A bishop has whinged at advertisements for webcam girls which are being carried in the Job Centres of Doncaster.

The job advertisement offers women £10 an hour to sit in front of a webcam in the nude and engage in sexually explicit banter with customers.

The Department of Work and Pensions has confirmed the vacancies are legal and therefore must be advertised. However, adult entertainment jobs are clearly marked as not suitable for people aged under 18 and are only discussed with people who inquire about them.

But women's groups and the Bishop of Doncaster, the Right Reverend Cyril Ashton, have raised concerns that it exploits women desperate for an income who could end up being lured into prostitution.

Bishop Ashton said: I am dismayed that this advert should appear in Doncaster's job centre. Our young women may feel pressurised to apply. It shows a gratuitous lack of respect for women and is entirely inappropriate.

Anne Fairclough, chairman of the south Yorkshire Women's Institute, spewed: These type of adverts all interlink and can lead to the trafficking of women and making them extremely vulnerable. Adverts like these put pressure and tempt women into a life that could lead to abuse.

The advert says women need to be aged 18 be friendly and outgoing and able to work between 20 and 40 hours a week sometimes until 6am. The pay is £10 an hour with bonuses. Successful candidates would work from studios in Rotherham.

New Zealand-based Teli Escort denied the role was exploitative adding similar adverts had run previously.

A spokesman said: So far we've had no calls or complaints. Personally I think the men who are silly enough to spend £1.50 or whatever a minute to use the service are the ones exploited. We're well within the law.

Cinema and theatre are against Sharia because they distract people from work and weaken their efforts in achieving progress, said Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul Aziz Alu Al Sheikh during a conference on leisure, visual arts and literature.

Theatrical performance, whether it is a cinema or a song, would generally make an impression that is against Sharia. People need only those (art forms) that are useful to them to change their way of life (in an Islamic manner), he decreed.

The mufti’s pronouncements are however a sign that Saudi society is increasingly split between a ruling establishment made up of very conservative clerics who espoused strict adherence to Islamic precepts and a broader group of more liberal-oriented young Saudis who want greater openness, more freedom for women and a greater range of entertainment.

Like young people across the Middle East young Saudis routinely go online which gives them access to US action movies, but they cannot go to the movies, an issue that is still taboo.

Yet the recent screening of a Saudi comedy, Menahi, in two movie theatres twice a day for eight days—with women dutifully seated in the balcony, and men in the stalls—was cheered by many Saudis.

We put sound and visual equipment, we sold tickets for the first time in Saudi Arabia, and we even sold popcorn, said Ayman Halawani, general manager of Rotana Studios, the production arm of a company owned by Waleed bin Talal, a financier and member of the royal family, who has become the target of ultra-conservatives for his liberal ideas and investments in the TV and show business. Overall some 25,000 people actually saw the film.

A Wandsworth council employee has been suspended for encouraging a terminally-ill woman to turn to God.

Christian Duke Amachree was disciplined after he discussed his faith with a client who wanted his advice on a housing problem.

The woman had hoped to find alternative accommodation nearer a hospital, where she could be treated for what he says she described as an 'incurable bowel condition'.

He admits he told her to put her faith in God and said 'sometimes the doctors don't have all of the answers'.

The Tory-run council confirmed that the allegation was being investigated as a disciplinary matter.

A senior council source said: This woman was subjected to a half-hour barrage and basically told it was her fault she was so ill was because she had not prayed to God. Moreover the complainant says Mr Amachree told her not to trust what doctors say, which is very dangerous.

Update: Sacked

9th July 2009. See article from christiantoday.com

A homelessness prevention officer has been sacked by Wandsworth Council in London after he encouraged a terminally ill woman to look to God for help.

Duke Amachree, who has worked for the local authority for nearly 18 years, was initially suspended in January after the woman, a client with the homelessness prevention office, made a complaint against him.

She claims Amachree told her during their conversation about her housing situation that sometimes the doctors don’t have all the answers and that she should put her faith in God.

Amachree says Wandsworth Council responded to the complaint by telling him that it was inappropriate to ever talk about God in the workplace and that he could be sacked if he said God bless to clients.

Michael Phillips, a solicitor with the Christian Legal Centre who advised Amachree during the council’s investigation, said his dismissal was a clear manifestation of secular intolerance.

Amachree says Wandsworth Council’s decision effectively privatises Christian faith and goes against his human rights. He plans to challenge his dismissal in an Employment Tribunal.

Update: Appeal Rejected

22nd December 2009. From the National Secular Society

Wandsworth Council has dismissed an internal appeal from an evangelical homelessness prevention officer following his sacking for gross misconduct after he imposed his religion on a member of the public seeking his professional help.

Perhaps unfortunately for Duke Amachree, his case was picked up by Andrea Minichiello Williams of the Christian Legal Centre that is behind a well-funded and deliberately-orchestrated campaign to misinform us all into believing that Christians are victims of persecution in the UK.

They have claimed that Amachree was sacked for mentioning God in the workplace and have drip fed such nonsense into the media in a concerted effort to muddy the waters. Melanie Phillips was of course happy to oblige, stating in the Daily Mail that Duke Amachree...encouraged a client with an incurable medical condition to believe in God. As a result, Mr Amachree was marched off the premises, suspended and then dismissed from his job. The prominent Cranmer blogspot went further claiming Duke Amachree – sacked by Wandsworth Council just for mentioning God.

The council however, has issued a statement saying It is categorically untrue to suggest that this is about a member of staff saying 'God bless' or that the council has a policy banning employees from making references to God in the workplace.

Amachree was in fact sacked following a disciplinary where it was revealed that he gave inappropriate and unprofessional advice to a very sick person that caused her great upset and distress. By his own admission he suggested to the woman, who came to him seeking housing advice, that she should put her faith in God and that sometimes the doctors don't have all of the answers. He went on to suggest that she should believe in miracles.

But that's not all. The Council also stated that after the member of the public had complained about his conduct, the staff member disclosed sensitive personal information about that person to the media. This refers to an interview Amachree gave to the Daily Mail after the Christian Legal Centre became involved. The day after they issued their first press release, the Daily Mail reported the story. At this point Amachree had only been suspended, pending an investigation.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure that the UK Government uses all of its powers to reject and, if possible, veto any attempt at the United Nations to limit free speech in relation to religion and any associated attempt to criminalise the criticism of religion and encourage other governments to similarly reject/veto any such attempt.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference, a voting block within the United Nations, is currently attempting to use its power within that organisation to seek to have a binding resolution made attempting to force governments to criminalise freedom of expression. In pursuing this course of action it seeks to promote the idea that religion can be defamed and that criticism of religion should be outlawed.

This is a gross violation of the most basic and fundamental of Human Rights, that of freedom of speech. It must be countered by all governments wherever possible and properly identified for what it is, a blatant attempt to stifle debate and criticism of religion. Religions do not have rights, people do. Whilst this is being introduced by Islamic countries it is not specific to the religion of Islam.

The original non-binding resolution can be found on the UN web site

A leaflet, for Kings Church Salisbury, stated A Man with a Message - A God who Heals. Text on the reverse of the leaflet featured a testimonial that stated I was diagnosed with a brain tumour with tests showing I'd be unable to fall pregnant. After being prayed for the tumour shrunk by half and now we have a lovely daughter. Text below stated Terry Hotchkiss will be praying for the sick and talking about the true message of Christianity.

A complainant challenged whether:

1. The implication in the testimonial, that praying had helped to defeat cancer and infertility, was misleading and could be substantiated.
    
2. The leaflet was irresponsible, because it could discourage people from seeking medical advice for serious medical conditions.

ASA Assessment: 1 & 2 Upheld

The ASA understood the fervent beliefs of KCS and in no way wished to prevent members of that group from holding their faith or expressing their religion. We were concerned, however, that the leaflet implied treatment of serious medical conditions, cancer and infertility, through prayer for which a testimonial was insufficient as evidence. Although we recognised that KCS believed prayer could heal and acknowledged that prayer helped some people through difficult circumstances, we considered that it was misleading to suggest that it could shrink brain tumours and overcome infertility.

We noted the leaflet included a testimonial from a believer, which referred to a tumour being shrunk in size and infertility being reversed following prayer and considered that the implication readers were likely to take was that prayer had cured those conditions. We were concerned that, because the claim was made on a leaflet, which was posted indiscriminately through letter boxes, it could reach people who suffered from cancer or were having difficulty conceiving themselves and were, therefore, at a particularly vulnerable point in their lives. While we acknowledged that believers were of the view that prayer could treat illness and medical complications, we concluded that the leaflet was irresponsible, because it could discourage people, and particularly the vulnerable, from seeking essential medical treatment for serious medical conditions.

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

West Midland’s police were accused of wanton censorship after it erased a Free Gaza mural by a renowned Muslim graffiti artist.

Despite receiving the permission of the property owner police assessed Mohammed Ali’s work as a supposed security risk.

The force, which did not receive a single complaint, was also accused of deploying underhanded scare tactics in getting the mural removed by suggesting to the elderly homeowner that it could trigger a petrol bomb attack.

The 30 year-old award winning artist accused police of wanton censorship. He told The Muslim News: The murals are not racist or homophobic and they do not incite violence but the police implied that they could stir up trouble and trigger violence between Jews and Muslims.

Police had approached the homeowner and asked her to withdraw mission for the mural and sign a form authorising its removal. The owner’s son Mohammed Azam said: The police arrived out of the blue and told my mother that the house could be petrol-bombed because of the mural - my mother is scared stiff. I asked them on what a risk assessment was carried out, and the officer at the police station told me his sergeant had seen the mural and decided it should come down.

Local Jewish bodies backed the mural. Ruth Jacobs, of the Israel Information Centre in Birmingham, said, I would not complain about these images because I see them as part of the right to free speech in this country. They are actually quite good pieces of art.

Birmingham Labour MP, Khalid Mahmood, said he was concerned by the police’s action. He said, The murals are expressive and show the emotion of young people about what is going on in Gaza. The police need to clearly demonstrate that these murals have put somebody at risk.

Lib-Dem Councilor, Tariq Khan, described police claims that the mural may trigger a bomb attack as outrageous.

The medical journal the Lancet has accused Pope Benedict of distorting scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine following his remarks about condom use and HIV.

The attack — which also said that the pope did not know what he was talking about and had put millions of lives at risk — followed his statement last week during a visit to Africa that the use of condoms increased HIV infection rates. This was later amended by the Vatican, which said that condom use merely increased the risk of transmission.

Today's Lancet editorial said the Pope's statement was outrageous and wildly inaccurate.

It added: By saying that condoms exacerbate the problem of HIV/Aids, the pope has publicly distorted scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine.

Whether the pope's error was due to ignorance or a deliberate attempt to manipulate science to support Catholic ideology is unclear ... When any influential person, be it a religious or political leader, makes a false scientific statement that could be devastating to the health of millions of people, they should retract or correct the public record. Anything less from Pope Benedict would be an immense disservice to the public and health advocates, including many thousands of Catholics who work tirelessly to try and prevent the spread of HIV/Aids worldwide.

Update: Pope on the Defensive

23rd April 2009. Based on article from google.com

In a strongly worded statement, the Vatican defended the pope's view that condoms aren't the answer to Africa's AIDS epidemic and could make it worse.

Belgium's ambassador to the Holy See lodged the formal protest Wednesday, prompting the Vatican Secretariat to issue its tough statement denouncing the Belgian vote.

The Vatican deplored the fact that a parliamentary assembly should have thought it appropriate to criticize the Holy Father on the basis of an isolated extract from an interview, separated from its context.

It said Benedict's remarks to reporters had been used by some groups with a clear intent to intimidate, as if to dissuade the pope from expressing himself on certain themes of obvious moral relevance and from teaching the church's doctrine.

The Vatican said the criticism of the pontiff was followed by an unprecedented media campaign in Europe extolling the value of condoms in fighting AIDS while ignoring Benedict's message about the need for responsible sexuality and to care for those suffering from AIDS.

The statement was the latest sign of the Vatican's increasing defensiveness and frustration as it tries to get Benedict's message out.

The When Elif's father told her she had to kill herself in order to spare him from a prison sentence for her murder, she considered it long and hard. I loved my father so much, I was ready to commit suicide for him even though I hadn't done anything wrong, the 18-year-old said. But I just couldn't go through with it. I love life too much.

All Elif had done was simply decline the offer of an arranged marriage with an older man, telling her parents she wanted to continue her education. That act of disobedience was seen as bringing dishonour on her whole family – a crime punishable by death. I managed to escape. When I was at school, a few girls I knew were killed by their families in the name of honour – one of them for simply receiving a text message from a boy, Elif said.

So-called honour killings in Turkey have reached record levels. According to government figures, there are more than 200 a year – half of all the murders committed in the country. Now, in a sinister twist, comes the emergence of honour suicides. The growing phenomenon has been linked to reforms to Turkey's penal code in 2005. That introduced mandatory life sentences for honour killers, whereas in the past, killers could receive a reduced sentence claiming provocation. Soon after the law was passed, the numbers of female suicides started to rocket.

Elif is from Batman, a grey, bleak town in the south-east of Turkey nicknamed Suicide City. Three quarters of all suicides here are committed by women – nearly everywhere else in the world, men are three times more likely to kill themselves. I think most of these suicide cases are forced. There are just too many of them, it's too suspicious. But they're almost impossible to investigate, said Mustafa Peker, Batman's chief prosecutor.

Peker said women who are told to kill themselves are usually given one of three options – a noose, a gun or rat poison. They are then locked in a room until the job is done.

A woman's fate is usually decided during a family council, when the extended family meets to discuss breaches of honour. In these meetings, it is agreed how the victim must be killed. If it is not to be a forced suicide, a killer is chosen. The youngest member of the family is often ordered to kill, in the belief they will be treated more leniently if caught.

The Indonesian rights group, National Commission on Violence against Women, has called for a boycott of political parties that exploit religious issues for their own interests. [Isn't that exactly what religions are for?]

If in power, such parties tend to promote policies that discriminate against women, chairwoman Kamala Chandrakirana said. Voters should elect politicians and future leaders who are committed to the pluralist values enshrined in Indonesia's Constitution: Do not vote for politicians just because of their religious platform — because they may only use this for their short-term political interests.

Indonesia’s democracy allows discriminatory policies to subsist, which law enforcers and lawmaking bodies have failed to address, and the majority of people have remained silent about, Kamala said.

Discriminatory policies include Islamic sharia-inspired bylaws, which are in place in several regional administrations, Kamala said. Such ordinances criminalise violations of religious values at the expense of women, she said. The policy makers justify such bylaws, as implementations of religious teachings, to improve faith and to establish Islamic values, Kamala added.

In its monitoring work over the past 10 years, KOMNAS Perempuan has found 154 bylaws issued by 69 local administrations in 21 provinces that it says have been inspired by Islamic law. Of this figure, 64 directly impact on women, including bylaws that deprive women of their freedom of expression — by requiring them to wear headscarves while at school or in the workplace. The commission also found 38 bylaws violating women’s rights to protection and legal certainty, including bylaws that ban prostitution.

UN Flag

A United Nations forum has passed a resolution condemning defamation of religion as a human rights violation.

The UNHuman Rights Council adopted the non-binding text, proposed by Pakistan on behalf of Islamic states, with a vote of 23 states in favour and 11 against, with 13 abstentions.

Western governments and a broad alliance of activist groups have voiced dismay about the religious defamation text, which adds to recent efforts to broaden the concept of human rights to protect communities of believers rather than individuals.

The resolution claimed Muslim minorities had faced intolerance, discrimination and acts of violence since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, including laws and administrative procedures that stigmatise religious followers.

Defamation of religious is a serious affront to human dignity leading to a restriction on the freedom of their adherents and incitement to religious violence, the adopted text read, adding that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism.

It called on states to ensure that religious places, sites, shrines and symbols are protected, to reinforce laws to deny impunity for those exhibiting intolerance of ethnic and religious minorities, and to take all possible measures to promote tolerance and respect for all religions and beliefs.

The 47-member Human Rights Council has drawn criticism for reflecting mainly the interests of Islamic and African countries, which when voting together can control its agenda.

The Qur’an
Channel 4, 14 July 2008, 20:00

The Qur’an was a two-hour documentary made by the film-maker, Antony Thomas. It was broadcast as part of Channel 4’s Islam Unveiled season, a week of programmes dealing with Islam. The Qur’an examined what the Qur’an itself says on a range of issues such as crime and punishment, violence and conflict, and the treatment of women. The programme attempted to relate present-day Islamic practice and beliefs to the Qur’anic source text.

The programme contained several sequences discussing Shi’a practice and beliefs. In particular, it focussed on “intercession”. Intercession is the practice of directing prayers and requests to God through certain members of the family of the Prophet Mohammed. This includes Imam Ali Reza and his descendents, the eighth of the twelve Imams who are perceived by some to be the religious and political successors to the Prophet Mohammed.

Ofcom received 21 complaints from individuals on the grounds that it portrayed Shi'a Muslims in a negative, unbalanced and irresponsible light, with a series of misrepresentations of the Qur'an's teachings. Ofcom also received a detailed complaint from 12 organisations representing Shi’a Islam within the UK.

Based on article from broadcastnow.co.uk

The complainants said the film risked increasing tensions within the Muslim community between Sunnis and Shi'as, and inspiring violence against Shi'as. They also chastised it for not using Shi'a scholars and commentators in the UK and for giving insufficient time to Shi'a contributors in general.

Ofcom ruled that the programme did not mislead viewers on Shi'a belief and practices and that it could not be judged as likely to inspire violence against Shi'as.

The regulator was unable to rule on the grounds of balance, as its remit in this area covers only news and factual output relating to political or industrial controversy or public policy.

C4 commissioning editor, religion and multicultural Aaqil Ahmed said: Hopefully we can now remember this film for what it was - a truly original piece of landmark television. Antony Thomas and Samir Shah's amazing efforts to get it made and made so well should be applauded and from now on any film made on the subject will have a remarkable benchmark.

I am pleased that Ofcom has endorsed the views of TV critics, who described The Qur'an as 'scrupulously fair-minded', 'exhaustively researched' and 'an exemplary piece of programme making.

I am grateful that this ruling, by the independent regulatory body responsible for broadcasting, completely dismisses the unfounded allegations

Two Jewish groups are denouncing a prominent cartoonist's illustration about Israel's offensive in Gaza, saying it uses anti-Semitic imagery.

The cartoon was published Wednesday in newspapers and on the Internet.

The cartoon shows the small figure of a woman, labeled Gaza, carrying a child. She is being pursued by a headless, jackbooted figure wielding a sword, marching in an apparent goose-step and pushing a fanged Jewish star on a wheel.

Abraham H. Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's national director, said the cartoon's outlandish and offensive use of the Star of David in combination with Nazi-like imagery is hideously anti-Semitic. It employs Nazi imagery by portraying Israel as a jack-booted, goose-stepping headless apparition. The implication is of an Israeli policy without a head or a heart. Israel's defensive military operation to protect the lives of its men, women and children who are being continuously bombarded by Hamas rocket attacks has been turned on its head to show the victims as heartless, headless aggressors.

The Wiesenthal Center, which also issued its statement Wednesday, said it urged The New York Times Web site and other Web sites to remove the cartoon.

There is nothing about Oliphant's cartoon not meant to denigrate and demonize the Jewish state, from the headless goose-stepping soldier to the horrific depiction of the Star of David about to devour a cowering innocent Gazan woman holding a baby, Rabbi Marvin Hier, the group's dean, and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the group's associate dean, said in a joint statement.

A spokeswoman for Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes Oliphant's work, issued a statement defending him, saying he, like all editorial cartoonists, uses his art to comment on important issues of the day widely reported in the worldwide media -- in this case, the conflict over Gaza. That his cartoons sometimes spark intense debate is a testament to his talent.

There has been sharp criticism of Israel's offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza who launched rockets into southern Israeli towns. Human Rights Watch said Wednesday the Israeli military's firing of white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas during the offensive was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes, a claim denied by Israel.

A Hindu nationalist group has warned it plans to target British women drinking alcohol in the beach bars of Goa, India's popular tropical tourist resort.

The Sri Ram Sena group's threat comes after a string of attacks couples courting in public and young women drinking in pubs.

The group has been denounced as a 'Hindu Taliban' for its violent protests against what it sees as the creeping westernisation of tradition Indian values and culture.

It launched a number of assaults on couples celebrating Valentines Day, and is believed to have been behind the kidnapping of a politician's daughter following claims that she had dated a Muslim boy.

Last month the group provoked nationwide condemnation when its supporters forced their way into a pub in Mangalore, Karnataka, and attacked middle-class girls having an after-work drink with male colleagues.

One Indian minister denounced the group and called on the country's women to go to the pub as a protest against the attack on their freedom.

Since then Sri Ram Sena leaders have been expanding their presence throughout India and now plan to target Goa's notorious tourist resorts to raise their profile further.

It's leader Pramod Muthalik said the former Portuguese enclave is the centre of an immoral culture which was now spreading throughout India, that his group will approach the government and the bar owners to persuade them to close down but will launch direct action if they refuse: We will agitate and create awareness against pub culture in Goa since this culture is spreading to other parts of the country.

His deputy Prasad Attavara, told The Daily Telegraph the group will discourage western tourists from visiting the resort's pubs and urge them to focus of India's spirituality instead: The pubs are corrupting our culture. Everyday girls are exploited by wayward boys who have adopted western culture. They are spreading immorality in society, unmarried couples sit together in these shady pubs, which is a cause of concern for us. Westerners in their countries lead a valueless life, we want them to lead a spiritual life in India. We will try not to hurt tourism but if necessary steps will be taken.

A Muslim pilot and co-pilot who paused to pray before taking emergency measures as they ditched a passenger plane in the sea, killing 16 people, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Pilot Chafik Gharby and co-pilot Ali Kebaier were convicted of taking inadequate emergency measures by an Italian court.

The 2005 crash at sea off Sicily left survivors swimming for their lives, some clinging to a piece of the fuselage that remained floating after the ATR turbo-prop aircraft splintered upon impact.

A fuel-gauge malfunction was partly to blame, with technicians putting the wrong type of gauge on the plane before it took off. It meant the pilot and crew believed they had more fuel than they actually did. The plane's engines cut out simultaneously when the fuel ran out.

However prosecutors also said the pilot succumbed to panic, praying out loud instead of following emergency procedures. They claimed he then opted to crash-land the plane instead trying to reach a nearby airport.

Another five employees of Tuninter, a subsidiary of Tunisair, were sentenced to between eight and nine years in jail by the court, in a verdict handed down yesterday. The seven accused, who were not in court, will not spend time in jail until the appeals process has been exhausted.

A French muslim rights organization is summoning Geert Wilders to court. He is accused of incitement to hatred of Muslims in a speech made in New York.

Wilders made statements about French Muslims, about Muslims in Paris and Marseilles, which incite to racial hatred, says lawyer Yassine Bouzrou. He lodged the complaint on behalf of the organization, which is being studied by the public prosecution. If Wilders is found guilty, he can be sentenced for one year in prison.

Wilders said: I hear this for the the first time. The world is becoming small with trials and procedures everywhere: from the Netherlands, Jordan and England to France. Dreadful. But I'll naturally fight back judicially. They won't prevail over me.

The French complaint is based on Wilders' speech in New York last September. Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods, he said then: Many neighbourhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves.

He called the riots in the suburbs in 2005 a Muslim intifada. Bouzrou came to the conclusion that the expressions are criminal: Wilders says in that speech also that one in three French Muslims supports suicide attacks. With that he suggests that one in three French Muslims is a potential terrorist. Where he does he get all of this? How did he get ot it? Wilders makes serious accusations which are based on nothing.

Bouzrou made the complaint for the French organization ADDH. They work together with the Collective against Islamophobia in the fight against Muslim hatred.

The Vatican is poised to boycott Angels & Demons, the prequel to Hollywood blockbuster The Da Vinci Code.

Avvenire, the Vatican's official newspaper, says in its latest edition that the church cannot approve of the film.

Italian newspaper La Stampa reported that the Vatican will soon call on Catholics to boycott the film. However, the same article quoted Archbishop Velasio De Paolis warning that a boycott could create a boomerang effect by giving the movie more publicity.

Based on article from indiancatholic.in

Meanwhile in India the Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) has objected to the Columbia Pictures film

In a statement issued to Indian Catholic, Joseph Dias, general secretary of CSF said that the anti-Church depictions in the film are sufficient reason for Christians to call for action against the film, as was the case with Dan Brown's earlier Da Vinci Code.

Angels & Demons has been roundly criticised by Vatican, which has also refused permission to the makers to shoot the film on its premises, leading them to recreate important parts of Vatican city in the studios & go ahead, he said.

Dias said CSF has sent memorandums on the film to India's Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, besides the Censor Board at Mumbai.

Dan Brown, the author of Da Vinci Code seems to have excelled in the art of Catholicism-bashing and he takes his anti-Catholic agenda further with the novel - Angels & Demons. Co-producer, Brian Grazer wants Angels & Demons to be ‘less reverential’ than The Da Vinci Code, meaning more liberally anti-Catholic – which it is, if one goes by the book, he said.

Banning brothels in residential areas would be a welcome first step to curbing prostitution, though laws need to go further by making it illegal to pay for sex, Perth’s Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey says.

He supports the so-called Swedish model, which makes buying sex and brothel ownership illegal, rather than prostitution itself.

Attorney-General Christian Porter is working towards delivering the Government’s election promise to ban prostitution outside designated zones but has rejected calls from some Not So Liberal backbenchers to adopt the Swedish model on the basis that he did not support a system which punished only the men who bought sex. He was prepared to consider introducing tougher penalties for men caught buying sexual services outside designated areas.

Archbishop Hickey said men had to be held responsible for what was effectively a form of abuse against women: (Under the Swedish system), at least men will get a different message than the one they are getting at the moment, which is almost encouragement.

A plan by a Wexford nightclub to re-enact the Crucifixion of Christ for the entertainment of revellers over the Easter weekend, has been condemned as blasphemous by a Catholic priest.

The Music Factory is staging a mock Crucifixion on Easter Sunday night with an actor playing Jesus on the Cross being whipped by dancers dressed as Roman soldiers.

Club co-owner Peter May said the Cross would be erected in the middle of the dance floor and a performance will take place as part of a show called the Resurrection Section: It will be done in a fun, lighthearted way. A lot of young people forget what Easter is really about. This is a way of reminding them,he said.

However, Wexford parish administrator Fr Jim Fegan has called it a mockery and a blasphemy and warned that the nightclub might be underestimating the reaction of some of its customers. He said he wondered why anyone would want to stage a scene like this in a nightclub: It is clearly not a religious event. Therefore, one has to think that it’s a mockery of the Crucifixion and a blasphemy.

A group of Saudi clerics urged the kingdom's new information minister on Sunday to ban women from appearing on TV or in newspapers and magazines, making clear that the country's hardline religious establishment is skeptical of a new push toward moderation.

In a statement, the 35 hardline clergymen also called on Abdel Aziz Khoja to prohibit the playing of music and music shows on television.

We have great hope that this media reform will be accomplished by you, said the statement: We have noticed how well-rooted perversity is in the Ministry of Information and Culture, in television, radio, press, culture clubs and the book fair.

Although it raises the pressure on the new minister, the recommendation is likely to have little effect. Khoja's appointment was part of a government shake-up by Abdullah that removed a number of hardline figures and is believed to be part of an effort to weaken the influence of conservatives in this devout desert kingdom.

No Saudi women should appear on TV, no matter what the reason, the statement said: No images of women should appear in Saudi newspapers and magazines.
Saudi Arabia was founded on an alliance with the conservative Wahhabi strain of Islam that sees the mixing of sexes as anathema and believes the playing of music violates religious values.

Turkey’s decision to try two Christians under a revised version of a controversial law for insulting Turkishness because they spoke about their faith came as a blow to the country’s record of freedom of speech and religion.

A court on Feb. 24 received the go-ahead from the Ministry of Justice to try Christians Turan Topal and Hakan Tastan under the revised Article 301 – a law that has sparked outrage among proponents of free speech as journalists, writers, activists and lawyers have been tried under it. The court had sent the case to the Ministry of Justice after the government on May 8, 2008 put into effect a series of cosmetic changes to the law.

The justice ministry decision came as a surprise to Topal and Tastan and their lawyer, as missionary activities are not illegal in Turkey. Defense lawyer Haydar Polat said no concrete evidence of insulting Turkey or Islam has emerged since the case first opened two years ago.

A Ministry of Justice statement claimed that approval to try the case came in response to the original statement by three young men – Fatih Kose, Alper Eksi and Oguz Yilmaz – that Topal and Tastan were conducting missionary activities in an effort to show that Islam was a primitive and fictitious religion that results in terrorism, and to portray Turks as a cursed people.

Prosecutors have yet to produce any evidence indicating the defendants described Islam in these terms, and Polat said Turkey’s constitution grants all citizens freedom to choose, be educated in and communicate their religion, making missionary activities legal.

Update: Vindictive Farce Continues

20th October 2009. See article from christianpost.com

After three prosecution witnesses testified yesterday that they didn't even know two Christians on trial for insulting Turkishness and Islam, a defense lawyer called the trial a scandal.

Speaking after the hearing in the drawn-out trial, defense attorney Haydar Polat said the case's initial acceptance by a state prosecutor in northwestern Turkey was based only on a written accusation from the local gendarmerie headquarters unaccompanied by any documentation.

Yesterday's three witnesses, all employed as office personnel for various court departments in Istanbul, testified that they had never met or heard of the two Christians on trial. The two court employees who had requested New Testaments testified that they had initiated the request themselves.

For the next hearing set for Jan. 28, 2010, the court has repeated its summons to three more prosecution witnesses who failed to appear yesterday: a woman employed in Istanbul's security police headquarters and two armed forces personnel whose whereabouts had not yet been confirmed by the population bureau.

Update: Vindictive Farce Continues and Continues

7th June 2010. See article from inspiremagazine.org.uk

The eleventh hearing of a case of alleged slander against two Turkish Christians closed just minutes after it opened this week, due to lack of any progress.

Prosecutors produced no new evidence or witnesses against Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal since the last court session four months ago. Despite lack of any tangible reason to continue the stalled case, their lawyer said, the Silivri Criminal Court set still another hearing to be held on 14 October.

They are uselessly dragging this out, defence lawyer Haydar Polat said moments after Judge Hayrettin Sevim closed the 25 May hearing. The two Protestant Christians were accused in October 2006 of slandering the Turkish nation and Islam under Article 301 of the Turkish criminal code.

The prosecution has yet to provide any concrete evidence of the charges, which allegedly took place while the two men were involved in evangelistic activities in the town of Silivri.

At this point, we are tired of this, Tastan admitted. If they can't find these so-called witnesses, then the court needs to issue a verdict. After four years, it has become a joke!

The Christian owners of a seaside hotel may be prosecuted after refusing to allow a gay couple to stay in a double room.

Peter and Hazelmary Bull are facing an unprecedented court case under new equality laws.

Martyn Hall, who lives with his civil partner Steven Preddy, has lodged a county court claim for up to £5,000 in damages alleging direct discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

But the Bulls deny the charge, saying they have a long-standing policy of banning all unmarried couples, both heterosexual and gay, from sharing a bed at the Chymorvah Private Hotel in Marazion near Penzance in Cornwall.

The Bulls, who have the backing of the Christian Institute, have operated their 'married only' policy since they bought the hotel in 1986.

The hotel website says: Here at Chymorvah we have few rules, but please note that as Christians we have a deep regard for marriage (being the union of one man to one woman for life to the exclusion of all others).

Therefore, although we extend to all a warm welcome to our home, our double bedded accommodation is not available to unmarried couples

Last August, the Bulls received a letter from Stonewall, the gay rights organisation, saying it had received a complaint and warning the hotel it was breaking the law.

The couple's solicitor, Tom Ellis, from the Manchester-based firm Aughton Ainsworth, said: Our argument is that the regulations impinge on the Bulls' human rights. Under the European Convention on Human Rights, people are able to hold a religious belief and manifest it in the way they act.

Malaysia warned a leading lawyers association not to use its website to discuss whether non-Muslims can use the word "Allah" for God, saying it would incur the wrath of the country's majority Muslims.

The authorities banned the Catholic Herald newspaper's use of Allah to denote God last year. The Herald is now suing the government to overturn the ruling.

The Malaysian Bar Council, which represents 12,000 lawyers, had asked its members and visitors to the website to vote in a poll on whether any race had an exclusive right over the word Allah and if non-Muslim religious publications should be allowed to use the word to refer to God.

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Minister in charge of Islamic affairs, was quoted as saying: This is the final warning for the Bar Council ... The cabinet and parliament too had ruled that the issue should not be put to discussion. After this I hope no individual or organisation will raise the issue.

Australia's most controversial sheik, Taj Din al-Hilali, has been caught on videotape kicking in a door at his own mosque before calling police to report an act of vandalism.

The head imam at the Lakemba mosque, who caused outrage in 2006 by comparing scantily clad women to uncovered meat, was shown on a CCTV security tape kicking open the door just minutes before reporting the incident.

The Nine Network's A Current Affair broadcast the videotape from March 9, showing the incident, which Sheik Hilali initially denied. But in a letter sent by Sheik Hilali's lawyers to ACA yesterday, he admitted kicking the door, saying the damage had already been done to the door before he kicked it.

The video footage shows four young men locking the door behind them at 10.28pm. Nine minutes later, Sheik Hilali checks the lock and pushes on the top of the door, bending it on its hinges. After checking the corridor, he disappears from view before rushing towards it and kicking it open at 10.46pm.

A NSW Police media spokesperson said they started to investigate the matter but three days later were told by a mosque official that he did not wish to take the matter any further.

Islamic militants are making threats against English-language schools in the Bangladesh capital.

Police said principals of several English-language schools told them they had received threatening letters or phone calls from militants, and parents of students in the schools have been alerted of security concerns.

The letters ask for money to support the militants or treat those wounded in clashes with security forces during the mutiny or other clashes. Authorities have not been specific about the threats but another source involved in the matter said they were directed against students.

Police have stepped up vigilance around all city schools, especially the English-language ones, where students usually come from relatively affluent families.

Officials say they believe Islamic militants, who killed dozens of people in Bangladesh in bomb attacks in recent years trying to make the Muslim-majority country a sharia-based Islamic state, were involved in the recent mutiny of border guards.

Anjem Choudary

A Muslim fundamentalist leader told of his vision of Britain under Sharia law.

Anjem Choudary said he wanted the flag of Allah flying over Downing Street, all women wearing burkas and caning for drunkenness.

He is the leader of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah, founded as a successor to the banned fundamentalist sect al-Muhajiroun, which was led by now-exiled preacher Omar Bakri Muhammad.

The self-proclaimed Sharia judge admitted his followers had organised protests against British soldiers in Luton this week, waving placards which called them murderers for their conduct in Iraq.

Choudary said he was proud to be reviled. It's inevitable that when you offer an alternative morality and way of life many people will hate you for it. He said this alternative morality would mean a pure Islamic state with Sharia law in Britain and added: Every woman, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, would have to wear a traditional burka and cover everything apart from her face and hands in public.

Update: Police Inquiry

23rd March 2009. See article from dailymail.co.uk, thanks to Alan

Radical Muslim Anjem Choudary could face a police inquiry over calls to his followers to hide evidence from investigators. Scotland Yard is examining a video of a 90-minute speech by Choudary on an extremist website.

Choudary whose supporters recently hurled abuse at soldiers from the Royal Anglian Regiment returning from Afghanistan, is under constant review by MI5 and police. the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism command is examining his latest speech.

Police are already believed to be examining whether he broke the law in calling for money to be collected for islamic fighters. On a website he has allegedly been heard calling on Muslims not to save money for their families but to give it to Mujahideen - holy warriors.

Update: Stoned

23rd March 2009. Based on article from dailymail.co.uk

All homosexuals should face stoning to death, a Muslim preacher of hate declared yesterday. Anjem Choudary, the firebrand cleric who wants to see Britain ruled by Sharia law, said such a regime was the only way to fix the country's ills.

Under it, adulterers and homosexuals would be killed by stoning. Asked if that would include anybody - even a Cabinet minister such as Business Secretary Lord Mandelson - Choudary responded with an astonishing diatribe.

He said: If a man likes another man, it can happen, but if you go on to fulfil your desire, if it is proved, then there is a punishment to follow. You don't stone to death unless there are four eyewitnesses. It is a very stringent procedure. There are some people who are attracted to donkeys but that does not mean it is right.'

Choudary was speaking at a press conference in London arranged by Muslim extremists to justify their protest in Luton last week against soldiers returning home from Iraq.

Westboro Baptist Church says it will picket the funeral of Natasha Richardson who died after a skiing accident.

Besides Richardson, who the 'church' says has been targeted because of her donations to AIDS research, her marriage to Liam Neeson, (it's not his first) and her involvement in theater, which the 'church' sees as a haven for homosexuality,

Indonesian Buddhists symbolically sealed the upmarket Buddha Bar in Jakarta urging authorities to immediately close the Paris-based entertainment franchise for blasphemy.

About 150 mainly student protesters carrying joss sticks and flowers gathered outside the bar in a wealthy neighbourhood of the capital and denounced its decorative use of sacred symbols and statues.

They chanted Buddhist prayers and carried banners reading Remove all Buddhist symbols from the bar and Change your name or close forever.

A handful of police watched calmly as the protesters then sealed the main entrance with fake yellow crime scene tape. The bar was closed at the time.

For us, Buddha is our revered teacher. But for them, Buddha is a decoration and the worst thing is the statues are in such an indecent place, protest coordinator Eko Nugroho said.

One protester called Meta told AFP she would continue to fight until Jakarta's administration closed the bar or removed the Buddhist symbols: Buddhism is a religion and I can't accept that they treat our religion this way.

Another group of Buddhists is planning to sue the government for granting the bar an operating licence.

Update: Buddha Bar Barred

12th March 2009. Based on article from time.com

Indonesian hipsters looking for a place to chill in steamy Jakarta didn't have to look much further than the Buddha Bar. Last year, the posh establishment opened as the first Asian branch of an international chain. But on March 10, the Jakarta Legislative Council ordered the nightspot shuttered because its use of religious iconography could be considered offensive to Buddhists. In addition to its religiously inspired name, the restaurant's dining area is dominated by a giant Buddha sitting in the lotus position.

In early March, Buddhist students armed with nothing more menacing than joss sticks staged a protest against the Buddha Bar. They argued that a place called Muhammad Bar or Jesus Christ Bar would hardly meet with approval. The students demanded that the hotspot's name be changed, something the Jakarta Legislative Council has agreed must be a prerequisite for the Buddha Bar to reopen.

Update: Buddha Bar Barred...Not

14th March 2009. See article from thejakartaglobe.com

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo said on Friday that the Buddha Bar had violated no city regulations and therefore his administration had no issues with it.

The city government has no dispute with Buddha Bar, said Fauzi, adding city regulations only dealt with the function of the building, not the name , which was the issue here.

If people disagree with the Buddha Bar, just bring the case to court, the governor said.

Update: Trying the blasphemy angle

15th March 2009. See article from thejakartapost.com

The Jakarta police told a group of protesters on Friday that it would summon the owner of the Buddha Bar for questioning over its alleged blasphemy.

If there is a formal report, we will examine it, Central Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Ike Edwin said at a rally in front of the restaurant. A group of protesters, members of the Indonesian Buddha Theravada Religion Assembly (Magabudhi), argued that the restaurants had incorporated Buddhist symbolism in inappropriate ways.

If proven guilty, owners of the restaurant could face up to five years imprisonment.

Update: Interfaith Forum

22nd March 2009. See article from thejakartapost.com

Indonesia’s Interfaith Forum will hold a gathering of religious groups in a mosque in Jakarta on Saturday night to protest the establishment of the international restaurant chain Buddha Bar in the city.

There will be representatives from Islam, Catholic and other religions, said head of Indonesian Teravada Buddhist Assembly, Romo Samedho.

Samedho said protests against Buddha Bar would continue until the owners change the name of the restaurant and take out all symbolism of the Buddha from inside the venue. Such symbolism, he said, was inappropriate as Buddhist teachings never advised drinking alcoholic beverages and other types of hedonistic lifestyle.

It has been more than a month since the peace deal in Swat but the shopkeepers at Cheena Market, once the busiest in Mingora city, are still waiting for female shoppers.

The Swat-based Taliban had banned females from going to markets and schools for education.

However, girls are back in schools after Taliban leader Fazlullah agreed to a peace bid by his father-in-law, TNSM’s chief Sufi Muhammad but women are still avoiding going to bazaars.

The reason for women staying away from the once popular place is obvious – threats from the Taliban. On March 8, a bearded man, who the shopkeepers believed to be a Taliban, pulled out a dagger in a shop and said, Who wants to be beheaded first? The incident was enough to frighten the women and prevent them from going to the markets.

I used to make a good profit when the Taliban had not banned women from going to markets, a shopkeeper said.

Bakht Rawan, who has spent 15 years in Saudi Arabia as a salesman at a cosmetic shop, said he could not believe that the Taliban had disallowed women from going to the bazaars.

If shopping by women was forbidden in Islam, Saudi men would not have allowed their women to go to bazaars. I wonder why these (Taliban) people are offering a new brand of Islam to the people of Swat, Rawan told Daily Times.

Earlier in January, Taliban had banned women from markets in Mingora. The Taliban have ordered the killing of women seen in market areas.

Women are not allowed in this market, banners displayed in a city’s market. Following the ban, shopkeepers dealing in women’s garments and cosmetics had complained about plummeting sales and disappearance of women customers. They had said that they could not even earn enough to pay the rent and electricity charges.

Update: An End to Polio Vaccinations

25th March 2009. See article from asianews.it, Thanks to Alan

The Taliban have decreed that there shall be no polio vaccination because it causes infertility and because the vaccine was imported.

In Lower Dir, one of the NWFP's 24 districts, Islamic fundamentalists have shut down a family planning centre, warning that it would be blown up if it was reopened it.

Update: An End to Mobile Phones

31st March 2009. Thanks to Alan

The Taliban has warned the government to stop expanding its mobile telephone network in the tribal border region of Waziristan, claiming it would be used to spy on them.

They circulated a pamphlet in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, telling authorities to stop the network expansion and ordering vendors to stop selling SIM cards. It said the network would be used to spy on Taliban activities and for drone attacks.

This network is equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) and can give the location of a person even if his mobile phone is switched off. In Iraq and Afghanistan such a system has been used to launch attacks against mujahideen. The government and those selling SIMs will be treated as criminals by us, it warned.

Egypt has taken a small but important step towards freedom of belief and equal rights when a court ruled that the religion section on national identity cards can be left blank.

In 1995 the Egyptian government began introducing computerised ID cards which forced everyone to identify themselves as belonging to one of the three heavenly religions: Islam, Christianity or Judaism. Cards could not be issued to anyone who refused to accept this, with the result that they effectively became non-citizens, unable to work legally, study beyond secondary school, vote, operate a bank account, obtain a driver's licence, buy and sell property, collect a pension, or travel.

The practice of restricting religion on ID cards to three officially approved choices had no basis in Egyptian law but was derived from the interior ministry's own interpretation of Islamic teaching. It was challenged in the courts by several members of the Baha'i faith, which is thought to have around 2,000 followers in Egypt.

The victory by the Baha'is in the supreme administrative court appears to mark the end of a five-year battle over the ID cards, since there is no route for further appeals by the Islamist lawyers who have been fighting them since the government dropped out.

Even so, there are likely to be continuing problems for Egyptian Christians, some of whom are recorded as Muslims on their ID cards against their will, while others try unsuccessfully to change their card after converting from Islam to Christianity. Officials often refuse on the grounds that the state cannot condone apostasy.

Britain is one of the least religious nations in Europe, according to a major survey by the European Union to be published next month.

According to the study, only 12% of Britons feel they "belong" to a church, compared with 52% in France.

It also found that the UK has one of the highest rates of fuzzy faith - or people who have an abstract belief in God and an ill-defined loyalty to Christian traditions.

The study, conducted as part of the influential EU-funded European Social Survey, will be seen as an indicator of a shift in attitudes and values.

Professor David Voas, of Manchester University's Institute for Social Change, who led the project, said: Fuzzy faith is a staging post on the road to non-religion. Adults still have childhood memories of being taken to church, and they maintain a nostalgic affection for Christianity but that is dying out.

They still go along with the some kind of religious identity but they're not passing it on to the next generation, and people who aren't raised in a religion don't generally start one as adults.

The survey, which questioned more than 30,000 people in 22 countries, found only five nations - Slovenia, Sweden, Norway, Holland and Belgium - reported lower levels of church membership than Britain.

Dutch MP Geert Wilders has launched an appeal against the Home Office’s decision to ban him from travelling to the UK.

Wilders was scheduled to screen his controversial film, Fitna, in the House of Lords when he was refused entry into the country last month. The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, refused to allow him into the country on grounds of public security.

The universally reviled nutters of the Westboro Baptist Church are threatening to picket an east London primary school over its anti-homophobia work.

A row broke out at George Tomlinson primary school in Waltham Forest, north-east London, earlier this month when some parents pulled their children out of lessons planned for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender history month. The school used books on homosexual relationships, in one case between two male penguins.

Members of the Westboro Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas say they will picket the school next Friday afternoon.

The group's founder, Reverend Fred Phelps, was barred from entering Britain last month to stop him spreading extremism and hatred. He had intended to picket a play about a homophobic killing.

A message on the group's website announcing their plans said: God hates the UK and the Tomlinson school fag tyranny, where conscientious parents face religious persecution for withdrawing their children from lessons on lying fag so-called history.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor wrote to the Times complaining about a cartoon it had published in relation to the Pope's unhelpful comments about condoms in Africa.

In an attempt to deflect attention from the Pope's stupidity, Murphy O'Connor tried the usual trick of trying to turn the Church into the persecuted victim. He wrote: I was appalled at the tasteless cartoon depicting Pope Benedict XVI. No newspaper should show such disrespect to a person who is held in high esteem by a large proportion of Christians in the world. To pillory the Pope in this way is totally unacceptable.

At the Telemark county library in Norway, an exhibition was promptly subjected to damage and the library asked the artists to remove it. It is now being shown in Porsgrunn.

The exhibition Det er ikke forbudt å tenke ("It's not forbidden to think") is a series of 12 graphic images the artist, Ahmed Mashhouri, picked out the most controversial quotes from the Quran.

My aim is not to insult anybody and their faith. It's to get a better understanding of the laws found in the Quran. These laws perhaps fit better in the old days, but today they just seem inhuman. I hope that my works will be a wake-up for my dear coreligionists, he says.

Mashhouri and his wife worked for human rights in Iran. They sought asylum in Norway and now live in Skien. The images were prepared in Norway and translated to Norwegian from Persian and English.

"In discussions people love to hear that such thing aren't found in the Quran. We want to show that they actually do," says Mashhouri.

On December 9th, the exhibit was assembled at the Telemark library in Ulefoss, but not many hours had passed before there was a racket and two or three Muslim women attacked his images. Afterward he was contacted by the library and asked to remove the exhibition.

I was disappointed, because I thought I was came to a country with freedom, says Mashhouri.

A headmistress who was hounded out of her job after being falsely accused of racism was yesterday awarded more than £400,000 in compensation.

Erica Connor had run a 'happy and successful' primary school but was driven to a breakdown by the allegations.

The Daily Mail can reveal the school's troubles started when a local mosque decided to pack the governing body with Muslims. Paul Martin - a Muslim convert - and Mumtaz Saleem began monopolising meetings with the aim of turning New Monument in Woking into an Islamic faith school.

Martin confirmed there had been a 'conscious effort' to increase the number of Muslims on the board.

But when Mrs Connor resisted the new governors' plans - such as the introduction of Islamic worship into the school - she became the target of a smear campaign.

An anonymous petition was circulated among parents, stating that those signing no longer have confidence in Erica Connor to educate our children in a way that respects and values our faith, culture and heritage.

An accompanying document accused the headmistress of 'racism and Islamophobia'.
The accusations drove her to suffer from depression. She eventually retired from the 300-pupil school because of illhealth in December 2006.

A judge at the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday ordered Surrey County Council to pay Mrs Connor £407,781 in compensation. He ruled that the local education authority had failed to support her properly against the unfounded accusations.

Deputy Judge John Leighton Williams said the council disregarded the health and welfare of Mrs Connor because it was more concerned about being reported to the Commission for Racial Equality.

...Read full article

Film and theatre artistes were due to hold a protest in the southern state of Karnataka on March 20. The protest is against Hindu nationalists’ opposition to a statue of Charlie Chaplin on the grounds that he was a Christian.

Filmmaker Hemanth Hegde was planning to erect a 67-foot statue of Chaplin at the Maravanthe beach, for his film House Full.

A group of unidentified people, suspected to be Hindu nationalists, raised objections on it on March 15 on the ground that a Christian’s statue would not be allowed there because there was a temple near the site.

I hope to get permission from the state government to install the statue at either Bhatkal Beach or Karwar beach in Uttara Canara district now, Hegde said

Private news channel NDTV 24X7 quoted Dhananjay Kumar, spokesperson of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, as saying: I would like to make it very clear that the BJP has absolutely no objection for putting up the statue of Charlie Chaplin. But we would like to remind everybody that we in India have our own heritage, our culture, our tradition.

Mormon anti-pornography nutters led by SCO Group chairman Ralph Yarro III are calling on ICANN to give more political clout to those who want to kick porn off the web.

Scores of Yarro’s followers have this week petitioned ICANN to OK the formation of a new Cybersafety Constituency which would help develop binding policies for the internet’s domain name system. The Cybersafety Constituency would represent the interests of families, children, consumers, victims of cybercrime, religions and cultures.

The drive is being orchestrated by Cheryl Preston, the top lawyer for CP80.org, an Internet Zoning censorship campaign headed by Yarro. CP80.org wants all adult material banned from Port 80, the standard protocol port for the web, and confined to a new port.

ICANN is responsible for managing internet port and IP address allocations globally.

ICANN has asked for comments on the Cybersafety Constituency proposal. So far, the vast majority of commenters support the move, and a majority of those are identikit stock letters, written by and sent at the request of Yarrow. The large majority of commenters giving physical addresses or phone numbers appear to be located in the Mormon stronghold of Utah.

We are all too familiar with the persecution of Christians in countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Yet sitting in front of me is a British woman whose life has been threatened in this country solely because she is a Christian. Indeed, so real is the threat that the book she has written about her experiences has had to appear under an assumed name.

The book is called The Imam’s Daughter because “Hannah Shah” is just that: the daughter of an imam in one of the tight-knit Deobandi Muslim Pakistani communities in the north of England. Her father emigrated to this country from rural Pakistan some time in the 1960s and is, apparently, a highly respected local figure.

He is also an incestuous child abuser, repeatedly raping his daughter from the age of five until she was 15, ostensibly as part of her punishment for being disobedient. At the age of 16 she fled her family to avoid the forced marriage they had planned for her in Pakistan. A much, much greater affront to honour in her family’s eyes, however, was the fact that she then became a Christian – an apostate. The Koran is explicit that apostasy is punishable by death; thus it was that her father the imam led a 40-strong gang – in the middle of a British city – to find and kill her.

Hannah Shah says her story is not unique – that there are many other girls in British Muslim families who are oppressed and married off against their will, or who have secretly become Christians but are too afraid to speak out. She wants their voices to be heard and for Britain, the land of her birth, to realise the hidden misery of these women.

Hannah blames what is sometimes called political correctness for this debacle: My teachers had thought they were doing the right thing, they thought it showed ‘cultural sensitivity’ by bringing in someone from my own community to ‘help’, but it was the worst thing they could have done to me. This happens a lot.

When I’ve been working with girls who were trying to get out of an arranged marriage, or want to convert to Christianity, and they have contacted social services as they need to get out of their homes, the reaction has been ‘we’ll send someone from your community to talk to your parents’. I know why they are doing this, they are trying to be understanding, but it’s the last thing that the authorities should do in such situations.

This is the sort of cultural sensitivity displayed by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, last year when he suggested that problems within the British Muslim community such as financial or marital disputes could be dealt with under sharia, Islamic law, rather than British civil law. What did Hannah, now an Anglican, think on hearing these remarks?

I was horrified. If you could speak to him now, what would you say to the archbishop? I would say: have you actually spoken to any ordinary Muslim women about the situation that they live in, in their communities? By putting in place these Muslim arbitration tribunals, where a woman’s witness is half that of a man, you are silencing women even more.

She believes the British government is making exactly the same mistake as Rowan Williams: It says it talks to the Muslim community, but it’s not speaking to the women. I mean, you are always hearing Muslim men speaking out, the representatives of the big federations, but the government is not listening to Muslim women. With the sharia law situation and the Muslim arbitration tribunals, have they thought about what effect these tribunals have on Muslim women? I don’t think so.

About 1,000 people have been rounded up and forced to drink hallucinogens as part of a witch-hunting campaign in Gambia.

The authorities began inviting witch doctors from nearby Guinea after the death this year of an aunt of Gambia's president, Yahya Jammeh. Jammeh is said to believe witchcraft was involved in her death.

Since then, the witch doctors – accompanied by police, soldiers, intelligence agents and the president's personal guards – have forcibly taken about 1,000 alleged witches from their villages and spirited them to secret locations, according to Amnesty International. It said about 300 of them had been taken to Jammeh's personal farm.

The rights group said victims were forced to drink unknown substances that cause them to hallucinate and behave erratically. Many are then forced to confess to being a witch. In some cases, they are severely beaten, almost to the point of death.

Amnesty has called on the government of Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup and has claimed he can cure Aids, to halt the campaign and bring those responsible to justice

United Nations officials have said that Muslim-backed references to defamation of religion and criticism of Israel have been dropped from a draft being prepared for next month's world racism meeting, Durban II.

The latest draft declaration, a compromise 17-page text issued by Russian working group chairman Yuri Boychenko after private consultations, omits any reference to the Middle East conflict as well as defamation of religion.

It now speaks only of concern about the negative stereotyping of religions and does not single out Israel for criticism, according to the officials.

The April 20-25 meeting in Geneva is designed to review progress in fighting racism since the global body's first such conference eight years ago in Durban, South Africa.

Israel and Canada said they would boycott this year's meeting in Geneva. The United States and Italy have also vowed not to attend unless countries commit to a balanced declaration. The European Union and Australia have threatened to follow suit unless Muslim countries backed down.

A photograph of a naked man in an exhibition at an art museum in Helsinki is sparking nutter outrage, as Hindus have taken offence to the image and demanded its removal from the show.

Rajan Zed, an Indo-American hindu leadfer living in Nevada who heads the Universal Society of Hinduism, issued a press release calling the photograph, which is titled Hinduism: The Night of Pushkar 2, disrespectful, hurting, and irreverent.

The work is part of an exhibition by Finnish artist Marita Liulia at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. The show, Choosing My Religion, is a multimedia project that examines the major world religions. Hinduism is represented by a number of photographs, including The Night of Pushkar 2, which depicts a naked man sitting on a balcony wall with his head down. His genitals are visible.

Zed is calling for the removal of the photo as well as a public apology from the artist; the director of the Kiasma museum; the director general of the Finnish National Gallery, of which the Kiasma museum is a part; and the Finland Minister of Education, Henna Virkkunen.

Update: Title Change

19th March 2009. Based on article from scoop.co.nz

The controversy has now been resolved by changing the title of the nude photo. The word 'Hinduism' has been dropped from the original title: Hinduism: The Night of Pushkar 2

Rajan Zed, who spearheaded this protest, has appreciated this step of the government run Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, saying that it was a sigh of relief for the agitated Hindu community. He urged the Museum to remove word 'Pushkar' also from this photograph of nude man with visible genitals, arguing that town of Pushkar, which is associated with Hindu god Brahma, was sacred to Hindus.

Kiasma Director Brendt Arell reportedly said that he would consider it.

Rajan Zed points out that Hindus are for freedom of expression as much as anybody else if not more. Hindu tradition encourages peaceful debates, won on their intellectual merit. ...BUT...faith is something sacred and attempts at belittling it hurt the devotees.

This controversial photograph is on display till April 19 as part of Marita Liulia's Choosing My Religion multimedia exhibition at Kiasma, in which her art pieces juxtapose Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto, and Animism. This exhibition will later travel to Tampere, Turku and Vaasa cities in Finland.

Over 100 students gathered to demonstrate against six protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) advocating against the University of Chicago’s employment of Barack Obama.

The WBC protesters arrived carrying signs reading God hates the world and Bloody Obama. They allowed people to photograph them and held up their signs, smiling. At one point, Shirley Phelps-Roper, WBC’s spokeswoman, sang a joyful rendition of God Hates America.

They were accompanied down the street by a group of students mocking the WBC’s message. The students held a sign reading Figs Doom Nations and planted themselves across the street from the WBC, drawing from a Biblical passage in which Jesus disparages a fig tree. If you need scanty biblical evidence for anything, we’ve got it, said fourth-year Carmel Levy as he handed out flyers containing biblical citations that read: Jesus rebuked the fig as an evil abomination and God Promises Terrible Vengeance Upon Any Fig-Loving Nation.

We just wanted the world to know that God’s vengeance doesn’t just fall on the gay, but also on the fruit, said fourth-year Max Shron.

WBC protesters moved to the Midway to protest the Law School at around 1:00 p.m. Far from being fazed by what they had encountered, they were delighted. I truly and dearly love it, said Shirley Phelps-Roper, the group’s spokeswoman: It is so awesome when you juxtapose this little group of servants of God with this restless mob of humanity. These people think that they have the power, this arrogant nation, to change God. The little girly boys up there with their clothes half off gyrating around—they might as well flip off their god.”

Deputy Dean of Students for Student Affairs Martina Munsters came away with a positive impression of the counter-protest.

From what I’m hearing, it sounds like things went really well. There was no confrontation...[and] students seemed to be pretty upbeat, she said: They even raised about $500 for charity, which I think is tremendous.

A Thai government policy review of the largely Muslim southern provinces is considering granting greater local autonomy with reforms including introduction of Sharia Law through Islamic courts. The strategy is part of efforts to bring to an end a five-year insurgency that has cost more than 3,000 lives.

The policy review began soon after the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva came to office in December. Speaking to foreign correspondents earlier this year, Abhsit set out the government's policy goals: The only long-term solution must be done through a comprehensive package that covers well beyond the security dimensions, but also addresses the issues such as economic development as well as addressing education and cultural diversity in the provinces," he said.

The government plan includes setting up a special office headed by a minister in charge of affairs in the Southern provinces.

A Thai government review paper, an English translated copy of which was obtained by VOA, says people in the region consider themselves Pattani Malays rather than Thai.

The review paper calls on government to adopt a strategy that is largely peaceful and suggests a military solution will fail to win local community support, even if it succeeds in imposing control.

Policy review options include a specially elected local chamber of government, the partial application of Islamic Sharia Law through Islamic Courts and local administrative organizations based on Muslim community leadership. It also calls for security forces and government officials to be selected from the local Southern community or have language, cultural and knowledge of local customs and traditions before being posted.

Pope Benedict said that the distribution of condoms aggravates the Aids crisis, as he embarked on his first trip to Africa.

While en route from Rome to his first stop, Cameroon, the Pope said that the condition was a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems.

Speaking on board his official plane, the pontiff insisted that the Roman Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against Aids, advocating sexual abstinence and fidelity within marriage as a way of fighting the disease.

Update: AIDS Aggravator

19th March 2009.  Based on article from timesonline.co.uk, Thanks to Alan

The Vatican backtracked yesterday on the Pope’s rejection of condoms as a means of preventing Aids — a decision interpreted by some as a rare admission of papal fallibility.

On Tuesday he told reporters accompanying him on his trip to Africa that Aids was a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems. Taken aback by outrage worldwide, the Holy See altered the Pope’s remark yesterday to read that condoms merely “risked” aggravating the problem.

L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said in a front-page editorial that the media had reduced the Pope’s trip to just one aspect, the controversy over how to combat Aids.

Jon O’Brien, president of the US-based Catholics for Choice, welcomed the change as an admission that the Pope was not infallible on the issue and was willing to acknowledge his mistakes. The Pope has now admitted that he is unsure as to whether condoms will help alleviate the spread of HIV. Where there is doubt there is freedom and Catholics can now make up their own minds as to whether they can use them or not. Indeed, the vast majority of Catholics have already made this call and use condoms to protect themselves and their partners against sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

We call on the Pope to revisit the teachings on condoms with a view to lifting the ban at the earliest possible moment. In his review, we want him to include experts who are unequivocal that condoms do in fact help prevent the spread of HIV.

A Christian minister who has had heated arguments with Muslims on his TV Gospel show has been brutally attacked by three men who ripped off his cross and warned: If you go back to the studio, we’ll break your legs.

The Reverend Noble Samuel was driving to the studio when a car pulled over in front of him. He was assaulted by 3 men who also took his laptop and Bible.

The Metropolitan Police are treating it as a faith hate assault and are hunting three Asian men.

In spite of the attack, Samuel went ahead with his hour-long live Asian Gospel Show on the Venus satellite channel from studios in Wembley, North London. During the show the Muslim station owner Tahir Ali came on air to condemn the attack.

Samuel said that over the past few weeks he has received phone-in calls from people identifying themselves as Muslims who challenged his views: They were having an argument with me. They were very aggressive in saying they did not agree with me. I said those are your views and these are my views.

He said that he, his wife and his son Naveed now fear for their safety, and police have given them panic alarms. I am frightened and depressed, he said: My show is not confrontational.’

Muslim clerics in Tral, a scenic south Kashmir town, have issued a diktat to cable operators to stop beaming obscene channels in Tral.

Cable TV came recently to this town after years of it being cut off from the mainstream. However, on Friday, Muslim clergy issued a diktat to a gathering at a local mosque asking cable operators to stop telecasting channels that did not fit with the social order.

We have received complaints from the local people that some channels are very obscene and are not compatible with our social and religious norms. Therefore we have issued an appeal to the cable operators not to show them, said Moulana Noor Ahmad, a prominent Muslim cleric in Tral area.

Million "Fag" March
Rally at Gage Park in Topeka, Kansas
30th May 2009

Phelps and his church are notorious for their anti-gay protests of funerals and schools, claiming that most natural disasters and terrorist attacks are God's punishment for a society that tolerates homosexuality.

He is known for the slogans that he and his ministry use against people he deems sinful, including God Hates Fags.

According to organizer Chris Love, the primary goal of the March is to take the offensive, using the very same rights and laws as the Westboro Baptist Church. Love says his event expresses a message of acceptance of all people; a message that the group hopes will spread beyond the Topeka church.

Last year's event -- the first -- drew a crowd of 420 people from all parts of the country. Love said that the 2008 March was a diverse mix of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, and political viewpoint that drew national media attention. The March stresses the use of peaceful and lawful demonstration, and is open to anyone who wishes to join without fear of negative incident.

Nearly 600 people joined the One Law for All anti-racist rally against Sharia and religious-based laws in Britain and elsewhere and in defence of citizenship and universal rights in Trafalgar Square and marched towards Red Lion Square in London. Hundreds then joined our public meeting to discuss and debate Sharia, Sexual Apartheid and Women's Rights. Our protest was met with widespread support and left many feeling inspired and invigorated. It was also covered by the mainstream media, including BBC Radio 4, BBC 5 Live, BBC Wales, and the Times.

The rally of several hundred heard a number of speakers denouncing the policy of accommodation and appeasement of the political Islamic movement. A C Grayling in his speech said: 'Once you start fragmenting society, once you start allowing different groups in society to apply different standards, you get very profound injustices and it is almost always women who suffer these injustices. We have to fight hard to keep one law for everybody.'

Parisa who was refused a divorce from a violent husband said: Ten years of my life is gone because of Sharia law. I want to stop it. Please help to stop it. It is not fair. I had a good uncle who helped me to escape but what about others who don't have a chance to run away. I saw that many, many times.

Terry Sanderson, the president of the National Secular Society, said: We do not need another legal system running in parallel... Sharia is creeping into our legal system and society and we must stop it in its tracks and now!

Fariborz Pooya, head of the Iranian Secular Society, said the introduction of Sharia is a betrayal of thousands of women and children and leaves them at the mercy of Islamist groups.

Archbishop Akinola from the Church of Nigeria wants all witnesses to gay weddings to be sentenced to a year in jail

If ever you think the Anglican church of Nigeria cannot get more incoherently bigoted about gay people, you're wrong. The latest proof comes in a position paper submitted by the church to a parliamentary committee which is planning a law against gay marriage. Homosexuality is already illegal in Nigeria, of course, as is gay marriage. But the proposed law would provide three years in jail for gay couples who got married, and five years for any witnesses. Earlier drafts have proposed long jail sentences, also, for anyone who argues in favour of gay marriage.

If ever a law were a simple incitement to hate, this is it, and here is Archbishop Akinola of the Church of Nigeria cheering them on.

A new embargo on freedom of expression in Iran has formally been announced.

Iran’s Prosecutor General, Ayatollah Qorban-Ali Dorri-Najafabadi, has declared that the very expression of affiliation to the Bahá’í faith is illegal. This was communicated in a letter to the Minister of Intelligence, Ghulam-Husayn Ejeyee, who needs no encouragement to violate rights. Human Rights Watch named him one of Iran's Ministers of Murder four years ago.

According to the Prosecutor General , everyone is free to have his own belief and faith: However, no expression or declaration in order to disparage the thought of others, nor any attempt to teach them resulting in deception and agitation of minds is permitted.

He goes on to determine that the administration of the wayward Baha’i sect at all levels is illegal and forbidden … their danger to national security is documented and well-established.

A few days later, the Prosecutor General made the rather fantastic claim that Bahá’ís in Iran are provided with all facilities afforded other Iranian citizens, and are respected as human beings, but not as insiders, spies, or a political grouplet supported by Britain and Israel to cause disturbance in Iran.

The broader implication of the Prosecutor General’s statement, however, is that it is possible to legally separate out a (generous) respect of religion or belief from its (dangerous) expression or declaration.

In a decision which could have positive consequences for Geert Wilders’ upcoming prosecution , a supporter of the Dutch extreme right National Alliance has had his conviction for insulting Islam overturned by the High Court.

The man had displayed a poster in his window after the murder of Dutch film maker Theo Van Gogh. It read: Stop the tumour that is Islam. Theo has died for us. Who will be next? Resist now! National Alliance, we will not bow down to Allah. Join now.

Originally given a suspended sentence, he was acquitted by the High Court. The judged concluded that it was not an offence to express insults towards religion. Not even if that happens in such a way that the devotees feel their religious feelings are hurt.

lBT has banned a religious website critical of extremist Jews that it has hosted for four years following a campaign from a group of MPs claimed it was anti-Semitic.

It is understood to be the first time that a website in Britain has been shut down under such circumstances.

The website, www.catholicvoice.co.uk, takes an inflammatory stance over extreme sections of Judaism that reject non-Jewish races.

The website editor, Timothy Johnson from Sheffield, a radical Catholic, told the Sunday Herald last night he was the subject of a smear campaign. He and his supporters say the action highlights a growing campaign against critics of the actions of extremist Jews and is a breach of free debate in a free society.

The site was shut after John Mann, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Committee on anti-Semitism, raised an early day motion supported by other MPs, including Glenda Jackson and Labour MP for Livingston Jim Devine.

Mann says the website is vile and anti-Semitic and seeks to inspire hate against the Jewish community amongst others.

Mann complained in particular about two statements on the websites. The first - To call Jesus a Jew is blasphemy - was the heading for an explosive theological essay on Christ's origins.

Johnson says the second - Jews are followers of Satan - has never appeared on the site.

Though not mentioned by either BT or Mann, the website more recently defended Richard Williamson, the Catholic bishop who questions whether millions of Jews died in Nazi gas chambers.

It is now understood Johnson is looking to find a host in another country, having accused BT of hounding the site off the internet.

A Gloucester grocer's plans to sell alcohol near a mosque has caused anger amongst the local muslim community.

Residents have collected a 150-name petition against Mohammed Moynul Islam's application for a license to sell drink from Bangla Bazaar in Ryecroft Street.

Representatives of Gloucester Muslim Welfare Association suggested that the shop's proximity to the mosque would cause problems for the Muslim community. In a letter it ludicrously said: Members of the Muslim community have been targeted in the past with alcohol being hurled at them whilst on the way to the mosque. Granting an alcohol license to a shop a few doors down from the mosque, which is established almost 50 years, will not only cause us to be in an invidious position but will reflect adversely on the number of visitors coming to the mosque from out of the area, who see it as a place that sets social and moral standards.

Residents said that many other local outlets, including the Co-op and Asda, already sell alcohol.

No So Liberal Democrat city councillor Usman Bhaimia said: I support business growth in this area, but not off licences.

A young Christian man and his father have been murdered by Egyptian muslims after a rumour circulated that the young man had a relationship with a Muslim man’s sister.

Yasser Ahmed Qasim approached 25-year-old Sabri Shihata and poured gasoline on the Coptic Christian and then set him on fire. The young Copt tried to put out the fire by throwing himself into a nearby canal, but the burns were too severe and he later died.

His 60-year-old father, also named Sabri Shihata, later arrived at a village rally where a group of Muslims stabbed him to death.

The Muslim lynch mob also attacked the Coptic man’s younger brother, 22-year-old Rami Sabri Shihata, causing a serious injury to his head.

Local police have arrested those involved in the attack, including Yasser Ahmed Kassem. The perpetrators are charged with deliberate homicide.

Security forces have also surrounded the victims’ house and extra security has been deployed throughout the village of 60,000 people.

A media blackout has been put in place as the prosecution and the State Security Services continue investigation.

In Egypt recently, sectarian violence has been on the rise as Christian-Muslim relations have been strained by conversions to Christianity and government opposition to recognising the conversions.

Furthermore, changes in living arrangements have also contributed to increased tension between the two groups. Previously, Christians and Muslims used to live peacefully in mixed communities, but recently the two groups have tended to live separately only among their own religious communities and there have been less interaction between the two groups.

The National Secular Society has warned government officials that a new resolution proposed by Pakistan at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will define any questioning of Islamic dogmas as a human rights violation. It will intimidate dissenting voices and encourage the enforced imposition of sharia law.

NSS Executive Director Keith Porteous Wood told top officials at the Foreign Office at a meeting yesterday that the new resolution would seriously undermine free speech, other human rights and, indeed, democracy around the world, and that its first victims would be the more moderate voices in the increasingly radicalised Islamic countries.

The Human Rights organisation UN Watch had obtained a copy of the Pakistani-authored proposal after it was distributed this week among Geneva diplomats attending the current session of the UNHRC. The document, entitled Combating defamation of religions, mentions only Islam.

While non-binding, said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer: the resolution constitutes a dangerous threat to free speech everywhere. It would ban any perceived offense to Islamic sensitivities as a 'serious affront to human dignity' and a violation of religious freedom, and would pressure U.N. member states to erode the free speech guarantees in their ‘legal and constitutional systems.’

This is an Orwellian text that distorts the meaning of human rights, free speech, and religious freedom, and marks a giant step backwards for liberty and democracy worldwide. The first to suffer will be moderate Muslims in the countries that are behind this resolution, like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan, where state-sanctioned blasphemy laws stifle religious freedom and outlaw conversions from Islam to other faiths.

Next to suffer from this U.N.-sanctioned McCarthyism will be writers and journalists in the democratic West, with the resolution targeting the media for the ‘deliberate stereotyping of religions, their adherents and sacred persons.’

Ultimately, the very notion of individual human rights is at stake, because the sponsors of this resolution seek not to protect individuals from harm, but rather to shield a specific set of beliefs from any question, debate, or critical inquiry.

Keith Porteous Wood said that the new resolution was dangerous and shocking: We call on all liberal democracies to resist this new attempt to close down legitimate debate about the place of religion in a human rights context. The resolution is a corruption of the concept of universal human rights and would give a free hand to every Islamic despot and tyrant in the world.

The West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan has warned dancers of the jaipong dance – performed at official ceremonies and cultural festivals – to tone down their erotic moves and hide their underarms to comply with the law.

Islamic parties are also targeting the dance ahead of the April general elections, after parliament passed a controversial anti-porn law in December.

The dance shouldn't be too erotic, Tifatul Sembiring, a senior leader of the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party, said: The worry is that once the anti-porn bill is fully implemented, the dance may be banned because it's too erotic.

Outraged and insulted, professional dance groups have called on Indonesians to teach the perpetrators a lesson at the ballot box come April.

What are they talking about? The dancers are all covered up in long-sleeved traditional kebayas, not sexy tubes, Mas Nanu Muda of the Jaipong Care Community, said.

Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, a candidate for presidential elections in July, said the anti-porn law was the most terrible thing in the process of building our nation. He said the law criminalises all works and bodily movements including music and poetry that could be deemed obscene and capable of violating public morality, and offers heavy penalties.

Somalia's President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has defended plans to implement Islamic law in his war-wracked country, saying it was aimed at appeasing militants opposed to his government.

The purpose of this decision is to ensure that he who claims that he is fighting to have sharia no longer has a reason to fight, he told reporters: Sharia does not allow for blood to be shed for political reasons. So that door is closed.

Hardline Islamist militia fighting the government have insisted on implementation of Islamic law, or sharia, which they have imposed in areas under their control.

The Somali cabinet on Tuesday agreed to introduce Islamic law which is to presented to parliament for approval.

The advertising censor, the ASA, has decided not to launch a formal investigation into an advertisement from the Christian party proclaiming that there is definitely a God, even though it has become one of the four most criticised adverts of all time.

The advertisement was unveiled by the party last month in response to the British Humanist Association's bus adverts, which state: There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. The Christian party's advert – displayed on 50 London buses – carries the slogan: "There definitely is a God. So join the Christian party and enjoy your life."

Figures from the Advertising Standards Authority reveal that the advertisement has so far attracted 1,045 complaints – and rising – making it the fourth most complained about advert since the ASA's records began. But it has decided not to launch an investigation because the poster is deemed to be electioneering material, and falls outside the remit of its codes of practice.

In January the ASA concluded that the aetheist There's probably no God bus ad campaign by the British Humanist Association did not breach the current advertising code and again decided not to launch an investigation.

People complaining about the Christian party advert believe the claim there definitely is a God is misleading because it cannot be substantiated, while some individuals have also objected that the advert is offensive to atheists.

The ASA has also decided not to investigate two other advertising campaigns of a similar nature. An advertisement from the Russian Orthodox Church that stated There IS a God, BELIEVE. Don't worry and enjoy your life was, the ASA council considered, a reflection of the opinion of the advertisers and unlikely to mislead readers.

Similarly, the Trinitarian Bible Society's ad that claimed The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Psalm 53.1  generated complaints that it was offensive and was insulting to atheists and non-Christians.

HBO, the network behind television polygamy drama Big Love, apologized on Tuesday for any offense to Mormons in a depiction of a sacred ritual but made clear it would air the controversial episode as planned.

The HBO network's program about a non-Mormon polygamous family has stirred up a hornet's nest of complaints over an episode to be broadcast on Sunday showing its version of an endowment ceremony within a Mormon temple.

It is thought to be the first time the ritual, in which participants move to a higher level of understanding of their religion, will be shown on TV.

News of the episode prompted calls and e-mails for cancellation or an HBO boycott by angry members of the Mormon Church, officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

The Church itself has not officially called for a boycott.

HBO said the writers had gone to great lengths to be respectful and accurate in the ceremony's portrayal.

Obviously, it was not our intention to do anything disrespectful to the church, but to those who may be offended, we offer our sincere apology, the network said in a statement.

This is a very sacred event in the lives of LDS church members. To have it splashed all over television for entertainment purposes (and ultimately for monetary gain) is just offensive, wrote a poster called 'nanberg' on HBO's official Big Love message board on Tuesday.

A billboard in Idaho declaring Beware of dogma is the latest example of humanist activists using advertising to promote atheism.

Several atheist groups in Idaho, including Humanists of Idaho, recently erected the billboard in Boise.

The ad was sponsored by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which launched a national billboard campaign in late 2007, taking its religion-free messages state-by-state.

Bryan Fischer, executive director of Idaho Values Alliance, responded to the billboard in a statement saying: The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

Ironically we actually agree with the slogan, but we think the dogma Americans need to be aware of is the dogma of secular fundamentalism, which is at odds with the worldview of the Founders.

This country was founded on a fundamentally religious concept that there is a Creator and that Creator is the source of our fundamental civil liberties.

The FFRF has placed 27 billboards in 15 states so far. The organization is headed by Dan Barker, a former Christian Pentecostal preacher and musician.

According to the Googlish version of the Croatian delo.si report, adverts on Zagreb trams reading Without God, without a master (Brez boga, brez gospodarja) were taken down after only one day.

This in spite of the fact that the Women’s Network of Croatia had paid for a month’s worth of publicity in advance. A statement from the tram company stated that ads were not allowed.

Egyptian Cleric Safwat Higazi has called to shut down Starbucks in the Arab and Islamic world, saying that their logo is the Jewish Queen Esther

Safwat Higazi said: This is the Starbucks logo. Has any of you ever wondered who this woman with a crown on her head is? Why do we boycott Starbucks? I will tell you, so you will know why you should boycott this company, and what this logo stands for. As I’ve already said, it is not enough to avoid entering this coffee shop. It is not enough to refrain from drinking this coffee. You must urge people never to go there, but none of you should even consider throwing a stone, breaking anything, or burning [the place] down.

The girl in the Starbucks logo is Queen Esther. Do you know who Queen Esther was and what the crown on her head means? This is the crown of the Persian kingdom. This queen is the queen of the Jews. She is mentioned in the Torah, in the Book of Esther. The girl you see is Esther, the queen of the Jews in Persia.

We Want Starbucks To Be Shut Down Throughout The Arab And Islamic World...It Is Inconceivable That In Mecca and Al-Madina, There Will Be a Picture of Queen Esther

A Saudi court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house. They had delivered 5 loaves of bread that she had requested.

According to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan, troubles for the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, began last year when a member of the religious police entered her house in the city of Al-Chamli and found her with two unrelated men, Fahd and Hadian.

Fahd told the policeman he had the right to be there, because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam, according to Al-Watan. Fahd added that his friend Hadian was escorting him as he delivered bread for the elderly woman. The policeman then arrested both men.

Al Watan obtained the court's verdict and reported it was partly based on the testimony of the religious police. In his ruling, the judge said it was proved that Fahd is not Sawadi's son through breastfeeding.

The court also doled out punishment to the two men. Fahd was sentenced to four months in prison and 40 lashes; Hadian was sentenced to six months in prison and 60 lashes.

Sawadi told the newspaper that she will appeal, adding that Fahd is indeed her son through breastfeeding.

The case sparked anger in Saudi Arabia. It's made everybody angry because this is like a grandmother, Saudi women's rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider told CNN:Forty lashes -- how can she handle that pain? You cannot justify it.

Afghanistan's Supreme Court has upheld a 20-year jail term for blasphemy handed to Afghan journalist Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, who claimed men and women were equal.

Kambakhsh's brother said the family had just learned of the closed-door ruling delivered a month ago in the absence of Yaqub Kambakhsh, his lawyer or family members, the Information Safety and Freedom media watchdog reported.

We thought there would be some justice in the capital of Afghanistan and even at the highest level of the judicial system, wrote Yaqub Kambakhsh in a letter sent to Information Safety and Freedom: But their silent decision seems that first of all there is no justice in Afghanistan at any level. Kambakhsh is the latest victim.

Twenty-eight year-old Kambakhsh's troubles began in 1997, when he wrote in his blog that extremist mullahs had distorted the true meaning of Islam's holy book or Koran: If a Muslim man may have four wives, why shouldn't a wife have four husbands.

He was arrested on blasphemy charges in the northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif in 2007 and in October that year a local court condemned him to death

The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment following pressure from international human rights organisations.

A Council of Europe (CoE) study on freedom of expression and freedom of religion, argues that it is no longer desirable for European democracies to criminalise blasphemy, and calls for the abolishment of such laws.

Malta is one of the few European states that penalises the public vilification of the Roman Catholic religion with a maximum term of sixth months’ imprisonment – and three months for other religions.

Only Greece contemplates a higher term – two years’ imprisonment – for malicious blasphemy.

The debate on so-called religious insult was brought to the fore by the Board of Film and Stage Classification’s decision to ban the play Stitching, for reasons that included blasphemy.

And adding to the dose of ecclesiastical umbrage, only this week seven revellers at the Nadur carnival were arraigned for dressing up as priests – much to the outrage of the bishops. It seems Malta has reverted back to 1959.

The report on European laws on religious insult and incitement to hatred in all the European nations, was prepared by the Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe composed of experts of constitutional law.

In their two-year study, the experts concluded that it is neither necessary nor desirable to create an offence of religious insult, that is insult to religious feelings, without the element of incitement to hatred as an essential component.

The Commission argues that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness means that freedom of expression should not be limited to protect an individual’s belief from criticism.
The right to freedom of expression implies that it should be allowed to scrutinise, openly debate, and criticise, even harshly and unreasonably, belief systems… as long as this does not amount to advocating hatred.

The Commission argues that the offence of blasphemy should be abolished” and that democratic societies must not become hostage to the excessive sensitivities of certain individuals… the level of tolerance of these individuals who would feel offended by the right to freedom of expression should be raised. A democracy must not fear debate, even on the most shocking or anti-democratic ideas… persuasion, as opposed to ban or repression, is the most democratic means of preserving fundamental values.

The Pakistani Taliban in the troubled Khyber tribal region have warned authorities not to issue national identity cards to women, saying the practice is un-Islamic.

Omar Farooq, the commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in Khyber Agency, warned the National Database and Registration Authority that its offices would be attacked if it issued identity cards to women.

Farooq told reporters on phone from an unknown location that making identity cards for women went against Islamic rules. The Taliban will not allow women to obtain these cards, he said.

He also warned women that they would have to face the consequences if they went to NADRA offices to get themselves registered for the identity cards.

The Crown Prosecution Service has decided that anyone who attacks Scientology can be prosecuted under faith hate laws.

The move will for the first time provide the Church of Scientology – described by some as a cult – the same protection as other mainstream religions.

Critics of the organisation attacked the decision last night, saying it would encourage Scientologists to push for official recognition in Britain.

The Mail on Sunday understands the CPS passed down the guidance after it received legal advice from the Treasury Counsel to regard the group as a religion alongside Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

It means that any alleged offenders who ‘abuse’ or ‘threaten’ the Church of Scientology can be charged under the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006.

It is understood the decision was made this month after the Police Diversity Directorate asked the CPS to clarify its position on the organisation.

Ian Harris, founder of the Cult Information Centre, said last night: Scientology has always wanted to be recognised as a religion but it doesn’t even have a God. This decision is news to me and it is frankly quite upsetting and shocking. The Church of Scientology will be delighted and will want to use this to give themselves more credibility.

A CPS spokesman said: It is ultimately for the courts to decide how to interpret legislation.

Irish broadcasting legislation on religious advertising is to be relaxed to avoid embarrassment over bans on promotions for first holy communion presents and cribs.

Eamon Ryan, the communications minister, plans to allow organisations such as Veritas, a religious bookshop, to advertise on radio. The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI), which polices the independent-radio sector, has banned a series of planned Veritas advertising campaigns in recent years.

Government sources say Ryan is keen to retain provisions of the existing law that prevent churches or quasi-religious groups from using the airwaves to recruit members. But he will introduce legal changes when the broadcasting bill comes back to the Dail at report stage this month to ensure proportionality in applying the law.

If the Oireachtas adopts the changes, the minister will direct the BCI and its successor, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), to accommodate the spirit of the change in a new code of practice on advertising.

At Christmas, Veritas was refused permission for an ad on RTE and four local stations for different and thoughtful gifts, which included books for children.

Veritas says it has held constructive discussions with officials from the department of communications about the ban in recent weeks. A spokeswoman said: In these difficult commercial times, we need to advertise all the more, so any change in this area would be welcome.

Nine people are expected to be charged in court in Malta for wearing religious vestments during the recent carnival, the police said. The nine people aged between 20 and 35 years will be marched to court after Maltese bishops raised concerns about the behaviour of certain individuals and the costumes worn during this year's carnival in the small island of Gozo.

It is customary for some young people to dress up as priests and nuns during the rowdy carnival in the staunchly Catholic island.

The accused will face charges under a section of the Criminal Code which bars people from dressing up as priests or donning Church vestments or naval/military uniforms without a permit.

A spokesman for the Justice Ministry said photographs published in the media demonstrated that the behaviour was not simply a case of people dressing up as Christ or the saints but more a question of public indecency and offending religious sentiment.

Maltese Archbishop Paul Cremona and Gozo Bishop Mario Grech said in a statement: It is good for society to defend the rights of minorities who have different views from the majority of the public. But no one should have the right to ridicule the belief of others in this way.

The bishops condemned what had taken place at the carnival and said those involved needed to recognize and respect religious and civil rights. The bishops said that if no action was taken, the authorities would be endorsing and approving such illegal behaviour. They also said that this should not be allowed to happen again.

As many as eight woman are at imminent risk of being stoned to death for adultery in Iran, according to reports received by Amnesty International. The organisation is calling on the Iranian authorities to commute the sentences and to impose an immediate moratorium on stonings.

Ultimately Iran should abolish death by stoning completely and should stop executing people for the crime of adultery, said Amnesty. Serious failings in the Iranian justice system, which disproportionately affect women, commonly result in unfair trials in capital and other cases.

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:

Stoning people to death is an inhumane punishment, specifically designed to increase the suffering of the victim. The Iranian authorities should abolish stoning immediately, and should abandon the practice of executing people for committing adultery.

Women are not treated equally in Iran, in the home and in the courts, and this means that they are particularly at risk.

Women and men inside Iran are fighting for an end to this horrendous practice and in some cases they have met with success. But we must show them international support.

Ashraf Kalhori was scheduled to be stoned to death for adultery with her neighbour - a charge she now denies - in July 2006 but her execution was stayed. She was also sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for taking part in her husband's murder. Iranian media are now reporting that the Amnesty and Clemency Commission has rejected her plea and that her sentence could now be implemented at any time.

Another woman, known as Iran, is also at risk of execution by stoning. She was attacked by her husband when he saw her talking to the son of a neighbour, and while she was unconscious the neighbour's son killed her husband. Iran initially confessed to adultery during police interrogation, but later retracted her confession. A court in Khuzestan province sentenced Iran to five years' imprisonment for complicity in her husband's murder, and to death by stoning for adultery. The stoning sentence was overturned in June 2007 and she was retried, but was again sentenced to stoning. Her case has been before the Amnesty and Clemency Commission for over a year.

Anti-stoning campaigners in Iran have also highlighted the case of Khayrieh, who was sentenced to death in Khuzestan for complicity in the murder of her husband, and death by stoning for adultery. A relative of her husband, with whom she had an affair, murdered Khayrieh's husband, who was subjecting her to domestic violence. Khayrieh has denied any involvement in her husband's murder, but has acknowledged adultery and so is at risk of execution by stoning.

A woman known as Afsaneh R was also sentenced to stoning for adultery as well as to qesas ('retribution') for the murder of her husband, by a court in Fars, southern Iran, on 9 April 2008. This was confirmed by the Supreme Court on 4 August 2008, the same day on which Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi restated that executions by stoning in Iran were suspended.

Four other cases have also recently been discovered by anti-stoning campaigners in Iran. A woman known only as "H", and another identified only as "M.Kh" are both under sentence of stoning. An unnamed man and woman are also believed to be held under sentence of stoning in Tabriz Prison. Another woman and a man, Gilan Mohammadi and Gholamali Eskandari are also at risk of stoning, although Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said on 27 January that their cases were being reviewed.

An Islamic court in Malaysia ruled that a man given an Islamic name at birth was a Christian, a rare victory for religious minorities in this Muslim-dominated nation.

The man — whose original identity card listed his name as Mohammad Shah alias Gilbert Freeman — brought his case to the Shariah court in southern Negeri Sembilan state after the National Registration Department refused to accept he was a Christian and allow him to drop his Islamic name when he applied for a new identity card.

Lawyer Hanif Hassan said his client was raised as a Christian by his mother, and his Islamic name came from his Muslim father, who left the family when he was only 2-months-old. Freeman is married according to Christian rites and has three children who are Christians.

The Shariah court ruled that he is not a Muslim. He is not practicing Islam, and he hasn't applied to be a Muslim, Hanif told The Associated Press.

Malaysia has a dual court system. Muslims are governed by the Islamic Shariah courts while civil courts have jurisdiction over non-Muslims. But inter-religious disputes usually end up in Shariah courts, and end in favor of Muslims.

Freeman sought the court's help because he said he was getting old and he didn't want any confusion over whether he should receive a Christian burial after, Hanif said. There have been several cases of Islamic authorities claiming the bodies of people they say converted secretly to Islam.

For the last nine years, the UN's annual ban on defaming Islam has been non-binding. In March, the United Nations may try to impose its view on Islamic blasphemy on all of its member nations thus making criticism of Islam a crime.

In December, the UN General Assembly, as it has every year since 1999, passed a resolution titled Combating Defamation of Religions. The vote was 86-53, with 42 nations abstaining.

Originally titled Defamation of Islam, the name of the resolution has changed over the years but not the intent. The only religion mentioned in the seven-page document is Islam.

The resolution's main sponsor is the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Although the current resolution is non-binding, recent reports suggest the U.N. Human Rights Council will attempt to pass a binding version of the resolution when the council meets in Geneva in March.

In November, when the most recent version of the anti-blasphemy resolution was introduced, Pakistan's Ambassador Masood Khan told the Human Rights Council the OIC wants to see a new instrument or convention that addresses the issue of blasphemy, one that would be binding on member states, according to Canwest News Service.

CNN's Lou Dobbs also reported that the United Nations will seek to impose its religious defamation resolution on all of its members.

German MP calls for Durban II boycott

Based on article from jpost.com

Pressure is rising on Germany's Social Democrat-controlled Foreign Ministry to walk away from the so-called Durban II meeting - the UN's World Conference Against Racism - which opens in Geneva on April 20.

When asked about Rome's decision to pull out of Durban II because, as Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said, the preparatory document and negotiations are filled with aggressive and anti-Semitic statements, a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told The Jerusalem Post on Friday that Germany had not changed its position and would participate in the text negotiations.

Germany remained undecided on whether it would take part in Durban II itself, the spokeswoman said.

Germany must boycott this anti-Semitic and anti-Western spectacle. Either together with its EU partners, or if necessary alone. We are not the fig leaf for Iran's Islamist and anti-Semitic activities, Christian Democratic Union MP Kristina Köhler said in a statement.

Responding to the draft Durban II final document, Köhler said, These passages exude the spirit of Teheran, not the spirit of freedom and human rights. Anti-racism is to be misused in the fight against Israel, the fight against the West, and not least the fight against freedom of opinion and the press.

The United Nations is to be misused to give universal validity to the Islamic anti-blasphemy concepts in countries like Iran. That is unacceptable.

One woman was shot dead and 28 people have been injured in an attack on the Presbyterian Christian community in a village in the province of Pakistan's Punjab.

The attack took place on March 2 when a group of Muslim inhabitants opened fire on the christians who had gathered in the church for prayer. The woman died on the spot, while other members of the congregation suffered injuries of various kinds while they were seeking to flee from the bullets or to protect the pastor. The attackers broke the windows of the church, destroyed the Bibles and the other prayer books, and removed the cross from the roof of the building.

The authors of the attack have been identified, and a report against them has been filed at the local police station. The Pakistan Christian Post says that for now, the security forces have turned down the request for investigations on the attackers.

The attack is added to a long list of violent events that are now being seen more or less everywhere in Punjab and in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). The attacks are not coming to an end in the Swat Valley, where a fragile ceasefire has been attained by the government, thanks to the concession of introducing sharia in that district and in the district of Malakand.

During the night of March 5, the Taliban blew up 16 CD and DVD stores in Takhtbhai, northeast of Peshawar, the capital of the NWFP.

Since the beginning of the year, people have been abandoning the Swat Valley by the thousands. These include many families and a number of teachers, who have formally stated that they are going on vacation. One mother who left the district recounts: "All the best teachers from my children's schools have left. I do not think they will go back. According to my relatives there, many children have gone back to school, but there are now too few teachers."

Experts at a March 2 conference held in Manhattan said that many strict religious communities offer advantages to sexual predators: adults who trust their religious leaders without reservation; reluctance to report abuse to outside authorities; and a culture, consisting of silence and shame, that conspires to keep victims quiet.

It is a rule that the believers may not tell anybody else about the abuse, whether among Orthodox Jews, Mormons or Catholics, said Marci Hamilton, Cardozo law professor and author of Justice Denied: What America Must Do To Protect Its Children published in 2008: The big winner in that universe is the pedophile.

See article from forward.com

British Airways check-in employee Nadia Eweida who was banned from wearing a Christian cross at work is to take her case to the Court of Appeal.

Eweida claimed that she was the victim of religious discrimination after being told that her small crucifix necklace did not conform to uniform regulations. After extensive publicity of the case the airline changed its rules and allowed her back to work at Heathrow

But Eweida wants to overturn an employment tribunal ruling that she was not a victim of religious discrimination, and has now won the support of the civil rights group Liberty.

Shami Chakrabarti, the group's director, told the Daily Mail: This woman's cross was as important to her as a turban or hijab to other people in our country. British Airways sensibly changed the policy but unfortunately didn't concede the case which has left a dangerous precedent in the case law what we intend to overturn.

All that we are seeking for everyone in Britain is freedom of thought, conscience and religion and equal treatment under the law.

Divorced From Reality

From the National Secular Society

Lillian Ladele, the Islington registrar who refused to conduct same-sex Civil Partnerships on religious grounds, has been refused leave to appeal against the decision of an Employment Tribunal that she did not suffer religious discrimination at work. She has also been ordered to pay costs.

The National Secular Society has commended Islington Council for standing firm in its defence of equality against considerable pressure from the media and religious activists.

Lillian Ladele, the Islington registrar who refused to conduct same-sex Civil Partnerships on religious grounds, has been refused leave to appeal against the decision of an Employment Tribunal that she did not suffer religious discrimination at work. She has also been ordered to pay costs.

The National Secular Society has commended Islington Council for standing firm in its defence of equality against considerable pressure from the media and religious activists.

A Brazilian archbishop says all those who helped a child rape victim secure an abortion are to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

The girl, aged nine became pregnant with twins. It is alleged that she had been sexually assaulted over a number of years by her stepfather.

The excommunication applies to the child's mother and the doctors involved in the procedure.

Abortion is only permitted in Brazil in cases of rape and where the mother's life is at risk and doctors say the girl's case met both these conditions.

The Catholic Church tried to intervene to prevent the abortion going ahead but the procedure was carried out on Wednesday.

The Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, told Brazil's TV Globo that the law of God was above any human law. He said the excommunication would not apply to the child because of her age, but would affect all those who ensured the abortion was carried out.

However, doctors at the hospital said they had to take account of the welfare of the girl, and that she was so small that her uterus did not have the ability to contain one child let alone two.

In January the district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf posted a warning on a kiosk just outside the Scientology office in Berlin.

The poster with a big stop sign and a printed message: The district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf "expresses its opposition to the activities of the Scientology sect in this district and in Berlin, and hopes that responsible parties in Berlin will watch the Scientology sect with a critical eye in the near future, and that any new information will be made public."

But now the Berlin Administrative Court have ordered the district take the message down.

The Court found that the City’s actions violated the Church of Scientology’s right to human dignity under Article 1 of the German Constitution. The Court also found that the City violated the Church’s right to religious freedom under Article 4 of the Constitution.

In reaching these conclusions, the Court held that the City of Berlin had violated its duty of religious neutrality and its obligation to remain objective on religious matters.

God's blessing would last only two minutes and it would create 500 churchgoing millionaires or even billionaires - all they had to do was use their credit cards to pay $1,000 in offerings to televangelist Benny Hinn.

Pastor Tommie Ferreira of the AGS Church in Johannesburg was so upset about the blessing that, after a week, he wanted to know who of the donors actually had become millionaires.

About 18 000 people streamed to the venue to hear Hinn's message of healing and miracles.

Ferreira said one of Hinn's American guest speakers, Pastor Todd Koontz, spoke about financial burdens and said 500 audience members would receive an exceptional blessing: He said the service would yield millionaires and billionaires within 24 hours. Everyone had to donate $1 000 because an exceptional blessing rested on $1 000.

Koontz apparently really had the congregation scrambling when he said, This blessing will be poured out for only two minutes.

Ferreira said: People stormed to the front - poor people, rich people, people from all sections of our society.

Hinn's co-pastors apparently had credit-card machines ready with which they could take donations.

He (Koontz) said God would bless the people's credit cards and they would be able to rule over South Africa with their money. Eventually there were no fewer than 1 000 people who made such donations.

Furthermore, after Koontz's collection of the $1 000 donations, Hinn collected general donations. Ferreira said: It makes my hair stand on end. He said he could not live with his conscience if he did not speak to others about this possible trickery.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue announced today the start of a campaign against Angels & Demons.

The movie, which opens May 15, is based on the book by Dan Brown.

Bill Donohue writes:

Next week we will begin to make available to the public a booklet that I wrote on Angels & Demons. It details the myths, lies and smears that are made against the Catholic Church. It also provides evidence of the anti-Catholic animus harbored by those associated with the film.

Author Dan Brown and director Ron Howard are getting good at this. The Da Vinci Code was replete with falsehoods presented as fact, and now the tag team is back again delivering a curious blend of fact and fiction. All done at the expense of the Catholic Church.

Brown-Howard are obsessed with Catholicism. It is not enough to criticize it—they are hell bent on demonizing it. It is not enough to drag out dirty laundry—they invent it. And the fact that they pay absolutely no price for their propaganda shows beyond dispute that anti-Catholicism is the one bigotry Hollywood likes.

We will have something to say about the lies tomorrow. On Wednesday, we will address the anti-Catholic sentiments of the producers and film crew. Next week we will release the booklet. By the time we are finished with Angels & Demons, there should be few who won’t know what the Brown-Howard agenda entails.

Britain's controversial ban on the anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders has helped push his Freedom Party into the lead for the first time, according to Dutch opinion polls.

Geert Wilders began to see a rise in his popularity after an Amsterdam appeals court decided to try him for anti-Muslim comments in January.

New opinion polling now puts Mr Wilders ahead of the Christian Democrats, who lead a coalition government.

How happy I am about this. These are of course just polls, but it is an enormous sign of confidence from the Dutch voter, said Wilders: As far as I am concerned, elections can be held tomorrow, then I will be the next premier.

Polling by Maurice de Hond has predicted that the Freedom Party or PVV would take 18% of the vote to win 27 seats in the 150-seat Dutch parliament. This would put Wilders in the position of being a power broker and prime minister in a traditionally complicated Dutch multi-party coalition.

According to Ukrainian newspaper Segodnya, in Kiev, No Name night club will replace the night club named Mecca following the protest of the Moslem community.

Deputy head of Kiev city administration Sergey Rudyk said that the city authorities had accepted the protest of Moslems and persuaded the owner to rename the club.

The club has removed the plates carrying its old name and is now preparing new ones.

The Moslems of Kiev reportedly referred to the club's name Mecca as an opened provocation. Giving names of Moslem holy places to hot spots shows utter contempt for Moslems of the Ukraine and the whole world. We, therefore, demand to prohibit entertainment facilities to u

The National Theatre has been warned it faces further protests from anti-racism campaigners if it continues to show England People Very Nice by Richard Bean.

Campaigners have already disrupted one talk before a performance of Richard Bean's play, England People Very Nice, by mounting the first onstage demonstration in the National Theatre's 32-year history.

Last Friday, two protesters clambered on to the stage at the National's Olivier Theatre and condemned Bean as racist. For 10 minutes, playwright Hussain Ismail and teacher Keith Kinsella interrupted a talk that Bean was giving prior to a performance of the play, before being ejected by security guards.

Bean's play charts the settling of the French Huguenot, Irish, Jewish and Bengali communities in Bethnal Green since the 17th century. The National has billed it as a riotous journey through four waves of immigration in the East End of London.

But the protesters have failed to find anything humorous about its themes.

After his protest smail said: Richard Bean is making it seem like all Bangladeshis are drug dealers or users, muggers and marry their cousins.

Kinsella said: I find it outrageous that a play that could have been written by a racist Year Nine pupil has been allowed to be performed at the National – a publicly funded theatre.

Ismail outlined his plan to take the protest to currency exchange firm Travelex, which sponsors the National's £10 ticket season. He said: I've asked Travelex to support and mediate our claim for a public debate. If they don't come back we will have to say that Travelex supports a racist play.

The protest has been planned for March 21 outside Travelex's London head office in Kingsway, he said.

He also hinted that audiences could be picketed, but would not reveal exactly what form the action would take.

Ironically the play was meant to lampoon the sort of racist 'Alf Garnett' attitudes that all the four immigrant groups have experienced. Nicholas Hytner, the director of the National Theatre, said: The play lampoons all forms of stereotyping. 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.

Channel 4 has come under fire from Islamic leaders over a television documentary showing how gay and lesbian Muslims suffer under their laws.

Its director has already had death threats. Now station chiefs are bracing themselves for a backlash. Its digital channel More 4 will show A Jihad For Love tonight.

It lifts the lid on the battle gay and lesbian Muslims face as they struggle with their faith and their sexuality. The documentary not only shows gay Muslims daring to kiss, holding hands and talking about getting married, it also provides harrowing reports on the suffering they have faced under Islamic law. And it reveals the death threats and punishments handed out to gays in countries including Egypt and Iran.

Indian film maker Parvez Sharma – who spent six years making the programme – revealed: I have had death threats on my blog after making this film. Some countries have even banned it. I’ve been called an apostate because Muslims think I have insulted Islam but I think it will open up a debate.

Islamic leaders in the UK have attacked the documentary, saying it will offend, anger and shock. An Imam from Europe’s largest mosque The Baitul Futuh based in Surrey condemned the film last night, saying: These people should not be confessing their sins to the television cameras. They should be doing it in private to God and seeking forgiveness.”

Last night a Channel 4 spokesman defended the documentary. She said: This is a sensitively made documentary that has played to critical acclaim at film festivals internationally and is a legitimate area for a documentary film-maker to explore.

True Stories: A Jihad For Love will be shown on More 4 at 10pm tonight.

The Obama administration plans to reverse a regulation from late in the Bush administration allowing health-care workers to refuse to provide services based on moral objections.

The Provider Refusal Rule was proposed by the Bush White House in August and enacted on January 20, the day President Barack Obama took office.

It expanded on a 30-year-old law establishing a conscience clause for health-care professionals who don't want to perform abortions.

Under the rule, workers in health-care settings -- from doctors to janitors -- can refuse to provide services, information or advice to patients on subjects such as contraception, family planning, blood transfusions and even vaccine counseling if they are morally against it.

An unnamed official said: we do not want to impose new limitations on services that would allow providers to refuse to provide to women and their families services like family planning and contraception that would actually help prevent the need for an abortion in the first place.

Dr. Suzanne T. Poppema, board chair of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, praised Obama for placing good health care above ideological demands.

Physicians across the country were outraged when the Bush administration, in its final days, limited women's access to reproductive health care. Hundreds of doctors protested these midnight regulations and urged President Obama to repeal them quickly. We are thrilled that President Obama took the first steps today to ensure that our patients' health is once again protected.

An announcement reversing the current rule is expected early next week.

France is prosecuting Scientology for its materials and methods that the country believes makes fraudulent and extravagant.

There is an upcoming trial of France Vs. Scientology scheduled for May 2009. The case surrounds charges made by a woman in 1998 who acquired membership in Scientology after meeting a group of people outside a public transport station. After that the woman paid 140,000 francs for materials that included purification packs and books making extravagant claims.

The case is now proceeding to court following Judge Jean-Christophe Hullin's decision that the bookstore in France called Celebrity Centre, bookstore and seven top managers should go on trial for committing and practicing as pharmacists without proper qualifications.

May 25 is the scheduled trial date.

A Saudi religious scholar is accusing a royal tycoon and another Saudi businessman of being as dangerous as drug dealers because the TV channels they own broadcast movies.

The fatwa calling for their prosecution is unusual because it publicly chastises two such prominent Saudi figures by name: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world's richest people, and Waleed al-Ibrahim, a brother-in-law of the late King Fahd.

Youssef al-Ahmed, a professor in the Islamic law department at the ultraconservative al-Imam University, issued the fatwa in response to a question regarding Alwaleed's assertions last month that the kingdom will have movie theaters one day and that movies play a positive social role in Saudi Arabia.

Cinemas were closed in Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s amid a rise in conservatism. Conservatives believe the movie industry encourages decadence by showing the drinking of alcohol and portraying men and women together in a country that bans liquor and the public mixing of the sexes.

Movies are a tool that hypocrites use to implement their plot to Westernize society, corrupt it and drive it away from (religion), said al-Ahmed in his response, posted on Islamlight.net: It is a duty to bring him (Alwaleed) and people like him, such as Waleed al-Ibrahim, to justice. They are no less dangerous ... than drug dealers."

Waleed owns the Dubai-based MBC Group media conglomerate, which includes several satellite channels that broadcast movies, entertainment, news and children's programs in Arabic and English. Those include American and European sitcoms and movies.

You'll all burn in hell... Non-christians for worshiping demons, And christians for being miserable sinners

A viewer wrote in to ask the celebrity preacher Pat Robertson a question

Why [do] evangelical Christians tell non-Christians that Jesus (God) is the only way to Heaven? Those who are Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, etc. already know and have a relationship with God. Why is this? It seems disrespectful.

Robertson replied that it is not all disrespectful because all other religions really just worship demonic powers:

No. They don’t have a relationship. There is the god of the Bible, who is Jehovah. When you see L-O-R-D in caps, that is the name. It’s not Allah, it’s not Brahma, it’s not Shiva, it’s not Vishnu, it’s not Buddha. It is Jehovah God. They don’t have a relationship with him. He is the God of all Gods. These others are mostly demonic powers. Sure they’re demons. There are many demons in the world.

The president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die.

Ramzan Kadyrov said the women, whose bodies were found dumped by the roadside, had loose morals and were rightfully shot by male relatives in honor killings.

If a woman runs around and if a man runs around with her, both of them are killed, Kadyrov told journalists in the capital of this Russian republic.

The former militia leader is carrying out a campaign to impose Islamic values and strengthen the traditional customs of predominantly Muslim Chechnya, in an effort to blunt the appeal of hardline Islamic separatists and shore up his power. In doing so, critics say, he is setting up a dictatorship where Russian laws do not apply.

Some in Russia say Kadyrov's attempt to create an Islamic society violates the Russian constitution, which guarantees equal rights for women and a separation of church and state. But the Kremlin has given him its staunch backing, seeing him as the key to keeping the separatists in check, and that has allowed him to impose his will.

...Read full article

The Indian blogosphere is abuzz with discussions on freedom of expression after the Supreme Court refused to throw out Shiv Sena’s defamation case against 19 year old computer science student Ajith D.

However, the Indian blogosphere’s reactions to the controversy are mostly based on reports on the incident in Indian media and the quality of this reporting has been very mediocre, with few details and little background information. As a result, bloggers are reacting to incomplete information. As a result, bloggers are reacting to incomplete information.

So, before I do a roundup of the Indian blogosphere’s reactions to the story and share my own views, let me present the basic facts.

...Read full article

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders has called for an International First Amendment that would repeal all hate speech laws.

During a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., Wilders discussed the recent attacks and prosecution he is facing for speaking against Islam and for showing his film.

He also joined the International Free Press Society in announcing a global initiative to protect free speech from laws that criminalize hate speech, whether they are criticisms of Islam or the doctrines of Shariah.

Lars Hedegaard, president of the International Free Press Society, said in a statement that hate speech and blasphemy laws in many European countries lack clarity as to precisely what they aim to criminalize and are usually unequally applied.

The way to deal with controversial, offensive or even hateful statements — unless they are directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action — is to expose them to public debate and criticism, he stated.

The press conference included a screening of Fitna. Wilders toured the United States this past week, with stops in New York, Boston, New York City and Washington, to rally support for the campaign to protect free speech worldwide. He also screened his film to the U.S. Senate.

A demonstration against the play England People Very Nice was held outside the National Theatre.

The play by Richard Bean looks at immigration in London's East End. It is directed by the National's artistic director Nicholas Hytner who says that 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.

The outdoor demonstration preceded a Platform event during which the play's writer Richard Bean was due to discuss his work. The protest, under the banner 'Love Theatre Hate Racism', was organised by Bethnal Green playwright Hussain Ismail.

Counter protest?

Cllr Abjol Miah, leader of the Respect group on Tower Hamlets Council, was present with several objectors from the East End.

I am passionate about theatre and I don't think theatre should be used to peddle racist filth under the guise of comedy and serious theatre. Hussain Ismail told the small crowd of passers-by on the riverside who stopped to listen to speeches.

The National Theatre is staging two debates about the play in April.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week affirmed the Casper, Wyoming City counsels decision not to allow anti-gay pastor Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas to place an anti-gay monument in one of it’s city parks, when the justices unanimously agreed that governments receiving monument donations for public parks are not compelled to take everything they are offered.

The city had placed a Ten Commandments statue, donated by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, in a plaza along with other monuments of historical significance and Phelps had sought to place his own monument in the Casper plaza condemning homosexuality.

Phelp’s monument stated: Matthew Shepard Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God’s Warning ‘thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination. Leviticus 18:22.

Matthew Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and subsequently murdered because he was gay.

The Casper City Council had denied Phelps’ request in both 2003 and 2007.

Phelps had argued it was his First Amendment right to have his monument included.

Fierce controversy has erupted in the Emirates over a book about the secrets of sex within marriage written by Wedad Lootah, a female lawyer who works on matrimonial cases at the court in Dubai.

The book, The Secrets of Sexual Congress Between Married Couples, which came out about a month ago, includes several chapters on marriage within Islam, Islamic law on the issues of co-habiting and sex, and possible solutions to sexual problems.

Arab News reports that it is mainly men who are against the book, maintaining that issues of this nature should not be discussed publicly. Some of the detractors have even gone so far as to accuse the author of being an infidel and sinner for writing the book.

Supporters however say that there is a great need for published information on the issues and that until know Arab society has not wanted to recognize problems arising from ignorance in sexual matters.

Lootah does not seem too surprised by the criticisms, and maintains that she based the book on Islamic sources, stressing that it was even approved by the mufti of Dubai. The book was suggested by her own six years of experience working on divorce cases, and from the knowledge that many of these cases come about because of a lack of preparation for couples in the matter.

The Malaysian government will issue a new decree restoring a ban on Christian publications using the word 'Allah' to refer to God, officials said today.

Home Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar said a February 16 decree that let Christian publications use the word as long as they specified the material was not for Muslims was a mistake.

The about-turn came after Islamic groups slammed the government and warned that even conditional use of the word by Christians would anger Muslims in the largely Islamic country.

A senior ministry official confirmed Syed Hamid's comments, saying there were interpretation mistakes in the February 16 decree that led to the confusion.

'Allah' cannot be used for other religions except Islam because it might confuse Muslims. This is the ministry's stand and it hasn't changed, the official, who declined to be named citing protocol, said.

Jakarta's neighbour Tangerang is holding a search operation on hotels suspected of having illegal prostitution or receiving couples who were not married.

Secretary of the Tangerang city administration, Harry Mulya Zein said the city public order agency had held raids on adulterers in hotels of the area. Almost every week, the officers searched for hotel guests who were not husband and wife, he said, as quoted by Antara.

Phil Zuckerman spent 14 months in Scandinavia, talking to hundreds of Danes and Swedes about religion. It wasn’t easy.

Anyone who has paid attention knows that Denmark and Sweden are among the least religious nations in the world. Polls asking about belief in God, the importance of religion in people’s lives, belief in life after death or church attendance consistently bear this out.

It is also well known that in various rankings of nations by life expectancy, child welfare, literacy, schooling, economic equality, standard of living and competitiveness, Denmark and Sweden stand in the first tier.

Well documented though they may be, these two sets of facts run up against the assumption of many Americans that a society where religion is minimal would be, in Zuckerman’s words, rampant with immorality, full of evil and teeming with depravity.

Which is why he insists at some length that what he and his wife and children experienced was quite the opposite: a society — a markedly irreligious society — that was, above all, moral, stable, humane and deeply good.

...Read full article

An Israeli bus, travelling near predominantly Palestinian East Jerusalem, is pelted with stones that smash windows and startle passengers.

The violence is part of an unholy war in which strident elements of the ultra-Orthodox community in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood are trying to force Israel's leading bus company – and, by extension, Israeli society – to defer to their strict religious teachings and sensibilities.

The latest intimidation campaign is over demands that buses segregate men and women. In the view of some ultra-Orthodox Jews, segregated seating, with women entering separately through the rear door and sitting at the back, is vital to uphold their stringent traditions stipulating modesty and prohibiting physical contact with members of the opposite sex.

Secularists say the push for sanctity on the buses is part of a larger effort to transform Jerusalem into a kind of Tehran.

Menachem Kenig, head of a committee pressing for segregated buses, says Israel's leading bus company, Egged, is in effect forcing religious people to sin. The one place where men and women are forced to be together is on the bus. People are crowded in, men and women push up against each other. There are sudden stops and sharp turns and men fall on the women. This really angers us, it is a violation of the concept of modesty that is at the basis of the ultra-orthodox community.

But Laura Wharton, a secularist member of the Jerusalem city council, says the attempt to force a new segregated bus line is outrageous and extremist, adding: It is humiliating to be sent to the back of the bus.

Egged temporarily suspended service on the disputed line after stone attacks on several buses last week. Egged, which has a monopoly on bus services in Jerusalem, says it will not change the disputed line into a segregated one because secular passengers use it too. It runs segregated lines where nearly all passengers are ultra-Orthodox, a spokesman said.

In the latest hearing of a Muslim-born Egyptian’s effort to officially convert to Christianity, opposing lawyers advocated he be convicted of apostasy and sentenced to death.

More than 20 Islamic lawyers attended the hearing on Feb. 22 in El-Gohary’s case to obtain identification papers with Christianity designated as his religious affiliation. Two lawyers led the charge, Ahmed Dia El-Din and Abdel Al-Migid El-Anani.

[El-Din] started to talk about the Quran being in a higher position than the Bible, one of El-Gohary’s lawyers, Said Fayez, told Compass. [El-Din said] people can move to a higher religion but not down, so people cannot move away from Islam because it is highest in rank.

El-Gohary was not present at the hearing, as attendance would put him at extreme personal risk. He had planned to obtain papers authorizing attorney Nabil Ghobreyal to act as his proxy representation in court, but staff members at the registry office swore at and beat him, lawyers said.

Judge Hamdy Yasin was forced to adjourn the case until March 28 because El-Gohary did not obtain the necessary proxy representation documents.

Our rights in Egypt, as Christians or converts, are less than the rights of animals, El-Gohary said: We are deprived of social and civil rights, deprived of our inheritance and left to the fundamentalists to be killed. Nobody bothers to investigate or care about us.