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DHAKA, Bangladesh — A prominent U.S. blogger, known for his writing against religious fundamentalism, has been hacked to death by unidentified attackers in Bangladesh’s capital, police said Friday.
The attack on Avijit Roy, a Bangladesh-born U.S. citizen, took place late Thursday when he and his wife Rafida Ahmed, who was seriously injured in the attack, were returning from a book fair at Dhaka University.
It was not known who was behind the attack, but Roy’s family and friends say he was a prominent voice against religious fanatics and received threats in the past. No groups have claimed the responsibility.
The local police chief, Sirajul Islam, told The Associated Press that the assailants used cleavers to attack Roy and his wife, who is also a blogger.
“Several attackers took part in the attack and at least two assailants hit them directly,” Islam said, adding that two blood-stained cleavers were found after the attack.
Roy had founded a popular Bengali-language blog — Mukto-mona, or Free Mind — in which articles on scientific reasoning and religious extremism featured prominently. Read more
— An Idaho Republican said a proposed ban on faith-healing could violate the religious rights of her constituents – many of whom eschew medical care for themselves and their families.
“They have a clear understanding of what the role of government should be – (and it) isn’t how to tell me how to live my life,” said state Rep. Christy Perry (R-Nampa).
Legislation limiting a faith exemption for medical care in the state’s child neglect law was proposed after a string of preventable child deaths in Marsing among members of the Followers of Christ Church.
State Rep. John Gannon (D-Boise) wants to narrow the loophole to permit prosecution of parents who rely on faith-healing “whenever a child’s medical condition may cause death or permanent disability.”
But Perry insists Followers of Christ have a First Amendment right to deny medical care to their children on religious grounds, arguing that they are perhaps more comfortable confronting death, reported Al Jazeera America.
“Children do die,” Perry said. “I’m not trying to sound callous, but (reformers) want to act as if death is an anomaly. But it’s not — it’s a way of life.” Read more
Wow some serious stupid in progress..
— David Tredinnick says that astrology and complementary medicine could help healthcare and opponents are ‘racially prejudiced’
A Conservative MP has claimed that astrology could have “a role to play in healthcare”.
David Tredinnick said astrology, along with complementary medicine, could take pressure off NHS doctors, but acknowledged that any attempt to spend taxpayers’ money on consulting the stars would cause “a huge row”.
He criticised the BBC and TV scientist Professor Brian Cox for taking a “dismissive” approach to astrology, and accused opponents of being “racially prejudiced”.
The MP for Bosworth, in Leicestershire, who is a Capricorn and in 2010 paid back £755 he had claimed in expenses for software that used astrology to diagnose medical conditions, told Astrological Journal: “I do believe that astrology and complementary medicine would help take the huge pressure off doctors.
“Ninety per cent of pregnant French women use homeopathy. Astrology is a useful diagnostic tool enabling us to see strengths and weaknesses via the birth chart.
“And, yes, I have helped fellow MPs. I do foresee that one day astrology will have a role to play in healthcare.” Read more
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How about throwing these nutters in jail.. .or mental hospital
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NEW YORK (AP) — The city said Tuesday it has reached a tentative agreement with members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community over a tradition known as oral suction circumcision.
Health officials have linked 17 cases of infant herpes since 2000 to the ancient ritual of sucking blood from the wounds on the infants’ penises.
On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration said mohels, as the circumcisers are called in Yiddish, should no longer be required to obtain signed consent forms before the rites.
Administration officials said they will ask the Board of Health to vote to rescind the requirement while working with a coalition of rabbinical leaders and medical experts to educate members of the ultra-Orthodox community about the possible dangers of the practice, known as metzitzah b’peh in Hebrew. A vote is expected in June.
If an infant is found to have herpes after a circumcision, officials will ask a rabbinical coalition to identify the mohel who performed it so his DNA can be tested. If he’s found to have infected the infant, he’ll be banned from performing the ritual
During a TV show, Saudi historian Saleh Al-Saadoon said that women should not be allowed to drive on the grounds that they might get raped if their car broke down on the roadside. “[Western women] don’t care if they are raped on the roadside, but we do”, he said on the January 11, 2015 show on the Saudi Rotana Khalijiyya TV
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An Irish-trained doctor performed an exorcism on a seriously ill patient after promising he could “heal” her without medication, a medical tribunal yesterday.
GP Dr Thomas O’Brien, 56, persuaded the mother of one to undergo the spiritual procedure at his local Pentecostal church after telling her: “God is your surgeon,” it was claimed.
During a four month period leading to the ceremony, O’Brien who qualified as a doctor from the National University of Ireland in 1982, subjected the patient who was in great pain after stomach surgery to “religious grooming”
He said the “devil was having a real go at her” and that she had “devil items” in her house, it was alleged.
The doctor further exploited her vulnerability by quoting the Bible at her, taking her to religious meetings, praying with her at home and even programming her television remote to satellite TV’s The Gospel Channel, it was said. Read more
