NEWSRELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Background:

Tomorrow, December 1st, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be the first American Secretary of State to visit the Southeast Asian nation of Burma in 50 years. Her visit is a way for the United States to assess the sincerity of the Burmese military regime’s commitment to human rights and democracy -- including democratic elections and the release of Nobel Peace Laureate and pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

However, human rights activists want to be sure that Secretary Clinton will properly take advantage of this incredible opportunity and address the human rights violations that Burma is so widely known for.  Specifically, a Buddhist monk and Burmese political refugee named U Pyinya Zawta launched a campaign on Change.org calling on Secretary Clinton to push publicly for the unconditional release of all of Burma's political prisoners, including the venerable U Gambira, insist on an end to hostilities in Burma, and insist on changes to the 2008 flawed constitution.

According to a soon to be released investigative report from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars are spent each year on evangelical fundamentalist Christian concerts, retreats, youth programs and other events all aimed at converting military personnel and their families to Christianity.

This is not the money the military has historically spent on chaplains who provide support for military personnel who identify as people of faith.

Instead, the Department of Defense is spending on these programs with the intent to proselytize -- here are just a few examples of programs funded with taxpayer dollars:
--$30 million a year spent on the Army's Strong Bonds program. Strong Bonds is supposed to be non-religious, but has been hijacked by chaplains who have turned the program's pre- and post-deployment getaways for soldiers and their spouses into evangelical fundamentalist Christian retreats held at Christian camps and resorts.

Congressman Gary Miller of California shared a stage in February with another speaker who intimated that marines should kill a group of Muslim-Americans who were gathered for a charity fundraiser nearby. Later on, the crowd from the event chanted a slew of bigoted and racist taunts at people arriving at the fundraiser.

8,500 Change.org members petitioned Miller to denounce these comments, but he hasn’t listened. He hasn’t shown a hint of remorse for his role in the event.

So I hope you’ll join me in picking up the phone, and ask him kindly to issue an apology for legitimizing this sort of violent and hateful rhetoric.

Over the weekend, I noticed a new petition that was taking off like a rocket. Kevin Jenkins's petition asking the US Army for equal treatment for religious and non-religious soldiers gathered 1,500 signatures before I could even move it into the featured category.

The petition addresses an incident at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. In the fall, the base hosted and provided resources for a Christian music and speaking event. After the event, Sgt. Justin Griffith decided that it was only right if the base hosted a similar event for atheists as well. He went about organizing one, and got approval along every step of the way.

At the last step, however, all plans were scuttled when the base balked at providing the same type of funding it had provided to the religious event.

Last Friday, activists around the US sprang into action after the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) posted this video on YouTube [alternate version here], showing protesters outside of a Muslim community fundraiser. The protesters shouted slurs such as, "Muhammed was a child molestor," "why don't you go beat up your wife like you do every night," and "you beat your women and you rape your children.”

Though the greatest outrage came when Villa Park Councilwoman Deborah Pauly mentioned she had a son serving in the Marines then added, "I know quite a few Marines who would be happy to help these terrorists to a, uh, early meeting in paradise."

The video quickly gathered more than half a million views on YouTube, was covered in on a multiple high profile blogs, and we launched a petition here on Change.org calling on Congressmen Ed Royce and Gary Miller, who both spoke at the rally, to denounce the hateful and violent rhetoric.

It’s no secret that folks in Congress have their differences. But whatever their party affiliation, ethnic background or religious beliefs, we can all agree that they love their country and what it stands for, right?

Maybe not.

During a recent interview, Florida Congressman Allen West suggested that fellow Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota is anti-American because he practices Islam.

“The Shalom Show” host Richard Peritz asked West, who’s new in Congress, to explain how he plans to interact with legislators who have different beliefs from him—specifically Ellison, one of only two Muslim legislators in the House. West’s reply sparked instant controversy: “When you run into someone that…really does represent the antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established, you’ve got to be able to defeat them intellectually in debate and discourse…”

Common sense tells us if it ain't broke don't fix. Unfortunately the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information, MOCI, seems to be lacking in the common sense department.

Since last September, the MOCI's spokesperson, Mr. Abdulrahman al-Hazzaa has been talking about how the ministry will soon unveil a system that will organize the internet. Yes, somehow this Saudi ministry believes that it can do the impossible. Despite a lot of objections to the proposal, on the first day of 2011, the ministry announced this groundbreaking new system. An English translation and commentary are available here. What's funny is that two years earlier the Saudi Interior Ministry had already set a very strict and thorough system of laws that oversees any online violations.

The claimed purpose of this new set of laws according to the ministry is to support people online. However every single bylaw seems to convey the exact opposite.

Mandatory registration at the MOCI, commencing from the first of February is required for; Electronic journalism, websites of traditional media websites such as those run by TV channels and paper newspapers, advertisement websites, audio and visual media websites, cell phone broadcasting (messages, news, ads, pictures, etc), Broadcasting via other messages (messages, news, ads, pictures, etc). And then there is "voluntary" registration for; forums, blogs. personal websites, mail lists, Electronic archives and chat rooms.

Basically the definitions and bylaws are vague enough to prosecute anyone for anything. For example audio and visual websites are undefined and yet mandatorily required to register, so what if you have a weblog or a Youtube channel, will you be punished for not registering? A third of the country's population are expatriates and yet they have been excluded from being able to register any form of online journalism or advertising and are restricted to only forums, blogs, mailing lists and chat rooms. So does that have any implications for international classified ads websites that have Saudi pages such as this? Bottom line is that the whole concept of organizing the internet according to physical location and nationality of people online is preposterous and impossible.

A Muslim and Christian walk into a field.

"You're an idiot," the Muslim says to the Christian when they get in an argument. "And you believe in nonsense."

"You're a bigger idiot!" replies the Christian. "And at least I don't believe in a prophet that married little girls!"

"That's not true!" says the Muslim. "And Jesus is overrated!"

"Mohammad was a conqueror," says the Christian. "And a big dummy."

In most situation, this mindless exchange would end, at worst, in tears.

In Pakistan, and a number of Muslim countries for that matter, it can end in a rope being wrapped around the non-Muslim's neck as they are strangled until they haven't a breath left in them in front of their entire community.

But the next candidate to be hung to death for allegedly anti-Muslim comments in Pakistan is no ordinary blasphemist - it's a woman.