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Religion as a whole is “ruthlessly mocked” in the musical comedy The Book of Mormon which has begun playing in Auckland. Richard Hunter, communications director for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Pacific region has questioned why Mormons were frequently the butt of jokes about religious groups. “The opportunity for the Read more
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Gail Gordon Donegan, a Democratic activist is among new appointees to the Virginia Council on Women. She has a history of making derogatory attacks on Twitter, including telling author Cornel West to “f— off and die,” and making jokes about Catholics and Catholic priests and pedophilia. She defended herself by saying “Psychological studies show that people Read more
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Last week the NZ Cartoon Archive at Wellington’s Alexander Turnbull Library published Mike Grimshaw’s Bishops, Boozers, Brethren & Burkas, which looks at religion in New Zealand through the eyes of the country’s cartoonists from the 1860s to the present day. Grimshaw’s book shows that the events of 15 March in Christchurch were not simply an Read more
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Kmart is under fire for banning words ‘Jesus’ and ‘Church’ on their photo kiosks while ‘Islam’ and ‘Mosque’ are OK. Australian Kmart customers Anthony Dorsett and his wife, Marelynda, were attempting to print photographs for a church group in a kiosk at Kmart. They found that certain Christian-related words — including “God,” “church,” “Jesus,” “Jewish” Read more
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Canadian Lauren Southern, described as a “far-right political activist, internet personality, and journalist associated with the alt-right,” is advertising a show in Auckland. She was banned from entering the UK in March after antagonising Muslims by displaying flyers reading “Allah is a Gay God” and “Allah is trans.” Unlike in the UK, a hate speech Read more
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Ever wondered why Britain has never had a Catholic prime minister? There’s no constitutional barrier preventing it. So why hasn’t it happened? The most likely answer is that there remains a residual suspicion of Catholics that dates back to the bloody power struggles between Catholic and Protestant contenders for the throne several centuries ago. Continue Read more
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An Auckland bar’s Facebook post which advertised a meal deal and accompanied it with the photo of an Orthodox Jew saying “now that’s a bargain” has been removed. The post was put up on De Post Belgian Beer Cafe’s Facebook page on Saturday morning advertising a platter and drinks for $45 deal. Continue reading Related Read more
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The first Sikh to run for a place on Hamilton’s city council has had his billboard defaced with the name Isis in black paint. Yugraj Singh Mahil is pictured on the billboard with another candidate Anna Casey-Cox. Both are first time candidates in the city’s east ward, standing as part of the Community Voice group. Read more
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Results from a research project in New Zealand suggest that, in that country, communities of religious non-Muslims are a key resource for bridging the Muslim acceptance gap. The researchers were interested in the drivers of prejudice and tolerance towards Muslims, says Associate Professor Sibley, a member of the research team. “New Zealand is an incredibly diverse, Read more
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An Anglican theologian and blogger, Bosco Peters has replied to a “letter” NZ columnist Joe Bennett wrote to the Vatican suggesting it forget about the theology and just focus on being nice. Bennett gave a big thumbs up to Pope Francis, saying, “Whatever Pope ‘Tubby’ Francis has, we need to bottle it”. But he advises the Pope, and presumably Read more
