Magic Statistics

Muslims went on a rampage against Christian-owned shops in southern Egypt after rumours circulated of an affair between a Muslim woman and a Christian man.

Eight Muslim men were arrested in the town of Armant, around 600 km south of Cairo, on suspicion of taking part in arson attacks on four stores and a mini-van owned by Coptic Christians, the security sources said.

The rumours began on Saturday and calm was restored by Tuesday, with security forces deployed in the town as a precaution, one security official said.

Traditional Islamic law allows Muslim men to marry Christian women but not Christian men to marry Muslim women. Romances across the divide are one of the main sources of tension between Egypt’s two main religious communities.

Hala Botros, a Christian blogger from the region, said Copts in Armant were still scared to leave their homes.

Hala Helmy Botros was subjected to a judicial investigation last year after blogging about the persecution suffered by Egyptian Copts.  Official harassment grew so severe that she was forced to stop writing on her blog.

h/t: Big News Network.com - Breaking Religious News

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• Christian deported to Egypt alleges torture
• Egyptian blogger arrested for insulting Islam
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• Muslims attack Christian Arab village

An African-American Christian woman working for the City of Oakland was threatened with termination after using alleged hate speech at work.  So, what did she say, exactly?  Well, she posted a flyer on an office bulletin board promoting "traditional family values".  The employee's supervisor ordered the flyer removed, even though other city workers had previously circulated an e-mail publicising formation of a homosexual employees' association.

The City of Oakland claims that references to the "natural family, marriage and family values" constitute hate speech which is scary to city workers.

Those Oakland city employees sure scare easy.

Why would homosexuals be unnerved by talk of marriage?  Isn't there a big push on to legalise gay "marriage"?  At the same time, however, it does stand to reason that homosexuals would find references to the natural family “scary”.

People who raise moral objections to homosexuality are mocked and derided as "homophobes".   Do those who objected to the flyer therefore qualify as “family-phobes”?  How about “famphobes” for short?

h/t: Waffling Anglican

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Even though Uzbek police arrested pastor Dmitry Shestakov (photo at right) in the middle of a Sunday service last month, the government did not officially acknowledge that he had been detained—until this week.

Uzbekistan’s religious authorities admitted publicly for the first time this week that an Uzbek Christian pastor was arrested last month in the eastern city of Andijan and now faces criminal charges.

“Dmitry Shestakov, who calls himself a pastor and heads an illegal religious organization which operated in the Andijan region, has been arrested,” the press service of Uzbekistan’s Religious Affairs Committee told the Russian Interfax news agency on February 12.

Denying reports that Shestakov was an evangelical pastor affiliated with the legally registered Full Gospel Church, the press service claimed he was not an authorized leader of any officially recognized religious organization in Uzbekistan. Rather, the Uzbek government agency said, he was an “imposter” leading an underground group identified as “Charismatic Pentecostals” who were engaged in “missionary and proselytizing activities under Shestakov’s leadership.”

The pastor's lawyer insists the church has proof that Shestakov received proper legal authorisation to lead worship services at Full Gospel Church.

Bizarrely, the indictment equates Shestakov’s charismatic Pentecostals with Islamic terrorist organisations, claiming that all such groups are threatening national unity and plotting to "seize power".

The government has thus far refused to set a firm date for the trial. 

Previous related posts:

• Pastor arrested by Uzbekistan secret police
• Uzbekistan court orders Bibles burned, Baptists fined
• Uzbekistan: We’re a free country, so butt out!