LDS Church responds to Boy Scouts of America’s policy vote

DeseretNews

“The Church’s long-established policy for participation in activities is stated in the basic instructional handbook used by lay leaders of the Church: “young men … who agree to abide by Church standards” are “welcomed warmly and encouraged to participate” (Handbook 2: Administering the Church [2010], 8.17.3). This policy applies to Church-sponsored Scout units. Sexual orientation has not previously been—and is not now—a disqualifying factor for boys who want to join Latter-day Saint Scout troops. Willingness to abide by standards of behavior continues to be our compelling interest.

 

The country’s in the very best of hands…

Wait…we have terrorists in WitSec??

The Justice Department failed to provide the names of some terrorists in the witness protection program to the center that maintains the government’s watch list used to keep dangerous people off airline flights, the department’s inspector general said in a report Thursday.

As a result of the department’s failure to properly share information, some in the witness protection program who were on the “no-fly” list were allowed to travel on commercial flights, the federal watchdog said.

“It was possible for known or suspected terrorists to fly on commercial airplanes in or over the United States and evade one of the government’s primary means of identifying and tracking terrorists’ movements and actions,” the report said.

To help protect witnesses from the people and organizations against whom they testify, the U.S. Marshals Service provides cooperating witnesses with new names and identities.

“We found that the department was not authorizing the disclosure to the Terrorist Screening Center of the new identities provided to known or suspects terrorists” in the federal Witness Security Program, known officially as WitSec.

6 Years + 300 Lashes in Saudi Arabia for Helping Woman Convert to Christianity

TheVolokhConspiracy

Agence France Press reports:

A Saudi court jailed a Lebanese man for six years and sentenced him to 300 lashes after convicting him of encouraging a Saudi woman to convert to Christianity, Saudi dailies reported Sunday.

The same court sentenced a Saudi man convicted in the same case to two years in prison and 200 lashes for having helped the young woman flee the ultra-conservative, US-backed Sunni kingdom [without her family's permission, which is a crime], local daily Al-Watan said….

The woman, known only as “the girl of Khobar,” was granted refuge in Sweden where she lives under the protection of unspecified NGOs, according to local press reports….

Both men, who could also be prosecuted over other charges including corruption and forging official documents that allowed the woman to leave the country without her family’s agreement, will appeal.

The accused and the young woman were coworkers at an insurance company, so I suspect the woman was an adult. Thanks to Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause) for the pointer.

Muslims worldwide support democracy and religious freedom

DeseretNews

Most Muslims around the world would prefer living in a democracy that upholds religious freedom, according to surveys conducted after the start of the Arab Spring that also found many Muslims want their religious code to be the law of the land.

The view of Sharia, or Islamic law, as part of a democracy may seem contradictory to Westerners, but it is not inconsistent in areas of the world where politics and public life are drawn along religious instead of secular lines, researchers said.

“Democracy needs to be continually questioned in terms of its definition so that it is not just seen as a secular endeavor,” said Farid Senzai, director of research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding at Santa Clara University. “(Western governments) continue to support and promote democracy but insist that it be a secular project when the evidence suggests in (Muslim countries) it will never be a secular project.”

LDS Church satisfied with Scouting membership compromise

DeseretNews

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement Thursday indicating it is satisfied with the Boy Scouts of America’s proposed policy compromise on membership and leadership.

The BSA proposal, released last week, says “no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.” It does not change the existing policy for Scout leaders of not granting “membership to individuals who are open or avowed homosexuals or who engage in behavior that would become a distraction to the mission of the BSA.”

I saw her eyes’: Mom dons burqa, rescues kidnapped son in Egypt

Wow. Awesome!

Through the slit of the burqa she wore to blend in on the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, Kalli Atteya waited and watched until the boy climbed off the school bus. When she saw him, she moved quickly, grabbing his arm and steering him toward the waiting motorized cart.

“Get in,” she said to the 12-year-old, who recognized his mother’s piercing blue eyes and obeyed wordlessly.

Soon, they were speeding toward a safehouse where they would wait for three weeks before returning to the U.S., and ending a 20-month ordeal that began with another abduction — one the boy, Khalil Mohamed “Niko” Atteya, did not accept willingly. His father, Mohamed Atteya, who is wanted by the U.S. authorities, is accused of luring the mother and son to his homeland, then snatching the boy and leaving Kalli Atteya and her sister on the side of a desolate road between Cairo and Port Said on Aug. 1, 2011.

“My Dad forced me to be Muslim, which I did not want to do,” Niko, who has been back in Pennsylvania for more than a month, told FoxNews.com.

A world away, he had a determined mother who would spare no expense and even risk her own safety to save her boy. After a torturous struggle that included false leads, false hopes and more than $100,000 spent, Kalli Atteya finally showed what the love and determination of a mom can do.

Oh, Puleese…

 UAE men ‘too handsome’ for Saudi festival

Ain’t it a shame that the Saudi’s have so little faith in their women’s intelligence? Oh, wait. They’re going on their men’s inability to control themselves. Gotcha.

Three Emirati men were ejected from a festival in Saudi Arabia as they were deemed “too handsome”, leading authorities to fear women could become attracted to them, it has been reported.

According to Arabic language Elaph newspaper, the UAE nationals were taking part in a heritage event in the capital Riyadh on Sunday when they were thrown out by Saudi’s religious police.

Saudi Arabia, a strictly conservative Sunni Muslim society, prohibits women from interacting with unrelated males.

“A festival official said the three Emiratis were taken out on the grounds they are too handsome and that the Commission members feared female visitors could fall for them,” the newspaper said.

Um, yeah…

Slip-Slidin’ Towards the Slippery Slope…

Legalize Polygamy!

Yes, really. While the Supreme Court and the rest of us are all focused on the human right of marriage equality, let’s not forget that the fight doesn’t end with same-sex marriage. We need to legalize polygamy, too. Legalized polygamy in the United States is the constitutional, feminist, and sex-positive choice. More importantly, it would actually help protect, empower, and strengthen women, children, and families.

For decades, the prevailing logic has been that polygamy hurts women and children. That makes sense, since in contemporary American practice that is often the case. In many Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints  polygamous communities, for example, women and underage girls are forced into polygamous unions against their will. Some boys, who represent the surplus of males, are brutally thrown out of their homes and driven into homelessness and poverty at very young ages. All of these stories are tragic, and the criminals involved should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. (That goes without saying, I hope.)

But legalizing consensual adult polygamy wouldn’t legalize rape or child abuse. In fact, it would make those crimes easier to combat.

Utah researchers studying benefits of fasting

KTVB

Utah medical researchers are studying whether the kind of periodic fasting encouraged by the Mormon church can reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Researchers at Intermountain Medical Center are seeking 12 study participants with metabolic issues, such as high blood sugar or obesity, who will fast roughly once a week over a five-week period.

Benjamin Horne of the hospital’s Intermountain Heart Institute says researchers have long credited Utah’s low heart attack rate to the fact that many of its residents are Mormon and don’t smoke.

Horne says that got him thinking about other religion-motivated habits that might help the body.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints urges members to skip food and water for one day each month as a way to grow closer to God.

Al Fox: Tattooed Mormon

DeseretNews

“To all those that feel that they do not fit in, I tell you with confidence, that you’re wrong. To all those who are afraid to return because of past mistakes, I say, “Come!” To all those who sit there offended and holding yourselves back, I ask, is it still worth it?”

Being a reconverted/rebaptized member, I know that we who have fallen away become our most virulent critics. Come back.