Ted Haggard: new man or same old charlatan? Hope and suspicion surround the religious rebirth of Ted Haggard and the unveiling of his ‘gay-friendly’ ministry Candace Chellew-Hodge guardian.co.uk, Monday 7 June 2010 13.19 BST Article history Ted Haggard, with his wife Gayle at his side, discusses their new church. Photograph: Ed Andrieski/APWhen I learned of Ted Haggard’s new church I experienced two conflicting emotions. I was at once immediately suspicious, but also strangely filled with hope and compassion. Haggard, the one-time president of the National Association of Evangelicals who fell from grace in 2006 after a sex-and-drugs scandal with a … Continue reading Ted Haggard: same old charlatan?

By Hajrah Mumtaz dawn.com Whether your leanings are towards the left or the right, if you’re a rational person in any way this will have set you shuddering. It’s awful, chilling and frightening. It is also hate speech, incitement to murder and violence, possibly conspiracy to commit crime (murder) and many other things viewed as criminal under the laws of the land. – Photo on file The ironies we witness every day in Pakistan would have us shaking our heads were it not for the fact that they usually provoke such deep visceral dread. Take the furore over the recent … Continue reading Pity the nation

By Jawed Naqvi dawn.com Why have we become so casual with facts? Or perhaps more worryingly, why do the media more and more lean on the side of the mob when they are not busy creating one with tendentious froth whipped up in the name of journalism? – Reuters Photo A young British woman joined our newspaper as a reporter in Dubai. It was her first job as a journalist, but on pressure from the local owners the editor assigned her the sensitive crime beat. In one of her first stories, she came back with the following copy: “Two Asian … Continue reading Why have journalists stopped saying alleged, feared, suspected?

What if Mousavi had won in Iran? A year after Iran’s rigged presidential election, the Islamic Republic is in greater disarray than ever Masoud Shafaee guardian.co.uk, Sunday 6 June 2010 13.00 BST Article history At the beginning of June last year, a thaw in Iranian-American relations looked increasingly likely. President Obama had been inaugurated less than five months earlier, promising the leaders of the Islamic Republic that America would “extend” its hand if the Iranians were willing to “unclench” their fists. Having been vilified as part of an “axis of evil” by the Bush administration, the Iranian leadership suddenly faced … Continue reading If Mousavi won in Iran?

Gay equality can’t yet be claimed a western value, but it is a human right The far right’s use of homophobia as a stick with which to beat Islam is symptomatic of a broader confusion Gary Younge The Guardian, Monday 7 June 2010 Article history In a brilliant exposé the Guardian reported how a lone man held up a pink triangle at a demonstration of the English Defence League – one of the most openly anti-immigrant and Islamophobic organisations in the country. When the reporter asked him what it was for he replied nervously: “This is the symbol gay people … Continue reading Using Gays to attack Muslims

Let’s be honest about placebo Rather than dismissing treatments that use placebo as hocus pocus, we should learn what we can from this powerful effect Ed Halliwell guardian.co.uk, Monday 7 June 2010 11.00 BST Though it’s rarely treated as a religious issue, the alternative medicine debate has a lot in common with the God versus science wrangle. Just as religious belief is scoffed at by atheists, so “traditional healer” services, while providing comfort and relief for many, are prone to come into collision with rationalist claims that they’re based on fantastical faith-based premises, that they prey on the delusions of … Continue reading Lets have honest talk about placebo!

Shame-o-Phobia: Why Men Fear Therapy Not every man is as willing to sit down and share as Alexander Portnoy, the shameless hero of Philip Roth’s book. Why is it hard for some men to go to therapy? June 4, 2010 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest Sex & Relationships headlines via email. // Petitions by Change.org|Get Widget|Start a Petition » Several years ago, I was on a family trip, sitting on a bench with my wife in a plaza in Paris. Loaded down with shopping bags, she … Continue reading Why do Men Fear Therapy?

The Gaza Blockade Is Illegal and the Flotilla Attack Was an Illegal Act of War Because the blockade of Gaza itself violates international law, Israel committed an illegal act of war attacking the convoy, regardless of who attacked whom first. June 5, 2010 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest World headlines via email. // <![CDATA[// Petitions by Change.org|Get Widget|Start a Petition » Israeli officials claimed that the IDF commandos who killed and wounded dozens of activists on a humanitarian aid convoy bound for Gaza this week faced … Continue reading Declaring WAR ON NATO!

The Really Creepy People Behind the Libertarian-Inspired Billionaire Sea Castles The stinking rich are planning billion-dollar luxury liners that keep the land-based Americans they’ve plundered at a safe distance. June 2, 2010 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest Economy headlines via email. // Petitions by Change.org|Get Widget|Start a Petition » What happens when Americans plunder America and leave it broken, destitute and seething mad? Where do these fabulously wealthy Americans go with their loot, if America isn’t a safe, secure, or even desirable place to spend their … Continue reading Libertarian-Inspired Billionaire Sea Castles

Israel — Increasingly Paranoid and Isolated, Dominated by Fundamentalists, Armed with Over 200 Nukes Foreign policy analysts around the world are quietly worrying about the prospects of having a very erratic state. June 3, 2010 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest World headlines via email. // Petitions by Change.org|Get Widget|Start a Petition » After Israel’s lethal attack in international waters on a civilian flotilla carrying relief supplies to Gaza, a troubling question arises: Have Israeli authorities, who possess a major nuclear arsenal, become dangerously erratic? This question … Continue reading Increasingly Paranoid and Isolated, with over 200 Nukes!!!