Money donated to the BBC Children in Need charity ended up funding the activities of the leader of the London bombers.
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The US needs a “hypocrisy audit”, says the editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy.
The image below is FP’s Failed States Index:
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FaithWorld has some detailed posts on the Common World conference held at Yale earlier this summer.
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Trouble in paradise: Hundreds of thousands of people have been taking to the streets of Kashmir’s state capital to demand independence from India.
Meanwhile, Hindu protesters have been arrested by police in the Jammu region, following the state government’s decision not to grant a small piece of land to a trust running a Hindu shrine.
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aziz
Another apostasy killing in Saudi Arabia. The girl was murdered by her father for converting to Christianity. The father worked for the Orwellian-named Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
via John Burgess, who notes that the case is provoking debate within Saudi society. Though the death is a total tragedy, maybe the girl will be a martyr after all. -
thabet
Brave Warriors Of Afghanistan Update: The Taliban have killed three foreign female aid workers and their Afghan driver.
Meanwhile, here’s an update on human rights news from the Afghan front line: Four civilians were killed in a rocket attack by British troops in Afghanistan.
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aziz
regarding the forced ritual flogging of young boys -
the issue really serves to highlight the necessity of governmental oversight of religious practice. Not to define what religious practices are “correct” or not, but rather to simply be blind to religion when evaluating issues against the law. The question of whether self-flagellation is an authentic Islamic or Shi’a practice is a (bloody) red herring - the question is simply whether the actions violated Law. And they did, so Mr. Zaidi needs to be prosecuted accordingly. Bringing this issue into the domain of religious freedom only serves to cloud the issue, and taint the entire muslim community, Sunni and Shi’a alike.
good discussion at Deenport, also, particularly this comment:
apart from the (elected) government, who else can provide public safeguards when religious practices veer into problematic areas, for instance where they are forced upon those who are uncomfortable with them, or simply don’t accept them as ‘correct’ religious practices?
I do believe that ultimately, these safeguards protect religious minorities even while they impose limits on public manifestations of religion. Do we need protecting from ourselves? I think that sometimes we do…
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Yemen’s b-boys.
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Richard Dawkins told a session of the Edinburgh International Book Festival that Europe was a “haven of civilisation” trapped between the Islamic world and the US.
Sticking with the evolutionary biologist, Razib has a Sokal-esque dig at his philosophical enemies, following news that Dawkins criticised Muslim parents for “importing” creationism into British classrooms. (Read the interview in full at The Times.)
I don’t have any data or information on Muslim views on ‘creationist science’ in the UK, although there have been some stories in the past reporting concern from lecturers about how Muslim and other religious students view evolution, especially those studying medicine or science subjects. Muslim media have also reported this dismissive attitude — a 2005 summer edition of Q-News apparently suggested that “Harun Yahya had, in the eyes of most ‘literate Muslims’, effectively defeated the arguments of Darwin”. Based on personal experiences, I would also agree that evolutionary science is probably widely dismissed by Muslim students, with many focussing on the ‘practical’ elements of, say, medicine or pharmacology.
But I don’t know if anyone has carried out any serious research into this area (Muslim views on creationism in the UK). And while I get Razib’s point about seriously considering the data on Turkey*, I just don’t think public champions of science like Dawkins can rest their claims about schoolteachers and Muslim pupils on a visit or two to schools — it’s just not good science.
Then there is the choice of words. For me, use of words like “import” is not dissimilar to David Blunkett’s talk of Britian being “swamped” by asylum seekers. Added to his claim that it is “impossible to say anything against Islam in this country” he is alluding the old argument that People Out There Are Threatening To Destroy Our Way Of Life. In fact, his claim that you can’t say what you want about Islam is, to put it very bluntly, bullshit. You can say whatever you want about Muslims and their beliefs and get it published as front page news; you can even peddle yourself as an expert in the media although you may know very little about the subject under discussion**.
This is not to say Dawkins or anyone else cannot have an open and frank discussion about Islam, or any other belief system, without the threat of legal reprecussions (i.e. freedom of speech) or the threat of violence***. But it is worth nothing that none of these debates — whether on the ‘veil’, or on offensive cartoons, or on works of literature — take place inside a vaccum. They have a context — local, national or global context — in which they can be analysed.
*For more on Turkey’s creationism see an earlier post on Talk Islam.
**This includes trivial mistakes and more serious errors.
***Protection from violence in this context can come under ‘legal reprecussions’ — the state is obliged to protect people who express views from such threats and also punish the perpetrators. How far does this legal protection include protection from social, political and economic reprecussions?
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Counting people in the US: “White people” may be a minority in the US by 2042. And apparently it is difficult to count the number of Jews, Muslims and other smaller religious groups who live in the Land of the Free.
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The concluding remarks from the testimony of Dr. Steven Kull regarding Iraqi public opinion on the presence of US Troops, given to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight:
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Tariq Nelson
I read Dr. Randy Paucsh’s book ‘The Last Lecture’ last weekend and posted some of my reflections. I really miss authentic love…
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Four American Christians who had more than 300 Bibles confiscated by Chinese customs officials left Kunming airport after a 26-hour standoff, after realising the officials would not change their stance.
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A Grauniad newspaper report on the church forum which was discussed by Razib earlier this week.
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Hammaad Munshi became Britain’s youngest convicted terrorist on Monday. He was 16 at the time of his arrest. Munshi is also the grandson of one of the UK’s leading Islamic scholars, Shaykh Yakub Munshi.
Meanwhile, schools are the new “battleground in the police’s fight to combat terrorism”.
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thabet
Jim David Adkisson has admitted to shooting two people dead in a church which promoted liberal views. He reportedly told the police “the Democrats had tied his country’s hands in the war on terror and [...] had ruined every institution in America”, but since he was unable to kill the leaders he targetted “those that had voted them into office”.
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willow
Wednesday will be a very special day. Why? Because the first issue of my new comic book series AIR is coming out. If you don’t know where your closest comic book shop is, you can find it here.
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thabet
The state’s need to define ‘religion’: The trial of a man who whipped himself during a ritual ceremony and then allegedly forced two teenage boys to do the same, has begun in Manchester.
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Nailing Muslim hypocrisy:
Sharia, of course, is canonical law based on the teachings of the Quran and the traditions of Mohammed. I wasn’t aware that it advocated genital mutilation.
(Via an emailer.)
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Pervez Musharraf resigns as president of Pakistan.
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Johann Hari discusses child brides in Yemen and the UK, and also has a post which is highly critical of Islamophobia Watch.
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The Scum newspaper has been forced to apologise to a Muslim bus driver over allegations he made passengers wait while he prayed.
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God and football (but I don’t salute Blackeye Rovers).
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razib
section of an interview with sf author john c wright on his christian conversion:
I knew the Christians were evil in theory; I could not explain how so much unique good came from them.Greatly daring, I attempted an experiment in prayer, addressing a Supreme Being I knew with deep certainty did not and could not exist. My prayer was quickly and awfully answered.
A miracle occurred. I suffered a supernatural experience and found all the foundations of my carefully examined and rigidly logical philosophy swept away as if by a tidal wave of blazing and supernal light. A great and powerful spirit visited me.
The whole thing was as simple and astonishing, as easy to explain and as hard to explain, as falling in love.
I am one of those rare creatures whose belief in the supernatural is due to empirical considerations. My mysticism is entirely scientific. Alas, the second step in the experiment, when the miracle occurs, cannot be reproduced before the eyes of skeptics.
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razib
…just emailing with ali e., and he asked why i didn’t mention the interrogation of the candidates by rick warren. ali made an allusion to the religious tests, etc.
first, this is a nation which is 80% christian. both candidates are avowed christians. so i think it’s not that weird that they’d be questioned by a christian minister on religious questions. i’m opposed to candidates using their position to push forward their own religious sect, though this often happens. but, i am pretty sure that it is impossible to disentangle people’s views on a host of issues from their religious viewpoints and what not.
second, i’m no longer much of a “naked public square” person. religion is important to people. in fact, anti-religion is important to people. many irreligious people talk about how religion should be a hobby, like knitting. well, that’s never gonna happen. in fact, most “irreligious” people have their own passions which are in many ways rather religious in form, though they might not have a god or supernaturalism tacked on to them.
as someone with a very thin/spare metaphysical and supernatural set of beliefs i’m among 2.5% of americans, and a tiny minority in the world. i’m enough of a communitarian now that i just believe religion has to be treated differently because most people conceive of it differently. i treat religion as another material/phenomenological condition of existence. nothing more, nothing less.
if i was god things would be different of course….
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