Tag Archives: Human rights

Random Events, Free Will or Something Darker?

LAWYERS IN UK WARN CHRISTIANS COULD FACE “LAWFUL EXCLUSION” FROM JOBS.

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The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has ruled concerning three Christians and their rights to express their faith.

The first case involved Nadia Eweida, a British Airways clerk, who won her case to wear a cross at work. Mrs Eweida had faced disciplinary action from British Airways for refusing to stop wearing the cross. Although wearing a cross is not a basic tenant of the Christian faith, the court ruled she had a right to manifest her faith through wearing it.

However the court rejected a similar case from nurse, Shirley Chaplin, on the grounds that wearing a cross was a breach of health and safety regulations.

The ruling means a persons right to manifest their faith can be overridden on grounds of health and safety.

The other two cases brought to the Human Rights Court are of particular concern to Christians and Muslims. They involved Gary McFarlane, a relationships councillor; and Lillian Ladele, a marriage registrar. Mr McFarlane was dismissed after saying he would be unable to provide relationship counselling to same-sex couples on the grounds that it compromised his Christian values.

Miss Ladele was disciplined for asking her employer to be excluded from conducting civil partnerships for same-sex couples on grounds of her faith.

The court in Strasbourg rejected both cases. Paul Lambdin, partner in the employment department at Stevens & Bolton, said, “It appears that those Christians, Muslims and others who disagree with same sex marriage and/or civil partnerships will be excluded from certain jobs.

He added: “These cases demonstrate the difficulty of divorcing a belief from its practice. “The practical effect is that Ms Ladele, Mr McFarlane and others with similar religious convictions may be lawfully excluded from certain jobs.”

Mike Judge, spokesman for The Christian Institute, which supported Miss Ladele, said: “What this case shows is that Christians with traditional beliefs about marriage are at risk of being left out in the cold.

“If the Government steamrollers ahead with its plans to redefine marriage, then hundreds of thousands of people could be thrown out of their jobs unless they agree to endorse gay marriage.”

With the UK government pushing to redefine marriage within the UK, it is likely there will be an increase in cases like those of Mr McFarlane and Miss Ladele.

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Media for Christ group got permit for movie believed to be ‘Innocence of Muslims’ | 89.3 KPCC

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A screenshot from a trailer for controversial anti-Islam film, "Innocence of Muslims."

 

The organization that received the film permit for a movie believed to be the controversial “Innocence of Muslims” was Duarte, Calif.-based nonprofit advocacy group Media for Christ.

Karen Herrera, deputy city manager for the City of Duarte, told KPCC that Media for Christ received a permit last year for a movie called “Desert Warriors” through Film LA, an organization that gives film permits for the County of Los Angeles. Herrera said she was told that information from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department.

People involved in the film believe “Desert Warriors” later became “Innocence of Muslims.”

Meanwhile, the website The Smoking Gun reported Friday that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, another man connected to the film, became a government informant after his 2009 arrest for bank fraud.

Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih is the president for Media for Christ, which identifies itself as a non-denominational evangelical Christian organization that provides spiritual aid and humanitarian assistance. Nassralla has been introduced at speaking events as a Coptic Christian and human rights activist from Egypt.

Last year, Nassralla participated in a demonstration asking for Sheriff Lee Baca to resign over his praise of the Council on American Islamic Relations, an Islamic civil liberties group.

“I fled to America with my family because of the violence directed against me for my Christian faith,” Nasralla said in an announcement published on Jihadwatch.org. “Sheriff Baca must be fired, and the County must apologize to all of us who have suffered at the hands of the Muslim brotherhood.”

KPCC made efforts to reach Media for Christ on Friday. Calls to the nonprofit’s office were not answered.

Permit confirmed

Paul Audley, president of Film LA, confirmed to KPCC on Friday that the permit was issued on Aug. 18, 2011. He referred further questions to the County of Los Angeles, which said it would not release the film permit due to safety concerns.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula has also emerged as another local man involved in the film. Nakoula told the Associated Press that he was in charge of the film’s logistics.

Nakoula has a criminal past and was convicted for drugs and engaging in identity theft, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Times also found an actor who received a check from Nakoula’s address for participating in the film.

It is unclear how “Innocence of Muslims” was funded. Media for Christ had revenues of more than $1 million last year, according to tax records.

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EU funding Orwellian artificial intelligence plan to monitor public for “abnormal behaviour” – Telegraph

EU funding Orwellian artificial intelligence plan to monitor public for “abnormal behaviour” – Telegraph.

The European Union has undertaken a five year research program to develop computer programmes which will be able to profile entire nations. “Project Indect” will use artificial intelligence to build “agents” capable of detecting “abnormal behaviour” on the internet.

Project Indect’s website says its main objectives include “to develop a platform for the registration and exchange of operational data, acquisition of multimedia content, intelligent processing of all information and automatic detection of threats and recognition of abnormal behaviour or violence”.

It talks of the “construction of agents assigned to continuous and automatic monitoring of public resources such as: web sites, discussion forums, usenet groups, file servers, p2p [peer-to-peer] networks as well as individual computer systems, building an internet-based intelligence gathering system, both active and passive”.

Project Indect has received nearly £10 million in funding from the British taxpayer, and has many civil liberty groups worried. With Shami Chakrabarti of the human rights group ‘Liberty’ describing such mass surveillance of a country a “sinister step”, but doing so on a European scale “positively chilling”.

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Chick-fil-A operating permit in dispute over LGBT issue in Chicago

The discrimination disputes continue as local politicians use their power to try to block commercial enterprise and religious freedom.

Who’s rights are being violated here?

Read on and you decide…..

7/25 Alderman to Chick-fil-A: No deal
Moreno tries to block restaurant that opposes gay marriage from opening in his Northwest side ward
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-07-25/news/ct-met-chicago-chick-fil-a-20120725_1_1st-ward-gay-marriage-ward-alderman

“If you are discriminating against a segment of the community, I don’t want you in the 1st Ward,” Moreno told the Tribune on Tuesday.
Moreno stated his position in strong terms, referring to Cathy’s “bigoted, homophobic comments” in a proposed opinion page piece that an aide also sent to Tribune reporters. “Because of this man’s ignorance, I will now be denying Chick-fil-A’s permit to open a restaurant in the 1st Ward.”
The alderman has the ideological support of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

“Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values,” the mayor said in a statement when asked about Moreno’s decision. “They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty.”
Moreno is relying on a rarely violated Chicago tradition known as aldermanic privilege, which dictates that City Council members defer to the opinion of the ward alderman on local issues. Last year Moreno wielded that weapon to block plans for a Wal-Mart in his ward, saying he had issues with the property owner and that Wal-Mart was not “a perfect fit for the area.”
“I think it’s important that the city sends a message that we want business here … but what we can’t have and don’t want are businesses that have discriminatory roles,” Garcia said, adding that he’s a defender of free speech.
Moreno, meanwhile, said it will take “more than words” to get him to reverse course.
“They’d have to do a complete 180,” the alderman said. “They’d have to work with LGBT groups in terms of hiring, and there would have to be a public apology from (Cathy).”

8/01 Chick-fil-A Supporters Turn Out for Appreciation Day
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/08/01/chick-fil-a-supporters-to-turn-out-for-appreciation-day/

“You could easily imagine another jurisdiction someplace in which a business owner could express a view in favor of gay marriage and have his zoning permit pulled. Would that be OK? I mean, is that fair? I mean, of course not,” said Chicago GOP vice chairman Chris Cleveland. “We are all in danger if permits someone’s permits can be pulled, and if the government can engage in economic bullying.”
The Chicago Republican Party believes it has an airtight case, based on a statute that forbids unlawful discrimination in real estate transactions – even in an oral statement.
“(Moreno) has used government power to engage in overt religious discrimination against a person who has merely expressed a sincerely-held religious belief,” Cleveland said. “Under the Illinois human rights law, that’s illegal.”

Moreno also said last week that he is unconvinced that Chick-Fil-A will not discriminate against the LGBT community.
“If they are violating Chicago and Illinois law by discriminating against a section of our population, I think that has grounds for an irresponsible business, and that the community would not want that in there,” Moreno said.
But in a statement, Mayor’s office spokeswoman Tarrah Cooper said this does not mean the mayor will be involved in trying to block the restaurant.

8/02 Chick-fil-A plucks one-day record from gay marriage blowup
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-gaymarriage-chickfilabre871197-20120802,0,5563468.story

The chain restaurant had a “record-setting day” on Wednesday, according to a spokesman, as customers descended on its roughly 1,600 locations across the United States in support of its president’s contentious stance against gay marriage.

8/04 Same-sex kiss day at Chick-fil-A draws kissing activists
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/chick-fil-kiss-164759658.html