Category Archives: Religion

Human rights and criticising Islam

June 7, 2008 – 12:20 am

I’ve been following the case brought by the Ontario-based Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) against Mark Steyn in the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. And as per Pete M’s request, I’m writing a post on it (in the middle of the night because I’m an insomniac). Perhaps, as per John Hasenkam’s comment in response to Pete, [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Free Speech, Human/Civil rights, Law, Media, Personal liberty, Politics, Racism, Society | Comments (31)

Can religious discrimination be justified?

May 29, 2008 – 8:20 am

James Farrell’s thought-provoking post at Club Troppo got me chewing over this question, and to that end I thought I’d share one of the papers I wrote last term for Oxford Jurisprudence. In brief, it’s a serious engagement with the ideas of John Finnis, who argues (among many other things) that discrimination on the basis [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Immigration, Law, Philosophy, Politics | Comments (20)

The Force definitely wasn’t with him…

April 24, 2008 – 8:35 pm

A drunken man in Wales dressed up in a black bin bag and cape and attacked two cousins with a metal crutch. Why would he do that? Well, apparently he wished to join the Dark Side of the Force. The cousins had recently set up a Jedi church in Holyhead, and were making a film [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Fark!, Law | Comments (0)

God’s law and the law of the State

April 18, 2008 – 10:50 am

What happens when you have a particular group in society who are not minded to follow the law of the State, but prefer to follow God’s law as they interpret it?
Recently this question has come up in relation to Sharia law, particularly after the Archbishop of Canterbury said that some aspects of sharia law would [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Children, Feminism, Law, Marriage, Politics, Society | Comments (1)

Jah on their side…

April 16, 2008 – 5:18 pm

This article about the collapse of a legal trial against some Rastafarians cracks me up.
Apparently the five Rastas had been charged with cannabis dealing, and the trial had been running for two weeks when one of the police officers recognised a paralegal from the defence team for one of the defendants. The paralegal was said to have [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Drugs, Fark!, Law, Society | Comments (4)

Some people will try anything

March 31, 2008 – 6:14 pm

I thought I’d seen all the pathetic excuses possible for trying to get out of legal proceedings (including seceding from Australia, declaring the Court to be a hotbed of Freemasons and/or claiming that the Constitution is invalid for spurious reasons). But this is one of the best:
Richard James Howarth was remanded to appear in the Ipswich [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Fark!, Law | Comments (4)

Earth Hour - what a crock

March 30, 2008 – 10:13 pm

I am very pleased that I managed to avoid Earth Hour: what an absolute crock. In fact, I was at a Chinese restaurant at the relevant time. “I wonder if they’ll turn out the lights?” mused my husband. Not a chance, and thank goodness for that. I didn’t see much evidence of participation on the [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Environment | Comments (14)

Public Service Announcement: Fitna

March 29, 2008 – 3:21 am

For those who’ve been following the developing debate over Dutch film Fitna, it’s now finished up all over the internet (as I expected it would). Pommy over at the Australian Libertarian Society has a link, as does Saint at Dog Fight at Bankstown. Once I’ve watched it, I’ll update this post. In the meantime, your [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Free Speech | Comments (38)

“You have to die, so that I can live.”

February 20, 2008 – 6:33 pm

Last night, I watched a rather depressing documentary on SBS called The Anatomy of Evil. It was about people who perpetrate genocide. I’ve been morbidly fascinated with this question for a while now, as I’ve explained in an earlier post. I’ve never quite been able to fathom how people could shoot/gas/blow up an innocent civilian.
This [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Middle east, Politics, Terrorism | Comments (19)

Rights or wrong?

January 1, 2008 – 9:34 pm

When I was younger, I was very taken with the idea of a Charter of Rights for Australia. I simply couldn’t fathom the fact that Australia didn’t have certain rights in its Constitution. But now that I’m older, I’m not so sure that a Charter of Rights is the panacea for all ills in society. [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Law | Comments (19)