EXCERPT: France’s highest court has approved a law banning full-facial veils in public – with the exception of mosques – eliminating the last hurdle for the ban. Those behind the law argue that it will protect women’s rights. Its critics, however, say that it stigmatises Muslim women and it is a breach of religious freedom….
Category: In the News
Mainstreaming Hate in the Netherlands (ForeignPolicy)
Here is an excerpt from an article by former Financial Times writer and Dutch media Middle East correspondent Ferry Biedermann published on ForeignPolicy.com on October 4, 2010. The rise of the far right has hardly caused a ripple in the Netherlands. The Dutch coalition deal was done before the end of September, marking the political…
Stopping US Muslim backlash (AJE)
EXCERPT: Religious leaders – Muslim, Jewish, and Christian – met in Washington, DC, on Tuesday [September 7] to denounce anti-Muslim bigotry. More than 30 religious leaders [were] in one room with one aim: to stop a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment that has already had violent consequences. There was the attack on a Muslim taxi driver…
Liberty and tolerance: Our checkered history with religious equality (OregonLive.com)
Here is an excerpt from a great article by Willamette Law Professor Steven K. Green published on OregonLive.com on September 10, 2010. Liberty and tolerance: Our checkered history with religious equality Published: Friday, September 10, 2010, 9:00 AM By Steven K. Green This seems like a good time for a refresher on an important American…
Hitchens on the Danger of Emotions Underlying Self-Pity of Beck Rally (Slate)
Christopher Hitchens in Slate: In a rather curious and confused way, some white people are starting almost to think like a minority, even like a persecuted one. What does it take to believe that Christianity is an endangered religion in America or that the name of Jesus is insufficiently spoken or appreciated? Who wakes up…
Islamophobia: Stoking Fears about an American Community
As a country that has long prided itself on representing a superior national enterprise, we must learn from our past. We have not yet taken unconscionable measures against our Muslim citizens and must avoid doing so at all costs. As our history indicates, our Constitutional values may well be at stake when we fear and…
An Analysis of the Results of the Federal Prop 8 Same-Sex Marriage Trial
In short, Judge Walker ruled based on the evidence presented, as any trial judge should, and regardless of his own personal sexual orientation or biases, Prop 8 supporters simply did not make a viable case for themselves. Sloganeering may have won the election but did not win a trial where real evidence was required. Prop 8 supporters may later look at the ruling and claim it was wrongly decided but as this essay points out, the reality is that they did a poor job presenting their evidence and only put two witnesses on the stand, both of whom had previously written statements that contradicted their testimony in favor of Prop 8. When both of these witnesses were neutralized, Prop 8 advocates had nothing left with which to prove their case and any effort by any judge to add in facts to uphold Prop 8 would have been the very definition of judicial activism.
Transcript of Mayor Bloomberg’s Speech on Ground Zero Mosque
Delivered August 3, 2010 at Governors Island in New York. “We’ve come here to Governors Island to stand where the earliest settlers first set foot in New Amsterdam, and where the seeds of religious tolerance were first planted. We come here to see the inspiring symbol of liberty that more than 250 years later would…
Mayor Bloomberg Gives Stirring Speech on Mosque
Why Using “Landmark Status” to Block the NY Mosque is a Threat to Religious Land Use Rights
I recently received a message from Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) calling on Christians to protest plans to build a mosque in Manhattan near Ground Zero. (http://www.aclj.org/TrialNotebook/Read.aspx?ID=973 ) Although the ACLJ, not to be confused with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), does not try to hide the fact…