Queen's Trinity Cross medal scrapped... because it's 'too Christian'
medal personally established by the Queen is being withdrawn after it was deemed offensive to Muslims and Hindus.
The honour - known as The Trinity Cross of the Order of Trinity - has been ruled unlawful and too Christian.
It has been awarded to 62 distinguished residents of the former colony of Trinidad and Tobago over more than 40 years, including cricketers Brian Lara and Garfield Sobers, novelist V.S. Naipaul and many diplomats and politicians.
Caribbean storm: The old Trinity Cross (left) is replaced with the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, which has removed any Christian symbols
Egypt’s Swine Destruction Threatens Coptic-Run Industry
Government vows to continue slaughter in spite of international criticism.
By Roger Elliott
CAIRO, Egypt, May 5 (Compass Direct News) – Authorities yesterday pressed ahead with the slaughter of Egypt’s pigs – crippling the livelihood of thousands of swine breeders, nearly all Coptic Christians – in spite of World Health Organization (WHO) criticism that the measure was unnecessary for fighting the A(H1-N1) flu strain.
Cairo, Egypt] Conversion is always a contentious issue in Egypt. Twenty-one-year-old Samar Mohamed’s conversion to Coptic Christianity in order to marry Tharwat Riad has left her on the run from police and her family.
The case has once again sparked tensions between the minority Coptic population and Muslims across the country.
The case has once again sparked tensions between the minority Coptic population and Muslims across the country.
Egyptian riot police clashed on Sunday with stone-throwing pig farmers trying to prevent their animals from being taken away for slaughter as part of a nationwide cull.
Between 300 and 400 residents of the hilly Moqattam slum district of Cairo, where mostly Coptic Christian scrap merchants raise pigs, hurled stones and bottles at police.
Malaysia: Islamic groups none too pleased about ban on "automatic" conversions of children when one parent converts to Islam
Conversion ban slammed
By Elizabeth Looi, Malaysia Correspondent
The Muslim groups say the decision betrayed the religion and infringed on the powers of the Islamic court and the Malay sultans, who have final say on issues involving Islam
Islamic Scholars Wrestle With Death-For-Apostasy Issue
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor
(CNSNews.com) – An international Islamic body has appointed a committee of six religious scholars to study one of the most contentious issues in Islam today – whether “apostates” should face the death penalty.
ROME, April 29 (Reuters) - Egypt's order on Wednesday to cull all the country's pigs is "a real mistake" and another reason why the world needs to rethink using "swine flu" to describe a virus affecting humans, a U.N. agency official said.
(RSD) -- Not all the facts were taken into account in a case last year where a Coptic priest was tried and sentenced to an Egyptian prison for his involvement in the falsification of an ID card indicating a young woman was Christian, rather than Muslim.
CAIRO, EGYPT (Worthy News) -- An ex-Muslim who converted to Christianity and her Christian husband were in hiding Tuesday, April 28, amid threats from family members and police, the latest in a series of attacks against Coptic Christians this month, in which at least two people were killed, several sources said.
Couple goes into hiding as police place Islamic law over Egyptian penal code.
By Michael Larson
ISTANBUL, April 23 (Compass Direct News) – Christian convert Raheal Henen Mussa and her Coptic husband are hiding from police and her Muslim family for violating an article of Islamic law (sharia) that doesn’t exist in the Egyptian penal code.
QENA, Egypt (AFP) – Muslim gunmen shot dead two Coptic Christians as they left church after an Easter vigil in southern Egypt, in an apparent five-year-old vendetta, a security official said on Sunday.
Egypt’s Coptic Church Issues First Conversion Certificate
Key move in former Muslim’s bid to legally convert comes as Islamist outcry peaks.
By Roger Elliot
ISTANBUL, April 14 (Compass Direct News) – In a bold move, Egypt’s Coptic Church has issued its first-ever certificate of conversion to a former Muslim, supporting his petition to have his national identification card denote his Christian faith
CAIRO (AFP) — Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church has for the first time issued a certificate of conversion to a Muslim-born Christian, his lawyer said, in a country where religious conversion is highly sensitive.
Maher al-Gohari, who is seeking to change his religion on his official documents from Muslim to Christian was asked by a court to provide a conversion certificate from the Egyptian church.
Ramallah – Ma’an – A newly-built Coptic Christian church was severely damaged by fire in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday.
Firefighters and police rushed to put out the blaze but were unable to prevent damage to the interior of the building. A depiction of Jesus was one of the only items to survive the fire.
Armenians Blast Obama for Failure to State Genocide
Newsmax
An Armenian-American group that backed Barack Obama in the election is now urging its members to call the White House to protest the president’s failure to recognize the “Armenian genocide.”
As many as 1.5 million Armenians living within the Ottoman Empire perished beginning in 1915 as the Turks fought World War 1. Armenians and most historians regard the deaths as state-sponsored mass killings, or genocide, while Turkey insists the death were the result of a civil war coupled with disease and famine.
Two Asian men wearing traditional female Muslim dress and carrying handbags have robbed a jewellery shop in a possible copycat of an international spate of thefts. The pair wore black Muslim dress, including headwear which completely covered their faces, as well as sunglasses, when they carried out the attack.
Gowhari Court Hearing today adjourned to 2nd May 2009
United Copts GB
In a phone call to Nabil Gobrial, Gowhari lawyer today, United Copts GB learned that today’s Administrative court hearing in Cairo, was adjourned to 2nd May 2009.
Catholic Church slams new code of conduct forcing teachers to promote Islam and gay rights
Daily Mail
It would not be possible for a person of faith to promote another faith: OonaghStannard with Education Secretary Ed Balls
The Roman Catholic Church has severely criticised a proposed new code of conduct for teachers which it says will force Christian schools to actively promote Islam and gay rights.
The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has warned the General Teaching Council, by the professional regulatory body, that many teachers will quit the profession because they will not be able to accept the revised code of conduct in good conscience.
Now fire service introduces hijab headscarves for Muslim workers
Dialy Mail
Covered: The fire service's new uniform for Muslim women
Pop into the firestation and the chances are there'd be a group of reassuringly burly men in there waiting for the call out, with uniforms and firefighting suits tailored for their use alone.
Islamic Lawyers Urge Death Sentence for Egyptian Convert
In case on whether he can legally change religion, Christian is accused of ‘apostasy.’
By Roger Elliott
ISTANBUL, February 26 (Compass Direct News) – In the latest hearing of a Muslim-born Egyptian’s effort to officially convert to Christianity, opposing lawyers advocated he be convicted of “apostasy,” or leaving Islam, and sentenced to death.
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s top human-rights body approved a proposal backed by Muslims nations Thursday urging the passage of laws around the world protecting religion from criticism.
The proposal by Pakistan had drawn strong criticism from free-speech campaigners and liberal democracies.
Egyptian Law Granting Twins to Muslim to be Reviewed
Christian mother wins right to high court appeal regarding ruling that favored Muslim father.
By Roger Elliott
ISTANBUL, February 20 (Compass Direct News) – Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud last week granted the mother of 14-year-old twins Andrew and Mario Medhat Ramses the right to appeal a custody decision awarding her sons to their Muslim father.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A suicide bomber demolished a mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers attending Friday prayers near the Afghan border, killing at least 48 people and injuring scores more, in the bloodiest attack in Pakistan this year. The bomber struck at the climax of the service, as the mosque leader was starting the communal prayer, witnesses said.
UK: Any Muslim advocating for the caliphate, sharia, jihad, and the slaying of homosexuals to be branded "extremist" -- new anti-terror code
Guardian
• Draft strategy brands thousands as extremists • Ministers ponder plan to be unveiled next month
The government is considering plans that would lead to thousands more British Muslims being branded as extremists, the Guardian has learned. The proposals are in a counterterrorism strategy which ministers and security officials are drawing up that is due to be unveiled next month.
Mark Lenihan/Associated Press Aafia Siddiqui,a neuroscientist, is accused of trying to kill American soldiers and F.B.I. agents in Afghanistan.
A federal prosecutor in Manhattan said Thursday that two government psychiatrists had concluded that a Pakistani neuroscientist charged with trying to kill American soldiers and F.B.I. agents in Afghanistan had been faking her symptoms of mental illness.
Ayman Nour's release may be a gesture of goodwill to the Obama administration. His imprisonment had strained relations between Cairo and Washington.
Reporting from Cairo -- An Egyptian political dissident whose imprisonment had strained relations between Cairo and Washington for more than three years was unexpectedly freed today in an apparent goodwill gesture toward the new Obama administration.
URGENT - Fairness before the law for Metaos Wahba - URGENT
Your Excellency,
I am writing to you on behalf of Metaos Wahba, who is a Christian priest in Cairo, who is presently still imprisoned in Tora prison near Cairo.
Metaos Wahba is from the Santa-Maria church at Gizeh. He was accused of forgery of documents. He married a Christian man with a female Christian convert from Islam.
A child of Cairo's streets, with a child of her own
Amira Osman Dakhly, 13, who is carrying her daugher Randa, is one of thousands of street children in Cairo, Egypt.
Amira has a baby girl and is expecting. She is 13, with no permanent place to stay, one of thousands of street children in Egypt, whose laws make a hard life harder for a single mother like her.
Netherlands Supreme Court: Insulting Islam is not insulting Muslims
THE HAGUE
The Supreme Court yesterday produced an important ruling in principle in favour of freedom of speech. The highest court of the Netherlands acquitted a man of insulting Muslims although he dubbed Islam a tumour.
The Supreme Court quashed a ruling by an appeal court in Den Bosch. As had a district court earlier, the appeal court did find the man guilty. Yesterday's acquittal can have consequences for all future court cases on insulting followers of a faith or ideology, including the notorious case against MP Geert Wilders.
Calif. polygamist gets life term for family abuses
MURRIETA, Calif. – A self-proclaimed polygamist was sentenced Friday to seven consecutive life prison terms for torturing seven of his 19 children, abusing four others and imprisoning two of his three wives.
London -- Nearly 600 people joined the One Law for All anti-racist rally against Sharia and religious-based laws in Britain and elsewhere and in defence of citizenship and universal rights in Trafalgar Square and marched towards Red Lion Square in London.
By Christopher Landau BBC Religious Affairs correspondent, Cairo
Maher al-Gohary has converted from Islam to Christianity. In spite of facing death threats, he's engaged in a legal battle to have his changed religion recognised on his official Egyptian documents.
Gamal Mubarak Meets With Coptic Leaders In U.S. In Advance Of Father's Visit
Memri Blog
The Egyptian daily Al-Masryoon reported that during his recent visit to the U.S., Gamal Mubarak, the son of Egyptian Prime Minister Hosni Mubarak, met with Copt leaders in the U.S., in an attempt to deal with problems connected to the Copts in Egypt, and thus to prevent protests by Copts during his father's visit to the White House next month.
Egyptian cleric: Valentine's Day more dangerous than AIDS, Ebola, cholera
There Is No Fun In Islam* Alert: "Egyptian Cleric Hazem Shuman Warns Muslim Youth Against Valentine's Day – More Dangerous than AIDS, Ebola, and Cholera," from MEMRI, February 6 (thanks to all who sent this in):
