During Easter rites in Rome, Pope Benedict publicly baptized journalist Magdi Allam. Magdi Allam is a convert from Islam who, according to the Times, had previously denounced his previous religion as "an ideology which legitimises lies and dissimulation, violent death, which induces both murder and suicide, and blind submission to tyranny." Now he claims to be glad to have found "the authentic religion of Truth, Life and Liberty."

Last week I came across an article on richarddawkins.net regarding the recent violence at the Red Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan. For those not in the know, last week and the week before there was a stand-off between Pakistani police and military forces and Islamist militants who ran the mosque. The police action was in response to kidnappings and the forced repentance of those the militants deemed to have commited immoral practices. This included several Chinese workers who were kidnapped and accused of prostituting themselves.