ALL THE ESSENTIALS

I'm not a man of faith but my wife is Catholic and my children are being brought up as Catholic. I think a lot of people want the Catholic Church to come clean. "You can't keep a lid on sin.” NICK CLEGG If it is alright for Nick Clegg to openly declare, “I’m not a man of faith" thereby allowing his 'faith' or non-faith status to influence his answers to questions and win public approval, why is it that those who profess to be faithful i.e., Gordon Brown and David Cameron do not allow their faith to dictate their thinking on pertinent issues? The question is would they win public approval in the same way, and if not why not? Last Thursday’s TV debate amongst candidates in the British election was insightful. What would have been political suicide in the United States and some other countries actually turned out to be the debate winner. Nick Clegg in answer to a question about the pope indicated he was no man of faith. Such a saying is adorable in Britain,...

THISDAYONLINE, A NIGERIAN PUBLICATION REPORTS OF HARASSMENT AGAINST A GHANAIAN SCHOLAR BY THE AUTHORITIES. HIS CRIME? PUBLISHING A BOOK ON NIQAB (FACE VEIL) WORN BY MUSLIM WOMEN. MALAM ISSAH HASSAN TIKUMAH A FOMER LECTURER IN SOCIAL STUDIES AT AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IS BEFUDDLED. HE CANNOT COMPREHEND THE FACT THAT HE IS BEING ACCUSED OF THREATENING PEACE AND SECURITY IN NIGERIA. “I HAVE SPENT A GREAT DEAL OF MY TIME, ENERGY AND MONEY FOR 31 YEARS WORKING TO FOSTER PEACE AND SECURITY IN NIGERIA, HOW CAN I BE ACCUSED OF BEING A THREAT?” HE ASKED. THE DILEMMA THOUGH IS HOW TO CLASSIFY THIS SITUATION AS RELIGIOUS HARASSMENT OR INTOLERANCE SINCE MALAM ISSAH IS HIMSELF MUSLIM.  MALAM ISSAH IT MIGHT JUST BE THAT YOU FIND YOURSELF IN THE WRONG ENVIRONMENT. PERHAPS THE FRENCH OR BELGIAN GOVERNMENTS MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN CONSULTANCIES? PHOTO CREDIT: GOOGLE IMAGES

MICHAEL W. SMITH SINGS "COME TOGETHER NOW" IN HEALING FOR HAITI ALBUM. VIDEO . Download from iTunes  Purchase cd

At the just ended Nuclear Security Summit in Washington hosted by President Obama, 47 countries committed themselves to a 'non-binding' agreement to prevent nuclear terrorism by securing their nuclear facilities within 4 years. Sceptics call it weak but optimists say it is a milestone in achieving nuclear non-poliferation. Whichever way one looks at it, the summit was hailed as historic. Even more poignant was the agreement reached by both Russia and the United States to reduce their nuclear arsenal a week earlier on April 8. To all intents and purposes, these agreements fervently hope to prevent a sight similar to that created by "Fat Man"(name of the atom bomb)infamously dropped over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 by "Bock's Car" (American B-29 bomber). President Obama famously remarked after the summit of April 13 that the world was a safer place with the nuclear agreement. Just before the ink could dry on the agreement, the world was awakened on A...

IN MY POSTING ON APRIL 8TH AND 13TH, I WARNED ABOUT THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT PRACTICES AND THE SUBTLETY WITH WHICH IT HAD EVADED DETECTION. SO SHREWD IS THE PACKAGING THAT BELIEVE IT OR, IT IS ACTUALLY BEING PROMOTED FROM SOME CHRISTIAN PULPITS TODAY. NOW READ ABOUT THE DIABOLIC ACTION BY GAMESTATION (UK's LEADING GAMES RETAILER). IF THIS DOES NOT CAUSE YOU TO RETHINK OF THE DANGER POSED BY NEW AGE, THEN NOTHING WILL. GAMESTATION WHATEVER THEIR INTENTIONS, CUNNINGLY DISGUISED THE PLOT ON APRIL FOOLS DAY TO FOOL EVEN THOSE WHO MIGHT HAVE NOTICED IT. IF IT WERE AN APRIL FOOL PRANK, DID ANYBODY GET THE £5 VOUCHER TOO? IF YES THEN IT WAS REAL BELIEVE IT OR NOT. It wasn’t just a gag though: the roughly 12% of customers who clicked the links were given a free £5 voucher. WHAT BAFFLES ME IS THE AUDACITY WITH WHICH GAMESTATION DID THIS. WHETHER IT PORTRAYED A WEIRD SENSE OF HUMOR OR A BOLD STATEMENT OF ACTUAL INTENT, IT IS EVIDENT OF THE NOTORIETY AND SEEMING INVINCIBILITY OF THE NEW A...

The pew forum on Thursday April 15 released a report; "Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa." The report shows the sub-region in the lead in terms of world religious practice. I am not very excited about the report as it shows that religious expansion has plateaued or peaked as there are just as many Christians as there are Muslims overall. If the report is anything to go by then the revelation is in the section which says: While the survey finds that both Christianity and Islam are flourishing in sub-Saharan Africa, the results suggest that neither faith may expand as rapidly in this region in the years ahead as it did in the 20th century, except possibly through natural population growth. There are two main reasons for this conclusion. First, the survey shows that most people in the region have committed to Christianity or Islam, which means the pool of potential converts from outside these two faiths has decreased dramatically. In most...

UNCONFIRMED REPORTS COMING THROUGH FROM AMERICA INDICATES, ELIN NORDEGREN, WIFE OF GOLFER TIGER WOODS MIGHT SEEK DIVORCE. FRIENDS SAY, IT WAS TRIGGERED BY WHAT SHE (NORDEGREN) CONSIDERED A 'CHEESY' ADVERT FEATURING TIGER'S LATE FATHER EARL. WIKITIONARY GIVES 4 DEFINITIONS OF CHEESY: of or relating to cheese resembling cheese a cheesy flavor ( informal ) of poor quality through being overdramatic, excessively emotional or clichéd, trite, contrived, shoddy a cheesy song a cheesy movie ( informal ) of a solution to a problem, inelegant, showing no skill  MORE