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July 2002

Against Antiscience, Charlatanism and Irrationalism in Russia
International Symposium on Science, Antiscience and Paranormal Beliefs

Skeptical Inquirer, 2002-07
The International Symposium on Science, Antiscience and Paranormal Beliefs, held in Moscow in October of 2001, adopted a resolution denouncing the growth of irrational belief systems in Russia. The resolution is published in English translation in the July/August 2002 issue (Vol. 26 no. 4) of Skeptical Inquirer. The following quotation illustrates the Symposium's concerns about religious revival and violations of church/state separation in Russia.

We cannot keep silent about the danger of the current state-church policy in this country. Politicization and ideological revival of religions are a delayed-action bomb that threaten to split Russia into hostile parts: believers versus nonbelievers, "the right faith versus the wrong faith." The situation has reached the point where the church has begun to occupy important positions in governmental bodies, the army and the system of state education.

Man Shot Dead over Heaven and Hell Argument

Yahoo! News, 2002-07-30

GODLEY, Texas (Reuters) - An argument over who was going to heaven and who was going to hell ended with one Texas man shooting another to death with a shotgun, police said on Monday.
...
...the four men were sitting at a table outside a trailer park after their night on the town and entered into an argument about religion. The talk became heated when the subject turned to who would go to heaven and who would go to hell.

That superstar of popular culture, Boy John-Paul, as seen by CROC magazine (no. 61, Aug. 1984) at the time of his visit to Montréal That superstar of popular culture, Boy John-Paul, as seen by the magazine La Vie en rose (no. 19, Sept. 1984) at the time of his visit to Montréal

Toronto police close down Catholic protester CBC News —  Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 2002-07-24 During the pope's visit to Toronto, a young catholic dissident is prevented by police from distributing condoms to participants in the event. Toronto police intervened Wednesday to prevent a Catholic activist from handing out condoms to World Youth Day pilgrims. Milton Chan, 23, from Challenge the Church, says he is devout Catholic, but there are issues the church is not dealing with,and WYD is a good forum to bring them to the attention of young Catholics. "I'm going to give you something to think about," he told pilgrims on the street, using a pamphlet with a condom in it to start conversations about church doctrine on contraception and safe sex. But a nun disagreed when Chan tried to give her a sample. "You're going to answer for it. God is good. You'll answer for your act," she said. The retribution she warned of came in the form of three Toronto policemen. Webmaster's comment: Chan's desire to reform the Catholic Church is naïve in the extreme, but we must salute his courage in challenging, in such a forthright manner, the Church's retrograde and very damaging policies on sexuality and reproductive issues. It is outrageous that he was stopped by the police. Is it now illegal in Canada to promote safe sex practices by freely distributing condoms to passers-by?

Melbourne Catholic official speaks out against lifting of witch ban

Catholic News —  Australia, 2002-07-03
An example of religious competition in Australia. A Christian leader wants certain other religions to remain illegal.

Melbourne Archdiocesan episcopal vicar for religious education Monsignor Peter J. Elliot has criticised the proposed decriminalisation of witchcraft. A 1966 law that bans sorcery and the occult could be scrapped later this year because it is outdated and rarely used.
Monsignor Elliot said endorsing witchcraft could be harmful to young people. "I'd be appalled if this implies some sort of approval of this. I think it reflects the collapse of values and sanity in our society that this mishmash of superstition and fraud is to be recognised," he said. "It's not harmless and there's no such thing as white magic," he continued. "That's a nonsense."
...
Census figures show there are 2091 witches in Victoria, and another 3007 worshippers of "nature" religions including pagans, druids, animists and pantheists.

Webmaster's comment:
When the good vicar refers to a "mishmash of superstition and fraud", he is giving a reasonably accurate description of Christianity. Why should churches enjoy tax exemptions and other privileges while pagans are criminalised? Suppression of paganism is a very old (and often violent and murderous) Christian tradition.