Å

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.

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.

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.