‘Richard Dawkins: “We cannot, of course, disprove God, just as we can't disprove Thor, fairies, leprechauns and the Flying Spaghetti Monster.”We were live with evolutionary biologist and writer, Richard Dawkins.‘
This is a video interview :)
~M
Forced marriage: Girl aged five among 400 minors helped
A five-year-old girl is thought to have become the UK's youngest victim of forced marriage.
She was one of 400 children to receive assistance from the government's Forced Marriage Unit in the last year.
The figures have emerged as the public consultation into criminalising forced marriage in England, Wales and Northern Ireland comes to an end.
Amy Cumming, joint head of the Forced Marriage Unit, said 29% of the cases it dealt with last year involved minors.
"The youngest of these was actually five years old, so there are children involved in the practice across the school age range," she said.
To protect the child, the authorities have not disclosed details of the case or where the marriage took place.
But the case comes as no surprise to the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO), which deals with more than 100 cases of forced marriage a year.
"We have had clients who are in their very early teens, 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds, the youngest case we had was nine years old," said IKWRO campaigns officer Fionnuala Murphy.
Now the consultation on forced marriage has come to an end, IKWROs hope it will become a criminal offence.
"Our organisation is pro-criminalisation because we believe that it will empower victims to know that this is a crime, to stand up to their parents and to stand up for their own rights and it will enable them to come forward and seek help and say what's happening to me is wrong."
Violent abuse
Author Sameem Ali is all too familiar with the trauma of being a child bride - she was only 13 years old when she was taken to Pakistan by her mother on a holiday.
As a teenager she was excited about the trip, but when she arrived at the family's ancestral village, she discovered she was to be married to a man twice her age, whom she had never met.
"The whole family turned up with an imam and they forced me into this marriage. I didn't really understand what was happening at the time.
"I was only a child. There was no way I could say no. There was no support there whatsoever."
Eight months later she returned to the UK after suffering months of violent abuse.
"I was brought back to this country when I was 14 years old and pregnant," she said.
She eventually fled the relationship and is now happily married with two children and helps other young people at risk.
However, Sameem is concerned that making forced marriage a criminal offence will deter victims from speaking out.
"I think it will be detrimental to the victim. The victims will stop coming forward, because nobody will want to point the finger at their parents," she explained.
"The young person will not come forward if it's a criminal offence. They will not stand up in court and testify against their parents."
Law change
In 2011 the Forced Marriage Unit helped deal with around 1,500 cases, but many more are thought to go unreported.
Forced Marriage Protection Orders were introduced in 2008 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland under the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007.
A potential victim, friend or police can apply for an order aimed at protecting an individual through the courts. Anyone found to have breached one can be jailed for up to two years for contempt of court, although this is classed as a civil offence.
The prime minister wants the law to go further and ordered a public consultation on making it a criminal offence in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to force a person to marry against their will.
In Scotland the breach of a forced marriage protection order is also a criminal offence in Scotland punishable by prisons.
Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone said the government would now look at all the arguments.
"We will now consider all of those views and responses to the consultation before we make a decision on the best way to protect vulnerable people.
"We are determined, working closely with charities and other organisations doing a tremendous amount in this area, to make forced marriage a thing of the past."
A decision is expected to be announced later this year.
This is an intersectional issue - both religious and cultural. Hence it's appearance on this tumblog.
~Mooglets
Church HIV prayer cure claims 'cause three deaths'
At least three people in London with HIV have died after they stopped taking life saving drugs on the advice of their Evangelical Christian pastors.
The women died after attending churches in London where they were encouraged to stop taking the antiretroviral drugs in the belief that God would heal them, their friends and a leading HIV doctor said.
Responding to the BBC London investigation, Lord Fowler, the former health minister responsible for the famous Aids awareness campaign of the 1980s, condemned the practice.
"It's just wrong, bad advice that should be confronted," said the Tory peer, who chaired last month's House of Lords committee into HIV.
Jane Iwu, 48, from Newham, east London, described one case, saying: "I know of a friend who had been to a pastor. She told her to stop taking her medication - that God is a healer and has healed her."
"This lady believed it. She stopped taking her medication. She passed away," said Ms Iwu, who has HIV herself.
'Irresponsible' advice
BBC London spoke to a second woman from east London who told of a friend who died after taking advice from her pastor who told her to stop taking her antiretroviral drugs.
Meanwhile, the director of a leading HIV research centre in east London said she had dealt with a separate case in which a person with HIV died as a result of advice from a pastor.
"I've only seen that once, but it has happened," said Prof Jane Anderson, director of the Centre for the Study of Sexual Health and HIV, in Hackney.
"We see patients quite often who will come having expressed the belief that if they pray frequently enough, their HIV will somehow be cured," she added.
"We have seen people who choose not to take the tablets at all so sometimes die."
Lord Fowler condemned pastors giving this advice, saying: "It's dangerous to the public and dangerous in terms of public health."
"It's irresponsible," he said, suggesting pastors should instead "come off the air on it, look at things much more seriously, and not give this completely wrong advice to the public".
HIV prevention charity African Health Policy Network (AHPN) says a growing number of London churches have been telling people the power of prayer will "cure" their infections.
"This is happening through a number of churches. We're hearing about more cases of this," AHPN chief Francis Kaikumba said.
AHPN said it believed the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), which has UK headquarters in Southwark, south London, may be one of those involved in such practices.
The church is headed by Pastor T B Joshua, Nigeria's third richest clergyman, according to a recent Forbes richlist.
When approached by BBC London, leaders of the church described themselves as Evangelical Christian pastors.
The church's website, which was set up in Lagos, Nigeria, shows photos of people the church claims have been "cured" of HIV through prayer.
HIV-Aids healing
In one example, the church's website claims: "Mrs Badmus proudly displays her two different medical records confirming she is 100% free from HIV-Aids following the prayer of Pastor T B Joshua."
"HIV-Aids healing" is listed on the church's website among "miracles" it says it can perform.
"Cancer healing" and "baby miracles" are also advertised.
The church's UK website promotes a monthly "prayer line" for which it says: "If you are having a medical condition, it is important you bring a medical report for record and testimony purposes."
It has posted videos on the internet showing its services in south London, in which participants who claim to have arthritis, asthma and schizophrenia say they have been healed after being sprayed with "anointing water" provided by the church.
Mary Buhari, 44 , from central London, told the BBC she had had a phone conversation with a representative of the church, in which she was told she could be cured of HIV.
"I was told they can cure any illness on Earth through prayer, including HIV," she said.
However, when asked by BBC London if it claimed its pastors can cure HIV, SCOAN responded: "We are not the healer. God is the healer. Never a sickness God cannot heal. Never a disease God cannot cure.
"We don't ask people to stop taking medication," the church added. "Doctors treat; God heals."
The recent House of Lords committee report into HIV awareness said faith groups' approaches to supporting people with HIV had improved but more needed to be done.
"It is essential that faith leaders engage with HIV as an issue and provide effective and truthful support and communication around the subject," it said.
A Department of Health spokesman responded to the report saying: "Over 60 recommendations were made and we will be responding to Parliament in the next few months."
From BBC News
Wow. London. London, people. Jesus effin' christ.
Critical thinking. Critical thinking. All these people are professing that praying will not work, they're all saying 'yes, some people come to us thinking that if they ray it will go away' - but are any of them actually telling them that, actually, fucking no. Religious bullshit will not fucking work, because religion is bullshit and God doesn't fucking exist, so praying will in fact do absolutely bollocks all.
No. Of course they don't. Not even in softened up and pasny'd terms. Because why? Because we're not meant to offend people.
Telling someone who sincerely believes that praying will magically make everything go away is bollocks, is apparently offensive.
Telling someone that they should rely on empirical fucking scientific research and remedies, not bullshit made up bollocks is apparently offensive.
But somehow allowing these people their delusions and in turn allowing them to die of them? That's all fine and bloody dandy.
Ugh.
~Mooglets
Harold Camping said it had "dawned" on him that God would spare humanity "hell on Earth for five months", and the apocalypse would happen on 21 October.
The evangelical broadcaster who left followers crestfallen by his failed prediction that last Saturday would be Judgement Day says he miscalculated.
Mr Camping said he felt "terrible" about his mistake.
This link leads to a video on the BBCNews website.