Showing posts with label Secularism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Secularism. Show all posts
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A council has dropped references to God from the prayer with which it opens meetings, under pressure from secularist campaigners.
For as long as anyone can remember, councillors in Gloucestershire have stood up for a brief prayer before their meetings get under way.
But when three agnostic and atheist members staged a protest against the historic practice by remaining seated, the chairman decided something must be done to retain council unity.
So he hit upon an apparently ingenious solution: from now on, the prayer would still be said – but with all references to God removed.
So rather than asking "may He give us wisdom to carry out our duties ...", the chairman now states "may we find the wisdom ..." - and the "prayer" still ends with the chairman leading other members in saying "amen".
The authority is one of dozens across Britain which have recently scrapped or significantly altered their custom of saying prayers at the start of meetings under pressure from secular campaigners, who argue the practice breaches their human rights and excludes non-believers and people from other faiths. » | Jasper Copping | Sunday, April 29, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The Cabinet Office minister and chairman of the Conservative Party gave Benedict XVI a personal gift during a 20-minute private audience – a gold-plated cube that opens up to reveal 99 tiny cubes, each inscribed with a reference to Allah.
In keeping with the theme of interfaith dialogue, she also gave him a copy of the Koran which was translated by an East European Jew who converted to Islam and helped write Pakistan's constitution.
"They were personal gifts from me," Baroness Warsi, the first female Muslim cabinet minister, told The Daily Telegraph at the Vatican on Wednesday.
She also presented the pontiff with a letter from David Cameron, the Prime Minister, a message from the Queen and a copy of the King James Bible.
"He thanked me for the comments I've made. He said he was glad I was making the case for faith. He was intrigued by the cube and I thought as I showed it to him 'Oh my God I'm going to break it'," the minister said.
Baroness Warsi expanded on a speech she gave in Rome on Tuesday, and an article she wrote for The Daily Telegraph, that British society was under threat from a rising tide of "militant secularisation" and that Europe needs to be "more confident in its Christianity".
Speaking after her meeting with the Pope, she said: "Secular fundamentalists are saying that people of faith shouldn't have a voice in the public sphere. I'm saying faith should be one of many voices, it should be part of the debate."
She criticised the arguments of Richard Dawkins, the outspoken atheist, as "false". » | Nick Squires, the Vatican | Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of secularism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: the pope, politicians from both the Conservative and Labour parties, Melanie Phillips ...
It seems odd to borrow the opening words of Marx and Engel's the Communist Manifesto to describe secularism and to find them so apt. For someone such as myself who has always seen the secularist ideal as the most benign legacy of the Enlightenment, it's a bit like discovering that your cuddly teddy bear is being portrayed as a rampaging grizzly.
But there is no doubt that secularism is increasingly seen as a threat to liberty rather than its stoutest defender. Conservative party chairman Lady Warsi is the latest to raise the alarm, speaking of her "fear" that "a militant secularisation is taking hold of our societies". She pulls no punches in claiming that "at its core and in its instincts it is deeply intolerant" and that it "demonstrates similar traits to totalitarian regimes".
Pretty much the same message came from Labour's David Lammy on Friday's Any Questions? on Radio 4, when he attacked "an aggressive secularism that is drowning out the ability of people of faith to live with that faith".
Warsi is taking this message to the pope, which is a bit like taking pizza to Napoli. In the pontiff's 2010 visit to the UK, he also railed against "aggressive forms of secularism", likening it to the evils of Nazism and claiming that "the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society".
Other clerics have followed suit. The leader of the Catholic church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, used his last Easter sermon to decry the "aggressive secularism" that tries to "destroy our Christian heritage and culture and take God from the public square".
And the list of those who have said similar things is endless. But just what is that people are so terrified of? Is secularism really a threat, or has it simply been distorted, by its critics, its defenders, or both? Read on and comment » | Julian Baggini | Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
My comment:
There is something surreal about a Muslimah going to the Vatican on behalf of Christian Great Britain to preach about the need for Christians to rediscover their Judaeo-Christian roots.
If there is a war on British society, it is from her co-religionists, not "militant secularists". Indeed, across the world, it isn't "militant secularists" who are waging war at all; rather it is Muslims hell-bent on making all before them submit to the will of Allah (whoever the hell he is)! And furthermore: Who is doing the persecuting? None other than her brothers and sisters in Islam!
Methinks this woman needs a reality check. – © Mark
This comment appears here too.
Monday, February 13, 2012
In an historic visit to the Vatican, Baroness Warsi will express her “fear” about the marginalisation of religion throughout Britain and Europe, saying that faith needs “a seat at the table in public life”.
In an article for The Daily Telegraph, the Cabinet Office minister says that to create a “more just society” Britons must “feel stronger in their religious identities”.
The minister, who is also chairman of the Conservative Party, says: “My fear today is that a militant secularisation is taking hold of our societies. We see it in any number of things: when signs of religion cannot be displayed or worn in government buildings; and where religion is sidelined, marginalised and downgraded in the public sphere.
“For me, one of the most worrying aspects about this militant secularisation is that at its core and in its instincts it is deeply intolerant. It demonstrates similar traits to totalitarian regimes – denying people the right to a religious identity because they were frightened of the concept of multiple identities.”
Baroness Warsi leads an unprecedented government delegation to the Vatican where she will be received by Pope Benedict for a private audience on Wednesday.
She will be the first foreign minister to deliver an address to the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, which trains Papal diplomats, and the party will stay in the Santa Marta, an official residence in the Vatican for visiting cardinals.
The visit, to mark the 30th anniversary of the re-establishment of full diplomatic ties between Britain and the Vatican, follows the Pope’s successful visit to Britain in 2010 when he is said to have been impressed by the Government’s outspoken defence of the importance of religion in public life.
The speech represents one of the most strident defences of the importance of religion by a serving British minister. It comes days after the High Court ruled that local councils could not hold prayers during meetings. There have also been recent cases of public sector workers being banned from displaying Christian symbols at work.
David Cameron welcomed the visit. He said: “Our relationship with the Holy See is an important one and it speaks powerfully of the positive contribution faith can make to all societies. » | Robert Winnett, Political Editor | Monday, February 13, 2012
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Prime minister Abdurrahim el-Keib has sent Libya on a bumpy road towards democracy by naming a cabinet of secularists and thereby snubbing prominent Islamists.
The biggest surprise on the list was Osama al-Juwali, chief of the Zintan military council, who was appointed defence minister at the expense of Islamist Hakim Bilhaj.
Juwali is an accomplished commander whose forces were originally a militia from the small city of Zintan that went on to play a central role in storming Tripoli in August, but until now he had no national political profile. Sources in the city in west Libya told the Guardian at the weekend its leadership demanded a cabinet post in return for handing over Saif al-Islam, Muammar Gaddafi's son and heir, captured in the south on Saturday. He is now held at a secret location in Zintan.
In Tripoli, the international criminal court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, confirmed the ICC had accepted Saif al-Islam would be tried in Libya, but said it would take part and "help" the authorities guarantee him a fair trial. The court would ensure its judges had a role, Ocampo said. » | Chris Stephen in Tripoli and Luke Harding | Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Sunday, October 02, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: High profile of faith-based politicians such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry masks a steady growth in secularism
About 400 people are preparing to gather for a conference in Hartford, Connecticut, to promote the end of religion in the US and their vision of a secular future for the country.
Those travelling to the meeting will pass two huge roadside billboards displaying quotes from two of the country's most famous non-believers: Katharine Hepburn and Mark Twain. "Faith is believing what you know ain't so," reads the one featuring Twain. "I'm an atheist and that's it," says the one quoting Hepburn.
At the meeting, members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) will hear speakers celebrate successes they have had in removing religion from US public life and see awards being presented to noted secularist activists.
The US is increasingly portrayed as a hotbed of religious fervour. Yet in the homeland of ostentatiously religious politicians such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, agnostics and atheists are actually part of one of the fastest-growing demographics in the US: the godless. Far from being in thrall to its religious leaders, the US is in fact becoming a more secular country, some experts say. "It has never been better to be a free-thinker or an agnostic in America," says Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the FFRF.
The exact number of faithless is unclear. One study by the Pew Research Centre puts them at about 12% of the population, but another by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford puts that figure at around 20%.
Most experts agree that the number of secular Americans has probably doubled in the past three decades – growing especially fast among the young. It is thought to be the fastest-growing major "religious" demographic in the country. » | Paul Harris in New York | Saturday, October 01, 2011
Friday, July 01, 2011
The Orthodox Jewish leader claimed that anti-discrimination policies had fuelled an “erosion of religious liberty" in Britain that was leading to a new “Mayflower”, a reference to the flight of the persecuted Pilgrim Fathers to America in the 17th century.
His comments follow growing alarm from leading religious figures over the increasing influence of equality laws. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, has called on the Prime Minister to review equality legislation amid concerns that religious freedoms and Britain’s Christian heritage are under threat.
Speaking to the House of Commons public administration select committee, Lord Sacks said there was "no doubt'' numbers of religious believers in Britain were "extraordinarily'' low.
He continued: “I share a real concern that the attempt to impose the current prevailing template of equality and discrimination on religious organisations is an erosion of religious liberty.
“We are beginning to move back to where we came in in the 17th century - a whole lot of people on the Mayflower leaving to find religious freedom elsewhere.” » | Tim Ross, Religious Affairs Editor | Thursday, June 30, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Margaret Forrester discussed the booklet with family planning staff at the health centre where she worked because she felt that the NHS was failing to give patients information about the risks and other options to terminating a pregnancy.
But after a six-month disciplinary process, during which Ms Forrester had to fight her own case and became ill, she was found guilty of “gross professional misconduct” and fired.
She has spoken out over the “scandal” of the pro-abortion culture in the medical profession and claimed that Christians were “an easy target” for “politically correct” bureaucrats in the NHS.
“The NHS has a pro-abortion stance which comes from a secular religion. It is a belief system which is aggressively anti-Christian,” she said. » | Tim Ross, Religious Affairs Editor | Friday, June 10, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain’s politicians take fright at the idea – but Sarkozy’s brave step is both popular and right, says William Langley.
Despite some high-profile protests, France’s banning of the burka is enormously popular with the public. Unfortunately, as in Britain, almost anything politicians do that the voters approve of tends to be denounced as populisme – a particularly dread charge among the over-earnest French political class – and instead of enjoying the deserved benefits, President Nicolas Sarkozy has found himself on the defensive.
Sarko’s modest measure (the burka is forbidden only in public places, the fines are piffling and the enforcement procedures incomprehensible) has led to much talk of sledgehammers and nuts, warnings of an apocalyptic Muslim backlash and claims that the Republican tradition of liberté is being compromised in a seedy ploy to combat the resurgence of the hard-Right Front National under its new leader Marine Le Pen.
Almost anything, in fact, than an acknowledgement that the public overwhelmingly sees the ban as right for France, beneficial to its Muslim communities and justified – if on no other grounds – as a statement in support of liberalism against darkness. Approval runs right across the spectrum, with Fadela Amara, the Algerian-born former housing minister in Sarkozy’s government, calling the burka “a kind of tomb, a horror for those trapped within it”, and André Gerin, the Communist MP who headed the commission investigating the grounds for a ban, describing it as “the tip of an iceberg of oppression”.
So what do we get in Britain? Theresa May, the Home Secretary, rules out a ban because “it would be out of keeping with our nation’s longstanding record of tolerance”, while the Leftist commentariat continues – with apparent seriousness – to suggest that the face veil is a “lifestyle choice” and essentially no different from a balaclavas worn by middle-class types on the ski slopes of Courcheval. I suspect this thinking is going to have to change. Continue reading and comment » | William Langley | Monday, April 11, 2011
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
THE NEW YORK TIMES: PARIS — France’s governing party pressed ahead on Tuesday with a controversial debate on the nature of secularism and the challenges of Islam, an exercise criticized by some in the government and numerous religious leaders and ridiculed as cynical by both the Socialist opposition and the far-right National Front.
Held at a Paris hotel in the presence of some 600 religious leaders, legislators and journalists, the debate was shunned by prominent members of the government, and its title was altered to remove any reference to Islam, resulting in the anodyne “Secularism: To Live Better Together.”
It was three hours of debate after two months of fierce political squabbling.
Initiated by President Nicolas Sarkozy, the debate was organized by the leader of his party, the Union for a Popular Movement, Jean-François Copé. But the prime minister, François Fillon, quietly refused to take part, fearing that it would push the party too far to the right and might lead to “a stigmatization of Muslims,” he said, leading Mr. Copé to accuse him of “not being a team player.”
The concern is to help along a Westernized version of Islam that fits within the behavioral and cultural norms of France, which accept gender equality and the private nature of religious belief.
Mr. Copé said the debate was “controversial but necessary,” saying that “the values of France are like the Three Musketeers: liberty, equality, fraternity.” He would add a fourth, he said — secularism. » | Steven Erlanger and Maïa de la Baume | Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: A week before the burqa ban, French Muslims find themselves accused of violating republican values
Claude Guéant, France's interior minister, was in typically conciliatory mood when he described the growing number of Muslims in his country as a "problem". Pointing to the fact that this community had grown from "very few" when the republic became a secular one in 1905, to 5-10 million today, Guéant highlighted the sight of many of them "praying in the street" as particularly undesirable. Guéant's government has chosen a period of unprecedented tension and volatility in the Arab world to launch a debate about the negative influence of Islam on French society. As his own pilots attack Libya with a ferocity so far not displayed by other coalition members, President Nicolas Sarkozy will settle down on Tuesday to watch the epic discussion unfold at a Paris hotel. Continue reading and comment » | Nabila Ramdani | Tuesday, April 05, 2011
My comment:
I have full sympathy for Sarkozy and for what he is trying to achieve. The man has courage indeed. That’s more than can be said for the wimps that govern us.
It must be remembered that France takes its secularism very seriously. They didn’t have a revolution for nothing! The revolution stood for liberté, egalité, and fraternité. Those three concepts are precisely what Islam does not stand for. Islam does not stand for liberty (unless one is talking about the liberty to worship Allah); Islam does not stand for equality (unless one is a member of the faith and referring to the equality of Muslim brothers and sisters); and Islam does not stand for farternity (unless one is talking of the fraternity of the ummah).
So it is very understandable that Sarkozy and his colleagues want to launch this debate on Islam, secularism, and la République. Were I to be he, I should wish to do the same; moreover, I wish that our politicians had the courage to stand up for what we believe in too. Alas, they are far too cowardly. – Mark
This comment also appears here
Thursday, January 13, 2011
BBC: New rules on the sale of alcohol in Turkey have raised fears its food and entertainment industries may be harmed.
The curbs ban alcohol from sports advertising and events for young people, and sales are limited to licensed shops and restaurants.
Critics say it will become harder for catering companies to organise wedding parties and similar gatherings.
A ruling party official said the rules were put in place to protect young adults from alcoholism.
An opposition spokesman said that an "oppressive mentality" was seeking to control Turkey, suggesting that the ruling AKP party was targeting secular lifestyles.
But Mehmet Kucuk, whose Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Board implemented the changes, insisted there was "no ideological dimension to the issue".
One small wine-maker told the BBC that, under the new regulations, he could no longer promote his wines via the internet, could not recommend wines to go with certain food, nor hold wine-tasting events. >>> | Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Friday, September 17, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The Pope strongly criticised the “marginalisation” of Christianity in modern Britain, claiming that churchgoers were forced to act against their conscience in the name of secular equality.
Delivering the most important speech of his historic visit, he attacked the politically correct ideas that Christmas should not be celebrated for fear of offending minorities and that the faithful should be forced to keep their beliefs to themselves.
Speaking in Westminster Hall before an audience including four former prime ministers, the Pope declared that politicians must not interfere with the running of Roman Catholic institutions, in what would be seen as a reference to those adoption agencies and faith schools that felt under attack from the previous Labour government.
He spoke earlier in the day of the threat posed by “aggressive secularism”, words that were echoed by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks. Cheering crowds had lined the streets of London to welcome Benedict XVI, first in Twickenham, then in the centre of the capital. >>> Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Friday, September 17, 2010
BBC: Papal visit: Pope Benedict in London (with video) >>> | Friday, September 17, 2010
Thursday, May 06, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Christian street preacher was arrested and locked in a cell for telling a passer-by that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God.
Dale McAlpine was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships.
The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Workington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God. >>> Heidi Blake | Sunday, May 02, 2010
Monday, May 03, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Terrifying as this may seem, the attempt to stamp out Christianity in Britain appears to be gathering pace.
Dale McAlpine was preaching to shoppers in Workington, Cumbria, that homosexuality is a sin when he found himself carted off by the police, locked up in a cell for seven hours and charged with using abusive or insulting words or behaviour.
It appears that two police community support officers - at least one of whom was gay - claimed he had caused distress to themselves and members of the public.
Under our anti-discrimination laws, such distress is not to be permitted.
And so we have the oppressive and sinister situation where a gentle, unaggressive Christian is arrested and charged simply for preaching Christian principles.
It would appear that Christianity, the normative faith of this country on which its morality, values and civilisation are based, is effectively being turned into a crime.
Surreally, this intolerant denial of freedom is being perpetrated under the rubric of promoting tolerance and equality - but only towards approved groups.
Never has George Orwell's famous satirical observation, that some people are more equal than others, appeared more true.
The Cumbrian arrest comes hard on the heels of last week's ruling by Lord Justice Laws in the case of Gary McFarlane, who was dismissed as a Relate counsellor because he refused to give advice to samesex couples on sexual relationships. >>> Melanie Phillips | Monday, May 03, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Turkey is preparing to hold a referendum next month on key constitutional changes that will grant its Islamist prime minister unrivalled power in a country traditionally dominated by the military.
Parliament finished a debate Thursday on the constitutional package, which marks the culmination of a seven year drive by Recep Tayyip Erdogan. the prime minister, to make the democratically elected government Turkey's most powerful institution.
Mr Erdogan used his AK Party's majority to pass a set of 27 amendments over the opposition of the country's minority parties. Antagonism between the factions escalated during the debate and three politicians, including the Trade Minister and a Kurdish leader, suffered facial injuries in attacks.
President Abdullah Gul is expected to trigger the referendum within two weeks.
Analysts said that the era of untrammelled military power and extensive interference in the political system by the judiciary would be consigned to the past by the vote. >>> Damien McElroy in Istanbul | Thursday, April 29, 2010
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