From the Aftenposten (thanks to Sr. Soph). From the looks of this, it would appear that the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iran are also in conflict with the United Nations convention.
Norway's Constitution requires that over half of the government cabinet are members of the state church - the Norwegian Helsinki Committee says this provision is a violation of human rights."It cannot be so that one has to join a certain religious community in order to be a cabinet minister. Not if there is to be true religious freedom," NHC assistant secretary general Gunnar M. Karlsen told newspaper Dagsavisen.
"The Constitution's paragraph 12 is in conflict with both the United Nations convention on civil and political rights and the European Council's human rights convention," Høstmælingen said.
The new 'red-green' coalition government of the Labor, Socialist Left and Center parties is currently hammering out their common policy platform, but are likely to favor such a change.
Will Saudi Arabia and Iran "hammer out" their own policy changes? Will the UN ask them to?
http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina50525.htm
The Fall of Europe
Ali Sina
In an act of total insanity, the Council of Europe, decided to ban criticism of Islam equating it to anti-Semitism. Selcuk Gultasli in zaman.com wrote: “Anti-Islamism has been included in the text as a “dangerous inclination” that has to be fought against upon the insistence of Turkey at the summit that 46 Council members attended. The conclusion draft of the summit included the notion of "Islamophobia". The inclusion of this notion in the European organizations' documents for the first time is described as the success of Turkey. The 3rd Council of Europe summit has for the first time mentioned "Islamophobia" in the 9th paragraph of the Warsaw Declaration that was accepted on Tuesday, May 17. The Council has reached the following decisions regarding the issue: Condemnation of any kind of intolerance and discrimination based on gender, race and religious beliefs in particular, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, the fight against these within the framework of the Council of Europe and the use of effective mechanisms and rules to combat these problems. Thus, anti-Islamism as well as anti-Semitism will be dealt with within the framework of legal proceedings. The Council reports will include anti-Islamist movements. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) will closely monitor these movements. The Commission will record in which country anti-Islamism increases or how it is reflected.”
http://fjordman.blogspot.com/2005/08/norwegian-left-courts-pakistani-vote.html
Welcome to Eurabia! You know you have entered a strange world when leading politicians from Norway, a country straddling the Arctic Circle and with no colonial history, begin their election campaigns in the Pakistani countryside. I should mention that even our "Conservative" party (Høyre) has been courting the Pakistani vote, but as usual in Europe, the Socialists spare no efforts in their cooperation with Muslims. Leader of the Socialist Left party, Kristin Halvorsen, even praised all the "blood, sweat and tears Pakistanis in Norway have spent on building the country". She talked a little about the status of women, but absolutely nothing about the appalling situation for Pakistan's few remaining Christian and Hindu communities. The Leftist block still retains a narrow lead ahead of our national elections in September. If they win, Halvorsen will become a senior member of our Cabinet.
Thousands of Pakistani children with Scandinavian citizenship are sent to Koran shcools in Pakistan, to prevent them from becoming "too Westernized". When this practice was documented and criticized by the Norwegian organization Human Rights Service, Pakistanis in Norway had the galls to ask for a school for their children in Pakistan, funded by Norwegian taxpayers. They will probably get it.
Politician Per Sandberg from the Progress Party claims to have received information about possibly tens of thousand of Pakistanis in Norway involved in a network aimed at creating instability within the country. Local Pakistanis also invited the extremist politician Qazi Hussain Ahmed, who has earlier praised Osama bin Laden and been a close backer of the Taliban, to Norway. He was allowed to visit and meet some of our senior Cabinet ministers.
Pakistanis feel so confident in their new colony that Pakistan's ambassador does not hesitate to intimidate even politicians in Norway of Pakistani origins who "step out of line":
Oslo politician felt pressured by Pakistan's ambassador
A member of Oslo's City Council who was born in Pakistan but now holds Norwegian citizenship has twice been called to Pakistan's local embassy. Both times, Pakistan's ambassador to Norway questioned her political standpoints, and now Norway's foreign minister Jan Petersen has been told that she felt pressured. The calls from Pakistan's embassy came after Munir became the first known Muslim woman in Norway to support a proposed ban on the use of head scarves and other religious symbols for youth. She then became a target of criticism within the local Pakistani community. She declined to comment on the issue after receiving several anonymous and bothersome phone calls. Newspaper Aftenposten Aften understands that Pakistan's ambassador, Shahbaz Shahbaz, noted in his second meeting with Munir that she still has family in Pakistan.
I think its obvious the Human Rights Service is attemting in their own feeble way to hold back the Islamic tide with a teaspoon. It may appear they do not want a majority of Christians however this may be the only way -- by having established this ruling, that they protect themselves from being over-run by Muslims in the future.
Okay, maybe not ....
In another time or place, one can see why this law would offend. But not now. Not in the present and certain future circumstances. Anything and everythiing that limits the power of Islam, that makes a country more Islam-hostile instead of Islam-friendly, needs to be supported. That is why all non-Muslims, including atheists with little interest in religion, should support the Norwegian law. "True religious freedom" is not the highest good here; the highest good is limiting the power of Islam.
The only possible reason for opposing the law -- and the intervention of supra-national groups such as the E.U. or Helsinki group -- is that it might be too easily employed by Muslims to depict themselves as the victims of Christian bigotry. Only if it appears that that argument is effective should one oppose the law. Otherwise, someone who is a known free-thinker, a Norwegian equivalent of Theo van Gogh or Oriana Fallaci, should come to the defense of the law, and explain why, in current circumstances, support for believing Christians, or those who call themselves Christians, in Europe is as important as it is for non-Jews to support Israel to the hilt in its attempts to resist a relentless Jihad (even if the Israelis themselves, or many of them, are too blind to see what it is they have been facing, to call it by its right name).
Wonderful. Norway is making desperate attempts to prevent the loss of its own cultural identity, a process that is already largely underway, and here's the NHC demanding that it stops doing so.
Where's fairness? Where's reciprocity? Shouldn't these 'champions of Human Rights' strive day and night to see these rights upheld everywhere? Why is it acceptable for Saudi Arabia to tread on the individual freedoms of non-Muslims (read it all), while Norway's attempt to prevent Islamists from taking power in the country — and successfully repeating the Lebanese Scenario — constitutes an outrageous violation of Human Rights.
Is it only me who sees a rather skewed perspective here? Huh, leftists?
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dolphin, CAGE co-founder.
http://www.acage.org
I cannot find an on-line reference to this incident, nor can I remember which particular school it was to check the situation there now.
But about 6/7 years ago a church school in Tower Hamlets in east London (I can't even remember which part of Tower Hamlets, that being the artificial name of the borough formed in 1965 from 3 smaller boroughs. Most old timelocals use the name of their personal district) accepted non Christian pupils and eventually, and not surprisingly, found itself with a sizeable proportion of Moslem pupils.
One of the parents complained (as this made the papers it must have been to the race relations board or suchlike) of "racial discrimination" because there were no Moslems, only Christians on the Board of Governors. Which left aside that Christianity is not a race (neither is Islam) Although I cannot confirm whether any members of the board were black of African heritage I think it was likely. Aa I said I don't know the eventual outcome but I fear that the church school closed and was replaced with one of the state schools with Islamic names that are commonplace in the borough now.
Remember, I posted a couple of days ago, warning about the UN Declaration!
This is all smoothing the way for Turkey's entry into the EU. However, our political masters will get a nasty surprise if they try to force this through without the consent of the electorate.
Granny, your post hits the nail on the head of this despicable nonsense. Norway was not a secular republic, last time I checked - it has an established (christian) church. Now, whether or not you like the idea of a state having an established church is an entirely separate matter, but to complain about a constittionally christian country requiring a majority of its government to be christian is ludicrous.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4303550.stm
Austria it seems is the last defence against Turkey being given an open door to europe
Once again liberal politicians voluntarily just ask to be bent over. How can this be allowed? If my country is Christian then it is Christian, not al inclusive...this is why America is losing its greatness. One or two people are being allowed to bully the majority through the ACLU etc. Religious freedom is rubbish talk and is a waste of time. If the Supreme Law of the land dictates that half of parliament must be Christian then SO BE IT. This is no time for social engineering people...its time to fight for survival.
What these ignorant politicians should remember is not only will these people slit your throats if given half a chance but that being a politician means you must abide by THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE. Stop playing games to stay in office or it will haunt your daughters who before long will be called aisha mohamed and be one of 4 wives being beaten every day. Oh yes and please dont forget that in order to be pious she must wear a full length gown which glorifies her status in islam as a giant vagina.
The next time one of these mohamedans asks for something just say "Sure no problem as soon as it is allowed in Saudi Arabia we will let it happen here. Until then bugger off and have a nice day".
Please wake up
Will Saudi Arabia and Iran "hammer out" their own policy changes? Will the UN ask them to?
Ha ha.
Good one... everyone knows that Islam doesn't change to become compatible with the world, the world changes to become compatible with Islam.
The United Nothing works for Saudi and Iran. The United Nothing exists in order to help spread Islam and criticize Israel, and nothing else.
It simply makes my blood boil to think that these politicians are sitting down with Turkey behind our backs to discuss their entry when they have had absolutely no mandate from the electorate to do this. Since when was Turkey "European?"
The people in Turkey deny the genocide of the Armenians.Until they are brought to justice and pay the fines billions and billions to surviving Armenians,only then will justice be done.The Turks even refuse to see the movie Ararrat.They won't admit to wrong in the past how can Europe trust them not to kill or commit genocide against some other group who they might not like. There arealready victims of Islamic terrorists,Van Gogh.I will never forget the Armenians murdered by the Muslims.