Society Needs To Redefine Tolerance And Diversity...

...it is obvious that we have been failing for centuries and the Crusades, Barbarby Coast Pirates, Al Quieda, etc. are the results.

Killing Christians in the name of the prophet

Michael Coren: The bomb that killed at least 21 Egyptian Christians on New Year’s morning was packed with sharpened metal, iron balls and razor wire. Many of those that the device didn’t rip to death will never function properly ever again.

Matt Gurney, however, writes about a different but related problem: After busting up an alleged domestic terror cell involving a plan by three Muslim Canadians to attack civilians in Canada, the RCMP rushed to apologize to the Muslim community, in case the arrests hurt any feelings.

Father Raymond J. de Souza, in reference to religious fighting in Nigeria, recounts the story of that country’s minority Christians — who only found peace with their Muslim neighbours after they answered violence with violence.

Terror threat fails to halt Christmas services for Canada’s Coptics 

Point, Counterpoint...

John Moore: Atheism and the irrational mind

Yoni Goldstein: Agnostics are the conscientious objectors of the God wars

Interesting Trivia Question...

Where did the Hare Krishnas go ?

Sadly Every Groups Has It's Radicals...

Barbara Kay: The fanatics inside Judaism

Barbara Kay  July 27, 2010 – 6:34 pm

 

“Strange times to be a Jew.” That’s the master theme, voiced early and demonstrated often, in a haunting 2007 novel about Jewish messianism, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.
Michael Chabon’s darkly brilliant achievement in alternate history sprang to mind last week, when news broke that if Israel’s extreme right wing ultra-Orthodox — the Haredim, who control the Chief Rabbinate — have their way, who is or isn’t a Jew will be far more narrowly circumscribed than ever before in Israel’s history.
The Knesset has approved a draft bill that would permit the Haredim to dictate the criteria for legal Jewish status. They would then hold the power to exclude thousands of Jewish converts, even many converted by orthodox rabbis, from eligibility for Israeli citizenship under the “law of return” accorded all Jews as an inherent right. Read More »

Posted in: Full Comment, Social Issues, World Politics  Tags: Israel, Judaism, Messianic Jews, Third Temple, Haredim, Orthodox Jews

A Link Between These Two Cultures?

Ray Pennings

Religious faith is the civic oxygen of our social ecology

The secularizing experiment of the past 40 years has been a failure 

Alfred Hermida

We’d need to quit more than Facebook

Monday’s protest was mere symbolism – the social Web is something we’ve done to ourselves

Smythe Asks Some Valid Questions...

Priests and Pedophilia  
Posted 4/5/2010 7:20:00 AM

Some pretty obvious questions about the scandal in the Catholic church are not being asked.

What about whistle blowers? Surely normal priests knew what was going on. They would have been as disgusted as we are. Did they report it to their superiors? Leak it to the media? Are whistle blowers in the church encouraged? Or punished? Did the church, and the Catholic community, manage to pressure the media to hush things up.

How is it possible that a “man of god” dedicated to good work and to the good of humanity can do such things? One or two aberrations might be understandable. But this was widespread around the world!

Priests go to confession too. Did they confess their sins? Maybe they didn’t even consider them sins.

In the seminaries is this problem discussed during training? Are novitiates warned? Is there a system in place to ...

[ Read full post ]

You Take The Bad With The Good

Attacks on Catholicism compared to 'anti-Semitism'

Attacks on the Church over a sexual abuse scandal are comparable to the most shameful anti-Semitism, said a letter read at a Good Friday..

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/#ixzz0k1rtrSNt

More Apologies, More Comdenation, More Payouts But...

...will it ever end? I doubt it!

85% Of You Will Be Interested...

God's Brain: The neuroscience of devotion

If A Country Was Predominately Athiest Would They Be Exempt From A Holy Ware?

The global Internet jihad: Web of terror

Margaret Wente

Coren Is Celebrating........

You hate me? Thanks

By MICHAEL COREN

I just can't keep it in. I know I shouldn't boast but, well, as a Roman Catholic I simply have to.

Hopefully Security Checks Will Be Stringent!

Priest Shortage Forces Vatican To Hire Temps To Deliver Sacred Rites

Not A Camptown Meeting Preacher But.....

.....we should be listening and evaluating.

Preacher a voice for moderation

Like any rousing Islamic preacher, Muhammed Tahir ul-Qadri’s voice rises to a shout and his index finger jabs as he hammers home a point...

* Get more on religion on our Holy Post blog
* Comment: Why shariah must be opposed

Good Morning Michael.....

Michael Coren: The faithful don't challenge the faith

Posted: July 16, 2009, 10:00 AM by NP Editor

It did, as it were, have to happen. A human rights body taking on the Roman Catholic Church. In this case the issues are still murky and confused, but it appears that an openly gay man who has been living with his partner for 19 years has been dismissed as an altar server in his Peterborough, Ont., parish. Several long-standing parishioners complained, and local Bishop Nicola De Angelis, one of the gentlest and kindest priests you are likely to meet, decided that the situation was inappropriate.

Click here to read more...

Religious Freedom Under Shaira Law

Christianity under Shariah Laws and their treatment under the Shariah Posted by allysonrt on 23rd October 2008

Saudi Arabia – Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death. Bibles are illegal. Churches are illegal. Easter celebrations are illegal. It is punishable by death for a non-mulsim to enter the “holy” muslim cities of Medina and Mecca.

Yemen – Bans proselytizing by non-Muslims and forbids conversions. The Government does not allow the building of new non-Muslim places of worship.

Kuwait - Registration and licensing of religious groups. Members of religions not sanctioned in the Koran may not build places of worship. Prohibits organized religious education for religions other than Islam.

Egypt - Islam is the official state religion and primary source of legislation. Accordingly, religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited. Muslims may face legal problems if they convert to another faith. Requires non-Muslims to obtain what is now a presidential decree to build a place of worship.

Algeria - The law prohibits public assembly for purposes of practicing a faith other than Islam. Non-Islamic proselytizing is illegal, and the Government restricts the importation of non-Islamic literature for distribution. The country has passed the “Regulation of Religious Practice” law, which stipulates a punishment of two to five years’ imprisonment and heavy fines for anyone convicted of urging a Muslim to change his religion.

Syria - The constitution requires the president to be a Muslim and specifies that Islamic jurisprudence is a principal source of legislation. Sharing your Christian faith is discouraged as “posing a threat to the relations among religious groups” and carries a penalty of up to life in prison. A Christian is not allowed to proselytize – ever. Churches who want to hold an extra service must get a government permit. Sermons are routinely monitored, as is church fundraising.

Jordan – Has the death penalty for any Muslim selling land to a Jew.

Sudan – Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death.

Pakistan – Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death. Bans proselytizing by non-Muslims. Christians regularly put in prison for charges of blasphemy. Islam is the state religion, and in a court of law the testimony of a Christian carries less weight than that of a Muslim. Section 295(c) of the Penal Code calls for a death sentence for anyone who defiles the name of the Prophet Muhammad and requires the testimony of four Muslims for a conviction. This fosters an environment in which Muslims can feel free to use intimidation and violence against religious minorities for personal gain. Also, if any criminal Muslim rape with any Christian female and then take plea that she has accepted Islam and marry with him. Such person is not culpable under Pakistani criminal law

Qatar – Islamic instruction is compulsory in public schools. The government regulates the publication, importation, and distribution of non-Islamic religious literature. The government continues to prohibit proselytizing of Muslims by non-Muslims.

Malaysia – Under Malaysian law, any convert to Christianity must apply to a shariah (Muslim law) court to legally renounce Islam. Many Christians prefer to remain silent converts rather than take their battle to the shariah courts, where apostasy or conversion out of Islam is punishable by whipping, fines, imprisonment and—in the most extreme application—death. In a country where Muslims account for more than half of the population, conversion from Islam is punished with a 5-year prison sentence and a $3,000 fine. A Malaysian Muslim who marries a non-Muslim and who converts the non-Muslim to Islam is rewarded with an apartment, a car, a one-time payment of $2,700, and a monthly stipend of $270.

The Maldives – In the island paradise visited by tens of thousands of tourists each year, Christianity is simply not tolerated. While local Christians – said to number around 300 out of a total population of 300,000 – do get together to worship, they do so at the risk of imprisonment or worse if discovered by the Muslim authorities. Bibles are banned, and tourists can be arrested for trying to bring them into the country.

http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/category/christianity-and-islam/

The following examples above should be a good warning for the rest of us who are non muslim. The muslim system that insists that it is from God and yet takes away the very relvelations that started BEFORE muhammad or his islamic creation were even born.

And islam claims to be a ‘brother’ to the Christian and Jewish religion? It appears to me that the islamic system neither ‘repects’ nor protects Christians, Jews or other religions outside of the USA.

Sadly this very system wants to push it’s agendas here in the USA, UK, Canada and elsewhere. If it does Freedom as we know it will no longer be possible.

Religious Freedom In Canada

Tags: Various islamic countries that ban non muslim religions

I Haven't Had Time To Commit The Old Sins.....

......so I doubt if I am going to spend much time feeling guilty about the new sins.

Media botches Vatican "sin" story

"A supposed list of 'new sins' from the Vatican, such as pollution and genetic manipulation, made headlines across the world on Monday. The list actually didn’t come from any official Catholic Church document, but from an interview of a bishop that was published in L'Osservatore Romano, the 'semi-official' newspaper in Vatican City, and it exposed the mainstream media’s fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity in general, and the Catholic Church specifically.

(...)

"Archbishop Girotti said that the modern world does not understand the nature of sin. With their coverage of the interview, the mass media unintentionally underlined the prelate's point."

# Kathy : 2008-03-12 07:39:44 EDT

Should We Be Concerned

There are many who believe democracy will disappear not by violence acts but by diversity, multi-culturalism, etc.

Protestants Becoming Minorities

The Faithful Fight The Good Fight.......

.....against the onslaught of the anti-god, anti-religion, anti-xmas proponents.

Their Disbelief Is My Strength

I suppose it's the greatest joke of all. Deliciously ironic as well. My Christian faith has been profoundly encouraged by those most eager to smother it. Put simply, I was helped along the road from indifference to belief by the banality of atheism. More Christmas spirit Christmas has become a contentious time. Questions of who celebrates the holiday, as well as how and why they do so, lead to highly emotional debates. Old traditions are under siege, and new ones meet angry resistance. MORE...

No Matter How You Cut It A Young Girl Is Dead

Girl's death puts Islam in hot seat
Treating it as political ideology increases conflict with Western culture
If nothing else, the death of 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez should put to rest forever the yearning by some for sharia law in Ontario.

'We denounce this act'
Imams speak out over killing
Islamic leaders met with the media yesterday to dispel what they said was the unfair association of the Muslim faith and a murder charge against a Mississauga father charged with strangling his daughter.

It Will Be Interesting Hear Comments/Discussion

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Questions of freedom and religion

December 12, 2007 15:12

What is the proper place of religion in society, and what limits should be placed on the discussion of it?

When Mark Steyn, the conservative columnist, writes in a book chapter reprinted in Maclean’s magazine that jihad is unnecessary because the fertility rates among Muslims mean they will soon achieve dominance through democratic means, is he engaging in “hate speech”? Even if — as the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) complains to various human rights commissions in BC, Ontario and the federal government — Steyn’s views are offensive to Muslims, should he be prevented from stating them publicly?

How about the view, expressed by CIC president Mohamed Elmasry on television in 2004, that all Israeli adults are legitimate targets for terror attacks? Is that hate speech? Should that be forbidden?
What about the Bible, one of the foundational texts for all three of the major religious groups in Canada, in which it says (with authority often claimed to be divine) that men who have sex with other men are “detestable” (or an “abomination,” depending on your translation) and should be put to death? Is this hate speech? Should anyone printing bibles or repeating the words of the Bible be charged with a crime?

Or, to look at it from another angle, what about vocal atheists like Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens, who claim in print — citing the Bible, among other things — that religions, including Christianity, Islam and Judaism, are murderous nonsense that inspire hatred and violence? Are they engaging in intolerant hate speech? Should they be forbidden to do so?

Or does the tolerance and freedom of religion that allow us to live together in peace actually require us to allow the expression of such divergent and often offensive beliefs?

Does American presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s recent speech on “Faith in America” shed any light? When he says “Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom,” is he making the slightest bit of sense? When he claims that he believes that Jesus Christ is the saviour of mankind, and that the American government is inseparable from “the God who gives us liberty,” and then goes on to say that his Mormon religious beliefs are irrelevant and that asking questions about those beliefs is intolerant, is he trying to have his cake and eat it too? Doesn’t his intolerance of the irreligious “religion of secularism” actually lay the theoretical framework for intolerance of his religion of Mormonism, or intolerance of any other religion?

Would it be fair to say that a speech in 1960 by US presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, in which he said that his Catholicism was irrelevant because he believed that the separation of church and state was “absolute,” was more coherent? When he went on to say that the president’s “religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office,” is he actually sketching an entire ideology for governing?

Does a view that everyone is entitled to their own religious beliefs —?or lack of them — actually require that the state itself remain agnostic? And does that freedom of religion actually require, for its very existence, the protection of speech that expresses contradictory beliefs about religion and its uses? And doesn’t that protection, by definition, require the tolerance of opinions that some of us will find offensive and hateful?

And is it going too far to point out examples from societies where this freedom was not protected — say in Sudan, where a British schoolteacher was jailed for allowing children to name a teddy bear after the Muslim prophet; or in Medieval Europe where Muslims were tortured and murdered; or in World War II Germany where genocide was attempted in response to a religion that was deemed dangerous and evil?

In the end, is it even possible to have freedom of religion at all if that freedom does not extend to all religions (and to the irreligious too)? And if not, what exactly do we mean by freedom?

Eye Weekly