Icelandic pirates repeal blasphemy laws

The title of this posting sounds like a B movie plot, but strangely enough it is wholly factual. Up until this happened, Iceland has had a Blasphemy law … Art. 125 Anyone officially ridiculing or insulting the dogmas or worship of a lawfully existing religious community in this Country shall be subject to fines or [imprisonment … Read more

Open Letter to Bristol Palin

Ms Palin has established herself as such a tempting target for ridicule that it is in so many ways quite hard to resist to temptation to deploy smug comments as a response to her latest announcement, and yet I do resist because such rhetoric not only serves no purpose, but would simply antagonise, and so a far … Read more

Teaching “Proper Islamic Principles” to counter the extremists… would it really work?

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, an Iislamic scholar of Sufism and also a politician in Pakistan, has written an article in the UK’s Guardian in which he suggests that “Teaching proper Islamic principles will help stem extremism”, he writes … Radical ideology depends upon a framework of (distorted) theological reference points and scriptural justifications. It is here that appropriate intervention can … Read more