The Daily Terror

The Daily Terror presents links, primarily to UK news websites on Muslim,
religious, and educational issues,
and is updated daily
 

EXTERNAL LINKS
Alt Muslim
Asians in Media
BBC Religion and Ethics - News
Black Information Link
Caged Prisoners
Comment is Free
Daily Mail
Daily Star
The Express
Faith World
Five Chinese Crackers
The Guardian Online
Guardian Religion
The Independent
IRR
IslamOnline
Islamophobia Watch
iWitness
Mail Watch
The MediaWise Trust
The Mirror
MPACUK
Muslim News
Muslim Weekly
Newssniffer
ReligionNewsBlog.com [RN]
Reporters Without Borders
SchNEWS
Searchlight
Socialist Worker
Statewatch
The Sun
The Telegraph
The Times
UK Watch
Virtually Islamic

 DT archives: JUNE 2008
(more archives further down)

LAW * FREEDOM * RIGHTS

Draft Report on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners - Nov. 2006
Equality Act 2006 (CHER)
Identity Card Act
Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act
Terrorism Act: full-text
The law lords' ruling on the detention of foreign terror suspects - Dec. 2004

BOOKS

Amal Press
Amazon
Awakening
Fons Vitae
Huddersfield Islamic Library
Islamicbookshop.com
Islamic Texts Society
Kitaabun
The Othello Press
Sharib Press
Turath Publishing
WAO Books
White Thread Press

MAGAZINES

Emel Magazine
Islamica Magazine
The Platform

RADIO/MUSIC

Book club (R4)
Crescent Radio
Blakstone
Fa'Yahaa
Mecca2Medina
Meem
Muslim Hip Hop
Riz MC
South Asian Youth Arts
Thinking Allowed(R4)
Word of Mouth(R4)

FILMS
Zahra Pictures

THINK TANKS

Centre for Policy Studies
Chatham House
Demos
Fabian Society
Foreign Policy Centre
IPPR
Policy Exchange
Royal Commonwealth Society
The Smith Institute

ISLAMIC FORUMS & DIARIES

BengaliForums
MPACUK forum
Ummah forum
Mail Watch Forum

PODCASTS

Islamophonic

ISSUES ISSUES ISSUES

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OTHER INTERNAL LINKS

Reports and Research Online

Thursday July 03 2008 
Q and A: Mahmud Sarwar Rathor
Scotsman
Mahmud Sarwar Rathor is trustee of the Scottish Islamic and Cultural Centre and Dundee's Dura Street mosque. He believes criticism from some in Dundee's Muslim community over Tayside Police's use of a puppy in an advertising campaign will harm Scots-Islam relations. "Why do you think some members of the Muslim community, as Councillor Mohammed Asif claims, might find the image of a puppy offensive?" I don't believe anyone apart from Mr Asif finds the picture offensive.

Lessons for the godless
Zoe Williams, Guardian CiF
The Gordon Brown era, as shortlived as it appears to be, has people suspecting that he'll trample on faith schools to woo old Labour. Cristina Odone has written a paper for the Centre for Policy Studies, a rightwing thinktank, in a pre-emptive move against the anticipated savaging from an interim report by schools adjudicator Philip Hunter. She makes some compelling points, which I don't have the brass neck to precis in full, so I'll just sketch my favourite...

Muslim councillor Hasina Khan: I will not let male bigots win
Marcus Leroux, Times
A female Muslim councillor has been subjected to a hate campaign by Muslim men in her ward, leaving her unable to visit some of the streets that she represents. Hasina Khan, 38, the only Muslim councillor in Chorley, Lancashire, said that she had suffered a barrage of threatening phone calls, verbal abuse and insulting graffiti because the men objected her public role. Mrs Khan, a mother of three, said: “I've had to totally change the way I go about my job..."

Crusading is not the answer, but nor is pulling up the drawbridge (Timothy Garton Ash, Guardian)
Anglican Church told 'unite or risk war' over gay Christians (Ruth Gledhill, Times)

Wednesday July 02 2008 
Puppy Ad Cop Says Sorry to Muslims
Tom Savage, Daily Star
A police force apologised to Muslims yesterday over ads featuring a German shepherd puppy. The cute photo of force pup Rebel was used on posters promoting a new phone number for non-emergency calls. Rebel has become famed worldwide after “writing” a blog on his force’s website as he trains to be a police dog. But when officers tried to capitalise on his fame by using his photo on the postcard adverts, Muslim leaders claimed they were getting ruff treatment.
[Apology on the cards as police pup picture sparks warning over offence to Muslims - Martin McLaughlin, Scotsman]

Family in 11th-hour reprieve
Scotsman
A PAKISTANI family due to be deported from the UK were yesterday given a last-minute reprieve as a judicial review was granted, church leaders said. Asad and Gullrukh Gul and their three young children were due to be deported last night. The family, who worshipped at Carnwadric Church and were members of Glasgow's Asian Christian Fellowship, fled Lahore because of persecution from Islamist extremists. A Church of Scotland spokesman said...

The Quilliam take on Islam: fascinating but flawed
David Shariatmadari, Guardian CiF
Moral clarity. You get the feeling that's what the folks down at Civitas want, and what they believe would exist if only the politically correct brigade stopped muddying the waters with its relativism and its harping on about the need to understand the causes of things. It's only a lack of moral clarity that's preventing the west facing down the scourge of Islamism, which is the greatest threat to our way of life (with the possible exception of the EU). Moral clarity means calling a spade a spade, and then shouting "spade, spade!" to anyone who'll listen, or in this case, "Islamist, Islamist!"

“In Bad Faith”…??? Or merely faith schools through bad rose-tinted glasses…??? (Walls Come Tumbling Down)
Snobbery? On my internets? [Majid Ahmed] (Obsolete)
Evangelical Christians sign up to a 'Church within a Church' (Ruth Gledhill, Times)
Why Muslims don't pig out (Khaled Diab, Guardian CiF)
How Sunday school shaped Britain (BBC News Online)

Tuesday July 01 2008 
Muslims outraged at police advert featuring cute puppy sitting in policeman's hat
By Daily Mail Reporter
A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman's hat advertising a Scottish police force's new telephone number has sparked outrage from Muslims. Tayside Police's new non-emergency phone number has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community. The choice of image on the Tayside Police cards - a black dog sitting in a police officer's hat - has now been raised with Chief Constable John Vine.

0.7% is not enough
Jamie Bartlett, Guardian CiF
When the inquiry into the Metropolitan Police's handling of the investigation into Stephen Lawrence's murder reported in 1999, it rocked the force to the core. The Met was not just found to have been incompetent, but was guilty of institutional racism. In response, the then home secretary, Jack Straw, pledged to create a force which fully reflected the diversity of the communities it served, and increase ethnic minority recruiting and retention.

Terrorism: Cargo planes are security risk, says former Met police chief
Nicholas Watt, Guardian
Cargo planes present a major threat to Britain's security, according to the former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens, who warns today that terrorists could use them to transport hazardous materials or simply blow them up. In a report on Britain's borders, in which he accuses the government of failing to draw up a clear border security strategy, Stevens says the world's air cargo system is now vulnerable to terrorists.

Radical convert, Nicholas Roddis, planted hoax bomb on a bus' (Andrew Norfolk , Times)
Turkey's slow-motion coup (Bulent Kenes, Guardian CiF)
Nine held in ID card demo (Scotsman)
George Galloway, Islamophobia and Black Hawk Down (Mere Islam)
Inayat Bunglawala v Harun Yahya (Guardian CiF)
Church of England: Archbishop confronts Anglican rebels (Riazat Butt,  Guardian)
Official: some A-level subjects are harder than others (Richard Garner, Independent)
Quit threats over women bishops (BBC News Online)

Monday June 30 2008 
Jacqui Smith pressured to intervene in police race row
Richard Edwards, Telegraph
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, is being pressured to intervene in a race row after chief constables were accused of ignoring an inquiry into discrimination against Muslim officers. It has emerged that at least 20 police forces refused to co-operate with the first audit into the treatment of Muslim and black officers. It was conducted jointly by the National Association of Muslim Police and the think-tank Demos, and questioned the 43 police forces in England and Wales on...

11th-hour bid to save family from threats
David Maddox, Scotsman
A PAKISTANI family who sought asylum in Scotland because they received death threats over their religious beliefs are hoping that a last-minute appeal will stop their deportation tomorrow. Asad Gull, who worked as a Christian publisher in Pakistan and arrived in the UK with his family nine months ago, lost his asylum case on a court technicality last week. He had not realised he needed to produce a letter from his wife's sister in London.

Priest at prayer gets 150,000 hits
Angelique Chrisafis, Guardian
The French love of reality programmes encompasses the music talent show Star Academy, match-making for lonely rural farmers and a polite version of Wife Swap - On a echangé nos mamans. But now the French Catholic church has jumped on the bandwagon with a show about priests that has become an internet phenomenon. The diocese of Besançon in eastern France has launched Prêtre Academy - Priest Academy - to mark its first ordination of a new local priest for three years.

UK to woo Brit Muslims to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan (Newstrack India)
Religions should not be allowed to make ghettos (YAB, Independent)
Faith schools: government claims attacked by thinktank (Anthea Lipsett, EducationGuardian.co.uk)
Chester Mystery Plays: Review (Alfred Hickling, Guardian)
Faith schools undermined by 'Government witch hunt' (Graeme Paton, Telegraph)
Islam in Europe Weekly Overview (Islam in Europe)
Centre for Social Cohesion (Rolled-Up Trousers)
Reporting terrorism: a reflection (Islam, Muslims and an Anthropologist)
A temple to mystery and imagination (Jonathan Glacey, Guardian)
FAQ: Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (The Guardian)
Meet the Focas (Andrew Brown guardian.co.uk)
Priest sacked for affair takes Catholic Church to tribunal (Fiona MacLeod, Scotsman)
Behind masks or out and loud: gay marchers break new ground (Maseeh Rahman in Delhi, Guardian)
Do as I say, not as I do (Between the Lines)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the MSA Meeting (Daniel Varisco, CyberOrient)
Tribute to Professor Syed Hussein Alatas (1928-2007) (Tabsir)

Sunday June 29 2008 
Learning to be British and Muslim
Cristina Odone, Times
It’s 3pm and the girls at Madani high school in Leicester are trooping out of the gates. They wear white scarves over dark blue djellabas – a shapeless coat worn over trousers. No sign of the boys: they don’t leave for another half an hour. Boys and girls operate on a different timetable, carefully calibrated to keep the sexes segregated. The architecture at Madani high conspires to do the same: there is a girls’ wing and, in mirror image, a boys’ wing – the two separated by an elegant Arabic-style courtyard...
[Faith schools: a force for good - Cristina Odone, Guardian CiF]

Minister is dragged into police race row
Mark Townsend, Observer
The home secretary is at the centre of the worst race row to engulf the police service for almost a decade as chief constables stand accused of blocking an inquiry into discrimination against Muslim officers. Jacqui Smith will be asked to intervene tomorrow after the damning revelation that at least 20 police forces refused to co-operate with the first audit into the treatment of Muslim and black officers. Information from those forces that did take part suggested there was routine racial discrimination against them.

Conservative Anglicans form global network
Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk
Conservative evangelicals representing half of the world's Anglicans launched a new global network today, challenging the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Foca) will sever ties with the main churches in the US and Canada, whose liberal leaders are accused of betraying biblical teaching. The group vowed to rescue people from the forces of "militant secularism and pluralism" created by the "spiritual decline" in developing economies.

Met chief Ian Blair ‘plotted to oust’ race-row officer Tarique Ghaffur (David Leppard, Times)
Channel 4 pays £150,000 to free film maker from terrorists (Jerome Starkey and Dipesh Gadher, Times)
The Spectator prints my letter, with more twaddle from Roddle (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Sharia-compliant mortgages are here - and they're not just for Muslims (Huma Qureshi, Guardian)
“The new atheists are secular fundamentalists” (Wajahat Ali, Alt.Muslim)
With enemies like these... (Andrew Copson, Guardian CiF)

Friday June 27 2008 
Salmond backs first state-funded Islamic school for Scotland
Michael Howie, The Scotsman
ALEX Salmond yesterday threw his support behind plans for Scotland's first state-funded Islamic school, to be submitted to councillors in Glasgow. Senior Muslim community leaders are preparing a detailed case for the school, which organisers say will "teach Islamic values" and will be delivered later in the summer. It is the first serious attempt to establish a state-funded Islamic school Scotland, and is believed to have strong chance of success...

Britain's leading Muslim police officer sues Met for discrimination
Vikram Dodd, Guardian
Sir Ian Blair was last night facing his worst race crisis as commissioner of the Metropolitan police, after it was announced that Britain's most senior Muslim officer would sue the force for racial discrimination and victimisation. The decision was announced after assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, the force's number three in command, met with Blair, who had summoned him to crisis talks, with the threat of disciplinary action if he refused to attend.

Vatican denies fashion status
Tom Kington, Guardian
The devil may wear Prada, but following months of speculation the Vatican has put paid to the idea that the Pope is also a fan of the top-end Italian designer. Benedict XVI's reputation as an bookish theologian with austere tastes took a knock shortly after his election when pictures of him wearing a pair of simple but elegant red slip-on shoes fuelled speculation among Vatican-watchers that the pontiff was hiding a penchant for high fashion.

Halal hampers company starts a small revolution (Asian Image)
UK: Army to offer halal rations (Islam in Europe)
Express-watch: MUSLIMS OFFEND EXPRESS JOURNALISTS (Obsolete)

Thursday June 26 2008 
Top Asian officer plans to sue Met for discrimination
Terri Judd, Independent
Britain's most senior Asian police officer is preparing to take legal action against Scotland Yard for racial discrimination, accusing colleagues of victimisation, bullying and harassment. Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur is set to make allegations against Commissioner Sir Ian Blair as well as the Police Authority chairman, Len Duvall. Mr Ghaffur, who is responsible for security at the 2012 Olympics, has had legal documents drawn up and is in the final stages of preparing the case...
[Met faces race claims from Muslim police chief - Vikram Dodd, Guardian]

BBC and other broadcasters 'too white'
Nicole Martin, Telegraph
One of the BBC's senior executives has attacked the corporation and other broadcasters for failing to employ black and Asian people in senior roles. Samir Shah, a non-executive director at the BBC, said that ethnic minorities as well as people from working class backgrounds were still being excluded from the industry's so-called "power elite", despite equal opportunity policies stretching back 30 years.
[There are too many ethnics on TV, says Asian BBC chief - Paul Revoir, Mail]

White boy, 12, suspected of being Islamic extremist recruit after he showed beheading videos to classmates
Daily Mail
A 12-year-old white schoolboy is among 120 people being dealt with by police in a new project combating Islamic-inspired violent extremism, it was revealed today. The child, who has only been identified by the initials BC, was reported by his school in West Yorkshire after he was found circulating video clips of terrorists beheading Westerners. Sick films were distributed to classmates on their mobile phones, prompting a teacher to march the boy to the local police station.

An exhibition with a difference
BBC News Online
Celebrating the British Asian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual (LGBT) community is not something that happens everyday in Berkshire. That's why a venue in Reading is hosting an event that highlights their lives and experiences within the UK. The Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC) is regularly at the forefront when bringing minority issues to the Berkshire majority. This month is no different as they play host to one of the Dhoom Dhamaka festival's main events...

The framing of mutual joy (John Bryson Chane, Guardian CiF)
Anglican conservative accuses 'relic' Williams of colonial mindset (Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk)
Facebook a valid educational tool, teachers told (Anthea Lipsett, EducationGuardian.co.uk)
Fosis conference in Salford (Asian Image)

Wednesday June 25 2008 
Nazi supporter guilty of terror plans and possessing child porn
Jo Adetunji, The Guardian
A Nazi sympathiser, described by police as extremely dangerous, has been found guilty of planning acts of terrorism and of possessing child pornography after investigators found homemade bombs and indecent images of children at his home. Martyn Gilleard, 31, a forklift truck driver from Goole, east Yorkshire, pleaded guilty in two separate cases at Leeds crown court after police found "significant" volumes of extreme right-wing literature, weapons, ammunition and homemade explosives...
[Kid porn stash of Nazi fiend - Alastair Taylor, The Sun]

Christians must recover nerve, says Nazir-Ali
Riazat Butt, The Guardian
The west is losing Christian discourse at a time when it needs it most, the bishop of Rochester told a gathering of conservative church leaders in Jerusalem yesterday. Addressing the 1,200 delegates of the Global Anglican Future Conference, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali said militant secularism was creating a double jeopardy for western culture. "Western culture depends on Judeo-Christian heritage. Let us pray we are able to recover our Christian nerve in the west..."

Unison urges teaching assistants and dinner ladies to strike
Anthea Lipsett, EducationGuardian.co.uk
Unison negotiators are recommending that teaching assistants and school dinner staff stage a 48-hour walkout next month to kick off a programme of public sector strike action this summer. Unison's local government members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland voted yesterday, by 55% to 45%, for a series of sustained strikes over a 2.45% pay offer. Union negotiators are recommending staff stage a walkout in protest at the offer on July 15 and 16.

Salman Rushdie is knighted by the Queen (Andrew Pierce, Telegraph)
BBC and other broadcasters 'too white' (Nicole Martin, Telegraph)
Spectacular Transports (Trinketization)
Islamophobia in a village (Elham Asaad Buaras, Muslim News)

Tuesday June 24 2008 
Asian officer held back by Met police 'glass ceiling', tribunal told
Vikram Dodd, The Guardian
The most senior officer to sue his own force for racial discrimination said yesterday he had repeatedly been blocked for promotion because he was not part of a "golden circle" of white officers. Commander Shabir Hussain told of the prejudice he faced in the ranks, including being told to leave the country after the September 11 attacks in 2001.m Hussain, an officer with the Metropolitan police, told an employment tribunal he had been rejected an "unprecedented" four times for promotion...

Muslim teenager Ahmed Hassan murdered by white thug Michael Brook
Andrew Norfolk, Times
A Muslim schoolboy described as a perfect pupil and a model son was murdered by a drunken white teenager who had only been released from custody three days earlier, a court heard today. Ahmed Hassan, 17, an A* student who hoped to become a lawyer, was waiting with friends to catch a Saturday afternoon train to Manchester when he received a fatal stab wound in the back.  The knife was wielded by Michael Brook, 18, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire...

Cracks begin to show at summit discussing gay clergy rift
Riazat Butt, The Guardian,
The people gathered on the Mount of Olives were united in voice as they sang their officially approved hymns, but on the second day of a conference which has laid bare the divisions in the Anglican communion over homosexuality, notes of discord could already be heard.  Talk of betrayal, disappointment and disagreement threatens to sour the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon), which has cost £2.5m and drawn more than 1,200 delegates from Africa, Australia and the US.
[Vicious hot air currents - Stephen Bates, Guardian CiF]

The ladder of fundamentalism (Lenin's Tomb)
Gafcon: 'There will be no split' (Ruth Gledhill)
Confusion over handshake issue at Irish awards (Indigo Jo Blogs)
New French Muslim chief on the “virginity lie” case (Tom Heneghan, Faith World)
China demolishes mosque over Olympic row (Reuters, Times of India)
End rendition and secret detention: Europe’s duty (Amnesty International)
Egotistical Peers (Ziggy, Asian Image)

Monday June 23 2008 
Islamic scholar voted world's No 1 thinker
Robert Tait,  The Guardian
A hitherto largely unknown Turkish Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gülen, has been voted the world's top intellectual in a poll to find the leading 100 thinkers. Gülen, the author of more than 60 books, won a landslide triumph after the survey - which is organised by the British magazine, Prospect, and Foreign Policy, a US publication - attracted more than 500,000 votes.  The top 10 individuals were all Muslim and included two Nobel laureates, the novelist Orhan Pamuk and Shirin Ebadi.
[Video: Turkey's most powerful man: Riazat Butt & Shehani Fernando, The Guardian]

Williams accused of leading church into crisis
Riazat Butt, The Guardian
A senior Anglican archbishop last night accused Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, of apostasy, manipulation and leading the church into turmoil, as a summit of traditionalists convened in Jerusalem with a mission to "rescue" the Anglican church from its liberal leadership. The Rt Rev Peter Akinola, Archbishop of Nigeria, called for a new "roadmap" for the 77-million-strong Anglican communion on the opening day of an eight-day meeting...

Diplomas lead to a 'two-tier school system'
Nicola Woolcock, Times
Business leaders will criticise the Government's diplomas today, saying that they are in danger of splintering independent and state schools. Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI, was initially a keen supporter of the diploma, which was established to end the divide between theoretical and practical qualifications. However, in a dramatic split from the Government, he criticised the most recent diplomas in languages, humanities and science, describing them as an “unnecessary distraction”.

Profile: Michael Nazir-Ali (The Guardian)
BB Alex Runs for Her Life (Peter Dyke, Daily Star)
Muslim extremist Abu Qatada to receive £8,000 incapacity benefits a year - for his bad back (Tom Kelly, Daily Mail)
The Anglican culture wars (Andrew Brown, Guardian CiF)
Routine Abuses in the name of security in Tunisia (Amnesty International)

Sunday June 22 2008 
Ian McEwan: I despise militant Islam
Nicole Martin, Telegraph
The award-winning novelist Ian McEwan has launched an outspoken attack on militant Islam, accusing it of "wanting to create a society that I detest". The author said he "despises Islamism" because of its views on women and homosexuality. But predicting a backlash against his comments, which were made in an Italian newspaper, he insisted he was not a racist. The writer of Atonement and Enduring Love condemned religious hardliners as he defended his friend, the writer Martin Amis...
[McEwan's Bitter - Lenin's Tomb]

Young Muslims 'are turning to extremism'
Patrick Sawer, Telegraph
Extremists are winning the battle for the hearts and minds of Britain's young Muslims, a disturbing police report warns. Increasing numbers have become so alienated from mainstream society that they could even lend their support to jihadi terrorism, the study claims. While most reject violence, many distrust police and are reluctant to inform on extremists. The report was commissioned by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) after last year's failed bomb attacks...

School sex clinics fuel debate on promiscuity
Anushka Asthana, The Observer
Condoms, pregnancy tests and morning-after pills are being offered in schools to hundreds of thousands of children, some as young as 11. Twenty-nine per cent of secondary schools in England now have sexual health clinics with one in 20 providing children with prescriptions for a variety of contraceptives - the pill, injections or implants - without their parents being informed, according to research by the Sex Education Forum.

Diverse US Muslims (IslamOnline)
UK bishop 'will boycott Lambeth' (BBC News Online)
Islam in Europe Weekly Overview (Islam in Europe)
Archbishop Akinola on error and apostasy (Ruth Gledhill)
Round-up: cheap labour for cheap clothes, Hassidic Jews in London (Indigo Jo Blogs)

Saturday June 21 2008 
Abu Hamza loses extradition fight
John Aston and Mike Taylor, Independent
The radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza has lost his High Court battle against extradition to the United States, where he faces a jail sentence of up to 100 years. If convicted on terrorist charges he is likely to spend the rest of his life locked up for 23 hours a day in a top-security jail in Colorado. Two High Court judges sitting in London ruled yesterday that the decision to extradite Hamza was "unassailable" but gave him 14 days to appeal to the House of Lords.
[Good riddance: Hook-handed Abu Hamza loses fight against extradition to U.S. - Dan Newling, Mail]

Ex-BNP activist 'recruiting prisoners to join al-Qa'ida'
Nigel Morris, Independent
A former British National Party activist who converted to Islam in a maximum-security jail is being held in isolation on suspicion of trying to recruit fellow prisoners to terrorist groups. Stephen Jones has been confined to a segregation unit in Whitemoor prison, Cambridgeshire, for three weeks while the intelligence services investigate his alleged links to al-Qa'ida. It is thought to be the first time a prisoner has been put in isolation because of fears he was attempting to radicalise other inmates.
[Muslim convert 'recruits' inmates - BBC News Online]

Escape bid as Michael Ross is convicted of Orkney murder
David Lister, Times
A Scots soldier decorated for bravery in Iraq made a dramatic attempt to escape from custody yesterday after he was found guilty of the racially motivated murder of an Asian waiter on Orkney. Michael Ross, a sniper with the Black Watch, was 15 when he walked into the island’s only Indian restaurant in June 1994 wearing a balaclava and shot Shamsuddin Mahmood, a 26-year-old Bangladeshi, in front of diners and staff.

Gay priests back in New Zealand after wedding row (Barbara McMahon, Guardian)
Conservatives rule out Anglican reconciliation on gay clergy (Riazat Butt, Guardian)
Schools listed as failing among best in the country, says NUT (Anthea Lipsett, The Guardian)

Friday June 20 2008 
Bid to stop terror groups brainwashing young Scots Muslims
Michael Howie, Scotsman
A COUNTER-radicalisation plan is being developed in Scotland to prevent young Muslims being "brainwashed" by al-Qaeda terrorists, The Scotsman can reveal. The strategy, which has the backing of police and the Scottish Government, will see parents of young Muslims encouraged to exercise greater control over their children's use of the internet, which is regarded as a major "weak spot" in Britain's efforts to combat terrorism.

Minister rejects fears of parallel legal system insisting Sharia law has no jurisdiction in Britain
Daily Mail
Sharia law has no jurisdiction here, a minister insisted yesterday after fears were voiced about two parallel legal systems in Britain. The "necessary tools are in place" to ensure that the rule of law is respected and upheld, despite challenges from other cultures, said Lord Bassam of Brighton. He told peers: "Sharia law has no jurisdiction in England and Wales and there are no plans to change this."
[Tory peers warn of threat of sharia law - Islamophobia Watch]

He is bright and prepared to take a stand for something he believes in, even if it's not going with the mainstream
Riazat Butt, Guardian
Until last Sunday few people had heard of the Reverend Dr Martin Dudley BD MSc MTh PhD FSA FRHistS AKC. But a lot can change in a week and when, on May 31, he presided at a service for two gay clergy the rector could never have predicted that, a fortnight later, he would be swept into the eye of a storm. Since news broke of the ceremony - which had a wedding march, rings, vows, two best men, a fanfare and confetti - Dudley has been publicly admonished...
[Divisions and unions in the church - Letters, Guardian]

Christianity 'could die out within a century'
Laura Clout, Telegraph
More than half of Britons think Christianity is likely to have disappeared from the country within a century, according to a survey.
Research by the Orthodox Jewish organisation Aish found that just over a third of people thought religions like Christianity and Judaism would still be practiced in Britain in 100 years' time. Although four in 10 people said they would choose to be a member of the Christian religion, almost the same number said they would rather practice no religion at all.

Orthodox sect justified by gay clergy row, say Conservative Anglicans
Tim Butcher and Martin Beckford, Telegraph
A new "orthodox" movement must be created within the Anglican Communion because of the divisive issue of homosexual clergy, claims a leading traditionalist. Dr Peter Jensen, the Archbishop of Sydney, said Anglican leaders in America had driven the worldwide church to the brink of schism by ordaining the first openly gay bishop, the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, in 2003. He insisted he and other conservatives were trying to preserve the Communion and remain faithful to scripture by proposing new structures.

Hate preacher 'knew 7/7 bomber' (Daniel Sandford, BBC News Online)
Akinola barred from Jordan (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Nazis recommend Harry's Place (Islamophobia Watch)
The 'politics of inclusion' takes a hit (Islamophobia Watch)

Thursday June 19 2008 
Henry Chadwick
Rowan Williams The Guardian
'The Anglican church," it was said, "may not have a Pope, but it does have Henry Chadwick." Nothing could better illustrate the unique position held for many years by this aristocrat among Anglican scholars, who has died aged 87. His erudition was legendary, in practically all areas of the study of late antiquity, but it was also deployed to memorable effect in the work of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission.

Hardline archbishops declare Anglican split
Tim Butcher and Martin Beckford, Telegraph
Hardline Church leaders have formally declared the end of the worldwide Anglican Communion, saying they can no longer be associated with liberals who tolerate homosexual clergy. The traditionalists dealt a serious blow to Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, by claiming that he can no longer hold the Church together. They warned that the Church was gripped by its most serious crisis since the Reformation.

'Alternative Lambeth' conference forced to move to Jerusalem
Ruth Gledhill, Times
The "alternative Lambeth" conference organised by conservative evangelicals in the Anglican church in Amman has been forced to up sticks and move to a different country after the Archbishop of Nigeria was denied entry to Jordan. The Global Anglican Future Conference was to have met in Jordan this week and Jerusalem next week in a bid to establish an orthodox centre for the Anglican Communion, currently in disarray over the twin issues of homosexuality and women's ordination.

Abu Qatada tastes freedom behind net curtains (Steve Bird and Sean O’Neill, Times)
A hair-raising price for being too honest (Janet Street-Porter, Independent)
Harun Yahya preaches Islam, slams Darwin and awaits Jesus (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld)
Those who laugh together, live together (Ruth Gledhill)
Welfare shouldn't be left to 'faith groups' (Terry Sanderson, Guardian CiF)
Angry Christie makes racism claim (BBC News Online)

Wednesday June 18 2008 
'Lyrical terrorist' has conviction quashed
Paul Lewis, Guardian
A former Heathrow shop assistant calling herself the "lyrical terrorist" yesterday won her appeal against a conviction under terrorism laws. Samina Malik, 24, was given a nine-month suspended jail sentence at the Old Bailey last December after she became the first woman to be found guilty of storing material likely to be of use for terrorism. Malik, of Southall, west London, adopted her nickname because of extremist lyrics she wrote on till receipts, but was never prosecuted over her poetry.

'Bin Laden lieutenant' Abu Qatada freed on bail
Sean O’Neill and Ben Quinn, Times
Abu Qatada, the radical Muslim cleric described as one of Osama bin Laden’s right-hand men, was freed from jail last night under some of the most stringent bail conditions ever imposed by a British court. A judge ruled that there were no grounds to detain Abu Qatada, 47, after previous attempts to deport him were defeated in the courts. The decision by Mr Justice Mitting at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) to release the Jordanian-born cleric was greeted with dismay by the Government.
[Qatada sent home with electronic tag after six years in jail: Robert Verkaik, Independent; Profile: Abu Qatada: BBC News Online; Dangerous man or dangerous policy? Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF ]

The 'pope' of hope
Riazat Butt, Guardian
His All Holiness, Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, is the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians and 270th successor to the Apostle Andrew. He is also extremely green, taking heads of church and state to areas beset with environmental problems - the Amazon and Arctic among them - and confronting them with the best science. After announcing, on an Aegean island, that attacks on the environment should be considered sins...

Sikh bangle means as much to Monty Panesar as it does to teenager, court told
Frances Gibb, Times
A simple steel wrist bangle means as much to Sarika Watkins-Singh, 14, as it does to the England spin bowler Monty Panesar, the High Court was told yesterday. The bangle is a symbol of her Sikh faith and not a piece of jewellery, Sarika’s lawyers said as they brought a challenge to a ban imposed by her school. Mr Justice Silber said that he would like to see one of the bangles – known as the kara – during the hearing, which is set for three days.

Archbishops criticise gay clerics' ceremony
Riazat Butt, Guardian
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York yesterday expressed their "very great concern" over a wedding-style service between two gay priests at a London church and condemned clergy who disregarded Church of England teaching on human sexuality. The joint statement from Rowan Williams and John Sentamu, the two most senior figures in the church, is the most significant rebuke yet about the ceremony involving the Rev Peter Cowell and the Rev David Lord, who outraged conservatives...

Sister wins £4,000 for hijab-related job refusal (Indigo Jo Blogs)
British evangelicals: 'The worst caste' says top Hindu (Ruth Gledhill)
What they have done to Somalia (Lenin's Tomb)

NEWS FROM JUNE 2008