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• Government Bans Smoking at Western Wall  

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EDITORIAL: Our view: Smoking ban is good, or bad, for all  

Does Smoking Invalidate Wudu’?  

Responding to your question, the eminent Muslim scholar, Dr. `Abdel-Fattah Idrees, Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University, stated,

Smoking does not invalidate the ablution (wudu’). However, it is not recommended that the one who smokes cigarettes to stay in the mosque, as, by doing this, he would harm people and angels.

This is in analogy to what was narrated that the Prophet (pace and blessings be upon him) ordered those who had eaten onions or garlic not to come to mosques in order not to harm people with the bad odor of smoking.

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Pastor Chris Okays Alchohol And Smoking  

The Founder and senior pastor of Christ Embassy, Pasto Chris Oyakhilome, on Sunday told all who cared to listen that since the Bible does not expressly condemn both cigarette and alcohol, then there is nothing wrong with them.

It all started when a viewer of his television programme wrote to enquire from the popular pastor if it was wrong for a 'Christian to work in a cigarette company'.

Below is the response from Pastor Chris:

There is nothing wrong with cigarette; the Bible doesn't say anything was wrong with it..I know a lot of people do complain about it because of the relationship attached to it with some sicknesses like cancer....but if they really believe it is wrong, why not ban it totally?

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• YANKLOWITZ: A Smoke-Free World: A Jewish Ban On Tobacco  

Smokers today should be viewed as "cholim" (sick individuals) who we must heal. One cannot claim that "freedom and liberty" allows them to increase their burden on the health care system or bring harm to family members, coworkers, and strangers. Creating a more universal health care system is a social justice issue, but so is creating a society that places collective demands on preventive health practices. A recent study supported by the National Cancer Institute concluded that, from 1975 to 2000, smoking reduction and cessation programs saved nearly 800,000 Americans from death by lung cancer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just launched a new $54 million dollar "scare campaign" based upon new scientific studies showing that the "scarier the message" the more likely to change behavior. We should be scaring people - it's a mitzvah! The tobacco companies invest $10 billion a year in marketing and advertising so we're going to have to fight stronger. We need to redouble our efforts to improve and expand smoking reduction and cessation programs, and to tax and even ban smoking. It is not only a social justice imperative, it is a Torah imperative.

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• Exclusives - VANCOUVER, BC:Former Tobacco King Appointed New Rector of St. John's Shaughnessy 

When 99 percent of the evangelical Anglican parish of St. John's Shaughnessy walked away from their $20 million dollar parish on Granville Street last September, New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham asked the Archbishop of Canterbury for help to find a replacement for the Australian-born evangelical rector Canon David Short.

Well, St. John's has gotten a new rector and he's the Marlboro Man. The Rev. Michael Fuller who will start in July spent 20 years working as CEO of Philip Morris International, a purveyor of 831 billion cancer-inducing cigarettes per year. Some 443,000 Americans (over 18 percent of all deaths) die because of smoking each year. Secondhand smoke kills another 220,000. Around 5.4 million deaths a year are caused by tobacco worldwide.

So a former evangelical parish is taken over by a beefy, institutional Church of England liberal who has about as much chance of jump starting this parish as a Tsunami wave hitting English Bay. As one blogger observed, one wonders what he has done to deserve to be appointed to a church with no people.

A source in England told VOL that Fuller is certainly no Evangelical. "I expect he has been brought in to finish off what little remains at Shaughnessy. That may be the intention."

The former tobacco king is also a member of the Rowan Williams Fan Club. He did a favorable book review on one of the ABC's books on Amazon.uk.co.

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A Kosher Cigar for Passover  

Patriarch Krill And Russian Orthodox Church Under Attack For Lavish Life Style, Doctoring Photo 

he Russian Orthodox Church apologised on Thursday for doctoring a photograph of Patriarch Kirill to remove what bloggers said was a luxury wristwatch following accusations that he lives a lavish lifestyle. . . .

Bloggers have since then stepped up accusations that Kirill leads an opulent lifestyle that is unbecoming of his status as head of the Church, and pro-opposition media outlets have questioned an alleged role in dealings around duty-free alcohol and tobacco imports in the 1990s.

"If someone unequivocally identifies this watch as a Breguet, I really do not understand how the Patriarch can remain a spiritual authority," wrote a blogger identified only as homo-ineruditus.

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Turning cigarette boxes into rosaries  

Gently mounting each bead onto a pin until finally making a loop, Elena S. Mabano is reminded how she has endured life's painful battles in every rosary she makes.

A devout Catholic, she calls herself, 57-year-old Mabano scours empty cigarette ream cartons, cutting them into long narrow pieces, with each strip rolled into a bead, an unusual material used to make a string of beads to keep count of a religious devotion.

“I don't really tell them (customers) that it's made from cigarette boxes because they don't bother to ask what it's made of because,“ she says.

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Native American inmates challenge S.D. prison tobacco ban in lawsuit  

Cancer cases tied to religion, region in India  

Native American Inmates Challenge South Dakota Prison Tobacco Ban In Federal Lawsuit 

• South Dakota inmate group wants tobacco ban lifted 

A group of Native American inmates has filed a federal lawsuit against the South Dakota Department of Corrections, saying a new prison policy that bans the use of tobacco during religious ceremonies is discriminatory.

The Native American Council of Tribes, an organization based at the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls, asked the U.S. District Court to prevent the policy from being enforced. Inmate Blaine Brings Plenty, the group's chairman, said in the complaint that for Native American prayer to be effective, "it must be embodied in 'tobacco' and offered within a ceremonial framework."

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• INDONESIA Using food and cigarettes, Muslim merchants converting Christians to Islam in Papua  

The eastern Indonesian province of Papua, a once largely Christian and Catholic territory, has seen a rise in conversions to Islam. The news has caused shock and disbelief among the faithful, but it comes as no surprise to local clergymen who know well the area, its people and the problems they face every day.

The crucial issue is the way mission is promoted in the province. Communities are far too often left to fend for themselves. Priests are able to visit them only a few times a year, sometimes only at Christmas and Easter. By contrast, Muslim merchants have established thriving businesses and a stable presence. They provide basic items, like cement and tobacco, and through trade, can make a breakthrough in religious matters and convert the natives. . . .

Typically, Muslims are merchants who become permanent residents, open businesses such as food stands or stores selling cement or tobacco. This way, they can easily earn the trust of locals, who come to depend on them for vital supplies.

Thinking about his experience among Papuans, the priest bitterly said, "Never forget to bring tobacco," adding, "No cigarettes, no alleluia."

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Scotland's shisha smoking culture savaged  

Muslim elders in Scotland have launched a campaign against shisha smoking, according to a Deadline News story.

They have put in train the Anti-Shisha Café Glasgow campaign and declared shisha smoking forbidden under Islam.

As part of their campaign they have lodged a formal complaint with Glasgow council on the grounds that smoking indoors is in violation of the 2006 smoking ban.

Glasgow has seven shisha bars, some of which were raided recently, and Edinburgh has two.

A Glasgow council spokesman said that while the tobacco smoking ban was generally very well observed, shisha smoking seemed to be a persistent issue.

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