The Right to Religious Freedom

Routledge has published Dr Anat Scolnicov's book The Right to Religious Freedom in International Law Between Group Rights and Individual Rights.

This book analyses the right to religious freedom in international law, drawing on an array of national and international cases. Taking a rigorous approach to the right to religious freedom, Anat Scolnicov argues that the interpretation and application of religious freedom must be understood as a conflict between individual and group claims of rights, and that although some states, based on their respective histories, religions, and cultures, protect the group over the individual, only an individualistic approach of international law is a coherent way of protecting religious freedom. Analysing legal structures in a variety of both Western and Non-Western jurisdictions, the book sets out a topography of different constitutional structures of religions within states and evaluates their compliance with international human rights law. The book also considers the position of women's religious freedom vis-agrave-vis community claims of religious freedom, of children's right to religious freedom and of the rights of dissenters within religious groups.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave!

Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone has announced plans to remove the ban on civil partnership ceremonies in places of worship, and a consultation on giving gays the right to marry. The latter move may mean changing the legal definition of marriage as a heterosexual institution. The Church of England won’t allow it’s churches to be used for civil partnerships, and said the proposals could have ‘unintended consequences for churches and faiths’. But the Archbishop of York gave the ideas a cautious welcome, provided churches were not forced to marry homosexuals. The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches and the Catholic Church rejected the plans, but Quakers, Unitarians and liberal Jews welcomed the news. The ban on night-time nuptials is also to be lifted, and civil partnerships may be offered to heterosexuals.

Campaign to save Afghan Christian Convert

An aid agency that supports persecuted Christians is calling on western governments to help a Christian sentenced to death in Afghanistan. Barnabas Fund has launched a petition to pressurise Afghan President Hamid Karzai to release Said Musa. Red Cross worker Said has been in prison for eight months after converting to Christianity, and faces execution if he does not return to Islam. Said has had no trial and death threats have made lawyers frightened to defend him. The one-legged man claims he has been tortured and sexually abused in prison. Barnabas Fund says Karzai should uphold the Afghan constitution which acknowledges human rights. Instead, his government’s policy towards converts ‘appears no different from that of the Taliban’.


* http://www.christiantoday.com/
* http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/

Lecture on free will and human responsibility

Tuesday 8 February 2011

An opportunity not to be missed!!

Free will and brain determinism, the idea that cognition is determined by prior events, are to be the topic of an upcoming lecture at the University of Cambridge’s Faraday Institute.

Professor Peter Clarke from the University of Lausanne will discuss the various approaches used in philosophical defences of free will and human responsibility. Libertarian positions imply freedom in decision making processes, for example, by invoking the existence of a disembodied soul and often using Heisenbergian uncertainty to support their argument.

In this seminar, Professor Clarke uses a variety of studies, including ones into the resistance of cells and thermal noise, to discount the potential perturbations of the uncertainty principle. He will reject the idea of behaviour as a product of soley genetic and environmental influences and argue for a compatibilist approach, the belief that free will and determinism are compatible and it is feasible to believe both.

The Faraday Institute Seminar is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 8 February at 1 pm (lunch from 12.30pm) at The Garden Room, St. Edmund's College, Cambridge. It is not necessary to RSVP but it is recommended that attendees arrive early to guarantee a seat.

The Teaching of the King - published 2 Feb 2011

The Teaching of the King


Sunday Thoughts

(Year C)


David Mawson



Published 2 February 2011

Published By Jacquedaw

ISBN 978-0-9565118-2-9

Price £9.99 (+ £2.00 P+P)


Available from Amazon or


Jacquedaw, 17 Steepside

SHREWSBURY SY3 6DS

Cheques to ‘David Mawson’


This this the second of a series of three books of thoughts and meditations on the Readings of the Church Year.

They are offered not as difficult theology but as everyday encouragement to those who would learn to identify the King whose Kingdom we serve and find out more about his teaching and what implication that teaching has for how we live our lives.
There is no strictly ordered theme. The lessons build and are expounded as the readings lead from week to week. Most of the themes and ideas are as they were preached in parish churches or expanded in group study

Identity Cards now invalid

From midnight tonight identity cards can no longer be used to prove identity or to travel in Europe.

The cards have been scrapped by the government under the Identity Documents Act.

Within days the National Identity Register - which was designed to hold the details of card holders - will be destroyed.
Laid to rest

Immigration minister Damian Green said: 'Laying ID cards to rest demonstrates the government's commitment to scale back the power of the state and restore civil liberties.

'It is about the people having trust in the government to know when it is necessary and appropriate for the state to hold and use personal data, and it is about the government placing their trust in the common-sense and responsible attitude of the people.'
Change in law

Card holders will no longer be able to use the cards to prove their identity or as a travel document in Europe.

The Identity and Passport Service (IPS has written to all existing cardholders and informed international border agencies, travel operators and customers of the change in law.

Happy Christmass!

I managed to get to a little village called Clive to celebrate Midnight Mass. The temperature was forecast as -18 to -20 and it was foggy! Saw very few brass monkeys, but a very enthusiastic and welcoming congregation of about 40. Lovely carols and a sense of peace and the presence of Christ. I wonder where some of us will be by next year?