Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Bill Clinton is being seriously touted as a successor to Kofi Annan at the UN. [From one scandal-creator to another!?]
UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke says the Government will, if necessary, use the Parliament Act to force through the Incitement to Religious Hatred Bill. The legislation will expand the current offence of incitement to racial hatred to include instances where people incite hatred of others because of their beliefs. The Bill has previously been blocked by the House of Lords because of concerns over free speech.
The number of German couples opting for a childless life is worrying the country's politicians and employers. A study by the federal institute for demographic research showed that 26 percent of men and 15 percent of women aged between 20 and 39 do not want to start a family - a sharp rise since 1992. "There is an increasing belief that not having children is the ideal way of life," the authors of the study concluded. Germany has a birth rate of around 1.4. Forty percent of university educated women of child-bearing age are childless. 83 per cent of respondents cited lack of a partner or a stable relationship as the main reason for not having children. "Abandoning the idea of children is abandoning the idea of life," said Otto Schily, a radical lawyer turned German interior minister.
The most important bioethics case in the world today involves a 45-year-old Englishman, Leslie Burke. He isn't asking for very much. Burke has a progressive neurological disease that may one day deprive him of the ability to swallow. If that happens, Burke wants to receive food and water through a tube. Knowing that Britain's National Health Service (NHS) rations care, Burke sued to ensure that he will not be forced to endure death by dehydration against his wishes. Burke, who is fully competent, worries that his wishes will be ignored precisely because he wants food and water even if he becomes totally paralyzed. But, it turns out, whether he lives or dies by dehydration may not be up to him. According to National Health Service treatment guidelines, doctors, rather than patients or their families, have the final say about providing or withholding care.
An official report dealing with religious expression in French schools has become a must read for anyone interested in the Islamization of France. Written under the auspices of the top national education official, Jean-Pierre Obin, the report was not initially released by the Ministry of Education but it was leaked on the Internet. The report is the product of a study carried out between October 2003 and May 2004 by a team of 10 inspectors, including Obin. They found a marked increase in religious expression, especially Muslim expression, in schools; and denial on the part of officials at all levels that this phenomenon is occurring. Scores of informants told the Obin team that these neighborhoods were undergoing a "rapid and recent swing" toward Islamization, thanks to the growing influence of young religious activists. The biggest social change is a deterioration in the position of females. Teenage girls are forbidden to play sports and are constantly watched by an informal religious police made up of young men. Makeup, skirts, and form-fitting dresses are forbidden; to go to the blackboard in front of a class, some Muslim girls put on long coats. Often, they are forced to wear the headscarf, or hijab, and forbidden to frequent coed movie theaters, community centers, and gyms, or even to go out at all on weekends. In primary schools, the report cites instances of first grade boys refusing to participate in coed activities and Muslim children's refusing to sing, dance, or draw a face. Most Muslim kids refuse to participate in sports or swimming, the girls out of modesty, the boys because they do not want to swim in "girls' water" or "non-Muslim water." Hatred against Jews is also on the rise. In a particularly interesting observation, Obin notes that it is the schools that have reached accommodations with the extremists that are most plagued by violence against girls, Jews, and teachers.
Star Wars III is out and breaking box office records. The whole genre is more than just a series of movies for many - it is also their life. Some are wearing Jedi costume to work, marrying in it, and following the "Jedi way" as a religion. There are so many adherents, there are now moves to have it officially registered in the US.
In similar vein, a Sydney academic says the internet has become almost like a 21st-century church or temple. Disenchantment with organised religion has given rise to spiritual movements inspired by cinema and books and promulgated on the World Wide Web, says Adam Possamai, president of the Australian Association for the Study of Religions and a sociologist at the University of Western Sydney. Star Trek, the Matrix trilogy and Star Wars, even the Harry Potter films, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are more than pieces of cinematic or television escapism, Dr Possamai says. Their stories of spiritual drama, littered with a religious subtext of good versus evil, "chosen ones", prophets of doom and a benevolent universal power, mean they are a source of inspiration for "seekers".
Many Christians were stunned by the recent announcement that eminent British philosopher Antony Flew, sometimes billed as "the world's most famous atheist," has come to affirm the existence of God after a lifetime of publicly arguing against such a belief (although it should be noted that Flew has only converted to Theism, not Christianity). But Timothy Larsen notes that such conversions are not that unusual. William Murray - son of America's most famous atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair - was once president of the organization American Atheists. He converted to Christianity in 1980, going on to become a conservative, ordained Christian minister and evangelist. And research on the history of religious skepticism in Victorian Britain shgows that intellectually rigorous, militant unbelievers convert to Christianity surprisingly often.
After years of living in constant fear of aids, many gay men have chosen to resume sexual practices that are almost guaranteed to make them sick. In New York City, the rate of syphilis has increased by more than 400 percent in the past five years. Gay men account for virtually the entire rise. Between 1998 and 2000, fifteen per cent of the syphilis cases in Chicago could be attributed to gay men. Since 2001, that number has grown to sixty per cent. Look at the statistics closely and you will almost certainly find the drug. In one recent study, twenty-five per cent of those men who reported methamphetamine use in the previous month were infected with H.I.V.
Representatives of the nation's top psychiatric group have just approved a statement urging legal recognition of gay marriage. If approved by the association's directors in July, the measure would make the American Psychiatric Association the first major medical group to take such a stance. The statement supports same-sex marriage "in the interest of maintaining and promoting mental health." It follows a similar measure by the American Psychological Association last year, little more than three decades after that group removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.
UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke says the Government will, if necessary, use the Parliament Act to force through the Incitement to Religious Hatred Bill. The legislation will expand the current offence of incitement to racial hatred to include instances where people incite hatred of others because of their beliefs. The Bill has previously been blocked by the House of Lords because of concerns over free speech.
The number of German couples opting for a childless life is worrying the country's politicians and employers. A study by the federal institute for demographic research showed that 26 percent of men and 15 percent of women aged between 20 and 39 do not want to start a family - a sharp rise since 1992. "There is an increasing belief that not having children is the ideal way of life," the authors of the study concluded. Germany has a birth rate of around 1.4. Forty percent of university educated women of child-bearing age are childless. 83 per cent of respondents cited lack of a partner or a stable relationship as the main reason for not having children. "Abandoning the idea of children is abandoning the idea of life," said Otto Schily, a radical lawyer turned German interior minister.
The most important bioethics case in the world today involves a 45-year-old Englishman, Leslie Burke. He isn't asking for very much. Burke has a progressive neurological disease that may one day deprive him of the ability to swallow. If that happens, Burke wants to receive food and water through a tube. Knowing that Britain's National Health Service (NHS) rations care, Burke sued to ensure that he will not be forced to endure death by dehydration against his wishes. Burke, who is fully competent, worries that his wishes will be ignored precisely because he wants food and water even if he becomes totally paralyzed. But, it turns out, whether he lives or dies by dehydration may not be up to him. According to National Health Service treatment guidelines, doctors, rather than patients or their families, have the final say about providing or withholding care.
An official report dealing with religious expression in French schools has become a must read for anyone interested in the Islamization of France. Written under the auspices of the top national education official, Jean-Pierre Obin, the report was not initially released by the Ministry of Education but it was leaked on the Internet. The report is the product of a study carried out between October 2003 and May 2004 by a team of 10 inspectors, including Obin. They found a marked increase in religious expression, especially Muslim expression, in schools; and denial on the part of officials at all levels that this phenomenon is occurring. Scores of informants told the Obin team that these neighborhoods were undergoing a "rapid and recent swing" toward Islamization, thanks to the growing influence of young religious activists. The biggest social change is a deterioration in the position of females. Teenage girls are forbidden to play sports and are constantly watched by an informal religious police made up of young men. Makeup, skirts, and form-fitting dresses are forbidden; to go to the blackboard in front of a class, some Muslim girls put on long coats. Often, they are forced to wear the headscarf, or hijab, and forbidden to frequent coed movie theaters, community centers, and gyms, or even to go out at all on weekends. In primary schools, the report cites instances of first grade boys refusing to participate in coed activities and Muslim children's refusing to sing, dance, or draw a face. Most Muslim kids refuse to participate in sports or swimming, the girls out of modesty, the boys because they do not want to swim in "girls' water" or "non-Muslim water." Hatred against Jews is also on the rise. In a particularly interesting observation, Obin notes that it is the schools that have reached accommodations with the extremists that are most plagued by violence against girls, Jews, and teachers.
Star Wars III is out and breaking box office records. The whole genre is more than just a series of movies for many - it is also their life. Some are wearing Jedi costume to work, marrying in it, and following the "Jedi way" as a religion. There are so many adherents, there are now moves to have it officially registered in the US.
In similar vein, a Sydney academic says the internet has become almost like a 21st-century church or temple. Disenchantment with organised religion has given rise to spiritual movements inspired by cinema and books and promulgated on the World Wide Web, says Adam Possamai, president of the Australian Association for the Study of Religions and a sociologist at the University of Western Sydney. Star Trek, the Matrix trilogy and Star Wars, even the Harry Potter films, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are more than pieces of cinematic or television escapism, Dr Possamai says. Their stories of spiritual drama, littered with a religious subtext of good versus evil, "chosen ones", prophets of doom and a benevolent universal power, mean they are a source of inspiration for "seekers".
Many Christians were stunned by the recent announcement that eminent British philosopher Antony Flew, sometimes billed as "the world's most famous atheist," has come to affirm the existence of God after a lifetime of publicly arguing against such a belief (although it should be noted that Flew has only converted to Theism, not Christianity). But Timothy Larsen notes that such conversions are not that unusual. William Murray - son of America's most famous atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair - was once president of the organization American Atheists. He converted to Christianity in 1980, going on to become a conservative, ordained Christian minister and evangelist. And research on the history of religious skepticism in Victorian Britain shgows that intellectually rigorous, militant unbelievers convert to Christianity surprisingly often.
After years of living in constant fear of aids, many gay men have chosen to resume sexual practices that are almost guaranteed to make them sick. In New York City, the rate of syphilis has increased by more than 400 percent in the past five years. Gay men account for virtually the entire rise. Between 1998 and 2000, fifteen per cent of the syphilis cases in Chicago could be attributed to gay men. Since 2001, that number has grown to sixty per cent. Look at the statistics closely and you will almost certainly find the drug. In one recent study, twenty-five per cent of those men who reported methamphetamine use in the previous month were infected with H.I.V.
Representatives of the nation's top psychiatric group have just approved a statement urging legal recognition of gay marriage. If approved by the association's directors in July, the measure would make the American Psychiatric Association the first major medical group to take such a stance. The statement supports same-sex marriage "in the interest of maintaining and promoting mental health." It follows a similar measure by the American Psychological Association last year, little more than three decades after that group removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.
