The War on Christmas Continues

In the United States, we are lucky to be able to debate and communicate freely about religious issues. The Atheist billboard that we've mentioned in a few posts has been counter-attacked: The Catholic League has put up a billboard on the other side of the Lincoln Tunnel to promote the message of their beliefs.


This is actually a very witty article about the battle. Besides the sarcastic humor, it tells a good chronology of the billboard war.

The War on Christmas

Ashley's post was the first I'd heard about the Atheist's billboard. I wanted to follow up on that because it hits so close to home for many of us. My questions are:

1. Should the billboard be tolerated (it will in America, because of religious freedom) even though it seems to attack Christianity because of the nativity scene?

2. Could Atheism be lumped into a "religious" category, meaning, is it their freedom of religion (or non-religion) to say what they want?

Either way, we are lucky in the U.S. to be able to have talks about these things. First, the billboard was allowed to be communicated to masses who drive by. Then, it is allowed to be broadcasted in the news on TV and through newspaper and radio. Also, it stimulates discussion (probably debates), which shows that this is an open forum in America.

One thing I thought was interesting is that in this video, Silverman (President of American Atheists) is upset that Atheists are unrepresented in government and other positions. He urges Atheists to "come out" because there are millions of them hiding. Why are they hiding? Do they think they'll be persecuted in some way?

Response to Mosque near Ground Zero

What can President Obama say about the proposed Muslim mosque that would be built near Ground Zero? He's in a tough spot - he said in one speech that they should be free to worship anywhere to be consistent with American ideals, and then another day said that he didn't say it was wise to choose the plan the mosque where they did. Here is an interesting, short NPR clip about the debate and Obama's and Bush's reactions to the proposed mosque.

What would you say about this if you were the President?

Islam Combats "Defamation of Religion"

A group of 57 states with largely Islamic populations called The Organization of the Islamic Conference wants a resolution to be passed in the United Nations to condemn the "defamation of religions." Whose religion, though?

The resolution, called "On Combating Defamation of Religions" would prohibit self expression that insults or "defames" (a broad term) religion. The resolution is for their own favor, though, to make it legal to prosecute someone for insulting Islam. We've all seen these pictures, even on this blog. Isn't this a bit too radical? Not in many Islamic countries.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference wants to see this resolution pass not only for Islamic states, but globally. If this were ever to happen, anyone on the earth who blasphemed Islam could be punished. This could be used against almost anyone because the terms "blaspheme," "defame," and "insult" are quite broad. How are these accusations of defamation and their punishments going to be determined if there aren't any set regulations? It seems silly to even ask that when putting this law into effect would be blatantly be crossing human rights violations and freedom of expression.

The article from which I found this information was written by the Freedom House advocacy director. I think it is important that Freedom House is using it's platform and reliability to make issues like this known in the New York Times, which is read around the globe.

Argentina's Religious Freedom Day

November 25 was Argentina's Religious Freedom Day, a national holiday that began in 2004. It was decided to be on 11/25 because on 11/25/1981 the United Nations approved the "Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on religion or belief."

CALIR is the Argentine Council for Religious Freedom, whose objective is to promote religious freedom in all forms, individual or collective. CALIR is on the radar promoting freedom through communities and universities.

I think that it's important that CALIR uses a university platform to spread its message of religious freedom, because professors and academic authority are looked up to by many students and seen as progressive. It's also impressive that this day was publicized throughout the city of Buenos Aires, which shows that there is open communication about religious freedom in the country's capital. Religion is important in a cultural context in South America, so I would imagine that there are less cultural barriers to communicating about it. It would be interesting to see though, if this would stand for a very dissimilar religion to the area, such as Hinduism or Buddhism.

Religious Freedom in Country X

This is my friend Josh, and he's going to talk about his experiences with religious freedom in an Asian country.

More Like Punishment by Religion...

We're talking about freedom of religion on our blog. Or, the opposite too I guess.

I just read this article in The New York Times about the exact opposite happening: punishment by religion. In Iran, a women convicted of adultery may be stoned to death. Stoned. And it's a shocking thing to media systems both there and here. It's shocking in Iran, because they are actually talking about it in the media-- a clip of the woman calling herself a sinner was shown on state-owned television. It's shocking in the United States, because of the severity of the punishment of adultery, and because her son specifically told people who knew about the situation to lie to foreign western media, to make it less of a deal.

So this brings up two good aspects:

• Because of the government's and her own strict following of the Muslim faith, this Iranian woman may be stoned to death (the punishment is under review by the court-- but she may still be executed in a different way), because she was convicted of having an illicit relationship. Is this religious freedom?
• It was controversial in Iran, because this story was broadcast on television. The woman's lawyer told her son to lie to western media, saying it would be prudent. Is this media freedom?
• 

Iran has a "Stop Stoning Forever" Campaign

Freedom of Blogging...

If I blogged that...

I am God.

God says, smoke marijuana.

...What would happen?

Likely nothing. But in West Bank, that is not the case. Blogger Walid Husayin was arrested for the posts he placed on his blog and Facebook groups. He's an atheist, and some of his writings satirized the Koran. That was enough to get him imprisoned for heresy. He said the same things I said above, and his consequences were hardly small. Though he hasn't been charged yet, he is being detained for who knows how long.

This is a perfect example of the technological and governmental barriers that Palestine faces. Quite honestly, writing the above statements makes me feel like I should be a little wary. It's helping me realize how much freedom I have and how easily that freedom is taken away in certain countries around the world.

The Masque of Africa

In the new book The Masque of Africa by Nobel Prize winner V.S. Naipual, he again writes about Africa and religious issues he explores there. But in this book, he investigates the influence of the "alien religions": Christianity and Islam. In Africa, Christianity and Islam have begun to permeate countries across the continent, though they each have many indigenous religions of their own.

A former university dean in Gabon is quoted in the book and says, "The new religions, Islam and Christianity, are just on the top. Inside us is the forest."

This shows how deeply rooted spiritual practices are within African culture and history. The spread of Christianity and Islam is relatively "new" to them in comparison to what they have practiced since the beginning of their time.

I am interested in this book and think it would explore religious rights in a sense, because the people that he talks to must have opinions on these religious influences. The people he writes about have had experiences that certainly shape their perspective, so maybe the book would give good insight into what it looks like for a "new" religion to act in their culture.

U.S under U.N. scrutiny for Religious Rights

The U.S. will be the brunt of scrutiny by the United Nations Human Rights Council during the "Universal Periodic Review," coming under accusations of human rights violations such as:

• violent, barbaric police officers
• holding political prisoners behind bars
• 30% of the population not having adequate income for basic needs
• discrimination against Muslim people

The speakers against the U.S. even come from inside the U.S, and they say that America has stimulated a profiling issue of Middle Eastern people based on terrorism and religious beliefs. These people will be able to speak out against the U.S. and say "what really goes on" here and how it should be changed.

I was surprised to read this article. I never would have guessed that the U.S. would be brought before the U.N. for human rights violations-- especially when this is a "free" country, one that I think has done a pretty good job in comparison to others around the world. I don't think the U.N. should be able to be told people's opinions about American's attitudes toward other people (Muslims, Middle Eastern people) if there aren't bad things happening because of those attitudes.

Penn State Religion in the Media Talk

As I was checking my email just now, I saw a link to a flyer promoting a panel called "What does the media say about religion?" It's sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs at Penn State. There will be a panel to offer their knowledge and a discussion afterward about how attendees think media shape's the public's view of religion.

Too bad its happening right now! I can't make it. But I was pleased to see the email come through my Communications listserv emails. The link showed a colorful flyer that had newspaper headlines of religious issues, such as the Washington Post headline: "Under God - religion, government and politics in the news."

It's good to see a Penn State organization offer discussion about media and religion. I hope they have a good turnout and insightful discussion. Maybe they'll ask the question-- Do you think you can worship aloud, Penn State?

Hidden

After Amy's video post about the Chinese Christian church being demolished, I searched for it online. I wanted to see if because the video said that reporters were being punished for covering the demolition. Would there be any other footage or coverage that I could find?

I Google-searched "chinese christian church demolished" multiple ways. Every result gave a religious-watch website, usually Christian, that was reporting about the persecution, but zero news media articles or responses. I even searched Sky News, the outlet that somehow obtained the cell-phone video of the demolition, and I could not find an article or even the video clip. No news outlet had any results.

The commentator on the video was right. These happenings across China are not being reported or made available for the public's knowledge. It is up to people in the religious affiliations to let their congregations know, and maybe even to alert the general public.

Religious Convictions Cause Campaigns - Are they effective?

An article in The New York Times explains how in 1929, the Church of Scotland began a campaign in Kenya to eradicate the practice of female circumcision. The church had a successful missionary relationship with the Kenyans, but once they tried to get them to stop the practice, many of the church goers left. In fact, it became a political statement by one Kenyan political organization to deepen the cultural practice, and it became an even more entrenched norm.

In contrast, the article talks about a campaign made by Christian missionaries and targeted to China, encouraging them to stop binding women's feet. This campaign eventually had success, and the given explanation is a two-fold theory:

"First, begin with a dialogue of mutual respect, free of self-congratulation. Second, when you have a core of converts, organize a program of public commitment to new practices, which takes into account the traditions of the community. To end one practice, as the anti-foot-binding campaigners grasped, you need to start another."

In this campaign, the campaigners insisted on respecting the culture, and tried to get cultural authorities to follow their idea by reaching the elite with newspapers and article evidence. Then, once there was a trusted group, this group spread the message that foot-binding should not be practiced anymore, and it eventually caught fire.

Should missionaries, no matter their religion, even try to change cultural practices to begin with? In these cases, I say yes. I think that these practices by the Kenyans and the Chinese, with respect to women's health, are wrong and harmful. They were (and maybe still are?) manipulating the body in ways that are painful, but more significantly, unnatural.

This could easily be a religious issue, but in many ways it is a human rights issue as well. I think that the missionary's convictions had more to do with preventing suffering than with having an agenda heard. It seems to me that they were trying to love and care for the people they were ministering to.