There's still some life left in that old time religion

In the Mormon version, anyway

The co-president of a Gold Coast Mormon church says he is proud of the Helensvale rugby union players who have refused to play in Sunday's local semifinals because of religious beliefs. The Gold Coast Bulletin yesterday revealed that up to 13 Helensvale Hogs players -- eight first grade and five from the second grade -- would not play in tomorrow's semi-finals because their religion forbids sport on Sunday.

While all games during the Gold Coast Rugby home-and-away season are played on Saturdays, the minor semi-final clash has traditionally always taken place on a Sunday. The club tried to have the first and second grade semi-finals moved, but Rugby Gold Coast was unable to do so after spending three days trying to resolve the issue.

Yesterday, the 13 Mormon players, who told the club they would not take the field, received support from the Isle of Capri-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the church's co-presidents, Riki Horomona, said the Sabbath was very significant for people of the Mormon faith. "What happens is we teach the young people the principles of keeping the Sabbath day sacred and attending church on Sunday," he said.

When asked if he was proud of the players for their defiant stance, Mr Horomona said: "Absolutely. Yes, I absolutely am."Because we are a Christian church we believe in the Ten Commandments and the observance of the Sabbath day."...

Rugby Gold Coast CEO Tim Rowlands yesterday said it was likely this year would be the last that semi-finals were scheduled on a Sunday. "As a total supporter of the Super 14 finals format -- which is first versus fourth and second versus third with the winners going straight to the grand final -- I will be moving that we adopt this format going forward," he said. "This would also mean Rugby Gold Coast will not be playing any senior finals football on a Sunday again."

Mr Rowlands said the decision by Rugby Gold Coast was not made lightly."Rugby Gold Coast is totally sympathetic to the Helensvale players' plight, which is why our staff spent three days this week trying to resolve the issue to give those players the opportunity to play in the finals," he said.

More here

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ELSEWHERE

'I'd Rather Return to Guantanamo': "When two Tunisian men were sent home after five years in Guantanamo, they thought they would be free. Instead, they faced imprisonment, abuse, threats and solitary confinement. Now they say things were better back in the US prison camp. Release from Guantanamo Bay may not be the end of the prisoner's ordeal. Many of the detainees sitting in Guantanamo Bay hail from countries with a terrible record of torturing and abusing prisoners. While they may want to see an end to their ordeal in the US prison camp, they also have reason to dread the treatment they could face back home. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the US government is not doing enough to ensure that prisoners sent back home are not subjected to ill treatment"

Germans embrace the new Fascism: "The German authorities are watching the rising tide of conversion to Islam with some concern, the daily Berliner Zeitung reported Thursday. The newspaper cited figures compiled by a Muslim group that showed that 4,000 Germans had converted last year, compared with just 1,000 in 2005. It was common knowledge that the German authorities were monitoring converts to Islam closely, it said. Quoting Interior Ministry officials, the newspaper said there had been a rise internationally in the number of converts involved in Islamist terrorist acts. Among them are "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, a Briton who tried to blow up an American Airlines flight in December 2001, and Muriel Degauque, a Belgian suicide bomber who blew herself up in Iraq in November 2005. Guido Steinberg, who researches Islamic issues, said extremists were targeting new converts, and terrorist expert Rolf Tophoven said converts tended to be fanatical....

Sweden still not tolerant enough: "Ambassadors from Muslim countries have indicated that they intend to present the Swedish prime minister with a list of demands when they meet for talks on Friday. Fredrik Reinfeldt invited the ambassadors from 20 Muslim countries to government offices on Friday following a wave of protests from Muslim countries after the publication of a caricature of Muhammad in local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda. Egyptian ambassador Mohamed Sotouhi told news agency TT that he and a group of fellow ambassadors had agreed on a list of measures Sweden needed to take if it was to secure a long-term solution to the Muhammad cartoon controversy. According to Sotouhi, "comprehensive measures" were required if Sweden was to prevent some "amateur artist" from reawakening tensions every other month. "We want to see action, not just nice words. We have to push for a change in the law," he said. "Muslims need legal protection against the desecration of the Prophet Muhammad"

Bureaucrats resent being shown up: "In an effort to provide better control and coordination, the federal government is starting an ID program for rescue workers to keep everyday people from swarming to a disaster scene. Proponents say the system will get professionals on scene quicker and keep untrained volunteers from making tough work more difficult. But they also know it is a touchy subject, particularly for those devoted to helping in moments of crisis... The Federal Emergency Management Agency came up with the ID-card idea after the September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when countless Americans rushed to help - unasked, undirected and sometimes unwanted. [And who did a lot more good than FEMA]

Insecure Muslims: "The kidnapping of South Korean Christian missionaries by the Afghan Taliban was almost inevitable. Islam has traditionally protected itself from outside influences and deviations of ideology by imposing strict prohibitions against apostasy. In March 2006, Algeria passed a law banning the "urging or forcing or tempting, to convert a Muslim to another religion." Penalties included a fine of $6,000 to $12,000 and imprisonment from two to three years. Morocco under King Mohammed VI purports to be moderate, yet in November, 2006, a German man was jailed for six months for trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. He was found guilty under legislation which outlaws "anyone who employs incitements to shake the faith of a Muslim or to convert him to another religion."

The Blue Dog Fraud: "Many of the newly-elected Democrats in the House of Representatives campaigned as fiscally-conservative independents, but the Wall Street Journal reveals that these so-clalled blue-dog Democrats generally have been supporters of higher taxes and bigger government. Too bad these fiscal frauds aren't more like the "Boll Weevil" Democrats, members of Congress who provided the margin of victory for many reforms to limit the burden of government during the Reagan years"

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here and here.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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