All entries by this author

Indirect effects

Jan 7th, 2008 11:43 am | By

The Vatican is planning a party. Sounds like fun.

The Vatican has called on Catholics to atone for the sex abuse scandals that have engulfed their church in recent years by taking part in what may be the largest global prayer initiative ever seen…[E]very diocese in the world should name a priest to work full-time on the arrangements for the “perpetual adoration” of the eucharist. This would involve parishioners taking turns to keep a round-the-clock vigil in front of a consecrated host representing the body of Jesus…The aim was “to make amends before God for the evil that has been done and hail once more the dignity of the victims”, who had suffered from the “moral and sexual conduct

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BHL on Grieving for Benazir *

Jan 6th, 2008 | Filed by

We should have seen many heads of state, to make the funeral a global demonstration for democracy and peace.… Read the rest



Call to Prayer Application in Oxford *

Jan 6th, 2008 | Filed by

A two-minute call three times a day. Ibrahim Mogra of the MCB says most residents get used to it.… Read the rest



New Forced Marriage Power Planned *

Jan 6th, 2008 | Filed by

Ministers may let third parties intervene in coercive relationships where victims are too scared to act. … Read the rest



Third Parties Will Be Able to Stop Forced Marriages *

Jan 6th, 2008 | Filed by

Pragna Patel of Southall Black Sisters said that the change to the law was absolutely necessary. … Read the rest



MCB Says Safeguard Cultural Norms *

Jan 6th, 2008 | Filed by

Forced marriage totally different from arranged marriage. Really?… Read the rest



Bunglawala on Forced Marriage *

Jan 6th, 2008 | Filed by

‘Good marriages are meant to symbolise the coming together of two families and not just two individuals.’… Read the rest



Mediawatchwatch Reads the UN Resolution *

Jan 6th, 2008 | Filed by

‘The right to freedom of expression should be exercised with responsibility and may therefore be subject to limitations…’… Read the rest



Universality of Human Rights v Cairo Declaration *

Jan 6th, 2008 | Filed by

The Cairo Declaration definition of human rights differs widely from those of the UDHR.… Read the rest



Keith Porteous Wood on Blasphemy Super-law *

Jan 6th, 2008 | Filed by

The individual’s rights are in great danger of becoming alienated in favour of group rights – often for religions.… Read the rest



UN Passes ‘Defamation of Religions’ Resolution *

Jan 6th, 2008 | Filed by

At the behest of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. … Read the rest



The patriarchal matriarchy

Jan 6th, 2008 11:43 am | By

Ah yes, the matriarchy myth. That’s one I haven’t gotten around to yet. Long overdue!

I have been a close observer of the myth of matriarchal prehistory for fifteen years now and have watched as it has moved from its somewhat parochial home in the feminist spirituality movement out into the feminist and cultural mainstream. But I haven’t been able to cheer at the myth’s increasing acceptance. My irritation with the historical claims made by the myth’s partisans masks a deeper discontent with the myth’s assumptions. There is a theory of sex and gender embedded in the myth of matriarchal prehistory, and it is neither original nor revolutionary. Women are defined quite narrowly as those who give birth and

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The conception of the family as a subject

Jan 6th, 2008 10:30 am | By

This idea that human rights are for individuals rather than for groups is relevant to the Vatican’s reflection on the Rights of the Family in the context of the Universal Declaration, too. (Do you see a pattern here? There is one. Religions, especially coercive, totalizing, domineering religions such as Catholicism and Islam and Protestant fundamentalism, are suspicious of human rights and would like to elbow them aside in favour of group rights, especially [of course] religious-group rights. We need to watch that, so that we can fight back.)

This bit of the Pontifical Council’s ‘reflection’ is the giveaway:

One aspect of fundamental importance for the promotion of human rights is recognition of the “rights of the family”. This implies

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One at a time, please

Jan 6th, 2008 9:40 am | By

Beware of ‘religious and cultural specificity.’ Beware especially when religious and cultural specificity is invoked in the context of human rights. Religiously and culturally specific human rights are not the real thing, they are impostors wrapped up in burqas. The International Humanist and Ethical Union knows.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) representing the 56 Islamic States renewed its attack on the Universality of Human Rights at the 6th Session of the Human Rights Council that ended on 14 December. On Human Rights Day, 10 December, Ambassador Masood Khan, speaking on behalf of the OIC, claimed that the 1990 Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam “.. is not an alternative, competing worldview on human rights. It complements the

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Ethnic Tensions Divide Kenya *

Jan 5th, 2008 | Filed by

Tribal feeling usually lies dormant in Kenya, but once it’s awake, things get bad.… Read the rest



BBC Profile of Narendra Modi *

Jan 5th, 2008 | Filed by

Some call him the merchant of death. … Read the rest



‘My Murders Better Than Your Murders’ *

Jan 5th, 2008 | Filed by

Narendra Modi is implicated in the Gujarat killings, but Congress has a guilty past too.… Read the rest



Politicians Exploit Kenyan Tribal Differences *

Jan 5th, 2008 | Filed by

It is no coincidence that the people who usually perpetrate ‘tribal violence’ are unemployed young men. … Read the rest



Meera Nanda on How India Sees Itself *

Jan 5th, 2008 | Filed by

‘Only 18 per cent Americans had no doubts about the superiority of their culture, compared with our 64 per cent.’… Read the rest



Ethnic Cleansing at the University of Eastern Africa *

Jan 5th, 2008 | Filed by

‘They demanded that all Kikuyus, Kambas, Meru, and Kisii people leave the university within two hours.’… Read the rest