There is an explanation for everything.If there really was an Exodus from Egypt, why don’t we possess any archaeological evidence of this event, in the form of garments or vessels buried in the sands of Sinai?That’s easy. God said to the Israelites: “Your clothing did not wear out… these 40 years” (Ex. 8:4) and “I will rain down food from the sky for you” (Ex. 16: 4). Our ancestors trekking to the Promised Land never discarded their vestments or cooked a single meal! Ergo: no pants or pottery for the archaeologists to dig up.How about that annoying little chronological discrepancy between the 14 billion years it took the universe to emerge according to science and the six days of Creation depicted by the Bible?Come, now: the expansion of the cosmos from the infinitesimal mass-energy point following the Big Bang occurred at lightning speed, and Einstein proved that at such velocities time slows down. Billions of years shrank to exactly six days!I never met a “rational” defense of the truth or value of Judaism that didn’t make me want to laugh like a hyena or take a second look at lunch. I did meet a fellow once who had been raised a strict Maimonidean. He believed that every bit of the theology purveyed, and ordinances prescribed, by the Torah made logical sense. He got into Harvard Medical School, opened up his first cadaver, doffed his yarmulke and left the fold.The writer of these lines, on the other hand, was taught by his parents to love the Jews with a passion as his family. No matter how much nonsense I may descry in aspects of Judeo-classical literature or quotidian Jewish praxis, I’m staying put.
But it can’t all come down to the heart, if for no other reason than that ahavat Yisrael, that visceral affection for, and devotion to, the Jewish people that was imbibed cum lacte by so many previous generations, is no longer a given for millions of Jews in the Diaspora and even in Israel. The Archimedean fulcrum upon which to leverage the continued and – God willing – enhanced loyalty of those segments of our nation that are fast falling away must involve a powerful appeal to the head: a painstaking, empirical, cost-benefit analysis of why identifying and acting as a committed Jew is the most sensible choice for modern members of our tribe.FINALLY, SOMEONE has taken up the gauntlet, and without making me want to snigger or regurgitate. In Judaism Straight Up: Why Real Religion Endures, computer science professor Moshe Koppel does not insult our intelligence; he challenges it, and on a level that requires a cerebrum functioning at maximum capacity. Employing (like a good Jew) complex business models, as well as game theory, futurism studies and a host of other disciplines, Koppel undertakes to demonstrate to the thinking person that he/she has it all wrong. In the book’s introduction he writes:“Between Heidi of Princeton [representing the secular, liberal, cosmopolitan Jew] and Shimen of the Polish shtetl [representing the traditional, observant, insulated Jew], one is narrow and Orthodox and the other is worldly and realistic. I will argue… that most people are confused about which one is which…. Then I’ll explain why every long-lived society that we know about is more like Shimen’s than like Heidi’s.”As theses go, this is one of the more counterintuitive, not to say quixotic. Koppel is asserting that Jewish custom and communalism constitute a more effective and sustainable mode of living than that practiced by today’s unfettered and unaffiliated children of utilitarianism. He pits old-time religion against the purportedly inexorable juggernaut of modern “scientific” existence, the Yiddishkeit of yore against the creeping nihilism, pulverizing individualism and entropic universalism of the contemporary West.Koppel’s eggheaded pugilism is a delight: think Platonic dialogue meets advanced Gemara class meets The Moscow Puzzles – all rendered accessible. The author’s prose is crisp and confident, and laced with subtle and not-so-subtle humor (don’t trust any guy who can go two hundred and fifty pages without cracking a joke). His characters – because, for all its scientific method, this is a book about people – are colorfully drawn and easy to identify with. His insights into the underlying mega-trends transforming contemporary human (not just Jewish) society are not only fascinating; they have the added advantage of being dead-on.Perhaps the book’s only drawback is an occupational hazard. Koppel is a scientist, and his guarded optimism about the trajectory of Judaism in Israel (as opposed to America) gives off a slight whiff of Marxian determinism: things are moving in the direction of an organic, synthetic, national-religious culture that will know how to maintain its vitality and independence while interacting positively with the wider world. From where I’m sitting (in Hod Hasharon – Koppel lives in Efrat) we’re going to need a little more Lenin with our Marx. Those of us who share Koppel’s dream of a strong, cross-denominational, nondoctrinaire and unselfconscious Judaism still have an uphill battle to fight. Judaism Straight Up is the blueprint for where we should be headed. The writer is a professor of Arabic literature and Islamic history and the author of John Lennon and the Jews: A Philosophical Rampage. JUDAISM STRAIGHT UP WHY REAL RELIGION ENDURES By Moshe Koppel Maggid 161 pages; $24.95
Spilling the tea. Tayshia Adams shocked Bachelor Nation when she sent Ivan Hallpacking during the season 16 finale — and now the fan-favorite is speaking out.
After a season filled with twists and turns, the former phlebotomist, 30, accepted Zac Clark‘s proposal during the Tuesday, December 22, episode of The Bachelorette. Earlier in the night, some viewers were heartbroken when Adams said goodbye to Hall, 28, after briefly discussing their differences in religion. While the conversation was cut short on air, the Texas native stopped by Kaitlyn Bristowe‘s “Off the Vine” podcast to detail the dramatic end to his relationship with Adams.
“In this short amount of time, you have to have deep talks and talk about a lot of different things,” the aeronautical engineer said on the podcast episode, available on Thursday, December 24. “I was always trying to kind of calculate when I could talk about certain things with Tayshia. … In fantasy suites, I knew that would be our one opportunity to have hours and hours of uninterrupted time.”
Ivan Hall and Tayshia Adams.Craig Sjodin/ABC (2)
The pair spent an overnight date in an old-school Airstream trailer and got to talking about how they hoped to raise their kids should they end up together at the end of the show. Hall admitted that he “knew” the topic of religion would come up “eventually” — and that they might not see eye-to-eye. While Adams is Christian, Hall identifies as agnostic.
“We hadn’t talked about it in the past but she said maybe once to me that she relied on her faith a lot,” Hall explained. “In the fantasy suite, that was really the first opportunity I felt like we could really have a good amount of time to talk about it. For some people who aren’t familiar with people who aren’t religious … it’s a lot to take in, honestly.”
As the Bachelor in Paradise alum parted ways with Hall, she informed him that religion was a big part of her life and that she couldn’t quite find a way to compromise on her beliefs. The goodbye came as a shock to viewers, who didn’t get to see inside the pair’s deep discussion. While many speculated on social media that Hall had revealed he’s an atheist, he emphasized that there’s a big difference between atheism and agnostic beliefs.
“[Being] atheist is taking a hard stance that there is no God and that’s not what I believe at all,” Hall said on the podcast. “Agnostic is strictly saying, ‘I don’t know,’ basically. That’s just how I feel. I feel like I don’t know and I honestly feel like no one really knows.”
Though he doesn’t consider himself a religious person, Hall noted that he doesn’t have a problem with anyone else’s beliefs. “My main focus are the moral and values that you have,” he said. “That’s what’s most important to me. And for Tayshia it’s something different, where she, I guess, wanted to date someone who is Christian. … It is what it is and I don’t blame her for it.”
“We utilized fantasy suites for what they’re really meant for. Yes, you know, there’s a stigma behind it. But also, it’s an opportunity to have conversations that you might not want to have on camera,” she told Us Weekly exclusively of her final moments with Hall. “And we had a lot of conversations about what we thought our future would look like, what it looked like raising kids and our beliefs and everything like that. So, religion is one thing that we did talk about, but we talked about many other things. And I feel like there were reasons why we both felt like, you know, it might not align.” Listen to Here For the Right Reasons to get inside scoop about the Bachelor franchise and exclusive interviews from contestants
There were no major blow-ups in the latest episode of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” but there were major developments and/or revelations for five of the six women.
• Meredith eats at Toscano with Heather Gay and Jen Shah, and they press her for information. She’s vague about whether she’s seeing (or has seen) anyone else, and makes vague references to how she and her husband have to work things out and learn to communicate with each other.
“When the [expletive] hits the fan between Seth and I, and I start to think about us not being together, that’s when you start to realize how fortunate you are to be together,” Meredith says — and the thought of him not being in her life is “a pivotal point” for her.
“I do know we genuinely do love each other,” she says, “and I think that counts for a lot.”
Jen isn’t buying it, she says, because she “knows Meredith isn’t telling me everything.”
• As Jen and Whitney Rose talk about Meredith and Seth, Jen offers this opinion: “If you’re not getting it from home, you’re going to go somewhere else.”
Whitney says she doesn’t know what Jen is talking about. “Maybe you don’t know, but some people might know,” Jen says, adding, “You have to ask Meredith.”
But in a confessional later, Jen says, “People know and Meredith knows and I think Seth knows.” A producer asks — know what?
Jen says that, several months earlier, she was in New York with Meredith and she met a man who said Meredith is “the love of my life. I’m going to marry her.’ Which left her “so confused.”
“The guy says, ‘I’ll make sure Meredith gets upstairs,’” Jen says, adding, “Clearly, there was something going on.”
Heather comes clean
On a trip to Heather’s Beauty Lab + Laser for a facial and “tons of Botox,” Whitney says she’s “starting to believe” her father is serious about battling his drug addiction this time. And both Whitney and Heather talk about how hard it can be to live in a state dominated by the LDS Church.
“If you’re an addict and you’re religious here, like, it’s not that you have a disease,” Whitney says. “You’re a sinner.”
Heather agrees. “We look at it as an absolute choice … and this is the consequence of your bad choices. And that’s how my family felt after my divorce.”
In a confessional, Heather adds: “In my experience, if you get divorced in the Mormon Church and you’re a man, it’s much easier.” Her ex-husband can remarry and “still have full church status,” but she feels she’s been marked as unworthy. And she doesn’t want to remarry and try to blend a family for fear that it might not work out and cause her daughters further trauma.
“I just want to put my head down and not screw their lives up any more than we already have,” Heather says. “And then I’ll just, like, implode. That’s my plan.”
Whitney says that “one of the things” she “hates so badly” about living in Utah is, “there’s a thumb over you that you’re not good enough. You will never be good enough because of what you are born into and the fact that you’re a woman.”
Heather agrees that she’s “absolutely under the Mormon culture thumb — a hundred percent,” and that she’s been trying to “straddle the fence” between being in or out of the church.
But, with Whitney’s encouragement, she makes a big decision. She tells her three teenage daughters about her “double life” and her desire to break with the LDS Church.
“I want to date and I want to go out and I want to drink and I want to do all these things,” she tells them. “And there’s so much shame and so much fear.”
“There shouldn’t be, though,” says 16-year-old Ashley, “Because we, like, support you. It hurts me to see what you’ve had to go through.” All three girls offer their support.
“I have been wrestling with this for so long, and I should have just come out to them in the beginning. … It feels like a huge weight is off my chest,” Heather says, adding, “I can now be the mom that I really want to be. And not be the mom that the church wants me to be.”
Whitney is worried
Whitney’s optimism about her father’s future takes a hit when he says his therapist feels he’s ready to get an apartment and go back to work. Whitney is not pleased — he’s been in sober living for 21 days, and the program is designed to last 90 days.
“It’s a “huge red flag for me,” she says. “I’m really worried that if my dad leaves the program now, he’s not going to recover.”
Jen deals with depression
Jen says that the death of her father a year earlier, combined with her husband, Sharrieff, “being gone all the time” for his job as an assistant football coach for the University of Utah, left her “very depressed,” and she “had to go on medication for anxiety and depression.”
“Sharrieff was, like, ‘No, you don’t need medication. You pray, and you just get your mind right.’ … “Well, guess what, that didn’t really work for me.”
She admits she was “lashing out at everybody” and that it “almost cost me my marriage.” Sharrieff “was done with me acting out,” and told her he was leaving. “That was, like, my rock bottom.” But, she adds, she was “scared” to go on medication, fearing it was “a sign of weakness.”
Her family staged an intervention, and her son, Sharrieff Jr., “told me … ‘You need to take the medication, and I don’t think any less of you and I love you.’”
That helped her accept the need for the medication, because she was “ashamed … I want to be Wonder Woman and super mom to them. I don’t want them to think that they have to take care of me.”
Workaholic Lisa
Things got a bit tense at the Barlow house when the family spent an evening writing down their goals — and Lisa’s were almost exclusively related to her business interests.
When a producer asks her husband, John, what percentage of his time with Lisa is work-related, he hesitates. “I’m trying to think the best way to answer that. It’s probably 90%,” he says, chuckling a bit. “I’d love for her to slow down. I think it will happen. It just might be 40 years from now.”
And later, John says, “I think we need to figure out a way for us to, like, spend time just being together. And not on our phones.”
Lisa is already engrossed in her phone, sending business texts. ”I enjoy working,” Lisa says. “And, right now, like, my five-year goal is to have a billion-dollar brand. And I don’t see why that’s not attainable. … Warren Buffet didn’t stop buying and building companies, why should I? I don’t think it’s a problem, do you?”
“Kind of,” John says.
“That irritates me so much,” Lisa says, “You know what? I don’t want someone telling me I need to say no. I know when I need to say no.”
They both look irritated.
Simmering feud
For the first time in weeks, there’s no fighting between Mary Cosby and Jen. But the animosity remains. Mary isn’t happy when she sees Jen at the Sundance-adjacent fashion show.
“I just want to enjoy the fashion,” Mary says. “I don’t care where she sits. She can sit on my lap.”
It seems more than a bit contrived, however, when Mary sits right next to Jen. And when Mary tells Jen she looks “pretty,” Jen does not reply, staring at her with a blank — perhaps annoyed — face.
Simmering feud, part 2?
For weeks, we’ve been wondering if Jen and Brooks Marks — Meredith’s 21-year-old son — would come into open conflict over the women’s relationship. But if it happens, maybe Meredith won’t have anything to do with it.
When Seth and five models walk the runway wearing his designs, Jen comments that they are “all the same. … I mean, does one tracksuit make a collection? I don’t know.”
(Brooks appears to be wearing a tracksuit that’s different from the five that follow him down the runway — although those five do appear to be the same.)
Jen does say that she’s been “rockin’” one of Brooks’ tracksuits “for months. … Hopefully, he makes a second one soon and then I can wear that one.”
Father and son
Brooks Facetimes his father, Seth, and lays on some additional guilt because Seth had to work in Ohio and couldn’t be at the fashion show. “I am your child asking you to come be a father in my life and you won’t. I feel a little bit hurt,” Brooks says.
“I’m getting anxiety from this conversation,” Seth says.
Memorable moments
• Meredith makes it clear that she has no intention of moving back east to be with Seth. “I really don’t want to live in Ohio. Nothing against Ohio, I just don’t want to live there.”
• Jen goes to Whitney’s house to work out on Whitney’s infamous stripper pole. Whitney offers this helpful advice — she wears latex because “helps you stick to the pole.” And the two Housewives have a fairly frank talk about sex, after Whitney asks Jen how she deals with Sharrieff being away so much.
• Mary makes it clear what she thinks of fashion and shopping in Utah. An offscreen producer asks her to compare shopping in Salt Lake City to other places she’s been. “The pits,” she says, and then acts as if she’s shocked that she said it. “Am I ‘posed to say that?”
• Whitney is a model in the fashion show, and jokes that there are a couple of things holding her back from modeling full time: “If I could only give up cheeseburgers and add 6 inches to my legs, I think I could have a career in this.”
• Brooks named his fashion line after himself. “Honestly, off the top of my head, I can’t think of a better name for a fashion label than Brooks Marks,” he says, adding, “The double K’s is just killer.”
• What happened with Curtis, the guy Heather went home with in last week’s episode? “It was a very short-lived love affair,” she says, because Curtis lives in Atlanta and L.A.
• Lisa’s 15-year-old son, Jack, says his goals include getting his driver license, getting “shredded” and becoming a “lady slayer.” Henry, who’s 8, wants to meet Post Malone, get his first kiss when he’s 15, and become the father of triplets. “That’s a long, long-term goal,” his father says.
The Utah Crisis Line, at 1-800-273-TALK, provides compassionate support for anyone in need of mental health or emotional wellbeing services. There is no cost and interpreters are available.
Episode 8 debuts Wednesday on Bravo — 8 p.m. on Dish and DirecTV; 11 p.m. on Comcast.
(RNS) — Our reading list this year, like the rest of our lives, was colored by the triple whammy of 2020: the pandemic, the racial justice protests and the presidential election. But given the unpredictability of these 12 jam-packed, crisis-filled months, how did the thinkers, researchers, preachers and their publishers of the books we clung to know to furnish us with such timely analyses? As several of the authors of the most interesting books have noted, the answer is all too grim: In many cases, we only reaped in 2020 what we had long sown.
But among our favorite histories, travelogues and memoirs below, there are as many solutions as there are jeremiads, and books as fun as they are enlightening.
Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO By David J. Halperin A retired professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Halperin has been fascinated with the heavens at least since he wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the biblical prophet Ezekiel’s vision of a chariot blazing across the sky. In this exploration of UFOs as myths, Halperin discusses the profound implications of our beliefs in a wide swath of UFO phenomena. Read more about this book.
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Witch Hunt: A Traveler’s Guide to the Power and Persecution of the Witch By Kristen J. Sollée Sollée, a second-generation witch, chronicles her travels to the sites of the most infamous witch hunts in Europe and the United States, exploring not so much the history of witchery as that of how the archetype of the witch has been depicted in culture — pop and otherwise. Sollée offered her book as a timely meditation on “the magic of place” when most of us could not travel. Read more about this book.
White Christian Privilege: The Illusion of Religious Equality in America By Khyati Joshi A professor of education at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Joshi upends our usual approach to race questions by focusing not on marginalized communities’ troubles, but how white Americans have preserved their advantage over centuries. Joshi shows how even our idea of religion as an island of racial equality is an “optical illusion.” Read more about this book here and here.
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“The Secret Lives of Church Ladies” by Deesha Philyaw. Image courtesy of West Virginia University Press
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The Secret Lives of Church Ladies By Deesha Philyaw These nine short stories consist not of the chatter you might hear in the pew of a Black church, but a mixture of religion, sex, love and grief that crosses generations and families. The Pittsburgh writer and editor’s finely crafted stories were shortlisted for a 2020 National Book Award. Read more about this book.
Human(Kind): How Reclaiming Human Worth and Embracing Radical Kindness Will Bring Us Back Together By Ashlee Eiland The Mars Hill preaching pastor’s argument that kindness can bridge the nation’s divides was published just as a polarizing election and a polarizing pandemic was sweeping the U.S. Shortly afterward, racial justice protests broke out over the death of George Floyd. While cynicism about what can bring Americans together has only seemed to deepen, no one has come up with a more tenable solution than Eiland’s, which shouldn’t be dismissed, she said, as a call to “meet each other in the middle … and this will all be OK.” Read more about this book.
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We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders By Linda Sarsour This memoir by one of the country’s most outspoken Muslim activists and an organizer of the Women’s March is a surprisingly quiet account of the sometimes desperate moments in her personal life that remind her and inform the reader about what grounds her commitment to religious liberty. Read more about this book.
See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love By Valarie Kaur The Sikh filmmaker, lawyer and civil rights activist, known for her popular TED Talk, is at her most vulnerable in this book as she shares the stories of being sexually assaulted and attacked for race and how these experiences led to her activism. It also includes a manifesto for her Revolutionary Love Project, a pragmatic plan drawn from Sikh wisdom for making love the motivating principle of our own lives. Read more about this book.
Native: Identity, Belonging and Rediscovering God By Kaitlin B. Curtice Curtice, a Native American and a Christian, describes her journey of finding herself and finding God, and connecting with her Potawatomi identity. Along the way she reckons with the church’s historic treatment of Indigenous people and other marginalized groups and the impact that has had on her Christian faith as a former worship leader. Read more about this book.
Can Robots Be Jewish? And Other Pressing Questions of Modern Life Edited by Amy E. Schwartz This collection of 30 provocative questions, each answered in 200 words or less by 10 different rabbis from different quarters of the Jewish world, is drawn from Moment magazine’s “Ask the Rabbis” columns. The book addresses, besides the title question, addiction, transgender people, and the gene editing process CRISPR, and it operates as “a model of civil disagreement for our time,” according to its editor. Read more about this book.
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Fierce, Free and Full of Fire: The Guide to Being Glorious You By Jen Hatmaker Once a “darling” of evangelical Christianity, Hatmaker saw her books pulled from Christian bookstores’ shelves in 2016 after she expressed support for the LGBTQ community. In this book, Hatmaker encourages her readers to experience the same freedom she has found by living into their authentic selves, no matter what the cost. Read more about this book.
Outsiders at Home: The Politics of American Islamophobia By Nazita Lajevardi Lajevardi, who grew up in Southern California’s Iranian American community, is well versed in how Islamophobia manifests itself in American life, and how it affects those touched by it. Now a professor of political science at Michigan State University, Lajevardi shares her experiences of a world unfamiliar and foreign to most Americans. Read more about this book.
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“Outsiders at Home: The Politics of American Islamophobia” by Nazita Lajevardi. Courtesy image
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“Jesus and John Wayne: How Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation” by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. Image courtesy of Liveright Publishing Corporation
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Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation By Kristin Kobes Du Mez The Calvin College historian argues evangelicals’ seduction by Donald Trump has been decades in the making. As Du Mez connects the dots of militant patriarchy and what she calls “family values evangelicalism,” she tells the story of the religious right’s beginnings as a partisan political force in the 1970s as they fought the rise of feminism and mourned the loss of the Vietnam War. Read more about this book.
By Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett Best known for his groundbreaking communitarian treatise “Bowling Alone,” Putnam and his co-author note today’s income inequality, racial tensions and threats to democracy are a replay of the similarly polarized Gilded Age of late 19th-century America. As then, they argue, the country must look to religion and its moral crusaders to reform our economy and our politics and restore balance. Read more about this book.
Sacred Rites: New Religions for a Godless World By Tara Isabella Burton The undeniable fact that organized religion is losing its influence and followers in the U.S. doesn’t mean Americans are abandoning the higher planes altogether. Our Religion Remixed columnist chronicles the spiritual traditions, rituals, and subcultures — from astrology and witchcraft to the alt-right to Soul Cycle — that are filling the spiritual void. Read more about this book.
Health facilities around the world, like here in Gaza, were stretched to their limits as the number of cases increased.
As 2020 comes to an end and people around the world try to make sense of how the world has changed, they are faced with one stark and brutal statistic. The number of people who have died after catching COVID-19, is creeping towards the two million mark.
UN News/Jing Zhang
Passengers wearing face masks and disposable ponchos get their passports checked at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand.
Early in the year, international travel was severely restricted, and people like these travelers in Thailand learnt of the importance of PPE, an acronym which quickly entered the global lexicon (which is short for personal protective equipment).
UNDP China
The UN Development Programme in China has supplied critical medical supplies to the Chinese government.
Soon, there were concerns about a global shortage of PPE and the UN supported various countries in the procurement of supplies, including China where the virus first emerged.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
A dental office in Brooklyn, New York, posts a grim reminder of the changes brought about by the coronavirus.
As COVID-19 took hold, countries and cities across the world entered lockdown with the closure of schools, cultural and sports venues and all non-essential businesses.
World Bank/Sambrian Mbaabu
It’s hoped that downtown areas in cities like Nairobi in Kenya, will recover strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Normally bustling city centres, like the Kenyan capital Nairobi, were eerily quiet as people stayed at home.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Delegates in the UN General Assembly hall observe social distancing as meetings get underway during the busiest week of the year at the United Nations
The United Nations did stay open for business across the world, although most of the key events, like the annual meeting of the new session of the General Assembly in New York, did look very different. Only a small number of delegates were allowed into the chamber as world leaders gave their speeches virtually.
MFD/Elyas Alwazir
Social distancing, here seen in Yemen, will need to continue around the world, at least until a vaccine is developed.
Across the world, people were adapting to new social distancing guidelines…..
UNDP Bangladesh/Fahad Kaize
Community workers, supported by the UN, promote coronavirus prevention awareness and distribute hygiene packages among poor urban households in Bangladesh.
…and were reminded about the importance of handwashing as a way to reduce the transmission of diseases.
Two siblings study at home in Mathare slum, Nairobi, Kenya, accessing their lessons on the family mobile phone.
Students who were not able to go to school had to adapt to a new reality and find ways to keep up with their studies.
WFP/Damilola Onafuwa
Women in Nigeria collect food vouchers as part of a programme to support families struggling under the COVID-19 lockdown.
While Africa appeared to suffer less from the virus than other continents, at least in terms of absolute infections and deaths, the UN did voice concerns that the pandemic would push millions more into poverty.
IOM/Nate Webb
Health care professionals are working around the clock to provide adequate support to Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.
Especially important to the UN was supporting refugees and other vulnerable people on the move across the world, such as the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people who have sought shelter across the border in Bangladesh.
University of Oxford/John Cairns
The coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford was shown in trials to be highly effective at stopping people developing COVID-19 symptoms.
Progress has been made, in record time, by scientists developing new effective vaccines against COVID-19 and by the end of 2020, the first people, mainly in developed countries, were being inoculated.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider
A New York City resident advocates for how he thinks the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak should be tackled.
As the world enters 2021, the pandemic is still raging and, after an apparent mid-year lull in many countries, more infections and more deaths are being reported. With more vaccines being rolled out, the international community is being urged to work together to stop the spread and follow science-based guidelines.
For a more detailed picture of how the world looked in 2020, look out for our UN News end-of-year series of special reports, as the year draws to a close.
European Union and British negotiators inched their way to within touching distance of a trade deal early Thursday, raising hopes a chaotic economic break between the two sides on New Year’s Day could be averted, officials said.
After resolving a few remaining fair-competition issues, negotiators tussled over EU fishing rights in U.K. waters as they worked right into Christmas Eve to secure a provisional deal for a post-Brexit relationship after nine months of talks.
Sources on both sides said the long and difficult negotiations were in their final stretch as negotiators went into another night, living off a stack of pizzas delivered to EU headquarters while they were combing through the fine print of a draft deal that runs to some 2,000 pages.
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</div> “Work will continue throughout the night,” said EU spokesman Eric Mamer.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a Cabinet conference call to brief his senior ministers on the outlines of the deal, ahead of an announcement widely expected later Thursday.
Johnson and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are likely to bring news of an agreement before the tentative deal goes to the 27 EU capitals seeking unanimous approval and the blessing of the EU and British parliaments.
No matter what happens, trade between Britain and the EU will face customs checks and some other barriers on Jan. 1, when the U.K. leaves the bloc’s single market and customs union. A trade deal would avert the imposition of tariffs and duties that could cost both sides billions in trade and hundreds of thousands of jobs. Britain withdrew from the EU on Jan. 31, and an economic transition period expires on Dec. 31.
Johnson has always insisted the U.K. will “prosper mightily” even if no deal is reached and the U.K. has to trade with the EU on World Trade Organization terms from Jan. 1.
Brexit: Boris Johnson says talks “looking difficult” as EU warns just hours left to strike deal
Brexit: Boris Johnson says talks “looking difficult” as EU warns just hours left to strike deal
But his government has acknowledged that a chaotic exit is likely to bring gridlock at Britain’s ports, temporary shortages of some goods and price increases for staple foods. Tariffs will be applied to many U.K. exports, including 10 per cent on cars and more than 40 per cent on lamb, battering the U.K. economy as it struggles to rebound from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
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</div> Over the past few days, Johnson and von der Leyen have been drawn more and more into the talks and have been in contact by phone seeking to unblock negotiations.
Rumours of a pre-Christmas trade deal surfaced in recent days based on progress on the main outstanding issues, other than fishing.
The EU has long feared that Britain would undercut the bloc’s social, environmental and state aid rules to be able to gain an unfair edge with its exports to the EU. Britain has said that having to meet EU rules would undercut its sovereignty. On those issues, a compromise had been reached, a diplomat from an EU country said.
The economically minor but hugely symbolic issue of fish came to be the final sticking point, with maritime EU nations seeking to retain access to U.K. waters where they have long fished, and Britain insisting it must exercise control as an “independent coastal state,”
Some EU nations insisted that upon close scrutiny, Britain’s latest proposals on quotas for EU vessels in U.K. waters were far less conciliatory than first met the eye, imperiling a deal at the last minute.
On Wednesday, brokering on quotas and transition times for EU vessels to continue fishing in U.K. waters was in full swing, with progress reported from several sides.
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</div> A deal must be ratified by parliaments in both Britain and the EU. The British Parliament is currently on a Christmas break but could be recalled next week so lawmakers can vote.
Johnson’s large majority in Parliament should ensure the agreement passes, but any compromises will be criticized by hard-line Brexit supporters in his Conservative Party. The party’s euroskeptic European Research Group said it would carefully scrutinize any deal “to ensure that its provisions genuinely protect the sovereignty of the United Kingdom after we exit the transition period at the end of this year.”
If the two sides fail to meet the Jan. 1 deadline, a deal could provisionally be put in place and approved by the EU parliament in January.
Businesses on both sides are clamouring for a deal that would save tens of billions in costs.
The border is already reeling from new restrictions placed on travellers from Britain into France and other EU countries due to a new coronavirus variant sweeping through London and southern England. On Wednesday thousands of trucks were stuck in traffic jams near Dover, waiting for their drivers to get virus tests so they can enter the Eurotunnel to France.
While both sides would suffer economically from a failure to secure a trade deal, most economists think Britain would take a greater hit, because it is smaller and more reliant on trade with the EU than the other way around.
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</div> ___
Associated Press writer Raf Casert reported this story in Brussels and AP writer Jill Lawless reported from London.
TUNIS, Tunisia — This month marks ten years since the series of events that set off revolutionary change in Tunisia. As Tunisians reflect on what has transpired since then, conversations nationwide are focused on the country’s future. As a contribution to these discussions, the Bahá’ís of the country recently hosted a gathering, coinciding with UN Human Rights Day, to explore new conceptions of citizenship.
“When our society rapidly underwent dramatic change in 2011, the population did not have experience in dealing with the emerging reality,” says Mohamed ben Mousa of the Tunisian Bahá’í community’s Office of External Affairs. “The country has had to learn about a new level of responsibility and engagement. Unity is essential in this process—solidarity and empathy have to be built across the whole population. Although progress has been made, this is not yet a reality, and many people feel a sense of dislocation.”
The gathering brought together distinguished guests including Member of Parliament Jamila Ksiksi, Omar Fassatoui from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as academics and representatives of religious communities. In addition to participants who attended in person—while maintaining safety measures put in place by the government—thousands more were connected to the discussions through a live stream of the event.
Slideshow 6 imagesThe gathering brought together distinguished guests including Member of Parliament Jamila Ksiksi and Omar Fassatoui from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as academics and representatives of religious communities.
There was consensus among the gathering’s participants on the importance of promoting coexistence, if all Tunisians are to contribute to their collective future.
Jamila Ksiksi, MP, said at the meeting, “The world—not just Tunisia—is experiencing an escalation of discrimination. The goal is to learn to accept diversity and live it together. Legislation exists, what is needed is implementation. To do this, we need a joint effort of both state institutions and civil society. The Tunisian constitution includes diversity. Our challenge would be to enshrine this in our daily reality.”
Mr. Ben Moussa expanded on this idea and explained that addressing prejudice and discrimination will require a new mindset about notions of citizenship. “Although as Tunisians we are all proud that diverse groups exist side by side, discrimination is still a part of our reality. If people are not troubled by discrimination, how can our society achieve greater change?
“We must learn to truly live as one, see each other as one. Society is as one body. If one part is suffering or in need, then every other part must come together to help.”
Slideshow 6 images
Mr. Fassatoui spoke about institutional efforts underway that seek to promote coexistence, particularly among children from an early age. “Tunisia has ratified all of the international conventions related to human rights and religious freedoms. As part of this, the country is on a path to ensure that religious diversity is taught in schools.”
Other participants at the gathering offered further comments about the importance of education, including Daniel Cohen, a prominent Jewish Rabbi. “School is where children come to know one another and can learn about other religions. This is where they first learn to live together.”
Conversations at the gathering also touched on notions of cooperation in different religious traditions. Speaking about this theme, Karim Chniba, an Imam representing the country’s Sunni community, said “In Islam, it is unacceptable that we do to others what we would not have done to ourselves. There is no basis for discriminating between people because of their faith or beliefs.”
Slideshow 6 imagesIn addition to participants who attended the gathering in person—while maintaining safety measures put in place by the government—thousands more were connected to the discussions through a live stream of the event.
Mr. Ben Moussa of the Bahá’í Office of External Affairs further explained that new notions of citizenship must be based on inclusivity and not exclusivity, stating: “Societies have historically been built hierarchically: believer and nonbeliever, free person and slave, man and women. As a result, many segments of society have not been able to contribute to public life. In such an environment, a society is not able to reach its potential.
The conception of citizenship needed for this time would have at its heart the spiritual principles of equality and justice.”
trade deal between Britain and the European Union is imminent and could be agreed as early as this evening, a senior EU diplomat said.
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday EU member states would have to approve a provisional application of the deal with effect from January 1 because there is not enough time for it to be ratified by the European Parliament, the Reuters news agency reported.
There was no confirmation from Britain that a deal was about to be struck, although it is understood that Boris Johnson was due to hold fresh talks with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in a bid to get a last-minute breakthrough
The senior diplomat said EU member states would have to approve a provisional application of the deal with effect from January 1 because there was not enough time for the European Parliament to ratify it.
“It seems the deal is pretty much there. It’s a matter of announcing it today or tomorrow,” said one EU diplomat.
The diplomat said the Council, which represents the member states in Brussels, had started preparations to enable a “provisional application”, or fast-track implementation.
Britain said that two significant issues – fishing and competition – still remained to be resolved and that there had not been sufficient progress for a deal. The Commission declined to comment.
Sterling jumped more than 1% against the dollar on the Reuters report.
The UK’s chief negotiator David Frost was this afternoon in Brussels, reportedly still in the negotiating room with the EU’s Stephanie Riso.
“Deal is NOT finalised – seems very likely it’s heading that way tonight but not signed and sealed,” BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg tweeted.
“Nor have all EU capitals seen all the legal text – it’s clear this is on the final lap, but it’s not done yet and there is still last min haggling going on this afternoon.”
Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen were due to speak later today or tomorrow, according to Brussels sources, as they seek to reach an agreement before Christmas.
They spoke on Monday to try to bridge the gap on allocating fish catches in UK waters from 2021, as well as ensuring fair trade under “level-playing field” arrangements.
A Cabinet minister earlier said he was “reasonably optimistic” that a Brexit deal could be struck within days.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick stressed that there were still “serious areas of disagreement” but the UK and EU seem to be edging closer towards a new trade pact.
BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Deprived of its usual tourist influx by the pandemic, Bethlehem will celebrate a quiet Christmas this year that is less about commerce and more about religion, says its parish priest.
In a normal year, hundreds of thousands of visitors flood the Palestinian city in the West Bank, located less than 10 kilometers (six miles) from Jerusalem.
Those seeking a quiet moment of contemplation in the Church of the Nativity — the site of Christ’s birth, according to tradition — generally have to use their elbows to maneuver through the crowds.
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While the lack of visitors has been devastating for business owners, it has also offered a rare opportunity for solemn worship, said Father Rami Asakrieh, Bethlehem’s parish priest.
“Sometimes there are more than half [a] million people who arrive in this period to visit the Nativity Church,” he said.
A man is pictured in the Church of the Nativity, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, on December 20, 2020 after it was re-opened for prayers following strict COVID-19 restrictions. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP)
But with coronavirus restrictions making travel to Bethlehem all but impossible for foreign worshippers, the Church of the Nativity has been eerily calm in the days before Christmas.
Under the Grotto of the Nativity, the recitation of Armenian prayers by four monks echoed clearly through the basilica deserted of its typical throngs of visitors.
The Christmas Eve mass on Thursday, regarded as the most important annual event at the church, will be closed to the public.
Not even representatives of the Palestinian Authority will come to Bethlehem on December 24, Asakrieh said.
“It has never happened before,” he explained, citing only past restrictions imposed during the First and Second Intifadas.
“I think that this Christmas is different because people are not busy with the external manifestations of the feast,” the priest said, referring to the gift-buying that has, for many, become synonymous with Christmas.
“Now [people] have the time, and they are obligated, to concentrate on the essential… the theological spirit of Christmas,” he said. “Less business, but more religion.”
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Police wearing face masks stand guard as the faithful take part in Sunday mass in the Church of the Nativity, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, on December 20, 2020 after it was re-opened for prayers following strict COVID-19 restrictions. (HAZEM BADER / AFP)
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In the lead-up to Christmas, the small Chapel of Saint Catherine, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity, was opened to the local Palestinian population.
Many turned out in their Sunday best, including Nicolas al-Zoghbi who said that this year the joyfulness of Christmas had been replaced by “depression.”
He recounted the “heartache and pain” felt by those like his son who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
“We hope the Lord will destroy corona, just get rid of it so we can return to our previous life,” said Zoghbi, who is in his 70s.
Bethlehem’s economy is driven partly by an annual Christmas rush that benefits small shops selling postcards, rosaries carved from olive tree wood and other Nativity-related souvenirs.
No Gazan visitors
Sitting outside his Bethlehem store on a plastic chair, Georges Baaboul said he “hadn’t sold anything for nine months.”
“In the last few days I sold about 170 shekels ($52)” worth of goods, he said.
Sixty-year-old trader Saif said he had never seen things this bad through his 60 years in business, including during the intifadas.
This year, West Bank tradesmen cannot even count on Christian customers from Gaza, the coastal Palestinian enclave controlled by the Hamas terrorist group, that is under Israeli and Egyptian blockade to prevent the import of weaponry.
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Children walk in front of shuttered shops in a street decorated ahead of Christmas, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, on December 19, 2020. (HAZEM BADER / AFP)
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Gazan Christians generally receive special permission to cross to Bethlehem for Christmas, but this year those permits have not been issued, said Father Youssef Asaad of the Latin monastery in Gaza.
Hamas has imposed strict measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus in the strip, including the closure of mosques and the Latin Church, but masses are being broadcast online.
Christian Gaza resident Issa Abou George said he could not buy gifts for his children this year, but will participate in services online.
“My family and I will pray to God for the pandemic to end as well as for peace, in the Holy Land and the world,” he told AFP.
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES, December 23, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ — Criminal Legal System – The Justice Roundtable coalition has submitted a blueprint for criminal legal system reforms to the Biden transition team in a document titled Transformative Justice Recommendations for the New Administration and the 117th Congress. The report details comprehensive and broad reform recommendations for the federal system providing a vision of transformative justice for the incoming President and the 117th Congress.
The Justice Roundtable is the nation’s oldest and largest bipartisan coalition advocating for federal criminal legal system reform. With over 100 participating organizations, the Justice Roundtable advocates for reforms across a broad range of issues including sentencing reform, reentry, commutations and pardons, human rights, youth justice, and law enforcement.
The Justice Roundtable, a coalition of national reform groups, recommends to Biden transition team blueprint for sweeping reforms to the federal system.In our religious tradition people are considered basically good and capable of rehabilitation and real change.”—
John Stanard, Church of Scientology’s Social Betterment Policy Director
Following George Floyd’s murder and an increased awareness in the public about police abuses, the document includes recommendations for reforms covering many aspects of the criminal justice system.
The Transformative Justice Recommendations report argues that full system transformation begins with law enforcement accountability – the subject of unprecedented protests – and continues by correcting the harms of pretrial detention, the punitiveness of drug policy, the excesses of sentencing, the barriers to reentry, and the under-use of clemency.
The U.S. incarceration system has functioned as a barrier to justice and equity for too long. The upheaval caused by overly aggressive policing on top of an unprecedented health pandemic has intensified the need for meaningful changes to transform the criminal legal system into one that truly serves the interests of justice and human rights.
The Justice Roundtable recommendations say: “In their totality, the recommendations in this report are designed to help the President and Congress steer the nation into a new decade of healing and hope… With the right intention and tools, the country can heal its divides.”
Among the many groups supporting the report’s recommendations are the National Council of Churches, the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office, Families Against Mandatory Minimum, Human Rights Watch, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Vera Institute of Justice, The Sentencing Project, NAACP, and ACLU.
The Church of Scientology has a history of working for a fair and just criminal system, one that emphasizes rehabilitation over punishment. A long-time participant in the Justice Roundtable, the Church’s National Affairs Office joined with other prominent national organizations to endorse the Justice Roundtable Transformative Justice document.
John Stanard, the Church’s Social Betterment Policy Director, commented, “In our religious tradition people are considered basically good and capable of rehabilitation and real change. We have always supported reforms designed to bring about a more just and less punitive criminal legal system. For example, we supported federal legislative initiatives including the First Step Act of 2018 and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020.
“The start of a new administration and Congress provides an opportunity to bring about meaningful reforms to many aspects of the system as outlined in the Justice Roundtable Transformative Justice recommendations. We look forward to working with our allies and partners to help bring about these reforms.”
The Church of Scientology National Affairs Office has hosted many meetings and events to promote criminal legal system reforms, including awarding Cynthia Roseberry, currently deputy director of justice policy at the ACLU, a humanitarian award for her earlier work on clemency petitions. The United States leads the world in the number of incarcerated persons per capita; a disproportionate number of whom are black and brown men and women. Many of these were jailed for non-violent drug-related offenses. The Church has consistently held events and briefings to promote a more equitable criminal legal system.
John Stanard Church of Scientology National Affairs Office +1 202-667-6404
