Tuesday - October 28, 2008

let there be light!

Hindus the world over are celebrating Diwali again right now. It’s a festival that celebrates the victory of the good over the evil. Good is symbolized by light and color, standing out against the evil darkness. It’s also a New Year’s Eve celebration, as their lunar calendar begins anew.

I think it’s a very nice annual event, that reminds nearly a quarter of the world that things can be better.

Ok, diwali is actually a lot more complicated than my simple description*, and it has roots that reach waaay back in time and deep into their religion:

Islamists stone to death Somali woman for adultery.

Gee, maybe if the west gives them some money for health and safety and education and medicine and ... oh yeah.  West already has. Many times over the many years.
OK.. maybe if the west gives even more. And keeps on giving.  Right. I didn’t think so either.
It will NEVER, EVER make a bit of difference.

Islamists stone to death Somali woman for adultery

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:15 PM on 28th October 2008

Somali Islamists have stoned to death a woman accused of adultery in the first such public killing by the militants for about two years, witnesses said.

The 23-year-old woman was placed in a hole up to her neck for the execution late on Monday in front of hundreds of people in a square of the southern port of Kismayu, which the Islamist insurgents captured in August.

Stones were hurled at her head, and she was brought out of the hole three times to see if she had died.

When a relative and others surged forward, guards opened fire, killing a child, the witnesses said.

‘A woman in green veil and black mask was brought in a car as we waited to watch the merciless act of stoning,’ one local resident, Abdullahi Aden, told Reuters.

‘We were told she submitted herself to be punished, yet we could see her screaming as she was forcefully bound, legs and hands. A relative of hers ran towards her, but the Islamists opened fire and killed a child.’

The Islamists last carried out public executions when they ruled Mogadishu and most of south Somalia for half of 2006.

Allied Ethiopian and Somali government forces toppled them at the end of that year, but they have waged an Iraq-style guerrilla campaign since then, gradually taking territory back.

As when they ruled Mogadishu in 2006, the Islamists now controlling the Kismayu area are again providing much-needed security, but also imposing fundamentalist practices such as banning entertainment seen as anti-Islamic.

Relatives of the woman executed in Kismayu, whom they named as Asha Ibrahim Dhuhulow, were furious.

‘The stoning was totally irreligious and illogical,’ said her sister, who asked not to be named. ‘Islam does not execute a woman for adultery unless four witnesses and the man with whom she committed sex are brought forward publicly.’

Islamist leaders at the execution said the woman had breached Islamic law. They promised to punish the guard who had shot the child in the melee around the execution.

‘We apologise for killing the child. And we promise we shall bring the one who opened fire before the courts and deal with him accordingly,’ one unnamed Islamist leader told the crowd.’

http://tinyurl.com/5uxm9r

   Saturday - October 11, 2008

The trouble with Wikipedia

WorldNetDaily is promoting a video about the Feast of Tabernacles. This piqued my curiosity and I turned to, where else, Wikipedia’s entry for Feast of Tabernacles. This is some of the info I found:

Many of the laws of melcha (forbidden activity) that apply on Shabbat also apply on Sukkot, such as the prohibition against engaging in commerce, lighting a fire, or completing an electrical circuit. Other Shabbat prohibitions, however, are relaxed. With various differences based on one’s religious orientation, one is permitted to cook (so long as the fire is pre-existing), and carry material things from domain to domain. One is not allow to touch cold sea water nor engage in activities involving power tools or hammers weighing more than 2 ounces (biblical weight). One can observe the building or repairing of structures but must limit ones self to strictly observation and criticism when involved with the construction or repair of ones own home. Based n Leviticus 2:3 “Lo! and Moses Smote Leordecheia sharply with a scroll of thine days news.” saying"Vat dah chell are you doink hire someone will you!! vat do you know about this stuff vat are you a carpenter!!!?”

That’s not in my translation of Leviticus. What thinkest thou? Hacked?

   Monday - October 06, 2008

OK, EVEN IF YOU DON’T AGREE WITH EVERYTHING, THIS IS A MUST WATCH AND LISTEN VIDEO.

Just before getting ready to shut down for the night, I paid a visit to Vilmar’s site where I stole this.
I don’t think he’ll mind me doing that.

Now then, please, please stay with this fellow even if it is a mite hard to watch because he’s jumps a lot.
This really does have a large WOW factor.

One of the things I’ve always liked about Vilmar, is his take no prisoners attitude and kick the hell out of the left when ya have em down.

Well, while this young man might not be Vilmar he sure does score some points and doesn’t seem to worry much about prisoners either.

NOW THEN ... WANNA TALK ABOUT TAKE NO PRISONERS?

HE GOES ON AGAIN HERE.  THIS YOUNG FELLA IS ON A ROLL. 

Thanks Vilmar.  http://antzinpantz.com/kns/ and thanks as well to Sndrak, which is where V got it.  http://tinyurl.com/48qoj8

   Thursday - August 28, 2008

MUSLIM CITY COUNCIL CHIEFS IN UK WANT A BAN EVEN FOR NON-MUDSLIMES DURING RAMADAMN

How about this latest from a member of the ROP.  I hope they all freekin die!

These SOBs just can’t be happy unless and until EVERYONE is under their greasy unwashed collective thumbs.

Screw em all!  I hope the Brits will not cave in to this latest bit of BS!  I don’t believe they will on this one.

Yeah ... It RCOB time.  OK, it isn’t the entire country this one idiot is talking about but. As I see it it’s simply the first of how many future demands to be made.
No doubt this a-hole won’t get his way but even asking is an outrage.  Imagine if you will the reaction of this minority (for now) group if they were asked to observe a Jewish or a Christian practice for a month?

Muslim council chiefs ban ALL members from ‘tea and sandwiches’ in meetings which take place during Ramadan

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:04 PM on 28th August 200

Muslim council leaders have sparked outrage after trying to ban all councillors eating in meetings until sunset during the holy month of Ramadan.

Politicians have hit out after the move to impose hardline Islamic rules on non-Muslim colleagues throughout September.

The bombshell has been dropped by Labour chiefs of the notoriously loony Tower Hamlets Council in east London.

The storm was sparked by an e-mail sent to all councillors this week highlighting arrangements for Town Hall committee meetings next month, which marks the Muslim fasting period of Ramadan.
The memo said that new council leader Lutfur Rahman and his deputy, Siraj Islam, had requested that meetings be kept to a minimum to accommodate fasting councillors.

They have also urged all other councillors to resist eating until the breaking of the fast at sunset.

Cllr Stephanie Eaton, leader of the Lib Dem group on the left-wing East End authority, said she would be ignoring the new Ramadan regime.

She insisted the new Labour leadership was favouring one religious group over others.

Cllr Eaton said: ‘The Liberal Democrats have enormous respect for the contribution of all faith groups and cultures to the life of the community of Tower Hamlets.

‘But we fervently believe that the rules of any one religion should not be imposed upon others.’

It is the first time such a request has been made and it comes as Ramadan falls earlier this year during the longer daylight hours.

(bet it won’t be the last either)

Council bosses have also ordered that the town hall’s business agenda should be reduced, with only seven scheduled committee meetings for the entire month, to deal with the Ramadan restrictions.

(Sure thing. Give in to keep the peace on another issue and keep on toadying. Kick em out of this country is the answer. They DO NOT BELONG HERE!)

Officers have also been barred from arranging any more and been told to explore ways of dropping some of the scheduled seven.

Those going ahead generally start at about 6.30pm.

So with sunset due to fall just after 7.30pm at the beginning of September and around 6.30pm by the end of Ramadan, the breaking of the fast will take place during meetings.

At those points, there will be 45-minute adjournments to allow members to eat and pray, council leaders have ordered.

But it is the arrangements for the food and other refreshments that has angered Cllr Eaton and the rest of her party, which includes two Muslim councillors.

Normally tea, coffee and sandwiches are set aside for councillors to nibble at during evening meetings.

But during Ramadan these will be reduced and complemented by special Muslim food packs containing chicken, lamb and vegetarian snacks.

But in his email, John Williams, the council’s head of democratic services, said: ‘It is requested that members do not partake of any refreshments until after the Iftar refreshments are served.’

Cllr Eaton said that was going too far. Speaking on behalf of all her stunned party colleagues, she said: ‘I was rather disconcerted to see that the arrangements put in place for Ramadan, which we support for Muslim colleagues, have been imposed upon all councillors. 

‘We object to the request that non-Muslim councillors observe the fasting rules for Ramadan.

‘This sends out the wrong message to our community.Our community consists of a huge number of different religions, all of which should be valued, and no one religion should be accorded more status or influence than others.

‘Freedom of belief is an important human right, and we Liberal Democrat councillors, Muslim and non-Muslim, agree that this request is inappropriate.’

Cllr Eaton has also written to Town Hall bosses about her concerns that their move ‘will not enhance community cohesion and asking for their reassurance that no faith is given any particular status or priority in the operation or decisions of the council’.

Council bosses said their arrangements were in place ‘where it is not reasonable to expect members observing Ramadan, and who are required to attend a formal committee or other meeting, to travel home in time for sundown in order to break fast and undertake prayers’.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic Lunar looney calendar and the holiest of the four holy months. It begins with the sighting of the new moon after which all physically mature and healthy Muslims are obliged to abstain from all food, drink, gum chewing, any kind of tobacco use, and any kind of sexual contact between dawn and sunset.

http://tinyurl.com/5bwctl

   Wednesday - July 09, 2008

SOME PATRIOTIC SWISS IN MOVE TO PROTECT THEIR COUNTRY FROM islam

Swiss to vote on minaret building ban
By Daily Telegraph reporter
Last Updated: 12:44PM BST 09/07/2008

Swiss nationalists have forced a nationwide referendum on whether to ban the construction of minarets where Muslims issue the call to prayer.

If approved the proposal would clash with Switzerland’s constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion.

(No,no it does not clash with anything. This is all about Noise Abatement)

The Interior Ministry said it received a proposal on Tuesday with more than the required 100,000 signatures.

It was submitted by members of the nationalist Swiss People’s Party and the fringe Federal Democratic Union, who say they are acting to fight the political spread of Islam. They argue that the minaret is a symbol of political and religious claim to power rather than a mere religious sign.

People’s party lawmaker Walter Wobmann defended the move, saying the authorization for constructing a minaret in Winterthur near Zurich and pending requests in three other Swiss towns have exceeded the limits of many Swiss people’s tolerance.

“Many recognize in this a further step in the creeping Islamization of Switzerland,” he said.

(creeping Islamization of Europe in general.)

It’s not the first time the People’s Party has ignited a provocative campaign. Recently they embarked on an anti-immigrant initiative, complete with posters showing a black sheep being kicked off a Swiss flag and dark hands grabbing at a pile of Swiss passports.

Swiss voters last month, however, overwhelmingly rejected their proposal to make it harder for foreigners to gain citizenship.

(more fools they then, as their country will surely be stolen from them. That part the liberals don’t just give away)

Still, construction of traditional mosques and minarets in European countries has rarely been a trouble-free affair. Sweden, France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Germany and Slovenia are among the countries which have experienced opposition or protests against such projects.

In Cologne, Germany, plans to expand the city’s Ditib Mosque and complete it with dome and two 54-meter-tall (177-feet-tall) minarets, have triggered an angry response from right-wing groups and the city’s Roman Catholic Archbishop.

Slovenia’s Constitutional Court in 2004 banned a move to hold a referendum on the building of a mosque.

Switzerland’s unique system of grass roots democracy allows political hard-liners to take the issue further than in other European countries, where constitutional courts or governments have blocked moves against mosques and minarets. Any Swiss citizen who collects 100,000 signatures within 18 months can put a popular initiative to a nationwide vote.

No date has been set for the referendum. If it is approved, the Swiss parliament must pass a law enshrining a construction ban in the constitution.

Minarets are tall spires typically built next to mosques where religious leaders call the faithful to prayer. There are currently only two minarets in the country, attached to mosques in Zurich and Geneva. Neither is used for calls to prayer.

Opponents of a construction ban say it would violate religious freedom. More than 310,000 of Switzerland’s 7.5 million people are Muslims, according to the Federal Statistical Office.

A United Nations expert on racism, Doudou Diene, says the campaign is evidence of an “ever-increasing trend” toward anti-Islamic actions in Europe.

(Well duh, we wonder why that is. Of course, it couldn’t possibly be anything they bring on themselves.)

The Swiss government is concerned about the impact the referendum will have on its international image. Swiss President Pascal Couchepin said the government will recommend that voters reject the proposed ban. Other members of Switzerland’s cross-party government have also spoken out against the ban.

(OK, lets see.  What do we want.  Hmmm, choices,choices. Save our country or have a happy feel good image among foreigners? Gee, that’s a hard one to decide huh?  Country? Image? Can we vote on it?)

Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has warned that the anti-minaret initiative would lead to a security risk for Switzerland because it could spark Muslim’s anger.

(oh well then hell.  Lets turn turn the country over to an alien breed who don’t fit and never will.  Lets by all means surrender now and pray for good terms.)

Henri-Maxime Khedoud, spokesman for the Swiss Association of Muslims for Secularism, said that although the Swiss mosques don’t really need minarets, the initiative was an attack against Muslims and contrary to the freedom of everyone to practice his faith.

(Oh bull S#*!. They can practice their damn faith without being noisy about it and disturbing the more civilized citizens of the country. What. They can’t practice their faith without minarets? Heaven help the Swiss cause only a few patriots are on hand to do so.  )

http://tinyurl.com/6g8gf5

   Sunday - June 01, 2008

So, B. Hussein Obama leaves Trinity

I was going to just leave this as a comment on Drew’s earlier post, but I decided it was too good a question to leave languishing in the comments.

So, the question is asked: What if Romney left the LDS Church?

As I type this, the news channel is blaring with filler waiting for Barack Obama to comment publicly on his announcement early today that he’s leaving the Trinity Unity Church of Christ, presumably as a consequence of the videotape of Father Michael Pfleger’s sermon in which he mentions Hillary Clinton. Obama has been attending Trinity for 20 years, and so questions are being raised about “what does he know now that he didn’t know then?”

Here’s the thought experiment that springs to mind: suppose Mitt Romney announced that he was leaving the LDS Church. Do you think that the media, or the Political Left, or the Religious Right would simply assume that he had truly abandoned LDS beliefs and history? What would Romney have to say and do in order for these groups to accept his word that he truly rejected the LDS Church? Burn his temple recommend? Drink wine and coffee in public? Ask to have his name removed from Church records?

And if he did all this, what would these groups then say about his integrity, judgment, and honesty?

On the other hand, how would Romney (say he were the GOP VP candidate) react if reporters started attending his home ward meetings and taking notes about Sacrament meeting talks and Sunday School/Priesthood lessons? (I suspect his reaction would be to sic the missionaries on them, but still….) And I’m sure that he’s be more than thrilled if they started listening to General Conference.

Comments? ..bruce..

(emphasis added)

(I have no idea who bruce is.)

I would love the press to do just that. Let us see the contrast. You can listen to General Conference here. Hell Heck, you can watch it too. Compare to the messages coming out of Trinity Unity Church (alleged) of Christ. Messages that Obama liked so well he stayed over 20 years, and gave thousands of dollars to keep the messages coming.

Romney should never have had to defend himself for being LDS. The Obamination, on the other hand, should just be roasted continuously. 

   Saturday - April 26, 2008

The Other Side Of Pat

Another Pat Condell video. You might not like it, but it should get a reaction out of you, one way or the other. Herein Pat talks about spirituality vs. religion. Is he right or is he wrong, and if so, where? Have at it in the comments.

Pat Condell: The Curse Of Religion

On Pat’s MySpace page for this video, one commenter pasted in an Emo Phillips joke, which seems relavent:

“I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said “Stop! don’t do it!” “Why shouldn’t I?” he said. I said, “Well, there’s so much to live for!” He said, “Like what?” I said, “Well…are you religious or atheist?” He said, “Religious.” I said, “Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?” He said, “Christian.” I said, “Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?” He said, “Baptist!” I said,”Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?” He said, “Baptist Church of God!” I said, “Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed Baptist Church of God?” He said,”Reformed Baptist Church of God!” I said, “Me too! Are you reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?” He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!” I said, “Die, heretic scum”, and pushed him off.”

   Tuesday - March 25, 2008

Muslims ‘to outnumber traditional churchgoers’

Maybe I should repost last weeks new map of europe and uk.
Hmmm ... wonder how my wife would take to burka.  I’ll have to ask.  Or better yet, get back home to USA soonest. Ya think?

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:05am GMT 25/03/2008

The increasing influence of Islam on British culture is disclosed in research today that shows the number of Muslims worshipping at mosques in England and Wales will outstrip the numbers of Roman Catholics going to church in little more than a decade.

Projections show Muslims are to outstrip Catholic Sunday worshippers by 2020

Projections to be published next month estimate that, if trends continue, the number of Catholic worshippers at Sunday Mass will fall to 679,000 by 2020.

By that time, statisticians predict, the number of Muslims praying in mosques on Fridays will have increased to 683,000.

The Christian Research figures also suggest that, over the same period, the number of Muslims at mosques will overtake Church of England members at Sunday services.

Church spokesmen point out, however, that a growing number of Anglicans worship at other times of the week.

The projections show that, if the Churches do not reverse their historical decline, there will be more active Muslims than Christians in Sunday services across Britain before the middle of the century.

The figures, based on Government and academic sources and the latest edition of Christian Research’s Religious Trends, come amid growing tensions over the place of Muslims in British society.

They follow fierce rows over the extent to which Islamic law should be recognised and over claims that “no-go” areas for non-Muslims are emerging in parts of the country.

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, provoked criticism by saying the introduction of some aspects of sharia into British society was “unavoidable”.

The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, faced death threats after writing in The Sunday Telegraph that Islamic extremism was turning some communities into “no-go” areas “where adherence to this ideology has become a mark of acceptability”.

Peter Brierley, a former Government statistician who edited the latest Religious Trends, said that the continuing growth of the Muslim population since the 2001 census would have significant implications for society.

http://tinyurl.com/2xgbtl

   Monday - March 17, 2008

A “FAITH-HATE CRIME” or JUST KIDS HAVING FUN?

it may not be part of the story but .... I just couldn’t resist this

Canon Ainsworth’s wife ‘shocked by attack’
Last Updated: 1:09am GMT 17/03/2008
http://tinyurl.com/ysacfd

The wife of vicar who was beaten up by youths in a suspected faith hate crime yesterday spoke of the “shock and distress” caused by the attack.

With her husband still recovering in hospital yesterday, Jan Ainsworth - herself an ordained priest - took over the service at his east London church.

Canon Michael Ainsworth, 57, was set upon by two Asian youths after confronting a gang outside St George-in-the-East Church in Tower Hamlets.

At the time of the attack, the clergyman was wearing his dog collar and it is alleged that one of the attackers shouted “f***ing priest” during the assault on March 5 at around 7pm.

It is thought that Canon Ainsworth went outside the church to ask three youths to quieten down. He was then punched and kicked by two of them and suffered from cuts, bruises and two black eyes.

He was taken to hospital and treated, but later had to be readmitted because of complications to a nose injury.

Taking the Palm Sunday service, Mrs Ainsworth told churchgoers: “He is making a recovery, it is taking a while but I expect him home on Monday.”

The 18th century church has regularly had windows smashed by youths, who on one occasion shouted: This should not be a church, this should be a mosque.”

The borough has a large Muslim community and it was feared that the incident might inflame tensions in the area. But members of the church yesterday suggested that youth thuggery, rather than religious bigotry, may have been behind the attack.

Mrs Ainsworth said: “There is a lot of shock and distress around the congregation and the area.”

She said the attack took place in a part of the church’s grounds in which youths were known to congregate.

She added: “Quite clearly there are mindless individuals in every community, quite often under the influence of drink or drugs, that engage in random acts of violence. The community organisations here are very shocked.”

Interfaith relations in the area are “very good” she said, adding: “We have had very strong messages of support from East London mosque and Tower Hamlets mosque.”

One churchgoer, Rodney Sawers, 58, said: “I am appalled. Canon Ainsworth is a gem, we are lucky to have him. He is so kindly, without being a softy.”

Scotland Yard said that the incident was being treated as a suspected faith hate crime.

   Saturday - February 09, 2008

Sharia courts?  Get off your knees, Archbishop

Papers full of the news today that people want the Arch (idiot) of Canterbury
to resign. But he says huh? 

Sharia courts?  Get off your knees, Archbishop

By Simon Heffer
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 09/02/2008Page 1 of 3
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.

It is not just that having one law for Muslims and another for everyone else would be fatal to the rule of law, to the coherence of our society, and to any sense of nationhood. It is not even just that it would fuel anti-Muslim extremism, as the opportunist, grandstanding race-relations commissar Trevor Phillips has said. It would fuel pro-Muslim extremism too and, frankly, that it is even more dangerous. It would make a minority of Muslims believe that this country was theirs for the taking, whether the majority liked it or not: and what sort of society would that lead to?
If Muslim nations wish to have sharia law, then so be it.

However, just as we are always being warned about features of our culture that might offend Muslims, let Muslims - and Dr Williams - be in no doubt that there are aspects of sharia law that offend us. The subjection of women, which degrades and humiliates them, is the most notable. The archbishop seems to imagine that sharia law’s adoption could be confined to matters such as financial transactions and divorce.

But why should it stop there? Indeed, how could it?

The Church of England has long dined à la carte from the menu of Christian doctrine. The Ten Commandments have become mostly optional. Homosexuality, divorce and abortion are demanded as rights by certain sections of the Anglican communion, and no prelate seems to dare to contradict them. The Church has brought itself into contempt by acting in this way. Now, though, perhaps Dr Williams imagines Muslims will dine à la carte from the Koran. He must be mad.
A man in his position should defend our way of life and, above all, defend the unity of our society. That unity is already fragile: and this disgraceful act of appeasement, as well as showing the archbishop is unfit to occupy St Augustine’s Throne, threatens to shatter it. If the Church of England has any point, it is to stand up for the prevalence of English and Christian values. We like our country as it is. For God’s sake, Williams, get off your knees.

http://tinyurl.com/2av2zc

   Friday - February 08, 2008

THE 9/11 SUICIDE KILLERS COULD HAVE HAD A “MORAL GOAL” and we shouldn’t think of them “AS EVIL.”

That’s what this worthless walking pile of excrement has said.  He’s said, addressing a group of muslims, that America is worse then Britain in it’s days of empire and refers to something he calls, “Christian Zionism.” He also praises the call to prayer five times a day.

He is The Archbishop of Canterbury!  The top guy in The Church of England.

By now I’m certain this story is all over the blog world and it’s on the BBC in print, on the air and online.  I’m also certain that you’ve already read some of this so I’ll give you the link to the Telegraph version here. >>> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/index.jhtml There’s a video.

This is the editorial from today’s Telegraph:

Archbishop of Canterbury’s inept intervention
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 08/02/2008

The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday used a lecture in the Royal Courts of Justice to propose that sharia law should be applied in certain circumstances. The idea is not as outlandish as it may first appear.

There are already sharia councils in this country to which Muslims turn for advice and religious sanction in matters such as divorce. Likewise, Orthodox Jews have recourse to the Beth Din over, for example, dietary laws, divorce and tenancy disputes.

A further instance of legal sensitivity to religious belief is the ability of Christian doctors to opt out of abortions. So Dr Rowan Williams’s argument that there should be “a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law” is, to a certain extent, recognition of a situation which already exists.

The problem lies, rather, in the status of the messenger and the timing of his intervention. If there is a case for the creation of sharia courts, it would be better made by a joint group representing the three Abrahamic faiths - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Coming from the senior bishop in the Church of England, it is vulnerable to interpretation as appeasement of Islamic extremism prompted by fear of social unrest.

As for timing, the lecture was given shortly after threats had been made against one of Dr Williams’s fellow bishops, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester, for writing in the Sunday Telegraph that Islamic extremism had turned some communities into no-go areas for non-Muslims. Add to this the growing recognition of the failures of multiculturalism, and you have on the part of the archbishop a classic example of political ineptitude.

Even with more convincing advocacy, the creation of sharia courts in this country faces an uphill battle. In the public mind, sharia is associated with brutal punishment, whether the amputation of hands for theft or stoning for adultery and apostasy.

It is also seen as repressive to women; a journalist in Afghanistan is facing the death penalty for having distributed a report taken off the internet which questions the practice of polygamy. A further obstacle is the opposition to a dual legal system of the Muslim Council of Britain, an organisation not always associated with moderation.

In 2006, it was brought home to Pope Benedict XVI the way in which a supposedly innocuous reference to Islam - a quotation from a 14th-century Byzantine emperor - can create a furore. In the case of the archbishop, it is not so much the idea, as the way it will be interpreted that counts.

Muslim radicals will view it as the bending of the British establishment to fundamentalist pressure; that will hardly make for the social cohesion which lies behind Dr Williams’s thinking. The present informal arrangement of sharia councils is preferable in the current context to their elevation into courts. On this most inflammatory of subjects the archbishop would have best kept silent.

http://tinyurl.com/223q37 At the bottom of the editorial there will be some related articles that explain the “No Go areas mentioned above. 

   Monday - February 04, 2008

Female Muslim medics ‘disobey hygiene rules’

OK, Now before anyone gets upset and says naughty things you must remember.  These are muslims and we MUST have empathy and understanding and blah,blah,blah.

Female Muslim medics ‘disobey hygiene rules’
By Julie Henry and Laura Donnelly
Last Updated: 1:51am GMT 04/02/2008

Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is against their religion.

Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Islam.

Universities and NHS trusts fear many more will refuse to co-operate with new Department of Health guidance, introduced this month, which stipulates that all doctors must be “bare below the elbow”.

The measure is deemed necessary to stop the spread of infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile, which have killed hundreds.

Minutes of a clinical academics’ meeting at Liverpool University revealed that female Muslim students at Alder Hey children’s hospital had objected to rolling up their sleeves to wear gowns.

Similar concerns have been raised at Leicester University. Minutes from a medical school committee said that “a number of Muslim females had difficulty in complying with the procedures to roll up sleeves to the elbow for appropriate handwashing”.

Sheffield University also reported a case of a Muslim medic who refused to “scrub” as this left her forearms exposed.

Documents from Birmingham University reveal that some students would prefer to quit the course rather than expose their arms, and warn that it could leave trusts open to legal action.

Hygiene experts said last night that no exceptions should be made on religious grounds.

Dr Mark Enright, professor of microbiology at Imperial College London, said: “To wash your hands properly, and reduce the risks of MRSA and C.difficile, you have to be able to wash the whole area around the wrist.

“I don’t think it would be right to make an exemption for people on any grounds. The policy of bare below the elbows has to be applied universally.”

Dr Charles Tannock, a Conservative MEP and former hospital consultant, said: “These students are being trained using taxpayers’ money and they have a duty of care to their patients not to put their health at risk.

”Perhaps these women should not be choosing medicine as a career if they feel unable to abide by the guidelines that everyone else has to follow.”

But the Islamic Medical Association insisted that covering all the body in public, except the face and hands, was a basic tenet of Islam.

“No practising Muslim woman - doctor, medical student, nurse or patient - should be forced to bare her arms below the elbow,” it said.

Dr Majid Katme, the association spokesman, said: “Exposed arms can pick up germs and there is a lot of evidence to suggest skin is safer to the patient if

covered. One idea might be to produce long, sterile, disposable gloves which go up to the elbows.”

http://tinyurl.com/2nafaf

   Monday - January 28, 2008

Gordon B. Hinckley R.I.P.

I’m really sad. Gordon B. Hinckley was the last of the Church leadership I knew as a teen. He will be sorely missed.

KSL

Officials with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced this evening that Church President Gordon B. Hinckley has passed away.

He passed away at his home about 7 o’clock this evening with his family was at his side. President Hinckley was 97 years old. He was the 15th president of the Church.

Born in Salt Lake City on June 23, 1910; he graduated from the University of Utah and served a mission to Great Britain. After he returned, he embarked on a lifetime of service for the Church.

He was employed as the executive secretary of the Church Radio, Publicity, and Literature committee, before he was called to be an Apostle in 1961.

He was later called to serve as a counselor to President Kimball, President Benson and President Hunter.

Since becoming Church President on Mar. 12, 1995, he has directed the most intense temple building program in the history of the Church in an effort to extend temple blessings to more members.

He has exhibited vitality and energy as he has traveled about the world meeting and speaking to members of the Church.

Through television interviews and national press publications, he has increased media attention and improved the public image of the Church. He has counseled Church members to fellowship new converts, befriend members of other faiths, live exemplary lives, and avoid the evils of the world.

UPDATE: Here is a photo essay about President Hinckley.

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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