Religion and beliefs (85)
Believe in what you want, everyone else certainly does. Live and let live. And what a nice shoes you're wearing...
Vatican 'accepted one billion lire' to bury crime boss in basilica next to former popes
by Michael Day
Monday 30 April 2012
Remains to be moved in attempt to stem rumours of murdered girl hidden in crypt
The Basilica of St Apollinaris, where De Pedis was interred. EPA
The Vatican is facing a deepening controversy over the burial 22 years ago of a notorious crime boss, with reports emerging that the church accepted a one billion lire (£407,000) payment from the mobster's widow to allow his interment in a basilica.
A source at the Holy See told the Ansa news agency that "despite initial reluctance" the then vicar-general of Rome, Cardinal Ugo Poletti, "in the face of such a conspicuous sum, gave his blessing" to the controversial interment of Enrico De Pedis, the former boss of Rome's notorious Magliana gang. The money was reportedly used on missions and to restore the Basilica of St Apollinare, where the mobster was laid to rest next to popes and cardinals after his death in 1990.
Catholic church urges pupils to sign anti-gay marriage petition
Pupils at state-funded Catholic schools in England and Wales being asked to back campaign against same-sex marriage
by Jeevan Vasagar, education editor
Wednesday 25 April 2012
Catholic school pupils have been asked to back a petition by the Coalition for Marriage, which has so far attracted about 466,000 signatures. Photograph: Getty
The Roman Catholic church has written to every state-funded Catholic secondary school in England and Wales asking them to encourage pupils to sign a petition against gay marriage. Students at one south London school were shown a presentation on religious opposition to government plans to let gay couples marry in civil ceremonies. Church leaders believe the proposal would reduce the significance of marriage.
Russia's patriarch admits bling watch cover-up
5 April 2012
Orthodox Patriarch Kirill meets Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the Danilov Monastery in Moscow in February.
AFP - Russia's Orthodox Church on Thursday admitted it doctored a photo of Patriarch Kirill on its official website to erase his expensive watch, after bloggers ridiculed the efforts.
The picture in question shows the patriarch sitting at a polished wooden table with Russia's Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov in 2009. While his wrist appears to be covered with a black tunic, a reflection on the table reveals a fancy watch.
Hungarian kids go to mass as churches take over schools
29 March 2012
Teachers and students of the Sztehlo Gabor school listen to a parable at the local Evangelical church in Budapest's 18th district, on March 12.
AFP - Financially strapped Hungarian towns are handing over the running of their schools to churches, which means that the constitutional guarantee of a religious-free education is no longer possible.
Hard-hit by the economic crisis, several small towns and villages have argued that they are unable to maintain their schools and so have offloaded them to religious institutions -- most often to the Catholic Church. Over the past year, nearly 80 public schools -- out of over 4,300 around the country -- have changed hands, according to the ministry of national resources, which also oversees education.
The number of schools controlled by the Catholic Church increased by 20 percent, while the Evangelical Church recorded a 13-percent hike and the Reformed Church a 10-percent increase, the ministry said. Education remains free, but pupils have found themselves suddenly obliged to receive religious instruction. Prayer has become compulsory and teaching now follows Christian values.
Morocco suicide victim fell prey to society, laws
By PAUL SCHEMM
17 March 2012
Lahcen, left, and Zohra Filali, the parents of an alleged rape victim Amina Filali, comfort each other as they stand next to the grave of their daughter, who committed suicide last week, in Khmis Sahel near Larache, northern Morocco, Friday, March 16, 2012. AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar
KHMIS SAHEL, Morocco (AP) -- Escape for 16-year-old Amina Filali from her marriage came in the form of a pill of rat poison she bought in the market for 60 cents.
Pressured by a conservative rural Moroccan society, a judge and her own mother to marry the man she said had raped her at 15 and then abused her for the rest of her marriage, she could only see one way out: Suicide.
"I had to marry her to him, because I couldn't allow my daughter to have no future and stay unmarried," said her mother Zohra in an interview with The Associated Press in their tiny village in northern Morocco, a week after her daughter killed herself.
Iraq Sees Wave of Brutal Antigay Murders
6 March 2012
By Trudy Ring
Campaign of Iraqi gay killings by smashing skulls with concrete blocks ADVOCATE.COM
A recent wave of violence in Iraq has resulted in the kidnapping, torture, and killing of about 40 people perceived to be gay or lesbian, with the murder weapon sometimes being a concrete block to the head.
The killings began in early February after an unidentified group put up posters with death threats against “adulterous individuals” in largely Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad and Basra, reports the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. The threats listed the targets’ names and ages, and gave them four days to change their behavior or face divine retribution.
Turkey: Erdogan's reforms: less schooling, more Koran
24 February, 2012
ANKARA - The goals of an education reform bill introduced by the Islamic party of Turkey's Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been characterised by opposition parties as aiming to halve the length of compulsory schooling to promote more Koranic schools and veil wearing.
The opposition secular press, trades unionists and other commentators, have for a month now, but especially over the past two days, been aiming their criticisms at the Islamic tendencies of the reforms of alleged faults in the country's education system. Today the countries confederation of industry, the TUSIAD, has joined in the chorus of protest. The bill would in effect abolish the present laws obliging children to attend school for eight years, halving them to the period of primary education alone.
Muslim fanatics who called for execution of gays and wanted to set up a 'medieval state' under Sharia law in Derby are jailed for up to two years
By Leon Watson10th February 2012
Three Muslim extremists who handed out leaflets calling for homosexuals to be hanged, stoned and burned to death have been jailed.
The group handed out the material in the street as well as posting it through letterboxes in a hate-filled campaign calling for the execution of gay people who they claimed were at the root of society’s problems. Ihjaz Ali, Kabir Ahmed and Razwan Javed are the first to be prosecuted under new laws against inciting hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. Ali was jailed for two years and Ahmed and Javed for 15 months each.
Hate crimes: From left - Ihjaz Ali, Razwan Javed and Kabir Ahmed, who were jailed after becoming the first to be convicted of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation for handing out a leaflet calling for gay people to be executed
Two years: Ihjaz Ali, Fifteen months: Kabir Ahmed, Fifteen months: Razwan Javed
Sentencing the men today, Judge John Burgess, Recorder of Derby, told them: 'You have been convicted of intending to stir up hatred. It follows that your intention was to do great harm in a peaceful community.' He went on: 'Much has been said during the course of this trial about freedom of expression, and the freedom to preach strongly held beliefs; beliefs, which may have some foundation in scripture. Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of democracy and a basic ingredient of any free society. Parliament clearly had this very much in mind when this legislation was passed.'
Afghan couple killed three teenage daughters in honour killing
Members of an Afghani refugee family have been jailed for life in Canada for the honour killing of three teenage girls and their stepmother, in a crime which shocked their adopted country.
Geeti, Zainab and Sahar Shafia Photo: AP
By Rosa Prince
30 January 2012
Mohammad Shafia, the girls' father and husband of the fourth victim, was secretly taped by police describing his daughters as a "disgrace" and complaining that they dated boys and wore inappropriate clothes. He was sentenced to life in prison along with his second wife, Tooba Yahya – who he was married to illegally – and their 21-year-old son Hamed, the girls' brother. At least one of the dead girls – Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13 – had unsuccessfully sought help from the police before their deaths.
Afghan woman is killed 'for giving birth to a girl'
By Bilal Sarwary
30 January 2012
Wali Hazrata is in police custody. She has made no public comment about the allegations.
A woman in north-eastern Afghanistan has been arrested for allegedly strangling her daughter-in-law for giving birth to a third daughter.
The murdered woman's husband, a member of a local militia, is also suspected of involvement but he has since fled. The murder took place two days ago in Kunduz province. The baby girl, who is now two months old, was not hurt. The birth of a boy is usually a cause for celebration in Afghanistan but girls are generally seen as a burden. Some women in Afghanistan are abused if they fail to give birth to boys. And this is just the latest in a series of high-profile crimes against women in the country.
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