Tutu understands ‘anxieties’ of his detractors but stands firm

The Desmond Tutu Peace Centre recently defended the archbishop's stance on Israel, saying that his criticisms were part of his overall efforts for world peace and justice.

“His stand is characteristic of a life-long activist's quest for peace and justice in the world,” the centre's chairman, advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza stated.

Archbishop Tutu recently urged a cultural boycott of Israel as a peaceful method of focussing global attention on Palestine's plight.

This resulted in the much publicised online petition, which accused Tutu of being a bigot, dishonest and a “defamer of Israel and the Jewish people”.

In 2010 Tutu requested the Cape Town Opera to cancel their performances in Israel as Palestinians would not have equal opportunity to watch them.

“That is what sparked the petition,” its author David Hersch told Agence France Presse.

“That's not the main issue, it just was the last straw,” he said.

The petitioners also demanded that Tutu resign or be fired as patron of the Cape Town holocaust centre and the Johannesburg holocaust and genocide centre.

In his statement Ntsebeza made it clear that while Tutu understood the anxieties of his detractors, “his conviction remains firm and so is the strength of his support for the South African Holocaust Centres as patron”.

“He has received support from many members of the Jewish faith who have signed petitions, written letters and issued statements of support,” Ntsebeza added.

Religion spreads because of ‘believers' gene,’ says academic

A Cambridge academic says that religion and spirituality grow because religious people spread a 'believers' gene' among the population around them.

Robert Rowthorn, who is an economics professor at Cambridge University, was writing in a scientific journal when he cited a global study that proves religious people have more children.

The World Values Survey, which covered 82 nations from 1981 to 2004, discovered that adults who attended worship activities on a weekly basis had 2.5 children on average; while those who went once a month had two; and those who never attended had 1.67.

Rowthorn says that this coupled with the existence of a genetic predisposition in some towards belief, lead him to speculate that religion will continue to spread.

Prof Rowthorn wrote: "The more devout people are, the more children they are likely to have."

Some religious sects had fertility rates three or four times the general population, he noted.

If people in these groups only married within them, he said "ultra-high fertility groups would rapidly outgrow the rest of the population and soon become a majority."

The Amish in the US are a good example of this as they have grown from 123,000 in 1991 to 249,000 in 2010, and were forecast to increase to 44 million by 2150 if past trends continued.

Although many tend to leave or marry outside of these groups, Rowthorn does not believe this will stop the spread of religion.

"Defections from such groups will spread religiousity genes to the rest of society," he concluded.

"There will be an increasing number of people with a genetic predisposition towards religion but who lead secular lives."

Bible reading caused Tony Blair to ‘wobble’

On the evening before ordering a bombing raid on Saddam Hussein in 1998, the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair had a “wobble” after a late-night Bible reading session.

This information has been revealed by his much-maligned former communications chief Alastair Campbell in an extract from his diaries.

Mr Campbell who was often reviled as the Labour governments “spin doctor” also famously insisted to the religious Blair that "we don't do God", but he made it clear in his writings that Blair’s faith always played a role in his decision-making.

According to Campbell, Blair got cold feet just hours before an Anglo-American bombing mission against Iraq in 1998, in retaliation for Saddam's failure to co-operate with United Nations weapons inspectors.

"TB was clearly having a bit of a wobble," Campbell wrote in an extract from his diaries, entitled Power and the People, which is serialised in The Guardian.

"He said he had been reading the Bible last night, as he often did when the really big decisions were on, and he had read something about John the Baptist and Herod which had caused him to rethink, albeit not change his mind."

Campbell also reveals in his diaries that ahead of the 1998 operation, Blair gave Saudi Arabia an undertaking that Britain "would not threaten the territorial integrity of Iraq".

Christian protestors clash with police in Cairo

It has been troubled times for the many Christians in the middle East of late, and this trouble continued in Cairo in Wednesday as hundreds of Christian protestors clashed with more than 1,000 police officers.

Police authorities eventually shut Cairo's Mansheyit Nasr district down as helmeted police carrying riot shields and nightsticks stood guard.

Authorities could offer no explanation as to the reason for the protest, and journalists were banned from entering the area.

Injuries were reported on both sides, but exact numbers were not forthcoming.

Mansheyit Nasr is home to Cairo's Zabaleen, the thousands of predominantly Coptic Christians who collect and sort garbage.

Tensions between this community and authorities have been heightened since May 2009, when foreign trash-collecting companies were brought in to replace them.

Why Sarah Palin is at the centre of another storm of controversy

To those who follow global politics, the name of Sarah Palin will be synonymous with controversy. Her conservative political and religious views are not what rub people up the wrong way as much as her tendency to make uninformed and ill-considered statements that cause hurt. Thus, it is no surprise to find Palin at the centre of another storm of controversy when she recently stated that efforts to connect statements by her or others to last weekend's Arizona shootings amount to a "blood libel."

In case you are wondering exactly why so many people found her use of this term offensive, the Religion Professor at Boston University, Stephen Prothero, explains exactly why in an article on religion.blogs.cnn.com.

Prothero said that there were many variations on blood libel through religious history, but the myth normally involved accusing Jews of murdering non-Jews and then drinking their blood for ritual purposes. The myth is historically linked with the Passover practices of Jews.

Sadly, blood libel has been used throughout Jewish history as a pretext for violence against Jews.

Mary C. Boys, a Union Theological Seminary professor who has undertaken a personal study of the history of blood libel, said the myth is "related to blaming the Jews for the death of Jesus and the vilification of Jews. A lot of this is peasant ignorance, but it just never died out."

It is believed by scholars that the term originated in medieval Europe. "From the 11th century onward, there was an increased virulence of Christian vilification of Jews," states Boys.

The myth of blood libel was shaped more strongly in the culture of 12th century England, when a work called the Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich stated that a boy had been ritually tortured and killed by Jews.

The myth of blood libels often allege that Jews used the blood of gentiles to make Passover matzoh, or unleavened bread, and wine.

After the allegations in the Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich, the local Jews were attacked by mobs and forced to flee for their lives.

By the 14th century, ritual murder charges became common in Europe at Passover time.

The Anti-Defamation League, who work to combat anti-Semitism, criticized Palin's reference to blood libel, made in a video posted to her Facebook page Wednesday.

"We wish that Palin had not invoked the phrase 'blood-libel' in reference to the actions of journalists and pundits in placing blame for the shooting in Tucson on others," said the group's national director, Abraham Foxman.

"While the term 'blood-libel' has become part of the English parlance to refer to someone being falsely accused," Foxman said, "we wish that Palin had used another phrase, instead of one so fraught with pain in Jewish history."

Other Jewish groups also lent their weight behind criticisms of Palin's choice of words.

"It is simply inappropriate to compare current American politics with a term that was used by Christians to persecute Jews," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group. "She has every right to criticize journalists without going over the top."

Christian scholars were equally chagrined at Palin's use of the term.

"This is not language that we Christians should use when we're victims," said Boys, who is also a Catholic nun. "This is what we charged Jews with... It's improper for us as Christians, who invented it and used it against Jews with horrific consequence, to use this terminology."

Seven million people attend Feast of the Black Nazarene

The Metro Manila police have reported that seven million devotees joined the celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila on Sunday.

The Black Nazarene is a wooden statue of Jesus Christ, crowned with thorns and bearing a cross, and is believed to have been brought by Spanish missionaries from Mexico to Manila in 1606.

It is believed that the ship that carried the statue caught fire, and the statue, while it survived, was charred. This is how it came to be known as the "Black Nazarene".

The statue has survived fires and earthquakes through the centuries, and intense bombings during World War II.

During the feast, people will try to touch, kiss or wipe clothing on the Black Nazarene in the hope of acquiring graces or miracles.

Metro Manila police chief Director Nicanor Bartolome said the festivities were "generally peaceful" even though the number of those who were injured was nearly three times higher than the figure recorded last year. There were 708 injuries in the estimated 7 million attendees but all of these were minor.

Pope challenges blasphemy laws

Pope Benedict XVI has urged the removal of Pakistan's blasphemy laws, saying that they are used as an excuse for violence against non-Muslims.

The Pope made an impassioned appeal for religious freedom in a speech to ambassadors saying it is a fundamental human right that must be protected in law and in practice.

Benedict challenged Pakistan to reverse the blasphemy laws, which carry a death sentence for insulting Islam, and noted the recent killing of the Punjab governor who opposed them.

It seems that many Pakistanis have stepped out in support of the governor's killer since the assassination a week ago. Crowds have showered him with rose petals and shouted supportive slogans during court appearances.

"I once more encourage the leaders of that country to take the necessary steps to abrogate that law, all the more so because it is clear that it serves as a pretext for acts of injustice and violence against religious minorities," the Pope said.

The Pope has often spoke out against the attacks against Christians in the Middle East and took the opportunity to warn again of the threat that religious intolerance poses to world security.

Benedict listed the injustices done to minority faiths in countries from China to Nigeria and called on their governments to take action. The Pope mentioned in particular the recent violent attacks on Christians attending Mass in Egypt and Iraq, and said that Christians are original members of these societies and deserve to live there in security with full civil rights.

"This succession of attacks is yet another sign of the urgent need for the governments of the region to adopt, in spite of difficulties and dangers, effective measures for the protection of religious minorities," he added.