FSTDT

Catholic priests #fundie english.aljazeera.net

Malta, an overwhelmingly Catholic country and the European Union's smallest member state, has voted in favour of legalising divorce.

Lawrence Gonzi, the prime minister, announced the outcome in Valletta, the capital, on Sunday after a referendum in one of the only two countries where it is still banned.

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The Roman Catholic Church did not campaign officially in the referendum.

However, Paul Cremona, Valletta's archbishop, had warned church goers in a letter they faces a choice between building and destroying family values.

"By this vote, the citizen will either build or destroy. A choice in favour of permanent marriage is an act of faith in the family, built upon a bond of love which cannot be severed," said the letter, read out at masses.

In addition, priests have reportedly threatened to refuse communion to those who vote "yes" in the referendum.

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi #conspiracy english.aljazeera.net

Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has said in a speech on Libyan state television that al-Qaeda is responsible for the uprising in Libya.

"It is obvious now that this issue is run by al-Qaeda," he said, speaking by phone from an unspecified location on Thursday.

He said that the protesters were young people who were being manipulated by al-Qaeda's Osama bin Laden, and that many were doing so under the influence of drugs.

"No one above the age of 20 would actually take part in these events," he said. "They are taking advantage of the young age of these people [to commit violent acts] because they are not legally liable!"

Indonesian court #fundie english.aljazeera.net

An Indonesian court has ruled to uphold a 1965 blasphemy law that allows for criminal penalties and bans on people or groups that "distort'' the central tenets of six officially recognised religions.

The court on Monday rejected a petition by moderate Muslims, religious minorities, democracy advocates and rights groups against the law in a case seen as a major test of the mainly Muslim country's pluralism.

The law carries a maximum punishment of five years for beliefs that deviate from the orthodox versions of six sanctioned faiths - Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Confucianism.