Lord Mayor Bans Lord Mayor Bans “Intrusive And Outdated” Christian Prayers Before Council Meetings

From the Telegraph: Colin Hall said religion had no role to play in the conduct of council business. Mr Hall, who has just taken over the mayorship in Leicester, said the “majority” of councillors and city council staff were not practising Christians therefore there was little point in having the prayers, which were introduced in [...]

Starvation

This ripped my guts out to watch. Thanks to the “Let’s Lodge A Complaint Against God” Facebook page for the video.  But the takeaway from this video should not be just another reiteration of the problem of evil, it should be refreshed urgency in our thinking about proactively remedying the problem through humane human efforts. [...]

“The Law Of God Which Is Above Human Rights”

Any religion, or interpretation of a religion which takes the view that the law of God can be above human rights cannot be immune to violating human rights.  In this case, we have an Iranian cleric calling for unveiled women to be treated like criminals as though they were drug traffickers, robbers, or terrorists: Guardian [...]

Muslims Illegally Shutting Down Streets Of Paris For Prayer

Last week we mentioned that a proposed street festival of pork and wine protesting Muslims praying in the streets was prohibited from occurring in Paris.  Here is footage of such prayer sessions, which apparently are meant to be an act of civil disobedience: Thanks to Tony for the link. Your Thoughts?

Pakistani Police Investigating Mark Zuckerberg On Charges Of Blasphemy From Lawyer

In response to “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day”: Last month, according to English-language Pakistani newspaper The News International, a Pakistani High Court judge summoned the police after lawyer Muhammad Azhar Siddique filed an application for a First Information Report (FIR), claiming that the owners of Facebook had committed a heinous and serious crime under Section 295-C of [...]

The Asian Sex Trade

“The sex trade now accounts for 14% of Thailand’s economy.” Your Thoughts?

Paris Bans A “Sausage And Wine” Protest Of Muslims Who Close Down Roads By Praying In The Streets

From Reuters’s FaithWorld blog: A giant “sausage and wine” party planned later this week in a Paris neighbourhood with many Muslim residents risks sparking disturbances and will therefore be banned, police in the French capital announced on Tuesday. The event, announced on the social networking site Facebook late last month (see page here in French), [...]

Haiti’s Human Trafficking Problem Exacerbated By Earthquake

Your Thoughts?

Russian Orthodox Church Wants Creationism In Schools

Sigh. The Russian Orthodox Church called recently for creationism to be taught along with evolution in Russian schools, according to Reuters. Senior Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion said, “The time has come for the monopoly of Darwinism and the deceptive idea that science in general contradicts religion. These ideas should be left in the past,” Reuters [...]

Spanish Singer Prosecuted For Cooking A Crucifix In 1978

Here’s the offending video: And the story of the penalties to be paid for it: Musician Javier Krahe faces a fine of £159,000 after stills from the spoof cookery show, which involved baking an effigy of Christ for three days, were shown on television in 2004 during an interview with the star. Despite the length [...]

Nigerian Oil Spill Victims Fight Foreign Oil Companies

1.5 million tons of oil spilled in Nigeria over the last 50 years, with no accountability from foreign oil companies: Your Thoughts?

Is Shari’a Law “Inevitable” For UK Muslims?

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, claims it is: Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4′s World at One that the UK has to “face up to the fact” that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system. Dr Williams argues that adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law would help maintain social [...]

Taliban Executes 7 Year Old Boy, Accusing Him Of Spying

So despicable. Your Thoughts?

Creepy Pro-Geert Wilders Propaganda

I’m as troubled by Islam’s authoritarianism of thought and practice as any one but Christian crusading is is not much better.  This is called “Geert Wilders The Lion Heart” and unless it’s just an exceptional satire, it’s a really unsettling, unrestrained glorification of Christian warfare against Islam. How long until the Christian theocrats begin embracing [...]

Exit Polls Say Geert Wilders’s Anti-Islamic Party Doubles Its Seats In Dutch Parliament

The Guardian: The Netherlands’ anti-Islamic MP Geert Wilders appeared on course for major gains in a general election yesterday, more than doubling his party’s seats in the Dutch parliament and overtaking the incumbent ruling Christian Democrats, according to exit polls last night. Wilders’ Freedom party looked to have taken third place in a close-fought election [...]

Angry Atheist Debate About A Mosque Near Ground Zerosts

Saturday I put together a large post highlighting a spectrum of thoughtful and/or provocative opinions on the recently approved plan to build a mosque a couple of blocks away from the former site of the World Trade Center in New York.  That day, for the sake of balance, I wanted to find someone who could [...]

A Mosque At Ground Zero?

New York City has approved a plan to build a 13 story mosque and community center near the site of the former World Trade Center as part of the area’s proposed revitalization. I decided to group all the most interesting and relevant videos and editorials I could find into one large post in order to [...]

Tony Blair On Our Allies Who Live Within Theocracies

Michael Shermer got the chance to ask Tony Blair how we spread various central Western ideals of democracy, education, civil liberties, equality, etc. in hostile theocratic countries without resorting to military force.  Part of Blair’s answer: “It’s one of the great myths perpetrated in our own societies is that somehow people who live in oppressive [...]

This Is Not Photoshopped

In Guatemala, the earth has caved in, due to a landslide caused by a tropical storm.  At least 115 people are dead: The New York Times points to a high resolution version of the photo and a street level view. Your Thoughts?

Burqa Banning: A Religious Or Cultural Issue?

Another thoughtful and passionate debate on this difficult issue from the land down under: Your Thoughts?

Maldivian Man Attacked By Crowd For Disbelief In Islam

In a country where being a non-Muslim is illegal: MALE, May 29, 2010 (HNS) – A Maldivian man was assaulted Friday evening, after he declared his atheist status to the public during the Q&A session of a lecture given by visiting Indian scholar Dr Zakir Naik. Mohamed Nazim, 37, said although he was born to [...]

US Soldier Taunts Iraqi Kids On Video

He asks them if they perform certain gay sex acts and will grow up to be terrorists who plant IEDs: An earlier story: Your Thoughts?

Missionaries of Hate

Do American evangelical leaders really oppose Uganda’s “Kill The Gays Bill”?  What exactly is the extent of their responsibility for the creation of this mercilessly unjust, religiously motivated law?  Mariana van Zeller’s documentary Missionaries of Hate explores the question: Jim Burroway has more interview footage with Ugandan MP David Bahati, who introduced the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill”, including [...]

Muhammad’s Worst Enemy

Below is an intense and stark video from the usually much more sardonically off the wall DarkMatter2525, as his contribution to last week’s “Everybody Draw Muhammad” protest: Your Thoughts?

Pakistan Blocks Access To Facebook Over “Draw Mohammed Day”

Out of solidarity with the recently threatened South Park creators, tomorrow will be “Draw Mohammed Day”, an international day of defiance and protest by secularists against religious extremists’ attempts to silence free expression through death threats.  A Facebook group was created advertising this event.  Pakistan considers Facebook‘s willingness to allow such free speech so inappropriate [...]