The Teddy Bear Teacher Free

Gillian Gibbons, the British woman who was found guilty by naming a teddy bear Mohammad. Mohammad is the same name as the Prophet Mohammed. Gibbons was granted a presidential pardon was released. the Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir granted Gibbons pardon. Gibbons refused to reveal her whereabouts after her release from prison. A source said that Gibbons is in British embassy custody. Two of British lawmakers by the name of Lord Nizar Ahmed and Baroness Warsi had met with the Beshir ans he signed the pardon when they ask for a petition for Gibbon's release. Gibbons was found guilty of insulting religion so the Sudan courts sentenced her to fifteen days in jail.

Now that she is free; she issued a statement that showed her respect to the Islamic people and she apologized for any trouble that she may have caused during that incident. To this date, Gibbons have spent eight days in jail, about seven days short of her remainder of her sentence. According to news sources, blasphemous of religion is strict forbidden, especially on Mohammed in Islam. These were a crowd of people in front of the British embassy during Gibbons convictions. They were trying to free Gibbons. She arrest have outraged the citizen of Britian. The Committee of Muslim Scholars in Sudan said that Gibbons served a very light sentence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kegGMRo03K0

Clinton on AIDS Issue

Hilary Rodham Clinton, one of the 2008 Presidential Candidates talked about disease around the world such as AIDS. She made a speech that depicted Biblical references and talked about her own faith concerning about HIV/AIDS and other diseases around the world. She want to spend billions of dollars to battle this crisis. Clinton said that AIDS is a problem within our "common humanity" to solve. She made an appearance at Saddleback Church in Orange County. Rick Warren, a pastor used to go to this college each year to discuss HIV/AIDS. Clinton made a proposal regarding the spread of HIV/AIDS. She made a speech to about one thousand and seven hundred partispants.

She made a proposal that if she is president, she double the research budget on HIV/AIDS to five point two billion dollars annually. The current research on combating HIV/AIDS is at the National Institutes of Health. Also, during the speech, she said she would spent about one billion dollars a year to address the malaria infection in Africa. She want to eradicate that infection. the speech got Clinton to appear on stage with Warren. They give a hug to each other. Warren is also fighting AIDS in Africa. He is trying to reach out to evangelicals to support their causes and he have done so in recent years. Hopefully, their cause will help a lot of people out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQK4YNFfezA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dSMfLkp7_s

The Case with Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Dutch author Ayaan Hirsi Ali said that Muslims should protest terrorism. Hirsi Ali was the target of death threats after she published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. She is angry when people committ terrorism all in the name of a religion. Ali said that Muslims should not use their religion as an excuse to justify terrorism. It is wrong. Also, she said that Muslims shouldn't be so concern about drawings of Prophet Muhammad, they should be concern about people who are giving beheaded and blown up. Hirsi Ali is under the protection of a bodyguard for she fear that she would one day get killed just like the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Van Gogh produced a film, titled Submission, which Hirsi Ali wrote the script for. The film was about Muslim women was are oppressed by the men.

He was shot and stabbed to death by a Muslim radical. There was a letter attached to the knife telling Hirsi Ali that she is next on the list. The Muslim radical is now serving a life sentence for the death of Van Gogh. The place when Hirsi Ali made the speech was kept secret. Besides the speech, Hirsi Ali had a debate with Ed Husain, a former Islami extremist about the West and the future of Islam. They have disagreements on whether Islam have restrictive laws or what not. Hirsi Ali argued that Muslims who called themselves "moderates" doesn't follow every rules in the Koran seriously. She might have said that people can choose how they view religion or practice religion. Here are some information about Hirsi Ali's background on religion. Hirsi Ali grew up as a devout Muslim. Now she identify herself as atheist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg8AYs56RAY

Homeland Asylum

A new policy with the Homeland Security Department could make people are are seeking asylum in the United States be detained and jailed a longer time than the normal rate. This policy is from the post-September eleventh instruction on whether if people such as immigrants could to the United States with bad paperwork. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Homeland Security Department, said this is a good idea because it will make things better, to be exact, more consistent and clear. Other people such as the refugee advocates said it will be tougher on people trying to get into America. The standards may be judged unfairly.

The new policy will give the detention and removal officers the power to decide if a person should get asylum in the United States. Here are the reasons: "if the person is seriously ill, a juvenile, pregnant, a witness in judicial, administrative or legislative proceedings or whether detention of the person is not in the public interest." This action might limit the amount of people getting into the United States even more. In these times, when people are afraid of terrorism, they will create new rules and regulations to kept themselves safer from harm's way. Under this new policy order, things may be better, better for the citizens of America.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/politics/story/209040.html

Anti-Gay Letters

There was an dispute within the Alberta Conservative Party concerning an anti-gay letter. The outcome was that the party dropped one of their candidates out. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach said indeed this was difficult decision and this issue must be confidential. The Alberta Conservative Party is consists of forty executive committee members. Stelmach is the head of the pack. They voted on a decision whether to endorse a candidate who founded an anti-gay letter linking to a group of people. They decided to vote him out. The candidate was named Craig Chandler. Stelmach said that Chandler's nomination in Calgary-Egmont was not good for the party so he will not be endorsed.

Chandler was not happy about this decision. He said he's quitting the party and might run against the party in the next election. "I'm not going to belong to a party that doesn't want me,'' is what he said after finding out about the decision by the party. The Alberta Human Rights Commission said that the anti-gay letter broke provincial law with its constitution. Chandler have to face the U.S. court concerning the letter. He have to attend anti-communist hearings debating if he should be held liable for these allegations. Chandler was getting himself into more trouble because he speaking about this issue and how he is being treated unfairly.

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/12/120207alberta.htm

Religious Lawsuit

A federal magistrate judge recommended a lawsuit dealing with an inmate's religion to go ahead with its proceedings. The lawsuit was against the state Corrections Departments concerning on the issue that the inmate couldn't observe Jewish holidays. Gordon Bock is the inmate's name. The judge stated that Bock have produce enough evidence for the courts to take a look at the case. Here is a little background of Gordon Bock. Bock was arrested, trialed and found guilty of "domestic assault, violation of an abuse-prevention order, attempted unlawful trespass and violation of conditions of release convictions." He was from Northfield. Now he is in his early fifties.

The case with Bock was that he argued the prison staff and the Correction officials refuse his request to practice his religion in these forms such as having a menorah for Hanukkah and having kosher foods for Passover. He said they violated the policies and denied his request which Bock discribed it as "minor requested accommodations." Actually, if the prison staff and the Correction officials had let him have the food, it would be free because a religious group would provide it. The food is part of a strict Jewish dietary restrictions that is suppose to partake during Passover. Now, Bock is seeking for justice. The prison department denied any of these allegations took place.

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071202/NEWS02/712020404

Teddy Bear Case Takes New Turn?

Two British lawmakers are going to have a discussion with Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir to see if the British teacher could possible get a pardon. A British teacher by the name of Gillian Gibbons was convicted for insulting religion after she named a bear Mohammad. She was found guilty by the Sudan courts and sentenced to fifteen days in jail. One of the British lawmakers have been revealed as Nazir Ahmed who is trying to help Gibbons get out of jail. She is currently serving the remainder of her sentence. The other British lawmakers name was Sayeeda Warsi. They are both Muslim members of the House of Lords. They want the Sudanese government to release Gibbons because it would create what they called ain international goodwill toward their country.

Their timing might be judged as too late since Gibbons is serving the last week of her sentence. Pretty soon, she will be release from jail, but might face issues such as deportation. Some of the people in the Sudan's government are willing to hand over Gibbons to the British Embassy, but after some heavy pressuring from the minorities that want Gibbons to suffer the consquences, they didn't want to hand her over anyone. According to a public source, Gibbon made an apology statement to one of the faculty member which was offended by the situation with the teddy bear. On a smaller note, Gibbons was cleared of charges like inciting hatred. This case have angered people from both side, in Sudan and in Britian. Hopefully, this incident will calm down, and Gibbons will let go and everything will be alright.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiiOXr4nxdc

Romney and Religion

Mitt Romney, the 2008 Presidential Candidates said he is ready to talk about religion. This is a quote he said when he was referring to John F. Kennedy. He too have to talk about religion and he did. "I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end,'' JFK delcared -- in 1960. "I am not the Catholic Church's candidate for president... I am the Democratic Party's candidate.'' Romney plan to talk about his religion Mormonism which have troubled voters when they are debating whether to vote for him or not. His campaign said that Romney's speech is addressed as "Faith in America." Will Christians vote for him?

There was a poll, a while ago showing that twenty-five percent of all evangelical Christians are having trouble voting for Romney. This upcoming speech might tell how Romney is on the issue of religion and how he deals with his own religion. Romney will make the speech at George H.W. Bush Presidential Llibrary in College Station, Texas. Also, George Bush, father Bush Senior will introduce Romney to the floor to address his issue. Romney hope to confront the religious prejudice that he was facing in the speech. We will have to see if Romney have what it takes to tackle the issue of his own religion.

http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2007/12/romney_ready_to_address_religi.html

Supreme Court Dispute

Alberta Hutterities refused to take a picture for his driver licence. He is saying that it is against his religion for taking a picture. The Supreme Court, the country's highest court in Canada took charge of this incident. The Supreme Court is making necessary judgements to see if Albert Hutterities can legally refuse to take a picture. The Supreme Court agreed to about looking into an appeal by the Alberta government considering this matter. The Alberta government passed a legislation in 2003 that requires all drivers to have photo identifications. Before the law passed, Hutterite Brethren have been exempted from having a photo identification for their driver license. The Alberta government want photo identification from everyone because of a strategy that they came up with to combat terrorism and theft.

Albert Hutterities are from the Hutterian Brethan of Wilson Colony. They said the government should not enfringed their views on their religion and that this is their rights. The Hutterities took this case to court in the first place, after one of their members was pulled over and fined for not having a valid driver licence. The problem was that there was no picture on the driver licence, hence the law that said they need it. The Alberta government issued driver licences to those who have religious objections of having their picture taken. Early this year, the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench said that the Alberta law that required everyone to have photo identification violated the freedom of religion under the Charter of Rights rule. There were split decisions in the provincial court of appeal, so the Supreme Court took hold of this issue.

http://www.hutterites.org/

Religion in Candidates we Trust

Religion have been in the news of lately, especially with the 2008 Presidential Candidates. The Republicans candidates are trying to get their religious views out to the public while the Democratic Candidates try to deal with more political issues. Hillary Clinton, one of the candidates said "I talked about my faith years ago and was pilloried for it," which he tried to refer to other things. If people like Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards talked about how God guides them throughout life to the public more than usual, then things for them would be different. They would still be votes, but it would be harder for them to appeal to the religious voters and they need votes from them too.

Religion is important to them. They told about religion, hoping it would improve their scores. Hilary Clinton talked about how her religious faith helped her to repair her marriage. Barack Osama use to define himself as having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Currently, Obama is a member of the United Church of Christ where he worships the Lord of Jesus Christ. John Edwards, a Methodist too, talked about how his faith have helped him throughout life.

Pat Robertson got Sue

A law student was sueing Pat Robertson, the famous televangelist. He claimed that Robertson violated his rights of freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Adam Key is his name and he is suspended by his school for posting a picture of Pat Robertson on the Facebook Web page. Robertson is also the president of a private Christian school in Virginia called Regent University. The photo depicted a obscene photo of Robertson scratching his face with his middle finger. He said it was a funny photo. He also said that he didn't manipulate the photo; he took it off of YouTube and it was like that from there to Facebook. He said he just copy the picture from YouTube to his Facebook webpage and he didn't to anything to the picture. The picture is real.

Key thought Robertsons' photo was funny since he got caught making obscene gestures. He was told to take down the photo after a bunch of people found out about his displays. Key's argument was that there was a violation of his freedom of religion and speech since he had to take down the picture because some people didn't like it. Key was not happy abour his one-year suspension from the school. He said that he got into all kinds of trouble all because he criticized Pat Robertson. The school said Key violated its obscenity policy rule and its not because of Pat Robertson. Key want to transfer to another law school, but he can't because he is suspended. Key's lawyer siad that the University doesn't have to right to make Key take down the photo. Now, Key is suing Regent University and Pat Robertson for various damages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1bluMXnp9A

Teddy Bear Jail

A teacher who was arrested for naming a teddy bear by the name of Mohammed, was found guilty by a Sudanese court and was sentenced to prison for fifteen days. She was found guilty of insulting religion, a charge under Article 125 of the Sudan's constitution. The teacher named Gillian Gibbons also could be deported out of the country by the Sudanese after she have served her sentencing. There was two other charges brought against her two. One of the charges was inciting hatred and the second one was contempt for religious beliefs. Her lawyer said she will try to appeal the decisions make by the Sudanese court. Muslims found this issue to be highly offensive and a punishment is suitable for this incident.

Gibbons had a closing hearing at a courthouse in Khartoum, where a British Embassy staff member and defense lawyers came to show their support for her. Police was all over the place, guarding the courthouse, making sure there was no trouble going on. They kept journalists out of the way, so no one could disturbing the trial procedures. There was a dozen of policeman wo linked their arms in the front of the courthouse. When things got out of hand, the police did some police work which they called "tough justice." Some of the journalists got detained and a camera was taken away. Also, there was four vans fill with police officers, parked outside the courthouse to see if there would be protest or public disturbances. Thankfully, there was no need for the vans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwShmHQpH6Q

Lebanon's Views on Christians

The state of Lebanon is in a state of content, especially Christians. The office for the President's position have not been filled yet and time is ticking. The postion have been empty for the pass five days. Emile Lahoud who was the former President and his term ended at November 23, 2007. There have been power struggles between the Sunni and the Shi'ite Muslim group. Without a President to control the incident, chaos might erupt through the country in due time. Politicals call this event without a president to be known as a vacuum in the presidency. Former President Amin Gemayei said that "when there is a vacuum in the presidency of the republic, it directly translates into the absence of Christians from the constitutional structure and the increased marginalisation of their role."

Christians are worry about not having a president. Wars might take place without a leader governing over its nation. The United States wants a election to take place, to election a new president immediately. They don't want anything bad to happen to Lebanon and its citizens. Yacoub Sarrah, a former minister said that Christians doesn't have anyone to back them up when they are in trouble. The Sunnis have the support of Saudi Arabia and the Shi'ites have the support of the Iranian sponsorship. Sarrah called the support as a foreign backer; a foreign backer is when the Christians needed. Their existence as a Christians position is in a state of endangerment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZODk-oW5ys

Monkey Meat

Mamie Manneh, a meat eater was in trouble by eating monkey meat. Even since, her baptism in Liberia, she had eaten monkey meat. Now that she is in America, mainly in New York, she have to obey the laws and regulation that the government holds true to. The New York courts are charging her with meat smuggling of monkey meats. Her custom ways are getting in the way of a tribal customs that she practiced in her native homeland. Her case appeared to be an unusual case since it deals with religious values and cultural clash. Manneh was caught when some cardboard boxes was shipped to her from Guinea. The boxes was said to contain African dresses and smoked fish, but instead they had bushmeat.

Bushmeat is a word that West Africans referred to as "skulls, limbs and torsos of non-human primate species." Also, in the boxes was the leg of an antelope. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents was on the case and went to talk to Manneh. Manneh gave them permission to conduct a search at her home. While searching through her garage, they found a small hairy arm which belongs to a monkey. Manneh said that the monkey was a gift to her from God. Manneh was being charge with violating importing procedures. Also, they were concern that these meat that was sent to her could contain diseases such as HIV and SARS. Now, she is awaiting trial. This is her second case against her. The first one was about Manneh trying to run a woman over with her car. She got a two-year sentence for that which she is serving. Now, with this case, she might have to serve more years in prison.

Sex scandal in Alaska

Archbishop Earl Paulk is in trouble for sleeping with his brother's wife and getting her pregancy with his child. Paulk is the leader of a Atlanta megachurch in Georgia. In the past, his family revealed his sex scandal to the members of Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church. An paternity test ordered by the court revealed that indeed Paulk have fathered a child with his brother's wife. Paulk was surprised by the news because he said he didn't know that he fathered a child with his brother's wife. The district attorney is trying to file a case with an investigation against him. This is not the only trouble that Paulk is in. A lawsuit have been filed against him too. This lawsuit was from Mona Brewer, a former church employee who is suing Paulk and the church about an affair they had by manipulating her with the lord's name. She said that Paulk told she that being with him is the path to salvation for her.

Paulk acknowledged that the event that happened between them. He told his church all about it last year. Paulk blamed the church because it put too much strain into him. As for the church, it became very popular to this day. The church started in 1960 and now is on a hundred acre land. Also, during the 1960s the church opened its doors to black people, women and gays. As times goes by, its member grew and grew. During the 1990s, "the church was able to build a Bible college, two schools, a worldwide TV ministry and a $12 million sanctuary the size of a fortress." Nowadays, the church is estimated to have one thousand and five hundred members and eighteen pastors. The bible college and the TV ministry are doing very poorly because of the sex scandals that have contributed throughout the years. Things are going bad for everyone. Now, Paulk only gives about ten minute speeches every Sunday meeting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3GsiincDCg

The Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations

The Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations is a megachurch that was founded by a Nigerian immigrant named Sunday Adelaja, thirteen years ago. The church have over thirty thousand members. Adelaja want to expand the church, to be viewed worldwide. He want to reach out to the United States so he traveled to the United States to convince people to join his cause because he believe that the United States is a good mission ground to spread the word of God. Adelaja want to put the passion of God back into people's heart and he hope to do that by building more churches and getting more members. He spoke about the values of Americans and how this country have the largest number of abortions, school shooting, etc. He doesn't want the Christian values go down the drain.

Back in Ukraine, where he lived, Adelaja have trained missionaries to go around the world to start churches. Overall, Adelaja said that there are more than six hundred churches that they started in a dozens of nations around the world and he is not going to stop there. He doesn't have big influences in the United States to build any big churches, but he might in the future. Right now, he is trying to gather a lot of people and he can get a network going, although studies show that Adelaja started a bible school i nnew Jersey called the History Makers Bible School that held classes for pastors around the world during its weekend classes. Next year, Adelaja said he is going to Atlanta to see how the leaderships are going in these churches and see how they can be improve for the better. Also, he plan to write a book called "Church Shift" that tells the pastors in the United States how to reach out to people who don't believe in God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=602FWgRSIZk

Polygamist Goes to Jail

A polygamist leader was sentenced to prison by a judge in Utah. The polygamist leader received a term of five years to life, served consecutively in prison for marrying his underage cousins. This polygamist leader is formally known in Utah as Warren Jeffs. Jeffs was convicted for his marriage to his two cousins. One of his cousin was ninteen years old and the other was fourteen years old. The Utah parole board is still determining his length of sentencing. Bugden who was Jeffs' attorney said that this whole case was based on religion. Religion got Jeffs in trouble. Jeffs is the leader of a group called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It's member tend to engage in polygamy with younger girls and older men in arranged marriages. Also, this group tend to reside in Utah, Arizona, etc.

The prosecutor said that Jeffs told Elissa Wall, his fourteen year old cousin that God said they have to get marry and if they don't then his cousins' salvation will suffer. Now, Wall is all grown up and is testifying against Jeffs for their marriage. Wall got restitution from Jeffs from the state fund and now she can get restitution from Jeffs, but Wall said she doesn't need restitution, she just want justice. The closest day for Jeffs' case to be review is in 2010, but it might be later depending on how the courts handle the situation. Previous documents from the judge reviewed that Jeffs have attempted suicide. Apparently, he tried to hang himself in jail. Also, Jeffs have made conversations with his followers. He said that the lord have punished him for his demented act. In later news, Jeffs faced similar charges in the state of Arizona.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4jfnozNUT0

BWO (Bahai World Order)?

In Israel, there lies the Bahai faith which is categorize as one of the fastest growing religion in the world. Their main goal is to preach global inity and world peace. The Bahai faith was founded about one hundred and seventy years ago and now with millions of members around the world. The Bahais focuses on a Persian-born prophet named Bahuallah who preaches to the people of Israel about "unity, equality and world federation to save mankind from the plagues of the modern world." Bahuallah died in Israel, but his message continue to spread across the world. A shrine was builted in Haifa, Israel to commemorate Bahuallah. It's actual locations is at the Bahai World Centre where Bahai gardens grace the plain fields. Many people came to the Bahai World Centre from around the world to witness the phenomenon and some of them volunteered their services to tend to its wonderful gardens.

Its believers were amazed at how things have turned out. People give out brochures to non-believers hoping that they would join their cause too. One brochure quoted that "the central theme of Babaullah's social teachings is that humanity is one single race and the day has come for its unification into one global society" which explains it all too well. One of their beliefs that they hold truely are the solutions to important issues like global warming and racism that utimately can solved by eliminating prejudice and poverty, etc. They want people to have an universal educational system and a sexual equality. As for the gardens which are care for by about eighty paid volunteers to keep it in good condition. The gardens are made up of twenty-one terraces and took about ten years to created and opened it doors to the public in 2000. The estimated cost for this creation was about two hundred and fifty million dollars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz0wGX1DZ_M

Iraq Schools Teach Religion

Iraqi Kurdistan schools have benn approved to teach religions in schools. People in Kurdistan tend to believe in the Quran as a religious guide in life. Quran is referred to the people of Islam as the holy book, but now other people are having second thoughts as believing in only one religion. They want a freedom to express an interest in other religion too. The Kurdish Regional Government's Ministry of Religious Affairs approved ninteen campuses around the country to include subjects that depicts other religions such as Christianity, Judaism, etc. One teacher by the name of Mahmond who believe this is a good thing, said that he is trying to find similar themes between all the religions around the world. This new theme on teaching other religions in schools will be a new breakthrough in understanding religions.

In the past, their government forbide them to teach religions in school other than Islam. Even mosques were prohibit to perform other religions without extensive consequences. Mohamed, the regions's minister of religious affairs said that these religion classes would raise awareness of different religions that were practiced by about three percent of the population. One concern person by the name of Araz Najmaddin Abdulla said that there will be risks for teaching religions in schools other than Islam. Muslim students would have a problem with learning about Jews. Abdulla is commonly known as the general director of curriculum for the regional Ministry of Education. Also, he said that there is a committee that is having a debate on the issue of teaching other religions in school. Most people would probably not approve the issue because the country is still a Muslim territory.

South Carolina Voters on Religion

A recent poll on religion in South Carolina showed that religion makes a differences for the voters and voters are very important to the 2008 Presidential Candidates. All of the Presidential Candidates tend to rely on their faith to reach other to voters and having a religious views on things could make a big differences to their campaign. The poll showed that ninety percent of voters in South Carolina said that religion is very important to them. Presidential candidates such as Sentor John McCain and Mike Huckabee have showed that their religion is Baptist and Rudy Giuliani have identified himseld as a Roman Catholic. All these Presidential Candidates seem to share their faith and religious views with Americans hoping to grasp their concept that we have the same religion, therefore, we understand where you are coming from.

President George W. Bush have used his religious views throughout his campaign election to seek voters and tell them about his religious faith and how it will help him as a president. It will guide him to a right path as a good president. That helped him to get his election and re-election as president. Even Hilary Clinton said that talking about religion will help the Democrats to get a better view with its voters and its members. She said that we should use religion such as the bible to win debates just like the Republicans do when discussing about controversial issues. As for the citizens of South Carolina, speaking about faith could be a good move for the Presidential candidates epecially, if they want to get African American voters on their side. Studies have shown that half of the voters in the Democratic voting period might be African Americans since they accumulate a large portion of the population in South Carolina.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePacNYilwcc

Teddy Bear Name

A British teacher named Gillian Gibbons was arrested by Sudanese authorities for insulting a religion. The case was that she was teaching students in a school and they have to do a class project. Apparently, she let one of her student called her teddy bear by the name of Muhammad. It all started with a lesson plan on learning about animals. Gibbons ask her students to name names that the teddy bear should be called by. The students came up with three names: Abdullah, Hassan and Muhammad. Then she have the students vote for only one name and the majority voted to call the teddy bear Muhammad. The whole point of this project was to write a diary about what them and the teddy bear. Each students was suppose to take a teddy bear home for the weekends and write a diary about what they did with the teddy bear. Then the diaries were put into a book with a picture of the teddy bear in front.

Gibbon's defenders said it was just a misunderstanding that intended to degrade the name Muhammad. Robert Boulos, the school's director said this was a misake and that Gibbons had not met to insult anyone. Also, several newspaper articles was on the incident and reported that the school made an official apology to the Muslim community about this incident. She have been relieve from the school. Now, Gibbons is being heold in a Khartoum prison, waiting for trial. If she is found guilty of a crime, she could get jail time, forty lashes or fines the courts. The problem was that by naming the teddy bear Muhammad, it could be an insult to their religion since Islam's prophet and founder was Muhammad. The Muslims could this insulting by naming an animal Muhammad, even though it is a common name used by Muslim men. A trail is waiting to see if the courts want to press charges against Gibbons. This issue have outraged the Muslim community around the Islamic world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lOFUstX88U

Larry Craig Sudden Change

Larry Craig, Idaho Senator was in big trouble. Craig have been arrested for lewd conduct, pleaded a lesser charge, now had said that he was going to resign as Idaho Senator if things kept going bad for him, meaning that if the courts don't overturned their decisions on his situation. Apparently, it did. His attorney filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea was investigating. Two of Craig's attorney argued that his actions are considered disorderly conduct if you look at the facts and the other point was that the plea agreement that he signed and mailed in was what they called "defective," in other words, there was no judge's signature on it. Craig said that he would remain in office if the court doesn't rule in his favor to withdraw his guilty plea.

Judge Charles A. Porter, Jr. who was the judge looking at Craig's case, denied Craig's motion to withdraw his guilty plea agreement on October fourth, 2007. He ruled that Craig have a clear decision when he sign the guilty plea agreement. There was enough evidence to state that Craig signed the decision. Craig was not happy about Porter's decision. He said that he will continue to serve out his Senate term, even though he said he was going to resign. Craig want to clear his name up with the Senate Ethics Committee which he might not get to do if he wasn't a Senator so he said he would remain a Senator in order to clear his name up. A couple of weeks later, Craig said he will try to appeal to the court's decision. Larry Craig had gotten into a jam, he cannot get out off. Pretty soon, he would have to fend for himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXdrcEBDjpk

Larry Craig Going Down

Larry Craig announced his that he is going to resign from being the Senator of Idaho at a news conference. On the first of September, Craig was all sad about resigning as the Senator. Craig was in all kinds of trouble after the was caught in a Mens restroom by an undercover officer for lewd conduct. He pleaded guilty to misorderly conduct charges. As time goes by, Craig was in all kinds of trouble, he have to defend himself on these allegations, his 'I am not Gay" speeches and his positions in government. His family was facing all these crisis from reporters questioning about his delimmas. Craigs' downfall have begun rapidly. There was a lot of headline news about Craig's positions. He have to step down from a few of them, but the most important one was the Senator which he said he was going to resign if things kept going badly the way it is.

About a week later, after Craig had made his decision to resign, his attorneys filed a motion about his guilty plea. They want to withdraw his guilty plea because it violated his consitutional rights. Also, his lawyer said that Craig was under the assumptions that if he made a guilty plea agreement that these allegations would not go public. Apparently, it went public and got the worse of him. He was under distress by the media. The media have made a mockery out of his sexuality.The American Civil Liberties Union was defending Craig's rights. They filed an amicus curiae brief, which is a written legal document to the courts, arguing about their positions on these matters. They said that the police carefully plan out the operation and things didn't go smoothly, and some of the information got tainted; therefore, the courts should withdraw Craig's plea agreement and the states should charge him in any way. The trials continues on this issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHC1gf99sq0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u_NlVvpRYA

End of Senator Larry Craig?

Senator Larry Craig is in all sorts of trouble after things getting out of hand for him. Craig was arrested by lewd misconduct. He pleaded guilty to those charges, but it was a lesser charge. He said he was trying to make everything go away so he pleaded guilty, but things didn't go away. It went around him, over his head and slap him right in the face. Craig have to defend himself on these allegations and his pleading to the guilty verdict. His family and friends were in trouble because of his whole ordeal. Craig removed himself from supporting for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. He was one of the two Senate that supported Romney. Romney said he was disappointed of Craig and Craig replied how Romney didn't handled the incident very well. He said that Romney hurt him all kinds of ways even through he supported them.

Craig was in trouble with the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washingston. They filed a complaint on whether Craig have violated the Senate Rules of Conduct which he was required to obey. The Senate Ethics Committee was investigation into these matters. Another thing is that Craig have held postions in the Republican offices. He was told to step down on these positions and he did. The positions were the Veterans Affairs Committee, Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, and the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests. Craig did just that, but it was a temporary step down process. Also, the contributions that he made to people such as Senator John McCain and Senator Norm Coleman said they will donate the campaign contributions that they received from Craig to charity. Craig is going down in history and pretty soon he might have to step down from being as an Idaho Senator too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2b1N74bQUE

Senator Larry Craig Continues

Senator Larry Craig was arrested by an undercover officer for lewd misconduct in a Mens public restrooms. Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct charges which he was fined for. Things got out to the public about his incident and Craig have to do something about it before he gets into more trouble. Craig did; he made an annoucment to the public for his inappropriate conduct which he said he was not responsible for. He also said he made a mistake by pleading guilty to the charges because he was trying to get it over with. Craig said he was not gay. He said he had made a poor decision in dealing with the situation and he just want to make the situation go away so he pleaded guilty to the lesser charges.

Senator Larry Craig apologized to the his family and friends and he said about the whole ordeal that have been dealt to him. Here is a speech about what Craig actually said: "I am not gay. I never have been gay.... In June, I overreacted and made a poor decision. I chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge in hopes of making it go away.... Please let me apologize to my family, friends and staff and fellow Idahoans for the cloud placed over Idaho. I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport. I did nothing wrong, and I regret the decision to plead guilty and the sadness that decision has brought on my wife, on my family, friends, staff and fellow Idahoans." Things were not looking good for him because of all the trouble that got him into when he decided to engage in this sort of situation. Hopeful, Craig have deal with this situation before it deals with him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsDfOTLWj5k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL8xQ3UPYoA

Senator Larry Craig

Senator Larry Craig is in all kinds of trouble after an incident when he got arrested by an undercover police officer. Larry Craig, whose religion is Methodist was arrested at the St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis on June eleventh. An undercover officer suspected him of engaging in lewd conduct when he was asking for sex. The undercover officer was doing some undercover operation on people engaging in sexual activity in the mens restroom. Craig came into the restroom and went into a stall next to the undercover officer. Then Craig tapped his foot at the undercover officer, which he solely noted. After a while, Craig moved his foot toward the undercover officer's foot and swing his hand under the stall as if he is offering a deal or some kind of signal.

The undercover officer then showed Craig his undercover photo that identify him as a police officer and told Craig to exit the restroom. At first, Craig said no, but after a while he exited the stall door. Craig was escorted to the airport police station for further instructions. An officer interviewed Craig about the incident in the restroom. Craig told his side of the story and the undercover officer told his side of the story. Craig disagreed with the officer's version of the story. The story about him and his restroom incident leaked to the public and Craig have to do something about it. Well, he did; he pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge and have to paid some fees. It was a misdemeanor charge and he went on and signed a plea petition which he mailed to the courts. As time went by, Senator Larry Craig got into more trouble about this issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1kZWzLrm1o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95BjjG9VPUg

$50 Million in Alaska Case

The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus have made a settlement to pay fifty million dollars to the victims of many sexual abuse cases that have been filed in Alaska. In Alaska, there have been cases alleging priests who have sexually abuse children. Most of the children in villages in Alaska have been rape and molested by priests that came to Alaska to preach the word of God. Now, with the children all grown, it is also impossible for them to forget what happen to them when they were little. Many of them still linger in the past and some of them have committed suicide because they can't forget about their childhood trauma. The outcome of these cases have been called as one of the largest payment ever made by a Roman Catholic group. These cases include one hundred and ten victims that lived in the native villages of Alaska.

In recent years, the Catholic Church have made lump sums amount of money to settle abuse claims in the United States. All these settlements doesn't particularly mean that they admit what they did was wrong, it was just to made a settlement to get these cases over with. Other sexual abuse cases are still being made as of right now. Last year, the Los Angeles Archdiocese made a settlement of six hundred and sixty million dollars to five hundred and eight victims dated all the way back to the 1940s. Another settlement took place in San Diego, when the Catholic Diocese of San Diego reached a settlement of one hundred and ninety-eight million dollars to one hundred and forty-four victims. The Boston Archdiocese too have made a settlement of eighty-five million to five hundred and fifty victims in 2003. Other settlements across the country have been made too and there will be plenty more in the near future too.

Christians versus BBC

In London, a BBC executive is getting sue by a Christian activist over the issue of playing movie by Jerry Springer. Jerry Springer made a show called Jerry Springer-The Opera. It is a musical theme show and many Chrisitians doesn't like this movie. They found it offensive especially the Christian activist that want to prosecute the BBC executive. The Christian activist plan to use blasphemy laws to prosecute him. Blasphemy laws are used in the United Kingdom and was defined as "the legal notion that goes back centuries - as faith was seen as being the heart of society, to challenge or offend it was thought to threaten the fabric of society." Also, blasphemy is defined as the defamation of a religion.

Christians are angry at Jerry Springer because his show depicted "Jesus being referred to as "a little bit gay" and features Eve attempting to fondle his genitals." Also, Eve was mentioned as a pole dancer and Adam referred to as a member of the Ku Klux Klan. There were demonstrations too about this particular issue. An opponent of the issue said that these blasphemy laws shouldn't be used because its a long time ago, in 1922 which resulted in a man going to prison for disgracing Jesus Christ as a circus clown. Now, it is being use once again which is not right since it have to do with religion and not court laws. One spokeman said that the show is that of a satire of Islam, but if it was for Christianity, then it would never have been aired.

Tony Blair with Religion

Tony Blair was the former Prime Minister of Great Britain. He now said that his belief in God have been a great help to his career as the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Currently, Blair is working as a Middle East peace envoy. He said he didn't speak about his religious beliefs because he fear that it might hurt him as the Prime Minister. He planned to do a film documentary about his belief in God which he called "The Blair Years." Blair said that having a religious faith could be define as having something important in your life to look forward to as a human being. As for religion conviction, Blair believe that there is nothing wrong with religious conviction which he said he has. He think that religious conviction strengthens him as a person.

Blair said that if he talk about religion in anywhere in the world, like say for example, the United States, which is seem to be a country that people can just talk about their religious faith freely, but not in Great Britain. He said that if he said such thing in Britain, he would be judged as a nutter. So, Blair didn't say anything about his religion when he was in office. Now he said religion is good for him. Even Peter Mandelson, an European Union trade commissioner said that religion is very important to Blair. Mandelson used to be a cabinet minister when he was working for Blair. Also, Mandelson said that Blair is a bible person, that is a person who takes the bible everywhere with him; he read the bible all the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMmaNHVc3RM

Evangelical Issue?

Gary Bauer, a Christian power-broker conservative sent his supporters some e-mail files. First in his email, he commented the issues on abortion and traditional marriage. Then he turned his attention to what he discribed as Islamofascism. He said that Islamofascism is a "value issue." Bauer doesn't want radical Islam to succeed because then Christianity would be no more. Rick Scarborough agreed with his views. Islamofascism makes the argument about embracing of the methods that happened during the Euorpean fascist movements, by Islamic radicals. This is an important issue to be discussed. Other evangelicals are alarmed by this issue too.

Pat Robertson, a televangelist said that "the overriding issue before the American people is the defense of our population from the bloodlust of Islamic terrorists." James Dobson made a dozen of commments to the Republican and Democrat parties on the concern of Islam during his Focus on the Family radio talk show. Charles Colson talked about the battle with Islamofacists when he attended the Southern Baptist Convention. Gary Bauer said that even Former President Ronald Reagan knew about the war between them and us about being right and wrong. The standpoint on the views of morality have set extreme tensions between Christianity and Islam throughout this day of age.

Abortion a State Choice?

Mike Huckabee, a Republican presidential candidate does not like the idea of giving states the power to decide how whether or not a person could have an abortion. He thinks that life is a moral issue. Huckabee compared the issue of abortion to slavery. He said that if abortion is a moral issue then there would be one answer to the issue, right or wrong. If abortion is a political issue, then there would be a lot of answers of being right or wrong instead of just one answer, a moral answer. Huckabee commented on Fred Thompson's position on the right to life issue. The National Right to Life Committee used Thompson as one of their endorsement figures and Huckabee was concern about this situation.

Huckabee said that Thompson never fully support the right to life. Thompson doesn't even support the human life amendment as is. On the other hand, Thompson disagree with Huckabee's point of view. Thompson thinks that the Supreme Court should overturn their decision in the Roe versus Wade case, which allow abortion to be legal. Thompson thinks that the states should have the say to allow the use of abortion or not. Huckabee plan to use Chuck Norris to affirm his decision on abortion in his commercial campaign ad. Huckabee wants the citizens of America to know that Chuck Norris is on his side and so should everyone else. On the other hand, Thompson doesn't think it is a good idea, but then again he said he has two words too and that is "Chuck Norris."

Freedom of Religious

Michael Kirby is a High Court judge who is pushing for religious freedom. Kirby want Australia citizens to embrace religion as a subject he called "a basic human right." He spoken at the Griffith University and used many examples to made his point across. One of these examples are from Islam about a story of a Malaysian Muslim woman who tried to change her religion. She want to change her religion from Islam to Christianity. Unfortunately, she couldn't do it because the court rejected her case. Kirby said this example showed that there is a restriction on the freedom of religion in Malaysia. He commented on other cases other the world that have restrictions on religions and he hoped that it doesn't happen in Australia. Kirby quoted this sentence during his speeches: "In Australia, at least, we must be truly committed to the principle of mutual respect and acceptance that lies at the heart of the world-wide movement for the protection of fundamental, universal human rights." He want people to choose their religion instead of the religion that was imposed by the government and he hope that minorities would embrace their religions too.

Trouble Romney Calls

In New Hampshire, trouble phone calls have hurt Mitt Romney for his Presidential election. An attorney is investigating into these matters. The phone calls are suppose to ask the voters about their opinions on the 2008 Presidential Candidates, but in reality it was to say bad things about Mitt Romney and good things about John McCain, also a Presidential candidate. McCain said he doesn't know anything about these allegations and want the phone calls to stop. McCain was saying that the phone calls were a disgrace of the citizens od New Hampshire and it was also an outrageous act. McCain want his attorney to investigate into these matters too. He is also calling other Presidential candidates to support him on his investigation. One of McCain's campaign adviser said that the phone calls could be from other Presidential candidates too.

A Utah-based company by the name of Western Wats categorized these phone calls as "push polling" which is a method of using phone calls to plant negative messages to listeners. The phone calls only took place in New Hampshire before it could go anywhere else. More than seven people in New Hampshire recieved these phone calls. Their length time was estimated at twenty minutes. The phone calls pointed out negative things about Mormons such as Mormons doesn't accept black people and the Book of Mormon is better than the bible, etc. Romney said that this situation with the phone calls is what he referred to a term he called as "un-American." Romney's faith have been an issue even since he started his campaign for Presidency. There phone calls are no exception to his attacks on his religion.

Televangelist & Politics

Rudy Giuliani, a Republican presidential candidate seemed happy when televangelist Pat Robertson decided to endorsed in his primary campaign. Robertson is a well known televangelist and is also the founder of the Christian Coalition. He said that it was his pleasure to support Giuliani in his presidential election. Giuliani, as everyone knows, support the abortion and gay rights. Now with Robertson standing by his side, his goals might come a step close than he expect it to be. He is glad to have evangelicals to support him even though some of them support Senator John McCain too. McCain was surprised at Robertson's support for Giuliani. He said he was speechless about this whole ordeal.

Robertson said that Giuliani helped New York out when it was deteriorating after the Spetember 11th attacks, decreased the crime rate in New York, and lowered the taxes and a whole bunch of other good things that he did for New York. He made Giuliani sounded like a great Presidential candidate by saying these good things about him. Giuliani said that since his support from Robertson, they got to know each other better. He said he have a better understanding of where Robertson is coming from and how he is as a person. Giuliani said that even though sometimes they doesn't always agree with each other's point of view, they both see the world in the same way.

Religion on ID Cards

Human Rights Watch and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said that the country of Egypt should all its citizens to put their religion on their identification cards. Human Rights Watch said that the Ministry of Interior officials prevents people from registering their religion on their identification cards. Also, they said that the citizens can't even list their religions on other documents such as their birth certificates. Human Rights Watch said that the Ministry of Interior officials are using their interpretation of the Islamic law to denial the identification of the use of religion.

All Egyptian citizens are required to get identification cards as soon as they reach the age of sixteen. This identication card is used throughout life such as getting a job, going to school, getting a driver license, etc. The Ministry of Interior officials said that people can choose between these three religions: Islam, Christianity, or Judaism. Human Rights Watch reviewed many cases involving this issue. Other people said that the Ministry of Interior officials bribed people about their religion. Now, Human Rights Watch wants justice for the citizens of Egypt. (This issue took place in Cairo on November 12, 2007).

Religion and Politics?

On Tuesday night, November 13, 2007 at LaFortune Student Center, two students and two professors debated on the issue of separation and church. To be exact, one student and one professor formed one team and the other student and professor formed another team so the total team would be two. One group argued that religion does not mix with politics while the other group said that religion can be useful in certain situations. The first group used the quote said by Former President John F. Kennedy: "Religion really has no place in politics." The other group said that the government should not impose laws to separate religion and politics and by taking religion out of politics, it is not humanly possible, in other words quoted by him as "an anti-human idea." The two groups argued back and forth about religion and politics. Either way, anyone look at it, it is one controversial issue and John F. Kennedy's quote take the front jab at why religion should be a separate thing from the political realm.

Grassley on Televangelists

Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, is investigating the alleged financial misconduct of six televangelists. He asked the ministries to turn over documents of their financial information. Senator Grassley begun this investigation five years ago and now he wants to close the leak down. He is probing on other non-profit organization too. It is hard to investigate on his organizations because there are issues with governance and transparency.
Senator Grassley said that "financial transparency is a must even if it's not legally required."

ECFA president Ken Behr said that there ministries that are being investigated are giving too much money to televangelists. He want to know if the ministries are paying too much money to these six people. Since these are large ministries, it is hard to probe into their organizations, since a great amount of money is being cycle throughout the system. Behr said that the ministries could survive this investigation if they are willing to cooporate with the investigation. He thinks that it is a good idea for them to be transparent so things would be easier for them to handle.

Mitt Romney's Speech

Mitt Romney's political advisers disagree with him about giving a speech on his Mormon faith. Voters want Romney to talk about his beliefs and how it would affect his position in government. Romney said he like the idea of talking about his beliefs to clarify the situation. On the other hand, his advisers said it is not a good idea to talk about his Mormon beliefs because it might hurt his Presidential Candidates Election. Romney's beliefs have been an issue for him even since he start running for President.

There was a lot of concerns and questions on his Mormon faith. People attacked his faith such as the mother of Senator John McCain, one of the Presidential Candidates. His mother said that Mormons started the problems during the 2002 Olympics that took place in Salt Lake City even though Romney helped to stop the crisis from continuing. Other people might have problems with Mormons too as they will try to question Romney's faith with every chance possible. Maybe that is why his political advisers warned him to not to say anything about his beliefs because they fear it might worsen his situation as it is.

Evangelicals

Rev. John Splinter,a pastor at Bethany Evangelical Free Church and the founder of Point of Grace Community Church in Holmen, described himself as not an evangelical person anymore because his opinions of an evangelical person have differ in times nowadays. His beliefs is not the same anymore as he now is against the evangelical movement, but being theologically conservative is still at the core of his beliefs and that hasn't change for him. Another thing that haven't change are the beliefs of being evangelical. What are the beliefs of being evangelical? The core beliefs of being evangelical are: "an evangelical is someone who understands the Bible as the authoritative word of God, an evangelical has had a born-again experience, accepts Christ as savior and speaks of a personal relationship with Jesus and an evangelical witnesses his or her faith through words or works, seeking to bring others to Christ." Evangelicals tackle five important issues dealing with poverty, homosexuality, enovironment, one party & two party systems, and war. Rev. John Splinter now wants to follow one path and one path only and that is the path of Jesus Christ.

Obama, Osama

On October 23, 2007, in Greenwood, South Carolina, Presidential Candidate Romney made a presentation about his issues to the Chamber of Commence. During his talk on terrorism, he accidentally mentioned Osama instead of Barack Osama. He did mention Osama, but it was on the use of a videotape of Osama Bin Laden talking about insurgents. One of Romney's spokesman backed him up by saying that it was just a slip of tongue on Mr. Romney's part. However, on the side of Barack Osama, his spokesman said they weren't too thrill of his accidental slip of tongue. Mr. Obama said he didn't pay much attention to Mr. Romney's speech anyway.

Here is a short paragraph on the life of Barack Osama. Barack Osama is currently one of the 2008 Presidential candidates running for presidency. He is the United States Senator from Illinois and he supports the Democratic party. Osama went to Columbia University and Harvard Law School when he graduated from both colleges. Osama ocassionally held jobs such as university lecturer, community organizer, and a civil rights lawyer. Osama got marry in 1992 and have two daughters. He wrote two bestselling books later on in his life. The first book is about his memories when he was younger which he called Dreams from My Father the second book was about U.S. politics which he called The Audacity of Hope. Now that he is running for President, let's hope that he gets a lot of votes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwpfdbbrsvM

2008 Presidential Candidates on Religion

Religion is very important to the 2008 Presidential Candidates. Each of them discribed themselves as having a religious background. Some of them are more religious than others, and some of them tend to express their religious views quite frequently. Religion plays a big part in everyday life, whenever its at work, at school or at home. You tend to see religion everywhere, epecially in politics. Even in politics, there is religion. There should be a separation of church and state. That is what the law said, but sometimes it hard to talk about politics without talking about religion too. The 2008 Presidential Candidates needs religious voters to vote for them, especially Christian voters. Since Christianity make up the largest religious population in the world, it is obivous that they go more for the Christians voters, but other religions are important as well. Religion plays a part in very person's life whatever they like it or not.

This is a summary analysis of some of the 2008 Presidential Candidate on religious expressions

Democrats
1. John Edwards: 28% very religious, 56% somewhat religious, 16% not too/not at all religious
2. Barack Obama: 24% very religious, 60% somewhat religious, 16% not too/not at all religious
3. Hillary Clinton: 16% very religious, 53% somewhat religious, 31% not too/not at all religious

Republicans
1. Mitt Ronmey: 46% very religious, 44% somewhat religious, 10% not too/not at all religious
2. John McCain: 19% very religious, 66% somewhat religious, 15% not too/not at all religious
3. Fred Thompson: 16% very religious, 65%c somewhat religious, 19% not too/not at all religious
4. Rudy Giuliani: 14% very religious, 63% somewhat religious, 23% not too/not at all religious

(August 2007 Poll)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slTKFcojXAg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPgXbBjnUbM