Faith Central - Times Online - WBLG

Nick Clegg: he might do God, but quietly

Comment from new LibDem supremo Nick Clegg, the latest political leader to be faced with the dilemma of whether to Do God.  He leaves it to his wife and children, it seems,  but rather endearingly refuses to have "a closed heart or a closed mind".  So he'll be OK with the carols, then.  Good luck to him.

Don't do God? Religion and politics, an awkward mix

Candidates in political battles who have a strong religious faith don't usually get it easy.

Mitt Romney  in the US has trouble with his Mormon bishop status because, as Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, points out in the Christian Science Monitor "When ordinary people start to think about Mormonism, the word that flits across their brain is 'cult.'
Meanwhile the tough Catholic Italian-American Rudi Giuliani says it is his business what he believes (and the priests') but ""I  pray like a lawyer. I try to make a deal -get me out of this jam, and I'll start going back to church."  Which remark may, ironically,   annoy both the faithful and the faithless.

But they all say off-beam things when they "Do God", so perhaps old Ali Campbell was right. Take this weird remark by Barnaby Joyce, one of the Australian candidates fighting for the faith vote.  "I don't know whether God is on my side or not, I reckon sometimes God can be distinctly offside with me. I hope that I'm doing the right thing by him, we'll find out unfortunately later on."
Just to round it off, here's a nicely bad-tempered New Statesman article about Tony Blair, Catholicism and the Act of Settlement.

Osama Bin Laden's goat

The Prime Minister's e-petitions have proved useful in getting the Government to rethink.

But are they being mocked do you think when the 25 people protesting against Jihad the Musical include "Osama Bin Laden", "Abu Hamsa" "The Prophet Mohammad",  "Ayman al-Zawahiri",  "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad" and "Osama Bin Laden's goat" ?

Summer reading

The annual list of "This summer we will mostly be reading..."  from MPs has some interesting results.

They've put down their parliamentary papers and taken up books on God, slaves, and wizards.

Celebrity Atheist, Professor Richard Dawkins, has proved a favourite among Labour back benchers. His book, The God Delusion, tops the books they'll be reading in their deck chairs this summer.

Update: This should come as no surprise - every MP was sent a free copy of the book by Humanist groups around the country.

Religion and politics

This is what happened when the first Hindu prayer was offered in the US Senate.....

Bye bye Tony...

A good blog on Blair's theatrical farewell and what he thinks about the future of the Church in politics (not much apparently) is here by The Times Political Correspondent, Sam Coates, and as expected a marvellous comment from Danny Finkelstein is here.

Religion and government, from the four corners of the world...

The interplay of religion and government may seem archaic to our largely  post-Christian society - but across the world it is a hot political issue.

Buddhist Thais are protesting today to get Buddhism enshrined as the state religion in the post-coup constitution, under the military junta . The monks have been on hunger strike for 8 days, and. 5000  monks and religious activists blocked traffic in front of the parliament in Bangkok.

Meanwhile in Egypt  - as reported here in the Jerusalem Post - elections have been disrupted by violent clashes leaving a man dead as president Mubarak's ruling party competes against the country's powerful Islamic opposition group, which is participating in the Shura Council elections for the first time.  150 of  The Muslim have been arrested since the beginning of the month. The Brotherhood has been banned since 1954 but continues to operate  fielding independents in elections. On  a more conciliatory note, the Inter Religious Congress to Reduce Violence in Iraq has begun today in Baghdad. The Congress will meet with Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki on Monday.  Sessions focus on emphasising the realisation that religion plays a significant role in Iraqi violence.

And finally  in Turkey, with its proud history of determined secularism since Ataturk,  protests continue fuelled by the fear that Islamic law may creep into government.  The Times report of last week covers this well. 

Think tank opens..

Worth noticing that Civitas is bending its brains to the matter of social and religious cohesion...with a challenging first visitor. It has started a Centre, taking on religious as well as racial differences..