Considering the knee jerk coverage from some of the world’s media outlets over the weekend, this is worth the click.
Religion
Crikey Says: Bracing for the name of the perpetrator …
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Religion in schools
Crikey readers have their say.
Religion in schools: time to cut the Gordian knot
Religious instruction is a form of indoctrination, literally, and is not about what most teachers would regard as good learning, writes teacher and researcher Tony Taylor.
Video of the Day: An angry voice behind the veil
This April, France will ban Muslim women from wearing face-covering veils. But one French woman Kenza Drider explains why she refuses to take off her niqab and why she’ll take her fight to the European Court of Human Rights if she gets fined.
Bach’s last will and testament
W H Chong heads down to church to hear Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Four soloists and a small orchestra perform the big work, which has been called Bach’s “last will and testament.” It wasn’t performed complete until 1859, over a century after his death.
The other Catholic Church
There’s the Catholic Church that hogs the headlines, covers up sex-abuse claims and fights against condom-use. And then there’s the Catholic Church full of nuns caring for HIV patients in forgotten villages across the globe, writes Jo Chandler.
Guy Rundle: Burqa ban is a mass displacement
Why is a burqa now offensive and its opposite — the bikini, which used to be banned in NSW — now acceptable? Now Italy is talking about a burqa ban.
A pro-Islam bias in Texan schools?
Members of the Texas Board of Education think that the current prescribed school textbooks are too pro-Muslim and anti-Christian in their focus. A worthy recipient of our ‘USA: WTF?’ tag, we think.
Praying for peace: the Muslim prayer room in the Twin Towers
The twin towers of the World Trade Center held a Muslim prayer room, a popular and calm place. It’s an important fact to remember amongst all the mosque near Ground Zero vitriol: Muslims and Islam have always been a part of life there.
Islamophobia is a myth
The debate over whether to build a mosque just blocks from Ground Zero isn’t about intolerance, writes Jonah Goldberg, in a controversial article about the ‘myth’ of anti-Muslim sentiment in the States.
Breaking the fast: Ramadan in Cairo
Scott Bridges experiences sunset in Cairo during Ramadan, when residents spill onto the street to get their first bite to eat and drink after a long hot day in the holy month fast.
Should Catholic priests ditch the celibacy rule?
Over 1,000 children in the UK alone are estimated to have been fathered by Catholic priests. One of them explains what was like growing up with his father’s identity kept secret.
Obama is not a ‘Nazi’ and abortion is not a ‘holocaust’
US politicians often refer to their opponents as “Nazis” or horrible events as “a holocaust” but these just trivialise one of history’s most disturbing atrocities, writes Rabbi Marvin Hier.
Dear Pope Benedict: we would like to keep shagging priests
Forty Italian women who have had relationships with Catholic priests have written an open letter to the Pope, calling for the Vatican to scrap its policy on celibacy for priests.
What did Jesus do?
The more you read the Gospels, the less you seem to know about who Jesus really was. Adam Gopnik goes searching through the texts to find some truth.
Make cartoons, not war: how Muslims should protest
For Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, a group at a US university walked around drawing stick figures of Muhammed on the pavement. The Muslim Students Association drew boxing gloves over them, turning the figures into mini Muhammed Alis. Smart move.
Mocking Mohammad: just because we can, doesn’t mean we should
Today is Everybody Draw Mohammad Day on Facebook, with bloggers around the world sketching lewd pictures of the prophet to protest censorship. But is this really about free speech, or just an excuse to be a jerk?
Father Marcial Maciel: Mexico’s most notorious pedophile priest
Powerful Mexican priest Marcial Macielmay have died two years ago, but his life is suddenly getting a lot of attention in Mexico’s newspapers: with new revelations of child sexual abuse, bigamy, drug abuse and plagiarism being uncovered every day.
Awake!: the most widely read magazine in the world
The most widely read magazine in the world isn’t made by Conde Nast or News Corp — it’s made by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The New York Review of Magazines goes door-knocking.
Holy real estate prices: how churches make money
Churches aren’t just selfless, religious organisations. If the Mormon church was a company, it would make the Fortune 500 list, while the Catholic Church owns more real estate globally than anyone else.
Yoga wars: giving the finger to the sun
Yoga, traditionally a Hindu religious practice, has become a semi-spiritual meditation exercise mix in the West. Should Yoga uphold its Hindu roots or is a mish-mash fair game?
Beware of the burqa bandits infiltrating parliament
Liberal senator Cory Bernardi has called for a burqa ban in Australia. Great, I have to weigh in on this ridiculous old “un-Australian” argument against Muslims again? asks Shakira Hussein.
Why it’s easier to take the piss out of Christians than Muslims
Comedians don’t mock Christians because they particularly hate them, or they’re too scared to mock Muslims, says Barrett Brown: they do it because the West is full of Christians. Ditch the persecution complex.
