated that many people without a good understanding of the Catholic Church and its history have been understandably deceived by Dan Brown's claim that the Da Vinci Code is based on facts and respectable theories. That deception is likely to be reinforced by the film because images are much more powerful than words."

Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic group with 86,000 members worldwide, are particularly angry about their order being portrayed as murderous and power-crazed. The organisation has arranged special information evenings in London for the public and has asked Sony Pictures, which produced the new film, to include a caption explaining the film is fiction. Sony has previously declined to reveal whether the film would carry such a disclaimer.

From inq7

Archbishop Ramon Arguelles has urged Philippine film censors to ban the Hollywood film The Da Vince Code, dismissing it as blasphemous.

In a predominantly Christian country like the Philippines, making publicly available such film is sinfully condoning blasphemy and undermining the very limits of the people's value and religious foundation, Arguelles wrote in his letter to The Movie, Television, Review, and Classification Board.

Arguelles said that after reading the book, he was convinced that the film could shake the belief of even the most devoted Catholic: I appeal to the MTRCB and the government to ban the film on the grounds that it injures the religious sentiments of the majority of Filipinos.

The imminent release of the film has stirred religious passions worldwide with the Anglican Church in Sydney and Catholic bishops in the United States launching websites and videos refuting claims made in the novel. The movie poses the explosive idea that Jesus Christ married his follower Mary Magdalene and started a bloodline that still exists in secret.

From BozNewsLife

A Christian official of the Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) has urged the Indian Film Censor Board to forbid the release in India of the The Da Vinci Code, saying the film "offends Christ" and the church he founded.

Since this movie is sheer blasphemy and has deeply upset the sentiments of Christians, on behalf of the Christian community, I request (you) not to allow the screening of this movie" DMC Chairman Arnold James wrote in a letter to censor chief Sharmila Tagore.

There was no immediate reaction from Tagore,

The Catholic Secular Forum announced it had called on thousand of people to attend a protest on Wednesday, May 10, in Mumbai, India's film industry capital known as Bollywood, to burn effigies of author Brown.

Earlier about 100 people gathered for a protest on May 9, in Mumbai and burnt pages of the book, but were prevented by police from burning an effigy of Brown.

Others have urged Christians to go on hunger strike over the film...[Maybe a call that would be supported by mischievous opponents as well as fellow Christians]

From Ecumenical News International

Some Indian Christians are so incensed with the fictional blockbuster The Da Vinci Code they want the government to ban it and one [distinctly unchristian] Roman Catholic has offered a bounty of US$25 000 on the head of author Dan Brown, leaving other members of the faithful embarrassed by the reaction.

The Mumbai Catholic Council has threatened to stop the screening of the movie if the government fails to ban the recently released movie of the book. Another group called the Catholic Social Forum has said if the shows go ahead it will launch a death fast from 12 May.

Nicolas Almeida, a Catholic and former Mumbai municipal councillor, offered a reward of 1.1 million rupees ($25 000) for the head of author Brown, leading a Catholic journalist to compare Almeida to the Taliban.

Some Catholics have, however, rebuffed the moves to ban the fictional work.

Offering bounty for the head of the author is a Taliban-like response, Kay Benedict, a Catholic journalist, told ENI. With their protests, he said, Catholics have ensured "more than enough publicity" for the movie in India. The Christian faith is 2000 years old and it is not so fragile as to be destroyed by a single movie.

Based on an article from The Nation

Four major Christian nutter groups yesterday submitted a request to the Thai Police asking that the controversial Hollywood movie The Da Vinci Code be banned from Thailand.

Maj-General Phanomsak Thangthong, chief of the registration division, said the request had been sent to a censorship subcommittee for immediate consideration. The movie from Dan Brown's novel of the same title, is scheduled for screening in Thailand on Thursday.

The movie distorts the Bible and violates the dignity of the Jesus, Professor Wirach Koidul, an official with the Coordination Committee of the Protestant Church of Thailand, said in a statement released by the four groups. Our joint conclusion agrees that the novel and the movie deliberately insult Jesus Christ.The movie depicts Jesus as only a man, and not entitled to the prophecy, as believed by Christians worldwide.

Moreover, in the movie he is married to Mary Magdalene and fathers a son with her, which is completely false, he added.

The statement was made with the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand, the Seventh Day Adventists' Foundation of Thailand, and the United Christian Church of Baptism of Thailand. They represent about 1 million Christians in Thailand, they said.

But not to worry, the uncut version has been available for a couple of weeks on copy DVD.

Based on an article from the Bangkok Post

The police censorship committee in charge of movies has agreed to censor the climax of the movie The Da Vinci Code, even though the distributor promised to put a special notice on all copies stating the film was a work of fiction.

Thai censors and a group claiming to represent Thai Christians watched the movie today. After the special showing, police agreed to cut the last 10 minutes of the film.

A spokesman for the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand said that the nutters objected to the part of the film that mentions Jesus having heirs alive today. Under today's agreement, Thais won't see that part of the film in the theatre.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand, the Seventh Day Adventists Foundation of Thailand, and the United Christian Church of Baptism of Thailand had joined fellow Asian Christian nutters from India to the Philippines in urging their governments to ban the film, claiming it distorts the Bible.

Only Thailand capitulated.

Without the warning to audiences, the movie should not be shown in Thailand, Manote Cheangsuk, chairman of Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand, told a press conference. If (the movie) is not true, it cannot be shown.

Ironically, American filmmakers complained just yesterday that local censorship is a reason why audiences buy pirated VCDs and DVDs. Tienchai Pinvises, executive director of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) of Thailand specifically mentioned blurring out smoking and drinking in TV presentations of movies, but presumably cutting out parts of a movie also would apply.

In the Philippines, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) approved the showing of the controversial film in this predominantly Christian country.

Malaysian Christians disagreed completely with their Thai brethern, and said Malaysians were intelligent enough to figure out it was Hollywood.

From MiD Day

A question mark hangs over the release of the controversial movie The Da Vinci Code in India, with the government treading a cautious path, saying it will consult representatives of the Catholic churches to take stock of their opinion and sensibilities.

I will not allow it to be screened unless representatives of the Catholic churches along with the Censor Board watch the movie and clear it, Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi told reporters here. The minister, who would be watching the movie in the next 24 hours, said he would consult them "and if anything comes up which effects their sensibilities, we will not allow the movie to be screened".

The minister said around 300 organisations have sent a memorandum to him, requesting him to first watch the movie himself before allowing it to be screened.  The minister said he had directed the Censor Board to stop giving clearance to the movie before he gets the views of representatives of the Catholic churches in India.

From the BBC

In India, the head of the Catholic Secular Forum has begun a "hunger strike until death".

Activist Joseph Dias says his hunger strike will continue "until death". Joseph Dias said he wanted others to join him and pledged to continue until the film was banned.

His organisation has described The Da Vinci Code as "offensive" because it breaches certain basic foundations of the religion.

Based on an article from the Bangkok Post

Thailand's film censorship board yesterday approved the full version of the film The Da Vinci Code, after its distributor appealed against the board's decision on Tuesday to order that the final 10 minutes be cut. The board voted six to five to allow the full version of the film to be shown. It is scheduled to open today.

Chaired by Pol Maj-Gen Somwong Lipiphan, deputy commander of the Central Investigation Bureau, and including Protestant and Catholic representatives, the board viewed the movie for the second time after receiving the appeal from its distributor, Columbia Tristar Buena Vista Films (Thailand).

The controversy erupted after the Thailand Protestant Churches Coordinating Committee, representing four nutter groups, asked the Royal Thai Police to ban the film, which is based on Dan Brown's bestselling novel of the same title. Critics say it insults Jesus and erodes the Christian faith.

Following the Christian protest, the board on Tuesday ordered the distributor to cut the final 10 minutes of the film, change some ''inappropriate'' Thai subtitles such as the words ''Jesus, the deceiver'', and display a warning message before and after the film to remind viewers that it is based on a novel.

Columbia Tristar had appealed against the order to cut the film and the order to display a warning message before and after the movie.

Pol Maj-Gen Somwong said the board finally decided to withdraw the order that the film be cut, but stuck by its decision on subtitle changes and displaying a warning message.

Anucha Chaiyadej, deputy director of Catholic Social Communications of Thailand, who was on a special committee considering the film, said the final decision was a compromise for both sides and he had to accept the board's decision.

He said protestants would not stage any more protests, as they had tried to understand the reasons of both the censorship committee and the film distributor.

Rev Dr Seree Lorgunpai, secretary-general of the Thailand Bible Society, said he had done his best in representing the Christians on the board, and had to accept the final resolution.

Christian groups have already prepared 100,000 copies of guidebooks for people watching the film, to be distributed in front of cinemas.

Based on an article from the Bangkok Post

The Hollywood film, The Da Vinci Code, has been cleared for release in India after protests by Christians. Censors gave it an adult rating but said disclaimers stating it was fiction were needed at the beginning and end.

Officials and Catholic leaders had a special viewing of the film on Wednesday after the broadcasting minister received over 200 complaints.

It is still unclear whether the film will open in India as planned on Friday, the day of its worldwide release, as the board has said it will wait for a response from Sony Pictures before formally issuing a certificate.

Catholic Secular Forum head Joseph Dias went on hunger strike to try to have the film banned. His organisation has described The Da Vinci Code as "offensive" because it breaches "certain basic foundations of the religion". He is suing the heads of Sony Films and the censor board for "hurting religious sentiments". The Mumbai (Bombay) High Court will hear the case on Friday

From Zee News

Taking on the Indian Censor Board, Sony Pictures yesterday refused to attach the board-approved disclaimer to the controversial movie The Da Vinci Code. Sony maintained that its disclaimer that the characters and incidents portrayed in the film are fictitious is sufficient.

Sony categorically said it will not make any modifications to the language used in the disclaimer. It, however, welcomed the film’s ‘A’ certification.

The original disclaimer by Sony comes only at the end of the film and the Censors are demanding that it should be displayed in the beginning.

From the BBC

The Indian release of The Da Vinci Code has been delayed indefinitely by Sony Pictures after a row with the country's censors. Sony Pictures said the censors' demand for disclaimers at the beginning and end of the film led to the delay.

The Censor Board has asked for disclaimers saying the film was a work of pure fiction.

The BBC's Monica Chadha in Mumbai (Bombay) says the Censor Board wanted the disclaimers to read it is a work of pure fiction and has no correspondence to historical facts of the Christian religion.

However, Sony Pictures said it had a legal statement at the end of the film and did not believe additional or modified language was required. Sony's statement reads the characters and incidents portrayed and the names herein are fictitious, and any similarity to the name, character or history of any person is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

The company statement also said it hoped an agreement could be reached as soon as possible so that the film could be released in India.

From the Times of India

The Da Vinci Code, has been given the nod by the Censor Board after a week-long drama. The film is likely to be released on May 26 with just one disclaimer at the end.

Sources in the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry said the protests raised by the film producers, Sony Pictures, had prevailed and the recommendation to add a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie, had been struck down.

I&B sources said, The Censor Board has informed us that the issue has been cleared with the film's producers. They said that the film would now just have one disclaimer at the end.

However the film was banned in several states. Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya and Pondicherry have joined Goa, Nagaland, Punjab and Tamil Nadu in banning the film.

Based on an article from the Times of India

Nutters in Pakistan have decried Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code as blasphemous and satanic and have demanded that the government immediately ban the film.

Shahbaz Bhatti, chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), said: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown attacks our belief in the divinity of Christ, the truthfulness of sacred scriptures, the integrity of the Holy Catholic Church and core values of Christianity and Christians.

He said that the movie was full of offences, historical and theological errors regarding Jesus, Gospel and the Church. It was based on false, baseless, unrealistic and shameful information.

He said that the blasphemous movie had hurt the religious sentiments of Christians throughout the world. We will not allow anyone to disgrace and insult our Jesus Lord and beliefs in the guise of freedom of expression.

Bhatti asked UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to condemn this act of blasphemy and introduce a charter to stop such elements from playing with the religious sentiments of people under the garb of freedom of speech.

He said that Western countries should also ban the circulation of the film and take strong action against the producer.

He demanded that the government officially condemn the film and prohibit cable operators, TV channels and Internet sites from showing it, in the same way as publication of the sacrilegious cartoons of Prophet Mohammed was banned. Bhatti warned of countrywide protests by Christians if the film was allowed to be screened in Pakistan.

Meanwhile from The National

The Catholic church in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has called for the banning of The Da Vinci Code.

President of the PNG and Solomon Islands Catholic Bishops Conference Francesco Sarego said was based on false assumptions and imaginations of the writer, which is offensive to believers. He said the Catholic bishops believe the movie should not be allowed into the country.

Deputy chief censor with the Censorship Board Jimmy Abani said they have received requests from several movie suppliers to import Davinci Code. But, the board had not responded to these requests because it is yet to view its contents, and give it a rating.

Meanwhile from PR Inside

The Da Vinci Code will be banned in the Solomon Islands, even though the South Pacific nation has no cinemas.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare made the announcement on state-run radio warning the film undermines Christianity. He told  listeners, As a Christian nation, Solomon Islanders would take offence at the content of the film.

The Solomon Islands have no censorship body or movie theatres - most of the films watched in the country are pirate DVDs from Asia.

Based on an article from Catholic Online

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered a ban on the screening of The Da Vinci Code in response to an appeal made by the Catholic bishops of Sri Lanka.

Rajapaksa, who is also minister for religious affairs said that he had ordered the Public Performances Board to ban the screening of the movie in local cinemas and on local TV channels.

Two days earlier, the Catholic Bishops' Conference in Sri Lanka sent a letter to the president explaining why they saw an urgent need for the ban. The letter says: The book version has caused confusion between fact and fiction. It is manipulative and is an odious, false, unjust and irreverent portrayal of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. It attacks the very roots of our Christian faith and hurts the religious sensibilities of all Christians.

In their letter, the bishops say the film is a product of a "totally perverted mind" and represents the depth of moral corruption.

The Da Vinci Code book is available in Sri Lanka. The ban does not cover the sale of the book, or of the movie on VCD or DVD, when these are available. The ban also does not cover the eventual telecast of the film on subscription-based cable or satellite television.

Based on an article from AND

Muslims across Malawi are planning to march in the main urban centres of the country to protest against the Da Vinci Code.

The Muslim Association of Malawi's (MAM) General Secretary Imran Shareef said  that although the film is not yet in Malawi, it is clear that is contains acts of blasphemy and as such should not be distributed in a country where Jesus is accepted as Allah’s prophet.
We Muslims are doing this on our own right, and not because of the Christian faith. Under the law of apostasy, punishment to anyone who defames a prophet of Jesus’ status is death, Shareef told the paper.

The movie, in representing the view that Jesus was married to Marry Magdalene, has insulted and blasphemed a belief by not only the Christian faith but also the Muslim community, says Shareef in the statement.

Over the weekend the Christian community also called on government to ban the film. However the Censorship board says it will not ban a film before its importation.

Based on an article from the Financial Express

Sharmila Tagore, head of the Indian National Film Censor Board said that Information Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi's move to vet the The Da Vinci Code could prompt government ministers to begin scrutinizing more films in the future.

Dasmunshi put a temporary hold on the film's release until he was able to view it with representatives of church groups, who had objected to its content. Dasmunshi approved the movie's release, but said it would have to run a disclaimer and children would not be allowed to watch it.

Tagore said the move: will set a bad precedent. Now if everyone (opposed to a film) decides to go to the ultimate authority, there will be problems ahead. This could also lead to the creation of a parallel censor board,

There will be a lot of petitions now. And I don't think the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has the time or the expertise to watch every film, she said. However, having seen one film, there will be questions. The minister cannot choose to see one film and not another if there is a protest.

Meanwhile hundreds of Christian protesters have marched against cinemas showing The Da Vinci Code in Fiji. Cinemas in the two biggest cities of Suva and Lautoka on Friday have  said they will not to show it again.

From Kuwait News Agency

The government of Pakistan has banned both an American novel The Da Vinci Code and the novel-based movie.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Sher Afgan demanded the government confiscate copies of the novel and ban the exhibition of the novel-based film under the blasphemy ordinance in the country.

He said in a statement that the materials of both the novel and film are against the religious sentiments of Christian community, especially the Catholic Christians.

On Thursday, the Christian community held peaceful demonstrations here and in other parts of the country to protest the novel and demanded the government to confiscate both the novel and its movie.

From Kuwait News Agency

China has ordered cinemas to stop showing The Da Vinci Code from today, media officials said.

Authorities said the withdrawal - an unprecedented move - was to make way for films produced in China, an industry executive reported yesterday. This is coming directly from the film bureau, she said, adding that it was the first time the government had pulled a foreign film from cinemas.

The film had been given the widest release yet for a foreign production in China, with 393 prints sent to cinemas..

A possible explanation is that officials do not want the film to do well in China. Having made £7 million there since its release on 19 May, it was on its way to becoming one of the highest-ever earning foreign films in China, the executive said.

The Da Vinci Code has been opposed by Christian groups because it suggests Jesus fathered children who continued his lineage. China's state-backed Catholic church urged followers to boycott the film, but few of China's 1.3 billion people are Christians. Estimates range from 16 million to 47 million.

Relations between Beijing and the Vatican - who do not have diplomatic ties - reached a new low last month when the Pope censured China for installing two bishops in the state-backed Catholic church without the Holy See's approval.

The government has issued an internal notice to state media asking them not to promote the film any longer, said another Chinese media source, who also asked not to be identified. The notice ordered us not to comment, discuss the film or even mention the name of the movie in any form in print, said the source.

The withdrawal of The Da Vinci Code from cinemas will not prevent many viewers from watching it. Pirated DVD copies are available in China, which has come under much fire for allegedly weak intellectual property protection.

From The Tribune

The Indian Supreme Court dismissed two petitions for a ban on the Hollywood movie The Da Vinci Code, which has already been prohibited by five states on the ground that it hurt the sentiments of Christians.

Rejecting the petitions of All-India Christians Welfare Association (AICWA) and North India Cathedral Churches’ member Mathews, the Judges said the remedy was not under Article 32 but “somewhere else”, which the court apparently meant executive wing of the government.

The court dismissed the petitions after the counsel for the petitioners failed to name even a single country with Christianity as the dominant religion, having banned the movie when the Bench put a specific query to them about it.

The advocates appearing for the petitioners could not also gave a satisfactory reply to another query as to what formed the basis for seeking the ban.

The court said the movie had been cleared by the censor board. If some body was not satisfied with the board’s decision then there was a mechanism of approaching the appellate authority against it.

When the book (The Da Vinci Code) released by publishers in 2003 says that it was not based on facts but was a work of fiction, then why you have any objection to the movie, the Judges observed, pointing out that even the petitioners had admitted that it was a “fiction”.

From Associated Press

Egypt's culture minister vowed to ban the film The Da Vinci Code for insulting religion and said  that he would also pull the novel from store shelves.

Farouk Hosni told parliament he had told the movie censorship board not to allow copies of the Hollywood hit into the country because it insults religions, and what is blasphemous to Jesus Christ is considered insulting to Islam as well. The Culture Ministry will also seek out the book and confiscate it.

The promised ban was a move to assuage Christians and show the government seeks to protect their religion at a time when Egypt has seen an increase in tensions between its Muslim majority and large Christian community, thought to make up about 10% of its 73 million people.

Earlier this month, Egyptian police seized 2,000 pirated DVDs of The Da Vinci Code.

Ali Abu Shadi, director of Egypt's censorship board, said the film hasn't been officially banned from theatres because copies of the film have not been sent to Egypt. But he said he expected it would be rejected.

I can't ban something I haven't seen, but if it violates religions, it will be banned according to law, not me, Abu Shadi told The Associated Press on Wednesday: If the movie is anything like the book, it will be banned.

Update: The film and book were indeed banned

  Update: Irrational Restriction

From the Times of India

India's Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday quashed the ban on the film The Da Vinci Code, holding the state government's June 1 order as a highly irrational restriction on freedom of speech and expression.

Petitioners Sony Entertainment and the distributor Lakshmi Enterprises were also awarded costs of Rs 10,000 each.

Justice G Raghuram who delivered the order said the government had imposed the ban only because some individuals and organisations had demanded it.

It had not assessed the likely consequences of its decision and the authorities had not even bothered to see the film to arrive at an informed opinion, as is required under the law.

The judge also pointed out that an expert body like the Censor Board had cleared the film and there was no reason why the government should have taken a contrary view.

He also found untenable the state government's argument of breach of peace as the film was being screened in other parts of the country without any violence.

Special chief secretary (home) Paul Bhuyan said the government would respond to the quashing of the ban only after studying the court order.

  Update: Madras Overturns Police Ban

From The Hindu

Paving the way for the screening of The Da Vinci Code in Tamil Nadu, India, the Madras High Court quashed a police order suspending its screening for two months. It also imposed a token case cost of Rs. 1,000 on the Government.

It would be dangerous to allow the State to straightjacket the right to Freedom of Expression, as artistic expressions may be asphyxiated by law if a petulant group of self-appointed `censors' prescribes the paradigms for suspending the screening of a film, which has got the approval of the Censor Board, said Justice Prabha Sridevan.

She was passing orders on a writ petition against a June 1 order of the Chennai police imposing a two-month ban on the film.

Rejecting the submission that the State had material to show that there would be a "breach of peace" if the film was exhibited, the judge said, the inability of the State to maintain law and order or to avert a violation of breach of peace can never be a ground to throttle the Fundamental Rights.

She said the order did not satisfy the compelling State interest test, and added: When highly respected members of the Christian community have seen the film and have not expressed any apprehension that it may result in breach of peace, and when the Censor Board has certified that the film is worthy of being exhibited, the compulsion that forced the State to pass the impugned order is inexplicable and does not justify the violation of the Fundamental Right of the petitioners.

From Christian Today

The Scottish Executive has decided to fund a new abstinence programme soon to be introduced in Catholic schools. The new Called to Love programme is intended to be an alternative to “artificial contraception” by promoting marriage and the sanctity of human life.

A fund of £170,000 has been earmarked by ministers for Called to Love which will place the teachings of the Catholic Church “at the heart” of the guidance it will bring to pupils on sex and relationships when it is launched this summer.

From the Taipei Times

Couples kissing in public for longer than five minutes could soon face arrest in one Indonesian city as part of proposed laws cracking down on behavior seen as un-Islamic.

Indonesia does not enforce Islamic Shariah law on a national level. But in recent years, several regions have issued bylaws to regulate personal behavior in line with Islamic morality. Tangerang on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta, is considering a draft law that would ban couples from constant lip-to-lip kissing for more than five minutes in public, Koran Tempo daily paper quoted from a copy of the bill.

The law would also ban couples from touching each other in a sensual way, and opening each others clothing, it said. The paper said violators would face "arrest," but gave no details.

Don't dramatize this, we are not oppressors, city official Ahmad Lutfi was quoted as saying when asked whether people enforcing the law would be equipped with stopwatches to time public clinches.

Tangerang last year introduced laws banning women from being on the street alone after dark as part of moves to stop prostitution. The regulation has been criticized by human rights groups and women activists.

From the BBC

Kuala Lumpur's mayor has reassured tourists they will not face harassment if found kissing in public. The comment comes after Malaysia's highest court said city officials were right to prosecute a local couple for allegedly holding hands and kissing. Ooi Kean Thong and Siow Ai Wei were charged with disorderly behaviour almost three years ago.

The case has yet to be decided, but on Tuesday the federal court rejected a challenge to the city's decision to prosecute.  Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz commented that hugging and kissing might be "acceptable in England", but he said it was open to question whether Malaysians took the same view.

But a warning from the couple's lawyer that tourists could find themselves hauled up before the courts prompted Kuala Lumpur's mayor to play down the ruling.

Mayor Roslin Hassan told the BBC that officials would simply advise people rather than arrest them if their behaviour was inappropriate. He says holding hands is OK, but couples should not kiss too passionately in public.

From the Taipei Times

A coalition of human rights activists went to the Supreme Court recently seeking a judicial review of Tangerang's prostitution ordinance.

The Coalition of Opposition to Discriminating Local Ordinances (Kantif) said the process of bringing in the ordinance was abused when it was pushed through. He also said it was against the interests of the people.

Therefore, we want the Tangerang administration to stop enforcing the ordinance pending the Supreme Court's decision on its legal status, said Dedy Ali Ahmad of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI).  Dedy said that the bylaw restricted the freedom of women who worked nights, mostly in factories, by imposing what was essentially a curfew. It's definitely not appropriate for Tangerang, which is both an industrial and housing area -- this policy makes women who work overtime fear being locked up.

The ordinance permits local authorities to arrest "suspicious-looking" woman who are outside at night or women who are dressed immodestly. It also prohibits kissing in public for more than five minutes.

From the Jakarta Post

Every humiliating moment of that day is etched in Lilies Lindawati's memory. She still smarts at the indignity of being branded a prostitute as she stood before a jeering crowd in a "show trial" for Tangerang's new prostitution bylaw.

I felt like I was being raped in front of those people who laughed at me after the judge ruled I was a prostitute, simply because the law and order officers found a makeup compact and a lipstick in my bag, a tearful Lilies told The Jakarta Post.

Two months' pregnant at the time, she was arrested under the newly introduced Tangerang bylaw governing prostitution and public behavior, with her story widely reported in the media. She is refusing to be quiet despite the humiliating experience, and has reported Tangerang Mayor Wahidin Halim to the police for wrongful arrest and defamation of character.

Public order officers arrested the 35-year-old as she waited for a public minivan at the side of the street one evening. It was a cool evening and she had put on a jacket. It was 7 p.m., and she was returning after an unsuccessful attempt to secure her final month's pay from her workplace.

Suddenly, she was shocked as five public order officers approached and, calling her a prostitute, bundled her into a van.

She described a chaotic scene as 20 officers rounded up all the women in the area, including, she said, two teenagers eating at a sidewalk cafe and a 63-year-old buying rambutan on the side of the road.

Lilies said she tried to protest her innocence, giving her ID card to one of the officers, but they considered her makeup to be evidence enough that she was soliciting for sex.

She was detained for the night, with her trial and that of the others scheduled for the next day. It coincided with the anniversary of Tangerang city, and expectations of convictions were high as the women caught the night before were led out into a makeshift court set up in a park adjacent to City Hall.

Lots of government officials and residents were gathered there. They were laughing at us as if we were part of a show, she said.

The judge agreed with the arresting officers that she was a prostitute from the evidence of her makeup, and gave her the option of paying a Rp 300,000 fine or spending three days in jail.

"(The Tangerang Education agency) made Lilies' husband sign an agreement that I would not take the mayor to court. But he added he was willing to lose his job to support his wife.

Yan Apul, Lilies's lawyer, said that the mayor could be charged because he did not have the authority to dictate the conduct of residents: We will demand that he provide Rp 500 billion in restitution.

He added the judge was at fault in sentencing Lilies without adequate proof of wrongdoing. Even if Lilies were a prostitute, Article No. 4, Point 1 of the bylaw states that she must be returned to her family. However, the judge sent her to jail, he said.

Tangerang Mayor Wahidin Halim said that his administration had submitted a draft of guidelines on enforcement of the bylaw. In order to prevent further wrongful arrest, the guidelines clearly define the criteria used in the bylaw to avoid further wrongful arrests.

The general secretary of the Home Ministry, Progo Nurdjaman, said his office would review the Tangerang bylaw. The problem is in the implementation. I have asked the mayor to make guidelines, he said, acknowledging concerns it violated human rights.

From the Jakarta Post

Lilies Lindawati is keeping to a pledge to settle the score with those who publicly humiliated her by branding her a prostitute.

The wife of an elementary school teacher, who was arrested on the street by public order officers enforcing a prostitution bylaw, has filed suit against Tangerang Mayor Wahidin Halim at Tangerang District Court.

The suit was filed at the court on May 1. We will begin proceedings if the two parties fail to reach an amicable settlement through mediation, judge Pastra Yosep Ziraluo, who will preside over the trial, said Monday.

Pastra said his fellow members of the panel of judges -- Permadi Widiyatno and Bambang Irawan -- have asked Lilies' attorney and the plaintiff to try to reach an out-of-court settlement.

Lilies' lawyer Yulianto told The Jakarta Post that his client was the victim of wrongful arrest and suffered public humiliation from being labeled a prostitute.

The former restaurant worker is demanding Rp 500 million (about US$53,000) compensation from the mayor for material and other losses.

The resident of Dadap district was picked up along with 26 other women by public order officers while waiting on the sidewalk for a public minivan on Feb. 27. The women were held overnight before being tried in a misdemeanor trial held in public. The trial, with no defense lawyers accompanying the women, were held at city hall in conjunction with the celebration of the municipality's 13th anniversary.

Lilies, who repeatedly protested her innocence, could not show her identity card nor she could present her husband or members of her family to testify on her behalf. The public order officers assumed she was a sex worker merely because she had makeup in her bag.

Judge Barmen Sinurat dismissed her explanation and fined her Rp 300,000. She was held in custody because she could not pay the fine and was released three days later.

Wahidin responded to the suit by saying it was her right to claim she was innocent and pursue the matter through legal channels.

Despite mounting criticism of what some consider a morality crusade, Wahidin also said he would continue pursuing his vision of clearing Tangerang of the sale of alcohol, prostitution as well as other social vices.

A coalition of several non-governmental groups, Kantif, has filed a request for judicial review of the ordinance in the Supreme Court.

From the New York Times

Only a few months ago Mariwan Halabjayi was an obscure Kurdish writer. Now he is a famous fugitive who moves from house to house, not daring to go near the windows for fear that assassins will catch sight of him.

He says he has been receiving death threats by phone since January, when his new book on sex and Islam touched off angry street demonstrations in several Kurdish cities in Iraq. He says his ordeal is proof that even here in Kurdistan, the most secular and peaceful part of Iraq, there is no escape from militant Islam.

After the protests started, the book was discussed on editorial pages and television and radio talk shows, with some clerics angrily calling for the author to be punished. The regional government's minister for endowments and religion, Muhammad Gaznay, publicly denounced it. Halabjayi says the Kurdistan Islamic Group, one of the region's main Islamist parties, threatened him with death for insulting Islam.

It is his 14th book, and the latest of several that criticize Islam, he said. But the earlier critiques of Islam were published under pseudonyms. This time he used his own name on the cover, and in passages about sex he used vulgar language, including slang terms for the male and female genitalia.

The book, Halabjayi said, argues that "women have no rights in Islam" and condemns polygamy and other practices allowed under many interpretations of the Koran. It also portrays the religion generally as a formula for terrorism and extremism. Halabjayi said he had been raised as a Muslim but no longer considered himself one.

His new book was published in November. It went through two editions of 1,000 copies each with only minor protests from religious figures. In January there were street demonstrations in Iraqi Kurdistan against the Danish cartoons, and the protesters denounced Halabjayi's book too. Halabjayi grants that the criticism helped sell the book, which quickly went through two more editions.

It was then that the threats began, he said, mostly anonymous phone calls. At the same time, a group of Muslim clerics presented a petition to a court in Sulaimaniya asking that Iraq's blasphemy laws be invoked against the author. A judge opened an investigation and ordered Halabjayi to appear at a hearing.

So far Halabjayi has refused to do so. He says he does not trust the Iraqi legal system to judge him fairly.

From The Guardian

Teachers are to call for an end to state funding for faith schools in an attempt to halt the growing influence of religious organisations in education and end the controversial teaching of creationism.

Britain's biggest teaching union, the National Union of Teachers, warned yesterday that religious fundamentalists were gaining control of state schools - predominantly through the government's city academy programme.

A motion to be debated at the NUT's annual conference in Torquay over the Easter weekend calls for an end to state funding for faith schools, and legislation to prevent the growing influence of religious organisations in education and the teaching of creationism or intelligent design as a valid alternative to evolution.

The NUT's attack is in response to proposals in the education and inspections bill which give faith groups a much bigger role in running state schools. Steve Sinnott, NUT general secretary, said many teachers were worried that this would lead to greater ethnic segregation. There is a view that the promotion of greater influence of faith groups in running our schools could be detrimental to community cohesion and social cohesion.

A separate motion to be debated at the annual conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers at its conference in Gateshead, which starts on Monday, expresses concern that "the government's policy of increasing numbers of faith schools will hinder integration, foster religious divisions and provide fertile ground for religious and ethnic conflicts".

The Department for Education and Skills said: We have a long tradition of faith schools in this country. They are popular with parents and make an important contribution to community cohesion by promoting inclusion and developing partnerships with schools of other faiths, and with non-faith schools.

From Christian Today

Teachers at the National Union of Teachers conference rejected recent calls to end state funding for Britain’s faith schools.

Previously teachers attending the annual conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers backed a resolution stating that the government's policy of increasing numbers of faith schools will hinder integration, foster religious divisions and provide fertile ground for religious and ethnic conflicts.

NUT members instead voted for an amendment to the resolution that would safeguard the existence of faith schools in Britain and ensure that admissions to faith schools would not be influenced by the religious beliefs of parents.

If Blair’s Education Bill is approved then it could see a much greater contribution from faith groups in education.

Based on an article from the Brussels Journal

An Estonian soldier on his way home after having served with the coalition forces in Afghanistan, was arrested in the United Arab Emirates and will be flogged. Andrei Korol was accused of being drunk and harassing a local policewoman while he was in transit at Sharjah international airport where they “make your life easy.”

The incident happened on 23 February. There were no witnesses of the alleged harassment. Korol’s comrades say that he was so tired and drunk that most of the time at the airport he was napping. UAE law does not allow locals to drink at all while foreigners can do it only in certain designated areas.

A court sentenced the Estonian sergeant major to a one month jail sentence for drinking and had him choose between either three months in jail or a barbarous 80 lashes with a whip (which could be fatal). His lawyer says Korol chose flogging. He has already spent more than a month in a local jail.

Estonia has soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. The soldiers are there for six months on a voluntary basis.

Update: The soldier was eventually spared the lashes

Based on an article from Yorkshire Post Today

Nutters in Bradford campaigning against Jerry Springer: The Opera won a hollow victory when councillors agreed to debate their petition but only after the show is staged at the Alhambra theatre in May.

The nutters  were invited to present their case to a full meeting of Bradford Council, which owns the Alhambra, where the comic musical has been booked from May 22 to May 27. They packed the public gallery at City Hall to support a petition for the council to withdraw the show from the city. Many more stood outside the building handing out leaflets to the public explaining why the musical should not come to the Alhambra.

One of the clergymen organising the Bradford protest, Nick Jones, vicar of St John's in Great Horton read a statement to council members supporting the petition. Jones is one of the organisers of a loose federation called Prayer For Bradford, which raised 2,208 signatures against the Jerry Springer show from 59 churches. They objected to jokes about Jesus, the crucifixion and the virgin birth.
He said: In our belief, this show gives offence in that it defames and denigrates the name and person of Jesus Christ, belief in whom is central to the faith of thousands of Christians in the Bradford district.

Later, he said I am pleased the council is going to give this further consideration but we will be pressing them to hold a meeting before the show is staged in May.

These nutters seem happy to make a joke about Londoners lacking common decency yet the get all uppity when someone makes a joke about them.

Based on an article from The Christian Institute

Some 900 nutters from churches across Tyneside held a dignified protest outside the Theatre Royal for the opening night of Jerry Springer: The Opera, singing hymns and holding placards. The protest was organised and stewarded by The Christian Institute.

Speaking today, Colin Hart (Director of The Christian Institute), said: I am delighted with the excellent turnout. This is the biggest demonstration yet outside a performance of Jerry Springer the Opera. I hope that Christians in other venues will also protest. There were more protesters outside than patrons inside. We counted 700 people going into the theatre and there were 900 Christians outside. A show like this may be popular in London's West End, but the people of Tyneside have more respect for common decency.

Based on an article from the BBC

The Archbishop of Wales has criticised the planned staging of Jerry Springer - The Opera at the Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) in Cardiff next month.

The archbishop, Dr Barry Morgan, said there could be protests when it is staged between 12 June and 17 June. Dr Morgan said he believed its content "crossed a line".

He said: "I'm deeply disappointed. On the one hand, I can see that we need freedom for the arts to express what they want to express. On the other hand, I think they've crossed a line here, because what they say about Jesus in this opera is likely to cause scandal and they'd never get away with saying the same things about the prophet Muhammad. What they say about Jesus here is blasphemous and gratuitously offensive and I think when an opera does that, then it's time to call a halt.

Why should Christianity endure this kind of offensive blasphemous treatment

[...because Christians don't keep their beliefs to themselves and try to inflect their intolerance on those that consider Christianity to be unbelievable nonsense.]

From Norwich Evening News

Nutters converged on the Norwich Theatre Royal last night for the opening of the controversial Jerry Springer The Opera. Religious groups from across the city united to object to the six-night show claiming it is blasphemous.

The 40-strong crowd, which was carrying placards with "Jesus Saves" and chanting Christian songs, were met with chants of "Jerry Jerry" from an opposing Norwich Anarchist group.

However, the storm did little to deter the several hundred theatre-goers who remained adamant they were going to see the show to have a good time.

Based on an article from CWACKERS (Class War Against Christian Wankers)

Every Christian nutter in Norwich appeared outside the Theatre Royal on 9th May to protest against the performance of Jerry Springer: The Opera.

The out of tune hymn singing rabble were roused out of their local catacombes by an assortment of rightwing fundamentalist church leaders who recently passed around and signed a letter complaining about devil worship and other such dangers if the show were to go ahead.

This opera is full of expletives and foul language which if used on the streets of Norwich could possibly result in arrest and prosecution, say the nutters. This opera is highly offensive to Almighty God and to many Christian believers. We cannot stand by whilst the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is being denigrated in this way.

The Christian community has been conducting a campaign against the opera for some months; people have prayed; petitions have been signed; many have written to Peter Wilson at the Theatre Royal to express their opposition; letters have been written to corporate supporters and local councillors questioning their support, with Council Tax money, of a theatre which pays no regard to the blasphemous content of this opera.

Having discovered that the tamborine slapping, guitar spanking biggots were planing to try and kick up a ruckass Jehovah style, members of Norwich Anarchists and the Norwich Brigade of CWACKERS (Class War Against Christian Wankers) decided to demonstate in favour of reopening the Colliseum and reintroducing the old pastime of 'chucking the Christian wacko's to the lions. Large members of Norwich's public it seems couldn't agree more...

 Based on an article from the BBC

A protest was staged in Bristol against the arrival of the show Jerry Springer - The Opera which opened at the Hippodrome on Monday as part of a nationwide tour.

Some nutters, including the Christian Centre in Brislington, accuse the show of blasphemy.

A statement from the theatre said: Our theatre is committed to presenting a rich and diverse programme of arts and entertainment throughout the year. It is not our role to act as censors, but for the adult ticket buying public to make their own informed decision.

Members of the Brislington group which staged the protest on Monday urged theatre-goers to "say no" to the show.

 Based on an article from the BBC

The Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) has rejected calls to cancel its staging of the musical, Jerry Springer the Opera. The musical begins a six-day run at the WMC in Cardiff next week.

More than 100 church leaders had signed a letter calling for the cancellation of the show. The letter follows criticism of the show from the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, who last month said the show was blasphemous and gratuitously offensive.

The WMC said art should both challenge and entertain, adding it had met church leaders to discuss the show. The WMC said it was committed to staging art that would "push the boundaries": History is full of controversial pieces of art which today appear tame.  Jerry Springer - The Opera may be thought provoking, but then again art should both challenge and entertain people.

The Cardiff performances, between 12 June and 17 June, are part of the show's 21-venue tour of the UK.

The WMC has previously said that it would allow Christian literature to be distributed in the centre's foyer over the period the show is there.

Reverend Peter Naylor, of Llandaff Presbyterian Church (Reformed), in Cardiff, said: Christians in Cardiff and south Wales are deeply offended that a national venue paid for by our tax money is being used to mock God and his son, Jesus Christ, in the most vulgar way. I cannot imagine the Millennium Centre staging a show which mocked any other religion in this way.

 Based on an article from ic Liverpool

Audience members walked past hundreds of nutters to see Jerry Springer - the Opera on the opening night of a week-long run at the Liverpool Empire.

At one point Rolf Saxon, the man who plays Springer in the show, came out to face the protesters and put his own view across. He said: I think it's people's right to protest, but it's absurd if they haven't seen the show.

Last night, around 1,000 people gathered on both sides of Lime Street to sing hymns as theatregoers walked in.

Placards carried slogans like "Theatre backs hate", "They wouldn't treat Mohammed this way", and "Springer Opera mocks our faith."

Organisers insisted it was a peaceful act of worship. Ian McFadzean of the Servants Group said: This is just an act of worship. I have seen the show. It's just offensive. The first act is just bad theatre, but it sets up blasphemous ideas for the second half.

Anne Kitchen, from Birkenhead, said: I think that it's very sad that it's being put on here, in what used to be called a Christian country.

Representatives from Christian Action Liverpool, the Servants Group and Pray Knowsley visited the theatre to hand a petition in.

Last night, a spokeswoman for the theatre said: We respect the right of groups to protest peacefully. However, the multi-award-winning show Jerry Springer - the Opera is a show that has previously received great critical acclaim from audiences and critics around the country. It is not our job to act as censors - it is up to the people of Liverpool to judge for themselves, as with any show within our diverse programme of events.

 Based on an article from the BBC

Hundreds of Christian protesters gathered outside the Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) as the curtain went up on Jerry Springer - The Opera.

The hymn-singing demonstrators were said to represent one of the largest protests yet in a tour which has encountered repeated opposition.

But the Cardiff concert hall said more tickets had been sold for its Welsh run than anywhere in the 21-venue UK tour.

Managers said it was their job to put on performances that were challenging.

Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan said the opera deliberately set about inciting religious hatred: The producer of this opera says that if he manages to incite religious hatred then the opera has done its job, I think that is a terrible intention for an opera to have.  I have seen bits of it on the television and it really is blasphemous. It really does belittle the Christian faith and if something like this was produced about the Prophet Muhammad there would be a riot.

The protesters said they would continue their stand throughout the Cardiff run.

From AVN

Just before moving to the post, Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice barred porn magazines from the U.S. State Department, according to U.S. News & World Report.

The news magazine is reporting that Rice was alerted by an aide last year about porn magazines encased in plain brown paper were placed along with other magazines on newsstands.

Once she was confirmed by the Senate to her new post, Rice had the magazines removed and permanently barred from the public building. An aide said that Rice didn’t understand how her department could stand for women’s rights around the world while selling pornography that supposedly degrades women.

Rice reportedly said such magazines added to a “hostile work environment.”

Dear ...there are a pair of unmarried, cross dressing, mixed gender, bisexual apostate Muslim Rastafarian Mormons asking about the room....That's fine dear but make sure they aren't smokers!

From The Observer

When the Government decided to outlaw people being discriminated against because of their religion or sexuality, it hoped the move would guarantee equal treatment for all of Britain's increasingly diverse population.

But nobody in Whitehall foresaw the backlash that would unfold when hundreds of committed Christians who run bed-and-breakfasts were deprived of their right to ban gays, unmarried couples and people of other faiths from staying under their roof.

Hundreds of B&B owners across the country have been writing to ministers complaining that the new rules will force them to 'betray God' and their consciences by allowing 'undesirables' to enjoy their hospitality.

We've had a lot of correspondence from Christian B&B operators who don't want to be forced to accept Satanists, Muslims, gays and even unmarried couples as guests, said a Home Office official. Protestants have been writing in saying they shouldn't have to admit Catholics because they have an issue with their religion, Catholics saying they didn't want Jews under their roof and objections from followers of other types of faith.

The Department of Trade and Industry, which sponsored the Equality Act, has also received scores of written protests. Under the legislation passed last October providers of services to the public will not be able to refuse to deal with individuals or groups because of their religion or sexual orientation. Christian groups are demanding an exemption.

Dr Don Horrocks of the Evangelical Alliance, which represents about one million Christians in the Anglican, Baptist and other faiths, said : 'The Equality Act is being called "the bed-and-breakfast law". One B&B worker in the north has told me that he would rather cease operating than have gays staying in his house: Homosexuals have human rights, but so do religious people, and potentially there's a clash between them.

The new protection for gays and lesbians is partly inspired by the case of Tom Forrest, the proprietor of the Cromasaig B&B in the Highlands, who, in 2004, refused to let two gay men share a bed in a double room. Forrest has condemned the new regulations as 'atrocious'.

A DTI spokeswoman said: The idea that you could say to someone "I don't like black people in my shop" is ridiculous and illegal, so why should that not be the same for religion or sexuality? We live in a modern society where people of all different religions, colours and sexuality are entitled to their human rights.'

Based on an article from the Sun Star

Local government officials from the Philippines town of Marawi closed billiard halls and totally banned any form of gambling, drinking of liquor, pornography and public display of homosexuality inside this city as they apply supposed solutions to reduce criminality.

Marawi City Mayor Omar Solitario Ali following a meeting Friday with other officials said solutions to reduce the problems on criminality are being applied.

We are starting a crackdown and have already closed all billiard halls in this city and destroyed about 60 units of video karera machines because these are forms of gambling that are forbidden in Islam, Ali said.

Philippine Marines checkpoints along the highway have been strengthened. So that they can alert us to block the suspects from going to this city and Lanao del Sur. This includes transport of illegal firearms and prohibited drugs, Ali said.

Ali said all forms of pornographic materials and "bold shows" on video are banned. Two years ago, Ali imposed strict observance of a city ordinance prohibiting the public display of homosexuality through dressing or facial make-up. Muslim women are to continue with their dress code and "sexy attires" are discouraged.

From Belief Net See also www.secularhumanism.org

Borders bookstores and Waldenbooks, both part of the Borders Group Inc., have pulled the April-May issue of Free Inquiry from magazine racks because it includes cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Borders absolutely supports the customers' right to choose what to read and what to buy, and Free Inquiry has the right to publish the cartoons, Borders Group spokeswoman Anne Roman wrote in a Thursday (March 30) e-mail. BUT... We made the decision not to carry this particular issue of Free Inquiry because of the fact that we place a priority on customer and employee safety and security.

Free Inquiry is a publication of the Council for Secular Humanism, which published four of the cartoons. One shows Muhammad wearing a bomb-like turban with a lit fuse.

Why should the general public in open democratic society follow the prohibitions of one of the sects? said Dr. Paul Kurtz, editor of the 30,000-circulation bi-monthly magazine: There are hundreds of denominations in the United States. They have the right to express their beliefs. We have the right to express our dissent.

The magazine has published cartoons critical of organized religion in the past, said Kurtz. He said that when the Danish controversy broke, and many news organizations refused to show the illustrations in question, the Free Inquiry staff decided to do so as a critical comment on censorship and extreme Islam. The magazine edition includes three essays with commentary on the cartoons.

I feel bad to be put in this position because I love their books and I love what they do, Kurtz said of the Borders Group: (But) if you can't put (the issues) on display in bookstores, it cuts off free expression. What is the greatest offense, to publish critical cartoons or allow obscene suicide bombers to go on without any criticism, essentially since the motive is religious?

  Update: Wikiphobia

From Blogcritics.org
For the Wikipedia entry with the pictorial summary of the cartoons see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammed_cartoons

Pakistan temporarily blocked Wikipedia.org following their earlier blockage of the blogger.com domain. Dr Awab Alvi, who has been running the 'Don't Block the Blog' Campaign from Pakistan reports the blockage.

Today, 31 March 2006, the entire domain of Wikipedia.org, the free online encyclopaedia was blocked because one article of the massive 3.5 million topics covered on the website contained information pertaining to the controversial cartoons on the Prophet Muhammad. While the block appeared to be limited in duration, having been lifted at 20:00 (PST) seven hours after the initiation, the real issues remain about the future censorship of education and knowledge in Pakistan.

A month back, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocked access to upwards of 10 million websites being hosted on the blogspot.com domain, following a Supreme Court order issued on March 3rd condemning the controversial cartoons. The judicial order instructed the PTA to regulate only twelve offending websites which were promoting the cartoons on the Prophet Muhammad. One of the offending websites happened to be hosted on the domain www.blogspot.com. The PTA, as the supreme controlling body of internet access in Pakistan, entirely blocked access to upwards of 10 millions websites.

From the National Secular Society

Foreign Office minister Kim Howells told an Islamic conference in London this week that blaming the West for the problems in the Muslim world was “an act of self-denial”. Howells told a meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) that although he accepted that Muslims were offended by the publication of the Mohammed cartoons, the press in some Islamic countries had to take some blame for the ensuing bloodshed.

The 57 members of the Saudi-based Organisation of the OIC had already issued a statement on Wednesday, saying it was committed to press freedom...BUT... that journalists should be deterred from premeditatedly vilifying and defaming religion. This call for censorship was, ironically, issued to mark World Press Freedom Day.

The OIC said the publication of the Mohammed cartoons provided absolute evidence of the consequences of non-abidance with these regulations. It said the caricatures had insulted a faith embraced and revered by over one-fifth of the world population, and a religion that advocates peace, tolerance and moral virtues.

The OIC said the conference in London was the first ever major international conference aimed at countering “Islamophobia,” which brought together politicians, diplomats, scholars, media representatives and others from Western and Islamic countries. It was opened by OIC secretary-general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. He claimed that Muslims and their religion had been increasingly stereotyped, defamed, marginalised, discriminated against and targeted for “hate crimes” in the West since 9/11 and subsequent terrorist attacks in Madrid and London.

Of the Mohammed cartoons, Ihsanoglu said the OIC had been trying to explain that nobody is actually challenging the freedom of expression and press and that the real issue is disrespect for religious symbols and values. He said the OIC had expected backing for its stance from European governments...BUT... “to our dismay” those governments had instead supported Denmark.

In his address, Kim Howells criticised some Islamic media for their handling of the issue, saying the existence of anti-Western and anti-Jewish media and material in the Muslim world, some of it in state owned press, undermined as hypocritical the moral indignation that was expressed. Howells said it was right that the issue of Islamophobia was addressed, but Islamic governments and organisations should also address problems that give Islam a negative image.

He cited support for Taliban-type legal and social systems, recent statements coming out of Tehran, practices that segregate and subjugate women, and conspiracy theories about 9/11 being a CIA plot and polio vaccines being contaminated with viruses. And reports of raped women being punished and stoned, restrictions on other religions, including death sentences pronounced on Christian converts, poor human rights records and authoritarian, undemocratic environments all have a negative impact which we cannot ignore.

Howells also challenged views in the Islamic world that he said were wrong, such as the perception that our foreign policy is deliberately anti-Muslim. The reasons for action in Afghanistan and Iraq had nothing to do with the faith of Islam but with the political and security issues that these countries posed. He said the Islamic world had the right to criticise policies pursued by Britain, the U.S. or the European Union, but continuing to blame the West for all the ills of the Muslim world is an act of self-denial.

From the Khaleej Times

A Jordanian court Tuesday sentenced to prison two newspaper editors for “attacking religious sentiment” by reprinting cartoons deemed offensive to Prophet Mohammad, their lawyer said.

Jihad Momani, former editor of the weekly Shihane tabloid, and Hisham Al Khalidi, editor-in-chief of the tabloid Al Mehwar, were each sentenced to two months in prison.

The journalist's attorney, Mohammed Kteishat, said he will appeal the verdict

The defendants have been on bail since their arrest in February for printing the drawings, first published in September by Danish daily Jyllands-Posten.

Momeni and Khalidi both pleaded not guilty.

Their arrests have been condemned by international press watchdogs, who say journalists should not be jailed for what they publish.

Early in February, King Abdullah II said insulting the prophet was an unjustifiable crime ... that could not be justified on the pretext of freedom of expression.

From Middle East Times

A gang of young Muslim thugs wielding iron rods has forced a Paris cafe to censor an exhibition of cartoons ridiculing religion, the owners of the establishment.

Some 50 drawings by well-known French cartoonists were installed in the Mer a Boire cafe in the working-class Belleville neighborhood of northeast Paris, as part of an avowedly atheist show entitled, "Neither god nor god".

The collection targeted all religions - including Islam - but there were no representations of the Prophet Mohammed such as sparked the recent crisis between the West and the Islamic world, according to Marianne who is one of the cafe's three owners: We used to give glasses of water to a group of local boys aged between 10 and 12 who played football across the street. On Tuesday a few came in, flung the water on the ground and accused us of being racists, said Marianne, who did not wish to give her family name: Later more of them came back with sticks and iron rods and tried to smash the pictures. They managed it with a few of them. With the customers we chased them away, but they kept coming back

Later the cafe-owners were approached by a group of older youths. They said they did not approve of what the youngsters had done. But what we were doing was unacceptable, too. They warned us that if we didn't take down the cartoons they would call in the Muslim Brothers who would burn the cafe down, said Marianne. They kept saying: 'This is our home. You cannot act like this here', she said.

Refusing to dismantle the exhibition, the owners have placed white sheets of paper inscribed with the word 'censored' over the cartoons that were targeted by the gang.

One of the cartoons that aroused the wrath of the thugs was a bar scene, in which the barman offers a drink to an obviously inebriated man who says "God is great". The caption is: "The sixth pillar of Islam. The bar pillar." In France a "bar pillar" is a barfly or drunk.

The aim of the exhibition was to poke fun at all religions, according to cartoonists who took part. Putting on this type of show in this place was not in the least a provocation. Unless you think that freedom of expression in itself is a provocation, the cartoonist Charb told Le Parisien newspaper.

The owners of the Mer a Boire have filed suit with the police.

From MediawatchWatch

The 11th-17th March issue of TV Choice carried a feature plugging the Sonia and Naomi storyline in Eastenders. This included pictures of the two girls kissing, which caused outrage among our favourite fundamentalist bibliolaters, Christian Voice

Arch nutter Stephen Green sent out an E-alert to his supporters urging them to complain to TV Choice, and their parent company Bauer, about this blatant promotion of homosexuality.

The magazine TVChoice, in its issue for the 11th-17th March, advertised a story about the television serial “Eastenders” that promoted lesbianism as a normal, natural part of society. Highly offensive pictures were published as part of this magazine’s attempt at pro-homosexual propaganda. Parents will have bought the magazine, and taken these pictures unwittingly into their homes, where their young children could have seen them.

He also urged supporters to pray that the editors be convicted of their sin and repent for the “disgusting and immoral pictures - and shameless promotion - of lesbianism”.