European Commission Press release Brussels, 25 Dec 2020 The European Commission has put forward today its proposal for a Brexit Adjustment Reserve, as agreed by the European Council in July, to help counter the adver…
Rob Boston: Freedom of religion is greatest gift
Judging by the diversity of holidays observed this time of year, humans seem to have a need for a communal celebration in early winter. As the days grow shorter and cold weather grips much of the northern hemisphere, it’s comforting to be reminded that sunlight and warmth (and the crops they nourish) will return. Thus, many of these festivals, from the Saturnalia of pre-Christian Rome to today’s Christmas, often feature use of evergreens and lights and encourage merriment and gift-giving.
Winter festivals have evolved over time, and as the centuries passed, the way people celebrate them has also changed. In previous ages, government sought to compel people to behave in certain ways when it came to religion. Theocratic European states of the Middle Ages believed there was only one “correct” expression of Christianity and forced everyone to follow the national or local model. But the right of conscience could not be squelched forever. Dissent was inevitable, and it came with righteous fury and, unfortunately, a similar spirit of religious intolerance. America’s early Puritans made it illegal to celebrate Christmas, considering it “popish.”
After America’s revolution, our Founders decided to chart a different course: They disentangled religion and government, putting each on its own path to secure its own destiny and success. In doing so, they gave each of us a great gift: the power to decide for ourselves what faith, if any, we will follow and how we will practice it.
Today, there are some people who, like those old theocrats in Europe, are convinced that only their mode of worship is right and true. At this time of year, we often hear them complain about an alleged “war on Christmas.” What these people are really saying is that they are angry that not everyone chooses to celebrate the same way they do.
For millions of Americans, Christmas is a deeply religious holiday that marks the birth of Jesus. They attend religious services, pray, sing hymns and listen to scripture readings. For others, the holiday is primarily secular, with figures like Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer taking front and center. And many Americans mix the secular with the sacred and embrace elements of both.
But there are other choices. Some Americans celebrate holidays such as Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Diwali, and others don’t celebrate at all. It’s a wonderful time of the year, really, because we have the right to choose.
The Christian nationalists among us who enjoy playing the role of the “Christmas Police” would love nothing better than to compel the rest of us to celebrate the holiday in just one way — theirs. They press government officials to display Christmas symbols in public places. They seek to infuse our public schools with pageants and events that elevate the spiritual elements of Christmas — something better done in a church. They even complain when they fail to hear “Merry Christmas” from a clerk in a big-box store or their coffee cup doesn’t look Christmas-y enough.
These people seem to think that unless the government, culture and even big business are actively endorsing their faith, then it’s under attack. In fact, religion does best when left to prosper on its own; it does not need the interference of the state. America’s tradition of separation of church and state has gifted us a vibrant, diverse religious life marked by thousands of Christian and non-Christian faiths. You are free to choose one. You are free to create your own, highly personal spiritual experience. You are free to reject them all. You are also free to change your mind, to argue, to debate and to contend for your ideas. What you’re not permitted to do is employ the power of the government as your theological enforcer.
During this time of year, let’s reflect on one of the greatest gifts we, as a people, enjoy: complete religious freedom secured by our constitutional promise of separation between church and state. That freedom gives you the right to worship or not as you see fit, as long as your actions don’t harm others or take away their rights.
This means that Dec. 25 can be a deeply moving and profoundly spiritual experience — if that’s what you want. Or it can be a day to watch silly holiday movies and open presents. Or it can be just another day on the calendar.
Freedom of conscience gives us the right to make that choice. What a wonderful gift it is. Let’s be thankful for it all year ’round.
Rob Boston is editor of Church & State magazine, published by Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
Sandu promises to preside over Moldova’s European integration
08:56
25.12.2020
Moldova’s new President Maia Sandu has promised to be the “president of European integration,” lead the country out of international isolation and turn it back to “face the partners.”
“I will ensure that Moldova has a clear, firm and predictable position for all our partners. I will to seek to ensure that our interests are understandable and respected. I will advance the foreign policy, build bridges, not walls, attract new investment and create jobs, open doors for our citizens and goods,” Sandu said during her inauguration on Thursday.
She intends to “put Moldova back at the negotiation table with developed countries.”
“Over the coming days, weeks, we will begin a battle for the transformation and development of Moldova. I have no doubt about a positive outcome, if we are united, above all. We will remove those trying to spread lies, provoke conflicts and thwart progress. The biggest achievement so far is unity. It is on this basis that we must move on,” Sandu said.
The new president has officially assumed office. She was sworn in on Thursday.
In the election held on November 15, Party of Action and Solidarity leader Sandu won 57.72% of the vote and then President Igor Dodon won 42.28%. Dodon refused to attend the inauguration but met Sandu at the Presidential Palace and handed her a bouquet of flowers.
Why Christianity remains an in-person religion, even in a pandemic
(RNS) — On Christmas Eve, members of Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Tallahassee, Florida, will gather in the parking lot for a service that’s part tailgate, part worship and part family reunion.
Holy Comforter has been hosting indoor worship with strict limits on attendance since the beginning of the pandemic. But at this time in the liturgical calendar and this time in the pandemic, said the Rev. Jerry Smith, rector of Holy Comforter, people need to be together.
“We’re now Zoomed out. That’s part of the problem,” said Smith. “We don’t want to sit in front of the TV screen anymore. It’s not the same as being in each other’s presence.”
While many Christian congregations have moved services online and found new ways to build virtual communities, faith remains a tangible, in-person experience at its core for many.
For some churches, that’s meant going to court to challenge restrictions on in-person gatherings. For others, it means doing the best they can and keeping the faith till they can all be together again.
Holy Comforter’s leaders have followed advice from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local medical professionals to create services that are safe. Early in the pandemic, only 10 people were allowed in the church for one service a week. More recently, the church moved to three services, with a 25-person limit. The church also livestreams services.
The Rev. Jerry Smith. Photo courtesy of Holy Comforter Episcopal Church
Having a few more people in person gives people a taste for what they have been missing, said Smith.
“They can’t pass the peace, but we have this time in the liturgy where people are waving and smiling at each other,” he said. “There’s a need to do that. I think the danger is that people get so frustrated that they throw caution to the wind. And we can’t let them do that.”
The pandemic has been particularly difficult for immigrant churches, said the Rev. Dieufort Fleurissaint of the Haitian Evangelical Pastors Association. Already facing economic challenges, a lack of resources and sometimes issues relating to their citizenship status, many immigrants regard church as one place where they can gather to share their burdens while rejoicing as well. They rely on singing and prayer, as well as hugs and embraces from each other, to keep their faith strong.
Just holding hands to pray can be powerful, he said.
“We are a community of fellowship,” he said. “It brings great spiritual benefit when we can gather together.”
The Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, has been reminded in the pandemic that Christianity is not just a set of ideas, but a set of practices and relationships that have been muted or changed by the pandemic.
The past nine months have been the longest that Everett has been absent from a church since she had a conversion experience as an eighth-grader. She misses the chaos and the mess of worship services but particularly the common, small acts of grace that come from in-person connection: putting her hand on someone, for instance, who has been sick, and praying for their healing.
The Rev. Laura Everett. Courtesy photo
“I have missed that echo of voices when we say the Lord’s Prayer, those well-worn words where my voice will drop out sometimes because I am so tired or so sad and other people carry the prayer for me,” she said.
“I know that can happen on Zoom and it does. But I miss sitting next to them. I miss the smell of old lady perfume and the sound of cough drops being unwrapped, the smell of incense, the call and response and talk back.”
Kevin Singer attends and helps lead worship at a campus of Vintage Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. The church, made up of mostly younger families and young professionals, has a contemporary worship style and meets in the gymnasium of a Christian school.
The church has been meeting in person, with chairs set up in clusters, Singer said, and people conscientiously keep their distance.
That makes the longing for community and connection even deeper, he said. “There is always that feeling of, I wish I could take this mask off and give you a hug,” he said.
People dart out of the building after services, instead of hanging around for what he called “the mingling of souls,” which happens in more normal times. And during the service, he feels as if they are all passive observers rather than participants. He likens it to “Christian karaoke.”
Singer also said that COVID-19 has made people suspicious of each other as a potential threat to their health. That makes the intimacy and vulnerability among friends in a congregation difficult.
“You can’t be vulnerable without the sense that I should not be this close to you,” he said.
The Rev. Constance Cherry, professor emeritus of worship and pastoral ministry at Indiana Wesleyan University, said many worship leaders and pastors are concerned about the long-term effects of moving from in-person worship to online services. Will people return, she wonders, when bans are lifted? Or will they prefer to take part online?
Worship in many Protestant churches, especially evangelical churches, Cherry said, has become a spectator experience, something “leaders do for the congregation.”
“What you have ended up with, in hundreds of churches and across denominations, are people up front, on a stage, producing worship for the pleasure of the people,” she said. “To me, this has put an exclamation point on a problem we already had.”
Vanessa White, associate professor of spirituality and ministry at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, said online worship has separated people not only from each other but from the rhythms of worship — of getting dressed, leaving the house and going to a sacred space at a specific time with a specific group of people.
She goes to her parish to serve as a lector one week out of the month, reading some of the Bible texts for Mass. The other weeks, she watches online — but not in casual clothes from her couch. Instead, she tries to set up a sacred space at home, as she does when leading virtual retreats.
Before Mass starts, she clears off her living room table and puts a cloth on it, then a candle and cross. She dresses up and picks up a book of Bible readings, so she’s ready to take part. White said that worship involves signs and symbols, along with prayers and other actions.
That’s something she wants other worshipers to remember.
“We are people of sign and symbol,” she said. “Just because you are in this virtual time frame, it’s like we are throwing out the signs and symbols. We don’t have to do that.”
UK And European Union Reach Brexit Trade Deal Ahead Of Deadline
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How Pop Music Fandom Became Sports, Politics, Religion and All-Out War
In October, with “Chromatica” having registered as a modest hit, Grande’s own new album, “Positions,” leaked online before its official release. Cordero, who liked Grande well enough but found her new music to be lacking, shared a link to the unreleased songs, much to the consternation of Grande fans, who worried that the bootlegged versions would damage the singer’s commercial prospects.
Taking on the role of volunteer internet detectives, Grande fans proceeded to spend days playing Whac-a-Mole by flagging links to the unauthorized album as they proliferated across the internet. But Cordero, bored and sensing their agita, decided to bait them even further by tweeting — falsely — that he’d subsequently been fined $150,000 by Grande’s label for his role in spreading the leak. “is there any way I can get out of this,” he wrote. “I’m so scared.” He even shared a picture of himself crying.
“They were rejoicing,” Cordero recalled giddily of the Grande fans he’d fooled, who spread the word far and wide that the leaker — a Gaga lover, no less — was being punished. “Sorry but I feel no sympathy,” one Grande supporter wrote on Reddit. “Charge him, put him in jail. you can’t leak an album by the world’s biggest pop star and expect no consequences.”
This was pop fandom in 2020: competitive, arcane, sales-obsessed, sometimes pointless, chaotic, adversarial, amusing and a little frightening — all happening almost entirely online. While music has long been intertwined with internet communities and the rise of social networks, a growing faction of the most vocal and dedicated pop enthusiasts have embraced the term “stan” — taken from the 20-year-old Eminem song about a superfan turned homicidal stalker — and are redefining what it means to love an artist.
On what is known as Stan Twitter — and its offshoots on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Tumblr and various message boards — these devotees compare No. 1s and streaming statistics like sports fans do batting averages, championship wins and shooting percentages. They pledge allegiance to their favorites like the most rabid political partisans or religious followers. They organize to win awards show polls, boost sales and raise money like grass roots activists. And they band together to pester — or harass, and even dox — those who may dare to slight the stars they have chosen to align themselves with.
COVID was year’s top religion story, But which story?
… According to journalists who cover religion, this was the year’s … language: ‘Yeah, freedom of religion means freedom of worship, that … showdown was the most important religion-news story of 2020. … Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz.
As religion newsmakers of the year, …
Britain and the European Union agree on the hardest Brexit
A trade agreement is good news, but is limited
THE POST-BREXIT deal announced on December 24th by Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president, has come extremely late for Christmas. It is also painfully close to the end of the standstill transition period on December 31st. It falls short of the best-in-class, comprehensive free-trade agreement that Mr Johnson once promised. And costly disruption to today’s frictionless trade is inevitable when Britain leaves the EU’s single market and customs union on January 1st. All the same, the deal is welcome. It will at least constitute a base on which to build further agreements.
Brexit has counterposed two visions of sovereignty. Mr Johnson rejoiced over Britain gaining the unfettered ability to write its own laws. Ms von der Leyen suggested instead that sovereignty was best assured by “pooling our strength and speaking together in a world full of great powers.” Both spoke of remaining close partners and allies.
Right up to the last minute, there was no guarantee that negotiations would succeed. Arguments in Brussels between Michel Barnier, the EU’s negotiator, and David Frost, his British counterpart, dragged on through the week. Three familiar issues were at stake: a level playing field for regulation to prevent unfair competition; some continuing EU countries’ access to British fishing waters; and a dispute-settlement mechanism. In the end Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen were brought in to make the necessary compromises. As has been the pattern since the 2016 referendum, Britain has generally had to move the most, largely abandoning its initial position of keeping most of the benefits of the EU’s single market without the obligations. This reflects the power balance between the two, as well as the fact that no-deal would have been more damaging to Britain than to the EU.
The agreement is unusual; it does not presage a closer trading relationship but a parting of the ways. The details are yet to emerge in full, although most of what is in the deal is now known. For the level playing field, the two sides have agreed that an independent arbitrator should decide whether future regulatory divergence is sufficiently harmful to permit retaliation through tariffs. On fish, the EU will retain access for just over five years, though with its quota cut by 25%; after that, future arrangements will require negotiation. And there will be a system for settling disputes that does not include a role for the European Court of Justice except for interpreting EU law. With these three points settled, bringing home a zero-tariff, zero-quota free-trade agreement is an achievement for Mr Johnson. (On trade in goods, this is a better deal than Canada has with the EU, the model he favoured; but it comes with more stringent obligations on maintaining a level playing field.)
The immediate task will be to ratify a text that runs to some 2,000 pages in all. That is a lot for anyone to digest in less than seven days. Yet EU governments have been closely involved in the negotiations, so none is likely to object. And Mr Johnson’s big majority means that the Westminster Parliament seems certain to approve the deal next week, even though MPs will not realistically have had enough time for proper scrutiny. For its part the European Parliament has decided that it needs more time, so it will not vote on the deal until January. To the annoyance of many MEPs, EU governments are expected to apply it provisionally ahead of such a vote. Yet as a recent report from the House of Commons Brexit committee points out, most businesses will still be ill-prepared for the changes to come on January 1st. Chaotic disruption can be expected. This week’s lorry queues in Kent, caused mainly by restrictions related to the covid-19 pandemic, were a warning. The cost of Mr Johnson’s obstinate refusal to extend the transition period when he had the legal opportunity to do so in June will soon become clear.
A bigger concern is what the deal omits. Its trade provisions relate almost entirely to goods, meaning there is next to nothing for services, which constitute 80% of Britain’s economy and make up the fastest-growing sector of global exports. The EU has yet to deliver an equivalence ruling for financial-services regulation, and even when it does it can be withdrawn at only 30 days’ notice. Even more urgently needed is an EU data-adequacy decision to permit the free transfer of data, a crucial part of modern cross-border business. There is nothing in the deal on mutual recognition of professional-services qualifications.
Nor is there anything on foreign-policy co-operation, which the British government seems not to value. And although the deal has some provisions on domestic security, British access to EU security databases and the Europol system of police work will be more limited than now. Similarly Britain will lose its uninhibited right to use the European Arrest Warrant.
For most Britons, the more immediate impact will be losing the right of free movement throughout the EU, a consequence of ending EU citizens’ right to enter the UK. There will be some travel and work restrictions, and existing arrangements for health care and car insurance are likely to end. Some scientific and research co-operation should continue, but Britain has been excluded from the Galileo satellite-positioning project and there are uncertainties over the terms for its future participation in the Horizon research programme. Britain is also going to drop out of the EU’s Erasmus scheme of student exchanges. And then there is Northern Ireland, which unlike Great Britain will remain in the single market and customs union. Border and customs checks in the Irish Sea are likely to foment continuing debate over the future unity of the UK, as will continuing Scottish opposition to Brexit.
Most analysis of the consequences finds that, even with a trade deal, there will be a hit to the economy. Recently the independent Office for Budget Responsibility suggested that GDP would in the long run be reduced by some 4% compared with what it would otherwise have been. And, although Britain has successfully rolled over most of the free-trade deals that it had with other countries as a member of the EU, there is little sign of offsetting gains from new trade deals with the likes of America, China or India. In short, this will be as hard a Brexit as anything but no deal, and much harder than might have been expected after the relatively narrow referendum result of June 2016. Yet it is still good to have, if only because (to adapt a favourite slogan of Brexiteers), any deal is better than no deal.
‘The Bachelorette”s Ivan Hall explains the conversation about religion that led to his shocking elimination
ABC/Craig Sjodin(LOS ANGELES) — Following The Bachelorette‘s season 16 finale on Tuesday, Ivan Hall shed some light on his conversation with Tayshia Adams about religion that led to his shocking elimination.
Adams, whose Bachelorette journey ended with an engagement to Zac Clark, an addiction specialist from Haddonfield, New Jersey, cited differences differences in religious beliefs as the reason for sending the 28-year-old aeronautical engineer home.
“She only wants to date a Christian and I’m not religious,” Hall claimed in response to a message from Bachelor alum Caila Quinn after his elimination, according to the New York Post.
“I’m open to and have dated any religion,” he continued.
“I feel like we started off really strong, and we found that trust,” Adams explained in a conversation with Ivan before letting him go.
“But also, this past week, we talked about some important subjects that I feel like we both needed to have, but there are some things kinda posed concern,” she added.
“I wish I could say that there were a lot of red flags prior to this week, and there haven’t been,” Tayshia continued. At the end of the day, religion is part of my morals, my beliefs.”
Adams has the Bible verse Psalm 46:5 posted in her Instagram bio, which reads: “God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.”
By George Costantino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Archaeologists in Israel unearth ritual bath from Jesus’ time, at Gethsemane
A 2,000-year-old ritual bath dating to the time of Jesus has been discovered by Israeli archaeologists at Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed just before his crucifixion.
The archaeological excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority ahead of a pending construction unearthed the bath near the modern church at Gethsemane, together with the remains of a church from the Byzantine period around 1,500 years ago, The Jerusalem Post reported.
“The discovery of the ritual bath may therefore hint at the origin of the place’s ancient name, Gethsemane (Gat Shemanim, ‘oil press’), a place where ritually pure oil was produced near the city.”
The evidence suggests the ancient church was founded at the end of the Byzantine period in the sixth century and continued to be used during the Umayyad period in the eighth century.
The finds were uncovered with the assistance of scholars from the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum.
They were presented on Dec. 21 with the participation of the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Patton.
The Church of Gethsemane is also known as the Church of the Agony or Church of All Nations and is at the foot of the famous Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
It is one of Christianity’s most important churches and is visited by thousands of pilgrims each year.
PLACE WHERE JESUS WAS BETRAYED
The modern church was built on the spot where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was betrayed on the night before his crucifixion.
Christian belief says that Jesus used to pray on the Mount of Olives according to the Gospel of Like (22:39) and prayed here on the night before the crucifixion (Mattew. 26:36).
Amit Re ’em, Jerusalem District Archaeologist for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the discovery of the ritual bath “probably confirms the place’s ancient name, Gethsemane.”
“Most ritual baths from the Second Temple period have been found in private homes and public buildings, but some have been discovered near agricultural installations and tombs, in which case the ritual bath is located in the open,” he said.
Workers building a new visitor center and foot tunnel linking the modern church to the Kidron Valley found the remains.
“The discovery of the ritual bath may therefore hint at the origin of the place’s ancient name, Gethsemane (Gat Shemanim, ‘oil press’), a place where ritually pure oil was produced near the city.”
The finds from the excavations are to be put on display at the visitor center when it opens.
“The discovery of this bath, unaccompanied by buildings, probably attests to the existence of an agricultural industry here 2,000 years ago – possibly producing oil or wine,” said Re ’em.
OIL AND WINE PRODUCTION
“The Jewish laws of purification obliged workers involved in oil and wine production to purify themselves.”
Custos of the Holy Land, a senior friar, Fr. Francesco Patton, said it was an “important” discovery.
“Gethsemane is one of the most important sanctuaries in the Holy Land, because in this place the tradition remembers the confident prayer of Jesus and his betrayal and because every year millions of pilgrims visit and pray in this place,” he said.
“Even the latest excavations conducted on this site have confirmed the antiquity of the Christian memory and tradition linked to the place, and this is very important for us and for the spiritual meaning connected with the archeological findings.
“I greet with great pleasure this fruitful cooperation between the Custody of the Holy Land, the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, and the Israel Antiquities Authority, and I hope that we will be able to join our scientific competences for further future collaborations.”
