World Current Event #6: Britain

In the little town of Bideford, England, site of the last witch trials in Britain, a movement has been started to abolish Christian prayers at public meetings. Maybe the locals should have anticipated complications when they saw that their town council is made up of not only pagans, staunch atheists and an agnostic former stripper, but also two evangelical Christians and a Methodist church organist. They probably wouldn’t have been able to anticipate their complications leading to an all out national proxy fight.

As the Republican primaries in the US highlight the separation of church and state, Britain finds itself in a national debate over religion involving the people, the government and even Queen Elizabeth II. This movement was started by local atheist lawmaker Clive Bone challenged the long-standing tradition of opening public meetings with blessings by locally Christian clergy men. Bone would eventually take the town to court winning a ruling that set legal precedent saying the government had no authority to compel its citizens to sit through a prayer.

The Conservative-led government quickly attempted to counteract the ban and defend the status of the Church of England. At a time when half of Britain claims no relgious affiliation, the Conservatives are blaming a loss of “traditional values’ on binge drinking and last year’s riots in London. The Conservatives have begun to unleash moves to gain back lost ground for Christian tradition. The Queen has began to engage in the monarch’s historic role as “defender of the faith”.

As the Prime Minister begins to approve of same sex marriages, Christians are saying that their traditions are under assault. However, for the time being, public prayers are on hold for the first time since the Nazis’ Blitz of England in 1941.

This issue was bound to come to public attention sooner or later. It is interesting that it appears around the same time as the Republicans in the US are dealing with the same issue through their primaries. I do not think this issue will be solved easily and it may take more rulings by courts, and even some rulings by parliament, the Prime Minister or the Queen, before any agreements can be made.

Want to read the whole thing?: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-secular-britain-a-clash-over-public-prayer/2012/03/08/gIQAcyQ3zR_story_1.html

World Current Event #5: Iran

There was more than 60% turnout rate at Iran’s parliamentary elections on Friday. It seems that critics of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were leading. However, his political clout in the assembly might remain the same or possibly even grow. Many lawmakers who had criticized the President, including parliamentary speaker and top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, Ahmad Tavakoli and Mohammad-Reza Bahonar retained their Tehran constituency seats.

However, regardless of these lawmakers criticism, camps are not for or against the president. The parliament will most likely not change. It will retain its support for Iran’s nuclear program as well as its strong criticism of Ahmadinejad, but no attempt to impeach him will occur. Iraninans hope that the high voter turnout would send a message to the West that the country was stable.

Many more radical and outspoken critics of the President were defeated, including Hamid Reza Katouzian, the head of the parliamentary Energy Committee, who had criticized the president about the high gas prices. Also, in several cities, candidates linked to Ahmadinejad were elected.

Because of both of these occurring a the same time, it is doubtful that the parliament will treat the president too harshly or take extreme action against him. This may make many of his critics around the world unhappy with the recent elections, and probably many of the president’s critics in Iran unhappy. The world, and Iran will just have to wait and see how this election affects Ahmadinejad’s presidency moving forward.

Want to read the whole thing?:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/ahmadinejad-critics-lead-in-iran-vote-results-but-little-change-expected/2012/03/03/gIQARg6xoR_story.html