Christian Electrician Wins Cross Battle
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Christian electrician facing the sack over a religious symbol in his van has won his battle to keep the cross on display after his employer backed down, his union claimed last night.

Colin Atkinson, 64, was called to a disciplinary hearing after refusing demands to remove the small palm cross from the dashboard of his company van.

But Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) is understood to have told Mr Atkinson at a confidential meeting that he can continue to display his cross, after he received backing from senior members of the Church and leaders of other faiths.

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury had described the situation as "scandalous" and Mr Atkinson was also supported by Muslim, Sikh and Hindu leaders as well as Housing and Planning Minister Grant Shapps. Read on and comment » | Nick Collins | Friday, April 22, 2011

We Face Ruin for Our Christian Beliefs
THE DAILY EXPRESS: THE hotel owners who this week were ordered to pay compensation to a gay couple for refusing them a room reveal the toll it has taken on their health and livelihood.

With its chintz and plentiful knick-knacks, the Chymorvah hotel isn’t to everyone’s taste. Some might even call the place faded or old-fashioned, yet for the best part of 25 years it has ticked along quite nicely, thank you.

There’s no questioning the lovely setting and wonderful views over St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, while a stream of repeat bookings are testament to the hospitality on offer behind the lace curtains. The Chymorvah’s amiable owners, Hazelmary and Peter Bull, would like to be renowned for the warmth of their welcome and her treacle suet puddings.

Instead, at a time of life when they have one eye on retirement, the couple have become unlikely standard bearers for traditional Christian values.

For years the Bulls have openly operated a policy of allowing only married couples to share a bed in the seven-bedroom hotel in Marazion, near Penzance, that is also their home.

However, this week Peter, 70, and Hazelmary, 66, were ordered to pay £3,600 compensation for “hurt and embarrassment” caused to a gay couple who were refused a double room. >>> Adrian Lee | Saturday, January 22, 2011

Attack on Christianity! Devon Nurse Loses Crucifix 'Ban' Claim at Tribunal
BBC: A Christian nurse moved to a desk job after refusing to remove her crucifix at work has lost a discrimination claim against her employers. >>> | Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Post-Christian Britain Interprets Laws In Favour of Islam and Against Christianity: Show you’re a Muslimah by wearing a hijab – okay; show you’re a Christian by wearing a crucifix – no way! >>>

Don’t Let Politicians Bully You, Lord Carey Warns Christians
MAIL ONLINE: Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey today accused politicians of trying to bully Christianity out of public life.

He complained of a 'strident and bullying campaign' to marginalise Christianity in the name of political correctness.

Lord Carey said: 'We have reached the point where politicians are mocked for merely expressing their faith.

'I cannot imagine any politician expressing concern that Britain should remain a Christian country. That reticence is a scandal and a disgrace to our history.'

The powerful intervention from the retired Archbishop, who stepped down from Lambeth Palace in 2002, comes in the wake of strongly-expressed criticism of state attempts to sideline Christianity from other senior prelates.

Last month Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu said that Christianity was being pushed out of public life in a 'ferocious and insidious' manner.

Lord Carey has spoken out strongly on a number of controversial matters since his retirement in a way he avoided while serving as the Anglican primate. In particular, he has backed limits to immigration, criticised Islamic theology, and attacked the 'anything goes' philosophy that has led judges to constrain public debate about the bad behaviour of celebrities for the sake of their privacy.

He told a meeting in the House of Lords: 'Christianity, which has given so much to our country, is now being sidelined as never before as though it is a stranger to our nation.'

Lord Carey told Christians to stand up for their faith and to be more assertive when their heritage is attacked.

'If we behave like doormats, don't be surprised if we are treated as though we are,' he said. 'It is time to return to the public square.' >>> Steve Doughty | Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Melanie Phillips: When a Bishop Has to Leave the Church of England to Stand Up for Christians, What Hope Is Left for Britain?
NAME: The resignation of Michael Nazir-Ali as Bishop of Rochester is a terrible blow, not just for the Church of England but for Britain.

The bishop says he is resigning so that he can work for endangered or beleaguered Christian minorities both abroad and in the UK.

What a shocking rebuke to the church, that he has to leave his post of influence and authority as a bishop in order to carry out the church's core duty to defend its own against attack.

Shocking - but hardly surprising. Across the world, in countries such as Nigeria and Sudan, millions of Christians are being persecuted at the hands of militant Islam, with forced conversions, the burning of churches and widespread violence.

Yet in the face of this global onslaught, the Church of England makes scarcely a peep of protest.

Worse still, when Dr Nazir-Ali warned last year that Islamic extremists had created 'no-go areas' across Britain where non-Muslims faced intimidation, he was disowned by his fellow churchmen who all but declared that he was a liar - even though he was telling the truth.

Courage

For this act of moral courage, he and his family had to be put under police protection, while his own church left him to swing in the wind of bigotry and intimidation.

Dr Nazir-Ali is one of the very few inside the church to make explicit the link between Christian and British values, and to warn publicly that they are being destroyed through the prevailing doctrine of multiculturalism.

That strong voice of protest has never been needed more than it is now. For Christianity in Britain is under attack from all sides.

Last month, the bishop protested that the arrival in Britain of so many from other faiths had led to the closure of chapels, the retrenchment of Christian chaplaincy and the advent of a 'doctrinaire multi-faithism' - not through pressure from the incoming minorities, but from British secularists who wanted to destroy Christianity.

That agenda is becoming ever more oppressive. Yesterday, it was revealed that a Christian council worker was suspended for encouraging a terminally ill woman to turn to God. He says he was also told it was inappropriate to 'talk about God' with a client and that he should not even say 'God bless'. >>> By Melanie Phillips | Sunday, March 29, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

21st Century Britain: Islam or Christianity?

Premier Christian Media >>>

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Gay Cleric Jeffrey John Could Become Britain's First Openly Homosexual Bishop
THE TELEGRAPH: An openly gay cleric is in line to become a bishop, in a move that could plunge the Anglican Communion into fresh crisis over homosexuality.

The Very Rev Jeffrey John was appointed Bishop of Reading five years ago but was forced to stand down by the Archbishop of Canterbury, a personal friend of his, after the election sparked outrage among conservatives.

He was later made the Dean of St Albans but is now being considered for the post of Bishop of Bangor in North Wales, following the death of the previous incumbent from cancer in June.

Insiders believe 55-year-old Dr John is highly likely to be chosen, because he is a Welsh speaker as well as being a respected theologian.

In addition, the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, recently admitted he would support the election of a gay bishop despite opposition among orthodox Anglicans and guidelines stating that practising homosexuals should not become clergy.

His appointment would likely deepen the crisis in the 80 million-strong worldwide church over homosexuality. Gay Cleric Jeffrey John Could Become Britain's First Openly Homosexual Bishop >>> By Martin Beckford Religious Affairs Correspondent | September 1, 2008

TIMESONLINE:
Gay Priest Dr Jeffrey John Could Become a Bishop in Wales >>> By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | September 1, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>

Religious Trends and Our Religious Future
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND NEWSPAPER: If recent reports of trends in religious observance prove to be correct, then in some 30 years the mosque will be able to claim that, religiously speaking, the UK is an Islamic nation, and therefore needs a share in any religious establishment to reflect this. The progress of conservative Islam in the UK has been amazing, and it has come at a time of prolonged decline in church attendance that seems likely to continue.

This progress has been enthusiastically assisted by this government in particular with its hard-line multi-cultural dogma and willingness to concede to virtually every demand made by Muslims. Perhaps most importantly the government has chosen to allow hard-liners to act as representing all Muslims, and more liberal Muslims have almost completely failed to produce any leadership voices to compete, leading many Britons to wonder if there are indeed many liberal Muslims at all, surely a mistake.

At all levels of national life Islam has gained state funding, protection from any criticism, and the insertion of advisors and experts in government departs national and local. A Muslim Home Office adviser, for example, was responsible for Baroness Scotland’s aborting of the legislation against honour killings, arguing that informal methods would be better. In the police we hear of girls under police protection having the addresses of their safe houses disclosed to their parents by Muslim officers who think they are doing their religious duty.

While men-only gentlemen’s clubs are now being dubbed unlawful, we hear of municipal swimming baths encouraging ‘Muslim women only’ sessions and in Dewsbury Hospitals staff waste time by turning beds to face Mecca five times a day — a Monty Pythonesque scenario of lunacy, but astonishingly true. Prisons are replete with imams who are keen to inculcate conservative Islam in any inmates who are deemed to be culturally ‘Muslim’: the Prison service in effect treats such prisoners as a cultural block to be preached to by imams at will. Would the Prison service send all those with ‘C of E’ on their papers to confirmation classes with the chaplain?! We could go on.

The point is that Islam is being institutionalised, incarnated, into national structures amazingly fast, at the same time as demography is showing very high birthrates. Charles Taylor’s new and classic work on the Secular Age charts the rise of the secular mindset and what he calls the ‘excarnation’ of Christianity as it is levered out of state policy and structures. Christianity is now regarded as bad news, the liberal elite’s attack developed in the 1960s took root in the educationalist empire, and to some extent even in areas of the church.

Today the Christian story is fading from public imagination, while Islam grows apace. There needs to be some fresh thinking in this area where the claims of Christ are sensitively explained. Our church leaders must develop ways of explaining this, as our feature on mission and evangelism this week demonstrates. [Source: Religious Trends and Our Religious Future]

Hat tip: Jihad Watch

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

The Archbishop Goes Muslim
TOWNHALL: WASHINGTON -- Islam has a new convert. Some will be surprised, but I am not. The newest convert to the religion of the unshaven face is Archbishop Rowan Williams. Dr. Williams has been the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church in the U.K. However, after his Feb. 7 interview on the BBC, I think we all can agree that he is not so much a spiritual leader as a spiritual capitulator.

In his wonderfully wooly-headed interview, derived from a public lecture delivered by him at the Royal Courts of Justice, Williams called on his countrymen to arrive at "constructive accommodation" with Shariah, which is Islamic law. According to his calculations, the inclusion of Shariah into the British code of law is "unavoidable." Thus if you are visiting London in the future and you appear in a British court, do not be surprised if it is presided over by a smiling mullah. Actually, it is not clear what Rowan knows about Shariah law, and in his BBC interview, he admitted: "I'm no expert on this." Nonetheless, he is calling for the institutionalization of Islam into at least some areas of his country's legal code. Doubtless soon the forward-looking archbishop will be seen lugging a prayer rug over to his local mosque at the appointed hours -- his wife, veiled and obedient, in tow. Shariah law can be pretty demanding.

In some countries where this legal code -- first formulated sometime in the seventh century -- is followed, it enjoins, among other atrocities, the stoning of adulterers, the amputation of body parts, and a kind of female subjugation unimaginable to even the most ardent Western male chauvinist pig. By the way, Shariah law even takes into consideration pigs, as well as mortgages, couture and the care of household pets, which are discouraged. As for pigs, they are considered "unclean." In most countries where Shariah law rules, a ham on rye is malum prohibitum -- pardon my Latin. As I say, Shariah law can be pretty demanding.

This brings me to a matter that Islam's most recent celebrity convert seems not to understand. Shariah law is socially, politically and legally all-embracing. It is not simply a religious faith, as various forms of Christianity are. It is a polity. As Peter G. Riddell, a theologian at the Kairos Journal, wrote in response to Williams on the Web site of The American Spectator, Shariah law "is a system that insists on society's compliance in every sector of human activity: legal, religious, economic, political, and social. Although Muslims may disagree on how to implement Islam as the total package, they do not disagree that Islam is much more than just a private expression of religious belief." So, Dr. Williams, you have had your last ham sandwich, and forget the pigs' knuckles. They are completely off the menu. The Archbishop Goes Muslim >>> By Emmett Tyrrell*

*Emmett Tyrrell is the founder and editor-in-chief of The American Spectator. He is also the author of Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House.

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Sharia Courts? Get Off Your Knees, Archbishop
THE TELEGRAPH: Clergymen inevitably spend much time on their knees. They are supposed to be there in prayer. However, as Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has demonstrated, the Church of England, in particular, loves to genuflect not just to God, but to any threat to the culture of which we all thought it was a central part.

Although we are a secular society - and I stress I write this as an unbeliever myself - the culture of our nation is fundamentally Christian. It cannot but be so when our head of state is also Supreme Governor of the established Church. No one chose that our society should be this way: it is how it has evolved. It has evolved through general consent, under a rule of law, and (for the last 200 years at any rate) via the democratic process. And, as a result, our culture and way of life are accepted to be a sensible basis for our all living together reasonably contentedly.

Why, then, has this idiotic man suggested that some elements of Islam's sharia law should be recognised in Britain? There is no call for it among the majority of Britons, who are quite satisfied with us all being subject to the same laws, and certainly no call for it among his flock. He is doing it for the traditional, British liberal reason: he seeks to capitulate to anyone who offers to challenge the status quo.

All appeasement of those who threaten a settlement - whether it be political, religious, cultural, legal or a mixture of all four - is dangerous and stupid. It is the thin end of the wedge to the overthrow of that settlement. The archbishop argues that Muslims should not be forced to choose between their culture and their country of adoption. I'm sorry, but that is precisely what they - and anybody from any different culture who comes here - must do. Sharia courts? Get off your knees, Archbishop >>> By Simon Heffer

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Archbishop Won’t Back Down Over Shariah Row
THE TELEGRAPH: The Archbishop of Canterbury has refused to back down over his controversial comments on Islamic law, but admitted his intervention had been "clumsy".

Dr Rowan Williams said much of the storm he had provoked last week when he argued that aspects of sharia could be incorporated in the English legal system had been based on misunderstandings.

Speaking to the General Synod in London, the Church's "parliament", he insisted it was "not inappropriate for a pastor of the Church of England" to address issues about the "perceived concerns of other religious communities".

However, he failed to quell all the criticism from within the Synod, a handful of members of which have called for his resignation.

While the vast majority rallied to his defence by greeting his arrival with a sustained minute-long standing ovation, a small number refused to join in the applause.

After his speech, Canon Christopher Sugden, a conservative evangelical from Oxford, challenged Dr William's arguments and called for an emergency debate, saying sharia law could never be subservient to any other system. Canon Sugden, of the Anglican Mainstream organization, claimed a full apology was the only response the Archbishop could give.

"He has caused great difficulties for our colleagues, especially in Nigeria, especially in countries where there is significant Muslim pressure for sharia to come in," he said. Archbishop won’t back down over sharia row >>> By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent

The Archbishop Speaks Out

THE TELEGRAPH:
Dr Rowan Williams's gift to Gordon Brown By Rachel Sylvester

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

At Least the Ayatollah of Canterbury Is Honest, Mr Brown
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY: The poor old Ayatollah of Canterbury doesn't actually deserve all the slime now being tipped over his modernised mitre. Just some of it.

Of course it is absurd for the chief of the Christian Church in this country to cringe publicly to Islam. But at least Archbishop Williams is open about his unwillingness to defend the faith – as is his colleague, the wretched Bishop of Oxford, who recently announced that he was perfectly happy for loudspeakers to blare the Muslim call to prayer across that city.

Even on their own liberal terms, this pair are clueless about sharia and its scorn for women.
It was exiled Iranian Muslim women who defeated a similar proposal in Canada. They had travelled thousands of miles to escape sharia law and didn't want it in Toronto, thanks very much.

Compare that with the Government, which poses stern-faced as the foe of "terror" and noisily jails figures of fun such as Abu Hamza while greasily pretending that there's no connection between Islam and terrorism.

Gordon Brown's Cabinet has also quietly agreed that Muslim men with more than one wife can now claim benefits for these extra spouses – while bigamy remains a criminal offence for everyone else, punishable by up to seven years in prison.

And what about the discreet little Whitehall celebrations of the Muslim festival of Eid, attended by highly placed civil servants?
Or the incessant multi-faith propaganda in supposedly Christian State schools, where children known to me have been pestered to draw pictures of mosques but are given virtually no instruction in the faith and scripture of our own established Church?

Why is it that in Britain, alone of all countries in the world, the most exalted, educated and privileged have all lost the will to defend their own home? Most of us liked it the way it was before they began to "modernise" it.

I know of nowhere else where those most richly rewarded by a free society are so anxious to trash the place that gave them birth and liberty. [Source: At least the Ayatollah of Canterbury is honest, Mr Brown] - By Peter Hitchens

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

The Church Should Have the Guts to Sack the Archbishop…and Pick a Man Who Truly Treasures British Values
Photo of the Archbishop of Canterbury courtesy of the Daily Mail
DAILY MAIL: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is fighting for his professional life after saying that the application of Islamic Sharia law in this country was "unavoidable" and that it was not an "alien and rival system" to English law.

The unprecedented outpouring of fury at his observations has caused people to question his fitness for office, with at least two members of the Synod already calling upon him to resign.

In his defence, his supporters claim the entire row has been got up by the "tabloid press".

This old chestnut ignores the fact that people went ballistic straight after they heard Dr Williams say on the radio that the principle of one law for everybody was "a bit of a danger" - well before any newspapers even wrote their stories.

And now this lame self-justification has been blown out of the water by devastating criticism from his predecessor Lord Carey, who said Dr Williams had "overstated the case for accommodating Islamic legal codes" within British law, a move which would be "disastrous".

This followed equally lethal criticism by the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who said sharia was "in tension" with fundamental principles of English law.

So much for the ludicrous claim that Sharia was not a "rival and alien system".

What such critics understand only too well is the threat posed to this country by a brand of radicalised Islam, or Islamism, that wants to take it over.

As Lord Carey said, Dr Williams's comments will embolden those Muslims in their attempt to turn Britain into a country ruled by Islamic law which contravenes human rights.

The only proper response to this threat is to say that not one inch of leeway will be given to it.

But, instead, the Archbishop has gone down on his knees to welcome it.

Astoundingly, he does not seem to understand that this country is being targeted by a pincer movement of terrorism and cultural takeover.

He does not seem to understand Sharia. And he does not seem to understand the role of his own religion in underpinning British laws, culture and society. The church should have the guts to sack the Archbishop...and pick a man who TRULY treasures British values >>> By Melanie Phillips

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Archbishop of Canterbury Gone Bonkers
HUMAN EVENTS: When even the religion reporter for the Times of London has to ask if the Archbishop of Canterbury has gone bonkers, the question has become rhetorical. The answer is all too obvious.



Last Thursday morning, February 7, Rowan Williams -- the Archbishop of Canterbury, top man in the hierarchy of the Church of England -- took to the airwaves. In a BBC Radio Four interview, he said that the United Kingdom will eventually have to adopt Islamic Sharia Law -- on a limited basis -- on the premise that this will create social cohesion. 



His words have had quite an impact -- perhaps best compared to the effect of dropping a suitcase nuke into the room at high tea in Buckingham Palace. If there were any English still sleep walking through the destruction of their national identity, the ultimate wake up call just came. 



When Henry the 8th wanted a divorce and the Catholic Pope would not give it to him, the Church of England was born. Henry not only broke the bonds of fealty to the Pope, he seized all the property held by the Roman Church, dissolved their monasteries, killed or banished the Catholic clergy, and forced all surviving remnants of Catholicism in England underground for centuries. 



While he was at it, Henry ended all foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction over his Kingdom and made all future monarchs the titular head of the Anglican Church. Henry’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth the First, fleshed out this policy. She decreed that the break with Rome restored to the Crown, “the ancient jurisdiction over the state -- ecclesiastical and spiritual -- abolishing all foreign power repugnant to the same.” This is not just an opinion. It is an Article in the founding document of the Church of England.



The Times’ religion editor, Ruth Gledhill, reviews this history and then adds her own ironic observation. “And now Queen Elizabeth II's very own Archbishop -- and let's not forget she is his Church's Supreme Governor - wants to introduce a new jurisdiction into this realm of England. And an Islamic one at that!” 



For those who might not be up to speed on Sharia law, it is not like The Ten Commandments or the Bill of Rights. It is not just Holy Law; it is wholly Holy secular law too. It is the all-inclusive law as imposed by a theocratic state. It governs everything from banking to marriage. And it carries some pretty heavy penalties, from cutting off the hands of thieves to stoning women caught in adultery, even if the adultery stems from a gang rape. It also looks the other way when fathers, brothers, or uncles kill family females who dare to date outside of Islam. These are known as “honor killings.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury supports his partially pro-Sharia law position by citing the inherent inequity which ensues when Catholic adoption agencies discriminate against gay couples. Of course, there are no gay people in Iran according to Ahmadinejad so that isn’t the best illustration the Archbishop might have chosen to make his point. In fact, instances of sharia law being carried out within British Muslim communities have been reported. A young man who knifed someone was judged by a Sharia court and let out on the streets when his family compensated his victim financially. Archbishop of Canterbury Gone Bonkers >>> By Susan Easton

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Removing the State from Dr Rowan Williams
THE TELEGRAPH: The Archbishop of Canterbury said something stupid. What is to be done about it? There is now a fusillade of demands for his resignation rather as if he were a Chancellor of the Exchequer whose fatally bad judgment had undermined the economy.

In almost any other country in the world, this would seem bizarre but here, the parallel is apt.

The head of the Church of England is a political figure. Founded as a conscious bulwark against the Roman outfit to which the nation's enemies owed allegiance, the Anglican Church must play out its uncomfortable, anomalous role.



Dr Rowan Williams's latest pronouncements are, in a sense (or should I say, "in a very real sense"?) a peculiarly frank expression of the messy overlap between matters of state and of faith that is its remit. And, as so often happens with well-intentioned attempts at appeasement and compromise with the unacceptable, Dr Williams's intervention has made it clear how untenable all this now is.

The archbishop has discredited not just himself, and the über-tolerant multicultural lobby that he sought to support, but the position of the established Church. Removing the state from Dr Rowan Williams >>> By Janet Daley

THE TELEGRAPH:
Another Reason for Dr Williams to Resign

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Archbishop Under Pressure to Quit
BBC: The Archbishop of Canterbury continues to face calls for his resignation despite attempts to defuse the row over his Islamic Sharia law comments.

Dr Rowan Williams has been condemned from inside and outside his church for saying the adoption of parts of the law was "unavoidable" in Britain.

At least two General Synod members have called for him to quit and he has been heckled as he left a church service.

But supporters say his comments have been misinterpreted.

The archbishop is said to be shocked and hurt by the hostility his comments have provoked, and on his website he said he "certainly did not call for its introduction as some kind of parallel jurisdiction to the civil law".

However the criticism mounted as his predecessor Lord George Carey accused Dr Williams of overstating the case for accommodating Islamic legal codes. ’Brilliant scholar’ >>>

WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Archbishop Faces Calls to Quit

NZZ Online:
Rücktritt von Erzbischof gefordert

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Gay Asians ‘Marrying to Conform’
BBC: Asian gays and lesbians in the UK have married people of the opposite sex in a bid to conform to traditional values and beliefs, it has been claimed.

Gay activists said these marriages happened because some members of their community felt homosexuals brought shame on their people.

They said in some cases gay and lesbian people had been beaten and abused.

The BBC has seen hundreds of people advertising on the internet for so-called marriages of convenience.

One of them is 19-year-old Rubina, from south-east England, who placed an advert on an Asian gay website.

She said: "I just want to make life easier, I want to get my family off my back, because they're pressurising me to get married.

"In my culture it's not acceptable to be gay. If I have a marriage of convenience it will give them the illusion that I'm straight and I can carry on with who I want." Gay Asians 'marrying to conform' >>> By Naresh Puri

WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Gay Asians’ Pressure to Marry

GAY RELATED ISSUE:

BBC:
Anti-gay police complaints 'rise'

LISTEN TO BBC AUDIO:
Rise in Anti-Gay Police Attacks

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Cleric ‘Incited Muslims to Kill Western Soldiers’
Photo of the ‘cleric’, Abu Izzadeen (Trevor ‘Omar’ Brooks), courtesy of the Daily Express
DAILY EXPRESS: A BRITISH preacher told hundreds of young Muslims it was their duty to fight UK troops in Iraq, a court heard yesterday.

Trevor Brooks urged them to help buy guns and bombs for insurgents there, instead of giving cash to charity.



The cleric, also known as Abu Izzadeen and Omar Brooks, said the Black Watch regiment was in Fallujah to rape and kill women and children, Kingston Crown Court in south-west London heard.



He told the crowd at Regent’s Park mosque in central London to join the insurgency in Iraq. He said they must choose between the camp of Allah, whose “prince” was Osama Bin Laden, or Satan’s camp led by George Bush and Tony Blair.
 


In a video of the November 2004 rant played in court Brooks, 32, of Leyton, east London, was heard saying: “We are terrorists – terrify the enemies of Allah.” He added: “The jihad is all our responsibility on every single Muslim.” Cleric ‘Incited Muslims to Kill Western Soldiers’ >>> By Padraic Flanagan

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

The Deafening Silence that Betrays Our Values
THE TELEGRAPH: Four weeks ago, the Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, expressed on these pages his concern at the lack of integration into British society of some Muslim communities living here. He has since received an enormous amount of support from private individuals for his remarks - as well as death threats from fanatics who said they would kill him unless he stopped criticising the religion of Islam (something which he insisted he was not doing).

The most striking aspect of the response to his article, however, has not been that bigoted and offensive reaction from a small number: it has been the almost complete silence from the Government on the issues he raised. Despite recent claims by ministers that they want to revise the policy of multiculturalism, and that they wish for a vigorous national debate on what should replace it, their reaction to this - and indeed to all other attempts to generate debate - has been deafening silence. You could be forgiven for thinking there is a conspiracy to prevent discussion of the issues that the bishop, and millions of other Britons, are so concerned about.

The official reluctance to confront those issues acts far more effectively than death threats to suppress their discussion. Yet questions of immigration and integration are amongst the most critically important faced by Britain. As we report today, thousands of women in Britain are being beaten, bullied, intimidated and indeed sometimes murdered by members of their own families - and it is being done in the name of their religion and of "traditional values". An investigation by the Centre for Social Cohesion has established that whole communities have been involved in suppressing their female members' wholly legitimate desire to marry whom they choose, to follow careers of their own, and to dress and live according to their own will, rather than at the command of a male relative. A deafening silence that betrays our values >>>

Hat tip: Jim Ball

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

The Defence of Britain’s Christian Traditions
DAILY EXPRESS: A HOSPITAL porter was “devastated” last night after he was sacked following a row with a Muslim doctor over a crucifix.

Joseph Protano, a devout Roman Catholic, was a regular visitor to a prayer room open to all faiths at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.



But Mr Protono, 54, became increasingly angry to find that a crucifix and a statue of the Virgin Mary were regularly being left covered up. Should Britain’s Christian Traditions Be Defended? (Have Your Say) >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)