From the U.K. – ‘Pray and display’ permits planned for religious leaders

Permits which allow religious leaders visiting parishioners to ‘pray and display’ have been launched to avoid a backlash over parking fines.

The special permits will allow people carrying out religious duties such as visiting ill or dying worshippers and giving the last rites to park in any residential zones in Barnet, north west London.

The scheme, the local council says, is aimed at “helping vulnerable residents in time of spiritual need”, and is open to all faiths including Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Rastafarianism, Sikhism, Unitarianism and Zoroastrianism.

Permits cost £40 each, or £70 for second and third permits, and can be issued to worshippers on faith business as well as religious leaders, on production of a letter of support from the applicant’s place of worship, together with a brief description of the religious duties being carried out.

Full Article

Posted in Spiritual | Comments Off on From the U.K. – ‘Pray and display’ permits planned for religious leaders

Related Items ‘Hanoi Hilton’ jailer says he’d vote for McCain

HAIPHONG, Vietnam — John McCain has an unusual endorsement – from the Vietnamese jailer who says he held him captive for about five years as a POW and now considers him a friend.

“If I were an American voter, I would vote for Mr. John McCain,” Tran Trong Duyet said Friday, sitting in his living room in the northern city of Haiphong, surrounded by black-and-white photos of a much younger version of himself and former Vietnam War prisoners.

At the same time, he denies prisoners of war were tortured. Despite detailed POW accounts and physical wounds, Duyet claims the presumed Republican presidential nominee made up beatings and solitary confinement in an attempt to win votes.

His statements seem to echo the communist leadership’s overall line on America: It insists the torture claims are fabricated, but that Vietnam now considers the U.S. a friend and wants to lay the past to rest. Duyet said one of the reasons he likes McCain for president is the candidate’s willingness to forgive and look to the future.

Full Article

Posted in Political | Comments Off on Related Items ‘Hanoi Hilton’ jailer says he’d vote for McCain