A Black Lives Matter t-shirt sparked a fistfight on the steps of a small-town New Zealand church.

John Whyte and his wife Jess wore Black Lives Matter T-shirts to church that Sunday in December 2019.

"Why are you wearing such an offensive T-shirt to mass you fool!" comes the demand. Read more

The woman, who was also dining in the cafe, told them their discussion wasn't appropriate and they should consider other people's "comfort zones".

Anna Amos, 17, who is homeschooled in Waikawa, said she and a friend had been discussing the differences between their religion. Anna is non-Catholic Christian and her friend is Catholic. Read more

"Whether it's a mosque giving Holocaust deniers a platform or whether it's an evangelical church spewing hatred about gay New Zealanders: this is not how we roll here. This is not who we are. This is who we do not want to ever become," said Dame Susan Devoy.

She was speaking after official complaints were laid about at comments by Iranian diplomat made at an Auckland mosque in June.

One of the diplomats called Israel a "cancerous tumour" and said it has to be "surgically removed"

A second diplomat speaking at the same event denied that the Holocaust took place

"If we are to learn anything from the Holocaust it is that racism and hatred start small", Devoy said.

"But we ignore it at our peril. All of us are responsible to ensure we live in a country where hate is never normalised. We can never let our country become one where racism goes unquestioned.

"And if we have to use glitter bombs to make our point - as some did at parliament over the weekend - so be it. It's up to all of us to decide what kind of country we live in. While there are formal complaint processes that can and have been taken, just because something isn't illegal does not make it OK."

Devoy was referring to an incident when a small group of the National Front members protesting in Parliament grounds were pelted with glitter bombs.

Hate speech - the advocacy of hatred based on nationality, race or religion - occupies an exceptional position in international law.

The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 gives everyone the right to freedom of expression, including the right to seek, receive and impart information and opinions of any kind in any form. But hate speech is prohibited under section 61

Source

• Scoop
• New Zealand Herald
• Article 19
• The New Zealand Law Society
• Image: Vice

But local Muslims are making it plain that they have no sympathy with what is happening in the Middle East.

"In Islamic prophecy, a woman tied up a cat and did not feed it until it died and she went to hell, so I don't think the same religion will be inviting people in that kill people in this crazy way," Tauranga Muslim Association president Ahmed Ghoneim says.

"What they are doing is just not right," he said.

He said he loved Tauranga, had lived in the city for 11 years and had not experienced any fallout over the unfolding events overseas.

Another Tauranga Muslim, Ibrahim Hassan, said Muslims should not be judged on ISIS, because the extremist group did not represent their religion or beliefs.

"They don't belong to Islam in any way."

"They are trying to build an Islamic state by killing and threatening people and making them migrate from their cities. It's very sad and scary. They are just like 'join us or we will kill you'."

Tauranga Regional Multicultural Council immediate past president Ewa Fenn said its members had not received any adverse comments about the situation in the Middle East. But they were worried about the on-going conflict and repercussions.

"It's very concerning because of the implications and the backlash for the Muslims around the world."

Prime Minster John Key has confirmed New Zealand was assessing its security alert following recent reports of a terrorist plot in Australia and that he was seeking advice about New Zealanders fighting for groups like Isis who want to return home.

The US has not asked New Zealand for support in the air strikes against Isis. New Zealand's air force no longer has a combat arm.

New Zealand has been named by the US State Department as one of more than 60 countries in the coalition supporting its efforts to counter Islamic State, according to a report in the Washington Post.

It cited New Zealand among 13 allies providing humanitarian aid - New Zealand has given $1 million to the United Nations refugee agency for Iraq since June

Key won't rule out sending New Zealand's elite SAS personnel to assist US efforts to counter Islamic State militants in Iraq or even Syria but says that would be done reluctantly as a last resort, if at all.

New Zealand has two options for responding to the growing terror threat posed by the ISIS militants according to a Massy University academic.

" First, if New Zealand supports the attacks on ISIS, then we ourselves start to fertilise the ground for becoming a target for ISIS sponsored third generation extremists."

"Second, if we maintain peaceful, prosperous and trust based quid pro quo relations with our migrant communities then we are pursuing the best course towards maintaining a harmonious and safe society," says Dr William Hoverd a senior lecturer at Massey University's Centre for Defence and Security Studies.

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• massey.ac.nz
• The New Zealand Herald
• Bay of Plenty Times
• Telesurtv.net
• Image: Bay of Plenty Times

It is understood some Christian parents at Riversdale are furious the school wants to introduce the "mindfulness" technique, claiming it has Buddhism origins. Read more

He says schools with ethnic names are not fully inclusive of other races but schools with religious names are OK.

Speaking at Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School prize-giving ceremony in Voloca, Dreketi, he said, "Take for instance this school (Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School) — it does not limit students because of their religion, in fact it takes all races and children of different religious backgrounds."

In 2012 all schools in Fiji were requested by the Ministry of Education to remove ethnic words from their names.

In May 2012 Education Ministry Permanent Secretary Doctor Brij Lal said 10 schools with which described themselves in ethnic terms had already changed their names and had been issued with new registration certificates.

Source

• FBC+
• Fiji Times
• Image: Embassy of Japan in Fiji

"Priests have bricks thrown through their bedroom windows," he said.

"The number of crimes motivated by anti-Catholic intolerance has gone up every year since the 2003 Criminal Justice Act was created. Things are not getting better."

Continue reading

"In Europe, we have identified 14 laws that are likely to negatively affect the religious liberty of Christians in 15 countries," said Massimo Introvigne, of the Italian foreign affairs ministry.

"In 2012, we also reported 169 rulings made in European courts that we judged to be dangerous to the freedom of Christians," he told the conference in Tirana, Albania.

"The most dangerous areas are those which limit the conscientious objection of Christians who do not want to co-operate in abortion, the sale of abortifacient pills, or the celebration of same-sex marriage; those which limit the freedom to preach through the misuse of laws against so-called ‘hate speech'; those which restrict the freedom of religious education and parents' rights to educate their children, and those which place restrictions on the use of religious symbols," he continued.

The Italian sociologist added that 74 per cent of European Christians think they suffer greater discrimination than persons of other faiths or atheists; 71 per cent think the media generally does not respect Christians; and 61 per cent believe that Christians are discriminated against at their workplace.

The Holy See's representative at the conference, Bishop Mario Toso, SDB, denounced attempts to divide religious belief from religious practice in Europe.

"Christians are frequently reminded in public discourse (and increasingly even in the courts) that they can believe whatever they like in their own homes or heads, and largely worship as they wish in their own private churches, but they simply cannot act on those beliefs in public," he said.

"This is a deliberate twisting and limiting of what religious freedom actually means, and it is not the freedom that was enshrined in international documents."

Bishop Toso declared: "Intolerance in the name of ‘tolerance' must be named for what it is and publicly condemned."

Sources:

Vatican Radio

Aleteia

Image: National Secular Society

The report titled "The Rising Tide of Restrictions on Religion" shows a six percent increase in restrictions in the four years until 2010.

The report cites evidence that paints a stark picture of a "rising tide" of intolerance and government restrictions on religious matters.

Evidence include "crimes, malicious acts and violence motivated by religious hatred or bias, as well as increased government interference with worship or other religious practices".

The survey has seen an acceleration of the tendency towards religious intolerance, reporting a 63 percent rise from mid-2009 to mid-2010 in the number of countries that increased government restrictions, in comparison with Pew's last survey that had noted a 56 percent rise.

"The number of countries where harassment or intimidation of specific religious groups took place rose from 147 as of mid-2009 to 160 as of mid-2010," the report says.

Among countries showing marked increases in religious intolerance for the first time - albeit still only classed as "moderate" - was the United States.

The report notes that the percentage of the world's population living in countries with low levels of restriction fell between 2007 and 2010 from 14 percent to 6 percent.

The survey reports that in all five major regions of the world - including the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa where religious restrictions previously had been declining - freedom of faith was coming under increasing pressure.

The increase in religious restrictions comes as recent surveys have appeared to demonstrate that the world is becoming more religious.

Sources

• The Guardian
• Herald Online
• Image: AP/ The Guardian

Women's Organisation of the Waikato Muslim Association (WOWMA) founder, Aliya Danzeisen, told the Waikato Times she has also been physically pushed in Westfield Chartwell mall, called a "f**ing Muslim" in public, and shouted at from passing cars.

WOWMA was established four years ago to help Muslim women integrate into New Zealand society. Ms Danzeisen said discrimination in the region was high, with Muslim women the target of harassment.

The women had been verbally attacked on the bus, physically pushed in public, shouted at on the street and told to go back home, but for this group of young Muslim women, Hamilton is home.

Source

• Waikato Times
• Image: Sunday StarTimes