from Photographers Blog:
A convert to Islam
By Danish Siddiqui
London to me, as a photographer, is a uniquely diverse place to capture on camera in terms of its people and their stories. It amalgamates a lot of complexities that make for compelling narratives.
A couple months back I went to London from Mumbai as part of a short assignment, to get some experience out of my usual domain. I worked closely with the Reuters UK team and specifically Andrew Winning on the production of a multimedia piece that would tell the story of young Muslim converts in London.
In an age where there is a lot of skepticism around Islam, empirical evidence has proved otherwise. A study, for instance, has suggested that more than 100,000 people converted to Islam in the last decade. London is one such melting pot. And the city made for an interesting background to follow the life of one such convert.
But it wasn’t easygoing from the start. People in London aren’t that forthcoming, especially if there is a camera involved. The contacts that Andrew had lined up for me backed out without warning. Upon landing in London, I’d have to start all over again.
Archbishop of Canterbury praises “unpretentious” Kate and William
The Archbishop of Canterbury, who will marry Prince William and Kate Middleton next week, said on Thursday he had been struck by their wedding preparations, describing the couple as courageous and unpretentious. Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the Church of England, praised the couple’s “simplicity” and the way they had dealt with the build-up to next Friday’s wedding, which is set to be watched by an estimated two billion people worldwide.
“I’ve been very struck by the way in which William and Catherine have approached this great event,” Williams said in a short film released by his Lambeth Palace office, adding it had been a “real pleasure” to get to know the couple. “They’ve thought through what they want for themselves, but also what they want to say. They’ve had a very simple, very direct picture of what really matters about this event.”
“They’re responsible to the whole society, and responsible to God for their relationship. And I think it’s impressive that they’ve had that simplicity about it, they’ve known what matters, what’s at the heart of all this,” he said. “They are deeply unpretentious people.”
The Dean of Westminster will conduct the April 29 ceremony at Westminster Abbey and Williams will marry the couple while the Bishop of London Richard Chartres, who knows William well, will give the address.
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British Christian couple loses foster ruling over gays stance
A British Christian couple opposed to homosexuality because of their faith lost a court battle in London on Monday over the right to become foster carers. The couple, who are Pentecostal Christians, had gone to court after a social worker expressed concerns about them becoming respite carers after they said they could not tell a child that a “homosexual lifestyle” was acceptable.
Eunice and Owen Johns, both in their 60s and from Derbyshire in the English midlands, asked judges to rule that their faith should not be a bar to them becoming carers, and that the law should protect their Christian values.
But Lord Justice Munby and Mr Justice Beatson ruled at the Royal Courts of Justice in London that laws protecting people from discrimination because of their sexual orientation “should take precedence” over the right not to be discriminated against on religious grounds, the Press Association reported.
Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm, UK cabinet minister says
Prejudice against Muslims has “passed the dinner-table test” and become socially acceptable in Britain, says the Conservative Party’s chairwoman Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.
Warsi, a Pakistan-born minister without portfolio in Prime Minister David Cameron’s cabinet, will say in a speech at the University of Leicester on Thursday evening that dividing Muslims into “moderate” and “extremist” fuels intolerance, according to prepared remarks published in the Daily Telegraph.
“It’s not a big leap of imagination to predict where the talk of ‘moderate’ Muslims leads; in the factory, where they’ve just hired a Muslim worker, the boss says to his employees: ‘Not to worry, he’s only fairly Muslim,’” according to the first Muslim woman in a British cabinet. “In the school, the kids say: ‘The family next door are Muslim but they’re not too bad’. And in the road, as a woman walks past wearing a burka, the passers-by think: ‘That woman’s either oppressed or is making a political statement.’”
There are 2.9 million Muslims in Britain, almost 5 percent of the population, according to an estimate last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Britain has regularly been a focus of Islamist militant plots. In the worst attack in the country, suicide bombers killed 52 people on the London transport network in July 2005.
“Those who commit criminal acts of terrorism in our country need to be dealt with not just by the full force of the law,” Warsi was due to say. “They also should face social rejection and alienation across society and their acts must not be used as an opportunity to tar all Muslims.”
Read the full story by Olesya Dmitracova here.
Warsi’s comments have already prompted lively reactions in Britain:
I agree with Lady Warsi that Islam is misunderstood. The extremist hijack the whole notion of peaceful and tolerant Islam which is why the public gets mixed messages. Hence it is important to note that Islam has no link to terrorism what so ever as discussed in the historic Fatwa on Terrorism. Islam is a peaceful and tolerant faith and I agree there is a real need to educate the public and to promote the truth about Islam.
My organisation Minhaj-ul-Quran UK has always been working to promote British values of integration, democracy, interfaith harmony and tolerance for many years. We have been at the forefront of the fight against extremism in this country.
The founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran International, Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has recently said that “The hollow notion of ‘Clash of Civilization’ needs to be replaced with ‘Dialogue among Civilizations’. The enhanced engagement among different religions especially Islam and Christianity would serve to build bridges and raze down walls that separate us. Islam stands for peace, harmony and human development.”
New Catholic subdivision for ex-Anglicans will not be a ghetto
The new Roman Catholic Church body set up to house disaffected Anglicans would not become a ghetto within the Church, the priest appointed to lead the group said on Monday. The ordinariate, a special subdivision in the Church created by the Vatican to allow the converts to retain some of their Anglican customs, would also seek to evangelise while maintaining good relations with Anglicans, the former Church of England bishop Keith Newton told reporters.
The ordinariate, announced by Pope Benedict in 2009, allows those Anglicans opposed to women bishops, gay clergy and same-sex blessings to convert to Rome while keeping many of their traditions. Newton said there was a danger that people would think of it as an ex-Anglican ghetto within the Catholic Church, but “we want to make clear it is not.”
“There are no second-class Catholics,” he added.
Newton, who will be the ordinary or leader of the ordinariate, was ordained into the Catholic Church on Saturday along with two other former Church of England bishops, John Broadhurst and Andrew Burnham.
A number of practical issues, including finance, salaries and homes are expected to be settled by Pentecost, June 12, by which time former Anglican priests ready to convert are expected to have been ordained as Catholic clerics.
Read the full story here. See also Anglican bishops ordained as Catholic priests in London.
That’s the way it is. The Church allows for certain of the clergy to be married. Let the “millions” whine.
Christ didn’t miss His dissenters.
When Christ told the people about His body the Eucharist, some of them no longer walked with Him. He didn’t tell them come back.
Same with St. Augustine: God doesn’t compel us to be pure. He merely leaves those alone who deserve to be forgotten.
London marchers confront Pope Benedict in biggest protest of any of his trips
Pope Benedict faced the biggest protest of his 17 trips abroad on Saturday when more than 10,000 people marched in London attacking his treatment of the abuse scandal in the Church, women priests and homosexuality. Some of the demonstrators were dressed in costumes, including black leather nuns’ habits and red cardinals’ robes. Posters bore the message: “Pope Go Home.”
The pope has faced protests throughout his four-day visit to England and Scotland, often competing for attention with the faithful who are solidly supportive of the trip, only the second by a pope in history.
The loudest and most colourful was on Saturday when secularists, atheists, pro-gay groups and human rights campaigners joined forces in a Protest the Pope march from Hyde Park Corner to Downing Street, the prime minister’s residence.
It was the biggest demonstration the pope has faced during the 17 overseas trips in his five-year papacy. Organisers had expected 2,000 people. Many opposed the Vatican’s stance on abortion, gay rights and resistance to the use of condoms in the fight against HIV-AIDS. “Keep your rosaries off our ovaries” one group chanted, with some wearing condoms on their heads. Placards read: “Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers” and “Protect the Children, not the Priests”.
Benedict’s apology during a Mass on Saturday in which he said paedophile priests had brought “shame and humiliation” failed to appease the protesters. “Apologies will not solve the problem,” said Alice Holding, a 40-year-old protester. “He is subject to the law just like everybody else. If I did this (cover up a scandal) I would have to go to jail.”
Excerpts from Pope Benedict’s comments on Newman and to the elderly
At a prayer vigil in London’s Hyde Park on Saturday evening, Pope Benedict said the life of Cardinal John Henry Newman, whom he will beatify on Sunday, showed the way for Christians to live at a time of intellectual and moral relativism.
Here are some excerpts from his sermon:
“…At the end of his life, Newman would describe his life’s work as a struggle against the growing tendency to view religion as a purely private and subjective matter, a question of personal opinion. Here is the first lesson we can learn from his life: in our day, when an intellectual and moral relativism threatens to sap the very foundations of our society, Newman reminds us that, as men and women made in the image and likeness of God, we were created to know the truth, to find in that truth our ultimate freedom and the fulfilment of our deepest human aspirations. In a word, we are meant to know Christ, who is himself “the way, and the truth, and the life.
“Newman’s life also teaches us that passion for the truth, intellectual honesty and genuine conversion are costly. The truth that sets us free cannot be kept to ourselves; it calls for testimony, it begs to be heard, and in the end its convincing power comes from itself and not from the human eloquence or arguments in which it may be couched. Not far from here, at Tyburn, great numbers of our brothers and sisters died for the faith; the witness of their fidelity to the end was ever more powerful than the inspired words that so many of them spoke before surrendering everything to the Lord. In our own time, the price to be paid for fidelity to the Gospel is no longer being hanged, drawn and quartered but it often involves being dismissed out of hand, ridiculed or parodied…
“… No one who looks realistically at our world today could think that Christians can afford to go on with business as usual, ignoring the profound crisis of faith which has overtaken our society, or simply trusting that the patrimony of values handed down by the Christian centuries will continue to inspire and shape the future of our society. We know that in times of crisis and upheaval God has raised up great saints and prophets for the renewal of the Church and Christian society; we trust in his providence and we pray for his continued guidance. But each of us, in accordance with his or her state of life, is called to work for the advancement of God’s Kingdom by imbuing temporal life with the values of the Gospel…
“…Dear young friends: only Jesus knows what “definite service” he has in mind for you. Be open to his voice resounding in the depths of your heart: even now his heart is speaking to your heart. Christ has need of families to remind the world of the dignity of human love and the beauty of family life. He needs men and women who devote their lives to the noble task of education, tending the young and forming them in the ways of the Gospel. He needs those who will consecrate their lives to the pursuit of perfect charity, following him in chastity, poverty and obedience, and serving him in the least of our brothers and sisters. He needs the powerful love of contemplative religious, who sustain the Church’s witness and activity through their constant prayer. And he needs priests, good and holy priests, men who are willing to lay down their lives for their sheep. Ask our Lord what he has in mind for you! Ask him for the generosity to say “yes!”
Pope apologizes for “unspeakable crimes” of sexual abuse
Pope Benedict apologized to victims of sexual abuse on Saturday, saying pedophile priests had brought “shame and humiliation” on him and the entire Roman Catholic Church. It was the 83-year-old pontiff’s latest attempt to come to grips with the scandal that has rocked the 1.1 billion-member Church, particularly in Europe and the United States.
“I think of the immense suffering caused by the abuse of children, especially within the Church and by her ministers. Above all, I express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims of these unspeakable crimes …,” he said in his sermon in Westminster Cathedral, the mother church for Roman Catholics in England and Wales and a symbol of the struggle of Catholics here in the late 19th century to assert their rights after the Reformation.
“I also acknowledge with you the shame and humiliation that all of us have suffered because of these sins,” he said, adding that he hoped “this chastisement” would contribute to the healing of the victims and the purification of the Church.
He has apologized before for sexual abuse by priests — such as in the letter to the Catholics of Ireland last March — and has acknowledged that the Church was slow to deal with the problem. But his comments on Saturday were among his most succinct to date.
The full quote from his sermon was: “Here too I think of the immense suffering caused by the abuse of children, especially within the Church and by her ministers. Above all, I express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims of these unspeakable crimes, along with my hope that the power of Christ’s grace, his sacrifice of reconciliation, will bring deep healing and peace to their lives. I also acknowledge, with you, the shame and humiliation which all of us have suffered because of these sins; and I invite you to offer it to the Lord with trust that this chastisement will contribute to the healing of the victims, the purification of the Church and the renewal of her age-old commitment to the education and care of young people. I express my gratitude for the efforts being made to address this problem responsibly, and I ask all of you to show your concern for the victims and solidarity with your priests.”
As a victim of sexual abuse by clergy myself, I can say that the hollow apologies by the Pope do absolutely nothing toward correcting the problem, protecting children, or for healing wounds. I wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger when I was involved in a lawsuit against the church in San Francisco in 2005,and asked him to remove the predator who molested me from a Catholic grammar school. Ratzinger left the priest who molested me in ministry with access to children clear up to the day of the jury guilty verdict I won against the priest in court.
Actions speak louder than words, and cleverly written apologies are nothing but validation that the Pope can read and write. If the Pope truly wanted to correct the atrocities and violations committed by the abusers in his
syndicate, he would remove all of the clerical abusers, and all of the bishops and cardinals who protected, promoted, shuffled, and harbored them.
But this has not happened, and never will. The clever hierarchy of the church will continue the hollow apology strategy for as long as there are those who still tolerate it.
Pope supporters and detractors duel in liberal London
Pope Benedict is usually greeted by adulating crowds when he travels in Italy and other Catholic countries but he was treated to a mixed reception in London. Protesters, many angered by a sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church worldwide, shouted “anti-Christ” and “Pope will go to hell” as the pope drove through the heart of London on Friday in a bullet-proof popemobile.
Hundreds booed aggressively as he arrived at Westminster Abbey in London’s historic core to celebrate Evening Prayer — one of the religious focal points of his four-day visit to Britain. Papal supporters at times tried to steal the momentum by chanting “We love you pope” but in most cases were quickly drowned out by boos and whistles.
Waving banners reading “Betrayed”, protesters included activists rallying against child sex abuse allegations as well as Protestants, gays and women rights campaigners.
“To make a papal visit into a state visit is unheard of,” said John Shearer, 74, a Protestant man holding a leaflet reading “Rome’s Betrayal of Christ”.
“We are not a Catholic country,” he said.” Another protester, Robert Stewart from Scotland, shouted: “He is a usurper!”
Excerpts from Pope Benedict’s speech to Catholic pupils in London
Pope Benedict urged Catholic schoolchildren in London on Friday to strive to become saints and to aim for more than just just money or fame.
Here are excerpts from his speech:
“…I hope that among those of you listening to me today there are some of the future saints of the twenty-first century. What God wants most of all for each one of you is that you should become holy. … Let me explain what I mean. When we are young, we can usually think of people that we look up to, people we admire, people we want to be like. It could be someone we meet in our daily lives that we hold in great esteem. Or it could be someone famous. We live in a celebrity culture, and young people are often encouraged to model themselves on figures from the world of sport or entertainment. My question for you is this: what are the qualities you see in others that you would most like to have yourselves? What kind of person would you really like to be?
“When I invite you to become saints, I am asking you not to be content with second best. I am asking you not to pursue one limited goal and ignore all the others. Having money makes it possible to be generous and to do good in the world, but on its own, it is not enough to make us happy. Being highly skilled in some activity or profession is good, but it will not satisfy us unless we aim for something greater still. It might make us famous, but it will not make us happy. Happiness is something we all want, but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places. The key to it is very simple – true happiness is to be found in God. We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. Only he can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.
“… You all know what it is like when you meet someone interesting and attractive, and you want to be that person’s friend. You always hope they will find you interesting and attractive, and want to be your friend. God wants your friendship. And once you enter into friendship with God, everything in your life begins to change. … You are attracted to the practice of virtue. You begin to see greed and selfishness and all the other sins for what they really are, destructive and dangerous tendencies that cause deep suffering and do great damage, and you want to avoid falling into that trap yourselves. You begin to feel compassion for people in difficulties and you are eager to do something to help them. You want to come to the aid of the poor and the hungry, you want to comfort the sorrowful, you want to be kind and generous. And once these things begin to matter to you, you are well on the way to becoming saints…
“…Never allow yourselves to become narrow. The world needs good scientists, but a scientific outlook becomes dangerously narrow if it ignores the religious or ethical dimension of life, just as religion becomes narrow if it rejects the legitimate contribution of science to our understanding of the world. We need good historians and philosophers and economists, but if the account they give of human life within their particular field is too narrowly focused, they can lead us seriously astray.
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Resident FaithWorld Expert
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Sigh…Reuters comments pages are extremely buggy. Only half my post made it last time.
You wrote “In an age where there is a lot of skepticism around Islam, empirical evidence has proved otherwise.”
This sentence has so many problems with it I’m having difficulty knowing where to begin.
You do not mention why (Oh why?) would anyone think we live in an “age of skepticism around Islam.” Were your intention to compose a straw man argument, you’d still need to introduce a Mr. Straw here, say an unreasonable bigot with no ability to be objective. You don’t even make that much effort.
You then counter your non-existent straw man (thin air man?) by saying “empirical evidence has proved otherwise.” Whereas you do provide anecdotal evidence, you do not in fact provide any empirical evidence. Yes, empirical refers to observation, but only in the context of a scientific experiment whereby actual evidence is obtained.
I would like to conclude by assuring you that my diatribe is not directed at your faith, but rather your writing skills. I know and respect many Muslims, and I have lived in Muslim countries.
To become a better writer, debater, and yes thinker, please look to a search engine for the dozen most common fallacious arguments (you’ll find a definition of “straw man” among them).
Salaam.