United Kingdom: A committee considering scientific evidence and making recommendations for change based on scientific evidence has issued its report. Religious groups, who had tried to nobble the enquiry, will not be pleased with the results. No change in the upper limit is suggested, and liberalisation in other areas is proposed. What's more, the committee said that superstitious doctors who object to the procedure should alert their patients well in advance. Ben Goldacre has the press release, which quotes committee member Dr Evan Harris, a Liberal Democrat MP, extensively:
This thorough report - after a rigorous enquiry into a set of very narrow scientific issues - sets out clear conclusions on what the scientific evidence can tell us about abortion law reform.
The medical evidence is stark about how the threshold of viability has not reduced below 24 weeks, and that is why our conclusions are so firm...
The Committee had no alternative - given the medical and scientific facts - but to argue for the end of the 40 year requirement for two doctors signatures, the old-fashioned ban on nurses performing abortions, and the unnecessary restriction of choice for women about where they have early medical abortion.
I am pleased the Committee argues for the GMC to make clear that doctors who conscientiously object must alert their patients in advance and ensure another doctor takes the consultation if abortion is a possibility.
Dr. Harris also left us a tempting tidbit:
The so calledminority reportis a amusing mish-mash of paranoid conspiracy theories, pseudo-scientific clap-trap and anti-abortion zealotry. The few recognisably scientific arguments it makes are completely dealt with in the Committee's report and rebutted by the totality of the scientific literature.
I think we can all guess which report the Prattle would like to see.
Sense prevails—Bad Science, 31st October 2007. See also SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENTS RELATING TO THE ABORTION ACT 1967, an account of the committee's remit on the UK Parliamentary website.
Australia: Here's a delightful tale of religiously justified paedophilia and incest from South Australia.
A pastor from a South Australian fundamentalist church has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years after admitting he had sex with two of his teenage daughters.Continue reading "Religiously Justified Paedophilia and Incest"
The 54-year-old man, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty to seven counts each of incest and unlawful sexual intercourse.
The court heard that the man had sex with his daughters for nearly a decade in the 1990s at the family property.
The man later told the court he had sex with the girls toeducatethem on how to be good wives — not for his own gratification.
Judge David Lovell rejected that, saying the man's explanation for the abusedefied belief.
In setting a four-year non-parole period, Judge Lovell said the man hadgood prospectsof rehabilitation, and continued to have the support of his wife and church.
Australia: While I was distracted by the tale of a superstitious Melbourne Catholic school refusing to enrol a child with the last name Hell
, I missed the news that kiddie fiddler William Little Pebble
Kamm has lost his appeal against charges of paedophilia.
Amusingly enough his attempts to overturn the case were based more on trying to hide the fact that he's an idiot with a collection of stupid minions, rather than the improper behaviour of a judge.
Kamm's grounds for appeal included the jury should have been dismissed because of a note it had sent to the judge during the trial.
The jury had notified the judge Kamm's sister-in-law was seenmouthingwords from the public gallery, which were then repeated by a defence witness.
Justice Hodgson today ruled the judge had acted properly by asking the jury to draw no inference from what they suspected was the coaching of a witness.
Oops.
Kamm is also awaiting sentencing following a separate guilty verdict on sex charges related to a different underage girl. He does seem to have been the busy little paedophile.
Cult leader loses child sex conviction appeal—news.com.au, 9th July 2007, (via feorag.newsvine.com).
Catholic school gives in over Hell enrolment—ABC News Online, 9th July 2007, (via redwolf.newsvine.com).
United States: Joe Murray used to be a columnist for the American Family Association, but is now strongly critical of their homophobic stance. This interview with him at Pam's House Blend makes interesting reading, and serves as a reminder that not all Christians are hate-filled loons (via Box Turtle Bulletin).
Pam's House Blend mocks all sorts of homophobia, especially fundie homophobia, and has recently featured some gems, such as What is it with Michael Savage and transpeople?—in which we learn that trans people are to blame for the Columbine massacre. The blog subtitle ...always steamin'
means something quite different in these parts, though.
United Kingdom: Religion is a force for harm, not good, and non-believers make up the majority of the population according to a poll published in today's Guardian.
The poll also reveals that non-believers outnumber believers in Britain by almost two to one. It paints a picture of a sceptical nation with massive doubts about the effect religion has on society: 82% of those questioned say they see religion as a cause of division and tension between people. Only 16% disagree. The findings are at odds with attempts by some religious leaders to define the country as one made up of many faith communities.
Most people have no personal faith, the poll shows, with only 33% of those questioned describing themselves asa religious person. A clear majority, 63%, say that they are not religious - including more than half of those who describe themselves as Christian.
The response from the Church of England has been to stick its fingers in its ears and cry Nyaah! Nyaah! Can't hear you!
.
But a spokesman for the Church of England denied yesterday that mainstream religion was the source of tension. He also insisted that theimpression of secularism in this country is overrated.
He went on to claim that 1 million people (1.6% of the population) attend CofE services each week. As Charles Stross points out, this is far fewer than watch SF and fantasy on TV:
Yeah, right. You speak for an organization that has an audience draw 40% that of a Terry Pratchett mini-series on Sky TV. Doctor Who has a 4:1 lead over the C of E in regular audience terms. Maybe we should give Russell T. Davis four seats in the House of Lords?
Religion does more harm than good - poll—The Guardian, 23rd December 2006.
United States: For years independent reports have shown that abstinence only sex education, so favoured by the loony fundies of America, just doesn't work. Not only does it result in lots of clueless pregnant teenagers, but also skyrocketing incidences of STDs.
As you would expect, the loony fundies on the Canton, Ohio school board poo-pooed these reports, secure in their belief that Just Saying No
was the all their children needed to know about sex. As expected, it all came back to bite them.
There were 490 female students at Timken High School in 2005, and 65 were pregnant ... According to the Canton Health Department, statistics through July 2005 showed that 104 of the 586 babies born to Canton residents in Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center had mothers between the ages of 11 and 19.Continue reading "Abstinence Only Sex Education Causes Baby Boom"
United States: In a surprising decision, given recent events, a school board in San Antonio, Texas, has decided not to ban Margaret Atwood's 1985 classic The Handmaid's Tale. Superintendent Ed Lyman had banned the book from the advanced English curriculum, but the school board overturned the decision.
If we do ban The Handmaid's Tale because of sexual content, then why not ban Huckleberry Finn for racism? Why not ban The Crucible for witchcraft? Why not ban The Things They Carried for violence, and why not ban the Bible and argue separation of church and state?Judson senior Craig Gagne told trustees.
As well as complaining that the book was sexually explicit, Lyman insisted it was offensice to Christians. Well, I suppose if you are a barking mad fundie, I suppose it would be offensive to read a fictional reminder of what a society run according your interpretation of The Big Book of Fairy Tales would be like.
School board reverses ban on Handmaid's Tale—Houseton Chronicle, 24th March 2006.
Israel: Pat Robertson's plan to build a Biblical theme park has ground to a halt because the Israeli government refuses to do business with him. His recent comments that Ariel Sharon's stroke was a punishment from God just might be connected to the decision.
Avi Hartuv, a spokesman for Israel's tourism minister, said officials were furious about the remarks.
We will not do business with him - only with other evangelicals who don't back these comments,he said.We will do business with other evangelical leaders, friends of Israel, but not with him.
Robertson had hoped to attract a million visitors per year (and their money) to his Christian Heritage Centre in Galilee, close to several important Christian sites. There is no news as to whether Robertson has since declared Israel to be a dark land dominated by homosexuals.
Israeli biblical theme park plans in doubt—The Guardian, 11th January 2006.
In a delightful example of common sense, Judge John Jones of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled that intelligent design — which bills itself as a scientific theory and states that life shows signs of being the work of an intelligent designer — is in fact reworked creationism.
The decision comes after 11 parents sued the Dover High School Board of Education for requiring that biology students be read a statement that cast doubt on evolution and endorsed intelligent design. Eight of the nine school board members were voted out of office in November, but the case continued in the court.
In his decision, Jones systematically dismantled the arguments of the proponents of intelligent design. Jones said that the history of intelligent design shows that it is essentially creationism with explicit references to God and the Bible removed. As such, it is primarily a religious theory, not a scientific one, and cannot be taught in US public schools, which are prevented from promoting religion.
Jones also said that language in the school board statement that evolution is only atheoryis misleading. It confuses the scientific and colloquial meanings oftheory. And by singling out evolution from all other scientific theories it suggests that there is some special doubt about the truth of evolution.
The judge stated that intelligent design cannot be considered science for a number of reasons. By depending on a supernatural cause it violates the basic ground rules of science that have been in place since the 16th century.
He also found that intelligent design relies on thefalse dualismthat if evolution can be disproven, then intelligent design is proven. In any case, he found that intelligent design's criticisms of evolution have been largely refuted.
I'm deeply amused by the wingnuts who are pimping intelligent design
as a valid scientific theory
, when past attacks on the theory of evolution have been over their misunderstood use of the word theory
in the first place. Perhaps this whole mess could have been avoided if somebody just handed the idiots a dictionary. Oh, that's right, they aren't permitted to think or learn for themselves.
Judge rules against 'intelligent design' in class—New Scientist, 20th December 2005.
Australia: Kenneth Emmanuel Dyers, co-founder of the self-styled spiritual healing group Kenja, was arrested yesterday at his house in Bundeena in Sydney's south over the alleged aggravated sexual and indecent assault of two 12-year-old girls. The 83-year-old cult leader is facing 22 sex charges and claims that the accusations are part of a witch-hunt by disaffected former members who are trying to destroy him.
Unlike the recently mentioned Kamm, Dyers was granted conditional bail. I suspect this is because he is less an obvious nutjob, but more likely, because he schmoozes with the right people.
Continue reading "Yet Another Australian Cult Leader up on Child Sex Charges"Australia: Kamm looks to be sinking deeper into the muck. Fresh out of court on charges of shagging a gullible teenager, he was dragged back into court for getting his end away with an eleven-year-old.
Kamm, of course, denies the whole thing, claiming the kid in question has a history of crying wolf over cult members assaulting her, but with his recent court history, it's looking like the Little Pebble
may well have been sharing a penchant for paedophilia around with other members of his cult.
Kamm recently appeared in Parramatta Local Court where he was charged with five counts of sexual assault and six of aggravated indecent assault.
The court was told he is alleged to have abused a girl when she was aged between 11 and 15 at his religious community near Nowra on the south coast.
'Little pebble' charged with sex abuse - ABC News Online, 21st October 2005.
Scotland: Students at Edinburgh University have voted to remove Bibles from halls of residence because the practice is discriminatory.
The bible ban has been described as disappointing by churchmen. But student leaders insist it is an important step towards making sure people of all religions feel welcome on campus. There are more than 2000 bibles at the university's Pollock Halls campus, on the edge of Holyrood Park - one in each room. They are expected to be removed after a vote by the Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA).
University officials have yet to approve the ban. However, similar calls from students in the past - including one to have prayers removed from graduation ceremonies two years ago - have been agreed without protest.
EUSA president Ruth Cameron explained:
The student association firmly believes in the importance of ensuring that all students from all faiths feel at home in their university accommodation. We simply don't want to be seen promoting one religion over another.
Students at Stirling University supported a similar move last April.
Bible to be banned from student halls—The Scotsman, 22nd October 2005.
Australia: Feòrag's nutjob radar is swifter than the local news services. She passed this gem onto me for local commentary.
This isn't the first time self-professed religious leader William Little Pebble
Kamm has made an appearance in the Prattle, he was last mentioned for his schemes to scam Government grants. This time around it looks like someone noticed his personal cult, the Order of St Charbel, is nothing more than a front to get Kamm laid and the silly sod has been sentenced to a minimum of three-and-a-half years in jail for sexually abusing one of his teenage followers.
Fresh research has demonstrated that, contrary to the claims of religious organisations and individuals, religion has a negative effect on society.
Many liberal Christians and believers of other faiths hold that religious belief is socially beneficial, believing that it helps to lower rates of violent crime, murder, suicide, sexual promiscuity and abortion. The benefits of religious belief to a society have been described as itsspiritual capital. But the study claims that the devotion of many in the US may actually contribute to its ills.
Gregory Paul's research has been published in Journal of Religion and Society, and draws from data collected by Gallup, the International Social Survey Programme and other sources. He compared the rates of murder, abortion and sexually-transmitted infections in several prosperous democracies
.
The study concluded that the US was the world's only prosperous democracy where murder rates were still high, and that the least devout nations were the least dysfunctional. Mr Paul said that rates of gonorrhoea in adolescents in the US were up to 300 times higher than in less devout democratic countries. The US also suffered fromuniquely highadolescent and adult syphilis infection rates, and adolescent abortion rates, the study suggested...
...[Paul said}The non-religious, proevolution democracies contradict the dictum that a society cannot enjoy good conditions unless most citizens ardently believe in a moral creator.
The widely held fear that a Godless citizenry must experience societal disaster is therefore refuted.
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'—The Times, 27th September 2005.
Australia: Probably the best thing about writing for the Prattle is the joy of coming up with titles worthy of the Weekly World News. If only I could wangle aliens or Elvis in there, I'd probably be seeing a lawsuit for treading on their toes.
This particular tale is about James Fletcher, a former Catholic priest in the Hunter Valley parish. He liked to get quite familiar with his altar boys. Fortunately, some of those kids has the guts to face up to the kind of scum in the upper echelon of the Catholic church, who coddled the paedophiles in their midst and bad-mouthed or paid-off their victims, and the good Father found himself sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in stir.
Continue reading "Kiddie-Fiddling Priest Loses Appeal"United Kingdom: Research published today shows that a significant proportion of churchgoers are not believers. Further, an excuse widely used by churches to justify their interference in the lives of non-members—that many people believe without attending church—has also been shown to be a load of old bollocks.
David Voas of the University of Manchester and colleagues report that the number of people who have a real faith is now smaller than the number of people who passivelybelongto a religion. That undermines a cherished tenet of churches in Britain: that many people implicitlybelieveeven if they don't explicitly belong.
And there’s worse news for anyone hoping to impose their beliefs on their children:
The study, based on a 14 years of data from 10,500 households, found that parents played a powerful role in the transmission of religious belief. But even if both parents held strong beliefs, there was only a 50-50 chance that their children would carry on believing.
In houses where only one parent had strong feelings about faith, children were much less likely to believe. On the other hand, two non-religious parents had no trouble passing on their lack of faith. In effect, attendance fell away steadily with each generation.
Although believers tend to have more children, this rate of failure means they’d need to have at least five children per couple to see even a modest increase in belief. It won’t necessarily be the same beliefs though.
Whatever the parents' beliefs, one child in 12 will join a denomination not supported by either parent.
Study refutes faith in silent majority—The Guardian, 16th August 2005.
Karen Armstrong has penned an interesting opinion piece for The Guardian questioning why we insist on referring to 'Islamic terror', yet never used equivalent terms to describe the IRA and other Christian terrorist organisations. She reminds us that what the Qur'an says, and the actions of certain violent bampots, bear no resemblance to one another:
We need a phrase that is more exact thanIslamic terror. These acts may be committed by people who call themselves Muslims, but they violate essential Islamic principles. The Qur'an prohibits aggressive warfare, permits war only in self-defence and insists that the true Islamic values are peace, reconciliation and forgiveness. It also states firmly that there must be no coercion in religious matters, and for centuries Islam had a much better record of religious tolerance than Christianity.
Like the Bible, the Qur'an has its share of aggressive texts, but like all the great religions, its main thrust is towards kindliness and compassion. Islamic law outlaws war against any country in which Muslims are allowed to practice their religion freely, and forbids the use of fire, the destruction of buildings and the killing of innocent civilians in a military campaign. So although Muslims, like Christians or Jews, have all too often failed to live up to their ideals, it is not because of the religion per se.
She goes on to argue that fundamentalism is nothing other than nationalism wearing religious clothing. The efforts by American Christian fundies to co-opt the Stars and Stripes would seem to support that hypothesis.
Muslim organisations have been quick to emphasise that such acts are quite firmly against their religion, and have issued a fatwa declaring that the individuals reponsible, even if they consider themselves to be Muslims, are not—basically an excommunication.
Signed by dozens of prominent Muslim bodies, mosques, Islamic scholars and community groups, the religious edict will brand the attacks as a breach of the most basic tenets of Islam, reported The Independent.
If these bombers are found to be Muslims, we will make it clear we utterly dissociate ourselves from them - even if they claim to be Muslims or are acting under the mantle of the Islamic faith. We reject that utterly,said the official spokesman of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).
The label of Catholic terror was never used about the IRA - The Guardian, 11th July 2005; UK Fatwa to Call Bombers Unbelievers, If Proved Muslims - Islam Online, 10th July 2005.
Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone has a reasonably small population and an even smaller number of Christians; weighing in at around the 10% mark. So from the newspaper ads the local tax office published, I can only assume that those Christians within the country are both more affluent than their fellow countrymen and less likely to pay their taxes.
Tax officials in Sierra Leone have infuriated Christians by publishing newspaper adverts saying Jesus Christ supported the paying of taxes.Continue reading "Tax Office Uses Bible to Shame Christians"
The half-page advertisements said that when Jesus was asked if he was against a law requiring the payment of taxes to the Roman emperor he replied:Pay the emperor what belongs to the emperor and pay to God what belongs to God, quoting from the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 22, verses 17-21).
It continued:All Christians should follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ. This week: pay your taxes.
England: The Children of Artemis have reconsidered their earlier decision, to the satisfaction of SignPagan. SignPagan's representative told the Prattle we are really glad that CoA have had a changed of heart on this issue and look forward to co-operating for future events
.
United Kingdom: The folk who brought you the Inflatable Church have turned their talents to something useful - The World's First Inflatable Pub.
The pub is 40ft long, 19ft wide and 22ft high. It can be customised for use as a fully working pub, with room for a bar and 30 customers.
The pub can be erected in 10 minutes with 2 small blowers and can be sited on any firm, level surface.
An internal aluminium frame can be used to support additional lighting, sound systems and also doubles as a safety barrier.
No news on the inflatable cool cellar with room for several casks of real ale.
Canada: Inmates at a Winnipeg prison have found a use for the Bible - it makes excellent rolling papers.
The provincial jails are supposed to be tobacco-free, but enterprising inmates have come up with their own smokes - a combination of leaves from tea bags and Nicorette gum that is boiled, dried and rolled in the thin pages of the New or Old Testament.
And the Gideons have promised to provide more Bibles to burn when the prisoners run out.
Holy smokes! Prisoners using Bibles to make cigarettes - AZ Central, 21st January 2005.
United States: US District Judge Clarence Cooper has ordered the removal of the [in]famous theory, not a fact
stickers from high school biology textbooks.
...the court hereby FINDS and CONCLUDES that the Sticker adopted by the Cobb County Board of Education violates the Establishment clause of the First Amendment and Article I, Section II Paragraph VII of the Constitution of the State of Georgia.
The full ruling [PDF] is available from the United States District Court of the Northern District of Georgia.
Continue reading "Creationists Violate State Constitution"Spain: Spanish authorities, apparently sick of the church trying to ride rough-shod over them, have given the go-ahead for same-sex marriages.
Homosexuals throughout Spain were last night celebrating aContinue reading "Spain Approves Same-Sex Marriage"human rights victoryafter the government approved legislation allowing same-sex marriage.
India: Police have teamed up with the Orissa Rationalist Association to try and squash the belief in witchcraft which has killed 41 people this century.
Taking preventive measures too is the role of police. We are running awareness campaigns for the same. We are going to various villages. We go the village markets and our police officers spread the message through folk songs in the local language. Besides this, we have associated some NGOs with us to help us in our endeavour. We also have certain educated scientists and professors with us,said Y K Jetwa, the area's superintendent of police.
Professor Nayak, an eminent scientist working with the Kasturba Gandhi Medical College, Mangalore visited the remote corners of the tribal dominated Sundergarh district to eradicate superstitions from among the people.
I am trying to eradicate superstition from among the masses by roaming around the villages. The society is harmed by these superstitions to a great extent. Every type of loss, for example loss of honour, loss of property and loss of life, all such losses are incurred by superstitions. Therefore I want to eradicate them all,said Professor Nayak.
Slowly but steadily, his work has caught up with the tribals, who have flocked in large numbers to witness the scientific demonstrations presented by him.
Rationalists declare war on witches in Orissa - WebIndia123, 30th September 2004.
Namibia: The government has refused, point blank, to allow the ritual 'cleansing' of schools believed to be affected by witchcraft.
In [a circular, sent out less than a month ago] [Basic Education Permanent Secretary, Loine Nyanyukweni Katoma] denounced alleged cases of witchcraft at some schools and expressed her Ministry's concern that teachers and pupils were often wrongly accused of the practice.
Katoma said the policy position of the Ministry was that schools were areas entrusted to impart knowledge based on sound scientific principles and the power of reason.
Ours is not a Ministry for the affairs of witchcraft and superstitions.
The Ministry therefore does not condone the unwarranted mingling of witchcraft in the educational business of our children,Katoma said.
Govt draws line on witchcraft - The Namibian, 16th September 2004.
Australia: Mr Fricke isn't a fan of physical contact. Especially when other men are involved. So he's made something of a career for himself as a serial sexual harassment whinger.
Talk about being a devil for punishment. Sydneysider Randolph Fricke has such a phobia about physical contact with other men that he's made five official sexual harassment complaints, including an unsuccessful one against a lawyer whom he claimedmolestedhim by placing a hand near his groin during a mediation conference on a previous harassment complaint.
Fricke wants people to behave in a way that'sconducive to the Christian Judaic ethic, which is all that has ever concerned me in my entire existence.
Christian Judaic ethic
this would be as opposed to the obsessive religious nutjob ethic?
South Africa: Desmond Tutu, the retired Archbishop of Cape Town, has condemned anti-gay discrimination, comparing it to the apartheid system he helped overthrow. In the introduction to a new Amnesty International book, Sex, Love and Homophobia, he wrote:
We struggled against apartheid in South Africa, supported by people the world over, because black people were being blamed and made to suffer for something we could do nothing about -- our very skins... It is the same with sexual orientation. It is a given. I could not have fought against the discrimination of apartheid and not also fight against the discrimination that homosexuals endure, even in our churches and faith groups.
He saved his harshest criticism for those who would blame God for their own bigotry:
All over the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are persecuted. We treat them as pariahs and push them outside our communities. We make them doubt that they too are children of God -- and this must be nearly the ultimate blasphemy,he wrote.
We blame them for what they are. Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act -- the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?
Desmond Tutu: Homophobia as unjust as apartheid
—Gay.com News, 1st July 2004.
South Africa: Religious Studies graduate Chris Roper is fed up with the tendency of journalists and police officials to cry "Satan!" every time they come across a crime involving an over-sexed, pimply adolescent with a candle fetish and a bad taste in music
, and would like to see some common sense. Referring to the apparent suicide of a young woman in Magaliesberg last week, he complains
This is the bit that really gets my goat (oh oh, shouldn't have admitted I've got a goat).Burnt candles and a bottle of alcohol found near a piece of ground that had been cleared to make way for a circular rock structure brought members of the police Occult Related Crimes Unit to the scene.
Give me a break! Candles to see by, booze to pluck up courage, and a pile of rocks to jump off? And suddenly Satan is wandering around in the Magaliesberg? Surely he has enough to do down at SAFA?
The very fact that we have a Crimes Unit that apparently believes in Satan makes me laugh. And even if I also believed in Satan, I'd have to say - you can't even put Winnie Mandela behind bars, but you expect to clap the cuffs on Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness? Dream on, buddy.
Then he points out the reporting of a quote which bears an uncanny resemblance to the sort of thing trotted out by those who believe in the Satanic child abuse myth:
My favourite bit of the hanging story is the quote by a local resident:I've heard rumours of satanic rituals taking place on the mountain but I have personally never seen anything and I climb that mountain myself sometimes.
Well, there you have it: the absence of evidence PROVES that satanic rituals take place there. If they weren't Satanists, they'd have nothing to hide. This is an example of dross in a news story. The quote serves the function of legitimising the rumour of Satanism, even though its literal meaning is - there is no Satanism.
Satan ate my brain—News24, 22nd June 2004.
Ireland: It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when diverse religious groups unite to protest against loony fundamentalists. With the Shrub's history of isolating himself from reality, I doubt the silly bastard will know the dissent exists, but good luck to them regardless.
A group of leading Irish religious representatives came out in support of protests against the forthcoming visit of US President George Bush to Ireland.
Christian, Buddhist and Muslim representatives, together with the NGO Peace Alliance, have planned a number of peaceful protests for this weekend.
They are calling on Irish people to join their demonstrations taking place in Dublin and at Dromoland Castle, where the US President is staying.
Fr Frank Brady said:George Bush is portraying the American people as dishonest, deceitful and untrustworthy. I don't think that that is fair. I think we need to protest and raise our voices.
Religious urge protests against Bush visit - Ireland On-Line, 21st June 2004.
Australia: Professional charlatan Benny Hinn is about to tour Australia to part the gullible from their money. Local church leaders want the silly bastard to submit proof of his alleged miracles.
A modern ChristianContinue reading "Australian Churches Want Charlatan Tested"crusadeled by American television evangelist Benny Hinn, a self-professed miracle-worker and faith healer, will be unleashed on Brisbane later this month.
More than 30,000 believers hoping for some kind of healing of body, mind or spirit, are expected to raise the roof of the Brisbane Entertainment Centre for two shows — sandwiched between shows in Chicago and Ohio — on June 25 and 26. They are his only shows in Australia.
Apart from those watching television during the vampire hours, relatively few Australians know of Hinn although his Orlando Christian Centre ministry, founded two decades ago, earns up to $100 million a year and is said to have a weekly world TV audience of more than 50 million.
In the USdisbelievershave marred his church and concert hall performances by protesting outside venues and accusing the 51-year-old Lebanese-born tele-minister of preying on the sick and elderly.
Watchdog groups have been lobbying US Congress to pass legislation making it illegal to hawk anything that cannot be proven to deliver what it promises, and authorities have also been investigating his growing wealth.
Edinburgh, Scotland: I have quite a bit of respect for the Metropolitan Community Church, and rather a lot of respect for Bishop Jack Spong, author of Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, and the former is bringing the latter to town!
MCC EDINBURGH invites you to a GUEST LECTURE
The Bible and Prejudice
BISHOP JACK SPONG
author, theologian, retired Bishop of the US Episcopal Church and advocate of LGBT rights
Sunday June 27th 2004, 3.00 p.m. Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1EL
Entry is by ticket only. Tickets can be obtained for £3 each by writing to MCC Edinburgh at the above address. Places are limited so please apply early.
The talk will be followed by a question and answer session. Guests are invited to stay on for refreshments followed by a service of praise at 6.00p.m.
More information on the MCC Edinburgh web site.
United States: As far as Benton County in Oregon is concerned, if gay couples can't marry, no one can. Quite a kick in the teeth to the fundies.
In a new twist in the battle over same-sex marriage roiling the United States, a county in Oregon has banned all marriages — gay and heterosexual — until the state decides who can and who cannot wed.Continue reading "Oregon Bans All Marriages"
The last marriage licenses were handed out in Benton County at 4 p.m. local time on Tuesday. As of Wednesday, officials in the county of 79,000 people will begin telling couples applying for licenses to go elsewhere until the gay marriage debate is settled.
United States: The courts have thrown out the attempt by fundie employers to weasel out of including birth control in medical coverage.
The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that Catholic Charities must provide its employees in California with medical coverage for birth control, in spite of its religious objections to contraception.
The ruling has sweeping implications for religion-based nonprofit organizations and hospitals throughout the state and could influence decisions made in at least 20 other states that have similar laws requiring employers to provide contraception as part of employee health coverage, legal experts said. A similar case, brought by Catholic and Protestant organizations, is winding its way through the New York courts.
Catholic Group Is Told to Pay for Birth Control—New York Times, 2nd March 2004.
United States: The American Anthropological Association has issued a statement in response to President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage as a threat to civilization
.
The results of more than a century of anthropological research on households, kinship relationships, and families, across cultures and through time, provide no support whatsoever for the view that either civilization or viable social orders depend upon marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution. Rather, anthropological research supports the conclusion that a vast array of family types, including families built upon same-sex partnerships, can contribute to stable and humane societies.
The Executive Board of the American Anthropological Association strongly opposes a constitutional amendment limiting marria