There is nothing written in the stars!

Astrology fails scientific mega test

A detailed scientific long-term study by researchers in Britain proves the central principle of astrology invalid and baseless. It puts an end to the fantastic old claim that the constellation of stars and planets at the time of birth could influence or even determine the development of an individual's character and course of life.

The "Time Twin Study" was started in London in 1958 as a medical research project. Registering more than 2,000 babies, born within minutes of each other on a day in early March, it had the objective to compare the time twins' health development. The field of investigation was soon extended. The research team monitored the test persons over several decades, recording observations about more than 100 parameters in connection with health, occupation, marital situation, anxiety level, aggressiveness, sociability, IQ levels, abilities in music, art, sport, mathematics, language etc. They tried to collect evidences for similarities between the time twins. However, no similarities could be identified.

"The test conditions could hardly have been more conducive to success but the results are uniformly negative", stated Dr. Geoffrey Dean, astrologer turned scientist from Perth, Australia, in a report about the study, published in the current issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies. Carrying out an analysis of the study, Dr. Dean and his collegue Prof. Ivan Kelley, Psychologist at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, found that there was no special trait or tendency shared by the time twins. They were just as different as people born on any other day under any other planetary constellation.

The claim that stars and planets could influence character and life of human beings has long been dismissed by rationalists and scientists as there is according to all known scientific principles no kind of mechanism imaginable by way of which this influence could possibly work. Here is empirical proof that it does not work at all. The study shows clearly that astrological predictions based on the coordinates of birth do not correspond with reality. They are nothing but exercises in deception.

This should be the end of one of the oldest superstitions. But it is not hard to predict that the show will still go on. There are obviously too many people, who like to be deceived and too many, who make enormous money by deceiving them..

Solidarity meet for Dr. Younus Shaikh in Delhi

- and a new death sentence in a blasphemy trial in Pakistan

On 18 August, the Indian Rationalist Association and the Dr. Shaikh Defense Committee organized a public meeting in New Delhi in solidarity with Dr.Younus Shaikh. The event marked the second anniversary of the death sentence handed down to the rationalist friend and colleague in Pakistan in a blasphemy trial that has caused an international outcry and a wave of protest. Despite great efforts to rescue Dr.Shaikh, he is still languishing in a small prison cell in Pakistan, awaiting his fate.

More than 200 people attended the gathering, among them several well-known writers and public personalities. K. Vasudevan, secretary of Dr.Shaikh Defense Committee reported about his recent meeting with one of Dr. Shaikh's legal advisers. He also informed that a representative of the Islamabad-based organization Enlightenment, founded by Dr. Shaikh, will visit Delhi soon. Sanal Edamaruku, president of Rationalist International, read a letter of solidarity, which was personally signed by all those present. The letter will be sent to Dr. Shaikh.

Meantime the news agency AP reports about another death sentence in a blasphemy trial in Pakistan. Chaudhary Bashir, 60, was sentenced to death by a court in Mukhtar, finding him guilty of making derogatory remarks about Islam and prophet Mohammed. Chaudhary Bashir was accused in 2001 by one Maulana Mohammed Quasim, cleric in Bhawalnagar near Multan for "preaching his own version of Islam" and claiming to have the same status as Mohammed. The conviction is appealed to the high court.

UK: Tony Blair's pact with God

Prime Minister Tony Blair has great plans. He tried to avoid revealing them prematurely, because he was weary about the public response. But they have leaked out in a written parliamentary reply and were picked up by The Observer. Blair is reportedly all set to broom out good old Secularism and to invite God to the center stage of policy making. In a "major break with British traditions that religion and government should not mix", according to The Observer, he has appointed a religious body, representing Christian and other faith groups, as high-power advisory committee to the British Government. The "Faith Community Liaison Group" is part of the Home Office. Its sphere of influence includes officially the Department of Education, Culture, Media, Sport, Trade and Industry.

Chair of the ministerial working group is Fiona Mactaggert, Home Office Minister for 'Civic Renewal'.. Mactaggert describes the committee's tasks: "Its terms of reference are to consider the most effective means of achieving greater involvement of the faith communities in policy-making and delivery across Whitehall [and] to identify the specific policy areas where this input would be most valuable. The Prime Minister is aware of our plans and attaches considerable importance to this.. It will lay down the foundations for the effective involvement of the faith communities' perspectives and needs in policy development across government.."

Christian groups are rejoicing about the Prime Minister's move. Says Graham Dale, director of the Christian Socialist Movement, of which Blair is a member: "The group will have the freedom to engage in policy issues across the board but also to address other less tangible areas like values in public life. It raises to a new level the recognition of faith as a factor in government consultation and indicates the government's willingness to engage with people of faith in every area of public life." Besides various Christian groups, there are Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Jewish communities represented in the committee.

Tony Blair is a committed Christian, who "keeps the Bible by his bed", reports The Observer. But up to now his special relation with God remained more or less a private affair. With his new project, to place religion at the center of British politics, he has finally come out as a political agent of religious revival. Secularists in Britain have raised an alarm. "We feel this is a further example of the government's desire to favor and privilege religious organizations, and wonder, when the opinions and needs of those who are non-religious will be similarly regarded", wrote Keith Wood, executive director of the respected old National Secular Society in a letter to Mactaggert. Despite repeated requests, complaints Wood, 'non-religious groups' have been excluded from any involvement in the 'religious' working group.

To counter the severe blow against Secularism and to prevent a country with exemplary liberal and progressive traditions from sinking into the morass of all-religious "spirituality", the voice of Secularism needs to be clear and sharp. Religious advisory committees to governments of secular states have no locus standi, neither legally nor logically. They have to go, because their existence violates the very principle of separation of state and religion. Pleading for "equal rights" within illegitimate establishments legitimizes them. It's a question of principles, not of numbers.

Blair's quiet attempt to re-empower Christianity in its new attire of an all-religious partnership is highly alarming. It calls for decisive resistance of the enlightend part of the public before it is too late.