The Hobby Horses of Belief (and assorted hazards)

In his judgment on Monday, Judge Raymond Groarke noted the case arose after NUIG’s university society co-ordination group (USCG) imposed the ban in 2014 on the siblings from being members of college societies.

USCG said the ban arose because the Burkes distributed leaflets using the college logo which was against the college’s code of conduct and used college funds to pay for the leaflets and, by doing so, misrepresented the college. It also claimed they had shown no willingness to engage with an investigation committee and provided misleading information.

In 2014, they were involved in distributing leaflets seeking a no vote in a referendum advocating Boycott Divestment Sanction of Israel in the context of its dealings with the people of Palestine. They also distributed flyers against gay marriage which implicitly connected gay marriage to paedophilia and incest. Some fellow students had complained about the leaflets and flyers.

Judge Groarke was satisfied there were many procedural flaws in USCG’s handling of the matter and those were the result of “extraordinary and inexcusable” lack of knowledge of fair or proper procedures.

However, he could not accept the procedural flaws were so “egregious” they could only have been motivated by conduct and/or intention to discriminate against them because of their religious beliefs. While some members of USCG and its investigating committee vehemently disagree with some opinions of the Burkes, that disagreement was not influenced by dislike of their religion, he said.

There were “serious aggravating circumstances” in this case, he also held. Those included the failure of the Burkes to co-operate with the investigation, their efforts to hinder it, their failure to give a truthful account of matters, their fabrication of accounts and their misuse of CUS [Christian Union Society] funds, he said.

The leader of Spain’s main opposition party, Pablo Casado, is facing accusations of either being an extremist or of making a monumental blunder after attending a Mass dedicated to the late dictator Francisco Franco.

Mr Casado, leader of the conservative Popular Party (PP), attended the service in a church annexed to Granada cathedral on Saturday, the anniversary of the death of General Franco in 1975. A small number of churches around the country continue to hold such masses every November 20th in tribute to Franco, who headed a brutal dictatorship for 36 years.

However, the PP has insisted the incident was an unfortunate coincidence. Mr Casado was in Granada to take part in the convention of the Andalucían wing of his party and a PP spokesperson said that he and his family had attended the Mass on Saturday because they wouldn’t be able to on Sunday.

The archbishopric of Granada also played down the incident, with a spokesperson telling local media that “someone organised a Mass for someone’s memory and his name was said, but there’s not much more to it”.

However, details of the service have emerged suggesting the far-right nature of the service was obvious. A photograph reportedly taken during the Mass and published by elDiario.es news site shows a pro-Franco flag hanging over one of the front pews.

During the service, the priest spoke the first names of Francisco Franco and José Antonio Primo de Rivera, another icon of the far right, but not their surnames.

Afterwards, by the entrance to the cathedral, people brandished Francoist flags and sang Cara al Sol, the anthem of pro-Franco soldiers during the 1936-39 civil war, according to reports.

The Francisco Franco Association, which promotes the legacy of the dictator, said in a statement that it had not invited the PP leader to the service, but it thanked all those who had attended “the Mass to pray for the soul of an exemplary Christian like Francisco Franco Bahamonde”.

A mob has descended on a sports equipment factory in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, killing a Sri Lankan man and burning his body publicly over allegations of blasphemy, police said.

Armagan Gondal, a police chief in the district of Sialkot, said Muslim factory workers had accused the victim of desecrating posters bearing the name of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

Police said initial information shows Priyantha Kumara was lynched inside the factory.

Videos on social media showed the mob dragging the man’s heavily bruised body outside, where they burned it, surrounded by hundreds who cheered on the killers.

India's government has refused to renew the foreign-funding licence for a charity founded by Mother Teresa.

The Missionaries of Charity has thousands of nuns supervising projects like homes for abandoned children, schools, clinics and hospices.

On Christmas Day, India's home ministry announced it had not renewed the registration due to "adverse inputs".

Hindu hardliners have long accused the charity of using its programmes to convert people to Christianity.

The charity has denied these allegations.

Hindu vigilante groups disrupted Christmas celebrations in parts of the country this year, protesting outside religious gatherings, and vandalising a church in northern India.

The majority of India's population are Hindu. But there are around 24 million Christians in the country - around 2% of the population - and it is home to the second-largest Catholic community in Asia, behind the Philippines.

Authorities have sought to crack down on alleged campaigns to convert Hindus to Christianity and Islam. Several BJP-ruled states have recently passed, or are considering passing laws that ban religious conversion for marriage.