title: The House of God

text: The TV medical sitcom-drama "Scrubs" features numerous references to "The House of God", which was reading material for some of the show's writers. "Turfing", "Bouncing" and "Gomers" occasionally feature in the show's dialogue. In the episode "My Balancing Act", Dr. Cox uses the term "zebra". In the episode "My Student", J.D. quotes the medical student rule: "A famous doctor once said, 'Show me a med student that only triples my work, and I'll kiss his feet.'" One episode focuses on Dr. Dorian saving a patient by "doing nothing," which is a major theme of the novel.


title: Limb (anatomy)

text: A limb (from the Old English "lim", meaning "body part") or leg is a jointed, muscled appendage that tetrapod vertebrates use for weight-bearing and terrestrial locomotion such as walking, running and jumping, for paddle-swimming, or for grasping and climbing. The distalmost portion of a limb is known as its extremity. The limbs' bony endoskeleton, known as the appendicular skeleton, is homologous among all tetrapods.


title: Limb (anatomy)

text: All tetrapods have four limbs that are organized into two bilaterally symmetrical pairs, with one pair at each end of the torso. The cranial pair are known as the forelimbs or "front legs", and the caudal pair the hindlimbs or "back legs". In animals with more upright posture (mainly hominid primates, particularly humans), the forelimbs and hindlimbs are often called upper and lower limbs, respectively. The fore-/upper limbs are connected to the thoracic cage via the shoulder girdles, and the hind-/lower limbs are connected to the pelvis via the hip joints. Many animals, especially the arboreal species, have prehensile forelimbs adapted for grasping and climbing, while some (birds and bats) have expanded forelimbs (and sometimes hindlimbs as well) with specialized feathers or membranes to achieve lift and fly. Some animals (mostly primates) can also use hindlimbs for grasping.


title: Limb (anatomy)

text: In the human body, the upper and lower limbs are commonly known as the arms and legs, respectively (although in academic definitions, these latter terms actually refer only to the upper arm and lower leg). The human arms have relatively great ranges of motion and are highly adapted for grasping and for carrying objects. The extremity of each arm, known as the hand, specializes in intrinsic and digital fine motor skills for precise manipulation of objects. The human legs and their extremities — the feet — are specialized for bipedal locomotion. Compared to most other mammals that walk and run on all four limbs, human limbs are proportionally weaker but very mobile and versatile, and the unique dexterity of the human upper extremities allows them to make sophisticated tools and machines that compensate for the lack of physical strength and endurance.


title: Limb (anatomy)

text: The overall patterns of the forelimbs and hindlimbs are so similar ancestrally, and branch out in similar ways; that they are given shared names. Limbs are attached to the pectoral girdle or pelvic girdle. The one bony element of the upper limb is the "stylopodium", the two bones of the lower limb are the "zeugopodium". The distal portion of the limbs, that is, the hands or feet, are known as "autopodia". Hands are technically known as the "manus", and feet as the "pes", which are both composed of carpals and digits. As metapodials, the metacarpals and metatarsals are analogous to each other.


title: Limb (anatomy)

text: Limb development is controlled by Hox genes. All jawed vertebrates surveyed so far organize their developing limb buds in a similar way. Growth occurs from proximal to distal part of the limb. On the distal end, the differentiation of skeletal elements occurs in an apical ectodermal ridge (AER) which expands in rays. A Zone of Polarizing Activity (ZPA) at the rear part of the AER coordinates the differentiation of digits.


title: Delaney Williams

text: Delaney Williams (born December 12, 1962) is an American character actor from Washington, D.C. He appeared on the HBO drama "The Wire" (2002–2008) as a recurring guest star playing homicide sergeant Jay Landsman. He also had a small role on HBO's mini-series "The Corner" (2000) which brought him to the attention of the producers who worked on "The Corner" prior to casting "The Wire". He has also made appearances on such shows as "", "", "Veep", "Cold Case" and "The Punisher."


title: Helium-4

text: Helium-4 () is a stable isotope of the element helium. It is by far the more abundant of the two naturally occurring isotopes of helium, making up about 99.99986% of the helium on Earth. Its nucleus is identical to an alpha particle, and consists of two protons and two neutrons.


title: Helium-4

text: Alpha decay of heavy elements in the Earth's crust is the source of most naturally occurring helium-4 on Earth, produced after the planet cooled and solidified. While it is also produced by nuclear fusion in stars, most helium-4 in the Sun and in the universe is thought to have been produced by the Big Bang, and is referred to as "primordial helium". However, primordial helium-4 is largely absent from the Earth, having escaped during the high-temperature phase of Earth's formation.


title: Helium-4

text: Helium-4 makes up about one quarter of the ordinary matter in the universe by mass, with almost all of the rest being hydrogen.


title: Helium-4

text: When liquid helium-4 is cooled to below , it becomes a superfluid, with properties that are very unlike those of an ordinary liquid. For example, if superfluid helium-4 is kept in an open vessel, a thin film will climb up the sides of the vessel and overflow. In this state and situation, it is called a "Rollin film". This strange behavior is a result of the Clausius–Clapeyron relation and cannot be explained by the current model of classical mechanics, nor by nuclear or electrical it can only be understood as a quantum-mechanical phenomenon. The total spin of the helium-4 nucleus is an integer (zero), and therefore it is a boson (as are neutral atoms of helium-4). The superfluid behavior is now understood to be a manifestation of Bose–Einstein condensation, which occurs only with collections of bosons.


title: Helium-4

text: It is theorized that at 0.2 K and 50 atm, solid helium-4 may be a superglass (an amorphous solid exhibiting superfluidity).


title: Helium-4

text: The helium atom is the second simplest atom (hydrogen is the simplest), but the extra electron introduces a third "body", so the solution to its wave equation becomes a "three-body problem", which has no analytic solution. However, numerical approximations of the equations of quantum mechanics have given a good estimate of the key atomic properties of , such as its size and ionization energy.


title: Helium-4

text: The size of the He nucleus has long been known to be in the order of magnitude of 1 fm. In an experiment involving the use of exotic helium atoms where an atomic electron was replaced by a muon, the nucleus size has been estimated to be 1.67824(83) fm.


title: Helium-4

text: The nucleus of the helium-4 atom is identical to an alpha particle. High-energy electron-scattering experiments show its charge to decrease exponentially from a maximum at a central point, exactly as does the charge density of helium's own electron cloud. This symmetry reflects similar underlying physics: the pair of neutrons and the pair of protons in helium's nucleus obey the same quantum mechanical rules as do helium's pair of electrons (although the nuclear particles are subject to a different nuclear binding potential), so that all these fermions fully occupy 1s orbitals in pairs, none of them possessing orbital angular momentum, and each canceling the other's intrinsic spin. Adding another of any of these particles would require angular momentum, and would release substantially less energy (in fact, no nucleus with five nucleons is stable). This arrangement is thus energetically extremely stable for all these particles, and this stability accounts for many crucial facts regarding helium in nature.


title: Helium-4

text: For example, the stability and low energy of the electron cloud of helium causes helium's chemical inertness (the most extreme of all the elements), and also the lack of interaction of helium atoms with each other (producing the lowest melting and boiling points of all the elements).


title: Helium-4

text: In a similar way, the particular energetic stability of the helium-4 nucleus, produced by similar effects, accounts for the ease of helium-4 production in atomic reactions involving both heavy-particle emission and fusion. Some stable helium-3 is produced in fusion reactions from hydrogen, but it is a very small fraction, compared with the highly energetically favorable production of helium-4. The stability of helium-4 is the reason that hydrogen is converted to helium-4, and not deuterium (hydrogen-2) or helium-3 or other heavier elements during fusion reactions in the Sun. It is also partly responsible for the alpha particle being by far the most common type of baryonic particle to be ejected from an atomic nucleus; in other words, alpha decay is far more common than cluster decay.


title: Helium-4

text: The unusual stability of the helium-4 nucleus is also important cosmologically. It explains the fact that, in the first few minutes after the Big Bang, as the "soup" of free protons and neutrons which had initially been created in about a 6:1 ratio cooled to the point where nuclear binding was possible, almost all atomic nuclei to form were helium-4 nuclei. The binding of the nucleons in helium-4 is so tight that its production consumed nearly all the free neutrons in a few minutes, before they could beta decay, and left very few to form heavier atoms (especially lithium, beryllium, and boron). The energy of helium-4 nuclear binding per nucleon is stronger than in any of those elements (see nucleogenesis and binding energy), and thus no energetic "drive" was available to make elements 3, 4, and 5 once helium had been formed. It is barely energetically favorable for helium to fuse into the next element with a higher energy per nucleon (carbon). However, due to the rarity of intermediate elements, and extreme instability of beryllium-8 (the product when two He nuclei fuse), this process needs three helium nuclei striking each other nearly simultaneously (see triple alpha process). There was thus no time for significant carbon to be formed in the few minutes after the Big Bang, before the early expanding universe cooled to the temperature and pressure where helium fusion to carbon was no longer possible. This left the early universe with a very similar hydrogen–helium ratio as is observed today (3 parts hydrogen to 1 part helium-4 by mass), with nearly all the neutrons in the universe trapped in helium-4.


title: Helium-4

text: All heavier elements—including those necessary for rocky planets like the Earth, and for carbon-based or other life—thus had to be produced, since the Big Bang, in stars which were hot enough to fuse elements heavier than hydrogen. All elements other than hydrogen and helium today account for only 2% of the mass of atomic matter in the universe. Helium-4, by contrast, makes up about 23% of the universe's ordinary matter—nearly all the ordinary matter that is not hydrogen (H).


title: Nora Zehetner

text: Zehetner was born in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Nancy Lynne (née Nelson) and John Carol Zehetner. She attended elementary school in Richardson, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, before moving back to El Paso. When she was 14 she moved to Dallas where she attended McKinney High School for several years. For one year she also attended the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, an early college entrance program at the University of North Texas for students interested in mathematics or science.


title: Nora Zehetner

text: At the age of 18, Zehetner started an acting career, something she had been interested in since she was 8, and moved to Los Angeles. She appeared in "Tart" (2001), "American Pie 2" (2001), "R.S.V.P." (2002), "May" (2002), and "The Song of Rose" (2003), as well as in other films and several TV series and commercials. Zehetner portrayed Laynie Hart on the WB's show "Everwood".


title: Nora Zehetner

text: In "Brick", which won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, Zehetner plays the femme fatale Laura. The soundtrack CD of this film, released by Lakeshore Records on March 21, 2006, features Zehetner's full, unedited performance of "".


title: Nora Zehetner

text: Zehetner also starred in NBC's "Heroes" as Eden McCain. Zap2It.com proclaimed Zehetner one of "The Underrated of 2006" for her role.


title: Nora Zehetner

text: Together with the actors and comedians Tom Arnold and Dax Shepard, Zehetner embarked in 2007 on a USO/Armed Forces Entertainment tour to the Persian Gulf region to meet with service members and sign autographs.


title: Nora Zehetner

text: In 2007, Zehetner appeared with Marisa Berenson in the short movie "Jalouse: Elegante, famous, beautiful, jolie" which was produced by the French fashion magazine "Jalouse" to celebrate their 10th anniversary.


title: Nora Zehetner

text: Zehetner portrayed the recurring role of Dr. Reed Adamson for 10 episodes during the sixth season (2009–2010) of the television series "Grey's Anatomy".


title: Nora Zehetner

text: In 2018, Zehetner was cast in the recurring role of Valeria Poriskova on the second season of the ABC political drama "Designated Survivor".


title: Nora Zehetner

text: Nora Zehetner plays Annie Glenn the wife of astronaut John Glenn in the television series "The Right Stuff" which premiered in October 2020 on Disney+.


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: Philipp Bouhler (11 September 1899 – 19 May 1945) was a German senior Nazi Party functionary who was both a (National Leader) and Chief of the Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP. He was also the SS official responsible for the euthanasia program that killed more than 250,000 disabled adults and children in Nazi Germany, as well as co-initiator of , also called ('special treatment'), that killed 15,000–20,000 concentration camp prisoners.


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: Bouhler was arrested on 10 May 1945 by American troops. He committed suicide on 19 May 1945 while in the U.S. internment camp at Zell am See in Austria.


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: Bouhler was born in Munich, to a retired colonel, and spent five years in the Royal Bavarian Cadet Corps. He entered the 1st Royal Bavarian Foot Artillery Regiment in 1916 during the First World War, was commissioned as a "Leutnant" in July 1917, and was badly wounded the next month. He was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class, and was hospitalized through the end of the war. From 1919 to 1920, he studied philosophy and in 1921 became a contributor in the publishing house that put out the Nazi Party newspaper "Völkischer Beobachter".


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: Bouhler joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in July 1922 with membership number 12. By late 1922 he had become deputy business manager of the NSDAP under Max Amann. He took part in the failed Beer Hall Putsch in Munich and when the Party was banned, became the Business Manager for the Nazi front organization, the Greater German People's Community, based in Munich.


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: Upon the refounding of the party on 27 February 1925, he immediately rejoined and was made National Business Manager of the NSDAP, holding this post until November 1934. After the seizure of power in 1933, he was elected as a member of the "Reichstag" for electoral constituency 18, Southern Westphalia. On 2 June 1933 Hitler appointed him a "Reichsleiter", the second highest political rank in the Nazi Party. He joined the SS in the rank of SS-"Gruppenführer" on 20 April 1933 with membership number: 54,932. On 30 January 1936, Bouhler was promoted to the rank of SS-"Obergruppenführer".


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: From the end of August to the end of October 1934, Bouhler was police president of Munich. In September he was made a member of the Academy for German Law. He was next appointed chief of Adolf Hitler's Chancellery, a post specially created on 17 November 1934 that was first and foremost set aside for party business. He held that position until 23 April 1945. In this job, for instance, secret decrees might be prepared, or internal business managed, before being brought before Adolf Hitler. Moreover, Bouhler was chairman of the "Official Party Inspection Commission for the Protection of National Socialist Literature" ("Der Chef der Kanzlei des Führers und Vorsitzender der Parteiamtlichen Prüfungskommission zum Schutze des NS-Schrifttums"), which determined what writings were and were not suitable for Nazi society.


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: Bouhler's office was responsible for all correspondence for Hitler, which included private and internal communications as well as responding to public inquiries (for example, requests for material help, godfathership, jobs, clemency, NSDAP business, and birthday wishes). His personal adjutant was SS-"Sturmbannführer" Karl Freiherr Michel von Tüßling. By 1944, much of the functions of the "Kanzlei des Führers" were absorbed by the Party Chancellery ("Parteikanzlei") under Martin Bormann.


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: During the war, Bouhler published "Der großdeutsche Freiheitskampf" ("the greater German freedom struggle"), a three volume book series of speeches given by Hitler from September 1, 1939, to March 15, 1942.


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: Bouhler was responsible for the killing of disabled German citizens. By order of Hitler (backdated to 1 September 1939), Bouhler with Karl Brandt developed the Nazis' early euthanasia program, "Aktion T4" in which mentally ill and physically disabled people were killed. The actual implementation was supervised by Bouhler. Various methods of killing were tried out. The first killing facility was Schloss Hartheim in Upper Austria. The knowledge gained from the euthanasia program was later applied to the industrialized annihilation of other groups of people, especially the Jews.


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: In 1941 Bouhler and Heinrich Himmler initiated Aktion 14f13. Bouhler instructed the head of the Hauptamt II ("main office ll") of Hitler's Chancellery, the Oberdienstleiter Viktor Brack to implement this order. Brack was already in charge of the various front operations of T4.


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: The scheme operated under the Concentration Camps Inspector and the "Reichsführer-SS" under the name "Sonderbehandlung 14f13". The combination of numbers and letters was derived from the SS record-keeping system and consists of the number "14" for the Concentration Camps Inspector, the letter "f" for the German word "deaths" ("Todesfälle"), and the number "13" for the means of killing, in this case, for gassing in the T4 killing centers. "Sonderbehandlung" ("special treatment") was the euphemistic term for execution or killing.


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: In 1942, Bouhler published the book ""Napoleon – Kometenbahn eines Genies"" (Napoleon – A Genius's Cometary Path), which became a favorite of Hitler's. He had also published a Nazi publication "Kampf um Deutschland" (Fight for Germany) in 1938.


title: Philipp Bouhler

text: Bouhler and his wife, Helene, were arrested by American troops at Schloss Fischhorn in Bruck near Zell-am-See on 10 May 1945. Helene jumped to her death from a window at Schloss Fischhorn. On 19 May, Bouhler killed himself using a cyanide capsule while in the US internment camp at Zell-am-See. The couple had no children.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: The Battle of the Java Sea (, , Javanese : ꦥꦼꦫꦁꦱꦼꦒꦫꦗꦮ, romanized: "Perang Segara Jawa") was a decisive naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: Allied navies suffered a disastrous defeat at the hand of the Imperial Japanese Navy, on 27 February 1942, and in secondary actions over successive days. The American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) Strike Force commander— Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman—was killed. The aftermath of the battle included several smaller actions around Java, including the smaller but also significant Battle of Sunda Strait. These defeats led to Japanese occupation of the entire Dutch East Indies.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: The Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies progressed at a rapid pace as they advanced from their Palau Islands colony and captured bases in Sarawak and the southern Philippines. They seized bases in eastern Borneo and in northern Celebes while troop convoys, screened by destroyers and cruisers with air support provided by swarms of fighters operating from captured bases, steamed southward through the Makassar Strait and into the Molucca Sea. To oppose these invading forces was a small force, consisting of Dutch, American, British and Australian warships—many of them of World War I vintage—initially under the command of American Admiral Thomas C. Hart.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: On 23 January 1942, a force of four American destroyers attacked a Japanese invasion convoy in Makassar Strait as it approached Balikpapan in Borneo. On 13 February, the Allies fought unsuccessfully—in the Battle of Palembang—to prevent the Japanese from capturing the major oil port in eastern Sumatra. On the night of 19/20 February, an Allied force attacked the Eastern Invasion Force off Bali in the Battle of Badung Strait. Also on 19 February, the Japanese made two air raids on Darwin, on the Australian mainland, one from carrier-based planes and the other by land-based planes. The destruction of Darwin rendered it useless as a supply and naval base to support operations in the East Indies.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: The Japanese amphibious forces gathered to strike at Java, and on 27 February 1942, the main Allied naval force, under Doorman, sailed northeast from Surabaya to intercept a convoy of the Eastern Invasion Force approaching from the Makassar Strait. The Eastern Strike Force, as it was known, consisted of two heavy cruisers ( and ), three light cruisers (Doorman's flagship , , ), and nine destroyers (, , , , , , , , and ).


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: The Japanese task force protecting the convoy, commanded by Rear-Admiral Takeo Takagi, consisted of two heavy ( and ) and two light cruisers ( and ) and 14 destroyers (, , , , , , , , , , , , , and ) including the 4th Destroyer Squadron under the command of Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura. The Japanese heavy cruisers were much more powerful, armed with ten 8-inch (203 mm) guns each, and superb torpedoes. By comparison, "Exeter" was armed only with six 8-inch guns and only six of "Houston"s nine 8-inch guns remained operable after her aft turret had been knocked out in an earlier air attack.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: The Allied force engaged the Japanese in the Java Sea, and the battle raged intermittently from mid-afternoon to midnight as the Allies tried to reach and attack the troop transports of the Java invasion fleet, but they were repulsed by superior firepower. The Allies had local air superiority during the daylight hours, because Japanese air power could not reach the fleet in the bad weather. The weather also hindered communications, making cooperation between the many Allied parties involved—in reconnaissance, air cover and fleet headquarters—even worse than it already was. The Japanese also jammed the radio frequencies. "Exeter" was the only ship in the battle equipped with radar, an emerging technology at the time.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: The battle consisted of a series of attempts over a seven-hour period by Doorman's Combined Striking Force to reach and attack the invasion convoy; each was rebuffed by the escort force with heavy losses being inflicted on the Allies.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: The fleets sighted each other at about 16:00 on 27 February and closed to firing range, opening fire at 16:16. Both sides exhibited poor gunnery and torpedo skills during this phase of the battle. Despite her recent refit (with the addition of modern Type 284 gunnery control radar), "Exeter"s shells did not come close to the Japanese ships, while "Houston" only managed to achieve a straddle on one of the opposing cruisers. The only notable result of the initial gunnery exchange was "Exeter" being critically damaged by a hit in the boiler room from an 8-inch shell. The ship then limped away to Surabaya, escorted by "Witte de With".


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: The Japanese launched two huge torpedo salvoes, consisting of 92 torpedoes in all, but scored only one hit, on "Kortenaer". She was struck by a Long Lance, broke in two and sank rapidly after the hit.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: "Electra"—covering "Exeter"—engaged in a duel with "Jintsū" and "Asagumo", scoring several hits but suffering severe damage to her superstructure. After a serious fire started on "Electra" and her remaining turret ran out of ammunition, abandon ship was ordered. On the Japanese side, only "Asagumo" was forced to retire because of damage.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: The Allied fleet broke off and turned away around 18:00, covered by a smoke screen laid by the four destroyers of U.S. Destroyer Division 58 (DesDiv 58). They also launched a torpedo attack but at too long a range to be effective. Doorman's force turned south toward the Java coast, then west and north as night fell in an attempt to evade the Japanese escort group and fall on the convoy. It was at this point the ships of DesDiv 58—their torpedoes expended—left on their own initiative to return to Surabaya.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: Shortly after, at 21:25, "Jupiter" ran onto a mine – believed to have been discarded by a Dutch minelayer – in shallow water and was sunk, while about 20 minutes later, the fleet passed where "Kortenaer" had sunk earlier, and "Encounter" was detached to pick up survivors.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: Doorman's command, now reduced to four cruisers, again encountered the Japanese escort group at 23:00; both columns exchanged fire in the darkness at long range, until the ‘'Java'’ and ‘'De Ruyter'’ were torpedoed in the same devastating salvo; ‘'Java'’ exploded and sank within minutes, while ‘'De Ruyter'’ was struck and disabled while evading and went under several hours later. Only 111 were saved from both ships, Doorman among the dead, having gone down with the ‘'De Ruyter'’.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: Only the cruisers "Perth" and "Houston" remained; low on fuel and ammunition, and following Doorman's last order to ignore survivors and proceed to Batavia, the two ships retired, arriving at Tanjung Priok on 28 February.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: Although the Allied fleet did not reach the invasion fleet, the battle did give the defenders of Java a one-day respite.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: "Perth" and "Houston" were at Tanjung Priok on 28 February when they received orders to sail through Sunda Strait to Tjilatjap. Material was running short in Java, and neither was able to rearm or fully refuel. Departing at 19:00 on 28 February for the Sunda Strait, by chance they encountered the main Japanese invasion fleet for West Java in Bantam Bay. The Allied ships were engaged by at least three cruisers and several destroyers.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: In a ferocious night action that ended after midnight on 1 March, "Perth" and "Houston" were sunk. A Japanese minesweeper and a troop transport were sunk by friendly fire, while three other transports were damaged and had to be beached.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: The Dutch destroyer HNLMS "Evertsen" had been scheduled to depart Tanjung Priok with the cruisers, but was delayed, and she followed them about two hours later. Her crew sighted the gunfire of the main action, and her captain managed to evade the Japanese main force. However, "Evertsen" was then engaged by two Japanese destroyers in the Strait, and on fire and in a sinking condition, grounded herself on a reef near Sebuku Island. The surviving crew abandoned ship just as the aft magazine exploded.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: After emergency repairs the badly-damaged "Exeter" left Surabaya for Ceylon; she departed at dusk on 28 February and limped toward Sunda Strait, escorted by the destroyers and . However, all three ships were intercepted by the Japanese heavy cruisers "Nachi", "Haguro", "Myōkō" and "Ashigara"—and their attendant destroyers—on the morning of 1 March. "Exeter" and "Encounter" were sunk together around noon, while "Pope" escaped only to be sunk several hours later by aerial attack.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: The four U.S. destroyers of DesDiv 58—"John D. Edwards", "John D. Ford", "Alden", and "Paul Jones"—were also at Surabaya; they left for Australia via the harbor's shallow eastern entrance at nightfall on 28 February. After a brief encounter with Japanese destroyers in the Bali Strait, which they were able to evade, they reached Fremantle safely on 4 March.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: Another Dutch destroyer (HNLMS "Witte de With") and three American ships (destroyers USS "Pillsbury" and USS "Edsall", along with the gunboat USS "Asheville") were either scuttled or sunk as they attempted to escape to Australia. The main ABDA naval force had been almost totally destroyed: 10 ships and approximately 2,173 sailors had been lost. The Battle of the Java Sea ended significant Allied naval operations in Southeast Asia in 1942, and Japanese land forces invaded Java on 28 February. The Dutch surface fleet was practically eradicated from Asian waters and the Netherlands would never reclaim full control of its colony. The Japanese now controlled one of the most important food-producing regions (Java), and by conquering the Dutch East Indies, Japan also controlled the fourth-largest oil producing area in the world in 1940.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: The U.S. and Royal Air Force retreated to Australia. Dutch troops, aided by British remnants, fought fiercely for a week. In the campaign the Japanese executed many Allied POWs and sympathizing Indonesians. Eventually, the Japanese won this decisive battle of attrition and ABDA forces surrendered on 9 March.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: As of 2002 the location of the wreck of only one of the eight ships sunk during the two so-called Java Sea Battles, HMS "Jupiter", was known and plotted on an Admiralty chart. However, given her location in very shallow water so close to shore she had already been heavily salvaged.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: In December 2002 the wrecks of HNLMS "Java" and HNLMS "De Ruyter" were discovered by a specialist wreck diving group aboard the dive vessel MV "Empress". "Empress" then went on to discover the wrecks of HMS "Electra" in August 2003; HNLMS "Kortenaer" in August 2004; and HMS "Exeter" and HMS "Encounter" in February 2007. When discovered these wrecks were all in a very well-preserved state, save for battle damage. In late 2008, "Empress" discovered remnants of the last wreck, USS "Pope", which had already been largely removed by illegal salvage diving operations.


title: Battle of the Java Sea

text: Although the MV "Empress" team kept the locations of their discoveries secret, by 2017 all eight ships had been reduced to remnants or even entirely removed by illegal commercial salvage operations.'


title: Opinion

text: An opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive, rather than facts, which are true statements.


title: Opinion

text: A given opinion may deal with subjective matters in which there is no conclusive finding, or it may deal with facts which are sought to be disputed by the logical fallacy that one is entitled to their opinions.


title: Opinion

text: Distinguishing fact from opinion is that facts are verifiable, i.e. can be agreed to by the consensus of experts. An example is: "United States of America was involved in the Vietnam War," versus "United States of America was right to get involved in the Vietnam War". An opinion may be supported by facts and principles, in which case it becomes an argument.


title: Opinion

text: Different people may draw opposing conclusions (opinions) even if they agree on the same set of facts. Opinions rarely change without new arguments being presented. It can be reasoned that one opinion is better supported by the facts than another, by analyzing the supporting arguments.


title: Opinion

text: In casual use, the term "opinion" may be the result of a person's perspective, understanding, particular feelings, beliefs, and desires.


title: Opinion

text: Though not hard fact, collective opinions or professional opinions are defined as meeting a higher standard to substantiate the opinion.


title: Opinion

text: In contemporary usage, public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by a population (e.g., a city, state, or country), while consumer opinion is the similar aggregate collected as part of marketing research (e.g., opinions of users of a particular product or service). Typically, because the process of gathering opinions from all individuals is difficult, expensive, or impossible to obtain, public opinion (or consumer opinion) is estimated using survey sampling (e.g., with a representative sample of a population).


title: Opinion

text: In some social sciences, especially political science and psychology, group opinion refers to the aggregation of opinions collected from a group of subjects, such as members of a jury, legislature, committee, or other collective decision-making body. In these situations, researchers are often interested in questions related to social choice, conformity, and group polarization.


title: Opinion

text: "Scientific opinion" may reflect opinions on scientific concerns as articulated by one or more scientists, published in scholarly journals or respected textbooks, both of which entail peer-review and rigorous professional editing. It may also refer to opinions published by professional, academic, or governmental organizations about scientific findings and their possible implications.


title: Opinion

text: A related—but not identical—term, scientific consensus, is the prevailing view on a scientific topic within the scientific community, such as the scientific opinion on climate change.


title: Opinion

text: Scientific opinion(s) can be "partial, temporally contingent, conflicting, and uncertain" so that there may be no accepted consensus for a particular situation. In other circumstances, a particular scientific opinion may be at odds with consensus.


title: Opinion

text: Scientific literacy, also called public understanding of science, is an educational goal concerned with providing the public with the necessary tools to benefit from scientific opinion.


title: Opinion

text: A "legal opinion" or "closing opinion" is a type of professional opinion, usually contained in a formal legal-opinion letter, given by an attorney to a client or a third party. Most legal opinions are given in connection with business transactions. The opinion expresses the attorney's professional judgment regarding the legal aspect of the transaction. The opinion can be "clean" or "reasoned". A legal opinion is not a guarantee that a court will reach any particular result. However, a mistaken or incomplete legal opinion may be grounds for a professional malpractice claim against the attorney, pursuant to which the attorney may be required to pay the claimant damages incurred as a result of relying on the faulty opinion.


title: Opinion

text: A "judicial opinion" or "opinion of the court" is an opinion of a judge or group of judges that accompanies and explains an order or ruling in a controversy before the court. A judicial opinion generally lays out the facts that the court recognized as being established, the legal principles the court is bound by, and the application of the relevant principles to the recognized facts. The goal is to demonstrate the rationale the court used in reaching its decision.


title: Opinion

text: As the second step of the European Union's infringement procedure, the European Commission issues a "reasoned opinion" when it is concerned that a Member State has not implemented a Directive or other EU law. The reasoned opinion constitutes a formal request to the state concerned for implementing action to be taken, usually within a two month deadline. Also under EU law, a "reasoned opinion" may be issued by a Member State in relation to proposed EU legislation, if the Member State is concerned that the proposal infringes the EU's subsidiarity principle. Article 6, Protocol 2 to the Treaty of Lisbon (2007, entered into force on 1 December 2009) allows Member States to issue a reasoned opinion within 8 weeks of their official notification of the draft legislation.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, (10 August 172912 July 1814) was a British Army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British land forces in the Colonies during the American War of Independence. Howe was one of three brothers who had distinguished military careers. In historiography of the American war he is usually referred to as Sir William Howe to distinguish him from his brother Richard, who was 4th Viscount Howe at that time.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Having joined the army in 1746, Howe saw extensive service in the War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War. He became known for his role in the capture of Quebec in 1759 when he led a British force to capture the cliffs at Anse-au-Foulon, allowing James Wolfe to land his army and engage the French in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Howe also participated in the campaigns to take Louisbourg, Belle Île and Havana. He was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Isle of Wight, a post he held until 1795.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Howe was sent to North America in March 1775, arriving in May after the American War of Independence broke out. After leading British troops to a costly victory in the Battle of Bunker Hill, Howe took command of all British forces in America from Thomas Gage in September of that year. Howe's record in North America was marked by the successful capture of both New York City and Philadelphia. However, poor campaign planning for 1777 contributed to the failure of John Burgoyne's Saratoga campaign, which played a major role in the entry of France into the war. Howe's role in developing those plans and the degree to which he was responsible for British failures that year (despite his personal success at Philadelphia) have both been subjects of contemporary and historic debate.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: He was knighted after his successes in 1776. He resigned his post as Commander-in-Chief, British land forces in America, in 1777, and the next year returned to England, where he was at times active in the defence of the British Isles. He sat in the House of Commons from 1758 to 1780 for Nottingham. He inherited the Viscountcy of Howe upon the death of his brother Richard in 1799. He married, but had no children, and the viscountcy became extinct with his death in 1814.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: William Howe was born in England, the third son of Emanuel Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe and Charlotte, the daughter of Sophia von Kielmansegg, Countess of Leinster and Darlington, an acknowledged illegitimate half-sister of King George I. His mother was a regular in the courts of George II and George III. This connection with the crown may have improved the careers of all four sons, but all were also very capable officers. His father was a politician, who served as Governor of Barbados where he died in 1735. William's eldest brother, General George Howe, was killed just before the 1758 Battle of Carillon at Fort Ticonderoga. Another brother, Admiral Richard Howe, rose to become one of Britain's leading naval commanders. A third brother, Thomas, commanded ships for the East India Company, Winchelsea in 1762–1764 and Nottingham in 1766, and made observations on Madeira and on the Comoro Islands.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: William entered the army when he was 17 by buying a cornet's commission in the Duke of Cumberland's Dragoons in 1746, becoming a lieutenant the following year. He then served for two years in Flanders during the War of the Austrian Succession. After the war he was transferred to the 20th Regiment of Foot, where he became a friend of James Wolfe.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: During the Seven Years' War Howe's service first brought him to America, and did much to raise his reputation. Promoted to the rank of major in 1756, he joined the newly formed 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot in February 1757, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in December of that year. He commanded the regiment at the Siege of Louisbourg in 1758, leading an amphibious landing under heavy enemy fire. This action won the attackers a flanking position and earned Howe a commendation from Wolfe.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Howe commanded a light infantry battalion under General Wolfe during the 1759 Siege of Quebec. He was in the Battle of Beauport, and was chosen by Wolfe to lead the ascent from the Saint Lawrence River up to the Plains of Abraham that led to the British victory in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on 13 September 1759. After spending the winter in the defence of Quebec City, his regiment fought in the April 1760 Battle of Sainte-Foy and subsequent siege of Quebec. He then led a brigade in the decisive Montreal Campaign under Jeffery Amherst before returning to England. Howe led a brigade in the 1761 Capture of Belle Île, off the French coast, and turned down the opportunity to become military governor after its capture so that he might continue in active service. He served as adjutant general of the force that captured Havana in 1762, playing a part in a skirmish at Guanabacoa.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: In 1758, Howe was elected a member of parliament for Nottingham, succeeding to the seat vacated by his brother George's death. His election was assisted by the influence of his mother, who campaigned on behalf of her son while he was away at war, and may very well have been undertaken because service in Parliament was seen as a common way to improve one's prospects for advancement in the military. In 1764 he was promoted to colonel of the 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot, and in 1768 he was appointed lieutenant governor of the Isle of Wight. As tensions rose between Britain and the colonies in the 1770s, Howe continued to rise through the ranks, and came to be widely regarded as one of the best officers in the army. He was promoted to major general in 1772, and in 1774 introduced new training drills for light infantry companies.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: In Parliament he was generally sympathetic to the American colonies. He publicly opposed the collection of legislation intended to punish the Thirteen Colonies known as Intolerable Acts, and in 1774 assured his constituents that he would resist active duty against the Americans and asserted that the entire British army could not conquer America. He also let government ministers know privately that he was prepared to serve in America as second in command to Thomas Gage, whom he knew was unpopular in government circles. In early 1775, when King George called on him to serve, he accepted, claiming publicly that if he did not, he would suffer "the odious name of backwardness to serve my country in distress." He sailed for America in March 1775, accompanied by Major Generals Henry Clinton and John Burgoyne. In May 1775 his colonelcy was transferred to the 23rd Fusiliers.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Howe was first sent to Boston. Privately, he did not agree with the policy of the government towards the colonists, and regretted in particular that he was sent to Boston, where the memory of his brother George was still cherished by the inhabitants, and General Gage, in whom he had no confidence, was commander-in-chief.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Along with fellow British Army Generals Clinton and Burgoyne, Howe arrived there aboard on 25 May 1775, having learned en route that war had broken out with the skirmishes at the marches to Lexington and Concord in April. The "Cerberus" provided naval reinforcement at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He led a force of 4,000 troops sent to reinforce the 5,000 troops under General Thomas Gage who were besieged in the city after those battles. Gage, Howe, and Generals Clinton and Burgoyne discussed plans to break the siege. They formulated a plan to seize high ground around Boston and attack the besieging colonial militia forces, setting its execution for 18 June. However, the colonists learned of the plan and fortified the heights of Breed's Hill and nearby Bunker Hill on the Charlestown peninsula across the Charles River from Boston on the night of 16–17 June, forcing the British leadership to rethink their strategy.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: In a war council held early on 17 June, the generals developed a plan calling for a direct assault on the colonial fortification, and Gage gave Howe command of the operation. Despite a sense of urgency (the colonists were still working on the fortifications at the time of the council), the attack, now known as the Battle of Bunker Hill, did not begin until that afternoon. With Howe personally leading the right wing of the attack, the first two assaults were firmly repulsed by the colonial defenders. Howe's third assault gained the objective, but the cost of the day's battle was appallingly heavy. The British casualties, more than 1,000 killed or wounded, were the highest of any engagement in the war. Howe described it as a "success ... too dearly bought." Although Howe exhibited courage on the battlefield, his tactics and overwhelming confidence were criticised. One subordinate wrote that Howe's "absurd and destructive confidence" played a role in the number of casualties incurred.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Although Howe was not injured in the battle, it had a pronounced effect on his spirit. According to British historian George Otto Trevelyan, the battle "exercised a permanent and most potent influence" especially on Howe's behaviour, and that Howe's military skills thereafter "were apt to fail him at the very moment when they were especially wanted." Despite an outward appearance of confidence and popularity with his troops, the "genial six-footer with a face some people described as 'coarse'", privately often exhibited a lack of self-confidence, and in later campaigns became somewhat dependent on his older brother Richard (the admiral in the Royal Navy, also on station in the Colonies) for advice and approval.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: On 11 October 1775, General Gage sailed for England, and Howe took over as Commander-in-Chief of British land forces in America. British military planners in London had, with the outbreak of hostilities, begun planning a massive reinforcement of the troops in North America. Their plans, made with recommendations from Howe, called for the abandonment of Boston and the establishment of bases in New York and Newport, Rhode Island in an attempt to isolate the rebellion to New England. When orders arrived in November to execute these plans, Howe opted to remain in Boston for the winter and begin the campaign in 1776. As a result, the remainder of the Siege of Boston was largely a stalemate. Howe never attempted a major engagement with the Continental Army, which had come under the command of Major General George Washington. He did, however, spend a fair amount of time at the gambling tables, and allegedly established a relationship with Elizabeth Lloyd Loring, the wife of Loyalist Joshua Loring, Jr. Loring apparently acquiesced to this arrangement, and was rewarded by Howe with the position of commissary of prisoners. Contemporaries and historians have criticised Howe for both his gambling and the amount of time he supposedly spent with Mrs. Loring, with some going so far as to level accusations that this behaviour interfered with his military activities; historian John Alden does not give these ideas credence. The alleged relationship is also mentioned in "The Battle of the Kegs", an American propaganda ballad written by Francis Hopkinson. In January 1776 Howe's role as commander in chief was cemented with a promotion to full general in North America.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: The siege was broken in March 1776 when Continental Army Colonel Henry Knox brought heavy artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston during the winter, and General Washington used them to fortify Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston and its harbour. Howe at first planned an assault on this position, but a snowstorm interfered, and he eventually decided to withdraw from Boston. On 17 March, British troops and Loyalists evacuated the city, and sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Howe and his troops began to arrive outside New York Harbour and made an uncontested landing on Staten Island to the west in early July. Howe, whose orders from Lord George Germain, the Secretary of State responsible for directing the war from Westminster, were fairly clear that he should avoid conflict before the arrival of reinforcements, then waited until those reinforcements arrived in mid-August, along with the naval commander, his brother Richard. This delay proved to be somewhat costly, since the Americans used this time to improve fortifications on northwestern Long Island (at Brooklyn Heights along the East River shoreline) and increased the size of their Continental Army with additional militia. After moving most of his army by amphibious barges across the Verazzano Narrows to southwestern Long Island without opposition, he attacked the American positions on 27 August in what became known as the Battle of Long Island. In a well-executed manoeuvre, a large column led by Howe and Clinton passed around the American left flank and through the lightly guarded Jamaica Pass far to the east (a ridge of hills running east to west bisected the island, with a series of lower entrances that were all guarded by Continentals except inexplicably to the farthest east at Jamaica), catching the Patriots off-guard and routing the Americans from their forward positions back into the entrenchments on Brooklyn Heights. Despite the urging of Clinton and others, Howe decided against an immediate assault on these fortifications, claiming "the Troops had for that day done handsomely enough." He instead began siege operations, methodically advancing on the entrenched Americans. This decision allowed General Washington to successfully orchestrate a nighttime strategic withdrawal across the East River on the night of 29–30 August, aided by a thick morning fog. Historian George Bilias notes that had Howe attacked Brooklyn Heights, the capture of even half of Washington's army, and possibly Washington himself, might have had a significant effect on the rebellion. Some officers, notably General Clinton, were critical of Howe's decision not to storm the American works. Howe was knighted as a reward for his victory on Long Island.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Howe and his brother Richard had, as part of their instructions, been assigned roles as peace commissioners, with limited authority to treat with the rebels. After Long Island, they pursued an attempt at reconciliation, sending the captured General John Sullivan to Philadelphia with a proposal for a peace conference. The meeting that resulted, conducted by Admiral Howe, was unsuccessful. The Howes had been given limited powers, as had the Congressional representatives, and the latter were insistent that the British recognise the recently declared colonial independence. This was not within the Howes' powers, so the conference failed, and Howe then continued the campaign. He first landed troops on Manhattan on 15 September and occupied New York City (which then covered only Lower Manhattan), although his advance northward on Upper Manhattan was checked the next day at Harlem Heights. He paused, spending nearly one month consolidating control of New York City and awaiting reinforcements. During this time he ordered the execution of Nathan Hale for espionage and had to deal with the effects of a major fire in the city. He then attempted a landing on the mainland at Throgs Neck, intending to flank Washington's position at Harlem Heights. However, the narrow causeway between the beach and the mainland was well-defended, and he ended up withdrawing the troops. He made a successful landing of troops at Pell's Point in Westchester County, but Washington managed to avoid being flanked, retreating to White Plains. Howe successfully forced Washington out of the New York area in the 28 October Battle of White Plains, and then turned his attention to consolidate British hold on Manhattan. In November he attacked the remaining Continental Army stronghold in the Battle of Fort Washington, taking several thousand prisoners.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Washington then retreated across New Jersey, followed by Howe's advance forces under Charles Cornwallis. At this point, Howe prepared troops under the command of General Clinton for embarkation to occupy Newport, the other major goal of his plan. Clinton proposed that these troops instead be landed in New Jersey, either opposite Staten Island or on the Delaware River, trapping Washington or even capturing the seat of the Continental Congress, Philadelphia. Howe rejected these proposals, despatching Clinton and General Hugh, Earl Percy, two vocal critics of his leadership, to take Newport. In early December, Howe came to Trenton, New Jersey to arrange the disposition of his troops for the winter. Washington had retreated all the way across the Delaware, and Howe returned to New York, believing the campaign to be ended for the season. When Washington attacked the Hessian quarters at Trenton on 26 December 1776, Howe sent Cornwallis to reform the army in New Jersey and chase after Washington. Cornwallis was frustrated in this, with Washington gaining a second victory at Trenton and a third at Princeton. Howe recalled the army to positions much closer to New York for the winter.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Howe has been criticised by contemporaries and historians for failing to decisively defeat the Continental Army during the New York campaign. Contemporaries complained that his landing in Westchester failed to trap Washington, but failed to understand that his goal in the campaign was to secure Manhattan, and not necessarily to defeat Washington. However, historian George Billias observes that Howe's overly rigid adherence to his plans meant that he was unable to capitalise on the opportunities that arose during the campaign for a decisive action.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: On 30 November 1776, as Washington was retreating across New Jersey, Howe had written to Germain with plans for the 1777 campaign season. He proposed to send a 10,000-man force up the Hudson River to capture Albany, New York, in conjunction with an expedition sent south from Province of Quebec. He again wrote to Germain on 20 December 1776 with more elaborate proposals for 1777. These again included operations to gain control of the Hudson River, and included expanded operations from the base at Newport, and an expedition to take Philadelphia. The latter Howe saw as attractive, since Washington was then just north of the city: Howe wrote that he was "persuaded the Principal Army should act offensively [against Philadelphia], where the enemy's chief strength lies." Germain acknowledged that this plan was particularly "well digested", but it called for more men that Germain was prepared to provide. After the setbacks in New Jersey, Howe in mid-January 1777 proposed operations against Philadelphia that included an overland expedition and a sea-based attack, thinking this might lead to a decisive victory over the Continental Army. This plan was developed to the extent that in April, Howe's army was seen constructing pontoon bridges; Washington, lodged in his winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, thought they were for eventual use on the Delaware River. However, by mid-May Howe had apparently abandoned the idea of an overland expedition: "I propose to invade Pennsylvania by sea ... we must probably abandon the Jersies."


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: When the campaign season opened in May 1777, General Washington moved most of his army from its winter quarters in Morristown, New Jersey to a strongly fortified position in the Watchung Mountains. In June 1777, Howe began a series of odd moves in New Jersey, apparently in an attempt to draw Washington and his army out of that position onto terrain more favourable for a general engagement. His motives for this are uncertain; historian John Buchanan argues that Howe was determined to attempt to draw Washington into a major engagement while both were in northern New Jersey, writing that "Washington's shift in position had whetted Howe's appetite for a major action when, if everything went right, he would finally accomplish what he and his brother's policies had denied him the previous year: the destruction of the Continental Army", but that Howe's underlying campaign goal for the season was Philadelphia. One British major wrote that "[t]he report circulated by those in power is that it was thought necessary to march to Hilsborough to "offer Washington battle."" Americans like Henry Knox were perplexed but also concluded that was its purpose: "It was unaccountable that [the British] should stop short when they had gone only nine miles ... In the course of a day or two [we] discovered that they ... had come out with an intention of drawing us into the plain." Washington had intelligence that Howe had moved without taking the heavy river-crossing equipment, and was apparently not fooled at all.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: When Washington refused to take the bait, Howe withdrew the army to Perth Amboy, under harassment by Colonel Daniel Morgan's skirmisher unit, Morgan's Riflemen, who used their superior weapons to snipe at and harry his forces as they moved. Washington moved down to a more exposed position, assuming Howe was going to embark his army on ships. Howe then launched a lightning strike designed to cut Washington's retreat off. This attempt was foiled by the Battle of Short Hills, which gave Washington time to retreat to a more secure position. Howe then did in fact embark his army and sailed south with his brother's fleet. Howe maintained an effective secrecy surrounding the fleet's destination: not only did Washington not know where it was going, neither did many British rank and file.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Howe's campaign for Philadelphia began with an amphibious landing at Head of Elk, Maryland, southwest of the city in late August. Although Howe would have preferred to make a landing on the Delaware River below Philadelphia, reports of well-prepared defences dissuaded him, and the fleet spent almost an entire extra month at sea to reach Head of Elk. Howe's army left Head of Elk early on 3 September 1777 and pushed back an advance guard of American light infantry at Cooch's Bridge. On 11 September 1777, Howe's army met Washington's near Chadds Ford along the Brandywine Creek in the Battle of Brandywine. Howe established his headquarters at the Gilpin Homestead, where it stayed until the morning of 16 September. In a reprise of earlier battles, Howe once again flanked the Continental Army position and forced Washington to retreat after inflicting heavy casualties.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: After two weeks of manoeuvre and engagements (including The Battle of the Clouds, The Battle of Paoli, and an engagement at Valley Forge where Alexander Hamilton was nearly killed in action), Howe triumphantly entered the city on 26 September. The reception Howe received was not quite what he had expected, however. He had been led to believe that "Friends thicker than Woods" would greet him upon his arrival; he instead was greeted by women, children, and many deserted houses. Despite Howe's best attempts to minimise any misconduct by his troops (he authorised the execution of violators of his orders against it), marauding soldiers greatly impacted the public opinion of his army.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: One week after Howe entered Philadelphia, on 4 October, Washington made a dawn attack on the British garrison at Germantown. He came close to winning the battle before being repulsed by belated reinforcements sent from the city. This forced Howe to withdraw his troops a little closer to the city, where they were also needed to help clear the American Delaware River defences, which were preventing the navy from resupplying the army. It was late November before this task was accomplished, which included a poorly executed attack on Fort Mercer by a division of Hessians commanded by Colonel von Donop and an advance fleet commanded by Admiral Francis Reynolds.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Concomitant with Howe's campaign, General Burgoyne led his expedition south from Montreal to capture Albany. Burgoyne's advance was stopped in the Battles of Saratoga in September and October, and he surrendered his army on 17 October. Burgoyne's surrender, coupled with Howe's near defeat at Germantown, dramatically altered the strategic balance of the conflict. Support for the Continental Congress, suffering from Howe's successful occupation of Philadelphia, was strengthened, and the victory encouraged France to enter the war against Britain. Burgoyne's loss also further weakened the British government of Lord North.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Burgoyne made his advance under the assumption that he would be met in Albany by Howe or troops sent by Howe. Burgoyne was apparently not aware that Howe's plans had evolved as they had. Although Germain knew what Howe's plans were, whether he communicated them to Burgoyne is unclear. Some sources claim he did while others state that Burgoyne was not notified of the changes until the campaign was well underway. Whether Germain, Howe and Burgoyne had the same expectations about the degree to which Howe was supposed to support the invasion from Quebec is also unclear. Some historians argue that Howe failed to follow instructions and essentially abandoned Burgoyne's army, while others suggest that Burgoyne failed on his own and then tried to shift the blame to Howe and Clinton.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Howe's decision to focus his own activity on an expedition to Philadelphia may have been motivated by competition with General Burgoyne, who was given command of the northern force despite lobbying by Howe for its command to be given to Clinton. John Alden notes the jealousies among the British leaders, saying, "It is likely that [Howe] was as jealous of Burgoyne as Burgoyne was of him and that he was not eager to do anything which might assist his junior up the ladder of military renown." Along the same lines historian Don Higginbotham concludes that in Howe's view, "It [the northern campaign] was Burgoyne's whole show, and consequently he [Howe] wanted little to do with it. With regard to Burgoyne's army, he would do only what was required of him (virtually nothing)."


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Howe himself wrote to Burgoyne on 17 July that he intended to stay close to Washington: "My intention is for Pennsylvania, where I expect to meet Washington, but if he goes to the northward contrary to my expectations, and you can keep him at bay, be assured I shall soon be after him to relieve you." This suggested that Howe would follow Washington if he went north to assist in the defence of the Hudson. Howe, however, sailed from New York on 23 July. On 30 August, shortly after his arrival at Head of Elk, Howe wrote to Germain that he would be unable to assist Burgoyne, citing a lack of Loyalist support in the Philadelphia area.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: A small force sent north from New York by General Clinton in early October was also unable to assist Burgoyne.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: In October 1777 Howe sent his letter of resignation to London, complaining that he had been inadequately supported in that year's campaigns. He was finally notified in April 1778 that his resignation was accepted. A grand party, known as the "Mischianza", was thrown for the departing general on 18 May. Organized by his aides John André and Oliver De Lancey Jr., the party featured a grand parade, fireworks, and dancing until dawn. Washington, aware that the British were planning to evacuate Philadelphia, sent the Marquis de Lafayette out with a small force on the night of the party to determine British movements. This movement was noticed by alert British troops, and Howe ordered a column out to entrap the marquis. In the Battle of Barren Hill, Lafayette escaped the trap with minimal casualties.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: On 24 May, the day Howe sailed for England, General Clinton took over as commander-in-chief of British armies in America, and made preparations for an overland march to New York. Howe arrived back in England on 1 July, where he and his brother faced censure for their actions in North America. It is likely that the resignation of both William and his brother Richard was due to their desire to hurry home to vindicate their conduct during the campaign. In 1779 Howe and his brother demanded a parliamentary inquiry into their actions. The inquiry that followed was unable to confirm any charges of impropriety or mismanagement levelled against either of them. Because of the inconclusive nature of the inquiry, attacks continued to be made against Howe in pamphlets and the press, and in 1780 he published a response to accusations levelled by Loyalist Joseph Galloway, who issued a reply that harshly criticized the general's conduct and accused him of deliberately undermining the war effort for the benefit of the anti-war Whig faction in Parliament.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: In 1780, Howe lost in his bid to be re-elected to the House of Commons. In 1782, he was named lieutenant general of the ordnance and appointed to the Privy Council. His colonelcy was transferred from the 23rd Fusiliers to the 19th Light Dragoons in 1786. He resumed limited active duty in 1789, when a crisis with Spain over territorial claims in northwestern North America threatened to boil over into war. He was placed in command of the forces organized for action against Spain, but the crisis was resolved and Howe did not see further action until 1793, when the French Revolutionary Wars involved Britain. He was promoted to full general in 1793, and commanded Northern District from 1793 and Eastern District from 1795. In 1795, he was appointed governor of Berwick-on-Tweed.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: When his brother Richard died in 1799 without surviving male issue, Howe inherited the Irish titles and became the 5th Viscount Howe and Baron Clenawly. In 1803, he resigned as lieutenant general of the ordnance, citing poor health. In 1808, he was appointed governor of Plymouth. He died at Twickenham in 1814 after a long illness.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Howe had married Frances Connolly, often referred to as Fanny, in 1765. Their marriage was childless. Therefore, his titles died with him. His wife survived him by three years. Both are buried in Twickenham.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Howe appears as an antagonist in the supernatural TV series "Sleepy Hollow", depicted in flashbacks by Nicholas Guest and described as being notorious for his brilliant tactics and ruthless cruelty. In his historical role as the main British general during the War for Independence, Howe was acquainted with Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) before Crane defected to America; his first major flashback appearance sees him offer Crane a chance to return to Britain if he identifies Washington's spies in the British forces, with Crane feeling guilty that he was briefly tempted by the offer. Howe also plays a key role in the crossover episodes between "Sleepy Hollow" and crime drama "Bones"; his body is discovered in a small American church in the present (characters noting that he is recorded as being buried in Twickenham but no explanation for the anomaly is provided), with his skull being identified as the 'murder weapon' in "Bones" episode "The Resurrection in the Remains" (it was being used in a ritual and the killer struck the victim in the head in just the right place to trigger an aneurysm). Howe is resurrected as a zombie-like warrior in the following "Sleepy Hollow" episode "Dead Men Tell No Tales", requiring Crane to destroy him with Greek fire.


title: William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

text: Howe is also featured in "Howe's Masquerade" and "Old Esther Dudley", two of the stories that make up Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Legends of the Province House", a quartet of tales that first appeared in 1838–1839.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Ex-Muslims are people who were raised as Muslims or converted to Islam and later renounced the Islamic religion. Leaving Islam is a uniquely individual experience and a growing social phenomenon facing its challenges due to the conditions and history of Islam, Islamic culture and jurisprudence, and—depending upon the context—the local culture, which leads to ex-Muslims' increasingly organized literary and social activism. Ex-Muslims also organize groups to build mutual support networks in order to raise awareness on the human rights of ex-Muslims and meet life's challenges after abandoning religious beliefs and practices previously associated with Islam.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: According to Pauha and Aghaee (2018), apart from context and additional levels of struggle, the deconversion process and some of the reasons for leaving religion might not be much different for Muslims leaving their religion compared to Christians leaving theirs. According to Simon Cottee (2015), the intellectual process of leaving religion begins with the onset of doubt about Islam and its practice. In Islamic tradition, doubts about the religion are generally severely reprimanded with threats of hell in the afterlife toward impressionable young children and associating doubting individuals with possession by devils and further superstitious practices of exorcism. Therefore, doubt tends to be significantly discouraged, ranging from bad-mouthing about those who raise any doubts to brutally punishing them. This builds up peer and community pressure not to doubt and deviate from the "status quo", leading to unsettling fears that someone whose doubts would be revealed might be put to shame and further banishment. The next steps for doubters are self-censorship and attempts to suppress recurring thoughts, leading to frustration.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Simon Cottee (2015) wrote that it is very difficult for Muslims to express doubts and questions about Islam. Those who get the opportunity, must conduct self-search on the Internet, and if they wish to ask questions to any religious expert, then they have to do so with a lot of caution to avoid accusations of disbelief; rather than asking why God said something in the scriptures, they need to rephrase their inquiry in religiously 'right' language, asking what God meant by something. In other cases, doubters use real or imaginary proxies to avoid hostility towards themselves. Since many doubts are not answered, the unintended consequence is a further level of dissatisfaction. Cottee says ex-Muslims focus their doubts mostly on the truth claims of Islam, and the utility and morality of Islamic commands or prohibitions.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Phil Zuckerman summarizes Cottee's points about types of doubts engaged by ex-Muslims on the path of leaving Islam, namely: epistemological, moral, and instrumental doubts, as well as forms of doubts such as significant personal experiences, exposure to alternatives, scriptural discoveries, spiritual alienation, political events, etc. Epistemological doubts question the existence of God in several ways, such as through the problem of evil, by looking at injustice and misery around the world, which allegedly would not have existed if there really would have been a good God. They also question the Islamic creation myth with respect to the theory of evolution, and the contradictions between the concepts of free will and predestination. Moral doubts concern issues such as the unequal treatment of women in Islam, and why non-Muslim children or good non-Muslims go to hell according to Islamic theology. Instrumental doubts question the utility and morality of Islamic commands or prohibitions, such as the prohibition of artistic representation of living beings (see Aniconism in Islam), which doubters claim hamper freedom of artistic expressions such as drawing, photography, sports like chess, music, etc. (see also Muslim women in sport), in turn, hampers individual growth and social-cultural participation.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Cottee's study indicates that ex-Muslims start feeling that they are betraying their true self and also deceiving their loved ones in the process, leading to feelings of shame for their own continued closeted pretending and subsequent feelings of isolation and loneliness. On the one hand, ex-Muslims often opt to reduce commitment to social relationships that require pretending to be Muslim; on the other hand, they often do not have the freedom to choose the kind of social relationships they prefer, thus exacerbating their social isolation and loneliness further. Cottee outlines different phases on the way of leaving Islam: disavowal of self, relief, excitement, guilt, anger, residual anxiety, confusion, disclosure, and more.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: The 2007 Khalil Bilici study stated that motivations for leaving Islam can be broadly classified into two categories, namely intellectual/ideological motivations and social/experiential motivations. According to Teemu Pauha and Atefeh Aghaee (2018), the first group would find religion to be naive and irrational, whereas second group emphasizes the constraints and breaches of human rights of individuals negatively affecting social progress as their most significant concern. Pauha and Aghaee further point out that, depending on the doubting group one belongs to, one may find religion to be an example of stupidity or viciousness.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Findings of the Khalil Bilici study state that among ex-Muslims with intellectual/ideological motivations, the following ones seem important:


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Cottee's interviewees inform their intellectual doubts about perceived religious inconsistencies in Islam like, the barbarism of certain verses in the Qur'an, the improbability of the existence of God, the wickedness of the possibility of God creating Hell, discontent with the treatment of women, and more.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Among apostates with social/experiential motivations behind leaving Islam, Khalil Bilici noted the following reasons:


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Bilici stated that ex-Muslims are not necessarily always taking into account the whole range of historical and contemporary Muslim scholarly opinions, and their understanding may be mixed one. The Khalil Bilici study attributes gender discrimination and repulsive feelings owing to negative individual experiences and perceptions as the most prominent motivations of individuals leaving Islam. Khalil Bilici states that their study confirms earlier scholarly findings that some ex-Muslims commonly cite the experience of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide as an example of the oppressive nature of Muslims. Bilici further informs that like in many other conversions, a considerable number of Muslims from frontiers where they are exposed to different perspectives may be leaving Islam. Narratives about "leaving Islam" come from individuals of various ethnic backgrounds and age groups, and from across the world (with South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and the West being prominent regions where ex-Muslims emerge), and that the gender mix seems to change relative to geography.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: For example, Khalil Bilici takes note of some individual narrations, such as one ex-Muslim who found it odd that the Quran got 'engrossed with trivial aspects' related to the private life of Muhammad. In another example, an ex-Muslim found the 'killing of innocent people' by natural phenomena such as disease to be unfathomable to believe in God. A narration of another ex-Muslim asserted that life as a Muslim imposed socially restrictive choices and made one skip opportunities and responsibilities in order to fulfill mundane religious mandates; the same account found the status of women in Islam and condoning child marriage by the prophet to be problematic. Before deciding to leave Islam, one ex-Muslim evaluated arguments for and against the theory of evolution and found the theory of evolution to be more credible, found Quran to be unscientific, the idea of eternal damnation horrible, and the hypothesis of God unnecessary for explaining the existence of life.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: During a panel discussion by Ex-Muslims of North America at the University of Colorado, ex-Muslim women from countries such as Lebanon and Saudi Arabia attributed flight from their countries of birth to day-to-day controlled life full of gender repression, isolation, and abuse by families and communities with internalized religious narratives. In many cases, the continuation of education becomes difficult for women, since families and communities give preference to early marriage (in many cases forced ones).


title: Ex-Muslims

text: In their analytical study of Iranian ex-Muslim accounts, Teemu Pauha and Atefeh Aghaee (2018) broadly concur with Phil Zuckerman about the reasons for leaving religion but prefer to classify categories of intellectual atheism and social atheism is further broadly distinctive – but occasionally overlapping – four sub-categories, namely: seekers, rationalists, rebels, and disillusioned ones. Pauha and Aghaee state that, while rationalists stress intellectual grounds, those who belong to the seeker category stress moral deficiencies as their respective reasons for de-conversion, but both these sub-categories focus on theoretical aspects. The sub-categories of rebels and disillusioned ones focus on their experiences and knowledge about social behaviors of believers in Islam as far from being ideal, practically harmful to individuals and society, and not progressive enough – rebels attempt to rebel against this perceived state of affairs and leave, and disillusioned ones leave because they don't expect any change in the situation. Other than the seeker sub-category, people in the other three categories are already skeptics at some level to begin with, so their change over to atheism is more straightforward and emotionally and intellectually less confronting or stressful.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Pauha and Aghaee state that for people in the seeker sub-category, the intellectual journey begins with hope, but the practical realization that the morals of Islam are not in line with their expectations is emotionally and intellectually confronting and stressful. This happens because, in comparison to the other three categories, seekers originally happen to be the most sincere devote believers in Islam, usually having positive social relationships and experiences since childhood. Basically, they do not start their quest from a place of doubt, but from a desire to explore and seek more knowledge about the faith. However, while doing so, when they conclude that morals in Islam are not matching their own standard of moral values and their expectations of an omnibenevolent God, they first go through a phase of denial, but eventually, they prefer to accept their conclusions after quite a bit of additional emotional and intellectual self-struggle (known as cognitive dissonance), and end up accepting atheism or a compromise with some sort of individual-level spirituality.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: According to Maria Vliek (2021), larger structures of secularity help the development of the relative need for and desire to express publicly to contest dominant discourses and also identify oneself as 'ex-Muslim'. Maria Vliek states that in an ex-Muslim's journey of 'moving out of Islam' from previously being religious to becoming irreligious, there are multiple stages of inbetweenness.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: In her "Former Muslims in Europe Between Secularity and Belonging", Vliek makes a comparative study of ex-Muslims' (individuals and groups) processes of 'moving out of Islam' vis-à-vis multiple secularities in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Vliek's study attempts to find out why 'secularist ex-Muslim voices' in one European secular country (Britain) are relatively more outspoken than the other secular country (the Netherlands), and relates to the difference being in the nature of secularism in both of these countries. British secularism is diversity-inclusivist, whereas Dutch secularism focuses on social integration and national development. According to Vliek, ex-Muslims in the Netherlands seem to be concerned about whether their narratives might be used by alleged 'secular crusaders' to stigmatise Muslim communities, and that makes many of them feel that it's difficult to express themselves openly against their former religion. On the other hand, 'secularist ex-Muslim voices' in Britain can and do take recourse to accommodative diversity of British secularity to question and criticize reference points of the British secularity for giving space to Islamism on both the institutional and social levels vis-à-vis state-church relations in Britain, British multiculturalism, and communitarianism.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: According to Najma Al Zidjaly study in spite of high-risk restrictions and official obstructions, the Ex-Muslims in Arab societies could manage to form online communities and share challenging ideas which have been permeating throughout Arabia.  Zidjaly says, ex-Muslims after studying Islam carefully, come to conclusion to no longer stand by Islam's history, books and tenets, out of respect for humanity and logic. Zidjaly says the ex-Muslim community is diverse, Zidjaly says, some Ex-Muslims convert to Christianity, but most shift to  agnostics or secular, according to Najma Al Zidjaly study due to restrictive environments some ex-Muslims also fashion themselves as humanists, liberals and/or secularists without disclosing about leaving their religion. the Ex-Muslims include anonymous free thinkers and authors of both genders with differing scales of beliefs. According to the Zidjaly study, While the Arab 2018 social media report indicates lower participation of Arabian women on social media, many active Ex-Muslims are women from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Ex-Muslims also include a few non-anonymous writers like Brother Rachid and Hamid Abdel Samad who have YouTube channels. Both had to run away from their respective Arab countries. Mutual interactions and Political and social events lead to cycles of discourses. Ex Muslims on social media deploy humor, satire, facts, repair, rhetorical questions, At the beginnings of the Islamic religious deliberation by the masses during the early 2000s, the Quran itself did not come for criticism .however, this too has changed, and now all Islamic texts are open to critique in the Ex-Muslim community; online Ex Muslim activism includes


title: Ex-Muslims

text: A "Firstpost" news report about ex-Muslims in India by Tufail Ahmad informs one ex-Muslim could not believe that the god [Allah] who is so great would not have a sense of fair play and will send all non-Muslim kids of a school to the hell. Another questioned since a day can last six months in countries near the North Pole, when should Muslims break their day-long fast? One of the ex-Muslims' mother was a Christian; when clerics pleaded to not to take food and water from non-Muslims, this incident raised doubts in their mind.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: In examples cited by the Pauha and Aghaee study, those who leave Islam prioritize universal values of human morality ahead of religion, some of the values in the religion being insulting to universal human values, and experience that the practice of fasting by close relatives is not helping one from facing death. When comparing Islam with other religions, doubters considered the possibility of the other religions being right, studied various scriptures and were open to questions coming to one's mind. Ethical objections that trouble doubters commonly included the hypocrisy of conservative leadership, the worst practices of religious people in practice, questions over homophobia, and epistemological doubts about how, by failing to be clear in his communications to humans, God is apparently putting millions of people at risk of eternal damnation in hell (see also Problem of Hell and Argument from inconsistent revelations).


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Cottee's respondent ex-Muslims further elaborate their questions, including asking why any wonderful God would create hell and subject even innocent non-Muslims to hell if predestination is his own creation, and whether predestination is compatible with free will. To many ex-Muslim interviewees, a God who does not appear to provide any solid physical proof of his own existence, while wishing to send everyone to hell for eternity just for doubting him, even if they were good people who lead a good life, does not seem to comply with the qualities of benevolence or fairness that are commonly attributed to God.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Other doubt-inducing questions concern how God allegedly allows for the enormity of suffering (the problem of evil), and why the Islamic God appears to be jealous, vain, and insecure, and demands worship all the time. Cottee's other respondent ex-Muslims expressed the idea that, in Quran-related epistemological doubts, many Quran revelations sound like revelations of individual convenience. They also wondered how one could know that other religions were wrong and only Islam was right and concluded that the Islamic account of creation is problematic when the theory of evolution is taken into account. Prohibitions on relationships with people of other religions (especially for Muslim women), punishments for apostasy, and the unequal treatment of women vis-à-vis men are reported to be questionable.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Cottee relates that ex-Muslims' personal experiences like abuse, violence, illness, deaths, building or severing of relationships made some of them reassess previously held beliefs, raising questions such as how God could subject a child to illnesses such as leukemia at a very young age. Some former Muslims arrived at the point of view that they could choose how to live their own sexual lives and that religion imposed objectionable restrictions on individual sexual freedom. Getting exposed to non-Islamic and atheistic thoughts of scientists and about evolution brought doubts to the fore, and on further investigation, ex-Muslims found these doubts confirmed and cemented. Cottee says many of the ex-Muslims are devout in their rituals, either to please their believing loved ones, or to defend Islam when they embark upon reading Quran and Hadith with proper translations. However, once they actually study and examine scripture, they stumble upon many questionable and disturbing inexplicable acts in the name of God, such as passages perceived to be violent, in which God throws unbelievers who were good human being by behavior in hell as well, or is peeling off the skin of the damned, or the slaughtering of the surrendered Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza in Muhammad's life, or even recent Islamist or terrorist events that were purportedly motivated or justified by Islamic scriptures.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: One respondent in Cottee's study elaborates on the kind of fear of hellfire and God's wrath thrust upon young impressionable minds that she ended up believing that the bullying that happened to her in school might have been a result of her questioning religion in her mind. Another respondent remembers the fear of shaitan and the subsequent threat of the (allegedly abusive) practice of exorcism to dissuade children from doubting, even though this may not necessarily stop their minds from having doubts. One of Cottee's respondents informs that she was scared of questioning, because she was taught not to question. But when questions came to her mind she had all those doubts, which she could not be confident to discuss with anyone – from parents to teachers – since she would not know how would they react. According to Cottee, these childhood fears are carried to adulthood too to some extent as the beginning journey of a closeted atheist life under pressure. Most children are dissuaded from asking difficult questions by parents by censuring them.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Khalil Bilici says leaving Islam is deeply influenced by various previous literary works and other events and interactions, including that of Taslima Nasrin and Salman Rushdie, as well as writings of philosophers and scientists such as Bertrand Russell, Carl Sagan, and Richard Dawkins. According to Pauha and Aghaee, Richard Dawkins' book "The God Delusion" (2006) is likely to be one of most influential books among new generation atheists.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: According to Najma Al Zidjaly study ex-Muslims can also fashion themselves as humanists, liberals and/or secularists without disclosing of leaving their religion. Since secular liberals and also Quranists contest Islamic authoritative discourses, researcher Al Zidjaly considers them close to ex-Muslims to a lesser degree than self-admitted Ex-Muslim. According to Farzana Hassan many ex-Muslims have to hide their lack of belief from their immediate family members, friendships, and the communities since they are worried of getting ostracized. Hassan says closeted ex-Muslims have to live strained double lives specially if surrounded by religious family members, they have to pretend much as of cultural Muslims participating in all the visible observances of the religion while reserving their disbelief to themselves.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Cottee says ex-Muslims who have not publicly declared that they have left Islam need to cope with disapproving conservative attitudes towards their non-compliance to religious tenets and liberal attempts. To lie, conceal and managing a liberal expression of oneself remains a difficult task under constant family, friend and community social surveillance. The mental impact of this effort to hide one's true thoughts is heavy for many ex-Muslim individuals, making leaving Islam a long-term, arduous, and psychologically demanding process. Since the larger society around ex-Muslims holds such activities to be sinful, this causes increased anxiety and possible guilt among neophytes, and the inability to communicate these feelings to anyone leads to feelings of uncertainty, guilt, self-doubt, loneliness, and depression. Lack of contact with similar-minded people and lack of support networks exacerbates the feelings. According to Cottee, closeted ex-Muslims, even if not physically, are estranged psychologically from religion and practice.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Khalil Bilici's study says that closeted ex-Muslims usually tend to hide leaving of Islam mainly out of fear of harm by radical conservatives, or they are unwilling to come out of the closet for possible dissolution of existing intimate relationships with a believing Muslim. Al Zidjaly says social media like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter provides closeted ex-Muslims agency through technology, and ex-Muslims have played roles of being undisclosed catalyst towards change in the religiously most conservative Arabian Gulf countries.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Based on the accounts relayed to him by ex-Muslims during his study, Cottee found similar processes of concealment and coming out amongst ex-Muslims compared to the steps described by Ken Plummer as converts, such as sensitization, signification, coming out and stabilizing.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: For many ex-Muslims, coming out comes at a cost to their relations with their family, friends, the community, and the state. Even immediate family are likely to express extreme reactions as well as online threats. Local police officers oftentimes do not understand the gravity of the issues involved, and the danger the threats pose to the lives of ex-Muslims. Phil Zuckerman says that ex-Muslims are not only marginalized by their respective families and the wider community of Muslim believers, but their views and plight are also poorly understood by non-Muslim individuals and communities. Zuckerman concurs with Cottee that the challenges of "coming out" to family and friends, as well as the reactions that often follow, are stressful, can turn out to be very harsh and damning. Under such pressures some apostates tend to go back into the closet once again; while actually remaining nonbelievers, they end up pretending to be back in the Islamic fold to avoid the loss of relationships with family, and to save their loved ones from socially damaging shame and stigma. Zuckerman stated that the degree to which many ex-Muslim' families and friends condemn, despise, and reject their apostate relatives for leaving Islam is generally too brutal.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: After coming out to their families and communities, ex-Muslims have reported various kinds of extreme reactions in many cases, such as being forced to undergo exorcisms, receiving threats to their lives, and being chased around with the intention of retaliation.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: According to Ziv Orenstein & Itzchak Weismann (2016), ex-Muslims happened to be the strongest supporters of universal human values, human rights and of integration. They generally stand against divisive conservatism that controls Muslim communities, and against misusing the camouflaged garb of 'multiculturalism' in non-Muslim majority countries (frequently supported by a certain group within the non-Muslim left, known as the "regressive left") whenever it "de facto" enables this conservative control inside minority Muslim communities to persist. While ex-Muslims may differ in perception on how to face and combat religious extremism, they vehemently oppose religious terrorism, as well as the imposition of Sharia (Islamic law), the (compulsory) wearing of the hijab, and separate Islamic schools.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: According to Azweed Mohamad et al. (2017), it is very common in Muslim-majoritarian countries that conservative Muslim groups and governmental bodies actively work to constrain apostasy by keeping a religious taboo on the subject. However, despite governmental efforts to the contrary – ranging from censorship to laws against blasphemy and apostasy – apostasy from Islam is neither a rare phenomenon, nor can information on it be kept hidden from public view due to the widespread availability of the Internet. Even news media are attempting to cover apostasy issues by making strategic use of intricate linguistic tools, employing strong knowledge in linguistic usage, and the rhetorical structure to promote intended narratives, in spite of societal and governmental pressures. Nevertheless, these pressures tend to subdue such reporting, and the media are compelled to censor themselves to a certain extent. Azweed Mohamad et al. stated that, as new information flows in, governments scramble to use this information to update laws and implement them in order to constrain apostasy on the one hand; on the other hand, apostates use the same information as touchstones to renounce Islam.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: According to Azweed Mohamad et al. conservative media in Muslim-majoritarian countries play an influential role with its higher followership by attempting to stall the rise of liberal practices and institutions. Conservative media do this by overshadowing liberal tendencies through their reporting by uplifting the image of conservative practices and institutions. By contrast, liberal media attempt to balance attitudes within their far more limited available space (freedoms) in Muslim-majoritarian countries such as Malaysia, retaining liberal rhetoric to the extent possible. Conservative media in Muslim-majoritarian countries tend to raise concern against the rise of liberal practices and institutions, hype unease and emotions among Muslim conservatives, and obliquely speak of threats to religious harmony and again ask credit for the same. Liberal news media report in effort to find hope, and attempt to employ supportive language for apostates, sometimes employing sarcasm to obliquely mock conservatism. If liberalism is in trouble, the stakes are increased by placing responsibilities across to the government or top national leaderships, and at the same time searching for supportive social soft corners.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: While pointing out usage of strategic ‘flagging’ i.e. 'mass misreporting' as a tool in low-intensity online culture war to dislodge inconvenient point of views on social media websites like Facebook and YouTube is used by many; in the chapter, 'Facebook and Google as Offices of Censorship' authors Stjernfelt and Lauritzen in their study 'Your Post Has Been Removed: Tech Giants and Freedom of Speech' say that, this tactic of misusing the flagging system seems to have been employed by Islamist groups (or even governments in the Middle East?), in an organized manner, with an intention to remove democratic Muslim or anti-Islamist voices from Facebook. The Stjernfelt and Lauritzen study notes, in 2016, the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain said that 19 different Facebook groups or sites organized by Arabic ex-Muslims or freethinkers had to face either shut downs or underwent attacks via organized misuse of the social media flagging system.