Imagine a woman on a beach on a hot day, perhaps your mother, sister, girlfriend or wife. She doesn’t take the sun well so she doesn’t wear a bathing suit and covers her head with a cloth and her shoulders with a shawl while she sleeps. Imagine four police officers approach her, waken her up, demand she uncover her head and shoulders, then fine her for not exposing enough flesh. That’s close to what happened on a French beach yesterday. …
Over the past 30 years or so, I’ve done a lot of travelling in Africa, the Middle East, and all around Europe. Needless to say, this necessitated navigating my way through language barriers. One of my personal habits when I was travelling was to begin by learning how to say one phrase: ‘I don’t speak (insert language).’ Over the years I learned how to say it in French, Polish, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic, Hebrew, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, German, Spanish, and Catalan. …
I recently chanced upon this 1987 review by Charles Townshend in the LRB of Steve Bruce’s God Save Ulster: The Religion and Politics of Paisleyism. It now reads as a fascinating period piece. Just the previous month, Paisley had performed the first of his major protests at the European Parliament, heckling Margaret Thatcher. She was congratulating the EEC on its expansion to Spain and Portugal when he stood up, brandishing an ‘Ulster Says No’ poster, and shouted, “I would like …
Reza Aslan was interviewed last year for CNN and was asked what I’m sure the presenters thought were some tough questions. Given the views aired by right wing individuals such as particular members of UKIP, James McConnell and others, perhaps this video might explain why logic-based non muslims have such problems with your reasoning and arguments. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzusSqcotDw&w=560&h=315] Kris Nixon (Belfast Barman)Kris tweets ferociously as @belfastbarman and runs an associated site, www.belfastbarman.com where he occasionally opines his views. He …
I utterly condemn the individuals who today attacked and killed innocent civilians at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris today. It is horrific and unprovoked and I would if the opportunity presented, would happily press the “on” button for their electric chairs. Also, I am an atheist. I would like you to keep that in mind please throughout this piece. You may have seen a lot of people calling for a response to the killings, printing the cartoon on the …
This story is still developing but what we know so far is at least two masked attackers opened fire with assault rifles at the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. At least one of the dead is a policeman. From the BBC: The gunmen shouted “we have avenged the Prophet Muhammad”, witnesses say. A major police operation is under way in the Paris area to catch the killers. Four of the magazine’s well-known cartoonists, including its editor-in-chief Stephane Charbonnier …
UPDATED In the past twelve months racist attacks in Northern Ireland have increased by 50%. In the early hours of Sunday morning yet another home was attacked in South Belfast – an attack that the PSNI described as a ‘hate crime’. A bottle was thrown and smashed the living room window of a house owned by a Bangladeshi family on Ulsterville Avenue and a car owned by a Kuwaiti family was set alight. The attacks have been widely condemned by …
The affair of the Trojan letter shows secular England struggling to deal with a community whose daily lives are increasingly governed by religion. What Ofsted has exposed as a plot to subvert British values is to its protagonists no more than promoting the good life for the benefit of the overwhelming Moslem majority who attend the four schools in question. And by the way, they furiously deny supporting jihad. Politicians broke away from the anchors of religion long ago. Clearly …
“I would still trust them to go down to the shops for me and give me the right change.” The horribly condescending bigotry of Peter Robinson’s puzzling intervention in the row of over his friend the pastor recalls the atavism of “to hell with the future and long live the past” that leaves unionism with few friends and precious little defence. Witness the spreading clamour against him which his friends will claim is only an excuse to bash poor Peter. Certainly …
Kyle Paisley has commented on the recent McConnell / Robinson Islam debate over on the Eamonn Mallie blog. While there are irreconcilable differences between the theology of Biblical Protestantism and the theology of traditional Islam, this is no reason for any man to go out of his way in order to insult another. One has to wonder what Kyle Paisley therefore thinks of Rev Ian Paisley protesting the Pope or Ian Paisley Jnr being ‘repulsed’ by gay people. All Free …
As the DUP have now entered the fray over the publicity around the anti-Islam sermon preached by Pastor McConnell, here’s a transcript of the extract that is under discussion: I know the time will come in this land, in this land, Protestant Ulster, so-called Protestant Ulster, so-called evangelical Ulster, even Billy Graham said that Northern Ireland was the last bastion of the Gospel … but … I know the time will come in this land and in this nation, to …
John Manley has an interesting interview with First Minister, Peter Robinson in todays Irish News. Over the last week a number of DUP representatives have voiced their support for Pastor McConnell and now Robinson has added himself to that list. Speaking to Manley he said; “This is somebody who has lived his life for Christ.” Questioned about Pastor McConnell’s attack on Islam, Mr Robinson said it was the duty of any Christian preacher to “denounce false doctrine”. “He’s …
