US Presbyterian Church Recognises Gay Marriage

 From BBC US & Canada

Gay marriage

The largest Presbyterian denomination in the US will formally recognise same-sex marriages after decades of debate.

With nearly 1.8 million members, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is the biggest Protestant group in the US to endorse the ceremonies.

The move was supported by the church's top legislative body last year, but required approval from a majority of the denominations' regional districts.

A New Jersey district delivered the critical vote on Tuesday.

The new church policy reads: "Marriage involves a unique commitment between two people, traditionally a man and a woman, to love and support each other for the rest of their lives."

But the denomination has included a provision that no clergy would be compelled to preside over a gay marriage or host such a ceremony on church property.

A number of districts have voted against the rule change.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved the ordination of gay pastors, elders and deacons in 2011, which led to many conservative congregations to leave the denomination.

The fracture may have paved the way for the approval of same-sex unions.

Indeed, I believe it did. With the majority of God-fearing people gone, they're free to ordain anything they want. But the ordination will be by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) not by God! They no longer represent God. Their candlestick has been removed. May God have mercy on them.

The change will take effect June 21.

Netanyahu Wins Elections, Says He Will Not Allow Palestinian State

Israel election: US concern over 'divisive' rhetoric

From BBC Middle East

Breaking news

Bibi does it again!

The White House says it is deeply concerned at what it called the "divisive rhetoric" in the Israeli election, which ended in a surprise win for Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.

During campaigning, Mr Netanyahu said he would not allow the creation of a Palestinian state if re-elected.

The US, UN and EU have all urged him to continue with the two-state solution. All three of which are left of center organizations with no great love for Israel.

Mr Netanyahu aims to build a new coalition government within two to three weeks, his party says.

This weeks elections were a major surprise in that pre-election polls and exit polls had Netanyahu's Likud party in a virtual dead-heat with the Herzog-Livny Zionist Union at 27 seats each. Israeli's went to bed that night thinking the government was going to be a real mess for weeks to come, but woke up to the news that Likud had won 30 seats, Zionist Union only 24. Herzog conceded defeat.

This was quite an accomplishment for Netanyahu who was under attack from all sides in an 'anyone but Bibi' campaign. There are suspicions that there may also have been interference in the elections from foreign powers who do not like Netanyahu. One can only guess who they might be. Pffft!

It's interesting that the third biggest party to emerge from the election was the Joint Arab List, a coalition of Arab parties, with an impressive 14 seats. And yet, you will still hear lots of Palestinian supporters complaining about the lack of Palestinian rights in Israel. They, in fact, have far more rights and benefits in Israel than they do in any Arab countries where many Palestinians live.

Ebola Making a Comeback in Guinea

Guinea has suffered a setback in its fight against Ebola with a rash of new cases, including three doctors infected by the virus, with officials blaming weak surveillance and a failure to follow safety procedures.

Ebola vaccine trial

The outbreak, which began in eastern Guinea more than a year ago and has killed over 10,000 people in the three West African countries worst hit, had appeared to be on the wane, but Guinea has seen cases rise for three consecutive weeks, according to World Health Organization data.

A government health report from the weekend showed there were 21 new cases in a single day, a spike from the recent daily average of eight.

President Alpha Conde said on Tuesday that everything must be done to end the outbreak by mid-April, ahead of a meeting with donors scheduled around that date.

Ending Ebola could reboot Guinea's mining-dependent economy that has been hammered by the outbreak which has scared investors, he said.

"With Ebola, it is easier to go from 100 cases to 10 cases than from 10 cases of to zero. To end it, we need 10 times more effort than when the outbreak was at its height," he said.

New infections

A big source of concern is a chain of new infections that can be linked back to a woman who died of Ebola and was not buried safely, according to Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba, spokeswoman for the UN's Ebola emergency response mission UNMEER.

"It's a major setback .... It's due to individual behaviours. That is having a devastating effect on the community. People are simply not practising the safety rules that we have been talking about for a year," she told Reuters.

Guinean President Alpha Conde says the final push to get cases down to zero
is a major challenge that requires even more effort than when the Ebola outbreak
 was at its peak. (Cellou Binani/AFP/Getty Images)

Of the other two countries worst hit, Sierra Leone has also seen a spate of new cases while Liberia has no known cases at present and is waiting to be declared free of the disease.

The new cases in Guinea are in the capital and the southwestern town of Forecariah but if the situation is not brought under control they could spread across borders, said Lejeune-Kaba.

Guinea officials said the new cases came from high risk Ebola contacts who had left Forecariah and developed symptoms elsewhere, pointing to poor surveillance.

Sakoba Keïta, Guinea's anti-Ebola task force coordinator, said on Tuesday that the government was putting in place new measures including strict rules regulating the movement of corpses and contact tracing.

"There are numerous gaps in the Ebola response in Guinea, notably in surveillance of contacts, and that explains the difficulty in making any lasting progress towards ending the epidemic," said a spokesman for medical charity MSF.

The three doctors were infected at the Ignace Deen hospital in Conakry, which is not an Ebola centre. More than 50 doctors in Guinea have caught the virus during the outbreak.

France May Ban Super-Skinny Models

The link between high fashion, body image and eating disorders on French catwalks may lead to a ban on super-skinny models.

France's government is likely to back a bill being discussed in Paris banning excessively thin fashion models as well as potentially fining the modelling agency or fashion house that hires them and sending their agents to jail, Health Minister Marisol Touraine said on Monday.

Rosa Cha runway fashion model
looks like she just escaped
from the Holocaust

Style-conscious France, with its fashion and luxury industries worth tens of billions of dollars, would join Italy, Spain and Israel, which all adopted laws against too-thin models on catwalks or in advertising campaigns in early 2013.​

The union representing fashion agencies opposes the ban, arguing that regulating a model's waist line will take a toll on the agencies' bottom line. 

So, obviously the union cares much more about the bottom line than the bottoms.

Under the proposed legislation, any model who wants to work has to have a body mass index (a type of height to weight ratio) of at least 18 and would be subject to regular weight checks. Health Minister Marisol Touraine says the ban would protect young women who see models as the ideal female form. Plus, many models in France are still in their teens.

So, a woman who is 5-foot-7 would have to weigh at least 121 pounds. The normal weight BMI range is around 18.5 to 25.


Fines, jail time

The law would enforce fines of up to $79,000 US for any breaches, with up to six months in jail for any staff involved, French Socialist Party legislator Olivier Veran, who wrote the amendments, told newspaper Le Parisien.

The bill’s amendments also propose penalties for anything made public that could be seen as encouraging extreme thinness, notably pro-anorexia websites that glorify unhealthy lifestyles and forums that encourage eating disorders.

In 2007, Isabelle Caro, an anorexic 28-year-old former French fashion model, died after posing for a photographic campaign to raise awareness about the illness.

Some 30,000-40,000 people in France suffer from anorexia, most of them teenagers, said Veran, who is a doctor.

In 2013, designer Hedi Slimane was chastised for casting shockingly thin male models at an Yves Saint Laurent show in Paris. It was not immediately clear whether France's proposed legislation would apply to male models as well.

Cudos for France if they get on-board with this legislation. Cudos especially to Italy, Spain and Israel for having done it two years ago. US - what about you?

Cash from CIA Used to Refill Al Qaida Coffers

Yet another example of the US funding both sides of a war. 

While refusing to pay ransoms for Americans kidnapped by militant groups, money has been siphoned off to enemy fighters

MATTHEW ROSENBERG, NYTPublished: 14:42 March 15, 2015Gulf News

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia  - AFP

Washington: In the spring of 2010, Afghan officials struck a deal to free an Afghan diplomat held hostage by Al Qaida. But the price was steep — $5 million (Dh18 million) — and senior security officials were scrambling to come up with the money.

They first turned to a secret fund that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) bankrolled with monthly cash deliveries to the presidential palace in Kabul, according to several Afghan officials involved in the episode. The Afghan government, they said, had already squirreled away about $1 million from that fund.

Within weeks, that money and $4 million more provided from other countries was handed over to Al Qaida, replenishing its coffers after a relentless CIA campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan had decimated the militant network’s upper ranks.

“God blessed us with a good amount of money this month,” Atiyah Abd Al Rahman, the group’s general manager, wrote in a letter to Osama Bin Laden in June 2010, noting that the cash would be used for weapons and other operational needs.

See also: More Wonders of the Dizzying World of Middle East War Financing

Religion of Peace Kill 14 Christians and Wounds 70 in Pakistan Church Attacks

Two bomb blasts have killed at least 14 people near two churches in a Christian neighbourhood of the Pakistani city of Lahore

More than 70 people were hurt in the explosions, which targeted worshippers attending Sunday mass at the churches in the Youhanabad area.

Violent protests erupted after the blasts, with a mob killing two men accused of involvement in the attacks.

Pakistan's Christian community has often been targeted by militants.

An offshoot of the Pakistan Taliban, calling itself Jamatul Ahrar, has said it carried out the attack.

Witnesses say suicide bombers were responsible for the explosions but police have not confirmed this.

The bombers are said to have detonated their explosives near the gates of St John's Catholic Church and Christ Church.

The bombers targeted Christians as they were attending Sunday morning mass

The gates of one of the churches was destroyed in the explosion

Relatives of the dead consoled each other

As news of the attack spread, Christians in other parts of Pakistan took to the streets in protest

A large crowd gathered at the scene of the blasts, protesting about the lack of security.

The crowd also attacked two men it accused of involvement in the explosions, killing both of them. Photographs from the scene showed a crowd setting the men's bodies alight.

Protesters carrying sticks blocked Lahore's Ferozepur Road. Local television pictures showed a bus station being attacked.

'Scuffle at church gate'

Amir Masih, a witness quoted by Reuters news agency, said he had heard an explosion near one of the churches.

"I rushed towards the spot and saw the security guard scuffle with a man who was trying to enter the church," he said.

The man blew himself up after failing to enter the church, Mr Masih told Reuters.

Security has been tightened after past attacks on Pakistan's churches

Pakistan's large Christian minority suffers discrimination as well as militant attacks

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain have condemned the latest bombings.

Tahir Naveed Chaudhary, the chairman of the Pakistan Minorities Alliance, a rights group, said the Lahore attacks highlighted the government's failure to protect minorities.

Pakistan's military last year began an offensive against militant bases in the mountainous north-west, bordering Afghanistan. Offshoots of the Pakistani Taliban have warned of attacks in response.

So, rather than responding by attacking the military, these cowards respond by attacking innocent civilians and churches. Such attacks reveal the 'evil' nature of militant Islam.

However, Lahore, the capital of the densely populated Punjab province, has largely escaped militant violence and is seen as a relatively peaceful city.

At least 80 people were killed by bombers at a church in the Pakistani city of Peshawar in 2013, in what is thought to be the deadliest ever attack on the country's Christians.

Christians make up less than 2% of Pakistan's overwhelmingly Muslim population. And yet, like Israel, a tiny island in a vast ocean of Arabs and Muslims, it is the center of attention, anger and hatred. 

Just yesterday I wrote, "The increasing anti-Christian attitude is not isolated to India; it is happening in many countries, even so-called Christian countries. It is happening in parallel with increasing global antisemitism. It is a sign of the times!"

Christian persecution will get much worse before it gets better. I don't believe that we western Christians are even the least prepared for what is coming. We are too busy with our me-centered gospel and our obscene fascination with politics and entertainment to ever be ready for what is coming. God help us.

Where Do Muslims Really Stand on Shariah Law?

Global Study Provides Fascinating Revelations

Many Muslims across the globe embrace shariah law (Islamic and Koranic law) and believe that it should be adopted as “the law of the land,” according to a new report by The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Based on more than 38,000 face-to-face interviews with Muslims in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, the survey offers in-depth research about the lives and views of Islamic adherents across the globe.

Of course, there are differences among believes based on both region and county. But perhaps the most intriguing elements observed are the findings that many of the Muslims who want shariah law in a number of countries also embrace harsh penalties such as stonings for adulterers and thieves’ hands being cut off.

IS SHARIAH THE OFFICIAL WORD OF GOD — OR MAN?

Pew notes that most Muslims see shariah law as “the revealed word of God rather than a body of law developed by men based on the word of God.” Overall, believers also seem to embrace the notion that shariah has only one, true meaning, although the level of this adherence varies in certain countries. On a base level, the more engaged one is in the Islamic faith, the more likely he or she is to say that shariah is the revealed word of God.

As for applicability, opinions differ about how Islamic law should be implemented. According to Pew, “Generally, supporters of sharia are most comfortable with its application in cases of family or property disputes.” Obviously, the challenge when it comes to shariah is determining whether it should also be integrated into the legal system.

When asked whether shariah is the revealed word of God, in 17 of the 23 nations where the question was asked, at least half of believers answered affirmatively. The proportions of those claiming that shariah came directly from God verses those who believe that it was developed by man from God’s word differ, depending on the country in which respondents were asked.

Photo Credit: Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life

When it comes to understanding shariah, there are also a variety of opinions. Large proportions, depending on the country, believe that there is only one understanding — but this varies too. While majorities in Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan maintain that there is one meaning (at least 55 percent in each country), in Albania, Kosovo and Uzbekistan, large proportions (at least 35 percent) seem to embrace the notion that there could be more than one way to interpret shariah.

SHOULD SHARIAH BE INTEGRATED INTO THE LEGAL SYSTEM?

Shariah may certainly have a place in the personal and family lives of many Muslims, but should it also be a part of the system that determines penalties for criminal activity? Pew investigated this phenomenon, once again finding stark differences depending on the nation in which the poll was conducted.

The research firm notes the intriguing regional differences. While only a minority of Muslims in Southern and Eastern Europe and Central Asia want shariah as a legal code, nations in South Asia, Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa are the most in favor of shariah as public law. Pew explains:

In South Asia, high percentages in all the countries surveyed support making sharia the official law, including nearly universal support among Muslims in Afghanistan (99%). More than eight-in-ten Muslims in Pakistan (84%) and Bangladesh (82%) also hold this view. The percentage of Muslims who say they favor making Islamic law the official law in their country is nearly as high across the Southeast Asian countries surveyed (86% in Malaysia, 77% in Thailand and 72% in Indonesia).

In sub-Saharan Africa, at least half of Muslims in most countries surveyed say they favor making sharia the official law of the land, including more than seven-in-ten in Niger (86%), Djibouti (82%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (74%) and Nigeria (71%).

Support for sharia as the official law of the land also is widespread among Muslims in the Middle East-North Africa region – especially in Iraq (91%) and the Palestinian territories (89%). Only in Lebanon does opinion lean in the opposite direction: 29% of Lebanese Muslims favor making sharia the law of the land, while 66% oppose it.

The proportions can be viewed in the below table. More than half of twenty-five of the countries’ respondents stated that they want to see shariah become the law of the land:

Photo Credit: Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life

The level of commitment to the faith, as Pew notes, impacts views on legality. Generally speaking, the more Muslims pray and engage in the faith, the more likely they are to support shariah becoming the law of the land. As noted elsewhere, recently, younger Muslims in Europe are considerably more engaged in Islam than their parents. Not a good sign for sleepy Europeans.

When it comes to whether shariah should apply to Muslims and non-Muslims, alike, in only a few countries majorities endorse this notion. Pew reports that this phenomenon exists most prominently in the Middle East and North Africa.

“The belief that sharia should extend to non-Muslims is most widespread in the Middle East and North Africa, where at least four-in-ten Muslims in all countries except Iraq (38 percent) and Morocco (29 percent) hold this opinion,” Pew explains. “Egyptian Muslims (74 percent) are the most likely to say it should apply to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, while 58 percent in Jordan hold this view.”

HOW SHOULD SHARIAH BE APPLIED?

Making shariah the law of the land obviously spawns some important questions. Among them: What, exactly, would this look like? Overall, there seems to be support for allowing religious judges to handle personal and family affairs. But there is also support — though among lower proportions — for severe punishment, such as cutting off the hands of those who steal and stoning individuals who commit adultery.

Here’s just a sample of what this looks like in Pew’s findings:

Among those who want sharia to be the law of the land, in 10 of 20 countries where there are adequate samples for analysis at least half say they support penalties such as whippings or cutting off the hands of thieves and robbers. In South Asia, Pakistani and Afghan Muslims clearly support hudud punishments [apostasy]. In both countries, more than eight-in-ten Muslims who favor making sharia the official law of the land also back these types of penalties for theft and robbery (88% in Pakistan and 81% in Afghanistan). By contrast, only half of Bangladeshis who favor sharia as the law of the land share this view.

In the Middle East and North Africa, many Muslims who support making sharia the official law also favor punishments like cutting off the hands of thieves. This includes at least seven-in-ten in the Palestinian territories (76%) and Egypt (70%), and at least half in Jordan (57%), Iraq (56%) and Lebanon (50%). Only in Tunisia do fewer than half (44%) of those who want Islamic law as the law of the land also back these types of criminal penalties. [...]

In 10 of 20 countries where there are adequate samples for analysis, at least half of Muslims who favor making sharia the law of the land also favor stoning unfaithful spouses.

Some of the highest support for stoning is found in South Asia and the Middle East-North Africa region. In Pakistan (89%) and Afghanistan (85%), more than eight-in-ten Muslims who want Islamic law as their country’s official law say adulterers should be stoned, while nearly as many say the same in the Palestinian territories (84%) and Egypt (81%). A majority also support stoning as a penalty for the unfaithful in Jordan (67%), Iraq (58%). However, support is significantly lower in Lebanon (46%) and Tunisia (44%), where less than half of those who support sharia as the official law of the land believe that adulterers should be stoned.

Here’s are some of these findings, represented below:

Photo Credit: Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life

As for apostasy, there wasn’t as much support among adherents surveyed. As for Muslims who believe that shariah should be the law of the land, at least half of those surveyed in six of the 20 countries report supporting executions for apostates (those individuals who convert away from Islam). In Egypt (86 percent), Jordan (82 percent) and Palestine (66 percent) agree with this notion. The full results are available here.

Read the entire shariah portion of the “The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society” report here. In addition to Muslim law, the study provides believers’ stances on politics and women’s rights, among other issues.