Cristina Odone: Finally, Even Archbishop Rowan Williams Admits Christians Are Under Attack
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: It’s Easter and Christians have come out of hiding. In fact, they are very much in the limelight: the Archbishop of Canterbury was on Start the Week, Richard Harries is in The Times, Nicky Campbell presented a BBC documentary on the persecution of Christians in this country. In what is a startling departure, the claim by Christians that they are discriminated against, and often attacked, by virtue of their religion, has been investigated – and legitimised.

No one has been killed or tortured, Rowan Williams and Richard Harries remind us; no one could seriously claim that their lot compares with that of Christians in Iran or Nigeria. But finally even the clergy and the BBC acknowledge that Christians are a target of abuse from a relativist culture that thinks to distinguish between wicked and good is to be judgemental, and to believe in the One True Faith is to be smugly superior. Unless, that is, you are a Muslim and maybe a Jew. Read on and comment >>> Cristina Odone | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Hallelujah! Archbishop Speaks Up For Christians: This Bias Against Us Must Stop, Says Dr Rowan Williams
MAIL ONLINE: The Archbishop of Canterbury used his Easter sermon to launch an extraordinary pre-election attack on a 'sustained effort' to discriminate against Christians.

Dr Rowan Williams, who has faced criticism for his reluctance to defend traditional values, blamed ' wooden-headed bureaucratic silliness' for Christians being barred from wearing religious symbols at work.

He said there was now a 'strange mixture of contempt and fear' towards Christianity in Britain.

The Anglican leader's remarks came as senior churchmen mount a campaign to put Christian values at the heart of the election campaign.

Thirty-five religious leaders have unveiled a U.S.-style 'declaration of conscience' setting out policies that unite British churches, including opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia.

They also appear to back Conservative proposals to support marriage in the tax system, which David Cameron is expected to give further details of this week.

While colleagues have been increasingly vocal in their protests, Dr Williams has up to now said little about discrimination against Christians.

But yesterday he highlighted the case of nurse Shirley Chaplin, who took the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust to an employment tribunal claiming discrimination.

She refused to remove a necklace bearing a crucifix, saying it would undermine her faith. The trust claimed there were health and safety issues and a ruling is expected this week.

Addressing a congregation at Canterbury Cathedral, Dr Williams referred to 'yet another legal wrangle over the right to wear a cross in public while engaged in professional duties'.

He said: '[This is] one more small but significant mark of what many Christians feel is a sustained effort to discriminate against them and render their faith invisible and impotent in the public sphere.

'One more mark of the curious contemporary belief that Christians are both too unimportant for their convictions to be worth bothering with and too dangerous for them to be allowed to manifest those convictions. >>> James Chapman | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

L'homophobie dénoncée par quatre hommes de religion
SAPHIR NEWS: L’homosexualité et la transsexualité dans les religions sont bel et bien des questions sensibles et font l’objet de beaucoup de controverses. Pour celles et ceux qui sont gays et lesbiennes, c’est un vrai parcours du combattant que de s’intégrer pleinement dans la société ou encore dans la communauté religieuse de leur choix. La recrudescence des violences homophobes en est le résultat. Loin d'approuver les pratiques homosexuels, plusieurs hommes de religion, dont Tareq Oubrou, imam de Bordeaux, ont tout de même signé le 17 mars, un appel contre l’homophobie et la transphobie au nom des règles universelles des droits de l’homme.

Tareq Oubrou (1), Rivon Krygier (2), Jean-Claude Guillebaud (3) et Olivier Abel (4)... qu'ils soient musulman, juif, catholique ou protestant, ils disent non à l'homophobie. Photos : Saphir News
Être juif, chrétien ou musulman et homosexuel, est – pour le moins que l’on puisse dire – difficile. Les trois religions monothéistes proscrivent formellement l’homosexualité aussi bien que la transsexualité. L’immense majorité des religieux, y compris bouddhistes et hindouistes, condamnent sans appel ces pratiques.

Ce n’est pas la création de l’association Homosexuels musulmans de France (HM2F), créée voilà deux mois, qui changera les dogmes et les principes religieux. Celle-ci, qui réunit près de 40 membres à ce jour, veut permettre aux gays et aux lesbiennes de confession musulmane de concilier leur homosexualité et leur foi, à l’image de David & Jonathan, un mouvement homosexuel chrétien crée en 1972, et Beit Haverim, groupe juif des homosexuels de France fondé en 1977.

« On ne choisit pas d'être homo, en revanche on choisit d'avoir des croyances religieuses. On n'en est pas moins des êtres humains », a déclaré à ce titre Ludovic Zahed, le fondateur de HM2F au magazine spécialisé des gays et lesbiennes Têtu.

Il ne revient qu’à Dieu de juger. Cet adage si cher aux musulmans est bien connu. Cependant, ne pas accepter l’homosexualité ne signifie nullement nier son existence et surtout approuver, voire autoriser l’homophobie religieuse. Le respect de la dignité de l’Homme, quels que soient sa religion, ses origines, son sexe et son orientation sexuelle, est commun à toutes les religions, y compris l’islam. Un appel des religieux contre l’homophobie >>> Hanan Ben Rhouma | Vendredi 26 Mars 2010

Nigerian Security Forces on Alert After New Burst of Sectarian Violence*
TIMES ONLINE: Nigeria's security forces have been put on high alert after a new burst of sectarian violence left over 500 people dead, most of them women and children hacked to death by machete wielding gangs.

The attack happened before dawn on Sunday morning when gangs of men descended on several mainly Christian villages near the central city of Jos, firing guns as they approached. Witnesses of the attack, which centred on the village of Dogo-Nahawa, described how victims were caught in animal traps and fishing nets as they tried to flee their attackers. >>> Anne Barrowclough | Monday, March 08, 2010

*Would this be Muslim violence against Christians, by any chance?

Ethnic Violence in Nigeria Has Killed 500, Officials Say
THE NEW YORK TIMES: DAKAR, Senegal — Officials and human rights groups in Nigeria said Monday that about 500 people had died in weekend ethnic violence near the central city of Jos, considerably more than what had initially been reported.

A government spokesman said Sunday that the dead numbered more than 300. The victims were Christians killed by rampaging Muslim herdsmen, officials and human rights workers said, apparently in reprisal for similar attacks on Muslims in January.

The head of a leading Nigerian rights group, Shehu Sani of the Civil Rights Congress, said in a telephone interview on Monday that his organization had counted 492 bodies, mainly in the village of Dogo Nahawa. >>> Adam Nossiter | Monday, March 08, 2010

US Grants Home Schooling German Family Political Asylum
THE GUARDIAN: Couple who fled to Tennessee fearing persecution for keeping their children out of school win first case of its kind in US

A US judge has granted ­political asylum to a German family who said they had fled the country to avoid persecution for home schooling their children.

In the first reported case of its kind, Tennessee immigration judge Lawrence Burman ruled that the family of seven have a legitimate fear of prosecution for their beliefs. Germany requires parents to enrol their children in school in most cases and has levied fines against those who ­educate their children at home.

Christians Uwe Romeike, a piano teacher, and his wife, Hannelore, moved to Morristown, Tennessee, in 2008 after ­German authorities fined them thousands of euros for keeping their children out of school and sent police to escort them to classes, Romeike said. They had been holding classes in their home.

Along with thousands of torture victims, political dissidents, members of religious minorities and other persecuted groups who win political asylum every year, the Romeike family will now be free to live and work in the US. The case does not create a legal precedent unless the US government appeals and a higher immigration court hears the case.

"Home schoolers in Germany are a particular social group, which is one of the protected grounds under the asylum law," said Mike Connelly, attorney for the Home School Legal Defence Association, who argued the case. "This judge looked at the evidence, he heard their testimony, and he felt that the way Germany is treating home schoolers is wrong. The rights being violated here are basic human rights." >>> Daniel Nasaw in Washington | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

'Allah' By Any Other Name
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: The government's censorship has only compounded Malaysia's troubles.

Religious violence is rare in Malaysia, and so its people are rightly alarmed at the current spate of attacks on churches, which can conjure up memories of the 1969 race riots. The government has strongly condemned the attacks, but its policy of trying to coddle its Muslim population undermines its stated goal of an open Islam and stokes the very religious tension that it wants desperately to avoid.

The violence is the latest consequence of attempts to ban the use of the word "Allah" by Christians. In 1986, the Interior Security Ministry barred the word from non-Islamic publications on the grounds that it could confuse Muslims, but the ordinance was usually not enforced. However in December 2007, the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association and the Islamic religious councils of seven states invoked it in a lawsuit against the Malay language weekly, the Catholic Herald. The government sided with the councils, saying that Christians' use of the term "could increase tension and create confusion among Muslims." Authorities also asked the Herald to put on its front page the word terhad, "restricted," meaning solely for distribution to Christians.

Christians and others responded that "Allah" has been used by Christians for centuries to refer to God, including in Malaysia. No other country has such a ban; even the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) says it opposes one. "Allah," the Arabic word for God, is used by Christians in Egypt and Syria, and, of course, neighboring Indonesia. On Dec. 31, 2009, the High Court ruled that Christians had a constitutional right to use "Allah." The government called for calm, but quickly said it would appeal and, on January 6, the judge suspended her ruling pending an appeals court decision. Subsequently, nine churches have been attacked, most of them firebombed. There have also been attacks on the Catholic Herald's legal team, whose offices were vandalized yesterday.

This is not the only federal government attempt to repress anything that could be perceived as deviating from the state-sanctioned version of Islam. In 2005, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi proposed that Malay-language bibles have "Not for Muslims" on the front. In 2003, the government banned publication of a Bible in Iban, an indigenous language, although the ban was later lifted. In March 2009, customs officials seized Christian books and other materials containing "Allah," and now some 15,000 volumes have been impounded. Since Indonesian Christian books in Bahasa contain the word "Allah" they cannot be imported. The government has also rebuffed calls for a state interfaith advisory council. >>> Paul Marshall* | Thursday, January 14, 2010

*Mr. Marshall is senior fellow at the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom in Washington.

Saudi Professor Calls for "Positive Hatred" of Christians

Amid the Carols and Decorations, Iraq Christians Fear Extinction
A policeman stands guard atop an armoured vehicle outside a Christian church in Mosul. Photograph: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: It could be a scene from a Victorian Christmas card. The young people gather in the church, decorating a tree, while in the background the choir rehearses for Christmas Day — the tune of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen playing out. In the theatre next to the church two clowns are playing musical chairs with hundreds of children, while a bishop and an inflatable Father Christmas look on.

The words to the carol are in Iraqi-accented Arabic — Feltestereh qolubikum, ya ayuha al jumoor — “may your hearts take comfort, you who are gathered here”. The church is Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac Catholic Church in Baghdad, and outside is the more familiar Iraqi scene of barbed wire and armed guards. Behind the tinsel and carols lies a fear that Christians in Iraq are a community under threat of extinction. Proportionally more Christians are leaving Iraq than any other group.

Last week 100 Christian leaders and politicians of all religions held an emergency meeting just before fresh violence broke out in the northern city of Mosul, with attacks on churches and Christian schools. On Tuesday a baby was killed and 40 people, including schoolchildren, were injured in three simultaneous bombings. Two days ago a Christian man was shot dead as he travelled to work. >>> Alice Fordham, in Baghdad | Saturday, December 19, 2009

Christian Hoteliers Cleared of Insulting Muslimah
MAIL ONLINE: Christian hoteliers accused of insulting a Muslim guest for wearing the hijab and berating her for her beliefs were dramatically cleared this afternoon.

Benjamin and Sharon Vogelenzang denied using threatening, abusive or insulting words which were religiously aggravated against white British Muslim convert Ericka Tazi, 60.

District Judge Richard Clancy, who heard the case in the absence of a jury, told the couple that religion and politics was the 'tinderbox which set the whole thing alight and it would appear because of strongly entrenched positions that is what has happened here'.

Explaining his reasons for dismissing the case, he said Mrs Tazi's claim that she was verbally attacked by the couple for up to an hour had not been borne out by other prosecution witnesses, who suggested that any discussions lasted around seven minutes.

Judge Clancy also highlighted Mrs Tazi's use of language. When describing how she was provoked by the couple about her hijab she used words to the effect of: 'Would you prefer it if I got my tits out?'

He said: 'I mention this because when I read that together with what she said about 'them taking the piss' it doesn't quite form the same religious view that was put to me on the stand'. 'Freedom of speech' victory as Christian hoteliers are CLEARED of insulting Muslim woman as judge slams her evidence >>> | Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Related:

Christian Hotel Manager in Court Accused of Asking Hijab-wearing Guest: 'Are You a Terrorist and a Murderer?' >>> | Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Christian Hotel Manager in Court Accused of Asking Hijab-wearing Guest: 'Are You a Terrorist and a Murderer?'
MAIL ONLINE: Two Christian hoteliers went on trial yesterday accused of insulting a Muslim convert by branding Mohammed a 'warlord' and telling her she was living in 'bondage'.

Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang allegedly asked 60-year-old guest Ericka Tazi if she was a terrorist and a murderer after she came down to breakfast wearing an Islamic headscarf.

The white, British-born grandmother, who was staying at the couple's hotel while undergoing medical treatment, told a court the pair had shouted abuse at her, leaving her shocked and traumatised.

However the couple's barrister challenged her account, suggesting she had worn Islamic dress to provoke the Vogelenzangs and that they merely engaged in a legitimate discussion about their faiths.

The couple, who run The Bounty House 
Hotel in Aintree, Liverpool, both deny the unusual charge of committing a religiously aggravated public order offence, which carries a maximum fine of £5,000.

Christians gathered outside Liverpool magistrates' court to support the couple.

Mrs Tazi, who suffers from the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia, spent a month at the hotel earlier this year while attending a course of therapy at a nearby hospital.

The former Roman Catholic from Warrington, who converted to Islam last year, gave evidence after swearing an oath to Allah and kissing the Koran. >>> | Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Christians 'Would Rather Vote BNP Than Labour', Pastor Claims
THE TELEGRAPH: Christians would rather vote for the British National Party than Labour because they are so disillusioned with the Government’s discrimination against them, a pastor has claimed.

Reverend George Hargreaves, who leads the conservative Christian Party, said people were “sick” of “Labour’s anti-Christian, anti-free speech agenda and laws”.

Rev Hargreaves said: “Christians in the past may have voted Labour, but [they] have silenced Christians and their anti-traditional family policies have created a vacuum which Nick Griffin can fill." >>> Andy Bloxham | Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Eight Christians Burnt to Death in Pakistan after Koran Is ‘Defiled’
TIMES ONLINE: Paramilitary troops patrolled the streets of a town in eastern Pakistan yesterday after Muslim radicals burnt to death eight members of a Christian family, raising fears of violence spreading to other areas.

Hundreds of armed supporters of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an outlawed Islamic militant group, set alight dozens of Christian homes in Gojra town at the weekend after allegations that a copy of the Koran had been defiled.

The mob opened fire indiscriminately, threw petrol bombs and looted houses as thousands of frightened Christians ran for safety. “They were shouting anti-Christian slogans and attacked our houses,” Rafiq Masih, a resident of the predominantly Christian colony, said. Residents said that police stood aside while the mob went on the rampage. “We kept begging for protection, but police did not take action,” Mr Masih said.

Police and local officials said that at least eight people, including four women and a child, were killed in the fires. Two others died of gunshot wounds. Residents said that the casualties were much higher; one claimed that the number of dead could be in the dozens as many bodies were still buried under the rubble.Shahbaz Bhatti, the Minister for Minorities, said that 40 Christian homes were torched in rioting. He said there was no truth to allegations that a Koran had been defiled, and accused the police of ignoring his appeal to provide protection to Christians. >>> Zahid Hussain in Islamabad | Monday, August 03, 2009

Related / Verwandt:
Ausschreitungen: Radikale Muslime in Pakistan töten sechs Christen >>> | Samstag, August 01, 2009

At Nazareth Mass, Pope Urges Muslims and Christians to Reject Hatred
HAARETZ: Pope Benedict XVI greeted tens of thousands of adoring followers in Jesus' childhood hometown with a message of reconciliation Thursday, urging Christian and Muslims to reject the destructive power of hatred and prejudice.

"I urge people of goodwill in both communities to repair the damage that has been done, and in fidelity to our common belief in one God, the Father of the human family, to work to build bridges and find the way to a peaceful coexistence," he said.

"Let everyone reject the destructive power of hatred and prejudice, which kills men's souls before it kills their bodies."

Nazareth, one of the largest towns where Israeli Arab citizens live, Mount Precipice, where the Bible says a mob tried to hurl Jesus off a cliff, was chosen as the site for the papal mass. >>> By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and News Agencies | Thursday, May 14, 2009

Pope 'Committed' to Reconciliation with Jews
THE TELEGRAPH: Pope Benedict XVI has said that the Catholic church was 'irrevocably committed' to reconciliation with Jews, tacitly admitting a gap continues to exist between the two sides.

Pope Benedict XVI places his note to God in the Western Wall at Judaism's holiest site in Jerusalem's Old City, Israel. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
On the second day of his visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, the Pope toured holy sites around Jerusalem and had separate meetings with Muslim and Jewish leaders.

After meeting Israel's two chief rabbis, Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger, the Pope addressed the issue of tension between Christianity and Judaism dating back thousands of years.

"Today I have the opportunity to repeat that the Catholic Church is irrevocably committed to the path chosen at the Second Vatican Council for a genuine and lasting reconciliation between Christians and Jews,'' the Pope said.

"As the declaration [from the Second Vatican Council] makes clear, the Church continues to value the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews and desires an ever deeper mutual understanding and respect through biblical and ideological studies as well as fraternal dialogues.'' >>> By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Holy Land Visit a Minefield for Pope
GLOBEAND MAIL: Benedict aims to ease tensions with both Jews and Muslims

JERUSALEM — On a self-declared pilgrimage of peace, Pope Benedict XVI is walking into a minefield.

In the four short years of his papacy, he has succeeded in upsetting the Muslim world with his reference to an anti-Islamic tract, and in alienating many Jews by his resuscitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop and backing of the beatification of Nazi-era Pope Pius XII.

Yet, here he is today, hoping to make amends, wading into one of the holiest sites of both religions, with recent conflicts still smouldering and the eyes of the world upon him.

“The thing that worries me most is the speech that the Pope will deliver here,” said Fouad Twal, the Pope's Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem. “One word for the Muslims and I'm in trouble; one word for the Jews and I'm in trouble. At the end of the visit the Pope goes back to Rome and I stay here with the consequences.”

Regardless of the risks, the Pope began his homage to Judaism on Saturday at Mount Nebo, in Jordan. Looking across the valley at Moses's Promised Land, he spoke of the inseparable bond between his church and the Jewish people.

“From the beginning, the church in these lands has commemorated in her liturgy the great figures of the [Jewish] patriarchs and prophets, as a sign of her profound appreciation of the unity of the two testaments [of the Bible],” the Pope said.

With the ancient link established, the Pope, as his first order of business today, visits Yad Vashem, Israel's shrine to the victims of the Holocaust and touchstone of the modern Jewish state.

“We expect that Pope Benedict XVI's speech at Yad Vashem will include a reference to the memory of the Holocaust in the present as well as in the future,” Avner Shalev, Yad Vashem's chairman of the directorate, told reporters. Mr. Shalev recalled that the Pope, as Joseph Ratzinger, spent his childhood as a member of the Hitler Youth and later enlisted in the German army.

“It is impossible to claim that these things do not have an impact,” he said. “A person's habitat bears an influence on him, despite the fact that immediately after the war he disengaged from these things and devoted himself to studying religion.” >>> Patrick Martin | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Pope Calls for Cooperation between Christians and Muslims
Pope Benedict XVI waves to the crowds upon his arrival to say Mass at the Lady of Peace Church in Amman, Jordan. Benedict underlined his "deep respect" for Islam. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Pope Benedict XVI, speaking at a mosque in Amman, Jordan, also expresses concern about the discrimination that he says Christians and others face in Islamic nations such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Reporting from Amman, Jordan -- Pope Benedict XVI today called on Christians and Muslims to serve mankind with the "light of God's truth" while warning that extremists in nations such as Iraq were exploiting religious differences for political and violent agendas.

Speaking at the Hussein bin Talal Mosque, the pontiff, whose three-day pilgrimage to Jordan is an attempt to mend relations with the Muslim world, said the "tensions and divisions between the followers of different religious traditions, sadly, cannot be denied. However, is it not also the case that often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society?"

The speech before Catholic priests, Muslim clerics and Orthodox bishops was brief, but the copper-domed mosque offered a symbolic setting for the 82-year-old pope to damp criticism of his comments in 2006 that characterized Islam as a violent religion. Benedict has said he regretted the outrage he caused and made an effort at reconciliation two months later when he prayed silently with imams in the Blue Mosque in Turkey.

Many Muslim leaders in the Arab world feel the pope's contrition has not been genuine. They also say he has not spoken forcefully enough in behalf of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and has apologized to Jews for the Roman Catholic Church's past mistakes but has not done the same for historical injustices against Muslims.

That debate will probably intensify in the coming week, when Benedict leaves Jordan on Monday for Israel and the West Bank. Before his speech at the Hussein mosque, the pope visited Mt. Nebo, where Moses is believes to have been buried, to reassure Jews that the Vatican wants to "overcome all obstacles to the reconciliation of Christians and Jews in mutual respect and cooperation in the service of that peace to which the word of God calls us.">>> By Jeffrey Fleishman | Saturday, May 9, 2009

The Disturbing, Changing Face of Britain: British Atheists and Christians Turning to Islam

Taliban Harasses Christians in Pakistan
BAPTIST PRESS: WASHINGTON--Amid escalating violence perpetrated by the Taliban in Pakistan, two reports on the status of Christians in the country contain varying details.



The Washington-based International Christian Concern reported that two Christians were executed and others were physically abused by Taliban militants in Karachi April 21 after the Christians protested orders from the Taliban to convert to Islam or die.



A subsequent report by Compass Direct News, though, said the execution-style killings could not be verified. Baptist Press asked ICC to confirm the initial report, and the group was attempting to do so at press time. In their news releases, both Compass Direct and ICC relied on comments from individuals who were not on the scene. 



ICC reported April 24 that pro-Taliban graffiti messages were written on two churches in Karachi, including the phrases "Long Live the Taliban" and "Embrace Islam or Prepare to Die." Christians complained to the government and then staged a peaceful protest, the watchdog group said.



Following the protest, more than 100 masked Taliban militants invaded the community with automatic rifles, causing Christian residents to hide in their homes. >>> By Staff | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Church Must Stop Trivialising Easter
He is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
THE TELEGRAPH: Christians must keep their nerve: the Resurrection isn’t a metaphor, it’s a physical fact

Private Eye ran a cartoon some years ago of St Peter standing in front of Jesus's Cross and saying to the other Disciples: “It's time to put this behind us now and move on.” It was a satire not on Christian belief, but on politicians and counsellors, and their trivialising mantras. It depended on Jesus's death being not just an odd, forgettable event - and that it was His Resurrection, rather than a shoulder- shrugging desire to “move on”, that got the early Christians going.

Easter was the pilot project. What God did for Jesus that explosive morning is what He intends to do for the whole creation. We who live in the interval between Jesus's Resurrection and the final rescue and transformation of the whole world are called to be new-creation people here and now. That is the hidden meaning of the greatest festival Christians have.

This true meaning has remained hidden because the Church has trivialised it and the world has rubbished it. The Church has turned Jesus's Resurrection into a “happy ending” after the dark and messy story of Good Friday, often scaling it down so that “resurrection” becomes a fancy way of saying “He went to Heaven”. Easter then means: “There really is life after death”. The world shrugs its shoulders. We may or may not believe in life after death, but we reach that conclusion independently of Jesus, of odd stories about risen bodies and empty tombs.

But “resurrection” to 1st-century Jews wasn't about “going to Heaven”: it was about the physically dead being physically alive again. Some Jews (not all) believed that God would do this for all people in the end. Nobody, including Jesus's followers, was expecting one person to be bodily raised from the dead in the middle of history. The stories of the Resurrection are certainly not “wish-fulfilments” or the result of what dodgy social science calls “cognitive dissonance”. First-century Jews who followed would-be messiahs knew that if your leader got killed by the authorities, it meant you had backed the wrong man. You then had a choice: give up the revolution or get yourself a new leader. Going around saying that he'd been raised from the dead wasn't an option.

Unless he had been. Jesus of Nazareth was certainly dead by the Friday evening; Roman soldiers were professional killers and wouldn't have allowed a not-quite-dead rebel leader to stay that way for long. When the first Christians told the story of what happened next, they were not saying: “I think he's still with us in a spiritual sense” or “I think he's gone to heaven”. All these have been suggested by people who have lost their historical and theological nerve. >>> The Right Rev Dr Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham | Saturday, April 11, 2009

Pakistan Christians Worried over Sharia Law Plans
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE: Christians in Pakistan have expressed concern over plans to implement Sharia law in the Malakand region.

The move was part of a package to secure a cease-fire with pro-Taliban groups in the region that includes the Swat Valley, but it has caused unease among the region’s Christian groups. Their concerns have been echoed by human rights groups. The concession by the federal government was agreed last week in an attempt to broker a truce with pro-Taliban groups in the region, but Christians say that the introduction of the Islamic legal system renders constitutional and juridical law redundant. [Source: Religious Intelligence] Nick Mackenzie | Wednesday, February 25, 2009

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