The European Union's French presidency has condemned the planned stoning of eight women and one man sentenced to death for adultery, calling for a halt to their execution.

The European Union urges Iran to put an immediate stop to these executions and to commute the death sentences by stoning that have just been passed, the EU's French presidency said in a statement.

It said it was deeply concerned by the fate of the nine, stressing that Iran had pledged to introduce a moratorium on stoning.

It was described as an exemplary piece of programme making by an award winning film-maker which launched a week of television coverage of Islam.

But a Channel 4 documentary on the Qur'an has angered a group of leading Shia Muslim scholars, who have criticised it for making seriously inaccurate statements about their branch of the faith.

In a letter to Channel 4, they said that the depiction of Shia beliefs in The Qur'an, broadcast earlier this month, was disappointing, misleading, even defamatory.

The signatories to the letter were also angered by the apparent links made between Shiaism and violence, with scenes of Iranian Shias burning effigies, chanting anti-western slogans, and advocating acts of terror.

In the documentary, film-maker Antony Thomas explored the history of Islam's holy book, examining it for statements on equality, suicide bombings, and relationships with other faiths.

While some critics hailed it as a masterpiece, it angered prominent Shias. The denomination comprises up to 20% of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims.

But criticism of the programme was not confined to the Shia scholars. Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, also wrote to Channel 4's chief executive, Andy Duncan, last Thursday, warning of specific misrepresentations that could damage cohesion between Muslim communities. The programme unfairly maligns Muslims following the Shia tradition by accusing them of heresy based on a collection of age-old polemics and misinformation, Bari's letter said. With respect, this is an irresponsible portrayal which plays into the hands of those who wish to seek discord amongst Muslims, which we hope you did not intend.

The organization Hazteoir.org filed a complaint with Spain’s Attorney General against the organizers of a July 5 “gay pride” parade for inciting religious hatred.

The gay pride parade, which took place in Madrid, is renowned not only for its graphic and supposedly violent displays of homosexual sex, but also for its unsurprising aggression against the Catholic faith. Many participants dress up in clerical or religious garb combined with sexual objects, and others carry signs that mock the Pope, the bishops and Catholics in general.

According to Hazteoir.org, participants also denigrated Catholic images and symbols, which would have been denounced had the target of the attacks been any other religious or social group.

We are filing this complaint in order to ensure that in Spain you can no longer get off scot-free offending the Church, the symbols and the beliefs of the majority of Spanish society, the organization’s president, Ignacio Arsuaga said. He explained that the complaint filed with the Attorney General shows that the parade was not a case of freedom of speech but actually promoted hatred and discrimination against Catholics.

Conservative leader David Cameron has been criticised by nutters over his joke that he is considering introducing Sharia law for bicycle theft.

Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, said today:

We have had the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chief Justice saying aspects of Sharia law cold be introduced into civil proceedings. That was bad enough, but Cameron has gone one further, by suggesting that Sharia principles could be of value in our criminal law.

He may have thought it was a joke, but cutting peoples' hands cut off for theft isn't funny.

The idea of replacing our Judeo-Christian law with Islamic Sharia law isn't funny either.

Just two weeks ago, I was debating with Muslims in Queen Mary's University of London , opposing the motion: 'This House believes that Islam is the only intellectual and Political challenge to Liberal Secularism.'

These guys were moderate Muslims, but they were adamant that only Islam held the answer for the problems of British society.

Now the leader of Her Majesty's Opposition has encouraged that idea and raised expectations amongst Muslims that their criminal legal system could be of value in Britain .

David Cameron ought to go away and study what is happening in his own country. It is good that he has in a sense been 'mugged by reality' over crime but he is completely out of touch with the realities of Islamic ambition in this land.

A leading art gallery is being taken to court over claims that it outraged public decency by displaying a statue depicting Christ with an erection.

The sculpture was the most provocative item in an exhibition at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead.

Despite signs warning of the exhibition’s explicit nature, the gallery received complaints.

A private prosecution has now been launched and the first hearing in what could prove a landmark case has been set for September.

Legal documents claim that the gallery has both offended public decency and breached Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986. The maximum penalty for outraging public decency is six months’ imprisonment and a £5,000 fine.

The documents claim that the foot-high sculpture was ‘offensive and disgusting’ and likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to Christians and those of other faiths.
Controversial: Chinese-born artist Terence Ko

Legal experts said yesterday that the hearing would be the first test of public decency legislation since the Government scrapped Britain’s ancient blasphemy laws in May.

The prosecution has been launched by Emily Mapfuwa who read about the exhibition in newspapers. I don’t think this gallery would insult Muslims in this way, so why Christians? she said.

Father Christopher Warren, of the Roman Catholic cathedral of St Mary’s in Newcastle upon Tyne, said: For Christians the image of Jesus is very special and to interpret it in a sexualised way is an affront to what we hold dear.

A newspaper editor has received death threats from militant groups for publishing a cartoon of a radical woman Islamic leader encouraging her pupils to wage holy war.

Najam Sethi, chief editor of the Daily Times, one of Pakistan’s most respected English language newspapers and its sister paper Daily Aaj Kal, now moves under heavy security after ultra-conservative Islamic elements warned him of serious consequences if he did not repent. His house in Lahore is now guarded by six army commandos.

The threats were provoked by the publication of a cartoon in Aaj Kal depicting Umme Hassan, principal of a radical women’s madrassa, in a veil “educating” female students to wage jihad and embrace martyrdom.

Ms Hassan is the wife of Abdul Aziz, the prayer leader of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, who was jailed after the mosque was stormed by Pakistani troops last year. Addressing a rally on the anniversary of the Red Mosque raid in Islamabad last week, Ms Hassan declared that the cartoon was blasphemous, equating it with Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Other clerics of the Red Mosque argued that since Ms Hassan was teaching the Koran to her students in the mosque, any attempt to belittle her was blasphemous.

After the rally, anonymous callers threatened staff in the paper’s Islamabad offices. Security officials said that the threat was serious as soldiers involved in the raid on the Red Mosque had been the target of suicide attacks.

Russia's highest Muslim council on Saturday issued a protest against a ban on some Islamic publications considered by the authorities to be "extremist".

The Council of Muftis has taken a decision to request that the relevant institutions of the Russian Federation carry out a repeat analysis of the books, the council said in a statement.

Starting last year, the authorities have compiled a regularly updated list of publications seen as breaking sweeping new laws against extremism. Most of the banned books are linked to Islam.

Infuriated because his younger sister was going to clubs, wearing immodest clothing and planning to leave her family for a new life in New York City, Waheed Allah Mohammad stabbed her outside their Henrietta home, prosecutors allege.

Afterward, he told Monroe County sheriff's investigators that he attacked his sister because she had disgraced their family and was a bad Muslim girl, according to court documents.

Mohammad, 22, is scheduled to appear in Monroe County Court on charges of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the May 8 attack on Fauzia A. Mohammad, 19.

The case is the second in four years in Monroe County in which an immigrant from South Asia is alleged to have killed or tried to kill a family member over the perceived loss of family honor — an occurrence that is not uncommon in South Asia but is rare in the United States.

Fauzia Mohammad is recovering from her wounds.

A Pakistani couple has appealed a court decision to award custody of their two daughters, 10 and 13, to the children’s alleged kidnappers. The court based its custody decision on the girls’ conversion to Islam.

'Judge' Main Naeem Sardar ruled that Saba Masih, 13, and Aneela Masih, 10, had become Muslims, invalidating their Christian parents’ right to legal guardianship.

He said that because the parents are Christians and because the girls told the court that they adopted Islam, their relationship has ceased, lawyer Rashid Rehman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) told Compass. Under a common interpretation of Islamic law, a Christian cannot have custody of a Muslim.

According to the HRCP’s most recent annual report on human rights in Pakistan, crime against children, especially kidnapping, remains a serious problem. In Muzaffargarh district, where Aneela and Saba Masih lived, 24 children were freed in March 2007 from a “mini-jail” at an Islamic seminary, where they had been tortured and sodomized, the HRCP reported.

According to Rehman, religious minorities are an easy target for kidnappers both because they are typically underprivileged and because of religious bias against them.

Local police and judges have their subconscious mindset that if you help Muslims [in such cases], it’s a very noble cause and a very religious cause, the lawyer said.

Nine people in Iran, eight women and one man, have been sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of adultery in verdicts lawyers blame on a resurgence of hardline Islamic fundamentalism.

The sentences have been imposed in courts across the country despite a supposed moratorium on the punishment, which Iran says is justified under sharia law.

Lawyers say most of the nine have been victims of violence and are mostly too ill-educated to understand the charges against them.

Many of the sentences were handed down after hearings held in private without the presence of witnesses and defence lawyers.

Details of the sentences were disclosed by Iranian lawyers yesterday in Tehran as they attempted to generate international support for a campaign to force Iran's government to abolish stoning.

These women mostly come from the illiterate masses and did not have money or access to a lawyer. Many did not understand Farsi and, of course, all the interrogations were in Farsi, Shadi Sadr, a prominent Iranian human rights lawyer, told the Guardian. In all of the cases, there has been violence against them, or they have been forced into marriages, or their divorce applications have been refused. In some cases, they couldn't apply for a divorce due to family pressures.

They came to light after a group of Iranian lawyers embarked on a campaign to halt stoning, which has been condemned by international human rights groups. The lawyers are calling on Iran's judiciary chief, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, to issue pardons.

However, Shahroudi's influence in the current political climate is believed to be limited. Last year, he ordered a stay of execution for a man condemned to be stoned for adultery but local officials carried out the sentence in violation of his orders.

Love your neighbour... ...and use a fucking condom!

Last Wednesday, Congressman Henry Waxman conducted the first-ever hearing on the effectiveness of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. It took 12 years of conservative congressional leadership and $1.5 billion before we finally achieved some public accountability for these failed programs.

The spotlight, and pressure, now clearly shifts to the House Democratic leadership to act. After the overwhelming evidence highlighting the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only programs presented at last week's hearing.

The hearing produced a litany of rejection of abstinence-only programs from mainstream, science-based public health organizations. The American Academy of Pediatrics testified that the abstinence-only approach was not only ineffective, but could cause real harm to young people. The Institute of Medicine stated that continued support for these programs does not comport with the evidence. The American Public Health Association also rejected abstinence-only programs and cited the significance of 17 states rejecting abstinence-only dollars in the face of the enormous need for public health resources at the state level.

Dr. John Santelli from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health summed it all up by explaining that abstinence has a legitimate role within comprehensive sex education which also includes birth control and condoms. However, abstinence-only programs that exclude information about birth control and condoms, have no place at the center of federal sex education policy.

If we listen to the experts from last week, the path for Democratic leaders is clear -- it's time to support what works. All the data, the studies, and the logic, point to one conclusion -- a comprehensive approach to sex education that includes birth control and condoms, as well as abstinence, works.

One of the stars of Monty Python's Life of Brian is to look into lifting a long-standing ban on it in the town she presides in as mayor.

Sue Jones-Davies, the mayor of Aberystwyth, rose to fame when she played the part of Judith, Brian's girlfriend.

The film caused outrage among Christian nutters all over the world who complained its content was blasphemous. As a result some areas, including Aberystwyth, prevented the film from being shown in cinemas.

The ban in Aberystwyth still stands to this day, nearly 30 years after the film's release.

Sue Jones-Davies, who is now a Plaid Cymru town councillor and yoga teacher, said she is going to investigate the possibility of lifting the ban: I didn't even know the ban was in existence until Friday. It isn't something I have been worrying about. It is intriguing to think it is banned but I suppose these things come into place and, unless they are revoked, the ban remains. Maybe you can still get prosecuted for showing it. I think it has been shown in the town before but it was shown quietly.

I don't think it would harm the religious faith. I'm going to talk to my town clerk Jim Griffiths and we will be investigating.

Update: Local Nutter Weighs In

27th July 2008

Reverend Nutter Stuart Bell said: If it was an unpleasant film 30 years ago, then it remains an unpleasant film 30 years later. I have not seen the film, nor have I any wish to do so. And I would have thought there are many issues of more importance to the people of Aberystwyth for the mayor to consider than having a ban on this film removed.

It looks increasingly unlikely that cinema audiences in this world will get to see the planned film sequels in Philip Pullman's children's fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials.

Sources in the film industry said that plans for a sequel to The Golden Compass appeared to have been put on ice following the fervent Christian protests surrounding the first film, which led to boycotts and box office disappointment in the United States.

Pullman told The Independent that he had not yet been contacted by Shepperton Studios and was not aware of any imminent plans to film the sequel, The Subtle Knife.

When The Golden Compass was released last year, New Line Cinema had high hopes for the trilogy, and the sequel was due to be released by the end of 2009.

But then the Christian boycotts started and the film sunk in the US, making a meagre $70m (£35m), although it took a hefty $300m internationally. New Line has since been merged with Warner Brothers.

A groundbreaking Saudi-sponsored interfaith dialogue on July 18, predictably called for the criminalisation of blasphemy.

(The conference) calls for international organizations to work to issue a document stating respect of faiths and religious symbols and criminalizing those insulting them, said the conference in a final communiqué.

The conference called on the UN General Assembly to call a special session to promote dialogue and prevent a clash of civilizations. It also calls for pursuing dialogue to spread the culture of tolerance and understanding.

Opened on Wednesday, the three-day conference brought together 200 participants from different faith to bring world's great monotheistic faiths closer.

Leading among attendees were Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz, secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, Michael Schneider, and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who is responsible for dialogue between the Vatican and Muslims.

Discussions touched upon a number of hot issues including restrictions on hijab-wearing in some European countries to Prophet Muhammad lampooning cartoons.

Based on article from nysun.com

The conference concluded on a sour note this afternoon as Christian and Jewish participants complained that the organizers, the Muslim World League, had too much control over the conference's closing communiqué.

The major complaint of many participants was that the document appears to have been revised at some stage without the consent of members of a drafting committee. And the vast majority of participants never had a chance to review any version of the statement before Mr. Al-Zaid of the Muslim World League read it aloud.

For us as participants from other religions this is not an acceptable procedure for adopting documents, a Russian Orthodox priest participating in the conference, George Ryabykh, said.

The body of a Christian teenager has been dragged out of a canal in Pakistan after he was allegedly tortured to death in a honour killing for seeing a Muslim girl.

The 19-year-old victim, was brought up by Christian parents in a city in Punjab. He met the 19-year-old girl on their way to school.

Although it was taboo for Muslims and Christians to become romantically linked they started to call one another on their mobile phones.

The girls parents issued a stark warning that they would not permit a Christian man to disgrace Islam, and threatened to kill the boy if the relationship continued.

But the relationship continued until the boy was lured to his death at the hands of the family of his girl. They held him and tortured him for almost two days until he died.

Eventually, the teenager’s body was pulled out of a canal.

Lawyers say the police refuse to report the case as murder and are insisting on registering the cause of death as suicide.

The police were biased, because it was a matter of religion, says Joseph Francis. The Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement has now taken up the case with the authorities and is pressing for justice for the victim’s family.

Christian Voice nutter, Stephen Green, has been noted arguing a particularly reprehensible line of reasoning. You don't get much lower than this.

From the Guardian:

On Sunday evening, a lone campaigner stood outside St Mary's church, Putney. Stephen Green, a haggard and unshaven figure, obsessed and weighed down by the wickedness of modern Britain, handed out leaflets warning of the consequences of same-sex love, while announcing to anyone who would listen: Homosexuality and sexual immorality is all on a continuum with paedophilia, bestiality, adultery, child-sacrifice. You are saying it is all OK.

Yemeni Muslim preachers have withdrawn calls for the establishment of an organisation for promoting virtue and combating vice after rights activists voiced fears that religious police could undermine freedoms.

Around 4,000 preachers gathered at a conference centre in the capital Sana'a and called instead for an annual meeting to discuss violations against teachings of the Islamic law and public morals.

The gathering particularly criticised prostitution activities in some cities and publicly serving alcohol at hotels and restaurants frequented by foreigners and locals alike.

Our society is being invaded by the viruses of vice that destroyed the people, and it is necessary now to protect and guard the religion and people, fundamentalist Islamic leader Abdul-Majeed al-Zendani said in an address to the gathering.

Authorities were quick to respond to the call and closed several venues, including a Chinese massage club and two restaurants which serve alcohol in Sana'a.

The Arlington Group, a coalition of Christian nutter organizations that includes Focus on the Family, met with Marriott International officials in April to try and persuade the hotel chain to stop offering pay-per-view adult movies in its rooms.

Marriott offers the programming in most of its 3,000 U.S. hotels, and the Arlington Group representatives urged the chain to adopt an "opt-in" television system, in which guests would have to contact the front desk to receive adult entertainment. Currently, the programming is available in hotel rooms until guests opt out.

At the meeting, the group presented Marriott officials with 102,000 signatures from people wanting the chain to stop offering adult entertainment. Of those signatures, 9,000 were from Marriott Rewards Card members.

Marriott responded in a letter dated June 26 to Donald Wildman, president of the nutter action group American Family Association, which is part of the coalition.

The letter said the company was in conversation with its adult-entertainment provider, Lodgenet, about the opt-in procedure, said Roger Conner, vice president of communications for Marriott International. Marriott took no other action but promised it would raise the issue at its owners meeting in late July, Conner said.

In a terse letter to Marriott dated July 14, Wildman imposed a deadline of Aug. 15 to hear a definite response on concrete actions taken toward the removal of pornography from your properties.

Love your neighbour... ...unless of course he's gay

Public servants should not be allowed to discriminate on the grounds of their beliefs, Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott said today.

She has tabled a motion in the Commons, urging a change in the law.

Last week Lillian Ladele, a marriage registrar, claimed that she was discriminated against because of her religion when she refused to conduct civil partnership ceremonies while employed by Islington council.

An employment tribunal agreed. Her victory could set a precedent that will allow people with strong religious convictions to opt out of the provision of services to gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

Islington Council has decided it will appeal against the employment tribunal ruling.

It emerged earlier this week that Ms Ladele is an unmarried single mother. She told the Mail that she gave birth to an illegitimate son when she was 20. I would never claim to be perfect, she said.

The revelation has led to accusations that she was not properly cross-examined at the tribunal about the nature of her religious faith.

The BBC have just sent a bailiff to serve a statutory demand on Christian activist Stephen Green in respect of Mark Thompson's costs of £55,000 in the Jerry Springer the Opera case.

The demand could see Green made bankrupt and homeless.

The High Court ruled last December that Stephen Green could not prosecute Mark Thompson, the Director General of the BBC, and Jonathan Thoday of Avalon over the BBC2 broadcast of Jerry Springer the Opera and its subsequent theatre tour. The Court ordered costs against him.

Last month, Stephen Green wrote to both Mark Thompson and Jonathan Thoday inviting them to waive their costs in the interests of goodwill and justice. The appeal to the better nature of Thompson has fallen on deaf ears.

Anti-pope activists in Australia have won permission to 'annoy' Catholic pilgrims at the World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney after a court upheld their right to hand out condoms and coat hangers.

The decision, by the Federal Court, strikes down a law introduced by the state of New South Wales that would have fined anyone causing annoyance to the estimated 225,000 pilgrims visiting Sydney to celebrate with Pope Benedict XVI. The fines could have been up to A$5,500 (£2,700).

As soon as the court had given its ruling, Rachel Evans, one of two protesters from the No To Pope Coalition who brought the case, started handing out condoms to pilgrims. We’re not seeking to annoy or inconvenience anyone, she said, wearing a T-shirt declaring: The Pope is wrong, put a condom on.

The New South Wales government had claimed that the new regulations extended to police the same rights to suppress trouble as they already had for big sporting events. It emphasised that a ban on causing inconvenience remained in force.

Ms Evans and another student activist, Amber Pike, argued that the law was unconstitutional because it infringed their right to peaceful protest. The judges ruled that the attempt to regulate annoying behaviour would affect freedom of speech because of uncertainty about how it could be defined.

The statement from the judges was very clear, Ms Evans said. We have the right to peaceful assembly and these annoyance laws contravene that right. The judges specifically said condoms, T-shirts, coat hangers and so on.

Protesters are handing out coat hangers as a reference to backstreet abortions — a consequence, they say, of Catholic opposition to contraception and abortion.

The Muslim cleric Sheikh Imam Fawaz Jneid is claiming 55,000 euros in damages from far-right Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders for allegedly damaging his reputation. The cleric was shown in Wilders' film Fitna.

Wilders, quoted by Radio Netherlands says Jneid's claim is the world upside down.

Love your neighbour... ...unless of course he's gay

A Christian registrar who refused to carry out gay 'weddings' has won a landmark legal battle.

Lillian Ladele was threatened with the sack and thrown before the lions after asking to be excused from conducting civil partnerships for same-sex couples because of her religious beliefs.

But a tribunal agreed that her faith had been ridden roughshod over by equalities-targeted Islington Council, which had sought to trump one set of rights with another.

The groundbreaking decision could lead to firms facing 'conscience claims' from staff who say their own beliefs prevent them carrying out part of their job.

The ruling found that Liberal Democrat-run Islington Council in North London cared too much about the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community. It also found that the council – which gave Miss Ladele an ultimatum to choose between her beliefs and her £31,000-a-year job – showed no respect for her rights as a Christian.

Compensation will be decided in September. There is no limit to the amount that can be awarded for religious discrimination.

Last night employment lawyer Lisa Mayhew, of Jones Day, said: It is a bit of a wake-up call for employers. They need to think about whether their instructions and the tasks expected of staff might cause people with religious beliefs more problems than others. It does not have to be religion – this could apply across the spectrum in terms of race, gender or sexual orientation.

Comment: Divorced from Christian Teaching

Thanks to Alan

Nice to be proved right a few years late! When the legislation banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and religion was introduced, I was earning my living through expertise in the field of employment relations, and I said at the time that we would have to see what happened when the two inevitably clashed, given that homosexual relations are a taboo for most religions.

The baffling thing about this case is that Ms Ladele's scruples only kick in about homosexual civil partnerships. OK, the Old Testament and Saint Paul have quite a bit to say about the evils of sodomy, but registry offices have long been the venue of choice for people defying the instructions of the late, great JC himself, by putting away their wives and taking another.

The US Justice Department is considering a change in the grounds on which the FBI can investigate citizens and legal residents of the United States. Till now, DOJ guidelines have required the FBI to have some evidence of wrongdoing before it opens an investigation. The impending new rules, which would be implemented later this summer, allow bureau agents to establish a terrorist profile or pattern of behavior and attributes and, on the basis of that profile, start investigating an individual or group. Agents would be permitted to ask "open-ended questions" concerning the activities of Muslim Americans and Arab-Americans. A person's travel and occupation, as well as race or ethnicity, could be grounds for opening a national security investigation.

The rumored changes have provoked protests from Muslim American and Arab-American groups. The Council on American Islamic Relations, among the more effective lobbies for Muslim Americans' civil liberties, immediately denounced the plan, as did James Zogby, the president of the Arab-American Institute. Said Zogby, There are millions of Americans who, under the reported new parameters, could become subject to arbitrary and subjective ethnic and religious profiling. Zogby, who noted that the Bush administration's history with profiling is not reassuring, warned that all Americans would suffer from a weakening of civil liberties.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey's explained his rationale for revising the rules: It's necessary to put in place regulations that will allow the FBI to transform itself as it is transforming itself into an intelligence-gathering organization.

When did Congress, or we as a nation, have a debate about whether we want to authorize the establishment of a domestic intelligence agency? Indeed, late last month Congress signaled its discomfort with the concept by denying the FBI's $11 million funding request for its data-mining center.

It is a mystery why the Department of Justice has not learned the lesson that terrorists are best tracked down through good police work brought to bear on specific illegal acts, rather than by vast fishing expeditions. After Sept. 11, the DOJ called thousands of Muslim men in the United States for what it termed voluntary interviews. Not a single terrorist was identified in this manner, though a handful of the interviewees ended up being deported for minor visa offenses. Once it became clear that the interviews might eventuate in arbitrary actions against them, the willingness of American Muslims to cooperate declined rapidly, and so the whole operation badly backfired.

Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu leader has given a United Kingdom (UK)-wide boycott call for Hollywood movie The Love Guru by Hindus and other religious Brits because it lampoons Hinduism and Hindu concepts and uses Hindu terms frivolously.

Zed has also criticized BBFC for giving it "12A" classification, when he says it deserved the highest "18" classification. Although BBFC claims We help to protect vulnerable viewers and society from the effects of viewing potentially harmful or unsuitable content, but by giving The Love Guru a "12A" rating, it is leading the highly impressionable British children between 12 to 18 years to grow-up with a distorted view of Hinduism, Zed adds.

The Love Guru, a comedy starring Mike Myers (of Austin Powers fame) will be released in UK on August 1st.

Update: Ireland's Turn

16th July 2008

Zed has also criticized Irish Film Censor's Office (IFCO) for giving it "15A" (suitable for 15 and upwards) classification, when he says it deserved the highest "18" (over 18) classification.

Although IFCO claims We have a duty to protect children and young persons from harm, but by giving The Love Guru a "15A" rating, it is leading the highly impressionable Irish children between 15 to 18 years to grow-up with a distorted view of Hinduism, Zed adds.

Update: Sweden's Turn

18th July 2008

Zed said the guru in The Love Guru instigates a bar fight, repeatedly narrates penis jokes, mocks yoga (one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy), wears female jewelry, mocks the concept of third eye, makes disciples drink tea passed through his nose, orders alligator soup, induces elephant copulation in front of the crowd, introduces himself as “His Holiness”, lives in a lavish ashram staffed with scantily clad maids, and whose goal in life seems to appear on Oprah Winfrey show.

He predictably called for a Swedish wide boycott of the film and for the Swedish film censors to award the highest rating.

Bible Warning

A gay man is suing two heavyweight Christian publishers, claiming their versions of the Bible that refer to homosexuality as a sin violate his constitutional rights and have caused him emotional pain and mental instability.

Bradley LaShawn Fowler of Michegan, is seeking $60 million from Zondervan, based in Cascade Township, and $10 million from Nashville-based Thomas Nelson Publishing.

Fowler filed the suit in federal court against Zondervan on July 7, the same day U.S. District Judge Julian Abele Cook Jr. refused to appoint an attorney to represent him in his case against Thomas Nelson.

The Court has some very genuine concerns about the nature and efficacy of these claims, the judge wrote.

Fowler alleges Zondervan's Bibles referring to homosexuality as a sin have made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of demoralization, chaos and bewilderment.

The intent of the publisher was to design a religious, sacred document to reflect an individual opinion or a group's conclusion to cause me or anyone who is a homosexual to endure verbal abuse, discrimination, episodes of hate, and physical violence ... including murder, Fowler wrote.

Fowler's suit claims Zondervan's text revisions from a 1980s version of the Bible included, and then deleted, a reference to homosexuality in 1 Corinthians without informing the public of the changes. The other suit, against Thomas Nelson and its New King James Bible, mirrors the allegations made against Zondervan.

It was not until the last minute when the conference-hall was set for the music festival, as well as the local invitees, key-note speakers, folklore dancers, government officials, journalists, and foreign guests were soon to arrive there that the students unleashed a wave of protest. They violently emptied the conference-hall of all the chairs and tables for the invitees, and they removed from the walls all the slogans, pictures, and decorations for the event.

Inspired by local Wahabi clerics, who had been preaching in advance against this event in their daily sermons in the mosques in the town, these students justified their acts of rejection and obstruction on the grounds that the music was un-Islamic.

The event was apparently supposed to have been part of the Somaliland authorities' relentless campaign for international recognition. It was the first time in the history of their yet internationally unrecognised country, Somaliland’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism had organised a celebration for the World Music Day in the capital Hargeisa. By locally promoting and celebrating the international events, the Somaliland authorities wanted to show that the country is governed from democratically established institutions. The zone of Somaliland generally is considered more peaceful than the rest of Somalia.

However, local Wahabi clerics have strongly challenged their campaign by proving on their part that they also govern the county from the platforms of the mosques. 'Community censorship' of music is not only limited to the conflict parts of Somalia.

On a sunny May morning, six plainclothes police officers, two uniformed policemen and a trio of functionaries from the state prosecutor's office closed in on a small apartment in Amsterdam. Their quarry: a skinny Dutch cartoonist with a rude sense of humor. Informed that he was suspected of sketching offensive drawings of Muslims and other minorities, the Dutchman surrendered without a struggle.

I never expected the Spanish Inquisition, recalls the cartoonist, who goes by the nom de plume Gregorius Nekschot, quoting the British comedy team Monty Python. A fan of ribald gags, he's a caustic foe of religion, particularly Islam. The Quran, crucifixion, sexual organs and goats are among his favorite motifs.

...

If formally charged and taken to court, Mr. Nekschot risks up to two years in prison and a maximum fine of €16,750, or about $26,430, says his Amsterdam lawyer, Max Vermeij. He thinks the odds on his client being prosecuted are better than even but draws some comfort from recent Dutch court rulings in discrimination cases that mostly came down on the side of free speech.

Mr. Nekschot himself is very worried. I'm afraid of getting a judge who doesn't have a sense of humor, he says.

He's also worried that his identity will get exposed if he goes to court. This, says the cartoonist, could make him a target for attack like Theo van Gogh, a polemical filmmaker and foul-mouthed celebrity murdered by an Islamic extremist in November 2004. Mr. Van Gogh was a fan of Mr. Nekschot's work and posted his drawings on his own Web site, The Happy Smoker.

Justice Minister Hirsch Ballin, when grilled about the cartoon affair in Parliament, promised to protect Mr. Nekshot's anonymity so as to guarantee the suspect's safety. (The Wall Street Journal also agreed not to publish Mr. Nekschot's real name.)

But the minister, a devout Christian, added fuel to a mounting political furor by revealing the existence of a previously secret bureaucratic body, called the Interdepartmental Working Group on Cartoons. Officials later explained that the cartoon group had no censorship duties and had been set up after the 2006 Danish cartoon crisis to alert Dutch officials to any risks the Netherlands might face. The group examined Mr. Nekschot's work, say officials, but played no part in his arrest. Headed by a senior bureaucrat from a national agency coordinating counterterrorism, it draws from the intelligence service, the interior minister, the prosecutor's office and various other government bodies.

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The news that blog Harry’s Place is facing legal action from Mohammed Sawalha of the British Muslim Initiative was, in some ways, unsurprising. Harry’s Place has been made its name criticising groups such as the British Muslim Initiative, which its various contributors see as political organisations masquerading as ‘community groups’. Some kind of confrontation was inevitable, sooner or later.

Mr Sawalha’s complaint stems from an article posted on 2 July, in which Harry’s Place blogger David T alleged that Sawalha had referred to Jews as ‘evil’ in response to a pro-Israel rally in London. David T’s source was an Al Jazeera article in Arabic. Sawalha claims that any suggestion that he would use such wording undermines his community work.

David T had been alerted to the article by a Harry’s Place reader, who had spotted the story and run the text through Google Translate (the programmed delivered the phrase ‘dangerous Jew’. The blogger says he then ran it past Arabic speakers, who told him that the word translated by Google as ‘dangerous’ was ‘al wabil’ — ‘evil’ or ‘baleful’. However, when readers clicked on the link to the Al Jazeera article, they found the word ‘al lawbi’ — i.e. ‘lobby’. A heated debate on the translation ensued.

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France has denied citizenship to a Moroccan woman who wears a burqa on the grounds that her "radical" practice of Islam is incompatible with basic French values such as equality of the sexes.

The case yesterday reopened the debate about Islam in France, and how the secular republic reconciles itself with the freedom of religion guaranteed by the French constitution.

The woman, known as Faiza M, is married to a French national and lives east of Paris. She has lived in France since 2000, speaks good French and has three children born in France. Social services reports said she lived in "total submission" to her husband. Her application for French nationality was rejected in 2005 on the grounds of "insufficient assimilation" into France. She appealed, invoking the French constitutional right to religious freedom and saying that she had never sought to challenge the fundamental values of France. But last month the Council of State, France's highest administrative body, upheld the ruling.

She has adopted a radical practice of her religion, incompatible with essential values of the French community, particularly the principle of equality of the sexes, it said.

The offence of blasphemy is likely to be dropped from the Irish Constitution after recommendations from a Dail committee.

The joint committee on the Constitution said that changes to the Constitution in the areas of freedom of expression and blasphemy are required and should be voted on in a future referendum.

The Oireachtas report concluded that constitutional references to freedom of expression are unsatisfactory and focus too much on the limitations on free speech.

The Defamation Bill 2006 now proposes to repeal the 1961 Act and thereby abolish the common law offence of blasphemy. Committee chairman, Sean Ardagh, said the Constitution should be amended along the lines of Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights in order to ensure greater emphasis on the freedom of speech: The committee is of the view that amendment is not immediately necessary but recommends that change be made when an appropriate opportunity presents.

A constitutional reference which deems publication or utterance of "blasphemous, seditious or indecent matters" as an offence punishable in accordance with the law should also be deleted, according to the report.

Slogans like Pope Go Homo and The Pope Is Wrong - Put a Condom On will be splashed across protesters' T-shirts during next week's World Youth Day.

The NoToPope Coalition held an "annoying fashion parade" outside the New South Wales Parliament yesterday to unveil the shirts they will wear during a Sydney rally on July 19.

They fear police will ban them from wearing the shirts, after state police were given powers to arrest anyone they believe is causing annoyance or inconvenience to pilgrims.

Failure to comply with the laws, introduced for the events in Sydney from July 15-20, can attract a penalty of up to A$5500 ($7050).

Eight police officers watched as about a dozen members of the protest group unveiled their shirts.

A Kazakhstan parliamentary working group has proposed amendments to some of the more onerous sections of that country’s Religion Law. But the evolving draft law still contains numerous provisions that violate international human rights law, Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and United Nations standards, diplomatic critics say. The draft law still discriminates against minority religious groups, the critics say.

The country has a slight Islamic majority while serving as home to many other religious groups, including Pentecostals, Russian Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baha’i, and Jews. Religious pluralism has long been an aspiration of the nation. But the draft law is making that goal hard to realize.

A report by Forum 18 News Service, which covers minority religious affairs, notes that religious communities and human rights activists are especially alarmed about:

• restrictions on “missionary activity” by any individual
• the necessity of a state review of religious beliefs of registered communities
• a ban and increased penalties on unregistered activity
• compulsory re-registration of all communities
• the impossibility of registering communities that only work in some of the nation’s many regions, such as the Russian Orthodox and Catholic dioceses
• severe restrictions on smaller religious groups
• the requirement of state permission to build places of worship
• strictures requiring children show written permission before taking part in any religious youth event
• a requirement that sharing religious beliefs in public places will be illegal without the consent of all citizens present
• compulsory censorship of all imported religious literature

The well blog Harry's Place political blog reported about Mohammad Sawalha, President of the British Muslim Initiative, speaking to Al Jazeera in Arabic about his demonstration against last Sunday’s celebration of the foundation of the State of Israel.

They reported that he had used the 'word' evil when referring to Jews. The British Muslim Initiative have taken offence and contend that there was a mistranslation of the word 'lobby'.

Anyway all hell seems to be breaking loose over what is quite a seriously worrying organisation.

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Two books by Egyptian feminist author Nawal El-Saadawi have become the