Rabbi Lionel Blue will present his own obituary tonight
One of the very few individuals remotely capable of uttering anything sensible on BBC Radio 4’s ghastly ‘Thought for the Day’ was Rabbi Lionel Blue, and I was sorry to learn that he had died yesterday,...
View ArticleOrthodox Jews: girl risks being ‘ostracised’ for eating burgers
A court in London was told this week that a nine-year-old girl faces being ostracised by an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community after her mother allowed her to eat McDonald’s fast food and go to a...
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Synagogue arson attack was a ‘protest’, not a hate crime
A regional court in Germany ruled this week that an attempt to set fire to a local synagogue in 2014 by three Muslims was an act meant to express criticism against Israel’s conduct in its ongoing...
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Action urged against rabbis who support abusive husband
Israeli women’s rights activist and lawyer Batya Kahane-Dror, above, has lodged a complaint against three rabbis who refused a victim of domestic violence a religious divorce, known as a get....
View ArticleOrthodox Jewish hooligans create havoc on easyJet flight
Back in 2014, bad behaviour by Orthodox Jewish men who refuse to sit next to women on planes prompted a pair of American comedians – the Levinson Brothers – to create a spoof safety video about the...
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Common humanity should be at the core of our politics
I was born in Iran; I am a migrant, a refugee. But I am not the “authentic other” that xenophobes love to hate nor am I the “authentic Muslim” promoted by the Islamists. To me, they are two sides of...
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Fuck modesty for International Women’s Day on March 8!
Wherever Islamism gains power and influence, it comes for women first. And it’s always a sign of worse to come, hence the saying: ‘the freedom of society is measured by the freedom of women.’ Islamism...
View ArticleRabbis appeased – and infant boys suffer the consequences
Several years ago Orthodox Jews in New York city kicked off when an attempt was made to regulate a ‘sacred’ ritual – metzitzah b’peh – that involved mohels (circumcisers) sucking the penises of...
View ArticleJews and Muslims unite to condemn hate preacher
Jordanian cleric Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa Al Nasr, above, has sparked an investigation into a Montreal mosque in which he delivered a sermon advocating the killing of Jews. According to this report,...
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Ultra-Orthodox Jews are spared the sight of a female Smurf
The billboard above – advertising a a new Smurf movie – has been censored to ensure that Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Bnei Brak in Israel aren’t offended. According to this report, the original poster for...
View ArticleNot much wisdom
There’s this idea that even if you’re not a believer and you don’t see Holy Books as divinely dictated, still they’re a good source of wisdom. I’m not convinced of that. There’s a lot of gorgeous...
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Rabbi allegedly stole funds from special needs school
Rabbi Osher Eisemann, 60, above, of Lakewood in New Jersey, has been indicted for stealing $630,000 worth of public tuition money from a special needs school that he founded – and used much of the cash...
View ArticleApostates need support. Help rescue them from religion.
HumanistGlobal.org – the new website of the Brighter Brains Institute that launched the world’s first atheist orphanage in Uganda – is setting up an Apostate Support service. Humanist Global promotes...
View ArticleSo, which religion is right?
Eighty-four percent of the world’s population (5.8 billion out of 6.9 billion in 2010) are affiliated to one religion in some form. Seventy-seven percent identify themselves as a member of one of the...
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Dagbladet’s anti-circumcision cartoon attacked by rabbi
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis, has called on Norwegian authorities to take action against Dagbladet, a Norwegian paper that published an anti-circumcision...
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The Trump Effect: religious fervour engulfs armed forces
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), headed by Michael ‘Mikey’ Weinstein, above, is alleging that Donald Trump’s presidency has led to such a steep rise in fundamentalist Christian...
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Rabbi in hot water over views on feminism & homosexuality
Rabbi Joseph Dweck, above, senior rabbi of the Sephardi community in the UK, has stepped aside from the day-to-day activities of the Beth Din, or religious court, in an attempt to defuse the row that...
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Victory for woman who sued El Al over gender segregation
Last April we carried a piece about Renee Rabinowitz, above, who launched a lawsuit against Israel’s national carrier after she was told to move from her seat because an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man did...
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Israel accused of ‘cowardice’ over mixed gender prayer area
Anat Hoffman, chair of the Women of the Wall group, has lashed out at the the Israeli government’s decision to freeze a plan to open a mixed-gender prayer area at Jerusalem’s Western Wall. Hoffman,...
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Poles apart: religion and the real world
When I was growing up in a religious Polish family I found myself really close to the church. I spend years helping with all all the ceremonies, and watching people who were attending them. I could not...
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