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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Orombi, reiterates opposition to homosexuality at Entebbe meeting of 400 bishops
The archbishop of Uganda has urged hundreds of African bishops to shake off their fears, shame and superficial dependency and re-evangelise the "ailing" churches of the west.
In a rallying cry to the biggest constituency of the Anglican Communion, Henry Orombi said yesterday was time for Africans to "rise up and bring fresh life in the ailing global Anglicanism".
His call came on the day that US Episcopalians published a guide on liturgical and ceremonial resources for clergy and same-sex couples.
Orombi was addressing 400 bishops who are in Entebbe, Uganda, this week for the second meeting of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa. He told them the "potentials" attending the conference must be free to go to Europe and the US and revive the "Mother Church desperate for the gospel".
Listening was the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who faces an awkward week as he visits Uganda for the first time since he took office in 2002.
According to the Daily Nation in Kenya, African church leaders will use the meeting to reiterate their concerns about homosexuality and criticise the archbishop for failing to punish communities that welcome gays and lesbians into the pews and priesthood.
Orombi told the paper: "Homosexuality is incompatible with the word of God. It is good archbishop Rowan is here. We are going to express to him where we stand. We are going to explain where our pains are." >>> Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent | Wednesday, August 25, 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Even as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg firmly rejected calls for the relocation of a planned Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero, signs of growing division emerged on Tuesday within the political establishment in Manhattan, as the powerful speaker of the State Assembly expressed forceful opposition to the plan.
Breaking his silence on the issue, the speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Democrat whose district includes ground zero, said the organizers’ honorable goal of healing post-Sept. 11 wounds and building bridges among faiths had instead provoked bitter fighting and raw emotions that could not be ignored.
“I think the sponsors,” Mr. Silver said at City Hall, “should take into very serious consideration the kind of turmoil that’s been created and look to compromise.”
Such a compromise, he added, would mean finding “a suitable place that doesn’t create the kind of controversy” engendered by the Park51 plan.
The opposition from Mr. Silver, a religious Jew who commands considerable influence in the city’s Democratic political world, is largely symbolic, because the city has already given its approval. But it fueled creeping doubts about the viability of the center, which faces a raft of obstacles, like paltry fund-raising, on top of the public outcry.
Mr. Silver’s remarks came on the same day that Mr. Bloomberg, the center’s most visible supporter, delivered a carefully prepared answer to the emerging voices calling for a compromise.
Speaking at a traditional dinner at Gracie Mansion as part of Ramadan, the mayor sought to tamp down the opposition and regain control over a national debate that has escalated by the day, starting as a local zoning dispute and becoming a referendum on the limits of religious tolerance in an age of terrorism.
Mr. Bloomberg, flanked by the center’s developer and the wife of its imam, said he understood the impulse to find a different location, in the hope of ending the controversy.
“But it won’t,” the mayor said. “The question will then become, ‘How big should the ‘no-mosque zone’ around the World Trade Center be?’ ” >>> Michael Barbaro | Tuesday, August 24, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The Grand Mufti of Dubai is calling for a curb in marriages between locals and foreigners as the price of marrying native brides has soared to more than £300,000.
The number of Emiratis marrying foreigners has risen by 10 per cent in the last four years, according to recent figures.
Officials and religious leaders blame the rising costs of dowries and extravagant wedding ceremonies and parties for encouraging “ordinary” local men to seek foreign wives, who cost less to marry.
Dr Ahmad al-Haddad, Dubai's Grand Mufti, the country's most senior Islamic scholar, wants to restrict foreign marriages to allow only Muslim, Arab spouses, and a maximum age difference of 25 years. For men, it would have to be his first and only wife.
“In Islam, choosing your life partner is a personal freedom,” the Grand Mufti said at a gathering in honour of the holy month of Ramadan. “But personal freedoms can be restricted for the benefit of the public interest.”
His proposals are unlikely to be welcomed, while he may have difficulty persuading Dubai’s ruler to approve his suggestion. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum took a Jordanian princess as his second wife, and would have fallen foul of the new rules. >>>Richard Spencer, Dubai | Tuesday, August 24, 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Um sich für die Freilassung eines inhaftierten Amerikaners einzusetzen, wird der ehemalige amerikanische Präsident Jimmy Carter nach Nordkorea reisen. Pjongjang wünscht offenbar zu politischen Zwecken einen angesehenen Politiker zu Besuch.
Der frühere amerikanische Präsident Carter wird in den nächsten Tagen nach Nordkorea reisen. Er will sich um die Freilassung eines dort inhaftierten amerikanischen Staatsbürgers bemühen. Carters Reise sei nicht offiziell, berichtete die Webseite der Zeitschrift «Foreign Affairs» am Dienstag. Er werde auch nicht von amerikanischen Regierungsbeamten begleitet.
Carters private Reise erfolgt zu einem Zeitpunkt, da die Beziehungen zwischen Nordkorea und Amerika gespannt sind. Carter, der sich in Nordkorea grossen Ansehens erfreut, könnte bei seiner humanitären Mission auch als Vermittler wirken. >>> Petra Kolonko, Tokio | Mittwoch, 25. August 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Jimmy Carter in Nordkorea eingetroffen: Bemühungen um Freilassung eines Amerikaners >>> ddp | Mittwoch, 25. August 2010
HT: Always On Watch >>>
LE PROGRÈS: Un homme d'origine sénégalaise a été grièvement blessé à la terrasse d'un café, place Gabriel-Péri, par un groupe d'individus qui lui reprochaient de ne pas respecter le jeûne musulman
Un café pris à une terrasse, au troisième jour du ramadan. Voilà ce qui a déclenché une violence inouie. Voilà pourquoi Hamara Diarra, 45 ans, durement touché à la tête, a passé plusieurs jours dans le coma. Il reste dans un état grave à l'hôpital neurologique de Lyon.
La scène remonte au vendredi 13 août, vers 17h00, place Gabriel Péri, à Lyon 7ème. Comme il en a l'habitude, Hamara prend un café avec des amis, sur une petite terrasse, derrière l' arrêt de tram, au tout début de la rue de Marseille. Un jeune homme, "entre 25 et 30 ans" selon un témoin, demande un sandiwch devant un restaurant kebab. Et fait une remarque en direction d'Hamara.
En substance, il lui reproche de prendre un café un jour de ramadan, de ne pas respecter le jeûne musulman. Hamara aurait nettement répondu qu'il pratiquait sa religion selon sa convenance personnelle. Tout dégénère rapidement. Selon un commerçant tout proche, le jeune homme appelle des amis en renfort, au moins trois. Et une pluie de coups s'abat sur l'infortuné quadragénaire. Coups de pied, coups de chaise ? Les versions varient. Le résultat est là : l'homme blessé s'effondre sur le trottoir, secouru de longues minutes avant d'être transporté à l'hôpital. Son sac est même volé au passage. Continuez à lire et réagir à cet article >>> R.S. | Mercredi 25 Août 2010
HT: Jeannot >>>
HT: Vlad Tepes >>>
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
CBN.COM: Christian's Outreach to Gays: I'm Sorry: CHICAGO, Ill.-- Andrew Marin is trying to bridge a gap that has widened remarkably in recent years. >>> Heather Sells, CBN News Reporter | Friday, August 20, 2010
FOX NEWS:The controversial imam at the center of the debate over the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero says his goal is to create coalitions across the religious divide, but during a 2005 conference in Australia, he said America may be worse than Al Qaeda.
"We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than Al Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims," said Imam Fiesal Abdul Rauf, speaking at the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Center during a question and answer session dedicated to what sponsors say was a dialogue to improve relations between America and the Muslim world.
"You may remember that the U.S.-led sanctions against Iraq led to the death of over half a million Iraqi children. This has been documented by the United Nations," said Rauf, who called himself a spokesman for Islam.
But diplomats and others, including former President Bill Clinton, have said that sentiment is wrong. Saddam Hussein's regime corrupted then-U.N. sanctions and denied humanitarian aid to his own people.
In a Nov. 8, 2000, interview on Pacifica Radio, Clinton said if any child is without food or medicine, then Saddam is to blame because the dictator is "lying to the world and claiming the mean, old United States is killing his children."
During his Australian visit, the imam also said the Arab and Muslim world senses that the West does not care about Muslim lives and their pain and anguish is not heard.
He explained that frustration and emotions can lead to terrorism, actions he condemned. >>> | Tuesday, August 24, 2010
MAIL ONLINE – BLOG – MARY ELLEN SYNON: Islam is a religion of peace and mercy, part 47.
Today in Saudi Arabia, the richest and most influential Islamic state in the world, a Saudi man who was convicted in court of paralysing a fellow countryman is being threatened by the judicial authorities with having his spinal cord cut as an official punishment.
It is Islamic law and Saudi Arabia enforces it: an eye for an eye.
As I write this, the case judge in the north-western province of Tabuk is waiting for replies to the letter he has sent out to several hospitals asking for their advice on whether it is medically possible to slice the spine.
Is the judicial mutilation going to happen? We will have to wait and see. But we do know that ten years ago an Egyptian worker had an eye surgically removed in a Saudi hospital as punishment for disfiguring a fellow worker in an acid attack.
I mention all that because I am going to write about two dust-ups going on in America now, both of them tied to Islam and what Americans are supposed to make of the Muslims in their midst.
Dust-up one is the question of whether a foreign-financed campaigning group of Muslims will be allowed to build a £65m mosque just two blocks from Ground Zero.
Dust-up two is the continuing question of whether or not President Obama is actually a Christian. A poll last week showed that one in four Americans believe he is not. They think he is a Muslim.
Now, the first response from people in this country to either of these issues is predictable. On the question of the mosque, the response is: ‘A mosque is a place of worship and to deny a place of worship to a religion because of a group of terrorists’ links to Islam is offensive. Islam is a religion of peace and mercy. Bin Laden does not represent Islam. He espouses a warped interpretation of Wahhabism.’
‘Warped?’ What, unlike the Wahhabism embraced by the Saudi state? See first paragraph. That ‘unwarped’ interpretation of Wahhabism enforces mutilation and beheading of criminals, execution of homosexuals, stoning of adulterers and violent suppression of all other religions. Sweet mother of Jesus, you’d be hard-pushed to spot just where the line is crossed between warped and unwarped if that sort of barbarity is okay.
We’ll leave that question for the moment and get on to Barack Hussein Obama and whether or not he is a Christian and whether it ought to matter anyway.
The first response to that question by most people in this country is to mock what they believe are the religious obsessions of the American rightwing.
Here’s the problem with that response. It is not the American right who have been making the most influential arguments that Mr Obama is Muslim. They don’t need to. All they have to do is point to arguments which have come instead from powerful Muslims such as President Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, and from intellectuals such as Dr Edward N Luttwak, a military specialist and historian writing in the Democrat New York Times.
The sheer frustration of the White House in all of this is shown in their determination to show that instead it is leading right-wingers such as the broadcaster Rush Limbaugh who are making the accusations.
Which leaves Mr Limbaugh laughing. He has challenged the White House to find any instance in which he said the President was a Muslim. Problem is the President’s staff can’t find a single instance. Continue reading and comment >>> Mary Ellen Synon | Monday, August 23, 2010
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