Dutch MP to be prosecuted over anti-Islam comments

Right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders, who has made a short film accusing the Koran of inciting violence, must be prosecuted for anti-Islam comments, an Amsterdam court said.

The court overruled the public prosecutor who had declined to prosecute Mr Wilders, whose film Fitna urged Muslims to tear out hate-filled verses from the Koran.

"The Amsterdam appeals court has ordered the prosecution of member of parliament Geert Wilders for inciting hatred and discrimination, based on comments by him in various media on Muslims and their beliefs," the court said in a statement.

"The court also considers appropriate criminal prosecution for insulting Muslim worshippers because of comparisons between Islam and Nazism made by [Mr] Wilders," the statement said.

Fitna, a Koranic term sometimes translated as strife, intersperses shots of the September 11, 2001 attacks and other bombings with quotations from the Koran.

"This is a very black day for me and for freedom of speech. I am shaken. I had absolutely not expected it," Dutch news agency ANP quoted Mr Wilders as saying in an initial reaction.

- Reuters

Penn has a "Warmed Heart"

Obama first president to acknowledge non-believers

In a myriad of firsts, one of the more striking -- but least noticed -- was President Barack Obama's tip of the hat to religious non-believers.

Obama, of course, is the first African-American to win the presidency, but his inaugural was also the first time a US president has ever explicitly acknowledged not just Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus, but "non-believers" as well.

More HERE.

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Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence, according to a study released today.

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NJ rules against church group in gay rights case - The Huffington Post

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WHNT 19: Huntsville?s news leader. Turn to WHNT.com for breaking news, top stories and local weather forecasts where you live. WHNT Taking Action, Getting Results.

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For 20 years, Bart McIntyre has tracked white supremacist movements, even spending two years undercover in Alabama to penetrate a violent young band of criminals who called themselves the Confederate Hammerskins.

Atheists will need martyrs if they are to compete with Christians :: Gerald Warner

Well done Ron Heather, the 62yearold Southampton bus driver who has refused to drive an atheist bus festooned with the slogan Theres probably no God.

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Hampshire | Man refuses to drive 'No God' bus

A Christian bus driver refuses to drive a bus with an atheist slogan proclaiming "There's probably no God".

Military Youth Ministry Stalks Students

Bogus `Christian Nation' History

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With the exit of the Bush administration, critics of abstinence-only sex education will be making an aggressive push to cut off federal funding for what they consider an ineffective, sometimes harmful program. News, Headlines and Latest Stories on Yahoo! News

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SuicideGirls > News > Culture > The Evolution of Religion

EDITORIAL

Rick Warren Urges Christians to Be as Dedicated as Nazis

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Saudi OKs Killing "Immoral" TV Execs

Saudi Arabia's top judiciary official has issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast immoral content. The 79-year-old Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan said Thursday that satellite channels cause the "deviance of thousands of people."

"I want to advise the owners of these channels, who broadcast calls for such indecency and impudence ... and I warn them of the consequences," he said. "Those calling for corrupt beliefs, certainly it's permissible to kill them. Those calling for sedition, those who are able to prevent it but don't, it is permissible to kill them."

More HERE.

Comedian who satirised Pope could face prosecution

Sabina Guzzanti, known for her take-offs of the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, risks being jailed for up to five years. The prosecutors recommended to the justice ministry that she be indicted because of a speech she made to a leftwing rally in July.

Referring to the attitude to gay people of the Catholic church and Pope Benedict - the former cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - Guzzanti said: "In 20 years Ratzinger will be dead and will end up in hell, tormented by queer demons - not passive ones, but very active ones."

More HERE.

Major Christian Organization Endorses the Military Religious Freedom Foundation

With all the attention being given to the radical fundamentalist brand of Christianity espoused by churches like that of Sarah Palin -- a brand of Christianity practiced by a minority of American Christians -- I'm extremely happy to be able to write something about an organization that represents the views of the far more numerous mainstream and progressive Christians in our country.

This week, the California Council of Churches IMPACT (CCCI) announced its formal endorsement of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), and its intent to support MRFF and file an amicus brief in MRFF's federal lawsuit against the Department of Defense.

More HERE and HERE.