A school receptionist suspended after a row over her Christian faith is suing the school, its headmaster and the council for religious discrimination, The Daily Telegraph has disclosed.

Jennie Cain, who was told to stay away from her job for nearly four months before receiving a written warning over the affair, has lodged a complaint with Exeter employment tribunal.

She alleges that she and her five-year-old daughter were discriminated against and harassed because of their religion and that the school was anti-Christian.

Mrs Cain’s clash with Landscore Primary School, in Crediton, Devon, was first reported by The Daily Telegraph in February. She claimed her daughter Jasmine, who is a pupil at Landscore, had come home from school in tears after being told off by a teacher for talking to another pupil about Jesus, Heaven and God.

Cain then wrote an email she claimed was private to 10 close friends from her church to ask for prayers for her daughter and the school. The email was passed to Gary Read, headmaster of Landscore, who called the receptionist into his office and told her she was being investigated for alleged serious professional misconduct.

Read claimed Jasmine had been overheard frightening another girl about the prospect of 'going to hell' if she does not believe in God.

Cain said she was subsequently investigated by an internal panel and found guilty of serious misconduct. She she appealed and lost. She said the appeal panel reduced her penalty from a final written warning to a straight written warning and she returned to work in early June. However, Cain claims she has been victimised and harassed because of her faith since her return.

Life of Brian
28th March 2008

Two Monty Python stars will be at the first screening of their classic film Life of Brian in a town where it has not been seen since a ban 30 years ago.

Terry Jones and Michael Palin will join Aberystwyth mayor Sue Jones-Davies - who also starred in the 1979 film - at a charity showing on 28 March. Long before becoming mayor, she played Brian's girlfriend in the movie.

But she pledged to fight for the film to be shown when she found it had not been seen in the mid Wales town since.

Last July, Ms Jones-Davies said she was amazed a town like hers still barred a movie now regarded as a comedy classic.

It is understood some churchgoers in the seaside resort are still against the film being shown.

Ms Jones-Davies said she had been assured there was nothing standing in the way of showing Life of Brian in Aberystwyth in 2009: I talked to officials at the town council to check if it was appropriate to show the film and we thought, why not, the proceeds are going to charity. I then asked Terry if he would like to come to the screening and he said, 'shall I ask Michael?'. I said yes and then Michael agreed.

The two Pythons and the mayor will also hold a question and answer session with fans following a champagne reception and the film.

Tickets costing £25 are on sale now, but organisers said only 120 were available.

Ms Jones-Davies' chosen charity is Calon Ceredgion Nurse Appeal, which is part of British Heart Foundation Cymru. Terry Jones has chosen Truthout, a news agency dedicated to establishing a "powerful, stable voice" for independent journalism.

Blasphemy Day International is an international campaign seeking to establish September 30th as a national day to promote free speech and stand up in a show of solidarity for the freedom to mock and insult religion without fear of murder, violence, and reprisal.

It is the obligation of the world's nations to safeguard dissent and the dissenters, not to side with the brutal interests of thugs who demand respect for their beliefs (i.e., immunity to being criticized or mocked or they threaten violence).

So if you support free speech, and the rights of those who disagree with religious views to voice their opinions peacefully, support our group and join the cause!

Police in the violence-plagued Russian republic of Ingushetia say a bowling alley owner was shot to death by suspected Islamic extremists who oppose games and some other forms of entertainment.

Ingushetia, a predominantly Muslim region, sees near-daily attacks or clashes that authorities blame on insurgents inspired by the years of separatist fighting in neighboring Chechnya.

The Ingush Interior Ministry said the Wednesday night killing in the town of Karabulak was believed to be the work of fanatics who have also attacked owners of other entertainment facilities in recent months.

A contestant on Israel's version of the hit reality show Survivor has sparked outrage among the country's Arab population for naming his shoe 'Mohammed. while mocking a former contestant.

The incident comes a few days after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issued a public apology for a skit on another of the shows on Channel 10 television, in which a late night TV host joked that Jesus had been too fat to walk on water and that his mother Mary had not been a virgin.

A website affiliated with Channel 10, Nana10, carried a clip from the flagship show in which contestant Natan Beshevkin can be seen referring to his shoes as 'Nasrin' and 'Mohammed.' Nasrin was the name of an Israeli Arab contestant who was voted off early in the season, and who had clashed repeatedly on the show with Beshevkin.

The Nana10 clip has been linked on Israeli Arab websites, and printed in Arab newspapers, drawing harsh responses from Israel's Arab and Islamic community leaders.

Laemaker Sheikh Ibrahim Tzarzur called the clip a degrading and ugly campaign against the Prophet Mohammed. He accused Channel 10 of organizing a campaign against Islam and Christianity and of playing with fire.

Update: A Tad Hypocritical?

27th February 2009. See article from todayszaman.com

Whilst Israel is having a good knock at other cultures it is interesting to note that they get a bit uppity when they are on the receiving end and are portrayed as baddies.

A popular but controversial Turkish television series, Kurtlar Vadisi (Valley of the Wolves), being aired on the United Arab Emirates-based Abu Dhabi TV station has sparked interest in Israeli media.

The Jerusalem Post reported that a clip of the miniseries was aired on Israel's Channel 2 TV news: A new Turkish television miniseries being broadcast throughout the Arab world depicts Israel supporting the Turkish mafia to spread prostitution and drugs throughout the country.

The Indonesian Constitutional Court has rejected an appeal by religious groups, students and a North Sulawesi Province youth organization to review the controversial antipornography law.

However, the rejection was made on trumped technical grounds and a future court hearing was not ruled out.

The plaintiff’s demand is unclear, as they are not citing the content of the antipornography law, but instead that of the antipornography bill, judge Akil Mochtar said.

Also the group would have to reconsider grouping themselves under the name of the Ethnic Law Union of North Sulawesi because, Akil said, the group did not meet the requirements to represent the province’s ethnic groups.

To add to the group’s headache, their legal standing also was questioned by the court: It is not clear whether the plaintiffs have proposed the judicial review as individuals or as representatives of ethnic law, said Abdul Mukthie Fadjar, another judge. Mukhtie said that if the group claimed itself to be an ethnic law union, it needed to provide written proof from the organizations it named.

The Malaysian government has softened an earlier ban on the use of the word 'Allah' by Christian publications to refer to God and is allowing them to use it as long as they specify the material is not for Muslims, a church official said.

The government had earlier argued that the use of Allah in Christian texts might confuse Muslims, who might think Allah refers to their God.

The revised order was issued Feb. 16 by Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar, said the Rev. Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Herald, the Roman Catholic Church's main newspaper in Malaysia. He said the publication has already started printing For Christianity on its cover.

The Herald publishes weekly in English, Mandarin, Tamil and Malay with an estimated readership of 50,000. The ban on 'Allah' concerns mainly the Malay edition, which is read mostly by indigenous Christian tribes in the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak. The other three editions usually do not use the word 'Allah'.

Politicians in Brent are calling for the resignation of a councillor after he advocated the introduction of Sharia law for British Muslims on a website, including the death penalty for women who commit adultery.

Councillor Atiq Malik, (Not So Democratic Conservative Group), wrote two blogs, one on the UK Polling Report website and one on the Conservative Home website. Both read:

If Muslims living in the UK are happy that disputes be decided by Sharia courts then what?

The reason why male gets more share than women is that male members of the family have the responsibility to provide living expenses to female members of the family.

If an unmarried woman has an affair she is lashed 100 times. If a married woman has an affair she is stoned to death. What is wrong in it?

Politicians from different parties have been outraged by the remarks and believe he should step down from his post.

Councillor Ann John, leader of the Labour group, said: I was pretty shocked and I don't think he is fit to hold office. He should resign. He should be challenging his religion. It is disgusting.

To think that whipping and stoning women to death is okay is appalling. We live in a liberal and democratic society but we still have a long way to go. Saying that this is acceptable whether here or anywhere else is not right.

Councillor Bob Blackman, leader of Conservative group, said: We live in the UK and our system of law works well for us. We can tolerate people having different views but such extremism renders him unfit to be a politician. These comments confirm the wisdom of the group to expel him and if the group had not already told him to leave then it would do now.

The Amnesty and Pardon Committee of Iran’s Judiciary has rejected the request by its chief, Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, regarding the pardon for a woman sentenced to death by stoning, and instead emphasized that the sentence must be carried out.

According to Iran’s Labor News Agency, ILNA, Ashraf K. was arrested on charges of adultery and complicity to commit murder in 2001, and one year later she was sentenced to stoning and 15 years imprisonment. Five years later, Shahroudi recommended that the stoning sentence be suspended and that instead she should serve the 15 year sentence.

In an interview with BBC Persian Service, Shadi Sadr, Ashraf K.’s defense attorney, said that the Amnesty and Pardon Committee of the Judiciary rejected Shahroudi’s recommendation after two years, and voted for the stoning to be carried out, and that this has increased the likelihood that this sentence would be carried out.

A pocket-size translation of the Quran has already landed six men in prison in Afghanistan and left two of them begging judges to spare their lives. They're accused of modifying the Quran and their fate could be decided Sunday in court.

The book appeared among gifts left for the cleric at a major Kabul mosque after Friday prayers in September 2007. It was a translation of the Quran into one of Afghanistan's languages, with a note giving permission to reprint the text as long as it was distributed for free.

Some of the men of the mosque said the book would be useful to Afghans who didn't know Arabic, so they took up a collection for printing. The mosque's cleric asked Ahmad Ghaws Zalmai, a longtime friend, to get the books printed.

But as some of the 1,000 copies made their way to conservative Muslim clerics in Kabul, whispers began, then an outcry. Many clerics rejected the book because it did not include the original Arabic verses alongside the translation. It's a particularly sensitive detail for Muslims, who regard the Arabic Quran as words given directly by God. A translation is not considered a Quran itself, and a mistranslation could warp God's word. Translated editions of the Quran abound in Kabul markets, but they include Arabic verses.

The country's powerful Islamic council issued an edict condemning the book. Police arrested Zalmai as he was fleeing to Pakistan, along with three other men the government says were trying to help him escape. The publisher and the mosque's cleric, who signed a letter endorsing the book, were also jailed.

Afghanistan's court system appears to be stacked against those accused of religious crimes. Judges don't want to seem soft on potential heretics and lawyers don't want to be seen defending them, said Afzal Shurmach Nooristani, whose Afghan Legal Aid group is defending Zalmai.

The publisher was originally sentenced to five years in prison. Zalmai and the cleric were sentenced to 20, and now the prosecutor is demanding the death penalty for the two as a judge hears appeals.

Judges are also likely to err on the hard line side, they are so nervous about annoying the Ulema council and being criticized that they tend to push the Islamic cases aside and just defer to what others say," said John Dempsey, a legal expert with the U.S. Institute of Peace in Kabul. Deferring to the council means that edicts issued by the group of clerics can influence rulings more than laws on the books or a judge's own interpretation of Shariah law, he said.

Update: Unappealing Islam

26th February 2009. See article from thecuttingedgenews.com

On February 15, Zalmai and his cleric friend were in court to hear their fate in an appeals court. Though they barely escaped the death penalty, the three-judge panel upheld a lower court sentence of 20 years in prison for each man.

When reading out the sentence, the chief judge reiterated that under Islamic Shariah law, He who commits such an act is an infidel and should be killed.

For many years censorship has been an everyday reality for the millions of expatriates living in the UAE; with books, newspaper output, and Internet access all being heavily restricted.

At the heart of the system is the National Media Council — an unfortunate remnant of the UAE’s old Ministry of Information and Culture. The NMC claims that it has become more tolerant and now only censors books that offend Islam or are pornographic. However there is little doubt that it still actively bans a wide range of books, or — more accurately — simply avoids providing the necessary approval to willing distributors. The US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor reports on the UAE confirm this view, regularly detailing banned publications in the UAE. The NMC’s other responsibilities include the blacking out of nudity in media output (still done by using black felt tip on newspaper and magazine articles), and running a department for external information, which keeps a close eye on UAE-related content in foreign publications and seeks to limit the output of certain writers.

...Read full article

Police revealed the decapitated wife of a Muslim TV network founder in New York was stabbed several times with hunting knives and may have been alive as her killer beheaded her.

As WND previously reported, Muzzammil Hassan who has been charged with beheading his wife, Aasiya Hassan was the recipient of an award from the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations, the self-described Muslim civil rights group that boasts of its influence on U.S. government policy.

Hassan is accused of cutting off his wife's head at his Buffalo, N.Y., station Feb. 12. However, sources have now confirmed that the woman was gouged with hunting knives before she was decapitated, the Buffalo News reports.

The victim's lawyer said Aasiya, a Pakistani national, filed for divorce after numerous incidents of domestic violence. She cited cruel and inhuman treatment as reason for the dissolution.

Background: Is there any special significance to beheading in Islam?

See article from slate.com

A Muslim man was accused of beheading his wife last week in Buffalo. In recent years, Islamic terrorist groups have made a common practice of decapitating their political and religious enemies and broadcasting the acts in gory videos. Is there any significance to beheading in Islam?

The Alternative Christmas Message
Channel 4, 25 December 2008, 19:15

The Alternative Christmas Message was an address to the UK audience by President Ahmadinejad of Iran. It was the latest of such annual messages which have been broadcast by Channel 4 over the years. Ofcom received 295 complaints concerning the programme. It featured a seven-minute address from the Iranian President, preceded by a short film that gave a commentary on controversial political and social issues relating to Iran and President Ahmadinejad.

The complainants considered it offensive and inappropriate for airtime to be given to President Ahmadinejad, known for his controversial views and policies on issues such as the Holocaust, women, and homosexuals. Some complainants believed it was especially insulting for such a programme to be broadcast on Christmas Day.

In his address, President Ahmadinejad stated that, in his view, the problems of humanity could be linked to the indifference of people and governments to the teachings of the various prophets of the Abrahamic faiths, including Jesus Christ. He added his view that, if Jesus Christ were alive today, he would be against warmongering, terrorism, and what President Ahmadinejad termed the tyrannical policies of prevailing global, economic and political systems. We believe Jesus Christ will return along with one of the children of the revered messenger of Islam and will lead the world to love, brotherhood and justice. The responsibility of all followers of Christ and Abrahamic faiths is to prepare the way for the fulfilment of this divine promise and the arrival of that joyful, shining and wonderful age.

Ofcom considered Rule 2.3 of the Code (material that may cause offence must be justified by the context).

Ofcom Decision

Ofcom recognises that, at times, offence can be caused not by the actual content of a programme but by the very fact that people with controversial views are given airtime. Any potential offence in these circumstances can be exacerbated if viewers or listeners consider that such contributors’ views are not properly challenged or contextualised.

Ofcom acknowledged that this programme, taken in its entirety, would have been challenging and upsetting to a number of people. However, in judging whether the offence caused represented a breach of the Code, Ofcom must take into account the broadcaster’s right to freedom of expression, which includes the right to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority. The Code places no restrictions on the subjects covered by broadcasters, the manner in which such subjects are treated, the contributors used, or the day or time they are broadcast, so long as offensive material that is broadcast is justified by the context.

Whilst President Ahmadinejad gave what was an unmediated address to camera, Ofcom noted that this was importantly preceded by a short report, summarising the controversial issues and events which have been connected to him and his presidency. For example, Ofcom noted the following commentary in this segment of the programme:

Ofcom considered that President Ahmadinejad’s contribution was put in sufficient context by the preceding commentary, which furnished the audience with useful background information on this particular contributor. Further, the actual content of his address could be described as non-confrontational, comprising as it did, a message of good will to the UK audience.

We therefore believe that the large majority of the audience would, in general, have not considered the material to be beyond what would normally be expected from this programme on this particular channel, the broadcast of this potentially offensive material was justified by the context.

Therefore, the programme was not in breach of Rule 2.3.

Republican Senator Jon Kyl is hosting a film screening at the Capitol building in Washington for a the controversial Right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders

Kyl agreed to facilitate the event because all too often, people who have the courage to point out the dangers of militant Islamists find themselves vilified and endangered, said Ryan Patmintra, his spokesman.

Thursday's event was being sponsored by the International Free Press Society, headed by Lars Hedegaard, the Danish activist, and the Center for Security Policy, a think tank in Washington led by Republican Frank Gaffney.

The event is closed to the public and the media, but the film is being screened to members of Congress and their staff.

It has incestuous, pig-breeding, drunken Irishmen, snooty Frenchmen, farcical Jewish anarchists and the animated presence of a mad mullah ranting about how women must be subservient to men.

It reminded the Daily Telegraph of the Carry On films and the London Evening Standard of the slick, cruel, abusive style that Bernard Manning perfected ages ago.

Its director and writer may well have anticipated controversy, but shortly after opening at the National Theatre, England People Very Nice, a new play by the award-winning dramatist Richard Bean about successive waves of immigration to the east end of London, has been labelled racist and offensive by the communities it portrays.

A delegation of writers and community activists from the East End will meet on Friday with Nicholas Hytner, the National's director who is also directing the play, to protest against what they regard as a caricature of Britain's racial history.

The National represents modern Britain, and in particular London, and I don't see how Muslims can identify with the National Theatre when it puts on this kind of racist work, Hussain Ismail, a playwright from Bethnal Green who has demanded the meeting with Hytner, told the Guardian: I have been going to the National for 20 years, but I don't see how I can identify with a place that stages what I see as a personal attack on me and the community I belong to.

Hytner said in a statement: The play lampoons all forms of stereotyping: it is a boisterous satire of stereotypes of French, Irish, Jews, Bangladeshis, white East End cockneys, Hampstead liberals and many others. Every stereotype is placed in the context of its opposite and it clearly sets out to demonstrate that all forms of racism are equally ridiculous.

Bean's comedy, set around the Brick Lane area of east London, spans more than three centuries, from the arrival of Huguenot weavers to successive influxes of Irish, eastern European Jews and Bangladeshi Muslims. Each wave is greeted with hostility and suspicion with locals, only to integrate to such an extent that they themselves take a similar attitude to the next wave of newcomers.

Update: Multicultural Censors Organise Protest

24th February. Based on article from islamophobia-watch.com

Artists from the East End will be holding a protest outside the National Theatre at 5pm on Friday 27th February in the run up to the platform discussion at 6pm with Richard Bean, the writer of the play.

Playwright Hussain Ismail, who will be leading the campaign, said: Hytner is scared of a debate. We are from the East End and we know that it is the most multicultural place in the world. Brick Lane in particular is the centre of the multicultural universe. It's the coolest place on the earth and that's why people come from all over the world to hang out there. Bean and Hytner haven't got a clue about the East End. That's why the play is bonkers!

We want a right of reply ­ a proper debate ­ not a 40 minute platform discussion where the director just asks some bland questions to the writer and we all go home. We want a vigorous and robust debate with Bean and Hytner and us on the same platform with the media and public present on mass.

Organisers of the protest are asking everybody to come celebrate multicultural London and demand that East End artists have the right to a debate, and challenge misrepresentation of their communities. They are asking protesters to bring whistles and drums to stand up for multiculturalism.

A new helpline to help victims of forced marriage and honour based violence is already receiving calls.
Northumbria Police have joined up with the Cleveland and Durham forces to provide a 24-hour confidential crisis helpline CHOICE for victims of honour based violence and forced marriages.

Forced marriages are recognised by the government as a human rights abuse, and honour-based violence can include serious crimes such as assault, kidnap, and even murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Max Black, from the public protection unit, said: We fully understand the problems and very difficult choices facing people who are being forced into marriage or who have been subjected to or fear honour based violence. It is for this reason that we joined Durham and Cleveland Police Forces in operating the CHOICE helpline on 0800 5999365 which is answered by specially trained staff within our Communications Department.

The Helpline became active in December and already a number of calls have been received.

All Northumbria Police officers and staff have received training in recognising and dealing with instances of honour based violence and forced marriage to ensure that the safety of victims and witnesses are paramount and that any offences are fully investigated.

Each incident reported to police will be dealt with by specially trained investigators based within the six Public Protection Units in each area command.

The helpline number for anyone who fears they may be at risk of honour-based violence or forced marriage, or people calling on their behalf, is 0800 5999365.

A new wave of violence has erupted in Nigeria as Muslims and Christians battled in the northern Bauchi state.

The latest incident saw Muslims attacking Christian places of worship after two mosques were set on fire. The Muslims blamed this on the local Christian population.

Local sources suggest that this latest outbreak of violence, following riots in November, began when members of a Pentecostal church barricaded an approach to a mosque during Friday prayers. But some said the blockage was due to a broken-down truck, which blocked the passage of Muslim worshippers.

Government officials are concerned about the rising tensions after hundreds were killed last November in Jos in similar violence. Tensions in the region have been high for years and were exacerbated after several states in the north of Nigeria adopted Sharia law.

See article from christianpost.com

Sectarian violence in northern Nigeria this past weekend left at least 11 people dead, police and Red Cross officials said.

Violence broke out Saturday when Muslim youths attacked Christians and burned churches in Bauchi state, according to Agence France Presse. In total, six churches and about a dozen houses were torched, Red Cross officials said.

The conflict also left nearly 40 people injured.

The chairman of the British Home Affairs Select Committee, Keith Vaz, was among the top decision makers who, last week, bravely denied Geert "Fitna" Wilders the right to open his mouth anywhere on U.K. soil.

It's painful to watch Vaz pretending to misunderstand what free speech means, but even more gobsmacking to hear him admit, below, that he hasn't seen the film that he's deemed so hateful that its Dutch maker must be banned from England.

The co-host of BBC Newsnight, Kirsty Wark, is momentarily speechless. You're chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee ... it's fourteen minutes long ... and you haven't seen it? Vaz splutters that he's had more important things to do than go a private screening of Fitna at the House of Lords — willfully oblivious to the fact that the short film has been streaming on thousands of websites, including mine, for almost a year.

In the slightly intemperate words of Pickled Politics, He then proceeds to self-destruct in a thunderous self-inflicted detonation, causing blood, sperm and liquid bullshit dripping off the studio furniture. Leaving the other protagonists in the discussion to carry on with the semblance of a conversation, while the fulminated entrails of Vaz's credibility twitched involuntarily around them.

A British mother convicted of adultery in Dubai has been taken to jail to start her three-month sentence after an emotional parting with her two young children.

A friend said Marnie Pearce was hysterical when she had to hand over her two sons to her former husband. She fears Ihab El-Labban, an Egyptian, will leave the country with Latih, seven, and Ziad, four, and she will never see them again.

Her former husband was present at the arranged meeting and took charge of their sons.

Pearce, originally from Bracknell, Berkshire, was accused of adultery – an offence under Dubai law – four months after their marriage had broken down. In November, she was convicted of adultery and sentenced to six months in jail. In January, the Emirate's Appeal Court upheld her conviction but reduced her sentence to three months. The court also fined her 3,000 dirhams (£600) and ordered her to be deported after she completes her sentence.

Update: Jailed

19th March 2009. See article from news.bbc.co.uk

A British mother jailed for adultery in Dubai has lost a second appeal and will stay in prison. Marnie Pearce hoped to be freed but will have to serve the rest of a three month term. It had been reduced from six months at her first appeal.

She will be deported on her release and fears she will lose custody of her two young children.

Pearce says her ex-husband accused her of adultery to gain custody of their two children.

Update: Custody Lost

25th March. See article from guardian.co.uk

A British mother who was jailed in Dubai for adultery today lost custody of her two children, a friend of hers said. Marnie Pearc has not seen her sons – Laith, seven, and Ziad, four – since she was imprisoned in the Arab emirate last month.

A family court in Dubai ruled that she would lose custody of her two sons, who will stay with their Egyptian father. The supply teacher, originally from Bracknell in Berkshire, was found guilty of adultery by a Dubai court in November after her former husband, Ihab el-Labban, accused her of cheating on him.

Her friend Sandy Norman said today's family court hearing in Dubai was a done deal. She said: As she was found guilty of adultery, it makes her an unfit mother. To my knowledge, no woman has won custody of her children in Dubai. It will be down to Marnie now to seek whatever custody rights from the UK when she returns.

Human rights group Amnesty International has called for her immediate and unconditional release, describing her as a prisoner of conscience. It argues that, regardless of claims against her, consenting sex between adults is not criminal matter.

Update: To Be Freed

26th April 2009. See article from dailymail.co.uk

A British woman jailed in Dubai for adultery is to be released – several weeks before the end of her three-month sentence.

In a U-turn by officials, Marnie Pearce has also been told that the order for her immediate deportation has been suspended, so she can stay in the country to fight for custody of her two young sons.

It is believed the Dubai judiciary agreed to review the deportation after a series of meetings with Foreign Office staff last week.

Update: Freed

28th April 2009. See article from news.bbc.co.uk

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) confirmed Ms Pearce left the Dubai jail where she had been held, on Monday morning.

Update: Access

16th August 2009. See article from dailymail.co.uk

Beaming and hugging her young sons, this is the moment Marnie Pearce had prayed for. The Briton, who was jailed for adultery in Dubai, had not seen Ziad, five, and Laith, eight, for almost six months. But all that changed on Tuesday when they were reunited for the day after she won a desperate fight for access.

The decision giving her limited weekly access is the best she could have hoped for. Under sharia law, a woman convicted of adultery loses all child custody rights.

A 12-year-old Jehovah's Witness girl has received a life-saving blood transfusion that she did not want after a Johannesburg High Court order gave doctors the go-ahead.

The girl, who suffers from leukaemia, was admitted to Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital. Despite being told that a blood transfusion was needed to save her life, the girl and her parents refused to consent to the procedure.

The Gauteng Department of Health said doctors consulted the girl's parents and church elders to explain the need for the transfusion. When their explanations were rejected, they brought an urgent application before the High Court.

The court order was issued on the same day, and the girl was given a transfusion immediately. The girl is doing well.

SA Human Rights Commission chairperson Jody Kollapen said that in such cases, the right to life took precedence over the right to religion. He said adults were regarded as fit to make informed decisions about their own bodies, but in the case of a child, state intervention was sometimes necessary.

Update: Bloody Battle in Court

Thanks to Alan
27th February 2009. See article from connpost.com

A Jehovah's Witness being treated at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgetown, Connecticut was administered a blood transfusion despite his explicit request not to be given that procedure, which violates his religious beliefs.

Hospital officials admit that Andrew Geye was given a transfusion last year, and apologized.

Geyer is not placated, however, and filed suit against St. Vincent's, claiming he fears he may contract a blood-borne illness.

St. Vincent's promptly apologized to Mr. Geyer and made immediate improvements to its procedures to prevent this from happening to anyone else, said Noreen McNicholas, director of marketing for the hospital: There was a proper medical reason for the transfusion, but we acknowledge the patient should not have received it because of his beliefs. The blood supply is very safe, but we are confident that a patient's wishes concerning blood transfusions will be honored.

In the lawsuit Geyer filed in Superior Court, he said he has suffered extreme emotional and physical trauma as a result of the transfusion. In addition to the transfusion being a violation of his beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness, Geyer said he is concerned that he might contract a serious illness in the future as a result of the treatment, the lawsuit states.

A short 10 minute play, Seven Jewish Children - A Play for Gaza, written by Caryl Churchill in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and examining the history of Israel, was performed at Royal Court.

67 members of the jewish ccommunity complained:

The play Seven Jewish Children at the Royal Court demonises Israelis by reinforcing false stereotypes. It portrays Israeli parents as inhuman triumphalists who care little about anything except their children’s feelings, and who teach them that Arabs are sub-human and must be hated.

It is historically inaccurate. It fails to say that the Six Day War was a defensive war, following which Israel offered to return virtually all the land it had gained, in return for peace. It excises from history the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, and ignores the more than 6,000 rockets, launched with the sole aim of the indiscriminate killing of Israelis.

In staging this play, and releasing it for free performance anywhere, the Royal Court is being unbalanced in its favours.

Our regret at the decision to show Seven Jewish Children should not be taken as opposition to free speech in the theatre – which is vital. However, we are at a loss to understand how the decision accords with the comment by the associate director of the Royal Court that he would be reluctant to stage a play critical of Islam.

Opinion: Selective bravery is not very brave

See article from guardian.co.uk  ny Jonathan Romain

This [complaint] touches on two sensitivities far beyond the play itself. The first is the right to publicise what others regard as misinformation. I believe that right does exist. I may not want to see the play. I may warn others about it. I may even stand outside and distribute pamphlets exposing its errors to those about to go inside. But I will not back calls for it to be banned. If the price of free speech is being enraged by the venom or stupidity of others, that is a fury worth enduring.

The second issue is whether the Royal Court holds that same view. Ramin Gray, its associate director, has admitted that he would be hesitant to stage a play critical of Islam. How can that possibly be justified? If he is fearless to attack aspects of one country or one faith, then surely all the others should be open to the same critique. Selective bravery is not very brave.

This is a principle that should apply equally across the religious spectrum. It is why it was right for Jerry Springer the Opera to be shown on BBC despite the (equally permissable) protests of some Christians. This is also why it was wrong for the play about Sikh life – Bezhti – to be withdrawn from the Birmingham Repertory Theatre after pressure from Sikhs. Why can the church be exposed to challenge and not the Gurdwara?

Assuming that Ramin Gray is an honourable person (as I am happy to do) and that he is not guilty of hypocrisy by favouring the mosque over the synagogue, there can be only one explanation for his reluctance: fear.

Presumably it is not fear of letters in the Daily Telegraph or peaceful distribution of leaflets outside his theatre, but of violent attack.

If so, is this based on his fantasies or does it reflect realistic expectations of how the Muslim community would behave? If the former, then that is hardly justification; if the latter, then it is a perception, or misperception, about which Muslim leaders should be alarmed, for it does the image of Islam no favours.

...Read full article

A book festival in the Middle East that claims to celebrate the world of books in all its infinite variety has banned a British author because her novel contains references to homosexuality.

The first International Festival of Literature in Dubai promises that it will be relaxed, vibrant and diverse.

One author has found otherwise. Geraldine Bedell's book The Gulf Between Us was greeted with enthusiasm by organisers because of its setting in the Middle East, but the mood changed swiftly when they discovered a gay character.

Isobel Abulhoul, director of the festival, wrote to Ms Bedell to tell her that she was not invited. I do not want our festival remembered for the launch of a controversial book. If we launched the book and a journalist happened to read it, then you could imagine the political fallout that would follow.

She explained that the book was unsuitable because one of the characters was a gay sheikh with an English boyfriend and the plot was set against the background of the Iraq War which could be a minefield for us.

Ms Bedell, who has lived in the Gulf, told The Times that the book has since been banned from sale in Dubai and the rest of the United Arab Emirates.

Giles Foden, who also plans to attend, said: I've never heard of this happening at other literary festivals, though there is an interesting comparison with that Dutch MP not being allowed to come here, which shows that Britain is not above barring entry to people because of what they say or write.

Jonathan Heawood, director of English PEN, the writers' association, said: Great literary festivals, like great literature, provide amazing opportunities for cultural exchange, which we need now more than ever. A literary festival which bars books because of their gay or religious content is neither literary, nor a festival. I hope that the organisers will reconsider.

Update: A festival that shuts its doors to anything mildly controversial isn’t really worthy of the name.

19th February 2009. See article from independent.co.uk

The Canadian novelist and former Booker Prize winner Margaret Atwood is pulling out of the Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature after a fellow writer was blacklisted for offending cultural sensitivities.

Atwood, a vice-president of the writers’ group International PEN, has infuriated organisers of the literary festival by posting a letter of protest on her website. I was greatly looking forward to the festival, the letter reads, and to the chance to meet readers there; but, as an international vice-president of PEN – an organisation concerned with the censorship of writers – I cannot be part of the festival this year.

Her boycott was reinforced with protests from other writers threatening to pull out. The children’s author Anthony Horowitz has written to festival organisers expressing deep concern.

The festival director, Isobel Abulhoul, issued a statement in which she said: I knew that her work could offend certain cultural sensitivities. I did not believe that it was in the festival’s long term interests to acquiesce to her publisher’s request to launch the book at the first festival of this nature in the Middle East.

Other writers may be emboldened to join Atwood in boycotting the event by the words of Jonathan Heawood, the director of English PEN: The idea of a literary festival is cultural exchange through literature. A festival that shuts its doors to anything mildly controversial isn’t really worthy of the name. Ultimately it is up to individual writers, but I applaud any others who follow Atwood’s example.

Update: Ban Over-Hyped

21st February 2009. See article from guardian.co.uk

In a remarkable intervention into an already murky mess, Atwood in the Guardian today declares that she regrets withdrawing from the festival, and did so having been wrongfully led to believe that a book by the Observer journalist Geraldine Bedell had been banned both from the festival and the Emirates themselves.

Writing exclusively in today's Guardian Review, the author suggests that she was "stampeded" into a misconception by a publicity campaign for Bedell's book, berates Bedell for using the word "ban", and declares she has been left with egg all over my face.

Update: Let's Discuss It

22nd February 2009. See article from google.com

The organisers of the first-ever international Dubai literary festival announced on Saturday they will host a debate on censorship, after a row last week over censorship and freedom of speech.

The debate next Saturday will include a panel of international writers who will discuss the issues of censorship and cultural misconceptions about the acceptable limits of freedom of expression. It is a joint venture between EAIFL and PEN, the literary anti-censorship organisation, of which Atwood is vice-president.

According to English-language daily The National, the decision to stage the debate followed pressures on the festival's organisers for excluding Bedell's book.

Head of the National Media Council Ibrahim al-Abed said the book had never been banned: It's not our policy to ban any book, unless it's crude pornography or its contemptuous of religion. [sounds like an awful lot of books to me, especially knowing how easily offended people are in the region].

An Iranian man who was sentenced to death by stoning after he was found guilty of having illicit relations with a teenage girl has been hanged.

Abdullah Fareivar, a 50-year-old music teacher, was hanged on Thursday in a prison in the northern town of Sari.

It said Fareivar was sentenced to death despite his family saying his relations with the 17-year-old girl were not illicit as he had entered into a contract marriage with her and that his first wife was aware of it.

Fitna was shown in Rome and Wilders was present proving that Italy is a much more free society than Great Britain which constrains and cajoles in the name of the intolerant New Labour creed that tolerates no dissent from its worldview.

The event in Rome took place in an environment of massive security with the Italian army and the Caribinari securing the immediate vicinity of the conference.

Catholic bishops in the Holy Land have expressed outrage over what they call repulsive attacks on Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary after an Israeli TV program spoofed them.

We, the members of the Assembly of the Catholic Bishops in the Holy Land deplore and condemn with utter dismay the repulsive attacks on our lord Jesus Christ and on his mother, the blessed Virgin Mary, carried out on Channel 10 of the Israeli television, the group said in a statement.

Earlier this week, the private channel broadcast a series of skits, one of which suggested the Virgin Mary was impregnated at the age of 15 by a school friend. Another said Jesus died at a young age because he was fat and that his excess weight would have made it impossible for him to walk on water.

In the program, Israeli comedian Yair Shlein joked that since Christians deny the Holocaust, then I want to deny Christianity. Following protests, he later apologised to Arab Israeli Christian dignitaries.

The bishops said they viewed this recent incident in the larger context of continuous attacks against Christians throughout Israel over the years and urged authorities to launch an investigation.

Update: Patriarchs Chew the Fat

26th February 2009. See article from religiousintelligence.co.uk

Patriarchs Ignatius IV Hazim of Antioch and all the East for Greek Orthodox, Zakka I Iwas of Antioch and all the East for Syriac Orthodox and Gregory III Laham of Antioch and all the East for Greek Catholic have condemned the Israeli media for causing offence to Christian religious symbols, denouncing the offence of supreme religious values.

A group of young Indian women plan to send pink knickers to a Hindu radical organisation that attacked female students in a pub last month and is also threatening to target unmarried couples celebrating Valentine’s Day.

The Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women – which had more than 10,000 members by last night – is urging Indian women to defy the radicals by enjoying a drink at their nearest pub on Saturday.

Their website states:

Beliefs & Causes

Join Us on February 14, Valentine's Day, the day in which Indian women's virginity and honour will self-destruct unless they marry or tie a rakhi. Walk to the nearest pub and buy a drink. Raise a toast to the Sri Ram Sena

The group was founded on Face-book last week in protest at the Sri Ram Sena (Lord Ram’s Army), which assaulted several young women last month in a pub in Mangalore, a college town in the southern state of Karnataka.

Pramod Mutalik, the SRS leader, said at the time that his followers were custodians of Indian culture who had prevented the women at the pub from going astray.

That prompted outrage from women’s rights activists and stirred a national debate about culturally acceptable behaviour for women in a society that is changing but still deeply conservative.

Mutalik was arrested but has been bailed. He has vowed to force unmarried couples found together on Valentine’s Day to either get married or to tie rakhis – string bracelets – on their wrists signifying that they are brother and sister.

The consortium responded by asking supporters to send in pinkchaddi– Hindi slang for underwear – which it will post to the SRS on Friday.

Nisha Susan a journalist from Karnataka, told The Times that she started the group after reading about the attack in Mangalore and the subsequent threats by the SRS.

Renuka Chowdhury, the Minister for Women, denounced the attack in Mangalore as a symptom of the Talibanisation of India, where Hindu radicals have also protested against kissing in Bollywood films and cheerleaders at cricket matches.

There was no comment from Mutalik, but he has made it clear that he will continue his campaign against Western deviations from Indian culture: Valentine’s Day is definitely not Indian culture. We will not allow celebration of that day in any form.

Update: Bullies are Pants

21st February 2009. See article from guardian.co.uk

Fed up with moral policing by radical Hindu groups who had attacked women in pubs and targeted unmarried couples celebrating Valentine's Day, a group of women decided to fight back – with pink knickers.

The result was a remarkably successful dirty dissent. Not only did 40,000 items of rose-tinted underwear, much of it apparently unwashed, end up flooding the offices of the Sri Ram Sena (Lord Ram's Army), the non-violent act defused much of the tension surrounding the acts of vigilantism by self-appointed guardians of Indian culture.

Spearheading the new movement is A Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women, a group of young female journalists, lawyers and academics, who began with a Facebook group protesting at the attacks on several young women last month in a pub in Mangalore, a university town in the southern state of Karnataka. Yesterday it had nearly 50,000 members.

On the other side of the ideological divide, the Sri Ram Sena is licking its wounds. Its chief mentor, Pramod Mutalik, was arrested on Valentine's Day and government ministers publicly rebuked him for wanting to Talibanise the country.

However the Sri Ram Sena say they will not stop saving Indian culture. We say we use clinical violence which will have a healing effect on society, said Vinay Singh, national secretary of the SRS. We welcome any legal challenges. We say Valentine's Day is just propaganda for the market. We say pub culture is ruining our country. Let them send us chaddis. We will wear them.

The fundamentalist US family church notorious for picketing the funerals of dead soldiers plans to carry out its first protest in Britain this week.

Followers of the virulently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church have threatened to picket a sixth form college in Basingstoke, Hampshire during a staging of The Laramie Project, a play about an American youth murdered because of his sexuality.

The 'church' from Topeka, Kansas is mainly composed of relatives of the founder, pastor Fred Phelps, who style themselves the most hated family in America.

Their core belief – that God will punish the West for its acceptance of homosexuality – has seen them protest at dozens of servicemen's funerals brandishing garish placards stating God hates the USA and Thank God for dead soldiers.

Details of the church's first picket in Britain was posted on their website with the slogan God Hates England; Your Queen Is A Whore.

Some of the best Bible preaching in the history of the world came out of that dark dismal land, but now it is full of all abominations, the notice read: God will shortly destroy the UK and the world, but not until they have got the plain, clear message so that they will be without excuse.

The target of Friday evening's demonstration will be the Central Studio arts venue at Queen Mary's College, where local gay group Freedom Youth is staging a small production of the The Laramie Project this week. The play, which has roused the ire of Westboro followers in the past, tells the story of Matthew Shepard, a gay teenager tortured and murdered in small town America in 1998.

Maria Miller, Conservative MP for Basingstoke, said that she had contacted the Home Secretary to see what action the Government may be considering in relation to possible attempts by the Phelps family to enter the country.

She condemned the church's highly inflammatory language and behaviour and said the young people who had worked on the play would not be intimidated by threats.

Members of Anonymous, the nebulous online community that has previously organised protests against the Church of Scientology, are already planning counter-demonstrations outside the college on Friday, posts on internet message boards indicate.

Update: Phelps Banned from Britain

20th February 2009.  See article from guardian.co.uk

A homophobic American cleric who runs a website called God Hates Fags and was allegedly planning to picket a play showing in the UK has been banned from Britain by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith.

Fred Phelps had vowed to come to Britain with his daughter, Shirley, to picket a school play in Basingstoke.

There was no evidence that the Phelps family, who tour the US spreading their message and have expressed a wish to come to Britain to preach at Speakers' Corner in London, had made arrangements to carry out their threat of picketing the play, but the Home Office said Phelps and other members of his family would be banned from entry if they arrived.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: The home secretary has excluded both Fred Phelps and his daughter from the UK. Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a number of communities.

The government has made it clear it opposes extremism in all its forms. We will continue to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country … regardless of their opinions and beliefs.

Anjem Choudary

Muslim preacher Anjem Choudary has called for people who drink alcohol to be flogged.

The lawyer, who recently praised the Mumbai terror attacks, said anyone becoming intoxicated by alcohol should be given 40 lashes in public. He claimed alcohol was the root of all evil.

Choudary used the plight of George Best, the former Manchester United footballer who died aged 59 in 2005 after a long battle with alcoholism, to illustrate why it must be outlawed.

He wrote on his website: Under Islam, all harmful intoxicants will be banned unequivocally, regardless of their classification or their profitability in retail marketing.

Islam additionally imposes 40 lashes in public for deliberate intoxication, followed by 80 lashes in public if repeated for a second time.

He also wrote that everything would be sound and put right if Sharia law was introduced in the UK, adding: Islam is undeniably the only real solution for Britain's problems.

Washington State Representative Kimberlie Struiksma has just offered an initiative for the November ballot, Measure No. 1040, which concerns a supreme ruler of the universe.

This measure would require state government not to use public funds or property for anything that denies or attempts to refute the existence of a supreme ruler of the universe, the initiative's abstract says, including but not limited to appropriations for displays, textbooks, scientific endeavors, instruction, and research projects. The measure would provide that no person shall be questioned based on their personal values, beliefs, or opinions regarding the existence of a supreme ruler of the universe.

Readers may recall that during the 2008 Christmas season, some atheists dared to post a sign alongside some religious displays in the Capitol which read, At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.

Apparently that didn't sit too well with Struiksma and inspired the ballot suggestion.

Struiksma now only needs the signatures of 241,153 registered voters to get the initiative on the ballot. There aren't that many crazy stupid people in the state, are there?

Singer Sardar Yousafzai and his band were driving from a wedding gig when the gunmen burst onto the road, firing without warning.

Yousafzai survived, but a harmonium player Anwar Gul died and four others were wounded. I am so scared, said Yousafzai: I can’t go home or to any performance.

Several entertainers have been kidnapped or killed, while many others have fled, quit or watched their work opportunities dwindle.

The campaign has further weakened a once-thriving cultural scene, despite hopes for a comeback after a secular party defeated mullahs in elections last year.

What can I do? asked Zardad Khan, a popular 4-feet-2-inch comedian who has received several telephone threats: I’m trying to bring smiles to the society and the people, but my life is getting more miserable with each passing day. Khan said he used to have roles in five or six movies a month. But in the last four months, he’s had only one - and he had to travel to Lahore for production because it’s too unsafe to film in Peshawar.

In the Swat valley, a one-time tourist haven, a female dancer was shot dead in early January after insurgents lured her out by pretending to be customers. They displayed her body in a public square, said a security official who sought anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation there. There are also signs the cultural assault is spreading. In the eastern city of Lahore, a handful of small bombs have detonated near theatres and a cultural complex in recent months, spurring fears of a “Talibanisation” of a cultural centre.

Two female Christian students of Fatima Memorial Hospital’s nursing school in the Pakistani city of Lahore, have been accused of desecrating verses of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, days after their Muslim roommates desecrated a picture of Jesus Christ which they had hung in a shared hostel room.

ANS has learnt that some days back the Muslim nursing students took a strong exception to the hanging of Jesus’ picture on the wall. Muslim students desecrated the picture by tearing it up and hurling it down after the Christian students refused to remove it voluntarily.

The administration of the Nursing School allegedly took no action against the Muslim students, who committed the alleged profanity.

Christian-Muslim tension among students of the nursing school escalated on Feb. 13 when the Muslim students, who still harboured acrimony against their Christian roommates, inevitably accusing them of desecrating Quranic verses.

Librarians are being told to move the Bible to the top shelf to avoid giving offence to followers of Islam.

Muslims have complained of finding the Koran on lower shelves, saying it should be put above commonplace things.

So officials have responded with guidance, backed by ministers, that all holy books should be treated equally and go on the top shelf together.

This means that Christian works, which also have immense historical and literary value, will be kept out of the reach and sight of many readers.

The guidance was published by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, a quango answering to Culture Secretary Andy Burnham.

The guidelines warned against another decision made in Leicester, in which Islamic material had been bought from local suppliers. Libraries then found they had put into stock Islamic books that were condoning violence against non- Muslims, the report said.

The new guidelines make it clear that pornography can be offered by libraries. They said that some have stocked the Black Lace series of erotic stories aimed at women, and that others bought and lent Madonna’s Sex.

Culture Minister Barbara Follett said: We have to give staff the tools to enable them to make decisions about what materials they can and should stock while, at the same time, promoting learning, education and cultural inspiration for all.’

[Strangely there is no mention that if a library chooses to stock porn then it should put it on the top shelf!]

A Nigerian Christian has been freed after being wrongly imprisoned by a Sharia court in northern Nigeria for 300 days.

Sani Kibili was sentenced to three years in prison in the town of Kano, after he was called an infidel and accused of supposed blasphemy against Islam and it’s prophet by three Muslim men, according to Open Doors.

The father of six was imprisoned in October 2007 and only released after a number of legal battles.

A statement from Open Doors UK said: Following his arrest Sani was taken to the Shariah court, and after a brief trial, the judge sentenced him to three years in prison without the right to appeal.

The statement added that Kibili’s case had many irregularities and that his lawyer said from the beginning that his imprisonment was illegal.

As a Christian, he was not supposed to be tried in a Shariah court without declaring himself willing to be given such a trial in the first place, said Open Doors.

Lawyers found many discrepancies in the transcript copies of court proceedings, indicating a conspiracy, added the persecution watchdog. Kibili was freed on the grounds that there was a lack of evidence against him.

Pope Benedict has promoted ultra-conservative cleric Father Gerhard Maria Wagner to assistant bishop of the Austrian city of Linz.

Fr Wagner is notorious for his extreme views - he has accused the popular Harry Potter novels of spreading Satanism, and described Hurricane Katrina as God's punishment for the sinners of New Orleans.

He also wrote in a parish newsletter that the death and destruction caused by the hurricane in New Orleans was divine retribution for the city's tolerance of homosexuals and permissive sexual attitudes. The future bishop said he was glad that Katrina destroyed not only nightclubs and brothels in New Orleans, but also five of the city's abortion clinics.

Update: Storm Blows Over

17th February 2009, Thanks to Alan,  See article from iht.com

The nutter priest who suggested God punished New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina expressed relief Monday after passing up a papal promotion that had sparked an outcry from Austrian Catholics.

Pope Benedict promoted Gerhard Maria Wagner to the post of auxiliary bishop in Linz  causing an uproar from church groups and priests who argued he would push people to leave the church.

Late Sunday, he unexpectedly announced his decision to pass up the opportunity. Wagner said he considered his decision to be in the interest of the church and that he looked forward to continuing his job as pastor in the Upper Austrian town of Windischgarsten.

Malaysian police arrested 26 unmarried couples, who were having sex in hotel rooms on Sunday, in an operation that aimed at punishing illegal premarital sex in the repressive country.

Sex outside marriage is prohibited by the Islamic religion with predictably heinous  punishments to enforce it.

Malaysian State authorities carry out similar raids every year on Valentine's Day in this Muslim-majority country, to inspect such illegal acts.

A police source said that the arrested couples would probably have to pay fines estimated at 1,000 ringgit ($280) and up to six month in prison for each.

In an apparent bid to reform the religious establishment, Saudi King Abdullah has dismissed the head of the feared religious police and a hard-line cleric who issued an edict last year saying it was permissible to kill owners of satellite TV stations that show immoral content.

The dismissals were seen as an attempt by the king to reform the religious establishment, which has come under persistent criticism especially because of the performance of the religious police and the judiciary.

Abdul-Aziz bin Humain will replace Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ghaith as head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which runs the religious police, according to the agency.

Bin Humain, who is believed to be more moderate than al-Ghaith, will head a body whose members have been criticized by Saudis for their harsh behavior.

Abdullah also removed Sheikh Saleh al-Lihedan, chief of the kingdom's highest tribunal, the Supreme Council of Justice. Al-Lihedan's satellite TV edict, issued in September, was denounced across the Arab world. He was replaced by Saleh bin Humaid, who until Saturday served as the head of the Consultative Council, the closest thing the kingdom has to a parliament.

Noura al-Fayez has been appointed Faisal's deputy for girls' education — the first time a woman has been appointed a deputy minister.

A lesbian who fled Iran after her girlfriend was arrested and sentenced to death in Tehran has won her battle to be granted asylum in Britain.

Supporters of Pegah Emambakhsh who claimed she would be executed if she was deported back to her homeland, welcomed the Government's change of heart last night after their hard-fought, four-year campaign.

Ms Emambakhsh came to the UK in 2005 fearing for her life, but last year she lost a court battle to stay in this country. Following a high-profile campaign involving gay rights groups, MPs and The Independent, the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, agreed to reconsider her case.

Yesterday, Lesley Boulton, of the Friends of Pegah campaign group, said: We have just heard that Pegah has finally been granted refugee status in the UK. This is fantastic, wonderful news and a great reward for all the hard work put in to ensure she was not sent back to Iran – so thank you, thank you, thank you. This has been a long struggle but it is a real vindication of what can be achieved when we all work together.

Asylum rights groups have been pressing the British Government to introduce a moratorium on returning gay and lesbian refugees to Iran, where homosexuality is still considered a crime. But the Home Office made clear last night that it was not prepared to grant a blanket exemption in such cases. A spokesman for the UK Border Agency said: We consider each case on its individual merits and, whenever someone needs our protection, we grant it. We constantly monitor the human rights situation in countries like Iran and press for an end to abuses, but we do not believe that everyone claiming to be a homosexual from Iran is in need of international protection.

Under Iran's strict Islamic laws, lesbians found guilty of sexual relations can be sentenced to 100 lashes, but for a third offence the punishment is execution. Ms Emambakhsh came to the UK after her partner was arrested and sentenced to death by stoning. Speaking through her asylum representative in Sheffield, Ms Emambakhsh said at the time: I will never, never go back. If I do, I know I will die.

News item from September 2008>

Australia has been singled out as a target for forest jihad by a group of Islamic extremists urging Muslims to deliberately light bushfires as a weapon of terror.

US intelligence channels earlier this year identified a website calling on Muslims in Australia, the US, Europe and Russia to start forest fires, claiming scholars have justified chopping down and burning the infidels' forests when they do the same to our lands.

The website, posted by a group called the Al-Ikhlas Islamic Network, argues in Arabic that lighting fires is an effective form of terrorism justified in Islamic law under the eye for an eye doctrine.

The posting - which instructs jihadis to remember forest jihad in summer months - says fires cause economic damage and pollution, tie up security agencies and can take months to extinguish so that this terror will haunt them for an extended period of time.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the Federal Government remained vigilant against such threats, warning that anyone caught lighting a fire as a weapon of terror would feel the wrath of anti-terror laws.

Update: No Suspicion

12th February 2009. See article from asiaone.com

Australian police have dismissed any suggestion the wildfires that have killed more than 180 people could have been started by Islamic militants waging forest jihad.

The idea has started to turn up on Internet blog sites after reports last year that a group of Islamic extremists had urged Muslims to light bushfires as a weapon of terror.

Police believe some of the fires that ripped through southeast Australia since the weekend were started by arsonists, but a spokesman said there was no suspicion they were Islamic terror attacks: None at all, absolutely nothing, zero, Superintendent Ross McNeill told AFP.

Update: Stirring the Ashes

16th February 2009. See article from news.com.au

Jihadists are celebrating the worst tragedy in Victoria's history.

Terror watchdogs said fundamentalists had blogged on websites across the globe, applauding the lives lost and destruction.

Senior analyst at SITE Intelligence Group Adam Raisman said they were posting pictures of burnt homes and devastated victims and taking joy in the scenes.

One jihadist wrote: It would be an act of revenge for Australian's participation in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Regional Islamic Council vice-president Dr Ameer Ali said the comments did not represent the wider Muslim community: They have no idea what they are talking about.

A Christian schoolteacher who takes the Bible literally says a University of California (UC), Berkeley Web site about evolution is unconstitutional, like a cross in a public park.

The Web site, Understanding Evolution, is supported by government funds and violates the constitutional separation of church and state, according to the suit by Jeanne Caldwell.

Rebuffed by lower courts, she has appealed to the nation's highest court, and UC joined the battle this week, saying in its response that the Internet is not like a park and that, in fact, Caldwell has no right even to file the suit.

The sides wait to see whether the justices will take the case and tackle the unsettled issue - not of evolution, but of whether the Internet is a public space that needs new principles to enforce the state-and-religion barrier.

At issue is one page, out of 840 on the Web site, that says Darwin's theory and religion can co-exist. The page - titled Misconception: 'Evolution and Religion are Incompatible' - also features a drawing of a smiling scientist holding a skull and shaking hands with a smiling cleric holding a book with a cross on it.

Caldwell says UC's government-funded assertion contradicts a religious belief that evolution and religion are incompatible and amounts to a state position on religious doctrine. This violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment barring Congress from making any law respecting the establishment or exercise of religion, she says.

Pakistan is to impose Islamic law in a vast region of the north-west called Malakand in an attempt to placate extremists, even as President Asif Zardari warns that they are trying to take over the state.

Pakistani Taliban militants who are in control of the Swat valley in the region announced a ceasefire tonight, reacting to the government's agreement to bring in sharia courts.

Malakand is part of North West Frontier province, a regular part of Pakistan, not the wild tribal area, which runs along the Afghan border.

Critics warned that the new sharia regulations represented a capitulation to the extremists' demands, and that it would be difficult to stop hardliners elsewhere in the country from demanding that their areas also come under Islamic law.

If two draft Laws which began passage through Armenia's Parliament on 5 February are adopted, spreading one's faith would be banned.

Those who organise campaigns to spread their faith would face up to two years' imprisonment, while those who engage in spreading their faith would face up to one year's imprisonment or a fine of more than eight years' minimum wages.

Gaining legal status would require 1,000 adult members, while Christian communities which do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity would be barred from registering.

These proposed Laws contain violations of all human rights. Russian Orthodox priest Fr David Abrahamyan told Forum 18.

Religious affairs official Vardan Astsatryan told Forum 18 the government backs the draft Laws in general.

IThe City of Ottawa has rejected an atheist bus ad campaign.

The Freethought Association of Canada, a non-profit group, has been using bus advertisements in several cities across Canada.

The ads, which read, There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life, are already on buses in London, Toronto and Calgary.

The Freethought Association had been hoping the posters would soon plaster the sides of OC Transpo buses in Ottawa, but their advertising request was denied last week.

It’s not the first rejection we had, said Justin Trottier, president of the Freethought Association of Canada: We got rejected in Halifax a week or two ago.

Trottier said his group has not ruled out challenging the decision in the Supreme Court.

The decision was made based on a subsection of the transit advertising policy which says that religious advertising which promotes a specific ideology, ethic, point of view, policy or action, which in the opinion of the City might be deemed prejudicial to other religious groups or offensive to users of the transit system is not permitted.

Bridges TV founder and Chief Executive Muzzammil Hassan founded the TV network in 2004.

According to a Reuters story at that time, his wife came up with the idea in December 2001 while listening to the radio on a road trip.:

Some derogatory comments were being made about Muslims that offended her, Hassan told Reuters: She was seven months pregnant, and she thought she didn't want her kids growing up in this environment.

So he founded Bridges TV to combat negative perceptions of Muslims.

Authorities say Aasiya Hassan recently had filed for divorce from her husband: She had an order of protection that had him out of the home as of Friday the 6th of February.

But that didn't help her much, nor even the cause of limiting negative perceptions of Islam. From the local press:

Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband -- an influential member of the local Muslim community -- reported her death to police.

Police identified the victim as Aasiya Z. Hassan. Detectives have charged her husband, Muzzammil Hassan with second-degree murder.

Muzzammil Hassan is the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV, which he launched in 2004, amid hopes that it would help portray Muslims in a more positive light.

Obviously, this is the worst form of domestic violence possible, Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said today.

Dangerous Texting

Thanks to Alan

I read in Private Eye, just hours after watching Lord Ahmed sounding off about Wilders, that a Lord Ahmed is awaiting sentence for dangerous driving, having killed a bloke while simultaneously driving and texting.

Bit worse than being rude about some bloke who's been dead 1500 years, I think.

Update: Labour Ahmed was sentenced to 12 weeks jail for dangerous driving.

Dangerous Hypocrisy

See article from independent.co.uk by Joan Smith

In the past, Lord Ahmed has shown himself to be a selective friend of free speech, hosting a book launch at the House of Lords in 2005 for a notorious anti-Semite who calls himself Israel Shamir. Last month, a Pakistani press agency reported that a screening of Mr Wilders' short film Fitna at the House of Lords had been called off after Lord Ahmed and representatives of the MCB met government leaders. When Lord Ahmed discovered that the screening was to go ahead, he said he had received threats and asked the Government not to allow Mr Wilders into the country.

Dangerous Text

See speech from geertwilders.nl

As Jacqui Smith deemed it necessary to ban Geert Wilders from addressing the House of Lords, he has posted his prepared speech on his website

Thank you for inviting me. Thank you Lord Pearson and Lady Cox for showing Fitna, and for your gracious invitation. While others look away, you, seem to understand the true tradition of your country, and a flag that still stands for freedom.

...

Thank you very much for letting me into the country. I received a letter from the Secretary of State for the Home Department, kindly disinviting me. I would threaten community relations, and therefore public security in the UK, the letter stated. For a moment I feared that I would be refused entrance. But I was confident the British government would never sacrifice free speech because of fear of Islam. Britannia rules the waves, and Islam will never rule Britain, so I was confident the Border Agency would let me through. And after all, you have invited stranger creatures than me.

...

By letting me speak today you show that Mr Churchill’s spirit is still very much alive. And you prove that the European Union truly is working; the free movement of persons is still one of the pillars of the European project.

...

Ladies and gentlemen, the dearest of our many freedoms is under attack. In Europe, freedom of speech is no longer a given. What we once considered a natural component of our existence is now something we again have to fight for. That is what is at stake. Whether or not I end up in jail is not the most pressing issue. The question is: Will free speech be put behind bars?

...

Geert Wilders MP

...Read full speech

A Michigan television station in the United States has pulled a one hour programme paid for by a notoriously homophobic family group.

The American Family Association (AFA) had paid for airtime on WOOD-TV to screen Speechless: Silencing the Christians.

It claims to reveal the truth about the radical homosexual agenda and its impact on the family, the nation and religious freedom.

WOOD-TV General Manager Diane Kniowski said earlier this week that it would not run the AFA programme this Saturday as planned: Our station is being bombarded with calls and messages, and we find ourselves in the middle of someone else's fight.

The programme, which is available online, claims hate crimes laws target preaching what the Bible says about homosexuality, gays play a key role to play in the spread of all STDs and HIV/AIDS and employment protection based on sexual orientation will force churches to hire homosexuals.

The Human Rights Campaign, America's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organisation, had urged its members to contact the station and ask that they pull the programme.

Can you cure my giddiness?

A poster, for a church event, stated Are you ready for a miracle? LIVE at the ALL NATIONS CENTRE 23rd-25th October, 7.30 p.m. DON DOUBLE Healing Evangelist.

The claim are you ready for a miracle was surrounded by a number of serious medical conditions including blindness, HIV/AIDS, cancer, deafness, diabetes, asthma, paralysis, leukemia, stroke, heart disease, epilepsy, tumours and depression.

A complainant challenged whether the poster:

1. Was irresponsible and misleading because it implied that Don Double could heal the serious medical conditions listed
2. Discouraged people from seeking essential medical treatment for the listed conditions.

All Nations Church acknowledged that they should not have included the claim "healing" evangelist in the poster but maintained that that only came to light after the posters were displayed. They said Don Double was not involved in the preparation of the poster and maintained that he would not have referred to himself as a healing evangelist, although people who had attended his crusades had been healed of their illnesses.

ASA Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted the ad referred to a series of serious illnesses and medical conditions and asked readers whether they were ready for a miracle. We considered that testimonials were not sufficient to demonstrate that Don Double could treat any of the listed medical conditions. We considered that some potentially vulnerable readers, in particularly those suffering from the listed conditions, might infer that Don Double could offer treatment for those conditions. We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible and likely to mislead.


2. Upheld

We noted the poster referred to Don Double as a healing evangelist in conjunction with a list of serious medical conditions and illnesses. Because we considered some potentially vulnerable readers, in particularly those suffering from the listed conditions, might infer that Don Double could offer treatment for those conditions, we concluded that the ad breached the Code because it potentially discouraged people from seeking essential medical treatment.

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We noted All Nations Church acknowledged that the word healing should not have been included in the ad and asked them to ensure that they did not refer to serious medical conditions in future ads.

Last week, I wrote an article defending free speech for everyone – and in response there have been riots, death threats, and the arrest of an editor who published the article.

Here's how it happened. My column reported on a startling development at the United Nations. The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights has always had the job of investigating governments who forcibly take the fundamental human right to free speech from their citizens with violence. But in the past year, a coalition of religious fundamentalist states has successfully fought to change her job description. Now, she has to report on abuses of free expression including defamation of religions and prophets. Instead of defending free speech, she must now oppose it.

I argued this was a symbol of how religious fundamentalists – of all stripes – have been progressively stripping away the right to freely discuss their faiths. They claim religious ideas are unique and cannot be discussed freely; instead, they must be respected – by which they mean unchallenged. So now, whenever anyone on the UN Human Rights Council tries to discuss the stoning of adulterous women, the hanging of gay people, or the marrying off of ten year old girls to grandfathers, they are silenced by the chair on the grounds these are religious issues, and it is offensive to talk about them.

This trend is not confined to the UN. It has spread deep into democratic countries. Whenever I have reported on immoral acts by religious fanatics – Catholic, Jewish, Hindu or Muslim – I am accused of prejudice, and I am not alone. But my only prejudice is in favour of individuals being able to choose to live their lives, their way, without intimidation. That means choosing religion, or rejecting it, as they wish, after hearing an honest, open argument.

That's why I wrote: All people deserve respect, but not all ideas do. I don't respect the idea that a man was born of a virgin, walked on water and rose from the dead. I don't respect the idea that we should follow a "Prophet" who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn't follow him. I don't respect the idea that the West Bank was handed to Jews by God and the Palestinians should be bombed or bullied into surrendering it. I don't respect the idea that we may have lived before as goats, and could live again as woodlice. When you demand "respect", you are demanding we lie to you. I have too much real respect for you as a human being to engage in that charade.

An Indian newspaper called The Statesman – one of the oldest and most venerable dailies in the country – thought this accorded with the rich Indian tradition of secularism, and reprinted the article. That night, four thousand Islamic fundamentalists began to riot outside their offices, calling for me, the editor, and the publisher to be arrested – or worse. They brought Central Calcutta to a standstill. A typical supporter of the riots, Abdus Subhan, said he was prepared to lay down his life, if necessary, to protect the honour of the Prophet and I should be sent to hell if he chooses not to respect any religion or religious symbol? He has no liberty to vilify or blaspheme any religion or its icons on grounds of freedom of speech.

Then, two days ago, the editor and publisher were indeed arrested. They have been charged – in the world's largest democracy, with a constitution supposedly guaranteeing a right to free speech – with deliberately acting with malicious intent to outrage religious feelings. I am told I too will be arrested if I go to Calcutta.

...Read full article

The film by a Dutch MP who was refused entry to the UK over fears he would incite hatred with his message about Islam, was shown twice at Westminster last night.

The first screening of Geert Wilders Fitna was in the House of Lords and attended by about 30 people. No MPs and only five peers attended, although organisers blamed poor attendance on the fact parliament rose for a week's recess earlier this afternoon.

A second screening, which Wilders had been planning to attend, was held later in the evening, for the press, including journalists from the Netherlands. The 17-minute production quotes five Suras, or verses, from the Koran which apparently support violence against non-Muslims.

Wilders, a member of Holland's Freedom Party, had wanted to show the film to British MPs, but on Tuesday received a letter from the government warning he was not welcome because his views would threaten community security and public security in the UK. The 45-year-old tried to defy the ban, but was turned back at Heathrow after three hours.

Crossbench peer Baroness Cox, hosting the screening for the press near to the Houses of Parliament, said she did not agree with everything the film suggested, but that Mr Wilders had a right to defend it.

Muslim groups were divided on whether to bar Wilders.

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, backed the government's decision to keep Wilders out of Britain, accusing Wilders of inciting religious hatred: Mr Wilders film is all about demonising and attacking Islam and Muslims.

But the Quilliam Foundation, a Muslim think tank devoted to fighting extremism, said he should have been allowed into the country so that his views could be challenged through debate and argument.

The Muslim Council of Britain said in a statement: We have no problem with the challenge of criticisms to our faith...BUT...the film that will be screened tomorrow by Lord Pearson and Baroness Cox is nothing less than a cheap and tacky attempt to whip up hysteria against Muslims.

They went further and called for Lords hosting the event to be sacked: Mr Wilders' xenophobic and repugnant views have been identified by a Dutch court, and are now confirmed by his official exclusion to the United Kingdom. It is now time to ask why Peers of Realm who promote such demagogues without any censure are allowed to be regarded as mainstream, responsible leaders in our community.

Authorities in Papua New Guinea are being urged to take greater action to prevent further killings related to allegations of sorcery.

A father and son became the latest victims on 8th February. Local men in Ban village shot dead 60-year-old Plak Mel Doa and threw his body into a fire. His son, Anis Dua, was dragged from his home and burnt alive. Local people had accused them both of causing the death of a prominent member of the community by sorcery.

There has been an increase in reports of sorcery-related killings over the last year. According to the media there were over 50 such deaths in 2008.This is either because of an actual increase in such incidents or that more incidents are now being reported.

Reports have continued into this year. A village court comprising church pastors and local officials found a 40-year-old man from a village in Unggai-Bena district in the Eastern Highland province guilty of sorcery and sentenced him to death on 30 January. A group of local men then hacked him to death with bush knives.

When dozens of people have been killed after literal witch hunts, it's clear that the government is not doing enough to protect its own citizens and maintain the rule of law, said Apolosi Bose, Amnesty International's Pacific Islands researcher: The police and judicial authorities have to step in immediately before another person faces this kind of vigilante violence.

People often don’t trust the police or the judiciary and instead blame events on supernatural causes and punish suspected sorcerers, Apolosi Bose said: The Constabulary, the Public Prosecution Office and other relevant authorities should step up efforts to curb vigilante violence and raise awareness in communities about ways in which people can legitimately seek justice.

Egyptian cleric Hazem Shuman Warned Muslim youth against Valentine's Day by sayiing that it is more dangerous than AIDS, Ebola, and Cholera.

Hazem Shuman said: In a few days something very important and dangerous will take place in the world of the youth. People will follow this event everywhere. I am talking about the global Valentine’s Day, the global holiday of love.

In a few days' time, Planet Earth will turn red. We will become the reddest planet in the universe. Everything red will become more expensive. Red teddy bears, red candles, red pens - they will all become more expensive. Only one red thing will become cheaper: The blood of Muslims. All this is the result of the sins committed by Muslim youth.

A Very Dangerous Virus... The Valentine Virus

In a few days time, a very dangerous virus will attack the body of the nation. What virus? Is it AIDS? No, something more dangerous. Something more dangerous than Ebola, which dissolves the human body, more dangerous than cholera, which killed half of Europe a few centuries ago. I am talking about the Valentine virus, people.

I have come tonight to warn all boys and girls about an extremely dangerous virus, which is about to attack the hearts of the nation’s youth, and to destroy our relations with God. We must confront this Valentine virus!...

The More You Celebrate Valentine’s Day, The More the Jews and Christians Are Happy, and the More the Prophet Muhammad is Sad

A Saudi judge has ordered a woman should be jailed for a year and receive 100 lashes after she was gang-raped.

The 23-year-old woman, who became pregnant after her ordeal, was reportedly assaulted after accepting a lift from a man.

He took her to a house to the east of the city of Jeddah where she was attacked by him and four of his friends throughout the night.

She later discovered she was pregnant and made a desperate attempt to get an abortion at the King Fahd Hospital for Armed Forces.

According to the Saudi Gazette, she eventually confessed to having forced intercourse with her attackers and was brought before a judge at the District Court in Jeddah.

He ruled she had committed adultery - despite not even being married - and handed down a year's prison sentence, which she will serve in a prison just outside the city.

She is still pregnant and will be flogged once she has had the child.

The editor and publisher of a top English-language Indian daily have been arrested on charges of hurting the religious feelings of Muslims.

The Statesman's editor Ravindra Kumar and publisher Anand Sinha were detained in Calcutta after complaints.

Muslims said they were upset with the Statesman for reproducing an article from the UK's Independent daily in its 5 February edition. The article was entitled: Why should I respect these oppressive religions? It concerns the erosion of the right to criticise religions.

In it, the author, Johann Hari, writes: I don't respect the idea that we should follow a 'Prophet' who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn't follow him.

Kumar and Sinha appeared in court on Wednesday and were granted bail.

Angry Muslims have been demonstrating in front of the offices of the Statesman since its republication of the article. Police have broken up the demonstrations using baton charges several times this week.

Kumar has said he has already issued a public apology for reproducing the article: I admit it was an editorial misjudgement but it was never intentional.

A primary school receptionist, Jennie Cain, whose five-year-old daughter was told off for talking about Jesus in class is now facing the sack for seeking support from her church.

Cain sent a private email to close friends to ask for prayers for her daughter after she was called into the school where she worked in Crediton, Devon, to be reprimanded.

Her daughter Jasmine had been overheard by a teacher discussing heaven and God with a friend and had been pulled to one side and told off.

Cain contacted 10 close friends from her church by email but the message fell into the hands of Gary Read, the headmaster of Landscore Primary School where she works.

Cain is now being investigated for professional misconduct for allegedly making claims against the school and its staff. She has been told she may be disciplined and was warned she could face dismissal.

Her case is being supported by the Christian Institute who said Mrs Cain was the latest example of a Christian being persecuted by society.

Mike Judge, from the Christian Institute, said children should be allowed to discuss religion with each other without interference from teachers: This is the latest in a series where Christians are being persecuted for their religious beliefs. It is really getting to a point where it has to stop. I think the Government has got to start looking at its legislation.

Update: Advanced Political Correctness for 5 Year Olds

14th February 2009. See article from christian.org.uk

Jasmine, who is five years old, was speaking with her friend about God and heaven when an older child asked her how a person could go to hell.

When Jasmine answered by not believing in Jesus she was told off by her teacher and Mr Read called Mrs Cain into her office to discuss the matter.

He started talking about my daughter about how he wasn’t happy about her making statements about her faith, said Mrs Cain. She added: If Jasmine had prefixed what she had said with the words ‘I believe’, he’d have been ok with that, and I thought ‘she’s five!’

Mr Read says Jasmine is entitled to talk about her faith, but that her answer to the older child was “unacceptable”.

Simon Calvert of The Christian Institute said: A five-year-old simply can’t be expected to nuance everything she says to comply with the demands of political correctness. Small children don’t understand post-modern ideas about your truth and my truth - they just say things as they see them.

Saudi Arabia has asked florists and gift shops to remove all red items until after Valentine's Day, calling the celebration of such a holiday a sin.

As Muslims we shouldn't celebrate a non-Muslim celebration, especially this one that encourages immoral relations between unmarried men and women, Sheikh Khaled Al-Dossari, a scholar in Islamic studies.

Every year, officials with the conservative Muslim kingdom's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice clamp down on shops a few days before February 14, instructing them to remove red roses, red wrapping paper, gift boxes and teddy bears. On the eve of the holiday, they raid stores and seize symbols of love.

Ahmed Al-Omran, a university student in Riyadh, told CNN that the government decision will give the international media another reason to make fun of the Saudis but I think that we got used to that by now.

Because of the ban on red roses, a black market has flowered ahead of Valentine's Day. Roses that normally go for five Saudi riyal ($1.30) fetch up to 30 riyal ($8) on February 14, the Saudi Gazette said.

Sometimes we deliver the bouquets in the middle of the night or early morning, to avoid suspicion, one florist told the paper.

Geert Wilders has been refused entry to the United Kingdom to broadcast his controversial anti-Muslim film Fitna in the House of Lords.

Wilders said he had been told that in the interests of public order he will not be allowed to come to Britain.

He responded to the decision in fighting mood, telling reporters that he still intended to travel to London.

He said: I shall probably go to Britain anyway on Thursday. Let us see if they put me in chains on arrival. It is an unbelievable decision made by a group of cowards.

The film features verses from the Koran alongside images of the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001, Madrid in March 2004 and London in July 2005. The film equates Islam's holy text with violence and ends with a call to Muslims to remove hate-preaching' verses from the Koran.

Last night, Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said he had called British foreign secretary David Miliband to protest against the decision.

He said: It is disgraceful that a Dutch parliamentarian should be refused entrance to an EU country.

A spokesman for the Lords said that the invitation to show his film remained open.

Home Office sources confirmed Mr Wilders had been refused entry to the UK.

A Home Office spokesman told The Daily Telegraph: The Government opposes extremism in all its forms. It will stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country. That was the driving force behind tighter rules on exclusions for unacceptable behaviour that the Home Secretary announced on in October last year.

The Catch the Fire Ministries has tried to blame the bushfires disaster on laws decriminalising abortion in Victoria.

The Pentecostal church's leader, Pastor Danny Nalliah, claimed he had a dream about raging fires on October 21 last year and that he woke with a flash from the Spirit of God: that His conditional protection has been removed from the nation of Australia, in particular Victoria, for approving the slaughter of innocent children in the womb.

The former Treasurer, Peter Costello was outraged by his remarks on the fires: To link the death and suffering of bushfire victims to other political events is appalling, heartless and wrong said Costello, who has lost a Christian friend in the fires. Those who have suffered deserve ever support and sympathy. It is beyond the bounds of decency to try to make moral or politcal points out of such a tragedy.'

Pastor Nalliah was asked if he believed in a God who would take vengeance by killing so many people indiscriminately - even those who opposed abortion, Nalliah referred to 2 Chronicles 7:14 to vouch for his assertion that God could withdraw his protection from a nation: The Bible is very clear. If you walk out of God's protection and turn your back on Him, you are an open target for the devil to destroy.

Protests erupted in Gulmarg in Indian Kashmir with irate local groups beating up a foreign skier after his sledge was found to be inscribed with holy verses.

Reports said that people spotted the kalima-e-tayyaba, or the basic creed of Islam, inscribed over the bottom of the ski sledge of one Hans Patrick, a skier who had come all the way from Sweden to enjoy the slopes of Gulmarg.

Nutters in Tangmarg and Gulmarg erupted into a lynch mob, and some groups pounced on the tourist, beating him up.

But the foreigner was rescued by the police who took him under their custody.

An official spokesman here said that the sticker carrying the holy words had been given to the tourist by his wife, who is a Qatari Muslim, for his protection, but he had unknowingly used it incorrectly.

Harun Yahya is a prominent advocate of Islamic creationism in the creation-evolution debate. He is considered to be the leading Muslim advocate of creationism.

He denounces terrorism, which he says is a product of Darwinism, while he considers Islam its antidote. Islam, he believes, is a religion of peace and love.

Following is an excerpt of an inteview with Harun Yahya.

Q: Mr. Yahya, it seems the world is paying a heavy price for ignoring moral values and religious ethics -- and many governments make irrational and irreligious decisions, which lead to starvation, massacres, corruption, poverty, and economic inequality. What’s your view on this?

A: Muslims are generally unaware where the troubles are coming from. People in the world as a whole are unaware of the essence of the matter. When I investigated it I saw that Darwinism lay at the root of all this suffering, trouble, violence and pain as there would be no materialism without Darwinism. Darwinism is essential for materialist philosophy and without materialism there can be no communism, fascism, imperialism, savage capitalism, nor immorality nor terror. These are all inter-related, but because people are ignorant of that, they fail to grasp the importance of the intellectual struggle against Darwinism.

Why is it so important, why do you concentrate on it so much? they say. Atheism is active right across the world, hurting and literally damning people. But they do not look for the root cause. Yet Darwinism is the foundation of godlessness, of all atheist ideologies, and thus of all these troubles. I have gone right to the root of the matter and struck at the root of atheism in my work.

...Read full article

These missionaries with the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification have heard it all. Some they approach politely decline to participate, while others get angry and call their church a cult before storming off.

That's how life is for these followers, who can be seen nearly every day on the Third Street Promenade with a small, laminated card in hand, approaching strangers to see if they believe in a higher power and are interested in spreading the mission of the Unification Church and its founder, The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who created the federation in 1996.

It's not so easy to approach people these days, said Karina Chaves, a missionary and spokesperson for the federation's Principle Study Center, located on the corner of Fourth Street and Broadway, where new recruits and staunch believers gather to watch videos and read Rev. Moon's teachings.

I feel that a lot of people have concepts about people who stand on the promenade, which is understandable these days, Chaves added. People are weary about religion, or about groups, so it's sometimes difficult to get into a conversation.

...Read full article

A Jordanian man who killed his unmarried sister and her Syrian lover to defend the family’s honor has been jailed for just six months after the court found 'honour' as a mitigating circumstance.

The accused, a 23-year-old-man whose name was not disclosed, shot dead the couple in March 2008 after they disappeared from the family home in the middle of the night. Together with a cousin, the angry young man later found them in an indecent situation at an isolated spot, the court heard.

He took out his gun, killing his sister on the spot with four bullets and the Syrian shepherd with six shots, the source said. He then surrendered to the police. The court ruled the accused had acted in an explosion of rage which caused him to lose the capacity to think. The judgment was based on Jordan’s penal code, which recognizes mitigating circumstances in case of honor killings.

Update: 7.5 Years for honour murder

18th March 2009. See article from stophonourkillings.com

A Jordanian court has convicted a Syrian man of strangling his sister and sentenced him to 7 1/2 years in jail.

The court said Wednesday that the man had killed his sister because he believed her behavior to be shameful and harmed family honor. He claimed she was working in night clubs.

The man traveled to Jordan to carry out the murder and then dumped her body in a deserted area, before fleeing to Libya, according to the indictment sheet. He was later extradited to Jordan to stand trial.

West Java Governor and dance censor Ahmad Heryawan has denied using the controversial pornography law to ban Jaipong dancing, reports of which have drawn great criticism in the past few days.

There was no official statement on Jaipong dancing, he said, stressing that he had never made any statement relating to the folk art form.

The media had reported that the administration intended to forbid Jaipong dancers from wearing sexy costumes and executing provocative dance moves.

The governor said he would meet with the province's artists to discuss the problem. This rather suggests that Heryawan is being a bit more censorial than his denial suggests.

Based on article from thejakartapost.com

Previously it was reported that Indonesia's new regressive pornography law was targeting cultural heritage, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan was said to have used it as a legal basis to forbid Jaipong dancers from wearing sexy costumes and executing provocative dance moves.

The West Java administration's ban has prompted severe criticism from artists and legislators who blast it as a move to curb the traditional arts and culture of local people.

Bandung-born singer and dancer Dewi Gita said she did not see the need for the administration to delve into the matter when there were so many other problems affecting the province, including floods, poverty and expensive education: You see, Jaipong has nearly vanished. It is our unique heritage and we should do our best to keep it alive. But instead of supporting the internationally recognized dance, the authorities encourage its extinction.

Jaipong has nothing to do with pornography, it's merely a cultural expression. The dance is actually derived from the traditional ketuk tilu dance, which is a way that girls attract boys in Sundanese traditional customs. No wonder, the girl must be provocative and sexy, she said.

Update: Democratic Party of Struggle

17th February 2009. Based on article from xbiz.com

Opposing parties of Indonesia's controversial anti-pornography law vowed to annul the law at a public debate against the ruling party on Friday.

The law, ratified last October by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was met with fierce opposition by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the Prosperous Peace Party and a number of civil rights groups on the grounds that it is a betrayal to the Balinese, said Nyoman Dhamantra of the Party of Struggle at the debate: With or without a majority, we will overturn the law.

A Qatar court has handed down a Lebanese man three-year imprisonment and subsequent deportation for uttering blasphemous words.

During the trial, the court heard how the accused, a foreman, made the offending comment to one of his workers at a worksite, on May 1, 2007.

The prosecution said the man uttered the blasphemous words after a worker failed to carry out his instruction. He also fired the worker. Two other workers who were present at the site at the time of the incident testified against their boss.

The accused denied the charge and said he sacked the worker because he did not follow the orders.

Delivering the judgement, the court said that based on the witnesses’ testimony it was convinced that the accused uttered the blasphemous remark. The crime was particularly serious as the accused was a Muslim, the court said.

The man has appealed against the ruling.

Update: More Scores Settled

4th March. See article from gulf-times.com

Six Lebanese mechanics have been sentenced to three years imprisonment each and subsequent deportation for uttering blasphemous words.

They were tried after one of their colleagues filed a complaint with the police saying that he had heard them cursing God. The plaintiff said that two of them used to say sarcastic remarks about Islam and Fatwas.

The accused denied the allegations saying that there were malicious intent behind the complaint.

The verdict is still open for appeal.

A foster mother has been struck off by a council after a teenage Muslim girl in her care became a Christian. The carer, who has ten years’ experience and has looked after more than 80 children, said she was devastated by the decision.

The girl is understood to be back with members of her family, who have not been told of her conversion. A second girl the woman was fostering has been moved to another carer.

The woman insisted that, although she was a Christian, she had put no pressure on the Muslim girl, who was 16 at the time, to be baptised. But council officials allegedly accused her of failing to respect and preserve the child’s faith and tried to persuade the girl to reconsider her decision.

The carer is now preparing to take legal action against the council with the support of the girl, now 17. She told council officials that she was very happy to support the girl in her religion and culture: We had a multicultural household and I had no problems helping the young person maintain her faith of birth. I have always prided myself in being very professional in what I do. If something works for a young person, whether I agree with it or not, I am happy to support them in that.

But the girl, whom the foster mother describes as caring and intelligent, defied expectations by choosing not to wear overtly Muslim clothes or to eat Halal food.
The girl, whose interest in Christianity had begun at school some time before her foster placement, also made it clear that she wanted to go to church.

The carer, an Anglican who attends a local evangelical church, said: I did initially try to discourage her. I offered her alternatives. I offered to find places for her to practise her own religion. I offered to take her to friends or family. But she said to me from the word go, “I am interested and I want to come.” She sort of burst in.

The carer said that the girl’s social workers were fully aware that she was going to church and had not raised any objections. The girl had told her auxiliary social worker of her plans to convert before she was baptised in January last year, and the social worker had appeared to give her consent.

Three months later, however, senior officials complained that they had not been fully informed of the girl’s intentions to become a Christian. They said that she should have undergone counselling to ensure that she understood the implications, especially as such conversions are dealt with harshly in some Muslim countries.

The foster carer said, however, that the girl had thought about her decision very carefully and was aware that members of her family might react strongly, so she was adamant that they should not be told.

A council spokes-man said: We would never be able to comment on sensitive issues surrounding a child in care. To do so would be irresponsible and in this particular case may put the child at risk of harm.’

Update: Case Review

14th February 2009. See article from dailymail.co.uk

The foster mother struck off for allowing a Muslim girl to convert to Christianity took the child in after she was threatened with an arranged marriage. Her father beat her just for chatting to boys and warned he would haul her off to Pakistan to marry against her will, a friend claimed.

The local authority has agreed to review the case next month. It is the start of a process which could lead to her being reinstated as a foster parent.

President Obama recently signed an executive order to create a revamped White House office for religion-based and neighborhood programs, expanding an initiative started by the Bush administration that provides government support and financing to religious and charitable organizations that deliver social services.

In announcing the expansion of the religion office, Obama did not settle the biggest question: Can religious groups that receive federal money for social service programs hire only those who share their faith?

The Bush administration said yes. But many religious groups and others that are concerned about employment discrimination and protecting the separation of church and state had pushed hard for Obama to repeal the Bush policies.

Meanwhile, other religious groups were lobbying to preserve their right to use religion as a criterion in hiring. Some religious social service providers warned they might stop working with the government if they were forced to change policies.

Instead of deciding the issue, the president called for a legal review of the policy case by case before determining whether religious groups can receive government money and selectively hire employees based on their religious beliefs.

Joshua DuBois, a 26-year-old Pentecostal minister who led religious outreach for Mr. Obama during the presidential race, will direct the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

DuBois said in an interview: The president is still very much committed to clear constitutionality and legality in this program. He’s committed to nondiscrimination. But DuBois said that after Obama gave his speech in Ohio: we have realized there’s a tremendous lack of clarity in this area, so we’ll review on a case by case basis.

Asked whether his office would work with religious groups outside the mainstream, like the Church of Scientology, that may seek government grants for social services, DuBois said: There’s no picking or choosing or cherry-picking of groups. That was allowed before, but it will not be the practice moving forward.

The National Secular Society’s annual award for Secularist of the Year has been awarded jointly to Dr Evan Harris MP and Lord Avebury for their success in getting blasphemy laws abolished.

The prestigious prize was handed over by Professor Richard Dawkins at a glittering awards ceremony at the Imperial Hotel in central London on Saturday.

Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society (NSS), said: The abolition of the blasphemy law in 2008 was a major coup for the NSS and a great victory for everyone who values free speech. The ancient laws had not been used successfully since the 1970s, but there were efforts by Christian evangelicals to revive them, and a case was being considered even as the law was abolished.

Sanderson said that Dr Evan Harris and Lord Avebury – both Lib Dems – had engineered a clever parliamentary pincer movement that resulted in the Government being forced into bringing forward its own amendment to abolish the law. Having elicited the promise from Ministers in the House of Commons that the law would be abolished, Lord Avebury, who has been campaigning against the blasphemy laws for decades, then brought forward his own amendment to ensure that the Government could not renege on its commitment.

The international television channel al-Jazeera has been criticised by MPs for broadcasting the sermons of a Muslim cleric in which he celebrates the Holocaust and prays for the killing of all Jews.

John Whittingdale, chairman of the House of Commons Media Select Committee, urged al-Jazeera yesterday to apologise for broadcasting the messages of Yusuf al-Qaradawi and to ban the cleric, one of the network’s top hosts, from appearing on screen.

I would hope that anybody who watches it or is aware of it may change their attitude towards al-Jazeera, he told The Times: I would’ve thought it is very damaging. Al-Jazeera should apologise.

But the network refused to apologise for Sheikh al-Qaradawi’s statements, which were broadcast on al-Jazeera’s Arabic station, saying that it could not control the words and opinions expressed during live broadcasts.

Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon, condemned al-Jazeera for associating itself with Sheikh al-Qaradawi — who hosts one of its most popular segments, Shariah and Life — saying the network should not use live coverage as a means of justifying the broadcast of the sheik’s comments: If they put on somebody who has known racist views they should not be surprised what comes out at the other end.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said: These sermons represent hatred in its purest form and epitomise the worst of Islamist anti-Semitism.

The complaints relate to a sermon and a lecture by Sheikh al-Qaradawi in which he described the Holocaust as a divine punishment and prayed to Allah to kill Jews down to the very last one.

More than 100 protestors last week surrounded a Pakistani courthouse and chanted death threats against a Punjabi Christian said to be framed for sending a blasphemous text message on his cell phone.

Rawalpindi police arrested Hector Aleem on Jan. 22 and detained him on charges of sending a text message that insulted Muhammad.

At his Jan. 27 hearing at the Rawalpindi Sessions Court, crowds gathered and began shouting death threats.

His attorney, Malik Tafik, told Compass that a local man allegedly framed Aleem for the charges because Aleem has made legal challenges on behalf of Christians involved in a land dispute. Aleem directs a small agency that often defends the rights of Christians.

Last November, a scholar associated with the national Islamist political movement Sunni Tehreek received a text message claiming to have come from Aleem. The religious scholar registered blasphemy charges against Aleem.

Police raided Aleem’s house and authorities charged him with violating sections 295c (blasphemy) and 109bb (abetting) of the Pakistani criminal code. Aleem was transferred to a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court for a second hearing on Jan. 30, where an even larger crowd of 150 protestors gathered shouting that his life would not be spared. Many of those who came to protest were associated with Sunni Tehreek, which has been involved in violent sectarian clashes with other Islamist movements in the last decade.

At a hearing at an anti-terrorism court on Feb. 2, Judge Sakhi Mohammad Kohut exonerated him of blasphemy charges but did not clear him of abetting. A government official told Compass that the judge’s decision was heavily influenced by Islamic extremists attending the open court hearing who told the judge, If you release [Aleem], then we will kill him outside.

The next hearing will be held in March. Attorney Tafik told Compass he believes Aleem will be cleared of all charges because there is no evidence against him.

Update: Murderous Lawyers

10th May 2009. See article from compassdirect.org

A Pakistani Christian charged with abetting blasphemy against Islam was denied bail for his own safety last week after a muslim lawyer allegedly threatened his life in a court hearing.

If the judge does not punish Aleem according to the law, then [we] will kill him ourselves, said Tariq Dhamal, an attorney for the unnamed complainant, according to a report by the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement.

Aleem’s lawyer, Malik Tafik, said the judge is afraid to rule in favor of Aleem for fear of his life from Rawalpindi muslims: The judge is under pressure and not deciding the case based on merits.

Nurse: We all prayed for you at church. Now how's the knee? Patient: Oh, about the same.

A nurse was suspended after offering to pray for the recovery of an elderly patient, it emerged yesterday. Caroline Petrie was accused of failing to show a commitment to equality and diversity after the incident and is awaiting the outcome of a disciplinary hearing.

The community nurse, who lives in Weston-super-Mare and carries out home visits, has been suspended by North Somerset primary care trust and could lose her job. Petrie, a Baptist who has two children, said she had not forced her beliefs on anyone, but had simply asked if the woman would like a prayer said for her.

Petrie said the incident that led to her suspension occurred after she visited a woman in Winscombe in December. She said she asked the woman: Would you like me to pray for you? after putting dressings on her legs. The woman replied No, thank you, and Petrie insists she did not press the matter.

The woman, understood to be in her 70s, is believed to have told the trust about the incident. Petrie was challenged by her superiors.

Update: Prayers Answered?

7th February 2009. See article from telegraph.co.uk

Following overwhelming public support for Caroline Petrie, the Christian nurse who was suspended after she offered to pray for an elderly patient, her employers have caved said she could return to her job.

Sir Patrick Cormack, the Tory MP for South Staffordshire, claimed that her case had highlighted the utter absurdities of political correctness.

Meanwhile a little-noticed document published by the Department of Health last month gives warning that attempts by doctors or nurses to preach to other staff or patients will be treated as harassment or intimidation under disciplinary procedures.

Faith groups said the guidelines were so vague that they could mean action could be taken against anyone who talks about their beliefs to fellow workers or patients.

The document, called Religion or Belief: A Practical Guide for the NHS, states: Members of some religions... are expected to preach and to try to convert other people. In a workplace environment this can cause many problems, as non-religious people and those from other religions or beliefs could feel harassed and intimidated by this behaviour.

To avoid misunderstandings and complaints on this issue, it should be made clear to everyone from the first day of training and/or employment, and regularly restated, that such behaviour, notwithstanding religious beliefs, could be construed as harassment under the disciplinary and grievance procedures.

North Somerset Primary Care Trust carried out an internal investigation and concluded: It is acceptable to offer spiritual support as part of care when the patient asks for it. But for nurses, whose principal role is giving nursing care, the initiative lies with the patient and not the nurse.

In Italy, where the Catholic Church is strong, some proposed atheist bus ads have been rejected, but this one has just been approved to run this month in Genoa: The good news is there are millions of atheists in Italy; the excellent news is they believe in freedom of expression.

Fred Edwords, spokesman for the American Humanist Association, said that nobody is going to be converted because of a sign on a bus. But he said the ads his group put on Washington buses in November and December -- Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake -- let people who don't believe in God know they are not the only ones.

Edwords said a new bus campaign, due to start in New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras, will feature this ad: Don't believe in God? You are not alone.

Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, said the new religious ads proclaiming God are really quite a compliment and mean our ads had an impact.

More than $83 million was donated to support or oppose the ballot initiative that abolished same-sex marriage in California, according to campaign filings recently released.

Filings show that elected officials, businesses, churches and individuals poured more than $28 million into the campaigns during the contest's closing days. The final tallies show that opponents of Proposition 8 raised $43.3 million in 2008 and had a little more than $730,000 left on hand at year's end. The measure's sponsors raised $39.9 million and had $983,000 left over.

The race was the most expensive ballot measure on a social issue in the nation's history. Proposition 8 passed to outlaw same sex marriage with 52% of the vote. Gay marriage backers have asked the California Supreme Court to overturn it.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the first time assigned a dollar value of nearly $190,000 to its role in getting the initiative passed.

Focus on the Family, the evangelical Christian media empire based in Colorado, reported giving $657,000 in cash and services to promote Proposition 8.

Iran's State Supreme Court recently upheld an earlier court ruling for a man to be blinded with acid as punishment for blinding in 2004.

The defendant, identified only by his first name Majid, 27, was in November sentenced by a court in Tehran to be blinded in both eyes, the official state daily "Iran" wrote.

The State Supreme Court on Monday approved the sentence which involves 10 drops of sulphuric acid being administered into each of Majid's eyes.

The phrase "an eye for an eye" is very stringently adhered to in Iran's Islamic law.

Update: Half Humanity

8th March 2009. Thanks to Alan, See article from news.yahoo.com

The blinded woman, Bahrami, said that under Iranian law, she is entitled to blind him in only one eye, unless she pays euro 20,000 ($25,110), because in Iran women are not considered equal to men.

They have told us that my two eyes are equal to one of his because in my country each man is worth two women. They are not the same.

Bahrami explained that she was now waiting for a letter from the court to go back to Iran for the punishment to be carried out.

A trinity of Christian groups have created their own series of advertisements to run across London buses, the medium of choice for the battle of beliefs, it seems.

The new campaign is organsied by the Christian Party, the Trinitarian Bible Society and the Russian Orthodox Church. Their pro-God campaigns will run on 175 buses for two weeks from Monday.

In a somewhat cheeky move, the Rev George Hargreaves of the Christian Party has created a bus advert which proclaims: There definitely is a God. So join the Christian Party and enjoy your life. It will run on 50 bendy buses in central London, east London and the West End.

Meanwhile, the Russian Orthodox Church has booked 25 supersize bus advertisements, backed by a sponsorship deal with Russian Hour TV, using the line: There IS a God, BELIEVE. Don't worry and enjoy your life.

The Trinitarian Bible Society has taken a less temperate approach, using a line from the bible to scold nonbelievers: The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God, runs the advertisement's slogan, taken from Psalm 53.1. The church's campaign, which like the others was booked through outdoor advertising company CBS Outdoor, runs on 100 buses.

mediawatchwatch.org.uk is reporting good news from Norway.

Dagbladet reports that the Norwegian parliament has voted overwhelmingly to reject a proposal to extend existing anti-hate laws to include blasphemy. (At least, that’s as much as can be gleaned from the Google Translation)

GoDaddy's Super Bowl advertisements, which mix women and suggestive material, have generated a lot of attention. But the sexy ads have turned off some viewers and it could be costing GoDaddy some business.

Wired.com reports that one Web manager is pulling some of his religious sites from the provider after clients complained.

Brian Harrell, who oversees sites for Christian churches and faith-based organizations, says that after the ads aired, some of his clients demanded that their sites be to moved a different provider. GoDaddy aired two Super Bowls ads this year both featuring NASCAR driver Danica Patrick; the first ad had Patrick getting into a shower, the second had Patrick in a courtroom discussing enhancements.

Harrell, a Christian, sent an e-mail to the company, which he shared with Wired.com, asking them to re-think how your morals and values are looking to the public.

The company responded with a short e-mail detailing their commitment to freedom of expression.

Harrell plans on growing his business and getting more churches online, but says that he will not suggest GoDaddy to his clients.

A passenger has been sentenced to 30 lashes for smoking on a domestic Saudi Arabian Airlines flight.

The Sudanese man will be flogged by police after refusing repeated requests from cabin crew to stub out his cigarette, despite being told smoking is banned on Saudi's national carrier.

The passenger was arrested when the aircraft landed in Jeddah and promptly handed over to police

A judge handed down the sentence despite the man proving he was attending a clinic to help kick the habit.

Wearing just a thin shirt, the unnamed passenger will be flogged by a policeman wielding a slim reed who must hold a book under his arm to prevent him using too much force.
The strokes are not meant to leave permanent damage but to inflict painful welts that bleed and bruise.

Islamic nations dominate the top 10 countries listed as the world’s worst persecutor of Christians in a new report.

Dr. Carl Moeller, Open Doors USA president, highlighted several changes to the 2009 World Watch List including the reemergence of Somalia into the top 10 list.

Somalia and Eritrea are also in the top 10, Moeller noted to The Christian Post: You can see that the Christian community in that part of Africa has just been hammered.

Also Afghanistan moved up two spots to No. 5 this year because of increased activities by the Taliban. Interestingly, Moeller noted, both China and Bhutan, both Asian countries, dropped out of the top 10. China is now No 12.

The two countries that showed the most improvement in Christian persecution over the past year are Vietnam, which dropped from No. 17 to No. 23, and Columbia, which was dropped from the top 50 list after ranking high for many years on the list.

World Watch List 2009

1. North Korea
2. Saudi Arabia
3. Iran
4. Afghanistan
5. Somalia
6. Maldives
7. Yemen
8. Laos
9. Eritrea
10. Uzbekistan

As previously reported, a House of Lords screening of Fitna was blocked after pressure from Muslim groups.

The screening, planned for last Thursday, was cancelled after a meeting between Lord Nazir Ahmed, senior House of Lords figures and Muslim leaders.

The Associated Press of Pakistan quotes Lord Ahmed terming the cancellation a victory for the Muslim community.

However Melanie Phillips is now reporting in the Spectator that Geert Wilders has been re-invited to speak and screen his film in the Lords later this month.

A Supreme Case

Based on article from iht.com

Meanwhile Wilders has asked the Dutch Supreme Court to halt his prosecution on hate speech charges for anti-Islamic remarks.

Geert Wilders says the remarks — including labeling the Quran a fascist work and calling for it to be banned — fall within the realm of normal discourse and his prosecution threatens his right to freedom of speech.

Middlesex county cricket club has been forced to change one of its name after angry complaints from Muslims and Jews.

The Middlesex Crusaders, who have played under the name for almost 10 years, will play next season as The Panthers.

Bosses at the county club acted after protests about the name from Jewish and Muslim communities, who said they felt it was a reference to the religious wars waged by Christians in Europe against other faiths.

But Middlesex members condemned the decision to change the team’s name and aptly described the move as batty. The world really has gone mad. It’s a real kick in the teeth and is bound to upset a lot of fans.

Middlesex chief executive Vinny Codrington said his club had one or two complaints from our Muslim community and our Jewish community.

Indonesian Islamic nutters have called for a ban on international organisations, the Rotary Club and the Lions Club, saying they are part of a Zionist conspiracy.

The (FUU) said the clubs were infidel fronts for Freemasonry and the world Zionist movement and threatened Islam in Indonesia.

They gather funds and give them to America and the Israeli Zionists, FUU chairman Atian Ali Mohammad Da'i was quoted as saying in The Jakarta Globe daily: We urge all Muslims to renounce membership in the Rotary Club and the Lions Club. Otherwise they can consider themselves infidels. He called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to ban the groups.

Raja Juli Antony of the Maarif Institue, a moderate Islamic group, told The Jakarta Post there was no evidence that the Lions or Rotary clubs posed a threat to Islam. He said they had made positive contributions to Indonesia's development through their charity works.

A senior member of the Indonesia Ulema Council said it was not considering a ruling against the Lions or Rotary clubs.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Swat chief Maulana Fazlullah has said Islam recommends slitting the throat of a man if he is charged with espionage, adding that this is also the Sunnat (way) of Mohammed, and his companions acted upon this.

Fazlullah was replying to allegations that the Taliban slits throats of people and even digs up dead bodies of men from graves and then hangs them.

Talking to the BBC, Fazlullah said he has given permission for girls' education up to the fourth class, and hinted at lifting a ban on female education in the Swat Valley.

We will shape up a new strategy which will send a good message to the world, he said.

It was 20 years ago this month that Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced his fatwa on Salman Rushdie. I inform all zealous Muslims of the world, he proclaimed: that the author of the book entitled The Satanic Verses . . . and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its contents, are sentenced to death.

This was not just a brutally shocking act that forced Rushdie into hiding for almost a decade; it also helped to transform the character of British society. The Rushdie affair was the moment at which a new Islam dramatically announced itself as a political force — and the moment when Britain realised that it was facing a new kind of social conflict.

Muslim fury seemed to be driven not by harassment or discrimination, but by a sense of hurt that Rushdie's words had offended their deepest beliefs. Where did such hurt come from? How could a novel create such outrage? Could Muslim anguish be assuaged and should it be?

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The premiere of the UK’s first feature film about the subject of honour killings will take place in Birmingham ahead of its national release in the spring.

Shot entirely on location in Birmingham, Land Gold Women follows the story of a British-Asian family caught between Eastern tradition, Western culture and political turbulence.

The Anglo-Indian collaboration aims to highlight the problems of forced marriage and honour crime, which affect thousands of women in Britain and across the world.

The team that created Land Gold Women was led by writer and director Avantika Hari and producer Vivek Agrawal, both from India.

The premiere of Land Gold Women will take place on February 12 at Cineworld, Broad Street, Birmingham.

Indonesian police were holding the head of a Muslim cult on a preliminary charge of blasphemy after allegations that the group held rituals involving sex orgies and adultery, a police spokesman said.

Agus Imam Solihin, head of the Satria Piningit Weteng Buwono sect, gave himself up to police last week after a raid on the cult's house. A former sect member accused the leader of proclaiming himself God and holding the bizarre sex rituals, Jakarta police spokesman Zulkarnain Adinegara said.

Authorities in Indonesia had been investigating the sect and police said Solihin faces five years jail if found guilty of blasphemy.

Four children and one man have been arbitrarily arrested and charged with blasphemy at the request of Muslim radicals

Five persons belonging to the Ahmadi sect of Islam, four of them children, have been arrested for desecrating the name of the last prophet of Islam, and charged under a law that can only be met with the death penalty. The children were accused of writing the name of the Prophet Muhammad on the walls of a toilet of a mosque in Punjab province, and are being accused of blasphemy.

The five were taken from their houses on the night of January 28, 2009 and taken into custody. Raiding police officials told their families that they would just be detained for 24 hours to appease a number of Muslim fundamentalists, who had recently renewed the long-waged ideological assault on members of the Ahmadi sect, a minority sect of Islam.

However after four hours in custody, charges were filed against all five under section 295-C, for desecrating the name of the Muhammad.

After contacting the district police officer of Layyah, family members were told that the police were under pressure from fundamentalists to act against the children. If he did not arrest them, The group had threatened to close down the whole city and attack the houses of Ahmedi sect members. Worried about civilian deaths, the officer arrested the children.

The registered complainant in the case is a Mr Liaquat, who has reported seeing the name of Muhammad on the walls of a toilet of Gulzare Madina Mosque in four different places, and scratched into the wall in another. No evidence was given, and no investigation done before the five were arrested.

Inspector Khalid Rauf said the police do not know of any substantial evidence that links the four students with the crime. Most bemusing, is the fact that the teenagers that were arrested are not students of the Gulzare Madina Mosque, where the graffiti was found, and neither they or Mubashar live anywhere near it. The boys are students of a private English medium school.

At this juncture the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to question who Pakistan’s police are meant to serve: a few civilian religious groups with little regard for the law, and an agenda of violent persecution? Or do they serve the rule of law and the people of Pakistan? Their actions and admissions in this case point to the former. That children can now be made scapegoats by the police, and high ranking police officers themselves can played with like puppets, is a disgrace to the nation.

The AHRC urges the government of President Asif Zardari to immediately release the illegally detained prisoners. Instead they should turn their attention to the dependence of Punjab Police on fundamentalist Islamic groups and the implementation of the rule of law in the province, including the amendment in the blasphemy law made by parliament.

St Andrews university in Edinburgh is about to be hit by a wave of nutter protest as the first ever amateur production of the notable West End musical Jerry Springer: The Opera rolls into town.

The play, which caused a nutter storm for supposedly ridiculing Jesus Christ, God and the Virgin Mary, is to be performed by a group of students from St Andrews, who claim the musical will show the ancient institution is daring enough to promote religious debate.

The Just So Musical Society at St Andrews University will stage its production in April as part of the On the Rocks arts festival, which launches this year at the university. The show, which will follow the original script and score with a cast of 25 students, will have a three-night run at the students' association from April 19 to 21.

The student director of the show, John MacLean, who is a practising Christian, denied he was courting controversy. I've decided to put it on because it's a fantastic show. I think the score is incredible, and I went to see it in Edinburgh and I laughed out loud throughout..

Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, remains implacably opposed to the show. His organisation's campaign against the earlier, professional tour using leafletting and the threat of legal action against theatres meant the show lost £500,000.

Green said his organisation would try to do the same to the St Andrews production. It is disgraceful that in the birthplace of the Scottish Reformation, St Andrews University is putting on a production that insults the Lord Jesus Christ. Ridiculing Jesus Christ will bring shame and God's judgment on what should, with all its history, be a devout seat of learning, not a cesspit.

He called all Christians to take action against the musical. We must pray that this show is cancelled, but if it is not, may the Lord bring Christian people out on the streets of St Andrews to witness and evangelise at all the events during the arts week. If many sinners repent and turn to Jesus Christ, some good will yet come from this evil.

Solicitor Michael Phillips, who represented Christian Voice when they sued the BBC for blasphemy after broadcasting the musical in 2007, said: It's a worry that this production is rearing up again, and it's sad that something with so little artistic merit was given such a lot of attention because it used profanity and blasphemy. St Andrews University could be opening themselves up for protests which could lead to legal action if there is somebody with the right funding behind them.

Gordon Macdonald, of Christian Action, Research and Education in Scotland, said: We would ask people not to see it or give them any encouragement by attending the performance. We recognise people's freedom of speech, but at the same time that has to be exercised responsibly, and they shouldn't go out of their way to offend people unnecessarily.

Following a brutal raid on six Christian brothers and their café because they had opened for business during Ramadan, a judge sentenced them to three years in prison with hard labor for supposedly resisting arrest and assaulting authorities.

Last September, 13 police officers raided the café in Port Sa’id, overturning tables, breaking chairs and smashing glasses and hookah pipes, according to the Coptic Christians’ lawyer. They beat the brothers with sticks, leaving two with broken arms and a third needing 11 stitches for a head wound.

The police attacked these people and assaulted them unjustifiably, said Ramses el-Nagar, the Christians’ lawyer. Police did not want to see people eating during Ramadan. This is unfair, because whatever people’s beliefs are, the law is something else and they should not be mixed.

There is no law in Egypt under which the brothers could be prosecuted for opening their café during Ramadan. When they tried to defend their café, the brothers, all in their 30s, were arrested on Sept. 8 and charged with resisting arrest and assaulting authorities. They were held for 30 days before being released on bail.

At the trial last week, defense counsel showed a video of the incident shot by an onlooker as evidence of police brutality. The footage did not sway Judge Mohammed Hassan El-Mahmody, prompting some Coptic activists to claim religious zeal and prejudice as the true motives behind the convictions.

Suspected Taliban militants blew up another government-run school in Pakistan's violence-plagued Swat Valley, bringing to 183 the number of schools destroyed since fighting began in the area six months ago, officials said.

A day earlier, radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah threatened to kill more than four dozen government officials if they did not appear before him for opposing the Taliban.

Local newspapers on Monday printed the list of 50 government officials and tribal elders whom Fazlullah has threatened with death.

The boy's high school that was destroyed was located in Mingora, the valley's main city, said Sher Afzal Khan, an education officer for Swat.

Michael Spencer is in the midst of a relentlessly bleak three-part series on the end of evangelicalism, which predicts that the United States is on the verge of an unavoidable, irreversible large-scale evangelical collapse that will render it a shadow of its former self and the scorn of an increasingly secular society. In part two, he speculates at length about what will be left—where Christians will turn in the midst of the burning rubble.

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