Exclusive: U.S. conservative groups helped fund Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders
Anti-Islam groups in America have provided financial support to Dutch politician Geert Wilders, an anti-immigration campaigner who is seeking re-election to the Dutch parliament this week.
While this is not illegal in the Netherlands, it sheds light on the international connections of Wilders, whose Freedom Party is the least transparent Dutch parliamentary group and a rallying point for Europe’s far right.
Wilders’ party is self-funded, unlike other Dutch parties that are subsidized by the government. It does not, therefore, have to meet the same disclosure requirements.
Groups in America seeking to counter Islamic influence in the West say they funded police protection and paid legal costs for Wilders whose party is polling in fourth place before the Sept 12 election.
Wilders’ ideas – calling for a halt to non-Western immigration and bans on Muslim headscarfs and the construction of mosques – have struck a chord in mainstream politics beyond the Netherlands. France banned clothing that covers the face in April 2011 and Belgium followed suit in July of the same year. Switzerland barred the construction of new minarets following a referendum in 2009.
The Middle East Forum, a pro-Israeli think tank based in Philadelphia, funded Wilders’ legal defense in 2010 and 2011 against Dutch charges of inciting racial hatred, its director Daniel Pipes said.
The Middle East Forum has a stated goal, according to its website, of protecting the “freedom of public speech of anti-Islamist authors, promoting American interests in the Middle East and protecting the constitutional order from Middle Eastern threats”. It sent money directly to Wilders’ lawyer via its Legal Project, Pipes said.
Anti-Islam groups in America have provided financial support to Dutch politician Geert Wilders, an anti-immigration campaigner who is seeking re-election to the Dutch parliament this week. Join DiscussionJihadists join Aleppo conflict to fight for Islamic state in Syria, French surgeon says
Foreign Islamists intent on turning Syria into an autocratic theocracy have swollen the ranks of rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad and think they are waging a “holy war”, a French surgeon who treated fighters in Aleppo has said.
Jacques Beres, co-founder of medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, returned from Syria on Friday evening after spending two weeks working clandestinely in a hospital in the besieged northern Syrian city.
In an interview with Reuters in his central Paris apartment on Saturday, the 71-year-old said that contrary to his previous visits to Homs and Idlib earlier this year about 60 percent of those he had treated this time had been rebel fighters and that at least half of them had been non-Syrian.
“It’s really something strange to see. They are directly saying that they aren’t interested in Bashar al-Assad’s fall, but are thinking about how to take power afterwards and set up an Islamic state with sharia law to become part of the world Emirate,” the doctor said.
The foreign jihadists included young Frenchmen who said they were inspired by Mohammed Merah, a self-styled Islamist militant from Toulouse, who killed seven people in March in the name of al-Qaeda.
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Foreign Islamists intent on turning Syria into an autocratic theocracy have swollen the ranks of rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad and think they are waging a "holy war", a French surgeon who treated fighters in Aleppo has said. Join DiscussionSyrian conflict casts shadow over Pope Benedict’s trip to Lebanon — Vatican envoy
The civil war in Syria will cast a long shadow on Pope Benedict’s trip to neighboring Lebanon next weekend but the Vatican is “tranquil” about his security after receiving guarantees from the country’s fractious religious groups, the papal envoy to Beirut said on Monday.
Archbishop Gabriele Caccia told Reuters he hoped the situation in Syria would not drown out the main purpose of the trip – to focus attention on the problems and aspirations of the entire Middle East.
“You certainly can’t close your eyes to a situation of violence. The drama in Syria looms over this trip but there is also the wider horizon of the Middle East,” Caccia said in a telephone interview from Beirut.
“The Syrian question takes priority because it is an emergency but the whole trip cannot be reduced to a political question regarding Syria,” he said.
There are fears that the Syrian conflict could spill over into Lebanon and reignite civil war among the country’s rival religious groups. Lebanon’s population is 60 percent Muslim with the rest almost all Christian.
While there have been fears in some quarters that the papal trip is too dangerous, Caccia said “I am as tranquil as humanly possible” and the Church had “reasonable guarantees” that the visit would not be disrupted.
“Clearly security forces are on alert. Security is always a priority during papal visits, particularly in this (regional) context, which is a heated one,” he said.
The civil war in Syria will cast a long shadow on Pope Benedict's trip to neighboring Lebanon next weekend but the Vatican is "tranquil" about his security after receiving guarantees from the country's fractious religious groups, the papal envoy to Beirut said on Monday. Join DiscussionEuropean imams and rabbis pledge zero tolerance for hate preachers
Seventy European Muslim and Jewish leaders pledged on Wednesday to show “zero tolerance” to hate preachers of any faith including their own ranks, citing what they called rising religious intolerance on the continent.
Imams, rabbis and community leaders from 18 countries agreed to jointly counter bigotry against Jews and Muslims and combat legal threats to common religious practices such as circumcision of boys and the kosher and halal ritual slaughter of animals.
The two-day meeting brought together Muslim-Jewish teams from around Europe to compare experiences in fighting religious prejudice and report on recent trends against minority faiths.
There have been several attacks on Jews in Europe this year, some from radical Muslims. In the worst case, a French Islamist killed a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse last March.
Extreme right-wing political parties are also increasingly agitating against Jews and Muslims, participants in the meeting said.
“We must institute a ‘zero tolerance’ policy against religious leaders of any faith who misuse their pulpits to incite religious bigotry,” they said in a declaration.
“We vow to each other to speak out loudly and forcefully against any religious leader who defames those of other faiths, and, if such bigots emerge from within our own communities, to condemn them loudly and clearly.”
Seventy European Muslim and Jewish leaders pledged on Wednesday to show "zero tolerance" to hate preachers of any faith including their own ranks, citing what they called rising religious intolerance on the continent. Join DiscussionFirst of all thanks for welcoming me back. I think all who are advocating tolerance in foreign lands must also go back to their own countries and do the same on regular basis. My major concern is towards Muslim clerics. Right now Pakistan and Afghanistan are on top list who are not aware of the word tolerance. Yes, we do need tolerance from all who follow their Holy Books but unfortunately some countries are violating the same by burning the people alive and damaging their holy books and worship places which should be stop through legislation in UN. Spreading hate due to some difference on beliefs or religion must stop.
Thousands rally in Tunisia for women’s rights, against Islamist reforms
Thousands of Tunisians have rallied to protest against what they see as a push by the Islamist-led government for constitutional changes that would degrade women’s status in one of the Arab world’s most liberal nations.
The protest on Monday, by some 6,000 mostly Tunisian women, is the latest twist in a row over the role of Islam in a constitution being drawn up by a new assembly.
Tunisia’s ruling Ennahda Movement is under pressure from both hardline Salafi Muslims, calling for the introduction of Islamic law, and secular opposition parties.
Activists are not happy with a stipulation in a draft of the constitution that considers women to be “complementary to men” and want a pioneering 1956 law that grant women full equality with men to remain in place.
The protesters marched across main thoroughfares in the capital Tunis to demand that the government, led since October by Islamist moderates Ennahda, turn its attention instead to basic issues such as unemployment and regional development.
They carried banners that read “Rise up women for your rights to be enshrined in the constitution” and “Ghannouchi clear off, Tunisian women are strong”, referring to Ennahda’s leader Rachid Ghannouchi.
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Thousands of Tunisians have rallied to protest against what they see as a push by the Islamist-led government for constitutional changes that would degrade women's status in one of the Arab world's most liberal nations. Join DiscussionVatileaks: Is papal butler Paolo Gabriele a whistleblower or a traitor?
Paolo Gabriele, a reserved family man and devout Catholic, worked in Pope Benedict’s private apartments in the Vatican’s Apostolic palace, serving the pontiff meals and helping him dress.
Yet while tending to the man Catholics believe is Christ’s vicar on earth, the clean-cut, black-haired butler became disillusioned with his Church, according to an indictment issued on Monday in which the Vatican ordered him to stand trial.
Arrested in an investigation over the leak of documents alleging corruption in the Vatican’s business dealings, Gabriele admitted that for some time he had been meeting with a journalist and slipping him sensitive papers, including letters to the pope.
He told the inquiry he never received payment for the documents, but felt he was acting for the good of the Church and as an agent of the Holy Spirit.
“I saw evil and corruption everywhere in the Church,” Gabriele said in his testimony, explaining how he felt the pope was not sufficiently informed of such matters. “I was sure that a shock, perhaps by using the media, could be a healthy thing to bring the Church back on the right track.”
Read the full story by Naomi O’Leary here. . Follow all posts on Twitter @ RTRFaithWorld
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While tending to the man Catholics believe is Christ's vicar on earth, the clean-cut, black-haired butler became disillusioned with his Church, according to an indictment issued on Monday in which the Vatican ordered him to stand trial. Join DiscussionWhistlerblower to those who are honest. Traitor to those who are corrupt. Churches are no exception. Vatican itself after all is a Theocratic nation and mix politics and religion.
Saudi Arabia approves $16.5 bln Mecca transport revamp
Saudi Arabia has approved a 62 billion riyal plan to modernise the transport system in its holy city of Mecca, including building a bus network and metro system, state news agency SPA said on Tuesday.
More than 6 million visitors from across the world visit Mecca every year for the Haj and Omra pilgrimages. The influx has strained the narrow roads and outdated transport system.
Four metro lines of a total length of 182 km (114 miles) will be built across the city, with 88 stations, SPA reported.
Construction for the transport project will be carried out over about 10 years, the report said, without giving details of when it would start or how companies would bid for contracts.
Last year the city’s mayor told Reuters that within six years the government hoped to build new roads and foot bridges near the Grand Mosque, home to the cube-shaped Kaaba towards which Muslims turn in prayer.
Other long-term projects around the mosque include building hotels, malls and cafes. Developments in the suburbs include housing estates and a park for residents who have been made to relocate from the city centre.
Saudi Arabia is also spending billions on upgrading the transport system in the capital Riyadh and on a high-speed rail line connecting Mecca with the holy city of Medina.
Saudi Arabia has approved a 62 billion riyal plan to modernise the transport system in its holy city of Mecca, including building a bus network and metro system, state news agency SPA said on Tuesday. Join DiscussionQatar TV Ramadan series on Muslim caliph stirs arguments across the Arab world
A television drama about the life of a seventh century Muslim ruler, Omar Ibn al-Khattab, is polarising opinion across the Arab world by challenging a widespread belief that actors should not depict Islam’s central figures.
Conservative clerics denounce the series, which is running during the region’s busiest drama season, the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Scholars see an undesirable trend in television programming; the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates has publicly refused to watch it.
But at dinner tables and on social media around the region, “Omar” is winning praise among many Muslim viewers, who admire it for tackling an important period in Islam’s history. Some think it carries lessons for the Arab world, which is grappling with political change unleashed by last year’s uprisings.
Salam Sarhan, a columnist at the Lebanese newspaper Diyar, said the show was part of a gradual trend for the Islamic world to re-examine its heritage more critically, and would open the door for more television and cinema productions depicting central figures in Islam.
“If anyone dared to depict these figures 20 years ago, he would have been accused of blasphemy,” he wrote. “Simply put, depicting these revered figures with their mistakes, limitations, rivalries, anger, hunger and thirst will thrust Islamic societies into a new phase.”
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A television drama about the life of a seventh century Muslim ruler, Omar Ibn al-Khattab, is polarising opinion across the Arab world by challenging a widespread belief that actors should not depict Islam's central figures. Join DiscussionNepal celebrates popular Gai Jatra festival to lead the dead to heaven
Hundreds of young boys, their faces smeared with mascara and painted as cows, trot barefoot along the streets of Nepal’s capital in the Gai Jatra festival, the procession of cows.
The annual event, usually in August or September, is one of the Himalayan nation’s most popular festivals. Families who have lost a relative during the past year lead a cow in the procession, or dress a boy as the animal, to make sure their lost loved one has a place in heaven.
“We believe in this, and it is our culture,” said Pritan Bariya, a 28-year-old graphic designer who lost his sister two months ago. “It will lead my sister to the doors of heaven”.
In Hinduism the cow is considered sacred. Many Nepalese use the animal’s urine and dung for religious purposes and the slaughter of cows is banned in country.
According to legend people waded through the mythical Baitarni River holding the tail of a cow to reach heaven.
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Hundreds of young boys, their faces smeared with mascara and painted as cows, trot barefoot along the streets of Nepal's capital in the Gai Jatra festival, the procession of cows. Join DiscussionInsight: U.S. donors like Romney made Mormon church wealthy
If the Mormon church were a business, wealthy adherents like Mitt Romney would count as its dominant revenue stream.
Its investment strategy would be viewed as risk-averse.
It would also likely attract corporate gadflies protesting a lack of transparency. They would call for less spending on real estate and more on charitable causes to improve membership growth – the Mormons’ return on investment.
Those are a few of the conclusions that can be drawn from an analysis of the church’s finances by Reuters and University of Tampa sociologist Ryan Cragun.
Relying heavily on church records in countries that require far more disclosure than the United States, Cragun and Reuters estimate that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints brings in some $7 billion annually in tithes and other donations.
It owns about $35 billion worth of temples and meeting houses around the world, and controls farms, ranches, shopping malls and other commercial ventures worth many billions more.
The church claims 14 million members around the world, more than half outside the United States. All are supposed to tithe, or give 10 percent, of their income, which Mormons frequently interpret as pre-tax earnings. But only about 40 percent of Mormons counted by the church actually attend weekly services in the United States and Canada, and in many countries, including Mexico and Brazil, only a quarter of nominal members are active, according to Cumorah, an independent research group headed by a devoted, active Mormon.
If the Mormon church were a business, wealthy adherents like Mitt Romney would count as its dominant revenue stream. Join DiscussionSigh.
Let me count the ways I dislike this article:
1.Reuters posted it over a Sunday and immediately closed it to comments before Monday. I guess that’s one way to keep the trolls quiet, but you’re also protecting your link-bait article from being called out on what it is.
2.”If the Mormon Church were a business”…nice job assuming the thing you so transparently wish to prove. A church isn’t a business, no matter how you paint it. It’s not “wealthy” (the money doesn’t inure to anyone – who’s getting rich?), and there are no shareholders to require transparency – because as long as they’re obeying the law and acting ethically, who’s to say what the organization should or shouldn’t do with the funds it has accumulated?
3.”They would call for less spending on real estate and more on charitable causes to improve membership growth”. The real estate purchases are to meet the needs of a growing membership — you have it backward. And the claims about charitable cause expenditures have already been documented in the Bloomberg article and also thoroughly debunked in the subsequent discussions and rebuttals of the article.
Forgive a Mormon for feeling snarky, but these articles are like weeds: one pops up and generates good discussion (and a good amount of corrections and rebuttals). Then the news agencies, seeing that the public attention has been turned to the topic, spin out hundreds of riffs and regurgitations of the original article — thus perpetuating stereotypes and quelling discussion through brute force.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86555 8980/LDS-Church-explains-financial-histo ry-philosophy.html
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