Christmas is celebrated in all Christian countries on the birthday of Christ. The name Christmass comes from the early English Term Christmases, which means Christ’s mass. Germany and Switzerland observe “Holy Night” The day for Christmas in most all lands is December 25.
No one knows definitely when the Christmas festival was first celebrated, It is spoken of the 400’s BC by clement of Alexandria. The early Church Fathers probably choose December 25 because the feast of the son, or Winter Solstice was a familiar Roman feast celebrating the victory of light over darkness.
The Armenians who were the first people in the world to set up a Christian State celebrate Christmas Eve on January 6 by eating fried fish, lettuce, and boiled spinach, December 6 is the day on which the long Christmas season opens for the Austrians, Belgians, Bulgarians French, Germans, Greeks, Hungarians, Italian, Dutch and Swiss.
Christmas is a Simple Story
The Christmas story is serenely simple. It is as simple as the silent dawn, as unbelaboured as the bursting rose, as unsophisticated as the child’s cry as spontaneous as a child’s laughter. God through the centuries has manifested himself in diverse and complex ways.
We see evidence of Him in the perfection of a mathematical formula and in the order of a distant Galaxy; we hear Him speak through the profound utterance of noble minds and in the erudite thoughts of great theologians. But Christmas is like none of these. Christmas is as simple as childhood and as beautiful.
When God made His most benevolent gesture of fatherly love, His giving of a son, He wanted to understand by all men . But no flaming chariot bore Jesus from highest heaven. No mighty cannonade announced His appearing. There were no bugles, no treading of armies, none of the grandeur and glory we should devise for so remarkable an event.
Christ came into this world as a baby, He left the world thirty-three brief years later when He was in the vigour and beauty of noble and consecrated young manhood. Christmas is a simple story, divinely simple yet profoundly inspiring showing what life may mean for each of us.
God choose Mary
Of all the women of history, the most and revered is Mary, the mother of Jesus She stands apart from all over women, none is to be compared with her. Mary has been exalted in poetry, fiction and drama, her face is seen on canvas, in bronze, marble and stained glass and we prize the lovely hymns and carols that sing of her who was Mary ? What kinds of person was she? What life did she live? It is generally believed that she was directly descended from David.
According to ancient scripture her parents were Jaochem and Anna, devout and holy people. Mary was reared according to the faith of her father and will of God. In appearance she may have been like many other Jews maidens of her age. Nothing distinguish her from the others.
Yet the eternal God choose her from among humanity to be mother of his son. The birth of this son is unmatched among the miracle all time. We cannot more explain His birth than we can explain the origins of sun, the moon and the stars.
There came wise men from the East.
The celebration of Christmas is always given a certain regal glamour by the regal story of the wise men, who journeying long days and weary nights across wasteland and desert came at last to Bethlehem to pledge fealty to the newborn King Jesus.
Theirs was the most complicated itinenary of all those who travelled to Bethlehem. They are called wise men because by profession and study they had mastered both the books and the wisdom of Heavens; they were Philosophers and Astrologers.
The wise men had long across made themselves to look above the world of man for guidance from the most high and their behaviors were formed not by the foibles and folly of men by the wisdom of God. In the birth of Christ is fulfilled all the wisdom of ages. The wise knew that the Heavens declared the glory of god.
We too are wise when, like them , we look upward and when, having discussed and heavenly sign. We followed where it leads, God often makes known his will to men, but only those who are wise respond to his guidance.
Christmas Song and Stories
Singing as an expression of joy, hope, love and any other good human feelings has been part of the Christmas celebration everywhere.
The southern countries of Europe have built their songs around the stories of Christ’s birth. In the Scandinavian countries the carols includes many pagan yule and was sailing songs as well as Christmas songs. Many fine stories have been woven about the Christmas spirit, and Christmas merry making. Dickens Christmas carol, the story of scrooge and ” Marley’s Ghost” is one wide read and loved.
Christmas in other land.
On Christmas Eve in the villages of France, the homes are the centre of festivities, including a holiday supper and the ceremony of the burning of the such, or yule log. At midnight the church bells ring, and the merry makes become solemn as each lights, his Christmas candle, a little taper streaked with various colours.
The streets are dotted with lights as the villages hurry to church to celebrate the Noel. Long table created under the weight of the finest food the cooks could prayer. Mistdetoe hung from the chandeliers, and yule log crackled on the hearth Christmas down south is still a joyous day.
Christmas Foods.
All of the world the Christmas season is marked by tasty things to eat. Plum padding is mode of hearings citrus fruit, peels, figs beef send, spices, and other things and covered with rice source sometimes yule dough is made into flat cake in the shape of a body.
Mince pies were originally backed in the shape of a manger, and thus associated with Christmas. Henry Vlll established the bear’s head as the Christmas dish.
In his day it was a great delivery and very rare.
* N Mangi Devi wrote this book entitled “Festival of Manipur” .
This article was webcasted on June 19 2010.
BAHÁ’Í WORLD CENTRE — As a most challenging year comes to a close, the Bahá’í World News Service provides a collection of photographs from stories over the past 12 months on developments in the global Bahá’í community.
What can be seen through these and countless other efforts in societies around the globe is the expression of an essential truth: that the human family is one.
Volunteers from the village of Namawanga, Kenya, and the surrounding area joined together to undertake the construction of an 800-square-meter educational facility for their village.
At a “cultural café” in Sousse, Tunisia, organized by the country’s Bahá’í community, religious and civil society leaders were brought together to exchange ideas and explore insights about the advancement of women in the country.
A seminar series in Canada examined the important role of religion in the process of immigration to and settlement in the country.
A gathering held by the Bahá’í community of Australia brought together journalists and other social actors to explore how the media can play a constructive role in society.
Thirty village chiefs, or pradhans, gathered at a conference organized by the Bahá’í community of India in the village of Gapchariyapur, Uttar Pradesh, for a constructive discussion on their shared responsibility for the prosperity and the spiritual well-being of their people. The 30 pradhans represent some 380 villages in the region, comprising a total of 950 villages and around 1 million people.
At a conference in Kakenge, Central Kasai, the Bahá’ís of the Democratic Republic of the Congo brought together some 60 village and tribal chiefs—many of whom were on opposing sides of armed conflict only a year ago—to explore paths towards a society characterized by principles such as harmony, justice, and prosperity.
Chief Nkayi Matala of the Lushiku village (right) and Chief Mbindi Godée of the Ndenga Mongo village at a conference in Kakenge, Central Kasai, held by the Bahá’ís of the DRC. They described the gathering as “a remarkable step forward that opens up many new possibilities for realizing the unity of peoples and the prosperity of our communities.”
The Brussels office of the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) at a European Parliament panel discussion in January. The Brussels office lead a discussion on how institutions and civil society actors can develop language that at once respects diversity and fosters shared identity.
As outbreaks of COVID-19 began to disrupt life in country after country, Bahá’í communities found creative means to continue to serve their societies while maintaining safe measures put in place by their governments. Seen here are families in Italy praying and creating messages of hope for their fellow citizens.
The Bahá’ís of Nepal had taken early action in March to update their fellow citizens on preventive health measures while taking care to keep a safe distance and use protective gear as needed.
As the health crisis continued, Bahá’í communities and institutions began coordinating an organized response. In India, Bahá’í Local Spiritual Assemblies in various parts of the country have been distributing food and other necessities to citizens whose economic situation has become precarious.
In one village in India, a construction company owned by local Baha’is used its trucks and other resources to bring food to 2,500 distressed households across 50 remote villages during the health crisis.
Children participating in moral education classes offered by the Bahá’ís of Luxembourg made cards and drawings to bring joy to health workers and others carrying out essential services during the health crisis.
Young people across the United States who have been engaged in Bahá’í community-building efforts swiftly responded to a host of needs arising in their communities. Seen here, a family in Rockwall, Texas, prepared masks for their neighbors.
Friendships built through the English Corner program in Vancouver, Canada—a Bahá’í-inspired initiative for English learners—became a source of support in difficult times.
People of all ages, especially youth, have found ways to uplift the spirits of their fellow citizens through music, podcasts, paintings and drawings, theatre, puppet shows, poetry, and digital designs. Such works have focused on revealing the beauty that exists in the world and conveying new perspectives on current circumstances.
Acts of devotion and generosity have come into greater focus in humanity’s collective life this year. In places where Bahá’í Houses of Worship stand, live broadcasts of devotional programs and online gatherings for collective prayer—such as the one pictured here from the House of Worship in Australia—have brought many people together, allaying anxieties and inspiring hope.
The House of Worship in Santiago, Chile, has continued to serve as a source of hope, offering online devotional programs. Seen here are volunteers who have been tending to the Temple site since its doors closed to public visitors according to public safety measures put in place by the government.
A group of youth in Soweto, South Africa, who have been participating in Bahá’í community-building endeavors seen here praying together.
In April amid the pandemic, when Cyclone Harold struck the northern islands of Vanuatu the degree of unity and collective action fostered through the educational activities of the Bahá’í community enabled many people to respond swiftly and to begin rebuilding and replanting.
FUNDAEC, a Bahá’í-inspired organization in Colombia, recognizing that the pandemic would have long-term ramifications, looked at how it could be of practical service to society at a time of dire need. Since March, it has assisted over 2,000 people across the country to become engaged in over 1,000 agricultural initiatives.
Pictured here is the construction of a “food tower” at the training center of the Kimanya-Ngeyo Foundation for Science and Education, a Bahá’í-inspired organization in Uganda whose programs have continued to raise capacity in specific areas of community development during the pandemic.
Teachers at a Bahá’í-inspired community school in Langathel, Manipur, India, distribute schoolwork to parents to carry out with their children at home as a precautionary measure during the health crisis. Bahá’í-inspired community schools in places with limited web accessibility have found creative ways of adapting to present circumstances and serving their students’ educational needs.
Despite the challenges facing all educational institutions, Nur University in Bolivia adapted quickly, ensuring that all of its students were closely engaged and not left to themselves. A unique feature of the university’s approach is that it promotes service to society as a critical element in one’s life. Pictured here is a student preparing an educational video on health and safety for distribution among students and the local community.
To assist university students in navigating questions about the direction in which the world is headed and their place in it, the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity (ISGP) has been creating spaces, largely online, for young people to come together in focused discussions.
In the days after an explosion that rocked Beirut in August, a group of youth engaged in Bahá’í community-building efforts quickly met to make plans for assisting with relief and recovery. They created a volunteer network called the “Helping Hub” to coordinate the actions of people around them.
Radio stations operated by Bahá’í communities in several countries, including Radyo Bahá’í in the Philippines, have found a renewed purpose during the pandemic, acting as a source of critical information and an anchor of community life when other forms of interaction have been limited.
Chile Bahá’í Radio based in Labranza, Chile, has been in close dialogue, especially during the pandemic, with surrounding indigenous communities to ensure that programs speak to their needs and aspirations. Prayers in the indigenous Mapuche language are a part of regular broadcasts of Chile Bahá’í Radio.
A public statement released in June by the Bahá’í National Spiritual Assembly of the United States on racial prejudice and spiritual principles essential for progress toward peace has stimulated critical reflection across the country.
Parent University, a Bahá’í-inspired organization with decades-long experience of promoting racial equality in Savannah, Georgia, worked this year to build bridges between community members and representatives of local government, including by hosting constructive online discussion spaces to explore issues of equality and justice.
A reception held at Parliament House in Canberra in November marked the anniversary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh and centenary of the Bahá’í community in Australia. In a message for the reception, Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated: “People of the Bahá’í Faith contribute to our social good through the values of equality, truth and respect. These values mirror our national commitment to a rich and diverse multicultural, multi-faith society.”
The BIC launched a statement entitled “A Governance Befitting: Humanity and the Path Toward a Just Global Order” on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, inviting UN officials, ambassadors of member states, non-governmental organizations, and other social actors to explore themes concerning humanity’s movement toward universal peace.
The beginning of this year saw the first steps being taken to prepare the site and lay the groundwork for the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Coinciding with the start of construction, the mayor of ‘Akká and representatives of the city’s religious communities gathered to honor ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at a special ceremony.
Work on the construction of the Shrine has progressed this year with the approval of local authorities at each stage. By April work on the foundations was giving shape to an imprint of the design’s elegant geometry (top left). The foundations have now been completed, allowing the first vertical elements of the edifice to rise.
The design for the local Bahá’í House of Worship to be built in Bihar Sharif was unveiled in April. Drawing on patterns found in the Madhubani folk art of Bihar and the region’s long architectural heritage, the temple’s design features a repeating pattern of arches.
The design for the national Bahá’í House of Worship to be built in the DRC was also unveiled this year. The design is inspired by traditional artworks and structures as well as natural features of the country. The House of Worship will embody the vibrant devotional spirit that has been fostered over the decades by the country’s Bahá’ís.
Construction of the national Bahá’í House of Worship in the DRC was inaugurated in October with a groundbreaking ceremony on the site of the future temple in the presence of officials, religious leaders, and traditional chiefs.
Within two months of the groundbreaking for the national Bahá’í House of Worship in the DRC, excavation was completed for the main ring of the edifice’s foundations.
Prior to the pandemic, people of all ages were regularly gathering on the grounds of the local Bahá’í House of Worship in Matunda Soy, Kenya, to pray together and offer assistance with various aspects of the site’s upkeep.
Construction of the local House of Worship in Matunda Soy, Kenya, is now at an advanced stage of completion. Work on the roof and decoration of doorways and external walls is underway. A reception center and other ancillary buildings on the site are also nearing completion.
A virtual rendering of the design for the national Bahá’í House of Worship of Papua New Guinea (left) compared with recent progress on the structure (right).
Since the foundations of the House of Worship in Papua New Guinea were completed last December, work has progressed on an intricate steel structure for the central edifice that traces the unique weaving pattern of the exterior.
A companion article to this photo essay, to be published tomorrow, will provide an overview of stories on developments in the global Bahá’í community this year.
European Commission Press release Brussels, 30 Dec 2020 Friday, 1 January 2021, marks the beginning of the European Year of Rail. The European Commission initiative will highlight the benefits of rail as a sustainable, smart and safe means of transport.
(Photo: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)More than 2,200 Liberty University students and staff attended Prayer March 2020, a seven-stop route that covered the United States in prayer.
The president and vice president of Liberty University’s student body are speaking out about a center created by former University president Jerry Falwell, Jr. and an ardent Donald Trump supporter, Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and talk-show host.
They say that the school’s Falkirk Center think tank has allowed politics to supersede the Gospel message and that it negatively impacts the university’s reputation, Christian Headlines reported Dec. 28.
The fight has brought the Gospel, Trumpist populism, and Christian belief into collision at the private evangelical Liberty University as student leaders have spoken up and said the Gospel comes first and not “conservatism” which Donald Trump espouses.
THE FALKIRK CENTER
Falwell’s think tank calls itself “The Falkirk Center for Faith and Liberty.” Its website says it “exists to uphold the Christian faith and defend America’s Constitution. We honor human dignity, individual liberty, limited government, and free markets.”
Falwell resigned as president and chancellor of Liberty in August when allegations of an extra marital affair surfaced and he is said to have used the university’s funds to set up the campus ‘think tank’ in 2019, Politico reported.
The university student body president Constance Schneider and student body vice president Joel Thomas commented on social media posts.
According to the school’s website, the two represent students in interactions with the university’s administration as leaders in the Student Government Association.
“Our job is to represent the students of our school. When an organization like @falkirk_center is attached to liberty, it impacts the reputation of not just our school, but our students as well,” Schneider wrote in a tweet.
“We have had dozens of conversations with students who are embarrassed to claim the name of our school due to the rhetoric that comes from this center.”
Schneider said, “I am concerned with the rhetoric, tone, content, and association the Falkirk Center has with Liberty University, specifically when it comes to our greater, crucial mission to further the kingdom of God,” Thomas tweeted.
“Freedom of speech and sharing of ideas are extremely important, yes … yet our priority must remain fixed on what truly matters: exalting the cross of Christ through the witness we bear.
CONSERVATIVE SUPERSEDING CHRISTIAN
“Conservative must never supersede Christian. If allowed to supersede, this can erode and shift our very identity and dilute and distract from the message of the Gospel we claim to champion. All other ground is sinking sand.”
Schneider @constansceider tweeted, “We have had dozens of conversations with students who are embarrassed to claim the name of our school due to the rhetoric that comes from this center.”
The matter has received national media attention.
Falkirk’s fellows include Charlie Kirk, the founder and president of Turning Point USA; Eric Metaxas, a Christian radio host; and Jenna Ellis, an attorney who has represented the Trump campaign in post-election lawsuits.
Politico had reported on Dec. 14, “After shocking many in the evangelical movement by endorsing Donald Trump over other Republicans for the 2016 presidential nomination, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. pumped millions of the nonprofit religious institution’s funds into Republican causes and efforts to promote the Trump administration, blurring the lines between education and politics.”.
“The culmination of his efforts was the creation of a university-funded campus “think tank” — which has produced no peer-reviewed academic work and bears little relation to study centers at other universities,” wrote Politico’s Maggie Severns.
“It ran pro-Trump ads, hired Trump allies including former adviser Sebastian Gorka and current Trump attorney Jenna Ellis to serve as fellows and, in recent weeks, has aggressively promoted Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud.
“Liberty’s actions, detailed for the first time by POLITICO, suggest the university is pushing the boundaries of its status as a nonprofit organization under Section 501c (3) of the U.S. federal tax code.”
The code forbids spending money on political campaigns. Liberty’s actions also go well beyond the traditional role of a university as a politically neutral institution of higher learning.
“The apparatus of the university has turned more and more towards political ends and concerns,” said Marybeth Baggett, a Liberty graduate who taught at the school from 2003 until the early party of this year.
“Obviously, the school is conservative, yes. But I don’t feel like it was ever so agenda-driven as it was in the last four of five years,” she said, according to Politico.
Student leader Thomas tweeted, “I am concerned with the rhetoric, tone, content, and association the Falkirk Center has with Liberty University, specifically when it comes to our greater, crucial mission to further the kingdom of God.”
His tweet said, “Freedom of speech and sharing of ideas are extremely important, yes … yet our priority must remain fixed on what truly matters: exalting the cross of Christ through the witness we bear. Conservative must never supersede Christian.”
Liberty University, also known as LU, is a private evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It was founded by Jerry Falwell and Elmer L. Towns in 1971.
(RNS) — 2020 has been a year of mourning of seemingly biblical proportions, including a mounting global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic, nearing 2 million as the year closes out.
Losses in the religion world included people known for their contributions to preaching, civil rights or music.
The retired prelate was the first woman to be ordained and consecrated as a bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Newly consecrated as the first woman bishop in the history of the Episcopal Church, the Rev. Barbara Harris gives the benediction at the conclusion of a service in Boston on Feb. 11, 1989. Religion News Service file photo
Known for quoting the words “Hallelujah anyhow” from a gospel song, Harris served as the suffragan, or assisting, bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts from 1989 until her retirement in 2002. She later was an assisting bishop in the Diocese of Washington.
The great-granddaughter of a woman born into slavery, Harris broke numerous stereotypes: Not only was she the first woman Anglican bishop, she was African American, divorced, and had not graduated from seminary.
“The temptation we have,” she said in her first sermon as bishop, “is to play it safe, don’t make waves.
“But if Jesus had played it safe, we would not be saved,” she continued, as noted in 1989 coverage in the Los Angeles Times. “If the Diocese of Massachusetts had played it safe, I would not be standing here clothed in rochet and chimere and wearing a pectoral cross.”
The preacher and close colleague of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was known for his efforts to desegregate buses, protest apartheid and draw attention to the AIDS crisis in the U.S. and Africa.
In this Aug. 12, 2009, file photo, President Barack Obama presents a 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
The United Methodist minister served as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for 20 years after co-founding it with King.
Lowery, who was dubbed the “dean of the civil rights movement” by the NAACP, gave the benediction at President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, recalling the country’s racial challenges as the nation gained its first Black president. Several years later, Lowery criticized President George W. Bush for “weapons of misdirection” as they both were on the dais for Coretta Scott King’s funeral.
Obama presented Lowery with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in August 2009. Asked if his work was mostly completed after his inaugural prayer and receipt of the medal, Lowery said no.
“Our work is never done,” he told Religion News Service in 2011. “A Christian’s work is never done. The spiritual says we’ve always got ‘one more river to cross.’”
The Christian evangelist and author of more than 20 books rose to prominence after Billy Graham invited him to appear at a 1983 international evangelism conference.
Ravi Zacharias speaks to students at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, in Oxford, England, in July 2018. Photo by Hazel Thompson/True Image Media
He founded a Georgia-based apologetics ministry in which he and, eventually, almost 100 other Christian evangelists spoke and trained others in how to answer questions about Christianity and the existence of God.
Shortly before Zacharias’ death, prominent evangelicals spoke of how he was one of their “heroes” and how their shelves included his books.
But in recent months an investigation by a law firm hired by his ministry has found what the firm called “significant, credible evidence that Mr. Zacharias engaged in sexual misconduct over the course of many years.”
In a Dec. 23 announcement about the interim investigation update, the board of directors of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries said “we share your compassion for any victims of this conduct, and we appreciate your prayers for them and also for Ravi’s family who have been devastated by this information.”
The longtime civil rights activist and ordained Baptist minister was known for preaching about getting in “good trouble.” He was often remembered for being beaten by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge as he worked for voting rights in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama join hands with Rep. John Lewis, center, as they lead the walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches, in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 2015. Photo courtesy of The White House/Lawrence Jackson
He was also the youngest speaker at the March on Washington in 1963, speaking shortly before the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. Lewis later became a longtime U.S. congressman representing the state of Georgia.
As he coped with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, Lewis urged attendees at the National Prayer Breakfast in February to “be a blessing to our fellow human beings.”
Lewis wrote in “March,” an award-winning graphic novel series, of how he preached to his chickens as a child on his family farm and later gave his first public sermon at age 15. He told RNS in 2016 he didn’t regret moving away from traditional ministry.
“I preach every day,” he said. “Every day, I’m preaching a sermon, telling people to get off their butts and do something.”
The social justice work of Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian began in 1947, when he nonviolently and successfully protested segregated lunch counters in Peoria, Illinois.
Two decades later, he stood almost nose to nose with Sheriff Jim Clark on the steps of a Selma courthouse.
“You can turn your back on me but you cannot turn your back upon the idea of justice,” Vivian told Clark minutes before the sheriff punched the minister in the face. “You can turn your back now and you can keep the club in your hand but you cannot beat down justice.”
Vivian served on the executive staff of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta and was the editor for a Baptist Sunday school publisher. In 2013, he was honored by Obama with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The nun in the Dominican order was a proponent of nuclear disarmament who later was the inspiration for a character in the “Orange Is the New Black” series on Netflix.
Sister Ardeth Platte is shown outside of the Danbury Federal Correctional Institute in Danbury, Connecticut, after being released from the prison on Dec. 22, 2005. (AP Photo/Douglas Healey)
She worked with Sister Carol Gilbert, her frequent collaborator and best friend, and served time in prison for her nonviolent civil disobedience as she opposed war and nuclear weapons. They recently had been working to gain support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
In Michigan, Platte worked as a teacher and coordinator of Saginaw’s Home for Peace and Justice. Her story became the subject of a documentary about her and other nuns and the catalyst for the “Orange Is the New Black” character. She had practiced yoga with fellow prisoner Piper Kerman, author of the book on which the series was based, when they both served in a Connecticut prison.
In 2017, Platte described herself to The Denver Post as someone dedicated to peace.
“I refuse to have an enemy,” she said. “I simply won’t.”
James Randi
The onetime magician and author was known for his investigation and disproving of faith healers.
James Randi in 2014. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons
Randi died at the age of 92 on Oct. 20.
The New York Times reported that the skeptic, known as the “Amazing Randi,” moved from seeking to break the records of illusionist Houdini to exposing falsehoods. It noted he was inquisitive from an early age as a boy attending Sunday school.
“They started to read to me from the Bible,” the newspaper said he recalled in 2016. “And I interrupted and said: ‘Excuse me, how do you know that’s true? It sounds strange.’”
In 1976, along with scientists such as Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov, Randi founded the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, now known as the Center for Inquiry. The white-bearded and bespectacled man appeared on TV shows and spoke at atheist gatherings, including the 2016 Reason Rally in Washington, D.C. The MacArthur Grant winner was honored by numerous scientific, atheist and magician organizations.
“To the skeptical movement, he was a hero,” said Center for Inquiry President Robyn Blumner at the time of Randi’s death. “To us, he was family.”
He was the lead vocalist for the group known for incorporating R&B, soul and rock with traditional Black gospel music. The five-time Grammy nominee joined his group in a 2015 performance for Obama at an event celebrating gospel music history.
An Ohio pastor who became a bishop of the Church of God in Christ in 2011, Allen performed “Blessing Me Again” with rapper Snoop Dogg at the 2018 Super Bowl Gospel Celebration.
Early in 2020, a Toledo radio station honored Allen during Black History Month.
“I’ve been singing over 60 years and it’s all been as far as I was concerned a ministry,” he told the station.
His efforts toward educating different faiths about each other was not without controversy.
“No one creed has a monopoly on spiritual truth,” he wrote in his 2002 book, “The Dignity of Difference.” After complaints from some Orthodox groups, he used toned-down language in subsequent editions.
The onetime leader of the well-known Western Marble Arch Synagogue in Central London, Sacks went on to hold the role of chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013.
Prince Charles was among the international leaders who reacted to Sacks’ death: “With his passing, the Jewish community, our nation, and the entire world have lost a leader whose wisdom, scholarship and humanity were without equal.”
The conservative pastor and evangelical adviser to President Donald Trump was known for his efforts to foster racial reconciliation.
Bishop Harry Jackson of Maryland speaks at the unveiling of the “Justice Declaration,” a statement by Christian leaders on criminal justice, in Washington, D.C., on June 20, 2017. RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks
Ten years after a 2005 diagnosis of esophageal cancer, he told “The 700 Club” that at one point he was “24 hours away from dying” but he believed God still had work for him to do.
An author and co-author of several books, the Black pastor in the charismatic tradition was outspoken in his opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion. But Jackson advocated prison reform and economic development in his 2005 “Black Contract With America.”
He was among the dozens of evangelical leaders who urged the Trump administration to address criminal justice reform as an alternative to “tough on crime” language. At an April 10 Oval Office gathering on Good Friday, Trump called on Jackson to declare a blessing as clergy joined in an event two days before Easter.
“What I believe is that the whole left and right paradigm that politics has chosen to create for itself is fundamentally incorrect because the Bible has both what we call left and right issues,” Jackson told RNS in 2005.
More than one million people to benefit from access to life-saving services across the country
DAMASCUS, 29 December 2020 – The European Union has contributed €7.5 million towards UNICEF’s support for the most vulnerable children and families in Syria. This funding will help provide over one million conflict-affected people, mainly children and women, with access to protection, health, nutrition, education, water, sanitation and hygiene services. This comes in addition to an earlier contribution of €1.5 million to support preparedness and response efforts to the COVID-19 pandemic in both Northwest and East Syria.
“With the crisis in Syria approaching its tenth year, UNICEF remains committed to supporting the humanitarian needs of more than 5 million children in Syria,” said UNICEF Representative in Syria, Mr. Bo Viktor Nylund. “Our partnership with the European Union has been substantial to ensuring the most vulnerable children, including those with disabilities, are protected, reached with quality education, health and nutrition and have access to water and sanitation services.”
Since 2016, the European Union has provided more than €34 million in humanitarian funding for UNICEF’s support to children in Syria.
“After almost a decade of conflict, the most vulnerable children in Syria need our support more than ever,” said EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič. “Providing them with emergency assistance, protection and access to safe water and sanitation is essential, especially during the ongoing pandemic. But EU humanitarian aid also extends to ensuring Syrian children have access to an education, which represent the hope of a better and more inclusive future.”
The 2020 multi-donor humanitarian action, supported by the European Union, will help UNICEF reach:
310,000 people with emergency water and sanitation services, and 80,000 with access to lifesaving emergency WASH facilities and services.
50,000 children and mothers with life-saving curative and preventive nutrition services, and 80,000 children as well as women of childbearing age with primary health care consultations.
7,000 children through access to education and learning materials.
About UNICEF
UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.
For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org.
On December 7, the Council of the European Union (EU) concluded that it’s time for a label on animal welfare, setting up what could become an epic trade dispute between Brussels and much of the world.
Brussels has a long history of legislating minimum animal welfare standards. Europe has a mandatory label on table eggs, and a patchwork of voluntary labels on meat products. Animal welfare is also a part of Europe’s organic farming rules. Now Brussels wants an EU-wide label to help consumers identify, and reward, farmers who invest more in animal husbandry.
What would such a label look like? Consider France’s Étiquette Bien-Être Animal, a label adopted by Carrefour and other retailers. It assigns a letter A (“superior”) through E (“minimal”) based on 230 criteria. These criteria build upon the EU’s “Five Freedoms” for farm-kept animals, including that they be raised without hunger or distress. Since 2018, there has also been talk of considering the animal’s emotional state. All told, the label’s creators say that it clearly conveys the information that consumers want, all in an intuitive way. An EU-wide label will be marketed in much the same way.
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Farmers exporting to Europe will see things differently. They’ll argue that an EU-wide label is a “disguised” restriction on trade. They’ll say the record-keeping and verification requirements are onerous and disproportionate to the amount of information on the label. They’ll insist that the criteria vetted by the label are based on how European farmers do things, not science. And they’ll claim that the letters, numbers or colors on the label will be mistaken for a quality or health standard. What’s more, they’ll probably be right.
Mere conjecture? Not really. All of these arguments have been made countless times in trade disputes over labels, often with success. For example, in United States — Certain Country of Origin Labelling, the World Trade Organization (WTO) found the record-keeping and verification costs to be far in excess of what consumers could learn from the label. Few consumers understood what the letters meant, and most, if not all, mistook them for quality rankings. Moreover, there was no evidence consumers were willing to pay for this information, even if they fully understood the label.
The U.S. country of origin label was mandatory. Imagine that, instead, the EU makes its label voluntary. That’s where things get really interesting.
Back in 2012, the WTO convened a meeting on how to define voluntary standards in the case of health standards. This was no easy feat. But many developing countries had an example in mind: GlobalGAP. GlobalGAP, originally called EUREGAP, was launched in 1997 to incentivize “good agricultural practice,” including animal husbandry. The key was that retailers would take the lead, not governments. Compliance with GlobalGAP is necessary to get shelf space in many retailers around the world. The presented developing countries with a problem: the WTO has a lesser grasp of voluntary, as opposed to mandatory, standards. Brazil wasn’t buying it.
Brazil argued there is nothing voluntary about GlobalGAP. It’s de facto mandatory. How so? Brazil explained that retailers who adopted GlobalGAP represent too much market share to treat it as voluntary. In other words, GlobalGAP has the effect of being mandatory because it is virtually impossible to get shelf space from a retailer for food that is not compliant. An EU-wide animal welfare label, even if voluntary, will be open to the same charge.
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There will be fights over an EU-wide label within Europe as well. The Council’s decision is breathtaking in its scope and, not surprisingly, anticipates frictions. For example, there’s the call not to punish countries with higher animal husbandry standards, but also a plea to write criteria that are “achievable by all” EU members. The Council expects that the label will cover all livestock at each stage of its life, transport and slaughter, yet also wants different geographical and climatic conditions across Europe to be taken into consideration. Finally, the Council wants the label to account for rules on organic farming, its “interplay” with national labels and the financial cost of doing all this.
To manage these and other frictions, look for a variety of exceptions to bridge intra-EU differences. Because these derogations are likely to be available to domestic farmers, but not foreign ones, they’ll be the low hanging fruit if (when?) the EU-wide label is challenged at the WTO.
Animal welfare is an important and legitimate public policy goal. The trick is to pursue it without creating a disguised restriction on trade. Has the EU Council asked for the impossible?
Marc L. Busch is the Karl F. Landegger Professor of International Business Diplomacy at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and host of the podcast TradeCraft.
Blaming the victims is never a good look. As Britain finally leaves the European Union, more than 1,600 days days after the Brexit referendum of 2016, we should try to remember that 48 per cent of the turkeys didn’t vote for Christmas.
Brexit was not exactly a national act of self-harm; it was really an attack by the nostalgic and nationalist old on the young. 60 per cent of British over-65s voted to leave the EU, but 61 per cent of the under-35s voted to remain. Having had four years to think it over, most British now think it was a mistake – by a 48-39 majority, according to a YouGov poll in October.
Too late. Boris Johnson is prime minister and he dares not anger the English ultra-nationalists on the right of his own Conservative party. After months of the amateur dramatics that accompany any Johnson decision, on Christmas Day the United Kingdom concluded a pathetically thin ‘free trade’ deal that reflects the real balance of power between the EU and the UK.
Johnson will smear lipstick all over this pig of a deal and declare it a triumph. Those who want to believe it will do so, and the only early evidence of the huge defeat that it really is will be some delays at the ports as customs officers learn their new jobs. The real bill will come in later and almost invisibly, in lost trade, investment and opportunities.
The last official British government estimate was that fifteen years from now the British economy will be between five per cent and seven per cent smaller than it would have been as an EU member (but still a bit bigger than it is now).
That’s not the raw material for a counter-revolution – and besides, any projection about the economic situation in 2035 is really pure guesstimate. One Covid more or less could make just as much difference as Brexit.
All one can say is that the British economy will not “prosper mightily” outside the EU, as Johnson promised, but it won’t collapse either. And then, in due course, the younger, pro-EU Brits will become the majority thanks to the magic of generational turnover. But until then, if Britain comes knocking at the EU’s door asking to be allowed back in, Brussels should say ‘no.’
What really happens on 31 December is that the European Union is finally freed to develop in the way that its other major members clearly want. The goal of ‘ever closer union,’ anathema to English exceptionalists, is back on the agenda.
There is ambivalence in every member country about the idea of creating a semi-federal European super-state, but in a world where democracy and the rule of law are under siege most people can see the need to strengthen the European Union. Last July the EU’s leaders took a huge step in that direction: for the first time they agreed to borrow collectively on the financial markets.
France and Germany were all for it, and Italy and Spain needed the money to finance a trillion-euro aid programme to help them through the coronavirus crisis. Those four countries now contain more than half the EU’s population, and they outvoted the ‘frugal four’ (the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark) that opposed taking on debt to support ‘feckless’ Mediterranean members.
If Britain had still been a member, it would have vetoed the measure because it infringed on the UK’s sacred ‘sovereignty.’ French President Charles de Gaulle, who vetoed British membership applications twice in the 1960s, was right: England does not have a ‘European vocation’, and it should not be allowed in.
The financial precedent that was set in July opens the door to a future EU that acts much more like a state. Even a common defence budget is now within reach – not something vital in military terms, but a European army would be a hugely important symbol of unity.
The United States may be back soon, but the world could certainly use a second powerful advocate for democracy and the rule of law. Brexit may be giving us just that by freeing the EU to move on, and we should be grateful.
Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work).’
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The Council has today adopted, by written procedure, the decision on the signing of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement and its provisional application as of 1 January 2021, pending the consent of the European Parliament and conclusion by the Council decision next year.
The agreement will now be signed by the two parties on 30 December 2020. European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will sign in Brussels on behalf of the European Union while Prime Minister Boris Johnson will sign in London on behalf of the United Kingdom.
After the formal signing, the decision adopted today on the signature and provisional application and the agreement itself will be published in the Official Journal of the EU in all languages and will be provisionally applied from 1 January 2021.
Next year, the Council will adopt the decision on the conclusion of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, once the European Parliament has given its consent and once all procedures necessary for the entry into force have been completed.
Background
On 23 June 2016, UK citizens voted to leave the EU. On 29 March 2017, the UK formally notified the European Council of its intention to leave the EU. On 17 October 2019, the European Council (Article 50) endorsed the Withdrawal Agreement as agreed by the negotiators of both sides. It also endorsed the revised Political Declaration on the framework of the future EU-UK relationship.
The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020 at midnight (CET) and the withdrawal agreement entered into force on 1 February 2020.
Negotiations on the future partnership between the EU and the UK started on 2 March 2020.
In June 2020, the UK decided not to seek an extension to the transition period. The transition period will therefore end on 31 December 2020.
The Madhya Pradesh government Tuesday approved the Freedom to Religion Bill 2020 as an ordinance in a special cabinet session, after which it was sent to the Governor for her nod.
The state government has taken the ordinance route much like the Uttar Pradesh government to clear its stringent law prohibiting forced religious conversion under its Freedom to Religion Bill 2020. This comes after the three-day session of the assembly was cancelled owing to high cases of COVID-19 being reported.
The three-day assembly session was cancelled by a joint committee of all leaders on Sunday night after about 60 people including officials, employees and five MLAs had tested positive for COVID-19.
Claiming to curb religious conversions using misrepresentation, allurement, force, threat, undue influence, coercion, marriage or any other “fraudulent means”, the MP Bill stipulates jail terms of one to five years, with a fine of Rs 25,000, in such cases. The penalty in case of a person using “misrepresentation” or “impersonation” for religious conversion will be higher, including a jail term of 3-10 years and a fine of Rs 50,000.
In contrast, the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, passed last month, says religious conversion using any of the above means, including misrepresentation and impersonation, would entail a jail term of one to five years and a fine of Rs 15,000.
In a significant departure from the UP ordinance though on registration of FIRs in such cases, the MP Bill says these can be dealt with only by police personnel not less than the rank of a sub-inspector, and that solely parents and siblings of the affected individual can file a complaint directly. In case a guardian or a custodian wants to register an offence, they must approach a Sessions Court authorised to deal in these matters and get a court order.
The other big departure between the MP Bill and UP law is the provision for maintenance to women and rights to the property to children in the marriage under question in the legislation planned by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. The matter of maintenance will be dealt with as per Section 125 of the CrPC.
In both states, marriages proved to have been undertaken for the sole purpose of a religious conversion or conducted without appropriate notice to the district administration can be declared null and void by family courts.
Return to one’s original religion — as in the religion one is born into or that practiced by one’s father — will not be counted as a conversion.
While both UP law and MP Bill envisage a jail term of two to ten years in case a person being converted is a minor, or belongs to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, the MP legislation talks of a penalty of Rs 50,000 against Rs 25,000 in UP.
Both the legislations talk of three to five years of prison terms for religious organisations or individuals seen as carrying out mass conversions, but again the penalty in MP is higher (Rs 1 lakh) than UP (Rs 50,000).
In both states, organisations or priests carrying out conversions have to inform the district administration about 60 days before the date of conversion, failing which the organisation can have its registration cancelled and the priest or facilitator face a jail term. But the MP Bill stipulates a higher penalty again (of Rs 50,000, and 3-5 years’ jail term) in such cases, compared to one year extended up to five years and Rs 25,000 in UP.
