Gap, Old Navy censor 'Christmas,' replace it with 'Holiday'
Gap, which owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, Forth & Towne and Piperlime, has become the latest politically correct retailer, intentionally censoring the use of "Christmas" in their in-store, online and printed advertising.
Instead of referring to the season as Christmas, Gap instead uses the word "holiday." As hard as we tried, AFA could not find a single instance in which Gap-owned stores use the term "Christmas." Not a single time!
When one Old Navy store manager was asked by AFA if the word Christmas was in his store, he answered, "We have a lot of Christmas gifts in our stores, but the word Christmas is not used here. Everything is 'holiday.'"
Gap wants you to do your Christmas shopping with them, but they don't want to mention the Reason for the season. Gap doesn't want to offend non-Christians by using Christmas. The fact that their censoring the use of Christmas might offend Christians seems to be of no importance.
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Sincerely,
Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman
American Family Association
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Tuesday, December 5, 2006
'Dog' Chapman Gets Day In Mexican Court
This story is unrelated to my topic, per say, but important in my opinion for our Govt. to step in, and not let this man have to go to Mexico for these ridiculous charges! Dog should be rewarded and paid already for being a "hero" in this case! He stopped a CRIMINAL, he is not the criminal! Mexico needs to drop these ludicrous charges! He did America and Mexico a huge justice in getting that guy off the streets! To Dog and his family, my thoughts and prayers!
'Dog' Chapman Gets Day In Mexican Court
HONOLULU -- Duane "Dog'' Chapman is waiting to hear whether a Mexican federal court will set him free or order his pending extradition and criminal case to proceed.
The 53-year-old TV bounty hunter is charged under Mexican law with "deprivation of liberty'' for his June 2003 capture of fugitive convicted rapist Andrew Luster, the Max Factor heir, in Puerto Vallarta.
Last night, Chapman, his wife and his attorney appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" program to plead his case.
Chapman said that he was approached before the extradition by a lawyer in Mexico who arranged his release and was asked for more than $250,000 as a payment. Chapman said he was told by the lawyer that things "would not go well" if the payment wasn't made.
The three were also joined by Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo is urging Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice not to extradite bounty hunter Chapman to Mexico.
Tancredo said he was told by state department officials that a letter from 29 congressman about the Chapman case "was on Rice's desk" but not yet read by Rice.
Tancredo also questioned why the administration agreed to consider Chapman's extradition on what he called a misdemeanor charge in Mexico.
"Inside, I'm dying,'' Chapman said in an interview with The Associated Press at his spacious ocean-view home last week. "On the outside, I'm a Hawaiian citizen.''
His attorney, Bill Bollard, will present arguments starting Monday. Chapman will not attend the closed hearing in Guadalajara.
"We consider this a critical hearing because it could resolve the matter,'' Bollard said. "We're putting a lot of eggs in this basket because if we can cut it off at the path, the (criminal) trial never takes place.''
Chapman was arrested Sept. 14 along with his son and another associate and is free on $300,000 bail. He has been aggressively fighting extradition.
Video: Beth Chapman Talks To NBC News
"It's been the most nervous week by far in many years,'' he told the AP. ``In Mexico, you're guilty until proven innocent. It's not like America. You must prove your innocence. That's their law. It's nothing bad or good. That's just their law.''
Chapman faces up to four years in a Mexican jail if convicted.
"It's very ironic isn't it?'' said his wife, Beth Chapman. "He may go to jail for catching a rapist. We're in trouble because we caught America's escaped prisoner.''
Chapman's capture of Luster catapulted the Honolulu-based bounty hunter to fame and led to the A&E reality series "Dog the Bounty Hunter.''
Luster jumped a $1 million bond and disappeared during his trial in California's Ventura County on charges that he drugged and raped three women. The disappearance set off a national and international manhunt by police, FBI and bounty hunters trying to recoup some of the bond money. Luster is now serving a 124-year prison term.
Chapman said he was never paid for Luster's capture.
Chapman also told King he feared for his safety in any jail since he caught more than 6,000 fugitives in his career.
Copyright 2006 by NBC10.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
'Dog' Chapman Gets Day In Mexican CourtHONOLULU -- Duane "Dog'' Chapman is waiting to hear whether a Mexican federal court will set him free or order his pending extradition and criminal case to proceed.
The 53-year-old TV bounty hunter is charged under Mexican law with "deprivation of liberty'' for his June 2003 capture of fugitive convicted rapist Andrew Luster, the Max Factor heir, in Puerto Vallarta.
Last night, Chapman, his wife and his attorney appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" program to plead his case.
Chapman said that he was approached before the extradition by a lawyer in Mexico who arranged his release and was asked for more than $250,000 as a payment. Chapman said he was told by the lawyer that things "would not go well" if the payment wasn't made.
The three were also joined by Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo is urging Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice not to extradite bounty hunter Chapman to Mexico.
Tancredo said he was told by state department officials that a letter from 29 congressman about the Chapman case "was on Rice's desk" but not yet read by Rice.
Tancredo also questioned why the administration agreed to consider Chapman's extradition on what he called a misdemeanor charge in Mexico.
"Inside, I'm dying,'' Chapman said in an interview with The Associated Press at his spacious ocean-view home last week. "On the outside, I'm a Hawaiian citizen.''
His attorney, Bill Bollard, will present arguments starting Monday. Chapman will not attend the closed hearing in Guadalajara.
"We consider this a critical hearing because it could resolve the matter,'' Bollard said. "We're putting a lot of eggs in this basket because if we can cut it off at the path, the (criminal) trial never takes place.''
Chapman was arrested Sept. 14 along with his son and another associate and is free on $300,000 bail. He has been aggressively fighting extradition.
Video: Beth Chapman Talks To NBC News
"It's been the most nervous week by far in many years,'' he told the AP. ``In Mexico, you're guilty until proven innocent. It's not like America. You must prove your innocence. That's their law. It's nothing bad or good. That's just their law.''
Chapman faces up to four years in a Mexican jail if convicted.
"It's very ironic isn't it?'' said his wife, Beth Chapman. "He may go to jail for catching a rapist. We're in trouble because we caught America's escaped prisoner.''
Chapman's capture of Luster catapulted the Honolulu-based bounty hunter to fame and led to the A&E reality series "Dog the Bounty Hunter.''
Luster jumped a $1 million bond and disappeared during his trial in California's Ventura County on charges that he drugged and raped three women. The disappearance set off a national and international manhunt by police, FBI and bounty hunters trying to recoup some of the bond money. Luster is now serving a 124-year prison term.
Chapman said he was never paid for Luster's capture.
Chapman also told King he feared for his safety in any jail since he caught more than 6,000 fugitives in his career.
Copyright 2006 by NBC10.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
'Church of the Ark' found on West Bank
'Church of the Ark' found on West Bank'
By Harry de Quetteville in Shiloh
Archaeologists claimed yesterday to have uncovered one of the world's first churches, built on a site believed to have once housed the Ark of the Covenant.
The site, emerging from the soil in a few acres in the hills of the Israeli occupied West Bank, is richly decorated with brightly coloured mosaics and inscriptions referring to Jesus Christ.
According to the team, led by Yitzhak Magen and Yevgeny Aharonovitch, the church dates to the late 4th century, making it one of Christianity's first formal places of worship.
"I can't say for sure at the moment that it's the very first church," said Mr Aharonovitch, 38, as he oversaw a team carrying out the final excavations before winter yesterday. "But it's certainly one of the first." He said the site contained an extremely unusual inscription which referred to itself, Shiloh, by name.
"That is very rare and shows early Christians treated this as an ancient, holy place," said Mr Aharonovitch. According to the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, was kept by the Israelites at Shiloh for several hundred years.
It was eventually moved to the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple that the Bible says was built by King Solomon around 1000 BC. When the temple was sacked by the Babylonians 400 years later, the Ark was lost, sparking theories about whether it had been hidden or destroyed.
The team at Shiloh is considering whether to dig under the beautiful mosaics that they have uncovered, in order to find traces of the Ark. "We have to decide whether to fix the mosaics here or take them to a museum," said Mr Aharonovitch.
Jewish residents in the modern settlement of Shiloh, which sits on a hill amidst Palestinian villages, want the team to keep digging.
David Rubin, a former mayor of Shiloh, said: "We believe that if they continue to dig they'll reach back to the time of the Tabernacle," referring to the portable place of worship where the Israelites housed the Ark.
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2006.
By Harry de Quetteville in Shiloh
Archaeologists claimed yesterday to have uncovered one of the world's first churches, built on a site believed to have once housed the Ark of the Covenant.
The site, emerging from the soil in a few acres in the hills of the Israeli occupied West Bank, is richly decorated with brightly coloured mosaics and inscriptions referring to Jesus Christ.According to the team, led by Yitzhak Magen and Yevgeny Aharonovitch, the church dates to the late 4th century, making it one of Christianity's first formal places of worship.
"I can't say for sure at the moment that it's the very first church," said Mr Aharonovitch, 38, as he oversaw a team carrying out the final excavations before winter yesterday. "But it's certainly one of the first." He said the site contained an extremely unusual inscription which referred to itself, Shiloh, by name.
"That is very rare and shows early Christians treated this as an ancient, holy place," said Mr Aharonovitch. According to the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, was kept by the Israelites at Shiloh for several hundred years.
It was eventually moved to the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple that the Bible says was built by King Solomon around 1000 BC. When the temple was sacked by the Babylonians 400 years later, the Ark was lost, sparking theories about whether it had been hidden or destroyed.
The team at Shiloh is considering whether to dig under the beautiful mosaics that they have uncovered, in order to find traces of the Ark. "We have to decide whether to fix the mosaics here or take them to a museum," said Mr Aharonovitch.
Jewish residents in the modern settlement of Shiloh, which sits on a hill amidst Palestinian villages, want the team to keep digging.
David Rubin, a former mayor of Shiloh, said: "We believe that if they continue to dig they'll reach back to the time of the Tabernacle," referring to the portable place of worship where the Israelites housed the Ark.
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2006.
Muslim-American Group Targets Radio Host Over Koran Oath Comments
Muslim-American Group Targets Radio Host Over Koran Oath Comments
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
WASHINGTON — A Muslim-American advocacy group has called on radio talk show host Dennis Prager to be removed from the governing board of the federally funded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum after Prager last week blasted a representative-elect for planning to use the Koran at his swearing-in next month.
Prager, who is Jewish, slammed Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress, after Ellison announced he plans to have his oath of office photo taken with the Koran instead of the Christian Bible, which is traditional.
"Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible," he wrote in a column titled, "America, Not Keith Ellison, Decides What Book a Congressman Takes His Oath On."
"If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress," Prager wrote, adding that using the Koran "undermines American civilization."
The Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a statement Monday calling for Prager's ouster from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, the museum's advisory council.
"No one who holds such bigoted, intolerant and divisive views should be in a policy-making position at a taxpayer-funded institution that seeks to educate Americans about the destructive impact hatred has had, and continues to have, on every society," CAIR wrote in its letter to the museum council's president, Fred Zeidman.
"As a presidential appointee, Prager's continued presence on the council would send a negative message to Muslims worldwide about America's commitment to religious tolerance," CAIR wrote.
Prager was not immediately available for comment. Museum spokesman Andrew Hollinger told FOXNews.com that he had not yet spoken with Zeidman and could not comment on the letter.
Prager is one of 52 council members, not including 10 House and Senate members and five ex-officio members. Hollinger said each council member is appointed by the White House to serve on the museum's governing board. The federal government pays for about 60 percent of the museum's annual budget.
Last week, the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, called Prager's opinions "flat-out wrong," as well as "intolerant, misinformed and downright un-American."
"If Prager were merely a blogger and radio talk-show host trying to be relevant and provocative, these views might not merit a response. But as a newly appointed member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Prager and his views must be held to a higher standard," the group said.
Ellison's chief of staff, Kari Moe, said Friday "the criticism is being flamed by the politics of division that were rejected in the '06 election cycle."
She also said the tradition of using the Bible relates to the photo-op ceremony for individual lawmakers that follows the official swearing-in of all members of Congress together on the House floor. At the official oath of office, newly elected members raise their right hands.
After that explanation, Prager said the ceremonial oath is no less significant than the actual swearing-in.
"Oh, that's the whole point. It's exactly because it's ceremonial that it matters to me," he said. "Ceremonies matter. Ceremonies are exceedingly important. That is the way a society states what is most significant to it."
Prager also said that he would like to see Jews swear their oaths of office on the Christian Bible — the Jewish Bible does not include the New Testament that is central to Christian beliefs.
Prager said he doesn't think Ellison should serve if he does not take the oath on the Bible but he doesn't prefer legislative action be taken to prevent him from serving.
Speaking last week with FOX News, Prager said his feelings have nothing to do with Ellison's being a Muslim.
"It has to do with the fact that it's not the Bible," he said. "If a Mormon-American decided to substitute the Book of Mormon for the Bible, I would have the same problem. If a scientologist wanted L. Ron Hubbard's 'Dyanetics' to be the book, I would have a problem," Prager said.
Prager said the Bible is the most important book in American history and that's why it should be used.
"George Washington began this movement. He was the one to bring a Bible and swear on it. Every president except one, Teddy Roosevelt, because it was right after the assassination of James McKinley and they didn't have time for a Bible. And every president has done this," Prager said, adding that congressional members have followed the tradition.
FOXNews.com's Greg Simmons and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
WASHINGTON — A Muslim-American advocacy group has called on radio talk show host Dennis Prager to be removed from the governing board of the federally funded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum after Prager last week blasted a representative-elect for planning to use the Koran at his swearing-in next month.
Prager, who is Jewish, slammed Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress, after Ellison announced he plans to have his oath of office photo taken with the Koran instead of the Christian Bible, which is traditional.
"Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible," he wrote in a column titled, "America, Not Keith Ellison, Decides What Book a Congressman Takes His Oath On."
"If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress," Prager wrote, adding that using the Koran "undermines American civilization."
The Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a statement Monday calling for Prager's ouster from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, the museum's advisory council.
"No one who holds such bigoted, intolerant and divisive views should be in a policy-making position at a taxpayer-funded institution that seeks to educate Americans about the destructive impact hatred has had, and continues to have, on every society," CAIR wrote in its letter to the museum council's president, Fred Zeidman.
"As a presidential appointee, Prager's continued presence on the council would send a negative message to Muslims worldwide about America's commitment to religious tolerance," CAIR wrote.
Prager was not immediately available for comment. Museum spokesman Andrew Hollinger told FOXNews.com that he had not yet spoken with Zeidman and could not comment on the letter.
Prager is one of 52 council members, not including 10 House and Senate members and five ex-officio members. Hollinger said each council member is appointed by the White House to serve on the museum's governing board. The federal government pays for about 60 percent of the museum's annual budget.
Last week, the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, called Prager's opinions "flat-out wrong," as well as "intolerant, misinformed and downright un-American."
"If Prager were merely a blogger and radio talk-show host trying to be relevant and provocative, these views might not merit a response. But as a newly appointed member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Prager and his views must be held to a higher standard," the group said.
Ellison's chief of staff, Kari Moe, said Friday "the criticism is being flamed by the politics of division that were rejected in the '06 election cycle."
She also said the tradition of using the Bible relates to the photo-op ceremony for individual lawmakers that follows the official swearing-in of all members of Congress together on the House floor. At the official oath of office, newly elected members raise their right hands.
After that explanation, Prager said the ceremonial oath is no less significant than the actual swearing-in.
"Oh, that's the whole point. It's exactly because it's ceremonial that it matters to me," he said. "Ceremonies matter. Ceremonies are exceedingly important. That is the way a society states what is most significant to it."
Prager also said that he would like to see Jews swear their oaths of office on the Christian Bible — the Jewish Bible does not include the New Testament that is central to Christian beliefs.
Prager said he doesn't think Ellison should serve if he does not take the oath on the Bible but he doesn't prefer legislative action be taken to prevent him from serving.
Speaking last week with FOX News, Prager said his feelings have nothing to do with Ellison's being a Muslim.
"It has to do with the fact that it's not the Bible," he said. "If a Mormon-American decided to substitute the Book of Mormon for the Bible, I would have the same problem. If a scientologist wanted L. Ron Hubbard's 'Dyanetics' to be the book, I would have a problem," Prager said.
Prager said the Bible is the most important book in American history and that's why it should be used.
"George Washington began this movement. He was the one to bring a Bible and swear on it. Every president except one, Teddy Roosevelt, because it was right after the assassination of James McKinley and they didn't have time for a Bible. And every president has done this," Prager said, adding that congressional members have followed the tradition.
FOXNews.com's Greg Simmons and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
'ACLU Solstice Barn' substitutes for Nativity Students' display on university campus
'ACLU Solstice Barn' substitutes for Nativity Students' display on university campus featuresMarx, Lenin, Stalin as Wise Men, Pelosi angel
Posted: December 5, 2006
5:08 p.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
In tongue-in-cheek deference to the American Civil Liberties Union, students at the University of Texas displayed an "ACLU Solstice Barn" on campus, featuring politically correct figures.
"We've got Gary and Joseph instead of Mary and Joseph in order to symbolize ACLU support for homosexual marriage, and of course there isn't a Jesus in the manger," said Tony McDonald, chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas branch on the Austin campus.
The group, whose plans WND had reported earlier, installed the "crèche" on the West Mall of the campus for display yesterday and today.
McDonald told WND today the reaction by students to the display was overwhelmingly positive.
"Even some liberals got the humor in it and conceded certain positions the ACLU takes are out of touch with the mainstream of Americans," he said.
One visitor turned out to be the ACLU's top official in Texas, who, according to McDonald, "had to admit that it was humorous."
McDonald said quite a number of students aren't even aware of the ACLU, and members of his group that manned the display throughout the day had to explain the acronym.
The three Wise Men in the display were Lenin, Marx and Stalin, McDonald told WND, because ACLU founder Roger Baldwin, while director of the organization, was a backer of Soviet-style communism.
As director of the ACLU in 1934, Baldwin wrote an article entitled "Freedom in the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R." in which he said "the Soviet Union has already created liberties far greater than exist elsewhere in the world." He later moderated his views but maintained a commitment to socialism.
The scene also featured a "terrorist shepherd" and an angel with Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi's face, using a photograph of the soon-to-be speaker of the House from San Francisco
"The ACLU and other left-wing extremist groups are working diligently to destroy Americans' rights to the free expression of religion," said the Young Conservatives' Executive Director Joseph Wyly.
Wyly pointed to the city of Chicago's decision this week to ban advertisements for "The Nativity Story" movie from a local Christmas festival, fearing they might offend non-Christians.
"It's just more evidence that there is a war on Christmas being waged by the far-left in this country," he said.
Posted: December 5, 2006
5:08 p.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
In tongue-in-cheek deference to the American Civil Liberties Union, students at the University of Texas displayed an "ACLU Solstice Barn" on campus, featuring politically correct figures."We've got Gary and Joseph instead of Mary and Joseph in order to symbolize ACLU support for homosexual marriage, and of course there isn't a Jesus in the manger," said Tony McDonald, chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas branch on the Austin campus.
The group, whose plans WND had reported earlier, installed the "crèche" on the West Mall of the campus for display yesterday and today.
McDonald told WND today the reaction by students to the display was overwhelmingly positive.
"Even some liberals got the humor in it and conceded certain positions the ACLU takes are out of touch with the mainstream of Americans," he said.
One visitor turned out to be the ACLU's top official in Texas, who, according to McDonald, "had to admit that it was humorous."
McDonald said quite a number of students aren't even aware of the ACLU, and members of his group that manned the display throughout the day had to explain the acronym.
The three Wise Men in the display were Lenin, Marx and Stalin, McDonald told WND, because ACLU founder Roger Baldwin, while director of the organization, was a backer of Soviet-style communism.
As director of the ACLU in 1934, Baldwin wrote an article entitled "Freedom in the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R." in which he said "the Soviet Union has already created liberties far greater than exist elsewhere in the world." He later moderated his views but maintained a commitment to socialism.
The scene also featured a "terrorist shepherd" and an angel with Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi's face, using a photograph of the soon-to-be speaker of the House from San Francisco
"The ACLU and other left-wing extremist groups are working diligently to destroy Americans' rights to the free expression of religion," said the Young Conservatives' Executive Director Joseph Wyly.
Wyly pointed to the city of Chicago's decision this week to ban advertisements for "The Nativity Story" movie from a local Christmas festival, fearing they might offend non-Christians.
"It's just more evidence that there is a war on Christmas being waged by the far-left in this country," he said.
Monday, December 4, 2006
UNFPA Convenes Meeting of Parliamentarians That Endorses Abortion
UNFPA Convenes Meeting of Parliamentarians That Endorses Abortion
by Samantha Singson
LifeNews.com Note: Samantha Singson writes for the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, a pro-life organization that lobbies at the United Nations. This article originally appeared in their Friday Fax publication.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) sponsored a gathering of 180 parliamentarians in Bangkok last week in an effort to get the lawmakers to pledge to promote “reproductive rights.”
During the meeting, organized by UNFPA and the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), the parliamentarians signed a statement pledging to prioritize: “the promotion and protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights”, “gender equality,” “unsafe abortion” and “safe motherhood,” all words, phrases and programs used to support abortion on demand.
Claiming the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Program of Action as the guide for their work, the relatively small number of Parliamentarians also pledged to lead national efforts to “ensure that the new target on universal access to reproductive health is immediately and fully integrated into national development strategies and is given highest priority in the plans, implementation and monitoring of relevant government ministries.”
Pro-life observers of the UN are concerned that UNFPA is trying to influence nations to liberalize abortion laws by promoting the contested ICPD document. They point out that the UN General Assembly has never defined the term “reproductive health” as including abortion, nor did the Cairo Conference.
Even so, UN agencies like UNFPA, and intergovernmental organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), and UN treaty compliance committees continue to misinterpret the controversial ICPD document in order to pressure nations to liberalize abortion laws.
Experts remain concerned about some of the other terminology that appears in the recent Bangkok document and note that some terms, such as “gender equality,” “safe motherhood” and “sexual and reproductive health and rights,” also remain sources of confusion, misuse and misinterpretation.
Regarding the term “safe motherhood,” Dr. Robert Walley, executive director of Matercare International, told the Friday Fax, “The international safe motherhood initiative, which was launched to reduce maternal mortality, now includes the provision of what is called safe abortion. To reduce maternal mortality it supports the killing of the unborn children. Thus, maternal mortality is being replaced by fetal mortality in ever increasing numbers. Most abortions in the world are performed for social and economic reasons. The awful reality is that once the mother has had her baby destroyed she is returned to the poverty and ignorance from whence she came.”
The Bangkok meeting was the third global parliamentarians’ conference on population and development to review the 2015 goal of universal access to reproductive health care which was adopted at the International Conference for Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994.
Previous conferences took place in Ottawa in 2002 and Strasbourg in 2004. Participants agreed to hold another review session in 2009.
Copyright © 2003-2006 LifeNews.com. All rights reserved.
by Samantha Singson
LifeNews.com Note: Samantha Singson writes for the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, a pro-life organization that lobbies at the United Nations. This article originally appeared in their Friday Fax publication.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) sponsored a gathering of 180 parliamentarians in Bangkok last week in an effort to get the lawmakers to pledge to promote “reproductive rights.”
During the meeting, organized by UNFPA and the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), the parliamentarians signed a statement pledging to prioritize: “the promotion and protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights”, “gender equality,” “unsafe abortion” and “safe motherhood,” all words, phrases and programs used to support abortion on demand.
Claiming the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Program of Action as the guide for their work, the relatively small number of Parliamentarians also pledged to lead national efforts to “ensure that the new target on universal access to reproductive health is immediately and fully integrated into national development strategies and is given highest priority in the plans, implementation and monitoring of relevant government ministries.”
Pro-life observers of the UN are concerned that UNFPA is trying to influence nations to liberalize abortion laws by promoting the contested ICPD document. They point out that the UN General Assembly has never defined the term “reproductive health” as including abortion, nor did the Cairo Conference.
Even so, UN agencies like UNFPA, and intergovernmental organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), and UN treaty compliance committees continue to misinterpret the controversial ICPD document in order to pressure nations to liberalize abortion laws.
Experts remain concerned about some of the other terminology that appears in the recent Bangkok document and note that some terms, such as “gender equality,” “safe motherhood” and “sexual and reproductive health and rights,” also remain sources of confusion, misuse and misinterpretation.
Regarding the term “safe motherhood,” Dr. Robert Walley, executive director of Matercare International, told the Friday Fax, “The international safe motherhood initiative, which was launched to reduce maternal mortality, now includes the provision of what is called safe abortion. To reduce maternal mortality it supports the killing of the unborn children. Thus, maternal mortality is being replaced by fetal mortality in ever increasing numbers. Most abortions in the world are performed for social and economic reasons. The awful reality is that once the mother has had her baby destroyed she is returned to the poverty and ignorance from whence she came.”
The Bangkok meeting was the third global parliamentarians’ conference on population and development to review the 2015 goal of universal access to reproductive health care which was adopted at the International Conference for Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994.
Previous conferences took place in Ottawa in 2002 and Strasbourg in 2004. Participants agreed to hold another review session in 2009.
Copyright © 2003-2006 LifeNews.com. All rights reserved.
North Korea wants Russia support, offers uranium:
North Korea wants Russia support, offers uranium: paper
TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea has offered Russia exclusive rights to its natural uranium deposits in exchange for open support at the six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons, a Japanese daily said on Sunday.
Citing Russian government sources, the Tokyo Shimbun report said Moscow and Pyongyang had been in secret talks since 2002 over a plan for Russia to import the uranium and enrich it before selling it on as nuclear fuel to China and Vietnam, in what the sources said would be a highly profitable venture.
The North Korean government has recently shown a positive attitude toward the idea, but introduced a requirement for back-up at the stalled nuclear talks, which may resume in the next few weeks.
The United States, Japan, South Korea and China are also involved in the six-way discussions aimed at persuading the North to scrap its nuclear weapons program.
After North Korea shocked the region by conducting a nuclear test in October, the United Nations passed a resolution barring trade with Pyongyang in dangerous weapons.
Russia would therefore need to guarantee any uranium it imported from North Korea would be used for peaceful purposes, the paper said.
Russia is already a major exporter of oil and natural gas and is also seeking to position itself as an exporter of nuclear fuel, the paper said.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea has offered Russia exclusive rights to its natural uranium deposits in exchange for open support at the six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons, a Japanese daily said on Sunday.
Citing Russian government sources, the Tokyo Shimbun report said Moscow and Pyongyang had been in secret talks since 2002 over a plan for Russia to import the uranium and enrich it before selling it on as nuclear fuel to China and Vietnam, in what the sources said would be a highly profitable venture.
The North Korean government has recently shown a positive attitude toward the idea, but introduced a requirement for back-up at the stalled nuclear talks, which may resume in the next few weeks.
The United States, Japan, South Korea and China are also involved in the six-way discussions aimed at persuading the North to scrap its nuclear weapons program.
After North Korea shocked the region by conducting a nuclear test in October, the United Nations passed a resolution barring trade with Pyongyang in dangerous weapons.
Russia would therefore need to guarantee any uranium it imported from North Korea would be used for peaceful purposes, the paper said.
Russia is already a major exporter of oil and natural gas and is also seeking to position itself as an exporter of nuclear fuel, the paper said.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Chavez claims victory in Venezuela
Chavez claims victory in Venezuela
President, close Castro supporter, secures another six-year term
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez won re-election by a wide margin Sunday, giving the firebrand leftist six more years to redistribute Venezuela’s vast oil wealth to the poor and press his campaign to counter U.S. influence in Latin America and beyond.
Challenger Manuel Rosales conceded defeat but vowed to remain in opposition. During the campaign, Rosales accused Chavez of edging Venezuela toward authoritarian rule and warned the president could undertake even more radical policies if re-elected.
Minutes after the results were announced, Chavez appeared on the balcony of the presidential palace singing the national anthem. He pledged to deepen his effort to transform Venezuela into a socialist society.
“Long live the socialist revolution! Destiny has been written,” Chavez shouted to thousands of flag-waving supporters wearing red shirts and braving a pouring rain.
“That new era has begun,” he said, raising a hand in the air. “We have shown that Venezuela is red!... No one should fear socialism... Socialism is human. Socialism is love,” Chavez said. “Down with imperialism! We need a new world!”
Since he first won office in 1998, Chavez has increasingly dominated all branches of government and his allies now control congress, state offices and the judiciary. He has called President Bush the devil, allied himself with Iran and influenced elections across the region.
Oil advantageChavez also has used Venezuela’s oil wealth to his political advantage. He has channeled oil profits toward multibillion-dollar programs for the poor including subsidized food, free university education and cash benefits for single mothers. He has also helped allies from Cuba to Bolivia with oil and petrodollars.
He now promises to solidify his social program.
With 78 percent of voting stations reporting, Chavez had 61 percent to 38 percent for challenger Rosales, said Tibisay Lucena, head of the country’s elections council. Chavez had nearly 6 million votes versus 3.7 million for Rosales, according to the partial tally.
Turnout among the 15.9 million eligible voters was 62 percent, according to an official bulletin of results, making Chavez’s lead insurmountable.
“We will continue in this struggle,” Rosales told cheering supporters as he conceded defeat.
Some supporters at his campaign headquarters wept, while others were clearly angry.
“We have to do something,” said Dona Bavaro, a 36-year-old Rosales supporter. “My country is being stolen. This is the last chance we have. Communism is coming here.”
Rosales, a cattle rancher and governor of western Zulia state who stepped down temporarily to run against Chavez, focused his campaign on issues such as rampant crime and corruption, widely seen as Chavez’s main vulnerabilities.
A top Rosales adviser, Teodoro Petkoff, said the voting was carried out in a “satisfactory manner.” He said some irregularities had occurred but most were resolved. Another member of the Rosales camp had accused pro-Chavez soldiers of reopening closed polling stations and busing voters to them.
Even before polls closed, Chavez supporters celebrated in the streets, setting off fireworks and cruising Caracas honking horns and shouting “Chavez isn’t going anywhere!”
Earlier, Chavez loyalists jarred voters awake hours before dawn in Caracas with recordings of reveille blaring from truck-mounted loudspeakers.
“We’re here to support our president, who has helped us so much,” said Jose Domingo Izaguirre, a factory worker who waited hours to vote. His family recently moved into new government housing.
Rosales supporters accused Chavez of deepening class divisions with searing rhetoric demonizing his opponents.
A hostile campaignAlicia Primera, a 54-year-old housewife, was among voters so passionate about the choice that they camped out overnight in voting queues.
“I voted for Chavez previously. I cried for him,” Primera said. “Now I’m crying for him to leave. He’s sown a lot of hate with his verbiage.”
The campaign has been hostile, with Chavez calling Rosales a pawn of Washington and Rosales saying he was on the alert for fraud. Rosales’ campaign had endorsed the electronic voting system as trustworthy — as long as no attempts were made to thwart it.
More than 125,000 soldiers and reservists were deployed to safeguard the balloting.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus stressed “the importance of a free, fair and transparent process.”
Conflict and ambition have marked the rise of Chavez, 52, from a boy selling homemade sweets in a dusty backwater to a failed coup commander in 1992 and now a leader who could set the tone of Latin American politics for years to come.
Constitutional reforms he oversaw in 1999 triggered new elections the following year that he easily won. Loyalists helped him survive a 2002 coup, a subsequent general strike and a 2004 recall referendum.
Chavez says he would convene a commission upon re-election to propose constitutional reforms, likely including an end to presidential term limits. Current law prevents him from running again in 2012.
The president insists he is a democrat and will continue to respect private property — though he has boosted state control over the oil industry and has said he might nationalize utilities. Venezuela is the world’s fifth largest oil exporter and soaring oil prices have made it the continent’s fastest growing economy.
Chavez has pledged at least $1.1 billion in loans and financial aid to Latin American countries in the past two years, and billions more in bond bailouts for friendly governments as well as generously financed oil deals. But the largesse has proved a weakness at home, with polls suggesting many Venezuelans believe the aid impedes efforts to address the country’s own problems.
Chavez, who says Fidel Castro is like a father to him, has built increasingly close ties with Cuba, sending the island oil while thousands of Cuban doctors treat Venezuela’s poor for free.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
President, close Castro supporter, secures another six-year term
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez won re-election by a wide margin Sunday, giving the firebrand leftist six more years to redistribute Venezuela’s vast oil wealth to the poor and press his campaign to counter U.S. influence in Latin America and beyond.
Challenger Manuel Rosales conceded defeat but vowed to remain in opposition. During the campaign, Rosales accused Chavez of edging Venezuela toward authoritarian rule and warned the president could undertake even more radical policies if re-elected.
Minutes after the results were announced, Chavez appeared on the balcony of the presidential palace singing the national anthem. He pledged to deepen his effort to transform Venezuela into a socialist society.
“Long live the socialist revolution! Destiny has been written,” Chavez shouted to thousands of flag-waving supporters wearing red shirts and braving a pouring rain.
“That new era has begun,” he said, raising a hand in the air. “We have shown that Venezuela is red!... No one should fear socialism... Socialism is human. Socialism is love,” Chavez said. “Down with imperialism! We need a new world!”
Since he first won office in 1998, Chavez has increasingly dominated all branches of government and his allies now control congress, state offices and the judiciary. He has called President Bush the devil, allied himself with Iran and influenced elections across the region.
Oil advantageChavez also has used Venezuela’s oil wealth to his political advantage. He has channeled oil profits toward multibillion-dollar programs for the poor including subsidized food, free university education and cash benefits for single mothers. He has also helped allies from Cuba to Bolivia with oil and petrodollars.
He now promises to solidify his social program.
With 78 percent of voting stations reporting, Chavez had 61 percent to 38 percent for challenger Rosales, said Tibisay Lucena, head of the country’s elections council. Chavez had nearly 6 million votes versus 3.7 million for Rosales, according to the partial tally.
Turnout among the 15.9 million eligible voters was 62 percent, according to an official bulletin of results, making Chavez’s lead insurmountable.
“We will continue in this struggle,” Rosales told cheering supporters as he conceded defeat.
Some supporters at his campaign headquarters wept, while others were clearly angry.
“We have to do something,” said Dona Bavaro, a 36-year-old Rosales supporter. “My country is being stolen. This is the last chance we have. Communism is coming here.”
Rosales, a cattle rancher and governor of western Zulia state who stepped down temporarily to run against Chavez, focused his campaign on issues such as rampant crime and corruption, widely seen as Chavez’s main vulnerabilities.
A top Rosales adviser, Teodoro Petkoff, said the voting was carried out in a “satisfactory manner.” He said some irregularities had occurred but most were resolved. Another member of the Rosales camp had accused pro-Chavez soldiers of reopening closed polling stations and busing voters to them.
Even before polls closed, Chavez supporters celebrated in the streets, setting off fireworks and cruising Caracas honking horns and shouting “Chavez isn’t going anywhere!”
Earlier, Chavez loyalists jarred voters awake hours before dawn in Caracas with recordings of reveille blaring from truck-mounted loudspeakers.
“We’re here to support our president, who has helped us so much,” said Jose Domingo Izaguirre, a factory worker who waited hours to vote. His family recently moved into new government housing.
Rosales supporters accused Chavez of deepening class divisions with searing rhetoric demonizing his opponents.
A hostile campaignAlicia Primera, a 54-year-old housewife, was among voters so passionate about the choice that they camped out overnight in voting queues.
“I voted for Chavez previously. I cried for him,” Primera said. “Now I’m crying for him to leave. He’s sown a lot of hate with his verbiage.”
The campaign has been hostile, with Chavez calling Rosales a pawn of Washington and Rosales saying he was on the alert for fraud. Rosales’ campaign had endorsed the electronic voting system as trustworthy — as long as no attempts were made to thwart it.
More than 125,000 soldiers and reservists were deployed to safeguard the balloting.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus stressed “the importance of a free, fair and transparent process.”
Conflict and ambition have marked the rise of Chavez, 52, from a boy selling homemade sweets in a dusty backwater to a failed coup commander in 1992 and now a leader who could set the tone of Latin American politics for years to come.
Constitutional reforms he oversaw in 1999 triggered new elections the following year that he easily won. Loyalists helped him survive a 2002 coup, a subsequent general strike and a 2004 recall referendum.
Chavez says he would convene a commission upon re-election to propose constitutional reforms, likely including an end to presidential term limits. Current law prevents him from running again in 2012.
The president insists he is a democrat and will continue to respect private property — though he has boosted state control over the oil industry and has said he might nationalize utilities. Venezuela is the world’s fifth largest oil exporter and soaring oil prices have made it the continent’s fastest growing economy.
Chavez has pledged at least $1.1 billion in loans and financial aid to Latin American countries in the past two years, and billions more in bond bailouts for friendly governments as well as generously financed oil deals. But the largesse has proved a weakness at home, with polls suggesting many Venezuelans believe the aid impedes efforts to address the country’s own problems.
Chavez, who says Fidel Castro is like a father to him, has built increasingly close ties with Cuba, sending the island oil while thousands of Cuban doctors treat Venezuela’s poor for free.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Hillary preps to jump in
Hillary preps to jump in
Once voted 6th 'most evil of millennium,'
Democrat senator begins process for run
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has previously been ranked as the most corrupt person in America, the sixth most evil person of the last millennium, as well as the most admired woman in America, has reportedly begun active consideration of a 2008 run for president.
Howard Wolfson, a top Clinton advisor, told the Associated Press the senator has personally asked some fellow top New York Democrats for their support in the event she goes ahead with a White House run.
"That process has begun," said Wolfson, who added he did not know when the former first lady would make any decision.
Among those Clinton has talked to is state Democratic Chairman Herman Farrell, an assemblyman from Manhattan, who told the New York Times he received a telephone call directly from her.
"I had a discussion with her about her decision to run for president. I'm not telling you what the decision was, only that we had the discussion," Farrell said. "And I'm positive that if she runs, the people of the United States will elect her as our next president."
Other names on the Democratic side eyeing the White House include Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana and Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware. Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack already began campaigning for president last week.
Mrs. Clinton was easily re-elected last month to the New York Senate seat she has held since her election in 2000, and national polls consistently list her as the front-runner for the 2008 Democratic nomination.
But the senator has been dogged by allegations of campaign wrongdoing from six years ago.
As WND reported in October, business mogul Peter Franklin Paul, who claims he was Hillary Clinton's largest contributor to her 2000 campaign, had a demand-letter hand-delivered to the New York Democrat's Senate chambers, insisting she admit to voters acceptance of an illegal contribution of more than $1 million and the falsifying of statements to the Federal Election Commission.
Paul says he contributed to the senator's campaign in exchange for former President Clinton's personal promotion of a media company after leaving office. The businessman claims he was directed by the Clintons and Democratic operatives to foot the bill for a lavish Hollywood gala and fund-raiser prior to the 2000 election that eventually cost about $2 million.
Just recently, years after alternative media pointed out the virtual impossibility, Mrs. Clinton finally has admitted she was not named for the famous conqueror of Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary.
In November 1999, the New York Post asked readers to identify the most evil people of the millennium.
Though her name was not on the original list, Hillary finished in sixth place due to write-in ballots. Her husband, then-President Bill Clinton came in second place, also as a write-in, behind Adolf Hitler in first.
Once voted 6th 'most evil of millennium,'
Democrat senator begins process for run
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has previously been ranked as the most corrupt person in America, the sixth most evil person of the last millennium, as well as the most admired woman in America, has reportedly begun active consideration of a 2008 run for president.
Howard Wolfson, a top Clinton advisor, told the Associated Press the senator has personally asked some fellow top New York Democrats for their support in the event she goes ahead with a White House run.
"That process has begun," said Wolfson, who added he did not know when the former first lady would make any decision.
Among those Clinton has talked to is state Democratic Chairman Herman Farrell, an assemblyman from Manhattan, who told the New York Times he received a telephone call directly from her.
"I had a discussion with her about her decision to run for president. I'm not telling you what the decision was, only that we had the discussion," Farrell said. "And I'm positive that if she runs, the people of the United States will elect her as our next president."
Other names on the Democratic side eyeing the White House include Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana and Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware. Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack already began campaigning for president last week.
Mrs. Clinton was easily re-elected last month to the New York Senate seat she has held since her election in 2000, and national polls consistently list her as the front-runner for the 2008 Democratic nomination.
But the senator has been dogged by allegations of campaign wrongdoing from six years ago.
As WND reported in October, business mogul Peter Franklin Paul, who claims he was Hillary Clinton's largest contributor to her 2000 campaign, had a demand-letter hand-delivered to the New York Democrat's Senate chambers, insisting she admit to voters acceptance of an illegal contribution of more than $1 million and the falsifying of statements to the Federal Election Commission.
Paul says he contributed to the senator's campaign in exchange for former President Clinton's personal promotion of a media company after leaving office. The businessman claims he was directed by the Clintons and Democratic operatives to foot the bill for a lavish Hollywood gala and fund-raiser prior to the 2000 election that eventually cost about $2 million.
Just recently, years after alternative media pointed out the virtual impossibility, Mrs. Clinton finally has admitted she was not named for the famous conqueror of Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary.
In November 1999, the New York Post asked readers to identify the most evil people of the millennium.
Though her name was not on the original list, Hillary finished in sixth place due to write-in ballots. Her husband, then-President Bill Clinton came in second place, also as a write-in, behind Adolf Hitler in first.
Democrats pick evangelical to deliver weekly radio talk
Democrats pick evangelical to deliver weekly radio talk
'Non-partisan' pastor selected for address
signed letter blasting Rick Warren critics
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
When incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wanted to "set a new tone" by having a "non-partisan religious leader" deliver yesterday's Democrat radio address, he chose a left-leaning evangelical pastor whose non-partisanship included being a signatory to a letter sent this week from a group called Faithful Democrats.
As WND reported, Faithful Democrats issued an open letter to U.S. pastors blasting Christian leaders of several "right-wing religious organizations" who had expressed their opposition to the recent decision by Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church to invite Senator Barack Obama to speak on World AIDS Day because of his position on abortion.
"It's unfortunate that these groups would exploit the Christian faith to advance their divisive agenda – an agenda that gives almost exclusive attention to a few wedge issues while ignoring the diversity of problems plaguing American communities," the letter read.
Faithful Democrats signatories included Jim Wallis of Sojourners and Call to Renewal, Tony Campolo of Eastern University, Ron Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action, Randall Balmer of Columbia University, Paul de Vries of New York Divinity School and C. Welton Gaddy of Northminster Baptist Church in Louisiana.
Reid selected Jim Wallis to give the address, usually reserved for politicians, "in the spirit of bipartisanship." Reid referred to Wallis as "non-partisan."
In the address, Wallis, who is widely viewed as a leading voice of the religious left, called for Americans to take "the road of compassionate priorities and social justice."
"In the Hebrew Scriptures, the health of a society was measured by how it cared for its weakest and most vulnerable, and prosperity was to be shared by all," he said. "Jesus proclaimed a gospel that was 'good news to the poor.'
"It is time to lift up practical policies and effective practices that 'make work work' for low-income families and challenge the increasing wealth gap between rich and poor."
Wallis called for "the renewal of our lifestyles" and "the moral redemption of our foreign policies" in order to conserve energy and be good stewards of a creation threatened by global warming and pollution.
He also called for withdrawal from Iraq.
"The only moral and practical course is to dramatically change the direction of U.S. policy, starting with an honest national debate about how to extricate U.S. forces from Iraq with the least possible damage to everyone involved," he said.
Wallis, who has rejected the "religious left" label given him, instead insisting that he wants to bring the nation to "a moral center," told listeners that he was speaking as a "person of faith," and not on behalf of the Democrat Party.
'Non-partisan' pastor selected for address
signed letter blasting Rick Warren critics
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
When incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wanted to "set a new tone" by having a "non-partisan religious leader" deliver yesterday's Democrat radio address, he chose a left-leaning evangelical pastor whose non-partisanship included being a signatory to a letter sent this week from a group called Faithful Democrats.
As WND reported, Faithful Democrats issued an open letter to U.S. pastors blasting Christian leaders of several "right-wing religious organizations" who had expressed their opposition to the recent decision by Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church to invite Senator Barack Obama to speak on World AIDS Day because of his position on abortion.
"It's unfortunate that these groups would exploit the Christian faith to advance their divisive agenda – an agenda that gives almost exclusive attention to a few wedge issues while ignoring the diversity of problems plaguing American communities," the letter read.
Faithful Democrats signatories included Jim Wallis of Sojourners and Call to Renewal, Tony Campolo of Eastern University, Ron Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action, Randall Balmer of Columbia University, Paul de Vries of New York Divinity School and C. Welton Gaddy of Northminster Baptist Church in Louisiana.
Reid selected Jim Wallis to give the address, usually reserved for politicians, "in the spirit of bipartisanship." Reid referred to Wallis as "non-partisan."
In the address, Wallis, who is widely viewed as a leading voice of the religious left, called for Americans to take "the road of compassionate priorities and social justice."
"In the Hebrew Scriptures, the health of a society was measured by how it cared for its weakest and most vulnerable, and prosperity was to be shared by all," he said. "Jesus proclaimed a gospel that was 'good news to the poor.'
"It is time to lift up practical policies and effective practices that 'make work work' for low-income families and challenge the increasing wealth gap between rich and poor."
Wallis called for "the renewal of our lifestyles" and "the moral redemption of our foreign policies" in order to conserve energy and be good stewards of a creation threatened by global warming and pollution.
He also called for withdrawal from Iraq.
"The only moral and practical course is to dramatically change the direction of U.S. policy, starting with an honest national debate about how to extricate U.S. forces from Iraq with the least possible damage to everyone involved," he said.
Wallis, who has rejected the "religious left" label given him, instead insisting that he wants to bring the nation to "a moral center," told listeners that he was speaking as a "person of faith," and not on behalf of the Democrat Party.
Radioactive spy Islamic convert?
Radioactive spy Islamic convert?
Fears raised Litvinenko helped al-Qaida with 'dirty bomb' plot
Editor's note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND. Annual subscriptions are $99 and include a free copy of Farah's latest book, "Taking America Back." Monthly trial subscriptions are just $9.95 for credit card users.
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
LONDON – Reports that KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko converted to Islam before his mysterious poisoning with radioactive polonium 210 is raising suspicions that he may have been involved in a plot to smuggle the deadly substance to terrorist groups willing to pay millions even for a gram, Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is reporting today.
Scotland Yard detectives are now trying to discover if Litvinenko had any secret links with Islamic extremist terror groups, the London Sunday Express is reporting.
Their biggest fear, the paper reports, is that Litvinenko, who died of polonium-210 poisoning in a London hospital, may have been helping al-Qaida or other extremist groups get hold of radioactive material to be used in a devastating "dirty" atom bomb.
Britain's secret intelligence service MI6 had earlier learned that al-Qaida was prepared to pay $3 million a gram for polonium 210, G2 Bulletin reported last week.
Litvinenko's friend Mario Scaramella now says the late spy helped smuggle radioactive material from Russia to Switzerland in 2000. Litvinenko was also known to have sympathies with Chechen rebels, seeking to break away from Moscow and create an independent Muslim state.
Litvinenko's conversion to Islam was announced by his next-door neighbor, moderate Muslim and Chechen dissident Akhmed Zakayev, who revealed: "He was read to from the Koran the day before he died and told his wife that he wanted to be buried in accordance with Muslim tradition."
Litvinenko's body is still so "radiologically hot" that an autopsy cannot yet be conducted. It is stored in a lead-lined vault in a London morgue.
Polonium 210 has been identified in five separate locations around London.
One is the luxury Millennium Hotel, near the U.S. Embassy. Another is a building in Mayfair that houses the office of Boris Berezovsky, a close friend of Litvinenko, and now an avowed enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While the government has insisted there is no cause for panic, MI6 and Britain's internal security service, MI5, have jointly launched a top-priority hunt on how further quantities of Polonium 210 could be smuggled by al-Qaida.
The hunt began a week ago in Peshawar. The ancient Pakistan city hosts a joint MI6/CIA surveillance operation supported by America's National Security Agency satellite surveillance.
Using the latest cyber-technology, the intelligence officers in Peshawar picked up a short-burst transmission from somewhere in Peshawar's Old Town. It was in response to a call that appeared to have come from beyond the towering Khyber Pass, possibly from Afghanistan.
The call was automatically recorded on one of the computers in the offices the MI6/CIA team share.
Just as automatically, it was dispatched down the line through cyberspace to GCHQ, the British Government Headquarters in the Cotswold town of Cheltenham. Simultaneously it reached America's NSA at Fort Meade, Md.
The words from Peshawar were part of the trillions of words in 500 languages that the GCHQ/NSA super computers are programmed to listen to, shift, reject or retain so they can be analyzed by the thousands of experts both GCHQ and NSA employ.
By late last week, MI6 knew of al-Qaida's offer to purchase Polonium 210.
For more details on how polonium 210 could be smuggled into Great Britain and America, see the complete report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
Fears raised Litvinenko helped al-Qaida with 'dirty bomb' plot
Editor's note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND. Annual subscriptions are $99 and include a free copy of Farah's latest book, "Taking America Back." Monthly trial subscriptions are just $9.95 for credit card users.
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
LONDON – Reports that KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko converted to Islam before his mysterious poisoning with radioactive polonium 210 is raising suspicions that he may have been involved in a plot to smuggle the deadly substance to terrorist groups willing to pay millions even for a gram, Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is reporting today.
Scotland Yard detectives are now trying to discover if Litvinenko had any secret links with Islamic extremist terror groups, the London Sunday Express is reporting.
Their biggest fear, the paper reports, is that Litvinenko, who died of polonium-210 poisoning in a London hospital, may have been helping al-Qaida or other extremist groups get hold of radioactive material to be used in a devastating "dirty" atom bomb.
Britain's secret intelligence service MI6 had earlier learned that al-Qaida was prepared to pay $3 million a gram for polonium 210, G2 Bulletin reported last week.
Litvinenko's friend Mario Scaramella now says the late spy helped smuggle radioactive material from Russia to Switzerland in 2000. Litvinenko was also known to have sympathies with Chechen rebels, seeking to break away from Moscow and create an independent Muslim state.
Litvinenko's conversion to Islam was announced by his next-door neighbor, moderate Muslim and Chechen dissident Akhmed Zakayev, who revealed: "He was read to from the Koran the day before he died and told his wife that he wanted to be buried in accordance with Muslim tradition."
Litvinenko's body is still so "radiologically hot" that an autopsy cannot yet be conducted. It is stored in a lead-lined vault in a London morgue.
Polonium 210 has been identified in five separate locations around London.
One is the luxury Millennium Hotel, near the U.S. Embassy. Another is a building in Mayfair that houses the office of Boris Berezovsky, a close friend of Litvinenko, and now an avowed enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While the government has insisted there is no cause for panic, MI6 and Britain's internal security service, MI5, have jointly launched a top-priority hunt on how further quantities of Polonium 210 could be smuggled by al-Qaida.
The hunt began a week ago in Peshawar. The ancient Pakistan city hosts a joint MI6/CIA surveillance operation supported by America's National Security Agency satellite surveillance.
Using the latest cyber-technology, the intelligence officers in Peshawar picked up a short-burst transmission from somewhere in Peshawar's Old Town. It was in response to a call that appeared to have come from beyond the towering Khyber Pass, possibly from Afghanistan.
The call was automatically recorded on one of the computers in the offices the MI6/CIA team share.
Just as automatically, it was dispatched down the line through cyberspace to GCHQ, the British Government Headquarters in the Cotswold town of Cheltenham. Simultaneously it reached America's NSA at Fort Meade, Md.
The words from Peshawar were part of the trillions of words in 500 languages that the GCHQ/NSA super computers are programmed to listen to, shift, reject or retain so they can be analyzed by the thousands of experts both GCHQ and NSA employ.
By late last week, MI6 knew of al-Qaida's offer to purchase Polonium 210.
For more details on how polonium 210 could be smuggled into Great Britain and America, see the complete report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
Saturday, December 2, 2006
San Diego Cross Will Stay
San Diego Cross Will Stay
CBN News
December 1, 2006
CBNNews.com -- The California State Appeals Court has given a legal victory to supporters of the San Diego cross.
The 29-foot cross monument sits on public land atop Mount Soledad near the city of San Diego.
The cross has been the subject of controversy, because some say it is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
With legal challenges mounting, President Bush has signed legislation that transferred the property to the Federal government.
Voters approved a separate but similar measure. However, a judge ruled against it.
On Thursday, the appelliate court overturned the judge's decision, ruling the transfer of land is constitutional.
The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc. © 2006
CBN News
December 1, 2006
CBNNews.com -- The California State Appeals Court has given a legal victory to supporters of the San Diego cross.
The 29-foot cross monument sits on public land atop Mount Soledad near the city of San Diego.
The cross has been the subject of controversy, because some say it is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
With legal challenges mounting, President Bush has signed legislation that transferred the property to the Federal government.
Voters approved a separate but similar measure. However, a judge ruled against it.
On Thursday, the appelliate court overturned the judge's decision, ruling the transfer of land is constitutional.
The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc. © 2006
‘Nativity Story’ actress should not be shunned, leaders say
‘Nativity Story’ actress should not be shunned, leaders say
Nov 30, 2006
By Erin Roach
Baptist Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Amid reports that the teenage actress who plays Mary in the new movie “The Nativity Story” is pregnant out of wedlock, some Christians are wondering how to respond to a lead character’s personal life in a movie they have enthusiastically embraced.
The 16-year-old actress, Keisha Castle-Hughes, plays the role of the Virgin Mary in the Hollywood rendition of the story surrounding Jesus’ birth, which opens in theaters Dec. 1. In October, the agency that represents her confirmed she is expecting a baby in the spring and the father is her boyfriend of three years.
Knowing that Christians might have a problem with the news, Phil Boatwright, editor and film reviewer for previewonline.org, asked the movie’s producers, Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey, about the situation.
“They made no judgment call but were proud that this young girl thought more of the baby within than her own career,” Boatwright told Baptist Press. “I thought of that too. There are a lot of 16-year-old girls who get pregnant. But this girl is not only young, she’s an up-and-coming actress, yet she felt this life was more important than herself.”
The Australian-born Castle-Hughes was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in “Whale Rider,” and she played the Queen of Naboo in last year’s “Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith.”
Boatwright said he hopes that although Christians don’t want to condone sex outside marriage they also don’t want to be too judgmental.
“This young woman played Mary, the mother of Jesus,” Boatwright said. “I’m praying that if she doesn’t already have a relationship with our Savior that she soon will. And I’m praying that little unborn child will someday proclaim Jesus as Messiah.”
Richard Ross, co-founder of the national abstinence movement True Love Waits, took a similar approach, advising Christians not to react to Castle-Hughes the way the world expects them to react.
“In the early moments of True Love Waits, I was invited to appear on the ‘Jerry Springer Show.’ They already had enlisted three teenage girls pregnant before marriage to appear as well,” Ross recounted to BP. “One of the producers called to say, ‘Rev. Ross, I am sure you’re infuriated by these girls that have been so immoral. I’m guessing you will want to call them sluts and other things on the broadcast.’
“I answered, ‘No, I would never say such things. I love those young ladies even now. I will want to be gentle with them and tell them that God loves them and is ready to walk with them through what they are facing,’” Ross said.
“The mood of the producer quickly changed and he mumbled something about having to drop me from the show,” Ross added. “The secular world expects Christians to be mean to Keisha Castle-Hughes and all the young [people] who make grave mistakes with their lives. But to do so is to ignore the model Christ set for His followers. With gentleness and grace we are to point those who stumble toward redemption, forgiveness and a God of second chances.”
William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said the secular media was deprived of the juicy story they were betting on when the Vatican and Catholic and Protestant groups throughout the world did not withdraw their support of The Nativity Story based on the lead character’s personal choices.
“On Nov. 24, UPI wrote that ‘Some Christian groups in the United States and Canada reportedly have been questioning Castle-Hughes’s ‘suitability’ to play the role of Mary,’” Donahue said in a Nov. 29 news release. “On the same day, the Times of London implied that the pope had subsequently refused to see the film (this was picked up by some U.S. media sources). On Nov. 26, the Detroit Free Press said that ‘Vatican officials’ were allegedly ‘not thrilled to have the issue cloud their enjoyment of the movie. So Castle-Hughes was dropped from the invitation list for the Vatican’s world premiere of the movie today.’
“As it turns out, none of this is true, as both USA Today and The New York Times accurately reported: The pope was embarking on his trip to Turkey and the girl was in Australia doing a movie,” Donahue said. “Despite what some think, Christians do not turn their backs on unwed mothers; they provide services for them.”
Jimmy Hester, who founded True Love Waits with Ross, voiced concern that Christians will miss an opportunity to explain to teenagers why Castle-Hughes’ situation is not ideal.
“This is just another illustration that our society does not truly value the biblical plan for sexuality,” Hester told BP. “Platforming this actress in this movie only serves as justification for sexually active teenagers and others who support such behavior, and makes it more difficult for young believers to hold up God's plan for sexual abstinence until marriage.”
An additional controversy surrounding the film is news that the city of Chicago has opted to ban advertisements for The Nativity Story at Christkindlmarket, a Christmas festival held in Daley Plaza for more than 10 years.
Officials are allowing a nativity display along with an Islamic crescent and a Jewish menorah, but they decided that clips from the film were too commercial and didn’t appeal to all faiths, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“This particular incident is about a movie studio aggressively marketing a movie and trying to sell tickets to that movie,” Veronica Resa, a spokeswoman for the mayor's office of special events, said.
But Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission, said the decision amounted to a declaration of war on Christianity.
“This is an outrageous, despicable decision,” Baehr said in a Nov. 28 news release. “I’m absolutely shocked that at a Christmas festival they would not allow commercials people could see tonight on TV. It is just more hypocritical, leftwing political correctness where everything is OK except Christianity.”
Baehr added that Chicago officials would not show similar intolerance to minority groups or homosexual groups.--30--
Copyright © 2001 - 2006 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press
Nov 30, 2006
By Erin Roach
Baptist Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Amid reports that the teenage actress who plays Mary in the new movie “The Nativity Story” is pregnant out of wedlock, some Christians are wondering how to respond to a lead character’s personal life in a movie they have enthusiastically embraced.The 16-year-old actress, Keisha Castle-Hughes, plays the role of the Virgin Mary in the Hollywood rendition of the story surrounding Jesus’ birth, which opens in theaters Dec. 1. In October, the agency that represents her confirmed she is expecting a baby in the spring and the father is her boyfriend of three years.
Knowing that Christians might have a problem with the news, Phil Boatwright, editor and film reviewer for previewonline.org, asked the movie’s producers, Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey, about the situation.
“They made no judgment call but were proud that this young girl thought more of the baby within than her own career,” Boatwright told Baptist Press. “I thought of that too. There are a lot of 16-year-old girls who get pregnant. But this girl is not only young, she’s an up-and-coming actress, yet she felt this life was more important than herself.”
The Australian-born Castle-Hughes was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in “Whale Rider,” and she played the Queen of Naboo in last year’s “Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith.”
Boatwright said he hopes that although Christians don’t want to condone sex outside marriage they also don’t want to be too judgmental.
“This young woman played Mary, the mother of Jesus,” Boatwright said. “I’m praying that if she doesn’t already have a relationship with our Savior that she soon will. And I’m praying that little unborn child will someday proclaim Jesus as Messiah.”
Richard Ross, co-founder of the national abstinence movement True Love Waits, took a similar approach, advising Christians not to react to Castle-Hughes the way the world expects them to react.
“In the early moments of True Love Waits, I was invited to appear on the ‘Jerry Springer Show.’ They already had enlisted three teenage girls pregnant before marriage to appear as well,” Ross recounted to BP. “One of the producers called to say, ‘Rev. Ross, I am sure you’re infuriated by these girls that have been so immoral. I’m guessing you will want to call them sluts and other things on the broadcast.’
“I answered, ‘No, I would never say such things. I love those young ladies even now. I will want to be gentle with them and tell them that God loves them and is ready to walk with them through what they are facing,’” Ross said.
“The mood of the producer quickly changed and he mumbled something about having to drop me from the show,” Ross added. “The secular world expects Christians to be mean to Keisha Castle-Hughes and all the young [people] who make grave mistakes with their lives. But to do so is to ignore the model Christ set for His followers. With gentleness and grace we are to point those who stumble toward redemption, forgiveness and a God of second chances.”
William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said the secular media was deprived of the juicy story they were betting on when the Vatican and Catholic and Protestant groups throughout the world did not withdraw their support of The Nativity Story based on the lead character’s personal choices.
“On Nov. 24, UPI wrote that ‘Some Christian groups in the United States and Canada reportedly have been questioning Castle-Hughes’s ‘suitability’ to play the role of Mary,’” Donahue said in a Nov. 29 news release. “On the same day, the Times of London implied that the pope had subsequently refused to see the film (this was picked up by some U.S. media sources). On Nov. 26, the Detroit Free Press said that ‘Vatican officials’ were allegedly ‘not thrilled to have the issue cloud their enjoyment of the movie. So Castle-Hughes was dropped from the invitation list for the Vatican’s world premiere of the movie today.’
“As it turns out, none of this is true, as both USA Today and The New York Times accurately reported: The pope was embarking on his trip to Turkey and the girl was in Australia doing a movie,” Donahue said. “Despite what some think, Christians do not turn their backs on unwed mothers; they provide services for them.”
Jimmy Hester, who founded True Love Waits with Ross, voiced concern that Christians will miss an opportunity to explain to teenagers why Castle-Hughes’ situation is not ideal.
“This is just another illustration that our society does not truly value the biblical plan for sexuality,” Hester told BP. “Platforming this actress in this movie only serves as justification for sexually active teenagers and others who support such behavior, and makes it more difficult for young believers to hold up God's plan for sexual abstinence until marriage.”
An additional controversy surrounding the film is news that the city of Chicago has opted to ban advertisements for The Nativity Story at Christkindlmarket, a Christmas festival held in Daley Plaza for more than 10 years.
Officials are allowing a nativity display along with an Islamic crescent and a Jewish menorah, but they decided that clips from the film were too commercial and didn’t appeal to all faiths, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“This particular incident is about a movie studio aggressively marketing a movie and trying to sell tickets to that movie,” Veronica Resa, a spokeswoman for the mayor's office of special events, said.
But Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission, said the decision amounted to a declaration of war on Christianity.
“This is an outrageous, despicable decision,” Baehr said in a Nov. 28 news release. “I’m absolutely shocked that at a Christmas festival they would not allow commercials people could see tonight on TV. It is just more hypocritical, leftwing political correctness where everything is OK except Christianity.”
Baehr added that Chicago officials would not show similar intolerance to minority groups or homosexual groups.--30--
Copyright © 2001 - 2006 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press
City's Nativity scene has no Jesus, Mary or Joseph
W.Va. city's Xmas scene has no Jesus
By TOM BREENASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ST. ALBANS, W.Va. -- Christ is missing from Christmas in this small town. The community's holiday display has a manger with shepherds, a guiding star, camels and a palm tree, but no baby Jesus, Mary or Joseph.
The parks superintendent said Jesus was left out because of concerns about the separation of church and state. But Mayor Dick Callaway said it was done for purely technical reasons: "It's not easy to put a light-up representation of a baby in a small manger scene, you know."
In recent years, some communities around the country have dropped nativity scenes after the displays were challenged as unconstitutional. Some communities have tried to head off legal problems by incorporating nonreligious symbols, or symbols of more than one faith, to avoid the appearance of endorsing one religion over another.
David Cunningham, parks superintendent in this town of 11,000, initially insisted St. Albans' display was not even technically a manger scene because he was concerned about possible lawsuits. But the mayor said such anxieties were unwarranted.
"We have a manger scene," the mayor said.
Around the country, only a few skirmishes in what some conservatives have called the "War on Christmas" have been reported this year so far.
Some retailers, including Wal-Mart, have returned to greeting customers with "Merry Christmas" after coming under attack last year for saying "Happy Holidays."
Two weeks ago, the Marine Reserves Toys for Tots program in Los Angeles overcame concerns about accepting a donation of 4,000 talking Jesus dolls that quote Bible verses by promising to make sure the dolls reach Christian children.
Some people are still scratching their heads over what happened in Chicago, where the movie studio behind "The Nativity Story" was dropped as a sponsor of a Christmas festival for fear of offending non-Christians.
In Wheeling, baby Jesus is represented in a manger scene at Olgebay Park's Winter Festival of Lights, which draws visitors from across the country.
"If anything, we get criticized for not having more examples of that type of thing," said J.C. Douglas Dalby, president of the Wheeling Park Commission.
©1996-2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By TOM BREENASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ST. ALBANS, W.Va. -- Christ is missing from Christmas in this small town. The community's holiday display has a manger with shepherds, a guiding star, camels and a palm tree, but no baby Jesus, Mary or Joseph.
The parks superintendent said Jesus was left out because of concerns about the separation of church and state. But Mayor Dick Callaway said it was done for purely technical reasons: "It's not easy to put a light-up representation of a baby in a small manger scene, you know."
In recent years, some communities around the country have dropped nativity scenes after the displays were challenged as unconstitutional. Some communities have tried to head off legal problems by incorporating nonreligious symbols, or symbols of more than one faith, to avoid the appearance of endorsing one religion over another.
David Cunningham, parks superintendent in this town of 11,000, initially insisted St. Albans' display was not even technically a manger scene because he was concerned about possible lawsuits. But the mayor said such anxieties were unwarranted.
"We have a manger scene," the mayor said.
Around the country, only a few skirmishes in what some conservatives have called the "War on Christmas" have been reported this year so far.
Some retailers, including Wal-Mart, have returned to greeting customers with "Merry Christmas" after coming under attack last year for saying "Happy Holidays."
Two weeks ago, the Marine Reserves Toys for Tots program in Los Angeles overcame concerns about accepting a donation of 4,000 talking Jesus dolls that quote Bible verses by promising to make sure the dolls reach Christian children.
Some people are still scratching their heads over what happened in Chicago, where the movie studio behind "The Nativity Story" was dropped as a sponsor of a Christmas festival for fear of offending non-Christians.
In Wheeling, baby Jesus is represented in a manger scene at Olgebay Park's Winter Festival of Lights, which draws visitors from across the country.
"If anything, we get criticized for not having more examples of that type of thing," said J.C. Douglas Dalby, president of the Wheeling Park Commission.
©1996-2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
6 Imams Kicked Off Plane Gave Crew Several Reasons to Be Suspicious
6 Imams Kicked Off Plane Gave Crew Several Reasons to Be Suspicious
Saturday, December 02, 2006
By Cassie Carothers
Fox News
Six imams were kicked off a US Airways flight last week in Minneapolis for committing several acts of suspicious behavior, not just because they said their evening prayers before boarding the plane, a police report shows, contradicting earlier media reports.
US Airways manager Robby Taylor Davis told police three of the six imams had one-way only tickets and only one passenger checked luggage. He also said in the police report that most of the six requested seat-belt extensions typically used by obese people despite being thin.
Also, a passenger on the plane who speaks Arabic heard the group mention Saddam Hussein and criticize the United States' involvement in Iraq. The passenger, whose named was redacted from the police report, said he saw two of the men take seats in the front of the plane, two take seats in the middle, and two more in the back.
• Click here to read the full police report.
Minneapolis police, along with U.S. Federal Air Marshals, decided the collective behavior of the group was suspicious enough to detain the men and question them.
Earlier reports only said the group had been seen praying loudly before the flight, and the group was removed after a passenger passed a note to a flight attendant bringing attention to the group, and did not include details on the other suspicious behavior of the imams.
The imams, who were returning from a religious conference, were detained and questioned before being released shortly thereafter.
"Pauline," a passenger on the flight who didn't want to give her real name for fear of her safety, said she thought the it was a stunt to garner media attention.
"They were so poised and ready to go to the press. By the time I arrived home from the airport ... they were already announcing on the news that they were being discriminated against," Pauline said on FOX News' Hannity and Colmes.
• Click here to watch the full interview
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, four airlines accused of breaking federal anti-discrimination laws settled with the government. Transportation Department investigations found the airlines had unlawfully removed passengers because of perceived ethnic or religious backgrounds.
The Transportation Department received a complaint about the US Airways incident on Monday from the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said spokesman Brian Turmail.
"We're going to now look into the matter," Turmail said.
The Homeland Security Department's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said last week that it was investigating the incident.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
By Cassie Carothers
Fox News
Six imams were kicked off a US Airways flight last week in Minneapolis for committing several acts of suspicious behavior, not just because they said their evening prayers before boarding the plane, a police report shows, contradicting earlier media reports.
US Airways manager Robby Taylor Davis told police three of the six imams had one-way only tickets and only one passenger checked luggage. He also said in the police report that most of the six requested seat-belt extensions typically used by obese people despite being thin.
Also, a passenger on the plane who speaks Arabic heard the group mention Saddam Hussein and criticize the United States' involvement in Iraq. The passenger, whose named was redacted from the police report, said he saw two of the men take seats in the front of the plane, two take seats in the middle, and two more in the back.
• Click here to read the full police report.
Minneapolis police, along with U.S. Federal Air Marshals, decided the collective behavior of the group was suspicious enough to detain the men and question them.
Earlier reports only said the group had been seen praying loudly before the flight, and the group was removed after a passenger passed a note to a flight attendant bringing attention to the group, and did not include details on the other suspicious behavior of the imams.
The imams, who were returning from a religious conference, were detained and questioned before being released shortly thereafter.
"Pauline," a passenger on the flight who didn't want to give her real name for fear of her safety, said she thought the it was a stunt to garner media attention.
"They were so poised and ready to go to the press. By the time I arrived home from the airport ... they were already announcing on the news that they were being discriminated against," Pauline said on FOX News' Hannity and Colmes.
• Click here to watch the full interview
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, four airlines accused of breaking federal anti-discrimination laws settled with the government. Transportation Department investigations found the airlines had unlawfully removed passengers because of perceived ethnic or religious backgrounds.
The Transportation Department received a complaint about the US Airways incident on Monday from the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said spokesman Brian Turmail.
"We're going to now look into the matter," Turmail said.
The Homeland Security Department's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said last week that it was investigating the incident.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Muslims Seek Prayer Room at Airport
Muslims Seek Prayer Room at Airport
Dec 01 6:53 PM US/Eastern
By PATRICK CONDONA
ssociated Press Writer
MINNEAPOLIS
Airport officials said Friday they will consider setting aside a private area for prayer and meditation at the request of imams concerned about the removal of six Muslim clerics from a US Airways flight last week.
Steve Wareham, director of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, said other airports have "meditation rooms" used for prayers or by passengers who simply need quiet time.
A group of Somali clerics met with airport officials Friday and said they would attract less attention if they had a private area for prayer. Devout Muslims pray five times daily, facing the holy city of Mecca.
"When we pray, we don't want a problem. We don't want what happened last week," said Abdulrehman Hersi, an imam at Darul-Quba mosque in Minneapolis, referring to six clerics who were barred from a US Airways flight in Minneapolis after drawing the concern of some passengers.
Airports in Nashville, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., all advertise meditation rooms. Fort Lauderdale's is billed as "For travelers seeking a quiet time." All note they are nonsectarian.
The imams at the airport Friday drew a few stares as they laid down their prayer rugs and knelt on the hard rubber floor at the airport.
The clerics requested a meeting after both the US Airways incident and a recent flap over Muslim cabdrivers who didn't want to pick up passengers carrying alcohol.
"We are users of the airport, too, and we don't want to get into a situation where Muslims feel we are being marginalized at the airport," said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul and the meeting's organizer.
Airport officials will accept the group's invitation to visit a mosque, airport spokesman Pat Hogan said.
"I think there's a mutual recognition that it would be helpful for there to be a solid understanding," Hogan said.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Dec 01 6:53 PM US/Eastern
By PATRICK CONDONA
ssociated Press Writer
MINNEAPOLIS
Airport officials said Friday they will consider setting aside a private area for prayer and meditation at the request of imams concerned about the removal of six Muslim clerics from a US Airways flight last week.
Steve Wareham, director of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, said other airports have "meditation rooms" used for prayers or by passengers who simply need quiet time.
A group of Somali clerics met with airport officials Friday and said they would attract less attention if they had a private area for prayer. Devout Muslims pray five times daily, facing the holy city of Mecca."When we pray, we don't want a problem. We don't want what happened last week," said Abdulrehman Hersi, an imam at Darul-Quba mosque in Minneapolis, referring to six clerics who were barred from a US Airways flight in Minneapolis after drawing the concern of some passengers.
Airports in Nashville, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., all advertise meditation rooms. Fort Lauderdale's is billed as "For travelers seeking a quiet time." All note they are nonsectarian.
The imams at the airport Friday drew a few stares as they laid down their prayer rugs and knelt on the hard rubber floor at the airport.
The clerics requested a meeting after both the US Airways incident and a recent flap over Muslim cabdrivers who didn't want to pick up passengers carrying alcohol.
"We are users of the airport, too, and we don't want to get into a situation where Muslims feel we are being marginalized at the airport," said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul and the meeting's organizer.
Airport officials will accept the group's invitation to visit a mosque, airport spokesman Pat Hogan said.
"I think there's a mutual recognition that it would be helpful for there to be a solid understanding," Hogan said.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
A new movement against radical Islam?
A new movement against radical Islam?
Modeled after anti-Communist efforts, activists plot strategy
Posted: December 2, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – Two conservative activists deeply involved in the anti-communism movement of the past are planning a broad strategy of re-creating those efforts in a new mass movement to fight radical Islam.
Jack Wheeler, a strategist credited with formulating "the Reagan Doctrine" that helped bring down the Soviet Empire, and Steve Baldwin, a former California legislator and the executive director of the Council for National Policy, have teamed up for what they describe as the creation of an "Anti-Islamofascism Movement."
"One cannot write the history of the Cold War without acknowledging the key role played by the American Anti-Communist Movement," they write in a memo to conservative leaders. "It was a broad movement involving many different organizations that, for decades, kept its focus on the defeat of the Soviet Empire. And it succeeded."
Wheeler and Baldwin say anti-communism was "the defining issue that brought hundreds of thousands of people into the conservative movement in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. There was a sense that this movement had to be successful if not only America but Western Civilization itself were to survive."
They say the current war of global conquest being waged by Islamofascists will be an even tougher fight than the battle that focused on the Soviet Union.
"But we don't seem to be prepared for this war," they write. "Unlike the movement created during the Cold War, there doesn't seem to be much of an infrastructure to combat Islamofascism."
The agenda for such a movement should include the following activities and efforts, they say:
investigate radical mosques
support anti-Islamofascist freedom fighters
thwart attempts to impose Sharia law
form an anti-Islamofascist publishing network
create an anti-Islamofascist portal on the Internet
establish an anti-Islamofascist speakers bureau
wage an ideological assault on Islamofascism
support efforts to evangelize Muslims in Europe and the Middle East
create a global anti-Islamofascist coalition
reframe the illegal immigration issue as one of national security
end dependence on foreign oil that's funding the Islamofascists.
Planning meetings through regular teleconferencing are already underway. There is a new secure Internet forum where ideas are being exchanged. There is also an e-mail address where those interested in the "movement" can make their intention known – 910-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Those wishing to participate in the forum are asked to provide some information about their own background, interests and skills so they can be directed to specific project areas. Additional information is available at the 910blog.
"This needs to be done in order to preserve both America and Western Civilization," Wheeler and Baldwin say. "Without the anti-Communist movement, it's likely we would still be in the midst of the Cold War today. Wise men and women rose up to the challenge and created a movement that was very much opposed by the existing political and media establishment. But we won. Then we all went to sleep."
Modeled after anti-Communist efforts, activists plot strategy
Posted: December 2, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – Two conservative activists deeply involved in the anti-communism movement of the past are planning a broad strategy of re-creating those efforts in a new mass movement to fight radical Islam.
Jack Wheeler, a strategist credited with formulating "the Reagan Doctrine" that helped bring down the Soviet Empire, and Steve Baldwin, a former California legislator and the executive director of the Council for National Policy, have teamed up for what they describe as the creation of an "Anti-Islamofascism Movement."
"One cannot write the history of the Cold War without acknowledging the key role played by the American Anti-Communist Movement," they write in a memo to conservative leaders. "It was a broad movement involving many different organizations that, for decades, kept its focus on the defeat of the Soviet Empire. And it succeeded."
Wheeler and Baldwin say anti-communism was "the defining issue that brought hundreds of thousands of people into the conservative movement in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. There was a sense that this movement had to be successful if not only America but Western Civilization itself were to survive."
They say the current war of global conquest being waged by Islamofascists will be an even tougher fight than the battle that focused on the Soviet Union.
"But we don't seem to be prepared for this war," they write. "Unlike the movement created during the Cold War, there doesn't seem to be much of an infrastructure to combat Islamofascism."
The agenda for such a movement should include the following activities and efforts, they say:
investigate radical mosques
support anti-Islamofascist freedom fighters
thwart attempts to impose Sharia law
form an anti-Islamofascist publishing network
create an anti-Islamofascist portal on the Internet
establish an anti-Islamofascist speakers bureau
wage an ideological assault on Islamofascism
support efforts to evangelize Muslims in Europe and the Middle East
create a global anti-Islamofascist coalition
reframe the illegal immigration issue as one of national security
end dependence on foreign oil that's funding the Islamofascists.
Planning meetings through regular teleconferencing are already underway. There is a new secure Internet forum where ideas are being exchanged. There is also an e-mail address where those interested in the "movement" can make their intention known – 910-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Those wishing to participate in the forum are asked to provide some information about their own background, interests and skills so they can be directed to specific project areas. Additional information is available at the 910blog.
"This needs to be done in order to preserve both America and Western Civilization," Wheeler and Baldwin say. "Without the anti-Communist movement, it's likely we would still be in the midst of the Cold War today. Wise men and women rose up to the challenge and created a movement that was very much opposed by the existing political and media establishment. But we won. Then we all went to sleep."
Woman must be informed of unborn child's pain?
Woman must be informed of unborn child's pain?
House to vote on bill that requires giving facts before allowing abortion
Posted: December 2, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
The Christian Medical Association is urging passage of a federal bill to inform women considering an abortion of potential pain their babies can experience after 20 weeks of development.
"One thing both sides of this issue should be able to agree upon is that women should be fully informed about the medical science concerning their developing babies," said Dr. David Stevens, CEO of the 17,000-member association.
The House is expected to vote on the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, H.R. 6099, next week.
Stevens said the scientific findings in the measure are "clear and compelling."
"Women deserve to know exactly what an abortion involves for their baby," he said. "Imagine the heartbreak a woman would experience after being led to believe that her 22-week developing baby is simply a 'blob of tissue' only to learn after an abortion that her baby likely experienced excruciating pain. This bill sets the record straight and makes sure women are provided with the facts."
The bill's findings – reflecting testimony by scientific experts, including Drs. Kanwdfbet S. Anand and Jeanne Wright – note that at least by 20 weeks after fertilization, an unborn child has the physical structures necessary to experience pain.
"There is substantial evidence that by 20 weeks after fertilization, unborn children draw away from certain stimuli in a manner which in an infant or an adult would be interpreted as a response to pain," a draft of the bill states.
Anesthesia, the experts point out, routinely is administered to unborn children who have developed 20 weeks or more after fertilization and undergo prenatal surgery.
"There is substantial evidence that the abortion methods most commonly used 20 weeks or more after fertilization cause substantial pain to an unborn child, whether by dismemberment, poisoning, penetrating or crushing the skull, or other methods," the bill states.
Dr. Gene Rudd, an obstetrician with the CMA, noted the bill cites laws protecting animals from inhumane treatment, while a developing human has no such protections.
"What does this say about our blindness to the humanity of our developing babies?" he asked.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., issued a statement yesterday in support of the bill, saying he intends to "seek unanimous consent that the Senate take up and pass this critical piece of legislation."
Brownback is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights.
House to vote on bill that requires giving facts before allowing abortion
Posted: December 2, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
The Christian Medical Association is urging passage of a federal bill to inform women considering an abortion of potential pain their babies can experience after 20 weeks of development.
"One thing both sides of this issue should be able to agree upon is that women should be fully informed about the medical science concerning their developing babies," said Dr. David Stevens, CEO of the 17,000-member association.
The House is expected to vote on the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, H.R. 6099, next week.
Stevens said the scientific findings in the measure are "clear and compelling."
"Women deserve to know exactly what an abortion involves for their baby," he said. "Imagine the heartbreak a woman would experience after being led to believe that her 22-week developing baby is simply a 'blob of tissue' only to learn after an abortion that her baby likely experienced excruciating pain. This bill sets the record straight and makes sure women are provided with the facts."
The bill's findings – reflecting testimony by scientific experts, including Drs. Kanwdfbet S. Anand and Jeanne Wright – note that at least by 20 weeks after fertilization, an unborn child has the physical structures necessary to experience pain.
"There is substantial evidence that by 20 weeks after fertilization, unborn children draw away from certain stimuli in a manner which in an infant or an adult would be interpreted as a response to pain," a draft of the bill states.
Anesthesia, the experts point out, routinely is administered to unborn children who have developed 20 weeks or more after fertilization and undergo prenatal surgery.
"There is substantial evidence that the abortion methods most commonly used 20 weeks or more after fertilization cause substantial pain to an unborn child, whether by dismemberment, poisoning, penetrating or crushing the skull, or other methods," the bill states.
Dr. Gene Rudd, an obstetrician with the CMA, noted the bill cites laws protecting animals from inhumane treatment, while a developing human has no such protections.
"What does this say about our blindness to the humanity of our developing babies?" he asked.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., issued a statement yesterday in support of the bill, saying he intends to "seek unanimous consent that the Senate take up and pass this critical piece of legislation."
Brownback is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights.
Child-care center warned over 'loving Jesus' songs
Child-care center warned over 'loving Jesus' songs
Overzealous bureaucrat threatens loss of funding
to moms, tots unless group becomes 'gay'-inclusive
Posted: December 2, 2006
6:25 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
A North London mother and toddlers' group is breathing easier– but still upset – after the local government council rebuked a bureaucrat who threatened to withhold funding unless songs about loving Jesus were dropped from daily activities and the organization changed its constitution to reflect greater inclusiveness towards gay families.
Gosia Shannon, a Polish emigree, was alerted by a letter sent this week, that the Polish and Eastern European Christian Family Center in Wood Green, North London, that she started earlier this year, would no longer be eligible for government funding unless it agreed to it remaining 'non-religious' in the future, the London Daily Mail reported.
The drop-in center serves 250 families, mostly Polish immigrant women and their young children, offering the opportunity for newcomers to the UK to make friends and learn about nurseries and schools. In its short time in existence, the program has become so popular that regular attenders must take turns each week since Shannon's facility will only hold 40 people.
Children play with toys and participate in "circle time" where they sing nursery rhymes as well as traditional Polish Christian songs like "Our Jesus, We Love You." Many of the songs are provided by parents who bring in CDs of music their familes sing at home.
"We sing Christian and non-Christian songs," said Shannon.
"We are simply reflecting the culture of the people who attend. We want our children to be brought up in the Christian faith and to go to Catholic schools where they will sing Christian songs every day. We have Christian songs at home and families want their children to learn them. This is part of our inheritance and we want to be able to reflect our culture."
The center operates with approximately $14,000 in annual funding from the UK's Sure Start program – similar to Head Start in the U.S. – and is designed to support pre-school children and their families in deprived areas. The funding is distributed through the Haringey Council.
Enter Debbie Biss, area manager for Haringey Sure Start program's Noel Park Children's Center.
In a letter, dated Dec. 1, Biss wrote to the group to complain about their singing Christian songs.
"We expect all our services to be inclusive and without religious content, so I was concerned to learn that Gosia [Shannon] leads the singing of a song about loving Jesus in every session," she wrote. "I asked Gosia to leave this song out in future, but Gosia has refused to do so."
Biss warned the center's committee that she would recommend funding be terminated at the end of the month unless it agreed that all future activities would be "strictly of a non-religious nature."
Further, the committee was told it must amend its constitution to reflect a greater inclusion of 'gay' families and that it should consider dropping "Christian" from the name of the group. It "implies that your activities are religious in nature" – an implication, Biss said, that could affect future funding.
An angry Shannon vowed to fight the imposition of secularism on her group, most of whom are Catholic.
"It's ridiculous and it's unacceptable. I don't understand this political correctness," she said.
"They're trying to impose their own policies on a community that has its own values. It's saying 'we can support the community without their values.' If we don't have the funds, I would have to stop running the group and people would have nowhere to go. But I am determined not to give up and will fight on."
Further, Shannon noted, she had welcomed the one lesbian couple who visited the center.
"We don't promote homosexuality but we welcome homosexuals. They are trying to impose their own culture on us, not the culture the community wants. Christianity is part of who we are," she told the London Times.
A day after Biss sent her letter, Shannon got a reprieve. The Haringey Council announced that the letter from Biss had been withdrawn.
"It was not appropriate for this officer to be writing such a letter linking funding with the issues mentioned in the letter," a spokesman said. "We have contacted this group asking them to disregard the letter and invited them to meet a senior officer to discuss the funding of their group."
Shannon's experience may be only the tip of the iceberg as new legislation outlawing discrimination goes into effect in 2007. Beginning in April, it will be illegal for religious groups to discriminate against homosexuals or transsexuals when providing goods and services.
Catholic and Anglican agencies have indicated they may be forced to close their adoption agencies, youth clubs and hospice, and Christian bed-and-breakfast owners say they would shut down before allowing homosexual couples to sleep together in their houses.
Conservative black church groups have had the strongest reaction, taking out a full page advertisement in the London Times in protest.
Alfred Williams, one of the pentecostal leaders behind the ad, said: "People think it is better to die than to sin against their God. There will be a spontaneous reaction. There will be civil disobedience."
Overzealous bureaucrat threatens loss of funding
to moms, tots unless group becomes 'gay'-inclusive
Posted: December 2, 2006
6:25 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
A North London mother and toddlers' group is breathing easier– but still upset – after the local government council rebuked a bureaucrat who threatened to withhold funding unless songs about loving Jesus were dropped from daily activities and the organization changed its constitution to reflect greater inclusiveness towards gay families.
Gosia Shannon, a Polish emigree, was alerted by a letter sent this week, that the Polish and Eastern European Christian Family Center in Wood Green, North London, that she started earlier this year, would no longer be eligible for government funding unless it agreed to it remaining 'non-religious' in the future, the London Daily Mail reported.
The drop-in center serves 250 families, mostly Polish immigrant women and their young children, offering the opportunity for newcomers to the UK to make friends and learn about nurseries and schools. In its short time in existence, the program has become so popular that regular attenders must take turns each week since Shannon's facility will only hold 40 people.
Children play with toys and participate in "circle time" where they sing nursery rhymes as well as traditional Polish Christian songs like "Our Jesus, We Love You." Many of the songs are provided by parents who bring in CDs of music their familes sing at home.
"We sing Christian and non-Christian songs," said Shannon.
"We are simply reflecting the culture of the people who attend. We want our children to be brought up in the Christian faith and to go to Catholic schools where they will sing Christian songs every day. We have Christian songs at home and families want their children to learn them. This is part of our inheritance and we want to be able to reflect our culture."
The center operates with approximately $14,000 in annual funding from the UK's Sure Start program – similar to Head Start in the U.S. – and is designed to support pre-school children and their families in deprived areas. The funding is distributed through the Haringey Council.
Enter Debbie Biss, area manager for Haringey Sure Start program's Noel Park Children's Center.
In a letter, dated Dec. 1, Biss wrote to the group to complain about their singing Christian songs.
"We expect all our services to be inclusive and without religious content, so I was concerned to learn that Gosia [Shannon] leads the singing of a song about loving Jesus in every session," she wrote. "I asked Gosia to leave this song out in future, but Gosia has refused to do so."
Biss warned the center's committee that she would recommend funding be terminated at the end of the month unless it agreed that all future activities would be "strictly of a non-religious nature."
Further, the committee was told it must amend its constitution to reflect a greater inclusion of 'gay' families and that it should consider dropping "Christian" from the name of the group. It "implies that your activities are religious in nature" – an implication, Biss said, that could affect future funding.
An angry Shannon vowed to fight the imposition of secularism on her group, most of whom are Catholic.
"It's ridiculous and it's unacceptable. I don't understand this political correctness," she said.
"They're trying to impose their own policies on a community that has its own values. It's saying 'we can support the community without their values.' If we don't have the funds, I would have to stop running the group and people would have nowhere to go. But I am determined not to give up and will fight on."
Further, Shannon noted, she had welcomed the one lesbian couple who visited the center.
"We don't promote homosexuality but we welcome homosexuals. They are trying to impose their own culture on us, not the culture the community wants. Christianity is part of who we are," she told the London Times.
A day after Biss sent her letter, Shannon got a reprieve. The Haringey Council announced that the letter from Biss had been withdrawn.
"It was not appropriate for this officer to be writing such a letter linking funding with the issues mentioned in the letter," a spokesman said. "We have contacted this group asking them to disregard the letter and invited them to meet a senior officer to discuss the funding of their group."
Shannon's experience may be only the tip of the iceberg as new legislation outlawing discrimination goes into effect in 2007. Beginning in April, it will be illegal for religious groups to discriminate against homosexuals or transsexuals when providing goods and services.
Catholic and Anglican agencies have indicated they may be forced to close their adoption agencies, youth clubs and hospice, and Christian bed-and-breakfast owners say they would shut down before allowing homosexual couples to sleep together in their houses.
Conservative black church groups have had the strongest reaction, taking out a full page advertisement in the London Times in protest.
Alfred Williams, one of the pentecostal leaders behind the ad, said: "People think it is better to die than to sin against their God. There will be a spontaneous reaction. There will be civil disobedience."
Backlash Causes Airline to 'Back Peddle' on Decision re: Employee's Wearing of Cross
Backlash Causes Airline to 'Back Peddle' on Decision re: Employee's Wearing of Cross
By Pat Centner
(AgapePress) - British Airways (BA) recently announced that it would again review its dress code policy after initially ruling that one of its employees could not wear a cross to work because it violated the dress code.
Back in October, Nadia Eweida, a check-in worker, was told that she would have to either remove her cross or hide it beneath a scarf. Eweida, a Coptic Christian, refused and was ultimately sent home. She was also placed on unpaid leave.
In comments to The Daily Mail, Eweida maintained that BA only discriminates against Christians in the wearing of religious items. "British Airways permits Muslims to wear a headscarf, Sikhs to wear a turban, and other faiths religious apparel," she said. "I will not hide my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."
Eweida filed an appeal with the airline, but lost. She was once again told that she could not wear a cross that was fully visible to others. Eweida's plight soon became public, and British Airlines experienced a backlash of gigantic proportions. Statements and articles declaring religious discrimination were lodged by Christians and clergy worldwide. According to VirtueOnline, even the British Parliament became involved as close to 100 members protested on behalf of Eweida.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, responded to the airline's decision by reiterating a statement he had made early in the Eweida controversy that it is "absolutely basic that people of any faith should have the right to display the signs of their faith commitment in public." He elaborated further, said Christian Today, by expressing confusion at the airline's decision, saying he couldn't discern whether they were simply talking about "regulations," or whether they were claiming that the cross itself is a source of offense.
"Now if BA is really saying or implying that the wearing of a cross in public is a source of offense," the archbishop said, "then I regard that as deeply offensive .... If they're saying that it's to do with matters of health and safety, ... I would ask them to look very seriously at this, given the enormous reaction of dismay that's been caused in the Christian community."
This controversy has sparked great interest by Christians worldwide, who are encountering ever-increasing religious persecution. Faith McDonnell of the Institute on Religion and Democracy was right on target when she expressed the importance that wearing a cross holds, in particular for Christians living in non-Western countries who are willing to be publicly identified as followers of Christ in spite of persecution and death.
The symbolism of wearing the cross, said McDonnell, "is not a fashion statement; it is a faith statement."
Pat Centner, an occasional contributor to AgapePress, is a former staff writer for AFA Journal, a publication of the American Family Association.
© 2006 AgapePress all rights reserved.
By Pat Centner
(AgapePress) - British Airways (BA) recently announced that it would again review its dress code policy after initially ruling that one of its employees could not wear a cross to work because it violated the dress code.
Back in October, Nadia Eweida, a check-in worker, was told that she would have to either remove her cross or hide it beneath a scarf. Eweida, a Coptic Christian, refused and was ultimately sent home. She was also placed on unpaid leave.
In comments to The Daily Mail, Eweida maintained that BA only discriminates against Christians in the wearing of religious items. "British Airways permits Muslims to wear a headscarf, Sikhs to wear a turban, and other faiths religious apparel," she said. "I will not hide my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."
Eweida filed an appeal with the airline, but lost. She was once again told that she could not wear a cross that was fully visible to others. Eweida's plight soon became public, and British Airlines experienced a backlash of gigantic proportions. Statements and articles declaring religious discrimination were lodged by Christians and clergy worldwide. According to VirtueOnline, even the British Parliament became involved as close to 100 members protested on behalf of Eweida.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, responded to the airline's decision by reiterating a statement he had made early in the Eweida controversy that it is "absolutely basic that people of any faith should have the right to display the signs of their faith commitment in public." He elaborated further, said Christian Today, by expressing confusion at the airline's decision, saying he couldn't discern whether they were simply talking about "regulations," or whether they were claiming that the cross itself is a source of offense.
"Now if BA is really saying or implying that the wearing of a cross in public is a source of offense," the archbishop said, "then I regard that as deeply offensive .... If they're saying that it's to do with matters of health and safety, ... I would ask them to look very seriously at this, given the enormous reaction of dismay that's been caused in the Christian community."
This controversy has sparked great interest by Christians worldwide, who are encountering ever-increasing religious persecution. Faith McDonnell of the Institute on Religion and Democracy was right on target when she expressed the importance that wearing a cross holds, in particular for Christians living in non-Western countries who are willing to be publicly identified as followers of Christ in spite of persecution and death.
The symbolism of wearing the cross, said McDonnell, "is not a fashion statement; it is a faith statement."
Pat Centner, an occasional contributor to AgapePress, is a former staff writer for AFA Journal, a publication of the American Family Association.
© 2006 AgapePress all rights reserved.
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