FUSsa-talk Mailing List: Fwd: CFI Releases Statements in Response to Fort Hood Tragedy, Banning of Crucifixes in Italian Schools

[Robert Tapp (tappx001]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Robert Tapp <tappx001 [at] umn.edu>
> Date: November 12, 2009 6:24:12 PM CST
> To: Humanist Institute Discussion List <hidisc [at] humanistinstitute.org>
> 
> These 2 statements from CFI deserve close reading and wide distribution. Ibn 
> Warraq warns against political correctness that fails to see the strong 
> religious component in many political acts, including the terror unleashed by 
> Major Hasan.
> 
> Bob
> 
>> 
>> 
>> CFI Releases Statements in Response to Fort Hood Tragedy, and the Banning of 
>> Crucifixes in Italian Public Schools
>>  
>>  
>> The Center for Inquiry (CFI) released two statements on November 11, 2009. 
>> In response to the recent tragic events at Fort Hood, Texas, CFI released a 
>> statement/editorial to the media and general public from Ibn Warraq, senior 
>> research fellow at the Center for Inquiry and  leading figure in Quranic 
>> criticism. Second, European affiliates of CFI/Transnational released a 
>> statement applauding the recent decision by the European Court of Human 
>> Rights to ban the display of crucifixes in Italian public schools. 
>> Statements follow below.
>>  
>> 
>> Denying Reality, or the Heavy Cost of Political Correctness
>> Ibn Warraq
>> 
>> In the wake of the murder of 13 and the wounding of 38 soldiers at Fort Hood 
>> on November 5, media analysts, politicians, and other sundry experts 
>> scrambled to present the accused perpetrator of the acts, Major Nidal Malik 
>> Hasan, 39, as a victim. In so doing they served, knowingly or otherwise, as 
>> apologists for radical Islam. From CNN to the New York Times, NPR to the 
>> Washington Post, the killings were presented as a result of racism. They 
>> were attributed to fear of deployment in Afghanistan and harassment from 
>> other soldiers. Cited were Major Hasan’s supposed maladjustment to his life 
>> and his sense of not belonging, pre-traumatic stress disorder, and various 
>> personal and mental problems. All these explanations are variations on what 
>> I have called “the Root Cause Fallacy,” which has been committed time and 
>> again since the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001.
>> 
>> Read the full statement. 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> CFI/Transnational European Affiliates Applaud the ECHR for Decision to Ban 
>> Crosses in Italian Public Schools
>> 
>> We, secular humanists in Europe and members and affiliates of the Center for 
>> Inquiry/Transnational (CFI), welcome the European Court of Human Rights 
>> decision regarding the removal of religious symbols in public schools in 
>> Italy. We strongly support its efforts to protect the human rights of 
>> children not to have religious dogma forced upon them anywhere in Europe. We 
>> agree with the court that the aim of public school education is "to foster 
>> critical thinking." 
>> 
>> We urge that the Council of Europe take action to guarantee the freedom of 
>> children as set forth in the Convention of the Rights of the Child. Its 
>> Preamble states that "the child should be fully prepared to live an 
>> individual life in society, and brought up in the spirit  of peace, dignity, 
>> tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity."
>> 
>> Read the full statement.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> The Center for Inquiry/Transnational, a nonprofit, educational, advocacy, 
>> and scientific-research think tank based in Amherst, New York, is also home 
>> to the Council for Secular Humanism, founded in 1980; and the Committee for 
>> Skeptical Inquiry (formerly CSICOP), founded in 1976. The Center for 
>> Inquiry’s research and educational projects focus on three broad areas: 
>> religion, ethics, and society; paranormal and fringe-science claims; and 
>> sound public policy. The Center’s Web site is www.centerforinquiry.net.
>> 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> 
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>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ©2008 Center for Inquiry · 3965 Rensch Rd. · Amherst, NY 14228
>> (716) 636-4869 · info [at] centerforinquiry.net
>> 
>