religion

Schools deny girls cervical cancer jabs on religious grounds

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This was originally a guest post at Stupid Evil Bastard, re-posted here following that site’s demise.

It’s been almost three years (!) since I’ve written a Guest Post for SEB, but a recent news story here in the UK prompted me to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and write something.

Over here in the UK, some religious schools have opted out of offering free HPV vaccines to their students. HPV – the Human Papillomavirus – is linked to as many as 70% of cases of cervical cancer and is therefore offered, free of charge, to girls aged 12 and 13. Around 1000 women die from cervical cancer each year, so this vaccine has the potential to save hundreds of lives. And normally, it is up to individual parents’ to opt their children out, but these schools have made the decision to opt out of the vaccine for all of their students.

The HPV vaccine is controversial – not because of any side effects, but because HPV is a sexually-transmitted infection. Consequently, some parents opt their children out as they do not want to encourage sexual promiscuity, or feel that because their religion forbids sexual intercourse before marriage that this is incompatible with their faith.

The key problem is that a number of these schools have not informed local doctors that they have chosen to opt out. Consequently, should a child’s parent actually want their child to have the vaccine, it is not subsequently being offered by their doctor and so some children may miss out.

What is laughable are some of the reasons given by the schools for opting out, such as:

“pupils follow strict Christian principles, marry within their own community and do not practise sex outside marriage”

Because we know how likely that is. Regular SEB readers will know that abstinence-only sex education is not effective and actually results in a higher rate of unprotected sex – and consequently puts both men and women at risk of contracting the virus. Although the vaccination programme only targets girls, men can carry the virus and it while it frequently results in no adverse symptoms, carriers are at a heightened risk of other cancers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has some handy information if you want to read more.

Should schools be allowed to put the health of their students at risk in this way, in the course of religious observance? And if so, should such schools be forced to make the effort to provide parents with the information they need to seek alternative sources of the vaccine?

Father puts pins in son’s tongues because of God

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This was originally a guest post at Stupid Evil Bastard, re-posted here following that site’s demise.

A Nigerian-born father of two boys, living in the UK, felt that since God had his tongue cut off in the Bible, he must inflict similar injuries on his sons. He put pins in their tongues and through their lips, cut their mouths with scalpel blades, and pressing one of the boy’s tongue with sharp pliers until it swelled and bled.

It went to court, and he was found guilty of three counts of child cruelty. He pleaded not guilty; his wife also pleaded not guilty to essentially turning a blind eye to the cruelty. They await sentencing and a verdict on further charges.

New British political leader doesn’t believe in God

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This was originally a guest post at Stupid Evil Bastard, re-posted here following that site’s demise.

The Liberal Democrats, who are a left-wing party in the United Kingdom and rank third after the Conservatives and incumbent Labour Party, have elected a new leader named Nick Clegg. And, in a radio interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, he said that he didn’t believe in God:

New Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has answered “no” when asked on BBC radio if he believed in God.

The rapid-fire question and answer format on 5 Live meant the 40-year-old did not have the chance to elaborate.

He later said he had “enormous respect for people who have religious faith”, that his wife is Catholic and that his children are being brought up Catholic.

“However, I myself am not an active believer, but the last thing I would do when talking or thinking about religion is approach it with a closed heart or a closed mind.”

Both the current Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the previous PM Tony Blair are Christian but they have said little about how their religion affects their roles as leader. Based on my personal knowledge it is rare for a politician to be an outspoken non-believer, especially a leader of a party, though some politicians are outspoken about their beliefs. There are a number of non-Christian members of parliament, including Jews, Muslims and Hindus.

Hindu gods get summons from court

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This was originally a guest post at Stupid Evil Bastard, re-posted here following that site’s demise.

It’s not easy being a God. You’re omnipotent, so you have to be everywhere at once, and answering everyone’s prayers 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, with no rest. And just when it couldn’t get worse – you get summoned to a court in India:

A judge in India has summoned two Hindu gods, Ram and Hanuman, to help resolve a property dispute.

Judge Sunil Kumar Singh in the eastern state of Jharkhand has issued adverts in newspapers asking the gods to “appear before the court personally”. The gods have been asked to appear before the court on Tuesday, after the judge said that letters addressed to them had gone unanswered.

Apparently two temples have been built on land that is claimed to be owned by the temple priest, but the locals claim that the land belongs to the two gods.

We’ll have to see whether they show up in court or not.

Islamists call for the death of a British teacher over a teddy bear

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This was originally a guest post at Stupid Evil Bastard, re-posted here following that site’s demise.

One of the big news stories over here in Britain at the moment is the jailing of a British schoolteacher in Sudan for ‘insulting Islam’. Her crime is that, during a classroom exercise, she asked her pupils to name a teddy bear, and the children chose the name ‘Muhammad’. As well as being the name of one of the pupils, Muhammad is also the name of the Muslim prophet and in Islam it is frowned upon (to say the least) to create idols or images of Muhammad – you may remember the furore surrounding the cartoons that some European newspapers published last year which depicted the prophet as a suicide bomber.

Though it’s obvious to most sane people that the teacher didn’t intend to cause offence when the bear was named (and she has apologised), complaints were made, she was arrested, and has now been jailed for 15 days and will be deported upon release.

That’s bad enough, but now at least a thousand of Sudanese people have demanded a tougher punishment – some going as far as demanding death by firing squad.

The reaction in the UK has been of almost universal condemnation – from Muslim leaders to politicians – and the government is trying to intervene where possible. But should the Sudanese judiciary give into the protesters’ demands, we could see a woman shot to death, over a teddy bear.

Man sees Allah’s name on a chapatti

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This was originally a guest post at Stupid Evil Bastard, re-posted here following that site’s demise.

It’s not just Christians who find Jesus or the Virgin Mary on pieces of toast – a Muslim man from Bradford in England has found the arabic script for Allah, the Muslim God, on a chapatti.

He showed it to his stunned family and since then neighbours and members of the Muslim community have flocked to view it. All agree that the markings on the food appear to spell out the holy name.

Mr Iqbal said: “It was definitely an unusual event. A lot of religious leaders have come to check it and they have confirmed that it is very clearly the name of Allah in Arabic.

“In every other respect it is just a normal chapatti. This has never happened before. We left it as it is, it has gone a bit hard now but it is still clearly visible.”

The Un-Funny Truth about Scientology

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Screenshot of the Un-Funny Truth of Scientology

This was originally a guest post at Stupid Evil Bastard, re-posted here following that site’s demise.

If you have a few moments to spare, watch The Un-Funny Truth about Scientology over at YTMND. It’s a presentation showing how people’s lives have been affected by the Church of Scientology and how events have been covered up. If you were ever in doubt about just how cooky these people are, then this should confirm your suspicions. Beware of some disturbing images, however.

A sequel has also been published which details the Church’s reaction to it.