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osce--2019-03-13--Promoting freedom of religion or belief the focus of OSCEODIHR roundtable events in Bosnia and Herz

osce

Promoting freedom of religion or belief the focus of OSCE/ODIHR roundtable events in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Advancing the freedom of religion or belief for all was at the centre of discussion at roundtable events held in Sarajevo and Banja Luka on 12 and 13 March 2019, respectively. The events were organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), in co-operation with the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Representatives of state, cantonal and municipal authorities, together with the Human Rights Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina, religious communities, civil society organizations and media professionals, participated in the discussions. “It is very encouraging to see the commitment of so many actors in Sarajevo and Banja Luka to working together to ensure everyone’s right to freedom of religion or belief in these two municipalities,” said Kishan Manocha, ODIHR Senior Adviser on Freedom of Religion or Belief. “It is our sincere hope that the roundtable discussions are only a starting point and that systematic and sustained action will follow.” The events are part of the ODIHR project “Advancing freedom of religion or belief for all at the local level in Bosnia and Herzegovina” and follow training workshops on freedom of religion or belief for representatives of public authorities, religious communities and civil society conducted by ODIHR in Sarajevo and Banja Luka in February 2019. The project aims to equip relevant actors with the knowledge and skills to address challenges related to the freedom of religion or belief in these municipalities in a collaborative, results-oriented and gender-sensitive manner. During the event, the participants developed initial roadmaps and plans for advancing the freedom of religion or belief for all in Sarajevo and Banja Luka over the next year. They also discussed means to implement the planned activities, as well as their monitoring and evaluation. “Promoting freedom of religion or belief is an essential aspect of the OSCE Mission’s mandate in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Fermin Cordoba, Head of the Mission’s Human Dimension Department. “Moving forward, we hope to expand our work in this area to involve as diverse a network as possible, including minority religious communities, civil society organizations, academics and state authorities.” The ODIHR project will conclude at the end of March with a training event on freedom of religion or belief for youth and students in Sarajevo.

MKuchma

https://www.osce.org/odihr/414029

2019-03-13 12:56:11+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

breitbart--2019-08-23--Rabbi Shmuley Blasts Cory Booker for Twisting Torah to Attack Trump

breitbart

Rabbi Shmuley Blasts Cory Booker for Twisting Torah to Attack Trump

The Torah typically refers to the first five books of the Old Testament (the “five books of Moses”). However, it can also refer generally to the whole Bible, plus the entire body of Jewish law. Booker was reacting to President Trump’s statement this week that American Jews who voted for Democrats, after they supported anti-Israel and antisemitic members of their party, were “disloyal” to themselves. The New Jersey senator told an interviewer in Iowa that Trump was not displaying the Jewish values of tzedakah (charity) and chesed (kindness). The Times of Israel reported: “I know Jewish values… tzedakah, chesed… there’s an idea in Judaism about kindness and decency and mercy,” he said in a video posted to Twitter by the politics site Iowa Starting Line. “These ideals are not being evidenced by the president of the United States.” The New Jersey lawmaker added that Democrats “are no less disloyal to this country” than Republicans are. “The word tzedakah — I know you’re not a Torah scholar — it not only is used to talk about charity and decency and mercy, it’s actually the word for justice as well. We need to get back to that, to being good to each other,” he said to the interviewer. In response, Rabbi Boteach, a Breitbart News contributor who befriended Booker at Oxford University before their political falling out over the Obama administration’s hostile approach to Israel, issued a statement: In response to Cory Booker’s comments quoting the Torah and Jewish values to assail President Trump, I would remind him that firstly, “I was the one who taught him the Torah he knows” and what I always emphasized to him is that Judaism’s highest value is protection and preservation of life. This is something that Cory unfortunately violated in the extreme when he betrayed the American Jewish community by voting for the Iran nuclear deal for political gain. Jewish values are about having core convictions that do not change based on any external benefits, especially when genocide is at stake. While I absolutely agree that President Trump’s words – and not only actions – should be consistent with Jewish values, there can be no question that in action he has been the most supportive President for Israel for security and legitimacy in the history of the United States. Cory, sadly, has gone in the opposite direction, catering to left-wing extremists who sadly despise Israel and the Jewish people for no legitimate reason. Cory has condemned the moving of the American embassy to Jerusalem, voted against the Taylor Force Act in committee, which would simply have stopped Palestinian terrorists from being payed to murder Jews, and most famously he voted for the Iran deal and refused to even once condemn Iran’s genocidal promises to annihilate Israel. It is not right for Cory to use the Torah – that I taught him as my Student President at Oxford – as a way to try and garner Jewish support while refusing to support Israel. The Torah is not to be weaponized politically. Nor is it to be used for political gain in contravention of core convictions. You cannot quote from the Torah about love and kindness, all of which I taught Cory in hundreds of hours of Torah learning at Oxford, while not condemning Iran’s plans to annihilate six million Jews in Israel, just as the Germans murdered six million of our brethren in Europe. Booker is far behind the lead pack in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Joel B. Pollak

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/RgCHfFA5wcg/

2019-08-23 21:11:23+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

renegadetribune--2019-09-15--The Torah Was Not Revealed Religion But Revealed Legislation

renegadetribune

The Torah Was Not Revealed Religion But “Revealed Legislation”

The theologians of Christendom claim more for this Law than the scholars of Jewry. I have before me a Christian Bible, recently published, with an explanatory note which says the five books of the Torah are “accepted as true”, and for that matter also the historical, prophetic and poetic books. This logically flows from the dogma, earlier quoted, that the Old Testament is of “equal divine authority” with the New. The Judaist scholars say differently. Dr. Kastein, for instance, says that the Torah was “the work of an anonymous compiler” who “produced a pragmatic historical work”. The description is exact; the scribe or scribes provided a version of history, subjectively written to support the compendium of laws which was built on it; and both history and laws were devised to serve a “political” purpose. “A unifying idea underlay it all”, says Dr. Kastein, and this unifying idea was tribal nationalism, in a more fanatical form than the world has otherwise known. The Torah was not revealed religion but, as Mr. Montefiore remarked, “revealed legislation”, enacted to an end. While the Law was being compiled (it was not completed until the Babylonian “captivity” had ended) the last two remonstrants made their voices heard, Isaiah and Jeremiah. The hand of the Levite may be traced in the interpolations which were made in their books, to bring them into line with “the Law” and its supporting “version of history”. The falsification is clearest in the book of Isaiah, “which is the best known case because it is the most easily demonstrable. Fifteen chapters of the book were written by someone who knew the Babylonian captivity, whereas Isaiah lived some two hundred years earlier. The Christian scholars circumvent this by calling the unknown man “Deutero-Isaiah”, or the second Isaiah. “This man left the famous words (often quoted out of their context), “The Lord hath said… I will also give thee for a light unto the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth”. This was heresy under the Law which was in preparation and the Levite apparently added (as the same man presumably would not have written) the passages foretelling that “the kings and queens” of the Gentiles “shall bow down to thee with their face towards the earth and lick up the dust of thy feet … I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I am the Lord thy Saviour and thy Redeemer” (This sounds like the voice of Ezekiel, who was the true father of the Levitical Law, as will be seen.) Jeremiah’s book seems to have received Levitical amendment at the start, because the familiar opening passage sharply discords with other of Jeremiah’s thoughts: “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy …” That does not sound like the man who wrote, in the next chapter: Jeremiah then identified the culprit, Judah (and for this offence well may have come by his death): “The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah”. Israel had fallen from grace, but Judah had betrayed; the allusion is plainly to the Levites’ new Law. Then comes the impassioned protest, common to all the expostulants, against the priestly rites and sacrifices: “Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord…” (the formal, repetitious incantations) “… but thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, oppress not the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place” (the ritual of blood-sacrifice and the ordained murder of apostates)… “Will ye steal, murder and commit adultery, and swear falsely… and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations” (the ceremonial absolution after animal-sacrifice). ” Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? . . I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices….” In such words Jeremiah, like Jesus later, protested against the “destruction” of the Law in the name of its fulfilment. It seems possible that even in Jeremiah’s time the Levites still exacted the sacrifice of firstborn children, because he adds, Because of these very “abominations”, Jeremiah continued, the Lord would “cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; for the land shall be desolate”. This is the famous political forecast which was borne out; the Levites, with their genius for perversion, later invoked it to support their claim that Judah fell because their Law was not observed, whereas Jeremiah’s warning was that their Law would destroy “treacherous Judah”. Were he to rise from the earth today he might use the word without change in respect of Zionism, for the state of affairs is similar and the ultimate consequence seems equally foreseeable. When Judah fell Jeremiah gave his most famous message of all, the one to which the Jewish masses today often instinctively turn, and the one which the ruling sect ever and again forbids them to heed: “Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace”. The Levites gave their angry answer in the 137th Psalm: “By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept….. Our tormentors asked of us mirth: Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth… O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed, happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones”. In Jeremiah’s admonition and the Levites’ reply lies the whole story of the controversy of Zion, and of its effects for others, down to our day. Jeremiah, who was apparently put to death, would today be attacked as a “crackpot”, “paranoiac”, “antisemite” and the like; the phrase then used was “prophet and dreamer of dreams”. He describes the methods of defamation, used against such men, in words exactly applicable to our time and to many men whose public lives and reputations have been destroyed by them (as this narrative will show when it reaches the present century):

renegade

http://www.renegadetribune.com/the-torah-was-not-revealed-religion-but-revealed-legislation/

2019-09-15 20:27:54+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

sottnet--2019-03-23--Tehran schools Pompeo on his use of the Torah to promote Iranophobia - Persia helped saved the Jews

sottnet

Tehran school's Pompeo on his use of the Torah to promote Iranophobia - Persia helped saved the Jews

The Iranian foreign minister issued a measured response to the US secretary of state, who claimed this week that it was "possible" that Donald Trump had been divinely sent to Earth by God in order to save Israel from the "Iranian menace."Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has encouraged Mike Pompeo to get better acquainted with the Torah, the Jewish holy text, and educate himself with Jewish religious scholars' writings about the Ancient Persians, the predecessors of modern-day Iran."Even the Torah is distorted to serve Iranophobia," Zarif wrote on his official Twitter page, before proceeding to list some of the things the scripture actually said,The tweet followed remarks by Secretary Pompeo last week, when, speaking to the Christian Broadcasting Network during his trip to Israel, the US diplomat said his faith made him believe it was "possible" that President Trump had been chosen by God to help save the Jewish people from what his interviewer described as "an Iranian menace.""As a Christian, I certainly believe that's possible," Pompeo said, adding that he was "confident that the Lord is at work here."Pompeo travelled to Jerusalem last week, visiting the city's holy sites and holding a press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who praised Washington over Trump's recent statement about it being time for the US to "fully recognise Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights," a Syrian territory occupied by Tel Aviv since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.Tehran earlier expressed its dismay over Trump's statement about the necessity to recognise Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, with Zarif tweeting that Iran and other members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (IOC) were "shocked" by President Trump's move "to try to give what is not his to racist Israel."

https://www.sott.net/article/409702-Tehran-schools-Pompeo-on-his-use-of-the-Torah-to-promote-Iranophobia-Persia-helped-saved-the-Jews

2019-03-23 17:46:15+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

bipartisanreport--2019-01-04--First Muslim Swears Into Congress On A Quran GOP Heads Detonate

bipartisanreport

First Muslim Swears Into Congress On A Quran – GOP Heads Detonate

On Thursday, Congress went back to work by swearing in 101 new representatives which includes the most racially diverse and most female group of representatives ever elected to the House. The makeup also includes the first Native American congresswoman and the first two Muslim women to be elected to the Congress. Detroit Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was to be sworn in to Congress using Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Koran, which created quite a stir among conservative Christians. Conservative pastor and radio commentator E.W. Jackson expressed his rage that a Muslim woman was going to be serving in Congress. ‘The floor of Congress is now going to look like an Islamic republic. We are a Judeo-Christian country. We are a nation rooted and grounded in Christianity and that’s that. And anybody that doesn’t like that, go live somewhere else. It’s very simple. Just go live somewhere else. Don’t try to change our country into some sort of Islamic republic or try to base our country on Sharia law.’ According to The Detroit Free Press: ‘Tlaib, a Detroit Democrat who was elected to the seat formerly held by U.S. Rep. John Conyers, said she’s unfazed by comments such as Jackson’s and expects that the objections will extend well beyond her being sworn into office the first week of January, even though she says she’s far more concerned with economic and environmental help for her constituents than pushing any religious agenda.’ Tlaib finally decided she wanted to use her own copy of the Koran, saying: ‘The Detroit Free Press had earlier reported on Tlaib considering using the Jefferson text, a 1734 translation of the Koran into English that resides in the Library of Congress. But Tlaib said her earlier decision was never meant to be final and that she changed her mind some time ago.’ Considering the use the Jefferson’s Koran though, she remarked: ‘It’s important to me because a lot of Americans have this kind of feeling that Islam is somehow foreign to American history. Muslims were there at the beginning. … Some of our founding fathers knew more about Islam than some members of Congress now.’ For her swearing in, Tlaib who is Palestinian-American, wore a traditional Palestinian thobe, or dress, which her mother was there for the swearing in – made for her as she was sworn in. Tlaib said: Trump-loving conservative Christians also expressed their opinions on Twitter: Other Twitter users were quick to explain the Constitution to the crazed fundamentalists: Tlaib voiced her enthusiasm for the new role, saying: The new congresswoman’s seat was formerly held by U.S. Rep. John Conyers.

Melanie Davidson

https://bipartisanreport.com/2019/01/03/first-muslim-swears-into-congress-on-a-quran-gop-heads-detonate/

2019-01-04 01:32:19+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

breitbart--2019-12-09--Indonesia: Police Arrest Teacher for Molesting Children, Using Quran to Swear Them to Secrecy

breitbart

Indonesia: Police Arrest Teacher for Molesting Children, Using Quran to Swear Them to Secrecy

An Indonesian school teacher was arrested this weekend on charges of molesting 18 of his school students, having reportedly made them swear to secrecy through the Islamic Holy Book. Police in Malang regency, East Java, identified the suspect by his initials CH, accusing him of molesting 18 boys between grades seven and eight after summoning them to the school counseling office. “In one month, at least one to three students became his molestation victims,” Malang Regency Police Chief Yade Setiawan Ujung told reporters on Saturday, as quoted by Detik. Yade added that CH kept his students quiet was by forcing them to swear on the Quran that they would not tell anyone else. “The suspect told the victims not to tell anybody by making them swear on the Quran,” he explained. He also explained that CH initiated his molestation by telling the students he needed to measure their genitals and collect semen samples as research for his dissertations. The abuse allegedly began back in August 2017 and took place as recently as October this year. Last week, police received a formal accusation against the man, leading to his arrest last Friday on charges of repeated child molestation under Indonesia’s Child Protection Law. If found guilty, he could face up to 20 years in prison. There is also a possibility he may be subjected to chemical castration, the use of hormones to subdue and eliminate the libido of a sex offender. Proposing legislation to chemically “castrate” sex offenders in 2015, Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo said cases of abuse had “reached extraordinary levels,” with a larger-scale analysis finding that the number of cases increased from 2,178 in 2011 to 5,066 cases in 2014. The legislation was passed in 2016, with President Joko Widodo optimistically declaring that it would “wipe out pedophilia.” Despite being the world’s largest Islamic country, Indonesia has also long had a reputation as a safe haven for foreigners looking to engage in pedophilia or underage child abuse without risk of prosecution. In a 2006 report titled “A Paradise for Pedophiles,” The Sydney Morning Herald described the country as a nation that “turns a blind eye to pedophile activity.” Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com

Ben Kew

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/C8-LIbgbnzU/

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 19:20:46 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

globalresearch--2019-11-29--The West Has Two Liberalism Problems, and Burning the Quran Is Just One of Them

globalresearch

The West Has Two Liberalism Problems, and Burning the Quran Is Just One of Them

The disgusting burning of a Quran in Norway last week was a rabidly Islamophobic act of hatred that highlighted one of the West’s two liberalism problems, with the first being that the aforementioned stunt is supposedly protected by the principle of “free speech” while the other is that many Western governments are reluctant to encourage the assimilation and integration of civilizationally dissimilar (and largely illegal) immigrants, which partially contributed to radicalizing some already extremist-inclined domestic political forces. The burning of the Quran in Norway last week was a rabidly Islamophobic act of hatred that can never be justified, excused, or whitewash under any circumstances, full stop. Anyone trying to explain away the disgraceful actions of Arne Tumyr, the chairman of the already extremist-inclined “Stop Islamization of Norway” (SIAN) movement who committed this disgusting inter-civilizational provocation, or criticize the heroic intervention of the man identified as Ilyas who put a stop to this Islamophobic stunt is on the morally wrong side of the debate, to put it mildly Having gotten that “disclaimer” out of the way, there’s no avoiding the fact that this incident incited a furious discussion all across the world about the so-called “freedom of speech”, especially after the Norwegian envoys to Pakistan and Iran were summoned by those host states in protest over what that country’s police recently allowed to transpire before Ilyas’ brave intervention. SIAN’s supporters insist that Tumyr has the right to freely express his socio-political views against Islam, while its detractors demand that nothing of the sort ever be allowed to occur again anywhere in the world without the culprit(s) being brought to justice afterwards. The most immediate issue obviously boils down to whether limits should be imposed upon the West’s cherished “freedom of speech”, and if so, then what exactly should they be, who makes this decision, what degree of foreign (or at the very least, non-citizen) involvement should contribute to this determination, what the consequences should be for violating it, and if the proposed measures should be implemented proactively or reactively. These are very deep questions that cut right to the heart of the stereotypical socio-political basis of Western society, and it’s unlikely that any “one-size-fits-all” approach will ever be reached, let alone practiced in all those countries or done so without double standards. These are vitally important discussions that every society should have, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that already extremist-inclined domestic political forces are growing in popularity partially because of their governments’ hyper-liberal reluctance to encourage the assimilation and integration of civilizationally dissimilar (and largely illegal) immigrants. This has undoubtedly contributed to radicalizing some of those same political forces which ironically embrace the hyper-liberal principle of unrestricted “freedom of speech” up to and including the burning of religious texts in public. It’s therefore hypocritical that these same right-wing groups are against the hyper-liberal policy of open borders yet embrace its unrestricted “free speech” counterpart that’s simply the opposite side of the same coin. Quite clearly, this is an opportunistic approach which shows that such groups will do whatever is needed in order to promote their agenda. That agenda, as is seen, isn’t just about protecting their country’s cultures that they feel are increasingly coming under threat as a result of their own government’s large-scale “open borders” policies that some fear amount to so-called “replacement migration”, but to ensure their people’s “right” to burn Islamic texts in public. If the issue was solely about the so-called “freedom of speech” and the supposed “right” to burn any book in public, then they presumably wouldn’t have a problem with a “native Norwegian” (as in one who has an overwhelming majority of ethnic Norwegian heritage) atheist burning Bibles and smashing crucifixes in the streets, though any objective observer could imagine SIAN and other groups’ reactions if such a stunt were to occur. They’d likely behave the same way that Ilyas did by intervening to stop the desecration of their sacred religious symbols. Accepting this likelihood, it’s accurate to arrive at the conclusion that SIAN and other similar movements that hide behind the hyper-liberal policy of unrestricted “freedom of speech” while chiding the opposite side of the same hyper-liberal coin’s embrace of unrestricted (largely illegal) immigration are actually Islamophobic at their core. Supporters might argue that SIAN’s chairman did the disgusting act that he did in order to draw attention to those same hyper-liberal immigration policies that he implied ‘provoked’ him, but that doesn’t excuse disrespecting the over one billion believers in Islam, denigrating his own nation’s international reputation, and risking the danger that individuals less responsible than Ilyas might be provoked in their own right to continue the chain reaction of violence that Tumyr initiated by burning Bibles in response or worse. Those who are sincerely concerned about the impact that state-supported large-scale (and largely illegal) immigration from civilizationally dissimilar countries is having on their the host nation’s culture should protest against the hyper-liberal policies that are driving it, not hide behind some of the same by invoking that ideology’s unrestricted so-called “freedom of speech” in an attempt to “justify” burning religious texts, especially when they wouldn’t stand idly by if someone (even their “fellow native compatriots”) decided to burn the Bible in public and go on a crucifix-smashing spree in the streets. The West therefore has two liberalism problems, the first being governments that are reluctant to assimilate and integrate civilizationally dissimilar immigrants and the other being those who think it’s “freedom of speech” to burn the Quran in response. Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. This article was originally published on OneWorld. Andrew Korybko is an American Moscow-based political analyst specializing in the relationship between the US strategy in Afro-Eurasia, China’s One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, and Hybrid Warfare. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

Andrew Korybko

https://www.globalresearch.ca/west-two-liberalism-problems-burning-quran-one-them/5696186

Fri, 29 Nov 2019 17:30:02 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

instapundit--2019-01-05--OH GOOD LORD AGAIN Muslim Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib Uses Thomas Jeffersons Quran As A Pro

instapundit

OH, GOOD LORD AGAIN!   Muslim Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib Uses Thomas Jefferson’s Quran As A Pro…

PJ Media encourages you to read our updated PRIVACY POLICY and COOKIE POLICY.

Sarah Hoyt

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pjmedia/instapundit/~3/3S6wXu2Ahxo/

2019-01-05 07:30:48+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

instapundit--2019-12-26--PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL: China will rewrite the Bible and the Quran to ‘reflect socialist values’

instapundit

PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL: China will rewrite the Bible and the Quran to ‘reflect socialist values’…

PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL: China will rewrite the Bible and the Quran to ‘reflect socialist values’ amid crackdown on Muslim Uighur minority.

Glenn Reynolds

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pjmedia/instapundit/~3/a-LKVinWdGE/

Thu, 26 Dec 2019 02:10:43 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

pamelagellerreport--2019-01-02--Norway Muslim migrants sending their kids to Quran schools in SOMALIA to prevent them from being W

pamelagellerreport

Norway: Muslim migrants sending their kids to Quran schools in SOMALIA to prevent them from being “Westernized”

If it is safe enough to send their kids to school there, why don’t the parents move back? For years now I have pointed out that what is happening in Europe is not a “refugee crisis,” but a hijrah, a Muslim migration to spread Islam, and this is more proof of that fact. These people are supposed to be “refugees,” and yet the place they are getting refuge from is the place where they are sending their kids to Quran school. This not only shows that they aren’t refugees at all; it also shows that they have no intention of assimilating or adopting Norwegian values. So they should be sent back to Somalia. Every parent who has a child in these schools should be sent back. Will the Norwegians do this? Of course not. “‘Let the West Burn’: Norway Reveals Radicalization in ‘Quran Schools’ Abroad,” Sputnik, December 27, 2018 (thanks to The Religion of Peace): The Norwegian police have raised concerns about the ongoing radicalization process in so-called ‘Quran schools’ in Somalia, where kids from immigrant families residing in the Nordic country are sent, often against their will, by parents to avoid being “westernized.” Police in Oslo have held talks with returning youngsters because of radicalization concerns over their stay at Quran schools abroad. Previously, youths with Somali backgrounds reported the widespread use of violence and abuse, including lashings and other methods of torture, they experienced during their educational trips to their “home country.” Somali-Norwegian “Omar” told national broadcaster NRK about a school in Mogadishu, Somalia, where he, in addition to extensive violence, was subjected to brainwashing in an Islamist direction. Among other things, he told of an evening prayer they had to repeat every night. “Let the West burn. Let it go to hell. Let God take the money from the West and give it to us,” “Omar” recalled. ​After numerous reports on the harsh conditions that Norwegian youth are exposed to inside the Quran schools in Somalia, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security asked the Norwegian police to present an overview of the situation. The Police Directorate summarized their findings in a report, which among other things, addressed the risk of radicalization. “When you have schools where students are deprived of mobile phones and passports, as well as contact with the outside world, I think it’s much easier to involve these young people in the radicalization process,” Janne Birgitta Stømner of the new prevention unit at the Oslo police told NRK. “We have held some clarification talks with young people who have returned to check whether they have been radicalized,” she added. One of the reasons why especially boys are being sent to Quran schools is parents’ concern that they have been involved in crime in Norway. Such corrective methods, however, have little to no deterring effect, the police reported. “For those who have been sent away because they have committed a crime, there has been no positive effect, at least judging by the few examples we have seen. Our experience is that they continue on the criminal path when they return home, they strive after the environment they knew from before,” Janne Birgitta Stømner said. Researcher and sociologist Inger Marie Holm of the University of Tromsø, who wrote a doctoral thesis on Somalis in Norway, argued that many Somali parents share the opinion that there is too little discipline in Norwegian schools, which they claim to undermine kids’ respect for both teachers and relatives. “It may seem that parents sending their kids abroad are desperate. It also seems that they are not fully informed about the schools’ ways and proceedings,” Inger Marie Holm told NRK. ​So far, however, only three youths have undergone preemptive interviews, and the police decided not to carry on with their cases…. The Truth Must be Told Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more. Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible. Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too. Please contribute to our ground-breaking work here. Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.

Pamela Geller

https://gellerreport.com/2019/01/norway-quran-somalia.html/

2019-01-02 13:00:38+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

pamelagellerreport--2019-10-07--Paris Jihadi Who Stabbed 4 Cops to Death Dressed in Islamic Garb, Encouraged Quran Meditation

pamelagellerreport

Paris Jihadi Who Stabbed 4 Cops to Death Dressed in Islamic Garb, Encouraged Quran Meditation

He was devout. And yet the elite media tried to pass this religious slaughter off as a “disgruntled worker” aiding and abetting the jihad force. By: AFP, 6 October 2019 (thanks to The Religion of Peace): A staffer at Paris police headquarters who stabbed four colleagues to death in a frenzied attack adhered to “a radical vision of Islam”, an anti-terror prosecutor said Saturday, amid a gathering political storm over security safeguards. The 45-year-old computer expert had been in contact with members of Salafism, an ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam, and defended “atrocities committed in the name of that religion”, Jean-Francois Ricard told reporters. Three police officers and an administrative worker — three men and one woman — died in the lunchtime attack on Thursday at the police headquarters, a stone’s throw from the Notre-Dame cathedral in the historic heart of Paris. The assailant, named as Mickael Harpon, was shot dead by a policeman, who was a trainee at the police headquarters. The attack sent shock waves through an embattled French police force already complaining of low morale and has raised serious concerns over security procedures. Harpon, born on the French overseas territory of Martinique in the Caribbean, converted to Islam about 10 years ago, the prosecutor said. He had no police record but was investigated for domestic violence in 2009. Sources said he had worked in a section of the police service dedicated to collecting information on jihadist radicalisation. Harpon held a high-level “defence secrets” security clearance, which authorised him to handle sensitive information of national defence importance and would have subjected him to regular, stringent security checks. On the morning of his “extremely violent” attack, Harpon bought two knives — a 33-centimetre long kitchen knife and an oyster knife — which he kept hidden, Ricard said. He showed “absolutely no signs of nervousness” as he circled back to police headquarters, according to CCTV footage examined by police, the prosecutor said. The attack, from his return to the office, the killings and his death by police bullets, lasted seven minutes, Ricard said. He first killed a 50-year old police major and a 38-year old guard who worked in the same office as Harpon and were having lunch at their desks. He then went to another office on the same floor where he killed a 37-year old administrative worker. Having failed to enter another office, which was locked, he went down into the courtyard where he stabbed a 39-year old policewoman who later died of her wounds. He then injured two other people, before the trainee policeman killed him with two shots. Shortly before the attack he had exchanged 33 text messages with his wife. The messages exclusively concerned religion, and the attacker ended the conversation with “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) and told her to “follow our beloved prophet Mohammed and meditate on the Koran”, according to the prosecutor. She was being held by police on Saturday. Harpon, who supported the Charlie Hebdo attacks in 2015, had changed his attire in recent months, shunning “all Western clothes in favour of traditional garments to visit the mosque”, Ricard added. He also wished to no longer “have certain kinds of contact with women”. French President Emmanuel Macron, who has described the attack as a “veritable tragedy”, will lead tributes to the victims on Tuesday, the Elysee announced on Saturday. Sources at the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Friday the case had been passed to the anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office (PNAT). After Saturday’s news conference by the anti-terror prosecutor, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner came under pressure from political opponents who demanded his resignation. They also called for an inquiry into how Harpon could have failed to attract the attention of security services in the run up to the attack. “It’s going to be hard to explain how he kept below the radar” of anti-terror units, said one police source. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe meanwhile expressed his “full confidence” in Castaner. But in an interview with weekly JDD to be published Sunday, he also said that procedures for the detection of signs that anti-terror agents may themselves have been radicalised would be probed. Paris’s top policeman Didier Lallement said there was no reason to question security arrangements in police headquarters. French police have been a recurring target of jihadist groups, such as Islamic State, behind a wave of attacks since 2015 — from large synchronised assaults to isolated knife and gun attacks. In June, a parliamentary report on radicalisation within the public services spoke of 30 suspected cases out of the 150,000 police officers and 130,000 gendarmes in France.

Pamela Geller

https://gellerreport.com/2019/10/paris-jihadi-meditated-quran.html/

Mon, 07 Oct 2019 20:54:36 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

pamelagellerreport--2019-11-15--Chicago: Muslim students riot over alleged Quran burning (VIDEO)

pamelagellerreport

Chicago: Muslim students riot over alleged Quran burning (VIDEO)

The ittle news coverage of the riot is decidedly sharia compliant. Andrew High School in Tinley Park- “These emo kids stepping on the Quran so we then up.”-Yousef B Students protest after fight at Tinley Park high school linked to video of ‘culturally insensitive act’ By: WGN9 November 14, 2019 (thanks to Orange Martyr): TINLEY PARK, Ill. — A group of students protested in Tinley Park after a fight inside a high school that stemmed from a video shared with students. On Thursday, about 60 students gathered outside of Victor J. Andrew High School to protest what they said is unfair treatment by the school administration and to condemn intolerance at the school. The principal confirmed there was a physical altercation at the school Wednesday. In a letter to families, Principal Bob Nolting said the situation is believed to be a result of a year-old social media post containing a video showing a “culturally insensitive act” by one of the students. Nolting said a video was AirDropped to many students, so its origins are unclear. The racial tension at the school was simmering when a video posted on social media showed a white student in blackface. Things then boiled over when white students allegedly burned a Quran. The school has not confirmed that a Quran was burned, but several students and parents said that’s what led to the fight, and subsequent suspensions of some students, but according to protesters discipline wasn’t equal. One student, Alaa Emeria, said three students got suspended, but said the white students involved received no punishment. After the alleged incidents, there were more postings on social media and threats that someone would bring a gun to school. Rumors of a weapon turned out to be unfounded. On Thursday, the school’s principal said more police were on hand and about 400 hundred students stayed home amidst the threats. “We are not immune to the hate and intolerance in our world,” the principal said in a voicemail to students and parents. “That said, I know we can address this and celebrate all of our kids, no matter their race, religion, gender, or orientation. As we continue to work through yesterday’s events, please know that we are committed to moving forward with open dialogue among our students staff and community.” The principal said the students involved in the fight have been disciplined. He also urged parents to talk to their children about respecting others. However, some parents said these issues have been going on for weeks. One parent, Tamika Howard, said it’ll take more than a re-assuring voicemail to reduce the charged atmosphere. “The school is taking mild baby steps to a situation that needs more action now,” she said. Howard said students are not acting out just because they want to be a problem. “They’re responding and reacting to things that are occurring,” she said. “You can’t keep pushing kids against the wall and expect them not to come out fighting.” Students said they want administrators to host an assembly talking about discrimination and they want the school to be held accountable and create meaningful change following the recent fight.

Pamela Geller

https://gellerreport.com/2019/11/chicago-muslim-students-riot-over-alleged-quran-burning-video.html/

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 03:28:31 +0000

religion and belief

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sputnik--2019-07-29--Right-Wing Group Hindu Sena Demands Ban on Quran in India Over Threat to National Security

sputnik

Right-Wing Group Hindu Sena Demands Ban on Quran in India Over 'Threat' to National Security

Hindu Sena's president Vishnu Gupta wrote to the Indian Home Ministry on Monday, saying the Quran threatens India's national security. The group's founder suggested the radical move after reading the holy book of Islam, which he purchased at a bookstore in New Delhi. "I found therein (in book) many contradictions and shocking instances of violence on non-Muslims and ex-Muslims as well as bribing people to enjoy an imaginary Islamic Paradise," Gupta has stated in his letter to the Home Ministry. In the letter, he says the book lures in the youth and promotes terrorism, as it claims that Muslims who die fighting the enemies of Allah (Non-Muslims) can enjoy beautiful women called “Houris” (most beautiful women) eternally. "The government of India initiated legal proceedings against a dangerous Islamic preacher like Zakir Naik but the truth is Zakir Naik was and is inspired by teachings of this book Quran and his actions and speeches are congruent with the contents and message of The Quran," the letter added while emphasising that the chief "inspirational manual of Islamic terrorism The Quran itself". Earlier this year, the group had urged the government to ban burqas and veils in the wake of the growing menace of terror and impending danger of further attacks following the recent bombings in Sri Lanka, in which 253 people were killed and hundreds of others injured. The group gained national recognition in 2016 after it celebrated the birthday of US President Donald Trump and prayed to god for his victory in the presidential election. Founded by Vishnu Gupta in 2011, the Hindu Sena group keeps drawing public attention with unusual acts, such as by paying tribute to Queen Victoria on her 118th death anniversary, saying that she "freed India from the autocratic rule of the Mughals". Despite being a Hindu-majority country, India is home to more Muslims than any other nation on Earth aside from Pakistan and Indonesia.

https://sputniknews.com/asia/201907291076397275-right-wing-group-hindu-sena-demands-ban-on-quran-in-india-over-threat-to-national-security/

2019-07-29 14:05:28+00:00

religion and belief

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sputnik--2019-11-19--A First? Quran Burning in Norway Ends in Brawl – Photo, Video

sputnik

A First? Quran Burning in Norway Ends in Brawl – Photo, Video

Muslim leaders in Agder, Norway, have announced plans to file a police report after the Quran burning that occurred during a demonstration on Saturday. The Muslim community sees this action not only as illegal but also as a “hate crime”, Akmal Ali, the leader of the Muslim Union of Agder said, according to ABC Nyheter. He referred to a demonstration by Stop Islamisation of Norway (SIAN) in Kristiansand this past Saturday, when two copies of the Quran were thrown into a garbage bin, and another set alight by the organisation's leader Lars Thorsen. ​During the event, which was supervised by over a dozen of policemen, SIAN members slammed Islam as “fascist” and a religion of violence, labelling Prophet Muhammad as a “paedophile”, the news outlet Resett reported. Coupled with the subsequent desecration of the Qur'an, this stirred considerable rage among SIAN opponents and Muslims, who gathered for a counter-demonstration. Some eventually managed to sneak past the police barriers and attacked Thorsen. ​While the demonstration was allowed by the police, SIAN received no permit to burn the Quran, which is why the police promptly interfered to terminate the event. “Such actions are controversial. There is strong engagement. And that is why we did not allow open fire,” Agder Police Chief Morten Sjustøl told ABC Nyheter. During the skirmish, photographer Lena Anderassen was attacked and kicked in the back. ​Resett suggested that this may have been the first public burning of the Quran in Norway and definitely the first one SIAN has ever attempted. “We must focus on the politicians' betrayal against us and against the Muslims,” Lars Thorsen said, explaining his stance to Resett upon his release. By his own admission, there are different opinions within SIAN on whether or not it is appropriate to burn the Quran. Still, reruns of this event cannot be ruled out, he said. “It turns out to be a good way to visualise the negative power that is in Islam,” Thorsen explained. The Quran burning was later condemned by Turkey. Stop Islamisation of Norway (SIAN) dates back to the early 2000s. Its stated goal is counter the proliferation of Islam, which it views as a totalitarian political ideology that violates the Norwegian Constitution as well as democratic and human values. Norway's Muslim community has grown exponentially over the past few decades and is now estimated to constitute 5.7 percent of the country's population of 5.2 million, accounting for well over 10 percent or higher in some municipalities. Quran burnings are a staple of the right-wing Danish Party Stram Kurs ("Hard line"), whose leader Rasmus Paludan celebrates it as a token of free speech.

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201911191077345874-a-first-quran-burning-in-norway-ends-in-brawl--photo-video/

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 09:21:00 +0300

religion and belief

religious text

sputnik--2019-11-21--Norwegian Police Ordered to Stop Quran Burnings out of 'Concern' Over Retaliation Attacks

sputnik

Norwegian Police Ordered to Stop Quran Burnings out of 'Concern' Over Retaliation Attacks

A recent instance of Quran burning by Stop Islamisation of Norway (SIAN) in the city of Kristiansand, which some called Norway's first, has set off a passionate debate on the acceptance of such actions and the perceived collision between the freedom of speech and freedom of religion. As the police ultimately intervened to stop SIAN's demonstration amid a brawl between activists and their opponents, they were acting on a new explicit order from Police Director Benedicte Bjørnland, Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported. Bjørnland said that instances of setting fire to all religious symbols must be handled equally and correctly. “The message is 'if you still do it, we will stop it'”, Bjørnland said, admitting that the assessment of whether to intervene in the freedom of expression and assembly is a difficult issue. “Everyone should speak up as long as they do not violate laws, in this case the Criminal Code. We are not an opinion police, but we have guidance, and when we see violations of the given guidelines, we intervene”. An important reason for the new interpretation is a threat assessment from the Police Security Service (PST) that public Quran burnings could lead to serious revenge attacks against Norway. “It is true that in recent months PST has been concerned about the consequences a Quran burning can have. We see it as a trigger event for violent actions, and have provided a description of the situation to the police”, PST senior adviser Martin Bernsen said, as quoted by NRK. However, the police order is not solely aimed at anti-Islamic provocations, but deals with all kinds of religious symbols being desecrated. ​Following the demonstration in Kristiansand, one SIAN member was arrested for failing to comply with police orders. Kristiansand Mayor Harald Furre, who was present during SIAN's demonstration, condemned the actions. “I wish the police had intervened earlier and prevented the ignition”, Furre said. Police chief in the Agder District Morten Sjustøl called such actions controversial, stressing that they stir up strong engagement. SIAN leader Lars Thorsen called the action “a good way to visualise the negative power that Islam is” and made it clear that reprises of the action are not to be excluded. Stop Islamisation of Norway dates back to the early 2000s and claims to counter the proliferation of Islam, which it views as a totalitarian political ideology that violates the Norwegian Constitution as well as democratic and human values. Thorsen is no stranger to political controversy, having recently received a 30 day suspended jail sentence and a fine for distributing pamphlets in the Norwegian capital that called Muslims “notorious sexual predators” who “rape in epidemic proportions”.

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201911211077365035-norwegian-police-ordered-to-stop-quran-burnings-out-of-concern-over-retaliation-attacks/

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 08:49:00 +0300

religion and belief

religious text

sputnik--2019-11-24--Pakistan Summons Norwegian Ambassador Over Quran Desecration Incident - Foreign Ministry

sputnik

Pakistan Summons Norwegian Ambassador Over Quran Desecration Incident - Foreign Ministry

Earlier this week, the "Stop Islamisation of Norway" movement held a rally in Kristiansand, during which its leader Lars Thorsen tried to burn a copy of the holy book despite warnings from the police. A scuffle broke out after an unknown man tried to stop Thorsen from burning Quran and both of them were detained. Norwegian Ambassador to Pakistan Kjell-Gunnar Eriksen, on his part, condemned the incident adding that in "Norway everyone has the right to free speech and to practice their religion without being harassed." Islamabad also urged the Norwegian authorities to bring those responsible to justice and to prevent the recurrence of any such incident in the future.

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201911241077387021-pakistan-summons-norwegian-ambassador-over-quran-desecration-incident---foreign-ministry/

Sun, 24 Nov 2019 06:16:55 +0300

religion and belief

religious text

sputnik--2019-11-26--Tehran Says Summoned Norwegian Envoy to Protest Quran Desecration Incident

sputnik

Tehran Says Summoned Norwegian Envoy to Protest Quran Desecration Incident

Tehran also called on Norway to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. The Norwegian diplomat, in turn, noted that while defending freedom of expression, Oslo categorically condemned the attempt to desecrate the Muslim holy book and spread hate speech. Last week, the anti-Islamist movement held a rally in Kristiansand, during which its leader Lars Thorsen tried to burn a copy of the holy book despite warnings from the police. A scuffle broke out after an unknown man tried to stop Thorsen from burning a copy of the Quran, and both of them were detained.

https://sputniknews.com/world/201911261077410991-tehran-says-summoned-norwegian-envoy-to-protest-quran-desecration-incident/

Tue, 26 Nov 2019 23:47:58 +0300

religion and belief

religious text

thedailycaller--2019-01-08--Amazon Pulls Products Referencing Quran And Mohammed After Complaints From CAIR

thedailycaller

Amazon Pulls Products Referencing Quran And Mohammed After Complaints From CAIR

Amazon removed more than a dozen products depicting references to Mohammed and Quranic verses after the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) complained they were offensive to Muslims. The products included doormats and bathmats that sported calligraphy from the Quran, some of which mention Mohammed. CAIR complained that the products were offensive because they “would be stepped-on or otherwise disrespected by customers.” Amazon confirmed that the products would be removed. (RELATED: Tlaib Denies Reports That She Was Sworn In On Thomas Jefferson’s Quran) “All sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who do not will be subject to action including potential removal of their account. The products in question are being removed from our store,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNN. Amazon’s sales guidelines forbid products that “promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance.” CAIR applauded Amazon’s decision to remove the products on January 4. “We thank Amazon for its swift action on this issue and hope it sends a message to manufacturers of such inappropriate and offensive items that they will not profit from Islamophobia or any other form of bigotry,” Masih Fouladi, executive director of CAIR’s Washington state chapter, said in a statement. CAIR representatives said that they have, however, received additional complaints that products deemed offensive to Islam remain on Amazon including toilet seat covers featuring Quranic verses. “My gut feeling is that at least for the bath mats, shower curtains, and stuff like that, it’s these companies just slapping these designs on everything without even thinking about it,” said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper. “But there are others crossing the line into intentional Islamophobia. Some of the companies have things like toilet seats. I mean come on, why else would you do that?” Amazon’s response to CAIR’s complaint, however, raises the question of whether the company will remove any product considered offensive by any religion, like t-shirts depicting Jesus as gay or atheist texts that overtly denounce all religions as false and harmful. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Joshua Gill

https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/08/amazon-quran-mohammed/

2019-01-08 22:01:26+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

theindependent--2019-02-06--Politician who said aposthe Quran is poisonapos announces he has become a Muslim after trying to

theindependent

Politician who said 'the Quran is poison' announces he has become a Muslim after trying to write anti-Islam book

A Dutch MP who was formerly a member of anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders‘ far-right party has announced he has converted to Islam. Joram van Klaveren had denounced Islam as “a lie” and said “the Quran is poison” during his time as a politician for the Freedom Party (PVV). However, the 40-year-old has now said he had become a Muslim while writing what was intended to be an anti-Islam book. “During that writing I came across more and more things that made my view on Islam falter,” he told Dutch TV show NieuwLicht. Mr Wilders compared his former right-hand man’s conversion to “a vegetarian going to work in a slaughterhouse”, RTL TV reported. Mr Van Klaveren was an MP for the PVV between 2010 and 2014, but left after Mr Wilders asked supporters if they wanted fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands during a rally in 2014. When the crowd shouted back “fewer”, Mr Wilders smiled and answered: “Then we’ll fix it.” He has since been convicted of inciting hatred and discrimination. In an interview with Dutch newspaper NRC, Mr Van Klaveren said his comments about Islam were “simply incorrect”. He added: “But that was PVV policy: everything that did not work had to be linked to Islam in one way or another.” Mr Van Klaveren’s book, which he initially intended to be anti-Islam, will now be called Apostate: From Christianity to Islam in the Time of Secular Terror.

Samuel Osborne

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/joram-van-klaveren-islam-muslim-converts-religion-netherlands-geert-wilders-a8765476.html

2019-02-06 10:45:00+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

theindependent--2019-03-16--After the New Zealand terror attack the positive teachings of the Quran are a force for good in my

theindependent

After the New Zealand terror attack, the positive teachings of the Quran are a force for good in my life

In the aftermath of New Zealand’s deadliest ever terrorist atrocity, in which 49 people were killed and dozens more seriously injured, numerous unanswered questions have been brought to the surface. For example, has inflammatory, hateful rhetoric by certain politicians exacerbated anti-Islamic sentiment? Can we say that mosque attacks like these were inevitable given the growing far-right violence? What can we do to prevent our society fracturing further? As a young practising Muslim living in the west, the main question I am faced with, however, is how to react when terrorists murder individuals of my faith. Does the Quran teach me to take up arms and declare war or does it present a different solution entirely? Islam, as a faith, aims to spread peace and goodwill, even to those who are verbally or physically abusive. The Quran commands Muslims that, “The servants of the Gracious God are those who walk upon the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them harshly, they say ‘Peace’. (25:64)’’ It is one thing to react to verbal insults with calmness, but to act in such a way following physical attacks is quite another. Following the Christchurch shootings, Independent Queensland senator Fraser Anning sparked outrage by describing Islam as “a violent ideology of a sixth century despot”. In reality, however, early Islamic history demonstrates the forbearance of the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and his followers. For 13 years they were verbally abused, physically tortured and economically boycotted while in Mecca, simply for professing their faith. Finally, they were able to migrate to Medina, but it was only after the Meccans attacked the Muslims there that the Prophet finally took up arms. According to the Quran, permission to fight a defensive war was granted not in order to seek revenge, or to vent anger, but in order to protect the very concept of freedom of conscience. If they had not fought, then “there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques… (22:39)”. Islam’s teachings regarding physical retaliation, therefore, are remarkably stringent. The Quran and the example of the Prophet Muhammad establish that Muslims are not allowed to fight religious wars unless the threat is to all faiths, not just Islam. The Prophet’s temperament also demonstrates that a Muslim should never become overwhelmed by anger or by despair. In a famous instance, Muhammad once told his companions, “The strong man is not the one who wrestles others, but the one who controls himself at times of anger”. In an era in which both Muslim fanaticism and far-right extremism have reached fever pitch, this message is as important now as it ever has been. The New Zealand mosque attack was a tragic, headline event, however the seeds of violence have been sown for many years. Both overt and casual Islamophobia is widespread in mainstream media, and as a result young Muslims like me are often viewed upon with suspicion and distrust. Consequently, when a Muslim commits a terrorist atrocity, Imams and religious leaders are pressured to publicly and loudly distance themselves from acts they had nothing to do with. Yet when white nationalists commit the very same heinous crimes, there is no such expectation for Christians or white people to condemn them. It is a hypocritical state of affairs, yet in the spirit of the Prophet Muhammad, it is essential for Muslims to continue to provide a counter-narrative, to show to the world through their words and actions that fanatical individuals are the problem, not religion as a whole. In the wake of New Zealand’s shooting, acts of bravery and sacrifice by Muslims have already come to light. Survivors have recalled how one young mosque worker risked his life, and saved many more, by wrestling the gun from the shooter. In the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, one worshipper, Daoud Nabi, threw himself in front of another, being shot and killed in the process. It is acts like these that are truly Islamic, and if highlighted more, would surely help to build bridges and foster empathy and harmony between us all. We live in an uncertain world and as a young Muslim, I am all too aware of the existing fractures in our societies. Following this attack in New Zealand, I fear that the cycle of misery may not be over and that extremism may continue to rear its ugly head. I know only one thing for sure, that my own faith and Quranic teachings can be a force for good during this age of terror, a help rather than a hindrance in our path towards peace. We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.

Damir Rafi

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/new-zealand-mosques-shooting-islamophobia-religion-faith-a8826211.html

2019-03-16 15:19:00+00:00

religion and belief

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thegatewaypundit--2019-03-24--Chick-Fil-A Banned From Texas Airport Over the Owners Christian Religious Beliefs Senator Ted Cru

thegatewaypundit

Chick-Fil-A Banned From Texas Airport Over the Owner’s Christian Religious Beliefs — Senator Ted Cruz Slams the Ban

The ban came in response to a report from the far-left media outlet Think Progress, which claimed that the company’s foundation gave $1.8 million in 2017 to non-profits with discriminatory records towards the LGBTQ community. The San Antonio City Council voted 6-4 to remove Chick-fil-A from a seven year airport concession agreement. “With this decision, the City Council reaffirmed the work our city has done to become a champion of equality and inclusion,” District 1 City Councilman Roberto Treviño, who filed the motion, told Fox San Antonio. “San Antonio is a city full of compassion, and we do not have room in our public facilities for a business with a legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior.” Texas Senator Ted Cruz responded to the decision on Twitter, saying that the decision is “ridiculous.” Senator Cruz added that “the details of this story are even worse.” “San Antonio City Council voted to ban ⁦@ChickfilA⁩ from the airport bc the company gave to…the Fellowship of Christian Athletes & the Salvation Army?!? That’s ridiculous. And not Texas. #LeftistIntolerance,” the Texas senator tweeted. Chick-fil-A was reportedly not given the chance to defend themselves before the decision was made. “This is the first we’ve heard of this. It’s disappointing,” Chick-fil-A said in a statement. “We would have liked to have had a dialogue with the city council before this decision was made. We agree with Councilmember Treviño that everyone is and should feel welcome at Chick-fil-A. We plan to reach out to the city council to gain a better understanding of this decision.”

Cassandra Fairbanks

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/03/chick-fil-a-banned-from-texas-airport-over-the-owners-christian-religious-beliefs-senator-ted-cruz-slams-the-ban/

2019-03-24 14:05:02+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

thehill--2019-05-29--Satanic Temple cites religious beliefs as immunity from Supreme Court abortion ruling on fetal remai

thehill

Satanic Temple cites religious beliefs as immunity from Supreme Court abortion ruling on fetal remains

The Satanic Temple said it would challenge a Supreme Court ruling from Tuesday that upheld part of an Indiana law requiring the burial or cremation of fetal remains. The group is citing religious freedom in declaring immunity from the law, according to the Arkansas Times. “One of The Satanic Temple’s fundamental tenets is the inviolability of one’s body,” the international organization said in a statement. The Satanic Temple (TST) said “non-viable fetal tissue is part of the woman who carries it,” according to its statement to the news outlet. “State impositions of ceremonial requirements dictating its disposal, barring any plausible medical or sanitary concerns, is a violation of TST’s Free Exercise allowing Satanists to contextualize the termination of a pregnancy on their own terms, with deference to their own religious beliefs,” the group added. The organization, which does not worship or believe in the Satan from the Bible, is known for its vocal advocacy for separation between church and state. “To be clear, members of The Satanic Temple will not be made to pay for these punitive, superfluous, and insulting burials. We claim exemption on religious liberty grounds, and we will almost certainly prevail in the courts if we are forced to fight," the group's spokesperson Lucien Greaves told the Arkansas Times. A member of the Satanic Temple also challenged, on the grounds of religious freedom, a Missouri law that says women must wait three days when seeking an abortion, according to The Associated Press.

Owen Daugherty

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/445997-satanic-temple-cites-religious-beliefs-as-immunity-from-supreme-court

2019-05-29 18:42:34+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

theindependent--2019-11-06--Teacher suspended for 'segregating students based on religion and mocking them for their belief

theindependent

Teacher suspended for 'segregating students based on religion and mocking them for their beliefs'

A teacher in North Carolina has been suspended for allegedly segregating her students based upon their religious beliefs, as well as their views on gay marriage and abortion. According to local media reports, Julia Lopp, a Spanish language teacher at South Johnston High School, first divvied up the students based on their religion. Then, she asked them about abortion. Finally, she asked them for their views on LGBT rights, according to the Johnston County Report. She’s been accused of ridiculing the religious students, and threatened them should they report her for her actions. She told the students she would “not recommend them for a job or even entrance to college,” according to WTVD. “I don't mind prayer in school and things like that because you pray to your own religion,” said Natasha Chancey, mother of a middle schooler in Johnston County, according to that news channel. The parent continued: “But for instance to be asking about God because there are so many different religions and everyone has their own beliefs, that might be saying one is better than the other. She has been suspended without pay, just months after being hired to the post in August. “This is an unfortunate incident and one I wish had not happened,” said superintendent Jim Causby in a statement. The statement continued: “It is never appropriate for a teacher to segregate students based on religious, political or personal beliefs. In fact, it is not appropriate for a teacher to even ask a student what their beliefs are.”

Clark Mindock

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/teacher-segregate-religion-suspend-north-carolina-julia-lopp-abortion-lgbt-rights-a9188191.html

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 18:44:07 GMT

religion and belief

religious text

wnd--2019-11-10--Freedom From Religion Foundation blasts proposed National Bible Week resolution

wnd

Freedom From Religion Foundation blasts proposed National Bible Week resolution

(CHANNEL 3000) The Freedom From Religion Foundation criticized the Wisconsin Assembly for planning to hold a vote on a resolution "recognizing Thanksgiving week as National Bible Week in Wisconsin." The resolution, which the Wisconsin Assembly is set to vote on Tuesday, would recognize Thanksgiving week as National Bible Week in Wisconsin. According to a news release from the FFRF, the resolution would endorse Christianity over other religions and declare non-Christians as "second-class citizens."

WND News Services

https://www.wnd.com/2019/11/freedom-religion-foundation-blasts-proposed-national-bible-week-resolution/

Sun, 10 Nov 2019 03:38:29 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

westernjournal--2019-10-05--Freedom From Religion Foundation Files Complaint After Judge Gives Convicted Police Officer a Bible

westernjournal

Freedom From Religion Foundation Files Complaint After Judge Gives Convicted Police Officer a Bible

A Texas judge who offered a hug and a Bible to a former police officer convicted of murder is now under attack from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The atheist group has filed a complaint with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct against District Court Judge Tammy Kemp. Kemp, who is black, presided over the trial of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, who is white. Guyger was convicted this week of killing Botham Jean, an unarmed black man, after mistaking his own apartment for her own. On Wednesday, jurors sentenced Guyger to 10 years in prison, KTXA reported. Kemp spoke briefly with Jean’s family, then left the courtroom, only to return with a Bible in her hands. She presented it to Guyger, referencing John 3:16. The judge, still in her black robes, then hugged Guyger, according to The New York Times. “You can have mine,” Kemp said in giving the convicted murderer her Bible. “I’ve got three or four more at home. This is the one I use every day.” The Freedom From Religion Foundation said Kemp crossed a line. “We write to raise your awareness of Judge Kemp’s actions at the close of the trial — during which she gifted a Christian bible, instructing the convicted criminal on how to read the bible and which passages to pay attention to, and witnessing to that convicted murderer,” the complaint against Kemp says. “These proselytizing actions overstepped judicial authority, were inappropriate and were unconstitutional.” “If anyone complained, I would do everything I could to support the appropriateness of it,” he told KTXA. RELATED: Dem Congressman Claims Appealing to God in Traditional Oath is 'Preposterous' “I can’t tell you I’ve done the same exact thing, but I have spoken to defendants, have I given them a hug, perhaps. Not given a Bible, that’s not me, but I don’t think there’s anything inappropriate about what she did, and I would support that, if anyone tried to file a complaint, I would do my best to intercede and protect her.” Debate over the judge’s actions raged on Twitter. The emotional scene at the end of the sentencing phase of the trial mirrored what happened earlier, when Brandt Jean, the victim’s younger brother, spoke to Guyger in court. “If you truly are sorry, I know I can speak for myself — I forgive you. And I know if you go to God and ask him, he will forgive you,” he said. “I love you just like anyone else and I’m not going to say I hope you rot and die just like my brother did. I personally want the best for you,” Brandt Jean said. “I wasn’t going to ever say this in front of my family or anyone, but I don’t even want you to go to jail. I want the best for you because I know that’s exactly what Botham would want.” “Give your life to Christ,” he added. “I think giving your life to Christ would be the best thing that Botham would want you to do.” “I love you as a person, and I don’t wish anything bad on you.” Brandt Jean then asked permission to embrace Guyger, which Kemp granted. Reaction to the judge’s actions varied among experts. “Impartiality is what matters,” Amanda Frost, a professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, told The Times. “If the judge shows it throughout the trial and then shows some compassion to the defendant afterward, I don’t have a problem with that.” Giving Guyger the Bible, however, was “questionable,” she said. Another commentator said the outpouring of emotion was too much for the judge to ignore. “Some judges seem to be able to turn off their emotions and not see the humanity, but I was never able to do that,” Jan Breland, a retired Austin judge, told The Times. “These people that come through our courts are human beings, regardless of the things they’ve done. They all have mamas, and they were all little boys and little girls at one time.” “That brother, that young man, it was almost like seeing Jesus talk,” she said. “The compassion and the grace that he showed were amazing, and it obviously got to the judge.” Deborah Rhode, director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School, said Kemp’s actions, coming after the trial, were not inappropriate. “All the judge did is express some bonds of common humanity, and I don’t think we should be punishing judges for that,” she told The Times. “If anything, our legal system has suffered from an absence of adequate compassion.” We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Jack Davis

https://www.westernjournal.com/freedom-religion-foundation-files-complaint-judge-gives-convicted-police-officer-bible/

2019-10-05 17:31:41+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

veteranstoday--2019-03-14--More US Catholics consider leaving religion over sex abuse Poll

veteranstoday

More US Catholics consider leaving religion over sex abuse: Poll

[ Editor’s Note: I find it amazing that lay Catholics have sat on their asses and just endured being quasi-servants to an international pedophile ring. But that I don’t mean of course that all of the priesthood were pedophiles, but that they were either pedophiles or “aider and abettors”, and I use that terminology for a specific reason. We have had US statues on the books regarding what qualifies as criminal abuse against children. The clearest case to use as an example is the stepfather shacking up with down trodden mother and daughter. If the mother knows her child is being abused, but does not want to report is as she will lose her meal ticket, she is charged with a Class A felony along with the new hubby or boyfriend. This statue can grab anyone that could be proven to have know what was going on and did not reporting, and thus were guilty of aiding and abetting of the abuse continuing. This was considered as horrendous and act as the primary abuser. Enter stage left, the Catholic priesthood, who I can assure you always knew what was going on, including all of those at the top. Yet in the US, where we have this statute, it was never broadly use, nor was the RICO statute of running an ongoing criminal enterprise. In fact, all those involved in pushing that problem into civil settlement versus the criminal charges they deserved, a case could be made that they were aiding and abetting themselves. The proof of that is in the historical record that the Vatican continued it attempts to hide the extant of this crime against humanity, which it was do to its size and longevity. Catholic priests have been abusing children since the beginning. So my advice to all lay Catholics is to do what you should have done ages ago, put the Vatican into receivership for its horrendous history of sexual abuse and take over your church from top to bottom, clean house and run it yourselves. You can hire and fire priests as needs and run the organization from the top down as many other have done, where at least in scale have not abused children as much. Here in the US the main problem with the Protestants has been the “youth directors” who just can’t resist the cute teen girls. When caught, neither the parents or the church want the matter public so how it was usually handle, was a copy of what the Catholic Church did, they just move the offender to another church far away. I know this as a had a close friend, divorced from a Protestant minister who watch all this going on, like the phone calls where the decision was made that “if you take our bad apple, we will take yours”. Of course they would threaten the offenders that they were only getting one free pass. So again to all you lay Catholics out there, take over your church and run it, where you hired and fire priest as you need or want, or use lay priests, and turn the Vatican into a historical-tourist attraction and have control over all of its assets and archives. There is no telling what you will find in there, built on the bones of millions of Catholics who surrendered their church to what today can be viewed as an ongoing criminal enterprise, not something I am inventing today, but a felony statute created to deal with large organize criminal activity. Let me know what you think in the comments… Jim W. Dean ] Jim's Editor’s Notes are solely crowdfunded via PayPal Jim's work includes research, field trips, Heritage TV Legacy archiving & more. Thanks for helping. Click to donate >> An increasing percentage of Catholics in the United States are re-examining their commitment to the religion as more allegations of sexual abuse by priests are being revealed, according to a new poll. Some 37 percent of US Catholics say news of the sex abuse of young people by priests has led them to question whether they would remain in the church, a Gallup poll released Wednesday finds. Gallup said the figure was 22 percent in 2002, when the church was dealing with a similar crisis in the US. The last time Gallup polled about this was 2002 after The Boston Globenewspaper reported on widespread abuse by Catholic priests in the Boston area and church leaders’ efforts to prevent the abuse from becoming public knowledge. Gallup’s latest findings show that the current scandal is affecting US Catholics more than the one in 2002 did. A significant number of both practicing and nonpracticing Catholics say they are considering leaving the church but those less committed to their religion are more likely to be questioning it, the survey found. Whereas 46 percent of Catholics who seldom or never attend church say they have questioned whether they would remain in the faith, 37 percent of those who attend church on a monthly basis and 22 percent who attend weekly say the same. Amid the latest scandal, about one in four US Catholics say they have very little or no confidence in US bishops and other Catholic leaders. Only 40 percent of US Catholics say they have a “great deal” of confidence in Pope Francis. Since the first high-profile abuse allegations against Catholic priests emerged in 2002 in Boston, many similar cases have rocked the Church, and 2018 brought another wave of such charges. The credibility of the Catholic Church hierarchy sank last year after new reports of old sexual abuse and cover-up were uncovered in the US, Chile and elsewhere and implicated Pope Francis himself. Mathew Schmalz, an expert on the Church and religious studies professor at the College of The Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, says the Church may never regain its lost credibility. In January, a former Catholic priest who had admitted to sexually abusing boys in Pennsylvania was sentenced to up to 14 years in prison – the second clergyman to be jailed in the wake of the state’s sex misconduct report. Former US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was expelled by Pope Francis from the Roman Catholic priesthood in February after he was found guilty of sexual crimes against teenage boys and adult males, according to the Vatican. McCarrick, 88, who resigned from the Vatican’s College of Cardinals in July, became the first Roman Catholic bishop in nearly 100 years to lose the title of cardinal for sex abuse.

Jim W. Dean, Managing Editor

https://www.veteranstoday.com/2019/03/14/more-us-catholics-consider-leaving-religion-over-sex-abuse-poll/

2019-03-14 15:43:47+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

usnews--2019-12-27--Montenegro's Parliament Approves Religion Law Despite Protests

usnews

Montenegro's Parliament Approves Religion Law Despite Protests

PODGORICA (Reuters) - Montenegro's parliament approved on Friday a law on religious communities despite street protests and a last-minute attempt in the chamber by deputies of the pro-Serb opposition to prevent the vote going ahead. Under the law, religious communities in the tiny Adriatic state would need to prove property ownership from before 1918, when predominantly Orthodox Christian Montenegro joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the predecessor of the now-defunct Yugoslavia. The pro-Serb Democratic Front (DF) and other critics of the legislation say it is an attempt to promote the small Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which is not recognized by other major churches, at the expense of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the dominant church in the country of 620,000 people. They also accuse Montenegro's pro-Western president, Milo Djukanovic, and his ruling Democratic Party of Socialists of corruption, ties to organized crime and seeking to push the country further from Serbia, its much bigger neighbor. The DF deputies brawled with their opponents just before the vote, which took place in the early hours of Friday after a lengthy late-night debate. Police initially detained all 18 DF deputies but later released 15. Among the three who remained in detention pending charges was DF leader Andrija Mandic, the pro-government Pobjeda daily said. "We have said we are ready to die for our church and we are demonstrating that," Mandic told reporters after the fracas. Hundreds of opposition supporters backed by clergy had taken to the streets of the capital Podgorica on Thursday to rally against the law. Roads in the north of the country were also blocked for hours. The Serbian Orthodox Church has around 12 million followers, mainly in Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro. It owns 66 monasteries in Montenegro, most of them dating back to the Middle Ages, as well as dozens of churches and other real estate. "His holiness ... prays ... for peace and unity between Montenegrin state bodies and church dignitaries, for the benefit of all in Montenegro, regardless of religion and nationality," it said in a statement. The Church suspects the Montenegrin state of planning to seize its assets, something the government denies. Djukanovic has accused the Church of promoting pro-Serbian policies with the aim of undermining Montenegrin statehood. Montenegro peacefully split from its former federal partner in 2006. It is now a member of NATO and, like Serbia, a candidate for European Union membership.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-12-27/montenegros-parliament-approves-religion-law-despite-protests

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 11:43:45 GMT

religion and belief

religious text

truepundit--2019-05-09--Texans Rage Against Freedom From Religion Foundations Demand To Remove Courthouse Crosses

truepundit

Texans Rage Against Freedom From Religion Foundation’s Demand To Remove Courthouse Crosses

San Jacinto County lawmakers rejected the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s demand to remove crosses from a county courthouse amid furor from hundreds of Christian locals. The county legislators voted unanimously Wednesday to keep four white crosses on the county courthouse in Coldspring, Texas, despite the FRFF’s April 26 demand that they be immediately removed. The FFRF’s challenge stoked the ire of hundreds of locals who turned out in droves at the Wednesday Commissioners Court meeting to decry the organization for what they saw as an attempt to violate their freedom of expression. A group of about 600 locals attended the meeting and gave approximately two and a half hours of public comment pleading with legislators to keep the crosses.View image on Twitter “Their religion is humanism. What they’re saying is Christ followers cannot express their freedom, their voice of worship, their voice of God. Yet, they want to express themselves,” said Pastor Phil Herrington of First Baptist Church, according to Fox News. “I am a Christian woman, a child of God. I’m here today as a servant of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, asking that the crosses on our courthouse in Coldspring be left on this building,” a local woman pleaded. The FRFF argued in its complaint that the crosses constituted a government promotion of Christianity and therefore violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. Chris Line, an attorney for FRFF, denounced the county’s decision to keep the crosses and claimed that the organization would challenge it. “It is extremely disappointing that the County has decided to continue violating the constitutional rights of its citizens,” Line said Wedensday. “FFRF will be following up with our local complainant and evaluating our next steps.”Follow Joshua on TwitterSend tips to [email protected].Click here for reuse options! Copyright 2019 Daily Caller News Foundation Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected]

admin

https://truepundit.com/texans-rage-against-freedom-from-religion-foundations-demand-to-remove-courthouse-crosses/

2019-05-09 18:54:41+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

thinkprogress--2019-02-14--Kansas bill claims LGBTQ community is a religion to justify every kind of discrimination against it

thinkprogress

Kansas bill claims LGBTQ community is a religion to justify every kind of discrimination against it

A group of seven Republican lawmakers in Kansas have introduced what is perhaps the most convoluted, if not cockamamie, attempt to roll back LGBTQ equality that has ever been dreamed up. The proposal is absurd and extremely unlikely to become law — Kansas’ governor, Laura Kelly, is a Democrat whose first official act was to reinstate protections for LGBTQ workers which her predecessor had eliminated. Nevertheless, the bill lends some insight into the minds of anti-LGBTQ lawmakers as they ponder how much leeway a Supreme Court with a conservative majority, and a rightward trending judiciary, might give them. The idea behind HB 2320, the “Marriage and Constitution Restoration Act,” seems to be an attempt to provide a bulwark against the advancement of LGBTQ equality. As drafted, it would prohibit, overturn, and/or invalidate marriage equality and any benefits the law currently provides to same-sex couples, or any non-discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. It would eliminate the appropriation of funds to cover transition-related surgeries, and block any policy that might provide that a trans person be addressed by their proper pronouns. From prohibiting the updating of the sex marker on a birth certificate, to halting any effort to ban conversion therapy, to ensuring that Kansas libraries are not permitted to promote “drag queen storytime,” this bill attempts to head off any policy that might respect, condone, ratify, or affirm LGBTQ identities. But what makes HB 2320 truly unique is how it frames the rationale for such a massive reversal: It asserts that LGBTQ identities constitute a religion, and if the state of Kansas were to support any law that recognizes that religion, it would be in violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. It is, as they say, a stretch. Nevertheless, HB2320 pursues its goal with a singular ambition, constructing a complicated skein of “whereas” statements in which to nest the peculiar idea that the LGBTQ community is a monolithic faith organization holding to a set of canonical principles. For example, one of these statements offers: In other words, being gay is a matter of faith. And while It may not be an institutionalized religion, it is — these lawmakers assert — the equivalent of secular humanism, which was recognized as a religion by the Supreme Court in a unanimous 1961 decision overturning a Maryland state requirement that candidates for public office profess a belief in God. The government can’t pass laws that require a person “to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion,” the Court explained, nor can it privilege religions that include a belief in God over nonbelievers or over religions that do not include such a belief. The Kansas lawmakers, interpret this ruling to mean that the government cannot endorse secular humanism, which the bill describes as consisting of “a series of unproven faith-based assumptions and naked assertions that suggest that morality and truth are man-made conventions and that at the heart of liberty is man’s ability to define man’s own meaning of the universe.” Secular humanism, they write, “refers to a religion that does not fulfill any compelling state interest, but instead, tends to erode community standards of decency.” Homosexuality, sexual orientation, and transgenderism are “inseparably linked to the religion,” the bill asserts. So too are “polygamy, zoophilia, and objectophilia.” From there, the bill attempts to flesh out how LGBTQ identities constitute a religion in exacting detail. For example, the measure asserts that the LGBTQ community is organized and has “a daily code by which members may guide their daily lives.” The bill provides no citation for this “code,” but it is asserted as fact in order to define the LGBTQ community as “a denominational sect.” The LGBTQ community, the lawmakers contend, also has its own religious symbols. “Instead of having a cross, the ten commandments icon, or star and crescent, the LGBTQ secular humanist community has the gay pride rainbow colored flag to symbolize its faith-based worldview,” the bill explains. Likewise, the LGBTQ community has its own belief structure: The community also has creeds — like “love is love” — which these lawmakers assert are a shibboleth, of sorts, that speak to the LGBTQ community’s hidden desire to oppress those outside their “denomination.” Those who object to the government’s endorsement of LGBTQ ideology (a.k.a. “the greatest sham since the inception of American jurisprudence”) have, to these lawmakers’ minds, become victims to an ideology that is about “dominance,” not “tolerance.” These lawmakers go on to contend that these LGBTQ/secular humanists are “infiltrating public schools and public libraries,” to further “indoctrinate and proselytize minors to their religious worldviews.” Though all seven of the lawmakers who sponsored HB 2320 are white, they contend at length that LGBTQ equality is particularly offensive to people of color. Much of the bill is inexplicably dedicated to drawing a distinction between race and LGBTQ identities despite the fact that it’s entirely superfluous to the bill’s stated purpose. In this way, it echoes a long history of equality opponents trying to “drive a wedge” between LGBTQ people against people of color. “There are no ex-blacks but there are thousands of ex-gays,” the bill asserts without providing evidence of either this claim or the efficacy of efficacy of conversion therapy. Continuing in this vein, the lawmakers contend: “Skin-tone is genetic and sexual orientation is faith-based.” In fact, there is a considerable amount of research demonstrating that there are biological components of sexual orientation. These lawmakers claim that opponents of LGBTQ equality are simply “defending the integrity of the civil rights movement lead by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from an emotional ploy,” and that any claims that homosexuality is an innate, unchanging trait “has engaged in an act of fraud and racial animus.” To really drive home the point, the bill asserts that any comparison between LGBTQ civil rights and race-based civil rights is offensive on its face: The bill avoids any mention of the well-documented oppression of LGBTQ people, including an unenforceable law criminalizing sodomy in Kansas. The entire point of that section is merely to claim that what amounts to naked anti-LGBTQ intolerance is actually part of a long tradition of fighting for the dignity of the oppressed. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the bill is particularly concerned with the issue of marriage. It attempts to standardize the term “parody marriage” to describe any relationship that isn’t between “one person who was born male and one person who was born female.” These “parody marriages” include “marriages between more than two people, persons of the same sex, a person and an animal, or a person and an object.” Leaving no doubt as to whether these lawmakers intended to equate bestiality with homosexuality, the bill explains, “All forms of parody marriages equally erode community standards of decency.” As marriage between a man and a woman does not contribute to the same erosion, the state has a compelling interest in providing for this sort of matrimony exclusively. Furthermore, as some taxpayers believe that such “parody marriages” are immoral, taxpayer money that supports benefits for those marriages violates the consciences of these taxpayers simply by mandating that they pay taxes. According to the bill, the state will only license marriages between a man and a woman because they’re the only marriages that “do not put religion over non-religion, unlike policies that respect the various forms of parody marriage.” As bogus as their bill might be, these Kansas lawmakers are hardly alone in testing the boundaries of the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling. Tennessee lawmakers have also reintroduced a bill that would explicitly declare Obergefell v. Hodges “unauthoritative, void, and of no effect.” U.S. courts have never upheld the idea that a state can nullify a a federal law or ignore a ruling of the federal courts. In the first such consideration in 1809, the Supreme Court declared that Pennsylvania could not nullify a federal court’s decision lest “the Constitution itself becomes a solemn mockery, and the nation is deprived of the means of enforcing its laws by the instrumentality of its own tribunals.” That standard has persisted. When Arkansas tried to nullify the Supreme Court’s ruling desegregating schools in the 1950s, the Supreme Court similarly ruled against the practice. The Court specified that this even includes indirect attempts to avoid their implementation “through evasive schemes.” Nevertheless, the larger concern isn’t whether the Supreme Court would suddenly change its mind on nullification. Rather, these challenges to marriage equality could provide an opportunity for the Supreme Court to revisit the question of same-sex marriage now that Justice Anthony Kennedy no longer sits on the bench. The court wouldn’t have to condone nullification to use that opportunity to weaken the marriage equality ruling Kennedy wrote or otherwise grant states some sort of exemption — religious or otherwise — to bypass it. Fortunately, neither of these aforementioned bills seems likely to advance. The Tennessee measure failed to do so in its previous iteration, and Governor Kelly would, in all likelihood, halt the effort of these Kansas lawmakers in the event such a measure made it to her desk. Nevertheless, these efforts suggest that there might be some momentum among conservatives to push the envelope on such legislative approaches in the hopes that a more conservative Supreme Court might be amenable to rolling back LGBTQ advancement. UPDATE: On the exact same day Kansas lawmakers introduced their bill, a group of Republican lawmakers in North Carolina introduced a nearly identical bill. HB 65 cut out a lot of the rhetoric that was in the Kansas bill, but along similar lines, it contends that marriage equality is a form of “secular humanism” that the government cannot endorse. It also includes similar language, such as the reference to “parody marriages,” which it says are “immoral, nonsecular, subversive to human flourishing, and go against community standards of decency.” The North Carolina bill is less expansive, focusing only on marriage equality. Like the Tennessee bill, it dictates that the state will consider Obergefell v. Hodges “null and void and unenforceable” and it calls upon the Supreme Court to overturn it “respect the rights of each State and its People to decide matters over which the United States Constitution has not given jurisdiction specifically to the federal government.” Additionally, the bill would make any marriage between individuals of the same gender, including those contracted in other states, invalid in the state of North Carolina. Several of the North Carolina bill’s sponsors previously introduced a similar nullification bill in 2017. That proposal, however, did not attempt to equate the LGBTQ coommunity as a religious denomination. Rather, it cited the Bible as justification for its claims, asserting that the Supreme Court, in their marriage equality decision exceeded “the authority of the Court relative to the decree of Almighty God that ‘a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’ (Genesis 2:24, ESV).” Additionally, in 2018, both Wyoming and South Carolina also introduced bills using the “secular humanism” and “parody marriage” language. The language appears to have been originally devised by the radical activist Chris Sevier, who has filed many frivolous lawsuits challenging marriage equality. He is particularly infamous for arguing in various suits that states should legally recognize his marriage to his laptop.

Zack Ford

https://thinkprogress.org/kansas-lawmakers-file-the-most-bizarre-anti-lgbtq-bill-ever-e5f0bad33204/

2019-02-14 14:31:12+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

yna--2019-12-21--U.S. redesignates N. Korea as violator of religious freedom

yna

U.S. redesignates N. Korea as violator of religious freedom

"These designations underscore the United States' commitment to protect those who seek to exercise their freedom of religion or belief," Pompeo said. "We believe that everyone, everywhere, at all times, should have the right to live according to the dictates of their conscience. We will continue to challenge state and non-state entities that seek to infringe upon those fundamental rights and to ensure they are held to account for their actions."

http://yna.kr/AEN20191221000500325&section=news&input=rss

20191221083917

religion and belief

religious text

bbc--2019-01-28--Student cracks theologians baffling religious code

bbc

Student cracks theologian's baffling religious code

A divinity student from the University of St Andrews has cracked a religious code that has baffled academics for generations. Jonny Woods has worked out how to read shorthand notes left by leading Baptist theologian Andrew Fuller. Hundreds of pages of his sermon notes are held in archives, but until now they have been a mystery to academics. The third-year undergraduate was able to decipher the shorthand after an academic traced a longhand equivalent. Andrew Fuller, who was born in Cambridgeshire in 1754, became a Baptist minister, and is best known for founding the Baptist Missionary Society. Such was his international standing, he was offered honorary doctorates by both Yale and the College of New Jersey - now Princeton - although he turned them down. While he wrote a number of influential works before his death in 1815, his early sermons and other documents have survived only as shorthand notes. They remained inaccessible until Dr Steve Holmes, head of the School of Divinity at St Andrews University found one headed in longhand "Confessions of Faith, Oct. 7 1783". He recognised this as the date of Fuller's induction into the pastorate of a church in Kettering and knew that he would have been required to give a confession of faith as part of that service. Dr Holmes then wondered if a copy of the confession printed in a biography might help him crack the code. After discovering that the two texts were the same, he recruited Jonny Woods through the university's undergraduate research assistant scheme to help. After just a few weeks the student from Coleraine, County Londonderry, was able to translate the shorthand, using the longhand version in the same way that the Rosetta Stone was used as a crib to unlock the secret of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Dr Holmes said: "When Jonny told me he could read these documents it was an astonishing moment. "Andrew Fuller stands as the figurehead, the 'patron saint' almost, of the church tradition of which I am a part. "To be reading words of his that no-one had read since he preached them in 1782 - it's one of those moments you live for as an academic." Two sermons have already been translated, and Jonny is working on more of Fuller's early work. He said: "It is such an honour to be the first person to read Andrew Fuller's sermons and to allow people to get an insight into this incredible man and the amazing stories he has to share. "I'm excited to continue working on the vast collection of work that he has left to us, in the hope that we can understand more about his thinking and how this developed throughout his ministry."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-47028244

2019-01-28 16:08:19+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

bbc--2019-05-28--Pakistan vet charged with blasphemy over medicine wrapped in religious text

bbc

Pakistan vet charged with blasphemy over medicine 'wrapped in religious text'

A Hindu veterinary doctor in south-east Pakistan has been charged under the country's strict blasphemy laws after allegedly selling medicine wrapped in paper bearing Islamic religious text. An angry crowd set fire to his clinic near Mirpur Khas, Sindh province, and other Hindu-owned shops were looted. The vet said his use of the paper, apparently torn from an Islamic studies school textbook, was a mistake. If he is convicted he could be sentenced to life in prison. Pakistan's blasphemy laws carry harsh penalties for anyone who insults Islam. Critics say they target a disproportionate number of people from religious minorities. According to reports, the vet had used pages from the school textbook to wrap up medicines for a customer with sick livestock. But the customer saw Islamic religious content on the pages and went to a local cleric who informed police. Maulana Hafeez-ur-Rehman, a local leader of the religious political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islami, told BBC Urdu that the doctor had done it deliberately. According to police, the vet has insisted that his use of the paper was a mistake. He has since been charged with insulting religious beliefs and defiling the Koran and faces life in prison. Four shops, including the vet's clinic and a medical store, were ransacked and then set alight, local journalists reported. Mirpur Khas police officer Javed Iqbal told the BBC that those involved in the attacks would be arrested. He said they had "neither love for Islam nor for their neighbours". Islam is Pakistan's national religion and public support for the strict blasphemy laws is strong. Correspondents say hardline politicians have often backed severe punishments, partly as a way of shoring up their support base. Hundreds of Pakistani citizens have been charged with blasphemy over the past few decades and some cases have triggered an international outcry. Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi was sentenced to death in 2010 after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a row with her neighbours. She spent years on death row until her conviction was overturned in 2018 by the Supreme Court. She has since left the country.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48438333

2019-05-28 16:00:43+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

bbc--2019-06-17--Quebec Bill 21 Is it OK for public servants to wear religious symbols

bbc

Quebec Bill 21: Is it OK for public servants to wear religious symbols?

For a decade, Quebec has been debating the issues of state secularism and reasonable accommodation in the Canadian province. Now it has just passed a new law that bars civil servants in positions of "authority" from wearing religious symbols at work. Bill 21 prevents judges, police officers, teachers and public servants holding some other positions from wearing symbols such as the kippah, turban, or hijab while at work. Like similar legislation introduced by previous Quebec governments in recent years to bolster state secularism, it has led to a fierce debate. Advocates call it a reasonable step, one with broad support in the province. Critics say it is discriminatory, will make it more difficult for religious minorities to integrate into Quebec society, and that it unfairly targets Muslim women. The provincial government says it is a "logical continuation of the Quiet Revolution", a period in the 1960s when Quebec society rapidly embraced state secularism. The Quebec provincial legislature passed the bill late on Sunday in a 73-35 vote. Six people who have been vocal about Bill 21 and its impact spoke to the BBC. Furheen Ahmed has been a teacher in Quebec for over a decade, and says she feels both frustrated and angry about new law. Her job will be protected because of a grandfather clause included in Bill 21, but the fact that "a teacher who teaches 10 feet away from me has more opportunity than I do simply because of what I'm wearing" is unfair, she says. "How can somebody sit there and say that is not the textbook definition of discrimination?" she asks. Proponents of the bill have been careful to note that it doesn't target any specific religion, but many critics have argued that Muslim women are most likely to be affected. Ms Ahmed says: "I wish this was about all religious symbols in some way but I don't think it is". "I don't think if hijabi Muslim women weren't out there doing their thing, being successful in this society - but perhaps looking a bit different, dressing a bit differently - I don't think this ban would have even come into the conversation." She says she felt "proud" when both her school's school board and the Montreal city council came out in opposition to Bill 21. Zahra Boukersi teaches French at a private elementary school in the Montreal region where she would be allowed to wear a hijab at work. But despite her faith, she has always rejected wearing any kind of Muslim head-covering. She doesn't see the need to wear an outward sign of faith. "Religion is intimate - it's personal," she says. "It's between God and me. That's how I see things." And she has never felt comfortable with what she believes a hijab symbolises. "There are women who wear it truly by choice. But even when they do, I see it as an act of submission," she says. Ms Boukersi has spoken frequently in the media in Quebec about her support for secularism - a conviction born from her youth in Algeria. A civil war from 1991 to 1999 pitted Islamists against the government in the North African nation, and the Muslim veil - which already had a complicated history in the country - became mandatory. "In the '80s, I was a student. I was in a mini-skirt. No one cared, it was normal, it was normal to wear tight-fitting pants or a tight-fitting shirt," she says. "Ten years later, it was a catastrophe - a radical change." So Ms Boukersi sees Bill 21 as a fair place to "draw a line" against any potential similar religious influence in Canada. As a child, Amrit Kaur would watch her parents patiently helping other children with their school work, which sparked her interest in becoming a teacher. But now, the Quebec vice-president at the World Sikh Organisation is wondering whether there's a place for her in Quebec as a school teacher as she finishes her education degree. For her, wearing a turban is "just such an integral part of my ethos and my being that I can't [disassociate] from it". She adds: "My faith is not something I can leave at the door. That's virtually impossible." She rejects the idea the legislation would help integrate immigrants into society. "The people prevented from doing their jobs are the people most integrated [into Quebec society]. They're not immigrants who just moved to the country - they're people who've studied, who know the language, who give back." She says for the first time in her life she feels like she is "looked at like someone who's causing trouble - and that feels really strange". Freedom of expression and of religion is a basic human right, she insists. "And that's being looked down on." Nadia el-Mabrouk, a professor of computer science, has become a prominent advocate for secularism in Quebec. She supports Bill 21 - in particular the provision that would ban teachers in Quebec public schools from wearing any religious symbols - and would like to see the law extended to daycare workers in the province. "I'm not opposed to the veil," she tells the BBC. "I'm talking about at school, at work, when in contact with children - at that point we say they need to be neutral." She has compared asking teachers to remove religious symbols to when cartoon illustrators were asked to replace the constant cigarette dangling from comic strip cowboy Lucky Luke's mouth with a piece of straw. "Lucky Luke wasn't actively pushing cigarettes - it's a drawing - but it was seen as influencing children," she explains. She says a woman wearing a headscarf in a classroom is "passive proselytism". "I'm not saying it's indoctrination," she says. "I'm not saying the Montrealers who are not Muslim are being indoctrinated. I'm saying it's a conditioning mainly for young Muslim students. It transmits the idea that a Muslim woman is veiled." She rejects the idea that the lengthy debate in the province over secularism is due to an undercurrent of Islamophobia or xenophobia - a frequent refrain in criticism of the issue. She contends many Canadians - where the idea of multiculturalism is, in her word, "sacred" - misunderstand Quebec's desire for secularism. "It's a debate between two very different visions," she says. Taran Singh, Quebec Sikh community representative and member of the Coalition Inclusion Quebec, has a question. "What is the underlying evidence beneath this need?" He sees Bill 21 as a "divisive solution" in need of a problem and says advocates have presented no direct evidence that public servants wearing religious symbols undermine the separation of Church and state. "Here there is a presumption that is being made - that wearing a symbol is somehow proselytising," he says. Previously proposed legislative secularism solutions by former provincial governments in recent years has caused "social cohesion" to suffer in Quebec, he says. "Bill 21 clearly sends me the message that I am not an equal participant citizen in this society." David Rand, a staunch secularist and atheist, calls Bill 21 "a perfectly reasonable restriction" similar to those already in place for public servants when it comes to showing partisan political preference while at work. And he has little sympathy for those who argue they have been given a difficult decision between their faith and their career. There is a certain kind of reserve that is necessary when working for the state, a certain kind of discretion, he says. "I would not wear a T-shirt that says 'God does not exist' if I went to work in the public service and I expect the same savoir vivre of a woman who wears a hijab or a man who wears a kippah, that they would remove it if they go to work in the public service."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48588604

2019-06-17 19:46:22+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

bonginoreport--2019-12-25--China Wants to Insert Communist Propaganda into the Bible and Other Religious Texts

bonginoreport

China Wants to Insert Communist Propaganda into the Bible and Other Religious Texts

The Chinese Communist Party instructed the Bible and other religious texts to be rewritten in an expressly pro-communist perspective that conforms with the party’s goals. In November, a group of 16 different experts and religious representatives were called on to attend a meeting of the Chinese Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Those religious leaders were then instructed to review their religious texts and reinterpret them to conform with the values of the country’s communist party doctrine, according to the Daily Mail. Wang Yang, Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, reportedly told the gathered religious leaders they must interpret their religious views in their texts to meet the instructions of Communist Party Chairman Xi Jinping and fulfill “the requirements of the era.” Those selected religious officials reportedly agreed with instructions of the Chinese ruling Communist Party and agreed to undertake the effort to review and amend or re-translate their various religious texts. The religious leaders reportedly said their efforts would help prevent “extreme thoughts” and “heretical ideas” from undermining China. News of the new religious requirements follows reports of other Chinese efforts to crackdown on various faith groups in recent years; including the detainment of nearly 2 million minority Uyghur’s, held in concentration camps in the Xinjiang region. China has denied the existence of the camps and reportedly described facilities as “boarding schools” to provide job training and discourage radicalization. China has also arrested various religious leaders like Pastor Wang Yi, and have instated bans preventing other religious leaders from attending religious conferences abroad. In a recent move, Chinese officials in the eastern province of Jiangxi ordered a Catholic church to remove a painting of the Virgin Mary and her baby, Jesus Christ, and replaced it with an image of Chairman Xi. They were also told to hang Chinese flags and pro-communist party slogans throughout the church. In addition, the church was instructed to remove its name from public display and instead to hang a banner that reads: “Follow the party, thank the party, obey the party.” Authorities also reportedly threatened older members of that Catholic church and warned that they could lose their pensions if they continued worshipping at the church. Chinese authorities have reportedly told Catholic churches that have not joined the government-backed Patriotic Catholic Association that they would be labeled as a cult. Such a designation would reportedly subject them to further persecution.

Matt Palumbo

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2019/12/china-instructs-bible-to-be-rewritten-as-pro-communist-report/

Wed, 25 Dec 2019 00:54:07 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

clashdaily--2019-10-03--PREACHY PETE: Buttigieg Says Dems Should Try To Win Over RELIGIOUS Voters But Opposes Death Penalty

clashdaily

PREACHY PETE: Buttigieg Says Dems Should Try To Win Over RELIGIOUS Voters But Opposes Death Penalty For TERRORISTS

Seriously? Has Pete been eating those ‘special’ brownies? If he thinks he’s dialed into what it will take ta bite out of the support Trump has enjoyed from ‘religious’ voters, he’s only off by about 180 degrees. While other members of his party are taking a special effort to denigrate Christians while embracing the irreligious and unaffiliated, Buttigieg is going for another approach. Ripping a page right out of 1984, he is trying to redefine Christianity out of existence. Traditional Christianity, anyway. He is giving us the Orwellian “2+2= 5” imperative and expects us to accept his claims unchallenged. God — as Preachy Petey defines him — just can’t get enough abortion. He loves it. Shines his divine blessing upon monsters like that creepy abortionist from Pete’s hometown that had a ‘trophy’ collection of unborn babies in jars stored at his private home. THAT kind of a death penalty — in Pete’s world — is a GOOD thing. But a death penalty visited upon anyone who has committed actual crimes? Well, that’s a bridge too far. Here’s Pete ascending the stairs of his pulpit and moralizing to his Christian voters. Buttigieg, a practicing Episcopalian, says Democrats have a chance to win over religious voters who have formed the core of the Republican base in recent decades, if only his party would make the case to those voters that President Trump’s policies run counter to their own Christian faith. “What I see right now is a lot of religious voters who are looking for options, because what’s happening in Washington and especially in this White House is an affront to any number of religious traditions, including somewhat conservative ones,” Buttigieg said in an exclusive interview with The Hill during a campaign swing through Nevada. “There’s just so many people in America who are sitting in the pews thinking, wait a minute, am I supposed to be on board with family separation, with policies that benefit the wealthiest only, with the behavior of a president like this one, and wondering who’s going to speak to them and let them know that they have a choice and that they are welcome in the coalition we’re trying to build,” he said. Source: TheHill He’s being awfully selective on what morals he thinks we are supposed to value. Suddenly, when it’s a Democrat doing it, all those ‘Church and State’ agitators fall strangely silent. Because when the Church is hijacked in service of the Left’s political agenda, suddenly all is forgiven. How convenient. As a consequence of his selective reading of scripture, he can’t even figure out some basic ideas that have been broadly understood for centuries. “I do believe that the moral consequence of killing somebody who is defenseless for any reason goes against certainly what I’ve been taught about the way we’re supposed to treat human life,” he said. Asked whether his opposition extended to someone like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, he said yes. “If you mean it, you mean it,” Buttigieg said. “There are people who may deserve to die. I just don’t know anybody who deserves to kill them.” Source: TheHill He is missing the point completely. This isn’t a question of ‘deserving to kill someone’. This is a question of following through on a just penalty. The principle that was indicated by stoning in the Old Testament — meaning it was a COMMUNAL Execution, one where society generally participated in the death of the guilty. This has been expressed in other contexts by way of firing squad, where nobody knows who fires the fatal bullet, or in the modern context where a nation is organized in such a way that some respected citizens are chosen to administer justice. If that justice includes imprisonment, that would require jailers. If it includes the death sentence, it would require an executioner. We could just as easily turn the question back on him — which of us really has the right to strip a ‘defenseless’ man of his autonomy and freedom by locking him involuntarily in a cell? There are people all over the world who improperly imprisoned. By what authority to we send people to jail? It is by that very same authority we execute ANY criminal sentence — up to and including death. Since he pretends to like scripture so much, here’s the relevant one, as an expansion of what Jesus said about giving what was due to Caesar was given by Paul in his letter to the Romans. Here is a portion of the larger text. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Source: Romans 5 We’ve all seen the dishonest games the left have played with the power they’re entrusted with, they’re obviously unworthy of that trust. But what about 2020? Could a moral person pull a lever for Trump with their integrity intact? Would Jesus himself vote for Trump? We’re glad you asked. There’s a brand new book that covers precisely that question: “Would Jesus Vote For Trump?” by Doug Giles and Brandon Vallorani. Would Jesus ever choose someone, with a less than stellar past, to be a leader? Would Jesus be cool with how Trump blasts CNN, The Left, and his feckless ‘compadres’ on The Right? What about Health Care? Would the Great Physician give Trump’s opposition to ObamaCare the ‘two thumbs up?’ Find out in this BEST-SELLER! Get it HERE today.

Wes Walker

https://clashdaily.com/2019/10/preachy-pete-buttigieg-says-dems-should-try-to-win-over-religious-voters-but-opposes-death-penalty-for-terrorists/

Thu, 03 Oct 2019 12:17:15 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

cnsnews--2019-05-03--New Study 80 Percent of Persecuted Religious Believers Are Christians

cnsnews

New Study: 80 Percent of Persecuted Religious Believers Are Christians

(CNSNews.com) – Eighty percent of religious believers who are being persecuted around the world are Christians, and in some regions the scale and nature of the persecution approaches the international definition of genocide, according to a new report commissioned by Britain’s foreign office. “The main impact of such genocidal acts against Christians is exodus,” says the report’s author, the Anglican Bishop of Truro in southwest England, Philip Mountstephen. “Christianity now faces the possibility of being wiped out in parts of the Middle East where its roots go back furthest.” The report released Thursday says the proportion of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa – a predominantly Muslim region – has dropped from around 20 percent of the total population a century ago to some four percent today. In Iraq, the number of Christians has plummeted from 1.5 million early this century to less than 120,000 today. It examines the treatment of Christians across parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and turns a spotlight on many governments, among them Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Iraq, Nigeria, and Algeria. The report found that “high levels of persecution” were taking place in 50 countries, affecting some 245 million Christians. That’s more than ten percent of the world’s estimated 2.3 billion Christians. Among the many problems identified: State policies including clampdowns on public worship, a political climate in which extremism thrives, a trend towards religious conservatism in some Muslim-majority countries, the teaching of religious hatred in school textbooks, legal and social discrimination, hate speech targeting believers, arrests and intimidation, the destruction of churches and Christian symbols, and the abduction and killing of clergy. “In some regions, the level and nature of persecution is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide, according to that adopted by the U.N.,” Mountstephen wrote. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who commissioned the independent study focused on Christian persecution early this year, told reporters in Ethiopia on Thursday, “I think we’ve all been asleep on the watch when it comes to the persecution of Christians.” Hunt, a committed Christian, argued that some in the West have perhaps been held back from tackling the issue by “political correctness” and “an awkwardness” because of Europe’s colonial past. “Personally, I think it is partly because of political correctness that we have avoided confronting this issue,” the Press Association quoted him as saying. “I think there is a misplaced worry that it is somehow colonialist to talk about a religion that was associated with colonial powers rather than the countries that we marched into to as colonizers.” But, Hunt added, “what we have forgotten in that atmosphere of political correctness is actually the Christians that are being persecuted are some of the poorest people on the planet.” Mountstephen made a similar point when the review was launched last January, saying that the Christian faith today is concentrated in poorer parts of the world, and is “not primarily an expression of white Western privilege.” The report released Thursday is an interim one; the full report is due for publication over the summer, and is expected to include recommendations for government policies to respond to the situation. Earlier this week in Washington, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a statutory independent body, issued its annual report, which also found that the worst violators of religious freedom are located in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Unlike the British report, which focused solely on Christian persecution, the USCIRF examines and makes policy recommendations to the government on violations against adherents of all faiths. The USCIRF report determined that 16 countries meet the statutory criteria for designation as “countries of particular concern” for especially egregious violations. They are Burma, Central African Republic, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Patrick Goodenough

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/new-study-80-percent-persecuted-religious-believers-are-christians

2019-05-03 08:19:38+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

latimes--2019-08-28--Muslim men sue LA Sheriffs Department alleging religious discrimination in jail

latimes

Muslim men sue L.A. Sheriff's Department, alleging religious discrimination in jail

Three Muslim men are suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, alleging they were denied access to an observant diet and proper religious garments and texts, while the same accommodations were made for inmates of other faiths. The lawsuit, filed Monday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, argues that the Sheriff’s Department has engaged in a “systematic effort to disfavor Muslim inmates and their spiritual needs over those of inmates of other faiths.” The three men claim staff inside the Men’s Central Jail either delayed, or in some cases outright denied, their access to foods consistent with a halal diet, copies of the Quran or time for weekly prayer, according to the lawsuit. The men also contend deputies heavily scrutinized their knowledge of the Islamic faith before deciding whether or not they should have access to a halal diet. A spokesman for the county referred questions to the Sheriff’s Department, which did not respond to a request for comment. “The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department treatment of religious requests from inmates is egregious,” CAIR’s National Litigation Director, Lena Masri, said in a statement. “Our clients have had to resort to hunger strikes to get basic religious accommodations to practice their faith after their written requests and grievances were repeatedly ignored and denied.” Joe Alfred Taylor III first requested that he be provided halal foods in February 2017, but a deputy told Taylor he was “not a Muslim,” according to the lawsuit. Taylor was quizzed about his knowledge of Islam several times, engaged in a days-long hunger strike and had access to halal foods approved and then revoked with little explanation between February 2017 and late 2018, the lawsuit contends. Two other inmates, Miguel Arciniega and Hugo Cortez, claim they endured similar treatment. In the lawsuit, Cortez said that when he answered questions about his faith with the “proper Arabic terminology,” a Sheriff’s Department sergeant told him “we’re in America and we don’t speak Arabic here.” The lawsuit also contends that while Muslims inside Men’s Central Jail are denied appropriate prayer times, access to religious attire and celebrations of certain religious feasts or days of observance, similar accommodations are made for inmates of Christian, Jewish or Buddhist faith. The men claimed Passover and Christmas celebrations were permitted inside the jail last year, but no such allowances were made for Eid, which marks the end of Ramadan, according to the lawsuit. All three men remain in custody, said Carolyn Homer, a trial attorney for CAIR. Court records show Arciniega was charged with murder in connection with a 2015 homicide and is awaiting trial. He was also charged with attempted murder in connection with jailhouse assaults allegedly carried out at the direction of the Mexican Mafia, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Cortez is awaiting trial on murder charges related to a 2011 slaying, jail and court records show. Taylor III was convicted at a recent trial, but Homer did not know what charges he had faced. The federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act protects the rights of prisoners to observe their chosen faith and grants them access to certain types of garments or diets, unless the need would compromise security. But police agencies in Southern California have repeatedly run afoul of the law. Last year, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department had to pay out $75,000 to settle a lawsuit after a Muslim woman claimed deputies forced her to remove her headscarf while in custody. In 2017, the city of Long Beach had to pay $85,000 to a Muslim woman who was forced to remove her headscarf by officers arresting her on a shoplifting warrant. Some of the state’s largest law enforcement agencies say they take steps to prevent fraudulent claims of religious affiliation made for the sake of receiving certain benefits, such as access to different food. Last year, the Los Angeles Police Department told The Times they have chaplains on call to address such situations. But Homer said questioning an inmate’s faith is a clear constitutional violation, and contended the Sheriff’s Department’s alleged tactic of grilling her clients about “minutiae” of the Islamic faith was a naked attempt to bar them from access to halal meals.

James Queally

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-27/muslim-men-sue-la-sheriffs-department-alleging-religious-discrimination

2019-08-28 01:44:24+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

nationalreview--2019-07-23--Theres a Legal Cure for Woke Corporations Religious Discrimination

nationalreview

There’s a Legal Cure for Woke Corporations’ Religious Discrimination

Federal law prohibits employers from simply presuming that Christians are bigots. If you stay in the legal trenches long enough, you learn a central fact of our cultural conflict: Intolerant overreach often breaks the law. An effective legal response to such intolerance often takes time to generate, but when it comes, it can break waves of discrimination and lawlessness. The most recent example of legal triumph over illiberalism is the shattered ruins of the campus-speech-code regime. The most recent example of an important counterattack is the defamation verdict against Oberlin College administrators who joined a woke student mob. And the time is growing ripe for opening yet another legal front in the war against intolerance: a defense of woke institutions’ religious employees. The weapon of choice here is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law that prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” Under the statute, “religion” is defined to include “all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief.” I thought of Title VII today while reading a post from Rod Dreher that describes the increasing prevalence of corporate “equality pledges,” some of which ask employees to affirm that “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender identities are within the spectrum of normal human experience and are not . . . sinful.” He attached this example: While an employer can certainly ask a doctor to treat all patients on an equal basis, it may not require an employee to sign an affirmation that explicitly seeks to contradict basic Christian theology, and it may not punish an employee who refuses to sign. Dreher’s example was “voluntary,” though it will be interesting to see what “voluntary” truly means. At the heart of religious discrimination in the modern workplace is the pernicious idea that religious disagreement creates a risk of workplace misconduct. In other words, the very existence of orthodox religious views is presumed to create an unacceptable workplace environment for LGBT employees. In the first case, the city of Atlanta fired fire chief Kelvin Cochran after he wrote a self-published book that articulated a thoroughly orthodox Christian view of sex and marriage. The book wasn’t even focused on sex or sexuality; only six out of 162 pages dealt with the topic at all. Cochran’s on-the-job performance was exemplary; he’d never faced a discrimination complaint. But that didn’t stop Atlanta’s mayor from condemning him at length or the city from firing him without due process. In the second case, the Georgia Department of Public Health fired Dr. Eric Walsh a devout Seventh-day Adventist after it became aware of his religious beliefs. To investigate Walsh, the Department’s director of human resources actually had Walsh’s co-workers listen to the sermons he’d delivered at church to help it evaluate his beliefs, in a clear violation of his rights. Both Walsh and Cochran sued and won. Walsh received a $225,000 settlement, and Cochran received $1.2 million. It’s worth noting the sheer bigotry behind these workplace reprisals. They simply presume that because a person holds traditional religious beliefs that they can’t treat LGBT employees with dignity or respect, in spite of the existence of a host of other traditional religious beliefs that mandate kindness and love. I recall a job interview many years ago at Cornell Law School. The interviewer correctly intuited from my CV that I was a religious conservative. How, she asked, could I teach gay and lesbian students? The question was unlawful: Inquiring about religious beliefs at a job interview is a textbook Title VII violation. But rather than assert my legal rights, I sensed that the question was asked in good faith, so I answered, “My Christianity teaches me that every person is created in the image of God and should be treated with dignity and respect. I’ll treat all my students well, but I can’t guarantee that they’ll treat me well when they find out about my faith.” She accepted my answer, I got the job, and we later became friends, but I couldn’t help but wonder: How many CVs are tossed aside because an obviously Christian candidate is presumed to be a bigot? Every year I talk to anxious young Christian lawyers and professionals who seek guidance on which items to include on their resumés and which to omit. Yes, there are some Christians who behave in bigoted ways, but an employer cannot simply presume that a Christian will engage in workplace discrimination based on the existence of Christian beliefs. Moreover, if employees are so triggered by Christianity that they cannot abide a Christian colleague, then they are bigots, not the Christian. Their actions are akin to those who can’t abide working alongside a woman or person of a different race. It is a simple fact that progressive Americans and traditional religious Americans can live and work side by side. They can treat each other as friends and colleagues in spite of deep ideological and religious differences. It happens every day in workplaces across the United States. Woke capitalism and woke academia doubt this reality. And when their doubt turns to discrimination, they violate the law.

David French

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/07/theres-a-legal-cure-for-woke-corporations-religious-discrimination/

2019-07-23 19:35:23+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

newyorker--2019-08-23--How the Religious Right Transformed Israeli Education

newyorker

How the Religious Right Transformed Israeli Education

Rafi Peretz, Israel’s new Education Minister, recently gave his first major television interview. Peretz, a former chief military rabbi and the founder of a military-preparatory academy in the Gaza Strip, belongs to a far-right alliance of parties and is a newcomer to politics. In the interview, Peretz was flushed and visibly nervous. He couldn’t stop smiling. “Let’s talk about the L.G.B.T. community,” his interviewer, Dana Weiss, said at one point. Peretz was clearly caught off guard. He replied that he respected all people, but that “our Torah teaches us differently.” Weiss asked, “Do you support conversion therapy? Do you believe it’s possible to convert people’s sexual orientation?” By now Peretz’s smile had completely vanished. “I think it’s possible,” he said. “I can tell you I have a deep familiarity with this type of education, and I’ve also done it.” He went on to describe how he had counselled a student. “The objective is that, first of all, he should know himself well,” he said. “And then he will decide.” Later in the interview, Peretz said that he wanted to “extend Israeli sovereignty to the entirety of Judea and Samaria”—to fully occupy the West Bank—without giving Palestinians any voting rights. It is saying something about how far to the right Israeli society has moved that this comment earned little notice. But Peretz’s embrace of conversion therapy proved too much for mainstream Israelis to stomach. After the interview aired, hundreds protested in front of the government’s Tel Aviv offices, holding signs with Biblical quotes about love and acceptance. Three thousand teachers threatened to strike. Thousands of parents around the country signed a petition stating that Peretz “shouldn’t be a minister of anything.” Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, moved quickly to disavow Peretz’s comments on conversion therapy, calling them “unacceptable.” But he didn’t fire the man he had entrusted with the education of Israel’s children. Unlike the United States, which enshrined separation of church and state in its Constitution, Israel is defined, in its basic law, as a “Jewish and democratic state”—a muddled term that breeds near-constant battle over its meaning. Since its founding, Israel has had to rely on a series of fragile compromises between its secular leadership and its religious community. A letter known as the status-quo agreement, signed, in 1947, by David Ben-Gurion, who went on to become Israel’s first Prime Minister, guaranteed basic religious tenets, such as observance of Shabbat, while insuring that Israel would not become a Jewish theocracy. Marriage, divorce, and burial have, since the country’s founding, been under the auspices of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. But on matters relating to the work force, military, universities, or public schools, there has been a clear separation between religion and state. In the past decade, since Netanyahu came into power, Israeli society has undergone a process so transformative that a new Hebrew word had to be brought into use for it: “hadata,” or “religionization.” Manifestations of hadata appear throughout civic life. On some public buses that pass through ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, women have been forced to sit in the back, for reasons of “modesty.” In the military, female soldiers are officially given the same opportunities as males, but the presence of just one religious male soldier in a unit can prevent female soldiers from serving there. Such discrimination is often done in the name of supposed inclusiveness: in order to accommodate the strictures of observant Jews, certain adjustments have to be made. Yet those called on to “adjust” are almost always women or members of the L.G.B.T. community. Just this week, Israel's attorney general said that cities could enforce gender segregation at public events, adding that “the justification for the separation is greater if the events are attended by a public that desires to be separated.” Nowhere have those changes been more pronounced or more influential than in the public-school system, where the values of the Jewish Home Party and its far-right allies have taken hold. The Education Minister controls funding to Israel’s two systems of public schools, a religious system and a non-religious one, as well as its ultra-Orthodox schools, Arab and Druze schools, universities, and colleges. According to a 2017 investigation by the liberal think tank Molad, classes in Jewish education received a hundred and nineteen times more funding than those having to do with democracy or coexistence. Whereas schools used to promote a pluralistic approach to Judaism, with weight given to the Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox movements, much of the curriculum these days is being taught through the narrow prism of religious orthodoxy. And the emphasis on Jewish studies insures that other content is pushed out. Naftali Bennett, the former leader of the Jewish Home Party and the Education Minister before Peretz, said as much, in 2016: “Learning Judaism and excelling in it is more important, in my opinion, than learning math or science.” Religious organizations have likewise mushroomed in the country in recent years, a result of generous state budgets that increased with time—more than doubling between 2007 and 2017. Representatives of these organizations have taken to teaching classes—often for free—in the school system, an offer that is too tempting for many administrators to pass up. “It started with, ‘Let us teach them the Jewish holidays, because you don’t know anything about it,’ ” Ram Vromen, a Tel Aviv businessman and the founder of a nonprofit group called Secular Forum, which tracks religious content in public schools, told me. “It quickly escalated to them teaching bar-mitzvah-preparation classes, classes in family values, and even leading discussions about the assassination of [the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin.” Vromen started the secular forum in 2011, and focussed on the school system after he saw a handout that was given to his daughter in her third-grade reading-comprehension class. “It described a guy called Suleiman who is Jewish and living in some Arab city,” Vromen told me. A pogrom is about to take place just before Shabbat and everyone decides to flee. Nobody stops for Shabbat except for Suleiman and his family, “who are very observant and decide that honoring the Shabbat is more important.” Those who continue to flee are later massacred, and only Suleiman and his family are spared, because of their religious fervor. “Then there were questions like, ‘How do you observe the Shabbat in your own home?’ ” Vromen recalled. Among the accounts collected by Vromen’s group is a science textbook that includes a prayer for rain. “You can’t examine these cases individually,” Vromen said. “You have to look at them as a whole. And when you do you see that there’s a clear attempt to change the face and character of Israeli society.” There was a father who reported that his six-year-old daughter’s preschool had taken a trip to a synagogue and received fliers that read, “the people of Israel must study the Torah or else they don’t feel truly alive.” There was a mother whose eighth-grade daughter’s homework included the imperative to “Spell out nineteen times ‘Baruch Ata Adonai’ ”—the beginning of a Jewish blessing. Religious content, it turned out, ran deeper than that. “Learning history now matters only inasmuch as it relates to Jewish history,” Vromen said. “So that, if the First World War has no real connection to the Jewish people, they barely teach it.” In 2017, a video of a ninth-grade student named Hilli from Tel Aviv made headlines. In it, Hilli addresses the “Dear Education Minister,” Bennett, with a confidence that belies her age. She recounts sitting in a class on Israeli culture when the teacher began describing the life paths of Israeli men and women. “A man’s path begins with a bris, through school, bar mitzvah, Army, university, marriage, and children,” Hilli quotes her teacher as saying. And a woman’s? “School, Army, marriage and children,” she says. Women, Hilli is left to conclude, “apparently skip university, because it’s more important to change diapers and make lunch.” She says, “As a secular girl, the education system simply erases me.” When I was a student in Jerusalem, in the late nineteen-eighties and nineties, we celebrated the Jewish holidays in school, but no teacher asked us how, or if, we observed them at home. We welcomed the Shabbat with song but not with prayer, and certainly not with the full ritual of candle-lighting, Kiddush, and head cover that has become the norm across (nonreligious) kindergartens all over the country. There was a sense that Jewish culture contained a multitude of interpretations, with no one inherently better than the other, and that schools were there to provide anchor, not judgment. Yael (Yuli) Tamir, a former Labor Party lawmaker, was the last liberal Education Minister, serving between 2006 and 2009. She told me that during her term there had already been pressure from the religious right to have a greater say in the way that the nonreligious public-school system was run. “There isn’t a country in the world that doesn’t want to teach some kind of cultural heritage,” she said. “But the question is when that turns into indoctrination.” Tamir said that she fought to preserve the nonreligious system as distinct from the religious one. It was important to her that students learn about the Palestinian nakba (“catastrophe”), for example, when reading about Israel’s War of Independence, and that they be able to grapple intellectually with different, and at times contradictory, narratives. “The nonreligious system takes as a paradigm Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic country, with all of the complexities involved,” she said. “The religious system, on the other hand, is faith-based, and argues that we’re in this country because of God. It’s seemingly semantic—they’re not throwing anyone in jail; they’re not enforcing burkas on anyone—but the distance between that and theocracy is small, and getting smaller.”

Ruth Margalit

https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-jerusalem/how-the-religious-right-transformed-israeli-education

2019-08-23 16:20:23+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

theepochtimes--2019-08-27--Judge Upholds Law Blocking Religious Exemptions to Vaccines Just Before School Starts

theepochtimes

Judge Upholds Law Blocking Religious Exemptions to Vaccines Just Before School Starts

Judge Upholds Law Blocking Religious Exemptions to Vaccines Just Before School Starts A New York Supreme Court judge upheld the state’s recently passed law that eliminates religious exemptions for student vaccination, just days before school starts. Acting Supreme Court Justice Denise Hartman ruled against the dozens of parents who filed a lawsuit against the state, denying their request for a preliminary injunction that would have let parents continue to claim the religious exemption until the case was settled. The lawsuit (pdf) was brought by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and attorney Michael Sussman on behalf of the parents and will still be heard as the school year starts. It argues the law discriminates against religious people and violates the First Amendment rights of parents who don’t want to vaccinate their children. Parents wrote that “[r]ather than being motivated by any serious concern for public health and despite the rhetoric of the Governor, in the public debate and discourse which proceeded passage of this repeal legislation, numerous leading proponents of the legislation expressed active hostility toward the religious exemption and ridiculed and scorned those who held such exemptions.” That included Democratic Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins saying “we’ve chosen science over rhetoric” and state Senator James Skoufis, a Democratic sponsor, who said: “There is not one religious institution, not one single one that denounces vaccines. So, here is a religious exemption pretending as if there is a religion out there that has a problem with the vaccines. Whether you are Christian, Jewish or Scientologist, none of these religions have texts or dogma that denounce vaccines. Let’s stop pretending like they do.” Plaintiffs also said that neither the state House or Senate held public hearings before enacting the legislation. But Hartman said that a number of court rulings over the past 100 years give the state power to mandate vaccinations for students, including Jacobson v Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Matter of Viemeister. The Supreme Court ruled in Prince v Massachusetts that a parent “cannot claim freedom from compulsory vaccination for the child more than for himself on religious grounds,” Hartman wrote in the 32-page ruling. “Because plaintiffs have not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits, the Supreme Court denies the request for a preliminary injunction; the legislative repeal of the religious exemption remains in effect,” she concluded. Sussman told The Journal News that he plans to appeal the ruling. Some 26,000 parents claimed the religious exemption in New York in the 2018-19 school year. Hartman’s ruling came about six weeks after Supreme Court Justice J. Mackey denied the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order in the case. Another lawsuit brought by parents was dropped last week. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed the law on Aug. 13. “The science is crystal clear: Vaccines are safe and effective. While I respect freedom of religion, our first job is to protect public health​,” he said after signing the bill. Lawmakers said that the United States “is currently experiencing the worst outbreak of measles since 1994, a disease that, in a major health victory, officials declared eliminated from the United States in 2000.” Some 880 cases were said to have cropped up before the bill was passed across the nation and there were at least 810 confirmed cases of measles in New York state between Oct. 2018 and the bill’s passage. The memorandum introduced in support of the bill said that “freedom of religion is a founding tenet of this nation” but added: “longstanding precedent establishing that one’s right to free religious expression does not include the right to endanger the health of the community, one’s children, or the children of others.” New York, with the repeal of the religious exemption, joined California, Maine, West Virginia, and Mississippi as states providing for no religious or other non-medical exemptions from compulsory vaccination laws. Hartman said she’s not aware of any cases striking down the laws in the four other states.

Zachary Stieber

https://www.theepochtimes.com/judge-upholds-law-blocking-religious-exemptions-to-vaccines-just-before-school-starts_3057725.html

2019-08-27 14:56:59+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

thehill--2019-01-04--Kyrsten Sinema swears in to Congress using copy of Constitution instead of religious book

thehill

Kyrsten Sinema swears in to Congress using copy of Constitution instead of religious book

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) took her ceremonial oath of office holding her hand on a copy of the Constitution rather than a religious text such as the Bible. Vice President Pence can be seen in video of the moment ending Sinema's oath by saying the standard words, "so help you God?," to which Sinema responded, "I do." He then says that he looks forward to working with her in Congress. A spokesperson for the senator confirmed to The Arizona Republic that the book was from the Library of Congress and contained texts of the U.S. and Arizona constitutions. "Kyrsten always gets sworn in on a Constitution simply because of her love for the Constitution," Sinema’s spokesman, John LaBombard, told the local publication. However, LaBombard did not reportedly address Sinema’s religious views. Sinema is the only member of Congress who openly identifies as religiously unaffiliated, according to the Pew Research Center for Religion and Public Life. But The Arizona Republic points out that Sinema’s move to forgo using a religious book to take her ceremonial oath, as most members of Congress typically do, may only fuel ongoing speculation that she is an atheist. The Arizona Democrat emerged on the national stage in November when she became the state's first female senator and the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Arizona since 1988. Sinema is also the second openly LGBTQ person to be elected to Senate, joining Sen. Tammy Baldwin Tammy Suzanne BaldwinKyrsten Sinema swears in to Congress using copy of Constitution instead of religious book Dems say Trump is defying court order by pushing abstinence programs Dem senator accuses Wisconsin Republicans of 'power grab' MORE (D-Wis.), who is a lesbian.

Aris Folley

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/423813-kyrsten-sinema-swears-in-to-congress-using-law-book-instead-of-bible

2019-01-04 03:16:19+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

theindependent--2019-09-22--The way we eat is changing Now is the time for religious doctrine to catch up

theindependent

The way we eat is changing. Now is the time for religious doctrine to catch up

Leviticus 11 contains a zoo’s worth of animals. The hyrax and monitor lizard. The katydid is there, as is the gecko. And it ends: “You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.” Dietary restrictions are woven into religious texts, the Old Testament and the New, the Koran, the Vedas and the Upanishads. Some are mercifully practical, as in the law of necessity in Islamic jurisprudence: “That which is necessary makes the forbidden permissible.” This month, food multinational Tyson announced that it is investing in New Wave Foods, a San Francisco-based start-up that will launch plant-based shrimp early next year, raising a curious question. Will it be kosher? The short answer is its ingredients – which mimic the verboten crustacean with a proprietary algae blend – could well be both kosher and halal. Once the product launches, the company will seek certification so Orthodox Jews and certain Muslim groups that avoid shellfish can enjoy a shrimp cocktail, scampi, a po’ boy or ceviche. And yet. In this era of plenitude and choice and disruptive technology, what is permissible, what is forbidden and what is flouting the letter of religious law? The food system is in flux, the rise of plant-based meats and the promise of cell-cultured meats bending categories such that legislation, ideology and theology are scrambling to keep up. If God says no pork, how does He feel about a very persuasive forgery? And if only beef from the forequarter is permitted, how will observant Jews parse meat grown in a lab, no bones and no quarters at all? How do you bleed an animal with no blood or slaughter an animal humanely if there’s no slaughter? And if you give up meat for Lent, what constitutes a cheat? About 10 per cent of the United States’ 5.5 million Jews consider themselves Orthodox – that number is higher for younger Jews, so the percentage is growing. With a global population of 1.8 billion, the Muslim community has now reached 3.45 million in America and is likely to become the second-largest religious group in the country by 2040. Hinduism, with more than a billion adherents globally, is practiced by 1 per cent of the US population. These are large demographics to be courted, potentially the difference between solvency and failure in the ever more crowded alt-meat arena. There are already 100 plant-based meat products in the United States certified kosher, according to the Jewish Initiative for Animals, a project of Farm Forward, a farm animal advocacy nonprofit that works with all Jewish denominations. In May 2018, Impossible Foods received its official kosher certification from the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the largest organisation of Orthodox synagogues in the United States, responsible for certifying more than 400,000 industrial and consumer products. A rabbinic field representative had toured the 67,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Oakland, California, confirming that all ingredients, processes and equipment used to make the Impossible Burger were compliant with kosher law. And after a halal auditor visited the plant to determine ingredients and practices were halal-compliant and adherent to Islamic dietary laws, Impossible Foods received its halal certification from the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America in December 2018. Packages, which first appeared in grocery stores on Wednesday (Impossible has been a restaurant product to date), carry an “OU” symbol that means the product is “pareve”. The designation signals it is made from inherently kosher or kosher-certified ingredients that are neither meat nor dairy. It also boasts a symbol with an M to indicate it is halal. Rabbi Moshe Elefant, the chief operating officer of Orthodox Union Kosher, says an observant Jew is not popping into Burger King to eat an Impossible Whopper anytime soon. “Let’s for the sake of argument say everything they use is kosher; still their equipment isn’t kosher. An observant Jew will never even walk in.” Non-kosher restaurants for the Orthodox may still be a no-go, but, Elefant argues, the majority of kosher foods are purchased in supermarkets that carry non-kosher items, packages of certified kosher Beyond Meat plant-based pork sausage shouldered right up against forbidden pork sausage made from animals. “Is it a violation of the spirit of the law? That becomes a realm that you can never end,” Elefant says. “The best example that I always give is there are companies that are certified to make pizza for Passover. There’s not one issue about the kosher status of those products, but you may feel that it’s inappropriate to eat pizza for Passover.” He adds that it’s a constant challenge to interpret dietary law in light of modern technology, and that while “there clearly is a biblical statement that the purpose of the dietary laws is to separate us, it’s not up to us to draw the line”. Rabbi Eli Lando is the chief customer relations officer with OK Kosher, one of the country’s oldest and largest certifiers, which certified Beyond Meat (Beyond says it intends to apply for halal certification). Lando is more bullish about the growing array of plant-based meats, predicting that products like these will make it easier to keep kosher and thus grow the ranks of the observant. “You may speak with three different rabbis and get 25 different opinions, but we know according to Jewish law that you are not supposed to be prohibiting yourself from what is allowed according to God’s commandments,” he says. The prohibitions, he says, are about the actual creatures (pigs, shellfish, rabbits and reptiles), not a plant-based facsimile, however uncanny the likeness. Orthodox Jews, he notes, are frequently big fans of fake crab made of finely pulverised white fish. Lando sees plant-based meat as a revolution of sorts. “A person today knows that being kosher does not mean you have to go to the back of the store and look for something like a second-class citizen. Having those products commonly available is achieving a great milestone,” he says. Kosher certification is exhaustive and costly work – every ingredient must be inspected, the facility may have to be washed down at high temperature, and then there’s a waiting period. Surprise inspections occur frequently. Lando estimates that certification in North America costs between $4,000 and 8,000 per manufacturing facility. The inspection and certification process is similar for halal foods. For plant-based products designed to imitate haram products (pork and other foods forbidden by Islamic law), Roger Othman, director of consumer relations for Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America, says words matter. “Plant-based bacon bits, for example. The product would qualify to be halal but may be repugnant to halal consumers if the word bacon appeared in the name,” Othman says. “Halal consumers would not know what pork chews like, maybe not even what it smells or looks like. If plant-based, it could qualify to be halal, but the naming should not contain any pork-related words.” For Mat McDermott, director of communications at the Hindu American Foundation, the introduction of Impossible Burgers and other plant-based meat 2.0 may not be particularly problematic. Plant-based meat companies are proliferating in India. Still, there may be a “yuck” factor for the ones that bleed like the real deal, and because cows are sacred animals for many Hindus, plant-based beef or cell-cultured beef prompt additional queasiness and questions. “Mimicking is fine; it poses no theological problems,” he says. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it still may just be textured vegetable protein. That said, most Hindu vegetarians eschew meat for ethical reasons. McDermott believes we’re at an inflection point where consumers of all faiths are making choices that consider environmental problems with ethical implications. “Cultured meat presents thornier questions Hindus have never had to answer.” he said. “If there’s no perceptible harm, no animal killed in the process? That’s the central knotted question of diet and animal welfare. Where do you draw the line?” Aaron Gross, an associate professor of Jewish studies at the University of San Diego, also perceives a cultural shift in religious attitudes towards animal cruelty. For 15 years, there has been a tiny “animals and religion” panel at the annual American Academy of Religion conference, with maybe 10 or 15 attendees. In the past couple of years, that has ballooned to several events with as many as 150 attendees each. He says that as animal agriculture became more industrialised and fewer Americans had direct connections to farm animals, there had been a shift away from addressing issues like animal suffering. “But it’s returning to its historic place as something theologians grapple with,” Gross says. He cites climate change, a growing interest in food’s provenance and “deeper currents of how we make meaning in the world” as reasons for the pivot. “God’s thinking about meat. He’s concerned about meat enough that it is a major theme,” says Gross, adding that there’s an energetic dispute within Judaism about whether to raise these broad ethical questions about meat at all. Cultured or cell-based meat, grown from a tissue sample of an animal in a lab, is poised to launch next year and may solve some of these ethical questions, says Bruce Friedrich, founder of the Good Food Institute, a nonprofit that promotes plant-based meat. But it raises others. “We’re talking about a whole new way of making meat that has everything to do with food safety and humane treatment,” he says. Three of the first eight cultivated meat companies are in Israel, he says, although none is certified kosher because there is not yet an established certification framework. Jewish and Muslim scholars are still evaluating what this new Wild West of meat might mean. Companies like Memphis Meat and JUST that aim to debut cultured products next year have a vested interest in having their products certified halal or kosher, but whether rabbis will certify it as “meat” or pareve is up in the air. Gross and Friedrich predict yes. Rabbi Lando suggests that the Orthodox community will have more flexibility if it is certified pareve, but he’s not sure. “Great minds are working on cell-based meat. Research is still being done on this topic,” Lando says. “We prefer to measure twice and cut once.”

Laura Reiley

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/shrimp-kosher-halal-orthodox-jewish-shellfish-unclean-food-plant-based-a9104471.html

2019-09-22 13:47:38+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

themanchestereveningnews--2019-01-09--Desperate heroin addicts stole religious texts from Salford synagogue - and then chucked them away

themanchestereveningnews

Desperate heroin addicts stole religious texts from Salford synagogue - and then chucked them away

Two drug addicts who 'desecrated' a synagogue by burgling it and stealing holy documents before chucking them, have avoided jail. Wayne Beddow, 47, and Tracy Kelly, 46, are both 'desperate' addicts who have long records of stealing to feed their habits a court was told. And a judge decided to try and tackle their long standing problems rather than sending them to prison, despite acknowledging the impact the shocking crime had on the victim. The man, a member of the congregation at the Viznitz Orthodox synagogue on Leicester Road in Salford, had been using his Phylacteries during worship on September 20 last year the court was told. Known as Teffilin in Hebrew, they are small leather cube boxes containing Torah texts written on parchment worn by male Jews aged 13 or over as a reminder to uphold the law of God. The victim had finished using them and put them away in their velvet bag and protective case, and stored them away after praying at around 10:30am in the morning. However, he was informed early the following day that there had been a burglary at the building and they had been stolen, Hasseb Yousaf, prosecuting, said. No other details about the break-in were given at the short sentencing hearing at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown on Wednesday. A judge said he accepted the pair didn't know what they had taken and quickly discarded them once they realised they wouldn't be able to sell them for drugs. The, items, worth around £800 but of huge 'sacred' value were eventually recovered and handed back to their owner without damage. Hunter Gray, defending Beddow, said he had been making very good progress on a previous probation service programme and described the incident as a 'lapse.' "For a man with such a chronic drug addiction he was never going to be a complete success story" he said. "But he assures your honour through me next time he appears here he will be backed by negative drug tests" he added. Beddow and Kelly, both of Moston Street, Higher Broughton, Salford, pleaded guilty to burglary at an earlier hearing at the magistrates court. A judge allowed Beddow, who has spent 10 weeks on remand, to continue tackling his problems outside prison sentencing him to a 12 month community order. He must also undergo a drug rehabilitation programme, which will be monitored monthly by the judge. He will also be subject to a curfew between the hours of 8pm and 6am for six months. Tracy Kelly was also given a 12 month community order with a nine month drug rehabilitation programme. Judge Lawton told them: "You are both desperate drug addicts and you have stolen and burgled repeatedly to fund your addictions. "You Wayne Beddow have made a career out of commercial burglary. "On September 21 you went into a place of sacred worship and took items that were of sacred value to one member of the congregation at that synagogue. "I am satisfied you didn't know what they were and that is why you quickly discarded them, as you realised no one was going to give you a few wraps of heroin for those. "However to the person they belonged to that was an unbelievable desecration, and you must understand that."

Chris Slater

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/desperate-heroin-addicts-stole-religious-15653099

2019-01-09 18:56:15+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

veteranstoday--2019-03-16--New Zealand Mosques Attacks Who are Dividing the World on Religious Lines

veteranstoday

New Zealand Mosques’ Attacks, Who are Dividing the World on Religious Lines?

At least 49 people have been killed and more than 40 others wounded in the terror attacks at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on Friday (March 15, 2019) after a gunman opened indiscriminate fire at Muslim worshippers. A 28-year-old Australian man, namely Brenton Tarrant was arrested by the police, who was charged with mass murder, using an automatic weapon and began firing. On Saturday (March 16, 2019), he appeared in court. Police also arrested two other men and one woman in connection with the attack—two of whom remain in custody. Police said that two IEDs (improvised explosive devices) were found in a car and neutralised by the military. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: “The assault on the mosques appeared to be a well-planned terrorist attack…This is, and will be, one of New Zealand’s darkest days”. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also confirmed that the suspect charged with murder was an Australian citizen and described him as “an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist”. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Saturday (March 16, 2019) that attempts had been made repeatedly to tighten New Zealand’s gun laws, but all had failed. She elaborated that the suspect had “travelled around the world with sporadic periods of time spent in New Zealand—New Zealand intelligence services had been stepping up investigations into far-right extremists—The individual charged with murder had not come to the attention of the intelligence community nor the police for extremism.” According to reports of the Western media, “Attack apparently broadcast live on social media while, New Zealand’s authorities declined to discuss the potential motives behind the attack, but, the social media accounts in the name of Brenton Tarrant were used to post a lengthy racist document in which the author identified the mosques which were later attacked—an account linked to the gunman posted a link to an 87-page racist manifesto which was filled with anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim ideas and explanations for an attack. The text is called “The Great Replacement”, a phrase that originated in France and has become a rallying cry for European anti-immigration extremists. The suspect said he had begun planning an attack after visiting Europe in 2017 and being angered by events there.” In this regard, Al Jazeera pointed out:  “In the manifesto, the shooter praised the US President Donald Trump and Anders Brevik -the Norwegian white supremacist who murdered 77 people in Norway in 2011. The 74-page dossier, hailed Trump as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose…also claimed that he had brief contact with Breivik and had received a blessing for his actions from the mass murderer’s acquaintances…Trump, whose rhetoric is sometimes aligned with the far-right in the US, condemned the horrible massacre in a post on Twitter…A spokesperson for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) told Al Jazeera the sources of politically motivated violence in Australia are diverse-encompassing anyone who believes that violence is a justified means to further their political interests, which can include extreme right-wing ideologies”. However, the shootings at two mosques in Christchurch cannot be seen in isolation. These terror attacks are part of a deliberate conspiracy to divide the world on religious lines. So, it needs in-depth analysis to know the real motives of the entities which are in collusion to complete their hidden agenda at the cost of the international community. It is notable that since September 2015, when Russian-led coalition of Iran, Iraq, the Syrian army-the National Defense Forces (NDF) and Lebanon-based Hezbollah in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been achieving successes in Syria and Iraq by retaking several regions from the occupation of the CIA-Mossad led rebel groups and ISIS militants after their failure to topple the Assad government—proving links of Al-Qaeda’s Al-Nusra Front and ISIS with America and Israel, Israeli Mossad with the cooperation of some CIA agents started terrorism-related attacks in the US and Europe. There is also an interrelationship of the terror attacks in the US, Europe, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Philippines, Iran etc., and elsewhere in the world, which were false flag terror attacks, conducted by Mossad in connivance with the agents of Indian secret agency RAW and those of the vulnerable CIA operatives. Through all these false flag terror operations, the US, Israel and India wanted to obtain their covert aims against Russia, China, Pakistan and the Muslims. Mossad had also provided the US President Donald Trump with an opportunity to manipulate various terror assaults of Europe and America to win the US presidential election and to reunite America and Europe, as a rift was created between America and its Western allies, especially Europe on a number of issues, including NATO and trade. The fanatic President Trump had left no stone unturned in implementing anti-Muslim policies, while speaking openly against the Muslims and Syrian immigrants. In this connection, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s successful diplomacy surprised the Israel-led America and some European countries who wanted to oust the Assad regime to obtain the greater interests of Israel. In response, taking note of various developments and some other ones such as reluctance of NATO countries to support America’s fake global war on terror,  acceptance of Syrian refuges by the European countries, especially Germany, criticism of the controversial Turkish-EU refugee deal by a number of human rights groups, the EU rule to boycott goods produced in Israeli settlements on the West Bank, Britain’s decision to leave the European Union (EU), after the referendum (Brexit) on June 24, 2016, prospects of Scotland and some other countries for separation from the EU, and the divide between the elite class which run multinational companies with the direct or indirect control of the Jews and the general masses who are suffering from multiple problems in wake of differences on the refugee crisis, Syrian war, Greece’s weak economy, violent protests against the labour laws in France etc.—the chances of European Union’s disintegration and a rift among the NATO countries, as noted in the recent past by the “Stop NATO protests in Europe were quite opposite to the Israeli secret interests. Hence, Israeli Mossad which was in collaboration with the vulnerable CIA operatives organized terror assaults in the US and Europe. As part of the double game, these terror attacks were conducted by these secret agencies, particularly Mossad with the assistance of the ISIS terrorists who used the home-grown terrorists of these countries. Owing to the irresponsible approach of the Western leaders and their media, far right-wing parties and “Stop Islam” movement in the West, especially in Europe has been becoming popular by largely attracting their people.Right-wing parties in a growing number of European countries have made electoral gains. The right-wing parties range across a wide policy spectrum, from populist and nationalist to far-right neofascist. Other aims of Tel Aviv ware to muster the support of America’s Western allies against Russia in relation to the Syrian war, as US-led countries like France, UK also started airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, under the cover of targeting ISIL. To what extent President Trump wants to obtain Israeli illegitimate goals at the cost of Muslims and the patriot Americans could be judged from the terrorism-related assaults which occurred in the Spanish city of Barcelona on August 17, 2017 and in her town of Cambrils on August 18, 2017. After condemning the terror attacks and offering US assistance to Spain, the US President Trump suggested “fighting terrorism by executing Muslims with bullets dipped in pigs blood.” When American President Trump’s extremist policies were strongly criticized inside America and around the world, including America’s Western allies, his advisers, neoconservatives and Israeli-backed officials directed him to implement dual strategy of the former President George W. Bush and Barrack Obama, with the aim to keep the US and Western allies, particularly Europe united against Syria, Russia, China, Pakistan etc., while covertly continuing anti-Muslim rhetoric so as to safeguard the interests of Tel Aviv. Nevertheless, Israel succeeded in its sinister designs. Notably, backing out from his earlier statements, American President Trump has changed his policy regarding trade war in connection with China and Europe Here, it is mentionable that Machiavelli advises the rulers to have a lion-like image outwardly, and act upon the traits of goat inwardly. He also suggests them foreign adventures and the use of terror to obtain their goals. In his sense, a good ruler should be a good opportunist and hypocrite. While echoing Machiavelli, Morgenthau points out that sometimes, rulers act upon immoral activities like deceit, fraud, falsehood and even murder to fulfill their selfish aims. President Trump has begun acting upon the discarded theory of the past in the modern era. It could be judged from his trip of Trump to the Middle East. Backing out from his earlier statements—banning the Muslims from entering the United States, vetting of the Muslims—blocking visas being issued to anyone from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen—strict conditions for the citizens from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon, in Saudi Arabia, in his address at a regional summit in Riyadh, on May 22, 2017, President Donald Trump called for “Muslim unity in the fight against terrorism…a battle between good and evil…U.S. wants a coalition of nations who share the aim of stamping out extremism…This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people of all religions who seek to protect it,” as he explained. Like Bush and Obama, Trump described Islam as “a religion of peace” and did not use the contentious phrase “radical Islamic terrorism,” as he frequently had in his speeches. Instead, he called on the Muslim leaders to honestly confront “the crisis of Islamist extremism and the Islamist terror groups.” Setting aside the Israeli-led US state terrorism and CIA-backed terror attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen and other vulnerable Islamic countries, Trump singled out Iran, accusing Tehran of contributing to instability in the region. He supposedly said, “From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms and trains terrorists, militias and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region.” Keeping Israeli covert agenda in his mind, Trump also stated that all the Muslim nations should boycott Iran, and also pledged to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for peace of the region. Trump’s address was a mixture of calls for Israeli-Arab peace and a defense of Israel from threats in the region,including from the groups allied with the Palestinian cause. President Trump also encouraged NATO-like alliance of Saudi Arabia, which includes the Sunni countries against Shia states, especially Iran and Yemen. It was formed on the instructions of Washington. As after the US-led invasion of the Afghanistan, Iraq, airstrikes on Libya and promotion of war in Syria had been clearly exposed, therefore, America revived the old phony global war on terror to secure the illegitimate interests of Tel Aviv, whose major aim was to deceive the Muslims. Otherwise, it well-known that without bothering about criticism of the US-led Western countries and the Islamic World, including some law-makers and politicians at home, Trump Administration announced the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, last year.President Trump implemented his decision of December 6, 2018 by officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and reversed nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and set in motion a plan to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to the fiercely contested Holy City. It is of particular attention that it is owing to the encouragement of the President Trump that the Israeli regime officially declared their status as “the Jewish State” where only Jewish people have rights to self-determination. Despite the revival of the fake global war on terror, some developments disappointed the Israelis. In this regard, Russia-Turkey alliance to fight the ISIS, victory of the Russian-led alliance over the CIA-Mossad-led rebel groups and ISIS terrorists, including Trump’s announcement to withdraw forces from Syria, Senate’s resolution against Trump regarding withdrawal from Saudi war in Yemen, Qatar-based direct talks between America and the Afghan Taliban with a view to withdrawing the US-led NATO forces from Afghanistan which has, rapidly, increased the cost of war, bringing about multiple internal crises, affecting the ordinary Americans and Western citizens, particularly those of Europe might be cited as example. Meanwhile, US intelligence agencies, especially FBI has continued the so-called investigation that Russia and President Putin authorized the hacking of the November 8, 2016 US presidential election aimed to help Donald Trump to win it. Both Putin and Trump have denied the charges. In this respect, differences between CIA and FBI also frustrated Tel Aviv. Besides, Tel Aviv wants to intensify the new Cold War between the US-led West and Russia so as to avoid the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, as some European countries have also been emphasizing on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the expansion of West Bank settlements and restart a negotiation process for the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue in wake of the debate between the Zionists and non-Zionist Jews in relation to the two-state solution of the issue. Earlier, on January 15, 2016, France who is staunch supporter of the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue conducted a summit in Paris which was attended by 70 nations. In a statement, delegates at the summit also restated their commitment to the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and emphasized on them to restart negotiations. Palestinians welcomed the conference, but Israel called it “rigged”. It is also of particular attention that by pursuing the double standards of America in its worst form, President Trump also intends to favour India, while opposing the nuclear weapons of Pakistan. However, like Obama, Trump has brushed aside the ground realities that Indian extremist Prime Minister Narendra Modi led by the ruling fundamentalist party BJP has been implementing anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan agenda, while encouraging Hindutva (Hindu nationalism). Encouraged by the BJP, assaults on Muslims, Christians and other minorities by the Hindu extremist parties might be cited as instance. India which has strategic partnership with Israel has perennially been manipulating the double game of the US-led West regarding world phenomena of terrorism in connection with Pakistan and Afghanistan. As part of the double game, based in Afghanistan, operatives of CIA, RAW and  Mossad which have well-established their collective secret network there and are well-penetrated in the terrorist outfits like ISIS, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and their affiliated Taliban groups are using their terrorists to destabilize Tibetan regions of China, Iranian Sistan-Baluchistan and Pakistan by arranging the subversive activities. In this context, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is their special target. Recent acts of terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s Balochistan province are part of the same plan. It is noteworthy that, taking cognizance of the growing threat of global terrorism which has been dividing the Western and Islamic nations on cultural and religious lines since 9/11, American and European governments had already started inter-faith dialogue especially between the Christian and Muslim nations. The main aim of such a dialogue was to create interfaith harmony among various religious communities. In the recent years, many conferences were held in various countries in which scholars from Islamic states also participated with a view to creating cultural understanding and interfaith cooperation among major religious communities. But, all these measures proved fruitless due to a deliberate anti-Muslim campaign, launched by the Indo-Israeli lobbies, resulting in obstacles in global interfaith harmony. America and its allies continued to kill many innocent civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Palestine through heavy aerial bombardment and ground shelling in the name of war on terror. The occupying forces have been using every possible technique of state terrorism in these territories which have become the breeding grounds of a prolonged interaction between freedom fighters and state terrorists, thwarting global interfaith harmony. It is because of these developments that a greater resentment is being found among the Muslims who think that America in connivance with the Indo-Israeli lobbies is sponsoring state terrorism, directly or indirectly from Kashmir to Palestine. In this context, on October 19, 2007, the special issue of South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, under the caption-‘Working for India or against Islam? Islamophobia in Indian American Lobbies’ had written, “In the past few years, Indian American community has gained an unprecedented visibility in the international arena and now constitutes influential ethnic lobbies in Washington. Among other factors, Hindu aligned with Jewish pressure groups in relation to the war against terrorism and to further the India-Israel-US strategic partnership play a major role in exaggerating Islamophobic overtones in the Indian American lobbies”. Another regrettable point is that irresponsible attitude of Indian, Israeli and some Western  politicians has introduced dangerous socio-religious dimension in their societies by equating the “war on terror” with “war on Islam” and acts of Al Qaeda with all the Muslims. Their media have also been contributing to heighten the currents of world politics on cultural and religious lines with the negative projection of Islam. In order to obtain their sinister designs, Mossad, RAW and CIA operatives have also been assisting ISIS, Al Qaeda and similar terror outfits which have accepted responsibility in relation to various terrorism-related attacks on Christians in Egypt and some African countries, including some Western countries. While, like other European countries, especially France, Mossad wanted to accelerate persecution of Muslims, hate-crime against them and also to compel the Britain to make discriminatory laws against them. So, besides other similar terror attacks which targeted places of worship of the Muslims in various countries, the terror assaults at two mosques of Christchurch are part of the same policy of Israel, which has been implemented by Mossad. As regard the recent war-like situation between India and Pakistan, which started in the aftermath of the false flag Pulwama terror attack in the Indian Occupied Kashmir(IOK), tension which involves the risk of nuclear war still exists, as the extremist government of the BJP led by the Indian fundamentalist Prime Minister Modi has refused the mediatory role of any country, while continuing war hysteria against Pakistan in wake of acceleration of shelling across the Line of Control (LoC), which has resulted into many casualties in the Pakistani side of Kashmir. On the other side, Pakistan’s armed forces are on high alert to give a matching response to any Indian prospective aggression or war. Earlier, Indian Air Force conducted pre-emptive air strike near the town of Balakot, close to the border with Pakistan’s sector of Kashmir on February 27, 2018, claiming that Indianfighter jets targeted the camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and killed 350 militants—the group whom New Delhi blamed for the Pulwama attack. Next day, in response, Pakistan Air Force launched aerial strikes at six targets in the IOK and shot down two Indian fighter jets and captured Indian pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman who was released as a gesture of peace and handed over to the Indian authorities. It resulted into diplomatic victory of Islamabad over India. Prime Minister Modi who has directed the Indian security forces to accelerate atrocities in the IOK, wants to obtain various nefarious designs, especially to suppress the Kashmiris’ war of liberation and to win the general elections 2019 at the cost of Pakistan. On the other side, Western media and their high officials are insisting upon the settlement of the Kashmir issue. Nonetheless, like the fanatic President Trump, Israeli extremist Prime Minister Netanyahu who also intends to win the forthcoming elections at the cost of Palestinians, continues state terrorism on the occupied territories of the Palestinians. Both Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Netanyahu have been confused due to the above mentioned developments which do not favour Tel Aviv and New Delhi like the past, while, still some CIA agents, Indian RAW and particularly Mossad want to divide the world on religious lines. Like Israel, India also wants to keep its control on the Occupied Kashmir through state terrorism and to avoid its solution. Although overtly President Trump has softened his external policy regarding Muslims and Islamic countries, yet covertly, he is acting upon the conspiracy of Mossad and RAW, which is also, intentionally or intentionally, being followed by America’s Western partners against the Muslims. If not checked in time by the peace-loving Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Jews and Buddhists, these policies of the President Donald Trump who is particularly completing the extremist agenda of Israel are likely to result into more recruitment in the militant outfits, especially in the ISIS group. Israel, who will never accept the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, will prefer to seek the final revenge by bringing about a major war between the Muslim and the Christian worlds or to cause a major war between Russia and the US-led some Western countries, which will convert the entire world into holocaust. We may conclude that although agents of CIA, RAW and Mossad are in collaboration which managed various terrorism-related assaults in the US and Europe and elsewhere in the world, yet Mossad is, particularly, behind the terror attacks at the two mosques of Christchurch. In these terms, they have been radicalizing the Western nationals and the people of the Islamic World by dividing them on religious lines. When at present fanatic leaders are ruling over the US, Israeli and India, their connivance may culminate into ‘clash of civilizations’, especially between the Western Christians and the Muslim World. Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

VT Editors

https://www.veteranstoday.com/2019/03/16/new-zealand-mosques-attacks-who-are-dividing-the-world-on-religious-lines/

2019-03-16 15:14:01+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

westernjournal--2019-10-12--Cory Booker Twists Old Testament Bible Verse To Further LGBT Agenda

westernjournal

Cory Booker Twists Old Testament Bible Verse To Further LGBT Agenda

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey on Thursday used an Old Testament Bible verse to buttress his support for LGBT Americans. The comment came during a CNN town hall event devoted to LGBT issues in which the Democratic presidential candidates attending vied with each other to show their willingness to support LGBT voters. Booker was responding to a UCLA student who attended an all-girls Catholic high school in New Jersey. She complained that her high school would not allow an “LGBTQ-plus club.” “It said in Micah, ‘Oh what do you want from your Lord? Oh what is it you want from your people?'” Booker said. TRENDING: CNN Panelist on Dems' Fake Impeachment: 'This Is Not a Benghazi-Type Hearing, This Is Really Serious' “Which is to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly — walk humbly — and, so for me, I cannot allow, as a leader, that people are going to use religion as a justification for discrimination.” Booker claimed his position did not trample on anyone’s religious convictions. “I can respect your religious freedoms but also protect people from discrimination,” he said. “My faith, as well as my American values, will make me fight on every front to make sure that people are not discriminating against someone because of who they are.” Booker’s version of theology was called into question on Twitter. RELATED: Cory Booker Takes Aim: 'There Are Definitely Moments Where You Listen to Joe Biden and Just Wonder' During the event, Booker called violence against LGBT individuals a “national emergency” and noted his proposal to create an Office on Hate Crimes and White Supremacy, CNN reported. “Thirty percent of LGBTQ youth, 30 percent, have reported missing school in the last month because of fears for their physical safety,” he said. “We live in a country where we still see regular, everyday violence and intimidation and bullying against Americans, because of who they are.” “So, number one, I am going to appoint a secretary of education, first of all, that sees the dignity and the worth and the value of every one of our children, and I will have a department of education that takes the steps necessary to protect all children in America.” Part of that, he said, was to re-impose an Obama-era edict that ordered all schools to let transgender individuals decide which bathroom they want to use. President Donald Trump threw out that policy, saying the issue was for states and communities to decide. “So first of all, point-blank, this is a real problem in America and I will, number one, change the Trump administration’s guidance back to what the Obama administration’s guidance was that schools should allow people to use the bathrooms that conforms with their gender identity, but we cannot stop there,” Booker said. “We must use our Department of Justice and the Department of Education’s civil rights division to go after schools that are denying people equal rights and equal protections and that’s the last point I want to make,” he said. We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Jack Davis

https://www.westernjournal.com/cory-booker-twists-old-testament-bible-verse-lgbt-agenda/

Sat, 12 Oct 2019 16:13:16 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

aljazeera--2019-12-27--Montenegro adopts law on religion amid protests by pro-Serbs

aljazeera

Montenegro adopts law on religion amid protests by pro-Serbs

The Parliament of Montenegro adopted a contested law on religious rights after chaotic scenes in the assembly that resulted in the detention of all pro-Serb opposition legislators. The vote on Friday followed a day of nationwide protests by supporters of the Serbian Orthodox Church who say the law will strip the church of its property, including medieval monasteries and churches. The government has denied that. Trying to prevent the vote, the pro-Serb legislators hurled what appeared to be a tear gas canister or a firecracker, and tried to destroy microphones in the parliament hall. "We are ready to die for our church and that's what we are demonstrating tonight," opposition leader Andrija Mandic said shortly after midnight during the tumultuous session. The law, approved by 45 ruling coalition legislators, says religious communities would need to produce evidence of ownership of their property from before 1918 when Montenegro joined a Balkan kingdom and lost its independence. The Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro described the law as "discriminatory and unconstitutional." The church on Friday accused the Montenegrin authorities of "inciting divisions and hatred," and leading Montenegro "into a situation that cannot bring any good to anyone". "Thanks to this, the Orthodox Christian faithful in Montenegro are facing one of the saddest Christmases in recent history," a church statement said. Serbian Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7. Montenegro's population of about 620,000 is predominantly Orthodox Christian and the main church is the Serbian Orthodox Church. A separate Montenegrin Orthodox Church is not recognized by other Orthodox Christian churches. Montenegro's pro-Western president has accused the Serbian Orthodox Church of promoting pro-Serb policies and seeking to undermine the country's statehood since it split from much larger Serbia in 2006. Montenegrins remain divided over whether the small Adriatic state should foster close ties with Serbia. About 30 percent of Montenegro's population identify as Serbs and were mostly against the split from Serbia. Hundreds of pro-Serb opposition supporters on Thursday staged an all-day protest against the law, blocking roads and entrances to the capital. Dozens of riot officers used metal barriers to prevent crowds, including Orthodox priests, from reaching the parliament building where legislators debated the bill. The Montenegrin prime minister said the country has the power to prevent more rioting. "I believe in peace in Montenegro," Dusko Markovic said.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/montenegro-adopts-law-religion-protests-pro-serbs-191227084315704.html

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 08:58:14 GMT

religion and belief

religious text

bigleaguepolitics--2019-12-26--Pope Francis Unveils Globalist New World Religion at Summit with United Nations Leader

bigleaguepolitics

Pope Francis Unveils Globalist New World Religion at Summit with United Nations Leader

Pope Francis’ war on traditional Catholicism has been ramping up recently, and he castigated Catholics who believe in tradition and refuse to warp Biblical scripture to appease a godless world for creating a “minefield of misunderstanding and hatred.” “Rigidity and imbalance fuel one another in a vicious circle,” he said. “And these days, the temptation to rigidity has become so apparent.” Latest: WTH: South Dakota is the Next Red State to Take in Refugees Francis revealed the dogma that he intends to replace belief in Christ as savior with last week. He is advocating for Catholics to unite behind a one world government, and surrender their freedom and sovereignty to international interests. take our poll - story continues below “Trust and dialogue between people and between nations, in multilateralism, in the role of international organizations, and in diplomacy as an instrument for appreciation and understanding, is indispensable for building a peaceful world,” Francis claimed. “Your clear moral voice shines through – whether you are speaking out on the plight of the most vulnerable, including refugees and migrants … confronting poverty and inequalities … appealing for disarmament… building bridges between communities … and, of course, highlighting the climate emergency through your historic encyclical, ‘Laudato Si’, and so many other vital efforts,” U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said during his meeting with the pontiff. The “Laudato Si” was a blasphemous encyclical letter issued by Francis in 2015 calling for world government to solve the supposed global warming crisis. “Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day,” Francis wrote in his second encyclical. Francis added: “Enforceable international agreements are urgently needed, since local authorities are not always capable of effective intervention… International and regional conventions do exist, but fragmentation and the lack of strict mechanisms of regulation, control and penalization end up undermining these efforts… What is needed, in effect, is an agreement on systems of governance for the whole range of so-called ‘global commons.’” Francis made fighting global warming a focal point of his speech while standing next to Guterres in the Vatican last week. “It is necessary to recognize oneself as members of a single humanity and to take care of our land which, generation after generation, has been entrusted to us by God in custody so that we may cultivate it and leave it in inheritance to our children. Commitment to reducing polluting emissions and comprehensive ecology is urgent and necessary: let’s do something before it’s too late,” Francis said. “We cannot – we must not – look the other way at the injustices, the inequalities, the scandal of hunger in the world, of poverty, of children who die because they have no water, food, the necessary care. We can’t look the other way at any kind of abuse against the little ones. We must fight this plague together,” he said. Francis – the protector of pedophile predator priests – is an agent of the new world order, working to subvert authentic Christianity at a time when it is under unprecedented attack.

Shane Trejo

https://bigleaguepolitics.com/pope-francis-unveils-globalist-new-world-religion-at-summit-with-united-nations-leader/

Thu, 26 Dec 2019 16:38:43 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

cnsnews--2019-02-12--Cory Booker Before You Speak of Your Religion You Should Show It by How You Treat Other People

cnsnews

Cory Booker: ‘Before You Speak of Your Religion You Should Show It by How You Treat Other People’

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Cory Booker (D.-N.J.) said in a Tweet on Sunday that people need to show their religion in how they treat other people before they start speaking about it. “I always say before you speak about your religion you should show it by how you treat other people,” Booker said in his Tweet. “Had the privilege of worshipping this morning at Right Direction Ministries, a congregation that is dedicated to serving the Columbia, S.C., community.

CNSNews.com Staff

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/cnsnewscom-staff/cory-booker-you-speak-your-religion-you-should-show-it-how-you-treat

2019-02-12 17:51:21+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

cnsnews--2019-02-13--Sen Lee Democrats Questioning Nominees on Religion Flatly Inconsistent with Constitution

cnsnews

Sen. Lee: Democrats Questioning Nominees on Religion ‘Flatly Inconsistent’ with Constitution

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) rebuked Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) for Senate Democrats’ recent questioning of several judicial nominees, which focused on the nominees’ religious beliefs. Lee said that questioning a nominee about his or her religious beliefs was “flatly inconsistent” with the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits religious tests of those seeking federal office. “The problem with asking a nominee about the particulars of his or her religious beliefs is that those questions inevitably expose those beliefs as somehow a qualifier or disqualifier for public office,” Sen. Lee said during the February 7, 2019 hearing. “That is flatly inconsistent with at least the letter – at least the spirit, if not also the letter of at least two provisions of the Constitution. I cannot fathom why this would ever make sense to do.” Lee’s remarks came just two days after Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) asked judicial nominee Neomi Rao, who has been nominated by President Donald Trump to serve on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, whether she believed gay relationships “are a sin.” Sen. Booker’s remarks were only the most recent in a series of incidents in which Democrat senators have questioned nominees on their personal religious beliefs. In December 2018, Hirono and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) pointedly asked judicial nominee Brian Buescher about his membership in the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic service organization. And, in September 2017, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said to then-nominee Amy Coney Barrett, “The dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s a concern,” in an apparent reference to Barrett’s Catholic faith. In an attempt to stop these kinds of religious attacks, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution on Jan. 16 condemning religious tests for those seeking federal office. The resolution cited Article VI of the Constitution, which states in part that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Lee admonished his Senate colleagues, arguing that “there is never a good reason” to ask a nominee about his or her religious beliefs. “There was a time in this country when people might have been asked, in a job interview context or in the context of a hearing like those we hold here, whether someone believed in God, whether they were Christian,” Lee said. “When they might have been asked those, it was not for – for a good reason, because there is never a good reason, in a public setting, to ask that question, save, perhaps, if you just want to make sure that that person’s religious beliefs do not require that person to betray the judicial oath. Beyond that, I can’t fathom a circumstance in which that would be appropriate.” Lee then asked Hirono to explain how Booker’s questioning of Rao was “appropriate.” “I would ask Senator Hirono, in what circumstance, in what way, shape or form, is asking Neomi Rao whether she believes particular conduct to be sinful an appropriate question to be asked in this committee, ever,” Lee said. Hirono responded, arguing that questions on religious views were a “legitimate area of inquiry.” “These probing questions – I, I – if you were to list all of the questions that we ask, they have to do with whether or not these nominees’ very strongly-held religious views, as well as any other views that may not enable them to be objective as judges in lifetime positions,” Hirono said. “I think that’s a legitimate area of inquiry. And it is not that we all ask, ‘Do you think such-and-such is a sin, et cetera, et cetera,’ although—” “Well, that was asked this week – this week!” Lee pointed out. “This week, it was asked. I’m not making this up!”

Emily Ward

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/emily-ward/sen-lee-democrats-questioning-nominees-religion-flatly-inconsistent

2019-02-13 21:16:56+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

drudgereport--2019-04-06--America Godless Number of people with no religion soars

drudgereport

America Godless? Number of people with no religion soars...

The number of Americans who identify as having no religion has risen 266 percent since 1991, to now tie statistically with the number of Catholics and Evangelicals, according to a new survey. People with no religion – known as 'nones' among statisticians – account for 23.1 percent of the U.S. population, while Catholics make up 23 percent and Evangelicals account for 22.5 percent, according to the General Social Survey. Those three groups now represent the largest the religious groups in America. The survey has tracked a broad swath of American trends since 1972, offering comprehensive insight into the evolving face of religion over more than four decades. Ryan Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University who analyzed the data, said that experts have several theories about why the number of 'nones' has risen so dramatically in recent decades. 'One of them is that many people used to lie about what they were,' he told DailyMail.com. 'Many people were (always) atheist or non-religious, but it was previously culturally unacceptable to not have a religion in America.' Shifting political ideologies about social issues has also played a role, with fewer Americans comfortable with the rhetoric of their religious leaders. 'Another (theory) is that the religious right kind of cleaved moderate Christianity and a lot of moderate Christians who were moderately attached said they didn't want to defend Jerry Falwell … and all the anti-gay and anti- abortion religious rights leaders,' Burge said. 'So they said, 'You know what? I'm out.' As the 'nones' have ascended, the number of mainline Protestant Christians has fallen 62.5 percent since 1982, to now account for just 10.8 percent of the U.S. population, according to the survey. The number of Catholics has gone up and down over the decades, cumulatively decreasing more than 4 percentage points from 27.3 percent in 1972. However, that indicates an overall stability for that religion, despite the decades of sexual abuse scandals that have plagued the Church, Burge said. 'Catholicism is more cultural than religious in a lot of ways,' he said. 'People are less and less likely to disaffiliate from Catholicism than Protestantism, which is less cultural in that people are willing to walk away from it.' Burge said that America is on a trajectory to become increasingly less religious going forward – following a pattern that has already emerged in Europe's most developed countries, including those in Scandinavia. 'The big questions is what next in terms of what religion is going to look like in America,' he said. 'Secularization theory argues that as countries become more industrialized and prosperous then the throwing off of religion becomes more normalized.' Burge has seen the overall shifts first hand in his role as a pastor at an American Baptist church. 'My church is on the decline,' he said. 'We had 50 (congregants) in 2005 and now we have 15. We're probably going to have to close (in a few years).' 'Mainline Christianity is dying,' he added. 'It's at least going away. It makes me feel more comfortable that it's not my fault or my church's fault. It's part of a bigger trend that's happening.'

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DrudgeReportFeed/~3/I9DehVaTvPE/Is-America-Godless-number-people-no-religion-rose-266-three-decades.html

2019-04-06 14:01:39+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

fivethirtyeight--2019-07-26--What Americans Know About Religion And What They Dont

fivethirtyeight

What Americans Know About Religion — And What They Don’t

What Americans Know About Religion — And What They Don’t Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup. The Pew Research Center asked Americans 32 multiple-choice questions about religion and spirituality earlier this year. The quiz — which you can still take — included questions such as, “What is commemorated on Easter Sunday?” (The choices for responses were ascension, crucifixion, Last Supper and, the correct response, resurrection.) Nearly 11,000 people answered the questions, and Pew released the results this week. According to FiveThirtyEight’s presidential approval tracker, 42.7 percent of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 53.2 percent disapprove (a net approval rating of -10.5 points). At this time last week, 42.5 percent approved and 52.6 percent disapproved (for a net approval rating of -10.1 points). One month ago, Trump had an approval rating of 42.2 percent and a disapproval rating of 51.7 percent, for a net approval rating of -9.5 points. In our average of polls of the generic congressional ballot, Democrats currently lead by 6.4 percentage points (46.2 percent to 39.8 percent). A week ago, Democrats led Republicans by 6.4 points (46.2 percent to 39.8 percent). At this time last month, voters preferred Democrats by 5.8 points (46.1 percent to 40.3 percent).

Perry Bacon Jr. (perry.bacon@fivethirtyeight.com)

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-americans-know-about-religion-and-what-they-dont/

2019-07-26 10:00:33+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

fivethirtyeight--2019-12-12--Millennials Are Leaving Religion And Not Coming Back

fivethirtyeight

Millennials Are Leaving Religion And Not Coming Back

Millennials have earned a reputation for reshaping industries and institutions — shaking up the workplace, transforming dating culture, and rethinking parenthood. They’ve also had a dramatic impact on American religious life. Four in ten millennials now say they are religiously unaffiliated, according to the Pew Research Center. In fact, millennials (those between the ages of 23 and 38) are now almost as likely to say they have no religion as they are to identify as Christian. . For a long time, though, it wasn’t clear whether this youthful defection from religion would be temporary or permanent. It seemed possible that as millennials grew older, at least some would return to a more traditional religious life. But there’s mounting evidence that today’s younger generations may be leaving religion for good. Social science research has long suggested that Americans’ relationship with religion has a tidal quality — people who were raised religious find themselves drifting away as young adults, only to be drawn back in when they find spouses and begin to raise their own families. Some argued that young adults just hadn’t yet been pulled back into the fold of organized religion, especially since they were hitting major milestones like marriage and parenthood later on. But now many millennials have spouses, children and mortgages — and there’s little evidence of a corresponding surge in religious interest. A new national survey from the American Enterprise Institute of more than 2,500 Americans found a few reasons why millennials may not return to the religious fold. (One of the authors of this article helped conduct the survey.) • For one thing, many millennials never had strong ties to religion to begin with, which means they were less likely to develop habits or associations that make it easier to return to a religious community. • Young adults are also increasingly likely to have a spouse who is nonreligious, which may help reinforce their secular worldview. • Changing views about the relationship between morality and religion also appear to have convinced many young parents that religious institutions are simply irrelevant or unnecessary for their children. Millennials may be the symbols of a broader societal shift away from religion, but they didn’t start it on their own. Their parents are at least partly responsible for a widening generational gap in religious identity and beliefs; they were more likely than previous generations to raise their children without any connection to organized religion. According to the AEI survey, 17 percent of millennials said that they were not raised in any particular religion compared with only five percent of Baby Boomers. And fewer than one in three (32 percent) millennials say they attended weekly religious services with their family when they were young, compared with about half (49 percent) of Baby Boomers. A parent’s religious identity (or lack thereof) can do a lot to shape a child’s religious habits and beliefs later in life. A 2016 Pew Research Center study found that regardless of the religion, those raised in households in which both parents shared the same religion still identified with that faith in adulthood. For instance, 84 percent of people raised by Protestant parents are still Protestant as adults. Similarly, people raised without religion are less apt to look for it as they grow older — that same Pew study found that 63 percent of people who grew up with two religiously unaffiliated parents were still nonreligious as adults. But one finding in the survey signals that even millennials who grew up religious may be increasingly unlikely to return to religion. In the 1970s, most nonreligious Americans had a religious spouse and often, that partner would draw them back into regular religious practice. But now, a growing number of unaffiliated Americans are settling down with someone who isn’t religious — a process that may have been accelerated by the sheer number of secular romantic partners available, and the rise of online dating. Today, 74 percent of unaffiliated millennials have a nonreligious partner or spouse, while only 26 percent have a partner who is religious. Luke Olliff, a 30-year-old man living in Atlanta, says that he and his wife gradually shed their religious affiliations together. “My family thinks she convinced me to stop going to church and her family thinks I was the one who convinced her,” he said. “But really it was mutual. We moved to a city and talked a lot about how we came to see all of this negativity from people who were highly religious and increasingly didn’t want a part in it.” This view is common among young people. A majority (57 percent) of millennials agree that religious people are generally less tolerant of others, compared to only 37 percent of Baby Boomers. Young adults like Olliff are also less likely to be drawn back to religion by another important life event — having children. For much of the country’s history, religion was seen as an obvious resource for children’s moral and ethical development. But many young adults no longer see religion as a necessary or even desirable component of parenting. Less than half (46 percent) of millennials believe it is necessary to believe in God to be moral. They’re also much less likely than Baby Boomers to say that it’s important for children to be brought up in a religion so they can learn good values (57 percent vs. 75 percent). These attitudes are reflected in decisions about how young adults are raising their children. 45 percent of millennial parents say they take them to religious services and 39 percent say they send them to Sunday school or a religious education program. Baby Boomers, by contrast, were significantly more likely to send their children to Sunday school (61 percent) and to take them to church regularly (58 percent). Mandie, a 32-year-old woman living in southern California and who asked that her last name not be used, grew up going to church regularly but is no longer religious. She told us she’s not convinced a religious upbringing is what she’ll choose for her one-year-old child. “My own upbringing was religious, but I’ve come to believe you can get important moral teachings outside religion,” she said. “And in some ways I think many religious organizations are not good models for those teachings.” Why does it matter if millennials’ rupture with religion turns out to be permanent? For one thing, religious involvement is associated with a wide variety of positive social outcomes like increased interpersonal trust and civic engagement that are hard to reproduce in other ways. And this trend has obvious political implications. As we wrote a few months ago, whether people are religious is increasingly tied to — and even driven by — their political identities. For years, the Christian conservative movement has warned about a tide of rising secularism, but research has suggested that the strong association between religion and the Republican Party may actually be fueling this divide. And if even more Democrats lose their faith, that will only exacerbate the acrimonious rift between secular liberals and religious conservatives. “At that critical moment when people are getting married and having kids and their religious identity is becoming more stable, Republicans mostly do still return to religion — it’s Democrats that aren’t coming back,” said Michele Margolis, author of “From the Politics to the Pews: How Partisanship and the Political Environment Shape Religious Identity.” in an interview for our September story. Of course, millennials’ religious trajectory isn’t set in stone — they may yet become more religious as they age. But it’s easier to return to something familiar later in life than to try something completely new. And if millennials don’t return to religion and instead begin raising a new generation with no religious background, the gulf between religious and secular America may grow even deeper.

Daniel Cox

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/millennials-are-leaving-religion-and-not-coming-back/

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 11:00:38 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

globalresearch--2019-02-07--Why Is Islam the Fastest Growing Religion of the Modern Era

globalresearch

Why Is Islam the Fastest Growing Religion of the Modern Era?

What bothers me is not that we are unable to find solutions to our problems, what bothers me more is the fact that neoliberals are so utterly unaware of real structural issues that their attempts to sort out tangential problems will further exacerbate the main issues. Religious extremism, militancy and terrorism are not the cause but the effect of poverty, backwardness and disenfranchisement. Empirically speaking, if we take all other aggravating factors out, such as poverty, illiteracy, disenfranchisement, deliberate training and arming of certain militant groups by regional and global players and, more importantly, grievances against the duplicitous Western foreign policy, I don’t think that the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and the likes would find abundant supply of foot soldiers that they are getting now in insurgency-wracked regions of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Although I do concede that the rallying call of “jihad in the way of God” might be one reason for abundant supply of foot soldiers to jihadists’ cause, on an emotional level, it is the self-serving and hypocritical Western interventionist policy in the energy-rich Middle East region that adds fuel to the fire. When Muslims all over the Islamic countries see that their brothers-in-faith are getting massacred in Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan, on an emotional level, they feel outraged and seek justice. This emotional outrage, in my opinion, is a far more potent factor that makes Muslims vulnerable to radical ideologies and violence than the sterile theological argument of God’s supposed command to fight holy wars against infidels. If we take all other contributing factors out of the equation, I don’t think the Muslims are an “exceptional” breed of human beings who are hell-bent on killing heretics all over the world. Peaceful, or not, Islam is only a religion just like any other cosmopolitan religion whether it’s Christianity, Buddhism or Hinduism. Instead of taking an essentialist approach, that lays emphasis on essences, we need to look at the evolution of social phenomena in its proper historical context. For instance: to assert that human beings are evil by nature is an essentialist approach; it overlooks the role played by nurture in grooming human beings. Human beings are only intelligent by nature; they are neither good nor evil by nature; whatever they are, whether good or evil, is the outcome of their nurture or upbringing. Similarly, to pronounce that Islam is a retrogressive or violent religion is an essentialist approach; it overlooks how Islam and its scriptures are interpreted by its followers depending on the subject’s socio-cultural context. For example: the Western expat Muslims who are brought up in the West and have imbibed Western values would interpret a Quranic verse in a liberal fashion; an urban middle class Muslim of the Muslim-majority countries would interpret the same verse rather conservatively; and a rural-tribal Muslim who has been indoctrinated by the radical clerics would find meanings in it which could be extreme. It is all about culture rather than religion or scriptures per se. Regarding Islamic radicalism, if we look at the evolution of Islamic religion and culture throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, it hasn’t been natural. Some deleterious mutations have occurred somewhere which have negatively impacted the Islamic societies all over the world. Social conditioning plays the same role in social sciences that natural selection plays in biological sciences. It selects the traits, norms and values which are most beneficial to the host culture. Seen from this angle, social diversity is a desirable quality for social progress, because when diverse customs and value systems compete with each other, the culture retains the beneficial customs and values and discards the harmful traditions and habits. A decentralized and less organized religion, like Sufi (mystical) Islam, engenders diverse strains of beliefs and opinions which compete with one another in gaining social acceptance and currency. A heavily centralized and tightly organized religion, on the other hand, depends more on authority and dogma than on value and utility. In addition, a centralized religion is also more ossified and less adaptive to change compared to a decentralized faith. Islam is regarded as the fastest growing religion of the 20th and 21st centuries. According to World Religion Database, the share of world population by religion during the last century was: Thus, while the number of adherents of all other religions has remained static or dwindled, the proselytization of Islam has nearly doubled during the last century. The only feature that sets Islam apart from the rest of major cosmopolitan religions, like Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism, and which is also primarily responsible for this atavistic phenomena of Islamic resurgence in the modern era is that Islam as a religion and political ideology has the world’s richest financiers. After the 1973 collective Arab oil embargo against the West in the wake of the Arab-Israeli war, the price of oil quadrupled; and the contribution of the Gulf’s petro-sheikhs toward the ‘spiritual well-being’ of Muslims all over the world magnified proportionally. This is the reason why we are witnessing an exponential growth of Islamic charities and madrassas (religious seminaries) all over the world and particularly in the Islamic world. The phenomena of Islamic radicalism all over the world is directly linked to Islamic madrassas that are generously funded by the Gulf’s petro-dollars. These madrassas attract children from the most impoverished backgrounds in the Third World Islamic countries, because they offer the kind of incentives and facilities which even the government-funded public schools cannot provide: such as free boarding and lodging, free meals for destitute students, no tuition fee at all and free of cost books and stationery; some generously funded madrassas even pay monthly stipends to their students. Moreover, it’s a misconception that the Arab sheikhs of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and some conservative emirates of UAE generally sponsor the Wahhabi-Salafi sect of Islam. The difference between numerous sects of Sunni Islam is more nominal than substantive. Islamic charities and madrassas belonging to all the Sunni denominations get generous funding from the Gulf Arab states as well as from wealthy private donors. Besides madrassas, another factor that promotes the Gulf’s Wahhabi-Salafi ideology in the Islamic world is the ritual of Hajj and Umrah. Every year, millions of Muslim men and women from all over the Islamic world travel to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina to perform the pilgrimage. When the pilgrims return home to their native countries, after spending a month or two in Saudi Arabia, along with cleansed hearts and purified souls, they also bring along the tales of Saudi hospitality and their supposedly ‘true and authentic’ version of Islam, which some Muslims, especially the backward rural folks, find attractive and worth-emulating. Yet another factor which contributes to the rise of Wahhabi-Salafi ideology throughout the Islamic world is the migrant workers. Millions of Muslim men, women and families from all over the developing Islamic countries live and work in energy-rich Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. Some of them permanently reside there but mostly they work on temporary work permits. Just like the pilgrims, when the migrant workers return home to their native villages and towns, they also bring along the tales of Saudi hospitality and their version of supposedly ‘authentic Islam.’ Spending time in the Gulf Arab states entitles one to pass authoritative judgments on religious matters, and having a cursory understanding of Arabic, the language of Quran, makes one equivalent of a Qazi (a learned jurist) amongst illiterate, rural Muslims; and such charlatans simply reproduce the customs and traditions of the Arabs as the authentic version of Islam to their backward rural communities. Note to readers: please click the share buttons below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. Nauman Sadiq is an Islamabad-based attorney, columnist and geopolitical analyst focused on the politics of Af-Pak and Middle East regions, neocolonialism and petro-imperialism. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

Nauman Sadiq

https://www.globalresearch.ca/why-is-islam-the-fastest-growing-religion-of-the-modern-era/5667893

2019-02-07 12:37:36+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

globalresearch--2019-06-03--Does Modis Re-Election Threaten Indias Muslims Religion is Poisoning Indian Politics

globalresearch

Does Modi’s Re-Election Threaten India’s Muslims? Religion is Poisoning Indian Politics

India’s general elections were the most wide-ranging and possibly most expensive election campaign in the nation’s history. More than 2,000 parties and over 8,000 candidates contested 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, and some 900 million registered voters cast their votes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious to seal his re-election with a majority of 303 seats. However, Modi’s return to power has brought distress for some minorities, including India’s 200 million Muslims. With an increase in hate crimes against Indian Muslims, “some fear the world’s largest democracy is becoming dangerously intolerant” under the Hindu nationalist government, reports the BBC’s Rajini Vaidyanathan. Using religion as a way to win is a global phenomenon. For instance, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Republicans in the US all use religion in politics. Politicians appeal to religious emotions to gain support. Indeed, Modi is a great example of that practice and he has dramatically reshaped the politics of India. Ever since he was first elected in 2014, Modi has tried to appease his party’s hard-line Hindu base while pursuing his goals of development and economic growth. He has humored Hindu extremists like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organization that created his party. Modi himself was an RSS preacher before he became an active BJP politician. While the prime minister has not condoned violence against Indian Muslims, he has not publicly criticized anti-Muslim actions by Hindu extremists. Hindutva, a form of Hindu nationalism, is where the problem lies. As a term and ideology, it was popularized by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar first in 1923. It forms the basis of the RSS, as well as the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Hindu Sena groups. As a far-right, ethno-nationalist ideology, Hindutva uses religion as a way to justify violence “against Dalits, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Ravidassias and Buddhists.” Over the past five years, the Hindutva movement has gained momentum under the Modi government. According to Human Rights Watch, vigilante groups calling for the protection of cows have killed dozens of people. Most of them are Muslims who were murdered for allegedly slaughtering cows. Many Hindus believe cows are sacred and killing them is a sin. Therefore, some extremists have targeted those who kill the animal. These attacks are a symptom of the rise of violent Hindu nationalism under Modi. With a BJP government in office, some have seen this as encouragement to embark on vigilantism against cattle traders. Even “lower-caste Hindus previously known as ‘untouchables’ have faced violence from hard-line Hindu nationalists,” reports Swati Gupta. Hindu Extremism Must be Reined in Paul Marshal, a senior fellow at the Center for Religious Freedom, says that while international focus has been  on Islamic terrorism, it has largely ignored Hindu extremism and its record of violence. Saffron terror is a real phenomenon and is supported by members of the BJP. It is rarely scrutinized in the West because Hinduism is stereotyped as a gentle and non-violent faith. It is personified by the image of Mahatma Gandhi. This allows the RSS and the BJP to take advantage of the attention that the West gives to Islamist violence, enabling Hindu extremism to slip under the radar. In fact, the actions of Hindu extremists are perturbing and nerve-wracking. In India, religious extremism and hatred are now deeply entrenched. Under Modi, anti-Muslim “bigotry has been normalised in the democratic process,” says journalist Neyaz Farooquee. After re-election, the BJP might double down on its policies, making life more difficult for Indian Muslims and other groups. Therefore, the international community must take urgent measures to ensure the ruling party does not persecute minorities. The United Nations, along with other major powers, should put pressure on India to protect minority rights as per its constitution. India must curb the RSS and other extremist Hindu groups. It must prevent communal riots and human rights violations. In 2018, the BJP government “harassed and at times prosecuted activists, lawyers, human rights defenders and journalists for criticizing authorities,” according to Human Rights Watch. This must stop. Instead, Prime Minister Modi must work to create a balanced, peaceful and tolerant environment for all minorities in India. Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. This article was originally published on Fair Observer, US. Azaz Zaman is a columnist and a university lecturer. He currently teaches at the Bangladesh Army International University of Science and Technology. He has also worked as a researcher in several national and international research firms, including IPAG (Bangladesh) and EPSCoR (US). He regularly publishes articles in both national and international journals and daily newspapers. He was selected as one of the outstanding young researchers by the South-Central Climate Science Center, US, in 2014. He completed his BBA at North South University, Bangladesh and MSc in Applied Economics at Oklahoma State University, US. Featured image is from the author

Azaz Zaman

https://www.globalresearch.ca/does-modis-re-election-threaten-indias-muslims-religion-is-poisoning-indian-politics/5679341

2019-06-03 12:32:00+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

jerusalempost--2019-12-27--Montenegro's parliament approves religion law despite protests

jerusalempost

Montenegro's parliament approves religion law despite protests

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By REUTERS

https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Montenegros-parliament-approves-religion-law-despite-protests-612303

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 12:02:59 GMT

religion and belief

religious text

lewrockwell--2019-12-04--The Transformation of Religion and the Control Over Society

lewrockwell

The Transformation of Religion and the Control Over Society

“Religion is still useful among the herd – that it helps their orderly conduct as nothing else could. The crude human animal is in-eradicably superstitious, and there is every biological reason why they should be. Take away his Christian god and saints, and he will worship something else…” ~ H.P. Lovecraft Worship by the human animal began long ago, and has taken many forms. The human species has forever looked for the answers to life, and has looked toward those who claim to speak to God, and has also looked to science. The reverence shown toward those wearing royal robes, vestments of service to God, has never been completely isolated to the claimed devout. Mankind has always been filled with fear and has been gullible, so those he followed and worshipped could be any port in the storm. Fear and gullibility is a dangerous pairing to be sure, and in this progressive and multicultural world of today, the end result of false religious fervor could be one of total societal control. Religion has always been about control. In the church a thousand years ago, the highest member of clergy might claim that he talked directly to God, and that because he had exclusive knowledge of divine power, all should do as he says. They should turn over their money and individual freedom in order to comply with God’s will. At that time, this was accepted, as the masses of common people put faith in such beliefs as these, and due to fear, complied. That is not the case today, as with time, this bowing down to “holy” masters is mostly seen as foolish. So those seeking to control others needed a new religion, one that would be more widely accepted. Against the Left: A Ro... Llewellyn H Rockwell Jr Buy New $8.00 Rulers by definition seek to rule, and in order to accomplish their mission, control over others is necessary. In modern times, control over society has remained in place, but the basis of that control has dramatically changed. There is an old saying that a “Tiger never changes his stripes,” and this is an accurate description concerning the ruling elites, as money, power, and control have always been their only gods. Instead of magic and superstition, instead of faith-based religious rule, instead of the rule of royalty, and instead of rule by the majority, the planned rule sought will be one guided by “science” and technology. Real science is not considered in this equation, as future rule will be based on politicized science, which is completely immune from steadfast scrutiny, from question, from doubt, and from unrelenting challenge. In other words, the politicized science of today is not science at all, but is merely agenda driven fake science. Legitimate individual scientists understand the concept of extensive and continuous research, of challenge, of new information, and of dissent, but when science is politicized, it is no longer valid. When most all science agrees, it is false. No truth can come from the group, as any group is essentially made up of different individuals, so mass scientific consensus is a certain sign of corruption. That corruption is guaranteed because the bulk of science today is funded from outside sources, and therefore is agenda driven. When scientists are paid to study and research, they are bound to a particular outcome, an outcome that is desired by those funding the research. This is obvious in the entirety of today’s scientific research at the university level, at the corporate level, and at the government level. In fact, all these shameful entities work together to achieve a particular end. The result sought is the control of everything and everybody. Those who have an agenda to control the United States, as well as the rest of the world, are committed to rule administered by a select few experts that relies on science and technology as the basis for curing the human condition. This is a rule called Technocracy, and is now being quietly implemented at a rapid pace. The public at large so far is going along without much resistance, and this is a dangerous precedent to set. While this anticipated rule by the elites is multi-faceted in nature, the single most important aspect of the propaganda necessary to fuel this takeover of human behavior is the con-game called “climate change.” This lie of politicized science is the driver of a technocratic agenda that will allow for domination of the world’s populace. In my opinion, this is the most dangerous type of control possible, as it will be all consuming, and based on capturing the entirety of humanity. This is a plan to affect a total behavioral change through technological means in a system without escape, and on a worldwide scale. The choice now is clear. If the people at large decide to accept technocratic rule, they will be doomed to outright social and societal control. In a society such as this, living in a herd will take on new meaning, as people will voluntarily join the ranks of fenced in farm animals, dependent on their masters for their very lives and existence. Those who resist will be a minority, and a chaotic war of sorts amongst the people will likely follow. This resistance if it fails, will lead to an attempt by the elites to propagandize this failure in an effort to solidify the crowd, so they can hasten the implementation of a top-down technologically dominated system. “Technocracy finds that the production and distributions of physical wealth on a global scale for the use of all citizens can be accomplished only by an accounting of technology – a holarchial style of governance of efficiency and function; A technate.” “The term “Technate” refers to an operational area where the resources, means of production and other technical aspects of a civilization come under the management of technical experts. A Technate works through a distributed, holonic power structure, where technical decisions are made at the local level by those with the necessary technical expertise. All social decisions are being made in a direct democratic, consensus-driven process.” Is this the new authoritative religious paradigm that Americans seek? Will mass ignorance and indifference allow for this systematic takeover of all individual behavior to flourish? Will the new lord of religion be Technocracy, and if so, what will it bring? Only time will tell, but total social and societal control will not be utopia, it will be dystopia. The Best of Gary D. Barnett

Gary D. Barnett

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/12/gary-d-barnett/the-transformation-of-religion-and-the-control-over-society/

Wed, 04 Dec 2019 04:01:00 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

lifesitenews--2019-12-19--Supreme Court to decide if religious schools can choose their own religion teachers

lifesitenews

Supreme Court to decide if religious schools can choose their own religion teachers

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 19, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to weigh in on whether the government can control who a church school chooses to teach its religion classes. In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and in St. James Catholic School v. Biel, Becket Law (formerly the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty) is defending two California Catholic elementary schools’ right to choose ministers that embody their faith without government interference. After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against both schools and rejected the prevailing common-sense standard for allowing religious schools to choose their teachers, Becket appealed to the Supreme Court, which has now agreed to hear both cases. In Hosanna-Tabor, a similar Becket case in 2012, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the “ministerial exception” for a church school, a First Amendment right that allows religious schools to choose their own religion teachers. The ministerial exception protects all religious groups’ freedom to choose “ministerial” employees without interference from bureaucrats or courts. Most courts have ruled that ministerial employees are those employees who perform important religious functions, like instructing young children in the precepts of the Catholic faith. But in both Our Lady of Guadalupe School and St. James School, the Ninth Circuit rejected this widely accepted rule. “Parents trust Catholic schools to assist them in one of their most important duties: forming the faith of their children,” said Montserrat Alvarado, vice president and executive director at Becket. “If courts can second-guess a Catholic school’s judgment about who should teach religious beliefs to fifth graders, then neither Catholics nor any other religious group can be confident in their ability to convey the faith to the next generation.” Agnes Morrissey-Berru and Kristen Biel played crucial roles in teaching the Catholic faith to their fifth-grade students. Both taught a religion class, integrated Catholic values into every subject they taught, joined their students in daily prayer, and accompanied students to Mass and other religious services. However, when each school decided not to renew the teachers’ contracts based on a history of poor performance, both teachers sued. In December 2018, the Ninth Circuit ruled against St. James Catholic School, saying the school did not have the right to fire the religion teachers. In April 2019, the court also ruled against Our Lady of Guadalupe School. Even though both teachers had significant religious responsibilities, the Ninth Circuit still decided that their work was not religious enough and therefore allowed the court to intervene. Nine Ninth Circuit judges wrote a scathing dissent criticizing the rulings, and leading legal scholars and diverse religious groups condemned the rulings as dangerously wrong. “Do we really want judges, juries, or bureaucrats deciding who ought to teach Catholicism at a parish school, or Judaism at a Jewish day school? Of course not,” said Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket. “Religion teachers play a vital role in the ecosystem of faith. We are confident that the Supreme Court will recognize that under our Constitution government officials cannot control who teaches kids what to believe.”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/supreme-court-to-decide-if-religious-schools-can-choose-their-own-religion-teachers

2019-12-19T16:59:00+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

nationalinterest--2019-11-14--How Baghdadi Used Religion to Sell the Islamic State's Twisted Tribe

nationalinterest

How Baghdadi Used Religion to Sell the Islamic State's Twisted Tribe

The Islamic State’s caliphate was never widely recognized among the global Muslim community and no longer has significant territory. But the Islamic State still uses the history of the caliphate to push their claims. Just days after the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Oct. 27, the Islamic State named Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as the new “caliph.” In 2014, IS conquered vast swaths of Iraq and Syria and declared itself to be the “caliphate.” Defined and applied in different ways over the centuries, the fundamental idea behind the caliphate is the just ordering of society according to the will of God. The Islamic State’s caliphate was never widely recognized among the global Muslim community and no longer has significant territory. But the Islamic State still uses the history of the caliphate to push their claims. As a scholar of global Islam, every time I teach my “Introduction to Islam” class, questions about the caliphate come up, in part because of IS’s claims. The leader of a caliphate is called the caliph, meaning deputy or representative. All caliphs are believed to be the successor to Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad was not a caliph; according to the Quran he was the last and greatest of the prophets. That means no one can replace Muhammad as the messenger of God. The caliph, for example, is not always seen as holding special spiritual authority. But he is meant to preside over the caliphate in the absence of Muhammad. The debate over who was the rightful representative of the prophet began immediately after his death. While the majority supported Abu Bakr – one of the prophet’s closest companions – a minority opted for his young son-in-law and cousin, Ali. Abu Bakr’s supporters would come to be known as Sunni Muslims, who believe that Muhammad did not leave instructions regarding his successor. Those who felt Ali was appointed by the prophet to be the political and spiritual leader of the fledgling Muslim community became known as Shiite Muslims. Abu Bakr was the first caliph and Ali the fourth. The second and third caliphs were Umar and Uthman. Under Umar, the caliphate expanded to include many regions of the world such as the lands of the former Byzantine and Sassanian empires in Asia Minor, Persia and Central Asia. Uthman is credited with compiling the Quran. That al-Baghdadi adopted the name of the first caliph was no coincidence. Together, Sunni Muslims call the first four caliphs the Rashidun, or the “Rightly Guided Caliphs,” because they were close companions or relations of Muhammad. They are also believed to be extraordinarily pious. This period lasted about 30 years. The Complex History of the Caliphate After rebels assassinated Uthman in A.D. 656, Ali was elected caliph. However, a civil war soon broke out between Ali and Muʿawiya ibn Abi Sufyan. The civil war ended in Sufyan’s victory and the formation of the Umayyad caliphate in A.D. 661. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammad’s uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib, and succeeded the Umayyads. These two caliphates oversaw the continuing expansion of the empire. Under them architecture, the arts and sciences flourished. For example, the “Dome of the Rock,” a shrine in the Old City of Jerusalem, was built under an Umayyad caliph as a monument to the rising supremacy of their empire. The Grand Library of Baghdad, also known as the “House of Wisdom,” was supported by Abbasid patronage. The “House of Wisdom” is credited with being a center of translation, scientific study and academic exchange. This period of flourishing, from the eighth to the 14th century, is often referred to as the “Islamic Golden Age.” Both before and after the fall of the Abbasids in A.D. 1258, a succession of various empires made overlapping and competing claims to the caliphate. These included the Mamluks of Cairo and the Umayyads in Cordóba, Spain. In 1517, the Turkish Ottomans amassed enough land and power throughout Asia Minor, North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Eastern Europe to claim the title “caliphate.” Ottoman sultans, however, were not universally recognized as caliphs. Many Muslims believe that the caliphate effectively ended after the Mongol conquest of Abbasid Baghdad in A.D. 1258. Nonetheless, the Ottomans effectively held on to that title until 1924, when the Turkish nationalist and secularist Kemal Ataturk abolished the caliphate. The idea of the caliphate, which the Islamic State has forcefully promoted, recalls a time and a place when Islamic states flourished politically, economically and socially. It also summons up a spiritual vision of a supposedly more devout and dedicated Muslim community than exists today. Other modern-day Islamists have called for a resurrection of the caliphate, or at least its ideals, as a way to recapture the vibrancy of the past. However, only violent extremist groups such as al-Qaida or the Islamic State have tried to make it a tangible reality. Killing al-Baghdadi has not quashed the Islamic State’s version of the caliphate. The idea lives on and continues to motivate its members in enclaves across the globe. It is worth mentioning that the name of their new caliph is an honorific title for a member of Prophet Muhammad’s family – “al-Qurashi.” This prophetic lineage is one more way IS is trying to resurrect the history of the caliphate for its destructive purposes. [ Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day. ] Ken Chitwood, Journalist-fellow, University of Southern California's Center for Religion and Civic Culture / Lecturer, Concordia College New York, University of Florida This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Ken Chitwood

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/how-baghdadi-used-religion-sell-islamic-states-twisted-tribe-96171

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 09:30 EST

religion and belief

religious text

nationalinterest--2019-12-11--How Men Used Religion to Shame Women Into Submission

nationalinterest

How Men Used Religion to Shame Women Into Submission

The ‘extreme abstinence’ of the purity movement was used as leverage over evangelical women. speaking out about the heightened emphasis on sexual purity that characterized their upbringing in that subculture. Joshua Harris, a former pastor who became one of the most public faces of the purity culture movement in the United States with his 1997 book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye,” recently renounced his views and very publicly left evangelicalism. When his book came out, it was widely read and led many evangelicals to believe that the best path through adolescence and to a fulfilling happy marriage was the embrace of purity culture. So, what exactly is the purity movement all about? The label purity culture has a range of meanings. Many use it in its most literal form to refer to efforts, especially in conservative Protestant Christianity, to promote sexual abstinence prior to marriage. But beginning in the 1990s some groups within conservative U.S. Protestantism began promoting an organized strategy to convince young people that the Bible requires a much more restrictive code, what one author has called “extreme abstinence.” In 1993, for example, the Southern Baptist Convention launched its “True Love Waits” campaign, seeking to promote sexual abstinence among Christian youth with conferences, concerts and purity pledges. These are reminiscent of 19th-century evangelical temperance pledges, in which people signed a pledge to abstain from alcohol. Advocates of extreme abstinence advise women to be appropriately submissive, not pursue leadership roles and not speak out too much in mixed company. That may mean avoiding mixed company except in tightly regulated circumstances, such as with parents present. All of these concerns become part of how “purity” is understood. In this view, purity is much more than just refraining from premarital sex and dressing modestly. As I write in my book, “Building God’s Kingdom,” they replace dating with “courtship” that is pursued under the direction of the young woman’s father. Courtship in this case means that all interaction between young men and women must be explicitly for the purpose of pursuing marriage and under the permission and oversight of the young woman’s father. The expectation is that “pure” young women will remain under the authority of their fathers until they trade it for the authority of their husbands – in marriages arranged by their fathers. Both men and women are expected to remain sexually pure. This includes abstaining from sex, but it also extends to avoiding lustful thoughts. For the young women, being “pure” also means being responsible for the boys and men around them and comporting themselves in ways that do not “tempt” others to sin. In purity culture, as I found in my research, a woman’s entire purpose is to appeal to a godly young man whom she can serve as a wife in whatever work God has called him to do. The woman’s sexual purity is what is of most value to the man. These views are taught in many ways, but a common example comes from youth groups and summer camps where a pastor or camp director passes around a chewed piece of gum, telling the young women if they fail to protect their purity that is how they would appear to a Christian man looking for a godly wife. This exercise prompted condom manufacturer Trojan to launch a 2019 campaign called “You Are Not Chewed Gum.” Other groups joined in marketing chastity throughout the 1990s with purity rings, books, concerts and father-daughter “purity balls.” A purity ball is a father-daughter formal dance in which the daughters make a commitment to purity culture and fathers vow to protect their daughters’ purity. These activities in general, but purity balls in particular, were especially pervasive in Christian schools and the Christian home school movement and in the churches affiliated with them. As the children raised in these evangelical communities have grown to adulthood, a dark picture has emerged of a movement that has promoted shame and sexual ignorance. Evangelical women have shared their stories of being shamed. There has been a a television documentary, and a new book explores the impact of those teachings on the everyday lives of young women raised in the culture. Social media has been an important way of connecting with each other for support. Author Linda Kay Klein, who grew up in this culture herself, interviewed women to document how these teachings led to guilt and shame as well as profound ignorance about sex and sexuality. Many young adults raised in this subculture have said that they still battle shame and trauma as a result of these teachings, making it difficult to develop healthy adult sexual relations. The trauma of rape and sexual assault are made worse when women are taught to blame themselves as a result of the crimes against them. The power of the purity movement But these teachings serve important social functions in the context in which they persist. As I’ve written in my book “Evangelical Christian Women,” rigid gender norms characterized by women’s submission and male authority are at the very heart of the evangelical subculture. Purity culture reinforces that structure. Moreover, in evangelicalism, what makes a person a Christian is having had a conversion experience, sometimes called being “born again” or saved. The conversion experience involves experiencing an overwhelming sense of guilt and a strong desire to seek forgiveness for sins. Many evangelicals then want to protect their own children from the temptations that lead to that very experience of guilt necessary for conversion. Purity culture encourages fundamentally unattainable gender norms and purity requirements: that is, not only must unmarried people abstain from sex, but that merely thinking about sex risks eternal damnation. These rules create a powerful sense of shame and failure by design, even when there is no other “sin” that would seem worthy of hell. That sense of shame and failure creates the need for exactly what the evangelical tradition provides: salvation. [ Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter. ] This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Julie Ingersoll

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/how-men-used-religion-shame-women-submission-103582

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 02:02 EST

religion and belief

religious text

newspunch--2019-01-20--Canadian Party Islam Is the Native Religion of Canada

newspunch

Canadian Party: “Islam Is the Native Religion of Canada”

Many Canadians have expressed concern over the claim by a political party that Islam is the native religion of Canada. According to journalist Tarek Fatwah, the newly formed Islamic Party of Ontario wishes to introduce Sharia Law in Canada on the basis that Islam is the native religion of the country. Spencerfernando.com reports: As Fatah noted in his article, “In case you have not heard of the Islamic Party of Ontario, its name was officially reserved under Elections Ontario rules in October 2018, with more steps required before it becomes a formal party.It operates with a mandate to introduce Islamic rule in Ontario and Canada because, according to the fledgling party, “We understand and believe that Islam is the native DEEN (religion) of Ontario and Canada.” Disturbingly, the head of the fledgling party – Jawed Anwar – has called Fatah an “open enemy of Islam,” equivalent to ‘apostasy’ and something that radical Islamists believe is worthy of death: Says Fatah, “For those who are living in 2019 and the 21st century, this may sound like a joke. But those who are still living as if it is 1019 in the 11th century, the beheading of an alleged Muslim apostate is part of their heritage and faith.” What’s also messed up is the ideal that Islam is the “native religion of Ontario & Canada.” Canada’s founding beliefs are clearly Christianity and Indigenous traditions. There’s no way around that basic fact. Of course, the establishment media and left are silent: “Can someone explain why the Canadian media (ALL news outlets!) insists on not to report about the new Islamic Party of Ontario and its anti-gay policy? Can someone explain why ALL groups representing the LGBTQ…” To see a theocratic Islamist party potentially growing in Ontario is a very disturbing thing, and people like Ensaf Haidar – a brave human rights activist who has lived under the rule of Islamist governments, are sounding the alarm: “After we have the Islamic Party of Ontario officially in Canada, what we should call his leader if he becomes PM of Ontario, Sheikh Grand Mufti of Ontario! Shame on you Canadian politicians for how you are dealing with this shit issue.” “The real enemy of Canada is the one who promotes Sharia law and establishes an Islamic party, based on Sharia, in a free country!” All Canadians must heed the warnings of people like Haidar and Fatah, and stand together attempts to impose Islamist rule or theocracy in our great nation. It cannot be allowed to happen.

Sean Adl-Tabatabai

https://newspunch.com/canadian-party-islam-native-religion-canada/

2019-01-20 03:52:07+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

pinknewsuk--2019-09-20--How can you be lesbian and Christian Home Office using religion against LGBT asylum seekers says

pinknewsuk

‘How can you be lesbian and Christian?’ Home Office using religion against LGBT asylum seekers, says report

LGBT+ refugee campaigners take part in the Pride in London parade on 06 July, 2019 in London, England. (Wiktor Szymanowicz / Barcroft Media via Getty Images) A new report has alleged that the Home Office is using religion against LGBT+ asylum seekers. The 85-page publication also found that the government department was using some LGBT+ asylum seekers’ dependency on homophobic or transphobic friends or family to discredit their applications. The report, published earlier this month, outlines the often terrifying and traumatic experiences of LGBT+ asylum seekers navigating the UK’s immigration system. “The Home Office makes me shiver,” one asylum seeker said. “They make me tremble. Entering that Home Office is like entering the lion’s mouth.” It further revealed that other asylum seekers had waited to apply for asylum because they did not know they could make it on the grounds of their sexual orientation or gender identity – and then believed that this was used against them by the Home Office. One respondent said Home Office officials asked her questions including: “How can you be lesbian and Christian?,” “Isn’t the Bible against being gay?”, and “Doesn’t that contradict with your Christian belief or your belief?” The report was based on 33 interviews with LGBT+ asylum seekers – 31 of these came from a Christian background and two were Muslims. Another participant said: “‘In the application process, in my case, everything that I was doing I was doing it in secret, so I got to a point that Home Office is asking me ‘Where’s the proof?’ And it’s very difficult for me to come out with proof, because I’m doing this in a way that my [family members] will not find out who I am… I don’t have the right to work. “So if these people kick me out, where am I going? So, that was the reason why it took me a long time for me to come out [as] who I am.” The publication was commissioned by the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) of North London, which welcomes LGBT+ asylum seekers fleeing persecution, and supported by the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group. Jak Davis, at MCC of North London, described the findings as “extremely concerning” and said that it is “imperative” that LGBT+ people in need of refuge are given protection and safety. “It is fundamentally wrong to assume that LGBT+ people cannot have or practice a faith,” said Davis. “It is equally wrong to expect them to present detailed knowledge and analysis of scriptures that most people of faith, without a background in theological study, would struggle to do.” “The Home Office needs to stop assuming that LGBTQI+ people cannot be religious or that they experience a conflict with their religion,” said Leila Zadeh, executive director of UKLGIG. “They also need to stop using lack of knowledge of the possibility of claiming asylum as an LGBTQI+ person as a reason for refusing to grant refugee protection.”

Ella Braidwood

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/09/20/home-office-asylum-lgbt-religion-study-metropolitan-community-church-london/

2019-09-20 15:02:51+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

rawstory--2019-04-16--WATCH Pete Buttigieg says hed like to see Pence evolve on LGBT Rights and not use religion to

rawstory

WATCH: Pete Buttigieg says he’d like to see Pence ‘evolve’ on LGBT Rights – and not use religion ‘to harm people’

“My problem is when those religious beliefs are used as an excuse to harm other people,” Buttigieg charges. 2020 Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg is responding to attacks from Vice President Mike Pence, who says the South Bend, Indiana mayor’s belief that God makes people gay infringes on his First Amendment right to freedom of religion. The Vice President is “entitled to his religious beliefs,” says Buttigieg, who has been mayor since 2012, which includes Pence’s tenure as Governor of Indiana. “My problem is when those religious beliefs are used as an excuse to harm other people,” Buttigieg explained on CNN Tuesday (video below). Buttigieg reminded viewers that Pence “advanced a discriminatory bill in 2015, under the guise of religious freedom, that said it was lawful to discriminate, provided you invoked religion as your excuse.” “This isn’t about him as a human being,” Buttigieg added, apparently pushing back against Pence’s false claim that Buttigieg has attacked him personally. “This is about policies that hurt people, policies that hurt children,” says the South Bend mayor, who would turn 39 the day before being sworn in to office should he win the Democratic nomination and beat Donald Trump. Related: Christian University President Falsely Attacks Pete Buttigieg: ‘Please Stop Telling Us What Kind of Sex You Like’ Buttigieg charges that “to this day” the Vice President “hasn’t brought himself to say that it shouldn’t be legal to discriminate against people in this country because they’re LGBT.” He notes that Pence “seems to be OK” with allowing LGBT people to be denied housing and services, and to be fired because they are LGBT. “I would love to see him evolve on that issue,” Buttigieg said, noting that it’s “part of faith, that all of us can evolve and can grow better.” Buttigieg, who served in the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant in Afghanistan, also accused Pence of being against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” because “he felt it was too pro-gay. He wanted to make sure that even closeted members couldn’t serve.” He also called on Vice President Pence to “clear up” his positions against LGBT equality and civil rights.

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/watch-pete-buttigieg-says-hed-like-see-pence-evolve-lgbt-rights-not-use-religion-harm-people/

2019-04-16 15:34:24+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

rawstory--2019-11-06--Judge voids Trump’s ‘religious freedom’ rule that allowed medical providers to use religion as shiel

rawstory

Judge voids Trump’s ‘religious freedom’ rule that allowed medical providers to use religion as shield to refuse care

A federal judge has just voided President Donald Trump’s rule that allowed medical providers to cite their personal religious or moral beliefs as a reason to refuse to provide care to certain individuals or to perform certain procedures. Abortion, contraception, and care of LGBT, especially transgender individuals are among the events that, under the Trump rue, providers could refuse patients. “U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan declared the rule unconstitutional in a decision stemming from a lawsuit by New York and 22 other mostly Democratic states and municipalities,” The Washington Post reports. The rule came from the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights, headed by Roger Severino, a right wing religious activist. Severino has a background in working for far right religious organizations and has used his considerable power at HHS to work against women and the LGBTQ community. This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/11/judge-voids-trumps-religious-freedom-rule-that-allowed-medical-providers-to-use-religion-as-shield-to-refuse-care/

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 18:08:36 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

rawstory--2019-12-29--How Christian fundamentalism is turning people away from religion and toward science

rawstory

How Christian fundamentalism is turning people away from religion and toward science

Christianity is on the way out, according to surveys Americans who identify as Christian have dropped by 12 percent in the last decade, and those who identify as having no religion have increased 9 percent. The Daily Beast cited multiple researchers who have examined the evolution of religion and the turn toward science. Christian fundamentalism is adding to the problem as some sects devolve back to the 1600s when science and religion were mutually exclusive. “Those who have remained faithful are more fundamentalist than ever,” said the Beast. “Moderate Protestantism has declined, while conservative evangelical religion has increased as a percentage of America’s religious, with immediate political consequences: Donald Trump would not be president had conservative evangelicals and Catholics not rallied to his side, despite his many personal transgressions and evident lack of faith.” Science, by contrast, has provided answers for those who hear “voices of the Devil” or who say they literally hear “the voice of God.” As neurology advances, doctors can pinpoint the source of delusion and use medication to aid in mental and emotional healing. Still, the well-known Bible stories persist in culture, which Pascal Boyer explained in his 1994 book is due to their simplicity. “Religious stories, in another irony, have survived human history’s version of natural selection. They are the ones that have stuck around, and they’ve done so not because of their truth or value, but because they are the kinds of stories that human brains understand, and want to repeat,” The Beast paraphrased. Robert McCauley argued in his 2011 book that religion is “cognitively natural” and reflects how humans think after millions of years of evolution. The brain processes things “fast, (mostly) unconscious, automatic, effortless, intuitive thought.” It makes sense for the early years of human life when those who couldn’t think fast were often killed by larger animals. “Science, McCauley shows, is actually very unnatural and counterintuitive. For example, we ‘naturally’ look for agents who take actions in the world; we look for quasi-people, not impersonal forces. But science has shown that impersonal forces—the laws of physics and natural selection, for example— actually are responsible for most of the world around us,” explained The Beast. Essentially, the big questions humans have always asked like, “where did we come from?” and “are we alone?” are also questions our brains want to find easy explanations to. For fundamentalists, whose brains are not accustomed to thinking critically, rational arguments don’t make a dent with entrenched belief systems. McCauley explains, “people are rarely argued out of beliefs that they were not argued into in the first place.” When confronted with evidence that conflicts their worldviews, fundamentalists blame the sciences. The Beast went on to cite Antony Alumkal’s 2017 book, Paranoid Science: The Christian Right’s War on Reality, which explains how conservative Christians not only don’t trust science, they then create conspiracy theories about scientists to justify their beliefs. “Alumkal’s examples are familiar: climate denial, intelligent design, ‘gay conversion therapy,’ and opposition to stem cell research. In each case, drawing on Richard Hofstadter’s classic The Paranoid Style in American Politics, Alumkal shows how rather than simply state that their faith disagrees with the scientific evidence, Christian Right figures have created a fake scientific discourse to compete with the real one, which they allege to be a conspiracy,” the report explained. The example they used was the evangelical group, the “Cornwall Alliance,” which takes a large portion of its funds from oil companies and oil executives. Naturally, the group doesn’t believe that climate change is real. It’s akin to a corrupt politician taking funds from an industry lobbyist and voting to support that industry. The main difference, however, is that religion uses God to justify their corruption and emotionally manipulate followers to believe the same. Cornwall has resorted to creating conspiracy theories about the 97 percent of climate scientists who believe in the science. The Beast compared it to atheists, whose militantism isn’t exactly comparable to fundamentalist Christianity. Atheists don’t burn people at the stake for being a witch, put scientists under house arrest for believing the Earth is round or perform exercises to remove demons. There are atheist activists like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens, The Beast recalled. they want to rid the world of religion, but most non-believers just want to be left alone. None are taking up a flaming sword to crusade against religious leaders. According to Jerome Baggett’s 2019 book, The Varieties of Nonreligious Experience: Atheism in American Culture, Atheists have positive values based on the goodness of humanity. The value integrity, “open-mindedness, and the importance of progress.” Read more about the conflicting beliefs and the ways right-wing fundamentalist Christianity is pushing people away from religion at The Daily Beast.

Sarah K. Burris

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/how-christian-fundamentalism-is-turning-people-away-from-religion-and-toward-science/

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 21:18:26 +0000

religion and belief

religious text

redstate--2019-02-09--Mike Lee Hands Mazie Hirono Her Rump Over Making Religion An Issue During Judaical Confirmations

redstate

Mike Lee Hands Mazie Hirono Her Rump Over Making Religion An Issue During Judaical Confirmations

Democrats have made it a habit to put the faith of the judicial nominees in the spotlight during their confirmation hearings, making the presence of faith a thing to be questioned in terms of fitness for a job. As Sen. Mike Lee made very clear on Friday, however, the question of religious faith should go no farther than questioning whether a person’s faith will cause them to break their oath and duties to the positions they are applying for. Senators like Hawaii’s Mazie Hirono, however, is one of the Democrats under the belief that certain beliefs may disqualify you from that position as it may run contrary to the whims of certain groups, such as the LGBT community. Two days prior to this, Sen. Cory Booker grilled Neomi Rao, a nominee for the DC Court of Appeals, about her beliefs as stemmed from her Christian faith, namely about whether or not she thought homosexuality was a sin. Sen. Ted Cruz immediately swept in and chastised the Democrat for making the hearings a religious test. It would appear that Lee picked up Cruz’s torch and launched into making it clear to Democrats that this isn’t how the committee should conduct itself. The problem with asking a nominee about the particulars of his or her religious beliefs is that those questions inevitably expose those beliefs as somehow a qualifier or a disqualifier for public office. That is flatly inconsistent with at least the letter, at least the spirit if not also the letter, of at least two provisions of the Constitution. I cannot fathom why this would ever make sense to do. There was a time in this country when people might have been asked in a job interview context, or in the context of a hearing, like those we hold here, whether someone believed in God, whether they were Christian. When they might have been asked those it was not for a good reason, because there is never a good reason in a public setting to ask that question, save perhaps, if you just want to make sure that that person’s religious beliefs do not require that person to betray the judicial oath. Beyond that, I can’t fathom a circumstance in which that would be appropriate. Hirono fired back at Lee, denying that she has ever done such a thing. “These probing questions — if you were to list all of the questions that we ask, they have to do with whether or not these nominees’ very strongly-held religious views, as well as any other views that may not enable them to be objective as judges in lifetime positions, I think that’s a legitimate area of inquiry. And it is not that we all ask, ‘Do you think such and such is a sin, et cetera, et cetera —’” “That was asked then. This week. This week it was asked. I’m not making this up,” Lee countered. “We are not in the business of censuring each other’s questions to nominees or falsely assigning motives that don’t exist,” Hirono responded. “There is no religious test for nominees on this committee and to suggest otherwise is, to quote my friend from Utah, ‘wildly inappropriate.’” Hirono went on to say that she’s merely questioning their religion (remember, she never does that) so that she can tell whether or not they’ll be fair to the LGBT community. “I don’t care what religious views they have,” finished Hirono…who clearly cares.

Brandon Morse

https://www.redstate.com/brandon_morse/2019/02/08/mike-lee-hands-mazie-hirono-rump-making-religion-issue-judaical-confirmations/

2019-02-09 00:30:06+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

renegadetribune--2019-04-16--Jews Have a Religion of Being Persecuted Everywhere

renegadetribune

Jews Have a Religion of Being “Persecuted” Everywhere

Such was the life and the blessing which the Judahites, gathered in the Temple in 621 BC, were exhorted in the name of Jehovah and Moses to choose by their tribal chieftain Josiah, the mouthpiece of the priesthood. The purpose and meaning of existence, under this “Mosaic Law”, was the destruction and enslavement of others for the sake of plunder and power. Israel might from that moment have counted itself happy to have been pronounced dead and to have been excluded from such a world to come. The Israelites had mingled in the living bloodstream of mankind; on its banks the Judahites were left stranded in the power of a fanatical priesthood which commanded them, on pain of “all these curses”, to destroy. To the terror inspired by “all these curses” the Levites added also an allurement. In this tenet Deuteronomy most clearly revealed the status allotted to the heathen by The Second Law. In the last analysis, “the heathen” have no legal existence under this Law; how could they have, when Jehovah only “knows” his “holy people”? Insofar as their actual existence is admitted, it is only for such purposes as those stated in verse 65, chapter 28 and verse 7, chapter 30: namely, to receive the Judahites when they are dispersed for their transgressions and then, when their guests repent and are forgiven, to inherit curses lifted from the regenerate Judahites. True, the second verse quoted gives the pretext that “all these curses” will be transferred to the heathen because they “hated” and “persecuted” the judahites, but how could they be held culpable of this when the very presence of the Judahites among them was merely the result of punitive “curses” inflicted by Jehovah? For Jehovah himself, according to another verse (64, chapter 28) took credit for putting the curse of exile on the Judahites: Deuteronomy employs this Doublespeak (to use the modem idiom) throughout: the Lord makes the special people homeless among the heathen for their transgressions; the heathen, who have no blame either for their exile or for those transgressions, are their “persecutors “; ergo, the heathen will be destroyed. The Judaist attitude towards other mankind, creation, and the universe in general, is better understood when these and related passages have been pondered, and especially the constant plaint that Jews are “persecuted” everywhere, which in one tone or another runs through nearly all Jewish literature. To any who accept this book as The Law, the mere existence of others is in fact persecution; Deuteronomy plainly implies that. The most nationalist Jew and the most enlightened Jew often agree in one thing: they cannot truly consider the world and its affairs from any but a Jewish angle, and from that angle “the stranger” seems insignificant. Thinking makes it so, and this is the legacy of twenty-five centuries of Jewish thinking; even those Jews who see the heresy or fallacy cannot always divest themselves entirely of the incubus on their minds and spirits. The passage from Deuteronomy last quoted shows that the ruling sect depicted homelessness at one and the same time as the act of the special people’s god and as persecution by the special people’s enemies, deserving of “all these curses”. To minds of such extreme egotism a political outrage in which 95 Gentiles and 5 Jews lose their lives or property is simply an anti-Jewish disaster, and they are not consciously hypocritical in this. In the Twentieth Century this standard of judgment has been projected into the lives of other peoples and applied to all major events in the ordeal of the West. Thus we live in the century of the Levitical fallacy. Having undertaken to put “all these curses” on innocent parties, if the Judahites would return to observance of “all these statutes and judgments”, the resurrected Moses of Deuteronomy promised one more blessing (“The Lord thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them… “) and then was allowed to die in the land of Moab.

renegade

http://www.renegadetribune.com/jews-have-a-religion-of-being-persecuted-everywhere/

2019-04-16 18:26:03+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

russiainsider--2019-04-23--Is Britains Religion Christianity or Islam

russiainsider

Is Britain's Religion Christianity or Islam?

On this day many of us celebrate Saint George's Day, an occasion to reflect on our Country’s history, is ‘the feast day of Saint George’ as celebrated by most Christian Churches and by the several nations, kingdoms, countries, and cities of which Saint George is the patron Saint including of course England, and even certain regions of Portugal and Spain. In a letter published to the Daily Telegraph of London written by a Mark Hudson of Ashford, Kent, he very rightly pointed out that it was understandable that British architects of secularism, the most guilty of whom always was and has been Tony Blair, were concerned about the then Prime Minister David Cameron’s claim that Britain is a Christian country and that the reappearance of Christianity in public life would be very inconvenient for them though they admit that Britain is constitutionally Christian. Mr. Hudson further pointed out that “The Coronation service and the Coronation oath are shot through with Christian beliefs and values, without which they would make no sense. So is that other great pillar of our liberties: the Magna Carta. Parliament convenes with prayer, and bishops of the Church of England sit in the House of Lords. National and civic occasions are marked by Christian ceremonies, and the calendar remains unabashedly Christian.” Her Majesty the Queen has in the past explained her role as ‘Defender of the Faith’, and having an established Church in the Church of England, meant that the freedom of everyone to practise their faith as they wished was protected. However, how corrupted by Arab money, have successive British governments been, both Labour and Conservative? Particularly money from an extremist and subversive group as The Muslim Brotherhood notably via their main benefactor the tiny island State of Qatar? Instead of pontificating at length all the common sense reasons why what you are about to read, its fact, its existence speaks for itself and all that can be added is that the vast majority of British people think this revelation, about to be revealed for the first time to many, is abhorrent to the great British public. Saint George's Day, also known as the Feast of Saint George, is the feast day of Saint George as celebrated by various Christian Churches and by the several nations, kingdoms, countries, and cities of which Saint George is the patron saint including England, and regions of Portugal and Spain.The historic Admiralty House and four other Whitehall buildings are now operating in accordance with some sharia rules – including a ban on alcohol – after they were used as part of an Islamic bond. The properties must comply with some aspects of sharia under the terms of special bonds known as sukuk, announced by George Osborne two years ago when the UK became the first Western country to issue them.Andrew Bridgen, the then Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire. What is not commonly known is more than £200m of Sharia compliant ‘sukuk bonds’ have been sold to Muslim investors in the UK and to major Islamic finance centres in the Middle East and Asia. Under Sharia law, charging interest, or usury, is forbidden. So to allow Islamic investors to receive rent, ‘the sukuk bonds’ pay them the rental income on certain buildings instead. Semantics! Little reported otherwise, two years ago, the MailOnline reported that certain landmark Whitehall buildings were now owned by people bent on enforcing Sharia law in our Country. No wonder our London Mayor is a Muslim. The MailOnline wrote “the buildings were now governed by Sharia law”. Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire has been quoted as saying: “I do find it unbelievable government buildings are governed by Sharia law. I don’t see the bars as being an essential part of Parliament but it’s the principle that matters. Most of our constituents will be absolutely amazed that the principle could ever have been authorised.” The Government buildings in question known about are Richmond House, and Wellington House. “The sukuk is issued under, and governed by, English law which applies at all times.” a spokesman for the UK Treasury commented. Other than banning alcohol use in such buildings, it is unclear which other aspects of Sharia are being adhered to by the managers of the buildings concerned, but a government source said it had been agreed that serving pork in Richmond House would not affect the Sharia compliance of the sukuk. “Alcohol being served hasn’t arisen, as you would expect for a government building,” a spokesperson added. In January, The Times reported that a plan to relocate MPs to Richmond House to allow refurbishment work at Westminster was meeting resistance because Richmond House was ‘dry’ under the terms of the sukuk agreement. Can any Christian Britain think this acceptable?

Richard Galustian

https://russia-insider.com/en/britains-religion-christianity-or-islam/ri26843

2019-04-23 14:04:33+00:00

religion and belief

religious text

cnsnews--2019-09-04--Elizabeth Warrens Bias Against Private and Religious Schools

cnsnews

Elizabeth Warren's Bias Against Private and Religious Schools -- and Their Teachers

From the time she was a little girl, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts had a dream. She wanted to work for the government. "Me, I knew for sure what I wanted to do from second grade on," Warren said in a speech delivered in Philadelphia on May 13. "I wanted to be a public school teacher." "Can we hear it for public school teachers? That's what I wanted," said Warren. The American Federation of Teachers — a union affiliated with the AFL-CIO —hosted the event Warren addressed. Notice she did not tell the teachers' union she simply wanted to be a schoolteacher — or a high school teacher, or a grammar school teacher. She said she wanted to be a "public school teacher." "I will name, as president of the United States, a secretary of education who has been a public school teacher," said Warren. Notice, again, that Warren did not vow to name someone who had been a schoolteacher to be secretary of education. She vowed to name someone who has been a "public school teacher." Warren did not make a rhetorical slip here. She made a political commitment. On Aug. 31, she posted a tweet that included a video of her repeating this commitment. The tweet said: "I will nominate a Secretary of Education who has been a public school teacher — Betsy DeVos need not apply." Imagine, hypothetically, someone who spent 25 years teaching at an urban Catholic school and another 10 serving as its principal. Imagine that this teacher inspired thousands of students along with his faculty colleagues, taught them so well that many gained acceptance to and graduated from prestigious colleges. Imagine many of his former students returned from these colleges to become role models in the community where they grew up. Some even returned to teach at their alma mater. After 35 years, this teacher-turned-principal retired from education and ran for Congress. He eventually became chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor. Would this former teacher be qualified to serve as Elizabeth Warren's secretary of education? No. Why? Because this former teacher was never a "public school teacher." Warren's bias against teachers at religious and private schools — and against the schools at which they teach — also informs her very peculiar approach to school choice. When President Donald Trump nominated Betsy DeVos — a prominent advocate of school choice — for secretary of education, Warren sent her a 16-page letter. Under the heading "Privatizing and Defunding K-12 Education," Warren's letter attacked DeVos for supporting voucher programs that allowed students to attend "private and religious schools." "For decades," Warren wrote, "you have been one of the nation's strongest advocates for radically transforming the public education system through the use of taxpayer-funded vouchers that steer public dollars away from traditional public schools to private and religious schools." In fact, it is not the voucher that steers money away from public schools; it is the parents who hold a voucher and decide to redeem it at a private or religious school, rather than at a government school. Tellingly, Warren has favored giving parents school choice as long as they are prohibited from choosing a private or religious school. "Short of buying a new home, parents currently have only one way to escape a failing public school: Send the kids to a private school," Warren said in "The Two-Income Trap," a book she co-authored with her daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi, in 2003 (and which was republished in 2016). "But there is another alternative, one that would keep much-needed dollars inside the public school system while still reaping the advantages offered by a voucher program," Warren and her daughter wrote. "Local governments could enact meaningful reforms by enabling parents to choose from among all the public schools in a locale, with no presumptive assignment based on neighborhood. "Under a public school voucher program, parents, not bureaucrats, would have the power to pick schools for their children — and to choose which schools would get their children's vouchers." For Warren, American parents should be allowed to choose where they send their children to school — as long as the government runs the school. More often than not, this means parents would be forced to choose academically inferior schools. The Department of Education's 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress tests indicated that 63 percent of high school seniors in Catholic schools were proficient or better in reading. That was true of only 36 percent of seniors in public schools. Forty-eight percent of seniors in Catholic high schools were proficient or better in math — compared with 23 percent in public schools. Parents who truly have a choice about where they send their children to school will also consider the values taught in the school. Warren apparently would prefer that American children learn their values in government-run schools. Terence P. Jeffrey is the editor in chief of CNSNews.com.

Terence P. Jeffrey

https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/terence-p-jeffrey/elizabeth-warrens-bias-against-private-and-religious-schools-and-their

2019-09-04 10:02:08+00:00

education

religious education

hotair--2019-11-04--Dem N.H. lawmaker rants about private, religious schools - GOP responds

hotair

Dem N.H. lawmaker rants about private, religious schools - GOP responds

New Hampshire Democrat State Representative Tamara Myer Le posted a profanity-laced rant on her Facebook page against private and religious schools. That might not be particularly newsworthy for most politicians but in this case, the elected official is a member of the House Education Committee. Myer Le is a strong advocate for students with disabilities. It looks as though her daughter is one such student. Currently, in eighth grade, her child’s friends were all beginning to apply to attend private high schools. Myer Le lashed out about private and religious schools that do not have anti-discrimination policies against disabled students. Some fellow Democrat members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives “liked” her Facebook post. “And then it happened. The Sunday afternoon my 8th grade daughter who is getting A-/B+s in 8th grade had to learn – while her friends were applying to private high schools – we would not be,” Le wrote. “Private and religious schools do not have anti-discrimination policies that protect students with disabilities.” “F*** private and religious schools,” Le concluded. Several of her fellow House Democrats ‘liked’ her comment, including Reps. Casey Conley and Heidi Hamer. Hours after her rant was reported in the New Hampshire Journal, Myer Le deleted the Facebook post and replaced it with one free of profanity. While the new post is more civil and more in line with what one might expect from an elected official, her opinion still calls into question her bias against private and religious schools. She has not responded to questions submitted by the press. She continues to justify her original post. It is reported that Myer Le has made her opinion on private and religious schools clear so the question is, why is she sitting on the House Education Committee? Her opposition to school choice is well-known. It isn’t unusual for Democrats to object to school choice. Many are beholden to teacher unions as campaign donors. Public school teachers object to school choice because they say it takes funds from public schools. Parents, however, come out strongly in favor of school choice. One poll taken in January 2019 shows an increase of support for school choice of 4% since 2018. It is now at 67% approval. The poll was conducted by The American Federation for Children, the nation’s voice for educational choice, and Beck Research, a Democratic polling firm. 1,200 likely November 2020 voters were surveyed. Conservatives have long pushed for school choice. The freedom to send a child to whichever school best suits his or her needs is essential for the child’s success. Myer Le is exercising her freedom of choice, whether she realizes it or not, to send her child to a school that meets her requirements. Her main concern seems to be that her child may be feeling left out as her friends apply to schools to which Myer Le and her husband do not support. Myer Le said she and her husband were unwilling to “give money to any high school that discriminated against people who experience disabilities” in that now-deleted Facebook post. Having sent a child to both public and private schools, I find it hard to believe that Myer Le cannot find a private or religious school that fits her daughter’s needs, if that is her desire. No school deliberately discriminates against any child – as a matter of fact, private schools go out of their way to show how inclusive they are in admissions. Federal or state funding, for example, would not be available for grants and programs if discrimination was prevalent. Guidelines must be met for schools to qualify. There are 329 private schools in New Hampshire with about 29,000 students enrolled. The House GOP leader said Myer Le’s rant was critical of all private and religious schools. The Democrat House Education Committee chairman Myer Le speaks for herself and not the committee. “Sounds like it to me,” House GOP leader Dick Hinch told NHJournal. After seeing Rep. Le’s Facebook post Hinch released a statement calling for her to “apologize to every private and religious school throughout the state,” and demanding that she be removed from the Education Committee. “Given this exhibition of online rage, I do not believe that Rep. Le can provide any fair or objective review of policies pertaining to private and religious schools as a member of the Education Committee,” Hinch said. “House Speaker Shurtleff must remove her from the House Education Committee, and he should, in the strongest terms, condemn this type of behavior from her.” House Education Committee chairman Rep. Mel Myler (D-Contoocook) distanced his committee from Le’s controversial comments. “Rep. Le speaks for herself and not that of the House Education Committee. Positions of the committee are taken after full debate on an issue.” State government officials and lawmakers may not have the national recognition of a representative serving on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. but the state government is powerful in the lives of a state’s residents. The state government is the body that passes laws that directly affect communities and neighborhoods. A state representative with a personal grudge against school choice, as well as private and religious schools, doesn’t have the impartial objectivity needed to make sound public policy decisions. At the very least Myer Le should apologize for her use of profanity and set a better example for students. She should apologize to the schools and parents of students who she trashed by implying their lack of consideration of disabled students. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all school.

https://hotair.com/archives/2019/11/04/dem-n-h-lawmaker-rants-private-religious-schools-gop-responds/

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 17:21:03 Z

education

religious education

lifesitenews--2019-12-19--Supreme Court to decide if religious schools can choose their own religion teachers

lifesitenews

Supreme Court to decide if religious schools can choose their own religion teachers

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 19, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to weigh in on whether the government can control who a church school chooses to teach its religion classes. In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and in St. James Catholic School v. Biel, Becket Law (formerly the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty) is defending two California Catholic elementary schools’ right to choose ministers that embody their faith without government interference. After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against both schools and rejected the prevailing common-sense standard for allowing religious schools to choose their teachers, Becket appealed to the Supreme Court, which has now agreed to hear both cases. In Hosanna-Tabor, a similar Becket case in 2012, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the “ministerial exception” for a church school, a First Amendment right that allows religious schools to choose their own religion teachers. The ministerial exception protects all religious groups’ freedom to choose “ministerial” employees without interference from bureaucrats or courts. Most courts have ruled that ministerial employees are those employees who perform important religious functions, like instructing young children in the precepts of the Catholic faith. But in both Our Lady of Guadalupe School and St. James School, the Ninth Circuit rejected this widely accepted rule. “Parents trust Catholic schools to assist them in one of their most important duties: forming the faith of their children,” said Montserrat Alvarado, vice president and executive director at Becket. “If courts can second-guess a Catholic school’s judgment about who should teach religious beliefs to fifth graders, then neither Catholics nor any other religious group can be confident in their ability to convey the faith to the next generation.” Agnes Morrissey-Berru and Kristen Biel played crucial roles in teaching the Catholic faith to their fifth-grade students. Both taught a religion class, integrated Catholic values into every subject they taught, joined their students in daily prayer, and accompanied students to Mass and other religious services. However, when each school decided not to renew the teachers’ contracts based on a history of poor performance, both teachers sued. In December 2018, the Ninth Circuit ruled against St. James Catholic School, saying the school did not have the right to fire the religion teachers. In April 2019, the court also ruled against Our Lady of Guadalupe School. Even though both teachers had significant religious responsibilities, the Ninth Circuit still decided that their work was not religious enough and therefore allowed the court to intervene. Nine Ninth Circuit judges wrote a scathing dissent criticizing the rulings, and leading legal scholars and diverse religious groups condemned the rulings as dangerously wrong. “Do we really want judges, juries, or bureaucrats deciding who ought to teach Catholicism at a parish school, or Judaism at a Jewish day school? Of course not,” said Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket. “Religion teachers play a vital role in the ecosystem of faith. We are confident that the Supreme Court will recognize that under our Constitution government officials cannot control who teaches kids what to believe.”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/supreme-court-to-decide-if-religious-schools-can-choose-their-own-religion-teachers

2019-12-19T16:59:00+00:00

education

religious education

realclearpolitics--2019-04-06--So Yale Law School Endorses Anti-Religious Bigotry

realclearpolitics

So Yale Law School Endorses Anti-Religious Bigotry

What starts in the ivory tower of academia — including blatant discrimination against religious groups and students won't stay there for long.

<a href="/authors/samuel_adkisson" data-mce-href="../../authors/samuel_adkisson">Samuel Adkisson</a>, USA Today

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/2019/04/06/so_yale_law_school_endorses_anti-religious_bigotry_471179.html

2019-04-06 11:57:43+00:00

education

religious education

rt--2019-06-19--Guns as religion Trumps envoy calls for armed guards at synagogues Jewish schools

rt

Guns as religion: Trump’s envoy calls for armed guards at synagogues & Jewish schools

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for combating anti-Semitism has called for an armed presence at Jewish institutions across the US, insisting synagogues, schools and community centers beef up on security. The appointee, Elan Carr, said American Jews face a “time of danger” and must take steps to protect themselves from attacks and persecution, according to the Jerusalem Post. “Any synagogue, every JCC [Jewish community center], should have guards,” Carr told an interviewer on Wednesday at a conference in Israel. “God willing, may they never be needed, but they should be there.” President Trump tapped Carr to be the State Department’s pointman on anti-Semitism issues in February, after complaints from Democrats and Jewish advocacy groups pressured him to fill the position, which sat vacant for the first two years of his term. Carr also spoke at the conference of the president’s commitment to protecting Jewish minorities in the US and around the world. “The rhetoric of the president couldn’t be clearer,” he said. “Every time the president speaks on this issue, he calls it [anti-Semitism] a vile poison that must be rooted out.” Some Jews reject Carr’s description of the president, however, and argue his policies and rhetoric actually put Jewish communities in more danger. In a recent survey of 1,000 American Jewish voters, nearly 60 percent of respondents said Trump “bears at least some responsibility” for recent synagogue shootings in Pennsylvania and California. Seventy-three percent said they thought Jews were less safe in the US than they were two years ago. In his proposal for armed guards at Jewish institutions, Carr may have taken pointers from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who made a similar suggestion in May as one way to address rising anti-Semitism in Germany. Like this story? Share it with a friend!

RT

https://www.rt.com/usa/462247-trump-envoy-armed-guards-synagogues/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

2019-06-19 19:53:00+00:00

education

religious education

tass--2019-06-28--American Private Schools With Religious Background Are Attracting More Students

tass

American Private Schools With Religious Background Are Attracting More Students

CHICAGO, June 28, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2019-2020 admission season for international students into American Private Schools has come to end. According to Amerigo Education, the number of international students applying for their religious American private schools has doubled. Private schools with religious background are attracting more international students for their excellent performance in academic and moral standards. Currently, more than two-thirds of private high schools in the United States are religious schools and they are well-known to be prestigious and offer top notch academic and extracurricular programs. Compared with non-religious schools, the school style of church schools is relatively "rigorous", because the school uses religious concepts and management models to regulate student learning or behavior. In addition, because of their religious beliefs, most teachers and students are generally friendly and helpful in dealing with people and things, and they are more accepting to students from different backgrounds. Amerigo believes that international students are more easily to adjust to new environment in such a supportive and caring atmosphere. One Amerigo student from Russia said that before he entered into Amerigo campuses, he had worries about whether studying in a Catholic school would have conflicts with his own belief. After one-year studying, he said there should not be any worries because there are no restrictions on the religious background of students. And each staffs and students respect the idea of freedom of religions. In addition, the student said that taking religious classes helped him to better understand western history, culture, art and social changes of the ancient western world. The so-called religious curriculum, in fact, is similar to a course integration on history of world civilization and western ideology which helps international students build a thorough understanding of American society in a holistic way. Currently, all ten campuses from Amerigo are Catholic High Schools. Besides its advanced facilities, each campus also is made up of first-class teachers. In addition, Amerigo attach great importance to cultivating students' well-being and personal growth in and out of the classroom, and helping students to successfully enter the ideal top university in the United States. Amerigo supports international students at premier U.S. high schools with a holistic and supportive approach that emphasizes excellent academic outcomes. We help international students seeking a preparatory education in the United States thrive both in and out of the American classroom. Combining a nurturing boarding environment, supplemental academic support, English language development, and an approach oriented around successful college outcomes, Amerigo prepares students with the skills, values, and care required to succeed in high school, at the university level, and beyond. For more information, visit www.amerigoeducation.com.

https://tass.com/press-releases/1066039

2019-06-28 06:00:00+00:00

education

religious education

thedcclothesline--2019-12-26--NY Supreme Court rules Amish cannot exercise religious vaccine exemption to attend their own private

thedcclothesline

NY Supreme Court rules Amish cannot exercise religious vaccine exemption to attend their own private Amish school

The petition by an Amish father to the New York State Supreme Court to allow his family to practice their faith and allow his children to attend a private Amish school has been denied. Jonas Stoltzfus has three children, all unvaccinated, who attend the Cranberry Marsh school in Romulus, NY, a town between Rochester and Syracuse. Amish father Jonas Stoltzfus recently filed a lawsuit challenging a new New York state law requiring students to be fully immunized against contagious disease. Stoltzfus says he was informed that his three children will be blocked from attending their Cranberry Marsh School, a traditional Amish school in this Seneca County settlement of six church districts. All 24 students at the school are Amish. take our poll - story continues below Stoltzfus’ opposition to the law was based on his belief that “God made his children ‘right and good’ and to vaccinate his children is to lose faith in God,” the lawsuit states. A state Supreme Court Justice has now denied Stoltzfus’ legal challenge to temporarily stop the law: Supreme Court Justice Daniel Doyle ruled that the state has the authority to require vaccinations to protect public health, citing prior appeals court decisions. He also rejected the lawsuit claims that the new law should be halted because it violated religious rights’ protections in the state constitution. Kevin Barry of First Freedoms, Attorney for Mr. Stoltzfus, says that there will be no more appeals in the case. Barry says that the state of New York has threatened to shut down the Cranberry Marsh School that the Stoltzfus children attend, though the state has taken no action yet. The First Freedom’s web site notes the unusual choice that the judge made in writing his opinion. New York law now requires K-12 Amish children to receive a combined 35 doses of 10 vaccines: There is currently a bill in the NY Legislature to add the HPV vaccine, for a sexually transmitted virus, to the mandatory school schedule. The American Academy of Pediatrics has now joined the vaccine industry and announced that their number one priority is the removal of the religious vaccine exemption from every state in the US. Participation in the abortion industry is now required for full participation in public life, including Christian education, in five us states. New York, California, West Virginia, Mississippi, and soon Maine will require children to be vaccinated with aborted fetal cell line vaccines to be educated in both public and private Christian schools, and legislation is being presented to do so in more than a dozen states. • Michigan county threatens to demolish 14 Amish homes unless they give up their religious beliefs and upgrade their homes • The Amish, who don’t get vaccinated, rarely get autism, cancer, or heart disease – coincidence? • Gov’t Revokes Off-Grid Amish Community’s Religious Rights, Forces Them to Use Electricity

Sean Walton

https://www.dcclothesline.com/2019/12/26/ny-supreme-court-rules-amish-cannot-exercise-religious-vaccine-exemption-to-attend-their-own-private-amish-school/

Thu, 26 Dec 2019 07:10:52 +0000

education

religious education

theguardianuk--2019-01-31--School defends LGBT lessons after religious parents complain

theguardianuk

School defends LGBT lessons after religious parents complain

The assistant headteacher of a school teaching children about homosexuality as part of a special programme has defended its decision after 400 predominantly Muslim parents signed a petition for the subject to be dropped from the curriculum. Andrew Moffat, who was awarded an MBE for his work in equality education, claims he was threatened and targeted via a leaflet campaign after the school piloted No Outsiders – a programme run as part of sex and relationship education (SRE) lessons. Its ethos is to promote LGBT equality and challenge homophobia in primary schools. Moffat, the author of Challenging Homophobia in Primary Schools, resigned from another primary school – Chilwell Croft Academy, also in Birmingham – after a similar dispute with Muslim parents. Moffat, who resigned from his post in December 2013, said then that some Christian parents had also complained. The current dispute centres on Parkfield Community School in the Saltley area of Birmingham. Children from reception age through to year 6 were being taught five No Outsiders lessons per year, each one covering topics to meet requirements in the Equality Act. Books being read by the pupils include Mommy, Mama and Me and King & King - stories about same-sex relationships and marriages. However, following the inclusion of the programme in the curriculum, Moffat, who is gay, faced angry protests by parents, who gathered outside the school gates, while others removed their children from the school. The issue was first raised by parent Fatima Shah, who initially pulled her 10-year-old daughter out of the school, saying children were too young to be learning about same-sex marriages and LGBT in the classroom. “It’s inappropriate, totally wrong,” she said. Shah, whose daughter has now returned to the school, which is rated as outstanding by Ofsted, has revealed that she will continue to fight against the teaching of No Outsiders. She added: “Children are being told it’s OK to be gay, yet 98% of children at this school are Muslim. It’s a Muslim community. He said all parents are on board with it, but the reality is, no parents are on board with it.” Shah claimed her children were becoming “confused” about homosexuality and that the local community’s concerns were not being taken on board. She said: “We have nothing against Mr Moffat – we are as British as they come. We respect the British values … but the problem is, he is not respecting our ethos as a community. “We don’t send our children to school to learn about LGBT. We send them to school to learn maths, science and English.” But Moffat, who was one of three British teachers shortlisted for the Varkey Foundation’s “best teacher” prize, says the feedback from most parents has been positive, and that the protests have arisen from the concerns of a “very small minority” of parents. “I’m in exactly the right place and I have no plans to leave,” he said. “I know that some parents struggle with some aspects of the Equality Act and we’ll always talk and have respectful discussion. “But, as I’ve said, the vast majority of parents understand that it’s in context. Yes, we’re talking about LGBT in a small amount of lessons but it’s always in context. The context is that living in the UK, you can be different, but you can get along with other people.” Moffat, who is also a personal social health education teacher at the 770-pupil school, introduced the programme around four years ago. It includes the welcoming of people of any race, colour or religion and those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. He said: “I’m just teaching children from an early age that there are different families out there and, let’s not forget, that in some schools there are children with two mums, so I see it that they’re not being taught anything. All they’re seeing is their family is being accepted. “We want all children in Birmingham to know that their family is normal; that their family is accepted and welcomed in schools.” Moffat, who was awarded an MBE by the Queen in 2017 for services to education, also runs an after-school club which he says helps create opportunities for children at his school to meet people of different races, religions and cultures around Birmingham. The award-winning school is in the heart of a devout area where three inquiries have been held into the alleged Islamist Trojan horse plot by Muslim governors to take over state schools. Parkfield was not affected. Olympic gold medalist Callum Skinner, whose father is gay, tweeted a message of support for Moffat. He wrote: “Mr Moffat sounds like he’s doing a great job. When I was at school, I was someone who had one set of same-sex parents. It sounds to me as if this programme is as much about protecting kids from intolerance as well as same sex couples. It should be commended, not shunned.” Hazel Pulley, the chief executive of Excelsior Multi Academy Trust which runs the school, said she was disappointed by the protest. She said: “We’ve been doing No Outsiders for four years now and it’s been so successful … We want the best for our children. We want them to be accepting and to welcome anybody.” Mohammed Idrees, the Muslim councillor who spoke out in support of the protesting parents and said pupils were “too young” to be taught about homosexuality, has since apologised for his comments and has been formally reported to Birmingham City Council’s Standards Committee by Conservative councillor Gareth Moore, who is gay. Moore said: “Part of the challenge when you are growing up is that you don’t understand what’s wrong. This scheme, if you are different, lets you know there is nothing wrong with being different. I would have liked this scheme when I was growing up.”

Nazia Parveen North of England correspondent

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jan/31/school-defends-lgbt-lessons-after-religious-parents-complain

2019-01-31 19:46:40+00:00

education

religious education

theirishtimes--2019-04-24--Schools failing students on religious study opt-out atheist group claims

theirishtimes

Schools failing students on religious study opt-out, atheist group claims

Pupils are being “forced” to study religion and schools are failing in their duty to allow young people opt out of the subject, Atheist Ireland has claimed. Protesting at the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) conference in Killarney, Co Kerry, members of the group said the union had refused to implement a Department of Education directive to provide alternative subjects for students who opt out of religion. Jane Donnelly, human rights officer with Atheist Ireland, said students who did not want to study religion were “forced to sit at the back of the class”. She said the TUI members in Education and Training Board schools “had refused to even try to implement the department’s directive, citing resources and a lack of consultation”. A TUI spokesman said resourcing was the only issue preventing the implementation of the department’s directive. “Under the department’s circular, subject options would have to be made available to students at the time that religious instruction takes place,” he said. “Clearly, this would have required the employment of additional teachers in schools but, remarkably, the Minister made clear that the required resources would not be provided. “To suggest that the TUI’s position was related to anything other than serious and justified concerns about the absence of required resources – at a time when schools are already experiencing a recruitment and retention crisis – is at best grossly misinformed,” he said.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/schools-failing-students-on-religious-study-opt-out-atheist-group-claims-1.3870455

2019-04-24 17:10:49+00:00

education

religious education

theirishtimes--2019-07-04--Pact between State and religious should widen school choice

theirishtimes

Pact between State and religious ‘should widen school choice’

Parents must get more choice for their children’s education in any new covenant between the State, churches and other ethical bodies, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said. Greater choice for parents “through the availability of more Educate Together schools, community national schools and Gaelscoileanna” is required, he said. “It also means the divestment of some existing religious schools to the community sector should parents want that. It doesn’t mean the complete secularisation of education,” he said. He was speaking in Dublin Castle at a meeting between the Government and leaders of Ireland’s churches, other faiths, and various ethical groupings – an engagement mandated by the Lisbon Treaty. Twenty-eight separate religious and ethical groups participated in the dialogue as did Minister for Business Heather Humphreys, Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy, Minister for Education Joe McHugh, Minister for Children Katherine Zappone and Minister of State for Equality David Stanton. Recalling his address to Pope Francis last August, Mr Varadkar suggested that “the time had come to build a new relationship between religion and the State in Ireland – a new covenant for the 21st century. One in which religion is no longer at the centre of our State but continues to have a real and meaningful role to play on our society.This structured dialogue is part of that work.” Open, transparent and regular dialogue is the best way to do this, recognising that all sides in the debate have much in common, but yet “respects our differences”, he said. The covenant is not one “handed down by the State”, but is instead “created by the people, shaped by all of you and reflecting the values of our society”, said the Taoiseach. “I am very proud of the fact that our country is now one of the most diverse in the world, and one of the youngest,” said Mr Varadkar, who began with an apology over his “sinning priests” attack upon Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin. Irish people see “the value of religion and faith based organisations every day all around us”, he added, citing the work of religious charities and voluntary organisations. “Any new covenant – any new relationship between the State and your organisations – should be about pluralism, rather than absolute secularism,” he said. The divestment by the Catholic Church of schools under its control can “give rise to concerns” among parents, but he believed that problems can be handled “sensitively” and “in a collaborative way”. The objective, he said, is to offer the choices desired by parents, but “such choice does not denigrate in any way the invaluable contribution of various churches” to Irish education over many generations. “It simply recognises that in the more diverse Ireland of the 21st century many parents want a greater choice about where to, and how to, educate their children,” he said. “We must also recognise that a choice of schools may not be possible or practicable in all areas, so we need to have regard to the views of majority as well as minorities,” he added. No curbs should be placed on future State funding of faith-based charities and voluntary organisations, such as the St Francis Hospice and Our Lady’s Hospice and Care Services, however. “We do not want to see their funding taken away or the voluntarism and ethos that exists there removed,” he said. “Many faith-based organisations have made a huge contribution to helping us deal with the housing shortage, such as Crosscare and de Paul, Peter McVerry Trust and others.” The Dublin Castle meeting was “a little bit of an experiment”, he said. But he hoped for two-yearly meetings and more regular meeting between the Government and individual groups.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/pact-between-state-and-religious-should-widen-school-choice-1.3946900

2019-07-04 17:57:16+00:00

education

religious education

theirishtimes--2019-08-01--Catholic schools can still ask questions on religion despite new law

theirishtimes

Catholic schools can still ask questions on religion despite new law

Catholic primary schools are still requesting details of children’s baptism records despite new laws that prohibit the use of religion in their enrolment policies. Legislation to deal with the “baptism barrier”, which came into effect in October last year, prohibits the use of religion to give priority access to children of a particular faith and affects enrolments from next month. However, a section of the legislation preventing schools from asking the question on religion has not yet been commenced or implemented and will not come into effect for another two years. The Department of Education is consulting schools on their enrolment and admissions policy, and the schools have until the 2021-2022 school year to publish their policies, at which point the remaining sections will be commenced, or enforced. A spokesman for Minister for Education Joe McHugh said: “Since last October it has been made abundantly clear that primary schools cannot use religion as a criterion for admissions, except in specific circumstances when dealing with children of minority faiths. Primary schools should be abiding by those rules.” Just over 90 per cent of primary schools are of a Catholic ethos and the School Admissions Act prohibits them from giving enrolment priority to baptised children where schools are oversubscribed. About 20 per cent have too many applications for the number of places. A parent reluctant to be identified as he feared it could affect his child’s enrolment at a school in south Dublin said it was an “obvious absurdity” in the legislation that while it was illegal for schools to discriminate on the grounds of religion, they can “still ask the question and effectively discriminate”. “The crucial, central pillar of the Act is not in force,” he said. His family is not religious and his child is not baptised. He said when he made a query this year the school he wants his child to attend asked questions about what religion the family was and asked for a baptism certificate if there was one. A large number of primary schools ask similar questions in enrolment forms. “I rang the appeals section of the department twice and both times was told that any appeal of a school refusal would not succeed so long as schools can continue to ask questions about religion,” the parent said. He added that: “Until the law changes so that the policy is that they can’t ask the baptism question, they are not going to uphold the legislation.” The department said in a statement that anybody seeking advice about an appeal under the Equal Status Act should seek the advice of the Workplace Relations Commission. Atheist Ireland human rights officer Jane Donnelly said that although schools could not use information on religion to give preference to Catholics, “if your child was discriminated against on grounds of religion, how could you ever prove it?” She added, however, that “it would be difficult to discriminate on grounds of religion and pretend not to, because you would have to get more than one person to agree – including the board of management. It might be easier to do in a small school but not in a larger one.”

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/catholic-schools-can-still-ask-questions-on-religion-despite-new-law-1.3974648

2019-08-01 20:19:26+00:00

education

religious education

theirishtimes--2019-08-01--Schools and religion Non-believers treated like second-class citizens

theirishtimes

Schools and religion: ‘Non-believers treated like second-class citizens’

Helen O’Shea’s daughter is used to doing her homework at the back of the classroom during religious education. As an atheist parent, she says it is the price pupils pay in an education system which is still dominated by religion. “There’s an assumption that everyone is okay with religious instruction or a priest coming into the classroom . . . and if you’re not, you’re relegated to the back of the class and treated like a second-class citizen.” So she was encouraged when the Department of Education published a circular last year which instructed State-run secondary schools to offer alternative subject choices to students who did not wish to study religion. In the mostly conservative world of education, this was a game-changer. It stated that the past practice of assuming that pupils were predominantly Catholic and arranging religious instruction accordingly was no longer appropriate. Instead, parents would have to be polled on whether they wanted their children to study religion or, significantly, a different, timetabled subject. The circular applied only to State-run schools, which account for about half of secondary schools. These are run by local Education and Training Boards (ETBs) and community schools, which are run jointly by ETBs and the Catholic Church. Voluntary secondary schools, typically run or owned by religious organisations, were not affected by the circular. “I was delighted,” says O’Shea, whose daughter attends a community school in Ardee, Co Louth. “I never baptised my daughters and went out of my way to send them to an Educate Together primary school . . . But religion has a way of encroaching into your life, especially in the education system.” The department’s move, however, was fiercely opposed by groups such as the Catholic Church, Education and Training Boards and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland. Documents obtained by The Irish Times last year show Catholic bishops warned the department that students who would receive tuition in an exam subject instead of religion would receive an unfair advantage. (Instead, they proposed that such students who opted out of religion should be offered a course in “religious heritage and values as well as ethics”). Education and Training Boards complained of having to offer an alternative subject without being given additional resources to do so. Religion teachers were also highly critical and insisted the circular was leading to widespread confusion by not clarifying the difference between “religious instruction” and “religious education”. While it said “religious instruction” related to the teaching of a particular religion for pupils of that faith, “religious education” was a much wider subject open to all pupils, regardless of their belief. In October last year, in the face of this opposition, the department issued a “clarification” of its circular which watered down much of the meaning of the original. In a significant reversal, it said the State-approved curriculum on religious education did not contain any element of “religious instruction, formation, indoctrination or worship”. As a result, opting out of the subject and being timetabled for an alternative subject “does not arise”. However, the revised circular still included some significant changes. It said students who opted out of religious instruction (such as worship or faith-specific teaching) should be timetabled for alternative subjects, rather than doing homework at the back of class. It also said schools should proactively establish the wishes of parents in relation to opting out of religious worship or instruction. This should be integrated with the school’s processes for establishing subject choices generally. New documents, however, show most State schools are ignoring this revised circular. ETB schools, for example, have been recently directed by their umbrella body to “maintain the status quo in relation to the provision of religious education and opting-out arrangements”. The evidence on the ground in many community schools, similarly, is that the latest circular is not being implemented. Sources in these schools argue that the lack of funding to provide for additional teaching for non-religious students is a key obstacle. However, schools are required to follow procedures set down in department circular letters. In a statement, a Department of Education spokesman confirmed that the circular applied to all “community and ETB post-primary schools”. Meanwhile, parents such as Helen O’Shea remain as frustrated as ever over what she sees as the violation of non-religious students’ rights and those of their parents. “Schools shouldn’t be allowed to cherry-pick what suits them when it comes to religion . . . It shouldn’t be so hard to uphold a child’s constitutional right to drop out of religion.”

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/schools-and-religion-non-believers-treated-like-second-class-citizens-1.3973464

2019-08-01 01:07:54+00:00

education

religious education

theirishtimes--2019-08-01--Schools refusing tuition for students who opt out of religion

theirishtimes

Schools refusing tuition for students who opt out of religion

State secondary schools are refusing to implement a directive which requires them to provide students who opt out of religious instruction with access to another subject. Last year, the Department of Education issued a circular requiring State schools to timetable alternative tuition throughout the school year for students who opt out of religious instruction. This was aimed at ending the practice of assuming that pupils are predominately Catholic and requiring non-religious or minority faith students to do homework during religious instruction. The circular applies to State-run schools, such as community schools or those run by Education and Training Boards (ETBs), which account for about half of secondary schools or 160,000 pupils. Voluntary secondary schools, typically run or owned by religious organisations, are not affected by the circular. However, new documents show most State schools are not implementing the circular on the basis that they do no have resources to provide alternative tuition. ETB schools, for example, were recently directed by their umbrella body to “maintain the status-quo in relation to the provision of religious education and opting-out arrangements”. A spokesman for the department has confirmed that the circular, issued in October last year, remains in place and schools are required to follow it. The campaign group Atheist Ireland said the failure of State schools to implement these measures means non-religious students are being discriminated against. “The practical application of maintaining the status quo means students who exercise their constitutional and human right not to attend religious teaching cannot access another optional subject,” said Jane Donnelly of Atheist Ireland. Nessa White, general secretary of Education and Training Boards Ireland, confirmed that the umbrella body’s advice to schools has been to maintain the “status quo” in relation to allowing students to opt out of religious instruction. “Religious education is open to all students regardless of their religion or world view. In some instances, parents or students over the age of 18 wish to opt out of religious education. This is fully permitted in ETB schools. “However, our schools have not been provided with any additional resources to provide alternative classes to students who opt out. Our schools cater for these students to the best of their ability with the resources currently available to them.” Ms White insisted that ETB schools are “multidenominational and cater for all students regardless of their religious or non-religious beliefs”. Many community schools are also not implementing the circular, which also requires schools to proactively establish the wishes of parents in relation to opting out of religious worship or instruction. The circular states this should be integrated with the school’s processes for establishing subject choices generally. “Past practice of assuming that the pupil body is predominately Catholic and arranging religious instruction accordingly is no longer an appropriate approach,” the circular states. “ In a changing context the constitutional right not to attend religious instruction must be given effect through changed practices.”

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/schools-refusing-tuition-for-students-who-opt-out-of-religion-1.3973478

2019-08-01 01:18:29+00:00

education

religious education

theirishtimes--2019-08-27--Four religious-run schools switching to multi-denominational model

theirishtimes

Four religious-run schools switching to multi-denominational model

Four religious-run primary schools are changing to a multi-denominational model this year. Scoil an Ghleanna CNS, Co Kerry; Tahilla CNS, Co Kerry; and Lecarrow CNS, Co Roscommon – previously Catholic schools – will now fall under the patronage of local Education and Training Boards (ETBs). Kilnamanagh CNS, Co Wexford is being transferred from the Church of Ireland. Three other Steiner schools – Mol an Oige, Co Clare; Galway CNS; and Raheen Wood, Co Clare – that were already multi-denominational have been chosen to become Community National Schools (CNS). Three newly established ETB schools will also be opening in Dunshauglin, Ashbourne and Swords. Nessa White, general secretary of Education and Training Boards Ireland, said she is “delighted” to see the CNS model growing across the country. She said; “2019 will bring many new opportunities and challenges to the CNS model, in particular the seven schools with an existing children, parent and staff body moving over the CNS model. “These schools come from a variety of patrons and will have different needs in order to make the transition successfully. ETBI [Eductiona and Training Board Ireland] and ETBs will work closely with these schools to ensure that reconfiguration is a success for them and for the CNS model.” The Government has pledged to have 400 multi-denominational primary schools by 2030.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/four-religious-run-schools-switching-to-multi-denominational-model-1.3998803

2019-08-27 13:06:43+00:00

education

religious education

theirishtimes--2019-09-16--Children who opt out of religion in primary are denied teaching for 129 full school days

theirishtimes

Children who opt out of religion in primary are denied teaching for 129 full school days

More than 30 years ago, I taught third class in a Cork city boys’ school. The local priest was a frequent visitor to the classroom and liked to engage with the class on matters catechetic. On one such visit, his focus was on praying loudly and with passion. He invited the class to join him in a decade of the rosary but stopped after the Our Father and chastised the boys for their lack of volume and urged them to raise the roof with 10 Hail Marys. While the rafters remained firmly attached to the struts, a single voice suddenly boomed above all others as one child, Jules, attempted to let the Mardyke know how blessed was the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. The priest was suitably impressed and commended Jules for the power of his prayer. “You are a great boy!” he told Jules, who replied in a proud Cockney accent: “Yes, thank you, Father. And I’m not even a Caffolick!” Jules was one of many children I taught who opted out of religion classes but obviously had absorbed much of what was happening in the classroom around him. There is no way of gauging the effect on a child, included in a classroom but excluded from what is being taught. I recently came across a child who put her hands to her ears any time religion class started. Her parents had jokingly told her to do this but underestimated how literal an attentive five-year-old can be. Clearly, children undeservedly have their difference exposed. The welcome that schools extend on admission bears a caveat of conditional consent to accepting the school ethos and agreeing to opt out. Fundamentally, if parents’ beliefs do not meet those of the single faith on which the school’s patronage is based, then the child will be excluded from teacher-time for part of each school day. In concluding its 2012 report, the Forum for Patronage and Pluralism recommended the divestment from church to community patronage for primary schools on a phased and incremental basis. With 96 per cent of all primary schools patronised by a single religion, the forum stated that it would be inadvisable to recommend “a big bang radical upheaval” and cautiously called for a softly, softly approach. Little did the authors of the report realise that eight school years later, the rate of divesting could be measured by a junior infant on one hand with a spare thumb to suck, with single-faith school patronage continuing on a dominant 96th percentile. Admission policies to these schools invariably claim to be welcoming to children of all faiths and none. The welcome mat is rolled out for all children, but for those whose parents do not wish them to receive religious instruction it reads “welcome but . . .”. The “but” is the opt-out, where those children must sit out religion class. While the class teacher works with his/her class in fulfilling the faith (including a majority who do not practise this faith with their families outside of the school), the opt-outs sit down the back of the class and count down the 30 minutes while colouring in yet another dinosaur. In my 20 years as a principal of a Catholic school, parents acquiesced to this mono-ethos system without question. The only times issues arose might have been at time of First Communion and Confirmation, when rehearsals impinged hugely on the integrity of the school timetable, with their children more clearly left on the outside. However, the daily teaching of religion directly affects this integrity of the school timetable. Children who opt out are denied teaching for half an hour every day. With 1,464 days in the eight-year primary school cycle, this amounts to 129 full school days. This equates to 26 full school weeks in a child’s primary school career. That’s a lot of time for colouring dinosaurs. Surely this time would be better spent being helping all our children to “know about and understand the cultural heritage of the major forms of religion, beliefs, traditions and world views which have been embraced by humankind”. These are the aims of the Education about Religion and Beliefs (ERB) programme proposed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) as part of its new primary school curriculum The ethics section of this ERB programme aims to create in the child “the promotion of a personal commitment to the dignity and freedom of all human beings” and stresses the importance of human rights, justice and service of the common good. The NCCA proposal focuses on the theist, non-theist and secular beliefs and avoids the nurture of one religion or belief system. It is a programme that will include all children, with no child losing out on teacher time. The introduction of ERB and ethics may meet with resistance from patrons of Church-run schools, who wish to retain their current monopoly of religious instruction time. Such retention appears as iniquitous as it is segregationist. It is time for church bodies to seriously address the incongruity of its ownership of religious teaching time in our schools. It is also time for them to take their hands down from their ears and address the negligible rate of divestment and to allow all children to be included to their entitlement of the full school day. It is time for all to opt in. Peter Gunning is a writer and former primary school principal

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/children-who-opt-out-of-religion-in-primary-are-denied-teaching-for-129-full-school-days-1.4012271

2019-09-16 23:00:00+00:00

education

religious education

thenewyorktimes--2019-12-23--Montana Battle Over Aid for Religious Schools Reaches Supreme Court

thenewyorktimes

Montana Battle Over Aid for Religious Schools Reaches Supreme Court

WASHINGTON — Kendra Espinoza sends her daughters to Stillwater Christian School, in Kalispell, Mont. The girls are thriving, but the tuition bills are steep. Ms. Espinoza, a single mother, has worked three jobs, raffled off quilts and held yard sales to help make the payments. She had also hoped to get some money from a state program enacted in 2015 “to provide parental and student choice in education.” Soon after the program started, though, a state agency said students attending religious schools were not eligible. Ms. Espinoza and two other mothers with children at Stillwater sued, and the Montana Supreme Court ruled against them, shutting down the entire program for all schools, religious or not. The court relied on a provision of the state’s Constitution that bars the use of government money to aid religious schools. Many state constitutions have similar provisions.

Adam Liptak

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/us/politics/montana-religious-schools-supreme-court.html?emc=rss&partner=rss

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 10:00:29 +0000

education

religious education

truepundit--2019-01-18--Left Opens War On All Religious Schools By Targeting Where Karen Pence Works

truepundit

Left Opens War On All Religious Schools By Targeting Where Karen Pence Works

Vice President Mike Pence’s private religious views have been a remarkably common aspect of liberal commentary. Pence is one of the most polite and respectful religious people ever, if the headlines about him are to be taken into context. The most recent was a breathless HuffPost headline that read, “Karen Pence Is Working At A School That Bans LGBTQ Employees And Kids.” It begins with a dark and somber tone: “Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, started at a job this week teaching art at Immanuel Christian School in Northern Virginia. It’s not a school where everyone is welcome.” The core cause of concern comes from the parent agreement, which says the school may refuse admission or deny continued admission if a student participates in or condones homosexuality. The writer is stunned that the employment application “also makes candidates sign a pledge not to engage in homosexual activity or violate the ‘unique roles of male and female.’” The author further states, “The application says that the school believes ‘marriage unites one man and one woman’ and that ‘a wife is commanded to submit to her husband as the church submits to Christ.’” The application asks potential employees to explain their view of the “creation/evolution debate.” The “parent agreement” asks parents to cooperate in its “biblical morality” policy. After confirming that the state of Virginia, as with many other states, permits private religious schools to discriminate, the article ends with a quote: “‘Why not teach at a school that welcomes everyone, instead of choosing one that won’t serve LGBTQ kids, kids of LGBTQ parents?’ said JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president for policy and political affairs at the Human Rights Campaign, in a statement to HuffPost. ‘The Pences never seem to miss an opportunity to show their public service only extends to some.’” – READ MORE

Staff

https://truepundit.com/left-opens-war-on-all-religious-schools-by-targeting-where-karen-pence-works/

2019-01-18 14:27:02+00:00

education

religious education

usatoday--2019-06-28--Supreme Court will decide if state funds can be used to help pay for religious school tuition

usatoday

Supreme Court will decide if state funds can be used to help pay for religious school tuition

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide if state funds can be used to help pay for tuition at religious schools. The case comes from Montana, where parents of religious school students sued for access to a program providing tax credits for tuition assistance. Residents and businesses that donate to private scholarship organizations receive up to $150 in tax credits; the donations are used for scholarships for low-income families. A district court initially ruled for the parents, but the Montana Supreme Court said it conflicted with state Constitution and invalidated the scholarship program. Since the 1990s, federal and state courts have divided on whether religious schools can be included in student-aid programs. "Under the current legal landscape, whether a child attending a religious school is permitted to participate in an educational choice program is based solely on the state or federal circuit within which that child happens to reside," said Scott Bullock, president and general counsel at the Institute for Justice, which brought the case. "No child should be denied educational opportunity simply because of the state they live in." More: Supreme Court in transition: Conservatives ascendant but Roberts, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh prove unpredictable The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of religious liberty in several cases recently. Just last week, it ruled 7-2 that a mammoth Latin cross on government land in Bladensburg, Maryland, does not have to be moved or altered in the name of church-state separation. It was another in a series of high court decisions defending religious freedom, from allowing public prayer and allocating public funds to exempting religious objectors from laws regarding contraception and same-sex marriage. More: Supreme Court to hear Trump administration plea to end DACA program for immigrants who came as children

Richard Wolf, USA TODAY

http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~/603789938/0/usatodaycomwashington-topstories~Supreme-Court-will-decide-if-state-funds-can-be-used-to-help-pay-for-religious-school-tuition/

2019-06-28 14:40:08+00:00

education

religious education

windowoneurasiablog--2019-09-24--Moscow Plans to Drop Courses on All Specific Faiths from School Curriculum Infuriating Religious

windowoneurasiablog

Moscow Plans to Drop Courses on All Specific Faiths from School Curriculum, Infuriating Religious

Staunton, September 20 – Russia’s education ministry has proposed dropping courses about Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism from the school curriculum, retaining in this segment only courses devoting to world religions and civic ethics, an action that already has infuriated some, most seriously the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The synod’s department for religious education and catechism has released a statement denouncing this move, arguing that it violates the rights of parents and children and calling on the government to revisit the issue by having a broad public discussion in which the ROC MP wants to take part ( rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=85906 If the government goes through with the plan to drop courses on specific faiths, it will further intensify tensions between the Kremlin and the Patriarchate which has made the introduction of such courses a priority. It is also likely to annoy some in Russia’s three other “traditional” faiths. But if the religious are certain to be opposed, liberal Russian opinion will be on the other side. Indeed, Nezavsimaya gazeta headlined its upbeat report about this development “Religious Segregation May Leave the Primary School” ( ). What is now likely is a recapitulation of the debate which surrounded the introduction of such courses in the first place. The big difference is that this time the government will be starting as an opponent of such instruction rather than as a major force pushing for it.

paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)

http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/09/moscow-plans-to-drop-courses-on-all.html

2019-09-24 17:34:00.001000+00:00

education

religious education

npr--2019-06-23--At Sunday School Jimmy Carter Extends Praise To Trump For Restraint On Iran

npr

At Sunday School, Jimmy Carter Extends Praise To Trump For Restraint On Iran

Former president Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Ga. **Emma Hurt/WABE** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Emma Hurt/WABE Former president Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Ga. Emma Hurt/WABE For the second time since ****[breaking his hip a month ago,](https://www.npr.org/2019/05/13/722948126/former-president-jimmy-carter- suffers-broken-hip) former President Jimmy Carter taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Ga. this weekend. Addressing an audience of approximately 500, the 94 year old used his scripture lesson to discuss a topic he is intimately familiar with: Iran. "I agree with President Trump[ on his decision not to take military action against Iran](https://www.npr.org/2019/06/21/734683701/trump-reportedly- orders-strike-on-iran-then-calls-off-attack-plan)," he said. "I had a lot of problems with Iran when I was in office." Carter's remarks came just two days after President Trump said that he called off a strike on Iran ordered in retaliation for Iran's having shot down a U.S. drone. Trump said he did so after being told that 150 people would likely have died in the attack. The escalating tensions with Iran have revived memories of the Iranian hostage crisis that **** dominated Carter's final year in the White House. He reminded the congregation the hostages were embassy staff he had sent to try to make peace with what was then the new Islamic republic, and to establish diplomatic relations with the government. Indeed, peace has been elusive for the United States for almost all of its history, he said. That's ironic, Carter suggested, given how central the concept of peace is to Christianity. "We're supposed to be a 'Christian' nation are we not? But we are known throughout the world as the most warlike country on Earth. And I would say almost all the wars in which we've been involved, have been unnecessary," he said. He made the point that peace would be an important step towards bringing the proverbial kingdom of God to Earth. "So if God's kingdom was on Earth, we would live totally at peace with each other. Maybe that's an individual choice too," he said. "Not just between nations not being at war, but with a friendly attitude, or a loving attitude to other people that are different than us." Carter's classes at Maranatha date back to 1981, when he returned to Plains from Washington. The town has a population of more than 700 and the church has a congregation of about 30. But on this Sunday, attendees from all over the world were in Plains to see Carter. As has become typical when Carter is teaching at the church, many of them slept in the parking lot overnight — the first car arrived at 8 p.m. On Sunday, Carter's message was one that many of those visiting Plains had been hoping to hear. "As polarized as our country is right now, I wanted to come hear a president that believes peace is possible, even among the most vicious of enemies," said Andy Oliver, a pastor from Florida who traveled to Georgia with his wife and two children. "Just wanted to come and feel inspired this morning. And wanted my son to hear that too." The praise for Trump, in particular, struck Cathy Smith from Milton, Ga. "He actually praised another political party, for doing something well, when most people nowadays, they take sides," she said. "Within the first five minutes he said President Trump is doing something good ... a lot of people would not do that if you're from the Democratic [Party]. That goes to the kind of person he is," she said. Visitors on Sunday came everywhere from Tunisia to California, from Michigan to South Korea. "We're a mega-church every other Sunday," said Jill Stuckey, a member of the congregation and superintendent of the national park that comprises many of the Carter monuments in town. "And a very rural, quiet church the other times." "It's unbelievable to hear the crowd that comes to hear the truth," said Maranatha Pastor Tony Lowden. "And I believe people come in, searching for the truth. I think Americans all across the country are looking for someone that's going to tell them the truth."

Emma Hurt

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/23/735253105/at-sunday-school-jimmy-carter-discusses-iran-says-peace-is-a-choice?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news

2019-06-23 21:32:00+00:00

education

religious education

bbcuk--2019-02-21--Religion cannot stop LGBT education says Ofsted boss

bbcuk

'Religion cannot stop LGBT education', says Ofsted boss

All children must learn about same sex couples regardless of their religious background, the head of Ofsted says. Hundreds of parents protested outside a Birmingham school over it teaching pupils about same sex couples and gender identity. Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman told the BBC it was crucial children were exposed to differences in society. She said it was important children knew "there are families that have two mummies or two daddies". Parents of Muslim and Christian faith have held demonstrations outside Parkfield Community School in the Alum Rock area of the city, where children are taught about same sex couples through story books. Protesters have claimed the lessons, part of the "No Outsiders" programme, contradict their faith. They argued assistant head Andrew Moffat, who started the lessons and is gay, has been "promoting personal beliefs and convictions about universal acceptability of homosexuality as being normal and morally correct". But Mrs Spielman said the lessons were "about making sure they [children] know just enough to know that some people prefer not to get married to somebody of the opposite sex and that sometimes there are families that have two mummies or two daddies". "It's about making sure that children who do happen to realise that they themselves may not fit a conventional pattern know that they're not bad or ill." In light of the protests, Mrs Spielman said there needed to be a "careful exploration of the middle ground" but lessons covering LGBT topics were important. One mother, who wished to remain anonymous, accused the school of "planting ideas" in children's heads. Her daughter attends Parkfield School and she said she was too young to be taught "what goes on in someone's bedroom". "It's something that we would like to teach our children ourselves," she said. "It kind of feels like they're forcing it upon us." She denied being homophobic but said "it's just not what we're about and we don't agree with it". Mr Moffat told the BBC he had been receiving threats and "nasty emails" from parents who disagreed with the programme. Mrs Spielman argued the lessons were less about "endless sex education" and more about understanding differences in society. "The essence of democracy is that we don't all get our way," she said. "We accept majority decision which means there will always be things that some of us don't like, but that is the very essence of it - accepting that we can't have 100% of what we want." Solutions, she said, would be found in "sane, rational discussion, not protest". However, the BBC understands more protests were being planned and some parents have said they would write to the government demanding a change in equality legislation. The change, they hoped, would enable schools not to teach subjects that were not in line with religious beliefs. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-47282724

2019-02-21 01:19:27+00:00

education

religious education

newyorker--2019-08-23--How the Religious Right Transformed Israeli Education

newyorker

How the Religious Right Transformed Israeli Education

Rafi Peretz, Israel’s new Education Minister, recently gave his first major television interview. Peretz, a former chief military rabbi and the founder of a military-preparatory academy in the Gaza Strip, belongs to a far-right alliance of parties and is a newcomer to politics. In the interview, Peretz was flushed and visibly nervous. He couldn’t stop smiling. “Let’s talk about the L.G.B.T. community,” his interviewer, Dana Weiss, said at one point. Peretz was clearly caught off guard. He replied that he respected all people, but that “our Torah teaches us differently.” Weiss asked, “Do you support conversion therapy? Do you believe it’s possible to convert people’s sexual orientation?” By now Peretz’s smile had completely vanished. “I think it’s possible,” he said. “I can tell you I have a deep familiarity with this type of education, and I’ve also done it.” He went on to describe how he had counselled a student. “The objective is that, first of all, he should know himself well,” he said. “And then he will decide.” Later in the interview, Peretz said that he wanted to “extend Israeli sovereignty to the entirety of Judea and Samaria”—to fully occupy the West Bank—without giving Palestinians any voting rights. It is saying something about how far to the right Israeli society has moved that this comment earned little notice. But Peretz’s embrace of conversion therapy proved too much for mainstream Israelis to stomach. After the interview aired, hundreds protested in front of the government’s Tel Aviv offices, holding signs with Biblical quotes about love and acceptance. Three thousand teachers threatened to strike. Thousands of parents around the country signed a petition stating that Peretz “shouldn’t be a minister of anything.” Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, moved quickly to disavow Peretz’s comments on conversion therapy, calling them “unacceptable.” But he didn’t fire the man he had entrusted with the education of Israel’s children. Unlike the United States, which enshrined separation of church and state in its Constitution, Israel is defined, in its basic law, as a “Jewish and democratic state”—a muddled term that breeds near-constant battle over its meaning. Since its founding, Israel has had to rely on a series of fragile compromises between its secular leadership and its religious community. A letter known as the status-quo agreement, signed, in 1947, by David Ben-Gurion, who went on to become Israel’s first Prime Minister, guaranteed basic religious tenets, such as observance of Shabbat, while insuring that Israel would not become a Jewish theocracy. Marriage, divorce, and burial have, since the country’s founding, been under the auspices of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. But on matters relating to the work force, military, universities, or public schools, there has been a clear separation between religion and state. In the past decade, since Netanyahu came into power, Israeli society has undergone a process so transformative that a new Hebrew word had to be brought into use for it: “hadata,” or “religionization.” Manifestations of hadata appear throughout civic life. On some public buses that pass through ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, women have been forced to sit in the back, for reasons of “modesty.” In the military, female soldiers are officially given the same opportunities as males, but the presence of just one religious male soldier in a unit can prevent female soldiers from serving there. Such discrimination is often done in the name of supposed inclusiveness: in order to accommodate the strictures of observant Jews, certain adjustments have to be made. Yet those called on to “adjust” are almost always women or members of the L.G.B.T. community. Just this week, Israel's attorney general said that cities could enforce gender segregation at public events, adding that “the justification for the separation is greater if the events are attended by a public that desires to be separated.” Nowhere have those changes been more pronounced or more influential than in the public-school system, where the values of the Jewish Home Party and its far-right allies have taken hold. The Education Minister controls funding to Israel’s two systems of public schools, a religious system and a non-religious one, as well as its ultra-Orthodox schools, Arab and Druze schools, universities, and colleges. According to a 2017 investigation by the liberal think tank Molad, classes in Jewish education received a hundred and nineteen times more funding than those having to do with democracy or coexistence. Whereas schools used to promote a pluralistic approach to Judaism, with weight given to the Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox movements, much of the curriculum these days is being taught through the narrow prism of religious orthodoxy. And the emphasis on Jewish studies insures that other content is pushed out. Naftali Bennett, the former leader of the Jewish Home Party and the Education Minister before Peretz, said as much, in 2016: “Learning Judaism and excelling in it is more important, in my opinion, than learning math or science.” Religious organizations have likewise mushroomed in the country in recent years, a result of generous state budgets that increased with time—more than doubling between 2007 and 2017. Representatives of these organizations have taken to teaching classes—often for free—in the school system, an offer that is too tempting for many administrators to pass up. “It started with, ‘Let us teach them the Jewish holidays, because you don’t know anything about it,’ ” Ram Vromen, a Tel Aviv businessman and the founder of a nonprofit group called Secular Forum, which tracks religious content in public schools, told me. “It quickly escalated to them teaching bar-mitzvah-preparation classes, classes in family values, and even leading discussions about the assassination of [the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin.” Vromen started the secular forum in 2011, and focussed on the school system after he saw a handout that was given to his daughter in her third-grade reading-comprehension class. “It described a guy called Suleiman who is Jewish and living in some Arab city,” Vromen told me. A pogrom is about to take place just before Shabbat and everyone decides to flee. Nobody stops for Shabbat except for Suleiman and his family, “who are very observant and decide that honoring the Shabbat is more important.” Those who continue to flee are later massacred, and only Suleiman and his family are spared, because of their religious fervor. “Then there were questions like, ‘How do you observe the Shabbat in your own home?’ ” Vromen recalled. Among the accounts collected by Vromen’s group is a science textbook that includes a prayer for rain. “You can’t examine these cases individually,” Vromen said. “You have to look at them as a whole. And when you do you see that there’s a clear attempt to change the face and character of Israeli society.” There was a father who reported that his six-year-old daughter’s preschool had taken a trip to a synagogue and received fliers that read, “the people of Israel must study the Torah or else they don’t feel truly alive.” There was a mother whose eighth-grade daughter’s homework included the imperative to “Spell out nineteen times ‘Baruch Ata Adonai’ ”—the beginning of a Jewish blessing. Religious content, it turned out, ran deeper than that. “Learning history now matters only inasmuch as it relates to Jewish history,” Vromen said. “So that, if the First World War has no real connection to the Jewish people, they barely teach it.” In 2017, a video of a ninth-grade student named Hilli from Tel Aviv made headlines. In it, Hilli addresses the “Dear Education Minister,” Bennett, with a confidence that belies her age. She recounts sitting in a class on Israeli culture when the teacher began describing the life paths of Israeli men and women. “A man’s path begins with a bris, through school, bar mitzvah, Army, university, marriage, and children,” Hilli quotes her teacher as saying. And a woman’s? “School, Army, marriage and children,” she says. Women, Hilli is left to conclude, “apparently skip university, because it’s more important to change diapers and make lunch.” She says, “As a secular girl, the education system simply erases me.” When I was a student in Jerusalem, in the late nineteen-eighties and nineties, we celebrated the Jewish holidays in school, but no teacher asked us how, or if, we observed them at home. We welcomed the Shabbat with song but not with prayer, and certainly not with the full ritual of candle-lighting, Kiddush, and head cover that has become the norm across (nonreligious) kindergartens all over the country. There was a sense that Jewish culture contained a multitude of interpretations, with no one inherently better than the other, and that schools were there to provide anchor, not judgment. Yael (Yuli) Tamir, a former Labor Party lawmaker, was the last liberal Education Minister, serving between 2006 and 2009. She told me that during her term there had already been pressure from the religious right to have a greater say in the way that the nonreligious public-school system was run. “There isn’t a country in the world that doesn’t want to teach some kind of cultural heritage,” she said. “But the question is when that turns into indoctrination.” Tamir said that she fought to preserve the nonreligious system as distinct from the religious one. It was important to her that students learn about the Palestinian nakba (“catastrophe”), for example, when reading about Israel’s War of Independence, and that they be able to grapple intellectually with different, and at times contradictory, narratives. “The nonreligious system takes as a paradigm Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic country, with all of the complexities involved,” she said. “The religious system, on the other hand, is faith-based, and argues that we’re in this country because of God. It’s seemingly semantic—they’re not throwing anyone in jail; they’re not enforcing burkas on anyone—but the distance between that and theocracy is small, and getting smaller.”

Ruth Margalit

https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-jerusalem/how-the-religious-right-transformed-israeli-education

2019-08-23 16:20:23+00:00

education

religious education

pinknewsuk--2019-01-07--Ultra-religious Jewish families will leave UK over LGBT education

pinknewsuk

Ultra-religious Jewish families will ‘leave UK over LGBT education’

Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world An ultra-Orthodox Jewish activist has warned that “many” Jews will leave Britain if faith schools agree to teach children about LGBT issues. Lawyers have written to the Department of Education on behalf of Shraga Stern to say that members of Britain’s 70,000-strong ultra-religious Charedi community “would rather choose to leave the United Kingdom for a more hospitable jurisdiction, rather than comply with such an obligation to mention homosexuality, same-sex relationships or gender reassignment in a positive context at school.” In an 8,500-word letter seen by PinkNews and reported on in The Sunday Times, Stern’s lawyers told Education Minister Damian Hinds and Minister of State Nick Gibb that their client, whose children attend an independent faith school in London, was “alarmed” by draft guidance published in March 2018. The initial proposals state that pupils must be made aware of the Equality Act’s protected characteristics—which include “sexual orientation” and “gender reassignment”—in an “age-appropriate way.” The lawyers have called the draft guidance “disproportionate, morally unacceptable to our client and unlawful.” They argued that it would be “deeply unfair” to the Jewish Orthodox tradition to “require the schools to teach in a manner that is contrary to the faith and belief of the community and is something which they do not wish to teach. Amanda Spielman, who oversees Ofsted in her role as Chief Inspector of Education, said that faith schools could not opt out of teaching children about LGBT people, as it was required by the Equality Act. “We know a gay child might be born into any town, any family, any time,” Spielman said in a statement quoted in The Sunday Times. “You can’t say in these communities there won’t be any gay children. “This is about making sure every child has the chance to grow up with the right level of information [and] … access to the kinds of conversation or support they might want,” she explained. Stern’s lawyers have written in their letter that “the current law of the United Kingdom,” including the Equality Act, “does not permit the proposed changes to the Department’s Advice.” And Stern said that, as far as he was concerned, Jewish Orthodox children should not learn about any sex at school, including gay sex. “We do not want sex education taught in schools. We are tolerant of different lifestyles but we do not promote them,” he said.

Josh Jackman

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/01/07/jewish-orthodox-uk-lgbt-education/

2019-01-07 16:51:57+00:00

education

religious education

theindependent--2019-06-27--Parents should be stopped from withdrawing children from religious education over Islam lessons hea

theindependent

Parents should be stopped from withdrawing children from religious education over Islam lessons, headteachers say

Parents should not be allowed to selectively remove their children from religious education (RE) lessons, headteachers say, as study reveals many withdrawal requests are over the teaching of Islam. More than two in five school leaders and RE teachers have received requests for students to be withdrawn from teaching about one religion, research from Liverpool Hope University has revealed. Islam is the dominant focus of these parental withdrawal requests, according to the study of 450 school leaders and heads of RE. One participant, who received requests for children to be withdrawn from mosque visits said: “The students that have been removed are the ones that need to understand different cultures the most.” The majority (71 per cent) of teachers believe a law allowing parents to withdraw their children from RE is no longer required, according to the study in the British Journal of Religious Education. It comes after a report from Thurrock council revealed that parents in Essex were withdrawing their children from religious education lessons on Islam and stopping them from visiting mosques. Iman Atta, director of Tell Mama, an activist group which records and measures anti-Muslim incidents in Britain, told The Independent: “We have been hearing about cases where parents are pulling their children out of mosque visits as part of religious education since they do not want them to be near a mosque. “This has been taking place over the last five years and shows that there are parents who have fears or dislike Islam. This is also concerning, since what kinds of views are their children being exposed to? It does not bode well for the future of people and communities living together”. The right of parents to withdraw their children from RE and from collective worship has been in enshrined in law by both the 1944 and 1988 education acts. Parents can withdraw their children from some or all of the RE curriculum without giving a reason. Teachers warned in April last year that parents were increasingly abusing the right to withdraw their children from religious education lessons due to their prejudices. Members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers section of the National Education Union called on the government to take steps to prevent parents from selectively withdrawing youngsters from RE classes. “Cases of parents withdrawing selectively from teaching of one religion, predominantly Islam, were often presented by participants as representing a hostility and intolerance to those of other faiths,” the new research says. But it concludes: “While it was true that Islam’s prominence as a target for withdrawal implies prejudice, our findings suggest that teachers saw the reasons for this withdrawal as misunderstanding more than prejudice.”

Eleanor Busby

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/parents-religious-education-islam-headteachers-liverpool-hope-university-study-a8976366.html

2019-06-27 05:20:00+00:00

education

religious education

theirishtimes--2019-09-16--Parents finding it impossible to opt children out of religion education

theirishtimes

Parents finding it ‘impossible’ to opt children out of religion education

Many parents are finding it “impossible” to opt-out their children from religion classes despite their legal right to do so, according to campaigners. Under both the Constitution and the Education Act (1998), parents have a right to have their children opt out of religion classes if they wish. A spokesman for the Department of Education confirmed this was the case and said practical arrangements to accommodate children whose parents have chosen this option is a matter for each individual school. However, the campaign group Atheist Ireland claims it is aware of dozens of cases where parents have been told the subject is a core subject and the right to opt-out should not arise. “It’s like the public services card – it’s mandatory, but not compulsory,” said Jane Donnelly of Atheist Ireland. “If you do manage to opt your child out, they’re given no other subject and you’re asked why do you want to do this. Parents are questioned as to their reason. It’s like a form of coercion.” Ciara Roosli from Tramore, Co Waterford, said she requested in writing on two occasions that her son be exempt from religion at Ardscoil na Mara. However, she says she was told verbally that religion was compulsory at the school and the only solution was to remove him from the premises or to go to another school. There is no other secondary school in the town. “I had to go and take my child out of the school during religion class as I’ve been told that he has no choice but to take the subject,” she said. “I fully respect the school and its ethos. But pupils should not have to relinquish their human and constitutional rights. “I can’t continue to take him out of the school. I run a business. I can’t do that three times a week.” Ardscoil na Mara’s religious policy describes the school as being “immersed in the Edmund Rice (ERST) and the Religious Sisters of Charity traditions” and being “committed to developing the full potential of each student, within a welcoming Christian atmosphere”. It says its official policy is that religious education is regarded as “an integral part of our programme and a very important subject throughout school”. The policy adds that it respects the rights of parents who require that their child be excluded from religious education. One option is that a parent should remove their child from the school premises for the duration of religious education. Another option, according to its policy, is staying within the classroom following an “educationally appropriate activity” but cannot include study or homework. The school principal, Pádraig Cawley, declined to comment on the individual case, but said the school promoted inclusivity and was always available to meet with parents to resolve any issues. He said the school policy on religious education was being reviewed and updated to reflect the new Junior Cycle specification for religion. This new religion course, which teaches about religions and beliefs, is not regarded as faith formation. According to the department, this subject is concerned with “understanding religion as a phenomenon in the world and are designed to be studied by students of all religious faiths and of none”. However, groups such as Atheist Ireland claim it “disrespects” the rights of parents who seek secular education for their children based on human rights. Principals in a number of Catholic schools insist they are highly inclusive and seek to integrate students from all faith traditions and none. They have pointed to ESRI and Department of Education inspectors’ reports, which have found an “ overwhelming majority of parents and students find their schools to be well-managed and welcoming”.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/parents-finding-it-impossible-to-opt-children-out-of-religion-education-1.4020105

2019-09-16 23:41:16+00:00

education

religious education

thetelegraph--2019-08-02--Humanists to help shape religious curriculum after threatening legal action to sit on education boar

thetelegraph

Humanists to help shape religious curriculum after threatening legal action to sit on education board

Their decision came in spite of an identical 2017 legal challenge in Wales which saw that Council back down and decide to admit another humanist, Kathy Riddick, as a full member. It then prompted the Welsh Government to issue guidance clarifying that human rights law means humanists have the right to be full members, and subsequently decide to change the underlying education law to explicitly reflect the need to treat humanists and humanism equally in religious education. The law in Wales is identical to England. After being refused by Greenwich Council, Rachel sent a letter before action to them, arguing that she had been discriminated against because she was a humanist. The Council again refused to admit her as a member. As a result, Humanists UK then instructed solicitors, who notified the Council of their intention to apply to the High Court to take a case. Only then did the Council decided to acknowledge that there is a legal basis on which humanists can be full members of SACREs. Ms Taggart-Ryan, who is the charity’s campaigns officer, has now been admitted as a full member of Greenwich Council’s SACRE. She said: “I applied to my local SACRE because I believe it’s important that children have the opportunity to learn about a broad range of beliefs in RE including humanism. “The key way to get involved in this is to join the local SACRE, but I was completely dismayed when the panel rejected my application solely because I am a humanist. This issue is a matter of fairness and equality so I am glad that I now have the right to participate and vote in my SACRE.” Councillor Jackie Smith, Cabinet Member for Children's Services and Community Safety said: “The Royal Borough of Greenwich has admitted Rachel Taggart-Ryan as a member of its Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education and welcomes her contributions in helping shape the local curriculum for our diverse population”.

Gabriella Swerling

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/02/humanists-help-shape-religious-curriculum-threatening-legal/

2019-08-02 18:00:00+00:00

education

religious education

renegadetribune--2019-11-29--Definition of Religion

renegadetribune

Definition of Religion

We may now circumspectly sum up the constructive argument, and in so doing we arrive at an inductive definition of religion. 1. Religion consists primarily in a surmise or conception, reached by way of simple animism, of the causation and control of Nature (including human life) in terms of inferred quasi-human personalities, whether or not defined as extra-Natural. On the belief proceed certain practices. Beginning on the side of fear, it necessarily expands in time, with the rise of culture, to the side of gratitude; and it expresses itself accordingly. But its magical or strategical and its simply precatory or propitiatory forms proceed on the same premisses, and are in origin contemporary and correlative, being respectively the expression of the more and the less self-confident sides of men’s nature in the state of ignorance. 2. The primary surmise or conception involves itself in a multitude of beliefs, of which one of the most significant is that of kinship between animal and man (making possible a religious development of totemism), and the animal descent of the latter. From animism in general and this belief in particular comes an endless diversity of mythic narratives, all of which must be regarded as part of religion. 3. On the basis of animism, and of primitive inference of causation in all coincidence, arise a multitude of special practices, as taboo, which are first and last religious, being invariably bound up with the religious ideas aforesaid. 4. In virtue of the inevitable correlation of moral with cosmological thought in early man through animism, religion thus becomes secondarily a rule for the human control of human life; and it remains structurally recognisable on this side when the primary aspect has partly faded away. 5. Alike when such a rule for life is ascribed to a mythical founder—whether God or demigod or supernormal man—or to a historical personage credited only with moral genius, the special sanctity or authority ascribed to his code partakes of the nature of religion. Thus the religious element in Positivism consists as much in the reverence given to the founder as in the elements of his teaching. [There is a varying measure of a common religious element in the kind of honour paid to Zoroaster, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, the Hebrew prophets, Apollonius of Tyana, Paul, Saint Augustine, Saint Francis, Luther, Calvin, Arminius, Jansen, Glas, Sandeman, Muggleton, Auguste Comte, Mrs. Eddy, and Madame Blavatsky.] 6. Philosophic, scientific, and ethical thought may be defined as specifically non-religious when, but not before, they have abandoned or repudiated the cosmological premisses of religion, found their guiding principle in tested induction, and, in the case of ethics, ceased to found the rule of life on either alleged supernatural revelation or the authority of an alleged supernormal or specially gifted teacher. 7. Even after conceptual thought has thus repudiated religion, however, what is termed “cosmic emotion” remains in the psychic line of religion. In fine, religion is the sum (a) of men’s ideas of their relation to the imagined forces of the cosmos; (b) of their relation to each other as determined by their views of that, or by teachers who authoritatively recast those views; and (c) of the practices set up by those ideas. Under this definition there is room for every religion ever historically so-called, from fetishism to pantheism, and from Buddhism to Comtism, without implicit negation of any claim made for any one religion to any moral attribute, save of course that of objective truth or credibility.

renegade

http://www.renegadetribune.com/definition-of-religion/

Fri, 29 Nov 2019 13:02:04 +0000

education

religious education

sottnet--2019-04-10--Ideological delirium Italian cemetery covers crosses so as not to offend people of other religion

sottnet

'Ideological delirium': Italian cemetery covers crosses so as not to offend people of other religions

The crosses on graves in an Italian cemetery in Pieve di Cento have been covered with black cloth so as not to offend those who may come from another religion., Il Giornale reports Following the reports of the coverings of the symbols, many have expressed criticism including Forza Italia (Forward Italy) deputy Galeazzo Bignami who denounced the move saying those looking not to offend were disrespecting Christian values and he added, "even more so the memory of our dead, hiding them behind 'motorised tents' in a cemetery to avoid offending other religions.""If the administrators are ashamed of our tradition and our culture, they should go and hide themselves and not just behind a motorised tent. If they are not able to bring respect for the living at least they have the decency to leave the dead alone and not involve them in foolishness," he added.The incident is also unlikely to have been well met by populist Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's League party which proposed in 2018 to require a crucifix be hung in all public buildings including train stations, airports, universities, and embassies.The covering up of the crosses is also not the first time Italians have covered up statues and monuments so as not to offend those from different cultures.The Archbishop of Florence has announced he will be selling 86,000 square feet of property to a Muslim group in order for them to build a mosque in Sesto Fiorentino.Cardinal of Florence, Giuseppe Betori, approved of the sale saying, "The transformation of Western societies into multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multi-religious societies is a fact and a future that inevitably awaits us."In the northern city of Bergamo, another Muslim association has spent nearly half a million euros on an old church, which they also plan to convert into a mosque

https://www.sott.net/article/410869-Ideological-delirium-Italian-cemetery-covers-crosses-so-as-not-to-offend-people-of-other-religions

2019-04-10 13:37:02+00:00

education

religious education

thewashingtonstandard--2019-11-06--Less Religion Means Less Civilization – & Freedom

thewashingtonstandard

Less Religion Means Less Civilization – & Freedom

Pew Research Center recently wrote about “the decline of Christianity” at a “rapid pace.” Pew stated: “More than eight-in-ten members of the Silent Generation (those born between 1928 and 1945) describe themselves as Christians (84%), as do three-quarters of Baby Boomers (76%). In stark contrast, only half of Millennials (49%) describe themselves as Christians; four-in-ten are religious ‘nones,’ and one-in-ten Millennials identify with non-Christian faiths.” Some scholars, like Byron Johnson of Baylor, object that some Americans described as “nones” actually attend non-denominational churches, but are misclassified as if they are unbelievers. Still, regardless of the statistical details, it does not bode well for society that Christianity is losing its influence. In 1798, Timothy Dwight, the president of Yale, warned, “Where there is no religion, there is no morality. … With the loss of religion…the security of life, liberty and property are buried in ruins.” The scary thing about Christianity losing influence in society is what it means to morality in America – and thus to freedom. As William Penn once noted, “If we will not be governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants.” Yet our cultural elites do so much to banish any vestiges of religion in the public square. Even as I write this, the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), is dealing with a case involving a retirement center in Florida, where residents display all sorts of lawn ornaments – oh, but there is a 12-inch white cross on one couple’s lawn. The cross is not allowed. Everything else is. Because of so many liberal judges and so few Christian ones, the courts have sometimes gone to ludicrous lengths to keep any kind of religious – no, I should say Christian – expression out of the public arena. Perhaps the situation is moderately improving, since there are fewer justices on the high court who are legislating from the bench than in previous eras. However, even to this day, we are still dealing with the damage caused by these court cases that have driven expressions of Judeo-Christian religion out of the public square. A shocking and classic example is when the Supreme Court declared that the Ten Commandments were not allowed in the classroom. In the 1980 case of Stone v. Graham, the high court sided with the secularists in a Kentucky case involving privately funded copies of the Decalogue of Moses that were displayed in some public schools. Justice William Brennan wrote the decision, striking down public displays of the Ten Commandments with these chilling words: “If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments. However desirable this might be as a matter of private devotion, it is not a permissible state objective under the Establishment Clause.” Imagine that. Children obeying the Ten Commandments. How awful. In a recent television interview, Christian attorney David Gibbs III of the National Center for Law and Liberty told me, “Now, shockingly, we live in a day where unfortunately school shootings and other things dominate our news at levels that are heartbreaking. And I think many American citizens would disagree with the Supreme Court and say, ‘You know what? We would like to see some principles and some values, where the young people of our nation would be taught that there is a right, there is a wrong, that thou shalt not kill.'” Gibbs continued, “Why is murder against the law? Well, it’s against the law, because the Bible teaches that life has value and that God condemns. When you look at many of the things that we put into our legal system that we might consider core, you know, in terms of the safety and protection of people, it was all Bible-based.” In the mid-1800s, former Speaker of the House Robert Charles Winthrop (descendant of John Winthrop) wisely warned us, “All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them, or a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.” A professor at Harvard Business School shows in a 90-second video the same idea: The less internal morality, the greater the need for external policing and vice versa. This is a sober message as so many Americans seem to be entering a “brave new world” and leaving God and therefore morality behind – and thereby our freedom as well.

The Washington Standard

https://thewashingtonstandard.com/less-religion-means-less-civilization-freedom/

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 21:23:45 +0000

education

religious education

prepareforchange--2019-01-13--Religion the Oldest Weapon of Mass Destruction in Human History

prepareforchange

Religion, the Oldest Weapon of Mass Destruction in Human History

Most likely the first human who invented the first god, was some smart tribal guy who saw that it was a very effective way to protect himself from bodily harm by the stronger ones if he made them and the less smart members of his tribe believe he had a very strong friend living across the mountains. A friend so strong that he could make the mountains rumble by stamping his feet on the ground. Others would not dare to attack him fearing the revenge of such a powerful friend and even though no one ever saw this friend it was better to be safe than sorry. It probably did not take long for this smart guy to discover that his fellow tribesmen were easily led to believe that this thunder ally would make them nearly invincible in battle with rivaling tribes and could even conquer these tribes. The smart guy was well aware that in reality he was not safe at all so he turned to the strongest one around, usually the tribe leader and made him believe that he was favored by the mighty thunder-friend across the mountains. As history progressed the tribal leaders became the Kings of the later times where the smart guys became the holy men, and priests. Of course the strong friend story was revised when people could cross the mountain and were likely to find nothing there. As time passed the powerful friend moved to a place where no man could travel, places like in the sky, the deepest sea, or the top of unclimbable mountains. Religion became the most powerful way of making people compliant and even the Roman Empire saw that its culture of countless god families would not work if they wanted to maintain power over Europe. In the 4th century Emperor Constantine the Great started a change when he decided to go for a new approach that seemed to work in the eastern territories so he threw out the old God families with their immensely complex mythical stories and started simplifying things by adopting the one single god of the Jewish culture combined with folklore about a prophet who claimed to have been the son of this Jewish god; this was a wise decision because in this way he would not cross the Jews, who he saw as a nuisance and wished he could get rid of. He appointed a group of smart guys, that you will find in any era, and gave them the task of creating this system of a Father, a Son and a Mother who was chosen to bare this son of God, Jesus. These smart guys of course were the Council of Nicaea that was well aware, creating a whole religion from scratch would cost decades unless they joined together old Chronicles with scriptures mostly taken from the Jewish Talmud and combined that with the new story of the prophet, Jesus son of god, in the one book that would be the guideline of the new roman religion Christianity for all the future. This compromise was created in much shorter time, and there were bound to be errors in the bible because there wasn’t enough time to cross reference the books that were included. Taking the fact that no one could read anyway and the sermons would be given in Latin these errors would not show for another millennium. To make a big leap forward, Christianity in the form of Roman Catholicity was spread across Europe and later the world in a bloody, merciless often genocidal way. Like in prehistoric times, Rulers and Priests joined forces to keep their people compliant, and a perfect example is: As the cardinal said to the king, “if you keep them poor, I will keep them ignorant”. Even today historians are still arguing about the historicity of this statement but it gives a good image of the religious system of keeping people compliant and not turning against the ruling class. At the same time it shows how well indoctrinated compliant people could be manipulated to fighting their wars, all in the name of God and King. To the Kings, Emperors yet to come were given the forces of church and religion, a weapon of almost unlimited numbers of subjects ready to fight their wars and to expand their illusion of power that in reality was in the hands of the smart guys behind religion. Rulers would eventually die and could be replaced while religion kept expanding its power and influence. All throughout history religion has been used as the most powerful weapon of genocide and destruction known to mankind. This went perfect until the time of enlightenment when in spite of the efforts of religion to keep them ignorant, people started to think for themselves and discovered that they were being used and started rising up to the power of these Kings and other rulers, but still in the way religion had taught them, now it became “for God and Country”. In the time of modernization, and especially the 20th century, all the religions began to lose their grip on the people when more and more people left the church because they became educated and aware that they have been manipulated. The time without god was born, at least in western Europe where the average person currently identifies themselves as atheist, no longer believing in a god presented by the church. Don’t think the religious weapon has lost it’s power. Islam has gained more power in the past 5 decades than in centuries before; they know how to use the two pillars of religion, poverty and ignorance to organize people into a formidable strike weapon against its “enemies”; and Christianity only has minimal loss in this. Same thing happened in the USA. Because the ruling class were not Kings or Emperors, religion has found other ways to ensure its power by giving aid to the rich who can control politics just with their money. But religion encountered a snag, for the first time it feels losses in the number of followers it can control, because more and more people become educated and skeptical about this whole religious thing. One of the pillars of religion, ignorance is rotting away. These past decades the rich and powerful have been very active to enrich themselves and keep the people poor. This is not enough, to keep its power religion also needs that other leg to stand on. To regain this, it is of absolute necessity to return the people back to compliant ignorance and bring a stop to this threat of education. Religion realizes all too well that to reverse it back to illiteracy is no longer possible, so the smart guys are now actively doing what they do best, manipulating circumstances in their favor, and therefore they need to control education to the advantage of their religion. I think the only proof I need to present that this is all happening is to urge you to look at the rise of creationist dogma in education by getting religious people into key positions in the educational system. For the religious weapon to survive it needs an increasing number of blind ignorant followers. The religious weapon keeps totalitarian regimes in power, and together they keep the majority of the people in the world poor and ignorant. But now instead of kings and emperors this power is given to the rich who can use their fortune to buy their way in to decision making politics while the “peasants” are going to church every Sunday and send their children to church dominated schools to make sure they receive their daily dose of brainwashing. It is time for this weapon to be dismantled to stop this madness. Animated map shows how religion spread around the world The Future of World Religion (in 2050)

Edward Morgan

https://prepareforchange.net/2019/01/12/religion-the-oldest-weapon-of-mass-destruction-in-human-history/

2019-01-13 05:56:55+00:00

education

religious education

eveningstandard--2019-04-03--Princess Anne celebrates 100 years of City Lit for adult education

eveningstandard

Princess Anne celebrates 100 years of City Lit for adult education

Princess Anne presented awards to hardworking teachers and students last night to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of a London-based adult education college. City Lit has supported more than a million Londoners learn a new skill since its foundation in 1919, and recently opened a new Digital and Design Lab. The digital facility is designed to prepare adults for work in the industry and update their skills for career progression. The Princess Royal said: “It is particularly encouraging to see how people of all ages and backgrounds come together at City Lit to challenge themselves and transform their lives. “If education can be defined as ‘training for life’, then lifelong learning and its ability to unlock potential throughout people’s lives should be accepted as part of life. I am honoured to receive the City Lit Centenary Fellowship.” The Digital and Design Lab includes web, editing, layout and 3D print studios to support courses in everything from web development to visual arts. City Lit’s executive director for external engagement, Phil Chamberlain, said: "Our overall purpose at City Lit is to ensure that learners come together, so that our classes are alive with different insights and experiences – led and nurtured by expert tutors. “This new development is part of our commitment to build high quality, well designed learning spaces that are attractive places for learners and businesses to utilise. We pride ourselves in our open campus and our welcoming community – a space for Londoners to meet, learn and share ideas.”

Sian Bayley

https://www.standard.co.uk/futurelondon/skills/city-lit-princess-anne-digital-and-design-lab-print-web-editing-adult-education-a4108481.html

2019-04-03 13:28:00+00:00

education

social learning

eveningstandard--2019-04-10--How AI could change healthcare education and security

eveningstandard

How AI could change healthcare, education and security

When you think about artificial intelligence (AI) you probably first think about self-driving cars and robots. However AI already plays a central part in our lives. From film choices on Netflix to spam filters on Gmail, we already interact with AI on a daily basis. Over the coming years, the role of AI in our lives – particularly in healthcare, education and security – is likely to dramatically change. "Many of these will save us time or allow us to do what we currently do more effectively," said Harry Rhys Davies, AI Programme Lead at entrepreneur network Tech Nation. Last month at the State of AI 2019 conference at the Royal Institute in London it was revealed that the UK is leading the AI health and well-being sector. One in three European health start-ups are currently founded in the UK. "We anticipate that the adoption of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare will help ordinary people by reducing the cost of diagnosing illness and increasing preventative healthcare," said Vasile Foca, Managing Partner and Co-Founder at investment firm Talis Capital which backs emerging technologies. Doctors are likely to have access to tools that mean they can deliver highly accurate diagnostics. "AI makes it possible to crunch data from huge sample sizes and that should help scientists to identify the causes of various diseases, including cancer, and from there find appropriate treatments." There are some things AI is getting better at than humans, says Lydia Nicholas, a programme manager from think tank Doteveryone. "It can tell when we are lying, can tell a real smile from a fake one; can even tell more accurately than a human can which fake smile masks clinical depression and which ones are just because you aren’t in the mood," she said. However, Ms Nicholas believes we need to be careful not to rely on systems that are not yet reliable. "When we do use automated systems for critical decisions the failure rate can be shocking," she said. "Algorithms shape almost everything we see online; the next video to watch, the products and jobs we’re advertised, the order of news articles or social media posts we read. In doing so, they change how we understand the world," said Ms Nicholas. This means they also cater to the prejudices of their creators. Last year Sir Anthony Seldon, vice-chancellor of Buckingham University and ex-head of Wellington College said that AI could teach pupils "better than ever". He said it could end "inefficient" group learning and mean teachers have more time for active one-to-one lessons. He described the advent of AI in the classroom as “the biggest move in education for 300 years”. Sir Anthony said personalised learning means things can happen much more quickly, leaving teachers to lead group and project work. Mr Foca also believes education will be a big benefactor of AI. "Lots of startups are focusing on low-income populations who may not be able to afford to go to university, but can pay to learn online," he said. Fraud detection is likely to get more sophisticated in the coming years. "In the security and cyber security worlds, AI is being used to process millions of videos and photo images to help spot bad actors/ criminals," said Mr Foca. "While law firms and prosecutors are using AI to process data points in evidence statements, which helps take a lot of data processing and potential errors out of building a prosecution case." However, these advances won't come with their own problems. For example, according to a report by Big Brother Watch last year the Metropolitan Police's facial recognition technology is still 98% inaccurate. "We still have fundamental questions to ask ourselves and these will only become more pervasive," warned Mr Rhys Davies. "Already we see that algorithms can perpetuate bias and social injustice where the datasets that AI learn from can often exclude minority groups. Issues of privacy are particularly potent as facial recognition gains ground." Ms Nicholas said: "What will shape our lives is not specifics of what AI can do but how it is used, and what protections we can get, both as individuals and as a society."

Phoebe Weston

https://www.standard.co.uk/futurelondon/skills/how-ai-could-change-healthcare-education-and-security-a4112781.html

2019-04-10 08:44:29+00:00

education

social learning

fortune--2019-07-01--How an Education Startup Wasted Almost 200 MillionData Sheet

fortune

How an Education Startup Wasted Almost $200 Million—Data Sheet

Waiting to exhale. The tech sector can breath a sigh of relief, one which will likely inflate its stock prices, as President Trump and Chinese President Xi put off imposing any additional tariffs on trade between the two countries. That’s fortuitous for Apple, which not only avoids higher prices on the iPhone but also just moved production of its high-end PC, the Mac Pro, from the United States to China. It’s OK if you’re clueless. That hot Wall Street Journal story we linked to on Friday accusing Advanced Micro Devices of transferring key supercomputer technology to China may have been a little too hot. AMD says the story had “several factual errors and omissions and does not portray an accurate picture of the joint ventures.” Monday’s new, hot Journal story says departing Apple design chief Jony Ive has missed a lot of meetings and flopped a bit over the past few years. Getting to happy. Online retailer the RealReal went public on Friday and its shares jumped 45% from the initial offering price of $20. The site’s gross sales of “pre-owned” and post-authenticated Gucci bags and Cartier necklaces exceeded $224 million in the first quarter, up 42% from last year, though generating a net loss of about $23 million. Disappearing acts. The government of Iran was not kidding around when it banned bitcoin mining in the country last year. The government closed down two mining operations in Yazd province which allegedly caused a 7% jump in Iranian power consumption in June. How Stella got her groove back. They apparently need to de-ice a lot of things in Scandanavia. So Norwegian startup UBIQ Aerospace is building drones to break up the frozen stuff. The company said on Friday it raised seed funding from James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems and a local accelerator fund. Last week’s Data Sheet essay about Microsoft’s ban on employees using rival messaging software from Slack brought some pushback from readers. Several of you wrote in to defend the practice of developers relying solely on their own apps. “Companies should use their own products to show they use what they sell, to test and improve their own products, and for the obvious financial reasons of using your own products versus buying (or giving your data for the free ones) someone else’s product,” one reader noted. Another put it more succinctly: “If you don’t eat your own dog food, it will never be competitive.” There was also some disagreement with my assessment of Yahoo email after Marissa Mayer required all employees to use it. “Beg to disagree, Yahoo Mail was *much* better for it–night and day according to our users and many long-time Yahoos,” wrote a reader who might know something about the subject, Marissa Mayer. What Jony Ive’s Departure Means for Apple’s Stock By Anne Sraders Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski on Netflix, Social Media, and Opening a Restaurant By Rachel King Chef Marcus Samuelsson Wants to Redefine Cookbooks Through Audiobooks By Rachel King There are many crazy days in sports, but I’m not sure many could rival Sunday night’s start of free agency in the National Basketball Association. Some of the best players in the NBA were on the move and it’s gotten quite difficult to figure out the favorites for the upcoming season. USA Today’s Charles Curtis took a stab at picking the initial winners and losers. Read it and weep–or cheer–depending on the verdict for your favorite team. This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Aaron Pressman. Find past issues, and sign up for other Fortune newsletters.

Adam Lashinsky

https://fortune.com/2019/07/01/altschool-startup-education/

2019-07-01 13:52:25+00:00

education

social learning