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A couple of updates on past postings. Reuters reports from New Delhi that the Indian government is sticking to its plan to cut a shipping lane - "India's Suez canal" , the Sethusamudram Ship Canal - between the Indian mainland and Sri Lanka. Devout Hindus were (see earlier post) distressed because it will destroy a sand bridge built, according to legend, by the god Lord Ram and his army of monkeys, to rescue his wife Sita.
And meanwhile also in Sri Lanka but under another belief system, monkeys feature not as builders but as destroyers. The Gulf Times reports that Buddha's tree- grown from a sapling from the tree under which he is believed to have found enlightenment 2550 years ago - is not only under siege from vandals and formerly from Tamil rebels (see earlier post) but from marauding monkeys. The sacred Sri Maha Bodi tree in Anuradhapura has a golden fence protecting it from people , but that doesn't bother the monkeys.
Joanna writes: Japanese Monk , Kansho Tagai, learnt to rap at 47. The Buddhist monk, also known as Happiness Kansho, is proving quite a draw for young Japanese who haven't shown much interest in the ancient religion before now.
The monk raps lyrics like "I came to this world to help you out of suffering. My name is Shaka Munibutsu (Gautama Siddhartha). Say baby, listen to me. Everyone's my cute baby. I'm here to help you out of suffering and pain.. ."
He says "As missionaries of Buddha, we are putting up a wall in front of us," Tagai said in an interview at his temple in Tokyo's Shinjuku district. "We had to make ourselves accessible and wave people closer so that they can understand Buddha's words."
And rap isn't the only way Japanese Buddhist monks are reaching out, "Monks have opened bars serving cocktails called Heavenly Paradise and Burning Hell while tending drinkers who spill out their problems for consultation."
 Remember Mark Boyle, who set out to walk from his west country home to Gandhi's birthplace without money, relying on the kindness of strangers and proving the "freeconomy"? Alas, idealism is not enough. The BBC reports this morning that he's given up at Calais, because he couldn't speak French and nobody fed him.
 At Trinity College Oxford the ancient custom is that scholars and exhibitioners (benefiting from funds from pious benefactors in past centuries) should recite grace at formal dinners in the college Hall.
But now - reports Cherwell - a prim contingent say they won’t, because they aren’t believers. The Chaplain replies sharply ““The personal beliefs of the individual are incidental...There seems to be some confusion about the difference between personal and public prayer, the individual and the role. The scholar/exhibitioner is asked to recite the grace, it is a personal matter whether they also pray it”
Frankly, if Professor Richard Dawkins can admit to singing Christmas carols with gusto (“O come let us adore Him”), it is hard to see why these clever young things make such a meal of a few words of general gratitude. Nobody forced them to apply to a 453-year-old institution (there are other Oxford colleges) nor to accept the scholarship when it was offered. It would be brave and principled to refuse the honour and the money on grounds of atheism. This is neither.
Joanna writes: As the race for President narrows to the final few The Baltimore Sun offers this amusing list of the "Top Ten 'Abuses' of Religion" from the campaign trail. Meanwhile John McCain has received the backing of a prominent pastor of San Antonio Mega-Church. "Mr. Hagee, who argues that the United States must join Israel in a preemptive, biblically prophesized military strike against Iran that will lead to the second coming of Christ, praised Mr. McCain for his pro-Israel views."
It is hard to overestimate the potential importance (see wider Timesonline reports) of the news that Turkey's Department of Religious Affairs is preparing to publish a document reinterpreting Islam.
The obvious parallel is with Martin Luther's Reformation, and later Dissenters, which sought to sweep aside an accretion of habits, human regulations, cultural rules and authority structures which had grown up out of the simplicities of the Bible. All religious tend to have these accretions, and from time to time it is necessary to disentangle them from the original, usually kinder and always more inward and mystical roots of the faith.
Outside Muslim communities (and often, one suspects, within them) it is not fully recognized that after the Quran, the word of Prophet Mohammed, came a vast collection of sayings - the Hadith - and that it is these less firmly attributable, and gradually increased, sayings which are the foundation of most of Sharia law. For example Sharia forbids women from travelling alone - unsafe at that period - but the Prophet also once said he "longed for the day when a woman might travel long distances alone".
Turkish Weekly reports thus. US Muslims - like many in Europe - often lead lives perfectly adapted to the modern world rather than to Sharia: profile here.
A fascinating article in The American Muslim gives chapter and verse about differences between the Quran and the Hadith: the position of women is particularly striking: the Quran raised women far above their contemporary social position 1400 years ago, but "within few decades of the revelation of the Qur’an women came down to their pre-Islamic status in a fiercely male dominated society. And this was accomplished through ahadith as a legitimizing factor....
Here for instance is the Hadith:
“The Prophet (PBUH) urged the women to be generous with their gifts, for when he had glimpsed into the flames of Hell, he had noted the vast majority of people being tormented there were women. The women were outraged, and one of them instantly stood up and demanded to know why that was so. ‘Because,’ he replied, ‘you women grumble so much, and show ingratitude to your husbands!(Bukhari 1.28, Abu Dawud 439)."
And here the gentler original words of the Quran: offering equal merit and equal reward:
“Surely the men who submit and women who submit, and the believing men and the believing women, and the obeying men and the obeying women, and the truthful men and truthful women, and the patient men and patient women, and the humble men and humble women, and the charitable men and the charitable women, and fasting men and fasting women, and the men who guard their chastity and the women who guard, and the men who remember Allah and women who remember – Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and mighty reward.”
Joanna writes: A lovely tailpiece in The Times letters page today "Sir, One of my favourite American beers is Polygamy Porter, sold throughout the state of Utah (including Salt Lake City) marketed under the slogan 'Why stop at one?'" Paul Buyers Bedford. And indeed it exists...here
This prompts at look at other religiously inspired brews:
These Trappist Monks brew an exclusive beer called the Trappist that can only be purchased by reservation on the "beer phone". They're based in Flanders. You call, reserve, they give you a time to call back, you make an appointment with the operator, and give the licence plate number of the car that will make the collection. All vital when dealing with a silent order.
Avery Brewing has a range of beers called Holy Trinity because the company started with three beers to their name: The Reverend, Hog Heaven, and Salvation.
Orval is another tipple from a Trappist monastery in Belgium, their profits from the licence fee go to charity.
The monks in Pennsylvania defended themselves against accusations they were profiting from the sale of their beer in a letter to the New York Times in 1895.
If that's not enough to work up a thirst there's a history of Beer Saints here.
LIBBY PURVES ADDS:
I happen to own two Nativity scenes made entirely out of beermats, cunningly using the religious symbols innate in beer labels. Vernon Rose and Roger Hardy made them in their peerless exhibition of beermat art. When I get home I shall take a photo for your delight. L.
A 'prayer cafe' is being run by a local church in Croatia, to keep the kids coming in. At the Jedno cafe you pay for your food and drink with prayers.
"In the Acts of the Apostles, it says the disciples used to come together for a meal after the Eucharist, so we're following a biblical ideal," said Salesian Father Damir Stojic.
Parents and church leaders donate the food and drink. Three Our Fathers buy you a coffee (four for a cappuccino), a Coke is five Hail Marys and a Glory be. Not sure about the muffins, but a quick Memorare should do it, with a decade of the Rosary if you want choc chip.
Nicking lead off church roofs has a slight Ealing-comedy note to it, a Sid James villainy. But it is no joke, especially not now with global prices soaring. It costs tens of thousands in replacement and can ruin churches. However, in Pattingham in the West Midlands a doughty vicar and his churchwarden foiled a theft by hiding in the church overnight. An even nastier metal theft in South Wales: thieves stole 600 brass memorial plaques from St Thomas, in Swansea - put up by families with the dates and names of dead relatives who were cremated. To twist the knife, the insurers refuse to pay up the £24 000 on the grounds that they "only protect property belonging to the church and plaques belong to relatives....we would expect thieves to have a little more respect". Might expect insurers to have a bit, too: it's only £24 000.
Meanwhile across the Atlantic the New Jersey press reports that the recession and the metal shortage has caused a spate of thefts- a church bell among them, but also bits of swimming pool, electricity substation, football fields...
Well, not very latest: Afghanistan is not a source of regular reports. But we have not forgotten, and online petitions still count. Meanwhile a statement inside Afghanistan recorded a couple of weeks ago suggests that a way "will be found" around the death sentence on the student who distributed an article about the position of women in Islam. Which doesn't mean he will be freed, of course. The Foreign Office site has quite an old statement from David Miliband.
 This is Olga Lindberg, of St Petersburg in Washington State, US. She is embarking on a lone campaign against Jehovah's Witnesses, approaching shoppers with a photo of her grandson Dennis, who died of leukaemia at 14 although he had a 70 per cent chance of being saved by a blood transfusion (forbidden to Witnesses, see earlier post). She shows them his photograph and explains what happened. "I know it's wrong" she says, but remains determined to padlock the tragedy of his death firmly to the sect, which threatens those who use 'sacred' blood with excommunication and damnation.
You can find anything on eBay and now even the nails used at the Crucifixion are apparently on sale on the online auction site according to Boing Boing. However, if you were thinking of stumping up the 10,000 Euro asking price, when you click on the link a polite French notice tells you that they are no longer available, sorry.
Joanna Sugden
A rather splendid old lady has learned the Koran by heart at the age of 82. She says that after seven children she suddenly had time for herself, and adds piously "At this age you should have the time for yourself. However, do not use your time to only go out or to sleep and so forth. Rather, busy yourself with righteous work." The Gulf Times duly pays her tribute.
A curious dilemma faces strict Orthodox Jews in Israel: they have to buy Palestinian produce despite the blockade of the Gaza strip. The problem is literal interpretation of the biblical injunction in Leviticus, to have a fallow year "In the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbatical to the Lord,” it is stated in Leviticus. According to rabbis' calculations, this Jewish year, which began in September, is the seventh. No new crops can be planted, so vegetables cannot be grown.
So Orthodox householders look to Gaza for their vegetables. An interesting question arises: how relevant it is to obey the strict Torah guideline, given that in Leviticus the faithful are enjoined to eat wild food - of which in those rural days there would be plenty.
A blast of refreshing honesty from a leading Saudi scholar, who says that the ban on women driving in Saudi (not wholly statutory, but they often get arrested for it) is not, in fact, in the Quran. “In principle women driving is permitted in Islam,” said Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Obaikan, a member of the Kingdom’s Council of Senior Islamic Scholars.
He adds that the ban is for social reasons - because in the cities "youths (even) harass women accompanied by parents and drivers." If issues of traffic safety and male behaviour are resolved, he adds, there is no religious problem about women driving.
The Vatican was just preparing to mark the tenth anniversary of Pope John Paul's visit to Fidel Castro (pictured), and sending an envoy, when Castro stepped down: now there is a powerful hint that a visit by Pope Benedict is on the cards.
Last time - see Faith Central earlier - the visit caused useful detente between the Church and the Cuban government, with a release of prisoners; the same is hoped now. "We remember the feeling of glory that all of Cuba had when the pope, John Paul II, visited our little country," said Clara Martinez, a retired 57-year-old college professor, who said she attended a Mass John Paul gave in Havana's Revolution Plaza in 1998. "We can only imagine what it would be like to feel like that again."
 The news that some Walkers Crisps contain alcohol has disturbed Muslims who bought the snacks believing them to be halal. Some Muslim groups have threatened to boycott the company.
Here's a list of other products that Muslims have to be careful to avoid to comply with the dietary requirements of Islam.
Nutella Hazelnut
Chocolate Spread, Ferrero Rocher Chocolates, Bounty Milk Miniatures; Celebration; Funsize – Mars, Milky Way, Snickers; Galaxy Caramel Swirls and M&M’s Peanut, Milky Way Crispy Rolls, Milky Way; Twix Kingsize, Aero – Milk chocolate, Orange, Peppermint; Animal Bar; Black Magic – Caramel, Hazel Cluster, Hazel in Caramel; Blue Ribband; Breakaway – Milk Camarac and Milk Chocolate; Caramac; Dairy Box – Almond Fayre, Autumn Hazelnut, Caramel Classic, Country Fudge, Nut Swirl, Strawberry Fool, Toffee Cup, Turkish Delight, Vanilla Truffle, Wafer Sandwich; Golden Cup; Kit Kat; Lion Bar; Matchmakers – Coconut, Mint, Orange; Milkybar White Chocolate Mini Eggs; Munchies; Quality Street – Caramel Cup, Coconut Éclair, Dairy Fudge, Fruit & Nut Delight, Hazelnut Éclair, Hazelnut in Caramel, Milk chocolate Hazelnut, Noisette Triangle, Toffee Deluxe, Toffee Fingers, Vanilla Octagon; Rolo Bar; Rolo; Smarties – orange only; Walnut whip – Vanilla; Yorkie – Milk Chocolate, Nutter, Raisin & Biscuit. Kraft Singles
Cheese Food Slices
Cheese Quavers; Cheesy Monster Munch;
Savoury Cheese Snaps; Walkers - Cheese & Onion Crisps,
Cheese & Onion Lites, Tomato Ketchup Crisps, MAX Hard Cheese & Onion, Kettle Chips Yoghurt and Green Onion.
More surprisingly perhaps these products from The Body Shop are alleged to contain by-products from the meat industry: Bath Beads – all varieties, Bath Bubbles – Cola, Forest Jelly, Ice Cream, Satsuma, Strawberry; Hawthorn Hand Cream; Shampoo – Mint & Thyme, Orange Oat, Seaweed & Peony; Tea Tree Oil Facial Wash
And finally Kellogg's Pop Tarts which quite frankly should be haram (forbidden) for everyone.
The products listed contain Gelatine (derived from skin, tendon, ligaments, and bones of animals which may not have been slaughtered according to halal practice) or Rennet, derived from calves stomachs and used in cheese making. Whey powder is produced when cheese is made using rennet. If rennet is taken from animals slaughted according to Islamic law it is halal, but abstinence from rennet is often advised to be on the safe side.
Joanna Sugden
Following the fascination of the religious map of the US (see Comment Central) Forbes magazine has made a beautiful Sin Map of America, revealing - so it claims, with lots of diddy little clicks - the prevalence of the seven deadly sins in major cities. They used murder rates for wrath, billionaires for avarice etc. The most surprising result is that Salt Lake City, rich in Mormons, comes out as "America's Vainest City". Most relaxing is the notion of Memphis, Tennessee as the idlest (worn out after Elvis, perhaps). The least surprising is the murder rate in Detroit. After frowningly trying to correlate sinfulness with religious belief (and checking out the Baptist Map and all the other religious maps) I am happy to say that I have no conclusion at all to report. I suppose people behave badly everywhere, and religion doesn't necessarily stop them.
 The Pope
The Bishop of Rome and the Vicar of Christ has “supreme and universal power over the whole Church” which comprises over 1.1 billion people. He is “successor of blessed Peter” and endowed with infallibility. The Pope is pronounced to have ordinary, immediate and Episcopal jurisdiction over all the faithful.
 Archbishop of Canterbury
Dr Rowan Williams is leader of 77 million Anglicans worldwide but he has no power to make any of his 38 bishops bend to his will. The Archbishop of Canterbury is considered the highest person in the realm, second only to the Sovereign and other members of the Royal family. He is followed by the Lord Chancellor, and then the Archbishop of York.
 Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama – translated as the Ocean of wisdom - is Head of the Tibetan state but is in self-imposed exile. The Dalai has the power to reincarnate himself.
In 1963 the current incarnation of the Dalai Lama drew up a democratic constitution promulgated a democratic constitution, based on Buddhist principles and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as a model for a future free Tibet. He is also holder of the Nobel Peace Prize.
 The Queen
As head Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the monarch maintains the established church. The defender of the faith also appoints the Archbishops and bishops on the advice of the Prime Minister. Between 13-17 million members of the Church of England. Nearly 50 million subjects as monarch of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The queen is alone in having the power to oust the Archbishop of Canterbury from office.
Continue reading "The world's most powerful religious leaders" »
 
Castro and Kruschev in 64, Castro and Pope John Paul in 98...the pictures say it all. The leader's relationship with religion has been complicated. Initially, he stated that his revolution was motivated by Christian principles, but soon found Catholicism - the most prevalent religion - uncomfortably counter-revolutionary , and became an adversary of it. At one point in the late 50s he secretly tried to start a national church - a sort of Established church tied up with the state, as in the UK - but the clergy failed to support it and he launched a campaign against the bishops, with organized mob harassment of services. Officially Cuba has been an atheist state ever since - Castro shut down more than 400 Catholic schools, charging that they spread dangerous beliefs. In 1991, however, the Communist Party lifted its prohibition against religious believers seeking membership, and a year later the constitution was amended to characterize the state as secular instead of atheist.
There is still pressure though: the church may not have independent printing presses, full access to the media or train enough priests. It was only in 1997 that Christmas was reinstated (abolished 1969).
The Pope's visit in 98 led to the release of 300 prisoners, and new hope; but human and faith rights remain shaky.
Other religions? Orthodox Christians number about 8000 and are about to build their first church in 43 years; the Jewish community which goes back four centuries, has just marked its first Rosh Hashanah without Fidel in visible control, and feels confident; it is felt that all religions are more tolerated since the fall of the USSR. Muslims have no mosques and must pray at home, but in one place - The Arab House - where Cubans may not go, there are public prayers.
All in all, given the continuing wariness of the regime towards all religions and clergy, it will be fascinating to see whether Cuba's new age sees a resurgence in faith communities or - as the country moves towards links with the wider postcommunist world - an indifferent secularism on the European model.
Given the news today that church organists are getting workers' rights, and Richard Morrison's heartfelt account of their sufferings, we might as well balance the argument with the old (vicar-generated) joke. Here goes:
Q: What's the difference between an organist and a terrorist?
A: You can negotiate with a terrorist.
 Hard to know what to make of this one, but I suspect it will go national as a row. The Brighton Argus reports that Fr Alan Sharpe, a priest who has run a night shelter for twenty years was filmed by the BBC giving money - his own - to a young man who subsequently spent it on drugs. The programme is not out yet, but the priest has stepped down. It is a puzzling sort of expose - which of us has not given money to someone in the hope they'll spend it on food, but suspected otherwise? But read on down the local comments and it seems there is much more to be said - on both sides. A space worth watching.
The Catholic Church was rocked and riven by disgust at its medieval sale of 'indulgences' , And all religions seem, before long, to work out ways of conflating the private and internal process of prayer and meditation with an eye for a fast buck. In India there are reports of both Hindus and Muslims being able to pay to have ritual observances outsourced: Hindus may have flowers or sweets offered on a virtual devotional website by punching in their credit card number; and although commodification of prayer is frowned upon in Islam, for a few rupees you can get orphan boys from Madrassas to recite the Holy Book for you in return for a meal. But the most organized of the sites we found  was a Jewish project which will pray at the Western Wall for you. There is a famous Segula (Torah mystical recipe) that a person who goes to the Western Wall for 40 consecutive days to pray for 1 request, will have that request answered. " There is also a long-standing tradition of donating to have a pious Jew pray in your place, since not everyone is able to make such a journey." It costs a minimum $90, not bad for forty days; but if you want a Chief Rabbi to do a special public prayer it is $ 360, the entire book of Psalms or Song of Songs recited at the wall is $ 720, and there is a $ 1800 service which is even holier.
And how are the Catholics doing? The line is firm that (Acts of the apostles) the gift of God is not to be sold for money, but small donations are customary to have Masses said. And I suppose that in the age of the digital rosary I suppose anything is possible.
 Those who remember the old Catholic Lent - weighing your food, keeping off meat and booze - will feel a spurt of pride in hearing that Dutch Catholics have cunningly re-branded Lent as the ""Christian Ramadan" because young people are more likely to know about Islam (as the younger, noisier religion) than they are about Christianity.
"The image of the Catholic Lent must be polished. The fact that we use a Muslim term is related to the fact that Ramadan is a better-known concept among young people than Lent," said Martin Van der Kuil.
Ramadan is very strict indeed. Which just goes to show - we may think we are liberal individualits (the DUtch certainly do) but the weird psychological fact is that the stricter and more rule-bound your religion, the keener people get. Perhaps Rowan Williams should have a think about that. NB our earlier post about the cheery Lent campaign here...And note further that one prediction has come true, and young American Christians are having a Facebook Fast during Lent.
Following the news that a school (in Islington, didn't you guess?) let a child off for three days in termtime on the grounds that she needed to attend a pagan festival, a few useful Paganotes. The supposedly ancient religion is represented by the Pagan Federation (founded 1971) defining paganism as folloiwng a "polytheistic or pantheistic religion" (ie anything but Deist or Dawkinsian). They not only communicate with the public but work at "promoting awareness of Paganism to individual Government departments". One longs to be at the meetings. Perhaps Jacqui Smith will be invited down to the next moot, in Bude, Cornwall, which endearingly takes place in the "Stella Maris Centre", without anyone realizing that Stella Maris is one of the litanic names of the Virgin Mary. By the way, your handy date-a-pagan site is here.
Lest anyone start harrumphing about education being harmed, though, let me point out that the original child in this story was six. In many civilized countries she wouldn't even BE at school yet. Just a bit of nursery, and drawing pentacles in the sandpit with Mummy.
 The most read article on Times Online today is Richard Owen's story about Italian bishops who are urging actors to use their consciences and not take part in "vulgar and destructive" sex scenes.
"The appeal follows public condemnation by the bishops of an explicit sex scene in Caos Calmo, starring the Italian actor and director Nanni Moretti, which has just been released."
My favourite comment on the issue comes from Franco Zeffirelli, the film and opera director.
“The Church is full of pedants who have lost all sense of proportion.” It was a “fourth-rate” film that did not merit the publicity generated by the bishops' intervention.
Joanna Sugden
The Archbishop of Canterbury told the General Synod this week that much of what was reported of the lecture he gave on Islam and English law was "very far" from what he actually said.
Times Online has a video of the Q&A with the Archbishop following the lecture when he was grilled by legal professionals who had just heard the entire speech. You can watch it here.
A woman accused of being a 'witch' in Saudi Arabia is on death row after a forced confession, Human Rights Watch report.
HRW called for intervention to prevent the beheading in a letter to Saudi Arabia's king Abdullah yesterday. (You can print this off and send it from yourself)
"The judges relied on Fawza Falih’s coerced confession and on the statements of witnesses who said she had “bewitched” them to convict her in April 2006. She retracted her confession in court, claiming it was extracted under duress, and that as an illiterate woman she did not understand the document she was forced to fingerprint. She also stated in her appeal that her interrogators beat her during her 35 days in detention at the hands of the religious police. At one point, she had to be hospitalized as a result of the beatings."
Such a sentence is not unprecedented, last year Mustafa Ibrahim was executed for using "sorcery" to try and separate a married couple, a statement from the Saudi Ministry of Interior said.
Meanwhile an excellent piece in the Washington Post about Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, the Afghan student facing the death penalty for blasphemy after downloading an article on women's rights and distributing it at university.
"In the West, it would have been an innocent act. In Afghanistan, it has just earned him a death sentence." The piece begins, however this week's Appeal Court ruling - quashing the conviction of five men for downloading extremist literature - showed this hasn't always been quite true (in terms of freedom of thought in any case.)
A petition against the sentence is here.
Joanna Sugden
A week on from Archbishopgate Faith Central offers a list of the best comment about the row.
Ruth Gledhill in The Times "Although he is a holy and spiritual man, danger lies in the appearance of the kind of intellectual arrogance common to many of Britain’s liberal elite. It is an arrogance that affords no credibility or respect to the popular voice"
Theo Hobson in Open Democracy "The problem with Rowan Williams’s lecture lies behind the actual text. The problem is that he has contributed to the debate about national identity in a disturbing rather than reassuring way."
Paul Vallely in The Independent, "To all of which the Archbishop may say "but you are objecting to something you think I said rather than what I actually did say". He has a point. But, equally, in a world where perception becomes its own reality, it is important for the leader of the Church of England not to create such fecund opportunities for misunderstanding"
David Aaronovitch in The Times "Acting as the effective general secretary of the National Union of Priests, Rabbis, Imams and Allied Pontiffs (or PRIAPus), he privileges religion over all other kinds of identities, but fails to point out why his proffered leeway should not also be taken up by Scientologists, Mormons, football clubs, political parties and any other community that offers “social identity and personal motivation”."
Asim Siddiqui in The Guardian "I would argue that the basic objectives of sharia (protection of life, family, dignity, intellect and property) are all covered by British law. The fundamental purpose of sharia is to achieve justice. This country is more just than most."
Lord Carey in The Daily Telegraph "And in his defence, it has been said that his prescription does no more than recognise the rights of people to settle private and domestic disputes in the way Jewish courts currently operate. Yet his proposal for a legal marketplace in which people can opt in and out based on religious affiliation opens the door to a parallel system of justice."
Christopher Hitchens in The Slate "For the women who are the principal prey of the sharia system, it is often only when they are shipped or flown to Britain that their true miseries begin. This modern disgrace is deepened and extended by a fatuous cleric who, presiding over an increasingly emaciated and schismatic and irrelevant church, nonetheless maintains that any faith is better than none at all."
Daniel Finkelstein in Comment Central "I wonder whether the Archbishop of Canterbury has heard of Lina Joy? Since Rowan Williams made his extraordinary intervention I have been in correspondence with Malaysians with direct experience of living under a parallel system of state and Sharia."
Andrew Gimson in The Telegraph "It has provoked an outpouring of ignorant and brutish abuse, but has also exposed the sham liberalism of so many in public life and the media."
Mary Ann Sieghart in The Times "It is one thing to respect Muslims’ need for halal butchery or for Sharia-compliant mortgages: these are genuine religious differences that harm nobody. But polygamy, forced marriages and (dis)honour violence are practices more cultural than religious. They are rooted in the culture of South Asian communities, often deeply rural, and have no place in modern Britain. They do not deserve respect or even toleration"
Joanna Sugden
Hamas TV, the station which used a Mickey Mouse look-a-like to get its militant message across on a kids' programme, has devised a new character, who calls himself a "Jew eating rabbit". I'm not going to defile this blog by putting the video up but if you really want to watch it, the link's here.
Joanna Sugden
Reports of hardline Hindus burning Valentine's Day cards and Saudi's religious police banning red roses should not obscure a milder view of the day for lovers on this Muslim blog which also explains why some Muslims don't celebrate February 14.
"Newspapers are featuring ads for flowers and articles on various Muslims worldwide with their panties in a bunch about any holiday not explicitly mentioned in Sahih Bukhari. But in all the conspicuous consumption and harrumphing, the ones that Muslims should really be focused on get lost in the shuffle as usual. Many of the trappings of Valentine’s Day have ugly and sometimes bloody pasts that no amount of red satin can hide. The items we exchange as gifts are often produced by workers who are paid little or nothing, live in wretched conditions, and face cruelty and danger in their work. Yet in the denouncing of this holiday, even the holier than thou forgot the poor and the oppressed."
Joanna Sugden
The arrest of three suspected terrorists for plotting to murder the cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb in place of a turban has prompted the defiant Jyllands-Posten to republish the offending picture.
Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist, has moved between secret locations over the last three months but was back at work yesterday to draw a self portrait for the paper showing him clutching a pen and the Danish flag but he is obscured by a dark cloud with Arabic script of the words "Glorious Koran".
"The Islamic Faith Community, a religious Muslim organisation at the centre of the controversy, condemned the plot and urged that all disagreements should be handled through legitimate channels. 'it does not serve our purpose that people take the law into their own hands," it said in a statement. ' On the contrary, we want to appeal to reason in both politicians and the media to not use this miserable example to feed the flames or use it for their own profit. No one in Denmark deserves to live in fear.'"
Joanna Sugden
A cosmetics range that uses Jesus as the central plank of its marketing campaign has been withdrawn from shops after Catholic protest.
The American company, Looking Good for Jesus, sells perfumes and other pampering products with cruciforms and images of Christ flanked by women but Catholics in Singapore called for the range to be pulled from shelves.
The slogans used on products such as Believe in God breath spray, include "Get tight with Christ", "Get His Attention" and "Redeem Your Reputation and More".
It's a long way from the expensive bottle of nard Mary poured over Jesus' feet but you can also buy Virtue Perfume, Pope's Cologne, and handcreme made by Norwegian nuns, to keep you beautiful on the outside as well as the inside.
Joanna Sugden
Saudi Arabia's religious police have reportedly told florists in the country to remove red roses from their bouquets in the run-up to Valentine's day.
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice have clamped down on romance before in line with their policy preventing unrelated men and women from mixing.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church is enlisting the help of Saint Raphael to help singles find a soul mate. The patron saint of 'happy meetings' Raphael is the closest thing to Cupid in the Catholic world. Saint Raphael features in the Book of Tobit, in the Catholic bible, where he helped Sarah to have a long and apparently happy marriage with Tobias after seven of her husbands died on the wedding night.
Read on for the prayer for singles.
Continue reading "Religious police place ban on red roses" »
 By way of counteracting some of the extreme Sharia-nightmares of recent days, the BBC site has an interesting visit to a (probably exceptionally liberal) Sharia divorce hearing. Its attitude towards women is unexpectedly mellow,though to Western ears the idea of a divorced woman not secondarily freed by the court being "outcast" feels like a throwback to 1913.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is expected use his address to the General Synod today to defend and clarify his comments about Sharia. So what is the synod and what does it do?
What is the General Synod?
The General Synod is the national assembly or government of the Church of England. It was started in 1970 under the Synodical Government Measure of 1969 and replaced the Church Assembly. It continued the tradition of synodical government which dates back to medieval England which was an assembly of clergy and laity who discuss and decide on ecclesiastical affairs.
What does it do?
The synod has power to create laws governing England.
Legislation passed by the synod must be approved by resolution in the House of Parliament and receive Royal Assent before it becomes part of English law.
The assembly debate issues about religion relevant to the general public and govern relations with other church denominations.
The synod can pass laws by Canon governing the Church of England, they must receive Royal Licence and Assent before they can be put into practice.
The body also determines the wording used in Church of England services and gives approval to the budget for the Church of England.
How often does the synod meet
The General Synod meets twice or three times a year, alternating between London and York, for five days each time .
How many members are there on the General Synod? The present synod has 482 members.
Who can sit on the General Synod?
The synod has three houses, Bishops, clergy, and laity.
How are they elected?
Each member is elected to serve on the synod once every five years by their diocese, larger diocese have a greater number of representatives on the synod.
How long do they serve?
Each synod is elected for five years before dissolution.
Can the synod rebuke the Archbishop?
No. An individual would have to make a written complaint to Lambeth Palace which would then be referred to the diocesan registrar and carried forward under the Clergy Discipline Measure. It is unlikely that the Archbishop's comments would be seen as grave enough for this to happen.
Emergency debates can be held in the synod, but these are very rare.
Joanna Sugden
 Our sister blog, Ruth Gledhill's Articles of Faith, offers a magnificent response to the Archbishop of Canterbury's plea for Sharia law to replace - in small part at least - the thousand years' evolution of common and equal British law. "Has the Archbishop gone bonkers?" she asks, and it takes a lot to rouse our civilized religion correspondent to such bluntness. I commend it.
All Faith Central has to add is that he chose a lulu of a day to make this suggestion to a country with less than 3% Muslim population, given the latest news from the Islamic police state of Sa
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A couple of updates on past postings. Reuters reports from New Delhi that the Indian government is sticking to its plan to cut a shipping lane - "India's Suez canal" , the Sethusamudram Ship Canal - between the Indian mainland and Sri Lanka. Devout Hindus were (see earlier post) distressed because it will destroy a sand bridge built, according to legend, by the god Lord Ram and his army of monkeys, to rescue his wife Sita. 
And meanwhile also in Sri Lanka but under another belief system, monkeys feature not as builders but as destroyers. The Gulf Times reports that Buddha's tree- grown from a sapling from the tree under which he is believed to have found enlightenment 2550 years ago - is not only under siege from vandals and formerly from Tamil rebels (see earlier post) but from marauding monkeys. The sacred Sri Maha Bodi tree in Anuradhapura has a golden fence protecting it from people , but that doesn't bother the monkeys. 
