Aleem maqbool biography books
Stop Aleem Maqbool’s appointment as Head of religion for the BBC – SIGN THE PETITION
Petition Closed 15th June 2022
Number of signatures: 8,907
View the Petition Here.
Stop Aleem Maqbool’s appointment as Head of religion for the BBC
Petition to: Nadine Dorries MP – Secretary of State for Digital – Culture – Media and Sport
The BBC has, after what they say was a competitive recruitment process, appointed a new Religion editor, Aleem Maqbool. Mr Maqbool, a Muslim and journalist of some note, previously acted as the BBC’s Pakistan Correspondent and Gaza/West Bank Correspondent (https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2021/bbc-news-aleem-maqbool-religion-editor/). He is due to take up his new position this Spring.
Maqbool succeeds Martin Bashir and, before that, Aaqil Ahmed. Two of these men are overtly Muslim, and one is of Muslim heritage. In Ahmed’s promotion of multicultural programming, there were numerous complaints of anti-Christian bias and calls for his removal.
The BBC was established by Royal Charter in 1927, ‘to inform, educate and entertain’, with committed Christian, Lord Reith, appointed as Director-General. Inscribed over the foyer of Broadcasting House, in Latin, are the words:
“This temple of the arts and muses is dedicated to Almighty God by the first Governors in the year of our Lord 1931, John Reith being director-general…”
Our society and culture are founded on Christian values, and we are a Christian country. According to the Office for National Statistics, 59% of the population self-identify as Christian, with only 6.3% identifying as Muslim. (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/articles/exploringreligioninenglandandwales/february2020; https://www.statista.com/topics/4765/islam-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/#dossierKeyfigures).
On what grounds can and does the BBC justify appointing as Head of religion on the last three successive occasions – since 2009 – only British Asi
Vatican stands firm on social issues like sex change and surrogacy
BBC News
The Vatican has reiterated its staunch opposition to sex changes, gender theory, surrogate parenthood, abortion and euthanasia in a text dubbed "Dignitas Infinita" (Infinite Dignity).
Other social themes, such as poverty, migration and human trafficking are also emphasised as being potential threats to human dignity.
The text was signed by Pope Francis.
The pontiff has often been criticised by Catholic conservatives over his perceived liberal stance.
Some conservatives have accused him of steering the Catholic Church too far away from some traditional teachings.
But for some liberals, he has not done enough to encourage to Church to evolve by any tangible measure on these questions.
In 2023, Pope Francis said transgender people could be baptised in the Catholic Church as long as doing so did not cause scandal or "confusion". He also allowed priests to bless same-sex couples under certain circumstances, although the Vatican said it continued to view marriage as between a man and a woman.
Last year, the Pope directed the Vatican's powerful doctrine office, and the new man steering it with whom he is close, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, to look at the complexities of "new questions" facing people in the world today.
Cardinal Fernández came under fire for a book he wrote and published in the late 1990s which discussed human sexuality in great detail.
Certainly, on issues like same-sex unions and the role of women in the Church, the Pope has seemed liberal in tone, with the potential for some practical change in the pipeline.
On other issues though, Pope Francis has left little room for doubt about his immoveable stance. Some of his strongest language on doctrine has been reserved for two such topics dealt with in the new document that he has approved.
H
Odd local lore in the West Bank
Spiegel Online
December 2008
Israel’s security barrier in the West Bank has started to resemble the western side of the Berlin Wall. The Israeli side is bleak and clean, but on the Palestinian side graffiti flourishes. I knew the British painter Banksy had tagged the wall a few years ago, but I had no idea where his stencils were. At first I didn’t care — I was just here to see Bethlehem — but my taxi passed a stencil I’d seen in news reports, a dove wearing a bulletproof vest. So I snapped a picture.
My driver got excited. “You like Banksy?” he said. “You want a tour? I can show you all the pictures.”
I’d stumbled on one of Bethlehem’s new tourist attractions: the unofficial Banksy tour. In the year since he tagged buildings around Bethlehem — and the three years or so since he painted famous trompe l’oeil stencils of holes in the massive wall around the West Bank — Banksy’s images have become part of the landscape. They even help bring a little money into Bethlehem’s tourist economy, which was crushed when Israel built the security wall in 2002. Israel argues that the wall has stopped suicide bombings, which have largely been replaced by regular missiles from Gaza. But Palestinians say their livelihood has been squeezed, and now “Banksy tours” are a moneymaking venture for some taxi drivers.
Ahmed was lean, close to fifty years old, with a crevassed face and a thin salt-and-pepper mustache. He said he’d helped drive “colors” across the border — paints — for Banksy when he and a few other artists mounted a project to stencil wall surfaces and buildings around Bethlehem late last year.
“The people on our side like his pictures,” he said, “because they can see what he mean” — and because the artist raised money last Christmas for Palestinian kids through a temporary gallery called “Santa’s Ghetto” on Bethlehem’s Manger Square.
“Except for two pictures,” Ahmed went on. “Two they washed away. Because they didn’t know what
The Atheist Experience
American live, televised webcast
| The Atheist Experience | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Live call-in talk show |
| Starring |
|
| Theme music composer | Shelley Segal |
| Opening theme | "Saved" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 1000 |
| Producer | |
| Production locations | Austin, Texas |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Release | October 19, 1997 (1997-10-19) – present |
| Talk Heathen, Truth Wanted | |
The Atheist Experience is an American live, weekly televisedwebcast based in Austin, Texas, United States. Listeners are encouraged to call in to discuss the existence of God and related topics. Calls from theists are usually given priority, as the aim of the webcast is to encourage theists to question their theistic beliefs and thus, theists are often asked to explain what they believe, and why.
History
In April 1996, Kellen Von Houser took the initiative of forming a group for atheists in the Austin area by e-mailing local atheists. After several informal monthly gatherings, the Atheist Community of Austin was formally founded on December 15, 1996, by which time it had attracted around sixty members. By June 1997, the ACA had its own website, a relatively new medium at the time, to reach out to fellow atheists on the internet. The first episode of The Atheist Experience, a pre-recorded pilot, aired on October 19, 1997.
From the second show onward, the episodes were broadcast live on cable access television on every other Sunday, giving the opportunity to viewers to call the show live. Initially the show's length was one half-hour. Ray Blevins was the show's first host, while Joe Zamecki served as the first co-host.
The show length was extended to an hour in Sept