EU-DIGEST

For the complete report from The Boston Globe click on this link

When Jesus met Buddha - by Philip Jenkins

Was Buddha a demon - While few mainline Christians would put the matter in such confrontational terms, any religion claiming exclusive access to truth has real difficulties reconciling other great faiths into its cosmic scheme. Most Christian churches hold that Jesus alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and many also feel an obligation to carry that message to the world's unbelievers. But this creates a fundamental conflict with the followers of famous spiritual figures like Mohammed or Buddha, who preached radically different messages. Drawing on a strict interpretation of the Bible, some Christians see these rival faiths as not merely false, but as deliberate traps set by the forces of evil.

Knowing other faiths firsthand grants believers an enviable sophistication, founded on humility. We could do a lot worse than to learn from what we sometimes call the Dark Ages.

Labels: Buddha, Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Religion

Ethnic food at NDIC Almere

Special EU-Digest report on Places of Worship

The Netherlands - Almere: A Christian Church where Nourishment of the Soul and Soul Food go Hand in Hand

New Day International Church (NDIC), an English language Christian Church, which opened its doors in Almere only 15 months ago, believes that nourishment not only includes the Word of God, but also good food. The Church which counts some 100 plus members recently started a bi-monthly "potLuck" Cafe program after its Sunday Worship Service. It calls this "New Day Cafe". The difference with other cafe's is that the food at "New Day Cafe" is free and voluntarily supplied by the members of the congregation - a rainbow mix of people from 16 different countries. The result, a spectacular variety of ethnic food specialties. Certainly a great incentive to visit NDIC, but that is not the only incentive. Peter and Nancy van der Meyden, the pastoral leaders and their organizational team say their objective is seeking to serve the international community in Almere by providing a growing relational and supportive network; an inspiring and contemporary Sunday morning church experience; and many resources (pastoral care, teaching, relevant literature, etc.), to help people connect faith to life. "We want visitors to NDIC to find this to be an inclusive environment they can feel comfortable with", says Pastor Peter van der Meyden.

All this adds up to the special character of Almere, a brand new city, to the northeast of Amsterdam, built on ocean reclaimed land during the early seventies. Its ambitious planners at the time envisioned a suburban living environment for commuters to the nearby capital Amsterdam, Schiphol airport and the very richy "Het Gooi" area. Currently, over 176,000 people live in Almere — one of the fastest growing cities in the Netherlands. The Dutch government recently announced plans for it to become the fourth largest city in the country, housing more than 400,000 inhabitants. It is also a very internationally flavored city with approximately a quarter of Almere’s citizens originating from outside the Netherlands, representing a variety of ethnic, cultural, social and religious backgrounds. Only 5 percent of these inhabitants come from Western European or US heritage. Places of worship in Almere also include Mosques and prayer centers for the Muslim community.

Almere is also a very open spaced community. According to the local government, there are on average 420 homes per square kilometers, compared with 1,930 homes per square kilometer in the four largest cities of the Netherlands - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht. Even though it is still looked down on by citizens of most "cozy, old-style, and traditional" Dutch cities, Almere is already viewed throughout Europe, and by most of its own inhabitants, as a leading example of a successful new and modern designed city. It certainly has a great deal to offer people who seek a suburban lifestyle in a central easily accessible location. Innovative ideas like the NDIC Cafe ( http://www.ndic.nl) just seem to materialize spontaneously on a daily basis in this surprising bustling new Dutch city.

Labels: Almere, EU, Religion, Soul Food, The Netherlands

For the complete report from CT click on this link

RCCG leader speaks hope to 60,000 Christians assembled in London - by Maria McKay

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God was in London last night to reinvigorate Christians for mission and cast off doom and gloom in the midst of the credit crunch. Speaking ahead of the event, Pastor Enoch Adeboye told Christian Today it was imperative that believers look to God to help them through difficult times. Pastor Adeboye said he believed Europe was on the brink of a major revival. Festival of Life has grown to become the largest all night non-denominational gathering of Christians in Europe, gathering tens of thousands year-on-year since it first began in 1996. The night features preaching, worship and prayer for revival.

Labels: Britain, Christians, EU, God, Religion

Sandra Samuel and Moshe Holtzberg escape from Chabad House in Mumbai

An EU-Digest editorial on the dramatic events at the Rohr Chabad House in Mumbai

Sandra Samuel and Moshe Holtzberg - The Mumbai Miracle: God lives in all

Last Thursday, as the world watched the horrors unfolding in Mumbai, many of us saw Moshe Holzberg being carried out of the Rohr Chabad House by Sandra Samuel (44), an Indian nanny who had worked at the Jewish community center for years. She had found Moshe crying beside his parents’ bodies, drenched in blood. The parents, his mother Rivkah Holtzberg, 28, was an Israeli citizen, while his father, Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, 29, had dual American and Israeli citizenship. They had come to Mumbai in August 2003 to operate a home for the Jewish community, where travelers could get a kosher meal, attend Shabbat services, and relax in a library filled with a variety of works, including many books even some by Woody Allen and manuscripts on Jewish philosophy.

Last week their lives on earth abruptly ended, when they were executed in their home by a highly trained, tightly knit, and well-financed, ruthless group of Islamic militants.

When the attack on the Rorh Chabad House began last Wednesday, Sandra Samuel heard explosions and gunshots on an upper floor of the center and locked herself and fellow employee Zaki Hussein in a downstairs utility room. Late Thursday morning, she heard Moshe screaming, ran upstairs, eluded roaming gunmen, even stared some of them down, and found the child beside the bodies of his parents, carried him downstairs, and brought Moshe to safety. Mr. Hussein helped Ms. Samuel conceal Moshe, as the three escaped from Rorh Chabad House.

Sandra Samuel now continues to help care for Moshe Holtzberg in Israel. Her emigration from India was expedited when the Israeli government declared her one of the “Righteous Among the Nations” and issued her an immigration permit. Recipients of this honor, awarded by a special commission headed by a Supreme Court Justice in Israel, include Oskar and Emilie Schindler, Raoul Wallenberg, and Corrie ten Boom. People and groups that receive this title, have risked their lives to save others, many during the Holocaust. Sandra Samuel is the first citizen of India to receive this honor.

As dramatic as this report may sound, it underscores the fact that God does not belong to any religion, but that he lives in all of us. Moshe Holtzberg and Sandra Samuel are a living proof of that, and as difficult as this is to say, also in those militants, who decided not to kill Moshe, after they killed his parents.

Labels: God, India, Israel, Moshe Holtzberg, Mumbai, Religion, Sandra Samuel, Terrorism

For the complete report from The Dallas Morning News click on this link

Vatican - Pope's comments seem to throw cold water on worth of interfaith dialogue

No one who knows anything about Pope Benedict XVI believes he is ever going to be enthusiastic about interfaith discussions if they put the various faiths involved on equal footing -- if, in other words, an underlying assumption of such talks is that Islam, or Judaism, or Buddhism, or whatever, is as valid a way of expressing human understanding of God as is Christianity. In Benedict's mind, that is simply not the case: The pope, make no mistake, is Catholic.

Benedict praised a forthcoming book about Christianity, saying it "explained with great clarity" that "an inter religious dialogue in the strict sense of the word is not possible." In theological terms, he added, "a true dialogue is not possible without putting one's faith in parentheses." His comments were contained in a letter to Marcello Pera, the author of the new book, "Why We Must Call Ourselves Christian," which argues that Europe should stay true to its Christian roots. That's a point Benedict has made many times, even as Europe at once grows more secular, and more religiously diverse.

Note EU-Digest: Faith is not what the Pope or any other religious leader tells us, but faith is what you feel in your heart. Religious "man-made" doctrine has been a curse to the world, history proves that.

Labels: EU, Pope, Religion, Religious tolerance, Vatican

For the complete report from Interchurch families click on this link

CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM MARRIAGES

Gé Speelman of Utrecht University in the Netherlands spoke on Christian-Muslim marriages during the Graz European Ecumenical Assembly in 1997. By clicking on the above link you can read a shortened version of her paper. The Muslim partner is often confronted with what most people around him think is natural, obvious, self-evident; he/her is the other, the one who has to prove him/her self. Many Muslim partners find they have to defend their faith against attacks which associate Islam with intolerance, backwardness and irrationality. In reaction, many Muslims become very much aware of their cultural and religious heritage. As one Muslim man said: “I would never have known so much about Islam if I had stayed at home and married an Egyptian girl.”

Another factor is that interfaith partners are seen as representatives of their communities. The Turkish Muslim represents the “terrible Turks” who have shaped the history of so many Eastern European countries. The German wife is the “imperialist European” whose community has been responsible for so much repression and bloodshed. Many problems in an interfaith marriage are exactly the same as those experienced by many other couples. But in their case, family and friends are looking out for problems; when they occur, they are defined as arising from differences in culture. A Dutch woman said she did not want to recognize the serious communication problem in her relationship because she was determined to prove to those who said it would never work that her marriage was fantastically successful. The partners had put off talking about their problems until it was too late.

Loved ones want to be more than merely “that Christian”, or “that Muslim”. Of course, they are also “a Christian” and “a Muslim” – much of what we are ties up with our religious traditions. German theologian Ulrich Dietzfelbinger, who described, in a lecture he gave in 1989, his relationship with his Turkish Muslim wife. He describes his tendency to reduce the differences in their beliefs to minor points, the pull to reduce their faith to the lowest common denominator. “After all, we both believe in Almighty God.” In the end, he recognizes that this way of reducing their differences is a way of denying them, leaving both partners with very little faith at all. What he learns is that one should not try to make the other the same as oneself. With new eyes he looks at the doctrine of incarnation. It is strange that God has community with a human being (and therefore with all human beings) in such a way that God is in his/her utmost being qualified by that humanity, while at the same time human beings are not deified and God remains God. Is there not in this strange incarnation something analogous to his marriage, where only love is the guarantor that he respects his partner as being inalienably other, different, and yet at one with himself? Maybe we should just let this question stand.

Labels: Christian, EU, Marriage, Musllim, Religion

For the complete report from The Independent click on this link

Religion vs science: can the divide between God and rationality be reconciled? - by Paul Vallely

''A clergyman in charge of education for the country's leading scientific organisation – it's a Monty Python sketch," pronounced Britain's top atheist, Richard Dawkins, recently. The problem was that Reiss, as well as being an evolutionary biologist and population geneticist, is a non-stipendiary priest in the Church of England. When he said recently that science teachers should answer questions about creationism if pupils asked them he was deemed to have been advocating the idea that British schools should teach the idea that the world was magicked up (complete with fossils and ancient geology) just 6,000 years ago – and then tell pupils to make their own minds up between that and the theory of evolution to which the overwhelming scientific evidence points.The idea that science and religion are incompatible is a fairly recent import into contemporary culture. It has been given huge credence by the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. The pronounced motivation of Islamic fundamentalists in 2001 hammered home that some people are prepared to inflict outrageous acts of inhumanity in the name of religion.

Labels: Britain, evolution, Religion, Science

Science and faith, the British way - Opinion - USATODAY.com

"Science and faith, the British way
Some of the most prominent researchers in England enjoy a vibrant religious life that coexists with their immersion in the scientific world. Indeed, these evangelicals might give American believers, and scientists, something to think about."

Labels: EU, Religion

washingtonpost.com

"Anti-Jew, Muslim attitudes rise in Europe: survey

By Michael Conlon, Religion Writer
Reuters
Wednesday, September 17, 2008; 2:06 PM

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish feelings are rising in several major European countries, according to a worldwide survey released on Wednesday.

The Washington-based Pew Research Center's global attitude survey found 46 percent of Spanish, 36 percent of Poles and 34 percent of Russians view Jews unfavorably, while the same was true for 25 percent of Germans, and 20 percent of French. "

Labels: Religion

EU Politics News - theParliament.com:

"Poland and Italy most religious in Europe, study finds

A major new study on religious belief has found that rates of religiousaffiliation are highest in Poland and Italy, while France has a highpercentage of non-religious individuals.

It also found that more that 25 per cent of Europeans who do not belong to a church nevertheless consider themselves “religious”."

Labels: EU, Italy, Poland, Religion

Rachida Dati, France's Justice Minister

For the complete report from the Telegraph click on this link

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the French first lady, taunted one of the country's most senior women politicians about her failure to seduce President Nicolas Sarkozy, a new book claims.Following a New Year's Eve dinner at the Elysée, Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy and Miss Dati were walking in the palace's private apartments when the then Miss Bruni is said to have pointed at Mr Sarkozy's bed and said: "You'd have loved to occupy it, wouldn't you?" The book says the women "who were just getting to know each other, were also learning how to detest each other". Miss Dati a Muslim and France's Justice Minister was a close friend of Mr Sarkozy's ex-wife, Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz, who called her "my little sister" - making the new Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy dislike her even more.

Two decades ago Rachida Dati, a French daughter of north African immigrants, got married to a man that she barely knew. It was not quite an arranged marriage. It was a marriage "to please her family". She immediately regretted her decision. She persuaded her Algerian husband to agree to an instant annulment. Rachida Dati was in her early twenties at the time and making her way as a young lawyer and businesswoman in Paris. Through hard work, as a law student and by taking menial jobs, she had already fought her way clear of her impoverished, immigrant family of 11 brothers and sisters just north of Lyons. Two decades later, Mme Dati is France's first senior minister of north African origin. She is a protégée of President Nicolas Sarkozy. She has been catapulted without previous experience – and her enemies insist without any political skills – into one of the most senior and potentially explosive jobs in French government.

Her political career is threatened by her response to a national debate over how much French law should be influenced by its minorities, based on a court decision that reflects Ms. Dati's own experience as a young Muslim woman struggling to make her way out of a ghetto north of the French city of Lyon. The controversy began last week when a Paris newspaper revealed that a court in the northern city of Lille had annulled the marriage of a Muslim couple because the bride, 20, had lied to her husband, 32, about her virginity. The judge did not cite the couple's religion or the bride's previous sexual experience but ruled that, under the French civil code, the young woman had breached the marital contract by being untruthful about what her husband considered "an essential quality decisive for [his] consent." Feminists, philosophers and politicians of all stripes have united to condemn the decision as a step backward for equality and a dangerous step toward incorporating religious beliefs into the laws of a proudly secular state. Note EU-Digest: Lying, if it is about one's virginity or something else, remains a lie, and has nothing to do about one's religion in order for the lie to qualify as a lie. Mme Dati is on the right track. President Sarkozy said calls for justice minister Rachida Dati to resign over comments she made about a Muslim marriage annulment amounted to a ‘baseless lynching’.

Labels: Cécilia Sarkozy, EU, France, justice, Rachida Dati, Religion

Tony Blair's Faith Foundation

For the complete report from TIME click on this link

Tony Blair's Leap of Faith - by Michael Elliot

On May 30 in New York, Blair, 55, formally unveiled The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which, among other things, is dedicated to proving that collaboration among those of different religious faiths can help address some of the world's most pressing social problems."Faith is part of our future," Blair says, "and faith and the values it brings with it are an essential part of making globalization work." For Blair, the goal is to rescue faith from the twin challenges of irrelevance—the idea that religion is no more than an interesting aspect of history—and extremism. Blair and those working with him think religion is key to the global agenda.

"You can't hope to understand what's happening in the world if you don't know that religion is a very important force in people's lives," says Ruth Turner, 37, formerly a top aide to Blair in 10 Downing Street, who will head the foundation. "You can't make the world work properly unless you understand that, while not everyone will believe in God or have a spiritual life, a lot of people will." Blair, she says, has been thinking about these issues "for decades and decades and decades." Over time, says Blair of the foundation's work, "this is how I want to spend the rest of my life."

Labels: Britain, EU, Middle East, Religion, Tony Blair

For the complete report from the Scotsman.com click on this link

Tension between Christianity and science exists only for propagandists-by Richard Lucas

The myth of "tension" between science and Christianity rests on just two episodes. The Catholic Church's rejection of Galileo's heliocentrism was a mistake by the Church leaders of the time. The dispute over the sufficiency of undirected natural processes to produce the startling complexity and diversity of life is ongoing, and is a genuine academic debate (although some evolutionists behave more like inquisitors than scientists). Huge numbers of scientists were and are Christians, experiencing no tension at all, and I have never met a Christian who does not hold science in high regard. The "myth" is propagated as common knowledge by secularists and scientists rejecting the moral guidance of the Church. If the Catholic Church has blundered in scientific matters on occasion, how many times have scientists blundered in scientific matters?

Labels: Christianity, Religion, Science

For the complete report from Forbes.com click on this link

Tourism - Europe's Can't-Miss Cathedrals - by Rebecca Ruiz

Upon entering the dimly lit Notre Dame for the first time, the 19th-century architecture critic Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc heard organ music and thought it was emanating from the sky framed by the Parisian cathedral's rose stained glass windows.While today's visitors may not experience the same reaction, the towering spires, impressive arches and historic relics of many European cathedrals are nothing short of awe-inspiring. And since there are thousands of them, it's often difficult to determine which are must-sees.

Labels: Christianity, EU, Europe, European Culture, European Tourism, Religion

A special report on the catholic church

Is the Catholic Church a cult?

To many Christians, the Roman Catholic Church is an enigma -- a mysterious ecclesiastical system of laws, rituals, and religious orders. For centuries there have been angry denouncements from Roman Catholics against Protestantism for the schism created by the Reformation, and from Protestants against Roman Catholicism for its theological errors and its claim to be the only one true church. Out of this controversy, charges have arisen that Roman Catholicism is not truly Christian, but is in fact, the largest and oldest "Christian" cult in the world.

The Christian Research Institute, (CRI), founded by the late Dr. Walter Martin, is regarded by many as the foremost authority on cults and the occult. The also see themselves as experts on what constitutes Biblical theology. CRI has produced position papers on Roman Catholicism, addressing some of the doctrines with which they are in disagreement. They have stopped short, however, of acknowledging Roman Catholicism as a cult. They are, in fact, adamant in their defense of Roman Catholicism as an orthodox Christian religion. In this regard, they have come against others for their insistence that Roman Catholicism meets the criteria of a cult. The Roman Catholic Church claims that salvation is by grace through the shed blood of Christ on the cross. But in practice and other teachings, how true is their affirmation of that crucial doctrine?

Historically, Roman Catholicism has maintained that Jesus merely made the way open for salvation. But to enter into that salvation, one must live in obedience to the authority of the papacy. In addition, Jesus' provision for salvation not being complete, the Church offers other means to assure one's salvation. It is through the Roman Catholic Church alone that salvation in its fullest sense can be attained.

Another sign of a cult is its exclusivity and insistence that it alone holds the authority as God's only true church. Rather than acknowledge that the true Church is comprised of individuals bound to God the Father through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, a cult looks upon the organization itself -- that is, the hierarchical structure -- as the Church. This is true of Romanism.

Although the Roman Catholic Church admits today that God's grace is active in non-Catholic Christians, non catholics are referred to as "separated brethren" (which the Roman Church, through its ecumenical movement, hopes to some day bring into fellowship under its authority). According to Romanism, unless we acquiesce to this movement toward "unity," we remain outside the graces of the Church, regardless of how much in God's grace we live. "For it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help towards salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe that Our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one Body of Christ into which all those should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the people of God" (Vatican Council II, p. 456). "Whatever way we look at the Catholic Church the only thing one can conclude: they are a cult."

Labels: Catholics, Christianity, Cults, EU, Religion

For the complete report from Slate Magazine click on this link

Why religious people are against gay marriage. - By Steven Waldman

It's hard to overstate just how upset religious conservatives are about gay marriage. Gary Bauer's e-mail newsletter about the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling declared, "Culture Wars Go Nuclear." Brian Fahling of the American Family Association said it was "on an order of magnitude that is beyond the capacity of words. The Court has tampered with society's DNA, and the consequent mutation will reap unimaginable consequences for Massachusetts and our nation." A new poll from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found, not surprisingly, that opposition to gay marriage and homosexuality is highest among the most religious.

Labels: Gay Rights, Religion

For the complete report from the SFGate click on this link

God's Crucible' examines how Islam shaped Europe (David Levering Lewis) by Lisa Montanarelli

In "God's Crucible," Levering Lewis explores Islam's seminal role in shaping Europe. From 711 to 1492, emerging Europeans shared a landmass with a far more sophisticated Islamic civilization. This Muslim world transmitted its own innovations and much of classical culture to Europe. Yet traditional "Western Civ" courses skip blithely from Rome to the Renaissance, barely footnoting Islam. "God's Crucible" opens with the Muslims' meteoric conquests. For the first six centuries of the Common Era, denizens of the Arabian Peninsula stood on the sidelines as imperial Rome and Iran exhausted themselves in "history's longest demolition derby," leaving a Fertile Crescent power vacuum. After Muhammad died in 632, the newly converted Muslims roared out of Arabia "motivated as much by the spoils of war as by religious zeal ... ancient greed soldered to a new ideology." They gave their adversaries a choice: convert to Islam, don't convert and pay a head tax, or fight. Upon hearing these terms, many potential foes sheathed their swords. Within 15 years of the Prophet's death, Muslims had vanquished Persia, whittled down Byzantium and built an empire whose size rivaled imperial Rome's at its height.

Labels: Islam, Religion

For the complete report from The Guardian/The Observer click on this link

The Netherlands: Violence fear over Islam film - by Jason Burke

The Dutch government is bracing itself for violent protests following the scheduled broadcast this week of a provocative anti-Muslim film by a radical right-wing politician who has threatened to broadcast images of the Koran being torn up and otherwise desecrated. Cabinet ministers and officials, fearing a repetition of the crisis sparked by the publication of cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper two years ago, have held a series of crisis meetings and ordered counter-terrorist services to draw up security plans. Dutch nationals overseas have been asked to register with their embassies and local mayors in the Netherlands have been put on standby.

From her self-imposed exile in Washington, Hirsi Ali last week criticized the new film as 'provocation' and called on the major Dutch political parties to restart a debate on immigration that has split Dutch society in recent years, rather than leave the field to extremists.Job Cohen, the left-wing mayor of Amsterdam, echoed Hirsi Ali's words and called for a debate 'so that the moderates can make themselves heard'.

Note EU-Digest: Hirsi Ali is to be complimented for her stand on this issue. Freedom of expression includes the right to offend, but certainly not the right to provoke violence. If Wilders suggests that tearing up the Koran (or the Bible for that matter) would be a good idea, it could probably pass as freedom of expression. On the other hand if he says that the Koran (Bible) must be torn up, or used as toilet paper, he is overstepping the boundaries of freedom of expression and decency and indirectly inciting violence as a result of that statement. Many people feel that Mr. Geert Wilders, the maker of the film, should be taken into court if his film results in violence or death. The same as would apply to anyone who would kill Mr. Wilders as a result of his film. The tactics applied by Mr. Geert Wilders, a populist-conservative politician, are very similar to those that were applied by the Nazis against the Jews. These kind of tactics do not belong in todays Europe.

Labels: EU, European Unity, Geert Wilders, Religion, The Netherlands

For the complete report from The Times of India click on this link

Science Could Support Spiritual Beliefs- by Mani Bhaumik

Some questions we've posed persistently through the ages have remained largely unanswered: Why are we here? Is there a purpose to our lives? Is there a Creator who brought us here? All of us have asked these questions sometime in our lives. That's when we have traditionally turned to spirituality to find the answers. However, since we live in the age of science that pervades our daily lives, it would be essential to ask: Can science support our belief in spirituality? Those who followed spirituality down the ages did so with blind faith. Why? Because their experience showed that spirituality enriched their lives. But blind faith invariably gets mixed up with some false and undesirable beliefs such as superstitions and dogmas that can lead people down a thorny path.

The question then begs itself: Could it be that our consciousness is a fundamental reality which is intertwined with the universe itself? Is physicist Freeman Dyson right when he says: "The universe in some sense must have known that we were coming?" Quantum physics and modern cosmology support the oneness of all spiritual traditions, popularly known as God. However, the God that science supports is an abstract entity akin to Brahmn, which manifests itself through us. When we realise our oneness with God, our minds acquire a laser-like focus and we instinctively know the purpose of life.

Labels: Religion, Science

Fore the complete report from the Economist.com click on this link

Religion in Europe - The discovery of tolerance

From the book by Benjamin Kaplan - A typical Protestant view of European religious history might go like this. In medieval times, the Roman Catholic church grew increasingly corrupt and impervious to criticism. Then came the Reformation, with its new breath of freedom and tolerance. After a brief fightback that culminated in the ghastly Thirty Years War in 1618-48, Europe moved smoothly towards the Enlightenment and today's ideal of secular tolerance. It was all quite unlike, for example, Islam and the horrors of the Ottoman empire. Most of this conventional picture is entirely wrong, as this splendid book by Benjamin Kaplan shows. Certainly, the medieval Catholic church continued to stamp heavily on heresy, but Enlightenment Protestants were often also deeply intolerant, not only of Catholics but also of each other (Mr Kaplan's book opens with the burning of Servetus, a noted Spanish Protestant, in Calvin's Geneva). It took more than 150 years after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 for most Europeans even to grasp the concept of religious tolerance. Well into the 19th century, the Ottomans were far more hospitable than the rest of Europe to religious minorities.

One striking discovery is that there was more religious freedom in the 16th century than after the wars of religion ended a century later. The author tells of the widespread use of Auslauf, whereby Protestants were able to worship outside a Catholic city's walls; of the clandestine yet accepted Catholic churches in the Netherlands known as Schuilkerken; and of the practice of Simultaneum, the sharing of churches between Protestants and Catholics in such places as Biberach and, later, Augsburg. That sensible arrangement would be hard to imagine today.

Labels: EU, Religion

For the complete report and to review related links from The Huffington Post on the wearing of headscarfs click on this link

Islamic Like Me: When The Veil Is A Threat - Danielle Crittenden

My series about my adventures in a Saudi burka generated a lot of fascinating comments by Huffposters. Yesterday I replied to those who insisted that our Western culture was more sexually oppressive than the burka. Today I'll deal with the frequently-made-observation by readers: If a woman wants to wear a burka in a democratic society, what's it to us?" Go to the link to the Huffingtom Post at the beginning of this EU-Digest report to read all four parts of Danielle Crittenden series and the subsequent debates. Also to see a video of her experience, which appeared in Canada's National Post.

Labels: Burka, Islam, Religion

For the complete report from TheStar.com click on this link

Why Christ was removed from Christmas by Merchants: "The naughty truth about Christmas" - by Sandro Contenta

When the Three Wise Men visited baby Jesus, they brought luxury goods: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Loaded with symbolism, perhaps, but certainly superfluous when a blanket would have done just fine. Some 2,000 years later, devout readers of the New Testament story lament the loss of the piety and Christian values the wise men embodied. All that remains, according to the often-heard refrain, is excess. You don't have to be religious to recognize the supremacy of consumerism, particularly at this time of year. The facts speak for themselves: In Canada last December, Canadians spent $28.7 billion shopping, excluding purchases in the automotive sector. Per capita, that's $874 for each consumer, well above the monthly average of $630 for the rest of the year, according to Statistics Canada.
You will also find the same exorbitant figures the US and Europe. By comparison, church attendance in Canada and much of the Western world has plummeted. Shopping malls, as everyone knows, are the new temples. An Angus Reid poll last week found 85 per cent of Canadians surveyed believe Christmas has lost its "spiritual meaning." "Christmas is the quintessential celebration of our entitlement to abundance. So how are you going to fight that?" says University of Illinois marketing professor Cele Otnes, who has researched Christmas gift buying.Merchants have jumped on the Christmas bandwagon in Japan, Hong Kong, and northern India, and are increasingly catering to the holiday in Beijing, says Russell Belk, a marketing professor at York University. The results are sometimes curious, like the Tokyo department store that decorated its Christmas tree with red women's panties or the one that displayed a crucified Santa Claus.

And yet, despite the righteous doom and gloom, the excessive behaviour feels right. What would Christmas be without the binge eating and the maxing out of credit cards? Certainly not the kind of feast it has been for millennia. "I don't think Christmas has ever been primarily celebrated as a Christian holiday," says historian Stephen Nissenbaum, author of the acclaimed book, The Battle for Christmas. "Christmas has never been controlled by Christians. It has never been Christianized. They didn't control it when it was carnival and misrule, and they don't control it now that it's corporate capitalism," he says. To a certain extent, some Christian churches have only themselves to blame for complaints of how Christmas is celebrated. The trouble began early in the 4th century, when the Roman church picked Dec. 25 as the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, although nothing in the Bible suggests that date. The church was piggybacking on a well-established festive period. The pagan midwinter festival in ancient Roman times, Saturnalia, celebrated a time of abundance. The harvest was in, the new wine and beer was ready to drink, and the air was cold enough for animals to be slaughtered and meat preserved, "What you've got is a combination of an unusual amount of leisure time, because the men had finished their work, and plenty of food and drink. That's a very combustible mix – and it combusted," says Nissenbaum, a professor at the University of Massachusetts. The result was several days of wild outdoor partying in late December, what Nissenbaum says might today strike us as a sexually charged blend of Mardi Gras, Halloween and New Year's Eve.

Labels: Christianity, Religion

Political Correctness Watch

"Secular Europe or Religious America?

By Dennis Prager

Last week, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen wrote a column titled 'Secular Europe's Merits,' in which he explained why he prefers the secularism of Europe to the religiosity of America.

To his credit (other New York Times columnists do not generally agree to debate anything they write -- Paul Krugman, for example, has refused to discuss his new book on liberalism with me), Cohen agreed to come on my show, and proved to be a charming guest. A distinguished foreign correspondent for Reuters and the International Herald Tribune, Cohen nevertheless betrayed what I believe is endemic to those who favor Europe's secularism to America's religiosity -- emotion rather than reason. Here are some of the points from his opinion piece followed by my responses."

Labels: EU, Religion

For the complete report from the Washington Post/The Boston Globe click on this link

In a Europe torn over mosques, French city offers accommodation - by Molly Moore

CRETEIL,France - On a recent Friday, 200 Muslim worshipers crowded into a former carpentry workshop in Creteil for noon prayers. The men knelt on red carpets in a first-floor hall, the women squeezed into the tiny administrative office upstairs.But next June, Creteil Muslims are scheduled to move into a new, $7.4 million mosque with room for more than 2,500 worshipers. The nearly finished building, with its 81-foot minaret, stands on a knoll overlooking the town's picturesque lake, within sight of City Hall and the local police station. The mosque will make Creteil something of an exception in Europe. From London to Cologne to Marseille, governments and residents are fighting the rise of minarets on their skylines in campaigns that underscore cultural, religious, and ethnic divides within a continent undergoing its most dramatic demographic change in half a century. Islam is now Europe's second-largest religion after Christianity, and its fastest-growing. But Creteil's city government is helping Muslims build and finance what will be one of France's largest new mosques.

Labels: EU, Islam, Religion

EU-Digest report on the Police head scarf controversy in the Netherlands

The Netherlands: Majority of parties in Dutch Parliament say NO to the wearing of head scarfs by some police officers

A motion presented by the PVV party in the Dutch Parliament last week against the wearing of headscarfs by members of the police was accepted by a large majority of parliamentarians, including the government coalition party CDA, and opposition parties SP, VVD, D66, SGP, the Party of the animals and the Verdonk fraction. The SP noted during the discussions that this guideline should be applied to all forms of religious expression by civil servants and government officials in the Netherlands.
The Christian Union which voted against the motion said they voted against the motion because of its narrow wording. The Christian Party stated to be against the wearing of all religious symbols by the police because the police are required to convey an independent and neutral image when dealing with the Public.

When asked what the Government's next step would be following this Parliamentary motion, Mrs. Guusje Ter Horst, Minister of Internal Affairs (PVDA- Labour Party),said she could not comment on the issue, because her department is still working on establishing a dress code for the police. She said "the advice that was given to her by the Equal Treatment Commission was that the wearing of symbols of religious faith should only be banned if there is a strong case for it, because it could lead to people being banned from working for the police because of their religious beliefs."

Editorial note: Editorial note: The Parliament is correct to ban the wearing of headscarf's by public officials and consequently any statement by the Dutch Equal Treatment Commission to water down this ruling by the parliament is totally inappropriate in a secular society like the Netherlands. There can be no compromise on this issue which has all to do with religion and nothing with culture. Any form of religious expression by a Dutch government official, wherever he or she might be working, should not be tolerated. Let us not forget that the salary of those ( including Parliamentarians) in Dutch Government service is paid by the Dutch taxpayers. These taxpayers represent a variety of beliefs and cultures. The only identification a Dutch Government official should have is that he or she is a citizen of the Netherlands (EU). We hope Mrs. Guusje Ter Horst will make sure to follow the advice of the Parliament.

Labels: Council of Europe, Head Scarfs, Police, Religion, The Netherlands

For the complete report from Christian Today click on this link

Crumbling French churches spark unholy row

The village church and its steeple have dominated the skyline of rural France for centuries, surviving feuding warlords, foreign invasion and the upheavals of the French Revolution. But as local mayors look to the future, some are thinking the unthinkable and threatening to demolish the crumbling churches they have to fund, prompting cries of sacrilege from a heritage lobby that says the French way of life is under attack. Hundreds of 19th-century edifices face the wrecker's ball or wilful neglect, a crisis that reflects deeper shifts in society including the exodus from rural areas and falling church attendance, as well as spiraling upkeep costs.

Labels: EU, France, Religion

For the complete report by the Deutsche Welle click on this link

Switzerland - Christianity Gets on Many People's Nerves - by Hans Küng

Religion can co-exist with democracy. The leading architects of Europe, from Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer to Robert Schuman and Alcide De Gasperi, were all pious Christians. The reason why Islam has more problems with democracy than Christianity is that Islam, in contrast to Christianity and Judaism, had no Reformation and Enlightenment, leaving out a few special circles. If you want to help there, you have to support the moderate powers and isolate the radical ones. The most foolish thing to do is to go against those people with armies. That's as stupid as going against the mafia with fighter jets.

Then there are others who don't want to know about other religions.For one, the fundamental Christians who take everything the Bible says literally and say they don't need any other religions. Then there are the very secular people, dogmatists of laicism. They get worked up simply when the word religion is mentioned, and they think that we should not talk about it in schools. They have issues with the fact that religion, again, is a powerful factor in world history.

Labels: EU, Religion

For the complete happiness poll click on this link

Eighty percent of young people between 13 and 24 say that believing in God makes them happier

Some 80 % of the American kids who believe in God say that their belief has made them happier. Only 60% of "non-believers" young adults polled said that they felt happy.

Labels: EU, Religion, US

For4 the complete report from PopMatters click on this link

"Gods Warriors": Raging Fires - by Cynthia Fuchs

In Jerusalem, Christiane Amanpour stands on a rooftop as the camera pans toward her. In this “ancient city filled with sacred meaning” for Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, she and her Special Investigations Unit crew will explore the different and similar ways that these three religions approach such meaning. Amanpour, as usual, does not back down from difficult questions. She opens her six-hour report—airing over three nights on CNN—by noting that Jerusalem, the “so-called city of peace, has been torn by centuries of war.”

This much is well known, of course. Amanpour’s thesis, however, may be less familiar. The fears and rages that drive the conflicts are born of similarity more than difference.

In "God's Muslim Warriors," on the other hand, we get yet more reporting on the murder of Dutch director Theo van Gogh three years ago by a Muslim extremist, as well as a visit to former Islamic radical Ed Husain, whose story of disaffection with the Muslim cause as preached by London extremists has been told many times in the media. There's also a mostly pointless digression on the Iran-Iraq war, as well as a strange visit to some Iranian clerics who believe in a "hidden imam" (we even get a glimpse of a Web site on the topic they created for kids).

The multipart series, which unfolds over three nights starting Tuesday, features one of the network's stars, chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, so it's getting more publicity than CNN usually gives to its documentary efforts.

Labels: Religion

For the full report in The Malta Times & The Sunday Times click on this link

Europe with or without God

For these past four years, Europeans, including, obviously the people of these islands, have been talking and reading quite a lot about the drafters of the European Constitution; These drafters and their associates would do well to refer to the founding fathers of Europe, Alcide De Gasperi from Italy, Robert Schuman from France, and Konrad Adenauer from Germany.

All these causes are at the diocesan level, with only that of Konrad Adenauer at its earliest stage. Chiara Lubich, founder of the very active Focolare movement, and one of the lay auditors at the Synod in Rome, told The Tablet (UK) that with the opening of the three causes, " this project of a united Europe rests upon a rock". She further explained: "I think that the European Union is a design not only of human beings but also of God".

Note EU-Digest: God is omni-present everywhere-if we like it or not. Religious doctrine however can not be part of the political process in a multi-cultural and secular society.

Labels: EU, EU CONSTITUTION, Religion

For the full text of the "A Strange Feeling" click on this link

"A Strange Feeling" - by by Michael P.F. van der Galiën

"During my stay in Turkey, I have visited several mosques. Last week Friday and today I did not just visit mosques: I went there with a Muslim and joined the men in prayer. Some of my Christian brethren might be shocked by this, but I did not have a big problem with praying with Muslims and praying like they do. In fact, I found the praying to be… comforting. I obviously prayed to God as in the Christian God, and I did not silently pray the same prayer the Muslims prayed: I prayed to the Christian concept of God and chose my own words / thoughts… But it was comforting nonetheless. When praying, I was - today and last week friday as well - overwhelmed by a very positive, peaceful feeling. Or perhaps peaceful or positive energy is the best word to describe this feeling."

Labels: Christianity, EU, Islam, Religion, Turkey

For the complete report in the Global Politician click on this link

Is Europe waiting for Churchill or Godot? - by Fjordman

"Europe is now at one of those famous crossroads where the course of history could go either way. Given the weakness of Europe and the rapid expansion of Islam, it would be foolish to discount the possibility that Muslims could win this. However, I happen to think that another possibility is that Islam not only will lose the battle for Europe, but could become destroyed as a global force during this century. Maybe in some strange way, Europe needs to go through a period of colonization and de-colonization herself, to get rid of her post-colonial guilt complex?

Sharia is worse than war. I have hard claims that European civilization will not survive the century. A century is a very long time, remember that. Would anybody (except Churchill) in 1906, when Europe really was strong and powerful, have predicted that Europe would now be in the process of being overpowered by Algerians, Africans Moroccans, Turks and Pakistanis? Things change. They can change for the worse, but they can also change for the better. If we do get another world war, which appears increasingly likely, this could finish off what remains of European civilization for good. But it could also, theoretically, have the opposite effect, where the shock waves could create a different kind of Europe from the decadent, nihilistic Europe we see now. A Christian revitalization, for instance. Yes, this could happen. Stranger things have happened before. Our ancestors, better men and women than us, held the line against Islam for more than one thousand years, sacrificing their blood for the continent. By doing so, they not only preserved the European heartland and thus Western civilization itself, but quite possibly the world in general from unchallenged Islamic dominance. The stakes involved now are not less than they were then, probably greater."

Labels: Europe, Immigratation, Religion

Religious problems in a secular Europe

Europe's Sharia law: "How to Break the stranglehold of archaic religious laws and abuses"

"Europeans are learning that just defining 'moderate' Muslims as those who do not want to blow things up is not enough. 'Non-violent' Muslim extremists who want to replace Western laws with Islamic sharia law, and democracy (rule by man-made law) with theocracy (rule by God's law, as interpreted by Islamic clergy and jurists) may actually pose a more serious threat to Europe. A poll last year in Britain showed that four out of 10 British Muslims want sharia law introduced into parts of the country.

Sharia law conflicts with Western law in several key areas. First, it considers blasphemy -- saying or writing negative things about Islam -- as a crime punishable by death. A second area is apostasy, the 'crime' of abandoning a religion. A direct challenge to the very concept of freedom of religion, apostasy too is punishable by death under sharia law. Muslims are enjoined to do their best to spread Islam, but it is a one-way street -- no one can opt out. The impact of this is to stifle free speech and action among Muslims. Women's rights are a third and most important area of conflict.Muslim women in Europe often pay with their lives in so-called honor killings carried out by other family members. Their crime: adopting a modern lifestyle or showing interest in a non-Muslim man. In many parts of the world women are harassed and assaulted if they do not cover themselves. There are now places, even in Europe, where non-Muslim women have begun to cover their head to avoid being molested.

The majority of Europeans including European Muslims want sharia law to be outlawed in the secular EU. The fact that it is being tolerated so far has nothing to do with freedom of religion, but rather by political expediency. There should be no misunderstanding possible. Sharia law is a religious dictate which stifles democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of action. Instead, European advocacy groups should embrace, protect and encourage Muslims who want to modernize their religion. Muslim Reformers can do the same for their religion what Martin Luther's Reformation movement did in the 1500's on behalf of the Christian faith, break the stranglehold of archaic religious laws and abuses."