| 31st May |
Dangerous Policing of a Dangerous Cult... |
|
| |
Liberty to ask Police how they decided to issue summons
Permalink full story: Dangerous Cult...Protests against the cult of Scientolgy |
See
full article from the
Guardian
|
The
police force that issued a teenager with a court summons for calling
Scientology a cult could face a judicial review over the legality of its
policing guidelines.
Although prosecutors last week declined to take the 16-year-old to
court, freedom of speech campaigners, Liberty, are to ask City of
London police to explain how the initial decision to issue the summons
was made.
Campaigners said they would call for a judicial review if it is found
that the force's guidelines for policing demonstrations led officers to
confront the schoolboy.
Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the civil liberties organisation
Liberty, which spearheaded the teenager's defence, said: We want to
know who gave the instruction to issue this summons. Curtailing people's
freedom of speech is a very serious issue and it's important to know
whether this is part of the force's policy or a decision relating
specifically to the Church of Scientology. There is the possibility of a
complaint to the IPCC or a judicial review.
Chakrabarty said she was concerned the police action could have a
"chilling effect" on other protesters who wanted to express their
opinions:Some people are very easily intimidated and will be put off
exercising their right to free speech by the thought that they may face
court action over it. We have to defend that right and show how wrong
the police were in issuing this summons.
|
| 31st May |
Guru Study Guide... |
|
| |
Study guide for film viewers to better understand the nonsense being parodied
Permalink |
Based on an article from
News
Blaze
|
Hindus
have urged the Viacom and its brand Paramount Pictures to post a study
guide about Hinduism and guru tradition on their websites and place it
in movie theaters worldwide to undo the supposed damage done by their
upcoming Hollywood movie The Love Guru.
Bhavna Shinde, representing Hindu Janjagruti Samiti and Sanatan Society
for Scientific Spirituality, in a communique to Paramount Pictures said:
...We also feel that the parody on Gurus will contribute to the
misunderstanding about the sacred concept of the 'Guru'...
Shinde urged Viacom and Paramount to immediately issue a study guide
about Hinduism and the sacred tradition/role of the 'Guru' confirming to
Hindu scriptures, post it on the official websites of Viacom and
Paramount and 'The Love Guru', and make it available free of cost in
printed form at the movie theaters worldwide.
She further said, This guide should also offer the viewers a
framework in which to see the film, so that the viewers do not carry any
misconceptions about Hinduism and that the characters portrayed in this
movie are in no way depicting authentic Gurus from the Hindu and
spiritual tradition.
|
| 28th May |
Looking Good for Pervez... |
|
| |
Afghan student accused of blasphemy equipped for a quick getaway
Permalink full story: Blasphemy Against Justice...Afghan sentenced to death for blasphemy |
See
full article from the
Independent
|
Sayed
Pervez Kambaksh believes his long nightmare is almost over.
The 24-year-old student, sentenced to death in Afganistan for
downloading internet reports on women's rights, is allowing himself to
be hopeful for the first time since he was condemned.
The Independent has learnt, however, that the Afghan President, Hamid
Karzai, has privately assured Kambaksh's campaign team that he will be
freed. Senior government figures have also indicated that they believe
his sentence, by a court in Mazar-e-Sharif, was based on a mistaken
interpretation of the country's constitutional law.
Kambaksh has already discreetly been issued with a passport which will
enable him to start a new life abroad if and when he is freed.
A petition by readers of The Independent to secure justice for him has
attracted more than 100,000 signatures. Des Browne, the Defence
Secretary, said on a visit to Afghanistan yesterday that he would be
raising the matter with Karzai.
Kambaksh said from his cell yesterday that he was aware that the Afghan
President may save his life. This is very, very important for me. It
was a court which said I must die without even hearing my side of the
story. There are many judges who are very conservative and say I have
insulted Islam without really considering the evidence.
They themselves are also afraid of extremists and this could
influence their decision. That worries me. But I am very grateful to the
international media, especially The Independent, for taking an interest
in my case. I think that makes it difficult for them to just get rid of
me.
According to Samay Hamed, the co-ordinator of Kambaksh's campaign team,
President Karzai first agreed to pardon the student in March this year.
I ... have been told repeatedly by government ministers that [they]
want the matter resolved quickly.
|
| 27th May |
Zombies Cry Blasphemy... |
|
| |
Church nonsense about zombie parade nonsense
Permalink |
See
full article from
Reuters
|
A
procession of devils, ghosts and zombies through the historic Spanish city
of Toledo has been branded blasphemous by the Catholic Church.
Actors from the Morboria theatre company performed a representation
inspired by the medieval Dance of Death in Toledo's streets on Saturday,
provoking an angry reaction from the cathedral pulpit the following day.
We ask forgiveness for those who yesterday insulted the body of Christ,
said Archbishop Antonio Canizares, quoted in newspaper El Pais. He told
worshippers the procession made a mockery of the Catholic celebration of
Corpus Christi.
A representative of Morboria said the actors had been well received by
most passers by except for one small group who told them off and said they
would pray for them.
|
| 27th May |
Ostracised at a Cohesion Event... |
|
| |
Only men invited to cohere at muslim cohesion event
Permalink |
See
full article from
Mirfield Reporter
|
The
Departing Mayor of Kirklees launched a blistering attack on a group of
Muslims for refusing to pose with her in photographs.
Coun Jean Calvert said it proved 'we are no further down the road' of
women's rights than when she first became a councillor in 1992. Coun
Calvert was referring to her invitation to attend a community cohesion
event at Dewsbury Town Hall in March.
It was organised by the North Kirklees Sunni Muslim Council of Mosques and
local imams to mark Eid-Milad-Un-Nabi, the prophet Mohammed's birthday.
She said: I attended this event and was horrified to be left on my own
in a room full of people that I didn't know. The press wanted to take
photographs of the group with the mayor. The photographer was told in no
uncertain terms that 'we don't have photographs taken with women.'
That was bad enough but then to stand on my own for a further 15
minutes while photographs were being taken of all the other guests in the
room was very upsetting.
An organiser of the community cohesion event said he had contacted the
mayor's office in advance to explain Coun Calvert could not appear in
photographs with orthodox clerics.
|
| 27th May |
Try Somewhere Else Today... |
|
| |
Religiously inspired incompetence at Sainsbury's
Permalink |
Based on
article
from
Manchester Evening News
|
A
muslim pharmacist told a couple he couldn't give them emergency
contraception because it was against his religious beliefs
A couple went to a Sainburys chemist to buy the morning-after pill but
were told they couldn't have it - because the pharmacist didn't agree with
it.
Mum-of-two Kaye said: I was absolutely flabbergasted. I'm a 36-year-old
woman, not a child. I respect other people's religions, but when it
affects my life it's not on. Surely the pharmacist has a duty of care? If
religion comes into it he should change his job.
The couple were told to go to Sainsburys in Denton but with 15 minutes
from closing time they knew they wouldn't be able to make it.
A spokeswoman for Sainsburys said if the morning-after pill is against a
pharmacist's personal, religious or moral beliefs they are within their
rights not to supply it: We would ask our pharmacists to do their best
to help, to find another colleague to dispense the pill or to direct them
to another pharmacy nearby.
|
| 26th May |
Possessed by Nonsense... |
|
| |
UK exorcist believes in sexually transmitted demons
Permalink |
See
full article from the Daily Mail
|
Yoga
enthusiasts have been warned by a leading Roman Catholic clergyman that
they are in danger of being possessed by the Devil.
Father Jeremy Davies, exorcist for Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the
leader of Catholics in England and Wales, says that activities such as
yoga, massage therapy, reiki or even reading horoscopes could put people
at risk from evil spirits.
In a new book, he also argues that people with promiscuous lifestyles
could find themselves afflicted by demons. And he says that the occult
is closely linked to the scourges of drugs, demonic music and
pornography’ which are ‘destroying millions of young people in our time.
The 73-year-old Catholic priest, who was appointed exorcist of the
Archdiocese of Westminster in 1986. He has carried out thousands of
exorcisms in London and in 1993 he set up the International Association
of Exorcists with Fr Gabriel Amorth, the Pope’s top exorcist.
In Exorcism: Understanding Exorcism In Scripture And Practice,
which is published by the Catholic Truth Society, Fr Davies compares
militant atheists to rational Satanists, and blames them for a rise in
demonic activity. He adds that ‘perversions’ such as homosexuality,
pornography and promiscuity are contributing to a growing sense of moral
unease.
He writes: Even heterosexual promiscuity is a perversion; and
intercourse, which belongs in the sanctuary of married love, can become
a pathway not only for disease but also for evil spirits...young people
especially are vulnerable and we must do what we can to protect them.
|
| 26th May |
Factory Strike... |
|
| |
Christian worker in Pakistan on the verge of being burnt alive by colleagues
Permalink |
See
full article
from
Persecution.org
|
While
a young Christian man was eating lunch in his factory’s cafeteria, some
of his co-workers approached him and tried to convince him to embrace
Islam. When the young man refused, his co-workers accused him of
blasphemy and wanted to have him burned alive and his family stoned to
death.
On 20th May, 2008 when Danish Masih was sitting in the canteen of
the factory, Arsalan and his companions came their chasing him, and
asked the waiter not to serve Danish and his friend unless they embrace
Islam. Danish got furious and asked them to leave, moreover he said that
he is the true believer of Christ and believes that all other Religions
are false except Christianity.
The conflict escalated. Arsalan and his friends made it a matter of
Blasphemy and gathered the whole factory workers saying that this Kafir
(Atheist) has committed Blasphemy against the Holy Prophet.
The workers of the factory that comprised mostly of Taliban’s became
enraged and decided to burn Danish alive and stone his family to death.
The Managing Director of the factory called police and kept Danish in
his custody. Later after settling down the situation for the time being
he suggested Danish to leave at once from Attock with family.
|
| 26th May |
Human Rights Abuse... |
|
| |
Maldives to revoke citizenship of non-muslims
Permalink |
Based on article
from
Minivan News
|
The
US government has cautioned the Maldives over new wording in the
constitution in progress which means non-Muslims could lose their
Maldivian citizenship, US ambassador Robert Blake said.
[The wording is] in conflict with some international obligations
Maldives has already signed up for, Blake said, in a probable
reference to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights,
which enshrines freedom of religion.
A group from the US House Foreign Relations Committee who visited
Maldives in February were also rumoured to have spoken to government on
the issue, whilst a 2005 international religious freedom report by the
committee said that freedom of religion remains severely restricted
in Maldives.
However as the new constitution was developed, the Special Majlis
(constitutional assembly) voted to amend wording on citizenship from the
current constitution, to add the words: A non-Muslim may not become a
citizen of the Maldives.
Information minister Mohamed Nasheed said on his personal blog that this
wording will operate to take away the citizenship from citizens of
Maldives who may have a faith different from Islam.
The existing constitution stipulates individuals must be Muslim in order
to vote in elections, but not in order to be a citizen.
Nasheed said on his blog, It will be very difficult for Maldives
mentality to accept Maldives citizens may belong to a different faith.
It will be seen as an offense to the state of Maldives and an insult to
being Maldivian, thus demanding serious reprisal.
Therefore, he added, No Maldives leader would want to rock the boat
by advocating a change to the wording.
|
| 26th May |
Burnt at the Stake... |
|
| |
Kenya in the Dark Ages
Permalink |
See
full article from the Scotsman
|
A
mob has burned to death at least 11 people accused of witchcraft in
Kenya.
Their houses were torched. Eight women and three men suspected of
being witches died, said Charles Owino, Kenya's deputy police
spokesman. Residents in the Kisii district in the west of the country
said an enraged crowd had gone from house to house.
Those killed were mainly aged between 70 and 90.
Police drafted extra personnel into the area to prevent revenge attacks
in a region already reeling from tribal killings during Kenya's
post-election crisis. There is widespread suspicion of sorcery,
particularly in west Kenya, which has a long tradition of witch doctors
and faith healers.
|
| 25th May |
Liberty vs City of London Police... |
|
| |
Liberty considering action against the City of London Police
Permalink full story: Dangerous Cult...Protests against the cult of Scientolgy |
See
full article from the Scotsman
|
A
human rights group has pledged to take action against a police force
which tried to prosecute a teenager for branding Scientology a "cult".
The 16-year-old faced prosecution after refusing to get rid of a placard
which said Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult
at a protest outside the church's headquarters in London on 10 May.
He was told that his sign breached the Public Order Act, which makes it
an offence to display a sign that is threatening, insulting or
abusive, but the Crown Prosecution Service said no action would be
taken against the teenager.
The human rights group Liberty, whose lawyers have been advising the
boy, is now considering action against the City of London Police.
|
| 25th May |
The Nutter Bait Eight... |
|
| |
Gregorius Nekschot: The Forbidden Cartoons
Permalink |
See
full article from
Nobody's Business
see also
Nekschot's Blog
|
Last
week's arrest of Dutch cartoonist Gregorius Nekshot (not his real name)
was an absurd, scary episode that casts a depressing light on the
freedoms that formerly characterized the Netherlands.
Nekshot's home was raided by a team of ten police officers who had been
dispatched by the Openbaar Ministerie, the federal Dutch DA's office
that works in conjunction with the Netherlands Justice Department. The
cops confiscated Nekschot's computer, his sketchbooks, and other
materials, then took him to a detention facility where he spent 30 hours
in a concrete cell before being released without charges — but after he
had been made to promise to remove eight cartoons from his website. The
drawings had been the subject of a three-year-old complaint by radical
Dutch muslim Abdul Jabbar van de Ven and the lefty "anti-discrimination"
organizations that basically seek to censor everything that doesn't jibe
with the country's official rainbow-worshiping, we-are-the-world ethos.
They claim Nekshot's art incites hatred and violence.
Many of his drawings are certainly crass and crude. Sometimes, they can
even be pointlessly insulting. The goatfucker references (see
particularly the example in the third cartoon) are just tired,
gratuitous, feeble slams, in my opinion.
The weekly magazine HP/De Tijd, a respectable news-and-opinion weekly
that's been publishing a Nekschot cartoon in every issue for the last
few years, has now responded to the affair in the only principled way
possible: by printing, in the issue that just hit the stands, the very
drawings that got Nekschot arrested.
...See the
Forbidden Cartoons
|
| 25th May |
Another World... |
|
| |
Nigerian islam: kidnap, forced conversion, rape and lynching
Permalink |
See
full article
from Compass Direct
|
Nigerian
islamists under the auspices of a paramilitary force last week destroyed
six churches to protest a police rescue of two teenage Christian girls
kidnapped by Muslims in this Bauchi state town.
Police recovered the two Christian girls, Mary Chikwodi Okoye, 15, and
Uche Edward, 14, on May 12 after Muslims in Ningi kidnapped them three
weeks ago in an attempt to expand Islam by marrying them to Muslim men.
The kidnappers had taken the girls to Wudil town in Kano state.
Following the rescue of the girls, Muslims under the auspices of the Hisbah Command, a paramilitary arm of Kano state’s Sharia Commission,
responsible for enforcing Islamic law, went on a rampage on May 13,
attacking Christians and setting fire to the churches.
The destroyed churches were the Deeper Life Bible Church, St. Mary’s
Catholic Church, All Souls Anglican Church, Church of Christ in Nigeria,
Redeemed Christian Church of God, and the Redeemed Peoples Mission.
Kidnapping of teenage Christian girls by Muslims has become a recurring
practice in Ningi. Muslims have kidnapped at least 13 Christian girls in
the town, Christian sources said: These girls are usually kidnapped,
forcefully converted to Islam, and then married out to other Muslim men
against the will of both the girls and their parents.
|
| 24th May |
Calling a Cult a Cult... |
|
| |
City of London Police making up their own laws
Permalink full story: Dangerous Cult...Protests against the cult of Scientolgy |
See
full article
from the Freethinker
see also
The cult of free speech
from Comment is Free
by James Welch
|
City
of London Police have been made to look exceedingly foolish following
their issuing of a court summons to a teenager for displaying a sign
that branded Scientology a “dangerous cult”.
And today the boy’s protest was vindicated when the Crown Prosecution
Service ruled the words were neither “abusive or insulting” to the
church and no further action would be taken against him.
The unnamed 16-year-old was handed a court summons by City of London
police for refusing to put down a placard saying Scientology is not a
religion, it is a dangerous cult during a peaceful protest outside
the church’s headquarters near St Paul’s Cathedral earlier this month.
Police said they had “strongly advised” him to stop displaying the sign
but he refused, citing a high court judgment from 1984 in which the
organisation was described as a cult. The summons was issued under the
Public Order Act on the grounds that the sign incited religious hatred.
A file was passed to the CPS, which today told City of London police it
would not be pursuing the boy through the courts.
A spokeswoman for the force said: The CPS review of the case includes
advice on what action or behaviour at a demonstration might be
considered to be threatening, abusive or insulting. The force’s policing
of future demonstrations will reflect this advice.
A CPS spokesman added: In consultation with the City of London
police, we were asked whether the sign, which read ‘Scientology is not a
religion it is a dangerous cult’, was abusive or insulting. Our advice
is that it is not abusive or insulting and there is no offensiveness, as
opposed to criticism, neither in the idea expressed nor in the mode of
expression. No action will be taken against the individual.
|
| 24th May |
Undercover Investigation... |
|
| |
Parliamentary call for investigation into police action against Undercover Mosque
Permalink full story: In the Context of Dodgy Policing...Police make false accusations that Undercover Mosque documentary was falsified |
From the National Secular Society
|
The
National Secular Society invite you to write to your MP and suggest
signing Roger Godsiff's
Early Day Motion (no. 1586) which criticises West Midlands Police
for its behaviour over the Channel 4
Undercover Mosque
programme. The matter is one of immense public importance going to the
very heart of the Justice system.
The motion reads:
That this House welcomes the unreserved public
apology given by the West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution
Service and the six figure libel settlement paid by them to Channel 4
over the Dispatches programme broadcast on 15th January 2007 which
contained covert filming inside mosques in Birmingham and Derby; notes
that the comments and allegations made by West Midlands Police and the
Crown Prosecution Service had already been dismissed by the industry
regulator, Ofcom; further notes that the individuals shown in the
programme broadcast were using highly derogatory and racist language
against a variety of non-Muslim groups which included Christians, Jews,
homosexuals, lesbians and women and were in clear breach of existing
legislation in respect of incitement to religious and racial hatred;
calls on the Home Secretary to launch an immediate investigation into
why the West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service chose to
attack the programme makers at Channel 4 rather than investigating and
prosecuting the individuals who were shown in the programme; and asserts
that incitement to religious and racial hatred has no place in British
society.
|
| 24th May |
Holy Holy Book... |
|
| |
3 killed in Afghan protest about Koran used for target practise
Permalink |
See
full article
from the
Times
|
A
Nato soldier and two civilians were killed in Afghanistan when 2,000
protesters armed with stones tried to break into an airfield in
Chaghcharan in protest about a copy of the Koran being used for target
practice by a US soldier in Iraq.
The soldier and two of the demonstrators died when they were shot and
seven Afghans and ten police were wounded by gunfire. A petrol
station opposite the airfield was set alight during the protest, which
was organised by students from a religious school.
The protest was a response to the discovery of a copy of the Koran at a
shooting range in Baghdad, which had bullet holes in it. President Bush
apologised to Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, and promised to
prosecute the soldier responsible. There was no violent response in
Iraq.
|
| 24th May |
Putting the Boot In... |
|
| |
Sikhs protest about restaurant menu
Permalink |
See
full article from the Times of
India
|
Members
of the Sikh community staged a protest in front of a Bangalore
restaurant, objecting to jokes and pictures displayed on menu card
which, they said, hurt their sentiments.
The protesters demanded a public apology from the hotel management and
lodged a complaint with the police.
Over 50 Sikhs gathered in front of the restaurant, tore a copy of the
menu card and set it on fire, shouting slogans against the hotel. They
marched from the restaurant to the police station to file the complaint.
Gurudwara Committee president Gursharan Singh said that some words
and pictures depicted on the menu card humiliated members of the
community. A picture on the card shows the holy Kirpan (sword) and
turban kept along with the footwear, which hurts our sentiments. The
Kirpan and turbans are highly revered symbols of our religion. The menu
card projects Sikhs in a bad light, Singh said.
|
| 24th May |
Snapshot of Murder... |
|
| |
Mobile phone cameras lead to an increase in honour killings
Permalink full story: No Honour in Religion...Honour crimes from around the world |
See
full article from the
Independent
|
The
United Nations estimates that at least 255 women died in
honour-related killings in Kurdistan, home to one fifth of
Iraqis, in the first six months of 2007 alone.
The murder of women who are deemed to have disobeyed traditional
codes of morality is even more common in the rest of Iraq where
government authority has broken down since the overthrow of
Saddam Hussein in 2003.
A surprising reason explaining the massive increase in the
number of honour killings is the availability of cheap mobile
phones able to take pictures. Men photograph themselves making
love to their girlfriends and pass the pictures to their
friends. This often turns out to be a lethal act of bravado in a
society where premarital or extra-marital sex justifies killing.
The first known case of sex recorded on a mobile leading to
murder was in 2004. Film of a boy making love with a 17-year-old
girl circulated in the Kurdish capital, Arbil. Two days later
she was killed by her family and a week later he was murdered by
his.
Since then there has been a sharp increase in the number of
women suffering violence – it is almost always the women rather
than the men who suffer retribution – as a result of some aspect
of their love life being pictured on mobile phones.
In 2007, at least 350 women, double the figure for the previous
year, suffered violence as a result of mobile phone "evidence",
according to Amanj Khalil of the Institute for War and Peace
Reporting, citing figures compiled by women's organisations and
the police directorate in Sulaymaniyah.
The true figure is probably much higher. Bodies are buried in
the mountains. Violence is concealed. Whole extended families
and clans feel a genuine sense of shame because of some supposed
act of immorality.
The position of women in Iraqi society has deteriorated
dramatically since the start of the occupation. Despite the
horrific number of honour killings, their status may be
improving only in Kurdistan, where the government is secular, in
contrast to Baghdad where the religious parties hold power.
|
| 23rd May |
Animated by Anime... |
|
| |
Villain inspired by the Koran animates the easily offended
Permalink |
Based on article from Japan Today
|
A
popular Japanese cartoon is sparking off outcries in the Muslim world.
Shueisha Inc, a Japanese publisher involved in the production of the
cartoon JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and its animation version,
suspended sales of some of the original comics and the DVD series, but
said the material was not intended to be offensive.
At issue is a 90-second segment from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure,
which depicts Dio Brando, a villain, picking up a Quran from a bookshelf
and apparently examining it as he orders the execution of the hero and
his friends.
After a viewer posted negative comments and the still scene, it sparked
off more protests. Eventually responses were carried on more than 300
Arab and Islamic Web forums with some accusing Japan of insulting the
Quran.
Sheikh Abdul Hamid Attrash, chairman of the Fatwa (religious edict)
Committee at Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni authority based in Cairo,
dismissed the cartoon as an insult to Islam: ‘This scene depicts
Muslims as terrorists, which is not true at all. This is an insult to
the religion and the producers would be considered to be enemies of
Islam.’
In responding to the accusation, the Shueisha official explained that it
was a simple mistake. Neither the original comic nor the animation
intends to treat Muslims as villains. But as a result, the cartoon
offended Muslims. We apologize for the unpleasantness that the cartoon
may have caused and will carefully consider how to deal with religious
and culture themes.
Gamal Qutb, the former head of the Fatwa Committee at Al-Azhar suggested
that Muslims would boycott Japanese products unless Japan takes action
against the controversial video.
|
| 23rd May |
Senseless Sensitivity... |
|
| |
Netherlands gets all coy about art
Permalink |
I don't know if this was the moved Ellen Vroegh picture but I am surely
impressed.
See
full article from the Daily Times
|
A
Dutch town has moved two paintings of nude women after complaints from
Muslims and other people, stoking criticism that the Netherlands is
curtailing artists’ freedoms.
The town of Huizen east of Amsterdam confirmed media reports that it had
moved two paintings of naked women by Dutch artist Ellen Vroegh from a
waiting room in the town hall to a less public position nearby.
Visitors and some staff complained, not just Muslims but others too,
a town spokeswoman said: We are against censorship...BUT...there
are people who have different opinions about nudity and nakedness and we
wanted to give citizens a choice.
The artist said she was the latest victim of heightened sensitivity in
the Netherlands about Islam after a cartoonist was briefly arrested last
week on suspicion of offending Muslims due to his provocative drawings.
|
| 23rd May |
Papal Bull... |
|
| |
Thai prostitution and all the worlds ills blamed on sex on TV
Permalink |
I somehow think Thai prostitution was established well before sex ever
got on TV
Based on article from
AsiaNews.it
|
In
his meeting with the bishops of Thailand on their five yearly visit to
the Vatican, Benedict XVI insisted on the need for Thai Catholics to
promote education in Catholic-run schools.
At the same time he stressed the need for working together with
Buddhists to preserve and improve Thailand’s cultural traditions,
opposing through inter-faith cooperation one of the negative effects of
globalisation, namely prostitution-related trafficking in women and
children, which is itself a consequence of the trivialisation of
sexuality by the media and the entertainment industry.
Benedict turned his attention to the scourge of the trafficking of
women and children, and prostitution.
Undoubtedly poverty is a factor underlying these phenomena, he
said. And the Church does what it can to counter this problem: But
there is a further aspect which must be acknowledged and collectively
addressed if this abhorrent human exploitation is to be effectively
confronted. I am speaking of the trivialization of sexuality in the
media and entertainment industries which fuels a decline in moral values
and leads to the degradation of women, the weakening of fidelity in
marriage and even the abuse of children.
|
| 23rd May |
Logo Nutters... |
|
| |
Playboy reviews location of branded goods
Permalink full story: Playboy Brand...Playboy's ever shifting logo and brand |
See
full article
from the BBC
|
Playboy
has said it will review how its products are sold in the UK after one
retailer placed its branded stationery near merchandise for children.
The shop display prompted an angry reaction from the Reverend Tim Jones,
who pulled it down and complained the firm was selling directly to
children.
Jones says his protest at a branch of Stationary Box in York was
prompted by anger at finding Playboy goods next to items bearing
pictures of Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh. He said it was "wicked" to
groom children for their commercial exploitation by the sex industry.
Playboy Enterprises said goods bearing its famous bunny logo were aimed
primarily at 18 to 34 year olds.
Playboy said it was surprised the goods were inappropriately
positioned. We will be reviewing this situation immediately.
By making their brand acceptable they're making everything they do
acceptable, including the pornography they promote through their TV
channels, said Beatriz Concejo from the pressure group Object:
They are normalising pornography by making their brand a household name.
|
| 22nd May |
A Date with Sexy Google Adverts... |
|
| |
News agency website not impressed by dating ads served by Google
Permalink |
Based on article from the
Mathaba
|
Google's
Adsense advertising program has sneaked in a wide range of ads that are
found to be offensive in Arab and African states.,
These adverts said to trash Arab and African women are being displayed
potentially on millions of sites worldwide..
Advertisements such as "Meet Sexy Arab Women - Thousands Sexy Women
Online Free!" and Hot Sexy Older Women - Meet Sexy Single Older
Women, View Private Photos and Profiles have started appearing on
Arabic languages on the Mathaba News Network, whilst English language
pages target Muslims with dating services.
As Google are expert in search technology, they know full well that they
are allowing ads which are offensive to Arab and African culture which
holds women in high respect, unlike the so-called western world,
where women are regarded as sex objects, according to Libya's leader
Colonel Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi.
Sites that work hard to generate quality content, such as Mathaba News,
are hit in the face by offensive advertising that turn visitors away,
whilst being unaware of exactly which ads are being served to their
visitors.
Google claim that the ads will target the readership and be based upon
the content of the page. This is shown to be a lie by the fact that
Mathaba is an international news agency with serious content, and its
readership do not come to the site to look at sex adverts.
Mathaba has responded by posting a See Nasty Ads - Please Help Us
notice on the bottom left of all 60,000 news pages, but it is a losing
battle as recently these nasty ads have proliferated to be the norm.
The suspicion is that the few independent news sites like Mathaba may be
being targeted with poor quality ads as the revenue has fallen
catastrophically over the past year to unsustainable levels, made worse
by the collapse of the US Dollar, the only currency Google pay
publishers in.
However, Arab men as well as Asian men from Muslim backgrounds are
infamous for using the Internet to view "sexy women" and to try to "chat
up white women" who are regarded by many of them as "cheap sex objects",
spurned to this simplistic view by the proliferation of western women in
pornography. This market must be hard for Google to ignore.
Comment:
Fair's Fair
And one of the Google ads on the Matahaba news
page did in fact read:
Hot Black Women
Find Black Singles Online. Join Our Free Chatrooms, IM & Photo Gallery!
www.BlackSinglesConnection.com
Well if they will include the word 'sexy' so often
in their content, what do they expect?
|
| 21st May |
Nutters Breed Like Rabbits... |
|
| |
Nutter vicar wound up by bunny logo
Permalink full story: Playboy Brand...Playboy's ever shifting logo and brand |
Based on
article from the
Telegraph
|
A
vicar was so incensed to see Playboy stationary stacked on a shop shelf
next to children’s merchandise that he decided to take direct action,
and pulled down the display.
The Reverend Nutter Tim Jones said the pornography empire deliberately
aims the bright pink pencil cases and note books, branded with the
distinctive bunny logo, at young girls.
So, he decided to take a stand and threw the offending merchandise from
shelves in the York branch of Stationery Box, after getting the full
backing of the store manager.
Rev Jones said: "I told the assistant manager, who was on duty, I was
going to be launching a protest at the shop, and I went over to where
the Playboy material was on the shelf alongside the Winnie The Pooh and
Mickey Mouse items.
I started tossing it on the floor away from where people were. I also
encouraged customers to sign a petition against the intrusion of
commercial brands such as Playboy into goods and services targeting
children.
The long-term intention of their strategy is to encourage children to
see the Playboy bunny as a friendly brand appropriate for children,
preparing them for early commercial acceptance of Playboy pornographic
merchandise.
This constitutes a kind of institutional grooming of children for their
commercial exploitation by the powerful sex industry. It is indirect but
not accidental. It is deliberate, intentional, cynical and wicked and
must be resisted.
Rev Jones has persuaded staff at the Stationery Box branch to remove the
entire Playboy range pending a "merchandising review".
|
| 20th May |
Crown Pro Scientology... |
|
| |
CPS to prosecute protestors with scientology cult placards
Permalink full story: Dangerous Cult...Protests against the cult of Scientolgy |
See
full article from
Schnews
Spotted by Mediawatch-UK
|
City
of London police have been cracking down hard on religious intolerance
this week and on one four letter word in particular – CULT. And when
does the word cult become illegal? Curiously only when it’s applied to
the Church of Scientology (CoS) - and in the Square Mile.
Around two-hundred anti-Scientology protesters gathered outside the CoS
London base on Queen Victoria Street last Saturday as part of a day of
action. Sporting Guy Fawkes masks, many carried signs accusing the
organisation of being a cult. They were greeted by a number of City of
London Police.
Two officers approached one 15-year-old who was wearing a huge-nosed
mask and holding a sign saying Scientology is not a religion – it is
a dangerous cult.
He was handed a pre-printed warning by a WPC stating, The sign you
are displaying commits an offence under Section 5 of the Public Order
Act 1986 .. you are strongly advised to remove the sign with immediate
effect.
One cop told SchNEWS’ man on the scene that, the idea is that if
somebody gets prosecuted there will be a test case Police were
clearly out to protect CoS’s reputation with one officer telling us,
Our solicitors at the Crown Prosecution Service have advised us that any
signs saying ‘Scientology is a cult’ could be deemed offensive. They are
being treated as a religious organisation for the purposes of today.
Ten minutes later and the cops returned. The youth was chased up an
alleyway and then forced to hand over his details for a court summons.
So why the sudden desire to defend Scientology so strenuously? Maybe
because the scientologists and the City of London Police appear to have
a rather cosy relationship, with Chief Superintendent Kevin Hurley
speaking at the opening of the London HQ in October, saying the
science-fiction cultists were raising the spiritual wealth of
society.
Update:
Barmy
21st May 2008
The case was described as "barmy" and an attack on free speech by Shami
Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, the human rights group.
She said: "They will be banning words like 'war' and 'tax' from placards
and demonstrations next. This is just barmy."
|
| 20th May |
Justice Cut Short... |
|
| |
Turkish barber loses appeal against blasphemy charge
Permalink |
Based on
article
from
TVNZ
|
Human
Rights Watch has called on Saudi Arabia to dismiss a death sentence
against a Turkish barber convicted of cursing the name of God.
The group said in a statement that an appeals court had upheld a death
sentence against Sabri Bogday, a Turkish national who had worked in
Jeddah for 11 years as a barber, who was convicted of insulting God
during an argument with a Saudi client and an Egyptian neighbour.
The sentence can be still reversed by a higher legal body.
The charges, conviction, and sentence against Bogday show the dangers
of criminalising speech on the grounds that it's offensive, said
Sarah Leah Whitson, the group's Middle East director, in the statement.
|
| 20th May |
Private Tiffs and Public Lynchings... |
|
| |
Just whistle blasphemy in Pakistan and await the lynch mob
Permalink |
See
full article
from
Persecution.org
|
Dr.
Robin Sardar a Christian by faith and a medical doctor by profession,
has been charged with violating Pakistan's blasphemy laws.
In an interview with Dr. Shamaoun, a nephew of Dr. Robin Sardar, said
that Sardar had a close friendship with a Muslim man named Muhammad
Yousaf for years. They were often seen together at family gatherings and
social events. However, Yousaf became resentful that Sardar, as a
Christian, had such a good professional reputation, social status, and
financial resources.
Shamaoun said that Yousaf's envy at Sardar's success boiled over when he
told police that Sardar had made derogatory comments about the Prophet
Muhammad's beard and the Holy Quran. The police reportedly registered a
First Information Report (FIR) against Sardar on May 5, 2008.
Shamaoun further stated that a mob of over 200 Muslims wearing green
turbans, a symbol of their Islamic orthodoxy, attacked the doctor's
house and medical clinic after the FIR had been registered against him.
The mob was holding sticks, guns and kerosene oil, and proceeded to
force their way into the house, smashing windows and furniture
throughout the house and clinic. The mob then turned on Sardar and his
family.
Pervaiz Ghori, another of Sardar's relatives, said that the mob would
have killed him if the police had not intervened in the nick of time.
Since then, the religious extremists have organized daily demonstrations
on the city's roads demanding that Sardar be hanged publicly. Shamaoun
said that all the Christians in the area, especially Dr. Sardar's family
members, are living in fear because the local Muslim clerics have been
regularly using the mosque amplifier to call on people to kill the
relatives of the Christian doctor.
Update:
Freed But...
17th November 2008. See
article
from
compassdirect.org
After a thorough investigation, the court found the accusation to be
baseless and freed Sardar. Angry villagers and local Muslim clerics had
threatened to kill Sardar if he was acquitted, and he has gone into
hiding, as did his family after his incarceration six months ago. A mob
bearing sticks and kerosene and chanting death threats had surrounded
the family’s house at that time.
|
| 19th May |
Appeal to Save Pervez... |
|
|
Appealing for at least a lawyer who will brave the death threats
Permalink full story: Blasphemy Against Justice...Afghan sentenced to death for blasphemy |
See
full article from the
Independent
Sign the petition to
Save Pervez!
|
Pervez
Kambaksh, the Afghan student sentenced to death after being accused of
downloading internet reports on women's rights, yesterday pleaded
innocent to charges of blasphemy. He told an appeal court in Kabul that
he had been tortured into confessing.
Kambaksh, 24, vehemently denied that he had been responsible for
producing anti-Islamic literature. He insisted the prosecution had been
motivated by personal malice of two members of staff and their student
supporters at the university in Balkh, where he was studying journalism.
He was convicted in proceedings behind closed doors in a trial which he
said had lasted just four minutes and where he had been denied legal
representation.
Yesterday, in the first public hearing of the case, the prosecution
claimed that Kambaksh had disrupted classes at the university by asking
questions about women's rights under Islam. It also said he distributed
an article on the subject after writing an additional three paragraphs
including the phrase This is the real face of Islam ... The prophet
Mohamad wrote verses of the holy Koran just for his own benefit.
In a highly emotional statement, Kambaksh said: I'm Muslim and I
would never let myself write such an article. These accusations are
nonsense, [they] come from two professors and other students because of
private hostilities against me. I was tortured by the intelligence
service in Balkh province and they made me confess that I wrote three
paragraphs in this article.
Kambaksh represented himself because his family are having difficulties
finding a lawyer to represent him after threats by fundamentalist groups
that anyone taking on the job would be killed.
The head of the panel of three judges at Kabul, Abdul Salaam Qazizada,
adjourned the trial until next Sunday to allow Kambaksh further attempts
to find a lawyer. As of last night they had not succeeded.
Kambaksh's case has been raised with President Hamid Karzai by Foreign
Secretary David Miliband and the US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.
|
| 19th May |
Solidarity with Gregorius Nekschot... |
|
|
Dutch cartoonist arrested for tasteless islamic funnies
Permalink |
See
full article from
Europe
News
|
On
the 14th of May the Dutch cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot was arrested.
Gregorius Nekschot is a pseudonym. Gregorius stands for the name of a
pope, Nekschot for "shot through the neck", a method used by socialists
of various breeds to get rid of unwanted dissidents.
Gregorius Nekschot creates highly controversial cartoons. He himself
calls them ‘tasteless cartoons’, and most people agree. By comparison,
the Danish cartoons are pure propaganda for Mohammed. Strangely enough,
those rather innocent Danish cartoons drew worldwide attention, while
Nekschot’s cartoons didn’t.
That is over. On the 14th of this month Gregorius was arrested by a team
of no fewer than ten police officers. He was taken into custody, and
since the District Attorney deemed his works both highly offensive and
commercial, he was kept locked up for two days. After release, he was
told: You can forget about anonymity now. They know who you are.
This arrest creates a serious political row. The parliament, to their
credit, from left to right, wants an explanation from the minister for
Justice, Hirsh Balin. And it better be a good one, for more and more
information comes to earth that this is pure political intimidation, if
not outright state terrorism.
A broad Lower House majority requested an interlocutory debate on the
arrest of cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot. Labour (PvdA), the Socialist
Party (SP), the conservatives (VVD), Party for Freedom (PVV), leftwing
Greens (GroenLinks) and independent MP Rita Verdonk all backed a request
by centre-left D66 for a debate. As well as Justice Minister Ernst
Hirsch Ballin, Education Minister Ronald Plasterk will be called to
account. He is responsible for culture and media policy.
|
| 19th May |
Stitched up by Saudi Religious Police... |
|
| |
150 lashes and 8 months for unchaperoned meeting in coffee shop
Permalink |
See
full article from
The
Cheers
|
A
Saudi Arabian man is to get 150 lashes and spend eight months in prison
after he was caught meeting a woman without a chaperone in a coffee
shop.
Muhammad Ali Abu Raziza, a psychology professor in Mecca, was arrested
by the Kingdom's feared religious police, the Commission for Promotion
of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. He was accused of breaking the Islamic
injunctions under the Khilwa code, which restricts the independence of
women. It stipulates that women must not meet men alone, other than
relatives.
According to The Telegraph, the professor has alleged police entrapment.
He claimed a history of personality disputes with the arresting
officers, who were once his students. In his defence, Abu Raziza said he
had called the woman to ensure she had a chaperone but despite her
assurances, she was alone when he arrived. No information has emerged
about the fate of the woman since the incident.
Amnesty International has urged Saudi authorities to release the
professor.
|
| 18th May |
A state in denial needs reality checks... |
|
| |
So what made the police spout bollox about Undercover Mosque?
Permalink full story: In the Context of Dodgy Policing...Police make false accusations that Undercover Mosque documentary was falsified |
See
full article from the
Telegraph
by Alasdair Palmer
|
The
most charitable interpretation of the reaction of Anil Patani, the
Assistant Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, to the Channel 4
documentary Undercover Mosque is that he was in a state of deep
denial.
The programme recorded preachers at the Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham
making remarks that were not only bigoted and full of hate but also
bordered on incitement to murder. Abu Usamah, one of the main preachers,
was shown saying: Osama Bin Laden, he’s better than a thousand Tony
Blairs, because he’s a Muslim; Allah has created the woman, even
if she gets a PhD, deficient. Her intellect is incomplete; and
advocating that homosexuals should be “thrown off” mountains. Mr
Patani’s reaction? To refer the programme makers to the Crown
Prosecution Service for inciting racial hatred.
He also referred the programme to Ofcom, the TV regulator, sending out a
press release as he did so. Mr Patani’s press release claimed that
those featured in the programme had been misrepresented and that it
had undermined community cohesion. Those claims were blatantly
false, as the Ofcom investigation itself made crystal clear. But why on
earth did Mr Patani make them?
...Read
full article
|
| 18th May |
Retarded Repression... |
|
| |
Prosecution of website critic of the Saudi's religious police
Permalink |
See
full article from
Human Rights
Watch
|
Courts
in Jeddah should dismiss cases against a Saudi web critic charged with
“insulting” Islam, an unequivocal violation of freedom of expression
protected under international law, Human Rights Watch said.
Criminalizing speech on grounds that it is insulting might appease
some people, but it violates the fundamental human right of free speech,
said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch:
The Saudi government uses these laws primarily to silence its critics.
On May 5, the prosecution service in Jeddah charged Ra’if Badawi with
setting up an electronic site that insults Islam, and referred the
case to court, asking for a five-year prison sentence and a 3 million
riyal (US$800,000) fine.
Unknown persons have hacked Badawi’s website multiple times, and have
published his phone numbers, work address, and a threat on the hacked
site: Oh you retard, you are in the land of Muhammad, peace be upon
him. Underline ‘Muhammad’ with a thousand lines before a thousand swords
are put above your neck! Prosecutors have not investigated the
hackers or the death threats against Badawi.
The prosecution service had detained Badawi in March 2008 for one day to
interrogate him about his website, which he uses to detail abuses by the
Saudi religious police and to question the predominant interpretation of
Islam. After being threatened with arrest for his online activities and
receiving personal threats of physical harm, Badawi fled Saudi Arabia
two weeks ago.
|
| 17th May |
Legs Akimbo... |
|
| |
Nutters get 'outraged' by Starbucks logo
Permalink |
Based on
article from the
International Herald Tribune
|
Christian
nutters based in San Diego have found grounds for outrage over the new
retro-style Starbucks logo.
The Resistance says the new image has a naked woman on it with her
legs spread like a prostitute, Mark Dice, founder of the groupsaid:
Need I say more? It's extremely poor taste, and the company might as
well call themselves Slutbucks.
The group, which claims more than 3,000 members nationwide and has found
a place on the fringe advancing various conspiracy theories, is calling
for a national boycott of the coffee-selling giant.
The logo will run on Starbucks cups for several more weeks, said
company spokeswoman Bridget Baker, and will live on as the logo for Pike
Place bags of coffee.
The image is a less-revealing version of what the chain used for many
years, starting when it first opened in Seattle in 1971. The explanation
for that initial logo is explained in the book Pour Your Heart into
It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, written by
company founder Howard Schultz:
[Creative partner Terry Heckler] poured [sic] over old marine books
until he came up with a logo based on an old 16 Century Norse woodcut: a
two-tailed mermaid, or siren, encircled by the store's original name,
Starbucks Coffee, Tea, and Spice. That early siren, bare-breasted and
Rubenesque, was supposed to be as seductive as coffee itself.
|
| 17th May |
Marriott and the Nutters... |
|
| |
Why do nutters want to deprive people of private enjoyment of life?
Permalink full story: Nutter Friendly Hotels...Nutters campaign against hotel room adult movies |
Based on article from
World Net Daily
|
Marriott
International is coming under heavy fire from nutter activists urging
the hotel giant to banish sexual fare from its bedroom TV.
Focus on the Family met with hotel executives in Washington DC, and
provided Marriott with a petition signed by 102,000 nutters who want
pornographic films purged from the list of movie offerings.
Daniel Weiss, media and sexuality analyst for the group, said Marriott
has billed itself as a family-lodging establishment, and its decision to
provide adult films to its customers is contrary to its reputation.
Weiss said hotels and motels have been major contributors to the
proliferation of pornography in mainstream culture: We've heard from
people who have developed addictions, businessmen, people who travel a
lot, who found that away from their support structure and families they
were very vulnerable to this type of material. They indicated that hotel
porn was very significant in their addiction.
When WND asked Marriott Vice President of Communications Roger Conner
why the hotel offers sex films in its rooms, he provided the following
response: That's one of those any-kind-of-'why' questions. It's very
universal in nature. For 25 years or more, not just Marriott, but the
whole industry has offered a wide range including adult movies.
Asked if he believes customers would miss the pornographic films if they
were not offered, Conner said, It would be interesting to know. I
don't want this to sound flippant, but who knows?
Marriott International offers families an option to block pornographic
movies by calling the front desk or using the remote control, but Focus
on the Family and other nutter groups would like the hotel chain to
consider a policy where the pornography would automatically be turned
off unless a guest requests it.
For some people, that may just be enough of a hindrance that they
won't access that material, Weiss said. They won't get caught up
in it if they have to come out of the anonymity of ordering it in their
room and call somebody.
Marriott executives said they will think about the suggestions and
respond to concerns by July 1, though Conner acknowledged that not
everyone left the meeting satisfied: We know it's not a perfect world
that we live in, unfortunately, so it's not a perfect response for those
that we met with yesterday. There were some who said they wanted more of
an immediate response or decision. But, based upon the complicated
business model and contracts that are in place, we can't simply walk
away from it as we speak.
Hotels do not lose a large percentage of revenue when they boycott adult
content because they only take 10 to 15% of the profits from the sale of
pornographic films, Weiss said. He has faith that Marriott International
will live up to its reputation as a family friendly establishment and
make its 3,000 hotels porn free: I think at this point we want to
give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they will do the right
thing. We're going to take a cautious wait-and-see approach.
|
| 17th May |
Islamsterdam... |
|
| |
Dutch cartoonist arrested over discriminatory satire
Permalink |
See
full article from MediawatchWatch
|
A
cartoonist who works under the pseudonym Gregorius Nekschot has been
arrested on suspicion of publishing work which discriminates against
Muslims and ‘people with dark skins’, the Netherlands public prosecution
department says.
Nekschot, an established cartoonist was released after spending a night
in custody. His house was searched and a quantity of work taken away.
In a statement, the public prosecution department said cartoonists are
by nature satirical and often insulting to others. However, Nekschot’s
work broke the boundaries of freedom of expression and artistic licence.
The arrest follows a complaint made against Nekschot in 2005 by imam
Abdul Jabbar van de Ven.
The investigation is continuing.
|
| 17th May |
Sheaf Mohamud... |
|
| |
Kenyan muslims campaign against safe sex
Permalink |
Based on an article from
IRIN
|
Muslim
leaders in Kenya's North Eastern Province have resolved to campaign
against the promotion of condoms as a means of preventing HIV.
The decision was made after a recent meeting on the theme of "Islam and
Health", attended by more than 60 Muslim scholars and teachers in the
provincial capital of Garissa.
A lot of money is being wasted to poison our community ... a huge amount
of money is spent on buying condoms, buying immorality, Sheikh Mohamud
Ali, of Garissa district, told IRIN/PlusNews.
The leaders agreed to actively preach against the use and public
promotion of condoms as a strategy to contain the pandemic and prevent
pregnancy. They also agreed to oppose the distribution of condoms in
villages and educational institutions across the northeast.
The clerics further demanded the closure of bars in the northeast and
asked the government to suspend the licensing of any new bars. According
to the clerics, local bars and "video dens" screened pornographic movies
that were contributing to sexually transmitted infections. The
widespread abuse of drugs was another factor: a locally grown mild
stimulant, "khat", is popular in the region.
The leaders expressed their view that the best way for the youth to
avoid HIV was through the observance of Islamic teachings such as
fasting, regular prayer and shunning extramarital affairs. They advised
men to avoid looking at women, who should dress modestly.
|
| 16th May |
Shock Horror!... |
|
| |
The British Film Institute will not be distributing Love Guru
Permalink |
Based on an article from
News
Blaze
|
Hindu
groups have contacted various cinema/film related organizations around
the world and mist recently to Canada urging them not to
distribute/screen upcoming Hollywood movie The Love Guru till its
presenter Paramount Pictures makes 'necessary changes' to it.
Furthering the drive pioneered by Indo-American leader Rajan Zed,
various organizations and leaders have been coming out expressing
concern about the possibility of The Love Guru hurting the
sentiments of Hindus worldwide and urging filmmakers to be more
responsible when handling faith related subjects.
Zed has been saying that from the information available about the movie,
it appears to be lampooning Hinduism and Hindus and using Hindu terms
frivolously.
G. Kendrick Macdowell, Vice President of the National Association of
Theatre Owners, largest exhibition trade organization in the world,
replying to one such request wrote, I am sympathetic to your concern
as I have been to the ashrams in India and know a little bit about the
guru-disciple relationship. I have not seen the trailer or the movie,
but I can guess that it satirizes 'gurus on the make'. I doubt I would
find it funny. Nevertheless, we are not in a position to take action you
recommend ...we are a trade association, and we cannot interfere with
the decisions of our members regarding what movies or trailers to
play...
Ilona Cheshire, Press Officer of prestigious British Film Institute
(BFI), wrote in her reply, Please rest assured that the BFI will not
be screening this title nor will be involved with a possible release of
it.
J.L. Green, Chief Assistant (Policy) to the British Board of Film
Classification (BBFC), replying the communique, said, The BBFC is
sympathetic to your concerns. However, THE LOVE GURU has not been
submitted to the BBFC for classification...
|
| 16th May |
Time to Say Sorry... |
|
| |
About attempting to prosecute the messenger re Undercover Mosque
Permalink full story: In the Context of Dodgy Policing...Police make false accusations that Undercover Mosque documentary was falsified |
See
full article
from Comment is Free
by Andrew Anthony
|
Back
in August 2007 I wrote a defence of the Undercover Mosque programme and,
among many reasonable responses, I came in for the now obligatory
charges of Islamophobia, neocon activism and, of course, racism. This
kind of thing is standard these days if you state your opposition to the
idea that hitting 10-year-old girls is reasonable, that women are lesser
beings then men, that killing homosexuals is wrong, that killing
apostates is unacceptable, and that all Muslims supposedly hate the
kuffar. All of those views were propagated by the preachers who were
recorded in Undercover Mosque, a diligent documentary made in difficult
circumstances. And yet the West Midlands police not only attempted to
prosecute the filmmakers but also, having failed in that absurd
endeavour, reported the documentary to Ofcom.
...Read
full article
|
| 16th May |
Shoot the Cartoonist... |
|
| |
Canada's Human Rights Censors harangue newspaper over burkha cartoon
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Ezra
Levant
|
Nova
Scotia's leading newspaper, the Chronicle Herald, is being hauled before
that province's human rights commissions for publishing a cartoon.
The cartoon, published April 18 in the Chronicle Herald newspaper,
depicts a woman in a burka holding a sign that reads, I want
millions, and she says, I can put it towards my husband's next
training camp.
The cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon is a reference to Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal,
a woman from Nova Scotia whose husband was arrested in 2006 in an
anti-terrorism raid. Qayyum Abdul Jamal was released from jail after
charges against him were stayed on April 15...
In an interview with the Herald before the cartoon ran, Jamal said she
wanted to sue the federal government for what her family has gone
through and told the reporter, "I want millions, Dan Leger, the
Herald's director of news content noted.
Leger said the cartoon does not take aim at all Muslims: The whole
purpose of that cartoon was to comment on the outrageous demands of this
individual for compensation long before any hearing into her case had
ever been held.
[MacKinnon] depicted her exactly the way she looks and used her own
words, and that's the genius of cartooning that you're able to do that.
The Chronicle Herald hasn't just been taken to the NSHRC but they've
actually been contacted by real police, too.
|
| 15th May |
False Accusations... |
|
| |
Police to cough up for their accusations about Undercover Mosque
Permalink full story: In the Context of Dodgy Policing...Police make false accusations that Undercover Mosque documentary was falsified |
Ummm... I
wonder what will happen to Anil Patani, the Assistant Chief Constable
who reported the programme to Ofcom. He was in charge of "security &
cohesion" in the West Midlands force. He said he was worried that those
featured in the programme had been misrepresented.
See
full article
from the
Times
|
The
Crown Prosecution Service and West Midlands Police will apologise in the
High Court today for wrongly accusing a Channel 4 film of faking an
exposé of Islamic extremism.
The producers of Undercover Mosque, a Dispatches investigation
that showed preachers predicting jihad and calling for the murder of
non-believers, have also accepted a six-figure libel settlement reported
to be £100,000
The programme, screened last January, showed footage gathered at a
number of mosques in the West Midlands using hidden cameras. It included
one preacher who praised the Taleban for killing British soldiers.
Another, Abu Usamah, a preacher at the Green Lane mosque in Birmingham,
was filmed saying: If I were to call homosexuals perverted, dirty,
filthy dogs who should be murdered, that is my freedom of speech isn't
it?
However, instead of pursuing a prosecution of the preachers, police and
the CPS began an investigation into the producers, accusing them of
selective editing and distortion. The film-makers were accused of
undermining community relations.
The police took the highly unusual step of referring Dispatches to Ofcom,
the media watchdog.
Ofcom threw out the complaint. It found that the programme had
accurately represented the material it had gathered and dealt with the
subject matter responsibly and in context. It was a legitimate
investigation, uncovering matters of important public interest. Each
quote was justified by the narrative of the programme and put fully
in context.
Hardcash Productions, which made the film, joined Channel 4 in a libel
complaint against the police and CPS over the “distortion” claim.
West Midlands Police and CPS will apologise unreservedly for comments
that they accept were incorrect and unjustified. They said that there
was no evidence that the broadcaster or programme-makers had misled
the audience or that the programme was likely to encourage or incite
criminal activity”.
Kevin Sutcliffe, deputy head of current affairs at Channel 4, said:
This is a total vindication of the programme team.
|
| 15th May |
Marriott Meets the Nutters... |
|
| |
I wonder what the nutters watched on their hotel room TV?
Permalink full story: Nutter Friendly Hotels...Nutters campaign against hotel room adult movies |
Based on article from
One News Now
|
Pro-family
nutters have wrapped up what is being called a "productive" meeting with
officials of Marriott International.
The meeting focused on the hotel chain's practice of selling in room
pornographic movies at some of its properties.
Last month, leaders of 47 pro-family groups sent a letter to Marriott
CEO John W. Marriott the Third, which asked for a meeting with Marriott
executives about the issue.
Don Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association, says the
meeting in Washington D.C. was a good first step: Two things came out
of the meeting. They are going to look into a system where people
would have to call the front desk and get the movie turned on.
Secondly, notes Wildmon, the Marriot executives will discuss the issue
further with some of their franchisees. And he says pro-family nutters
will have another meeting with Marriott representatives in about six
weeks to check progress on the issue.
|
| 15th May |
Stamping Around... |
|
| |
Turkey wound up by 17th century church pulpit
Permalink |
See
full article from the Brussels Journal
|
Belgian
police are protecting a 17th century pulpit in the Flemish town of
Dendermonde. The sculpted wooden pulpit, made by Mattheus van Beveren,
depicts a man subdued by angels and represents the triumph of
Christianity over Islam. The man is generally thought to be Mohammed. He
is holding a book which is generally assumed to be the Koran.
Two years ago, on April 16, 2006, during the height of the Danish
cartoon affair, Brussels Journal published a photo of the pulpit to show
that there is a long tradition of depicting Mohammed in European
iconography.
Last Friday the Turkish newspaper Yeniçag reprinted our picture on its
front page with the caption Stop this hideous insult. Yeniçag
demands that Belgium remove the pulpit. The paper writes that We have
had the crusades and now they are still trying to humiliate us. This is
as bad as the Danish cartoons and Geert Wilders’s Fitna movie in the
Netherlands. Even Pope Benedict does nothing to stop these humiliations.
Since
Friday, Brussels Journal have received threats while the authorities in
Belgium, which has a large population of Turkish immigrants, fear that
the pulpit and the church may be attacked. The Belgian press reported
today that the police are guarding Dendermonde’s Our Lady church to
prevent vandalism to church and pulpit.
Aimé Stroobants, the custodian of Our Lady in Dendermonde, told the
newspaper De Standaard that the figure on the pulpit cannot possibly
be Mohammed because He is wearing a Persian dress, while we know
that the Prophet came from the Arab Peninsula. For all we know the
depicted man might even be a Jew.
|
| 15th May |
Biblical Intolerance... |
|
| |
Algerian christian sentenced for carrying a bible
Permalink |
See
full article
from Compass Direct
|
An
Algerian Christian detained five days for carrying a Bible and personal
Bible study books was handed a 300-euro (US$460) fine and a one-year
suspended prison sentence last week, an Algerian church leader said.
A court charged the Muslim convert to Christianity with printing,
storing and distributing illegal religious material. He received the
“printing” charge because he was traveling with a computer printer in
his possession.
He told fellow Christians that police pressured him to return to Islam
while in custody.
The conviction is the latest in a wave of detentions and court cases
against Algeria’s Protestants and Catholics. Since January police and
provincial officials have ordered the closure of up to half of the
country’s 50 estimated Protestant congregations.
Officials in several instances have cited a February 2006 law governing
the worship of non-Muslims. Clarified by subsequent decrees in 2007, the
law restricts most religious meetings to approved places of worship and
forbids any attempt to “shake the faith of a Muslim.”
|
| 14th May |
Sacred Cows... |
|
| |
BA to drop beef from aircraft meals for religious reasons
Permalink |
See
full article from the Daily Mail
|
British
Airways has taken beef off the menu for economy passengers amid concerns
about its "religious restrictions".
The airline has instead switched to a fish or chicken dish option for
the so-called "cattle class" passengers.
BA's second-biggest long-haul market is to India, where the majority
Hindu population do not eat beef because of their beliefs.
The decision to scrap the nation's favourite fare was described as a
"great shame" by the English Beef and Lamb Executive. A spokesman said:
It is regrettable that Britain's flag carrier is not proposing to
serve Britain's national dish.
A BA spokesman said the it stopped serving beef to economy class
passengers last month. He added: We can only serve two options and
beef and pork obviously have religious restrictions. We have to
try to use two meals which appeal to as many customers as possible. This
summer season we are offering customers in World Traveller on most
longhaul flights a choice of chicken and tarragon or fish pie.
The Hindu Council UK said: The Hindu community will welcome this
decision and the news it has been made partly because Hindus don't eat
beef. That said, Hindus are tolerant of the beliefs of others and do not
expect everyone to stop eating a food because they do not eat it.
|
| 14th May |
Depraved Religion... |
|
| |
Pastors daughter gang-raped to drive him out of town
Permalink |
See
full article
from Compass Direct
|
Muslim
villagers in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, eager to rid the area of the
Christian work of a local pastor have gang-raped his 13-year-old
daughter, the girl's father said.
Pastor Motilal Das of United Bethany Church said that on Friday (May 2)
the villagers sexually assaulted his daughter, Elina Das, and left her
unconscious in front of his house in an attempt to drive him and his
Christian ministry out of Laksmipur village.
Local residents have long been angry with him for his ministry and
evangelism, he said, and he has received death threats.
Elina Das has identified two of the rapists and could identify the
others if she saw them or their pictures, said Das.
When Das initially went to police to file charges, he said, police were
reluctant to register the case: Police told me that it was a false
case. They also said that it was a fabricated drama. Police spoke with
my daughter in filthy language and showed prurient interest in the
details of the incident in front of us rather than filing the case
quickly.
|
| 13th May |
O God, bring me the head of Salman Rushdie... |
|
| |
Geo TV censured for murderous prayers
Permalink |
See
full article from
Digital Spy
|
A
Pakistani TV channel was wrong to broadcast a prayer in which a Muslim
scholar called for God to "ruin" Salman Rushdie, Ofcom have ruled.
During a live broadcast on Geo TV, in Urdu and from Pakistan, scholar
Dr. Aamer Liaquat Hussain said:
O God I beg you for the sake of this night;
ruin those who have blasphemed against Your beloved Prophet Muhammad,
Peace be upon Him.
Ruin them. Ruin Rushdie, I beg you for his death. O God, give him death,
O Provider; he has blasphemed your beloved. Oh God, we beg in Your Court
for his death.
Some Muslims judged Rushdie's 1988 novel The Satanic Verses to be
blasphemous against Islam.
Two viewers complained that the statements made on the Shabeqadar
programme in October were offensive. Under Ofcom's broadcasting code,
offensive statements are allowed but must be justified by the
context.
Geo TV said Rushdie had, in its view, committed serious blasphemy,
and the host had exercised his freedom of expression, in this very
specific context, by condemning the blasphemous act.
Ofcom said offensive material, where broadcast, had to be justified by
the context. Dr. Hussain’s remarks, albeit primarily addressed to a
specific audience outside the UK (i.e. Pakistan), and in the context of
a prayer, were broadcast without, for example, comment or editorial
narrative.We therefore concluded the remarks complained about were not
sufficiently justified by context and so were in breach of [Broadcasting
Code] Rule 2.3."
|
| 13th May |
Nude Mother India... |
|
| |
India's leading artist cleared of offence in High Court
Permalink |
See
full article
from the
Times
|
 |
|
Woman and Horse |
Criminal charges against India’s leading living artist for an
allegedly obscene painting of a Hindu goddess have been quashed in a
ruling that said religious extremism risked pushing the country into a
“pre-Renaissance era”.
Maqbool Fida Husain, 92, a Muslim, who has been called “the Picasso of
India”, was served with private criminal complaints by Hindu groups for
Bharat Mata (Mother India), a work representing the nation as a nude
woman.
The Delhi High Court judged that the picture could not be construed
as offensive.
|
| 13th May |
Religious Nonsense Bared... |
|
| |
Nutter church opposes naturist festival in Sicily
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Telegraph
|
The
Roman Catholic Church is opposing a nudist beach festival in Sicily
billed as a “celebration of nudity” over fears of an invasion of naked
sunbathers.
The Church complained after the mayor of Cattolica Eraclea, the village
nearest to the planned festival on Capo Bianco recently issued a decree
allowing free use of Capo Bianco by lovers of nude sunbathing.
But Father Giuseppe Miliziano, the parish priest, said: The beach
belongs to the state, not to the local council. If the state decided to
allow people to take their clothes off, there is not much I could do
about it. But as far as I am aware no such authorisation has been
issued.
Nude sunbathing is illegal in Italy but a few naturist beaches are
authorised by councils if they are patrolled by naturist associations.
The Capo Bianco festival, due to take place between May 23 and May 25,
is organised by the Italian Naturist Federation, based in Turin, and the
Sicilian Naturist Association. The beach is also near Agrigento and the
ruins of Eraclea Minoa.
|
| 12th May |
Pope on Intolerant Life... |
|
| |
Intolerant of safety from AIDS and intolerant of help to conceive
Permalink |
See
full article from the
International Herald Tribune
|
Pope
Benedict has praised a 1968 Church document that condemned
contraception. In a speech marking the 40th anniversary of the document,
Benedict reiterated the Church's ban against artificial birth control as
well as more recent teaching against using artificial procreation
methods.
Pope Paul's 1968 Humanae vitae (On Human Life) encyclical
prohibits Catholics from using artificial birth control.
The teaching laid out in the Humanae vitae encyclical isn't
easy, Benedict said: What was true yesterday remains true even
today. 'The truth expressed in Humane vitae doesn't change; on
the contrary, in the light of new scientific discoveries it is ever more
up to date.
Benedict appeared to be referring to artificial procreation methods,
which in the Church's view offend the dignity of life and go against
Vatican teaching that the only way to conceive a child is through
intercourse between husband and wife.
No mechanical technique can substitute the act of love that two
married people exchange as a sign of a greater mystery, Benedict
said in his speech.
Benedict also expressed concern that human life risks losing its value
in today's culture and worried that sex could transform itself into a
drug that one partner had to have even against the will of the
other.
|
| 12th May |
Religion of Convenience... |
|
| |
Malaysians allow a very restricted category of people to leave islam
Permalink |
See
full article
from
Google News
|
A
Malaysian Islamic court has allowed a Chinese convert to renounce Islam
in a rare decision for this conservative Muslim-led nation.
Apostasy is one of the gravest sins in Islam and a very sensitive issue
in Malaysia where Islamic sharia courts have rarely allowed such
renunciations and have also jailed apostates.
Penang Sharia Court judge Othman Ibrahim said he had no choice but to
allow an application by cook Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah to renounce her
faith and return to Buddhism.
The court has no choice but to declare that Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah
is no longer a Muslim as she has never practised the teachings of Islam,
Othman told a packed courtroom: I order the conversion
certificate to be nullified.
Siti Fatimah or Tan Ean Huang said she had never practised Islamic
teachings since she converted in 1998 and only did so to enable her to
marry Iranian Ferdoun Ashanian.
The couple married in 2004 but since then her husband has left her
following which she filed for the renunciation.
Othman said it was clear from witnesses and the evidence presented that
Siti had continued to practise Buddhism even after her conversion. He
rebuked the state Islamic religious council for not counselling and
looking after the welfare of new converts.
Update:
Well Some Muslims Allow It
23rd May 2008
A group of Muslims in Malaysia's northern Penang state staged a protest
to denounce an Islamic sharia court's rare ruling allowing a Chinese
convert to renounce her faith.
Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia, an Islamic hardline group, gathered outside the
court and submitted a memorandum urging a judicial review of the
decision.
We outrightly disagree with the court decision as it is against
Islamic laws. In Islam, a person who insists on leaving the religion
must be punished with death, the group's blood thirsty president
Abdul Hakim Othman told reporters.
|
| 12th May |
We Don't Need No Education... |
|
| |
Taleban revert to attacking schools
Permalink full story: An Education in Misogyny...Lynching and killing to prevent the education of women in Afghanistan |
See
full article
from the
Times
|
Gunmen
broke into Miyan Abdul Hakim school in Kandahar.
After they had terrorised the caretaker for doing the work of
foreigners, they collected floor mats and desks to light bonfires inside
the classrooms. Then they gathered all the dog-eared exercise books and
school textbooks that they could find and threw them into the flames.
After a year's respite the Taleban has returned to attacking schools and
intimidating teachers across much of the south and east of the country.
Since the beginning of the new school year on March 23 there have been
36 attacks. Empty buildings have been set on fire or had grenades thrown
into them. Teachers have been kidnapped, and later released. In one
grisly case a caretaker was mutilated by having his ears and nose cut
off, a common punishment for those accused of collaborating with the
Afghan Government.
The security situation is now so bad in Kandahar province that nearly
half of all schools are closed some or all of the time. Girls' classes
have been particularly badly hit because women teachers are too afraid
to venture into rural districts where the Taleban is strong, threatening
one of the successes of post-2001 Afghanistan.
All of the 40 schools in Marouf, one insurgency-affected district of
Kandahar province, are now shut. Teachers fear that the situation could
get as bad as it did in 2006 when nearly 200 schools were attacked. They
worry that a new generation of Afghans is growing up uneducated and
vulnerable to extremism.
|
| 11th May |
Hype Guru... |
|
| |
Australian nutters kindly add to the hype for Love Guru
Permalink |
Based on an article from
The West
|
Hindu
nutters have contacted various cinema organisations in Australia urging
them not to distribute or screen the upcoming Hollywood movie The
Love Guru until Paramount Pictures makes changes to it.
Vamsi Krishna, representing Hindu Janjagruti Samiti and Sanatan Society
for Scientific Spirituality, sent a letter to several film groups saying
the film would hurt the feelings of the worldwide spiritual and Hindu
community unless certain scenes were altered.
The letter went to the Australia Classification Board, Motion Picture
Distributors Association of Australia, Australian Film Commission, Media
Standards Australia, Becker Entertainment, Hopscotch Films, Hoyts Cinema
Chain, Palace Cinemas, and Palace Films.
If the trailer is an indicator of the content of the movie…then we
feel that this movie is most likely to hurt the sentiments of seekers
from various spiritual paths and also the peaceful Hindu community at
large in Australia, the letter said: Poking fun is one thing...BUT...if
it creates a sense of belittling others’ faith, then it is wrong.
Update:
Worldwide Calls
12th May 2008
Hindu groups have contacted Central Board of Film Certification (Censor
Board) and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India, urging
them not to screen upcoming Hollywood movie The Love Guru till
its presenter Paramount Pictures makes necessary changes in it.
It seems that the hindu groups are sending their calls for a ban
worldwide and the same story is cropping up in multiple stories. Surely
good hype for Love Guru.
|
| 11th May |
Phone Line to God Silenced... |
|
| |
Ringtone 'music' banned in part of Pakistan
Permalink |
Based on article from
Cellular News
|
Islamic
militants in Pakistan's tribal areas, which border Afghanistan have
issued a decree banning music from mobile phone ringtones and vehicles
in tribal areas of the country. A spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan, Maulana Faqir Mohammed said, the they would not allow
commuters to play music in their cars or use musical ringtones on mobile
phones.
He warned that offenders would be punished according to Shariah lynch
mob law.
This is not the first time that Taliban leaders have tried to clamp down
on music in their areas - and a wave of attacks on mobile phone stores
in North Waziristan was carried out last October to stop them selling
music capable phones.
The shop-owners said at the time that they had received several letters,
asking them not to sell mobile phones pre-loaded with 'musical' ring
tones. Many retailers had started offering phones pre-loaded with 'jihadi'
ringtones, but this did not seem enough to appease the militants.
|
| 11th May |
Barberous Punishment... |
|
| |
Saudi flirts to suffer haircut at the hands of the religious police
Permalink |
Based on article from
The
Root
|
A
governor in northern Saudi Arabia has ordered authorities to punish men
who flirt with women in public places by cutting their hair.
Prince Fahd bin Badr, governor of the northern al-Jof region, ordered
police to carry out the punishment after seeing a group of men with long
hair pestering female students as they left school.
The prince instructed police to apply the punishment to all youths
guilty of flirting, including the sons of senior military and civil
officials. The decision doesn't include men who spend their free
time in public places without hurting anyone.
Many clergymen in this conservative Gulf country say men should not have
long hair because Islam prohibits the sexes from emulating each other.
Sheik Mubarak al-Rushoud, head of the religious police in the area, has
ordered that the punishment against the men who emulate women
should be carried out at the scene of the infraction.
|
| 10th May |
Blasphemy Laws Repealed... |
|
| |
House of Commons supports Lords repeal
Permalink |
From the National Secular Society
|
The
House of Commons voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to support the
abolition of the common law offences of blasphemy and
blasphemous libel. This was the final stage in the Criminal
Justice and Immigration Bill, and the amendment was carried by
378 votes to 57. The Bill has received Royal Assent, so the
blasphemy law is now officially dead and buried.
In a tetchy and bad-tempered parliamentary debate, Conservatives
put in their final bid to block the abolition, arguing that it
represented a significant step in the secularising of Britain.
Some raised the spectre of it being the beginning of a process
that would eventually lead to disestablishment. Government
Minister Maria Eagle MP assured MPs that there was no such
"hidden agenda".
Other MPs were, though, less shy about hoping that one day the
Church of England would be disestablished. David Howarth,
Liberal Democrat shadow Solicitor General said: It is the
policy of my party to work towards the disestablishment of the
Church, and the separation of Church and state. I am fairly
comfortable with that position.
Howarth continued: The principle of the separation of Church
and state is not about the separation of religion and politics,
which I think is impossible. We cannot separate people's moral,
religious views from their political views. We are talking about
the state, not about society, and about the religious
commitments of the state, not about whether people in society
are religious or not. In the course of debate we have heard
three separate arguments against the idea of state neutrality in
religion. One of them; it might be called the "this is a
Christian country" argument.
NSS honorary associate Dr Evan Harris, Lib Dem MP for Abingdon
and Oxford (the original architect of this amendment),
challenged Tory MPs who were arguing for the preservation of
blasphemy laws. In an earlier debate that evening on the same
Bill they had argued that new proposals to outlaw hatred against
homosexuals would unnecessarily restrict the right of religious
people to make clear their disapproval of homosexuality. Now
they were arguing that the blasphemy law was necessary to
protect religious people against offence. It seemed that their
defence of free speech was not entirely consistent.
Dr Harris said: When it came to the issue of incitement to
homophobic hatred, we heard a number of speeches and
interventions from Conservative Members claiming that freedom of
speech was critical and that freedom of expression was under
threat. Yet when it comes to an issue—blasphemy, as opposed to
incitement to hatred—that ca causes individuals themselves no
damage, making the case for proscribing it much weaker, those
very same people argue that freedom of expression has to go in
order to maintain their version of no change. They want to
maintain some symbolic law or the safety of the UK constitution,
which they fear may be shaken to its foundations by the
abolition of these unnecessary and discriminatory laws.
|
| 9th May |
Jesus Camp... |
|
|
Abridged documentary on TV about summer indoctrination camp for kids
Permalink |
Reviewed by Wynter
|
Jesus
Camp (Channel 4, Tuesday 6 May, 11.05pm).
The documentary Jesus Camp makes for pretty grim viewing. It focuses
on the Kids On Fire School of Ministry's Christian summer camp where
activities include praying for George W. Bush (with a cardboard cut out
present for inspiration), telling young children that abortion is evil and
that Harry Potter should be put to death as a warlock. The camp's leader,
Becky Fisher, is particularly fond sharing her views on "the truth" and the
purpose of the camp...
It's no wonder, with that kind of intense training and discipling, that
those young people are ready to kill themselves for the cause of Islam. I
wanna see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as
the young people are to the cause of Islam. I wanna see them as radically
laying down their lives for the Gospel as they are over in Pakistan and
Israel and Palestine and all those different places, you know, because we
have... excuse me, but we have the truth!
As you can probably tell the film does not paint a very good picture of the
camp or the evangelical side of modern Christian and the version screened on
Channel 4 will have managed to persuade even more people that this is the
only face of evangelical Christianity.
The documentary ran at 60 minutes (including adverts) some 24 shy of it's
cinema and DVD runtime. Whilst the shortened version got across the general
nature of the film and the shocking nature of the camp's indoctrination
sessions it also turned it into a one sided argument. The voice of
mainstream Chirstianity was nowhere to be heard. The cinema version features
a chap called Mike Papantonio, a lawyer, broadcaster and Methodist who
heavily criticises the camp and it's activities.
I'm not a religious man but I know plenty of people who are upset by what
they consider to be the one sided representation of their religion
perpetrated by a media that focuses on these uber-nutters. I don't agree
with this view but it certainly does not help when a broadcaster takes, what
I consider to be, a fair documentary and edits the balance out of it.
If you are interested in Jesus Camp and the terrible activities of
the American Christian Right then you would be much better served to grab a
copy of the DVD or, at least, wait until Channel 4 broadcast the full
version.
|
| 9th May |
Gordon Ramsay Stirs It... |
|
| |
Australian parliament inquires into strong language on TV
Permalink |
Based on an article from
Mail &
Guardian
See also
Who Gives a Fuck about Swearing on TV
from the
Times
|
Australia's
Catholic church has taken a swipe at foul-mouthed British chef Gordon
Ramsay and demanded his reality television shows be either taken off air
or shown at a later time.
The move comes as Australia's Parliament holds an inquiry into swearing
on television, prompted by Ramsay's antics in his series Kitchen
Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen.
One episode broadcast recently featured Ramsay using a four-letter
expletive more than 80 times, while he also shouts at a chef saying:
You French pig.
There can be no excuse for vilification of this sort. We conclude
that this episode should never have been aired on Australian television,
the Catholic church in the southern city of Adelaide said in a
submission to the parliamentary inquiry.
Ramsay's reality programmes are popular ratings drawcards in Australia,
but they have also prompted complaints from schools and parent groups
who are angry that the shows are broadcast at times when children may be
watching television.
Two of the Ramsay programmes air at 8.30pm, while one of the shows,
Hell's Kitchen, where contestants compete to win a restaurant, is aired
at a later 9.30pm time slot.
Conservative Senator Cory Bernardi initiated a Senate inquiry into
swearing after his office received several complaints about Ramsay's
programmes.
The inquiry has received more than 50 public submissions, with the
overwhelming majority in favour of tighter regulation and calling for
the Nine television network, which broadcasts the programmes, to censor
Ramsay.
But the Council for Civil Liberties in Australia's largest state of New
South Wales said it has no problems with Ramsay's programmes, which
regularly attract more than one million viewers: This inquiry is yet
another attempt to restrict the freedom of expression of ordinary
Australians. Not everyone is offended by coarse language.
|
| 9th May |
No Honour in Jordan... |
|
| |
Child killer given just 6 months in prison
Permalink full story: No Honour in Religion...Honour crimes from around the world |
From Stop Honour
Killings
|
A
Jordanian court has sentenced a man to just six months in jail
after convicting him of the honor killing of his 16-year-old
daughter.
The court ruled that the man killed his married daughter because
she had an affair out of the wedlock. The enraged father
severely beat her with a baton and ultimately electrocuted her
in November 2006.
Like other tribal-oriented societies, many Jordanians consider
sex out of the wedlock an indelible stain on the family's honor
that can only be cleansed by blood.
|
| 8th May |
Cultural Poison... |
|
| |
Catholics get into Grand Theft Auto
Permalink |
See
full article
from
Catholic Exchange
|
Teenage
boys are going wild this week over a more dangerous cultural low:
Grand Theft Auto IV. The new video game from Rockstar Games is
flying off the shelves, and all the early reviews are glowing.
GamePro magazine calls it the pinnacle of interactive
entertainment and game design.
Yes, young lads, you can visit strip clubs and get lap dances, pick
up prostitutes, go on assassination missions and conduct
gangland-style executions. The New York Times applauded the game’s
winsome procession of grifters, hustlers, drug peddlers and other
gloriously unrepentant lowlifes.
WhatTheyPlay.com is a resource site for parents, and interviews with
children find they like the series for its wide-open play,
particularly the vicarious experience of the thug life. I’m never
going to be a car-jacking, whore-murdering gang member, said
one, so I guess it’s very interesting to see what your life could
be like, if you chose that path. It’s amazing to become so immersed
in the game experience and really be able to feel like a criminal.
The violent content also attracts children as a way to vent anger or
stress. One boy explained: “Last week, I missed homework and my
teacher yelled at me. When I went home, I started playing [Grand
Theft Auto] Vice City, and got a tank. I ran over everybody.
And I smashed a lot of cars and blew them up.
There’s something odd about our culture when we try to prevent
children under 17 from seeing violent or sexually overt material in
a two-hour R-rated movie, but we’re cavalier about selling the same
experience - actually, a more offensive experience since it’s
entirely non-judgmental - in an M-rated video game that will be
played every night for months.
There’s only one word to describe parents who would buy this game
for their children: Disgraceful. But retailers, too, must be pressed
to check ID before selling the game to children who most assuredly
will seek to purchase it. Legally, stores cannot sell children
pornographic magazines or handguns - but they can legally sell video
games to children that contain pornographic content or that teach
children how to gun down cops.
They can choose to line their pockets with the proceeds of the sale
of this cultural poison to youngsters. They can join the chorus of
consequential deniability, too. All they have to worry about is
their conscience.
|
| 8th May |
MILF Best Not Fucked With... |
|
| |
Religious guerrilla warfare in the Philippines
Permalink |
See
full article from Christian Post
|
Muslim
rebels drove off more than 1,000 Christians from a southern Philippine
farming village and took over their land.
Armed members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) entered the
coastal village of Sangay in the town of Kalamansig on the troubled
island of Mindanao to demand food and rice recently harvested by the
farmers, Kalamansig Mayor Rolando Garcia said.
In the past, the armed rebels have demanded food and stayed only briefly
in the village, but this time they told villagers to leave and occupied
the land. Faced with about 300 armed MILF guerillas, the scared
residents fled to Kalamansig town about three hours away by boat while
the rebels remained in the village.
I sent a peacekeeping force there to settle the problem amicably but
they were forced to withdraw to avoid bloodshed, Garcia said of the
14-man police team sent to the area. Garcia said his town has about
1,200 people in their temporary shelter area who are too afraid to
return to their farms.
For more than three decades, MILF has fought to establish a Muslim
homeland in the southern area of the largely Catholic country. Decades
of war have killed 120,000 people and displaced two million.
|
| 8th May |
Burnt Alive... |
|
| |
In the name of family honour in India
Permalink full story: No Honour in Religion...Honour crimes from around the world |
See
full article from Stop Honour
Killings
|
An
honour killing can't possibly be worse than this. The only
'crime' 18-year-old Rekha Gokavi had committed was to love a boy
belonging to a poor family. Rekha was clobbered and burnt alive
by her father and uncle.
Rekha, a high school dropout, was in love with Narasanagowda
Patil. The families were opposed to the match. Rekha's parents
had sent her to a relative's house, in another village, to keep
her away from Patil. On April 22, she returned to her village to
meet Patil but told her family she had come to participate in a
village festival.
According to the FIR, Patil's mother saw them together in his
house and informed Rekha's father, Narasa Reddy. Narasa Reddy
and his elder brother, Bhooma Reddy, rushed to the place,
dragged Rekha out and beat her black and blue.
Villagers said Rekha's father and uncle set her on fire at their
farmhouse.
She was crying for help, but we could not do anything other
than being mute spectators, fearing consequences, said a
farmer, tears in his eyes.
A neighbour said the girl's parents, who had been looking for a
suitable match, could not digest the fact that she was with her
lover at his house. A source said the boy's financial status
might have triggered the Reddy brothers' savagery.
Narasa Reddy and his brother are under arrest for murder.
|
| 7th May |
Star Nutter... |
|
| |
Christian Voice whinge at reality TV featuring auditions for Jesus
Permalink |
Based on
article from
Christian Voice
|
The
prospect of the BBC auditioning pop hopefuls in front of Andrew Lloyd
Webber for the role of Jesus has led a Christian group to promise
Jerry Springer the Opera-style protests if the project goes ahead.
Christian Voice said tonight that they might even try to get young
Christians into the audition room itself to share the Gospel of the real
Jesus Christ with Lord Lloyd-Webber himself.
The BBC are now said to be reconsidering their decision to air the
reality TV show based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar
just weeks after the composer said he wanted to cast Jesus as a
follow-up to Maria in The Sound of Music and Nancy and Oliver in the
musical Oliver.
The TV shows How do you solve a problem like Maria and I'd Do Anything
were regarded by TV bosses as such a success that Lord Lloyd-Webber has
been urged to come up with another one. He said in March: I have an
idea to do Jesus Christ Superstar next year and then maybe
another all-new show which I'm really excited about.
But the BBC are now said by the website UnrealityTV to be worried
that they will face the same sort of complaints from Christian groups
that they faced over Jerry Springer Opera a few years ago.
Auditions could take place this year, but as with previous shows, they
will be held across the country and the judges, who will include Lloyd
Webber, will be at each venue.
Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, said tonight: If
it were to go ahead, the show would then become for Christian Voice very
much a Jerry Springer the Opera operation, with witness and
evangelism at every venue. There are still plenty of veterans of the
early protests over Jesus Christ Superstar around who would love
to share the Gospel with the queuing wanabees. It might even be that we
could encourage Christian singers to enrol in order to tell Andrew
Lloyd-Webber just what they think of his project in the audition room
itself.
|
| 7th May |
Immoral Morality Statement... |
|
| |
Christian employers cannot opt out of employment protection in Canada
Permalink |
See
full article from Christian Post
|
One
of Canada’s largest Christian ministries dedicated to caring for the
disabled was fined $23,000 recently by the Human Rights Tribunal of
Ontario for allegedly discriminating against a former homosexual
employee.
Connie Heintz claimed discrimination against Christian Horizons after
she said she was subjected to a poisoned work environment and
pressured into quitting her job after she entered a homosexual
relationship – which was in violation of her work contract back in 2000.
In line with its Christian foundation and principles, the ministry
requires that all its employees sign “morality statements” vowing to
abstain from immoral behavior, including pornography, pre-marital,
extra-marital, and homosexual activity as a condition of employment.
In a recently made public ruling, Michael Gottheil, the single
adjudicator representing the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, ruled
against Christian Horizons, ordering the organization to pay Heintz
$23,000 in fines plus two years wages and benefits.
Gottheil also ordered that the organization abandon its Christian
principles barring homosexual behavior and issued mandates that it begin
requiring all employees to attend a homosexual oriented human rights
training program.
In a statement, Barbara Hall, the Chief Commissioner of the Ontario
Human Rights Commission, wrote approvingly of the decision by the
tribunal: This decision is important because it sets out that when
faith-based and other organizations move beyond serving the interests of
their particular community to serving the general public, the rights of
others, including employees, must be respected.
|
| 6th May |
Praise be to Allah... |
|
| |
Malaysian catholics pass first hurdle to use the word 'Allah'
Permalink full story: Oh MY God...Malaysia contends that only muslims can use the word Allah |
See
full article from Christian Post
|
A
Roman Catholic newspaper cleared its first legal hurdle in its fight
against a Malaysian government ban on Christians using the word "Allah"
as a synonym for "God."
High Court Judge Lau Bee Lan ruled that prosecutors' objection to a
lawsuit by The Herald weekly was without merit. The judge said
she will allow the paper to contest the government ban in court.
The government says the word "Allah" refers only to the Muslim God and
its use by Christians might confuse Muslims. It has threatened to revoke
the paper's publishing license if it defies the order.
The Herald also wants a court declaration that "Allah" is not for
exclusive use by Muslims. The court agreed that the church's
application is not frivolous nor vexatious nor an abuse of process. It
deserves to be heard, said Derek Fernandez, a lawyer for the
newspaper.
The court will set a trial date later, Fernandez told reporters.
The Herald insists that "Allah" is an Arabic word that predates
Islam and has been used for centuries to mean "God" in Malay.
In a separate case in Malaysia, the Sabah Evangelical Church of Borneo
has also filed a lawsuit in an effort to be allowed to use "Allah" after
officials last year banned the import of books containing the word.
Hearings in that case were still in the preliminary stages.
|
| 6th May |
Jovies Jailed... |
|
| |
In god forsaken Uzbekistan
Permalink |
See
full article from
Forum 18
|
Jehovah's
Witness Olim Turaev has begun a four-year labour camp sentence imposed
in Samarkand on 25 April to punish him for holding an unapproved
religious meeting and teaching religion without state permission.
His appeal is pending. He is the third Jehovah's
Witness currently serving a criminal sentence for his peaceful religious
activity.
Bakhrom Abdukhalilov, advisor to President Islam
Karimov on ethnic minorities and religion, showed no concern for Turaev,
insisting that Jehovah's Witnesses should not violate the law. He
refused to say if he thought the four-year sentence was too harsh.
Jehovah's Witnesses in Samarkand and elsewhere have
been repeatedly denied the state registration the authorities insist is
necessary before a religious community can conduct any religious
activity.
|
| 5th May |
Religious Freedom to Repress... |
|
| |
Malaysia proposes to ban women from travel without approval of their menfolk
Permalink |
Based on article from the Scotsman
|
Malaysian
women's groups have reacted with outrage to a government proposal to
impose restrictions on women planning to travel overseas on their own.
The mainly Muslim country is considering requiring women to obtain the
written consent of their families or employers before being allowed to
travel solo outside the country, reported Bernama, the state news
agency.
It is ridiculous, a totally regressive proposal with regards to
women's right to movement, said Norhayati Kaprawi, a spokeswoman for
the Sisters in Islam campaign group. They also said the proposal assumed
that women were less capable than men of making decisions for
themselves.
The National Council for Women's Organisations called it unfair. This
is an infringement of our rights, said Faridah Khalid, the deputy
president.
The foreign and home ministries claim to have come up with the idea in
response to cases where women travelling alone were used to smuggle
drugs across borders, according to Rais Yatim, the foreign minister.
The bollox proposal is being portrayed an anti-crime measure rather than
a religiously inspired idea and said it was aimed at ensuring that a
woman's family would monitor her departure and serve as a preventive
measure against being duped.
|
| 5th May |
Politically Very Incorrect... |
|
| |
Pat Condell available on DVD
Permalink |
Region 0 DVD available at $15
from
Richard Dawkins.net
|
Pat
Condell rose to internet stardom in 2007 with a series of topical rants,
posted to popular video-sharing websites. With topics usually centering
on religion, politics, and current events, each of Pat’s videos quickly
caused a stir and racked up tens of thousands of views.
RichardDawkins.net has now compiled the first 35 of Pat Condell’s videos
onto this DVD collection, with an exclusive introduction by Pat. Enjoy
this newly remastered collection, totalling 3 hours of video.
Pat Condell is unique. Nobody can match his extraordinary blend of
suavity and savagery. With his articulate intelligence he runs rings
around the religious wingnuts that are the targets of his merciless
humour. Thank goodness he is on our side. - Richard Dawkins
Brash. Uncompromising. Brilliant. Hilarious. Pat Condell has found a
simple formula for success: stating the obvious without restraining
himself with the conventions of unwarranted piety. Pat flenses sacred
cows, and after slicing away the fat and gristle of tired apologetics
and mindless tradition, he exposes the hollow carcass of a culture's
hypocrisy...and we laugh. - PZ Myers, ScienceBlogs.com/Pharyngula
|
| 4th May |
Toying with Repression... |
|
| |
Iran's youth destroyed by Western toys
Permalink |
See
full article
from the BBC
|
Iran's
top prosecutor has called for restrictions in the import of
Western toys, saying they have a destructive effect on the
country's youth.
The Prosecutor General, Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi, said that
toys such as Barbie, Batman, and Harry Potter would have
negative social consequences.
Najafabadi wants measures taken to protect what he called Iran's
Islamic culture and revolutionary values.
Correspondents say Western culture is becoming increasingly
popular in Iran.
Najafabadi's comments were made in a letter addressed to Iranian
Vice President Parviz Davoudi, and quoted in several Iranian
newspapers.
The displays of personalities such as Barbie, Batman,
Spiderman and Harry Potter... as well as the irregular
importation of unsanctioned computer games and movies are all
warning bells to officials in the cultural arena. The
irregular importation of such toys, which unfortunately arrive
through unofficial sources and smuggling, is destructive
culturally and a social danger," he said.
Najafabadi, a high-ranking cleric, said Iran was the world's
third biggest importer of toys, with many more being smuggled
into the country: We need to find substitutes to ward off
this onslaught, which aims at children and young people whose
personality is in the process of being formed.
|
| 4th May |
Barbaric 'honour killings'... |
|
| |
The weapon to subjugate women in Iraq
Permalink full story: No Honour in Religion...Honour crimes from around the world |
See
full article from the
Independent
by Terri Judd
|
The
stoning death of Ms Du'a Khalil Aswad led to the establishment
of an Internal Ministry unit in Iraqi Kurdistan to combat
violence against women. It reported that last year in
Sulaymaniyah, a city of 1 million people, there were 407
reported offences, beheadings, beatings, deaths through "family
problems", and threats of honour killings. Rape is not included
as most women are too fearful to report it for fear of
retribution. Nevertheless, police in Karbala recently revealed
25 reports of rape.
Despite the stoning outrage, recent calls by the Kurdish MP
Narmin Osman to outlaw honour killings have been blocked by
fundamentalists. Honour killings are not actually a crime in
the eyes of the government, said Houzan Mahmoud, who has had
a fatwa on her head since raising a petition against the
introduction of sharia law in Kurdistan. If before there was
one dictator persecuting people, now almost everyone is
persecuting women.
In the past five years it is has got [much] worse. It is
difficult to described how terrible it is, how badly we have
been pushed back to the dark ages. Women are being beheaded for
taking their veil off. Self immolation is rising – women are
left with no choice. There is no government body or institution
to provide any sort of support. Sharia law is being used to
underpin government rule, denying women their most basic human
rights.
The new Iraqi constitution, according to Mrs Mahmoud, is a mass
of confusing contradictions. While it states that men and women
are equal under law it also decrees that sharia law – which
considers one male witness worth two females – must be observed.
The days when women could hold down key jobs or enjoy any
freedom of movement are long gone. The fundamentalists have sent
out too many chilling messages. In Mosul two years ago, eight
women were beheaded in a terror campaign.
It was really, really horrifying, said Mrs Mahmoud.
Honour killings and murder are widespread. Thousands [of people]
... have become victims of murder, violence and rape – all
backed by laws, tribal customs and religious rules. We urge the
international community, the government to condemn this barbaric
practice, and help the women of Iraq.
...Read
full article
|
| 3rd May |
Religious Nonsense... |
|
| |
Nutter bishops in Australia push to ban porn
Permalink |
So how many people have been killed due to porn compared with those
killed in the name of religion or religion inspired morality or honour?See
full article from
Life Site News
See
full letter from the Bishops
|
Australian
bishops urge their government to ban pornography, one of the
most evil uses of the Internet in a new pastoral letter on
Internet safety.
The letter explains that the relative anonymity of the
Internet and its private nature means that there is a real
danger of pornographic addiction. The Bishops warn that
All of these images are humiliating and degrading, most often
towards women.
The letter points to a growing body of research about the
damage that Internet pornography is doing to marriages and
relationships. In 2007, the Sydney Morning Herald spent two
months charting this new social phenomenon which it said was
poisoning couples and destroying families. The investigation
found that counselors were reporting that an increasing number
of clients had begun to cite Internet pornography as a factor in
their relationship breakdowns.
The bishops point out moreover that while it is damaging to
marriages, addiction to Internet pornography is no less
damaging to single people or to those dedicated to living a life
of celibacy.
The letter explains: The Church commends the intimate giving
of spouses to each other. Pornography undermines this. It
injures the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the
public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and
illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in
the illusion of a fantasy world.
The bishops urge parents to discuss the dangers of pornography -
its damaging impact on human dignity and on relationships
- with their children, and call for the government to ban such
degrading materials: Civil authorities should prevent the
production and distribution of pornographic materials, and that
includes, as far as possible, distribution on the Internet.
|
| 3rd May |
Dangerous Religious Element... |
|
| |
China holds bible seller in prison
Permalink full story: Restricting Christianity...Bibles in China |
See
full article
from Compass Direct
|
An
advocacy organization reported this week that Chinese authorities now
accuse a Beijing businessman of being a dangerous religious element
– which a long-time friend dismissed as contrary to Christian
bookstore owner Shi Weihan’s gentle, patriotic nature.
Authorities have been slow to reveal charges against Shi, who after his
original arrest for illegal business practices on November 28,
2007 was released on January 4 due to insufficient evidence. He
was re-arrested on March 19, according to his wife Zhang Jing, for
printing Bibles and Christian literature.
Until last week he had been denied a visit by his attorney. Following
that visit, China Aid Association reported that authorities were holding
Shi at the Beijing Municipal Detention Center as a dangerous
religious element.
During the meeting with his attorney, Shi’s talk was interrupted by
the guards on several occasions and he received a warning, according
to a statement by CAA. Interrogation of Shi, the lawyer told CAA, has
centered on his relationship with foreigners, especially those from the
United States.
Long-time friend Ray Sharpe said that Shi’s many foreign relationships
as a travel agent may have raised undue suspicions by Chinese
authorities.
Update:
Still Being Held
23rd June 2008
Despite having held Shi beyond the time legally allowed, absent formal
charges or a court hearing, the Public Security Bureau still refuses to
allow his family or attorney to see him,” said a source close to Shi’s
lawyer. Claiming an ongoing investigation in what they are calling ‘a
complex case,’ they have managed to hold the owner of a legally
registered Christian bookstore in an undisclosed location without giving
any assurances that he is receiving his needed diabetic medicine.
The Public Security Bureau has stated that it will delay action on the
case indefinitely, raising questions about Shi’s health and safety.
Update:
Denied Medication
9th September 2008
Shi Weihan is awaiting the outcome of an August 19 court appearance and
may be back in court within 10 days, according to Compass sources.
Denied proper medication and diet for his diabetes, Shi is almost
“unrecognizable” due to severe weight loss, according to family members.
|
| 3rd May |
Iraqi Child Killers... |
|
| |
Iraqi girl befriending British soldier murdered by father
Permalink full story: No Honour in Religion...Honour crimes from around the world |
See
full article from the Daily Mail
|
An
Iraqi teenage girl was brutally murdered by her father in an
"honour killing" after she fell in love with a British soldier
in Basra.
Seventeen-year-old Rand Abdel-Qader told her best friend how she
had fallen for Paul, a 22-year-old she met at a charity where
she worked as a volunteer.
When her father learned she had been seen speaking to a
foreigner he rushed home and butchered her, strangling and
stabbing her while screaming that he was "cleansing his honour".
He was arrested, but Iraqi police took no action. His wife has
since left him and is in hiding.
The Ministry of Defence was last night trying to trace the
soldier. Officials stressed he appeared to have done nothing
wrong by befriending the girl.
Update:
Dishonouring Humanity
15th May 2008.
See
full article from the
Guardian
Two weeks after The Observer revealed the shocking story of Rand
Abdel-Qader, 17, murdered because of her infatuation with a
British solider in Basra, southern Iraq, her father is defiant.
Sitting in the front garden of his well-kept home in the city's
Al-Fursi district, he remains a free man, despite having stamped
on, suffocated and then stabbed his student daughter to death.
Abdel-Qader, 46, a government employee, was initially arrested
but released after two hours. Astonishingly, he said, police
congratulated him on what he had done. They are men and know
what honour is, he said.
|
| 2nd May |
Child Killers... |
|
| |
Father murdered 12 year old daughter in the name of honour
Permalink full story: No Honour in Religion...Honour crimes from around the world |
See
full article from Stop Honour
Killings
|
A
father beat his 12-year-old daughter to death to “save his
honour” in a small village in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The victim’s grandmother, Natho, told Newsline that her sons
killed Mamta after they found a boy, Pintu (14), her schoolmate,
in her room. Father Jagdish Singh and his brother Soni Singh
then allegedly burnt her body and dumped it in a well.
The police are, however, yet to recover the body and have
registered a case of murder against Singh and his two brothers,
who are at large.
Natho said Mamta was dear to her, but what she did was
“unacceptable” and that she “deserved” the punishment. How
could she let a boy into her room?
We were sleeping and were supposed to wake early because
there was a wedding in the family. Around 9.30 pm, I heard a
noise and went to Mamta’s room. I saw Pintu there. Seeing the
boy, her father and uncles got angry and started beating her up.
The beating continued till she died, Natho said with a
straight face.
According to Natho, Pintu, who lives next door, had managed to
escape initially after he was found in Mamta’s room, but was
tracked and beaten up. We would have killed him too, but the
villagers came and stopped us, said Sarvesh, Mamta’s sister.
|
| 1st May |
Too Late... |
|
| |
Alan Craig loses censorship case against BBC and ITV
Permalink |
See
full article
from the BBC
|
A
Christian party has lost a High Court bid to have its party election
broadcast (PEB) repeated, after claims it was censored by the BBC and
ITV.
Christian Choice said the BBC forced changes to its description of a
Muslim group in a PEB aired in London.
The BBC said it expressed concern and Christian Choice responded by
agreeing to change the form of words.
The judge said the request had been left "far too late" - although he
did not think the PEB had been libellous.
Alan Craig, the party's candidate for London mayor, had argued the
action breached his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights
- which guarantees the right to freedom of expression.
Rejecting Craig's request for a judicial review, the judge, Mr Justice
Collins, said he should have launched the legal challenge before the
broadcast took place on 23 April. He said it was "perfectly permissible"
for the BBC to take into account legal advice that the original
broadcast might have been libellous - although he did not think it would
have been.
But the judge said the BBC had indicated that if a legal challenge had
been issued before the broadcast it would have backed down and let
them publish as they wished.
Unfortunately that was not done, Mr Justice Collins added. He
ordered Mr Craig to pay the BBC's £11,875 in legal costs.
Original version:
You may know about plans by a separatist
Islamic group to build Europe’s biggest mosque next to the Olympics
site in West Ham. I think it’s a bad idea that will bring division and
I’m glad moderate Muslims support my stance in opposing it.
Censored version:
You may know about controversial plans by an
Islamic group to build Europe’s biggest mosque next to the Olympics
site in West Ham. I think it’s a bad idea that will bring division and
I’m glad some Muslims leaders support my stance in opposing it.
|
| 1st May |
No Go Fashion Zones... |
|
| |
Swimwear Provokes Intolerance in Birmingham
Permalink |
See
full article from ic Birmingham
|
TA
councillor has called for more control over advertising posters in
"culturally sensitive" areas of Birmingham.
Coun Talib Hussain made his plea after a billboard on the corner of Sydenham
Road and Golden Hillock Road, in predominantly Muslim Sparkbrook, was
defaced.
The hoarding, close to mosques in Anderton Road and Golden Hillock Road and
visible to parents and children walking to Montgomery Primary School,
promotes Matalan's new swimwear range and features three scantily-clad
models.
The models have been covered in thick white paint to conceal bare flesh.
Coun Talib Hussain (Ind, Sparkbrook) criticised the vandalism but said it
was a result of the lack of action from city council bosses. He said: I
condemn the people that did this but at the same time it's wrong for
companies to put that kind of advert in sensitive wards.
I have received complaints on a number of occasions not to put adverts
like that in Sparkbrook. The city council should not give permission to
advertising like that in these wards. Having families seeing naked pictures
does not bring the community together, it provokes things.
The vandalism is similar to a spate of attacks in 2005 and 2006 by a group
called Muslims Against Advertising.
A Birmingham City Council spokesman, said: Our only power is to approve
where advertising can take place, but not what is put on it. That is between
the Advertising Standards Agency and the firm itself.
The ASA said the content of billboard adverts was controlled by billboard
owner and the advertiser, and that the agency only had "responsive" powers:
If we receive complaints we will consider if an advert should be removed.
|
| 1st May |
Caste Offs from Humanity... |
|
| |
High caste hindu doctors refuse to treat dying mother and child
Permalink |
See
full article from the Daily Mail
|
India's
medieval caste system has claimed the lives of an "untouchable" mother and
her newborn baby after high-caste doctors refused to treat her.
The sad case of the young mother - who died a day after her baby perished
because medics wanted nothing to do with her - highlights the ongoing
problems faced by the millions who are at the bottom of India's social
ladder.
The mother-to-be, Maya Devi was brought to the Kanpur Medical College
hospital in northern Uttar Pradesh state by friends. She was suffering
severe pain and complications that prevented her giving birth.
But as she lay in a corridor outside the maternity wing, doctors - including
the hospital's chief medical superintendent - reportedly told her that they
would not be treating her because she was a Dalit, or untouchable.
People in that caste have long been ostracised and forced into menial jobs
such as cleaning toilets and sweeping the streets. Laws banning
discrimination have failed to make much difference in most cities. Many
high-class Hindus refuse to have any contact with untouchables, fearing they
will contract diseases such as leprosy and TB.
Maya's baby was born in the corridor but died shortly afterwards. Her mother
went into a coma.
Learning of her plight, Dr Kiran Pandey, head of the gynaecology unit, who
was an hour's drive away, turned her car around and sped back to the
hospital. Refusing to listen to doctors who told her of Maya's caste, Dr
Pandey brought the unconscious mother into the intensive care unit, where
she died after going into cardiac arrest for a second time.
The hospital's principal, Dr Anand Swaroop, along with a district
magistrate, has ordered a full inquiry into the case. The doctors who
refused to help her have been suspended as the investigation into their
conduct continues.
|