Religion

 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton slammed an effort by Islamic countries to ban religious criticism last week.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference pressured the U.N. Human Rights Council to ban defamation of religion, like this cartoon that inspired the measure. Secretary Clinton fired back, "Some claim that the best way to protect the freedom of religion is to implement so-called anti-defamation policies that would restrict freedom of expression and the freedom of religion," she said. "I strongly disagree."

Although she is opposed to the negative depictions of certain faiths, a blanket ban of discourse isn't the right path, she said; instead countries should focus on tolerance.

Her statement came as the State Department announced its annual report on international religious freedom. The OIC has 56 member states, 18 of which were listed in the report as "countries where violations of religious freedom have been noteworthy."

The ridiculous measure would lump Bill Maher, Monty Python and George Carlin in with the likes of Slobodan Milosevic, Augusto Pinochet and Omar al-Bashir.

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Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah will apparently only put up with so much from his clerics. Sheikh Saad al-Shethry has been removed from the kingdom's highest council of religious scholars by royal decree, after he criticized a newly-opened multibillion-dollar university for being un-Islamic. Shethry had a particular problem with co-ed classes:

"Mixing is a great sin and a great evil," al-Shethri was quoted as saying. "When men mix with women, their hearts burn and they will be diverted from their main goal (which is) ... education."

Abdullah has acquired a reputation as an unlikely reformer after this year's Valentine's Day reforms, in which he sacked the head of the infamous religious police and appointed a woman to his cabinet for the first time. But as Saudi Arabia expert Toby Jones argued at the time, Abdullah is probably less interested in liberalizing Saudi society than he is eliminating threats to his family's power.

The firing of Shethry certainly seems to be an example. The university -- which is named after the king, of course --  is something of a legacy project for Abdullah. He has touted it as a "beacon of tolerance" and as part of his plan to make Saudi Arabia a center of technological innovation. His patience for unsolicited sharia advice from the peanut gallery is likely to be pretty low.

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Get ready to whip out your e-meters and get audited, Russians. The European Court of Human Rights said in a binding ruling that Russia's ban on Scientology is illegal.

Two Scientology groups brought their case to the court because they wanted to be listed as religious organizations, but Russian authorities denied their request because to be on that list a group must exist for at least 15 years. The court sided with the Scientologists.

This development comes not long after Germany's battle with the religious group. When Scientology's Berlin church opened, many Germans complained they were being harassed to join the group, and were worried about cult-like practices. For this reason, some German politicians called for the church to be banned. Germany's domestic intelligence has been gathering information on the group and its potential threat to "Democratic order."

The church claims that after all of the surveillance, no wrongdoing has been discovered and that they are merely a church committed to understanding the human spirit.

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After German voters sent the Christian Democrats -- led by Chancellor Angela Merkel -- back to power with 13 more seats, it seemed appropriate to ask: In a secular country, what exactly makes it "Christian?" 

The Christian Democratic Union says its "policies are based on theChristian view of Man and his responsibilities before God." HoweverGermans shy away from being connected with other versions of politicalChristianity.

Christianity Today recently interviewed Merke's minister of state on this issue. "Germans don't want to be called evangelical because theyare labeled by an image dominated by American evangelicals," Grohe said. He does want to see more German Christians discussing their faith in public, mixing personal with civil life, citing the United Kingdom as an example where religion and politics mix well.

Fighting abortion rights is an important issue for German Christians, but Grohe said fighting poverty and climate change are also imperative.

Talking about the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification, Grohe said, "We are still struggling to put together two very different societies." This is especially evident looking at the electoral map from the recent election. (Sorry it is in French, scroll on the semi-circle to see how each party did in each region)

The former East Germany had the strongest support for The Left and the least support for the Christian Democrats. This is paralleled in East Berlin and West Berlin. The difference is more for political reasons than for religious reasons, but anti-religious feelings in Eastern Germany are prevalent.

"In East Germany, there's still a strong non-religious presence. Religion is for your grandma," Grohe said. "People say they forgot they forgot God."

Grohe said the pacifist aspects of the religion don't play much of a role in German politics, most people who want out of Afghanistan want out because they think it is unwinnable, not because of any feeling of religious necessity. However, a dislike for Islam is present in some German Christians.

"I'm very shocked when I see Christians talking hatefully about Muslims," he said. "When I talk about the need for freedom to build Islamic mosques, I receive shameful letters from Christians filled with hate." 

Update: The link to the Christianity Today interview is down, but should be working again soon. 

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A new Islamic law in Indonesia's devoutly Muslim Aceh province takes a strict interpretation of Sharia law including a provision to stone adulters to death. The "Islamic Crime Bill," passed by the regional parliament on September 15, 2009, authorized the following punishments for adultery and homosexuality:

“Any person who deliberately commits adultery is threatened with 100 cane lashes for the unmarried and stoning to death for those who are married.”

“Any person deliberately performing homosexuality or lesbianism is threatened with up to 100 cane lashes and a maximum fine of 1,000 grams of fine gold, or imprisonment of up to 100 months.”

Additionally, the law outlines the punishment for rape is a minimum of 100 cane lashes and a maximum of 300 cane lashes or imprisonment of at least 100 months and up to 200 cane lashes or a maximum imprisonment of 200 months for pedophiles.

The regional parliament passed this law in order to target "behavior considered morally unacceptable."

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No, this is not a Mel Brooks movie:

On Monday morning an Arkia airlines plane took off from Ben Gurion Airport carrying rabbis and kabbalists and flew over the country in a flight aimed at preventing the swine flu virus from spreading in Israel through prayers.

"The purpose of the flight was to stop the epidemic, thus preventing further deaths," explained Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri whose father, Rabbi David Batzri had initiated the flight. "We are certain that because of our prayers danger is already behind us," he added.

During the flight the passengers blew the shofar seven times and said prayers intended for abolishing illnesses.

There have been over 2,000 recorded cases of swine flu in Israel.

Hat tip: On Deadline 

The latest ideology to jump on the electric, zero-emissions, lithium-ion powered bandwagon: Sikhism. The Times of India reports that Gurbachan Singh, leader of the highest Sikh temporal body Akal Takht, told his followers that protecting the environment is their "moral and religious duty." During celebrations commemorating the annual cleaning of polluted river Kali Bein, a community initiative started nine years ago, Singh called on the Sikh Diaspora to prioritize ecological commitments above even their religious practices:

Wherever in the world you may be, your focus should now be on cleaning up natural water resources rather than building gurdwaras (temples).

This is good news for environmentalists. You know your cause stands a chance when even God gets behind it.

Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty images

An entrepreneur in Jerusalem is using Twitter to bring the prayers of the Jewish Diaspora to the Western Wall. After seeing the social networking site's potential in last month's Iranian elections, Alon Nil began a service where Jews abroad could tweet him their prayers, which he then prints out and places in the sacred spaces between the 2,000-year-old stones at Judaism's holiest site. Nil has been besieged with messages since he started the "hobby" three weeks ago:

You name the country, I've gotten prayers from them. I hope in some way that by tweeting their prayers, these people are helping themselves somehow. Once you figure out what you want, in 140 characters or less, you can start to take action.

I'm swamped. I can't keep up with all the tweets...But I'm determined to not lose even one prayer.

 
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