Haters Under The Facade Of Atheism

By Michael Gryboski. Published by The Christian Post on 30 April 2014.

A West Virginia school district has painted over a Bible verse formerly located in the gymnasium of one of its high schools. Philippians 4:13, which was inscribed on Parkersburg South High School's gymnasium wall more than a decade ago, was painted over last week after the district received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist group based in Madison, Wisconsin.

"Last week, the Bible verse was painted over after a recommendation from our legal council informing the administration we were in violation of State and Federal Law," Tim Yeater, president of the Wood County Board of Education, told The Christian Post on Wednesday.

Yeater also told CP that the decision to paint over the verse has received a "mixed response" from the community. "The local media and a few community members have taken the viewpoint that we need to maintain a definitive separation between church and state, while most community members I have heard from thought we reacted too quickly and should not have painted over the Bible verse," said Yeater.

"I think the bigger issue from the public was protecting the rights of our students and ensuring we permit the students to wear T-shirts with the verse while in school or attending athletic functions," he added.

In a statement to local media Pat Law, superintendent of Wood County School District, said, "We asked them to take it down. We have to follow the law, whatever that law might be. We're going to be certain that everyone's rights are being protected."

The verse, Philippians 4:13:  "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me," was placed in the gymnasium wall outside the wrestling room at Parkersburg South High. Philippians 4:13 was not only on the wall, but is also the motto of the high school wrestling team and is on their official T-shirts.

The FFRF sent a letter of complaint recently to Wood County regarding the presence of the Bible verse on both the gym wall and the T-shirts. "We needed to point out the obvious fact that this cannot be a team's motto; that this is unconstitutional for a public school to endorse or advance religion," Patrick Elliott, an FFRF attorney, told WTAP regarding his organization's action. "And so, that was our letter to the superintendent on April 11 about that being the team's motto."

The debate about whether or not the Bible verse will remain the wrestling team's motto and if the T-shirts will continue to have Philippians 4:13 on them is ongoing. Supporters of the T-shirts and motto have argued that, since parents purchased the shirts, no public funds were used, and thus no public funding of a sectarian enterprise.

Link: http://m.christianpost.com/news/west-virginia-high-school-paints-over-bible-verse-after-atheist-group-complains--118880/cpt

Published on 18 April 2014. By Michael Gryboski.

A Wisconsin-based atheist organization has announced their intention to "scrutinize" the Bible class that an Oklahoma school district recently approved. The Freedom From Religion Foundation of Madison expressed their intentions Wednesday in response to Mustang Public Schools approving a Bible class elective championed by Hobby Lobby President Steve Green. In the statement, FFRF announced that they are "keeping a close eye on the Bible course developed by Green for public school students."

Dan Barker, FFRF co-president and a former pastor, stated in the press release that he was troubled about the possible content of the elective course. "In the religious climate of the Bible belt, given the impetus for this class, we are seriously concerned," stated Barker. FFRF, along with other groups focused on church and state separation, have expressed their concerns since last November.

A letter from FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel was sent to Mustang Schools Superintendent Sean McDaniel last year. "The Green family's constant attempts to impose their evangelical Christianity on Hobby Lobby employees has secularists naturally suspicious that any Hobby Lobby Bible class will not conform to the law," wrote Seidel. "Previous investigations have revealed that Bible classes in Texas rarely comport with the law, that teachers lack training, and that teachers impose their personal religious beliefs on all students."

Last November, Hobby Lobby's president announced his effort to create a Bible course for public schools that focuses on its history, meaning and impact. "With the history, we want to show the archaeological evidences of the Bible and then we want to show the impact of the Bible," Green told the Mustang Times. "The Bible has had an impact on just about every area of life, whether you like it or not, it has. It has impacted government, education, art, science, literature, you name it. Thirdly, is the story, meaning what does the book say."

Earlier this week, Mustang Public Schools voted to approve the elective for Mustang High School, with the course being introduced in the fall. In an earlier interview with The Christian Post, McDaniel said that he's "excited to offer the elective." "The Green Scholars Initiative has brought in more than 70 renowned scholars of different faiths from Jerusalem and Oxford to Baylor University to create the curriculum," said McDaniel. "The course is an elective. When our pre-enrollment packets were returned by students earlier this semester, more than 170 students indicated the course would be their first choice for an elective class."

Regarding church and state concerns, McDaniel told CP that it is a voluntary course, so "no student will ever be required to take it." "Also, the professors with the Green Scholars Initiative who put together the curriculum come from different personal faith backgrounds, not just Christianity," said McDaniel. "The curriculum has been through a rigorous review to check for bias and to ensure the content is neutral."

Link: http://m.christianpost.com/news/atheist-group-vows-to-scrutinize-hobby-lobby-presidents-public-school-bible-class-118253/

By Katherine Weber. Published on 19 April 2014.

A small, coastal town in central California has settled a lawsuit regarding prayer at City Council meetings, ultimately agreeing to no longer hold any form of prayer, whether sectarian or non-sectarian, ahead of the local government meetings. City officials say they decided to settle the lawsuit to avoid further legal costs paid by taxpayer money. 

Pismo Beach city officials announced their settlement earlier this week, nearly six months after the Freedom From Religion Foundation [FFRF] and the local chapter of Atheists United San Luis Obispo filed a lawsuit against the city, arguing that it had violated the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state and the state Constitution's "No Preference" Clause by allowing predominately Christian-themed prayers before city council meetings.

The groups argued that the city had allowed its volunteer chaplain, the Rev. Paul E. Jones, to lead predominately Christian prayers ahead of city council meetings from 2008 to 2013. The lawsuit alleged that Jones often called on Pismo Beach citizens to live a "Christian lifestyle in accordance with the bible," among other sectarian statements.

As part of their settlement, city officials agreed to do away with the volunteer chaplain position, and Jones has resigned. The city has admitted no liability in the lawsuit, but said it would settle with the FFRF to avoid using taxpayer money to fund what would likely be a costly litigation process.

"[…] in keeping with the city's goal of carefully managing taxpayer funds, the City Council determined that it would not be a prudent use of public monies to contest the suit through trial," City Attorney David Fleishman said in a statement, according to The San Luis Obispo Tribune. The city will be paying $47,500 in attorneys' fees.

David Leidner, a board member of the local Atheists United San Luis Obiso group, told the Times Press Recorder that his group is "very happy the city of Pismo Beach has decided to end this exclusionary and unconstitutional practice and make their government meetings welcoming to all citizens."

The Pismo Beach ruling comes as the Supreme Court currently weighs the case of Greece vs. Galloway, in which residents of Greece, N.Y. are contesting their city council's references to "Jesus Christ" during government meetings. A decision is expected to be reached by June.

Another battle over prayer at government meetings is currently taking place in Carroll County, Md., where one city commissioner disobeyed a judge's recent ruling to temporarily stop sectarian prayers when she referenced "Jesus Christ" and "God" in a prayer prior to a commission meeting. Carroll County Commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier decided to deliver the sectarian prayer in spite of the judge's injunction because she said the ruling was an "infringement on my First Amendment rights of free speech and free religion."

U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. had temporarily banned Carroll County commissioners from saying sectarian prayers at their government meetings after the American Humanist Association filed a lawsuit against the county, arguing their prayers were a violation of the Constitution's Establishment Clause.

Carroll County commissioners have since passed a resolution agreeing to comply with Quarles' injunction as the lawsuit proceeds through court. If the Carroll County lawsuit is resolved before the Supreme Court rules on Greece vs. Galloway, the ruling could become moot depending on the higher court's ruling.

Link: http://m.christianpost.com/news/calif-town-drops-city-council-prayers-to-avoid-further-legal-costs-118257/

I want you to join me in saying, 'Praise Darwin!'

By William Rameau, BREATHEcast News Reporter. Published on 26 April 2014.

Just like Kevin Sorbo's character (Professor Jeffery Radisson) from the Christian film "God's Not Dead," a real life Atheist college professor went berserk on Christians for expressing their faith recently on the UConn campus.

On April 22, UConn Anthropology Professor James Boster was infuriated when street preacher Don Karns and other Christians were holding signs that stated "Evolution is a Lie" and "Sin Awareness Day."

Outraged at what he saw, Boster couldn't hold himself back and began his rant. Video here.

"He says that evolution is a lie! Have you read the 'Origin of Species'?" yelled Boster to Karns in a video of the incident. "I have read the New Testament and the Old Testament!"

Boster further insulted the street evangelist in front of college students.

"Bull****! Bull****! You are full of ignorance and lies!" said Boster to Karns. "I want you to feel ashamed that you are willing to call something a lie that you have never actually read."

Boster then exhorted his views on evolution, and testified his love for Charles Darwin to college students.

"I want you to join me in saying, 'Praise Darwin!," said Boster to the students, with some joining in his chant. "We are all bonded together in that great spiritual web, because the divine saturates nature the way gravy saturates cornbread."

The rant sparked widespread rebuke online as the video went rival, and the University of Connecticut issued the following statement to condemn the professor's aggressive behavior:

"Everyone has the right to exercise free speech on our campuses. At the same time, we expect our faculty to act in a way that promotes civil discourse and to express themselves respectfully. The use of abusive language and the confrontational posture seen here are inconsistent with UConn's values."

This is not the first time that UConn has been plunged into religious freedom controversy. Previously former UConn assistant football coach Ernest Jones was forced to resign after he was criticized by the University President Susan Herbst for saying that "Jesus Christ should be in the center of our huddle."

"It should go without saying that our employees cannot appear to endorse or advocate for a particular religion or spiritual philosophy as part of their work at the university, or in their interactions with our students," said Herbst in a statement. "This applies to work-related activity anywhere on or off campus, including on the football field."

Evangelist Don Karns talked about his experience with Boster at UConn in recent interview.

"He asked me if I had accepted Darwin as my lord and savior," said Karns, according to the Christian News Network. "He was very agitated, very demonstrative. ... It was very unbecoming of a professor."

Link: http://www.breathecast.com/articles/atheist-uconn-professor-curses-rants-at-christian-evangelists-full-of-ignorance-lies-praise-darwin-video-15310/

Faith In God

Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son ?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, you believe in GOD ?

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD good ?

Student : Sure.

Professor: Is GOD all powerful ?

Student : Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

(Student was silent.)

Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Is satan good ?

Student : No.

Professor: Where does satan come from ?

Student : From … GOD …

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor: So who created evil ?

(Student did not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them ?

(Student had no answer.)

Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?

Student : No, sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?

Student : No , sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.

Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.

Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor. Are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class was in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

(The class broke out into laughter. )

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

Legend has it that the student was EINSTEIN.

Bagaimana pula dengan hak-hak Masyarakat Pribumi Bukan-Islam?

Malaysia telah mengambil langkah untuk melindungi hak masyarakat pribumi ketika ia menuju ke arah kemajuan untuk menjadi negara berpendapatan tinggi menjelang 2020.

Kuasa Usaha Perwakilan Tetap Malaysia di Pertubuhan Bangsa-bangsa Bersatu (PBB) Raja Reza Raja Zaib Shah berkata pembuat dasar Malaysia memainkan tanggungjawab untuk mengiktiraf dan menangani keperluan semua lapisan masyarakat termasuk kira-kira 150,000 masyarakat pribumi.

"Ke arah memastikan hak Orang Asli dan lain-lain masyarakat pribumi kekal didukung dan dilindungi, kerajaan berterusan mengambil langkah memperluas keperluan makanan, perlindungan, kesihatan, pendidikan dan pekerjaan mereka," katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian dalam kenyataan mengenai Item Agenda 66: Hak Masyarakat Pribumi pada Jawatankuasa Ketiga Sesi ke-68 Perhimpunan Agung PBB di New York pada Isnin.

Raja Reza berkata Malaysia terus komited untuk memperkukuh keberkesanan pihak berkuasa berkaitan seperti Jabatan Pembangunan Orang Asli selain pegawai negeri dan daerah yang bertanggungjawab kepada kebajikan dan kemajuan masyarakat ini.

Dalam kenyataan berasingan pada Jawatankuasa Kedua perhimpunan agung itu, beliau berkata Malaysia akan terus berkongsi pengalaman terutama dalam bidang menghapuskan kemiskinan dan membina keupayaan dengan negara kurang membangun di peringkat serantau dan antarabangsa.

Pautan: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/244610

Lebih ramai tok batin dan ketua kampung Orang Asli akan dihantar mengerjakan ibadah haji menerusi Program Khas Haji tajaan Yayasan 1Malaysia Development Berhad (Yayasan 1MDB) pada masa akan datang.

Setiausaha Politik kepada Perdana Menteri yang juga pengerusi jawatankuasa itu, Datuk Jailani Ngah berkata untuk tahun depan, dijangka 30 orang akan dibawa mengerjakan ibadah itu berbanding hanya lima orang tahun ini...

Sebanyak 800 orang terdiri daripada imam, ketua kampung dan pengerusi jawatankuasa kemajuan dan keselamatan kampung (JKKK) menunaikan haji menerusi bawah program itu tahun ini. Kumpulan kedua dijangka tiba Sabtu ini.

Pautan: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/244614

The Orang Asli community in the Peninsula will not stand to benefit from any affirmative action plans for the Bumiputeras unless concrete policies are put in place to first address their basic demands. 

In fact, Orang Asli activist Tijah Yok Chopil said some 180,000 Orang Asli,  from about 852 villages, may very well "fall victim" to lucrative incentives given out through the latest Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Plan.

"The government says it is giving out millions of ringgit in tenders and contracts to the Bumiputera developers. Part of these contracts will involve developing land for commercial purposes. 

"But when it comes to land development projects, the Orang Asli often become the victim as the status of their native customary land [tanah adat] is not recognised by the government," said Tijah, who founded the Village Network of Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli as a non-governmental organisation to champion causes affecting her community.

"We are demanding for recognition of our customary lands because it forms the basis of Orang Asli's survival as a community," said Tijah when met by theantdaily.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had last month unveiled the Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Plan, reportedly worth almost RM30 billion, which aims to reduce inequality of income not only between Bumiputeras and non-Bumiputeras, but also among Bumiputeras themselves.

"I cannot see how the Orang Asli can benefit from these projects, tenders and contracts when the government can't even adequately resolve our most basic demands," said Tijah...

The plight of the Orang Asli community will once again be brought to global attention at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Universal Periodic Review, scheduled to be held at its headquarters in Geneva from Oct 21 to Nov 1...

The Village Network recommendations are recorded in one out of 28 stakeholders’ reports submitted to the UNHRC on Malaysia and endorsed by a coalition of 54 Malaysian NGOs that came together as Comango. A separate detailed report was also submitted to the UNHRC on behalf of the Society for Threatened Peoples. 

Among others, it stated that the Orang Asli face severe marginalisation and discrimination in socio-economic opportunities, as well as displacement and eviction from their ancestral lands. It also stated that 76.9 % of the Orang Asli are living under the poverty line while 35.2 % live in extreme poverty, a sad fact considering the millions in allocations which have been channelled through the country's annual budget.

Read more here:

http://www.theantdaily.com/news/2013/10/20/orang-asli-wont-gain-development-plans

Church Members Mistreat Homeless Man in Church Unaware It Is Their Pastor in Disguise

Seeded by The WOPR on 18 September 2013.

Pastor Jeremiah Steepek transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the 10,000 member church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning.

He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service, only 3 people out of the 7-10,000 people said hello to him.

He asked people for change to buy food – no one in the church gave him change.

He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was asked by the ushers if he would please sit in the back.

He greeted people to be greeted back with stares and dirty looks, with people looking down on him and judging him.

As he sat in the back of the church, he listened to the church announcements and such.

When all that was done, the elders went up and were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation.

“We would like to introduce to you Pastor Jeremiah Steepek.” The congregation looked around clapping with joy and anticipation.

The homeless man sitting in the back stood up and started walking down the aisle. The clapping stopped with all eyes on him.

He walked up the altar and took the microphone from the elders (who were in on this) and paused for a moment then he recited,

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

‘The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ [Matthew 25: 34-45]

After he recited this, he looked towards the congregation and told them all what he had experienced that morning. Many began to cry and many heads were bowed in shame.

He then said, “Today I see a gathering of people, not a church of Jesus Christ. The world has enough people, but not enough disciples. When will YOU decide to become disciples?”

He then dismissed service until next week.

Following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ should be more than just talk. It ought to be a lifestyle that others around you can love about you and share in.

Link: http://the-wopr.newsvine.com/_news/2013/09/19/20572264-church-members-mistreat-homeless-man-in-church-unaware-it-is-their-pastor-in-disguise

Malaysian Government's Request For RM14 Billion Seen As Untimely

By Pauline Ng. Published by The Business Times Singapore on 24 September 2013.

THE Malaysian government's commitment to budgetary reforms and the consolidation of its fiscal deficit was thrown into doubt yesterday when it sought a further RM14.12 billion (S$5.6 billion) for its operating expenses. Economists say the large amount, coming a month before the tabling of the 2014 Budget, could undermine the government's credibility and lead to a further weakening of the ringgit if does not meet consolidation targets and is punished by international investors.

In Parliament yesterday, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan tabled the Supplementary Supply Bill 2013 seeking the extra funds, the bulk or nearly RM12 billion sought for Treasury services. Given that Mr Ahmad had in July already asked for RM12.17 billion under the same Bill, the latest request is sure to raise concerns as to whether Malaysia can pare its fiscal deficit to 4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) from 4.5 per cent last year.

Link: http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/malaysia/kl-govt-request-rm14b-seen-untimely-20130924

The government should not hide behind fictitious economy projections but rather come to terms with reality; as it is unnecessary to have Supplementary Bill annually, says Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar. Pakatan Rakyat views with great concern the first Supplementary Bill on operating expenditure for 2013 worth RM15 billion, comprising of RM14.13 billion for ‘perbelanjaan bekal’ and RM 888.46 for ‘perbelanjaan tanggungan’ which was tabled in parliament yesterday.

According to Nurul, the supplementary budget will adversely affect the nation’s public finances in general and the pace of fiscal consolidation process in the immediate to medium term. The PKR leader also forecast that if no changes happen in revenue, development expenditure, loan recovery and the GDP, the additional operating expenditure will cause the ratio of budget deficit against GDP for 2013 to jump to 5.5% Nurul stressed that 5.5% ratio will be above the 4% projection target tabled in Budget 2013 on 28 September 2012...

“The BN government has failed to achieve their own deficit to GDP targets whilst asking Malaysians to tighten their purses for the sake of a more sustainable future,” says Nurul. She cited the consequences faced in 2012 where by the government failed to achieve the 4.5% target for deficit to GDP ratio.

“It ballooned to 4.9% after taking into account all supplementary bills amounting to RM 28.5 billion,” added Nurul

Nurul also added that the government failed to display meaningful progress towards achieving a self imposed commitments to bring down the budget deficit-to-GDP ratio to 3% by 2015 and maintain a public debt ceiling below 55% at all times.

Read more here: 

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/09/24/supplementary-bill-widens-national-deficit/

The Permata Negara project, under the patronage of the prime minister's wife, had received allocations of RM150 million in 2013, RM111 million in 2012 and RM100 million in 2011.

Manivanan described the manner in which the allocation was spent as "quite peculiar". "Out of the RM 150 million, RM 20 million was returned back to the government, RM 77 million was given to Kemas by Permata to upgrade 313 pre-schools throughout the country," he said.

He said RM 16 million was channelled to the Terengganu Family Development Foundation and another RM9 million was given to the Sarawak state government to manage the state's second Permata programme.

"So Permata is the body that provides government funding?" he asked. "What is it's hallmark achievement in education?"

Read more here:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/stop-funds-for-rosmahs-permata-negara-project-urges-pkr-lawmaker

GUATEMALA CASE CASTS SPOTLIGHT ON INDIGENOUS GROUP

By SONIA PEREZ DIAZ. Published by AP on 3 July 2013.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Life for the indigenous Ixil Mayans in the mountains west of Guatemala City is worn and static like an old photograph.

Seventeen years after the end of a civil war that saw hundreds of their villages razed and thousands of their loved ones killed, the Ixil people still live in mud-and-wood houses in the most rugged and isolated parts of northwestern Guatemala. Most of them have no drinking water, paved roads or basic services such as health and education.

Largely ignored by authorities for centuries, the Ixil came under the spotlight after a Guatemalan court found former dictator Efrain Rios Montt guilty of genocide on May 10 for the scorched-earth policies used against the Ixil during his 17 months in power in the 1980s.

The conviction was annulled 10 days later following a trial that did nothing to change their lives of the Ixil people.

Byron Garcia, a social anthropologist who has worked in the area for a decade, said Ixil Mayans live in the same poverty as always.

"People have been relegated to less productive places, places where you can't grow food, to the mountains made of stone," Garcia said. "The young people who can, sow plots of land. And when they can't, they migrate."

Feliciana Cobo was 8 when soldiers attacked her village. She and her family separated and ran into the mountains, where they hid for several days with nothing to eat.

Cobo said her mother was killed when the army bombed the village and surrounding area, and her grandmother died later after growing sick from the cold and bad living conditions. Her family eventually lost their land and their poverty deepened.

Now a single mother of three children, the 40-year-old Cobo borrows electricity from a neighbor and supports her kids by washing the clothes of neighbors and weaving garments to sell.

"I grew up during the civil war and I don't know how to read or write. I didn't go to school," Cobo said. "All I know is to weave."

Forensic experts are now exhuming bodies from the cemeteries that the Ixil people created to bury loved ones who died of starvation, hypothermia and disease — as well as munitions — while they hid from the soldiers in the mountains.

"I helped exhume my mother," Cobo said. "I don't know if it was the smoke or the impact of the bombs planes were dropping on us but we all left running and when we got back together, my mother had already died."

Garcia, who now lives in the Guatemalan capital, said that victims feel a need to tell their stories, to be heard, to be indemnified, to find the bodies of their loved ones and be able to bury them.

Cobo said she doubts justice will be done, but is glad some fellow Ixil Mayans could travel to Guatemala City to tell their stories at the trial.

"We're not inventing the dead," she said.

Link: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/guatemala-case-casts-spotlight-indigenous-group

Singapore: 2 Plagues And 2 Prosecutions

The Plagues

Singaporeans woke up to another day of haze on Tuesday as the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hovered at 121 at 10am. The National Environment Agency released figures showing the country's air quality at 8am to be in the unhealthy range of 109-122. Anything above 100 is unhealthy. NEA figures showed the South region of Singapore to be the worst hit. The haze was the worst in 16 years at 10pm on Monday, with a PSI reading of 155, before dipping slightly to 145 at midnight.

Concerned readers of The Straits Times have sent their photos in showing Singapore, from Tanjong Pagar to Jurong East Central, shrouded in smog. Reader Yap Siew Meng, who sent in a photo montage taken on Monday, said that the haze was so bad that he could not open his eyes fully. Urged reader Joanne Hong: "The Government needs to do something. This is very bad for our children.”

Extracted from: 

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/singaporeans-wake-another-hazy-day-readings-stay-unhealthy-level-20130

The number of people with dengue has crossed the five figure mark with 10,258 cases diagnosed by 3pm on Monday. But the rise in infections appear to have plateaued last week, with 813 cases - or two fewer than the week before. Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan had said last week that projections by the National Environment Agency had predicted 960 cases last week.

Singapore has just entered the hot season when mosquitoes breed faster and are more able to spread the disease. This morning, Dr Leo Yee Sin, head of the Communicable Disease Centre, said it was likely for the number of cases to exceed 15,000 this year.

Extracted from:

http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/dengue-epidemic/story/dengue-cases-year-cross-10000-mark-fewer-new-cases-last-week-201

The Prosecutions

The case that has thrown the shameful failings of a core state institution into relief is that of Professor Tey Tsun Hang, who stands accused of accepting sexual favours and gifts from a student in exchange for better grades…

His academic work has been very critical of the Singapore government, also focusing in great detail on the failings of the judicial system and highlighting its shameful subservience to the overbearing powers of the Executive. 

Tey’s publications are well respected and have found a ready audience internationally, where it is harder to suppress the freedom of academic inquiry, and where ideas require true merit to become popular. [One of his article: http://singaporeconsensus.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/excluding-religion-from-politics-and-enforcing-religious-harmony-singapore-style/]

Of course, being a crusader for a clean judiciary does not automatically absolve an individual of criminal charges. The question then becomes whether it is true that Tey accepted favours in exchange for giving better grades.

In order to prove their case, the prosecution would have to prove that he had sexual relations with this student, accepted her gifts, and in turn gave her better grades than she deserved. The defence focused on disproving the last two of these accusations. 

Firstly, it relied on evidence in the form of cheques issued in payment of the gifts that were allegedly given by the student. These cheques proved that Tey had himself paid for the items in question. Secondly, it relied on detailed academic records audited by National University of Singapore (NUS) staff, which clearly indicate that the grades the student received from Tey were completely in accordance with the quality of her work, and were marked according to the exact same standard as that of other students in the class.

These two pieces of evidence should have immediately cleared Tey of any corruption charges. If it can be proven that there were sexual relations between him and the student, then this would constitute a clear and shameful breach of ethics and professionalism. It would then warrant internal discipline proceedings at the NUS level, without sufficient evidence or cause to institute criminal proceedings. 

Read more here: http://trialoftsunhang.blogspot.com/

Alleged sham investments by the City Harvest Church — a registered charity  — came under the spotlight as prosecutors questioned their first witness, Lai  Baoting, the church’s former assistant accountant. Through Lai’s testimony they tried to show that the church’s finance  manager and fund manager were involved in the investments.

The pastor and founder Kong Hee, 48, and five officers have been charged  with varying degrees of involvement in a scheme to siphon off Sg24 million  (19 million) to finance the singing career of his wife, who goes by the name  Sun Ho in the music industry. In addition, more than Sg26 million in church money was allegedly misappropriated to cover up the original diversion…

Edwin Thong, one of the defence lawyers, said Thursday that an external auditor did not question the authenticity of the investments. The six accused appeared light-hearted, whispering and smiling at some  points during the hearing.

“Christian, remember the goodness of God in the frost of adversity,” Kong tweeted after the court adjourned Thursday, quoting from 19th century British preacher Charles Spurgeon.

Scores of church members trooped to the court for a second day Thursday to  lend their support, with some queuing from 4.30 am to ensure a seat. The church, which has a membership of more than 30,000, has affiliates in  neighbouring Malaysia and other countries. It is known for services that resemble pop concerts and had assets  estimated at more than Sg100 million in 2009. The pastor’s wife, now in her early 40s, was hoping international stardom  would help spread the church’s message, according to previous reports in the  Singapore media.

Read more here: 

http://www.nst.com.my/latest/singapore-presses-embezzlement-case-against-church-leaders-1.280508

In 1993, Dr Chee Soon Juan was sacked by his employer the National University of Singapore for allegedly using research funds to send his wife’s doctoral thesis to the United States. Just a few months earlier, he became the first Singaporean academic to join an opposition party and contest in the general election.

Extracted from: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/218455

My Train Wreck Conversion

Published by Christianity Today on 7 February 2013.

As a professor of English and women's studies, on the track to becoming a tenured radical, I cared about morality, justice, and compassion. Fervent for the worldviews of Freud, Hegel, Marx, and Darwin, I strove to stand with the disempowered. I valued morality. And I probably could have stomached Jesus and his band of warriors if it weren't for how other cultural forces buttressed the Christian Right. Pat Robertson's quip from the 1992 Republican National Convention pushed me over the edge: "Feminism," he sneered, "encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians." Indeed. The surround sound of Christian dogma comingling with Republican politics demanded my attention.

After my tenure book was published, I used my post to advance the understandable allegiances of a leftist lesbian professor. My life was happy, meaningful, and full. My partner and I shared many vital interests: aids activism, children's health and literacy, Golden Retriever rescue, our Unitarian Universalist church, to name a few. Even if you believed the ghost stories promulgated by Robertson and his ilk, it was hard to argue that my partner and I were anything but good citizens and caregivers. The GLBT community values hospitality and applies it with skill, sacrifice, and integrity.

I began researching the Religious Right and their politics of hatred against queers like me. To do this, I would need to read the one book that had, in my estimation, gotten so many people off track: the Bible. While on the lookout for some Bible scholar to aid me in my research, I launched my first attack on the unholy trinity of Jesus, Republican politics, and patriarchy, in the form of an article in the local newspaper about Promise Keepers. It was 1997.

The article generated many rejoinders, so many that I kept a Xerox box on each side of my desk: one for hate mail, one for fan mail. But one letter I received defied my filing system. It was from the pastor of the Syracuse Reformed Presbyterian Church. It was a kind and inquiring letter. Ken Smith encouraged me to explore the kind of questions I admire: How did you arrive at your interpretations? How do you know you are right? Do you believe in God? Ken didn't argue with my article; rather, he asked me to defend the presuppositions that undergirded it. I didn't know how to respond to it, so I threw it away.

Later that night, I fished it out of the recycling bin and put it back on my desk, where it stared at me for a week, confronting me with the worldview divide that demanded a response. As a postmodern intellectual, I operated from a historical materialist worldview, but Christianity is a supernatural worldview. Ken's letter punctured the integrity of my research project without him knowing it.

With the letter, Ken initiated two years of bringing the church to me, a heathen. Oh, I had seen my share of Bible verses on placards at Gay Pride marches. That Christians who mocked me on Gay Pride Day were happy that I and everyone I loved were going to hell was clear as blue sky. That is not what Ken did. He did not mock. He engaged. So when his letter invited me to get together for dinner, I accepted. My motives at the time were straightforward: Surely this will be good for my research.

Something else happened. Ken and his wife, Floy, and I became friends. They entered my world. They met my friends. We did book exchanges. We talked openly about sexuality and politics. They did not act as if such conversations were polluting them. They did not treat me like a blank slate. When we ate together, Ken prayed in a way I had never heard before. His prayers were intimate. Vulnerable. He repented of his sin in front of me. He thanked God for all things. Ken's God was holy and firm, yet full of mercy. And because Ken and Floy did not invite me to church, I knew it was safe to be friends.

I started reading the Bible. I read the way a glutton devours. I read it many times that first year in multiple translations. At a dinner gathering my partner and I were hosting, my transgendered friend J cornered me in the kitchen. She put her large hand over mine. "This Bible reading is changing you, Rosaria," she warned.

With tremors, I whispered, "J, what if it is true? What if Jesus is a real and risen Lord? What if we are all in trouble?"

J exhaled deeply. "Rosaria," she said, "I was a Presbyterian minister for 15 years. I prayed that God would heal me, but he didn't. If you want, I will pray for you."

I continued reading the Bible, all the while fighting the idea that it was inspired. But the Bible got to be bigger inside me than I. It overflowed into my world. I fought against it with all my might. Then, one Sunday morning, I rose from the bed of my lesbian lover, and an hour later sat in a pew at the Syracuse Reformed Presbyterian Church. Conspicuous with my butch haircut, I reminded myself that I came to meet God, not fit in. The image that came in like waves, of me and everyone I loved suffering in hell, vomited into my consciousness and gripped me in its teeth.

I fought with everything I had.

I did not want this.

I did not ask for this.

I counted the costs. And I did not like the math on the other side of the equal sign.

But God's promises rolled in like sets of waves into my world. One Lord's Day, Ken preached on John 7:17: "If anyone wills to do [God's] will, he shall know concerning the doctrine" (NKJV). This verse exposed the quicksand in which my feet were stuck. I was a thinker. I was paid to read books and write about them. I expected that in all areas of life, understanding came beforeobedience. And I wanted God to show me, on my terms, why homosexuality was a sin. I wanted to be the judge, not one being judged.

But the verse promised understanding after obedience. I wrestled with the question: Did I really want to understand homosexuality from God's point of view, or did I just want to argue with him? I prayed that night that God would give me the willingness to obey before I understood. I prayed long into the unfolding of day. When I looked in the mirror, I looked the same. But when I looked into my heart through the lens of the Bible, I wondered, Am I a lesbian, or has this all been a case of mistaken identity? If Jesus could split the world asunder, divide marrow from soul, could he make my true identity prevail? Who am I? Who will God have me to be?

Then, one ordinary day, I came to Jesus, openhanded and naked. In this war of worldviews, Ken was there. Floy was there. The church that had been praying for me for years was there. Jesus triumphed. And I was a broken mess. Conversion was a train wreck. I did not want to lose everything that I loved. But the voice of God sang a sanguine love song in the rubble of my world. I weakly believed that if Jesus could conquer death, he could make right my world. I drank, tentatively at first, then passionately, of the solace of the Holy Spirit. I rested in private peace, then community, and today in the shelter of a covenant family, where one calls me "wife" and many call me "mother."

I have not forgotten the blood Jesus surrendered for this life.

And my former life lurks in the edges of my heart, shiny and still like a knife.

Rosaria Champagne Butterfield is the author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Crown & Covenant). She lives with her family in Durham, North Carolina, where her husband pastors the First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham.

Read more here:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/january-february/my-train-wreck-conversion.html?paging=off

The Baling spirit lives on

Published by Malaysiakini on 3 June 2013.

Thirty-nine years ago, a little-known incident in Baling caused a seismic shift in Malaysian politics, but very few Malaysians are aware of the incident or realise its significance and the impact it created. If the full details of this incident had been divulged in 1974, the government might have fallen... 

The Baling event referred to is not the historic meeting in 1955 of Tunku Abdul Rahman, who was the head of the Malayan government and Chin Peng, the leader of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).

Nor was it the Memali Incident of 1985, the shameful massacre of a defenceless community by forces loyal to Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s government.

The Baling Incident (BI) which occurred in 1974 was shrouded in secrecy. It was a series of many small expressions of the bottled-up feelings of anger, betrayal, fear and resentment, of the rural poor. 

In present-day Malaysia, the rakyat participated in democracy marches and rallies against oppression, injustice and the dictatorial rule of Najib and the BN government. In 1974, it was Abdul Razak, Najib’s father, who faced similar marches against social injustices. 

The root cause of the BI was abject poverty and starvation. The rubber smallholders faced ruin when the global price of rubber plummeted. The farmers could not cope with the rising cost of living and rural families had to forage for food in the jungles.

Bizarrely, in 1974 Abdul Razak announced in Parliament that the civil servants’ allowance would be increased by 50 percent, from RM1,000 to RM1,500.

When news broke of the deaths of a few children from eating ubi gadong, a type of poisonous wild yam, to stave off hunger pangs, the social unrest reached a tipping point. At its peak, around 25,000 of the rural poor took to the streets. 

Like father, like son; both Abdul Razak and Najib unleashed the might of the FRU and the police on peaceful protesters. Najib is a politician without imagination, but he knew that brutal action had served his father well. 

A dark chapter in our history

In 2013 Najib merely employed his father’s tried and tested methods of retaliation. The consequences of 1974 opened a dark chapter in our history. 

Then, like now, information was heavily censored. Abdul Razak did not want the rakyat to know that an uprising had occurred in Kedah. Five years earlier, the country had been overwhelmed by the May 13 clashes. The Chinese were convenient scapegoats.

Abdul Razak was in a quandary. The district of Baling was mainly populated by Malays. The significance of the BI had to be suppressed. 

In the BI there was no Chinese element, or communist subversives at work. BI was social unrest - a revolt by Malay smallholders and farmers. Peaceful hunger marches throughout Baling spread outwards from Baling town, Kulim and Sik. 

News travelled fast and despite media censorship in 1974, students at Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Kolej Mara, as well as the universities’ teaching fraternity expressed their support for the uprising. They organised a series of meetings and urged the government to address the plight of the poor. 

Syed Husin Ali, then an associate professor at Universiti Malaya, said: “At first they (the students) demonstrated within their campus. The police fired tear gas but some cannisters landed on the nearby squatter settlement, injuring some children. 

“The students joined forces and gathered in the centre of KL. When the police acted against them, they took refuge in the National Mosque. Over 1,000 students were arrested and detained for a few days. Some squatters joined some students to ‘run riot’ at the highway, putting up blockades and smashing traffic lights.” 

Abdul Razak warned of tough reprisals and over 40 students and lecturers were detained under the ISA. Among them was Anwar Ibrahim, who was detained for two years. 

Syed Husin said: “I was detained for six years. I was an associate professor and considered recalcitrant for refusing to admit guilt. “I was accused of being pro-communist and the brain behind the demos. They wanted me to serve as an example to create fear among those academic staff to prevent them from following my path. I think these are the reasons why I was incarcerated up to six years.” 

The education minister then was Mahathir. He and Ungku Aziz, the vice-chancellor of UM at the time, produced the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA). 

The UUCA has effectively curbed students’ freedom and deprived universities of their autonomy. Students and lecturers are fearful of speaking out on issues which are deemed sensitive to BN. Our universities have never recovered from Mahathir’s despicable legacy. 

Abdul Razak, his peers and successors’ children were sent abroad for their education, whilst the rest of the rakyat received a stifling Malaysian schooling. 

Baling not an isolated incident

In 2013, history repeated itself and the nightmare which descended on Najib’s father is now his own. Today, Najib has warned that he would get tough with students Adam Adli Abdul Halim and Safwan Anang as well as other dissenters. The ISA has been repealed, so what has Najib up his sleeve? 

Let this column warn both Najib and Mahathir, the joint rulers of Malaysia that their efforts to subjugate the rakyat will not succeed. Baling was not an isolated incident.

Prior to BI, there were unreported acts of unrest against the BN government. In Tasik Utara, Johor Baru, poor urban Malays camped in front the residence of then MB Osman Saat to voice their disgust at being cheated of housing and land. 

In 1974 and in 2013, the Malays opposed the government, but Najib has created a red herring and claimed that in GE13, it was a Chinese tsunami. It is not! It is Malaysians fighting tyranny. 

The wounds which Abdul Razak, Mahathir and Najib opened are still festering. Our awareness of their crimes and of their despotic rule are more acute.

Their policies have cast long shadows and there will be more Baling incidents until Najib and the illegitimate BN government step down.

---

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak', this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.

Read more here: http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/231865