Category Archives: Secularism

Bangladesh bars enforced Islamic dress code

By Faisal | Published: August 23, 2010
The BBC reports: A Bangladesh court has ruled that people cannot be forced to wear skull caps, veils or other religious clothing in workplaces, schools and colleges. This ruling comes after reports emerged that a college in the north of Bangladesh forced women to wear veils. The high court also ruled that women cannot be prevented from taking [...]
Posted in Secularism | 13 Comments

Veiled Values

By Guest | Published: August 9, 2010
This is a cross-post by Kenan Malik In his bestselling book America Alone, the Canadian writer Mark Steyn fantasises about the state of Europe in 2020. The Islamists have stormed to power right across the continent. No English pub can sell alcohol. Holland’s gay clubs have been relocated to San Francisco. And every French woman is [...]
Also posted in Anti Muslim bigotry, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom of Religion, Human Rights, Identity Politics, Islamism, Moral relativism, Multiculturalism | 15 Comments

Is this the “counter-Enlightenment”?

By bananabrain | Published: August 6, 2010
i’ve not posted for a while, mostly because of pressure of work, but there are a number of things which are currently causing me to more or less lose sleep. recently, i gave up posting on pickled politics, partly because of the level of personal animosity i was facing, but mostly just in frustration at my [...]
Also posted in Anti Fascism, Anti Muslim bigotry, Antisemitism, Blogosphere, Christian Evangelical Nutters, Civil Rights, Democracy, Entryism, European Fascism, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Religion, Human Rights, Identity Politics, Interfaith, Islamism, Jewish Extremism, Moral relativism, Multiculturalism, Obscurantism, Sectarianism, The Far Left, The Regressive Left, UK Politics | 37 Comments

NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s Defence of Ground Zero Islamic Centre

By Faisal | Published: August 4, 2010
New York’s Mayor Bloomberg gets it right. The freedom to worship is a fundamental principle of secularism, the separation of church/mosque/synagogue/temple from state, and to infringe that principle is to capitulate to the extremists and the terrorists. From the Huff Po: Speaking on Governor’s Island, misty-eyed New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised a decision to allow an [...]
Also posted in Anti Muslim bigotry | 1 Comment

Bangladesh Restores Secular Constitution

By Faisal | Published: August 4, 2010
The Bangladesh Supreme Court has restored the Constitution to the spirit of the original secular version of 1972, prior to its “tampering” by a series of military dictatorships. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh has reinstated the measure banning Islamic parties. In a document of 184 pages presented July 26 last, the Court has demolished the Fifth Amendment [...]
Posted in Secularism | 14 Comments

The Niqab Ban in Syria

By Faisal | Published: July 19, 2010
In CiF, Faisal al Yafai discusses the under-reported limited ban of the full-face veil by the Syrian government; where teachers wearing the full niqab in public schools have been removed. Islamists groups in Syria will decry this as a gesture to suppress its growing influence in the country as the only viable opposition to the secular [...]
Also posted in Islamism | 4 Comments

The Other Muslims

By Guest | Published: July 15, 2010
This is a cross-post of an interview by Barry Rubin with Zeyno Baran, senior fellow of the Hudson Institute and editor of The Other Muslims: Moderate and Secular, recently published by Palgrave-Macmillan. Continue reading >>
Also posted in Islamism | 142 Comments

The Burkha Ban in France is Draconian

By Houriya | Published: July 14, 2010
My opinion piece has been published in the Times: I grew up in a liberal household in the Middle East where religious practice was never forced on me. But when I was 17 I made the choice to wear the hijab (headscarf), in the belief that this was a religious obligation and symbol of modesty. At [...]
Posted in Secularism | 10 Comments

Bangladesh Declares Fatwa Illegal

By Effendi | Published: July 8, 2010
All extra-judicial punishment, including passing religious edicts or fatwa, have been declared illegal in Bangladesh. The petitions were filed following several newspaper reports and investigations by the petitioners into violence inflicted on women in the name of fatwa by local religious leaders and powerful corners. It was alleged in the petitions that a number of deaths, suicides [...]
Also posted in Misogyny, Sharia | 4 Comments

Speech by Gita Sahgal: The Millions and the Foolish Few

By Guest | Published: June 21, 2010
This is the text of the speech Gita Sahgal delivered at the One Law for All rally on June 20th 2010. Download the report. Friends –this campaign stands at the heart of a debate over the future of Britain. It also stands at the heart of global attempts to destroy the most basic rights, to invade [...]
Also posted in Islamism | 4 Comments