With 2020 upsetting so many people’s lives, many are seeking new directions to reach their personal targets and goals in life.
It is not Man’s dreams that fail him. It is the lack of know-how required to bring those dreams into actuality.”
— L. Ron Hubbard
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES, November 24, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ — Life as we know it has changed in many ways due to the events of 2020. Statistics and indicators show that it might continue to change for some months to come.
How does one navigate so many changes in life, particularly those greatly impacted by the economic challenges of 2020? How can one stay on top of the changes and be the driver of their life and not the passenger?
With a lot of change can come confusions that toss one into apathy, anxiety and frustration. Many now have unrealized goals or incomplete plans or face tasks that appear overwhelming—even impossible to achieve. This is true not only of individuals, but of companies and even countries. History is filled with incomplete or failed projects.
Availing oneself of the free online course “Targets and Goals” can put one in the driver’s seat and more in control.
Based on the works of bestselling author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard (lronhubbard.org), the “Targets and Goals” course is offered by the Church of Scientology on its Volunteer Ministers website.
The course addresses what steps to take and how to apply them to anything—a personal ambition, a family, a group, a business and more.
“Targets and Goals” guides one step by step through the reading material and the practical exercises to use each new skill learned. The course is self-paced and generally takes about five hours to complete.
“So you may ask yourself: Did COVID-19 throw my 2020 plans and dreams out the window and give me unexpected hurdles and challenges? If the answer is yes, this course will give you the practical tools to achieve the new goals you set,” said Rev. Susan Taylor of the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office in Washington, DC.
“Mr. Hubbard states, ‘It is not Man’s dreams that fail him. It is the lack of know-how required to bring those dreams into actuality.’ Having and applying the tools to reach your goals is the first step,” concluded Rev. Taylor.
Offering the free online courses is just one of many activities Volunteer Ministers around the country have been engaged in during much of 2020. Another is the distribution of millions of hygiene protocol education booklets to residences, shops, community centers, government agencies, medical centers and hospitals. In the Washington, DC, metro area over 100,000 booklets have been personally distributed. The important material is also available online at their “How to Stay Well Prevention Resource Center” site.
The European Commission on Nov. 17 launched a public consultation on the European Union’s review of its Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) focused on aligning RED II targets with the European Green Deal and a review of sustainability criteria for forestry biomass.
A report filed with the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service’s Global Agricultural Information Network explains the European Commission committed to “review and propose to revise, where necessary” relevant energy legislation by 2021 to better align with the provisions of the European Green Deal.
Under the European Green Deal, the EU aims to become carbon neutral by 2050. The GAIN report explains that the EU currently has a target in place to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission by 20 percent by 2020 and by 40 percent by 2030, when compared to a 1990 baseline. Too achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the Commission has proposed a 55 percent GHG reduction by 2030. To achieve that reduction, the EU will need to increase its production and use of renewable energy.
As part of the review, the Commission is also considering the sustainability criteria included in RED II for forest biomass. The report notes an ongoing study on the use of forest biomass for energy production is being carried out by the Commission’s Joint Research Center. That study, which is expected to be published before the end of the year, will also feed into the review criteria.
Feedback gathered during the public consultation is expected help the Commission determine whether a revision of the RED II is needed and what revision would be the most appropriate.
Comments can be filed through Feb. 9. A full copy of the report is available on the USDA FAS GAIN website.
ISLAMABAD: The European Union (EU) is providing €10 million (Rs1.9 billion) to significantly boost the UNHCR’s assistance for Afghan refugees and their host communities in Pakistan. The funding will focus on mitigating the short and medium-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With this funding, UNHCR will expand its health response as well as improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in refugee and host communities. Another important component of the new project will be implementing activities that help protect and empower vulnerable Afghan refugees and host communities, including through livelihood opportunities.
The three-year project will be implemented across the country and is expected to benefit some 370,000 Afghan refugees and Pakistani host communities.
The Ambassador of the EU delegation to Pakistan, Ms. Androulla Kaminara, and UNHCR’s Representative in Pakistan, Ms. Noriko Yoshida, signed the agreement at a ceremony on Monday. The agreement coincides with the quadrennial Afghanistan Conference held in Geneva, intended to present an important opportunity for the Afghan government and the international community to commit to common objectives for promoting sustainable development, prosperity and peace in Afghanistan.
Since July 2018, the EU has contributed €37 million from its development budget and €10 million from its humanitarian resources to support the Afghan refugees and their host communities, in particular through UNHCR’s regional programmes.
In May 2020, the EU announced a €150 million package to support Pakistan’s efforts in addressing the short-term and long-term public health and socio-economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including this new funding of €10 million for UNHCR. This funding will be channelled towards three sectors: health, WASH and social protection.
In the health sector, it will boost health initiatives by helping to provide personal protective equipment, medical supplies and other relief items to health facilities in support of refugees and host communities. Community outreach on the prevention and response to COVID-19 will also be strengthened.
In the WASH sector, the EU’s contribution will help enable UNHCR to upgrade or construct facilities such as toilets, wash basins and water pumps in schools, health centres and communal facilities in or close to refugee villages – benefitting both refugees and Pakistanis. In terms of social protection, the assistance will contribute to UNHCR’s emergency cash programme for the most vulnerable registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
The one-time cash assistance mitigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by helping refugees meet their basic needs. In addition, the project – covering a three-year period – aims to support the COVID-19 recovery through medium-term interventions, such as income-generating activities and technical and vocational skills training. This will ultimately help provide new skill sets to both refugees and their host communities.
Turkey summoned the envoys of the European Union, Germany and Italy to protest against a German attempt to search a Libya-bound, Turkish-flagged commercial ship, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
In a written statement, the ministry said it was protesting against “this unauthorised action, which was carried out using force”.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said: “The captain showed cooperation and shared information about the ship’s freight and its course. Despite this, at 17:45, armed forces from the Irini Operation boarded the ship and carried out a ‘monitoring’ that lasted long hours.”
“We protest this act, which was carried out by force and without authorisation [and] retain the right to seek compensation,” he said.
The incident came amid rising tensions between Turkey and the EU on Turkey’s drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterreanean. The EU’s foreign policy chief has warned that ties are reaching a critical moment, adding that sanctions could be imposed next month.
Last week, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas urged Turkey to stop provocations in the Eastern Mediterranean or face potential EU sanctions.
PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court has held that “right to choose a partner, irrespective of religion, is intrinsic to right to life and personal liberty” and quashed an FIR of kidnapping, forcible conversion and under POSCO Act against a man accused of forcefully converting and marrying a Hindu girl. The court also observed that judgments into two previous cases of interfaith marriages, where it observed that “conversion for the purpose of marriage is unacceptable” were not “good laws”. “We hold judgments in Noor Jahan and Priyanshi cases as not laying good law. None of these judgments dealt with the issue of life and liberty of two mature individuals in choosing a partner or their right to freedom of choice,” the bench said.
Justice Pankaj Naqvi and Justice Vivek Agarwal made these observations, while allowing a petition filed by Salamat Ansari and Priyanka Kharwar alias Alia of Kushinagar on November 11. The petitioners sought quashing of FIR lodged on August 25, 2019, at Vishnupura police station of Kushinagar. The petitioners’ contention was the couple were adults and competent to marry as per their choice. Counsel for the woman’s father opposed the petition on grounds that conversion for sake of marriage was prohibited and such a marriage had no legal sanctity. The court after hearing both parties observed, “To disregard the choice of a person who is an adult would not only be antithetic to freedom of choice of a grown-up individual, but would also be a threat to concept of unity in diversity. An individual on attaining majority is statutorily conferred with the right to choose a partner, which if denied would not only affect his/her human right, but also his/her right to life and personal liberty, guaranteed under Article 21 of Constitution,” the bench observed. It added, “We do not see Priyanka Kharwar and Salamat as Hindu and Muslim, rather as two grown-up individuals who out of their own free will and choice are living together peacefully and happily over a year. The courts and constitutional courts in particular are enjoined to uphold life and liberty of an individual guaranteed under Article 21 of Constitution.” “Right to live with a person of his/her choice irrespective of religion professed by them, is intrinsic to right to life and personal liberty. Interference in a personal relationship would constitute a serious encroachment on the right to freedom of the two individuals. The decision of an individual who is of age of majority, to live with an individual of his/her choice is strictly a right of an individual and when this right is infringed upon, it would constitute breach of his/her fundamental right to life and personal liberty as it includes right to freedom of choice, to choose a partner and right to live with dignity as enshrined in Article 21 of Constitution,” the bench observed. “We fail to understand if the law permits two persons even of same sex to live together peacefully then neither any individual nor a family nor even State can have objection to relationship of two major individuals who out of free will are living together,” the judges observed. The judges also cited Supreme Court’s judgment in K S Puttaswamy vs Union of India case on the right to privacy, which said, “The autonomy of the individual is the ability to make decisions on vital matters of concern to life.”
(RNS) — The results of the 2020 election are just the latest sign: America is divided. Democrats and Republicans disagree on everything — the economy, coronavirus safety, law enforcement, science, even who won the presidency.
A growing gulf separates the rich and the poor. Racial tensions are high. Democracy itself appears to be endangered.
But this is not the first time that’s happened.
In their new book, “The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again,” political scientist Robert Putnam and writer and social entrepreneur Shaylyn Romney Garrett argue that in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, America was strikingly similar: polarized, unequal and corrupt.
Then it all changed. A more egalitarian, cooperative and altruistic nation emerged in the so-called Progressive Era — beginning around 1900. That pivot, from unbridled individualism to concern for the broader community, was led by moral crusaders. They were religious people such as Walter Rauschenbusch who ushered in the so-called Social Gospel movement that led to waves of legislative reforms: a minimum wage, improved child labor laws, women’s right to vote and many more.
If the country is ever to move beyond its current morass, Putnam and Garrett believe religious narratives or themes may once again play an important role. Putnam, who is best known as the author of “Bowling Alone,” which warned 20 years ago of the decline in social capital and rise of isolation, knows something about civic and religious engagement. His book “American Grace” (co-written with David Campbell) assessed how religion has changed in America over the past 50 years.
Religion News Service talked to Putnam and Garrett about the role religious and civic leaders might play in uniting the nation. The interview was edited for length and clarity.
You write this isn’t the first time America has descended into mistrust, polarization, inequality and cultural narcissism. It happened in the late 19th century during the Gilded Age. What’s the congruence?
Putnam: America today is very polarized, unequal, socially isolated and narcissistic or self-referential. Our book asks, “How did we get here?” and that leads to a second question, “How do we get out of this mess?”
Robert Putnam. Photo by Martha Stewart
The data clearly show there was a turning point around 1900, when the country moved out of the Gilded Age and into the Progressive Era. America moved from a situation like ours to nearly 70 years of improvement on all the measures I mentioned.
In “The Upswing,” we look back to that period to see what they did then that would be relevant to us now. We try to avoid the word “causation.” But what were the crucial preconditions for making the pivot from an “I” society to a “we” society? Religion turns out to be a crucial part of the story.
Given the huge decline in churchgoing beginning in the 1960s, can religion play a role in turning things around like it did at the beginning of the 20th century?
Garrett: I definitely think there’s a role for religion to play. But religion will have to be innovative in meeting the moment. We have seen some religious innovation aimed at combating the decline in churchgoing — in such things as megachurches, for example. But some of those megachurches are characterized by a theology that is highly individualistic — the prosperity gospel — the idea that God blesses the righteous with riches for themselves. That’s been used to draw people back into religion, but it’s reflective of the destructive, highly individualistic drift over the past half-century, which we chronicle in the book.
Shaylyn Romney Garrett. Photo by Janica LaRae
For religion to play a role in another upswing, it’s going to have to find a way to speak to a changed social landscape and to remind us our religious traditions speak directly to the situation we find ourselves in today — a situation where we need to take better care of our most vulnerable. We need to think about how we organize a society more fairly. There are great templates in every great religion for how to do this but we have to choose that religious narrative. There’s a moment here where our religious leaders have the ability to shape a religious narrative in order to inform our social problems. We’re seeing some early signs of that happening. For example, the Rev. William Barber, who is organizing “moral marches on Washington” and taking up the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign.
Putnam: King moved America from the bottom up as well as the top down. He did it above all by using the Exodus narrative. He knew it appealed well beyond the Black church he was in himself. The point is religious narratives and religious symbols have a huge power to move lots of people.
Garrett: Bringing people into relationship with one another doesn’t have to have a religious motive. There are lots of secular civic innovators trying to fill the void left by America’s empty pews. One example we like to highlight is Eric Liu, who runs an organization called Citizen University. He’s created something called Civic Saturdays, which he calls “a secular analog to church.” The idea is to bring people together to engage in mutual aid but also to hear “civic sermons,” a way to help people engage with a narrative that is secular but is still orienting people toward a morality of “we.” So I definitely think there’s a role for religious institutions to play, but there’s also a role for secular innovators to come into this space and say, “How do we engage those folks who say religion isn’t for them but still are hungry for moral narratives?”
Is the notion of a common civil religion ever coming back?
Garrett: One of the things you see in this moral awakening that characterizes the Progressive Era is a real emphasis on agency. Our choices matter. We have a choice as a society about what we’re going to call upon as organizing values. So, if the question is “Can religion play a role in defining a new set of societal values?,” we think the answer is yes. The historical record shows our “civic religion” — our shared notion of what this nation is all about — was terribly fragmented once before. And a group of moral crusaders came along and helped shape a new civic religion. Can that happen again? We definitely believe it can. Whether or not it will depends on our choices as citizens and religious people.
“The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again,” by Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett. Courtesy image
Putnam: I think we would say if there’s a single lesson we want to get across, it’s agency. We’re not condemned by history. History sets the problems we have to face, but history doesn’t set the solutions. We want to say to America’s young people today who are very cynical, “Look, you can make a difference and people just like you have made a difference in the past.”
Garrett: One of the reasons for the rise of “spiritual but not religious” young people is they don’t like the way religion has been politicized. We would hope young people, instead of abandoning religion altogether, could more actively shape the narrative of how religion speaks to politics. Though we are reluctant to call it a “cause” of the last upswing, we do see that moral and cultural narratives may well have been the first thing to turn. So, there’s hope that in the moral, cultural and religious sense, we might have the most power to spark change in other arenas such as economic inequality, political polarization and social fragmentation.
Putnam: It’s important to note we have so far been discussing this “moral awakening” largely in terms of white evangelicalism. But of course, this shift goes far beyond that form of religiosity — it did then, and it will today. I don’t want to get too personal about this, but I would point out that neither of us comes from an evangelical Protestant tradition. I was raised as a Methodist and converted to Judaism some 60 years ago. Shaylyn is a Mormon. To look at what’s happening only in evangelical Protestant religion is to miss one of the most important religious developments of our era, which is Pope Francis. He’s raising the role of the Catholic Church from being a voice of inequality and corruption to being a voice for the oppressed, for greater equality, for greater tolerance of immigrants and greater attention to the environment. The same kind of developments occurred back in the Progressive Era in other religions and is again occurring right now. I have seven grandchildren, all of whom were bar-mitzvahed or about to be bar-mitzvahed. They share this sense of young people that there are big important issues outside the narrow confines of religion that need to be addressed. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (who died this month) also spoke about big moral issues today.
Garrett: I see some of these trends in Mormonism as well. I’m part of a group called Mormon Women for Ethical Government, which is calling upon a very right-wing Republican community that has embraced a pretty individualistic politics to say, “Wait a second. There is a whole other narrative within our theology that has a broader base of morality and has a lot to say about government and how we organize society.” There are little glimmers of this in lots of different religious spaces. People are waking up to the idea we’ve missed something in our religious narratives that needs to be revived.
Is it useful to use terms like the religious left or the religious right?
Garrett: People are realizing their religious values have splintered fairly awkwardly across the right-left spectrum. They are in this weird position of having to choose between being pro-life or being pro-immigrant. How is that a choice that makes any sense? My hope is we would have a new moral consensus that would give us some innovation around issues and policy proposals that transcend this gridlocked right-left framework. I watched this play out in the election in Mormon circles. People felt it was immoral to vote for Trump, but they also felt an imperative to vote against abortion and they just couldn’t square that. The Progressive Era was this movement to say maybe there’s a third way here. When I think of the future, that’s what I think about. That would be my hope. It’s something we’ve done before.
Putnam: One thing you could see very clearly in the Progressive Era is it cut across left-right lines. In 1912, all three presidential candidates claimed to be Progressives. The “capital P” Progressive attitude was orthogonal to conventional left-right lines. We do think left-right is a misleading framework for thinking about the possibilities of change either in religion or in American society today.
Australian Bahá’ís launch publication on social cohesion after two years of conversations among officials, academics, social actors, and people throughout the country.
SYDNEY — How can a society with diverse views on history, culture, and values—some seemingly at odds with each other—forge a common identity that transcends differences and does not privilege some groups or diminish the worth of others?
The Bahá’ís of Australia embarked on a two-year project to explore this and related questions with hundreds of participants—including officials, organizations of civil society, journalists, and numerous social actors—across all states and territories.
A new publication titled Creating an Inclusive Narrative is the fruit of these discussions and was launched last week at a five-day national conference on social cohesion and inclusion held by the country’s Bahá’í Office of External Affairs.
Slideshow 9 images
In the opening session of the conference, Governor of New South Wales Margaret Beazley reflected on the important role that government and institutions can play in strengthening bonds among citizens.
“The inclusivity of the discussions that led to the excellent Bahá’í document Creating an Inclusive Narrative… is in itself an excellent example of an institution taking the time and the steps to engage in a multi-level process of discourse with people of diverse backgrounds, genders, abilities and disabilities, culture, and faiths.”
In another session of the conference, Member of Parliament Anne Aly quoted Bahá’u’lláh’s statement “The Earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.” She continued, “I think that’s the starting point for social cohesion. To see ourselves all as equal citizens of a world that goes beyond national borders, that goes beyond the differences of race, the differences of religion, the differences of social or economic status.
“This is what attracts me most to the Bahá’í Faith. This central tenet of the equality of mankind.”
Initiating a process of learning
Ida Walker of the Office of External Affairs describes how the project began: “In 2016, the discourse on social cohesion was emerging prominently on the national stage. There was a great need at that time—and still now—for unifying spaces in which people could explore this issue, free of limitations—to have enough time, without dominating voices, where people could listen and be heard.”
By 2018, the Office of External Affairs had become more engaged in this discourse. With the encouragement of different social actors and government departments, the idea for Creating an Inclusive Narrative began to take shape.
“We knew that the process had to involve diverse voices from different realities throughout the country—east and west, rural and urban, and from the grassroots to the national level. And in order for this to scale, we needed many people who could facilitate,” says Ms. Walker.
By mid-2019, small gatherings were being held in a few states. As more facilitators from different regions of the country were identified, more gatherings could be held. Ms. Walker explains: “Orientation sessions allowed facilitators to reflect deeply on the qualities and attitudes that would be required for creating unifying spaces. These sessions provided them with opportunity to think about how they could ask probing questions.
Slideshow 9 imagesThe publication Creating an Inclusive Narrative is the fruit of two years of conversations among officials, academics, social actors, and people throughout Australia.
“It was important that facilitators were residents of the areas in which gatherings were taking place, ensuring their familiarity with local issues and concerns. This approach, to our surprise, meant that facilitators and participants could continue their discussions in between the monthly gatherings, resulting in growing enthusiasm and interest among participants to continue the process.”
The project eventually sustained monthly gatherings concurrently across several states, resulting in a total of 50 roundtables.
Transcending differences
One of the participants from the discussion spaces explored the need for deeper connections among the diverse people of the country: “What we are seeing in Australia is that lots of different pathways have come together in a really unique situation to create a knot of narratives that are bound together. … but how willing are we now to enmesh these stories? … If we are not enmeshed then we’re all these separate things and have no relationship with each other.
“If Australia is a work in progress, then how willing are we to create something new?”
Ms. Walker explains further that promoting diversity in all spheres of society, although essential, is not enough alone to bring people closer together or create consensus on vital matters. “Stories of indigenous peoples, European settlers, and more recent migrants must be voiced, but also reconciled.
“When the Office of External Affairs first began to engage in the discourse on social cohesion, we heard many social actors say that these stories were running alongside one another but not woven together. This project has allowed different segments of society to discover a narrative that would allow all the people of our country to see themselves on a common journey.”
Slideshow 9 imagesParticipants in the process discussed how any attempt to transcend differences would need to address the question of history. Drawing on the rich insights from these conversations, Creating and Inclusive Narrative begins with this topic in a section titled “Where have we been?”
Early on in the project, participants in the process discussed how any attempt to transcend differences would need to address the question of history. Drawing on the rich insights from these conversations, Creating and Inclusive Narrative begins with this topic in a section titled “Where have we been?”, calling attention to the rich and ancient history of the land and highlighting the challenges and opportunities of present times: “A common thread running through our history is stories of good and bad times, moments worthy of both shame and pride. No nation has an unblemished record, yet those who have endured displacement and suffering, especially Indigenous peoples, have shown tremendous resilience. The power of the human spirit to transcend injustice and overcome crisis is a primary characteristic that has enriched and shaped the evolution of our society.”
Identifying shared values
Participants in the project recognized that, although difficult at first, identifying common values would be necessary to overcoming barriers to greater degrees of harmony. Venus Khalessi of the country’s Bahá’í Office of External Affairs describes the effect the pandemic has had on the ability of the participants to develop a greater sense of shared identity. “At first, there was hesitation from participants to speak about values out of the fear of offending others. But as the pandemic hit, everyone saw that when faced with crisis, people became more kind, more generous, and more open to strangers. This had a significant impact on how we saw ourselves as a society and on our ability to articulate the kinds of values we wished to see lasting beyond the crisis. Our shared human values became a reference point, including spiritual principles such as justice, compassion, and our inherent oneness.”
Slideshow 9 imagesPhotographs taken before the current health crisis. Over two years, the Bahá’ís of Australia explored questions related to shared identity with hundreds of participants—including officials, organizations of civil society, journalists, and numerous social actors—across all states and territories.
These discussions have revealed that a vital capacity is required for identifying shared values, described in the publication as an “openness to adaptation and flexibility in embracing beliefs, values and practices that are helpful in addressing the issues of today, and discarding those that are outdated.”
Some of the values, qualities, and characteristics identified by participants and captured in the publication include: the oneness of humanity and unity in diversity; consultation as a means for collective decision-making; recognizing the nobility and dignity of all people; collaboration, a posture of learning in all matters, and an openness to new ways of living.
Slideshow 9 imagesThe project eventually sustained monthly gatherings concurrently across several states, resulting in a total of 50 roundtables.
Broadening the conversation
Ms. Walker explains how this experience has revealed that the challenge to finding common ground is not a lack of shared values, but rather that there is a lack of spaces where people can come to know one another at a deeper level. She says, “The problems we are experiencing cannot be solved by one group for another. We see so much capacity in the country that can be released simply by providing spaces where shared values and vision can be fostered and translated into action. Many people, by being part of the round-table process, have strengthened their resolve to contribute to society.”
Brian Adams, director of the Centre for Interfaith and Cultural Dialogue at Griffith University in Queensland, who also served on the Advisory Board for Creating an Inclusive Narrative, says of the project: “We are not trying to artificially create a broad identity. We are trying to tease out the threads that make up our identity and weave them together into this narrative. … [this process] is something that is done through collaboration and respectful listening, and a lot of work to create that identity together.”
Natalie Mobini, director of the Bahá’í Office of External Affairs and a member of the Bahá’í National Spiritual Assembly of Australia, explains the possibilities for engaging many more segments of society as a result of the relationships that have built among institutions, government, and civil society through this process. “When the Office of External Affairs embarked on this initiative, I don’t think we realized how big it would become. One of the project’s most promising outcomes is the relationships built among those who have participated. A network of people spanning the country—from groups and community leaders at the local level to state and national government departments—has emerged.”
In her remarks at the conference, Dr. Anne Aly, MP, drew on insights from academic literature to explore how new conceptions of social cohesion can more broadly permeate society. “Much like how we cannot consider peace to merely be the absence of war, so too social cohesion cannot merely be considered the absence of discord or disunity within a society.” She continued to explain that social cohesion should not be treated as a siloed policy area, but that all policies should contribute to a more cohesive society.
Dr. Anne Aly, MP, also referred to the following passage from the Bahá’í writings, describing it as relevant to discussions on social cohesion: “Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. … Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. … Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering…”
The Creating an Inclusive Narrative document, recordings of conference sessions, and more information about the project can be found on the website of the Australian Bahá’í community’s Office of External Affairs.
Colombian Anti-narcotics police from the Valle del Cauca division have seized 1.5 metric tons (MT) of cocaine hidden within boxes of export avocados in the port city of Buenaventura, according to the Argentinian news site Infobae.
The Colombian Attorney General was reported by Infobae as saying that the merchandise was destined for Antwerp in Belgium.
In total, the discovery consisted of 1,572 rectangular, green packages layered between avocados in shipping container.
According to the Valle del Cauca Police, this drug shipment would have been worth approximately $69 million in the illegal European market, amounting to 5 million doses distributed on the streets of Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany.
Those responsible will be charged with trafficking and manufacturing and possession of narcotics, police said.
The first two took place on Nov. 11 in the ports of Barranquilla and Santa Marta where the drug was found hidden in shipments of coffee and fruit bound for Syria and Belgium respectively.
In the city of Buenaventura alone, port controls have reported the discovery of 9MT of cocaine by officials prior to export in 2020.
Another recent case in this city occurred on Oct. 6, reported Infobae. On this occasion, 1.604 kilos were found hidden in three containers of organic sugar. The shipment was likewise bound for Belgium
Newswise — MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A first-of-its-kind study led by Middle Tennessee State University biology researcher Elizabeth Barnes suggests that a difference in culture and beliefs between science instructors and students may inadvertently lead to low acceptance of evolution among minority students — particularly Black students — in biology.
Barnes and Arizona State University researchers asked whether Black and Hispanic students tended to reject evolution more than students from other racial/ethnic identities and whether any differences could be explained by the fact they tend to be more religious.
The study, published Friday, Nov. 20, by CBE — Life Sciences Education’s quarterly journal, can be found here.
Christianity is popular among 65% of college biology students, but not among the biologists (25%) who are teaching students, which helped the research group understand the motivation for the study.
Further, when looking at students from minority populations, the gap between biologists and student religious affiliation is even wider — Black students tend to have stronger religious cultures and backgrounds compared to majority populations.
Researchers found that rejection of evolution was particularly high for Black students, but once they controlled for religious background in their statistical models, the differences between Black and white students were diminished.
“This is a concerning finding for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) educators because Black students are already minoritized in biology and they are particularly absent in fields that emphasize evolution such as ecology and evolutionary biology,” said Barnes, who joined the MTSU faculty in August. “Our study starts to offer some explanation for why.”
Researchers suggest that a solution is to use instructional techniques that highlight the compatibility between religion and evolution rather than where they might conflict.
“Science instructors who are often secular themselves are hesitant to address religion and when they do it is often in a way that highlights conflict between religion and science and not compatibility,” Barnes said.
“To promote an equitable and comfortable STEM environment for religious students, science instructors should more often highlight views such as theistic evolution, for which student can both believe in God and recognize evolution as credible science,” she added.
Barnes was joined in the research by K. Supriya, Hayley M. Dunlop, Taija M. Hendrix, Gale M. Sinatra and Sara E. Brownell. They began collecting data five years ago.
“We collected a lot of data and spent a lot of time revising the work based on feedback and reading about the experiences of Black and Hispanic individuals,” Barnes said.
CBE — Life Sciences Education is a free, online quarterly journal published by the American Society of Cell Biology. It publishes peer-reviewed articles on life science education at the K-12, undergraduate and graduate levels.
About Liz Barnes
Assistant professor Elizabeth Barnes is an MTSU science education researcher. She studies the intersections of science and religion, how individuals perceive the relationship between science and religion and how science educators can foster productive conversations with communities and students of faith to promote science education.
Coming from Arizona State University, where she earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, and was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, Barnes arrived with grants to continue her research at MTSU.
“I came to MTSU to study how to effectively teach controversial topics in biology to students across different religious and political spectrums,” she said. “I was lured to MTSU because of the Mathematics and Science Education Ph.D. program, which will allow me to mentor graduate students and build a robust research program.”
On deck: “My past and current research focus is on perceptions of evolution and I have studied how to make evolution education more inclusive for students from different religious and racial/ethnic backgrounds,” she said. “I am now excited to be embarking on projects exploring perceptions of climate change, vaccines and COVID19.”
Twelve fashion and textile sector partners are to demonstrate a circular model for commercial garment production under the European Union-funded New Cotton Project.
It has received €6.8m in funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
Over three years, the project will see textile waste collected, sorted and regenerated into Finnish biotechnology group Infinited Fiber Company’s cellulose-based textile fibres.
The company has patented technology that can regenerate cellulose-rich textile waste into fibres that it says look and feel like cotton.
Manufacturers Inovafil, Tekstina and Kipas will use these to produce yarns, woven fabrics and denim respectively.
Adidas and the H&M Group companies will then design, manufacture and sell clothing made from the fabrics.
Clothing that can no longer be worn will be returned for regeneration into new fibres.
Frankenhuis will sort and pre-process the textile waste used in this project, while the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences will develop a technical solution for the continuous processing of textile waste fibres for pre-treatment.
Other partnership members include Revolve Waste, which will collect and manage data on textile waste to estimate feedstock availability, and the Research Institute of Sweden, which will conduct the sustainability and techno-economic analyses for the project and manage eco-labelling, while Finland’s Aalto University will analyse the ecosystem and circular business models.
Sustainable fashion innovation platform Fashion for Good will lead stakeholder cooperation and training.
Infinited Fiber Company chief executive Petri Alava said: “We are very excited and proud to lead this project, which is breaking new ground when it comes to making circularity in the textile industry a reality.”
Project partners said fashion brands produce nearly twice as many clothes as they did 20 years ago and the equivalent of one refuse truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second.
The sector has come under pressure over wasteful ‘fast fashion’ in the UK and from environmental campaigners over the use of fossil-based fibres such as polyester and viscose.
