| Sectarian Slaying: Syrian Rebels attack Alawites, Christians – Reports The ongoing conflict in Syria is becoming increasingly sectarian amid reports that rebel fighters have attacked a housing compound for employees of a power company, killing 16 civilians, mostly Alawites and Christians. The massacre took place in Jandar village near the western city of Homs on Tuesday, Syria’s state news agency SANA reports. “ Armed men stormed the Jandar residential compound, firing indiscriminately and killing 16 Syrians, among them six Christians, six Alawites – including the compound director – and four Sunnis ,” said the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based NGO. Abdel Rahman said the gunmen targeted only the Syrian employees of the Jandar power plant. The other employees were Japanese and Iranians, who live with their families in the compound in Jandar village. “ The village and its surrounding areas are Sunni ,” he added. Syria is a predominantly Sunni country, but it is also home to Christians and other Muslim denominations, among them the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam. Syria’s President Bashar Assad and the country’s ruling elite belong to the Alawite minority. The latest attacks against minorities come after Bassam Mohieddin, an Alawite film director, was killed near his home in the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday. “Treacherous hands assassinated Bassam Mohieddin on Sunday,” Syria’s General Cinema Institute said in a statement on Tuesday, adding the murder occurred in Jdeidet Artuz, the scene of recent clashes between government troops and rebels, AFP reports. Also on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned against Syria descending into a sectarian war. “ We have to set very clear expectations about avoiding sectarian warfare ,” she said during her trip to South Africa, Reuters reports. “ Those who are attempting to exploit the situation by sending in proxies or terrorist fighters must realize that will not be tolerated, first and foremost, by the Syrian people,” she added. |
| Religious freedom: US not fit to preach The 2011 International Religious Freedom Report – an annual report released by the US Department of State – looks more like a political tool than a thorough study aimed at better understanding world trends. “In the Obama Administration we’ve elevated religious freedom as a diplomatic priority”, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said while speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The United States will also stand for the value, the principle that religious freedom represents, not only for us but for people everywhere.” This poses two main questions: why would a government, in a country where church has been separated from state, try to impose its own vision on something as delicate as religious matters on other sovereign states? And is it in a position to do so? The answer to the first, though rather oblique, is the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 27, 1998, making religious freedom promotion an issue of foreign policy for the United States. The IRFA requires the president, who has delegated this authority to the Secretary of State, to designate as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) those countries whose governments have engaged in or tolerated “particularly severe violations of religious freedom”. States so designated are subject to further actions, including economic sanctions by the United States. The International Freedom Report includes an overview of basic trends and a country-by-country analysis. Each country chapter contains the description of what’s been happening there over the year and what the US government has done about it e.g. addressing the national authorities, reaching out to all kinds of different religious groups, including the ones considered extremist and banned in the territory of the country in question. The report definitely requires a lot of field work and analytical effort. Yet the research methods seem to be rather superficial. For example, this time Russia has been criticized for failing “to distinguish between peaceful religious practice and criminal or terrorist activities”. “The most significant constraints on religious freedom during the year included the use of extremism charges to target minority religions and some broad restrictions on the freedoms of expression and association. […] Among the minority religious groups, labeled as ‘extremist cults’ and ‘totalitarian sects’, were Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientologists, neo-Pentecostals, and Mormons.” |
| The bill has Kremlin support, the Vedomosti newspaper wrote. In December, when protests broke out following allegations of fraud in the presidential election, then Prime Minister and frontrunner Vladimir Putin accused US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of instigating unrest. Civil society groups, from WWF to Golos, a vote-monitoring organisation, have warned that the draft law would violate “democratic standards.” For Human Rights Watch, the measures are “clearly excessive and unnecessary,” pointing out that all Russian NGOs already publish financial reports, as required by Russian law. Elena Panfilova, of Transparency International Russia, calls the bill “psychological terrorism”. In her view, “they want to breathe down our neck, but we are used to it and have nothing to hide. Our work will go ahead without foreign funds if need be.” Source: AsiaNews Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Also by this author Today " s Articles Most viewed articles Functionality is temporarily unavailable. Most popular authors Functionality is temporarily unavailable. |
| That is inside Russia among banks that otherwise were vulnerable even domestically to a SWIFT cut. Russia joined the Brussels-based private SWIFT system as the Berlin Wall crumbled in 1989. Today her banks are the second largest users of SWIFT. The new system is inside Russia. Necessary, but not sufficient, to protect against SWIFT cutoff. The next step in discussion is joint Russia-China interbank clearing independent of SWIFT and Washington. That is also coming. The following day after Russia’s “SWIFT” alternative was announced as operational, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping said China will build up its strategic partnership with Russia in finance, space and aircraft building and “raise trade cooperation to a new level.” He added that China plans to cooperate more with Russia in the financial area and in January Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said that payments in national currencies, de-dollarization, were being negotiated with China. China realizes that if Russia collapses, China is next. Failing empires try desperate measures to survive. Russians also realize that their leaders are moving in unprecedented ways to build an alternative to what they see as a morally decadent and bankrupt American world. For most Russians the disastrous decade of poverty, chaos and deprivation of the Yeltsin era in the 1990’s was reminder enough what awaits should Russia’s leaders again prostitute themselves to American banks and corporations for takeover, Hillary Clinton’s infamous “reset” of US-Russian relations she attempted when Medvedev was President. Russians see what the US has done in neighboring Ukraine where even the Finance Minister, Natalia Jaresko, is an American, a former State Department person. Russia and its leaders are hardly trembling behind Kremlin walls. They are forging the skeleton of a new international economic order that has the potential to transform the world from the present bankruptcy of the Dollar System. Moscow and Beijing recently announced, as I discussed in a previous posting, their project to create a joint alternative to the US credit rating monopoly of Moody’s, S&P and Fitch. President Putin’s travel agenda in the past year has been mind-boggling. Far from being the international paraiah Washington and Victoria Nuland hoped for, Russia is emerging as the land which has the courage to “just say No!” to Washington. |
| Third, wherever Russian state and civic organizations promote Russian culture and language abroad, the Church will also seek to tack on its religious agenda. While the state promotes the national interests of the Russian Federation, the Russian Orthodox Church will promote the larger cultural identity it sees itself as having inherited from Kievan Rus. For example, the Church sees the conflict in Ukraine as a civil war within the Russian World. From this perspective, it cannot be resolved by splitting up this community, thereby isolating Ukraine from Russia and destroying the unity of the Russky mir, or by permitting the forcible Ukrainianization of the predominantly Orthodox and Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine, which would result in the destruction of the Russky mir within Ukraine. The only permanent solution is for the Ukrainian government to admit the pluricultural nature of Ukrainian society and, in effect, recognize Ukraine as part of the Russky mir . From the Church " s perspective, this is the only way to achieve reconciliation among the Ukrainian people and harmony within the Russky mir . Oddly enough, many moderate Ukrainian nationalists also ascribe to the notion that some sort of symbiotic cultural connection exists between Russia and Ukraine. The typical pro-Maidan Ukrainian intellectual believes that Putin is out to undermine Ukrainian democracy first and foremost because he fears it spreading to Russia. But they predict the inevitable resumption of fraternal ties with Russia, after the freedom-loving, pro-European values of the Maidan succeed in overturning Putin " s authoritarian regime in Russia. 33 It is hard not to see the similarity between their aspirations for close ties with Russia and those of Patriarch Kirill, only under a completely different set of cultural assumptions. In conclusion, what impact will the rise of the Russky mir have on Russia " s relations with other nations? I anticipate three responses. In countries where the concept of Holy Rus has no historical context, there will be a tendency to fall back on the Cold War context they are most familiar with, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did when she warned of efforts to " re-Sovietize the region. " " It " s going to be called customs union, it will be called Eurasian Union and all of that, " she said, " but let " s make no mistake about it. We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways to slow down or prevent it. " 34 |
| A. Die Entstehung. S. 24; Brennecke H. C. Hillarius. S. 46. 598 А. А. Спасский и Р. П. К. Хэнсон считают возможным говорить даже об автономных «Восточной» и «Западной Церквах» (см.: Спасский А. А. Указ. соч. С. 332; Hanson R. P. C. Op. cit. P. 306). 600 Simonetti M. La crisi. P. 177; Barnard L. W. Op. cit. P. 132; Марков К. Духовен живот в българските земи през късната античност (IV-V век). София, 1995. С. 35. См. также: Schneemelcher W. Serdika 342. Ein Beitrag zum Problem Ost und West in der Alten Kirche. Gesammelte Aufsätze zum Neuen Testament und zur Patristik. Thessaloniki, 1974. S. 338–364.Против искусственного сближения событий 343 и 1054 гг. предостерегал в свое время еще Ж. Цейллер (см.: Zeiller J. Les origines chrétiennes dans les provinces. P. 257–258). 605 Hilar. Fr. III. 26: «Ведь получил же подтверждение от восточных собор, созванный в городе Риме против еретиков Новата, Савелия и Валентина, и напротив то, что было на Востоке решено относительно Павла Самосатского, было подписано всеми» (Nam in urbe Roma sub Novato et Sabellio et Valentino haereticis factum concilium ab Orientalibus confi rmatum est. Et iterum in Oriente, sub Paulo a Samosatis quod statutum est, ab omnibus est signatum). Ср. аргументацию отцов Антиохийского собора 341 г. против вмешательства папы Юлия в дело свт. Афанасия: Sozom. Hist. eccl. III. 8; Socrat. Hist. eccl. II. 15. 606 Marot H. Conciles anténicéens et conciles oecuméniques. Le Concile et les conciles. Contribution à l’histoire de la vie conciliaire de l’Eglise. P. 1960. P. 19–43. 607 Об Антиохийских соборах 263–269 гг. см.: Афанасьев Н., протопр. Церковные соборы и их происхождение. М., 2003. С. 168–178, а также: Бер И., свящ. Становление христианского богословия: путь к Никее. Тверь, 2006. С. 171–193. 608 См. раздел. 1.1.1. Об участии в соборе Урсакия и Валента см.: Ath. Apol. contr. ar. 28, 73; Socrat. Hist. eccl. I. 31; Theodoret. Hist. eccl. II. 16. 610 На это указывал еще Ж. Цейллер, который писал, что на Сирмийском соборе 351 г. |
| An Islamic State fighter armed with a knife and an automatic weapon stands next to captured Syrian army soldiers and officers in Raqqa, Syria. In a Wall Street Journal column, Ayaan Hirsi Ali—an activist who escaped Islamist brutality in Somalia—wrote the attacks in Paris were deplorable, but also predictable given the radical ideology driving them. “The West is duly terrified,” she wrote. “But it should not be surprised.” Though the brutality of radical jihadists isn’t surprising, the advance has been swift. Since the purported “Arab Spring” began four years ago—with high hopes and public support from democracy leaders including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama—jihadist groups like the Islamic State and Boko Haram have executed not only terror but also conquest. In Nigeria, one group estimates Boko Haram controls a chunk of the country the size of Belgium. In the Middle East, the Islamic State has gained territory the size of the United Kingdom, according to counterterrorism expert Matthew Olsen. Over the summer, Islamic State terrorists drove entire Christian populations from their ancient homelands in Iraq, and continue to (see " Medical emergency " in this issue). In places like Europe, Islamists haven’t gained territory, but they have gained momentum. The Paris attacks grew from a network of support reaching back to the Middle East (see " Connecting the plots " in this issue). One week later, authorities in Belgium raided a jihadist group planning imminent attacks on police. Sidali Djarboub/Newpress/SIPA/AP A demonstrator holds up a “ Je suis Mohamed ” sign during a protest in Algiers, Algeria, on Jan. 16. After the Paris attacks, French President François Hollande called the killing spree a terrorist act of “extreme barbarity.” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared his country “at war with terrorism, jihadism, and radical Islam.” President Barack Obama called the attacks “cowardly and evil,” but avoided mentioning the strain of radical Islam driving the deadly threats against countries around the world. |
| A collage of the three historically black churches in Louisiana that were burnt to the ground between March and April 2019. GoFundMe Donations to restore three historically black churches torched in alleged arson attacks in Louisiana are pouring in after high profile figures like Hillary Clinton asked the public to remember them too when more than million was quickly raised to restore the famed Notre Dame cathedral in France. “As we hold Paris in our thoughts today, let’s also send some love to our neighbors in Louisiana. Three historically black churches have burned in recent weeks, charring buildings and scattering communities,” Clinton tweeted Tuesday with a link to a GoFundMe campaign that had initially been struggling to raise the million needed to restore the three churches. Mount Pleasant Baptist Church became the third historically black church over 100 years old to burn down in St. Landry Parish, in a span of 10 days earlier this month. St. Mary’s Baptist Church was the first reported church fire on March 26 and Greater Union Baptist Church went up in flames a week later. Last Wednesday, the Seventh District Baptist Association, a 149-year-old nonprofit religious organization, launched the GoFundMe campaign seeking to raise the million to evenly distribute between the three churches to help them rebuild. On Monday morning, even after retired Christian New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson, urged his supporters on Twitter over the weekend to support it, only about had been raised. Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Also by this author Today " s Articles Most viewed articles Functionality is temporarily unavailable. Most popular authors Functionality is temporarily unavailable. © 2008-2024 Pravmir.com |
| Senate Democrats Defeat Bill To Ban Abortion On Babies Capable of Feeling Pain From Abortion Source: LifeSiteNews Washington, D.C., September 22, 2015 Senate Democrats have blocked a Senate bill that would have protected babies capable of feeling pain from being aborted. The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (S. 1553) received a majority of votes in the Republican-controlled chamber, by a vote of 54-42. But it fell short of the 60 votes necessary to overcome a Democratic filibuster. Restoring the procedural block was one of the first moves made by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell when he assumed leadership in January. The filibuster had been abolished by his predecessor, Democrat Harry Reid, who used the opportunity to push through vast swaths of President Barack Obama " s legislative agenda and pro-abortion judicial nominees. Pro-life critics, especially Sen. Ted Cruz, have criticized Mitch McConnell for holding " show votes " that he knew would be thwarted in the chamber. Three pro-life – Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, and Bob Casey of – voted yes. Two Republicans, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Susan Collins of Maine, voted no. Presidential hopefuls cast their vote on the bill, as well. Republican Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio all voted yes. Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, voted against the measure. " Today’s failure of the Senate to pass a law preventing most abortions after babies are old enough to feel pain is beyond belief, " said Lila Rose, the president and founder of Live Action. " It should sicken every American that our elected leaders refuse to protect the most vulnerable in our society, even when science has proven that at just 20 weeks old, children in the womb can feel the intense pain of the abortionists’ tools tearing their arms and legs from their bodies. " " Every senator who voted against this legislation is telling the public loud and clear that he supports the barbaric, horrific practice of tearing limb from torso and poisoning to death five-month, seven-month, and even eight-month-old babies in the womb, " she said. |
| Americans have understandably voiced grave concerns about allowing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees into the country, especially since the terrorists who perpetrated the mass murders in Paris claimed the Islamic religion and since ISIS says it is embedding terrorists among the refugees — and the refugees from Syria are mostly Muslims from the same area of the world as the terrorists. What is mystifying to many Americans is the clear bias that President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and most of the American Left show in favoring Syrian refugees who are Muslims over those who are Christians. “Islam is not our adversary,” Clinton declared recently. “Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.” While it is demonstrably true that only a minority of Muslims commit these terrorist acts, it is also undeniable that all the terrorists claim to be part of the religion begun by the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the seventh century. Not any of these terrorists are either Christians, Jews, Hindus, or Buddhists. Responding to those who have advocated for more Christian refugees, Obama was particularly indignant, calling such a suggestion “shameful,” and adding, “We don’t have religious tests to our compassion.” On the contrary, religion has long been an important criteria in determining refugee status, both by the U.S. State Department and the United Nations. A refugee is defined as “someone who has fled from his or her home country and cannot return because he or she has a well-founded fear of persecution based on religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.” Certainly the case can be made that Middle-Eastern Christians, as a group, are targeted by ISIS and other hard-core Islamic terrorists more than any other group. (It is possible that Jews could also be particular targets, had they not largely abandoned the region years ago.) In Iraq, the ethnic Chaldeans and Assyrians (two groups that should be familiar to Bible students) have long been mostly Christian. Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Iraq told a press conference at the 2015 Knights of Columbus Convention in Philadelphia in August of the concerns of Christians. He was joined by a Syrian archbishop, Jean-Clement Jeanbart, and they quoted federal data which indicated that since October of last year, 906 Muslim refugees from Syria were granted U.S. visas, but only 28 of Syria’s estimated 700,000 Christian refugees obtained visas . |
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