slate--2019-10-04--This Supreme Court Term Will Launch a Conservative Revolution

After Brett Kavanaugh joined the Supreme Court in October 2018, most of the justices seemed eager to do whatever they could to keep SCOTUS out of the limelight. Less than two weeks earlier, Christine Blasey Ford had declared on live TV that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her as a teenager; Kavanaugh, in response, accused Democrats of orchestrating a “grotesque character assassination” driven by “pent-up anger about President Trump” and “revenge on behalf of the Clintons.”  The Supreme Court’s legitimacy rests in large part on the perception it is a nonpartisan institution, but Kavanaugh joined the bench engulfed in a toxic cloud of political rancor. In the year after the ugly confirmation hearing, the justices mostly kept their heads down, ducking many controversial cases for no apparent reason. They decided only two bona fide blockbusters, throwing partisan gerrymandering claims out of federal court and blocking the census citizenship question. Meanwhile, they dodged cases about Dreamers, abortion, religious freedom, and discrimination, effectively deciding not to decide.  But the Supreme Court has amassed far too much power to avoid any contentious issue for long. As Congress remains deadlocked and the White House melts down, SCOTUS has become the only fully functioning branch of the federal government. It has taken on the role of policymaker, obligated to resolve many of the battles that engulf the political branches. Republicans understand this fact, and it is a key reason why they fought so hard for Kavanaugh’s confirmation. With lawmakers paralyzed, momentous disputes wind up at the Supreme Court. And now, thanks to Kavanaugh’s vote, many of these battles will be decided by a 5–4 conservative majority.  A slew of potentially earthshaking cases has already piled up on the court’s docket for the upcoming term. Multiple transformative decisions will come down in June, thrusting the court into the middle of the 2020 presidential campaign. And the full impact of Kavanaugh’s appointment will become clear as the court is dragged further to the right. This jurisprudential bloodbath will heighten the stakes of the 2020 race, amplifying the power of the president and the role of the judiciary in the most explosive political fights of the day.  Potentially earthshaking cases have already piled up on the court’s docket for the upcoming term.  The term will begin with a bang, with oral arguments over whether states can abolish the insanity defense. Four states have outlawed this defense—which allows defendants with mental illnesses to acknowledge their crime but argue a lack of culpability—even though it’s been a universal feature of criminal law for most of American history. Without Justice Anthony Kennedy’s moderating influence on Eighth Amendment jurisprudence, the conservative bloc may bless the abolition of the insanity defense, ensuring that more people with mental illnesses are locked up in prison without access to appropriate treatment.  A day later, the court will hear arguments in three cases that ask whether federal law prohibits employment discrimination against LGBTQ people. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars workplace discrimination “because of … sex.” And it is impossible to discriminate against LGBTQ people without taking sex into account. Consider an employer who fires a man for marrying a man but does not fire a woman for marrying a man. This discrimination is inherently based on sex: change the male employee’s sex and he wouldn’t be fired. Now consider an employer who fires a trans woman because she is trans. That termination turns on her sex—the fact that she does not identify as a man.  There is another reason why it would be bizarre to subtract LGBTQ employees from federal protections. The Supreme Court has ruled that sex stereotyping—punishing workers for failing to confirm to gender norms—is a form of sex discrimination prohibited under Title VII. Discrimination against gay people rests on the ultimate sex stereotype: the belief that men should only be romantically involved with women, and vice versa. Discrimination against transgender people, too, is rooted in sex stereotyping—a belief that individuals should conform to the sex they’re assigned at birth as well as the attendant gender norms.  Dozens of lower court judges, including numerous Republican nominees, have reached these conclusions with ease. But there is little reason to be optimistic that the new conservative majority will agree. Conservative advocacy groups, including some that supported Kavanaugh’s and Gorsuch’s confirmations, have lobbied against an LGBTQ-inclusive interpretation of Title VII. So, too, have a number of congressional Republicans who endorsed both justices. There is also the possibility that the conservative justices on the bench today hold anti-LGBTQ beliefs that will cloud their analyses of the issue. A 5–4 decision along ideological lines excluding LGBTQ employees from Title VII seems disturbingly probable.  A week later, SCOTUS will hear arguments in a seemingly dry clash over executive power. In theory, the case asks only whether the Constitution’s appointments clause applies to Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board, which Congress created to restructure the island’s debt. If so, the president must nominate each member of the board and obtain Senate confirmation.  But this case could be a Trojan horse that strips U.S. territories and the District of Columbia of home rule. If the appointments clause applies to the Puerto Rico board, it may also apply to territorial governments more broadly. That would give the president of the United States the power to choose the governors of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. He could also select high-ranking executive officials in each territory—as well as the D.C. mayor. Residents of U.S. territories and D.C. could no longer elect their own leaders. If the court hands down a sweeping decision, Trump, facilitated by a GOP-controlled Senate, could seize control over every territorial government.  The next day, the court will hear a dispute over whether states can prosecute immigrants who use false Social Security numbers. Immigrant rights advocates argue that the federal government has sole authority to charge this crime, but red states are trying to seize the power to punish unauthorized immigrants themselves. A few hours later, the justices will take on a case about Lee Boyd Malvo, who was 17 years old when he helped John Allen Muhammad murder 10 people during the “D.C. sniper” shootings. Malvo, who regrets his actions, is serving life in prison, but he has sought resentencing under SCOTUS precedents that sharply limit juvenile life without parole. In Kennedy’s absence, the conservative majority may roll back those decisions and give states leeway to keep juvenile offenders behind bars until they die.  In November, the hits will just keep coming. On Nov. 12, Trump’s attempt to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, will finally come before the court. (The justices punted this case for months last term to avoid deciding it in 2019.) President Barack Obama created DACA to let certain undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children live and work here legally. The Trump administration tried to wind it down—but DACA’s defenders argue that it did so illegally, on the mistaken premise that the program is unlawful. A majority of the court may rule that Trump has discretion to reverse his predecessor’s policy however he wants. It could also take a leap forward and declare that DACA itself is unconstitutional. Either decision would trigger a humanitarian crisis, placing 800,000 Dreamers in danger of deportation.  That same day, the court will hear arguments in Hernández v. Mesa, a truly horrific case. The facts are ghastly: In 2010, a Border Patrol agent shot and killed an unarmed 15-year-old Mexican boy across the border. His family argues that the Constitution’s prohibitions on such police brutality provide them with a right to damages. If the court rules against them, it could strip everyone—citizens and undocumented immigrants alike—of the ability to sue federal law enforcement for misconduct. And recent precedents suggest that the conservative justices are prepared to slam the door on such claims.  One day later, the justices will consider Comcast v. National Association of African American–Owned Media, a potential atomic bomb for race discrimination law. Section 1981, a federal statute first passed in the wake of the Civil War, guarantees racial minorities the right “to make and enforce contracts.”  This rule is expansive: It applies to independent contractors, unlike Title VII, and bars race discrimination in retail, education, and public accommodations. A federal appeals court ruled that, to win under Section 1981, plaintiffs need only prove that race was one factor in their mistreatment. Comcast wants to defang law by requiring plaintiffs to prove “but-for” causation—meaning they would not have faced discrimination but for their race. The conservative justices favor this stringent standard, which would compel plaintiffs to uncover evidence of blatant racism. Since that evidence almost never exists, a decision importing “but-for” causation into Section 1981 could kneecap the law.  In December, the court will hear arguments in a Second Amendment case for the first time since 2010. It will decide whether New York City’s strict gun laws—which bar residents from traveling with firearms unless they’re going to a city shooting range—is unconstitutional. The court will say it is. In the process, it will bring the right to bear arms out of the home and into the streets, setting the stage for a future decision that creates a constitutional right to public-carry. (New York City has already repealed the law in question and argues that the case should be dismissed; the plaintiffs vigorously disagree.)  When the court returns from the winter holidays, it will hear another landmark case: Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. This case is, at bottom, an effort to force states to fund religious education. The plaintiffs argue that once states subsidize private schools, they must also subsidize parochial schools. It appears that the conservative justices agree with that proposition, even though it directly violates the constitutional separation of church and state. If the court sides with the plaintiffs, the roughly 30 states that use vouchers or tax credits to support private schools would have to open up their programs to religious schools. Taxpayers, by extension, would be compelled to fund the exercise of religion.  Guns, immigration, executive power, police brutality, criminal justice, race discrimination, church-state separation, LGBTQ rights—what other issue could the Supreme Court possibly take on to make this term more incendiary? Ah, yes: abortion, of course! Sometime in 2020, the court will hear June Medical Services v. Gee, a challenge to Louisiana’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (or TRAP law). The state passed a stringent law that compels these providers to obtain admitting privileges at a nearby hospital—a virtually impossible task that provides no health benefit to women. In 2016’s Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the Supreme Court struck down an identical law. Kennedy provided the fifth vote. After he stepped down, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Louisiana law, defying Whole Woman’s Health. In February, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Louisiana law by a 5–4 vote, sparing the states’ clinics, which were prepared to shutter. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the liberals; Kavanaugh dissented.  Roberts likely voted to freeze the law to remind lower courts that they cannot ignore binding precedent. But he dissented in Whole Woman’s Health and is no fan of abortion rights. The Supreme Court will now have to decide whether a constitutional right to abortion access still exists in a post-Kennedy world. Do not expect Roberts to side with the liberals this time around. He may not have wanted the 5th Circuit to overrule Supreme Court precedent. But he may be happy to overturn Whole Woman’s Health himself, giving states the green light to regulate abortion clinics out of existence.  The justices may prefer to avoid the grimy political arena, but over the next eight months, the court will take center stage. As these decisions come down, the court will inevitably become a flashpoint in the presidential campaign. Liberal voters will demand to know what Democratic presidential hopefuls plan to do about the judiciary, and candidates will embrace court packing with more enthusiasm.  As the new majority launches a conservative revolution in constitutional law, ushered in by Kavanaugh’s elevation to the bench, Democrats will learn, over and over again, how much damage Trump has inflicted on the progressive project. And they will be forced to contend with a wildly powerful judiciary poised to obstruct progressive reforms while shattering liberal precedent. The Supreme Court is not yet in the forefront of the 2020 race. By the time this term is over, traumatized Democrats may struggle to talk about anything else. Perhaps Democrats will espouse a vision of progressivism that is less reliant upon the judiciary for success. They may conclude that it is not healthy for a democracy to depend so extensively on the rule of five justices in Washington.


sottnet--2019-08-10--Deranged mind Israeli military rabbi says Palestinians should be enslaved - for their own good

Deranged mind: Israeli military rabbi says Palestinians should be enslaved - for their own good

Keep that in mind when you hear of IDF activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.  A prestigious religious institute for Israeli army officer candidates is embroiled again in anti-human rhetoric. A rabbi at the school has been exposed ( Hebrew ) calling for the enslavement of Palestinians. The text was discovered by blogger/lawyer Yair Nehorai, who's been documenting the scandalous teaching of the Bnei David religious college rabbis for over a year.Rabbi Eliezer Kashtiel,, was lecturing about "slavery and the position of workers according to Judaism", andThere are races in the world and nations that have genetic attributes, and that demands that we [the Jewish people] will think of how to help them. The fact that someone is your inferior is not a reason to deride him or eliminate him, but help him. Yes, there are differences between races and that's precisely the reason who should offer aid. Just as we know there are genetic defects within society, for instance when a child is, alas, born with a defect. Is that a reason to deride him? To taunt him, insult him? No. It calls for helping him."When I see that, in the moral, intellectual, personal fields, I reach much greater achievements - then it is my duty to aid him. Not leave him poor and helpless, but to lend him my hand and say 'come',, be a partner in my success. [...] Do you know how it is today? A prosperous country sees a backwards country, and it turns it into its garbage heap. This is how it is today. There are countries in Africa, backward countries, and what do the superpowers do? They make it worse for them."[...] If occupation means to humiliate you, to deride you, to taunt you, to eliminate you - than it is bad. But if occupation means 'I am successful, come to me', I am calling you to join a partnership, why are you alone, why are you apart from me, I want to occupy you, to merge you - then you'd be a part of a great success.You live such miserable life. Come be my slave, see what life you'll have, to what spiritual and ethical stage [you'll climb...]."[...] There's an objective genetic defect here, what can you do?..."The rabbi's undated comments on slavery were first reported in April but in much abridged form. The full comments were lately published by Nehorai.There's more - plenty more - where this came from, but presumably you'll have dinner sometime, so I'll spare you.Bnei David (or as I prefer to call them, Bnei Eli; those of you with a biblical education may get the joke*) is considered the flagship of the National-Religious education system. The college was created in the late 1980s, when rabbis noted with alarm that yeshiva students who join the army often "take off the yarmulke" and become secular, and "the sector" loses votes, souls and money. Eli was the first of the "military colleges": the point is to subject ex-yeshiva boys to another year of indoctrination, so they'll be "strengthened" when they join the army. As part of the deal with the army, these cadets - who join the army a year later in life than other Israelis - are trained by the colleges to become officers. The format was considered successful both by the army and the rabbis, and many other such colleges were created; a small minority of them are secular. Bnei David's founder, Eli Sadan, won the Israel Prize (the highest civil honor) in 2016, mostly due to his work in Bnei David.They derided women soldiers, gay soldiers, and secular soldiers. The unending geyser of embarrassment caused the army to remove one rabbi - Yigal Levinstein, deputy principal of Bnei David - from any contact with the army; this necessitated his removal from that position (though he still lectures there). The idea of removing Bnei David from the list of colleges supported by the military was entertained for a short while, but was dropped due to the political power its rabbis wield.Unfortunately for Bnei David, they posted hundreds of lectures on Youtube. This means that, assuming you have the stamina to watch two hours of religious ranting, it's a goldmine. Yair Nehorai, who is advocating religious freedom, has been exploring this goldmine for a while now. This latest expose came afterThey're suing Nehorai for 700,000 NIS (about $200,000) and 1,000,000 NIS (about $315,000), respectively.A lot of officers in the IDF went through Bnei David or other colleges of its ilk. This is the indoctrination they went through.*As for the joke, see 1 Samuel 2:12: "Now the Sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord" and the few verses following.


sputnik--2019-02-08--Achievers Not Loners Leaked Docs Reveal Backgrounds of Saudi Daesh Recruits

Achievers, Not Loners: Leaked Docs Reveal Backgrounds of Saudi Daesh Recruits

The study, which was published on Tuesday, reviewed leaked documents from the terror group in 2016 that included an overview of 759 Saudi recruits who joined the terror group between 2013 and 2014.  "By analysing [Daesh's] own records and focusing on those pertaining to individuals hailing from a country that has always been targeted and regarded as the ultimate prize for terrorist groups and organisations (namely Saudi Arabia), this study represents an important step in increasing contextual knowledge," the report states.  "Such knowledge is vital when dealing with a phenomenon as intricate as terrorism and a process as complex as radicalisation."  Recruitment documents included a set of 23 fields for applicants to answer, which the study noted were not all filled in. Interested parties were asked to provide their name, blood type, marital status, educational qualifications, prior employment, travel history, name of recommenders, speciality, level of religious knowledge, point of entry into Syria and past jihadi experience, among other data.  Although most of the Saudi recruits were young, they weren't primarily teenagers and adolescents. Half of the recruits in the sampling were between the ages of 20 and 24, and 22 percent were between 25 and 29. The youngest recruit clocked in at nine years of age, and the oldest was born in 1958, suggesting he was either 55 or 56 when he joined the group.  Seventy-three percent of the applicants were single, and 18 percent were married, of which 68 percent had children. The majority of the recruits had just one or two kids. One individual jotted down that they had eight children back home.  Having been given the option to indicate whether they had basic, intermediate or advanced knowledge of Islam, 58 percent of the Saudi recruits reported having basic knowledge. As Saudi students are given religious education courses from elementary to high school, according to the report, a basic knowledge of Islam could seemingly be assumed in anyone with even a low-level education.  Thirty-four percent indicated they had an intermediate knowledge of Islam, while another 8 percent claimed advanced knowledge.  Researchers found that unlike European recruits, who have tended to be either high school dropouts or unemployed, Saudi recruits held jobs as religious police, imams and soldiers for the Saudi military, among other positions. Only 15 percent were unemployed.  Of the 759 recruits, 337 (44 percent) had a high-school level of education, and 119 (15 percent) had obtained a bachelor's degree. Five individuals had either a master's or doctoral degree. Only 150 (19 percent) of the recruits were dropouts.  "This data demonstrates that the Saudi contingent does not consist of educational underachievers, which can lead to the argument that they were not lacking in socio-economic opportunities," the report states.  "In fact, this group was, on average, better educated than the general Saudi labour force."  "The second observation is that the majority of fighters that dropped out evidently did so in order to make their way to Syria. We may infer that they believed strongly in the cause and were frustrated enough to risk their future by dropping out of college to join the fight in a foreign conflict-torn land," the study explained.  Additionally, the majority of the recruits (625) volunteered to join the terror group as fighters. Just 71 signed up to be suicide bombers, and only 44 volunteered for inghimasi operations, otherwise known as a kamikaze attackers. The report explains that "inghimasi operations are distinct from suicide bombings in the sense that ‘their success does not necessitate the perpetrators' death."  Although the largest number of Saudi recruits came from Riyadh, the highest ratio of recruits per the region's population came from the province of Qassim, just north of the country's capital. It's suggested in the report that the number of recruits from Qassim was a result of a spike in the presence of terrorist groups in the province.


sputnik--2019-10-09--Norwegian Terrorism Researcher Sees 'Very Low' Risk in Bringing Home Daesh Widows, Children

Norway's leading terrorism researcher Thomas Hegghammer, who previously warned of the threat that jihadists represent, has sparked a debate by suggesting that reclaiming Norwegian Daesh* women with children from camps in Syria is not challenging in terms of security.  “I don't see any security problem with taking back children with their mothers. It is not a hundred percent risk-free, but I would say that the risk is very low,” Thomas Hegghammer, a research fellow at Defence Research Institute and the University of Oslo, told national broadcaster NRK.  As of today, there are four mothers with Norwegian citizenship being detained at the al Hol and al Roj camps in Syria, with a total of six children. All of them have at some point asked for assistance to return to Norway. So far, no male jihadists with Norwegian citizenship have been found alive in Syria or Iraq.  According to the local Kurdish authorities, Daesh women have established Sharia courts in the camp in order to punish and kill other women. Furthermore, Daesh women are reportedly involved in religious education, propaganda and recruitment. When NRK visited al Hol in June, it reported about unsanitary conditions. It was also obvious that many wholeheartedly supported Daesh.  Hegghammer admitted that there is no perfect solution to the problem. Bringing home the children together with their mothers is both “ethically sound” and not challenging in terms of security, he suggested.  “We should bring the children home and together with the mothers, for the sake of the children,” Hegghammer said. “The risk of course is not zero. Most women are said to sympathise with Daesh. But they will be handled by a system that takes this into account. The fact that vigilante violence occurs in a camp with 70,000 people is not surprising,and does not mean that everyone in the camp poses a deadly threat,” he added.  However, the right-wing Progress Party, which is part of the Norwegian “blue bloc” government with the Conservatives, is against retrieving Daesh women to Norway, citing considerable risks. While the children may get assistance in returning to Norway, their mothers must stay.  “When it comes to the Daesh mothers, these grown-ups who have travelled from Norway to fight the values we stand for. Now they want protection from the values they wanted to fight. We think it is not right for Norwegian taxpayers to pay for their return in a rather expensive operation,” Justice Minister Jøran Kallmyr of the Progress Party said.  Around 6,000 women from around the world have joined Daesh, according to estimates provided by the think tank ICSR at King's College in London. The same think tank estimates that around 600 of them have since returned to their respective countries.  Most European countries have been reluctant to assist Daesh women in returning, despite pleas to take back their citizens from local authorities.  Thomas Hegghammer is the author of several books, including “Jihadi Culture”, “Jihad in Saudi Arabia” and most recently “The Caravan: Abdallah Azzam and the Rise of Global Jihad”.  * Daesh (IS/ISIS/ISIL/“Islamic State”) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and other countries


tass--2019-11-14--Tatarstan leader discusses multicultural dialogue at Dubai summit

KAZAN, November 14. /TASS/. President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov shared his experience in develpoing multinational and multireligious tolerance with the participants of the World Tolerance Summit in Dubai, said the presidential press service on Thursday.  “The Council under the President of Tatarstan on multinational and interreligious relations is working in the republic. We adopted a concept on national state policy. A scientific and expert council operates on the basis of Kazan Federal University. And of course, in our affairs we rely on our muftiate and metropolis which allows us to ensure peace, harmony and stability," said Minnikhanov.  The president noted that in total about 4 million people live in Tatarstan — representatives of 173 nationalities. According to him, the republic has extensive experience of muslims and orthodox christians living side by side. They have a mutual understanding them, he noted. A lot of mosques and cathedrals were lost during the Soviet period. Since the 90s to the present day, a number of religious sites are still being restored, noted the president.  "But our main task was to prepare people, theologists, who could properly build this system. At present, the Tatarstan Metropolis and the Spiritual Administration of Muslims make a huge contribution to strengthening tolerance and stability in the republic. All events in Tatarstan are held with the participation of our main religious figures," he added.  According to the Tatarstan leader, the republic simultaneously restoring both Muslim and Orthodox shrines. For example, the Kul Sharif Mosque and the Orthodox Annunciation Cathedral are located on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin. The republic's fund for the revival of historical and cultural monuments did an enormous job to restore Ancient Bolgar and the island city of Sviyazhsk. Work on recreating the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God is underway, the Bolgar Islamic Academy was opened.  The republic pays special attention to issues of religious education. "People can be swayed by different beliefs. Thus, we make sure that the system of Islamic and Orthodox education is structured and that various harmful trends do not cause any problems," said Minnikhanov.  The II World Tolerance Summit is being is held in Dubai on November 13-14 bringing together representatives of various states, religious institutions, educational institutions, cultural associations, non-governmental organizations and influencers. The summit is dedicated to tolerance and cultural understanding aimed at strengthening peace and mutual understanding between people. Special attention will be paid to enhancing cooperation to ensure security and stability all over the world.


tass--2019-12-23--Moscow seeks Egypt’s explanations over arrest of Russians on extremism charges

MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Moscow will seek from Egypt explanations for the arrest of Russian nationals suspected of an involvement in the activity of Islamic State (outlawed in Russia) and extremist activity, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a session of the Federation Council upper house of the parliament on Monday.  "We have appealed more than 20 times with official notes, with the request to supply information about the reasons for the arrest, but there has been no response to any of the appeals. Verbally, they say the probe is classified, and our staffers are not allowed to attend any questioning, or court sessions held behind closed doors," the foreign minister said.  "We have appealed 24 times with a request to ensure consular access to our nationals, and only two requests were satisfied. We will first of all seek explanations for the reasons why they have found themselves in this situation," the top diplomat said.  Lavrov said that Russia is also seeking assistance from the Egyptian foreign and justice ministries to establish the whereabouts of Ingushetia Region’s student Dugiyev, who went missing in 2018. "A new note was sent a month-and-a-half ago, there has been no reaction as of yet. Our colleagues say that they know nothing about him. We will continue seeking attention to that subject," the foreign minister added.  Lavrov said that during the next contacts with the Egyptian counterpart, he would hand over "a new detailed official letter in this respect".  Russian nationals arriving in Egypt to receive religious education, were detained in Cairo in August 2018. Later, some of them were released. However the fate of five natives of Russia’s Ingushetia remained unknown. News came in April 2019 that five Russian nationals - four natives of Ingushetia, and a female native of Kyrgyzstan - were facing extremism charges.


thedailycaller--2019-01-21--Conservative Pundits Hit Back Against Trending ExposeChristianSchools

Conservative Pundits Hit Back Against Trending ‘#ExposeChristianSchools’

Several prominent conservatives rose to defend the merits of religious education against the torrent of anti-Christian sentiment unleashed under the Twitter hashtag “#ExposeChristianSchools,” which was trending on the social media platform over the weekend.  The hashtag, which garnered tens of thousands of tweets, became a platform for many users to express their animosity toward Christian schools, with many offering anecdotes of allegedly negative or traumatic experiences they had while attending one. (RELATED: Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu Accuses Pence Of ‘Cloaking Your Hate’ In Christianity)  Self-proclaimed “exvangelical” writer Chris Stroop — who claims to have started the other popular hashtag #EmptyThePews — likewise took responsibility for coining “#ExposeChristianSchools,” tweeting Friday, “Hey fellow Christian school grads, let’s tell [Vice President Mike Pence] and [conservative writer David French] how traumatizing those bastions of bigotry are. Use the hashtag #ExposeChristianSchools.”  “Mike Pence @VP asks ‘what kind of anti-Christian bigot would keep us from being anti-gay bigots?’ The problem w/the #ExposeChristianSchools hashtag is that these homophobic schools aren’t Christian – they’re Evangelical Supremacist,” actor John Fugelsang tweeted.  Others, including several prominent conservative pundits, responded by defending religious learning and offered examples of how they believe a Christian school helped them.  “I was surrounded by people who cared about me as a human being, not just a student. I got a top notch education that allowed me to graduate magma [sic] cum laude undergrad and w honors from law school. It wasn’t perfect, but there was a high standard and love,” wrote Fox News host Shannon Bream.  “Apparently #ExposeChristianSchools is trending in the US,” wrote Fox News contributor Pete Hegseth. “Let’s start a real one: MOST of today’s PUBLIC (or government) schools are PC-obsessed, safe-space, leftist indoctrination fortresses that utterly FAIL our kids & our country. #ExposePublicSchools”  “Of all the disgusting, disgraceful, horrifying, anti-American hashtag campaigns I’ve seen on this platform #ExposeChristianSchools is the most egregious. Anyone promoting this atrocious garbage should hang their heads in eternal shame,” wrote Fox News commentator and former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino.  The hashtag skyrocketed against the backdrop of the social media pile-on that occurred when a group of MAGA hat-wearing boys from an all-male Catholic high school in Kentucky allegedly taunted a Native American veteran at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday. The boys, who were in Washington, D.C. to attend the March for Life, were berated by major media figures on Twitter, some of whom have since apologized as a fuller picture of the event has emerged. (RELATED: The Real Story Behind The Catholic School Boys And Their Dust Up With A Native American Veteran)  The escalated hostility also takes place in the wake of last week’s attacks against second lady Karen Pence for having accepted a part-time teaching position at Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Virginia, where students and employees are expected to obey traditionally biblical standards of sexuality and gender. (RELATED: Pence Defends Wife Against Media Attacks)  The liberal media’s onslaught against his wife prompted Vice President Mike Pence to condemn the attacks on Christian education as “deeply offensive” and something that “should stop,” in a Thursday interview with EWTN. (RELATED: CNN’s John King Questions If Karen Pence Deserves Secret Service Protection)


thedailycaller--2019-10-11--Democratic Candidates Speak Out On Christian Faith’s Compatibility With LGBTQ Issues

• Democratic candidates criticized the Christian faith’s compatibility with LGBTQ issues Thursday night at CNN’s Los Angeles LGBTQ forum. • The candidates discussed a variety of topics related to LGBTQ issues. • None religion is used in that way, to  Democratic candidates showed almost unanimous agreement on LGBTQ issues at Thursday night’s CNN forum in Los Angeles as they zoned in on the Christian faith’s compatibility with LGBTQ issues.  Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro highlighted aspects of their faith and discussed how they believe faith embraces the LGBTQ community.  Warren described how she grew up understanding that the basis of her faith is love and that there were a lot of different people who “do a lot of different things who look different from each other, who sound different from each other, who are from different kinds of families.”  “The hatefulness frankly always really shocked me, especially for people of faith because I think the whole foundation is the worth of every single human being,” Warren said. (RELATED: Trans Woman Hijacks Microphone At LGBTQ Town Hall Q&A, Sounds Off On ‘Anti-Blackness’)  Booker slammed Christians who use religion as a justification for discrimination. The New Jersey senator discussed growing up in a household where his parents told him that people used religion to discriminate against African-Americans.  “So for me, I cannot allow as a leader that people are going to use religion as a justification for discrimination,” Booker said. “I can respect your religious freedom, but also protect people from discrimination and as I said in an earlier answer.”  He added that his faith “as well as his American values” will make him fight “every front” against LGBTQ discrimination.  Buttigieg said Christians who use their religious beliefs against LGBTQ people make “God smaller.”  “It, to me, is an insult not only to us as LGBTQ people, but I think it’s an insult to faith to believe that it could be used to hurt people in that way,” Buttigieg said.    The South Bend mayor also added that his faith blossomed even more through his marriage with his husband Chasten Buttigieg.  “I really feel that that marriage moved me closer to God and I wish the VP could understand that,” he added, saying he does not believe that being gay is “a sin.”  Castro weighed in on faith as well, discussing how it taught him that “we should all love one another. Love your neighbor.”  Several candidates also discussed their willingness to decriminalize HIV transmission.  Warren said she is committed to fighting for the decriminalization of HIV transmission.  “When you have a federal law that conflicts with the state law, then the federal law takes precedence,” she said. “In the same way that we have passed federal laws to protect people from being discriminated against — and you don’t have to rely on state law — we can do the same thing here on decriminalization.”  O’Rourke said “they should” decriminalize HIV transmission, including when it’s undetectable. “I think the goal has to be equal treatment.”  The candidates discussed a variety of other issues related to the LGBTQ movement within the United States, particularly whether religious institutions that do not oppose LGBTQ teaching or same-sex marriage should lose their tax-exempt status.  Booker dodged directly answering whether religious education institutions should lose their tax-exempt status if they opposed LGBTQ rights.  “Whether you’re a school and are providing health care for folks, whether you are a bakery. You cannot discriminate,” Booker said. “Fundamentally, no. So again, we must stand up as a nation to say that religion cannot be an excuse to deny people health insurance, education, or more. This cannot happen. And I will make sure that I assert the laws to make sure.” (RELATED: Booker Promises To ‘Go After Schools’ That Deny LGBTQ Students Equality)  “That is a process, and I’ll make sure I will hold them accountable. If it means losing your tax status,” Booker added.  However, O’Rourke immediately responded “yes,” he would require religious institutions to lose their tax-exempt status for such an offense.  “There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone or any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us,” he said. (RELATED: Biden: ‘We Allow The Homophobes’ To Control The Agenda)  “And so, as president, we’re going to make that a priority, and we are going to stop those who are infringing upon the human rights of our fellow Americans.“  Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.


thedailymirror--2019-10-10--Primary school bans kids dressing up for Halloween because it's not 'inclusive'

A primary school has banned kids from dressing up for a Halloween party - over fears it's not 'inclusive'.  The decision was made after some members of the parent council said they want St David's RC Primary School, Edinburgh, to be more 'inclusive'.  The Catholic school shares a campus - including a shared dining hall - with the non-denominational Pirniehall Primary School, where children are allowed to dress up .  Issues began last year when it is said, the night before Halloween, parents were advised not to send their children to school dressed up.  This year, parents avoided the short notice and asked in advance of the holiday - only to be met with the same response.  As an alternative to the Halloween celebrations, the parent council has organised an ‘Autumn Dance’ next month.  The parent council said "children would be able to dress as they wished" and claimed it will "not put any additional strain on family budgets and be inclusive of all students".  But one angry parent told the Edinburgh Evening News that there were "only two" parents in attendance at the parent council meeting.  They said: "St David's Primary is situated right next to Pirniehall Primary School.  "Last year it was so lovely to see the other kids from Pirniehall having fun and ours weren't allowed to because we were told the decision had been made by the parent council to not let the kids dress up because 'some families don't celebrate Halloween.'  “I felt so sad for the kids. No religion or politics should interfere with children.  “It feels like back to the dark century where children have no voice and parents can decide everything they do for them."  The school is described on its website as "multicultural, friendly and inclusive" and does teach religious education other than Catholicism.  The furious parent added: "Throughout the year the children are taught about other religions; they go to mosques, they learn about celebrating Ramadan and more.  "I am shocked, we are living in Edinburgh one of the most tolerant cities in the UK, but we have been told our children can't celebrate Halloween at school because 'it's not our culture'.  "How is it that this decision has come down to two parents?"  It is understood that in an email the chair of the parent council said: "It was felt that any event organised for Hallowe'en would not be inclusive of all children at the school.  "The costs involved for parents would put strain on family budgets.  “Sadly, the issue of Halloween has become quite contentious and this also played a part in our decision.  "As a parent council we should always look to be neutral and non-controversial."  A council spokesman has defended the position and said: "Parents councils take account of different views when making decisions about after school activities in order to meet the needs of as many families as possible.”


theguardianuk--2019-05-21--Divided Oldham Inside the school that defies Farages narrative

‘Divided Oldham’? Inside the school that defies Farage’s narrative

Eighteen years ago two teenagers had an argument over a game of cricket in Oldham, with the dispute spilling into the worst violence the mill town has experienced in its modern history. Three nights of ethnically motivated riots followed, as hooligans from both sides burned barricades and fought police with petrol bombs.  Those were dark days in Oldham. Since then politicians have periodically used the town as an example of a divided Britain – most recently Nigel Farage, who told an audience in Pennsylvania that Oldham had entire streets split along racial lines.  But one institution, at least, is changing the narrative. The Waterhead academy, which has sought to bring the town back together, has won the annual Accord Inclusive Schools Award for its ambitious contribution to improving community cohesion in the town.  The 1,300 pupil academy was formed in 2010 by merging two ethnically homogeneous secondary schools – the predominantly Asian Breeze Hill school and the mainly white British Counthill school, using a strategy of engineered integration in an attempt to dissipate racial tensions.  The new school moved on to its current campus in 2012, an area where the large majority of residents are white. Many of its pupils are drawn from monocultural primary schools; its intake is 33% white British pupils and 46% of south Asian heritage.  Erin, 15, a white pupil, moved to Oldham four years ago from Canada. She sits with her friends Hamra, Emaan and Grace. While the riots took place the year before the girls were born, they are all aware of the effects on their hometown. Their school is a symbol of hope, they agree.  The girls live in different parts of the town and, had it not been for their school, they would not have mixed. However, when Erin started at Waterhead in 2015, she was “buddied up” with Hamra. Teachers plan where children sit so pupils from different ethnicities mix.  Hamra and Erin are now best friends, regularly visiting each other’s homes. “There were not that many Asians in my school in Canada, so it was a completely new experience meeting people from different cultures. I’ve been to Hamra’s to get my henna done during Eid and I have learnt about Ramadan,” says Erin. “Hamra would also come to my home almost every day after school.”  Erin remembers the first time she tasted Hamra’s grandmother’s dhal. “It was absolutely delicious. I made my mum buy it from Tesco.”  Hamra and Emaan, who identify as British, say they have learnt about Erin’s life in Canada. Emaan says: “We feel proud that we are part of something bigger than just a school. As a school we are part of society.” Grace adds: “We are integrated inside and outside of school, which is making people realise that we should come together.”  The headteacher, James Haseldine, admits the school still has its issues. It is currently rated as requiring improvement by Ofsted, and Haseldine is the fifth headteacher in its relatively short history.  When the idea for the school was suggested in 2007 there were numerous protests. “People were scared”, says Haseldine. “They were worried that the children would start another riot if brought together. You had something very extreme happen in the community and then there was a very extreme move to try and address that. It was very much a political decision, because following the riots local politicians and communities were under a lot of pressure to get things sorted out.”  Alison Taylor, one of three vice-principals at the school, worked at Counthill during the riots and dealt with its aftermath. “There was real certainty that it would go badly wrong,” she says. “There was talk of it being an experiment and that really hit a nerve, because you don’t experiment with children’s futures.”  The school established a faith forum to advise on religious and cultural issues. Representatives were drawn from faith groups and those of a non-faith background. It also sought to ensure that the diversity of its intake was fully reflected across its activities, including assemblies, celebration of festivals and religious education.  It has also used sports and art to bring pupils together. When the children were still on separate sites, staff spent a year working with more than 150 students on a production of Oliver.  “This was the first time that they really mixed and started to see that as normal – it gave us an idea of exactly what could be achieved,” Taylor says.  Haseldine is proud of the school’s achievements but it comes with its pressures. In the past year a growing Romanian community and number of new families have moved into the area. “We have found ourselves having to find these families dentists and doctors and intervening in overcrowded houses. This is well beyond our remit but there is this massive vacuum in public services,” he says.  “I think we go above and beyond in what we offer to families. We have a real community ethos.”  After the riots, the Home Office commissioned a report led by Prof Ted Cantle. His findings criticised the level of ethnic segregation between local schools, as did the Ritchie report, commissioned by Oldham council and the Greater Manchester police.  Now Cantle has congratulated the school on its award, saying Waterhead has shown that the “prophets of doom are wrong and people do actually want integrate”, and called for other schools to embrace a similar approach.  He says: “The Waterhead Academy has shown that it is possible to create a mixed school in a very segregated environment – and that parents also support change when they are fully involved. Others now need to be reminded of their statutory duty ‘to promote community cohesion’ and to devise integration plans.”  Meanwhile, the chair of the judging panel and of the Accord Coalition, Rev Stephen Terry, says the school will “serve as a powerful example about the capacity for schools to transform and to leave a legacy of integration not division”.  Taylor says Waterhead will always be a symbol of what happened. “We have a team that understands these communities and where they have been and nobody wants to go back to that place,” she says. “We’re very much about looking forward, but being mindful of what has been.


theguardianuk--2019-12-22--Torah on Tyne: how Orthodox Jews carved out their very own Oxbridge

On a residential street in Gateshead, an unexpected sound drifts from open windows. It is the murmurings of hundreds of young men as they read aloud from the Torah or explore the meaning of the religious texts.  Not so long ago, the soundtrack of this city on the river Tyne was the noise of heavy industry: shipbuilding, engineering, coalmining. It was all gone by the 1980s and 90s and, like so many other places, Gateshead struggled with unemployment, deprivation and loss of identity. Now it is home to the fastest-growing strictly Orthodox Jewish community in the UK, fuelled by the reputation of its educational establishments and cheap housing.  There has been a Jewish presence in the north-east since the late 19th century but most communities have shrunk or disappeared. “This is the only [strictly Orthodox Jewish] community outside London and Manchester that is growing, thriving, dynamic and forward-looking. It’s expanding day by day,” said Joseph Schleider, who has lived in Gateshead all his life and is the community’s historian. The regular community of several thousand people, concentrated in a grid of streets in the neighbourhood of Bensham, is swollen in term-time by 1,500 students from all over the UK and abroad. About 350 study at the Gateshead Talmudical College, the most prestigious of the community’s numerous religious educational establishments, which is producing the next generation of rabbis and scholars.  “Gateshead is the Oxbridge of the UK Jewish community,” said Rabbi Shraga Feivel Zimmerman, a New Yorker known to his congregants simply as “the rov”, meaning notable rabbi. Since he arrived from Brooklyn in 2008, the community has doubled in size. “I hope I’ve helped the community to adapt to make it fertile ground for growth.”  Gateshead was “quite a distance in miles, culture and mentality” from Brooklyn, said Zimmerman, but he came for the “unique opportunity to lead a community”. “England is a very conservative place and resistant to change in many ways. If you come from the outside, you have a fresh perspective.”  The rabbi is credited with turning the community to engage with wider society. Links between the community and Gateshead council, the local further education college and other mainstream institutions have been nurtured. But Zimmerman is conscious of the potential downside of rapid growth. “One seeks a positive dynamic while still retaining a sense of community. Everyone here still knows each other, shares in each other’s celebrations, grieves together. We don’t want to keep doubling every 10 years,” he said.  At the yeshiva, as everyone calls the Talmudical College, young men between the ages of 16 and early 20s study and debate religious texts in pairs for about 12 hours a day. They live in dormitories, have no access to smartphones, television or mainstream newspapers, and limited internet access.  “This is a serious time of study,” said Rabbi Gershon Miller, a senior member of staff. “There are prayers at 8am and study [in English, Yiddish and Hebrew] goes on until 10pm or later.” Infractions of the code of behaviour are rare. “No one is being watched or monitored. You get a little fraying at the edges from time to time, but for most this is the lifestyle they want to pursue.”  Nineteen-year-old Dovid Belovski, a Londoner in his second year at the yeshiva, said: “It’s intense, I can’t deny that. But I came here to be challenged, I never expected it to be easy. It’s the foundation for my life.”  Studying at the Gateshead yeshiva may also improve a young man’s marriage prospects. The college’s graduates are considered a high-status catch by ultra-Orthodox parents seeking a match for their daughters.  But, said David Schleider, who runs a youth club for boys in the community, “not everyone is cut out to be a rabbi or a teacher. We want to encourage those who aren’t to be skilled up while maintaining a full religious lifestyle. We have a very good relationship with Gateshead College, which provides culturally sensitive and accessible training.”  In Orthodox Judaism, women cannot become rabbis, but bright girls are encouraged to teach. About 450 girls aged 16-plus – more than a quarter from abroad – are enrolled at the Jewish Teachers’ Training College in Gateshead, which offers A-levels in maths, biology, biblical Hebrew, computer science and art, as well as teacher training. Another girls’ seminary in the community has a more vocational focus, offering courses in information technology, health and childcare.  A 2015 study by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research said the average birth rate among ultra-Orthodox women was seven, compared to 1.98 for mainstream Jewish women. A group of women community leaders in Gateshead, who all work outside the home, acknowledged the challenges of large families but spoke assertively about being fulfilled professionally, religiously, and as mothers and home-makers.  One consequence of the expanding community is the growing number of businesses owned and run by strictly Orthodox Jews. Kosher bakery goods, milk and meat are produced locally. Blooms, a food takeaway that opened a few years ago with the blessing of Rabbi Zimmerman, is Jewish-owned but is partly staffed by young Geordie women who blithely talk through the requirements of kosher food preparation in between gentle banter with their ultra-Orthodox customers.  Low house prices have helped the community to grow. One man who moved to Gateshead from north London a few years ago bought a six-bedroom house for £150,000. “It needed a lot of work but in London it would have cost at least £1m,” he said. Four years ago, the community completed its first social housing project, consisting of 12 four- or five-bedroom houses for rent.  “Housing here is significantly cheaper than in London or even Manchester. But lots of families are low-income households, in receipt of benefits, and we tend to have bigger than average families. So there is a big demand for large affordable homes,” said Shlomi Isaacson of the Jewish Community Council of Gateshead (JCCG).  Antisemitism appears to be less prevalent than in other places with high ultra-Orthodox Jewish populations. Nevertheless, the yeshiva has 80 CCTV cameras plus security guards. Most incidents fall into the “low-level antisocial antisemitism” category, said Jonathan Klajn, also of the JCCG. “It’s par for the course for someone to drive down the road, roll down their window and shout expletives at us. We’re uncomfortable with the security presence, but it’s a deterrent.” He added: “We rub along fine with the local Muslims.”  The JCCG and representatives of Gateshead council meet regularly to discuss the needs of the community. “We recognised the culture and lifestyle of our Orthodox community is quite different to other communities,” said Dave Andrew, who has liaised on behalf of the council for the past 10 years.  “Communication is the key, given that many households don’t engage with mainstream or social media so we need to ensure they get to hear what’s happening. This is not an insular community, but the reason for that perception is that it’s a community that helps itself at every life stage from the cradle to the grave.”  Rabbi Zimmerman – who answers about 500 emails a week seeking guidance on Jewish law and practice – also rejected the suggestion of insularity, saying the community was independent and self-sustaining. “In former times, children grew up and left, they moved on to a larger world,” he said. “Now it’s a realistic option to stay.”


theguardianuk--2019-12-30--China jails underground pastor Wang Yi for nine years for inciting subversion

A Chinese court has sentenced the pastor Wang Yi to nine years in prison on charges of inciting subversion of state power and illegally operating a business.  Wang was among dozens of churchgoers and leaders of the Early Rain Covenant church detained by police in December 2018. Most were subsequently released.  The church is one of China’s best-known unregistered Protestant “house” churches. Chinese law requires that places of worship register and submit to government oversight but some decline to do so and are called house churches.  China’s constitution guarantees religious freedom but since Xi Jinping became president six years ago the government has tightened restrictions on religions seen as a challenge to the authority of the Communist party.  The government has cracked down on underground churches, both Protestant and Catholic, and has rolled out new legislation to increase oversight of religious education and practices, with harsher punishment for practices not sanctioned by authorities.  According to the statement posted on the website of the Chengdu court in the western province of Sichuan, Wang has also been deprived of his political rights for three years and 50,000 yuan (£5,460/US$7,160) of his personal property was confiscated.  China also sentenced Nobel peace prize winning dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2009 to 11 years in prison on charges of inciting subversion of state power. Liu died in prison in 2017 after he was denied permission to leave China for treatment for late-stage liver cancer.


theindependent--2019-01-08--Parents in Essex are withdrawing children from RE lessons over objections to Islam

Parents in Essex are withdrawing their children from religious education lessons on Islam and stopping them from visiting mosques on school trips, a report for the council has found.  The trend has been uncovered in the area of Thurrock, a former stronghold for Ukip supporters, where a new report warns of "integration issues" within the local community.  The report, from the standing advisory council for religious education (SACRE), a body that advises on RE in schools, calls for the “nature and extent” of withdrawals to be investigated.  It says: “Parents have objected to the teaching of Islam and withdrawn children from lessons and visits to places of worship.  “The outcome for those children, who arguably are those that most need to be taught about Islam, are no longer being taught about it."  It added: “It is not clear whether or not this is a widespread issue in Thurrock, but it is clear that SACRE needs to investigate.  The report adds that tackling hate crime remains a priority in Thurrock – where the highest number of offences have been against Muslim victims - but still some schools have experienced “tensions”.  Thurrock had the fourth highest percentage of people who backed Brexit – with 72.3 per cent of the electorate voting to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum.  During the 2017 general election campaign, former Ukip leader Nigel Farage visited the constituency with the party’s then candidate Tim Aker, who is also an MEP.  But in January last year, all 17 Ukip councillors in Thurrock resigned from the party and formed a new group, Thurrock Independents, which now the official opposition to the Conservative majority.  Census data from 2011 reveal that just 2 per cent of the population in Thurrock is Muslim.  The standing advisory council for religious education (SACRE) is due to address Thurrock Council on Wednesday about their concerns over Islamophobic parents pulling children out of RE lessons.  A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain told the Thurrock Gazette: "In ever increasingly diverse society, it is more crucial than ever to learn about each other’s faith and cultures, and help foster better understanding between communities.  “In particular, as hostility towards Muslim communities remains widespread and more young people are brought up with inaccurate views about Muslims, we believe visits to mosques are an important way to help resolve misunderstandings."  The report comes after teachers warned in April last year that parents were increasingly abusing the right to withdraw their children from religious education lessons due to their prejudices.  Members of the ATL section of the National Education Union (NEU) called on the government to take steps to prevent parents from selectively withdrawing youngsters from RE classes.  The Commission on Religious Education also recently called for the right of parents to withdraw their children from RE to be reviewed amid concerns about racist or Islamophobic motivations.


theindependent--2019-04-02--All home schooled children to be registered amid radicalisation fears under government plans

All home-schooled children will be registered amid fears that young people are increasingly going “missing” and could be radicalised despite large opposition from the home education community.  Education secretary Damian Hinds is launching a compulsory register of all children not educated in school to help councils identify when they are at risk of harm or if their education isn’t good enough.  The move comes after the children’s commissioner warned earlier this year that 60,000 children are now educated at home, with the number of home-schooled children having doubled in four years.  Schools watchdog Ofsted has previously warned of an increasing number of young people attending illegal schools, under the guise of home education, leaving them vulnerable to radicalisation.  Now parents who educate their children at home will be made to register with their local authority despite fears from the home education lobby that their children will be forced back into school.  The government says it helps local authorities spot young people who may be receiving a solely religious education, attending an unregistered school, or not receiving an education at all.  Mr Hinds said: “The term ‘home education’ has now acquired a much broader meaning than it used to. It is now a catch-all phrase, used to refer to all children not in a registered school.  “So whilst this does include those actually getting a really good education at home, it also includes children who are not getting an education at all, or being educated in illegal schools where they are vulnerable to dangerous influences – the truth is, we just don’t know.”  Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner, said: “It is vitally important that we know that all children are safe and that they are receiving the education they deserve to help them to succeed in life.”  Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of Ofsted, added that a new register would make it easier to detect and tackle the serious problems of “off-rolling”, as well as illegal schools.  Last month, police chiefs and London mayor Sadiq Khan called for an end to “off-rolling” – where schools persuade parents to take their children off the register – as they linked it to knife crime.  But Mike Wood, who runs website Home Education UK, argued that there is no “heightened risk” for children that are educated at home, adding that the government should reduce off-rolling in schools rather than “attacking” home educators.  He said there are huge concerns among the community about increased council intervention and parents being told how to teach their children.  “Local authorities have a very poor record of how home education works. They expect to see something like school at home and that is not what we do,” Mr Wood said.  He added that a lot of families are “very concerned” about the possibility of being forced to put their children back into school following a council intervention.  A public consultation on how the register will work, as well as the consequences for parents who fail to register their children, will be open until 24 June.  Under the proposed measures, local authorities will be required to increase support for home-educating parents, with teaching resources or financial contributions to exam fees.  Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said: “Councils fully support the rights of parents to educate their children in the best way that they see fit, and the vast majority of parents who home educate their children do a fantastic job, and work well with their local council to make sure that a good education is being provided.  “For the minority of children where this is not the case, councils need to be able to check a child’s schooling, to make sure they are being taught a suitable and appropriate education in a safe environment.”  The LGA is calling on the government to change the law to give councils the powers and appropriate funding to enter homes to check a child’s schooling.  She added: “Councils are keen to support families to make sure children get the best possible education, wherever they receive this. However, with children’s services facing a £3.1bn funding gap by 2025, it is vital that any additional responsibilities for councils are properly funded.”  We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.  At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.


theindependent--2019-05-17--Why do some people believe in God

Why do some people believe in God?

It’s a funny thing “having” a religion: I have one but I don’t use it – it’s like my physics GCSE. There is belief in my family background but I was never raised to take it seriously. We had distant cousins who were religious but we just thought they were crazy. One day though, when I was six, I did tell my mother that I had decided to believe in God. She said that this was fine and asked whether I wanted to continue the family tradition of Judaism. I staunchly confirmed this and she said that she was pleased and asked if, as chef, she could assist me in observing the dietary restrictions.  At this point I had a few follow-up questions. At the same moment as she finished explaining about sausages, by complete coincidence I had an epiphany of renewed atheism and I fell to kissing it and promised never to flirt with other thought systems again.  But even though I had no daily use for my Judaism, I was particular about the distinction. I reckoned I shared 96 per cent of my morality with Christians in the same way as I shared 96 per cent of my DNA with chimpanzees: we are indeed similar but I didn’t really want to sit through their tea parties.  When I was 10 years old, Mr Halton taught religious education. He was among the last of a military generation who were put out to pasture this way – their training on the battlefield could continue to find expression in firing bits of the New Testament, selected for inaccessible archaism, at the heads of the enemy. When we were inattentive, he would grasp our ears and pull us up onto our feet and then onto our tiptoes, whispering grave threats. You may call such a practice barbaric. I say that it made me the man I am: suspicious of Applied Christianity and protective of my ears.  When I was 12, at my next school, the RE tutor Mr Jackson was far and away the most talented educator in the place. He peaced out the whole Judeo-Christian drone and went straight to the Hindu gods, then veered Egyptian, tacked Sumerian and did a Norse barrel roll. What a guy. Years later a fellow pupil told me that this dynamic and memorable teacher with the light in his eyes had been discovered to have falsified his professional qualifications and been sacked by the governors. Go figure.  I enjoyed those tales in the spirit of mythology but I felt pity for all the humans – ancient and modern – who, thrown into this life, had in their existential vertigo created a Creator to have created them. Francis Bacon wrote: “I had rather believe all the Fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal Frame, is without a Mind. And therefore, God never wrought Miracle, to convince Atheism, because his Ordinary Works convince it.”  Human desire for the universe to make sense as an intentional creation is deep – but not so deep that it had no beginning. Humans were not always religious. Some 50,000 years ago we lived together as hunter-gatherers in small communities that tracked each other’s contribution to the common weal – that was morality enough. We used tools and developed a sense of agency: “Tharg took my nut-breaking rock, maybe on purpose. If Tharg takes my stuff again I will know it is on purpose and I will bite Tharg extra hard, then Tharg will stop. I do not care for Tharg.”  From this useful habit of mind – imagining the intentions of others – grew Animism: we projected intentionality on to the natural world, seeing spirits in trees and water. Nature’s mysteries could be explained relatably as the mercurial intentions of the sprites. To this day we project intention on to disorganised phenomena, just as we see a human face in the fenestration of a house – we’re wired to do it and should not really be playing the stock market. I thought Bitcoin wanted to keep going up and I wish it had told me it had changed its mind.  Agriculture brought forth cities and we now lived among strangers, whose individual contributions we could no longer track. Propagating a shared belief in watchful, punitive deities kept people honest – and we successfully upscaled, organised religion burgeoning in tandem with the city state.  Legal and economic systems have evolved also, but have not fully replaced the function of religion as societal glue. Indeed capitalism may be heading for crisis in our secular world, because rising inequality doesn’t square with our millenia-old expectations of social life and we have no other overarching narrative.  For most of my life I have thought religion is all just anthropology, stultifying at best, but I have over the years met some impressive people who apply it more conscientiously than my RE teacher Mr Halton, and I am sometimes almost wistful that I cannot in adulthood acquire belief.  It is indeed a wonder that there is both a colourful sunset and a human mind calibrated to find it beautiful, a pairing so fathomlessly lucky that it suggests design. “It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth Man’s Mind to Atheism; But depth in Philosophy, bringeth Men’s Minds about to Religion.” I know I keep quoting Francis Bacon but he makes good points – and I am crazy about Bacon.


theindependent--2019-06-29--UK to deport aspiring astrophysicist 23 to Pakistan where she faces death or forced marriage to co

UK to deport aspiring astrophysicist, 23, to Pakistan where she faces death or forced marriage to cousin

A 23-year-old woman who has won offers to study astrophysics at some of Britain’s most prestigious universities, after living more than half her life in the UK, is to be deported to Pakistan, the country of her birth, where her father is demanding she marry her older cousin.  Disobeying him could see her ostracised or even killed for violating her family’s “honour”, she fears.  The woman, who spoke exclusively to The Independent, and whose identity is being concealed to protect her safety, had her bid for asylum rejected in February. Officials claimed there was not sufficient evidence she was at risk. She has lodged an appeal and is awaiting the outcome of the hearing held this month.  Sairah Javed, her solicitor, said the Home Office based its earlier rejection on its belief that her father, who had worked as a Pakistani civil servant, did not fit the profile of an abuser.  And in the event she felt unsafe, it had advised her to seek protection from the Pakistani state, Ms Javed said.  “She would be returning to a country where her father is seen to be her guardian and is allowed to make every and all decisions for herself; where she would have limited to no freedoms on her own life decisions,” Ms Javed said.  “If she says ‘No’ to the prospect of a forced marriage, there are concerns in relation to honour killings. If he seeks [her] out and calls police to intervene, police will assist him.”  A report into the woman’s case shown to The Independent highlighted how forcing women into marriage was a common custom that is largely unchecked by the state – despite the practice being illegal.  It was undertaken by Dr Farhaaan Wali, an academic at Bangor University and immigration and asylum consultant.  In the report, he said the consequences of refusing a forced marriage were, in many cases, fatal. One in five murders in Pakistan were said to be attributed to an honour killing – over 90 per cent of which are committed by a close family member, including fathers and brothers.  “Honour killing has become a common social practice in which women are targeted by family members to avenge dishonour,” the report read.  “In terms of [this young woman], there is a strong likelihood that she could become a victim of honour killing, as she is refusing her parent’s marriage command.”  Even if she was not killed, the report said it would be difficult for her to find housing or employment as these often required a male guardian.  “As a single woman [she] would struggle to survive, which increases the risk of harassment and exploitation.”  In the UK, the 23-year-old’s prospects are bright. She has an educational scholarship and has been offered a place to study astrophysics at King’s College London, Bristol University, Sheffield University and Queen Mary University.  “I consider myself British, I’ve adapted to the culture, I feel more westernised, I live here,” she said.  Memories of her life in Pakistan are few, but she does remember her father. “I try to forget those memories, I didn’t have a good time,” she said. “Whatever I remember, I link back to him.”  Born in Islamabad, she first came to the UK in 2007 when she was 11, along with her parents, sister and brother. She said her father was different in the UK; the abuse was largely mental, rather than physical.  “He was scared of the authorities here,” she said. “He wasn’t physically abusive towards us, he used to mentally torture us.  “He was constantly telling us: ‘You guys will see what I’ll do when we return to Pakistan.’”  She said her father came through with his threats when the family returned to Pakistan in 2011, trapping her in the house when she tried to visit her maternal grandmother.  “He locked me and my sister in my room ... and he went and did the same thing to my mum,” she said.  They escaped to their maternal grandfather’s house. But, she said, the threats escalated and eventually they all fled back to the UK in 2012, where her mother claimed unsuccessfully for asylum on the basis of domestic violence.  In 2017, the young student was prompted to make her own bid for asylum after her father wrote letters – including one to the Pakistani courts – in an effort to marry her and her younger sister off in Pakistan.  The letter revealed the father’s desire to get custody of his three children - all of whom are now legally adults – and remove them from western influences.  He wrote: “I am totally against modern education being given in United Kingdom and desirous that my kids become familiar with religion and have religious education.”  He said it was also against his religion, tradition and culture to allow his daughters to stay at home unmarried.  He continued: “Attaining the age of majority we arrange their marriages without any delay. When my daughters were not adult, I promised with my elder brother to marry them with their younger sons.”  His daughter said the thought of being married to her cousin or disobeying her father filled her with fear.  “In Pakistani culture if you don’t obey your father, his honour would be affected,” she said. “They can go to any extent, they can physically abuse you and kill you in the name of honour.  “I grew up here, I want to feel safe, I want to live in an environment where I can make my own decisions.”  The Home Office refused to comment on the 23-year-old’s case because it “would be inappropriate to comment on cases where legal proceedings are outstanding”.  It said anyone seeking asylum needed to establish they had a well-founded fear of persecution or that their circumstances would put at risk their ability to live freely, and safely, as stated under Article 3 of the Human Rights Act.  The Home Office said decision makers took into account “all available evidence provided by the claimant in light of published country information, which covers country specific issues relating to gender-based harm”.


theindependent--2019-10-03--Parents in Wales to lose right to remove children from sex education classes

Parents’ right to remove children from relationships and sexuality education (RSE) classes in Welsh schools could be scrapped under government plans.  Families could also be stopped from taking pupils out of religious education (RE) lessons by the Welsh government.  It comes as protests against LGBT+ lessons continue to take place outside schools in Birmingham.  Kirsty Williams, education minister in Wales, said she was minded to ensure all young people are required to study RE and RSE in the new curriculum – which will be LGBT+ inclusive.  “It has always been an anomaly that children could be prevented from attending certain subjects,” Ms Williams said.  In a consultation by the government earlier this year, more than four in five (88.7 per cent) of respondents said they wanted parents’ right to withdraw children from lessons to be retained.  Some respondents suggested home schooling could increase if the right was removed.  The Welsh government has launched an eight-week consultation on the plans.  Relationships education in primary schools and sex education in secondary schools will become compulsory in England from 2020.  The announcement prompted a widespread campaign against the plans - including protests at two primary schools in Birmingham  But parents in England will retain the right to withdraw children from sex education until the age of 15.  The Welsh government is also proposing to change the name of RE to "Religions and Worldviews".  Kathy Riddick, coordinator of Wales Humanists, welcomed the move to include different religions and humanism in RE.  But she called for parents’ right to remove children from RE to remain.  “We have grave concerns about parents losing their right to withdraw their children from RE in faith schools where they could be subjected to a heavy-handed religious instruction that enforces a particular faith-based perspective,” she said.


theirishtimes--2019-01-31--Why are Catholic schools so popular at a time of increased secularisation

Why are Catholic schools so popular at a time of increased secularisation?

In Ireland, and around the world, as Catholic schools are celebrating their annual celebration of Catholic Schools Week, it may surprise readers that today there are more than 28,000 Catholic schools in Europe are educating over 8,500,000 pupils.  Today almost one-third of primary and secondary students in Europe are in schools under the aegis of the European Committee for Catholic Education (CEEC).  Gone are the monologue schools for Catholics of times past but instead, throughout Europe, Catholic schools are now multicultural spaces where students of all faiths and none are made welcome to hear the hopeful message of the gospel presented in a relevant way that plugs into the continual search for meaning that continues to imbue all of humanity.  This diverse nature and progressive character of Catholic schools is exemplified by a CEEC meeting, taking place in Brussels this week, to coordinate our forthcoming symposium to address inter-cultural and inter-religious practices in Catholic schools in Europe.  This vital subject is highlighted in a world-wide project for Catholic schools called “Je Peux!, I can!, Yo puedo!” in which schoolchildren from all over the world seek to meet the challenge of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical letter, Laudato Sí, on the care for our common home.  Education in Europe is a national competency and thus operates under the conventions of the European Council and the European Court of Human Rights, and most countries have a majority of State schools.  However, it is interesting to note that of the 47 member states of the European Council which includes Russia and Turkey, there are only two countries, France and Macedonia, where there is no religious education in State schools.  In all of the other countries education about religion is seen as an essential feature of culture and citizenship, as well as a bulwark against fundamentalist and extremist philosophies from whatever quarter they emerge.  Even in France, almost 20 per cent of the population attend non-governmental Catholic schools which contract to meet the State’s requirements in teaching the national curriculum, have autonomy to employ Catholic teachers and to educate pupils in the Catholic faith as part of the characteristic spirit/ethos of the schools, and are funded by the State to almost the same level as French public schools.  Indeed, it is not just in Ireland and in France that Catholic schools receive public funding to almost the level of the public school system but it is a consistent feature of State policy in most European countries, from Portugal in the west to Hungary in the east, and from Malta in the south to Lithuania in the north, and it reaches equality in Scotland and in the Netherlands where Catholic schools receive exactly the same funding as public schools.  But this is not what one would expect to hear in 2019. Why then are Catholic schools so popular around the world and in particular, at a time of increased secularisation throughout Europe, why do they remain so?  Research indicates that there are four characteristics of Catholic schools that resonate with parents: (a) they have an academic structure and culture which is sometimes referred to as ‘bookishness’; (b) they create strong internal communities; (c) they have devolved governance and autonomy; and, of course, (d) they have the inspirational Gospel message which gives the school community a sense of mission and purpose.  Noting that European civil society inhabits the space between the State, the market place, and the family, research also suggests that the voluntary independent sector is ideally placed to create partnerships to combine the best of these elements.  Thus, the education in voluntary Catholic schools – such as we have in such large numbers in Ireland north and south - will never be simply to further the ends of the State, nor simply to meet the demands of the market, rather they will continue to provide an informed evaluation of all of the gifts inherent in each individual to enable their contribution to the common good.  In April 2017, Pope Francis published Educating to Fraternal Humanism which deals with the Catholic Church’s position on global inter-dependence and the common destiny of all peoples on Earth.  The chapter headings of Humanising education, A Culture of Dialogue, Globalizing Hope, For a True Inclusion and Co-operation Networks speak to his belief that there has never been a more important time to challenge the assumptions of those who would suggest that religion should be considered a thing of the past, both alien and irrelevant.  In a speech later in 2017 Pope Francis emphasised that Europe is made up of people, and not statistics and institutions, and that community rather than individualism must be re- discovered. He concluded, “Person and community are the foundation of the Europe that we, as Christians, want and can contribute to building. The bricks of this structure are dialogue, inclusion, solidarity, development and peace.”  As we in Ireland celebrate this year’s Catholic Schools Week, with the theme ‘Celebrating the work of our local Catholic Schools’, we do so within that European and world-wide understanding that although our schools are local, the challenges facing society are universal.  In application this means that Catholic schools have an important role to challenge society to evolve as a civilisation of love and to do so by finding solutions to the moral and other dilemmas that face States and society on this shared Earth of ours.  Paul Meany is a former principal of Marian College, Dublin (1988-2017), and is chairman of the Le Chéile Education Trust.


theirishtimes--2019-04-06--Scaremongering and fear The Dublin Catholic school row

Scaremongering and fear: The Dublin Catholic school row

Outside the gates of Catholic national schools in the affluent suburbs of Malahide and Portmarnock this week, there was only one topic of conversation among parents.  Fear, uncertainty and anxiety have been coursing through school communities on foot of a Department of Education request that one Catholic school out of eight in the area should divest its patronage.  “I’m not a holy Joe by any means, but this isn’t something any of us wants,” said one mother of two, waiting outside St Oliver Plunkett’s national school in Malahide with her buggy. “My child is happy here. There’s a sense of community. I don’t see why we should have to change.”  Another mother of three, who describes herself as an occasional churchgoer, is also fearful of how changes could impact on her two children at the school.  “My child has been learning religion, so are we just going to suddenly stop that? What about the nativity play, the Holy Communion and Confirmation. Will that all stop?”  A grandfather, waiting to collect his two grandchildren, says anxiety over the divestment debate is affecting the pupils. “My granddaughter was asking her parents the other day: ‘Will I still be a Catholic?’ It’s just not right the way all this is being handled.”  The department’s move is part of a wider plan to increase access to multidenominational schools for parents. At present, 90 per cent of primary schools are under Catholic control.  But so far, the process has been marked by a blizzard of scaremongering and wildly inaccurate claims over what may happen to schools if taken over by a nondenominational or multidenominational patrons such as Educate Together.  Much of it has been circulated on parents’ WhatsApp groups and school social media platforms, as well as at information meetings and in school correspondence.  In the case of Oliver Plunkett’s, the parents’ association warned that a change in ethos could spell the end of the school carol services, garden fetes, healthy eating programmes and its Book Buzz school reading programme.  It also highlighted the potential consequences of a narrow vote in favour of divestment. “To avoid another Brexit-type disaster, we implore you to attend the meeting. This is your opportunity to raise your questions/concerns,” parents were told.  At Scoil an Duinnínigh on the Feltrim Road in Swords, parents were warned that references to God such as “dia duit” may not longer be permitted, while music with religious references would not be allowed.  St Sylvester’s Infant School in Malahide warned there would be “no more Christmas concerns, no more Halloween and Easter celebrations”, while grandparent assemblies and St Patrick’s Day celebrations would be cancelled.  The sheer volume of misinformation prompted Minister for Education Joe McHugh to issue a rebuke to school authorities along with a warning to cease issuing claims that have no basis in fact.  “It is a bad example to be setting, particularly for those of us working to educate our young people,” McHugh said.  “Just to be clear – Christmas will not be cancelled. Neither will any typical school holiday like Easter or St Patrick’s Day. Pancake Tuesday won’t be banned. Nor will holidays or celebrations associated with the ancient Celtic/pagan festival of Halloween,” he said.  The controversy has highlighted flaws with the divestment process and challenges facing the State in promoting greater choice for parents in a system dominated by the Catholic Church.  Some 95 per cent of primary schools are under the control of churches, and 90 per cent of those are under the patronage of the Catholic Church.  Almost everyone – including the churches – agrees that placing so much control of primary schools in the hands of religious denominations is out of step with the needs of an increasingly diverse society. Few, however, are willing to concede control. It is seven years since plans to pave the way for the divestment of schools from religious ownership were announced in a blaze of publicity.  The report of the Forum for Patronage and Pluralism, established by former minister Ruairí Quinn, recommended that religious schools in about 28 areas divest to multidenominational patrons.  Progress has been slow and divisive: only about 13 have completed the divestment process to date. There have been a range of obstacles, such as local resistance to change, parental fears and opposition from local bishops.  In the few cases where divestment has occurred, they have tended to involve schools where enrolment was declining or where parents had lost confidence in schools for a combination of reasons.  The glacial pace of progress prompted Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin in recent times to criticise elements of the church for “dragging their feet” over the issue.  To help speed the process up, a new divestment model – rebranded as a “reconfiguration process” – was drawn up two years ago by the department. While the old model required a school to be closed down and re-opened, the revamped process envisages “live transfers” of patronage.  However, this new process has come in for heavy criticism from parents on all sides of the debate.  Laura Mulvey, whose daughter attends Scoil an Duinnínigh, wants her school to remain under its Catholic ethos but says she is frustrated at not being able to get clear answers over the divestment process.  “The lack of information and clear and transparent answers to parents’ questions are causing stress and anxiety in both children and parents of children in the school,” she says.  Under the process, parents are being asked to vote on whether to remove their school’s Catholic patronage without any idea of who might take over.  There is also no input from multidenominational groups such as Educate Together, the State-run Education and Training Board or the gaelscoil patron An Fóras Pátrúnachta.  In this information vacuum, there has been no shortage of evidence of scaremongering over the implications of what might happen.  David McAlinden, whose daughter attends one of the schools being canvassed for divestment in Malahide and is in favour of divestment, feels the process is deeply unfair. He says parents were told that if they voted to change, but are unhappy with the available options, there would be no way back.  “It strikes me that this process, together with a not insignificant amount of misinformation, has been cynically engineered to obtain a particular result for the diocese,” he says.  Progress after the Ruairí Quinn announcement seven years ago proved achingly slow and divisive, partly due to local opposition and because it involved having to wait for a school to either close down or amalgamate. The late Prof John Coolahan, who chaired the forum, said the absence of a “stick” to wield against the Catholic Church was another key flaw.  The Richard Bruton system of “live transfers”, devised two years ago, was to speed up the process. The department, which devised the process in consultation with Catholic Church representatives, says it is aimed at reflecting the wishes of parents and the school community and is not aimed at forcing change on any school.  McHugh has signalled that he is open to reviewing this process once a pilot phase in a total of 16 areas has been completed this summer.  But school management sources say this process is once again set up to fail and is still under too much church control. They say a revamped approach will be required, to give parents more certainty over what they are voting for – by allowing for joint patronage or for the gradual transfer of patronage, along with guarantees over access to religious education or sacramental preparation outside school hours.  Fr Gerry O’Connor, who has chaired numerous school boards of management and has been involved in the attempted divestment of a Catholic school, says many parents still feel a strong connection with the ritual of the church.  “There are threshold moments in people’s lives that many still want to rejoice and the Church ones still connect on a level that, perhaps, secular versions don’t,” he says.  Divestment, he says, sounds like a very good idea in theory, but many parents feel a strong attachment to their local school.  He gives the example of the Ballyfermot area, where parents of children in 10 Catholic schools (and no alternative) took part in a series of votes. No school wanted to divest, so the status quo remained.  “You’re dealing with parents, teachers and the wider community. It can be very hard to get all three to move in one direction. It’s so much easier in a greenfield or start-up school. While Archbishop Martin has tried to push divestment, it can get very complicated at a local level.”  An irony in the current debate is that what seems like a radical move in some quarters – breaking the link between church and State in education – would in fact be a return to the original vision for our primary school system.  The “Stanley letter” of 1831 – a letter from the chief secretary of the British government to the Duke of Leinster, then Dublin’s leading nobleman – is widely considered as the foundation for the national school in Ireland.  Stanley’s vision was that these schools would be non-denominational and religious instruction should be separate.  Within a few decades, however, the power of the various churches ensured the vision was not realised and national schools became denominational in character.  Almost 190 years later, it seems the State is still grappling with how to find a satisfactory model which best meets the needs of its young citizens.