From BBC News:
Pop star Michael Jackson has died in Los Angeles, aged 50.

Paramedics were called to the singer's Beverly Hills home at about midday on Thursday after he stopped breathing. He was pronounced dead two hours later at the UCLA medical centre. Jackson's brother, Jermaine, said he was believed to have suffered a cardiac arrest. Jackson, who had a history of health problems, had been due to stage a series of comeback concerts in the UK on 13 July.

Speaking on behalf of the Jackson family, Jermaine said doctors had tried to resuscitate the star for more than an hour without success. He added: "The family request that the media please respect our privacy during this tough time."

TV footage showed the star's body flown from UCLA to the LA County Coroner's office where a post-mortem is expected to take place on Friday. Concerns were raised last month when four of Jackson's planned comeback concerts were postponed, but organisers insisted the dates had been moved due to the complexity of staging the show. A spokeswoman for The Outside Organisation, which was organising the publicity for the shows, said she had no comment at this time.

Broadcaster Paul Gambaccini said: "I always doubted that he would have been able to go through that schedule, those concerts. It seemed to be too much of a demand on the unhealthy body of a 50 year old. I'm wondering that, as we find out details of his death, if perhaps the stress of preparing for those dates was a factor in his collapse. It was wishful thinking that at this stage of his life he could be Michael Jackson again."

Uri Gellar, a close friend of the star, told BBC News it was "very, very sad".

Speaking outside New York's historic Apollo theatre, civil rights activist Rev Al Sharpton paid tribute to his friend. "I knew him 35 years. When he had problems he would call me," he said. "I feel like he was not treated fairly. I hope history will be more kind to him than some of the contemporary media."

Melanie Bromley, west coast bureau chief of Us Weekly magazine, told the BBC the scene in Los Angeles was one of "pandemonium". "At the moment there is a period of disbelief. He was buying a home in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles and the scene outside the house is one of fans, reporters and TV cameras - it's absolute craziness. I feel this is the biggest celebrity story in a long time and has the potential to be the Princess Diana of popular culture."

Music Icon
Tributes from the world of music and film have already flooded in from celebrities including Madonna, Arnold Schwarzenegger and ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley. Large numbers of fans have also gathered outside Jackson's home and at the UCLA medical centre with lit candles to mourn the star.

Paramedics were called to the singer's house in Bel Air at 1221 (1921GMT) following an emergency phone call. They performed CPR on Jackson and rushed him to the UCLA medical centre.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department said the robbery and homicide team was investigating Jackson's death because of its "high profile", but there was no suggestion of foul play.

Jackson began his career as a child in family group The Jackson 5. He then went on to achieve global fame as a solo artist with smash hits such as Billie Jean and Bad. Thriller, released in 1982, is the biggest-selling album of all time, shifting 65m copies, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. He scored seven UK number ones as a solo artist and won a total of 13 Grammy awards.

"For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don't have the words," said Quincy Jones, who produced Thriller, Bad and Off The Wall. "He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I've lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him."

The singer had been dogged by controversy and money trouble in recent years, becoming a virtual recluse. He was arrested in 2003 on charges of molesting a 14-year-old boy, but was found not guilty following a five-month trial.

The star had three children, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince Michael Jackson II. He is survived by his mother, Katherine, father, Joseph and eight siblings - including Janet, Randy, Jermaine and La Toya Jackson.

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Say what you will about Michael Jackson, he was an awesome entertainer, and you have all heard of him and his music. He had a great talent and inspired others to succeed. It is a great shame. RIP.

I wholeheartedly agree!
From Daily Mail:
President Sarkozy has risked the wrath of Muslims by backing demands for the burkha to be banned. He declared that the full-body religious gown is a sign of the 'debasement' of women. 'In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity,' he said to extended applause in Versailles, at a joint session of France's two houses of parliament. 'The burkha is not a religious sign, it's a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement. It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.' The president was supporting a weekend call by dozens of French politicians for a parliamentary commission to study whether the burkha, which is growing in popularity in France, should be banned. He laid out his support for a ban even before the panel has been approved - braving critics who fear the issue could stigmatise Muslims in France.

Remarkably, his comments came only hours before he was to host a state dinner with Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani of Qatar. Many women in the Gulf state wear Islamic head coverings in public - whether while shopping or driving cars.

France enacted a law in 2004 banning the Islamic headscarf and other conspicuous religious symbols from public schools, sparking fierce debate at home and abroad. France has Western Europe's largest Muslim population, an estimated 5million.

Last year, the country's highest court refused to grant French citizenship to a Moroccan woman who wears a burkha, on the grounds that her Muslim practices were incompatible with French gender equality and secularism laws.

Sarkozy's comments put him at odds with President Barack Obama who, in a speech in Cairo this month, said that the U.S. prized freedom of religion and declared: 'We are not going to tell people what to wear.'

The French leader told Mr Obama in Normandy on June 6 that French principles of equality meant people should not display religious affiliation in state institutions. He added: 'It is not a problem that young girls may choose to wear a veil or a headscarf as long as they have actually chosen to do so, as opposed to this being imposed upon them, be it by their families or by their environment.' If Sarkozy succeeds France will become the first and only country to ban the wearing of the burkha. It is already banned in schools.

In Holland, controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders, who was banned from entering Britain, tried to introduce a ban, calling the head-dress 'a medieval symbol, a symbol against women'. But despite Parliament voting in favour, the government was challenged in the courts and it is yet to become law - a sign of the opposition Sarkozy could expect.

The issue is highly divisive even within the French government. The junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade, said she was open to a ban if it is aimed at protecting women forced to wear the burkha. But Immigration Minister Eric Besson said a ban would only 'create tensions'.
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And exactly where would the tensions be coming from? That's right, the muslim population. The ones who think they have a right to migrate to other countries and turn them into the same sort of hellholes they ran away from in the first place. F**k the burkha! I hate it. I hate seeing women (well, I assume they're women) covered up like that. It's not religious; it's forced.

If you go to France, you live by their rules. Your religion is your own choice. You can choose to follow a different religion; it's entirely up to you. As such, you are capable of changing your beliefs and your clothing. Do the right thing; stop pissing off people just so you can be a muslim. Be one for I care, just don't make special demands, or expect our respect. When you respect us and our laws, we'll respect you. It's only fair.

And the long-dead Persians start rolling in their graves
From BBC News:
Thousands of opposition supporters have clashed with police after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of Iran's presidential poll. Secret police have been attacked, while riot police used batons and tear gas against backers of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who called the results a "charade". Correspondents say the violence is the worst seen in Tehran in a decade. The official results gave Mr Ahmadinejad 63% of the vote against just 34% for Mr Mousavi.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the high turnout of 85%, described the count as a "real celebration" and called for calm. "Enemies may want to spoil the sweetness of this event... with some kind of ill-intentioned provocations," the ayatollah said.

Mr Mousavi has also claimed victory, as his supporters said the election had been stolen and vowed to appeal for a re-run. But observers say this would have little chance of success. Some of the protesters in Tehran wore Mr Mousavi's campaign colour of green and chanted "Down with the dictator", news agencies report. Four police motorbikes were set on fire near the interior ministry, where votes had been counted, the BBC's John Simpson in Tehran says. Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli warned that any demonstrations needed official permission, and none had been given. One opposition newspaper has been closed down and BBC websites also appear to have been blocked by the Iranian authorities.

Mr Mousavi was hoping to prevent Mr Ahmadinejad winning more than 50% of the vote, in order to force a run-off election.

Danger of 'tyranny'
Mr Mousavi, a former prime minister, dismissed the election result as deeply flawed. "I personally strongly protest the many obvious violations and I'm warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade," the Reuters news agency reported him as saying. The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardise the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny." Mr Mousavi had said there was a shortage of ballot papers and alleged that millions of people had been denied the right to vote. His election monitors were not allowed enough access to polling stations, he added.

The head of the Committee to Protect the People's Votes, a group set up by all three opposition candidates, said the group would not accept the result, alleging fraud. They have asked Iran's Guardian Council - a powerful body controlled by conservative clerics - to cancel the results and re-run the elections. A second opposition candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, declared the results "illegitimate and unacceptable".

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says the result has been greeted with surprise and with deep scepticism by many Iranians. The figures, if they are to be believed, show Mr Ahmadinejad winning strongly even in the heartland of Mr Mousavi, the main opposition contender. The scale of Mr Ahmadinejad's win means that many people who voted for a reformist candidate in the previous presidential election four years ago have apparently switched their votes to Mr Ahmadinejad, he adds. However, the president does enjoy the support of many of the urban poor and rural dwellers.

"I am happy that my candidate has won - he helps the poor and he catches the thieves," sandwich seller Kamra Mohammadi, 22, told the AFP news agency.

The opposition gain much of their support from the middle classes and the educated urban population.

Surge of interest
BBC Iranian affairs analyst Sadeq Saba says the result means that hope for peaceful reform in Iran may die for a long time. There had been a surge of interest in Iran's presidential election, with unprecedented live television debates between the candidates and rallies attended by thousands. There were long queues at polling stations, with turnout reaching 85%. Four candidates contested the election, with Mohsen Razai and Mehdi Karroubi only registering about 1% of the vote each.

Iran is ruled under a system known as Velayat-e Faqih, or "Rule by the Supreme Jurist", who is currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It was adopted by an overwhelming majority in 1979 following the Islamic revolution which overthrew the autocratic Western-backed Shah. But the constitution also stipulates that the people are the source of power and the country holds phased presidential and parliamentary elections every four years. All candidates are vetted by the powerful conservative-controlled Guardian Council, which also has the power to veto legislation it deems inconsistent with revolutionary principles.
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The Supreme Leader has called the opposition parties, "enemies". Was this election really fair? And, of course the protestors weren't given permission to protest. What sort of a dictatorship would it be if the proles were allowed to voice their dissent?

So, the dictator is back in charge? This Holocaust-denying, Israel-hating (to the point that he'd like it wiped off the map), Planet of the Apes-lookalike is now able to continue his persecution of anything modern. It's a good job despotic regimes eventually fail. It would be a shame to see Persia lost to the idiocy of a religious madman.

Blair's 'religious literacy' call
From BBC News:
A global education programme designed to foster understanding between religions has been launched by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. The project, launched by the former prime minister, is intended to promote dialogue between young people from different faiths and backgrounds. It argues that "religious literacy" is a "vital skill" in a globalised and multicultural society. The project is running in schools in Asia, North America and Europe.

The Faith Foundation, created by Mr Blair after stepping down as prime minister, has the aim of fostering better relations and understanding between world religions.

'Fanaticism'
The launch of the education arm was marked by an international video link-up between pupils from Bolton, Delhi and Bethlehem. Pupils in the Middle East will be among those taking part - in an area where Mr Blair is now a peace envoy. "If you look round the different parts of the world and you look at conflicts, I would say a very large percentage of them have a religious dimension or a faith dimension to them," said Mr Blair at the launch in London. "So to get young people at an early age to be comfortable with people of a different faith is extremely important."

The Face to Faith scheme will use online forums and video conferencing to run discussions and debates between groups of 11 to 16-year-olds from different religions. In England, Westhoughton Technology College in Bolton is taking part in the project - which will have a local as well as international relevance. "The kids will come up with phrases which generalise about all Muslims. Islamophobia exists at our school but it exists at loads of schools at a low level," said religious education teacher, Jo Malone.

In Pakistan's Sindh Province, the City's School in Bhit Shah is participating. The school has Muslim, Hindu and Sikh students but its head teacher says the "real problem is not fanaticism", but the need for communities to get to know each other. Schools are also taking part in India, Singapore, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Thailand, Indonesia, the United States and Canada. The project, which has its own syllabus, has been accredited for an International GCSE. "By encouraging young people to enter into genuine dialogue with each other, Face to Faith leads students to a deeper understanding of their own beliefs and worldviews as well as those of others," says Annika Small, the foundation's education director.

The British Humanist Association expressed its "disappointment" at the project. "It does seem that this programme may be exclusively for religious people, which would be a missed opportunity for real education about people from all different backgrounds, including non-religious young people throughout the world," said Andrew Copson, the association's education director.
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Fanaticism? Blair is a religious fanatic - it's all he f**king well talks about nowadays!

Mr. Blair, a deeper knowledge of someone's religion is precisely what is getting us into trouble in the first place! Muslims hate the Jews and the Christians. The Christians hate the Jews and the Muslims (but at least they don't go around killing them for wiping bogey on the Bible...). The Jews hate everyone else. It's all a load of crap. Imagine a bag with 50,000 mice in it all trying to get closer to the one true piece of cheese. That's what we're witnessing today - thousands of different sects of various religions all vying for supremacy over everyone else. The best thing for this world is to ditch religion. And don't give me any of that bollocks about atheists killing more people in the 20th century than all the religions put together... I can't remember the guy's name, but his work is directly responsible for feeding 3 BILLION people every year. Now tell me, what religion has done that? NONE!!!

You will never get these religious fools to talk to each other politely. Just today there's been another suicide attack on a hotel in Pakistan by Islamic militants - people who think their religion trumps all other matters. Newsflash, it does not. Keep your religion private. If you truly believe it, then that's fine, just don't tell me about it, or demand special concessions for what your parents taught you to believe (via your indoctrination). Besides, if you were right, you'll find out when you die, and you can laugh at everyone else who didn't believe the same as you. All those people can laugh at you if they're correct. Since none of you have definitive proof you are all in the same loopy boat of madness. Keep your insanity to yourself.

I wholeheartedly agree with the BHA. As sad as it is, the world seems to be divided by religion, rather than aspirations for bettering humanity, or some other such worthy thing. Anyway, it goes, Christians, Muslims, NON-RELIGIOUS, Hindus... That's right, there are more non-religious people than there are Hindus in the world, and we're fast approaching the Muslims. Now, you tell me why Mr. Blair deems it necessary to effectively ignore 1.1 BILLIION people. Cnut.

He pops up everywhere, doesn't he? Answer: No.
From Wales Online:
A SOUTH Wales mum believes she has spotted the face of Jesus – in a jar of Marmite.

Claire Allen saw the likeness on the underside of the yellow lid when she opened a jar of the yeast spread to put on toast for her four-year-old son Robbie. “I couldn’t believe it,” said 36-year-old Claire. "I opened the Marmite jar and put it on the breakfast bar, and the lid caught my eye. I just looked at it and immediately thought, that’s Jesus Christ. It wasn’t a new jar, but I’d never noticed that before.”

The mum of three from Danygraig, Ystrad, Rhondda, showed the Marmite lid to her husband Gareth and their two other sons, Tomas, 11, and Jamie, 14. She said: “Straight away Jamie said ‘that looks like God’, and my other boys even said they could see a face.”

Claire’s is the latest in a series of sightings across the world.

A restaurant in southern Sweden put a potato up for auction after staff discovered what they believed to be the face of Jesus in a spud that “hopped out of the frying pan”.

Various videos on YouTube claim to show his face in an ashtray, a log, a waterfall, a tree, a piece of toast and even in an ultrasound picture of a couple from Warwickshire’s unborn son.

Claire, who runs a company specialising in disabled access, says she is “not particularly religious” but said she took comfort from seeing the image. She said: “People might think I’m nuts, but I like to think it’s Jesus looking out for us. We’ve had a tough couple of months; my mum’s been really ill and it’s comforting to think that if he is there, he’s watching over us. I often see Jesus’ face in a lot of things I do. And there are a few times I can think of when I’ve seen the face of Jesus in a window. But he’s never appeared in my food before."
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Why are people like this allowed to breed? It's not Jesus' face. Show me an actual picture or painting of Jesus. Given that there's no historical evidence that he ever existed, I'd like to know where you're getting your info from...? You are merely parroting the nonsense idea that Jesus was a white man with a beard. If you think that then you can see Jesus in Bill Bailey, or Grizzly Adams. Why don't you go around saying that Grizzly Adams is Jesus? Because that would be stupid. But for some reason seeing Jesus' face on a Marmite lid? No, that's sacred.

Besides, it looks more like Noel Fielding from the Mighty Boosh...

'Jade sent me a message from heaven. Then the clouds parted and I saw her face,' says tragic star's mum Jackiey.
From The Daily Mail:
's been just over two months since Jade Goody died in the early hours of Mothering Sunday, and since then her mother Jackiey Budden says she's been desperately calling out to her daughter for a sign that she is at peace.

Then last Wednesday, while Jackiey was at her holiday apartment in the Canary Isles where she's been recuperating for a month, she says it happened.

'I was laying on a sunbed outside my apartment and talking out loud, saying 'Jade, you told me to call you and I am but you don't answer', she said.

'And just then the clouds started moving and from the side of one of them I saw two faces looking down on me. It was Jade - totally clearly. She was beaming down and her hand was up as if she was waving. Her head was still bald but she looked so happy.

'At first I didn't recognise the man next to her but slowly I realised it was [her brother] Budgie who died when Jade was five. I broke down crying properly for the first time in ages.'

Jackiey, who has spent many nights alone clutching the hospital gown Jade wore when she died, which she now keeps in her pillow, says she also received another message from the Big Brother star shortly before leaving the UK.

'I was coming home one evening and noticed my bathroom window was steamed up even though I'd been out,' she told the Daily Mirror. 'Then I saw in the steam was written 'Light a candle for me Mum'. Now I have a candle by my front door lit every night so Jade knows I'm always thinking of her.'
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Fnarr! I especially love the point she makes about how Jade was still bald, but totally happy. So, in heaven you don't get everything you want; you don't get your hair back? Not a very nice place to be, is it?

I'm posting this in News rather than Religion, since, well, Scientology isn't a religion, is it?
From The Daily Mail:
The Church of Scientology in France went on trial today on charges of organised fraud. Registered as a religion in the United States, with celebrity members such as actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, Scientology enjoys no such legal protection in France and has faced repeated accusations of being a money-making cult.

The group's Paris headquarters and bookshop are defendants in the case. If found guilty, they could be fined €5million and ordered to halt their activities in France. Seven leading French Scientology members are also in the dock. Some are charged with illegally practising as pharmacists and face up to 10 years in prison and hefty fines.

The case centres on a complaint made in 1998 by a woman who said she was enrolled into Scientology after members approached her in the street and persuaded her to do a personality test. In the following months, she paid more than €21,000 for books, 'purification packs' of vitamins, sauna sessions and an 'e-meter' to measure her spiritual progress, she said. Other complaints then surfaced. The five original plaintiffs - three of whom withdrew after reaching a financial settlement with the Church of Scientology - said they spent up to hundreds of thousands of euros on similar tests and 'cures'. They told investigators that Scientology members harassed them with phone calls and nightly visits to cajole them into paying their bills or taking out bank loans. The plaintiffs were described as 'vulnerable' by psychological experts in the case.

Scientology, founded in 1954 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, describes the 'e-meter' as a religious artefact that helps the user and supervisor locate spiritual distress. Investigators have described the machine as useless and said vitamin cures handed out by Church members were medication that should not have been freely sold.

Judge Jean-Christophe Hullin ruled last year that the offices and members, including the group's 60-year-old French head, Alain Rosenberg, should be tried. The public prosecutor had recommended the case be shelved.

In a trial that has revived a debate about religious freedom in secular France, the defence is expected to argue the court should not intervene in religious affairs.

Scientology has faced numerous setbacks in France, with members convicted of fraud in Lyon in 1997 and Marseille in 1999. In 2002, a court fined it for violating privacy laws and said it could be dissolved if involved in similar cases. The headquarters and bookshop account for most of the group's activities in France and a guilty verdict would in practice mean its dissolution, although it is unclear whether it could still open other branches in the future.
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How can this organisation be recognised as a religion in the US? It was clearly invented by Lafayette Ron Hubbard in 1954. See that? INVENTED. That's my opinion, and I have the right to make that statement.

Now, putting aside any legal disclaimers, if the machine is worthless, and the vitamins should not have been sold, then there is a case against them. I see this as a simple matter of pursuing the criminals. Forget religion. This is a simple legal matter.

Am I the only one who has noticed that Scientology is the only 'religion' in the world that requires such hefty fees to be a member? Christianity doesn't require money; Judaism doesn't, etc. To me, any religion that demands massive amounts of money just for you to 'believe' in it, isn't worth a penny. It's a money-making scam. Who was it who said, "If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be start his own religion"? Oh, that's right, Lafayette Ron Hubbard - the FOUNDER of Scientology.

From BBC News:
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have urged voters not to let anger over the expenses scandal drive them to vote for the BNP in next month's elections. Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu said it would be "tragic" if people abstained or voted BNP at the local and European elections on 4 June. Their statement said disillusionment was understandable but voters should not allow their anger to be exploited. The BNP said the bishops did not represent the views of the public.

'Great vigilance'
Dr Williams and Dr Sentamu said the forthcoming elections were taking place "at a time of extraordinary turbulence in our democratic system. The temptation to stay away or register a protest vote in order to send a negative signal to the parties represented at Westminster will be strong. In our view, however, it would be tragic if the understandable sense of anger and disillusionment with some MPs over recent revelations led voters to shun the ballot box."

The archbishops appealed to voters to exercise "great vigilance" in making their decision on who to vote for. Some parties, they said, would exploit the current political climate to foster "fear and division within communities, especially between people of different faiths or racial background". They said, rather than caving in to anger, the elections were a chance to show higher ideals. "It is an opportunity for renewing the vision of a community united by mutual respect, high ethical standards and the pursuit of justice and peace. Those whom we elect to local councils and the European Parliament will represent us and our collective interests for many years to come. It is crucial to elect those who wish to uphold the democratic values and who wish to work for the common good in a spirit of public service, which urgently needs to be reaffirmed in these difficult days," they said. "We hope that electors will use their vote on 4 June to renew the vision of a community united by the common good, public service and the pursuit of justice."

The BNP said it alone was standing up against what it claimed was the "Islamification of Britain".

A BNP spokesman told the BBC: "We have a perfectly legitimate right to oppose multi-culturalism and we reject this criticism utterly. If they are so concerned about the BNP, why haven't the Christian establishment come to us for discourse? These Church leaders don't represent the views of the public."

'Rare direct intervention'
The spokesman said the archbishops were trying to make themselves relevant in the modern world and that "the Church should stay out of politics". In its campaigning for the European elections the BNP has used the image of Jesus on a poster suggesting that he would vote for the party.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg said the church should stay out of politics. "I believe politics and religion should be separate. I would like to see the church disestablished," he told BBC's Politics Show. "I don't think you beat the BNP by telling people how to vote. You get out there and say we have got the solutions, they haven't. They peddle hate and they don't actually provide people with hope."

The BBC's religious affairs correspondent, Robert Pigott, said the archbishops' appeal was a "rare direct intervention in the electoral process. Anglican bishops have called for a boycott of the British National Party before but never with such unanimity and in such forthright terms," he said.

The Right Reverend Peter Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden, said the archbishops' statement represented the feelings of all the Church's bishops. He told the BBC: "The bishops were meeting together last week and were concerned about people voting in protest about what's been happening, and wanted to put out a statement that said that quite clearly when people exercise their vote, they need to vote for parties that represent justice and fairness and community, and not extremist parties." In February the Church's general synod voted overwhelmingly in favour of measures to stop clergy joining the BNP.
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"The BNP said the bishops did not represent the views of the public": Newsflash, Archbishops, YOUR views don't represent the majority of the public. While I'm not a BNP voter, at least they are standing up for the people of this country.

Hey, if voters shun the ballot box it is their RIGHT to do so. Perhaps sending a message of utter disillusionment with our current government and other parties is precisely the thing that needs to happen in our country right now. Throw everyone out and start afresh.

"Some parties, they said, would exploit the current political climate to foster 'fear and division within communities, especially between people of different faiths or racial background'": Erm, exactly what do YOU do every day? You tell us that we're wrong for not believing in what you believe in. If you weren't divisive yourself, you would be a member of EVERY faith, but you aren't. You chose ONE religion and that's what you believe in. What's your stance on, say, homosexuality? Oh, the Bible says it's wrong so you say it's wrong? And slavery? Bible says it's right and you say it's wrong... You don't even believe in your own religion!

"The BNP said it alone was standing up against what it claimed was the "Islamification of Britain": Yes, precisely. What is Dr Rowan Williams doing about this? Ah yes, he suggests and backs the introduction of Sharia courts in the UK!!! I would prefer this country to remain a tolerant, inclusive nation, but I refuse to allow it to be converted by stealth into just another third world, third-rate, Islamic hellhole.

I'm actually starting to like the Lib Dems. They want the church and state disestablished. They want religion out of politics. That is the proper way of thinking. When you allow someone like Ruth Kelly (a Catholic) to determine abortion rights, you've already influenced the decision based on HER religious beliefs. How do HER religious beliefs HELP women who NEED or WANT an abortion?

So, there we go. Archbishops asserting their influence over politics. They should be stopped from such things. YOUR beliefs are not MINE. Keep your silly, childish, supernatural beliefs out of MY life!

From BBC News:
Three people were injured when part of a stage collapsed at a music festival near Ashbourne in Derbyshire.

Strong winds lifted part of the roof off the stage at The Bearded Theory event in Hulland Ward, police said.

Mandy Stocks, from Yorkshire, said she fled after she felt the tent she was dancing in shake and saw the stage on its side, adding it was "very scary".

The event went on despite the incident which included neck, back and shoulder injuries and a suspected broken wrist. A number of people were also treated for shock at the festival at Bradley Nook Farm Estate.
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There we go, all you made religious people who force men to have beards (and don't force hairy women to shave theirs...), 'God' really doesn't like people with beards.

(Yes, it's tenuous, but it's a Sunday and I'm bored.)

Just received this email:
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Mr? Mrs? Ah, what the hell, give me the cash biatch!