Internet ‘trolls’ target priest who allows Muslims to pray in church

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Isaac PoobalanA priest who has allowed Muslims to pray in his church has been hit by a barrage of abuse by internet “trolls”.

St John’s Episcopal Church in Aberdeen became the first church in the UK to share their building with Muslims after Rev Isaac Poobalan saw members of a neighbouring mosque praying outside in the snow because of a lack of space.

Hundred of Muslims now pray in the church’s main hall and chapel every week, but the news has not been well received by some Christians, who have taken to the church’s Facebook page to blast the decision.

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Geller and Spencer attempt to turn San Francisco’s LGBT community against Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

AFDI anti-Islam gay adsOver the past year in San Francisco, the war over the popular conception of Islam has been continuously fought on the unlikeliest of battlefields–the sides of the city’s buses.

Purchased by the pro-Israeli American Freedom Defense Initiative, the most recent set of ads show inflammatory, anti-gay quotations from Muslims like controversial cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and U.K. radio personality Sister Ruby Ramadan.

“The ads will increase awareness about the subjugation and oppression of gays under Shariah law,” Geller told the San Francisco Examiner. “The gay community should be standing with me, not against me.”

Huffington Post, 20 March 2013

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Bad times for Muslims in Europe

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ENAR Racism in EuropeIslamophobia, or discrimination against Muslims, is widespread in many European countries. Prejudice towards Muslims is often more visible than that affecting other religious or ethnic minority groups. This is the conclusion of the first pan-European qualitative survey on Muslim communities in Europe, part of ENAR’s 2011/12 Shadow Report on Racism in Europe and released ahead of International Day Against Racial Discrimination.

Manifestations of Islamophobia include discrimination and violence towards Muslims, criminal damage to Islamic buildings, and protests against the building of mosques even in countries, such as Poland, where some Muslim communities have been established and integrated for centuries. Muslim women and girls are particularly affected, facing an extreme form of double discrimination on the basis of both their religion and their gender. In France for instance, 85% of all Islamophobic acts target women.

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Pork-filled envelopes sent to French mosques

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bacon envelope

Loonwatch draws our attention to an article in Al-Kanz reporting on a series of recent incidents in which French mosques have been mailed envelopes containing pork.

Since the beginning of February, mosques at Meximieux, Mulhouse, Brest, Mandelieu-la-Napoule, Nice and Aubervilliers have all been targeted in this way, in some cases twice.

Al-Kanz notes that while nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the campaign, French fascists have openly advocated this tactic (see illustration above).

Al Kanz has also issued an appeal for other mosques who have been targeted in this way to contact them and the Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France so this latest manifestion of Islamophobia can be exposed.

France: Nursery worker wins court case over hijab sacking

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Baby LoupA French creche assistant who was famously fired for refusing to remove her Islamic head-scarf had her dismissal annulled by France’s highest appeals court on Tuesday. The court judged the sacking was “religious discrimination”.

Fatima Afif, a nursery assistant sacked in 2008 by the ‘Baby Loup’ creche for refusing to remove her Muslim headscarf at work, won an appeal against her dismissal on Tuesday.

In delivering their verdict judges at Paris’s ‘Cour de cassation’ – France’s highest appeals court – said her firing “constituted discrimination based on religious convictions and must be declared invalid.”

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Multiculturalism and Islamophobia in Australia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

With a vocal minority holding racist views about Islam, a parliamentary report is warning that anti-Muslim sentiments are casting a pale on the success of multiculturalism in Australia.

“The committee’s analysis has revealed that the perception of Islam as a threat has led to serious concerns within the community, which in turn is sometimes used as a justification for aggressive racist attacks and intensifying the marginalization of Muslims,” says the parliamentary report cited by The Australian on Tuesday, March 19.

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Melbourne mosque: Councillor seeks poll

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Casey councillor is calling for a poll of residents to determine their attitude to a mosque planned for an industrial area of Doveton.

Cr Rosalie Crestani was the only councillor to oppose the mosque when the application came before the planning committee last week.

There were 33 objections to the mosque and and 14 petitions containing more than 2000 signatures.

Cr Crestani has moved a notice of motion for tonight’s planning meeting for the council to poll residents living near the planned mosque to determine the extent of support or opposition.

‘‘We’ve been told time and time again that when it comes to planning matters it doesn’t matter what the residents think. But it’s the residents who have to live with this.’’

She says eventually she would like a Casey-wide poll on mosques in general.

Casey Weekly, 19 March 2013