Muhammadu Buhari, a Sunni Muslim and a former military dictator, has surprisingly won the 2015 Presidential elections in Nigeria after three consecutive defeats. Buhari has campaigned on a platform of ‘change’, promising economic stability, to curb corruption and to utilise political strength in tackling the terrorist group, Boko Haram. The Buhari government, however, has faced international criticism, due to the clash between the army and the minority Shia community in Zaria. Reports of events prior to the clash are unclear, the army asserts that the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, Genenral Tukur Buratai, was blockaded near Zaria and the convoy was attacked by a petrol bomb. The Shia Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) deny any attack occurred and demand the release of their leader Ibraheem Zakzaky. The government forces raided Zakzaky’s home and the whereabouts of his wife and sons are unknown. The IMN have stated that they have been killed in the raid, however, the Nigerian authorities have declared that his wife is in custody. Iran has condemned the attacks and called for the release of the Shiite leader. The movement has also been confronted by Boko Haram. The problem remains complex: it would be too simplistic to apportion [...]
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A campaign to canonise a Catholic priest who stayed on the RMS Titanic instead of fleeing remains ongoing despite renewed interest in his story. The story of Father Thomas Byles and his acts of selflessness, however, deserves re-telling. Roussel Davids Byles was born in 1870 to a Protestant family in Leeds. His father, Reverend Dr. Alfred Holden Byles and mother Louisa Davids also had six other children. He excelled at mathematics and gained a scholarship to Balliol School, Oxford. When at Oxford, Byles gravitated towards the Church of England. His younger brother, William, however, converted to Catholicism first. In 1894, he had a conditional baptism (sub conditione) at St. Aloysius Church in Oxford. Upon entering the Catholic faith, Roussel adopted the name of Thomas. After spending two years in Rome, Byles became the ordained priest of St Helen’s Church, Chipping Ongar, Essex in 1904. In 1912, he had boarded the ship to attend the wedding of his younger brother William, in New York. This last minute decision to board the Titanic instead of a different ship cost him £13 (roughly £1,100 today). His second class ticket was number 244310. His duties included performing mass for second and third class passengers. [...]
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Hundreds of Hungarians held a candle-lit vigil against a planned statue honouring a pro-Nazi minister. The protest in the city of Székesfehérvár this past Sunday included diplomats from the United States, Israel, Canada, and Washington’s special envoy on anti-Semitism Ira Forman. Bálint Hóman remains of Hungary’s most toxic reminders of its complicity in the Holocaust. He supported discriminatory policies that disposed Jews of land and denied them university jobs in the 1930s. He advocated a close alliance with Nazi Germany. And supported policies that resulted in the deportation and murder of more than 500,000 Jews. Székesfehérvár’s mayor, András Cser-Palkovic, a member of the ruling Fidesz party, will ask the Hóman Foundation to reconsider its planned installation. Fidesz has already donated Ft15m ($52,000) to the project. The Hóman Foundation hope to unveil the statue on December 29 – the 130th anniversary of Hóman’s birth. Hungary’s close ties to Nazi Germany began before the onset of war. In 1938, the Nazis annexed Sudeten region of the now Czech Republic. Hungary gained territory from this action. That same year, Hungary passed laws that cut Jewish employment by 80 per cent. A year later, and Hungarian laws racialised Jews. Against this backdrop, the Nazis [...]
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Over the summer, Pope Francis apologised for the “Many grave sins were committed against the native people of America in the name of God.” “I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offense of the church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America,” the pope said. But his decision to canonise Father Junípero Serra, on his first visit to the United States next week, has angered many groups. An online petition against the canonisation has gained over 10,000 signatures. Many of the counter voices are descendants of those colonised. For Ron Andrade, executive director of the Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission, and of the Luiseño tribe, said Serra “decimated 90% of the Indian population”. Serra (1713-1784), was an ordained Franciscan priest and professor of theology by the age of 24. By 1749, Serra accompanied other Franciscans dedicated to missionary work in Mexico. He also preached, heard confessions, and assisted at Mexico City’s College of San Fernando. In 1767, Spain founded the first mission in California. Estimates put the Native American population at about 310,000; yet in under a century, that figure declined at a rapid rate, alongside cultural shifts. Spain’s [...]
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A footnote to Europe’s ongoing crisis is the rising use of anti-Muslim rhetoric. Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, defended the erecting of a razor-wire fence on its southern border through the language of cultural and religious difference. Orbán stated that “most of them are not Christians, but Muslims,” and that “Europe and European identity is rooted in Christianity. Is it not worrying in itself that European Christianity is now barely able to keep Europe Christian?” Antal Rogan, the parliament caucus leader of Orbán’s Fidesz party, said on Tuesday that “the very existence of Christian Europe” was at stake. Rogan also told the pro-government newspaper Magyar Idok “Would we like our grandchildren to grow up in a United European Caliphate? My answer to that is no”. Ivan Metik, a spokesperson for Slovakia’s interior ministry spokesman said last month: “We want to help Europe with the migration issue. We could take 800 Muslims but we don’t have any mosques in Slovakia so how can Muslims be integrated if they are not going to like it here?” In July, Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, argued that Christians would cause less tension. He added that terrorists might attempt to mingle among Muslim refugees. [...]
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Continue ReadingThe man who admitted killing three people at two suburban Kansas City Jewish sites told jurors he hoped to “die a martyr” for the shootings. It took the jury little over two hours to find Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., 74, guilty of capital murder, three counts of attempted murder and assault and weapons charges. As jurors left court, Miller raised his right arm in a Nazi salute and told them: “You probably won’t sleep tonight.” None of his victims were Jewish. Their names are William Corporon, 69, a physician; his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Underwood; and Terri LaManno, 53. A fact Miller did not learn until six days after the shootings. Frazier Glenn Miller, also known as Frazier Glenn Cross, wrote on a courtroom poster board “Diversity is a code word for white genocide”. Miller’s virulent antisemitism and white supremacist ideology has never been in doubt. His website, with its rudimentary design, mixes the iconographies of the Ku Klux Klan and the Confederate flag. He recommends visitors check out ex-KKK grand wizard David Duke and get ‘jew-wise’. Miller published his own book, titled ‘A White Man Speaks Out,’ written between 1987-1990 (when in prison), and completed in 1999. He joined the [...]
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Continue ReadingHertfordshire Police arrested a man after three incidents of criminal damage caused at churches in Hitchin and Letchworth on August 25. A 38-year-old man from Letchworth was also arrested in connection with further incidents of criminal damage on August 26. The vandalism saw a stained glass memorial to World War I personnel smashed at St Mary’s Church, in Hitchin, alongside a depiction of Jesus Christ. Vandals attack St Mary's Church #Hitchin in an apparent religously aggravated crime any info call @HertsPolice on 101 pic.twitter.com/ha5QTdgWVP — HE Heritage Crime (@HEHeritageCrime) August 27, 2015 At St Paul’s Church, in Letchworth, the vandal threw more than 50 pieces of flint and brick through its windows. The attacks soon switched to St Mary’s, with the first incident at 2.10pm then 9pm. In total, damages total above £10,000. Before the arrest, Sergeant Stephen Oliphant told local press:”We are currently following a line of enquiry that they are religiously aggravated and, due to the damage caused to these historical buildings, the incidents are also being treated as a heritage crime”. In spite of the distress, Simon Moore, vicar of the Letchworth church, stressed forgiveness for the accused. Congregants banded together to sweep away broken glass. On [...]
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Continue ReadingThe Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has stated that IS (Islamic State) executed over 90 people in the last month in Syria, with a third of them being civilians. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 32 civilians were among 91 people executed for ‘crimes’ that took place between July 29th and August 29th 2015. These included residents in areas controlled by the so-called Caliphate and which included forces loyal to Bashar Al-Assad, rebel fighters and even those affiliated with IS. Some of the crimes that are punishable by death include ‘witch-craft’, homsexuality and working with the US-led Coalition. To date, since the Caliphate was announced across Iraq and parts of Syria, approximately 3,156 people have been executed by IS. This includes about 1,841 civilians who have also lost their lives. Some of these executions have been filmed and promoted by the media arm of IS, Al-Hayat, which produced high definition videos on the gruesome beheadings and crucifixions of individuals. Videos have also been circulated of alleged homosexuals being thrown off the roofs of buildings.
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Continue ReadingWelcome to the age of post-ism. Racism is over, ageism is over, classism is over and so is sexism too, or at least this is popular thought. However, feminism is needed more now than ever and yet our feminist movement is beginning to eerily reflect the sort of attitudes we should be striving against, and at times blatantly demonstrating racist and illiberal attitudes. Feminists have in the past seemed ill at ease with the religious, who have in some cases campaigned against abortions and gay marriage – the cornerstones it could be argued of modern feminist achievement. However with more dangers against women from the state than ever before, how can Western feminism become more inclusive of minority values, and in turn the religious? First we must reflect on what feminism has always been about – was it to focus solely on the individual of the day or to empower women to be able to make decisions about themselves, for themselves? Focusing on a specific religious action with little understanding of context can cause unnecessary divides, whereas uniting on common ground such as wage disparity, maternity rights, and homelessness is plain common sense. Women: the all too often disproportional victims [...]
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It is too often erroneously claimed that Sunni Islam is divided into a legalistic conservative mainstream presided over by jurists, and a mystical, liberal marginalised minority comprised of mystics. However such a perception came to emerge, it is inaccurate. From the beginnings of Islam in the Qur’an and in the person of the Prophet Muhammad himself, through to his companions and the jurists who established the four Sunni schools of Islamic Law, the external application of the law and the internal cultivation of the spirit have always been intertwined. Consider the ritual prayer, performed by Muslims five times a day, as this most demonstrates the interdependence of the external and the internal. In the Qur’an it is said, “Perform the Prayer to remember Me.” In this it is made clear that the Prayer is not simply a series of movements and supplications performed in accordance with an established formula. Rather, its objective is the remembrance of God. The Prophet Muhammad elaborates that, “When performing the Prayer, one is conversing intimately with one’s Lord.” However, he makes clear that, “A man gets credit only for that part of his Prayer of which he is conscious,” and it is not sufficient to [...]
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