The God squad, according to the Telegraph, are saying that it amounts to a victory for an “aggressive secularist agenda” intent on banishing religion from public life.

A High Court judge ruled that there was no “lawful” place for prayer during formal proceedings after an atheist parish councillor objected that the tradition excluded non-believers.

Secular campaigners insisted the case had only “modest” implications and would not interfere with anyone’s freedom of religion.

There were also fears that the ruling could throw local preparations to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee into doubt by opening the door to legal challenges from opponents of the monarchy.

The legal challenge was sparked by Clive Bone, a former member of Bideford Town Council in Devon, who objected to the tradition on grounds of conscience. Yesterday, at the High Court in London, Mr Justice Ouseley, ruled that it did not breach Mr Bone’s human rights or amount to discrimination, but  nevertheless concluded that it was “not lawful” to say prayers as part of formal meetings under a clause of the Local Government Act 1972.

He issued a formal legal declaration stating that councils had “no power” to include prayers in meetings – although they could be held in council chambers before the formal proceedings get under way.

Simon Calvert, a director of the Christian institute, which supported the council’s case, said:

We are talking about something that has gone on for centuries in a constitutionally Christian country … this outlaws it at a stroke and it seems to be another example of the courts siding with an aggressive secularist agenda.

He added:

Local authority lawyers are going to be asking themselves … what about singing the national anthem? What about celebrating the Diamond Jubilee? Do they fall outside the Local Government Act?

Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, is understood to be concerned about a “chilling” effect on some councils planning jubilee street parties for fear of legal action.

His lawyers are preparing to issue emergency legal guidance to councils, effectively urging them to ignore the ruling. They have advised him that new laws, due to come into force within weeks, would override the judgment by giving councils a “general power of competence” over proceedings.

Pickles said freedom to worship was a “fundamental and hard-fought British liberty”.

We are a Christian country, with an established Church in England, governed by the Queen. Public authorities – be it Parliament or a parish council – should have the right to say prayers before meetings if they wish.

This drew a sharp response from Freethinker contributor James Merryweather, who immediately emailed a letter to Pickles:

You insist that Britain is a Christian country, so what is to prevent others claiming with equal petulance that, for instance, we are a nation of biologists? Neither is true and – please note – we botanists do not claim special privilege under any circumstances; we just want the right to study and enjoy biology.

 Neither do we claim any special privilege as atheists (for an awful lot of biologists are atheists) or as atheist biologists, as happens to be what I am.

Please take notice of what Clive Bone (Bideford) is saying when he fairly states: ‘Religious freedom is an absolute right, and so is freedom from religion’. By all means follow whatever religion you please, but don’t for one moment think you have any right to impose that religion on others, particularly in places where democracy is a fundamental tenet, as in town council chambers. That is not fair.

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester, said prayer was:

Central the public life of the country. There is a huge constitutional implication to this. Where will this stop – by a test case about prayer in Parliament?

He added:

Prayers in Parliament are definitely part of the proceedings, they are recorded as such, they are on the order paper and part therefore of the constitutional arrangement of the country as the Queen in Parliament under God.

Muslims aren’t best pleased either. Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation said the judgment was an:

Attack on all faith. We are a religious country, a majority Christian country. As people of faith – whether we take inspiration from Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism or whatever – we should take pride in that and be able to say prayers, I think this judgment is a step back, it is an attack against freedom.

Bone, a retired engineer, from Bideford said he was “delighted” by the ruling.

I totally agree with Eric Pickles when he says that there should be freedom of religion but it is not a licence to impose it on others in inappropriate situations.

Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, added:

This is an important step in recognition of secularism in public life so that everybody whatever their religion or lack of it feels equally welcome and treated with equal respect.

And Cllr Imran Khan, a Tory member of Reigate and Banstead Borough Council in Surrey, said:

Religion has no place in politics.  This High Court judgment is a victory for everyone who believes that democracy and religious freedom is the cornerstone of western free society.

The council was granted leave to appeal but last night it emerged that both sides were considering appeals – on different aspects of the ruling.

The judgment came a day after a series of leading clerics called on the Church of England General Synod to “resist” moves to exclude chaplains from NHS hospitals.

]]> http://freethinker.co.uk/2012/02/11/god-squad-weighs-in-over-nsss-successful-challenge-to-council-prayers/feed/ 24 http://freethinker.co.uk/2012/02/10/taunted-in-taunton-exorcised-in-rome/ http://freethinker.co.uk/2012/02/10/taunted-in-taunton-exorcised-in-rome/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:54:47 +0000 Barry Duke http://freethinker.co.uk/?p=23500 TWO Christian crazies are in the news today: a street preacher in Taunton called Michael Overd, 47, and the Vatican’s “Chief Exorcist” Father Gabriele Amorth, 87.

Street screecher Michael Overd, left, and the Vatican's Chief Exorcist, Fr Amorth

The former is on trial before Taunton magistrates for threatening a gay couple with hell, and the latter has just written a book – The Last Exorcist – My Fight Against Satan – in which he claims that Pope Ratzinger “inadvertently” exorcised two men who were possessed by Old Nick.

Overd, 47, from Creech St Michael, is accused of verbally abusing Craig Manning and Craig Nicholl last July in the town’s high street. He denies two charges of using threatening words or behaviour, and his defence lawyer – fellow Christian zealot Paul Diamond of the Christian Legal Centre – claims that:

Overd was exercising his right to free speech, and was “merely” reciting a passage from the Bible, 1 Corinthians, which reads:

Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

The court heard it was the second time the pair had been targeted by Overd, who spied them holding hands in October 2010.

The court heard that the lunatic had deliberately singled out the pair in public. Said Nicholl:

He looked at us and pointed … His voice was quite loud and very clear. I felt angry, embarrassed and ashamed. It was a really busy day and I felt that everyone was looking at us when he was saying these things to us.

Overd, who came to court wearing a comical yellow “The Lord is my Shepherd”  tie, denied this, saying:

I was not trying to draw to the public the fact that they were homosexuals, I was drawing the public to the fact that they were sinners.

Prosecutor Gordon Richings asked him:

You believe that sinners who die and are not redeemed are going to end up in hell?

Mr Overd replied:

If God says it (in the Bible) that is good enough for me.

The trial continues today.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph reveals that ancient old loon Father Amorth is claiming in his new book that:

It is no mystery that the Pope’s acts and words can enrage Satan … that simply the presence of the Pope can sooth and in some way help the possessed in their fight against the one who possesses them.

And he tells the story of how he and two assistants brought a pair of “possessed” Italian men – Marco and Giovanni  – to one of the Pope’s weekly audiences in St Peter’s Square in May 2009. As the Pope approached them, the men began to act strangely: they trembled and their teeth chattered.

When one of the assistants asked Giovanni to control himself, he said “I am not Giovanni” in a voice that was not his own, Father Amorth claimed.

As soon as the Pope stepped down from his “Popemobile” the two men flung themselves to the floor.

They banged their heads on the ground. The Swiss Guards watched them but did nothing. Giovanni and Marco started to wail at the same time, they were lying on the floor, howling.  They were trembling, slobbering, working themselves into a frenzy.

He continued:

The Pope watched from a distance. He raised an arm and blessed the four of them. For the possessed it was like a furious jolt – a blow to their whole bodies – to the extent that they were thrown three metres backwards. They stopped howling but they cried uncontrollably.

Note: at this point I began howling uncontrollable, so loudly that I woke up my partner who peered bleary-eyed into my office to check if I was OK. When he saw tears of mirth rolling down my cheeks, he grumpily snorted, “Bit early in the day to be having fun” and went back to bed.

Federico Lombardi, the Vatican’s spokesman, disputed Amorth’s account, saying Benedict was not aware of the men’s afflictions and had not intended to carry out an exorcism.

Amorth is a controversial figure whose outspoken views have embarrassed the Vatican in the past.

In November he branded yoga as “evil”, claiming that it leads to a worship of Hinduism and other Eastern religions based on “a false belief in reincarnation”.

He has also railed against Harry Potter, saying the children’s books seem innocuous but in fact encourage children to believe in black magic and wizardry.

Hat tip: Marcus Robinson (Overd report) and Canada Dave

Retired cardinal Edward Egan

According to this report, Egan – in the interview with Connecticut Magazine –  said:

I don’t think we did anything wrong.

He said he had not been obligated to report abuse claims and maintained he inherited the cases from his predecessor, and did not have any cases on his watch.

Egan, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in 2007, was Bridgeport bishop from 1988 to 2000. The Bridgeport diocese has paid out nearly $38 million to settle abuse claims over the years involving allegations by more than 60 people who said they had been molested by Catholic priests.

In court documents unsealed in 2009, Egan expressed scepticism over sexual abuse allegations and said he found it “marvelous” that so few priests had been accused over the years.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests called Egan:

Obviously unrepentant, self-absorbed and painfully dismissive of the abject suffering of tens of thousands of deeply wounded men, women and children who have been sexually violated by priests, nuns, bishops, brothers, seminarians and other Catholic officials. We can’t help but believe that many other prelates feel exactly as he does but are shrewd enough to avoid saying so outside of clerical circles.

Meanwhile, Walsh, of Church Lane, Abbots Bromley, was warned by Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court to expect a long sentence for the attacks carried out while he worked at children’s homes and churches between the 1970s and 1990s.

Disgraced priest Alexander Bede Walsh

During the 10-day trial, the jury heard Walsh already had a previous conviction for possessing indecent images of children.

Det Con Tim Bailey, from Staffordshire Police, said after the hearing:

He is supposed to be a man of the cloth but he has shown no compassion, no integrity and no humanity. He has forced grown men to come to court and relive childhood experiences of sexual abuse.

Mr Bailey said he believed there could be further victims who had yet to come forward.

Speaking after the trial, the Archbishop of Birmingham Bernard Longley apologised to the victims for the “horrendous crimes” and the “deep betrayal of trust” they had experienced.

Hat tip (Walsh report): Angie RS and BarrieJohn

Hamza Kashgari could be executed for his 'sacrilegious' Tweets

Abdul Aziz Khowja said:

When I read his articles, I wept and got very angry …

And the infantile apparatchik announced:

I have instructed all newspapers and magazines in the kingdom not to allow him to write anything and we will take legal measures against him.

Worse, Kashgari, 23, offended the king of that basketcase of a country, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, who ordered the journalist’s arrest.

A statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency earlier this week revealed:

The Monarch today issued orders to arrest and try Kashgari for his offences against the deity and the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) … The order came after many scholars, dignitaries and citizens in the kingdom sent messages to the Monarch expressing indignation at Kashgari offences.

Kashgari had the good sense to flee the country as devout Muslims began baying for his blood, but today we learned that he has been arrested in Malaysia.

According to this report, he was seized as he arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. The Saudi Arabic language daily Al Youm reported:

The Malaysian authorities are coordinating with Saudi Arabia to hand Kashgari over.

In a separate report, newspapers quoted a statement by the kingdom’s Islamic Fatwa Committee calling for Kashgari to be punished:

In line with Islamic law, which means he could be executed.

King Abdullah’s order to arrest the writer, a columnist in the Saudi Arabic language daily Al Bilad, followed public furore in the kingdom over some of his articles, considered as abusive of Islam and the Prophet.

Ajel Arabic language daily said yesterday:

The order came after many scholars, dignitaries and citizens in the kingdom sent messages to the Monarch expressing indignation at Kashgari offences.

Other papers reported that thousands of readers and schools sent letters to the local media and posted online  messages demanding Kashgari’s prosecution.

After the arrest order, many Saudi newspapers carried a letter written by Kashgari on his Twitter page apologising for any offence, which he said was inadvertent.

My tweets were posted during a [difficult] psychological state. I erred and I pray to God that He will forgive me for what I did. I declare my repentance and I distance myself fully from all the misleading ideas that had affected me and made me write expressions that I do not support. I bear witness that Mohammad is the messenger of God. I shall live and die firmly believing in it. I declare my repentance and I strongly adhere to the testimonies that there is no deity but Allah and that Mohammad is the messenger of Allah.

Ahead of Big Mo’s birthday, Kashgari used Twitter to reflect of the occasion, saying:

On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you.

Nasser al-Omar, an influential cleric, called for him to be tried in a sharia court for apostasy, and, in a YouTube video, called on the faithful to express their indignation to the media and the authorities.

Your duty is to defend our religion against those atheists and not let it pass by with no punishment — you must write in the papers, in the Internet, and write the government, and not be silenced.

Hat tip: BarrieJohn

His “miracle” olive oil soap will even get you “a brand-new home”, if that’s what you’re after.

But UK media regulator Ofcom thought this was pure hokum, and has fined Believe TV – operated by The Light Academy Ltd and broadcast on the Sky platform – £25,000 for allowing Lewis to promote his soap.

In a statement, Ofcom said:

Given that the content was also soliciting a response from viewers, and such individuals experiencing serious illnesses may be vulnerable to the healing claims being made, Ofcom found there was a material risk that susceptible members of the audience may be exploited by the material broadcast on Believe TV.

The finding also referred to previous decisions by both the Advertising Standards Authority and Ofcom concerning content containing similar claims by Paul Lewis which had been broadcast on other channels. When Ofcom had previously recorded breaches against Paul Lewis content broadcast on other channels in 2007 and 2008, Ofcom stated that the breaches… were very serious because the promotions of the Paul Lewis products improperly exploited the susceptibilities of vulnerable viewers of these religious channels.

The regulator criticised The Light Academy for allowing previous breaches to be repeated, and said that the licencee showed “overall very poor compliance” which placed vulnerable viewers directly at risk of harm and exploitation”.

Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said:

This kind of thing is not unusual in the outer reaches of these manipulative religious TV channels. A quick flick through the ‘Religion’ section of the Sky platform will soon reveal many others who push the limits of acceptability in the claims they make. Believe TV has been caught out repeatedly. A fine is not enough. Its licence to broadcast should be revoked if it cannot be stopped exploiting its viewers in this way. Many others slip under the net because it is impossible to monitor them all, 24 hours a day.

The Ofcom ruling also states that:

In this instance, there are no direct precedent cases because this is the first case involving faith-based treatment for serious medical conditions’. We hope that this case will set a precedent for future Ofcom rulings and will also deter other TV companies from making such claims.

You can see the reasoning that led up to Ofcom’s decision here and here.

God, by the way, allegedly intervened in a court case last year which saw Lewis on trial in Jamaica for sexual offences involving two teenage girls, aged 15 and 14, while on a one-week crusade hosted by Fellowship Church of God. After being found not guilty, the shameless charlatan declared:

God is good. God is good. The Lord always told me He will never let me down, and he has never let me down. Thank God it is over.

 Hat tip: Adam Tjaavk and Barriejohn

Long drew fire from religious leaders after a video showed him being crowned “king” in an elaborate ceremony which one rabbi has been branded “repulsive” and “inappropriate.”

The video, since removed from YouTube, shows Long sitting on a throne and being wrapped in a long ritual shawl which Jews call a tallis.

All this was done in the presence of  Rabbi Ralph Messer, who intoned:

He’s a king. God’s blessed him. He’s a humble man. But in him is kingship. In him is royalty. In him was a land of Israel.

Long is then raised up on a throne to the ecstatic applause of his parishioners. Said Messner:

He now is raised up from a commoner to a kingship.

An associate professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, the Rev Wil Gafney, wrote a lengthy, negative assessment of the ceremony in the Huffington Post. In it, Gafney accused Messer of:

Misrepresentations of the Torah and other Jewish sancta.

And Rabbi David Shiff of Congregation Beth Hallel, a Messianic Jewish synagogue in Roswell, also condemned the ceremony and Messner’s claim that he was a Messianic Jew.

Ralph Messer in no way represents Messianic Judaism. He is not affiliated with any legitimate branch of Messianic Judaism. His actions in no way reflect the position of Messianic Judaism. I found the presentation to be repulsive and inappropriate.

The Torah is believed to be a divine book in Judaism. Jewish groups said Long’s use of the scrolls in a church ceremony was offensive.

After he was accused of sexual misconduct in 2010, Long settled out of court for an unknown amount of money last May and then took a sabbatical to deal with “personal issues.” He returned to the pulpit in January.

Dennis Kruse: a man in favour of flavouring education in Indiania with religious clap-trap

Sponsored by Republican Dennis Kruse, the new bill was worded thus:

The governing body of a school corporation may offer instruction on various theories of the origin of life. The curriculum for the course must include theories from multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology.

Yes, Scientology!

The bill did not specify whether the instruction should occur in a science class or in another setting, but its sponsors made clear that they saw it as a way to challenge prevailing views on scientific evolution.

The bill, which passed 28 to 22, drew widespread media coverage and triggered condemnations from scientific organisations in the state and across the country.

According to this report, the bill was met with such scorn and derision that the next day the speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives decided that it had become too hot to handle, and that it would be shelved … for the moment.

Steven Salzberg, professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, has a word for advice for the Indiana legislators on his Genomics, Evolution and Pseudoscience blog:

The next time you write a law trying to force the teaching of creationism instead of evolution, get the wording right.  You see, you wrote the bill incorrectly, because evolution is not a theory of the origin of life, as any good high school science teacher could have told you.  (Note to Indiana teachers: I’ve no doubt that you tried to teach these legislators back when they were in school. Apparently they’re still not listening.)  Instead, evolution is a theory that explains how species arise: how a single species can evolve into many, through the process of natural selection.  You might have guessed this from the title of Darwin’s book: The Origin of Species.  Scientists do have theories about the origin of life, but evolution isn’t one of them.

There’s a good letter from a an Indiana high school science teacher on PZ Myer’s blog. But Myers laments the fact that the teacher had asked not to be named:

Not only is the legislature passing stupid laws, but the environment is so oppressive that the science teachers who are expected to implement it cannot speak out against it, for fear of losing their jobs. Indiana, you suck.

John Downie

According to this report, he added that “getting rid of faith schools” would help eradicate the blight of religious hatred north of the border.

Bishop Joseph Devine, the President of the Scottish Catholic Education Commission, last night described Downie’s comments as “reckless” and “offensive”.

Addressing the sectarianism issue in a blog on the SCVO’s website last year, Downie argued that:

In my opinion one key causes [sic] of sectarianism is Scotland continuing to have separate denominational and non-denominational schools … the reality is that separate schools foster estrangement between Catholic and Protestant communities and influence the behaviour of children.

He added:

Yes, the attitudes of parents and grandparents don’t help and need to change but, like it or not, separate schools are a huge factor. The reality is, it doesn’t matter if a school is Catholic, Muslim or non-denominational, it is the attitudes of difference that separate schools perpetuate.

Devine said:

Mr Downie has misused the SCVO website to make offensive and untenable claims that Catholic Schools are a cause of sectarianism in Scotland. Such an intervention is not what one would expect to read on the official website of a respected social agency that is expected to champion co-operation, harmony and tolerance.

The bish added:

If he has no evidence to support his reckless claims perhaps he would have the good grace to withdraw them and better spend his time and energy promoting the interests of his members instead.

And Labour MSP Michael McMahon said:

There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that separate schools create sectarianism – in fact, the opposite is true.

Downie was appointed as SCVO head of public affairs in 2009, leading a department that includes the body’s policy, research, communications and campaigns staff.

UPDATE: It has just been drawn to my attention that, in 2002, Devine admitted that Catholic education is “divisive” and contributes to the problem of sectarianism, but he told the Sunday Herald newspaper it was sometimes “a price worth paying”.

Football beats church anytime.

This cheesy illustration suggests Jesus would approve of Superbowl Sunday

The banner is the brainchild of American Atheists, and it will be flown around Lucas Oil Stadium from 9:30-11:30 am local time.

Dave Silverman, President of American Atheists, explained the thinking behind the airplane banner:

We took advantage of a unique opportunity to remind many Americans that their religion is not as important as they like to pretend it is. In many cities around the country the running joke is that football is the most popular religion.

American Atheists noted that, statistically speaking, there will be more atheists in Lucas Oil Stadium than Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists combined and doubled.

Blair Scott, Communications Director for American Atheists, added:

There are thousands of Super Bowl-related employees working on the Sabbath, which according to the Bible is a sin worthy of being stoned to death. Our desire to be entertained on Sundays puts a lot of Americans to work, but Christian mythology dictates that these American workers are doomed to hell.

In addition to the 70,000 fans sitting in the bleachers at Lucas Oil Stadium, it is estimated that 130 million fans will watch the Super Bowl today. Based on available statistics, 20 million of those viewers will be atheists: enjoying their Sunday without church.

Nigerian humanist Leo Igwe

The attack on the “schizophrenic” Igwe followed the publication in Nigerian News of an article he penned about Nigeria’s “most deadly Islamist sect, Boko Haram”, after it had detonated multiple bombs in the city of Kano.

Igwe declared:

We in Nigeria must stop deceiving ourselves by saying that the Boko Haram attacks have nothing to do with religion. Or that they have nothing to do with Islam … From the pattern of their attacks, the Boko Haram phenomenon has a lot to do with religion, particularly Islam. It is the Nigerian version of al-Qaeda. The militants are not bombing police stations, UN building and churches for the sake of it. They are not agitating for Sharia law for the fun of it. The Boko Haram militants are fighting a holy war. They are prosecuting a jihad for which they expect to be rewarded abundantly in the hereafter with some virgins.

That is why the group has not run out of suicide bombers. That is why they have their operational base in the Muslim majority states. Boko Haram militants have been brainwashed by few Islamic clerics to believe that they are ‘Hezbollah’- the army of Allah. They have been deluded to think that these suicide bomb attacks and other murderous acts they carry out are religious duties in line with the will of Allah and in furtherance of Islam. Nigerian authorities must acknowledge and address the ‘Islamic’ roots of the Boko Haram menace now, before it is too late.

Hitting back at Igwe, Kamor – in a lengthy, mind-numbingly retort – wrote:

This is obviously a clever ploy to inject the poisonous myth of a blood-thirsty Islam that inspires its adherent to commit indiscriminate acts of violence into the hearts and minds of the reading public. Yet the author failed miserably to provide a single reference from the Quran or the Hadiths to support his absurd position. For clarity sake, God forbids the killing of ANY innocent person in the Qur’an, and to violently damage any building is wrong.

It is simply easy to see that the author [Igwe] wrote in a bad taste not to expose our common threat, but to mischaracterize Islam in a way that de-humanizes Muslims.

He added:

When we look at the highest authority in Islam, the Quran, we find nothing in it endorsing rewards for indiscriminate killing or killing of innocent people. Instead we find the strongest condemnation with severe punishments for those who engage in such actions. When we look at Hadith, which after the Quran is second in authority in Islam, we find nothing endorsing terrorism either. Instead we find strong condemnation for it.  

Kamor then addresses the “72 virgins” issue at great length, saying that, in searching what Muslims refer to as Gharib Hadith (weak or strange Hadiths):

We do find something about 72 wives but not virgins. Muslims know that the description of paradise or heaven in Hadiths and Quran is allegorical. If not, then Allah would have allowed us to take our bodies with us when we die …

However:

The Quran and authentic Hadiths let us know that anyone that makes it to paradise will be given palaces to live in, and clothing fit for royalty, with luxurious couches, thrones for everyone amongst other grandiose things. There will be rivers of the purest water, milk, wine, and honey, all of which are better than any you will find on earth … those who get to the highest part of Paradise, Jannah al-Firdaus, will also be able to see Allah with their own eyes. This greatest reward, rather than the promise of a sensual pleasure in the hereafter [is] to be in the presence of our Lord and to see His Face is the prayer of all Muslims.

Kamor wanders even deeper into La-La Land with this assertion:

Islam being a highly ethical religion rejects such anarchy and mischief. Islam commands Muslims to have a deep respect for all human life and to ensure peaceful-co-existence. This is why Islam was able to co-exist peacefully with Christianity in the Middle East since the time of prophet Muhammad (AS), a fact that becomes evident when one considers the fact that the Middle Eastern Christian community is a historical community, rather than a community of converts. The presence of this community since the time of Jesus Christ (AS) and its thriving under many Islamic rulers bear eloquent testimony to how important Islam considers freedom of worship and peaceful co-existence.