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

Claim: Pastor wants Women who shout out God’s name during sex to be jailed

Various news outlets are reporting a story about the rather infamous John Hagee. For example the UK’s Daily Mail explains … ‘That is one of the filthiest, most derogatory and sinful uses of the Lord’s name I can think of’: Women who cry out God’s name during sex should be jailed, pastor says Dr John Hagee, … Read more

Stoning of Girl: Is it Really true?

Over a year ago I wrote a posting about a claim that a girl had been stoned to death in Syria for the crime of posting to Facebook. At that time I pointed out a few things … The original source was not credible: “It appears to originally come from the Iranian FARS News Agency” … … Read more