News of religious/ethical change, tolerance,
information, conflict and/or intolerance
2009-November

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Events:
 | 2009-NOV-02: North America: Larry David, urine, and a picture of Jesus:
In the 2009-OCT-26 episode of HBO's "Curb your Enthusiasm" featured the lead
star, Larry David, having a urination problem. Unlike the problem that many
men face of a low stream velocity and volume, he has the opposite problem:
high stream velocity and volume. In one scene, he is urinating into a toilet
with such force that water from the toilet, mixed with urine, is splashing in
all directions. One part landed up on a painting of Jesus Christ in a way that
seemed to indicate that the image was crying. The rest of the episode was
built around this apparently miraculous event. It was widely implied by
various conservative Christian groups that David had urinated directly on the
painting.
America Needs Fatima is mounting a campaign to demand an apology by
HBO. 1
|
 | 2009-NOV-08: USA: House passes health
insurance bill: The House made the first move to bring the U.S.' system of
health care into alignment with all other developed countries. According to
the Huffington Post:
"The House floor erupted in one of the loudest cheers the chamber has
heard in years when Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), an hour before midnight, cast
the 218th and deciding vote on landmark health care reform."
2
"The final vote was 220 to 215. 218 votes were required to pass the bill.
219 Democrats and 1 Republican voted for the bill."
"The bill contains a Stupak-Pitts Amendment that would prohibit payment for
elective abortions. The amendment passed 240 to 194."
"Passage of the bill is, to us, a surprising development because so many of
the representatives have received large sums of money from the health
insurance industry. Our opinion is that many of the representatives should
have declared a conflict of interest and abstained from voting because of
this." |
 | 2009-NOV-13: Tony Alamo sentenced to 175 years in jail: Tony Alamo,
74, is a Pentecostal pastor who heads up the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries.
He was convicted on 2009-JUL-24 in Federal District Court for Arkansas on ten
counts of interstate transportation of minors for illegal sexual purposes,
rape, sexual assault and contributing to the delinquency of minors. According
to a report by CNN on 2008-OCT-22, some of his former followers had testified
that Alamo had practiced polygyny and had married a girl who was nine years
old at the time. Shortly after his conviction , he described himself as
"...just another one of the prophets that went to jail for the Gospel." On
NOV-13, he was given 175 year sentence. 3
|
 | 2009-NOV-16: World: Tim LaHaye signs contract
for new series of apocalyptic book series: LaHaye and lawyer/author Craig
Parshall have signed a contract with Zondervan to write a new series of
end-of-the-world books titled "Edge of Apocalypse." LaHaye's
earlier series -- the Left Behind series -- sold over 64 million copies since
the first title was published in 1995. 4
|
 | 2009-NOV-19: USA: Religious book sales
continue decline: The Association of American Publishers
(AAP) reports that sales of
religious books have dropped during 2009 by 10.6% while overall book sales
increased by 3.6% in spite of the economic recession. 5
|
 | 2009-NOV-23: India: Leaked report on Hindu
riot creates uproar: The site of the 16th century Babri Jasjid (Muslim
mosque) was the site of long-term Hindu-Muslim hostility for decades. Some
Hindus claimed that a Hindu temple had once been on the site to mark the
birthplace of their God Ram. On 1992-DEC-6, a Hindu mob tore down the mosque.
This triggered Hindu-Muslim riots across India that resulted in the death of
over 2,000 people.
Former high court judge M. S. Liberhan conducted an inquiry that took 17 years
to complete. It is believed to blame leaders of the main Indian opposition
party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A spokesperson for the BJP, Rajiv Pratap Rudy,
said the report had been leaked to "... divert attention from core issues"
like rising costs and corruption.
|
 | 2009-NOV-29: Switzerland: Voters approve ban on minarets: By a 58
to 42% margin, Swiss voters approved a constitutional amendment that bans
future constructions of minarets -- the tall towers that form part of most
Islamic mosques. Muslims total about 6% of the population but only about 13%
of Muslims actually practice their religion. Only a minority of the less than
1% of the population who actively practice the Muslim faith are militant.
However, some right wing and ultra-conservative groups, including the
nationalist Swiss People's Party, successfully promoted the belief that
the minarets are symbols of increasing Muslim religious and political power.
The country's four existing minarets will be allowed to exist. The government,
most political parties, Christian denominations and the business community
strongly opposed the ban. 6 |

References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- "Battle against blasphemy heats up in America," Email, America Needs Fatima,
2009-NOV-02.
- "Health Care Passes: The Scene In The House When It Happened," Email alert,
Huffington Post, 2009-NOV-08
- "Tony Alamo," Wikipedia, as of 2009-NOV-15, at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/
- "LaHaye to write new apocalyptic series," Christian Retailing, 2009-NOV-16,
at:
http://christianretailing.com/
- "Religious book sales decline again," Christian Retailing, 2009-NOV-19, at:
http://christianretailing.com/
- "Projection: Swiss vote to ban new minarets," Religion News Blog,
2009-NOV-29, at:
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/

How you got here:

Copyright © 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2009-NOV-02
Latest update: 2009-NOV-30
Author: B.A. Robinson
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