Here’s a video discussion from New York Times. Christians with guns.

There were protests in Malaysia yesterday and four arson attacks on Christian churches, apparently provoked by a court decision to allow Christians to use the word Allah.

[Photo from afp]

Police at Kuala Lumpur church torched in arson attack

A retailer that required a female employee to wear clothing similar to its own brand was not entitled to summary judgment on the EEOC’s claim that it violated Title VII’s religious accommodation requirement. The employee alleged that the retailer’s “look policy” consisted of clothing that was “sexy, form-fitting, and designed to show off body contours and draw attention to the wearer.” The policy conflicted with her religious beliefs. She had recently converted to the Apostolic religion, and began to adhere to its regulations regarding dress. Unable to reach an accommodation over how to dress, the employee resigned and the EEOC filed suit on her behalf.

But here’s the kicker:

The court also ruled that the EEOC was not entitled partial summary judgment on the issue of liability, finding that that the retailer raised triable issues as to the sincerity of the employee’s religious beliefs after she appeared for her deposition wearing “clothing that was potentially inconsistent with her alleged faith”

Ruh-roh! For those of you who enjoy reading these (I do!), the court’s decision is here (pdf).

Secular campaigners in the Irish Republic defied a strict new blasphemy law which came into force today by publishing a series of anti-religious quotations online and promising to fight the legislation in court.

The fine for blasphemy? About $31,500.

The minaret of the new Grand Mosque of Marseille, whose cornerstone will be laid here in April, will be silent — no muezzin, live or recorded, will disturb the neighborhood with the call to prayer. Instead, the minaret will flash a beam of light for a couple of minutes, five times a day.

Normally, the light would be green, for the color of Islam. But Marseille is a port, and green is reserved for signals to ships at sea. Red? No, the firefighters have reserved red.

Instead, said Noureddine Cheikh, the head of the Marseille Mosque Association, the light will almost surely be purple — a rather nightclubby look for such an elegant building.

…Youcef Mammeri, a writer on Islam in France and member of the Joint Council of Muslims of Marseille, says that the debates over minarets, burqas and national identity have angered many French-born Muslims and brought them together in a defensive circle.

This is a tough call. On the one hand, I’m all for religious tolerance. But on the other hand it seems that historical tradition should be respected, too. But then that also cuts both ways. Take Spain and its transformation from Islamic to Catholic rule. If we just go by “who was there first”, this would often thwart the natural flow of history, whether that “flow” came at the end of a sword or not. If Maryland had been settled by Muslims but over the past 50 years a vibrant Christian minority had flourished, should church towers and bells be banned in deference to the over 200 year history of a predominantly Muslim populace? Or if Maryland had been predominantly Catholic (which it was) but now Orthodox Jews were in the ascendancy, should synagogues and payos be banned?

The sad truth is that tensions between different cultures (even those that share the same religion) is practically inevitable especially when there’s a lack of sensitivity and understanding on both sides.

The warden at Virginia’s largest women’s prison is retiring amid allegations the prison discriminated against gay inmates and denied others access to religious services.

The suit alleges that one campus, Saddleback College, routinely opened events with prayers and showed a faculty-training video, called God Bless the U.S.A., that included religious imagery and compared American soldiers to Jesus Christ.