Weekly Weird Religious News

weird religious news - darwin banned in Turkish education

When thinking about weird religious news during the past seven days, perhaps one of the weirdest to go public was yet another end-of-the-world prediction. The weird bit is not that the prediction popped up, but rather that some took it seriously and some media outlets vigorously promoted it. Since I’ve already blogged earlier in the week … Read more

Turkish Twitter whistleblower exposing corruption in Turkey

There is a twitter user who is spilling the innermost secrets of the corrupt Turkish Government, and you can even read the tweets in English as well. He claims he’s male, works alone, is part of Erdogan’s inner circle, and so has access to all that is going on. One source comments … “Fuat Avni’s consistent … Read more

Teenager sent to jail in Turkey for the crime of calling for secularism

You may have heard about the story of a teenager in Turkey who was sent to jail for apparently insulting the president. Now the words “teen” and “insult” might conjure up in your mind some rebellious kid yelling unprintable abuse at a well-respected politician, but that is not what went down here, this is something … Read more

Turkey Unblocks twitter

Turkey is back on the map once again. Officials there have now announced that the country has lifted the ban on Twitter on Thursday – see news reports – and yes, their Government  does confirm that they have lifted the ban a day after the country’s highest court ruled that the Twitter ban was illegal, ordering the government to unblock … Read more

Does secularism really matter? Yes, and Turkey today is an example of what can happen if you do not agree.

Lets start be understanding what the term secularism does and does not mean. It does not mean that all religious beliefs should be banned, because unlike many forms of belief that will not tolerate non-belief or other beliefs, secularism is just about the separation of church and state. Why does this matter? Well because the … Read more

Turkish Astrophysicist Faces Prison for Objecting to Headscarves

Science reports on a truly outrageous example of religious intolerance running rampant in Turkey … intolerance, humm, can you possibly guess which belief system might be involved? It concerns senior astrophysics professor, Rennan Pekünlü, (pictured), who teaches at Ege University in Izmir. His  vile crime is that he refused to allow women from entering his classroom wearing headscarves (shudders … oh the horror). One of these … Read more