Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Lavrov: If We're Attacked, We'll Certainly Respond
Teenage Europeans Joining Jihad in War-torn Syria
Attorney General: Rise of Fundamentalism Is 'Damaging' Christianity
Christians are increasingly reluctant to express their religious views because they are being “turned off” by the “disturbing” and “very damaging” rise of religious fundamentalism, the Attorney General has said.
Dominic Grieve said that atheists who claim that Britain is no longer a Christian nation are “deluding themselves” and must accept that faith has shaped this country’s laws and ethics.
He said that 1,500 years of Christian values are “not going to disappear overnight” and said that many people remain believers even if they choose not to go to Church.
However, he warned people are being discouraged from openly declaring their beliefs because of the “deep intolerance” of religious extremists of all faiths, including Islam and Christianity.
He told The Telegraph: “I do think that there has been a rise of an assertiveness of religious groups across the spectrum. That is why those with softer religious views find it disturbing and say they don’t want anything to do with it.” » | Steven Swinford, and John Bingham | Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Iranian Prison Guards Ordered to Beat Up Inmates, Letter Says
Political prisoners in Tehran's Evin prison have allegedly been subjected to humiliating physical abuse, including being forced to run a gauntlet of guards armed with batons, it has emerged.
Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, has been silent despite chilling details being revealed by prisoners and their families about how Thursday's disturbances marked a dark episode in one of the country's most notorious prisons.
Dozens of inmates held in Evin's ward 350, including journalists, lawyers and opposition members, were injured, with some suffering skull fractures, broken ribs, wounds and swelling on their bodies after guards and intelligence officials created a tunnel and made prisoners run through it as they beat them with batons, according to opposition sources.
Emad Bahavar, who is serving a 10-year sentence because of his political activities, recounted some of the horrific moments in a letter sent out of jail and published on an opposition website, Kaleme, on Tuesday. » | Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Salman Rushdie and The Satanic Verses Affair
Where Would You Rather Live – Great Britain or Little England?
This Easter we find ourselves in the middle of a European election campaign in which the question at the heart of the European debate is finally being addressed: should Britain remain a member of the EU, or is it time to leave?
The isolationists have been allowed to peddle their myths unchallenged for decades. Of all Nigel Farage's far-fetched claims – and there are many – the most outlandish is the idea that Ukip's call for an exit is the insurgents' battle cry. European withdrawal is presented as a great revolutionary promise, held in stark contrast to the status quo upheld by a homogeneous political elite.
What poppycock. For a start, Farage is every bit the professional politician he enthusiastically reviles. He and I were elected to the European parliament on the same day in 1999. I left after five years. The Ukip leader is still there. More important, there is nothing remotely new about his party's ambitions. Ukip is simply the fresh face of a long-standing Eurosceptic establishment, supported by many in the Tory party and significant parts of the press.
The sceptics' free run over this debate must now be challenged. On 22 May every gain they make will propel Britain closer to the door. We risk finding ourselves drifting further and further away from our biggest export market, jeopardising our still fragile economic recovery and threatening millions of jobs. At a time when the world's economic powerhouses are reaching beyond their own borders and working more closely with their neighbours, we will be turning away from ours.
If we end up stumbling out of the EU our police will be denied the cross-border co-operation they enjoy at present – in effect asking them to keep us safe with one hand tied behind their back. At every international summit and on each of the great dilemmas thrown up by globalisation, climate change, trade, global finance, terrorism and organised crime, Britain will be increasingly isolated, its influence diminished in the world. » | Nick Clegg | Monday, April 21, 2014
THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: European elections: some things are bigger than Ukip: Europe is not going away so our European election campaigns should contain a debate about policy » | Monday, April 21, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
Muslims Must Accept Britain's Christian Values, Says Former Home Secretary
 |
| Former Labour home secretary Jack Straw |
Muslims must accept that Britain is built on Christian values, a former Home Secretary has said, in the wake of mounting evidence that a group of schools have been taken over in a ‘Trojan Horse’ plot by radical Islamists.
It is “inevitable” that many Muslim communities will not integrate with the rest of British society but it must be made clear that attempts to isolate Muslim pupils from the rest of society are unacceptable, Jack Straw said.
The alleged plot by Islamic radicals to take control of a series of schools in Birmingham is the product of a little-understood power struggle between Muslim denominations, Mr Straw, the MP for Blackburn said.
Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, is to take personal charge of the schools watchdog’s probe into allegations that radical Islamists had sought to infiltrate the governing bodies of secular schools.
It is claimed head teachers were pressurised into segregating pupils, abandoning “un-Islamic” sections of the GCSE biology syllabus and neglecting non-Muslim pupils. » | Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent | Monday, April 21, 2014
David Cameron Christianity Claim Backed by Religious Groups
 |
| Mr Cameron has spoken of the "peace" he has found in Christianity |
Hindu Council UK said it was "very comfortable" with the description. The Muslim Council of Britain said the UK was a largely Christian country.
He said the UK must be "more confident" about its Christianity, a view Downing Street says he has stated before.
It comes after a group of public figures warned the PM risked causing "alienation" with his comments. » | Monday, April 21, 2014
India's Elders Lift Ban on Inter-caste Marriages
One of India’s most influential tribal councils has lifted a ban on inter-caste marriages in a move hailed by campaigners as the start of a social revolution.
India’s more than 800 million Hindus are born into rigid castes which determine their opportunities in life and their social status.
Those who defy traditional barriers to marry someone from below their own caste are often shunned and occasionally murdered – there are more than 1,000 honour killings in India every year of those who cross caste and religious divides to marry for love.
Most of the killings have been in northern India where Hindus from the Jat tribe – traditionally regarded as peasant warrior – also forbid marriages between those from the same sub-caste or gotra, which they regard as incest. » | Dean Nelson, New Delhi | Monday, April 21, 2014
Iran : Rohani admet qu'il y a encore beaucoup à faire pour les droits des femmes
"Aujourd'hui, les femmes bénéficient de nombreux droits, mais il existe toujours des insuffisances dans les droits des femmes et l'égalité entre les sexes." Pour la journée nationale de la femme en Iran, le président Hassan Rohani a estimé que les femmes ne pouvaient être considérées comme des citoyens de seconde zone. Il s'exprimait devant des représentantes de "l'élite féminine" du pays selon les médias, qui ont chaudement applaudi son discours.
M. Rohani, élu en juin 2013 avec le soutien des réformateurs et des modérés, prône une plus grande ouverture politique, culturelle et sociale en Iran, régulièrement critiquée par les organisations internationales de défense des droits de l'homme pour les discriminations dont sont victimes les femmes. La Journée de la femme est célébrée en Iran le jour anniversaire de Fatima, la fille du prophète.
"L'injustice et la violence contre les femmes doivent cesser", a-t-il plaidé. "Selon les règles islamiques, l'homme n'est pas le premier sexe ni la femme le second sexe, [...] les femmes sont aux côtés des hommes et les deux sont égaux." (+ vidéo) » | Source AFP | dimanche 20 avril 2014
Assad besucht zurückeroberte Stadt Maalula
Der syrische Präsident Baschar al-Assad hat am Ostersonntag ein kürzlich von seinen Truppen zurückerobertes christliches Dorf besucht. Wie die amtliche Nachrichtenagentur Sana berichtete, besichtigte Assad in Maalula 60 Kilometer nordöstlich von Damaskus Schäden an Kirchen und Klöstern.
Rebellen, darunter Kämpfer der dem Terrornetzwerk al-Qaida nahestehenden Nusra-Front, hatten das Dorf im vergangenen Jahr mehrmals besetzt. Am Montag wurde es von Regierungstruppen eingenommen, die die Rebellen in die umliegenden Dörfer zurückdrängten.
Für die Regierung hatte die Rückeroberung auch einen wichtigen symbolischen Wert: Sie bemüht sich, als Beschützer religiöser Minderheiten, inklusive der Christen, wahrgenommen zu werden. Assad verfolgt mit seinem Besuch also durchaus propagandistische Ziele. In einem Konflikt, der bereits neun Millionen Menschen zur Flucht gezwungen und mittlerweile unzählige Opfer gefordert hat, versucht er sich gegenüber der Öffentlichkeit als Garant für den Schutz von Minderheiten zu inszenieren. » | AP/ds | Montag, 21. April 2014
Muslims in New York City Unite on Push to Add Holidays to School Calendar
They were Muslims from Bosnia and Montenegro, Egypt and Syria, Pakistan and Bangladesh — several hundred in all.
It was a gathering remarkable in its diversity from among New York City’s Muslims, a growing group whose members often find it difficult to work together politically because of differences in national origin, language, sect and class. But a single issue has managed to unify them: the push to close the city’s public schools for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, the most sacred Muslim holidays.
The issue might seem of modest importance alongside deeper concerns among many Muslims in the city, including the Police Department’s monitoring of their community since the Sept. 11 attacks. But the rally, held recently in a public school auditorium in Queens and organized in barely a week’s time, was a testament to how the city’s Muslim community is gaining a measure of political confidence. » | Sharon Otterman | Thursday, April 17, 2014
Penny Pinching Prince? Britain's Charles Won't Share Riches with Public
Islam Fastest-growing Religion in UK as Churches Decline
Private School Chief Linked to Islam Trojan Horse Plot Says: Stone All Adulterers to Death
 |
| Ibrahim Hewitt, chairman of Al-Aqsa school, said that all adulterers should be stoned to death and fornication should be punished with 100 lashes |
A Muslim hardliner who says adulterers should be stoned to death and that gay men and fornicators should be lashed 100 times has set up an Islamic school that has received almost £1million of taxpayers’ money.
Ibrahim Hewitt, one of Britain’s most prominent Islamic firebrands – who also heads a charity branded a ‘terrorist’ organisation by the US – is the founder and chairman of trustees of the Al-Aqsa school in Leicester, which teaches 250 boys and girls aged between three and 11.
He has vilified homosexuals as paedophiles and said a man can take on a second wife if his first fails to satisfy him sexually. Mr Hewitt has published his views in a book on Islam, which he claims has sold more than 50,000 copies in Britain.
The preacher is the founder of another controversial organisation called the Association of Muslim Schools (AMS), whose leader has been accused of orchestrating a plot in Birmingham called ‘Operation Trojan Horse’ in which Islamic extremists have allegedly taken over 25 state schools in the city. » | Tom Worden and Abul Taher | Sunday, April 20, 2014
Ibrahim Hewitt: What does Islam say? »
Son of Distributor of Anti-Islam Film Fitna Accepts Islam
 |
| Iskander with his father, Arnoud. |
The son of Arnoud van Doorn, the famous Dutch policy maker and distributor of an anti-Islam film Fitna that caused unrest in 2008, surprised the audiences at the three-day Dubai International Peace Convention by embracing Islam.
Arnoud’s son, Iskander Amien De Vrie, was one of the 37 people who converted to Islam during the convention.
“I bear witness that there is no God to be worshipped but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is his worshipper and last messenger,” said Iskander in his Shahadah (testimony) to become a Muslim.
…
“I saw my father become more peaceful after converting to Islam. That’s when I realised there is something good in this religion and it made me change my perception of Muslims. I started studying the Holy Quran and going through lectures of important scholars,” said Iskander in an interview with Khaleej Times. » | Muaz Shabandri | Monday, April 21, 2014
David Cameron ‘Fuelling Sectarian Division by Bringing God into Politics'
 |
| David Cameron bringing God into politics. |
David Cameron is sowing sectarianism and division by insisting that Britain is still a “Christian country” an alliance of writers, scientists, philo[oso]phers and politicians has claimed.
In a letter to The Telegraph, 55 public figures from a range of political backgrounds accuse him of fostering “alienation” and actively harming society by repeatedly emphasising Christianity.
The group, which includes writers such as Philip Pullman and Sir Terry Pratchett, Nobel Prize winning scientists, prominent broadcasters and even some comedians argue that members of the elected Government have no right to “actively prioritise” religion or any particular faith.
It comes after a series of public statements in which Mr Cameron has been increasingly vocal about his own faith.
Last week, in an article for the Church Times, the Prime Minister said Britain should be unashamedly “evangelical” about its Christianity. » | John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor | Sunday, April 20, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)