Brendan O’Neill criticises the ASA’s censure of religious advertisements for God’s healing powers

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/brendanoneill2/100135253/if-christians-are-not-free-to-say-god-heals-then-there-is-no-religious-freedom-in-this-country/

The ASA has been itching to ban the words “God heals” for quite a while. Last June, it rapped the knuckles of a church in Nottingham for putting up a poster that said “God can heal you today!” after the church was grassed up to the ASA by some snitch in Nottingham’s Secular Society. And now it has actually banned a Christian group from proselytising about God’s healing powers. What next? Should we ban groups from declaring that “Jesus loves you!”, considering that is probably also technically untrue and could promote “false hope”? How about banning depictions of Jesus walking on water, since that is a physically impossible feat and might encourage children to try it out, with potentially deadly consequences? There’s no end to the expressions of religious faith that might be banned by the Secular Inquisition that the ASA is speedily morphing into.

However, Tom Chivers says that religious organisations should not be exempt from advertising laws if they make such claims:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100135398/why-should-religions-be-exempt-from-advertising-rules/

Last week a talk organised by the Queen Mary Atheism, Secularism and Humanism Society on ‘Sharia Law and Human Rights’ had to be cancelled after threats of violence.

A report from the Independent states:

Students attending a debate about sharia law were told they would be “hunted down and killed” by a man who burst into their lecture theatre and filmed them on his phone.

The BHA reports that police were contacted about the incident and the Society is waiting to hear how their investigation will proceed.

The BBC reports:

Civil servant Alexander Aan, 31, is now in protective police custody after he was attacked by an angry mob earlier this week. He may also lose his job over his posting on the social networking site.

Atheism is a violation of Indonesian law under the founding principles of the country. Indonesia – the world’s most populous Muslim nation – recognises the right to practice five other religions aside from Islam, says the BBC’s Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta. Local media said a mob attacked Mr Aan when he arrived for work at a government office on Wednesday. Police said that according to Indonesian criminal law, anyone who tried to stop others believing in a faith could face up to five years in prison.

The Facebook page where he made his comments remains up and supporters have condemned police action against Mr An, calling for him to be released.

Campaigners will say same-sex marriage is a threat to the family, religious freedom and civilisation itself

Read full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/dec/04/anti-gay-marriage-brigade

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/11/30/nigerian-senate-votes-to-punish-gay-marriage-with-14-years-in-prison/

Nigeria’s law against homosexuality is not an authentic national law that is rooted in Nigerian jurisprudence. It was imposed on Nigeria by the British colonial administration in the nineteenth century. Despite Nigeria now being an independent country, this British colonial law has never been repealed.

A lawyer living in Iran sent in a message to Maryam Namazie when he found out about the seminar on Sharia and the Childrens Act. Namazie writes:

Whilst the seminar addresses Sharia courts here in Britain, it is astounding how similar Sharia rulings are no matter where you live.

The letter reads:

 In summary I am a lawyer under the Sharia legal system under which a child could be beaten and raped legally or be accused and charged for any crime like an adult or be used for military activities in Basij force.

Read the full letter here: http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/2011/11/22/i_wish_i_was_there/.

The Guardian reports that Rhys Morgan, a 17-year-old Welsh schoolboy, has faced down a Texan medical clinic and won after blogging about its unproven treatments.

Morgan, who is studying maths, chemistry, biology and psychology at AS level, is well known among a rising army of sceptics as the boy who exposed Miracle Mineral Solution after it was pushed on an internet forum for people with Crohn’s disease. The product’s website claims it has cured cancer, Aids and malaria. The US Food and Drug Administration called it industrial bleach and urged anyone using it to stop immediately.

Read the full report here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/29/schoolboy-blogger-us-clinic

English Defence League (EDL). Victims of Orwellian thought crime? Arrests chill civil and human rights activists as freedom of speech and thought appear threatened.  Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell tweeted at the time: ‘Democracies don’t arrest people who have committed no crime’.

Read more: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/11/17/who%E2%80%99s-afraid-of-the-edl-%E2%80%98clicktivists%E2%80%99/

The Right to Object? An area of debate.  The Humanist Philosophers looks to philosophy and ethics to explore matters including liberty, equality, rights and religious conviction, and applies those to contemporary examples of religious, moral and conscientious objections, such as the case of Christian hotel-owners Peter and Hazelmary Bull currently before the Court of Appeal.

Read More : http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/nelson-jones/2011/11/gay-sex-hotel-rights-law

Read More on The Right to Object? http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/923

The Guardian reports that:

Governance of St Benedict’s Catholic school by abbey is outdated and unacceptable, independent inquiry finds.

And that, after 36 years of institutionalised child abuse, the  Chiefs at St Benedict’s school in west London have “offered a heartfelt apology for past failures”.

Read the full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/nov/09/monks-schoool-abuse-st-benedict-ealing

Meanwhile the BBC reports:

Abbey ‘should lose control’ of Ealing sex abuse school “The running of a religious school hit by repeated sex allegations should be taken out of the hands of monks, a report is expected to recommend.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-15640173

And the Daily Mail states that the:

Landmark decision could have wide-reaching implications for alleged church child abuse victims.

I can’t stand Christmas because Santa priest raped me, says victim who won High Court battle against Catholic Church.

Read about the case where it was ruled that the Church is responsible.

Widely reported this week, in Italy a number of scientists are being tried for manslaughter after failing to predict a 2009 earthquake that killed 309 people.

The Week magazine askes if there is any merit in it, but meanwhile, the Guardian reports that:

Seismologists around the world in uproar at legal move, which they say is an attack on science.

And you can also read the Wall Street journal article here.

The BBC reports:

An evangelist who claimed to have created miraculous pregnancies through prayer is to be sent back to Kenya to face child abduction charges.

Read the article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14992891

The Workplace Law Network posted a piece this week about an Employment Tribunal that has ruled that an employee’s belief that the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist attacks were part of a conspiracy by a global elite did not amount to a philosophical belief for religion or belief discrimination purposes.

It writes:

Following the landmark Grainger case, in which Tim Nicholson argued that he had been selected for redundancy because of his beliefs about the environment and climate change, the Employment Appeal Tribunal gave guidance on what amounts to a ‘philosophical belief’. It said it must be:

1. Genuinely held
2. A belief as to a weighty and substantial aspect of human life and behaviour.
3. One which has attained a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance.
4. Worthy of respect in a democratic society, not be incompatible with human dignity and not in conflict with the fundamental rights of others.

Read the full piece here.

Focus on the Family is an American organisation that provides advice on marriage, parenting and other topics. It works to preserve its interpretation of the biblical ideals and as an organisation takes a strong stance against LGBT rights and same-sex marriage.

Recently, during a Senate Defense of Marriage Act hearing, Al Franken, Democratic US Senator for Minnesota, questioned a representative of the conservative group Focus on the Family over mischaracterizing a study on “nuclear families” at a hearing on the bill.

Tom Minnery argued that children are better off with opposite-sex parents, citing a Department of Health and Human Services study from December 2010. However, the study, which Minnery cited to oppose marriage equality, actually found that children do best in two-parent households, regardless of the parents’ gender.

Franken states: “I frankly don’t really know how we can trust the rest of your testimony if you are reading studies these ways.”

Read more and watch the video here.

Meanwhile, on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and Gavin Poole, director of the Centre of Social Justice, a think-tank that puts emphasis on the role of marrige in promoting social and economic well-being, debate the  importance of marriage. Findings show that getting married will not improve your child’s development, according to evidence from the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The arguments consistently put forward by conservatives and Christian groups about better outcomes for families if the couple are married rather than just cohabiting have been challenged by the IFS. According to their study, if you do like-for-like comparisons on ethnic and social backgrounds between couples who are married and couples who are not, there is no difference in how well their children do.  This is really interesting because nearly every single Christian Concern submission begins with statements about the vital importance of marriage.

“It is true that children born to married couples are on average more cognitively and emotionally successful than children born to cohabiting couples.

“But careful analysis shows that this largely reflects the differences between the types of people who decide to get married and those who don’t.

“On average those who marry tend to come from more advantaged families, and are more cognitively and emotionally successful themselves, than those who cohabit.

“This explains the differences in outcomes for children. Marriage itself appears to confer little, if any, benefit in terms of child development.”

This week Sir Terry Pratchett has been defending the BBC’s film on assisted dying amid a huge amount of backlash

In Choosing to Die, which screened on BBC Two on Monday night, Peter Smedley, a motor neurone sufferer, is seen taking a lethal dose of barbiturates at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland.

The Telegraph says that:

The BBC denied the screening could lead to copycat suicides as it would give viewers an opportunity to make an informed decision on the subject. Sir Terry defended the programme in several BBC interviews.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8574080/Sir-Terry-Pratchett-defends-BBC-assisted-suicide-film-amid-backlash.html

The BBC reports that:

Sir Terry Pratchett has said witnessing a man being helped to die for a controversial BBC film has not affected his support for assisted suicide.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13758286]

and Professor Klim Mcpherson writes in the Mail

My wife championed the right to choose when to die, the distress of her final days proves her case

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/health/article-2003269/Euthanasia-Ann-McPherson-championed-right-choose-die.html

Meanwhile, the Telegraph has a sensational headline that organs of those killed by euthanasia in Belgium are being ‘harvested for transplant surgery’.

The report reads:

The cases were detailed in a report in a medical journal called Applied Cardiopulmonary Pathophysiology.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/8572849/Organs-of-those-killed-by-euthanasia-being-used.html

Der Tzitung, an Orthodox Jewish weekly newspaper sold in New York,  has published an edited version of the iconic photo from the White House situation room showing Obama and his national security team gathered around a table, removing Hilary Clinton and counterterrorism director Audrey Tomason from the image because images of women are ‘immodest’.  The newspaper has a policy of never printing photos of women in its pages because it thinks they could be sexually suggestive.

The Telegraph reports that the fact a woman was allowed to serve at the altar of a traditional Latin mass has prompted some members of the congregation to boycott the service.

The Church of Uganda stongly support the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Its positioning statement includes  “the Church of Uganda is committed at all levels to offer counseling, healing and prayer for people with homosexual disorientation, especially in our schools and other institutions of learning. The Church is a safe place for individuals, who are confused about their sexuality or struggling with sexual brokenness, to seek help and healing” and goes on to state “the Bill’s objective of protecting the family, especially in light of a growing propaganda to influence younger people to accept homosexuality as a legitimate way of expressing human sexuality. We particularly appreciate the objectives of the Bill which seek to: provide for marriage in Uganda as contracted only between a man and woman; prohibit and penalize homosexual behaviour and related practices in Uganda as they constitute a threat to the traditional family; prohibit ratification of any international treaties, conventions, protocols, agreements and declarations which are contrary or inconsistent with the provisions of the Act; prohibit the licensing of organizations which promote homosexuality.”

Christopher Hitchens isn’t the only person to notice that Osama bin Laden, “mastermind” of the 9/11 attacks and nominal head of Al Qaeda, had been hiding in Pakistan’s Sandhurst. But when he does notice such things, he sure doesn’t hold back…

The colonial British—like Maj. James Abbott, who gave his name to [Abbottabad]—called them “hill stations,” designed for the rest and recreation of commissioned officers. The charming idea, like the location itself, survives among the Pakistani officer corps. If you tell me that you are staying in a rather nice walled compound in Abbottabad, I can tell you in return that you are the honored guest of a military establishment that annually consumes several billion dollars of American aid. It’s the sheer blatancy of it that catches the breath.

There’s perhaps some slight satisfaction to be gained from this smoking-gun proof of official Pakistani complicity with al-Qaida, but in general it only underlines the sense of anticlimax. After all, who did not know that the United States was lavishly feeding the same hands that fed Bin Laden? There’s some minor triumph, also, in the confirmation that our old enemy was not a heroic guerrilla fighter but the pampered client of a corrupt and vicious oligarchy that runs a failed and rogue state.

Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2292687/

In other comments in today, Aditya Chakrabortty cites a few academics whose research suggests that painting extreme Islamists as intrinsically Evil does little to fight terror and isn’t even accurate.

The conventional view of Islamist terrorism is the one set out by Clinton yesterday, of a “violent ideology that holds no value for human life”: evil, inexplicable, and irreconcilable with any civilised values. Yet analysis from social scientists suggests the opposite.

However odd it may seem to use these terms of would-be jihadists and suicide bombers, some researchers describe Islamist terrorists as in the main rational, desperate figures operating in wrecked countries.

… What Merari’s research shows is “a large pool of psychologically healthy, basically altruistic suicide attackers”. That description comes from Eli Berman, at the University of California, San Diego. His use of the term “basically altruistic” is surely intended to be provocative, but what the economist means is that terrorists are often acting out of a desire to help others in their group.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/03/are-islamist-terrorists-basically-altruistic

Geoffrey Robertson QC who spoke at last year’s Protest the Pope rally and has called for the Pope’s arrest, is left dissatisfied by a country celebrating an “assassination”, and wonders at the international legal ramifications.

America resembles the land of the munchkins, as it celebrates the death of the Wicked Witch of the East. The joy is understandable, but it endorses what looks increasingly like a cold-blooded assassination ordered by a president who, as a former law professor, knows the absurdity of his statement that “justice was done”. Amoral diplomats and triumphant politicians join in applauding Bin Laden’s summary execution because they claim real justice – arrest, trial and sentence would have been too difficult in the case of Bin Laden. But in the long-term interests of a better world, should it not at least have been attempted?

That future depends on a respect for international law. The circumstances of Bin Laden’s killing are as yet unclear and the initial objection that the operation was an illegitimate invasion of Pakistan’s sovereignty must be rejected. Necessity required the capture of this indicted and active international criminal and Pakistan’s abject failure (whether through incompetence or connivance) justified Obama’s order for an operation to apprehend him. However, the terms of that order, as yet undisclosed, are all important.

Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/geoffrey-robertson-why-its-absurd-to-claim-that-justice-has-been-done-2278041.html

His Discworld books have been read in her household for years, she tells us, but now that Terry Pratchett disagrees with her own view on assisted dying, Cristina Odone “loathes” the author. Quite personally.

Of course,  that would sound churlish. So she tries to blame the disagreement specifically on him attributing the no-to-assisted-dying position to the “far right”.

But ever since I heard Pratchett claim that only the “far Right” had any objections to assisted suicide [link in the original], I have loathed him. For a man blessed with such talent and success, who wields an influence on so many young people, to rubbish life so publicly is disgraceful. For him to misrepresent as “far Right” those who oppose legalising assisted suicide is downright dishonest.

Did you know Pratchett had said that? No? You’re not alone.

The article Odone links doesn’t contain this phrase, nor does the video embedded in the page, though Pratchett seems to have made the comment in an interview with Jon Snow on Channel 4 News. At the time when it was filmed and shown (early last year) this comment seems to have been taken as a fairly light-hearted accusation from a man who, as a sufferer of Alzheimers, has a very personal stake in the debate, and the comment was largely ignored, including during the interview by Jon Snow. A search does turn up one response to the “far right” comment by Dominic Lawson. Lawson is able to turn it into the basis of an entire article in which we learn about how those “fanatical” pro-assisted-dying lot are always painting the antis as far right extremists. There are no other examples given.

So Odone’s “loathing” is supposedly based on one comment from over a year ago, inflated originally by one commentator, and now picked over again by herself. “It is of course a favourite trick of the media-savvy Liberal Left,” she tells us, “painting their opponents on any issue as Right-wing extremists.” Again, no other examples are on offer.

Meanwhile, while loudly protesting about Pratchett’s single comic ad hominem and ostensibly writing about the rhetorical ploy of offering false attacks on those you disagree with, Odone goes on to offer several for Pratchett. She describes his position on assisted dying as being to “rubbish life”, says he suffers from an “emotional autism”, and finally decides that “For him, men (and women) are autonomous beings devoid of the connections that make life worth living.”

Anyone who’s heard Pratchett talking about why life, and the right for those suffering to end it, are important, would surely find it hard to support Odone’s interpretation of his position and motivation.

Moreover, it must be like waking up for a dream for Cristina Odone! Presumably she now regrets that her family wasted all that time reading all those life-denying, cold and un-funny, emotionally dead books full of disconnected characters in Pratchett’s meaningless world?

Link: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/cristinaodone/100084004/sir-terry-pratchett-poster-boy-of-assisted-suicide-has-the-bbc-doing-his-bidding/

In it’s ongoing quest to annoy even other Christians, the Christian Legal Centre has recruited another religious person willing to parade their their willingness to parade their religion at work. Electrician Colin Atkinson has been displaying a palm crucifix in his van window and the Christian Legal Centre have made sure there’s plenty of photos available.

The Daily Mail points out that Atkinson works for a “giant housing association”. That’s right: the giant, corporate whores who like to work for social housing organisations are crushing the little people, again. (The Daily Mail do like to stick it to da man in favour of championing the powerless working class, after all. That’s why their hereditary ownership by Conservative-supporting, non-domiciled Viscount Rothermere is so important to them.)

This time the massive international conglomerate housing association has been taking away the little people’s (non-existent) right to exhibit a religious belief while representing an employer.

Former soldier Colin Atkinson has been summoned to a disciplinary hearing by the giant housing association where he has been employed for 15 years because he refuses to remove the symbol.

Mr Atkinson, a regular worshipper at church, said: ‘The treatment of Christians in this country is becoming diabolical…but I will stand up for my faith.’

Throughout his time at work, he has had an 8in-long cross made from woven palm leaves attached to the dashboard shelf below his windscreen without receiving a single complaint.

But his bosses at publicly funded Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) in West Yorkshire – the fifth-biggest housing organisation in England – have demanded he remove the cross on the grounds it may offend people or suggest the organisation is Christian. Mr Atkinson’s union representative said he faces a full disciplinary hearing next month for gross misconduct, which could result in dismissal.

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1377684/Electrician-Colin-Atkinson-faces-sack-Christian-cross-van-dashboard.html

The Telegraph manages to get as far as mentioning the Christian Legal Centre is “backing the case”, but also buys into the victimhood narrative…

Mr Atkinson’s battle follows a series of similar cases involving Christians who claim they are being victimised because of their faith.

… without noticing that all those similar cases are also “backed” by the CLC.

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8456637/Electrician-faces-sack-for-displaying-Christian-cross-in-his-van.html

Lord Carey, whose anti-persecution campaign We Are Not Ashamed seemed to shame rather a lot of Christians last year, has also offered his two cents about the latest complaint. Atkinson is pictured, in the Daily Mail again (they love their pictures) wearing Not Ashamed t-shirts and embracing Carey’s unashamed backing:

[Carey] said it was ‘outrageous’ that Colin Atkinson had been told by the housing association he works for that he cannot show the Christian symbol of his faith on the dashboard.

… Lord Carey said last night: ‘It’s outrageous that anyone cannot display a small palm cross. This is political correctness gone mad once more.

‘I salute Mr Atkinson for his bravery and all Christians who quietly stand up for their faith…’

Quietly, and humbly. With pro bono assistance from Christian lawyers, an increasingly tabloid-friendly former archbishop, and a massive media campaign based on a handful of cases with no legal merit used to create the impression of widespread persecution. Quietly.

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1377977/Former-Archbishop-Canterbury-Lord-Carey-says-Christian-cross-ban-outrageous.html

In a story which is yet to reach the mainstream media, but may grow as the case progresses, the Pope and two other people have been named as the Vatican has been served with court papers. The case relates to a allegations of sexual abuse against a priest, now dead, at a Wisconsin school for the deaf.

Jeff Anderson, an attorney for the man making the allegations, said he had been notified the papers were successfully filed through official diplomatic channels.

“Every time we make a step forward, as long as that takes, we are going in the right direction,” Anderson said. “And the direction we’re headed is a measure of accountability. We really believe that we need to put some heat on the Vatican to bring some light.”

The Vatican’s U.S.-based attorney, Jeffrey Lena, said Tuesday that he still has to evaluate the papers to determine whether they meet the requirements imposed by U.S. law.

“It’s premature to comment what will happen next in the case,” he said.

The lawsuit was filed nearly a year ago in federal court on behalf of Terry Kohut, now of Chicago. It claims Pope Benedict XVI and two other top Vatican officials knew about allegations of sexual abuse at St. John’s School for the Deaf outside Milwaukee and called off internal punishment of the accused priest, the Rev. Lawrence Murphy.

Full article: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5icsvx0mcrbR3n3_u9KDl33BZ_iBw?docId=6546589