| Professor Ljubivoje Stojanovic thinks that in the beginning, in the Serbian capital city, less than 40 percent of the students were interested in Religious Education, but this percentage has slowly increased. He is of the opinion that the work in the classroom would be much better if the teachers of Religious Education were previously given a chance to resolve their legal employment issues. Generally, the religious teachers would sign their contracts only for one year, and later they would need the blessing of their religious leaders in order to extend the contracts. In most cases there was no continuity in teaching process; teachers would often take turns, making it difficult for students to adjust. Professor Stojanovic " s proposal was that religious leaders make the lists of candidates, and that school authorities in open competitions decide which candidates they want to hire. In addition, his opinion was that female teachers were more successful than men. Director of the Belgrade elementary school “Petar Novak” Katarina Oklobdzija, confirmed the view that the personality of a teacher of religious education is a key to successful enrollment of students. As a positive example she presented the experience with Religious Education in her own school where a teacher influenced the number of children to choose this course, and the numbers are going up every year. Accusations of Traditional Churches against the Ministry of Education The Serbian Orthodox Church was astonished and indignant at the behavior of the Minister of Education of Serbia Gasa Knezevic, and appealed to the Serbian government to ensure the smooth introduction of religion into the teaching process in Serbian schools. In a statement to the public, the Information Service of the SOC said that the Holy Synod protested against all those in the Ministry of Education and in schools, who were abusing their official position. The Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church was “extremely upset with openly anti-democratic and illegal behavior of Minister of Education and a group of his close associates and assistants, as well as with number of directors from elementary and secondary schools”. The statement said that an organized struggle against religious and spiritual violence was committed against parents and children who wanted the Religious Education. The Synod was shocked because it all happened in spite of agreements in which representatives of the Serbian government participated, and against the basic democratic principle of equal status of religious education and civic upbringing. |
| “I still hope for an increasing proportion of those vaccinated,” says the scientist. “Maybe people, looking at their loved ones who get vaccinated and after that live more calmly, will begin to treat the vaccine warmer. We are now seeing an increase in the incidence in many regions of the United States, although the vaccination campaign there is quite successful and intensive, but nevertheless, for example, in Michigan, there is an increase in the number of infections associated with B.1.1.7. This does not mean that the vaccine does not work – it is just that vaccination is taking place against the background of the rapid spread of a new variant of the virus among unvaccinated people. In general, vaccination works in a race against the emergence and spread of new options. The faster humanity gets vaccinated, the less chances the virus will have to evolve further. Going and getting vaccinated are the simplest and most reliable things to do now.” What other strains are there? Many strains of COVID-19 have appeared, but the most famous, besides the British one, are South African and Brazilian. “How well vaccines protect against different variants of the virus is now being closely researched. The data available today show that protection against B.1.1.7 remains complete or nearly complete; against B.1.351 (South African) is apparently weakening somewhat; nothing is known about other options yet. Now both of these options are spreading in Russia, there are more cases of one, and less of the other. In terms of infectiousness they are comparable, and which of the strains “will win” is impossible to say yet. But it is important to understand that even incomplete protection is much better than none at all,” says Georgy Bazykin. In Russia, sequencing is very poorly established, that is, reading the genome of coronavirus. Therefore, there is no exact data on how and what strains are spreading in our country. “The most unpleasant thing is that in Russia there are no numbers in order to build a mathematical model and understand exactly how strains spread in our country,” Irina Yakutenko comments. “Having the problem of the lack of accurate data on the spread of new strains is bad. Because without numbers it is impossible to build an adequate protection policy. It is difficult to decide whether we are opening [places] or, conversely, closing.” |
| Flavius Josephus’ conflicting statements Furuli’s discussion of Flavius Josephus’ information about the NeoBabylonian chronology is not reliable because it is partially based on an obsolete text of Josephus’ works. He starts by quoting Josephus’ distorted figures for the NeoBabylonian reigns at Antiquities X, xi, l2: “Nabopolassar 29 years, Nebuchadnezzar 43 years, AmelMarduk 18 years, Neriglissar 40 years.” (p. 69) Furuli got these figures from William Winston’s antiquated translation of 1737, which was based on a text that is no longer accepted as the best textual witness. Had he consulted a modern translation of Josephus’ Antiquities, he would have discovered that Nabopolassar, at least, is correctly given 21–nor 29–years. (See, for example, Ralph Marcus’ translation in the Loeb Classical Library.) Furuli believes that Josephus mentions the wrong figure elsewhere. Still following Whiston’s obsolete translation, he states in footnote 90 on page 69: “In Against Apion, sect. 17 [error for I,19], Nabopolassar is ascribed 29 years, but this is a quote from Berossus. Josephus does not mention Nabopolassar and the length of his reign elsewhere.” This statement, too, is wrong. Against Apion 1,19, like Antiquities X, xi, l, assigns Nabopolassar 21 years, according to all modern textual editions of Against Apion. 604 At the end of page 69, Furuli quotes two widely separated sections from Against Apion. The first is taken from Against Apion I,19 (§§ 131,132), in which Josephus is referred to as saying that, according to Berossus, “[Nabopolassar] sent his son Nabuchodonosor with a large army to Egypt and to our country, on hearing that these people had revolted, and how he defeated them all, burnt the temple at Jerusalem, dislodged and transported our entire population to Babylon, with the result that the city lay desolate for seventy years until the time of Cyrus, king of Persia.” The remarkable thing about this statement is that it places the burning of the temple in the reign of Nabopolassar. But it actually took place 18 years later during the 18th year of his son and successor Nebuchadnezzar. The result is that Josephus, who here regards the 70 years as a period of desolation, starts the period in the last year of Nabopolassar (i.e., in 605 BCE). Furuli is quoting from Thackeray’s translation in the Loeb Classical library and, in a footnote at the bottom of the page, quotes Thackeray: “The burning of the temple, not mentioned in the extract which follows, is presumably interpolated by Josephus, and erroneously placed in the reign of Nabopolassar.” Clearly, Josephus’ application of the 70 years in this passage is based on a serious distortion of his sources. He seems to have confused events concerning Jerusalem in the last year of Nabopolassar’s reign with events in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. |
| On November 9, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights published a report entitled “Overview of Antisemitic Incidents Recorded in the European Union, 2010-2020.” According to the report, the COVID-19 pandemic has provoked a new surge in antisemitism . In October, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the European Jewish Association, said that the Jewish freedom of religion was under direct attack across Europe fr om the very institutions that had promised to protect the Jewish communities . At the same time, incidents of hate crime against Christians have soared in Europe. According to the OSCE report as of November 16, 2021, over the past year alone Christians fell victim to 980 attacks. There occurred arson attacks on Roman Catholic churches, Eucharistic hosts desecrations and robberies, assaults on priests; there appeared anti-Catholic graffiti on church property, written by abortion activists. The year 2019 saw fewer incidents, namely 595. There was a significant increase in the number of attacks against church property, from 459 in 2019 to 871 in 2020. Arson attacks on Roman Catholic churches took place in France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Religious hate crimes have also intensified in social media . Recently, Monsignor Janusz Urbaczyk, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the OSCE, has raised public awareness of these facts. Speaking at a plenary meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, he emphasised that crimes against Christians were no longer a marginal phenomenon, that, therefore, all states were called to combat discrimination against Christians, Jews, Muslims and representatives of other religions. The recent data indicates that Christian communities are largely falling victim to hate crimes and incidents motivated by anti-religious prejudices, even in the countries, wh ere Christians constitute the majority . Throughout the history of humankind, religion has been playing a significant role in the life of individuals, societies and civilizations. Widespread in the late 19th and early 20th century was an idea that religion would fall into natural decay and degenerate against the background of the advancing scientific rationality, technical progress and modernization of societies. From that point of view, religion was regarded as an outdated archaic form of human consciousness, associated with many misconceptions and prejudices, for which there would be no room left in a new, dynamically changing world. Such standpoint, largely based on contrasting science with religion, and the positivism paradigm with a special notion of progress, has to this day been significantly affecting the attitude towards religion. |
| His episcopal service was a path of the cross. Two years had not passed since the day of his consecration before he was already in exile in Archangelsk. Bishop Hilarion was away from Church life for a whole year. He continued his activity upon his return from exile. His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon took a close interest in him, and made him, along with Archbishop Seraphim (Alexandrov), his closest like-minded advisor. The Patriarch raised Bishop Hilarion to the rank of Archbishopimmediately upon his return from exile. His ecclesiastical activities began to broaden. He carried on serious talks with Tuchkov on the need to order life in the Russian Orthodox Church on the basis of canonical law, amidst the conditions present under the Soviet government; and he labored to restore ecclesiastical organization, composing a number of Patriarchal epistles. He became a threat to the renovationists, and was inseparable from Patriarch Tikhon in their eyes. On the evening of June 22/July 5, 1923, Vladyka Hilarion served an All-night Vigil for the feast of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God at the Sretensky Monastery, which had been taken over by the renovationists. Vladyka threw out the renovationists and re-consecrated the cathedral with the full rite of consecration, and thus returned the monastery to the Church. The next day, Patriarch Tikhon served in the monastery. The Divine Services lasted all day, not ending until 6:00 pm. Patriarch Tikhon appointed Archbishop Hilarion as Superior of Sretensky Monastery. The renovationist leader, Metropolitan Antonin (Granovsky), wrote against the Patriarch and Archbishop Hilarion with inexpressible hatred, accusing them unceremoniously as counter-revolutionaries. “Tikhonand Hilarion,” he wrote, “have produced ‘grace-filled,’ suffocating gases against the revolution, and the revolution has armed itself not only against the Tikhonites, but against the whole Church, as against a band of conspirators. Hilarion goes around sprinkling churches after the renovationists. He walks brazenly into these churches…. Tikhon and Hilarion are guilty before the revolution, vexers of the Church of God, and can offer no good deeds to excuse themselves.” |
| Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk: War against terrorism is a war in the spiritual field Source: DECR On November 20, 2015, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations (DECR), addressed the united session of the Federation Council and the State Duma devoted to problems involved in the struggle against terrorism. Please find below the full text of the address. Esteemed Participants in the Session, Brothers and Sisters: On behalf of His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and on behalf of the whole Russian Orthodox Church I would like once again to expressed deep, heartfelt and sincere condolences to all those who have lost their loved ones in the plane crash over the Sinai. War has been declared on Russia. It has been declared by a criminal terror grouping which names itself ‘Islamic State’ and which has been notorious for its monstrous evil deeds throughout the world. We must clearly realize that it is not a war of one religious confession against another. The very notion of ‘religious terrorism’ can only lead us astray. There is no religious terrorism whatsoever. Those who have unleashed this war do not deserve to be called the faithful. They are Satanists because they do the will of the Devil, bringing to people grief, death and destruction. They are cursed by both religious leaders of all confessions and ordinary people – believers and non-believers alike throughout the world. And the only way to cope with them is to destroy them systematically and purposefully, tracking them down wherever they are hiding and eliminating them collectively and individually, for each of them poses a threat to tens, hundreds and thousands of lives. The whole world community must unite in the struggle against terrorism. The events of recent weeks have pointed to the acute need to create without delay a real mechanism for opposing terrorism on the global level. Actions are needed, not words. And contradictions among states and differences on political issues should be sidelined. |
| The Pungesti villagers' struggle has been supported by hundreds of thousands of Romanians taking to the streets in cities across Romania and abroad since the end of August 2013 to protest against a cyanide mining project. Fighting fracking worldwide In the European context, Romania's decision to pursue hydraulic fracturing is inexplicable since other European countries, such as France, Germany and Bulgaria, have placed either bans or moratoriums on fracking. These countries have expressed concerns regarding the environmental consequences of fracking, brought to light by numerous scientific reports. A recent study by Duke University researchers, which analysed 141 water wells in north-eastern Pennsylvania, highlighted the fact that methane levels were around six times higher in the water wells closer to the drilling sites than those situated farther away, while ethane was 23 times higher. In high concentrations, methane can be explosive and deadly. Romanians are not the only people protesting against Chevron's fracking initiatives. Several other projects have been met with popular opposition. The Polish villagers of Zurawlow managed to block Chevron's intention to drill in 2012, by invoking a Polish law prohibiting activities on ground and air that disrupt birds' habits and habitats during the breeding season. In June 2013, Chevron returned to Zurawlow with security guards to install its equipment on a conceded territory. The locals recommenced their protests, by emphasising that the company had not obtained approval to build fences and that its authorisation to explore for shale gas in the area had been cancelled in June 2012. Chevron claimed that it has an exploration license. In November 2013, the company filed a civil lawsuit against the villagers claiming that they have been violating its lawful right to access the site. Like Romanians and Poles, Argentinians have also expressed their opposition to fracking. Ever since the Argentinian government reached an agreement with Chevron in July 2013, allowing it to drill more than 100 wells in the short-term and an additional 1,500 by 2017, massive numbers of Argentines have been demonstrating against fracking. In their opposition, they have had an important supporter, Pope Francis, who has met with Argentinian anti-fracking activists and held up T-shirts with their slogans. |
| And that some spirits incite to lust and wantonness the prophet maintains saying: The spirit of fornication deceived them and they went astray from their God. Hosea 4:12 In the same way the authority of Scripture teaches us that there are demons of the night and of the day and of the noonday: But it would take too long to search through the whole of Scripture and run through the different kinds of them, as they are termed by the prophets onocentaurs, satyrs, sirens, witches, howlers, ostriches, urchins; and asps and basilisks in the Psalms; and are called lions, dragons, scorpions in the gospel, and are named by the Apostle the prince of this world, rulers of this darkness, and spirits of wickedness. And all these names we ought not to take as given at random or hap-hazard, but as alluding to their fierceness and madness under the sign of those wild beasts which are more or less harmful and dangerous among us, and by comparing them to the poisonous wickedness or power which among other beasts or serpents, some pre-eminence in evil confers on them, they are called by their names, in such a way that to one is assigned the name of lion because of the fury of his rage and the madness of his anger, to another that of basilisk because of his deadly poison, which kills a person before it is perceived, and to another that of onocentaur or urchin or ostrich because of his sluggish malice. Chapter 33. A question as to the origin of such differences in powers of evil in the sky. Germanus: We certainly do not doubt that those orders which the Apostle enumerates refer to them: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against spirits of wickedness in heavenly places: Ephesians 6:12 but we want to know whence comes such a difference between them, or how such grades of wickedness exist? Were they created for this, to meet with these orders of evil, and in some way to serve this wickedness? Chapter 34. |
| According to rumours, DNA evidence would suggest that the bomber was from Afghanistan or Pakistan, which would back the government’s claim that “foreign hands” were involved in the incident. Appeals indicating more attacks against Coptic churches in Egypt and abroad appeared on some Islamist sites. Christmas and other days on the calendar were indicated as potential dates for attacks because of the presence of large numbers of worshippers. The attack against Alexandria’s Coptic community highlights the fate of Egyptian Christians who have to cope with daily discrimination and the rapid rise of Islamic fundamentalism in a country that once claimed to be secular and tolerant. Here is the analysis of the situation by Egyptian expert André Azzam. A few days after the terrible bomb attack on New Year’s Eve, against St Paul and St George Church (the Saints Church) in Alexandria, the whole country is still moved and deeply distressed. All over the country, everybody has been condemning this terrible attack, starting from the head of state, the ministers, the press, religious leaders from both sides and the common people, as well as foreign Embassies and expatriates working in Egypt. Many demonstrations have been organized every day in many places. In several universities, students demonstrated against terrorism. The same took place in many sporting clubs. Discussing the matter is commonplace in all streets and public gatherings. There is a general feeling, and hope, that this terrible incident should be the last straw that broke the camel’s back. It is not a mere incident, one more, in a long chain of attempts and discrimination against the Copts, Christian Egyptians, whose name actually means Egyptian. Many people on radio and TV expressed sympathy to Copts, since for ordinary Egyptians the attack is seen as an attempt to destroy Egypt from the inside. For the first time, we can hear radio speakers inviting all the Muslims to go to churches on Eastern Christmas on the eve of 7 January, to share the event with their Christian brothers and sisters and express to them their condolences for the death of more than 20 of them in this despicable attack. |
| Christian Groups Intensify Efforts Against U.N. Defamation Resolution October 14, 2010 A U.N. resolution that seeks to criminalize words and actions perceived as attacks against religion – particularly Islam – will be up for vote again this year. This time, however, the U.N. Defamation of Religions resolution is picking up more opposition than in previous years and might not pass as it has in the past. “The resolution lost support in the U.N. General Assembly vote during the last couple of years and we think this year may be the tipping point,” reported Christian persecution watchdog group Open Doors, which has launched a campaign to rally concerned individuals against the resolution. “We need to encourage key countries to change their vote on this resolution, supporting the efforts of our State Department,” it added. Annually sponsored by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) since 1999, the anti-defamation resolution – which has been presented in various forms and under various titles – seeks to make the " defamation of religions " a human rights violation. According to the resolution, the " defamation of religions and incitement to religious hatred in general could lead to social disharmony and violations of human rights. " It also claims there is a “need to effectively combat defamation of all religions and incitement to religious hatred in general and against Islam and Muslims in particular. " However, while supporters of the resolution insist that there is a need for the " defamation of religion " to be considered a human rights violation, critics of the resolution, including more than 180 non-government organizations, have warned that such a move could be manipulated to justify anti-blasphemy laws and intimidate human rights activists and religious dissenters. Instead of protecting adherents of religions, including those of religious minorities, the resolution protects religions themselves, critics say. Furthermore, the only religion mentioned in the text of the resolution is Islam. |
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