Weekly Fellows Update
by Deanna Cantrell
A new list of targets has been uploaded on the internet allegedly by Ansar Al Islam, the same militant group that previously claimed responsibility for the murders of several secular individuals. The list was uploaded to the text-sharing site Justpaste.it. The list contained the names of 34 secular activists, bloggers and writers ÔÇô most of whom live in Bangladesh but also some who lived abroad.
SPI Fellow, Taslima Nasreen, is listed as number 6 on this list.  Nasreen continues to be outspoken in the face of terrorist threat, she took to Twitter after the announcement.  Sometimes a picture, in this case emoji, says it all.
SPI Advocate, Kim Sj├Âstr├Âm, a Finnish genealogist and secular activist, recently contacted SPI regarding religious registry of children in Finland.┬á Thanks to his alert to this issue, stay tuned next week or an original SPI International news article on this subject.┬á Thank you, Mr. Sj├Âstr├Âm for your attention to this issue.
SPI Fellow Elizabeth Loftus appears in an interview that explores the topic of the ÔÇ£Religious ExperienceÔÇØ.┬á This discussion expands on LoftusÔÇÖ work on false memory and applies it to the concept of a person being touched by religion.┬á Can an unremarkable event can be manipulated by simple suggestion?┬á View the interview, and for further background be sure to watch her TED Talk on false memories entitled, How Reliable Is Your Memory?