May 25, 2011
Apocalypse preacher says Jesus did appear on Judgement Day but was invisible
by Jan HarrisHarold Camping, who told the world to expect the second coming of Jesus on 21 May 2011, claims that his prediction was correct but instead of appearing to ‘rapture’ 200 million Christians up to heaven on that day, Christ’s presence on earth was invisible and he put the world under judgement instead. Despite being mistaken […]
May 18, 2011
Religiously motivated crimes increase in Scotland
by Jan HarrisThe number of religiously motivated crimes in Scotland has grown ten per cent over the past year according to a report published by the Crown Office. There were 693 charges for crimes motivated by religion in 2010/11 compared with 632 in 2009/2010, making 2010/11 the worst year for this type of crime since 2006/2007. The […]
May 10, 2011
Birmingham spy cameras removed after protests
by Jan HarrisControversial surveillance cameras are being removed from the Birmingham suburbs of Washwood Heath, Sparkbrook, Sparkhill and Moseley, where there is a large Muslim population. The cameras, which were part of West Midlands Police’s ‘Project Champion’ counter terrorism strategy, were designed to secretly record the number plates of all cars entering and leaving the areas. Assistant […]
April 18, 2011
Housing Association disciplines worker over palm cross
by Jan HarrisA long-serving employee of Wakefield and District Housing is facing disciplinary action because he refused to remove a palm cross from his company van. Colin Atkinson, an electrician who works on the organisation’s houses, says he has always displayed the cross on the dashboard of his vehicle. He was asked to remove it after a […]
March 29, 2011
Witch fired for hexing a colleague’s car
by Jan HarrisA practicing witch, Carole Smith, is claiming that she was unfairly dismissed from her job as a Transportation Security Administration officer at New York’s Albany International Airport, after a colleague accused her of witchcraft. Smith’s co-worker, Mary Bagnoli, claims that in December 2008 Ms Smith followed her onto the highway after work and cast a […]
March 21, 2011
Italy wins right to display crucifixes in schools
by Jan HarrisItaly has won the right to display crucifixes in school classrooms, and the ruling will also apply to all 47 countries that are members of the Council of Europe. The right of state schools in Italy to display crucifixes was challenged by Soile Lautsi, a Finnish-born mother of two children who attended a near Venice. […]
March 10, 2011
BBC presenter claims God had a wife
by Jan HarrisBBC2’s new three-part series, The Bible’s Buried Secrets, is to be presented by an atheist who believes God had a wife – a fertility goddess named Asherah. Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou also believes that depicting Eve as a troublesome wife does her an injustice and claims that Eve was not the first woman as the story […]
March 2, 2011
Humanists launch census poster campaign
by Jan HarrisThe British Humanist Association is on a campaign to stop people who aren’t religious from saying they are on this year’s census, which takes place on 27 March. The association is planning to place posters on buses and at railway stations with the slogan “If you’re not religious for God’s sake say so”. According to […]
February 24, 2011
Health Authority calls for change in suicide law
by Jan HarrisWest Midlands NHS Strategic Health Authority has called for changes to the UK law on suicide, to make it fit for the 21st century. Pauline Smith, the end of life care lead for NHS West Midlands has expressed concern that the current law, which makes it illegal to help someone commit suicide in the UK, […]
February 11, 2011
Vatican bans confession app for iPhone
by Jan HarrisThe Vatican has ruled that an app for the iPhone, that allows Catholics to confess their sins, cannot be used as a substitute for confessing in the presence of a priest. Although the app’s creator, Little iApps, received an imprimatur from the US Catholic Church to publish the software, a Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, […]