Chocolate Jesus exhibition is cancelled

Based on an adrticle from Christian Today see full article

Catholics have been predictably outraged by a New York art gallery, which was to have exhibited a sculpture of Jesus Christ – made entirely of chocolate.

The sculpture was to have been part of the galleries Easter exhibition. The chocolate figure stands at 6ft tall (1.8m) and shows Jesus naked hanging on the cross. Unlike usual images of Jesus hanging on the cross, the chocolate sculpture depicts Jesus without a loincloth.

In the US, the Catholic League has been left outraged by the plans. The organisation’s head has described the sculpture as one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever. Catholic League head Bill Donohue said: The fact that they chose Holy Week shows this is calculated, and the timing is deliberate.

Donohue called for the public to boycott the gallery as well as the hotel which hosts it.

The sculpture, My Sweet Lord, created by artist Cosimo Cavallaro, was to have gone display from Monday in Manhattan’s Lab Gallery.

The creative director of the gallery, Matt Semler, told the BBC that the organisers were considering all their options following a wave of complaints via email and telephone to the gallery.

Unfortunately the director of the hotel housing the gallery was not so resistant and decided to cancel the exhibition. Matt Semeler resigned in protest of a 'catholic fatwa'

Catholics still angry about anti-discrimination law

From the National Secular Society

In a somewhat over-blown speech in London this week, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, claimed that religion is under attack in this country.

Murphy O'Connor is still raging at the defeat of the Church's attempts to be exempted from legislation designed to protect gay, lesbian and bisexual people from discrimination. He became the first Catholic leader in nearly 200 years to question whether the policy of the government interferes with the practice of Roman Catholicism. He accused the British government of creating, a different version of our democracy, one in which diversity and equality are held to be at odds with religion.

In a breathtakingly manipulative speech, aimed directly at Downing Street and Tony Blair's Catholic pretensions, Murphy O'Connor told an audience at Westminster Cathedral: My fear is that, under the guise of legislating for what is said to be tolerance, we are legislating for intolerance. Once this begins, it is hard to see where it ends. My fear is that in an attempt to clear the public square of what are seen as unacceptable intrusions, we weaken the pillars on which that public square is erected, and we will discover that the pillars of pluralism may not survive.

Murphy O'Connor said he feared that Britain was becoming a country where faith-based charity work will not be welcomed. When Christians stand by their beliefs, they are intolerant dogmatists. When they sin, they are hypocrites. When they take the side of the poor, they are soft-headed liberals. When they seek to defend the family, they are right wing reactionaries, he moaned.

Pakistani brothel raid

From Hot Air see full article

Female Islamist students wearing burkas raided a Islamabad brothel and were holding the alleged owner inside their fundamentalist madrasa last night in the latest assault by extremists on President Pervez Musharraf’s bruised authority.

Women with bamboo staves stood guard on the roof of Jamia Hafsa madrasa, Islamabad, where they were holding alleged brothel madam 'Auntie Shamim', two other women and a six-month-old girl.

Masked men from Lal Masjid, a radical mosque next door, patrolled the streets outside. They abducted two policemen and impounded their vehicles after the authorities arrested two teachers and two students from the madrasa in a botched attempt to defuse the crisis…

Yesterday the cleric who speaks on behalf of the female students, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, said: Every crime reporter in Islamabad knows these women are prostitutes. If the police cannot arrest them, we should have an Islamic justice.

Brothel raid victims released

Based on an article from the BBC see full article

A woman seized and held captive by Pakistani muslim students after being accused of running a brothel has been freed unharmed.

Two of her female relatives abducted by students from the Islamabad madrassa, were also freed, as were two policemen. Girls from the Jamia Hafsa madrassa claim they have won a victory over liberals.

Before her release, the alleged brothel owner read a statement confessing she had committed immoral acts. She later said it had been made under duress.

She later said she had not made the statement of her own free will and accused the students of mistreating her: I don't think Islam allows anyone to beat a woman and drag her through the streets like a dog.

She told the BBC's Urdu service about 30 women from the madrassa had abducted her, helped by a similar number of men: They tied me, my daughter and daughter-in-law and my six-month-old grand-daughter up with rope.

The vice-principal of the school had given her three options, she said, that police register a case against her, that she face an Islamic court in the school, or that she repent of her sins.

Woman not allowed to leave islam

From New Straits Times see full article

A 24-year-old Muslim woman yesterday failed in her application to renounce Islam on the grounds that she did not practise the religion and was never given religious education.

Syariah High Court judge Jasri @ Nasip Matjakir said the applicant did not submit any concrete evidence that she was no longer a Muslim in action, behaviour or deed that could expel her from Islam.

In her affidavit, read by counsel Hamid Ismail, the Sino-Kadazan said her non-Muslim lifestyle would cause society to look down on her and she would be subjected to the judgment of the syariah court.

Hamid said the basis of her application was under Article 11 of the Federal Constitution, that she had the right to choose her religion and must not be prevented from doing so by anyone. The second basis was that Islamic law on apostasy is not applicable in Malaysia because there is no total application of Islamic law in Malaysia.

Jasri, in his judgment, said although the Federal Constitution did state that every individual deserved to choose his or her religion, it did not give authority to the syariah court to allow Muslims to renounce their religion: The court can only decide whether one’s action is permissible according to Muslim laws. The reasons given by the applicant are based on fear of punishment which is against the teachings of Islam. Is fear a good enough reason? The court finds the reasons given are weak and not one that can be used as permissible to murtad (leave Islam).

Churches under the cosh in Kerala, India

From AINI see full article
See also Persecution.org

International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned of 3 attacks earlier this month on Christians in Kerala, generally considered a safe-haven for Christians because of the large Christian minority there.

New Testament Pentecost Church was established 35 years ago. However, 12 years ago a Muslim family living nearby started making life difficult for the church. The father of this family tried many different ways to get rid of the church, first by attempting to buy it from the Pastor. When that did not work, he and his son would disturb their worship by shouting loudly over their singing. But the real trial came when four months ago the neighbour and other Muslims joined together and sued the church. The Pastor, Sam George, was summoned to the police station 4 times. Twice the police were favourable to him, but the last two times the police became hostile.

Recently, a notice came from the municipality showing that the church's worship was causing a disturbance to the neighbourhood. Police stopped Sunday services 22 times, verbally abusing the church members and attempting to arrest Pastor George. The police gained a court order against the church, prohibiting their use of a sound system because the sound was more than 55 decibels, the volume of a normal conversation.

Four weeks ago the church received a notice from the municipality showing that the church hall would be sealed if they sang songs or did any preaching. The next day the building was sealed without an order from the high court.

Don't go to Dubai and don't talk to their cabbies

From the Khaleej Times

A Briton has been handed a three-month jail term by the Dubai Criminal Court for using vulgar and abusive language against the religion of his taxi driver.

He was also slapped with a fine of Dh1,000 for consuming liquor in a public place.

According to the court records, the man consumed alcohol at a hotel in Deira and left the hotel for Al Mankhool area in Bur Dubai in a taxi. While in the cab, he began abusing the taxi driver and his religion.

The driver stopped the car and called the police. The Briton was arrested by the police and referred to the Public Prosecution.

When cross-examined at the court, he denied having blasphemed, but confessed to drinking in the public.

Prison and lashes for running away

From India eNews see full article

A Saudi court sentenced a 20-year-old Saudi woman to 6 months in prison at a foster house for girls for running away from her family.

The woman will also receive 60 lashes as punishment for the same offence.

In Saudi Arabia, a responsible male guardian - either a close relative or her husband, must accompany every woman.

Classes for lynch mobs in Nigeria

From the BBC see full article

Secondary school pupils in north-eastern Nigeria have killed a teacher after apparently accusing her of desecrating the Koran, police say.

The teacher, a Christian, was attacked after supervising an exam in Gombe city. It is not clear what she had done to anger the students.

The authorities, concerned that communal unrest could break out, have ordered all the city's schools to shut.

Nigerian police say students beat the teacher to death outside the school compound after she had been invigilating an exam. The students had apparently accused her of desecrating the Koran, though it is not clear exactly what she had done. The police arrived at the scene to restore calm and say their intervention stopped a riot.

More on Nigerian school murder

From the Christian News Today see full article

Chris Oluwasesin, a teacher at Government Secondary School of Gandu was murdered by Muslim students at the school, along with outside Islamic extremists. They beat, stoned, and clubbed her to death, then burned her corpse.

As a supervisor of a class writing a final examination on Islamic Religious knowledge on that day, Oluwasesin was responsible for ensuring that students strictly kept rules and to prevent mischief in the hall, which had become common among cheating students. Oluwasesin had collected papers, books and bags before the exam in the all-girls class, in accordance with school procedures to prevent cheating, and dropped the materials in front of the class.

Soon after the bags collected by Oluwasesin were dropped in front of the class, one of the girls in the class began to cry. She told her colleagues that she had a copy of the Quran in her bag, that Oluwasesin touched the bag, and that by doing so she had desecrated the Quran, since she was a Christian.

Soon after the student raised this alarm, other students in class began to shout “Allahu Akbar [God is great].”

It was at this point that I was attracted to the riotous scene in that class, and I then rushed there, said fellow teacher Musa, who said he witnessed the murder of Oluwasesin by the Muslim students and extremists. How could a teacher know that that there was a copy of the Quran in a student’s bag if this was not pointed out to her?

In the raucous confusion, Oluwasesin was rushed out of class to the principal’s office. By the time Musa had rejoined the principal and other staff members, he said, the entire school was engulfed in uproar. Muslim extremists from outside the school rushed in to join in the unrest.

They destroyed school property and were demanding that Oluwasesin musn to them to be stoned to death, Musa said. When we could not give in by releasing Oluwasesin to them, they started stoning us.

While we were thinking of ways to take Oluwasesin out of the school, the Muslims broke into the principal’s office and dragged her out. The principal rushed there to save her as they clubbed her with an iron on the head and blood was gushing out from the wounded side of the head. He was pleading that they should not kill her, but they were insisting that she must be killed.”

The principal succeeded in getting Oluwasesin up to the school gate. There was a house near the gate, and he dragged her into the house, but the rioting Muslims went into the house and dragged her out again. This time, they clubbed her to death, brought old mats and placed dirt on her corpse, and then burned the body.

Musa said he was baffled that throughout the unrest, the copy of the Quran supposed to have been desecrated was never seen, nor was it produced by the offended student.

The school has been closed down since the incident. All secondary schools in the Gombe metropolitan area have been shut down indefinitely to avert a spread of the crisis.

Authorities have arrested at least 12 students involved in the killing, according to Voice of America. A five-member committee appointed by the state to investigate the incident is due to present findings in two weeks.

Nigerian unrest moves on from school to church

From the Christian News Today see full article

Two days after the killing of a Christian teacher in northern Nigeria, Muslim extremists set fire to a church building of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) in the Chanchanya section.

The Rev. Rukun Gaius, 50, chairman of the Gombe district of the ECWA, told Compass that a large number of Muslim extremists went to the church on March 23 and set it on fire, gutting the sanctuary.

Rev. Gaius, who is also vice chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Gombe state chapter, said security reports to CAN show that Muslim extremists have marked out 15 more churches to be burned down.

The problems confronting Christians, he said, are related to the state having adopted sharia (Islamic law), which “encourages persecution of Christians.” The Islamic government discriminates against Christians even though the state population is half Christian, he said.

Catholics want the right not to be ridiculed

From Catholic Online see full article

Anti-religious fanaticism threatens religion and believers with insult, discrimination, persecution and injury that stands in contradiction to the promise of freedom hailed by democratic societies, said a Vatican representative to a United Nations body here.

In a March 22 address to the fourth special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, head of the Vatican permanent observer mission of the Holy See to the UN, called the international body to protect the freedom of religion, of expression, of conscience, of worship in private and in public and respect of religious convictions for believers of all faiths and for non-believers alike within the context of other human rights.

Abuse of rights of believers, even outright violence against them, state restrictions, undue impositions and persecution, public insult to religious feelings, unfortunately persist and call for remedy, he said.

Democracies must beware of the drive to set aside the respect of concrete religions in the interest of granting the rights of religious freedom and freedom of expression, he said.

One cannot consider the ridicule of the sacred as a right of freedom, the archbishop said.

He urged that the council, which reviews human rights of all 191 U.N. member states, take up the issue of developing mechanisms or instruments that would defend the message of religious communities from manipulation and would avoid a disrespectful presentation of their members.

The Vatican, he said, sees evidence of anti-religious fanaticism that denigrates religion or, generally, the faithful of a religion by attributing them responsibility of violent actions done today or in the past by some members of that religion.

The nuncio said that “legitimate criticism” of actions by some religious followers must not become license to insult or unjust defamation nor into offensive mockery of its revered persons, practices, rites or symbols.

Religious offense, especially when directed to a minority within a society, is a form of coercion against believers that makes the profession and public practice of religion more difficult, he added.

Pope criticises EU for no nonsense anniversary declarations

From the China Post

Pope Benedict strongly criticized the European Union for excluding a mention of God and Europe's Christian roots in declarations marking the 50th anniversary of its founding.

In a toughly-worded speech to European bishops, Benedict said Europe was committing a form of "apostasy of itself" and was thus doubting its own identity.

The Pope, who like his predecessor John Paul has often called for a mention of God and Christianity in the European Constitution, said leaders could not exclude values that helped forge the "very soul" of the continent.

If on the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome the governments of the Union want to get closer to their citizens, how can they exclude an element as essential to the identity of Europe as Christianity, in which the vast majority of its people continue to identify," he said. "It is no surprise that today's Europe, while it purports to be a community of values, seems to increasingly contest the existence of absolute and universal values.

Does not this unique form of apostasy of itself, even before God, lead it (Europe) to doubt its very identity?

Update: Pope Seeks an Audience with Europe

From the National Secular Society

The absence of mention of religion from the so-called Berlin Declaration, issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the EU, has, predictably, got right up Ratzinger's nose. He has been raging and storming around Europe, demanding that the EU return to its traditional (Catholic) values.

In a speech to European bishops, Ratzinger accused the EU of "apostasy" for refusing to mention Christianity in the Berlin Declaration. Asking how leaders could hope to get closer to their citizens if they denied such an essential part of European identity, the pope said: Does not this unique form of apostasy of itself, even before God, lead it (Europe) to doubt its very identity?

As far as Ratzinger is concerned, to accuse European leaders of apostasy is the ultimate insult he could offer. He hopes it will grab the attention of those who matter in Europe, and frighten them into obedience. The Vatican still thinks it can mobilise the faithful to overturn governments that do not do its bidding. But recent events have shown that the faithful are less and less inclined to listen to the voice of the Vatican when it comes to lawmaking (or, indeed, personal morality).

Intriguingly, on the very eve of EU leaders gathering in Berlin to witness the signing of the seemingly irreligious Berlin Declaration, who do we find having an audience with the pope? None other than one of the prospective signatories to the Berlin Declaration, Hans-Gert Poettering. And what was Poettering doing in Rome while the other EU leaders gathered in Berlin? Issuing the pope an official invitation to personally address the European Parliament.

German law divorces itself from humanity

From Spiegel

He beat her and threatened her with murder. But because husband and wife were both from Morocco, a German divorce court judge saw no cause for alarm. It's a religion thing, she argued.

The Koran seems to have become the basis for a court decision in Frankfurt. The case seems simply too strange to be true. A 26-year-old mother of two wanted to free herself from what had become a miserable and abusive marriage. The police had even been called to their apartment to separate the two, both of Moroccan origin, after her husband got violent in May 2006. The husband was forced to move out, but the terror continued: Even after they separated, the spurned husband threatened to kill his wife.

A quick divorce seemed to be the only solution, the 26-year-old was unwilling to wait the year between separation and divorce mandated by German law. She hoped that as soon as they were no longer married, her husband would leave her alone. Her lawyer, Barbara Becker-Rojczyk agreed and she filed for immediate divorce with a Frankfurt court last October. They both felt that the domestic violence and death threats easily fulfilled the "hardship" criteria necessary for such an accelerated split.

In January, though, a letter arrived from the judge adjudicating the case. The judge rejected the application for a speedy divorce by referring to a passage in the Koran that some have controversially interpreted to mean that a husband can beat his wife. It's a supposed right which is the subject of intense debate among Muslim scholars and clerics alike: The exercise of the right to castigate does not fulfill the hardship criteria as defined by Paragraph 1565 (of German federal law). It must be taken into account, the judge argued, that both man and wife have Moroccan backgrounds.

The right to castigate means for me: the husband can beat his wife, Becker-Rojczyk said, interpreting the judge's verdict.

Becker-Rojczyk expressed amazement that the judge was still on the bench, given that the controversial verdict was handed down weeks ago. Becker-Rojczyk had elected to go public with the case to attract attention to the judge's conduct. It seems to have worked. On Wednesday, after the Tuesday evening publication of the story on SPIEGEL ONLINE, the attorney received a fax from the Frankfurt court granting the conflict of interest claim and excusing the judge from the case.

Still, it is unlikely that the case will be heard again before the mandated year of separation expires in May. But the judge who heard the case may have to face further consequences for her decision. Numerous politicians in Berlin voiced their horror at the verdict, and demanded disciplinary action against the judge.

Flemming Rose wins the inaugural Sappho prize

Based on article from Herald Sun see full article

The Danish newspaper editor who published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005 was awarded a free press prize for his "determination and courage."

The Danish-based Free Press Society awarded Flemming Rose the inaugural international Sappho Prize, worth $3,568.

Lars Hedegaard of the Free Press Society said the prize honoured a journalist who combines excellence in his work with courage and a refusal to compromise. Hedegaard compared the pressure placed on Rose and his newspaper to apologise for publishing the cartoons to those voices calling for the appeasement of Nazi Germany at the dawn of World War II: Decisive to our decision was Rose's courage to print the cartoons and to stand his ground under the worst storm any journalist has ever endured.

Norwegian human rights activist Hege Storhaug will present Rose with the award on behalf of the Freedom of the Press Association at a public ceremony on March 27.

Nonsense fine for nonsense satire about nonsense religion

Based on article from Herald Sun see full article

Lithuania's  television watchdog has fined the director of MTV Networks Baltic for airing Popetown, a cartoon series that pokes fun at the Roman Catholic Church.

The Radio and Television Commission voted unanimously to fine Marius Veselis 3000 litas ($1435).

The cartoons, which depict the Pope as a rotund 77-year-old obsessed with his pogo-stick and surrounded by toys, provoked a storm of nutter criticism in Lithuania, where 80% of the population is Roman Catholic.

The commission made its decision after the Inspector of Journalists' Ethics, Romas Gudaitis, said Popetown should be banned because it portrayed the clergy as destructive and incited religious discrimination.

MTV Lietuva spokeswoman Ema Segal said Veselis would appeal: We have aired the series in all the three Baltic states, but it caused such a reaction only in Lithuania. MTV said Gudaitis's stand was an attempt to limit freedom of expression and thought, and rejected suggestions that Popetown insulted Catholics: This is just an artistic satire and nothing more. We neither attempted to mock religion nor God himself.

Veselis said in a statement last month that the reaction to Popetown had unmasked Lithuania as a sort of half-medieval, half-communist, sick culture.

Muslims lose their case against French satirical magazine

From The Times see full article

A Paris court has acquitted the editor of a satirical French weekly sued by two Muslim groups for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, in a case seen as a test for freedom of expression.

Applause broke out in the courtroom at the announcement of the verdict, which ruled that three cartoons published by the weekly Charlie Hebdo in February 2006 were not insulting to Muslims.

The Paris Grand Mosque and the Union of Islamic Organisations of France took Philippe Val, the Charlie Hebdo editor, to court for reprinting cartoons that sparked angry protests by Muslims worldwide.

They argued that the images drew an offensive link between Islam and terrorism and asked for 30,000 euros in damages.

Val welcomed the ruling and said it would open a much-needed debate among Muslims in France. If you believe as we do that Islam is perfectly compatible with French democracy, such a debate is a blessing, he said.

The court ruled that two of the cartoons were absolutely not offensive to Muslims. One, reprinted from Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten, showed the prophet standing on a cloud, turning away suicide bombers from paradise with the caption 'Stop, stop, we ran out of virgins'.

The second, by the French cartoonist Cabu, showed Muhammad sobbing, holding his head in his hands and saying: It is hard to be loved by fools, under the caption Muhammad overwhelmed by fundamentalists.

On the third cartoon, showing Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb, the court’s ruling was more nuanced. The court decided that the caricature could potentially be insulting to Muslims but that the context of its publication in Charlie Hebdo made clear there was no intention to offend.

The president of the Union of Islamic Organisations of France, Lhaj Thami Breze, said following the hearing that he intended to appeal because we are unhappy with the verdict.

But Christophe Bigot, a lawyer for the Paris Mosque, said that his client would not challenge the court's decision.

The trial was seen as an important test for freedom of expression in France and large crowds crammed into the Paris courtroom during hearings last month to hear the arguments put by both sides.

Arson sentence increased to deter honour crimes

From Stop Honour Killings

A senior British judge has cracked down on so-called “honour” crimes by increasing the “unduly lenient” sentence imposed on a West Midlands man involved in an arson attack in which a six-year-old girl died.

Lord Justice Latham increased the sentence of Daryll Dale Tuzzio, of Perry Barr, Birmingham, from eight to 11 years, saying that the 18-year-old’s original punishment failed to reflect the need for deterrents and the “public policy” needed to curb such offences.

London’s Appeal Court, heard the attack was due to Foaz Ahmed’s outrage at Alisha’s brother, Abdul Hamid, 21, starting a relationship with his sister, Meherun Khanum, 16, although it was “entirely innocent”.

Jailed for life for honour killing

From Stop Honour Killings

Rahan Arshad was told he would die in British prison after being convicted of the brutal ‘honour’ killings of his wife and three children. Jailing Arshad for life, judge Mr Justice David Clarke told the 36-year-old former taxi driver that he would never be released.

Uzma Rahan, former dinner lady at Lancasterian School in West Didsbury, was clubbed to death by jealous Arshad over a secret affair. He hit her about the head 23 times with a rounders bat in the bedroom of their home.

Arshad then carried his son Abbas, eight, into the lounge. He battered the youngster, calmly covering the body so the two children he was about to murder would not be alarmed. Arshad then went to six-year-old daughter Henna’s bedroom and carried her down before beating her to death and covering her body. Finally, he lifted down and beat to death 11-year-old Adam.

Detectives believe Arshad murdered his wife in a so-called ‘honour’ killing. And they think Arshad may have decided to slaughter his children to end his wife’s bloodline because of the humiliation he felt over her two-year affair with Nikki Iqbal, the husband of their babysitter.

Corrupted by religious nonsense about sex in Shrewsbury

Based on an article from Shropshire Star see full article

A Shrewsbury nutter priest claims the opening of an exotic dancing club and more sex shops in Shrewsbury will lead to prostitutes openly walking the town’s streets.

Reverend David Uffindell said “young and weak adults” would be corrupted if borough council chiefs allowed the sale of explicit R-18 DVDs at more shops and semi-naked lap dancing at a proposed new town centre club.

The non-stipendiary priest said sex was a “gift from God” and should not be used to make money.

He said he was appalled at a new application by the owners of S X Warehouse, in Harlescott, to sell R-18 films.

Uffindell also said he was outraged by the application to open an exotic dancing club on Castle Gates: Is there no end to the degradation of our society? Do we really want the possibility of nude shows and sexually arousing pole dancing in our town? Society may grumble all it wants about our prisons being full, but are we encouraging people to deviate from a reasonable and moral way of living?

He added: Where is the end? I feel in Shrewsbury we are going to have prostitutes walking openly in the streets like they do in bigger towns. We are rapidly descending to a country where the minority are cow-towed to by the majority for fear of being seen as racist, or even religious.

Jailed for opposing stoning in Iran

From Feminist Majority Foundation

Prominent Iranian women's rights leaders Shadi Sadr and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh remain in jail after being arrested for peacefully protesting on March 4. The women, who were arrested with some 30 feminist activists for protesting the detainment of four other Iranian feminists, have been charged with being a "threat to national security". According to independent news source Huliq.com, they have been ordered to serve a month-long detainment.

The Campaign to Free Women's Rights Defenders in Iran reports that both women have been interrogated without their lawyers and have been denied their right to visit with counsel and their family members. Sadr and Abbasgholizadeh have no access to medical care in Iran's notorious Evin prison, where both women are being held. The Campaign also reports that the women are experiencing insufficient heat, limited access to toilets, blindfolding, and sleep deprivation while in detention.

The other feminist activists arrested on March 4 have since been released.

In addition to being activists for women's equality in Iran, Sadr and Abbasgholizadeh organized a campaign against stoning as a form of punishment for adultery in Iran.

Join our virtual march and send a message demanding the release of Shadi Sadr and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.	I defend your right to say it ...BUT...

Leeds University cancels talk about islam

From The Telegraph see full article

Leeds university has been accused of "selling out" academic freedom of speech by scrapping a talk on links between the Nazis and Islamic anti-semitism after allegedly receiving emails from Muslims protesting about the event.

Matthias Küntzel, a German author and political scientist who specialises in the threat of Islamic fundamentalism, was told that a talk and a two-day workshop, on Hitler's Legacy: Islamic Anti-semitism in the Middle East, had been cancelled because of supposed security fears.

In a statement yesterday, two academics in the Leeds German department, which had organised the event, claimed the university had bowed "to Muslim protests". Dr Küntzel said he had given similar addresses around the world and there had been no problems: 'I know this is sometimes a controversial topic but I am accustomed to that and I have the ability to calm people down. It's not a problem for me at all. My impression was that they wanted to avoid the issue in order to keep the situation calm. My feeling is that this is a kind of censorship.'

He has given the talk at Yale and in universities in Jerusalem and Vienna. Dr Küntzel said the contents of emails described to him did not overtly threaten violence but they were very, very strongly worded'.

Christians feel discriminated against in their own community

Perhaps they should try keeping their nonsense to themselves rather than imposing it on others

From the Daily Mail see full article

One in three Christians claim to have suffered discrimination because of their religious views, according to a new poll.

The survey by the BBC shows unprecedented disquiet among church-going Britons amid claims they increasingly face prejudice in the media, the workplace and even in their own communities.

A third of those polled by the BBC's religious programme Heaven And Earth, claim Christians experience discrimination in the way the media portrays them.

One in four said they thought they suffered discrimination in the workplace from colleagues. And more than one in five said they thought Christians faced discrimination in their local communities.

Tory MP and prominent Roman Catholic Ann Widdecombe said: We should stand together and fight this discrimination. Christians are being marginalised, yet it is the established religion of this country.

The better half of a marriage is the muslim spouse

From AsiaNews.it

A women of Indian origin, resident in Malaysia, is battling against the custody of her children being given to her husband, a recent convert to Islam, who has petitioned the Islamic Courts for divorce. According to Sharia Law, enforced in the country for Muslim citizens, in separation cases children are entrusted to the “better half” in other words the Islamic half, in this specific case to the husband; as a result Islam will become their religion.

Muhammad Shafi Saravanan Abdullah converted to Islam May last. He petitioned an Islamic tribunal for divorce from his wife, R Subshini. The woman then turned to the Appeals Court in an attempt to have their case heard by a civil tribunal, but her petition was turned down. Thus it will be the first time that a non Muslim appears before an Islamic Court.

Murdered girl had recorded her fears

From The Guardian

A young woman spoke from beyond the grave to accuse her father and uncle of attempting to murder her in a mobile phone video which was played to an Old Bailey jury.

Banaz Mahmod, 20, was strangled with a bootlace and her body buried in a suitcase in a back garden last January because her Iraqi Kurdish family believed that she had "besmirched their honour" by having a boyfriend they disapproved of.

In a video taken by her boyfriend, Miss Mahmod claimed her father forced her to drink brandy to make her sleepy. She became frightened after her father came back into the room wearing gloves. The curtains were drawn and cartoons were playing on the TV.

I was really scared and got up to leave the room. He said, 'sit down, sit down.'

When her father left again she escaped by a back door and tried to raise the alarm by smashing windows. Then, the prosecution says, she jumped over a fence and ran barefoot to a local cafe, where she burst into tears and said: They are trying to kill me.

The video was filmed on a hospital trolley, at St George's in Tooting, on New Year's Eve 2005, and was played in court on video screens. Miss Mahmod was murdered three weeks later, the prosecution says. Victor Temple, prosecuting, said: This bears all the hallmarks of an earlier attempt to kill her.

Update: Guilty

12th June 2007

A father who ordered his daughter brutally slain for falling in love with the wrong man in a so-called "honor killing" was found guilty of murder at his trial.

Her death is the latest in an increasing trend of such killings in Britain, home to some 1.8 million Muslims. More than 100 homicides are under investigation as potential "honor killings."

Update: 23 Years

22nd July 2007

Ari Mahmod recruited a gang of thugs who tortured, raped and strangled his niece Banaz Mahmod, before cramming her body into a suitcase and burying it in a pit, where it lay for three months. The brothers had decided Ms Mahmod was to be killed because she had fallen in love with a man they felt was unsuitable.

Ms Mahmod's father, Mahmod Mahmod left his home in Mitcham, south-west London, on the morning of the murder so that she could be killed there.

An associate of Ari's, Mohamad Hama who was recorded in prison boasting of kicking and stamping on Ms Mahmod's neck "to get her soul out", was also sentenced to life yesterday. He pleaded guilty to murder.

The three men showed no emotion as they were ordered to serve a minimum of 60 years. As they were sent down, relatives wept in the crowded public gallery.

Ari, a respected businessman whom the judge described as "the force behind the enterprise", was told he would spend a minimum of 23 years behind bars, while Mahmod will serve 20. Hama will serve a minimum of 17 years.

Nutters spoil the fun of red nose charity day

From The Telegraph

A Catholic school has banned Red Nose Day over fears that the proceeds will be used to support abortion charities and pay for contraception.

Pupils at St Paul's Catholic College in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, were told that they were forbidden from raising cash for Comic Relief's annual charity drive as some of the charity's activities clashed with the Catholic ethos of the school.

The availability of contraceptives is considered vital to tackling Aids in Africa, where much of Comic Relief's work is done. However, the Catholic Church's opposition to birth control and abortion has meant concerns have been raised in the past.

An agreement was made between the Church and Comic Relief seven years ago to ensure Catholics could still raise money if it would not be spent on any causes that clashed with their beliefs.

St Paul's yesterday refused to deny that it had stopped the event. A spokesman for Comic Relief said: None of the money we have allocated as grants has ever been used to support abortions.

Two women sentenced to stoning in Sudan

From Sudan Tribune
See Video of Stoning to Death
Sign the petition: Stop Stoning Forever

Two women, Amunah Abdallah (23) and Sa’diah Fadul (22) have been sentenced to death by stoning by the criminal court of Al-Azazi, Manajil province, Al-Jazirah Satte in east-central Sudan for committing adultery.

This was confirmed by Faisal Al-Bagir human rights activist who just returned from the area.

The two women are both from the Tama tribe in Darfur. Al-Bagir said that human rights lawyers will submit an appeal against the judgment of the two ladies to the court of appeal in a few days time.

He stated that the women are now in Wad Medani prison and one of them has a two-year old girl with her in he prison, which is tragic.

He said that the two women are in bad conditions and are suffering psychologically due to the harsh judgment passed on them.

Iran attacks Hollywood over movie portrayal of Persians

From the BBC

The Historical war epic 300 has been criticised as an attack on Iranian culture by government figures.

The Hollywood film is an effects-laden retelling of a battle in which a small Greek army resisted a Persian invasion.

Javad Shamqadri, a cultural advisor to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said it was plundering Iran's historic past and insulting this civilization. He branded the film "psychological warfare" against Tehran and its people. But said that Iranian culture was strong enough to withstand the assault: American cultural officials thought they could get mental satisfaction by plundering Iran's historic past and insulting this civilization.

Daily newspaper Ayandeh-No carried the headline "Hollywood declares war on Iranians". The paper said: It seeks to tell people that Iran, which is in the Axis of Evil now, has for long been the source of evil and modern Iranians' ancestors are the ugly murderous dumb savages you see in 300.

Australian clerics preach tax cheating

From The Age

Muslim leaders have warned that hardline clerics are encouraging their followers to cheat the tax system because they consider paying income tax contrary to Sharia law.

Sydney-based Islamic leader Fadi Rahman says extremist Muslim clerics who were preaching messages against paying income taxes were also staunchly opposed to western ideologies. Rahman said he had heard Friday sermons delivered by hardline clerics in Sydney which highlighted the importance of cheating the tax system.

I mean, just like how you've got clerics (with) extreme views who are telling the Muslims in the western world to declare war against the very country that they live in and the very country that is paying for their day to day life, you'll find that these are the clerics that are telling them to dodge the tax system, Rahman said.

The youth leader and president of the Independent Centre for Research Australia said tax itself was not allowed in Islam: So they (clerics) encourage them that if there's any way that you can dodge paying the tax, then you should do it.

Tobago church nutter wants to ban Elton John

From The Times

A concert by Sir Elton John in Tobago is under threat after calls from church leaders there to ban him from the island because he is openly gay.

Sir Elton is due to perform at Plymouth Jazz Festival next month but conservative forces in the island, where homosexuality is widely condemned, are calling for him be banned.

It is thought to be the first time that Sir Elton has faced a campaign aimed at stopping him performing because of his sexuality.

The Archdeacon for Trinidad and Tobago, Philip Isaac, insists that the star’s openly gay lifestyle does not conform to “biblical teachings”: He needs to be ministered unto. His visit to the island can open the country to be tempted towards pursuing his lifestyle.

Stonings in a Pakistani tribal area

From 24.com
See Video of Stoning to Death
Sign the petition: Stop Stoning Forever

Pro-Taliban extremists in a Pakistani tribal area stoned and then shot dead two men and a woman for alleged adultery, said officials and witnesses.

About 800 tribesmen watched the executions by the Lashkar-i-Islam (Army of Islam) group on Wednesday in the Khyber tribal district on the border with Afghanistan, they said.

The trio was tied with ropes, and tribal elders and other men gathered at a patch of open ground and stoned them. Two masked members of the hardline group then shot them with Kalashnikov rifles, said witnesses.

The Lashkar-i-Islam men caught them and after investigations it was proved that they were guilty of adultery, said a group on condition of anonymity.

Members of the religious group, led by cleric Mangal Bagh, raided a house on Monday and abducted the three after local residents suspected them of "illicit" activities.

The local administration said it did not intervene in the situation as the restive tribal agencies were semi-autonomous and Pakistani laws did not apply. We had reports about the killings, but we do not interfere in the matters related to tribal customs and traditions, said a tribal administration official.

Pakistan hands life sentence for blasphemy

From Dawn

A man found guilty of committing blasphemy by desecrating the Quran has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mohammad Yousuf was sentenced to 25 years rigorous imprisonment by the sessions court in the central city of Multan, public prosecutor Mohammad Siddique said yesterday: The court verdict was based on witnesses’ accounts and evidence against the accused, which was very strong. He tore up the Quran and than threw its pages into a nullah [sewage] in his home village of Qutabpur.

Siddique said Yousuf has the right to appeal against the decision in an upper court.

And the church sayeth go forth.. and kick gay arse

Pope calls on catholics to legislate according to the teaching of the church

Note that the Pope does not suggest  legislation based on Christ's teaching otherwise he would have support the concept of actually loving one's gay neighbours rather than ostracising them

From The Times see full article

The Pope has told Catholics who work in public life that they have a duty to introduce and support legislation based on the Church's teaching.

In a new exhortation published today, the Pope also told bishops that if they wish they can refuse communion to politicians who support abortion rights or gay marriage.

He called on Catholic politicians and legislators... to introduce and support laws inspired by values grounded in human nature. [aggression and vindictiveness?]

Describing such values as "not negotiable", the Pope said they they included respect for human life, its defence from conception to natural death, the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman, the freedom to educate one's children and the promotion of the common good in all its forms.

The long-awaited 131-page Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist was largely a reiteration of existing Catholic teachings.

Unchanged is the Church's ban on communion for divorced Catholics who remarry without first obtaining an annulment. Such couples should live as friends, as brother and sister, the Pope wrote, adding that non-Catholics and members of other faiths must not be admitted to communion at wedding celebrations, funerals and other similar occasions.

The exhortation made it clear that watching church services on television or the internet is no substitute for actual attendance and told on priests throughout the Church to sharpen up their preaching.

Meanwhile, Pope Benedict has criticised the internet and television's often "destructive" influence on young people, and called on the media to promote family values.

In a speech to the Vatican's communications department, the Pope said: Undoubtedly, much of great benefit to civilization is contributed by the various components of the mass media. On the other hand, it is also readily apparent that much of what is transmitted in various forms to the homes of millions of families around the world is destructive.

He added: I appeal again to the leaders of the media industry to advise producers to safeguard the common good, to uphold the truth, to protect individual human dignity and promote respect for the needs of the family.

Muslim mob predictably call for killing of playboy editor

From X Biz

Prosecutors have demanded a judge impose a harsh two-year prison sentence for the editor-in-chief of the Indonesian version of Playboy. Erwin Arnada was charged in June with distributing indecent pictures and profiting from their sale.

More than 100 muslim protesters attending the hearing thought the prosecution’s demands were too lax. The raucous group chanted “Hang him, hang him” in the courtroom.

Playboy’s offices have moved to Bali where there is considerably less Islamic influence. The magazine is still available at newsstands throughout the country, and the government has made no move to ban the publication.

The judge, according to Indonesian laws, heavily weighs the prosecution’s sentencing demands.

Predictably no neighbourly love shown to gays

Based on an article from The Sun see full article

A gay books project, backed by teaching unions, is funded by £600,000 money and is aimed at making homosexuality seem more normal to children from an early age.

But last night it was predictably blasted by Christian groups, who branded it “outrageous and wicked” and even likened it to a form of child abuse.

Critics accused those behind the move of abusing the repeal of Section 28, the law that banned promotion of gay propaganda in schools.

The pilot scheme is the brainchild of the government-backed No Outsiders project, run by Sunderland and Exeter universities and the Institute of Education. No Outsiders has launched the series of books in 14 primary schools in the North East, South West, London, the Midlands and in one local authority. The scheme will be extended if it is a success.

Supporters say children need to be shown that homosexuality is a part of everyday life and the books will help cut homophobic bullying in playgrounds.

No Outsiders boss Elizabeth Atkinson said: The most important thing these books do is reflect reality for young children. I know how powerful children’s literature is in shaping social values and emotional development.

But Christian Voice director Stephen Green said: The arrogance of people like Elizabeth Atkinson, using children as guinea pigs, is outrageous and thoroughly wicked. The intention is to make homosexuality appear normal and these people have no business doing that to other people’s children. It is wicked and amounts to child abuse.

Tahir Alam, education spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, said the stories were: not consistent with Islamic teachings. From our point of view many parents would be concerned.

Indonesia passes law requiring everybody to study Koran

From Spero News

The Indonesian province of West Sumatra has adopted an ordinance to take effect in 2008 requiring all students from elementary through high schools as well as couples to be married to take a written and oral tests on the Koran, or Qur'an, and this irrespective of their religion.

Guspardi Gaus, who chaired the special provincial commission that developed the ordinance, said a number of decrees would be necessary to implement the regulation, along with changes to school curricula, but the provincial bylaw should apply to every city and regency (district) within the next two years.

Seven out of 19 cities and regencies in West Sumatra have already issued similar regulations. Some regencies also require students to perform prayers in school.

Guspardi shrugged off suggestions that the ordinance would have negative impacts on non-Muslims: Islam is merciful. The more religious one is, the more beneficial he or she will be to others, including followers of other faiths. So it's not a threat, because Islam teaches people to do good amongst themselves. Qur’anic education is aimed at giving people, especially the younger generation, good morals, so they won't be lured by drugs and other negative activities.

Public amputation in Saudi

From Jerusalem Post

A Pakistani convicted of robbery had his right hand amputated in a public square in compliance with Islamic law on Wednesday, the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Mohammed Haji Ghoulam had been convicted of theft in the holy city of Medina, said the statement, which did not disclose what he stole.

His right hand was amputated at the wrist, the statement added.

And people are expected to listen to these nutters for moral advice!

From The Telegraph see full article

The Church of England is facing an embarrassing test case over whether mobile phone masts on steeples are illegal because they can relay pornography.

The church's highest court is to hear an appeal after a diocesan judge ruled that churches were "wrong in law" to facilitate the transmission of pornography, even in a slight or modest way.

Many parishes have cashed in on the mobile phone boom by charging telecom companies thousands of pounds a year to put antennae on their towers or steeples. Even Guildford cathedral has a mast under its golden angel weather vane.

They were encouraged by official Church guidance, which acknowledged that immoral material can be transmitted by the new technology but argued that any "ill" was outweighed by the benefits.

However, critics said mobile phones can now transmit dangerously obscene internet images and the church should dissociate itself from such technology, especially after the General Synod condemned media exploitation last month.

The contentious issue has now reached the Archbishop of Canterbury's 800-year-old Court of Arches, which is due to hear an appeal against the ruling by the diocese of Chelmsford's consistory court within weeks.

Church court rules against allowing phone masts

From The Times see full article

Churches throughout England could lose thousands of pounds in revenue after a church court ruled against a mobile phone mast because it would facilitate access to pornography.

Churches can make more than £10,000 a year in rent from mobile phone companies which can be a vital aid to offsetting running costs and repairs. But the mobile phone cash cow is now in danger after an ecclesiastical judge in Chelmsford, Essex, ruled against an application to install a mast in the tower of St Peter and St Paul in Chingford, northeast London.

The parish is to appeal to the Church’s highest court, the Court of Arches, which is the provincial court for the Canterbury Province and sits at St Mary le Bow Church in the City of London. If the Court of Arches upholds the Chelmsford ruling by the diocesan chancellor George Pulman, QC, the Church’s entire policy on the masts could be at risk.

Local objectors who oppose the aerials on health grounds are often unsuccessful because of the lack of scientific evidence of harmful radiation. But the Chelmsford case has given them a new moral platform from which to fight the masts because of the new 3G or third-generation phones which can access the internet, enable films to be watched and be used for online gambling.

In his judgment Pulman concluded that some of the material to be transmitted is not consistent with the Christian use of a church. He said the original concept of a mobile phone was to enable two people to talk to each other. But now they could be used to download a vast range of obscene images, pornography, pictures of real or simulated child abuse and other material from the internet.

He said he considered it wrong for the Church to facilitate transmission of pornography, even in a slight or modest way. It is equally wrong for the Church to gain financial advantage, even in a slight or modest way, from the transmission of pornography.

The Church of England is awaiting the decision from the Court of Arches with concern. A spokesman said : Whatever the decision, an awful lot of people are going to study it very carefully. If a clear decision is made one way or the other, it is going to impact on the whole process.

Restrictions on Saudis marrying foreigners

From AsiaNews.it see full article

Saudi law creates heavy obstacles to those wishing to marry foreign nationals and discriminates against women by impeding their husbands and children’s claim to citizenship. Across the Arab world the demand for equal rights in this area is growing, but the process is a slow one.

Article 6 of the Saudi intermarriage by-law states: Any Saudi man/woman who desires to marry a non-Saudi woman/man must have acceptable character, nationality and religion, excluding people belonging to beliefs not approved by the Shariah (Islamic law). Moreover a foreign national is prohibited from marrying a Saudi woman without the express permission of the Ministry for state.

It’s not just a problem of religious law: lawyer Saeed ibn Naser Al-Huresen explains to Arab News that in order to receive permission to marry a foreign national The Saudi woman has to be at least 29 or 30 years old to obtain the permit when considering marrying a non-Saudi. In other words, she should be a spinster not highly desired by Saudi suitors. In case the woman is divorced, her chances are much better in acquiring the marriage permit.

Annalists observe that these problems are rooted in a closed social mentality rather than Sharia law, which Amira Kashgary, editor of the daily paper Al-Watan, mains conservative and narrow. Women, sisters, daughters and wives don’t possess freedom to make these choices. It’s a male-dominant society so this reflects on the woman’s legal and personal rights and choices. A Saudi woman marrying a non-Saudi is still unacceptable as a natural response to the woman’s status in the community.

Continued church arson in Nigeria

From Journal Chretien

In January, Islamic students at Government Science Secondary School in Zaria city in Nigeria's Kaduna state, set fire to the Chapel of Adonai, which was rebuilt last year with services restored in September.

The most recent arson attempt, as well as one in December 2006, failed when Christian staff members and students at the high school put out the fires.

Pastor Samuel Nuhu, a teacher said that, previous to the most recent arson attempt, two letters were dropped into the chapel warning Christian students and staff members of an impending attack unless they left the school. The letter included derogatory comments about Jesus.

School officials have notified the Kaduna State Ministry of Education of the threats to the Christian staff members and students – without effect, he said.

Kaduna is one of 12 northern states in Nigeria that have imposed Islamic (sharia) law. The introduction of Islamic law in Kaduna state in 2000 has contributed to the escalation of religious conflict in some parts of the state. Kaduna operates with a dual legal system, sharia and a “customary” legal system run in accordance with traditional animist practices – neither of which serves Christians in the state, Christian leaders say.

A tolerant Christian!

From Globe and Mail see full article

The Christian church has a deeply flawed understanding of sex that has led to morally groundless objections to masturbation, birth control, abortion and homosexuality, says a leading Canadian Anglican bishop.

In particular, the church has been wrong for centuries on the notion that sex exists only for the purpose of procreation, Right Rev. Michael Ingham, bishop of the Greater Vancouver Diocese of New Westminster, told a conference in Ottawa last night.

Christianity as a religion stands in need of a better theology of sexuality, a better understanding of the complex role sexuality plays in our human nature and of the purposes of God in creating us as sexual beings.

He said the church has misunderstood references to homosexuality in the Bible, wasted energy in persecuting individuals who have argued for a new understanding of sexuality, and failed to comprehend how much the Bible and church doctrines have been shaped through the lens of male experience.

The forthrightness of Bishop Ingham's address on sexuality is without precedent in the Canadian Anglican church. It not only puts him at odds with much of the Anglican Communion but with Roman Catholicism, most Protestant sects and the Orthodox Church.

The Bible's Christian New Testament condemnation of homosexuality, he said, is "almost certainly" a proscription of sex between adult males and young boys, tolerated in the 1st century AD in Greek society, and not a proscription against adult homo-eroticism.

Today we have a better understanding of homosexuality as a basic and natural orientation experienced by some members of the human community, just as we find the same thing among some animal species, and in Christian terms we must come to think of this as not only natural but also God-given and good.

Unveiled comments attract the press wolves

From the BBC

Five senior Australian Islamic clerics are reported to have been banned from talking to the media by Muslim leaders.

The clerics have been accused of conveying "un-Australian" messages.

The ban was issued by the Lebanese Muslim Association, which is responsible for the country's largest mosque, according to local media.

Australia's top imam, Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali, is one of the five clerics mentioned. He caused uproar by likening unveiled women to uncovered meat.

Muslim leaders say that a string of controversial remarks from the country's spiritual leaders have damaged the relationship between the Islamic community and mainstream Australia.

Most of our clerics are selected on the basis that they have Australian values and Australian characteristics, Lebanese Muslim Association President Tom Zreika told The Australian newspaper: Some of them haven't lived up to that.

Of particular concern is what the association calls the "double speak" of clerics - where they say one thing to Australia's English-speaking media and then adopt a more radical stance when dealing with Arabic-speaking journalists.

They go onto (Sydney's Arabic radio station) the Voice of Islam and talk about something which really isn't in accordance with our views... as Australians, Zreika said.

Nutters object to the brush off

From christian Post

Comedy Central repeated an episode of the Sarah Silverman Program in which the female comedian has sex with “God.”

The installment, titled Batteries, features a “one-night-stand” with a “Black God,” whom Sarah Silverman tries to brush-off the morning after.

Many Christians disagree strongly with the rebroadcast, noting that the content is extremely insensitive and degrading toward their religion.

One such group, the Timothy Plan, has urged Christians to boycott the network’s parent company, Viacom, and pull out from all investments with them. The Timothy Plan is a mutual fund that avoids investing in companies that profit from or support things like pornography, abortion, non-married lifestyles, anti-family entertainment, as well as companies involved in promoting issues contrary the teachings of the Bible.

To air and rebroadcast a program, comedy or not, that depicts the main character having sex with God brings Viacom’s anti-Christian vitriol to an all time low, said Arthur Ally, president of the Timothy Plan, in a statement. Christians and culturally conservative Americans alike should be appalled by the sheer blatancy of this heresy. Anyone with any semblance of basic Judeo-Christian values should find this type of programming offensive, added Ally in his statement.

Silverman is best known for her stand-up comedy. She typically deals with topical humor and satire, mild or serious societal taboos, and controversial topics such as racism, sexism, and religion.

Government will now support legislation against forced marriage

From the Observer

Tony Blair is to back moves to make forced marriages illegal. The move, a U-turn in government policy, will ensure the introduction of a new law enshrining powerful rights for victims, many of them under age, who have been compelled to marry against their will.

The Prime Minister's change of heart means that legislation introduced in the Lords by the Liberal Democratic peer, Lord Lester of Herne Hill, will obtain the government backing it has previously been denied.

Calls by Tory leader David Cameron to criminalise forced marriage are at odds with government opinion that it deters young women from reporting those close to them. The government argued young women would not want to see their parents go to jail and the practice could be driven further underground. The government maintained that existing legislation, in conjunction with the Forced Marriage Unit, which deals with between 250 and 300 cases a year, was a sufficient safeguard.

However, the Lester bill would make forced marriage a civil rather than criminal offence. Offenders would not go to jail, but victims could sue for damages. Lester's bill also allows for a third party to bring charges.

Blair's conversion will be welcomed by many MPs. I support the Lester bill in principle, said Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr: There's a real issue that needs to be addressed here. Young people need to be supported on this issue. If they are forced into marriage it breeds resentment and then all sorts of issues that I have to deal with as a constituency MP.

Forced marriages tend to come primarily from Muslim and Sikh communities, and around 30% involve minors. Lord Lester's private member's bill, co-authored by the Southall Black Sisters pressure group, would make it unlawful for people outside the immediate family to aid and abet forced marriage.

When he introduced his bill, Lord Lester warned forced marriages result in 'sexual enslavement' linked to honour killings and described them as a 'serious social evil'. The measure, now at the Lords committee stage, received cross-party support, but the lack of government backing meant that it would almost certainly never have become law.

A mysterious belief in intolerance

From The Times see full article

Doaa Fares from a deeply conservative Druze village, changed her name to Angelina and entered the Miss Israel beauty pageant hoping to be crowned queen.

Instead, Angelina, the first Druze to compete in the pageant, was threatened with death, allegedly by two uncles and other men from her village who accused her of disgracing the family name with promiscuous behaviour.

When police uncovered the apparent plot to kill her last week, Fares disappeared into protective custody. When she emerged from hiding she announced that she was withdrawing from the competition, fearing for her life: My life is much more important than a contest, but it’s very difficult for me to give up my dream, she said. She is too frightened to answer her mobile phone or leave the house.

Fares’s story has dominated the Israeli media as a high-profile example of a foiled “honour killing”, where a woman is murdered by members of her own family for supposed sexual offences that have somehow brought shame to the family.

Last month, the contestants flew to Thailand on a supervised tour with contest organisers, but while Fares was sightseeing, swimming and sun-bathing, trouble was brewing at home. Advertisements featuring Fares in a miniskirt and sleeveless top were published in magazines. On her return to Israel, she received threatening phone calls and e-mails. Men from a neighbouring village shouted insults when she walked down the street.

They said, ‘You’re a Druze girl, you should be ashamed of yourself’. Some even accused me of prostitution.

Last week, police received a tip that a group of men in the village, including two of Fares’s uncles, were plotting to kill her. Anwar and Hatem Fares allegedly hired two men to buy guns and a third man to murder their niece. She was taken into protective custody and all five men were jailed.

The Fares family refused to press charges against the uncles, and they were released.

Shops set alight as mobs hear of forbidden love

From Stop Honour Killings

Groups of Egyptian Muslims set fire to Christian-owned shops in southern Egypt after hearing rumours of a love affair between a Muslim woman and a Coptic Christian man.

Eight Muslim men were arrested in the town of Armant, around 600 km south of Cairo, on suspicion of taking part in arson attacks on four stores and a mini-van owned by Coptic Christians.

The rumours began on Saturday and calm was restored by Tuesday, with security forces deployed in the town as a precaution, one security official said.

Traditional Islamic law allows Muslim men to marry Christian women but not Christian men to marry Muslim women. Romances across the divide are one of the main sources of tension between Egypt's two main religious communities.

Hala Botros, a Christian blogger from the region, said Copts in Armant were still scared to leave their homes: The situation has improved slightly but people go out only if they really have to,

4th British muslim protester found guilty

From The Times

A British Muslim who protested outside the Danish Embassy in London against cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad was found guilty of soliciting murder yesterday.

Abdul Muhid led a crowd chanting Bomb, bomb the UK, and produced placards with slogans such as Annihilate those who insult Islam, the Old Bailey was told. Others read Fantastic four are on their way and 3/11 is on its way, referring to the terrorist attacks on London and Madrid.

Muhid was found guilty of two charges of soliciting murder. He was remanded in custody by Judge Brian Barker.

The father of two was said to be one of the organisers of the demonstration in Central London on February 3 last year. Hundreds marched from Regent’s Park mosque to the Danish Embassy in Knightsbridge, in one of many protests across Europe and the Middle East against cartoons satirising Muhammad.

David Perry, QC, told the court that the real purpose of the protest in London was to encourage terrorism. Perry added: Of course the UK had already been bombed. There was another significance to ‘Bomb, bomb the UK.’ The drawings had not appeared in any UK newspapers. This was supposed to be a demonstration against the publication of drawings in newspapers abroad. This behaviour shows what the demonstration was about, it was an exhortation and encouragement to terrorism.

Muhid is the fourth British Muslim to face trial after the protest. Muhid is due to be sentenced with the other three in April, after the retrial.

TV channels pulled in Kashmir after threats

From CTV

There will be no more Desperate Housewives for residents of Indian Kashmir. They will have to do without Friends reruns, too.

Four foreign television channels have been pulled from the air in Indian-controlled Kashmir after Islamic militant groups demanded cable companies stop airing "obscene" shows, cable operators said.

As militants have asked us to stop airing obscene channels, we've suspended broadcasting English channels like HBO, Star Movies, Star World and Sony Pix, said Muzaffar Ahmed, a TV cable operator in Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state.

Two militant groups in a telephone call to a local news agency, Current News Service, advised TV cable operators to drop channels that the groups say spread obscenity. The groups, Al-Badr Mujahedeen and Al-Madina, did not specify which channels they were referring to.

The content of the channel's broadcasts in India is already pretty tame compared to other countries in order to comply with India's stringent censorship laws. Obscenities are bleeped out and hints of nudity blurred. Other scenes are cut entirely.

Cable operators were taking no chances. Last year, a bomb blast rocked the office of a cable TV provider in the town of Sopore, 30 miles north of Srinagar. One person died in the explosion and the company's third-floor office was badly damaged by the blast. The lone cable operator in the town later halted telecasts.

Moroccan man strangles mom for having lover

From Stop Honour Killings

Refusing to accept that his mother was carrying on a relationship outside marriage, Mohamed decided to kill her. He strangled her with an electric cable.

According to "Aujourd'hui le Maroc", Mohamed could not accept that his mother was living together with a man, with whom she had a daughter.

In the last week of December 2006 he paid her a visit. His mother had always lived her life according to her own wishes. He asked her to break off her relationship. She refused categorically, a response which did not please her son. After the festival of sacrifice, he made the decision to murder her.

On January 7th: Mohamed left his house, stopping at the closest shop to buy an electric cable. He went to the house, finding the door closed; his mother was not at home. So he brought it back on the next day, the 10th January, the day of the murder.

His half-sister was already at school and his mother on the terrace when Mohamed woke up at 10am. He had his breakfast and smoked a joint, then another. Around midday, his mother came down from the terrace to make lunch.

Around 12.15, her young daughter returned from school. She found her mother dead and Mohamed disappeared. Once informed, the police came and carried out investigations. A neighbour spoke out:

I saw Mohamed, around midday. He seemed preoccupied and like he didn't know what to do. she testified.

At first Mohamed tried to exculpate himself, but under questioning he laid it all out on the table: strangled her with an electric cable.

Kansas Bishop rants at porn

From LifeSite

Catholic Bishop Robert Finn has launched a crusade to fight what he says may be the fastest growing addiction in the world, dedicating the resources of his diocese to fight the real and growing problem of pornography.

In a pastoral letter, entitled Blessed Are the Pure in Heart, the bishop asked Catholics to focus on the dignity of our human sexuality, and the beauty of God's call to live in purity and chastity especially since today pornography is so prevalent in society. The bishop announced that the First Sunday of Lent would be called "Purity of Heart Awareness Sunday" in his diocese.

The bishop has also established an "anti-pornography effort" on his website as part of his desire to address the real and growing problem of pornography" and explore "spiritual and practical ways of combating it.

The site also provides links to resources explaining the late Pope John Paul II's teaching Theology of the Body, which it calls a scripturally based antidote to the misunderstood and misused sexuality of Western culture" emphasising "the innate connection between the dignity, beauty and mystery of the human person and moral behavior.

The bishop explained that pornography wreaks terrible effects "physically, emotionally and spiritually", destroying a person's sense of self-worth as well as having a destructive effect on interpersonal relationships, especially with one's spouse or family. Pornography leads individuals to be seen for how they can be of use, not for whom God created them to be.

Turkey's caring 'Islamic' and 'democratic' face towards foreign English fathers!

Thanks to David

An appalling and still on-going story about the caring face of modern Turkey.

A good friend of mine who is English and lives in Istanbul as I do, recently suffered the breakdown of a marriage after 17 months last year. Beforehand he was welcomed into the family as one of their own but “Do as say not as I do” rule applied later! He is still married to a Turkish woman who gave birth to his son last July 2006 who is both registered as a Turkish and British citizen. The woman's family (Islamic) were not that interested in their imminent grandchild until the day he was born where they systematically threatened, abused and withheld the child. The brother even opened up and brought open bank letters to the hospital on the day of the birth to give to his sister in front of her husband. The English husband had a polite word with him on their own only to be told "This is my sister’s letters and nothing to do with you." The husband replied “Who pays the bills- do you?" After more of this ignorant interference the rightly angry husband ejected him and his elderly mother followed suit.

Next day the English man's wife threatened to have him shot by her father (who returned from working and kept away from the hospital) and her primitive brother. The time her father came with some other relatives they all had a discussion about the appearance of the child and one relative said “You never know he might look like a Turk in a few months.” All in front of the English father who they know can speak a bit of Turkish. What ignorance! Later he ejected her brother after assuming repetitively the role of father in hospital to the new born child.

Both he and his racist mother repeatedly rang the house after the return of mother and child and father urging the new mother to leave and take the child. Indeed the mother kept appearing at the English man’s house and abusing him until she turn was told to get lost. This went on for months with the English man (a teacher) returning from work to find his wife out, coming home late with his son, inviting unknown guests to his house at weekends (her mother's middle aged friends who washed his son, gossiped openly about him and rudely took over the house). This suffocation also happened just after the couple were married too with constant flows of people dropping by! Unfortunately the Turkish wife of the English man chose her sides and loyalty.

The teacher in the end after many threats of violence from his unbalanced wife such as- “Dirty Christian, you were just a sperm cell”- and her screwy family (who he knew were racist due to the father's constant early criticising of Israel and Americans, Arabs and Pakistani (bad Muslims utterances), went to see her father to reason with, and pleaded that this stuff must stop as she needs to see a doctor- only to meet denial of truth syndrome by them. "Perhaps a week or so staying with you will benefit her" he offered saying "and repair our marriage." Her parents agreed after a fierce debate. The next day however a removal van came and the unbalanced Turkish woman in question with her lying father removed her belongings and took the English teacher's son promising this will be only for a few weeks. What rot!

Since then for many months she is still refusing access despite her and family's 'word of seeing the child anytime' to the father. The English teacher dropped by one night in desperation only to be violently abused verbally saying “This is turkey you have no rights the child is ours. You should never have married our daughter it is forbidden in Islam to marry a Christian. We aren’t obliged to stay in the house for you foreigners”. The woman even denied their husband giving his son present at Christmas time making excuses up "we have to go to the hospital." She did harass the father too for social security for months-abusive texts, phone calls- which he couldn't do as his work permit did not come through to allow it and blackened his name at the school he worked saying "this man won't pay for his son." The woman staff in question harangued the man for doing this disgrace to their sister Turk! The local police just said "See a lawyer."

Since then this English teacher found out that his wife was stealing from their own child’s bank account to pay medicine bills for her family, extravagant clothes for herself and birthday gifts for her friends. Plus the biggest shock finding out that her father was getting the rent of his wife’s house which he had been told along by his Turkish wife that with his money (life savings) would be sold to provide a nice future for them and their born son!

Over the Christmas period the man was served with papers banning him from taking out his son of the country for 18 years (legal!) divorce papers (demanding double the amount of his salary as a monthly maintenance (nafaka) for his wife and child which he replied to within 10 days as legally required via his own lawyer and which his wife's lawyer ignored the lawful reply for many weeks refusing to acknowledge even to this date. Finally he went to the woman Hakim (high ranking court official who legislates on child custody etc) who ruled that he can only see his own son and a British citizen the first Saturday of every month between 9.am and 4p.m for an hour or so if the mother agrees! The man's reluctant female lawyer said that the other lawyer got their first and objected to the English man’s weekly visitation request- hints later said by his modern Turkish friends relayed that money must have crossed palms. This is not unusual in a place like this as the whole system is very corrupt!- is appealing this unjust and undemocratic ruling and after the appeal result (not expected to change, despite the case’s facts being given!) will take it up with the British Embassy or the European Court of Rights, if needs be and shame this racist, religiously biased, core of people in Turkey who keep their own people down and say they are democratic. Even after agreeing to pay a reasonable amount of maintenance they still deny him and his child their rights which are so clearly stated out under the statutes of Ankara Law! Turkey- Europe no chance! If they treat Kurds as they say they do not politically, and foreigners who are guests and working law abidingly in the country like this, then what chance should Turkey have at all to enter Europe as a partner?

Shame on those Turks and their government who purport to be friends of all nations and lie and treat their own foreign guests like they have this English man. This culture has no chance of survival in Europe when family values are based on clouded Islamic principals which they distort for their own selfish and monetary ends and thrive on constant interfering into the rights of the individual! What hypocrites!

 
Public amputation of fingers

From New Zealand Herald

A thief convicted of multiple robberies had four fingers amputated in public in west Iran.

The man had committed 22 offences, mostly involving opening safes, a judicial official in the western city of Kermanshah said.

Under Iran's Islamic law, repeat offenders face amputation of their fingers for theft, but sentences are seldom carried out, especially in public. In recent years, such sentences have rarely been reported.

Eight honour killings in one family

From Stop Honour Killings

The murder of Hamda Abu-Ghanem, whose bullet-riddled body was found in mid-January at her parents' house in Ramle, Israel, surprised nobody.

As police set about their investigation, everyone was aware that the victim's brother had been threatening to kill her, and that long before the murder, she had taken refuge in a battered women's shelter.

It was a typical "honor killing," meant to remove some perceived stain on the family's reputation.

The perpetrators of most honor killings in the Arab community are not apprehended. Hamda's murder, however, was one too many for the women in the Abu-Ghanem family. She was the eighth woman to be murdered in the extended family in the last six and a half years. All her predecessors also lost their lives in "honor killings."

This time, instead of keeping mum when the police questioned them, the Abu- Ghanem women gave detailed testimonies of everything they knew. It was a women's revolt against the men of the family. While the men refused to cooperate with the police and forbade the women to speak, the women revealed all. They decided to put an end to the bloody circle of silence, Chief Inspector Haim Shreibhand, who was in charge of the investigation, told Haaretz.

The detectives gathered testimonies from 20 Abu-Ghanem women and assembled the pieces of the puzzle together into an indictment, he said.

Kamal Rashad Abu-Ghanem was arraigned in Tel Aviv's District Court yesterday for murder. His cousin Mahmoud, who was also arrested, was released for lack of sufficient evidence to file charges. Rashad Abu-Ghanem was charged with entering the family's home, in Ramle's Juarish neighborhood. His sister was alone in the house, lying on her bed. She probably knew she was about to die. He went up the stairs with a loaded 9-mm. handgun, entered his sister's room and fired nine bullets at her.

Like some of the other victims, Hamda had spent the last few years in a shelter, hiding from her brother. Her "crime" was apparently her numerous telephone conversations, and being seen talking to her cousin once.

The witnesses have been put in safe houses, for fear the men would try to harm them. However, several women were not comfortable in the safe houses and are returning to the neighborhood. The relations between the men and women in the family have become really tense. We've had special meetings about how to protect the women after they testify and we have a plan, police said.

However, Aida Touma-Suleiman, director of the Women Against Violence group in the Arab sector, said she has grave fears for the women's lives. I support these brave women. They finally broke the circle of blood and silence. But I'm also afraid they will be hurt. As long as there is no witness protection program, these women will be abandoned after they testify. They may have been courageous, but they have also sentenced themselves to death, she said.

Egyptian author under threat for offending islam

From Index on Censorship see full article

Al Azhar, one of the leading religious centres in the Muslim world, is threatening legal action against the celebrated Egyptian writer and activist Nawal El Saadawi.

At a meeting this week, the Islamic Research Council agreed to present a petition against El Saadawi to the prosecutor general for her attacks on God, the prophets and the heavenly religions, according to the Egyptian newspaper Al Misry al Yom.

The head of Al Azhar, Sheikh Mohammed Sayyid Tantawi has condemned El Saadawi’s play God Resigns at the Summit Meeting for allegedly offending Islam. Five of El Saadawi’s books – including the play - were banned at the Cairo bookfair in January. All copies of the play have been destroyed.

Political groups want to threaten writers and freethinkers, El Saadawi told Index on Censorship. It’s a backlash. The whole of Egyptian society is going backwards.

Nawal El Saadawi told Index that she was summoned to the prosecutor general’s office in January, with her daughter, the writer Mona Helmi, following a case lodged against her in 2006 - also on the grounds that she had insulted Islam.

El Saadawi believes that religious groups were particularly incensed by interviews she had given to the Egyptian press, in which she said that God was a spirit and therefore neither male nor female.

In the wake of the accusations, El Saadawi has decided to leave the country for the next six months.

Organisation starts up for those in Germany who leave islam

From Fox News

Former Muslims in Germany publicly launched a group Wednesday with the provocative name National Council of Ex-Muslims, and said they would be a voice for non-religious people of Islamic cultural origin.

The name is deliberately modelled on that of the National Council of Muslims, the German Muslim Council and other mosque federations.

The ex-Muslims in Berlin contest the right of faith-centred groups to speak on behalf of an estimated 3 million to 3.5 million people of Islamic origin in Germany's 82-million-strong population.

They unveiled a poster with the slogan, 'We've Given It Up,' showing the faces of many former Muslims who no longer believe. The 'coming-out' flies in the face of Islam, which does not make any provision for formally departing from membership in the faith.

Michael Schmidt-Salomon, chairman of the Giordano Bruno Foundation, which is supporting the campaign, said, Never before have Muslims been so open about renouncing their faith. He said he hoped the Council would set an example worldwide.

Arzu Toker, deputy chairwoman, used a news conference to announce her separation from Islam: 'I herewith resign from Islam. That's it.'

Toker, a Turkish journalist does not accept the Sharia system of rules at all, saying they contradict both human rights and the values of the German constitution. She added that Islam was anti-woman. It humiliates women and turns them into servants of the men, she said.

The ex-Muslims asserted they had already been threatened with violence but would not be intimidated. I'm not going to play mouse for the cat, said Toker, referring to fatwas which state that apostates from Islam may be killed.

The news conference in Berlin was given police protection.

German police body guards for ex-muslims

From EUX.TV see full article

A group of former Muslims in Germany who have formed a society of atheists have been sent threatening letters, have been pronounced fit for death and have been given police bodyguards.

Mina Ahadi, an Iranian-born woman, founded the society in Cologne with 10 sympathizers several weeks ago and called it the National Council of Ex-Muslims. At the end of February she called a news conference in Berlin to publicly pronounce herself non-Islamic.

The police have assigned plainclothes bodyguards to protect her ever since.

I'm a target, said Ahadi. She said members had received letters telling them they would be shot in the back. When she went online with a fierce attack on Islamic organizations, somebody circulated a statement suggesting she was fit to be killed, she said.

We are going to get involved in politics, oppose women wearing head-scarves, oppose building plans for mosques, she said. Referring to practices many Germans believe are typical of Islam, she said, We'll stop honour killings, stop people being stoned to death.

The basis of Islam is inhumane and anti-woman, asserted Ahadi. We want to make clear that the 3 million to 3.5 million people from Islamic nations who live in Germany are people first of all and should not be branded primarily as 'Muslim'.

The National Council of Muslims, a Cologne-based group representing many of Germany's mosque-going Moslems, says the new society should be tolerated, despite its cheeky parody of the mainstream group's name.

These people have the same right as anyone else to establish a society, said Ayyub Axel Koehler, the Council's German-born chairman. Everyone has a right to their own opinions, and of course they are entitled to express them publicly.

Other ex-Muslims in Germany and abroad have rushed to join the group, according to committee member, Nur Gabbari: In a short space of time, we have grown to more than 400 members and we are getting daily contacts from places like Morocco, Iran, Egypt, Turkey and of course from Germany. A lot of people offer us unpaid help or to protect us.

Certainly: Don't impose you nonsense on others

From Fox News

Sharia law is Islamic law based on the Koran and it is evidently the law of the land in the Minneapolis airport where Muslim cab drivers, mostly from Somalia, are saying they will not obey American law, the law of the Minneapolis Airport Authority.

The law of our land says if you have a cab license you must take whatever passenger shows up for a ride. But the Muslim cabbies say they will not carry someone who is carrying alcohol. So you get off the plane with your duty-free bottle of scotch you picked up at Heathrow, and no cab ride.

At first this story was reported as a few Muslim cab drivers. It now turns out the few is way, way more. Up to 80% of the cab drivers are Muslim-Somalis and they want to impose Sharia law on their passengers: no alcohol. Certainly no bottles of alcohol in the cab, and soon no alcohol in the passenger.

The Minneapolis Airport Authority insisted the Muslim cab drivers obey the law. But the cab drivers have now refused.

Jeez guys, give the gays a break. There's plenty of others to blame

Believers in nonsense unsurprisingly spout nonsense about the BBFC

I agree though with: "standards of human behaviour are being fatally eroded by constant subjection to suggestions and images promoting the exploitation of other human beings"...ie religion

From the Daily Mail

The Church of England yesterday warned that the spread of hard-core sex and violence in films is "fatally eroding" standards of behaviour.

It questioned the increasingly liberal decisions by film censors and accused them of allowing wider and younger audiences to see pornography and violence.

The Church called for new thinking about the effects of negative and degrading images on public safety.

The attempt to put pressure on film censors and broadcasters at the Church's parliament, the General Synod, follows efforts by senior bishops to defend marriage and to do more to uphold Christian beliefs. The Synod heard that "standards of human behaviour are being fatally eroded by constant subjection to suggestions and images promoting the exploitation of other human beings".

Church leaders named a series of films, including Destricted, 9 Songs, Baise-Moi, and Intimacy, which they said had been allowed a wide adult audience by being granted 18 certificates, but which in the past would have been restricted under R18 certificates to being shown in private clubs and to being sold on DVD in sex shops.

They blamed the BBFC for allowing such material to reach general audiences.

The Rev Richard Moy said: There have been numerous cases where defence barristers have asked judges to consider in mitigation that the defendant's actions were influenced by watching pornography. And yet the BBFC is making pornography easier to access by giving hardcore material 18 certificates. And material which previously would have been classified 18 is now being classified 15. And material previously classified as 15 is now classified as 12. How can we ask children and young people to behave in a socially responsible way if, through the media, we celebrate and revel in exploitation and abuse?

The Synod voted unanimously to condemn the exploitation of the humiliation of human beings for public entertainment.

A previous president at the BBFC, Andreas Whittam-Smith, who passed two of the criticised films - Baise-Moi and Intimacy, is now a senior Church official in charge of the its financial wing. He told the Synod that the films, however they were marred by their sexually explicit content, they had something to say. He said regulators felt bound to reflect what they believe is the public mood and added: It is only the Church's teaching . . . which can have an influence and change things.

Police question students about the ridicule of religious nonsense

From Index on Censorship
Spotted by MediawatchWatch
Magazine detailed at Harry's Place

The controversy over the publication of one of the now infamous Jyllands Posten Mohammed cartoons in a Cambridge University student publication has taken on a new seriousness, after two students were questioned under caution by Cambridgeshire police.

The students, understood to be the editor and guest editor of unofficial Clare College magazine Clareification (renamed Crucification for an issue focused on religious satire) were interrogated under Section 5 of the Public Order Act (“harassment, alarm or distress”).

Police confirmed to Index that the students were questioned last Friday, and a file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will decide whether to press charges against the students in the coming weeks.

The magazine, circulated for free among Clare students, contained several articles ridiculing religious belief, and the front-page headlines Katie Lin-O-Scopes more reliable than Bible (a reference to the magazine’s spoof horoscope column) and Ayatollah rethinks stance on “misunderstood” Rushdie.

The editorial stated ‘I hate Islam’. The Mohammed cartoon appeared on the back page, juxtaposed with a picture of Clare’s student president with the caption One is a prophet of God, a great leader and an example to us all. The other is a violent paedophile.

Earlier, Cambridge University had signalled that it considered the matter finished with. A spokesman for the university said the student who had guest-edited the publication had been disciplined, but that there was no prospect of him being sent down.

In support of Clareification and freedom to poke fun at nonsense

From The Guardian see full article, by Sue Blackmore

A Cambridge student is in hiding because he dared to print one of those infamous Danish cartoons and have a laugh at Islam's expense. Yet if offended Muslims want people to stop laughing at them, this latest incident will only have backfired.

OK it's offensive, and funny, and that's what satire is all about. But the magazine apparently provoked anger in Cambridge, with enraged students complaining in droves. A second-year student said these were some of the most offensive things I've ever seen. The president of the university's Islamic society said I found the magazine hugely offensive ... freedom of expression does not constitute a freedom to offend.

I say to him - oh yes it does, and you should be ashamed of yourself. You didn't have to read the magazine. You didn't have to spread the news about it. And you certainly didn't have to encourage other Muslims to believe that claiming to be offended gives them the right to stop the rest of us having a laugh. Yet you did so.

The freedom to laugh and poke fun at things we disagree with is fundamental to freedom of thought.

And freedom of thought is fundamental to education, scholarship, and learning - all the things that Cambridge University should be standing up for. Great thinkers and scientists are always offending people by overthrowing the dogmas and false beliefs of the past. People were offended at the thought that earth was not the centre of the universe; they were offended at the idea that mountains and rivers were created by natural processes; they were offended at the idea that species were not immutable and they were offended at the suggestion that we humans might be descended from apes. Happily, in the end the evidence overwhelmed them.

I hope the same will happen with these claims, and society as a whole will not let religious believers claim a right not to be offended. When I contacted the college the master told me that the student has not been reprimanded and the disciplinary process will determine whether he has infringed any regulations. I sincerely hope he has not and that the college will offer him and his magazine their support. The freedom to think, to argue, and to laugh at silly ideas must be allowed to flourish.