American Buddhist Net

PARIS — Siddhartha's spiritual journey from powerful prince to supreme Buddha comes alive at the Paris Opera this week when France's top contemporary choreographer Angelin Preljocaj creates a new ballet "where dance gives spirit to the body."

LINK TO ORIGINAL

The head of a new-age sect in Italy, said to have at least a thousand followers, has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing young girls and their mothers.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

DUBLIN – It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

By John Cooney
Saturday March 13 2010

A depressing week for Pope Benedict dramatically escalated last night into an unprecedented papal crisis when he was directly implicated in a cover-up of a German paedophile priest when he was Cardinal Archbishop of Munich 30 years ago.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Catholic church investigates 170 allegations in Germany; justice minister cites Vatican 'wall of silence' set up by Benedict

LINK TO ORIGINAL

A prostitution ring linked to alleged corruption in the awarding of public works contracts for the G8 summit in Italy involved as many as 350 women, investigating magistrates said yesterday.

The apparent scale of the “sex for favours” affair, which was previously said to involve three or four women, is a further blow to the centre-Right Government of Silvio Berlusconi.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Fifty-one decapitated skeletons found in a burial pit in Dorset were those of Scandinavian Vikings, scientists say.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

A cardinal seen as a future candidate for the papacy has broken a Vatican taboo by raising the possibility that priestly celibacy is among the causes of the sex abuse scandal sweeping the Roman Catholic Church.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

The Soviet Union is gradually being rebuilt as Vladimir Putin eyes a return to the Kremlin. The man who declared the collapse of the Communist state to be the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century” appears determined to forge a new empire.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

These are the latest creations of extraordinary artist Tommy McHugh - a former builder and youth offender who can't stop painting since he emerged from a coma.

Mr McHugh, 60, nearly died after two blood vessels burst in the back of his head.

But after a week in a coma, he awoke with an uncontrollable urge to create and began writing poetry, painting the interior of his home, sculpting and carving.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

A 50-year mystery over the 'cursed bread' of Pont-Saint-Esprit, which left residents suffering hallucinations, has been solved after a writer discovered the US had spiked the bread with LSD as part of an experiment.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

The Romani, referred to colloquially and often derogatorily as gypsies, number somewhere between 8 to 12 million living principally in Europe, but also in some areas of the Middle East and Asia. Census data is inexact due to many of the people’s stateless status. They have no discernible homeland although genetically and by culture it is speculated that their origins were somewhere in South Asia (India).

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Danish Scientist Absconds with $2 million More Info - Key character who "proved" vaccines don't cause autism.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Tens of thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators gathered in at least four Spanish cities to protest against a new law that allows abortions without restrictions up to 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Organizers' spokesman Victor Gago said one march, carrying banners of "Yes to life," blocked the central Sol square of the capital, Madrid.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

It is one of the most potent symbols of the Christian church: the thin, round unleavened wafer used in the celebration of holy communion.

Traditionally this "sacramental bread", representing the body of Christ, has been made by nuns as a source of income for their communities. But the good sisters of France have found that even the body of Christ is subject to free market forces.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

After two studies refuted President Barack Obama’s assertions regarding the success of Spain’s and Denmark’s wind energy programs, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request reveals the Department of Energy turned to George Soros and to wind industry lobbyists to attack the studies.

Via the FOIA request, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has learned that the Department of Energy — specifically the office headed by Al Gore’s company’s former CEO, Cathy Zoi — turned to George Soros’ Center for American Progress and other wind industry lobbyists to help push Obama’s wind energy proposals.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

...“Ordinary people, farmers and fishermen, taxpayers, doctors, nurses, teachers, are being asked to shoulder through their taxes a burden that was created by irresponsible greedy bankers,” President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson said on Bloomberg Television.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

And in the American case, furthered by corrupt and dishonest government officials. ABN

Senior industry figures expect controversial measures against illegal filesharing to become law before general election

LINK TO ORIGINAL

WARSAW — They loiter at the mall for hours, young teenage girls selling their bodies in return for designer jeans, Nokia cell phones, even a pair of socks.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

LONDON — Monitored by millions of cameras and spied on by a secretive domestic intelligence network, Britons could be forgiven for feeling up in arms over the latest threat to their privacy: Intelligent garbage bins that can monitor how much they throw out.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Mr Taylor's contribution to the prayer room is something I find disagreeable (from the sound of it), but if I had seen his "offering" I expect I would be quite encouraged at the thought that he clearly regards "religion" (however that is supposed to be defined) as important enough to him to hate to such an extent. It's almost a commendation, in a strange, inverted kind of way.

I can only speak for myself as a Christian, but this kind of picky, sulky, self-absorbed, "persecution obsessed", hyper-sensitive attitude of "offence taking" at every slight and perceived slight will be the death of this country, quite frankly.

I have the right to strongly disagree with atheism (which I do), and to express that view in perhaps colourful ways that reflect how I feel about what I consider to be a ridiculous explanation of reality. Therefore I have to also accept that atheists may have equally strong views that might offend me. It's called freedom of thought and conscience.

It seems to me that what really lies behind this hyper-sensitive "offence taking" is a kind of self-centredness in which people refuse to engage with others or allow other people's lives to impact their own: "I want to live in my cosy little world, and woe betide anyone who says or does anything to disturb me." It's quite existentialist in a Sartrean kind of way: "Hell is other people" said the great Jean-Paul. It has absolutely nothing to do with authentic Christianity.

So here's the solution: dump the offending material in the garbage, acquit Mr Taylor, and let's all grow up and move on.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

The above passage is a comment below the story "Militant Atheist" found guilty of religious harassment. To my mind that law is sheer farce and the British must have taken leave of their senses. I hope we never see anything like that in the USA, though our hate crime laws have already taken us half-way there because under those laws what you say or have said may be used as proof of "hate" in the prosecution of another crime. ABN

Vatican chorister sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for papal gentleman-in-waiting

LINK TO ORIGINAL

"The airport is named after one of my heroes and his view on religion was pretty much the same as mine. I thought it was an insult to his memory to have a prayer room in his airport." That was part of the evidence given in court by the self-styled "militant atheist" campaigner Harry Taylor, 59, to why he left anti-religious materials in the multi-faith Prayer Room of Liverpool's John Lennon Airport (pictured).

...Harry Taylor is now on bail awaiting sentencing on 23 April. Religiously aggravated offences carry a potential seven-year prison term.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Called the Hotshot, the condom has been produced after government research showed 12 to14-year-olds did not use sufficient protection when having sex.

The study, conducted on behalf of the Federal Commission for Children and Youth, interviewed 1,480 people aged 10 to 20.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Heads will be forced to list children as young as five on school 'hate registers' over everyday playground insults.

Even minor incidents must be recorded as examples of serious bullying and details kept on a database until the pupil leaves secondary school.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Wrangling over Copyright Protection Treaty

Recent leaks suggest the 39 countries negotiating an international copyright protection treaty could require Internet service providers to ban repeat piracy offenders from using the Web. The German government, however, has now voiced its opposition to the proposal, which has been heavily criticized by civil rights activists.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

German officials investigating sex crimes within Roman Catholic establishments have raided a convent while looking for evidence of child abuse.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

A Muslim woman is thought to have become the first passenger to be stopped from boarding a flight after refusing to go through a full body scanner for religious reasons.

The passenger was at Manchester Airport for a flight to Islamabad when she was selected at random to pass through the security screen.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

BERLIN — Germany's highest court on Tuesday overturned a law allowing authorities to retain data on telephone calls and e-mail traffic for help in tracking criminal networks.

LINK TO ORIGINAL