SecularCafe - Politics & World Events

Thursday, 13 December 2012

Secular Café: House of Lords gets it right, with the aid of strange bedfellows

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

House of Lords gets it right, with the aid of strange bedfellows

Dec 13th 2012, 15:42

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...lting-language

Quote:

The House of Lords on Wednesday night voted to remove a law that criminalises the use of insulting language in Britain.

The upper chamber voted to erase the word "insulting" from the clause in the Public Order Act that covers speech and writing on signs which states "a person is guilty of an offence if he uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour."

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/pl...n-calvert.html

Quote:

Keith Porteous Wood and Simon Calvert: The Lords will vote on Wednesday* on a vital issue of free speech

Keith Porteous Wood is Executive Director of the National Secular Society. Simon Calvert is Deputy Director for Public Affairs at The Christian Institute. Reform Section 5 is a joint campaign initiative of The National Secular Society and The Christian Institute.

Reports are that many in the Commons are sympathetic.

David

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Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Secular Café: Gay Republicans? WTF???

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Gay Republicans? WTF???

Dec 12th 2012, 03:21

I heard a couple people on facebook descirbe themselves as "gay republicans." Isn't that a bit like Jewish Nazis or Black Ku Klux Klansmen?

Secular Café: Fascism on its way back within the EU

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Fascism on its way back within the EU

Dec 11th 2012, 17:29

This is a worrying trend.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20677068

Quote:

With Europe embroiled in its worst economic crisis since the 1930s, are politicians really alert to the nature of that threat?

As with many developments in the eurozone crisis, Greece has become a testing ground for the rise of the extreme right.

Graffiti in big bold red letters is scrawled across the entrance to Athens University. Capitalism is killing you, it says, but fascism won't save you.

Politics has become dangerously polarised.

Golden Dawn - with 18 seats in parliament and its popularity growing - denies that it is a fascist party but its supporters wear black shirts and use neo-Nazi symbols.

They are nationalistic, xenophobic and aggressive.

In the past few weeks, they have smashed up immigrant market stalls, shut down a theatre production they did not like and applauded the flag of the former military dictatorship.

And it gets worse.

"Recently it has come to the point that we see victims of racial attacks almost every day," said Christina Psarra, at the Athens headquarters of the medical charity Medecins Du Monde.

Some of the victims report attacks by men dressed in black. One man from Sudan showed off gouges in his back he said were slashed by men in black with Greek flags.

"This will not only affect migrants in the future," Ms Psarra predicted. "In an area close to Athens with many gay-friendly bars, they have distributed black leaflets saying 'You are next'."

Even Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has compared the situation in Greece with the last days of the Weimar Republic in Germany - a country that had debts it could never repay and turned to Adolf Hitler.

It is a pattern that Europe has seen before: demagogues offering simple solutions to complex problems. Golden Dawn is arguably the most extreme right party to win parliamentary seats in the EU since the founding of the union...

...Jobbik, for example, is the third largest political party in Hungary. It has made its name with outspoken attacks on the Roma minority.

And a few days ago one of its MPs caused outrage with a speech in parliament. A list of names should be compiled, he declared, of Jews who pose a threat to national security.

It was another chilling echo of the past and it has led many critics to argue that the EU and its member-states must do more to fight against extremism.

Monday, 10 December 2012

Secular Café: Pro-Life FAIL

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Pro-Life FAIL

Dec 10th 2012, 19:54

link

Quote:

There is a branch of anti-choice activists that will use pretty much anything as a medium for their message: newspaper ads, graphic signs displayed in front of schools, bus stop benches. You would think they would know well enough to leave one place untouched, though. Wire coat hangers.

You would be wrong.

Springdale Drycleaners of Cincinnati, Ohio, has been etching "Choose Life" ads on wire coat hangers used to hang dry-cleaning.

I assume everyone knows the symbolism of a wire hanger there.

Secular Café: Files On Accused LA Priests Could Soon Be Public.

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Files On Accused LA Priests Could Soon Be Public.

Dec 10th 2012, 21:33

Quote:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Confidential files of dozens of priests accused of sex abuse must be turned over by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to a judge by the end of the month.

The order issued Monday doesn't mean the files will be made public immediately, however.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias will hold another hearing on Jan. 7 to hear objections from individual priests and to decide a dispute over redactions made to the documents.

Plaintiffs' attorneys and the news media are objecting to a prior order that calls for blacking out of the names of church hierarchy responsible for dealing with pedophile priests and other details.

Cont...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...A_CHURCH_ABUSE

This could get interesting...

Secular Café: The political clout of the "nones" in the USA

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

The political clout of the "nones" in the USA

Dec 10th 2012, 11:32

http://www.policymic.com/articles/20...forever/307840

Quote:

Republicans have Evangelicals, and now, apparently, Democrats have atheists. More specifically, Democrats dominate with what Pew calls "nones;" religiously unaffiliated voters that include atheists, agnostics, and people who have spiritual beliefs but don't subscribe to any particular doctrine.

Analysis of the exit polls from the last presidential election shows that these 'nones' played a key role in President Obama's victory in November — and demographic data suggests their influence will only grow from here. This could have a major impact on American politics, and maybe even restore the separation that's supposed to exist between church and state.

I find this interesting because IMO it's a result of the curious mix of religion and politics in the USA. Despite the secular constitution, religion is up there at the forefront of political discourse.

OTOH in Europe, where there are so many state churches, religious issues come up but people aren't very likely to vote on the basis of a candidate's religious stance, nor do non-believers identify strongly with a particular political party.

At the moment, the UK's Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron, is launching a bill to allow same-sex marriage, and there is a strong inter-party campaign for it that involves many leading members of the Conservative Party. I find it hard to imagine something similar on the right wing in the USA.

http://www.channel4.com/news/sir-joh...n-gay-marriage

Secular Café: Persecution of atheists widespread

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Persecution of atheists widespread

Dec 10th 2012, 11:05

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8B900520121210

Quote:

Atheists and other religious skeptics suffer persecution or discrimination in many parts of the world and in at least seven nations can be executed if their beliefs become known, according to a report issued on Monday.

The study, from the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), showed that "unbelievers" in Islamic countries face the most severe - sometimes brutal - treatment at the hands of the state and adherents of the official religion.

But it also points to policies in some European countries and the United States which favor the religious and their organizations and treat atheists and humanists as outsiders.

The report, "Freedom of Thought 2012", said "there are laws that deny atheists' right to exist, curtail their freedom of belief and expression, revoke their right to citizenship, restrict their right to marry."

Other laws "obstruct their access to public education, prohibit them from holding public office, prevent them from working for the state, criminalize their criticism of religion, and execute them for leaving the religion of their parents."