Daily Archives: October 8, 2012

Doug Saunders: ‘Religious freedom’ sends the wrong message to the wrong people

Posted: October 8, 2012 at 4:14 am

Its time to speak out against religious freedom.

Or, to be precise, against its promotion and the way its used. To those of us who believe freedoms should be absolute and robust, and are ardently opposed to the persecution of people for their beliefs, this might sound like an odd proposition. What could be more benign than another freedom?

2012: Tainted

But Canada is within days of opening a federal Office of Religious Freedom (within the Department of Foreign Affairs), and its becoming apparent that this isnt a good idea for our country or the world. In fact, its very likely to contribute to the very problems we hope it might help solve.

We might as well face it: When groups of people exercise their self-proclaimed religious freedoms, terrible things tend to happen. The phrase religious freedom is evoked by Hindu nationalist parties in India to justify killing rampages in Muslim neighbourhoods, by the Buddhist-majority government of Sri Lanka to imprison members of the countrys Hindu minority, by Jewish religious parties in Israel to call for the denial of Israeli Muslims full citizenship rights, and by crowds of Salafists and Islamists in Egypt bent on ruining the lives of Coptic Christians.

For the ardent religious believer and the organized, hierarchical religious organization, religious freedom often refers to the right to restrict the freedoms of others, or to impose ones religion on the larger world.

Thats why the most important religious freedom is freedom from religion. This applies not just to those without religion. Its even more important for believers, who are most often persecuted by other faiths. In those examples of persecution listed above, its protection from a religion not more freedom for believers thats needed.

The problem is that religious freedom is deliberately vague. Does it refer to the freedom of individuals to hold religious beliefs of their choice, to speak and write openly of those beliefs without penalty, and to partake in religious rituals on private property and at places of worship?

Those are fundamental rights. Theyre already protected in constitutional freedoms of speech, thought, conscience, assembly and basic equality. That our Constitution specifies a separate freedom of religion is redundant. That we would use a government office to promote religion above other freedoms is dangerous: It implies that theyre less important.

While Canadas Office of Religious Freedom will certainly be capable of defending people against the forces of religion (and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird mentions this possibility in his speeches), it appears to be hard-wired to do something far less benign. Its advisers and board members appear to be mainly religious believers and leaders of religious congregations.

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Doug Saunders: ‘Religious freedom’ sends the wrong message to the wrong people

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Liberty notes: Apon makes up for miss

Posted: at 4:14 am

Josh Woodrum knew Brandon Apon needed a pick-me-up. In the second quarter of Libertys 42-35 win over Gardner-Webb on Saturday at Williams Stadium, Woodrum threaded a perfect post pass to Apon, who had beaten the safety in coverage. The ball hit Apons hands before promptly hitting the stadiums FieldTurf, erasing what surely would have been a touchdown.

Woodrum threw an interception two plays later.

Apon was understandably down.

To have a wide-open play like that and not make the play, you feel like you let your team down, Apon said. I felt like I let myself down. But I knew I had to keep my head in it. My team needed me to be a leader and not feel sorry for myself.

Woodrum, the Flames redshirt freshman quarterback, wasnt going to let that happen.

I just told him it was unlucky, but you need to catch that ball when it happens, Woodrum said. Youve just got to make plays when you have the opportunity.

It came in the final six minutes of a tied game, when Woodrum faked a handoff, rolled left and hit Apon for a 5-yard touchdown that provided the winning margin.

Just to have the blessing to be able redeem myself, it was elating, Apon said. Its an unbelievable feeling.

Apon wasnt the only Liberty player who needed to redeem a tough first half. Cornerback Walt Aikens talked with Kurt Beathard after the game, and the Gardner-Webb offensive coordinator who recruited Aikens to Illinois before Aikens transferred to LU told Aikens the Runnin Bulldogs were picking on him early.

Though Aikens didnt see a stat sheet at halftime, he knew that GWU quarterback Lucas Beatty had lit up the Flames.

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Liberty-born businesswoman gives away what she believes in

Posted: at 4:14 am

Spreading the word with near-evangelical enthusiasm that healthy is the new sexy, and trying to help people in Liberty County and elsewhere to look and to feel better, Liberty native and Ardyss International Platinum President Veronica Williams-Jolivette is motivated to the point of actually giving away health and wellness products in South Liberty County.

She and local business partners Rosalinda Erevia and Richard and Annette Young aspire to hold a free-of-charge womens pampering event at a Liberty salon as well.

The daughter of Willie Lee Williams of Dayton and Bernadine Williams of Liberty, whose birthmother is Vernetta Davis of Ames, Jolivette is operating in familiar territory. She offers a line of antioxidants, energizers and digestive products as well as a body re-shaper intended, with concomitant knife and fork discipline, to take one down a couple of sizes.

Home again, she comes bearing gifts, some of them informational and some ingestible.

The main things I would say I would like to bring back to this community would be health and wellness, Jolivette said, adding that she had kin here who didnt live as long as they should have. With my family that has gone on and passed over, it was due to not having the knowledge that we need to live well.

It doesnt take Albert Einstein to know that you are what you eat. If you eat burgers all day, without cleaning out your colon, and replacing it with the right nutrients, then you are going to look like a burger. Your arteries will harden. Your blood will not flow. And, for me, I treat myself on the weekends. I love burgers. I love some of the junk. But you have to live well.

Jolivette has seen too many people not live as well as they could and should

I seem to see a lot of people, when I come back to Liberty, and I just listen; I try to be a good listener, Jolivette said. They more talk about what medications theyre on, the bad health. It seems to be an around-the-table conversation. We need to change that. And we can.

Ardyss is one way to bring change, according to Jolivette. Why not in this area?

This is my town; I love it, Jolivette said about Liberty in particular. Traveling all over the world and being with Ardyss International, Im a small-town girl. I never forgot where I came from. To come back and bury your own at a young age saddens me. All the moneys, the prizes and the different things that theyve given me, for my travel and hard work, are nothing if I cant bless somebody else. It means something to me.

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'New Avengers' targets the Illuminati

Posted: at 4:13 am

New Avengers will centre around the Illuminati following its Marvel NOW! relaunch.

Jonathan Hickman revealed that the series will focus on the group of powerful superheroes who debuted in the pages of Brian Michael Bendis's run on the first volume of the title.

"It's about the guys that very quietly and secretly run the world," the writer said during Marvel Comics' Next Big Thing conference call.

"It's thematically much different than what's going on in Avengers. The plan that I've worked up is that the Avengers are the utopian Avengers. They're the ideal Avengers, whereas the New Avengers are real-world. They live in the world as it is, which is dark and apocalyptic.

"It's very old-school. We're pretty excited about it. The books will work together, in tandem. You don't have to read both of them, but if you do, there will be things that echo across the books."

The team will consist of a revised lineup featuring Black Panther, Iron Man, Namor, Doctor Strange, Captain America, Mr Fantastic, Beast and Black Bolt.

"What causes the guys to come back together is such a momentous thing that they have to put aside all differences," Hickman said, revealing that events will centre around Wakanda.

"Even though they don't like each other and don't get along, they have to save each other from stuff they know is threatening."

New Avengers will launch in January, with art by Steve Epting.

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