When you're NOT in the majority..

From the ABC News website

23 killed in bloody Cairo protests
 
By Middle East correspondent Ben Knight in Cairo, wires

October 10, 2011 20:11:32 

Egyption Coptic Christians carry the coffin of a victim of deadly clashes, during a

 funeral at Abbassaiya Cathedral in Cairo on October 10, 2011, a day after 24 people,

mostly Christians, died in clashes with Egyptian security forces.

At least 23 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in Cairo as security forces fought angry Christian protesters demonstrating against the burning of a church in the south of the country.

Christians threw rocks and petrol bombs and set cars on fire in some of the most violent scenes since an uprising ousted ex-president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Hundreds from both sides fought with sticks on a Cairo bridge. Protesters carrying crosses and pictures of Jesus later spread to the central Tahrir Square, the focal point of the February uprising.

There were scenes of mayhem at a hospital where many of the dead and injured were taken, and soldiers later enforced a curfew in large areas of central Cairo.

The ruling military council has promised to protect all Egyptians while the country deals with a transition between a revolution and elections, but Egypt's minority Christians say the council is doing nothing to stop attacks on their churches and people by radical Islamists.

Full Story, plus video:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-10/protesters-killed-in-cairo-clashes/3457784 

ABC Radio:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-10/cairo-clashes-claim-more-victims/3459396
  
For those in Australia that subscribe to a religious faith that enjoys the privileges and benefits of being in the majority, you might like to think, just for a moment, about what it's like for those with religious beliefs that are not in the majority. Whilst the recent unrest in Egypt is undeniable, as it's people struggle to enact positive change, this story somewhat highlights the aforementioned situation, and helps to demonstrate why church-state separation is so important for equality and freedom of belief.

Doing it right

From The Wall Street Journal's Blog, "Metropolis"

Bloomberg: Sunday’s 9/11 Ceremony a Civil, Not Religious Occasion

By Michael Howard Saul
September 9, 2011, 10:39 AM

NYC Mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

Photo: Associated Press 

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is defending his decision to exclude religious leaders from New York City’s ceremony commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“It’s a civil ceremony. There are plenty of opportunities for people to have their religious ceremonies,” Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show. “Some people don’t want to go to a religious ceremony with another religion. And the number of different religions in this city are really quite amazing.”

Mayoral aides have previously defended Bloomberg’s decision by saying it would be complicated and controversial to choose which religious leaders would speak at the ceremony. But on Friday, the mayor said that isn’t the issue.

“It isn’t that you can’t pick and choose, you shouldn’t pick and choose,” Bloomberg said. “If you want to have a service for your religion, you can have it in your church or in a field, or whatever.”

At one point, the mayor suggested that allowing clergy to speak at 9/11 ceremony would be, in effect, thrusting religion upon the thousands of attendees and the millions more watching, some of whom might object.

Full Article:   http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/09/09/bloomberg-sundays-911-ceremony-a-civil-not-religious-occasion/

Check out some of the comments on this story. I like this one:

1:05 pm September 11, 2011
Mike wrote: 

I think it’s wrong for any elected official to prohibit the free exercise of ANY faith. To tell those who lost loved ones on 9/11 that they can’t express their heartfelt beliefs is insensitive and callous! I’m glad that President Obama and George Bush ignored this arrogant, godless man’s attempt to “prohibit the free exercise” of our right to proclaim our religious beliefs, something that Congress is not even allowed to do! 

Mike's entire objection is based on fallacy. Mayor Bloomberg wasn't stopping anyone from freely exercising their religion - he did, in this instance, however, adhere to the best intention of the US Constitution, and simply not allow his government to favour any one, or group of religions, over any others, or over those with no religion. That's how you correctly include everyone. Mike clearly doesn't "get it".

For his troubles, Mr Bloomberg is labelled a communist, a dictator, un-American, insensitive and callous, a muslim sympathiser, arrogant, godless, and a Marxist tyrant. It's also specifically noted, for some reason, that "he's a Jew".

Shame. 

Levelling the playing field

From The Vancouver Sun

Multi-faith groups want religion out of public schools

By Linda Nguyen, Postmedia News
September 12, 2011

Valley Park Middle School in eastern Toronto, where each Friday, students can attend afternoon

Islamic prayer in the cafeteria. Some feel relgion has no place in public schools.
Photograph by: Tyler Anderson, National Post

TORONTO — With the Ontario election less than a month away, a number of multi-faith groups are calling on the provincial party leaders to take a public stance on religious teachings in secular schools.

"Everyone knows that it is a violation of the Education Act, which bars any religion in public schools," said Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) founder Tarek Fatah on Monday. "But none of them (party leaders) has the courage to say that. They're sitting like cowards trying to please a fictitious block vote."

So far, Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty, Progressive Conservative Tim Hudak and NDP leader Andrea Horwath have stayed mum on whether they support public tax dollars funding religious studies in the public school system. Earlier this year, Premier McGuinty said that the issue of religious accommodation is up to the school board to decide, and should align with the Ontario Human Rights Code which promotes freedom to practise religion.

But Fatah says the politicians are passing the buck, afraid that they will lose the Muslim vote if they speak out against the prayer service at Valley Park Middle School in east Toronto. The public school has been permitting an afternoon Islamic prayer service in its cafeteria for its students for the past year.

Full Story:   http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Multi+faith+groups+want+religion+public+schools/5390381/story.html