Malaysia appears determined to make an international fool of itself. According to Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, the Women's Minister, is that the country is considering organizing an international conference on caning and whether it is an appropriate punishment for women under Islamic law.

The announcement by Shahrizat comes on the heels of a government statement last week, nine days after the fact, that a shariah court had ordered the caning of three women for adultery. A fourth, far more publicized, is the case of Kartika Dewi Shukarni, a part-time model who was ordered by a shariah court to be caned for drinking beer. The case is still hanging fire while the Regent of Pahang decides how to treat the matter.

As to the caning, in the first place the government ought to organize a conference on whether caning, Malaysia style, is an appropriate punishment for anybody, anywhere, unless for crooked government politicians, of which Malaysia has a surfeit . Although caning is officially outlawed in only 25 countries, it is rare in a lot more, and in very few is it practiced as barbarically — on men — as it is in Malaysia.

One would assume that the purpose of corporal punishment is to cause pain. And when it is done to males in Malaysia and other countries that were once part of the British empire, the damage from the rotan, a thick rattan whip, can be so traumatic that they pass out after one or two strokes. The wounds can take months to heal, at which time the authorities may subject the offender to the rest of his strokes. Offenders have been known to beg for more prison time to escape the rotan. Authorities use only a light rattan stick to hit women on their backs.

So what the caning of the women has done is to show that to much of the world the authorities look like barbarians, while to the rest of it they look like fools for sparing the rod and trying to have it both ways.

The caning of these three women is just the tip of the iceberg, said Donna Guest, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific program, in a prepared statement. Since 2002 the Malaysian authorities have caned over 35,000 people, mostly non-Malaysians for immigration offenses.

The death penalty should apply to those who advocate promiscuity between men and women in Saudi Arabia.

Such is the conviction of Sheikh Abdel Rahmad Barrak, one of Saudi's most popular imams, who issued a fatwa against the modernisers who are calling for the abolition of the strict boundaries imposed by Wahabi doctrine.

The sheikh has been having a go at some of his colleagues in Saudi and abroad who have started talking about reforms in the application of Sharia law and asking for greater tolerance with regard to forms of promiscuity in schools and workplaces.

He wrote: whoever allows this promiscuity is not only a panderer but also an infidel who distances himself from the path of Islam. Given this, the sheikh concluded that such people without repentance, will be killed.

Salman Rushdie is to write a book about the decade he spent in hiding while living under a fatwa issued by the then-Supreme Leader of Iran, Grand Ayatollah Khomeini.

Rushdie said: It's my story, and at some point it needs to be told. That point is getting closer, I think, added Rushdie.

Rushdie was forced into hiding in 1989 when Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill the author, claiming that his book The Satanic Verses insulted Islam.

At one point the bounty on Rushdie's head rose to £1.8m. The Japanese translator of the work was killed, the Norwegian and Italian translators barely survived assassination attempts, and an attempt on the life of the Turkish translator in 1993 resulted in a riot causing the deaths of 37 intellectuals who had gathered in Sivas, Turkey, for a cultural festival.

D'Souza doubts that the book will be a straight diary. There are a huge number of incidents that people may not be aware of, she said. There were times when he was absolutely under threat. But he will make it into a novel of a kind.

A Danish newspaper was accused of betraying the freedom of the press after it apologised to Muslims for offence caused by its reprinting a cartoon showing the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb-shaped turban.

Politiken, a leading Danish newspaper, had printed the cartoon as a gesture of solidarity after three people were arrested for planning to kill the cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard.

It broke ranks with its rivals to issue the apology after settling with a Saudi lawyer who is representing eight Muslim groups that complained after the cartoon was reprinted by eleven Danish newspapers.

Jψrn Mikkelsen, the editor-in-chief of Jyllands-Posten, which is owned by the same media company as Politiken, said: Politiken's pathetic prostrating before a Saudi lawyer takes the first prize in stupidity. It is a sad day for Danish media, it is sad for freedom of expression and it is sad for Politiken.

The Prime Minister, expressed surprise at Politiken's move, saying he was worried that the Danish media was no longer standing shoulder to shoulder on the issue.

Tψger Seidenfaden, the Politiken editor-in-chief, said: We apologise for the offence which the reprint has caused. That is what we apologise for.

The apology was welcomed, however, by Muslim leaders in Denmark. It is beyond any doubt that they have offended some people. It is a nice and human gesture that the newspaper apologises, said imam Abdul Wahid Petersen.

A group of Indonesian NGOs concerned with religious freedom and democracy has filed a judicial review request at the Constitutional Court, asking the judges to review articles of the 1965 Blasphemy Law, which they deemed to discriminate against certain religious groups. The group calls itself the Advocacy Alliance for Freedom of Religion.

A lawyer for the group, Choirul Anam, told The Jakarta Post that Law No.1/1965 on Prevention of Religious Abuse and Blasphemy had raised a public outcry and triggered sectarian conflicts as the law required people to accept only the five official religions - Islam, Catholic, Protestants, Buddhism and Hindu. Confucianism was recognized later, thanks to Gus Dur.

The law *considers' those with different faiths to be heretics. This is discriminatory and against the democratic spirit adopted by the country today, which should strongly protect the freedom of faith, Anam said: Our constitution guarantees religious freedom. All religious groups deserve equal treatment. Therefore, this law, which gives the government the power to intervene in religious matters, must be annulled.

The alliance asked the panel of judges at the court to review three out of five articles on the law.

Articles 28 and 29 guarantee the equality of all citizens, including those with faiths outside the six religions, Anam said: Yet Article 1 on the law stipulates that no one is allowed to make interpretations deviating from the official religions' teachings. This is not right. Interpretations of certain religions are people's rights, Anam said.

The first trial will be held Feb. 4, hearing opinions from representatives of the government and the House of Representatives.

Update: Petition Rejected

27th February 2010. Based on article from thejakartaglobe.com

Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD refused to accept a petition against annulling a blasphemy law because the petition's organizers — several Islamic boarding schools and a forum of Muslim leaders from Madura — had supposedly not followed proper procedures.

They arrived as a delegation, Mahfud said. I received them and spoke with them. However, such aspirations must be conveyed during court proceedings, inside a courtroom, and not directly to a judge, he said.

The 1965 Law on the Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religion is currently the subject of a judicial review after it was challenged by the late President Abdurrahman Wahid last year on the grounds it was being misused to intimidate minority religions.

The review applicants have requested that the court hear testimony from W Cole Durham Jr, a human rights and religious freedom advocate from Brigham Young University in the United States, Mahfud said.

He said the petition organizers had argued the law should not be annulled because matters of religious blasphemy would fail to be legally regulated. The public would then resort to using their own version of the law [street justice], which would be chaotic. Actually, this opinion has been presented in previous hearings, Mahfud said.

The judicial review was filed by several people and organizations, including Wahid. According to Choirul Anam, a lawyer representing the applicants, the law is unconstitutional because it only recognizes six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. The law bans people from publicly espousing other religious views or following non-mainstream interpretations of one of the state-sanctioned religions, he said.

An art exhibition portraying Jesus as the gay son of a prostitute has been closed after the organisers at Granada University in Spain admitted that furious protests from churchgoers meant that they could no longer guarantee the safety of its creator, Fernando Bayona.

The exhibition also shows Jesus having sex with Mary Magdalen before turning gay. There is a lot of anger and there have been some very serious threats to both the artist and our staff, said a worker at the university.

Malay, Chinese and Indian Malaysians, thrown together by a colourful past, have often managed a mutual accommodation of each other's different faiths and cultures.

But the recent argument over the use of the word Allah has provoked strident - and divergent - views both within the Muslim community and outside it.

So too has the labelling of Indian and Chinese Malaysians as pendatang, or immigrants, by a senior ruling party member, Nasir Safar.

...Read full article

Reactions to the blasphemous use of an image of Jesus in Indian school textbooks resulted in the damage of two churches and a number of businesses over the weekend in the northern Punjab state.

In response, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India is calling for a boycott of all books written by the textbook publisher.

A well known image of Christ holding a can of what looks like Schlitz beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other has raised eyebrows across India and sparked unrest last Saturday in the Punjabi city of Batala. According to the Vatican's Fides news agency, the image printed in elementary school textbooks was labeled with the word idol.

A group of Catholic sisters in the city of Shillong in northeastern India had seen the image in print and asked that the book not be used in schools, which the state government honored. However, according to Fides and other news sources, in other places fundamentalists opted to post copies of the representation in public places, some reaction was peaceful, other was not.

The police have arrested a publisher and a printer in relation these public postings. the duo were booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with hurting religious sentiments.

A protest of the image was organized on Feb. 20 involving all the Christian denominations in the area. Unfortunately, the demonstration degenerated to the point of a motorbike being burnt.

Hindu fundamentalist groups leaders reportedly mobilized their leaders, inciting the crowd and prompting them to retaliate. The mob set fire to a church belonging to the Churches of North India. The building was destroyed and its minister and his 15-year-old son were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds.

The spokesman for the Indian Bishops' Conference, Fr. Babu Joseph, told Fides, We asked all Catholic schools in India to withdraw the text and to boycott all the books of Skyline Publications: That image is unacceptable and goes against every principle of respect and dialogue.

Blasphemy Law Proposed

See article from in.reuters.com

Christian outrage at a school book picture showing Jesus Christ holding a beer bottle and a cigarette has spurred authorities in northeastern India to draft an anti-blasphemy law for schools.

The proposed law will help the government take action against such publishers, Ampareen Lyngdoh, the state of Meghalaya's education minister, told Reuters.

Update: Bishops Leery of Blasphemy Law

1st March 2010. See article from catholicculture.org

Bishops of India have had their say: We are deeply offended by the blasphemous image of Christ used on school books and on posters, the bishops said in a statement. We feel sad and indignant for this act of sacrilege. We support the legal actions taken by the government in the states of Meghalaya and Punjab towards the perpetrators. We appeal to the central government, asking that it promote, protect, and defend respect for religious symbols of all communities of believers throughout India.

At the same time, the bishops, leery of the use of blasphemy laws against Christians in Pakistan, oppose a bill introduced in the northeastern state of Meghalaya that would make it a crime to hurt the religious sentiments of people.

A Taliban court amputated the hands of five people charged with theft in the Orakzai Agency, North West Pakistan.

Sources told Daily Times that the Taliban court administrated the decision in Dabori area of the agency, and the people were amputated in the presence of several tribesmen.

Measures outlined by the secular parties to tackle the premature sexualisation of children don't recognise the gravity of the problem, according to Christian Democratic candidates planning to contest coming General and local elections.

Speaking to party supporters over the weekend in Newham, the Christian Peoples Alliance leader, Cllr Alan Craig, said that Britain should adopt and extend policies on sexual imagery being introduced by Australia's Labour government. These require mandatory ISP filtering of Refused Classification(RC)-rated internet content.

The Christian Peoples Alliance forms the opposition on Newham Council and represents one of the most deprived parts of the capital.

According to Cllr Alan Craig, the pledges don't go far enough: As welcome as David Cameron is to the discussion about the sexualisation of children, both he and Ed Balls have failed to grasp the gravity of the problem, especially as it impacts inner city districts such as Canning Town. Here children are begetting children.

The problem is pervasive and complex, linked to issues of social inequality and the disempowerment of young men. The reality is that it is internet imagery, social networking sites and the ubiquity of new generation, internet-enabled mobile phones which are feeding sexual desire. Adolescents are saturated with media images that suggest it is their right to express themselves in sexual relationships. The social consequences are devastating.

Alan Craig said that instead of optional filtering, stronger measures are needed to require big internet and phone providers in Britain such at Sky, Virgin Media and British Telecom to mandatory block R18 material sent down broadband into family homes or to mobiles. He is pointing to what the Australian government says is the ability of internet filtering to deal with the problem.

The Laity Committee of the Diocese of Almeria, Spain issued a strong statement last weekend condemning the use of a crucifix by a local group during Carnival celebrations. The group chose to use the image of Christ on the cross to parody the economic crisis the country is experiencing.

The faithful of Almeria expressed profound disgust and sorrow that some individuals had no qualms about using the image of Christ crucified to parody our social situation, thus gravely wounding the religious sentiments of Christians.

The committee then criticized the local group for defending their actions by appealing to freedom of expression, as if this right had no limits. Freedom of expression ends when the fundamental rights of persons and social groups are attacked, which include the fundamental right to religious freedom. All basic rights must harmoniously refer to each other, as the only safe way to protect them. Just as not everything can be allowed, not everything is licit. The dignity of the human person demands such, and is protected by the Constitution and the legal system in our country.

A protest to convince Parliament to reform outdated and theocratic censorship laws is being held by the Front kontra c-Censura on Wednesday 24th February at 5 p.m., starting from City Gate in Valletta to Parliament.

The organisation told a news conference this morning that it had invited all political organisations to join since it believed that censorship affected everyone. It was very concerned that several bodies, including the University Students' Council and the Studenti Demokristjani Maltin, refused to take part.

Spokesman Ingram Bondin said that last year there were six cases of censorship, the most obvious and controversial being the Realta short story Li Tkisser Sewwi, the Nadur Carnvial and the play Stitching.

The protest, he said, was being organised to fight outdated laws on censorship which carried harsh punishment, including a prison term. The people should have the freedom to say something shocking and not be silenced. This was even allowed by the European Court of Human Rights which in a judgement said that freedom of speech could be shocking.

Bondin said the organisation would like to see the law which did not allow one to artistically criticise the official religion of the country repealed. It would also like to see the Board of Stage and Film Classification, which had the power to censor plays and films from appearing and being held, lose this power.

It wanted the removal of a clause in the Press Act which said that one could not publish anything that criticised public morals and it called for an amendment to the law removing the powers of the Broadcasting Authority to censor adult programmes aired after 9 p.m.

The organisation said it was also calling for the decriminalisation of pornography. The Pornography Act called for the setting up of a committee whose role was to define pornography. This committee has not met since 1975 and it should be removed.

International Christian Concern (ICC) is calling for Pakistani officials to release a Christian man who is serving life imprisonment in Pakistan following false allegations of blasphemy.

A Pakistani court sentenced Imran Masih to life imprisonment and fined him 100,000 Pakistani Rupees [$1182] on January 11, after his Muslim neighbor, Hajji Liaquat, accused him of burning the Qur'an.

On July 1, 2009, Masih was cleaning his shop when he came across Arabic literature. Before trashing it, he asked his Muslim neighbor, Liaquat, whether the book was Islamic literature. Liaquat assured him that it was not an Islamic book. However, after Masih burned the book, Liaquat showed the half-burned book to passersby and accused Masih of desecrating the Qur'an. Later, the local mosques incited Muslims to attack Masih by announcing that he had desecrated the Qur'an.

Masih ran for his life and hid at his house before the police arrived and arrested him. At the time of arrest, a mob of 400 Muslims had gathered outside Masih's home. The mob was able to overpower the police and attack him.

According to the family, Liaquat falsely accused Masih of desecrating the Qur'an because he wanted to rent the shop that Masih rented to run his business.

A display by a Spanish artist, including a candelabrum growing out of the barrel of an Uzi sub-machinegun and a sculpture of a haredi figure standing on a priest, who kneels on a prostrate Muslim, has drawn fire from the Foreign Ministry.

The Israeli Embassy in Madrid issued a statement protesting the display at the International Art Fair in the Spanish capital.

Values such as freedom of speech and creative freedom are sometimes used to disguise stereotyping, prejudice and provocation for the sake of provocation, the statement said. The sculptures are two of five works on display by the well-known artist Eugenio Merino.

Merino denied that he had tried to provoke. The aim was to display the wonder in the co-existence of the three religions, each making a common effort to reach God, he told reporters.

Three Malaysian women have been caned by the authorities for having extra-marital sex, say officials.

They are the first women to receive such a sentence under Islamic law in the country. Malaysia's majority Malays are subject to Islamic laws, while the large Chinese and Indian minorities are not.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the punishments had been carried out in a prison outside the capital, Kuala Lumpur, on 9 February. The women were each hit up to six times. One is reported to have since been released from prison.

Update: Flogging any old propaganda

20th February 2010. See article from dailymail.co.uk Thanks to Alan

Three Muslim women who were the first in Malaysia to be caned for having sex outside marriage this morning claimed the punishment was an opportunity for them to repent.

The three women, aged 17-25, said they turned themselves in after feeling guilty for sleeping with their boyfriends before marriage and getting pregnant.

The 17-year-old told reporters that she surrendered to Islamic authorities after her prematurely born child died. She is now serving a six-month prison sentence. I know I have sinned, and I have to be punished. Strangely however, I felt that the caning was not a form of punishment but was an opportunity for me to repent and return to the right path, she said. She has already married her boyfriend, who has also been caned and jailed over the offence.

The other women, who have one young child each, are planning to marry their partners after they are released. The men were also caned for having sex. One woman, aged 25, said she was scared before the caning but knew she deserved the punishment. All three women called on others not to make the same mistake and abstain from sex before marriage.

A Prison Department official confirmed the women's comments, made at a news conference at the women's prison outside Kuala Lumpur to local, government-linked media under the watch of authorities.

It could not be confirmed whether they were speaking voluntarily.

A Pakistan wide protest day was observed on Friday against publication of supposedly blasphemous Mohammed caricatures in the European press and the US court verdict against Dr Aafia Siddiqui prosecuted on terror charges.

Called by Tehrik Hurmat Rasool (THR), a platform of over two dozen religious parties,  porotests were held across the country, condemning the hatred of Islam in the European media, European leadership and the US judiciary.

In Lahore, demonstrators carried placards and banners demanding death to the perpetrators of blasphemy and immediate release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui. They were shouting slogans against Norway, Denmark, the United States and Switzerland.

Charged youth were demanding the death of the printer, publishers and cartoonists of blasphemous sketches, particularly the heads of the Norwegian paper, Dagbladet, which printed a cartoon of Muhammad with his name on a pig.

Addressing a gathering in front of the press club, Maulana Ameer Hamza vowed to continue movement against the blasphemers and for the release of Dr Aafia. He said the THR had sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI demanding his active role in stopping continuous blasphemies by his followers in Europe. He said peaceful protests would continue until the government of Pakistan expelled Norwegian ambassador from the country. He also urged the nation to boycott all Norwegian products and activities of the Norwegian Embassy.

Qari Yaqoob Shaikh said those committing blasphemy of Muhammad are liable to death, adding that all such blasphemers were destroyed by Allah. Norway and Denmark were inciting wrath of Allah by insulting His beloved Muhammed, and if they failed to change course, they would vanish from the face of the earth.

Sexy attire used by women during aerobics class is against the spirit of Islam, said the Indonesian Islamic Ulemas Council (MUI) in Palembang, South Sumatra province. In its recent pronouncement, it targeted sexy outfits that provoke lust in men.

For the MUI, it is wrong especially for young women to wear improper garments during aerobic exercises in gyms or in the open air, because of their effect on men.

Kiai Hajj Sodikun, MUI leader in Palembang, said women should wear more chaste clothing so as not to arouse men. Because of this, unduly sexy gym suits or physical exercises and movements that excite men should be considered haram (morally illicit).

Mr Kiai does acknowledge the importance of physical exercises for human health...BUT... insists that they must be practiced with the appropriate clothing.

Such views are a very poor argument, gym teacher Herlina told AsiaNews: What about women wearing bikini at the beach or whilst swimming? Jakarta resident Maria asks: The MUI seems to be short of arguments to address problems raised in modern society, she added.

Founded in1975 by then President Suharto, the MUI has grown powerful over the years in the areas of morality and behaviour; it has been able to issue guidelines on its own on what constitute licit or illicit attitudes, customs and habits. Its members act as if they and they alone held the power to define how Islam must be respected and its principles upheld. Over the years, its fatwas over clothing, smoking, fashion and traditions deeply rooted in the archipelago's history and culture have been controversial.

Ulemas in Aceh have lambasted a transvestite contest held at the hall of state radio station RRI in Banda Aceh.

We strongly deplored the contest as this event has tainted the implementation of the strict sharia law in Aceh, secretary general of Aceh Ulema Association Tgk Faisal Ali said.

Faisal said that the contest was inappropriate whatsoever because it was clearly against the sharia law, which had been implemented in the whole province: Whatever the reasons, it is against the sharia law and we ask the organizers to be responsible for the event which is not in line with the local culture and Islam.

Transvestites in Aceh joined the contest to select the Aceh Cultural and Social Envoy 2010, an event which was also designed to enable transvestites to hold a get-together.

As the residents of a village near Kasur have demonstrated — with fatal consequences — there is little that is as explosive as anger ignited by religious passions.

In yet another incident of a frenzied mob out to punish alleged blasphemy, a young man was beaten to death after his father reportedly claimed that he was the last prophet of Islam. The alleged blasphemer — an illiterate brick-kiln worker-turned-faith healer — is in police custody and other members of his family are in hiding. Their lives may still be in danger as reports from the area suggest that public anger has not subsided.

The incident is part of an established pattern. Propelled and led by religious leaders, an angry mob takes the law into its own hands to punish alleged blasphemers. The authorities almost always fail to defuse the situation.

In its attempts to Islamise society over the years, especially during the Zia era, the state has come to a point where it is not able to rein in the obscurantist forces of its own creation. It has lost its authority to challenge the semi-literate maulvis who do more harm than good.

Few things have fed such forces more than the blasphemy laws. Since the mid-1980s when these laws were introduced, blasphemy cases have grown exponentially. Many alleged blasphemers have died, mostly at the hands of mobs, much before their case was heard or decided. These laws have been used as weapons for personal, political, social and economic victimisation.

Efforts must be made towards the repeal of the blasphemy laws if the state is serious about dousing religious anger before it is consumed by it.

Tighter official regulation of violent computer games was called for by nutters of the Church of England general synod last night.

In a brief debate, members queued up to condemn the availability of ultra-violent games and the relative lack of restrictions on what children can see.

The church is still whingeing about Manchester Cathedral being used without permission in the violent game Resistance: Fall of Man. The cathedral staff secured an apology - but not the withdrawal of the game from its worldwide market.

The cathedral's dean the Very Rev Govender Rogers told the synod: Sony's response was: What is the church worried about? It's just a game. I had to tell them: It may just be a fantasy game to you, but violence is really serious on the streets of Manchester. We eventually managed to elicit a grudging apology.

Initiating the debate, synod lay member Tom Benyon, a former Tory MP, said: There is a bubbling sewer of gratuitously violent and sexual pornography and games all around us … I have seen [their] pernicious effect: a family member saw a so-called game and he had nightmares. The images remained with him for months.

Benyon offered to show members extracts of violent games on a compilation DVD: Why is it acceptable, indeed lawful, to portray the killing and burning of a woman in Fatality, the sawing up of a woman in Mortal Combat, playing football with severed heads; the chainsaw killing of a man in Saw III, rape, torture and so on? I have all these terrible games collected and if anyone has the courage to watch it, please do so.

We are in a great muddle over regulation and the cost… can be seen in the rising crime statistics year by year. To control this material by expecting parents to control their children with warnings is like King Canute's performance with his waves. This is not just a matter of conscience and morality. It's a public health and an economic issue.

The synod called on the government to review the regulatory system for advertising video games to prevent the targeting of children, offered support for carers and parents to prevent children, young people and vulnerable adults being damaged - and promised that the church would keep an eye on the games market to monitor what was being released.

Update: Games Save Lives

16th February 2010. Thanks to David. See article from uk.videogames.games.yahoo.com

This should get the Jack Thompsons of the world - and the Church of England's General Synod, who were blaming the world's ills on violent video games last week - mightily confused...

The Vancouver Sun, reports that a Texas teenager has been arrested after bragging online about an upcoming killing spree.

A British Columbian gamer may have saved the lives of American teenagers after reporting comments by an Xbox LIVE gamer based in San Antonio, Texas. According to the report, the disgruntled US teen was bemoaning recent grades and began naming specific targets for a possible high school shooting.

The Texas teen was promptly taken into custody by local police, and now faces charges.

Port Alberni RCMP Staff Sgt. Lee Omilusik told the Vancouver Sun: This incident demonstrates the power of the electronic world and how different enforcement agencies can quickly work together to protect the citizens they serve, regardless of obstacles such as international barriers. In this case, the suspect was quickly arrested and no one was hurt thanks to the information received from a concerned citizen.

Cunit has gained fame in Spain as the town where a Moroccan-born Muslim woman with a master's degree and a head of curly hair says she was threatened by Muslim fundamentalists because she took off her veil and tried to live like a Spaniard.

The treatment of Fatima Ghailan prompted an investigating magistrate to bring charges against the sheik of the local mosque, Mohamed Benbrahim, and the head of the Islamic Association, Abderraman el-Osri, the leading figures in Cunit's Muslim community.

The case also generated demands for the resignation of Mayor Judit Alberich, a liberal Socialist who, her political opponents said, catered to her Muslim constituents at the expense of respect for the law.

The feelings surfacing in Cunit have revealed a quiet resentment among many people who think that traditional European values are being challenged by fundamentalist Muslims. This is serious, said Ivan Faccia Serrano, a Cunit city council member. There is a big part of the population that is not comfortable living with these Moroccans.

In many ways, Ghailan was an unlikely champion of assimilation when she arrived in Cunit as a teenager. Her father had been the sheik of a mosque in Morocco, and until recently, she dutifully wore a scarf. But things began to change several years ago. Ghailan received a master's degree in Barcelona, and before long she stopped wearing a scarf. She began driving a car.

Then she got a job at City Hall, assigned to work with the town's approximately 1,000 mostly Moroccan Muslims as a cultural mediator. Her job was to encourage Muslims, particularly cloistered women, to participate in the life of the town, to take advantage of language classes and to leave their homes to attend festivals.

Ultimately, that is what brought her into conflict with Benbrahim and Osri. As a representative of City Hall, Ghailan wielded power over the immigrant community. That, residents said, was something the traditionalists could not accept -- particularly because it involved a woman who refused to cover her hair.

Benbrahim organized a petition demanding Ghailan's firing. Ghailan said the dispute soon escalated; she lodged a formal complaint against Benbrahim in November 2008, charging that he had harassed, threatened and attacked her and her family.

A local court issued a restraining order, barring the sheik from going near Ghailan or her family, and launched a formal investigation in which procedure dictated that Benbrahim be taken into custody. But, Ghailan said later, the mayor, Alberich, intervened to prevent the arrest, saying that it would disrupt relations with Cunit's Muslim community.

The situation remained tense but quiet until the magistrate announced two weeks ago that his investigation was finished and that Benbrahim should be jailed for five years on charges of harassment, defamation and threats and that Osri should be sentenced to four years for harassment and defamation.

Turkish playwright Ozen Yula has written a play that has angered Islamic fundamentalists in Istanbul.

Ozen Yula, a leading Turkish playwright who is spending most of 2010 working and teaching in Cleveland, got an unwelcome invitation earlier this month.

It was an invitation to join a list of people who wound up dead, hunted or silenced after being condemned in Vakit, Istanbul's most widely followed Islamic-fundamentalist newspaper.

Yula earned that distinction as the author of a comedy that was scheduled to open at the Kumbaraci50 theater in  Istanbul.

In the play, Yala, Ama Yutma (Lick but don't Swallow), an angel gets sent back to Earth to do good works in the body of a pornographic movie actress. Or maybe the play is about a porn star who dreams she's an angel. Like many serious comedies, it's ambiguous.

But ambiguity is not something Islamic fundamentalists tend to appreciate. Vakit (Turkish for Time) condemned Yula and his play for smearing human dirt on angels, according to one translation of the newspaper's online Turkish text.

Deliberate or not, the Vakit story has touched off a sensation. The mayor of Beyoglu, a member of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party  shut down the venue where the play was supposed to premiere Monday.

The Southall Black Sisters have been awarded the National Secular Society's £5,000 Irwin Prize for Secularist of the Year. The award was presented to Pragna Patel, Chair of the organisation, at prestigious award ceremony in central London on Saturday. Pragna Patel

NSS President Terry Sanderson said: Southall Black Sisters was set up to meet the needs of Black and Asian women who are the victims of domestic violence or injustices in the legal system. The main aim of the organisation is to empower women in gaining more control over their lives, to be able to live without fear of violence and be able to assert their human rights to justice, equality and freedom. It is right on the forefront of the feminist struggle in this country. It celebrated its thirtieth anniversary last year, being founded in 1979 during the Southall race riots.

Mr Sanderson said that the group had been chosen to receive the prize because they provide a secular space where women fleeing violence or injustice – often resulting from religious attitudes – can find a safe haven. He said: The Government's 'cohesion' agenda has put an enormous amount of power into the hands of religious leaders in minority Asian communities. These are almost always very conservative in their outlook and some consider women's rights to be unimportant. The Southall Black Sisters can provide women with some time away from this all-powerful religious patriarchy for them to sort out their problems in their own way.

Over a thousand women a year contact Southall Black Sisters on issues such as domestic violence, homelessness, immigration, police and racial harassment, health and concerns about their children.

An eight-year-old girl has been killed in a human sacrifice in Nepal.

Police from the district of Rupandehi in the south of Nepal, have described the sacrifice as having been performed by four people who allegedly slit the child's throat before stabbing her.

The four have been arrested. The police made the arrests after finding the girl's blood, along with money and sacrificial offerings, alongside a brick kiln alter.

Local police officials said two of the arrested people had already confessed to the murder, saying it was intended as an offering to the gods to bring good fortune to business.

Nepal outlawed human sacrifices in the 1700's but experts say it is still practised by some Hindu communities in poor rural areas, where education is lacking and religion plays a big part in daily ritual.

Leaders and representatives of over 30 religious parties of the country reiterated the universal stance of Muslim world that blasphemy of any kind was warrants capital punishment. The leaders stressed that neither rulers nor legislature or any court had the power to amend blasphemy law.

The leaders regretted that pro-west ruling elite of Pakistan had been from time to time trying to amend blasphemy laws. They warned the government that a movement would be launched in case rulers tried to carry out such unholy designs. They warned rulers against unholy wishes and asked them to rein in Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and some ministers who had been issuing irresponsible statements creating unrest.

The group also warned rulers against giving lukewarm response to the deliberate and blatant blasphemies committed by the European press in the name of freedom of expression.

Cheryl Cole's new video has reportedly offended the perennial Hindu whinger Rajan Zed.

The Girls Aloud singer has been accused of portraying the Indian goddess Kali, in her video for her new single Parachute.

Kali is associated with divine energy and is widely worshipped in the faith.

According to Digital Spy, Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, has said: The goddess Kali is highly revered in Hinduism and she's meant to be worshipped in temples, and not to be duplicated in music videos for publicity stunts or thrown around loosely for dramatic effects. This should not be taken lightly. No faith, larger or smaller, should be ridiculed. The inappropriate use of Hinduism concepts and symbols is not OK.

Protests are being organised this weekend against the Pope's visit to the country later in the year.

A coalition of gay rights, secular and women's groups are organising the demonstration, which will meet outside Westminster Cathedral before heading to the Italian embassy at Grosvenor Square for a rally at 3pm.

Peter Tatchell of gay rights group Outrage! listed the litany of abjections to the pontiff's visit.

The Pope opposes women's rights, gay equality, embryonic stem cell research, death with dignity and the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV, he said today: Pope Benedict played a key role in the cover-up of child sex abuse by Catholic clergy.

Given that he opposes universal equality and human rights, Pope Benedict should not be accorded the honour of a state visit to Britain.

Groups involved in the protest include the Central London Humanist Group, the British Humanist Association, the National Secular Society, One Law for All, the Gay And Lesbian Humanist Association, the Rationalist Association and OutRage!.

The demonstration will be held in solidarity with another taking place the same weekend in Rome, also against the Vatican and its reactionary interference in Italian, European and worldwide politics.

Saudi Arabia's feared muttawa — religious police — have launched the yearly campaign to banish from the shelves anything that could be construed as a romantic gift. They have been patrolling the shops and posting warnings in local newspapers to remind traders that anyone caught violating the ban will be punished.

Saudi Arabia adheres to a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam and bans the celebration of Western holidays — and Valentine's Day is a particular target because of its nominal connection to the life of a Christian saint.

But roses and romantic gifts are legal for the rest of the year — so amorous Saudis and expatriates have been buying their gifts well in advance of the Valentine's Day crackdown.

The interpretation of what constitutes a romantic gift can be a little arbitrary; one Western resident in the capital, Riyadh, said that the shelves in his local store had been stripped of almost all red items, with nervous storeowners taking no chances.

The Hollywood film Valentine's Day, starring Julia Roberts, has been banned in Brunei following recent warnings from religious leaders declaring that Valentine's Day is not for Muslims because it encouraged promiscuous activity.

A Saudi Arabia appeals court has upheld a sentence of five years in jail and 1,000 lashes for a man who boasted on TV of his sex life, reports say.

Mazen Abdul Jawad was convicted in October of immoral behaviour under the country's strict Islamic law code.

Sentences of two years in jail and 300 lashes were upheld for three friends of his who were also on the programme.

The men can appeal again to a higher court.

About 2,500 people marched through downtown Oslo in a protest Friday against a Norwegian newspaper that printed a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.

The demonstrators chanted God is great in Arabic and waved placards calling for a boycott of the Dagbladet daily.

On Feb. 3, the newspaper published a photograph showing a man in front of a computer screen with a depiction of Muhammad as a pig. The picture accompanied an article that said users were posting offensive material about Muslims and Jews on the Facebook page of Norway's security police.

We have done nothing to anybody. We want to live here in peace. Norway is our home. Our children live here. Why should they (Norwegian media) hurt us like this? said Naradim Muhammad, a school teacher who helped organize the demonstration.

The demonstration was peaceful, except for a firecracker that was apparently thrown by a protester onto a restaurant patio. It caused burn damage to a patio sofa, but nobody was injured. After the blast, organizers ordered the crowd to disperse, encouraging them to go home or to a local mosque to pray.

Mohyeldeen Mohammed, a spokesman for the Volunteers group which organised the demo, said: If this will be allowed to continue in the end it will be too late. Then we'll get a September 11th and a June 7th on Norwegian soil. This is not a threat, but a warning.

Attack from Turkey

Dagbladet was last night also hit by a distributed denial of service attack which left the site offline for two and a half hours.

Turkish hacker group 1923TURK has claimed responsibility for the attack: Dagbladet's attack against our prophet is disrespectful, Norwegians have no respect for anything. Therefore we attack the paper.

A Christian has lost her appeal against a ruling which cleared British Airways of discrimination by stopping her wearing a cross visibly at work.

Nadia Eweida had wanted three judges to overturn a decision by the Employment Appeal Tribunal that she was not a victim of indirect religion or belief discrimination.

Lord Justice Sedley, giving the ruling of the court, said her case of indirect discrimination was defeated by BA's case on justification. Related articles

He said: This case has perhaps illustrated some of the problems which can arise when an individual asserts that a provision, criterion or practice adopted by an employer conflicts with beliefs which they hold but which may not only not be shared but may be opposed by others in the workforce. It is not unthinkable that a blanket ban may sometimes be the only fair solution.

Eweida, who is backed by human rights group Liberty, returned to work after the policy change but claimed she was due around £120,000 in damages and lost wages.

Corinna Ferguson, Liberty's legal officer who represents Ms Ewedia, said: This is a disappointing judgment that will do little to build public confidence in equality laws protecting everyone. But this is just the sort of case that a Supreme Court is for and we have every hope that the highest court in the land will put Britain's long tradition of religious tolerance into modern legal practice.

Lord Carey, former archbishop of Canterbury and supporter of Ms Eweida, said: The news that Nadia Eweida's appeal has failed is a sad blow both to her personally, and the cause of religious liberties and freedoms. Sadly, the failure of this appeal is likely to lead to further cases of religious discrimination. I believe it is not an exaggeration to say that people of faith are facing particular hardship in a period where different freedoms and rights are being tested against each other.

Carla Revere, vice president of the National Secular Society, said: At the moment, employers are walking on eggshells in many areas which involve religion at work. We hope that this judgment will help them feel more confident in setting their employment policies in relation to dress codes and other religious requirements.

Tighter official regulation of violent computer games was called for by nutters of the Church of England general synod last night.

In a brief debate, members queued up to condemn the availability of ultra-violent games and the relative lack of restrictions on what children can see.

The church is still whingeing about Manchester Cathedral being used without permission in the violent game Resistance: Fall of Man. The cathedral staff secured an apology - but not the withdrawal of the game from its worldwide market.

The cathedral's dean the Very Rev Govender Rogers told the synod: Sony's response was: What is the church worried about? It's just a game. I had to tell them: It may just be a fantasy game to you, but violence is really serious on the streets of Manchester. We eventually managed to elicit a grudging apology.

Initiating the debate, synod lay member Tom Benyon, a former Tory MP, said: There is a bubbling sewer of gratuitously violent and sexual pornography and games all around us … I have seen [their] pernicious effect: a family member saw a so-called game and he had nightmares. The images remained with him for months.

Benyon offered to show members extracts of violent games on a compilation DVD: Why is it acceptable, indeed lawful, to portray the killing and burning of a woman in Fatality, the sawing up of a woman in Mortal Combat, playing football with severed heads; the chainsaw killing of a man in Saw III, rape, torture and so on? I have all these terrible games collected and if anyone has the courage to watch it, please do so.

We are in a great muddle over regulation and the cost… can be seen in the rising crime statistics year by year. To control this material by expecting parents to control their children with warnings is like King Canute's performance with his waves. This is not just a matter of conscience and morality. It's a public health and an economic issue.

The synod called on the government to review the regulatory system for advertising video games to prevent the targeting of children, offered support for carers and parents to prevent children, young people and vulnerable adults being damaged - and promised that the church would keep an eye on the games market to monitor what was being released.

Last week in Norway, Abid Q. Raja (Liberal Party) voiced his concern about a link on the PST (Police Security Service) Facebook page to a cartoon portraying Muhammad as a pig writing in the Koran.

He said he received phone-calls from Muslims who were deeply and intensely insulted and sad about it. He said he thinks it's a scandal the PST did not realize the explosiveness in this cartoon and was afraid that it could cause violence in both Norway and Pakistan.

Abid Q. Raja called on the PST heads and justice minister Knut Storberget to take complete responsibility for it and to apologize that the cartoon was available through the PST site. He said he was afraid of the consequences if they don't, but that he and other liberal Muslims would do everything they could to calm down the community...BUT...he said, Norwegians shouldn't be naive. Think when this reaches the closed communities. Think when the mullahs see this. They'll tear out their beards.

Later at he weekend, a thousand Muslim taxi drivers parked their cars in the small hours in the center of Oslo in protest of Dagbladet's printing of the Muhammad cartoon. The protested proceeded peacefully.

On Wednesday Dagbladet published a caricature of the prophet Muhammad on its front page, as an illustration to a story about the PST linking to the controversial cartoons on its website. Muslim taxi drivers in the capital responded harshly to the newspaper's reprinting of the cartoon: We're reacting to the abuse of freedom of speech. What we're doing isn't any violent planning, but we want to show that we're against our values being abused, says one of the drivers, Rashad Munir to VG Nett.

Based on article from islamineurope.blogspot.com

Conservative Party politician on the Oslo council Aamir Sheikh, who is himself a Muslim, took the initiative to arrange an hour long meeting between Malana-hafiz Mehboob ur-Rehman, who is the imam at the Islamic Cultural Centre - one of Norway's biggest mosques, and Dagbladet's acting editor Lars Helle.

The goal was to find a solution to the conflict which arose after Dagbladet printed a Muhammed cartoon as an illustration to an article last weke.

The imam had hopped Helle would apologize for Dagbladet printing a Muhammed caricature last week: I was very glad when Dagbladet wanted to have this meeting, but am very disappointed because Dagbladet want to stand their ground, Mehboob-ur-Rehman told VG Nett.

In an improvised press conference after the meeting, imam Mehboob ur-Rehman predictably said he can't take responsibility for what comes next in response to the Muhammed cartoon in.

Sikhs should be permitted to wear their ceremonial daggers to schools and in other public places, according to Britains first Asian judge.

Sir Mota Singh, QC, criticised schools over how they deal with pupils who wish to wear the dagger, known as a kirpan.

The judge, who is now retired, said: Not allowing someone who is baptised to wear a kirpan is not right. He added: I see no objection to a young Sikh girl or boy, who's been baptised, being allowed to wear their kirpan if that's what they want to do.

His comments come after a number of cases of Sikhs unsurprisingly being barred from wearing the kirpans and other religious artefacts in schools and the workplace.

Singh said: I wear my kirpan and I've always worn it for the last 35 to 40 years, even when I was sitting in court or visiting public buildings, including Buckingham Palace. He added: I think these are issues that can be dealt with, with a certain amount of sensitivity.

But last night the Department of Children, Schools and Families made clear that pupils should be discouraged from wearing the kirpan. A DCSF spokesman said that decisions on whether Sikh pupils could wear the dagger were a matter for individual schools. [Isn't there a law against carrying an offensive weapon?]

Singh admitted that schools may have other concerns linked to health and safety about pupils wearing the kirpan. I accept that, because I think as one realises the increase in crimes of violence involving the use of knives and other offensive weapons, I can see that. But there has been no reported case, certainly none that I know of, of a Sikh using a knife in order to cause injury, he said on BBC Radio Four's Today programme.

The kirpan, which can range in length is commonly about three inches long, is carried in a sheath and strapped to the body, often under clothing.

A Muslim bus driver delayed passengers by pulling over mid-route and beginning to pray in the aisle.

The driver stopped the bus without warning before removing his shoes and, using a fluorescent jacket as a prayer mat, beginning to chant in Arabic.

No one was able to get on or off the vehicle during the five-minute prayer session.

Passenger Gayle Griffiths complained to Transport for London about the bizarre incident on the No.24 bus in Gospel Oak, north London, this week. She said the bus driver didn't give the passengers any explanation as to what he was doing: It even went through my mind that this might be some sort of terrorist attack with the bus blown up because I had heard that suicide bombers prayed before attacks.

Everyone was looking round in a mix of shock and amazement. It was truly bizarre, ludicrous and aggravating. We are delayed often enough as it is in London. We live in a multi-cultural society but there is a time and a place for prayer and the middle of a journey with a busload of passengers is not it.

Transport for London said it had apologised to all the passengers for the delay to their journey and said all Muslim drivers are being reminded that they should pray during statutory rest periods rather than hold up services.

Music spontaneity will, after all, be allowed during the Nadur carnival celebrations as police are no longer insisting that performing rock bands submit their planned repertoire for vetting.

In a statement the police said they had reconsidered the decision but did not explain what exactly led to this change of strategy.

The statement was issued in reaction to a story published in The Sunday Times in which a concerned band member said the Nadur local council and police were requesting to vet lyrics before the event in an attempt to eliminate offensive or vulgar language.

The police denied ever asking for the lyrics and said the original decision, to see the song repertoire, was taken with the cooperation of Nadur mayor Miriam Portelli. Portelli had explained it was the police who had suggested vetting lyrics but she did not know why.

Dressing Up as Jesus

The council urged those attending the spontaneous carnival to respect public order and decency. The Nadur carnival, which kicks off on Friday, has established a reputation for spontaneity. The celebrations traditionally attract thousands of people to Gozo for the five-day festivities, creating a series of management problems.

Last year, controversy arose when some revellers dressed up as Jesus Christ and as nuns. Amid condemnation from the bishops, the revellers ended up in court for choosing costumes deemed to be illegal and offensive to the Roman Catholic religion. One young man was given a one-month suspended jail term for dressing up as Jesus. This was deemed as excessive censorship by some who argued it threatened the spontaneous character of the Nadur carnival.

In reaction to this, last year, a group was set up on Facebook with a page entitled Friends of Jesus: Nadur 2010 which said it was organising a peaceful protest against a modern-day inquisition. The group said it hoped to encourage hundreds of people to dress up as Jesus in an attempt to overwhelm any fear of retribution by numbers.

A Malaysian nutter organisation is up in arms against Valentine's Day and a supposed plan to get a group of students to go without panties on that day.

On Jan 29, The Star reported that female students in higher learning institutes in Shah Alam were being persuaded not to wear panties on Valentine's Day as an expression of true love for their boyfriends.

The Secretariat Against Social Ills Penang (Unggas) fears that the no panties promotion, now going on at higher learning institutions in Shah Alam, may soon find its way into secondary schools if not checked. It said a random survey conducted at several Penang schools showed that some students were aware of the matter.

Unggas co-ordinator Nurfitri Amir Muhammad said a few of its teacher activists were even surprised to find students openly discussing it: We do not have any evidence if such an event is being organised among the secondary school students here, but the fact that secondary students are aware of such a promotion requires serious attention.

He said Unggas with other nutter groups had recently started a Valentine's Day Trap (Jerat Valentine's Day) campaign to caution the people against negative activities during Valentine's Day: On Valentine's night, we will conduct a preventive operation called Operasi Sayang Remaja at Queensbay Mall in Gurney Drive and along the Butterworth Outer Ring Road stretch. Since, we do not have enforcement powers like Jakim officers, we will concentrate on counselling and advising couples against committing adultery, he said.

Between 6,000 and 8,000 women in Austria have been forced to undergo genital mutilation, according to Social Democratic MP Petra Bayr.

Bayr, a member of the Austrian Platform against Female Genital Mutilation, said today: Many parents believe they are doing their daughters a favour by forcing them to undergo it.

She said the only way to change such thinking was to engage in awareness-raising and make it clear to parents that genital mutilation was neither called for by religion nor a pre-condition for finding a husband.

Rather, she added, genital mutilation was a violation of human rights that left its victims mentally and physically damaged for the rest of their lives.

Bayr added that her group was working with health personnel, migrant organisations and religious leaders to try to change the situation.

The Pakistan government plans to revise its laws against blasphemy within this year, Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti has said.

Bhatti said he has been in talks with political parties to have the blasphemy law revised by the end of 2010.

Bhatti said the revision would require judges to investigate cases before they are registered – which would keep check on police, who are often accused of abuse. The revised laws would also mete out punishments to anyone who makes a false complaint, he said.

Turkish police have recovered the body of a 16-year-old girl they say was buried alive by relatives in an honour killing carried out as punishment for talking to boys.

The girl, who has been identified only by the initials MM, was found in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre hole dug under a chicken pen outside her home in Kahta, in the south-eastern province of Adiyaman.

Police made the discovery in December after a tip-off from an informant, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported on its website. The girl had previously been reported missing. The informant told the police she had been killed following a family council meeting.

Her father and grandfather are said to have been arrested and held in custody pending trial. It is unclear whether they have been charged. The girl's mother was arrested but was later released.

Media reports said the father had told relatives he was unhappy that his daughter – one of nine children – had male friends. The grandfather is said to have beaten her for having relations with the opposite sex.

A postmortem examination revealed large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she had been alive and conscious while being buried. Her body showed no signs of bruising.

The Vatican condemned Britain's proposed equality law, complaining that legislation to give homosexual equal rights violates natural law.

The Vatican launched an unprecedented attack on the human rights policies of Gordon Brown, claiming that they threatened religious freedom and urging Catholic bishops to fight back with missionary zeal.

The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, added his voice to the assault, describing the new equality legislation as unjust.

In what was interpreted as an attack on Harriet Harman's Equality Bill, which is going through Parliament, the Pope urged the 35 Catholic bishops from England and Wales in Rome on a five-yearly ad limina visit to make a united stand against it. He claimed that the proposed equal rights laws threatened longstanding British traditions of freedom of speech.

The Pope's words indicated the level of Catholic anger, shared at the highest levels of the Church of England, at the Labour Government's repeated moves to marginalise religion in public life.

The Pope said: Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet, as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed.

Protest the Pope

Based on article from timesonline.co.uk

Surprise at the Pope's remarks is giving way to more determined opposition to his views, with the National Secular Society vowing to set up a Protest the Pope campaign to hold demonstrations during Benedict's visit this year.

Aware of the growing controversy, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, in Rome leading the 34 other bishops of England and Wales on an ad limina, or five-yearly visit to see the Pope, said that Benedict XVI was only saying publicly what many devout people believed.

I think [the Pope's] words will find an echo in many in our country who are uneasy that perhaps one of the unintended consequences of recent legislation is to drive religious belief and practice into the sphere of the private only, the Archbishop said. Related Links

Archbishop Nichols told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 that the Pope had a right to express his views, which he denied were party political: The way in which our public life is organised is something to which everybody has a right to contribute.

The National Secular Society has threatened to bring together gay groups, victims of clerical abuse, feminists, family planning organisations and pro-abortion groups in a new group, the Protest the Pope Coalition, to be launched later this week.

The taxpayer in this country is going to be faced with a bill of some £20 million for the visit of the Pope, a visit in which, he has already indicated, he will attack equal rights and promote discrimination, said Terry Sanderson, the society's president: We have a petition online where people can make clear their opposition to the state funding of this visit.

Peter Tatchell, the human rights campaigner, was also among those planning online petitions against the visit: [The Pope] seems to be defending discrimination by religious institutions and demanding that they should be above the law.

Comment: A Bloke in a Dress

7th February 2010. Based on article from readingchronicle.co.uk

Reading MP Martin Salter came under fire when he enraged Catholics by attacking the Pope in an internet blog.

The Labour MP sparked lively debate on a national newspaper website with his near 700 word defence of the Government's Equality Bill in which he described the Pontiff as a bloke in a dress.

Salter accused Pope Benedict XVI of being deliberately misleading in his argument against the proposed legislation, adding: I find the hypocrisy of the Pope reprehensible, especially in a leader of a Church that internationally covered up its own institutionalised abuse.

See Salter's blog post from blogs.telegraph.co.uk

Dutch politician Geert Wilders was visibly annoyed when he was denied his request for muslim extremists to appear as witnesses at his Amsterdam District Court trial.

Wilders, through his lawyer Bram Moszkowicz, had requested that 17 witnesses testify as part of his defence against charges that include inciting hatred of Muslims and non-western immigrants.

Among others, Wilders had asked that Mohammed Bouyeri, the convicted murderer of Theo van Gogh, be called as a expert witness.

The judges, however, will not allow Bouyeri to testify. Wilders will be permitted to call three experts on Islam, out of the total of eight he had actually asked for. However, two ex-Muslims called by his defence team - in part to give their personal view about the impact of Islam - were also rejected.

In their ruling, the judges say Wilders will have ample opportunity to tell the court whether he agrees with their decision to disallow some of his chosen witnesses

The Amsterdam judges also ruled that they have jurisdiction in the case. Moszkowicz had asked that the trial be moved to The Hague, since most of Mr Wilders' statements were made there.

Reacting to the rulings later, Wilders told journalists outside the courtroom, This court doesn't seem to be interested in the truth. I can only conclude that the court is not going to let me have a fair trial. I have no respect for this.

Wilders bases his defence on his right to freedom of expression. He feels an important element in that respect is that in exercising that right he has in fact been telling the truth about Islam. So, in order to prove that what he says about Islam is true, Wilders says he needs all of his witnesses.

The proceedings have now been adjourned until further notice.

Comment: The Crooked Judges of Amsterdam

7th February 2010. See video from youtube.com

Pat Condell sounds more angry than usual in his condemnation of Geert Wilder's treatment in the Netherlands courts

...See the video

A new Indonesian horror movie about a menstruating ghost has run foul of the country's highest Islamic body.

Hantu Puncak Datang Bulan (The Menstruating Ghost of Puncak) made its debut in Jakarta and was quickly condemned by senior clerics in the mainly Muslim country.

I watched that horror movie... it contains sex scenes, violence and decapitation. I call on the film censorship board not to approve its screening, Indonesian Ulema Council official Amirsyah Tambunan told AFP.

Muslims have the right to watch the film but I suggest they don't because it contains scenes that are against Islamic principles, he added.

But Tambunan said he council, which is the highest Islamic body in the land, had no plans to pass a fatwa or religious edict forbidding Muslims from watching the film.

Update: Spirited Off

6th February 2010. Based on article from news24.com

An Indonesian production company said it had now withdrawn a film about a menstruating ghost from the cinemas following protests from conservative Muslims who considered it pornographic.

The film, Hantu Puncak Datang Bulan, has been put off indefinitely due to the controversy, said Evelyn Nainggolan, manager for K2K Production.

I was surprised by the brouhaha surrounding the film, Nainggolan said. The film has passed censorship and it's intended for adults.

Cherie Booth, QC, as she is known while sitting as a judge, is the subject of a complaint for allegedly keeping a violent yob out of prison because he was religious.

Shamso Miah had left a mosque when he grabbed Mohammed Furcan and punched him over an argument about queing. The thug ran outside but Furcan chased after him and demanded to know why he had been struck. Miah punched him again.

Sitting at Inner London Crown Court, Mrs Blair told Miah: I am going to suspend this sentence for the period of two years based on the fact you are a religious person and have not been in trouble before. You are a religious man and you know this is not acceptable.

Terry Sanderson, the president of the National Secular Society, which has protested to the Office for Judicial Complaints, says: This seems to indicate that she would not have treated a non-religious person with the same latitude. We think this is discriminatory and unjust.

Jurors sent a clear signal on Feb. 2 that parents who rely solely on faith healing to treat their children face prison if a child dies.

Jeffrey and Marci Beagley were found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of their 16-year-old son, Neil, who died in June 2008 of complications from an undiagnosed congenital urinary blockage.

His parents attempted to heal him with prayer, anointing with oil and laying on of hands.

They are the first members of Oregon City's Followers of Christ church to be convicted of homicide in the congregation's long history of children dying from treatable medical conditions.

This is a signal to the religious community that they should be on notice that their activities will be scrutinized, said Steven K. Green, director of Willamette University's Center for Religion and Democracy.

The Beagleys will be sentenced Feb. 18.

A 16-year-old girl who was raped in Bangladesh has been given 101 lashes for conceiving during the assault.

The girl's father was also fined and warned the family would be branded outcasts from their village if he did not pay.

The girl was raped by a 20-year-old villager in Brahmanbaria district in April last year.

Bangladesh's Daily Star newspaper reported that she was so ashamed following the attack that she did not lodge a complaint.

Her rape emerged after her pregnancy test and Muslim elders in the village issued a fatwa insisting that the girl be kept in isolation until her family agreed to corporal punishment.

Her rapist was pardoned by the elders. She told the newspaper the rapist had spoiled her life. I want justice, she said.

On the occasion of the International Action Day against Female Genital Mutilation, a representative empirical study on Female Genital Mutilation in Iraqi-Kurdistan is going to be presented on February 6.

The report summarizes the results of a one-and-a-half year empirical study conducted by the German relief organization WADI. The numbers presented in the report are alarming: A vast majority of women in Iraqi-Kurdistan have undergone FGM with some regions reaching a top ratio of more than 80%.

The study provides comprehensive evidence on the underlying dynamics of FGM and helps understand, why mothers who themselves experienced the horror of mutilation allow FGM to be practiced on their daughters.

A vast majority of women who adhere to the practice believe it to be a religious obligation in Islam. Others refer to tradition and state that it has always been like that.

The study also shows a clear correlation between the level of education and the attitude towards FGM. Still, the FGM rate amongst university graduates is around 30%. But it becomes clear that with an increasing social status, women are more likely to question harmful traditions and alleged religious obligations.

We know what caused the catastrophe in Haiti. It was the bumping and grinding of the Caribbean Plate rubbing up against the North American Plate: a force of nature, sin-free and indifferent to sin, unpremeditated, unmotivated, supremely unconcerned with human affairs or human misery.

The religious mind, however, hubristically appropriates the blind happenings of physics for petty moralistic purposes. As with the Indonesian tsunami, which was blamed on loose sexual morals in tourist nightclubs; as with Hurricane Katrina, which was attributed to divine revenge on the entire city of New Orleans for organising a gay rally; and as with other disasters going back to the famous Lisbon earthquake and beyond, so Haiti's tragedy must be payback for human sin.

The Rev Pat Robertson, infamous American televangelist, sees the hand of God in the earthquake, wreaking terrible retribution for a 1791 pact that the Haitians made with the Devil, to help to rid them of their French masters. 1791? Ah, but don't forget I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.

...Read full article

Denmark's government says face-covering Muslim veils don't belong in Danish society but no ban is needed because their use can be limited under existing rules.

The centre-right government said the burqa - an all-covering dress - and the niqab face veil are diametrically opposed to the values on which Danish society is built.

It called for the full use of existing rules that allow schools, as well as both public and private employers, to demand that students, teachers and workers show their faces.

The use of the burqa or niqab ... deprives women of the right to interact in the Danish society on equal footing with men and women who do not wear the burqa or niqab, the government said.

In Sweden, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said face-covering veils represent the oppression of women. But he said he didn't support a ban, because that would make some women more isolated.

The campaign to add an R18+ videogame rating category in Australia has gained an additional but predictable enemy, the Australian Christian Lobby.

The group's policy website features a section on the game ratings debate, in which the idea that an adult videogame rating category is needed Down Under is sharply rebuked:

The potential for violent and sexually explicit interactive games to cause harm has only increased in recent years as these games have become even more sophisticated, graphic and interactive. It is also naive to think that R18+ games could be restricted to adult users. If these games are allowed to go on sale in Australia they will inevitably find their way into the hands of younger players through older siblings or friends.

If any changes are to be made to the classification system it should only be to resolve to tighten up the MA15+ rating to ensure that games aren't wrongly getting through in this category.

The group encourages website visitors to attempt to stop the introduction of an R18+ category by writing a submission to the government in advance of the February 28th deadline for responses to the Discussion Paper.

A new morning after pill which can prevent pregnancy for nearly a week after unprotected sex has been welcomed by pro-choice campaigners and patients' groups in Scotland who say it will allow women more time to seek help.

Ulipristal acetate (UA) – dubbed the week after pill – provides a contraception window of up to five days, compared with just three for the traditional emergency pill.

But the news provoked a critical reaction from the Catholic Church in Scotland who said emergency contraception encouraged risk-taking. Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Media Office, said: Several years of evidence indicate the use of the morning after pill has created a false sense of security and resulted in far greater risk-taking by many people.

Although UA has been licensed in Europe since last May, it is not yet available over the counter and costs three times more than the alternative drug.

Trials showed that women taking UA were almost half as likely to get pregnant as those taking the traditional morning after pill within five days after sexual intercourse.

If emergency contraception was used within 24 hours of having unprotected sex, UA reduced the risk of pregnancy by almost two thirds compared with levonorgestrel.

The researchers, led by Professor Anna Glasier, from the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian in Scotland, said the expected pregnancy rate of women in their trial was less than 6%.

A Christian police group which believes that the power of prayer can help catch criminals has been given a £10,000 Home Office grant to fight crime.

The Christian Police Association (CPA) was handed the one-off cash payment to help publicise its message, which includes encouraging members of the public to pray that criminals are swiftly brought to justice.

The group believes that praying can help police to solve crimes, protect officers from injury on duty and reduce anti-social behaviour.

The cash helped the group launch the CoAct project - which encourages Christians and police to help fight crime together and even provides a set of guidelines advising people what to pray for.

The guidelines include praying for:

• Neighbourhood police officers and frontline police
• Success in preventing and detecting crime
• Catching offenders and bringing them to justice
• Sick and injured officers
• Officers to resist corruption and to be able to relax when they are off duty
• Local streets or housing estates plagued by crime - they are told to pray for God's peace and protection for the area
• A reduction in crime

Asked whether the power of prayer could help reduce crime or be used to solve crime, a spokesman for the CPA said: There is circumstantial evidence to suggest that prayer may help to reduce crime and community tension.