Pope Francis transfers a piece of the alleged manger of Christ to Bethlehem

As reported by M.K. of the Palestine News Agency Wafa, November 30, 2019:

BETHLEHEM – Christmas celebrations this year in the biblical city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank will have a different texture with the arrival in the city today of the relic of Christ’s crib.

The relic, kept at Santa Maria Maggiore church in Rome, was a gift to the Custody of the Holy Land from Pope Francis after President Mahmoud Abbas requested Pope Francis to return the relic to its original place, Bethlehem, where Christ was born.

The relic arrived yesterday at the Notre Dame in Jerusalem before it was moved to Bethlehem where it will be on display at St. Catherine Cathedral in the Nativity Church on the eve of the start of the Christmas celebration and where tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims are expected to arrive during this month.

Opening hours have been extended this year, and for the first time, at the Nativity Church to meet the accommodate the millions of pilgrims and tourists visiting the Palestinian city.

The Christmas tree will also be lit tonight at Manger Square in Bethlehem in ceremonies attended by Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and other officials and religious leaders.

As reported by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz of Breaking Israel News, November 29, 2019 (link in original):

The Vatican is transporting pieces of wood to Bethlehem that are claimed to be from the manger that held Jesus when he was born. Citing Bethlehem’s mayor, Anton Salman, WAFA News reported last Friday that the permanent transfer of the relic came as a result of a meeting between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Pope Francis. Salman said the relics were taken from Bethlehem around 1,000 years ago, and are now likely to be placed inside Saint Catherine’s Church, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity in Manger Square, the reputed site of Jesus’s birth. The relics are expected to be displayed in ceremonies in Jerusalem on Friday and will arrive in Bethlehem on Saturday, the day the Palestinian town traditionally lights its Manger Square Christmas tree.

The relic, known as the Holy Crib, was donated by St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem to Pope Theodore I (642-649 CE). It is currently in Rome stored and displayed in an ornate container constructed by Virginio Vespignani in the mid 19th century. It was displayed in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

“It is a historic move. It returns to its original place, and it will be a factor of attraction to believers from inside Palestine and to tourists from all over the world,” Amira Hanania, a member of Abbas’s Higher Committee of Churches Affairs, said to the press. “To celebrate Christmas with the presence of part of the manger in which Jesus Christ was born will be a magnificent and huge event.”

The Palestinian Authority, currently charged with administering the city, hopes the appearance of the relic will generate an uptick in Christian tourism. The city suffers from twenty percent unemployment and seasonal tourism is a major part of its income. Tourism has been on the decline, mirroring the decline in the Christian population of the city. Ironically, the Christian mayor of Bethlehem blames the “Israeli occupation.” When the city was under Israeli rule in the 1950’s, Christians represented 80 percent of the population. Christians are currently 12 percent of Bethlehem’s population. It should be noted that Israel is the only country in the region in which Christian populations are growing. In every other country in the region, Christians are the focus of Muslim persecution.

The gesture by the Vatican raises the question of many other artifacts from the holy land possessed by the Vatican and museums around the world that originated in Jerusalem.

Mayor of Norwegian municipality asks church to replace Star of David with Christmas star

As reported by Cnaan Liphshiz of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 29, 2019 (link in original):

A Norwegian mayor asked a church to replace its traditional Star of David Christmas decoration due to complaints that it’s too associated with Israel and Jews.

Strand Mayor Irene Heng Lauvsnes asked the Klippen Pentecostal church, which lights a large Star of David neon decoration in a municipal park where it holds a Christmas celebration, to replace the symbol with a “traditional Christmas star,” the Strandbuen newspaper reported Wednesday.

The unnamed critics said the church “designed [the decoration] as a Star of David, a national symbol both for the Jews and for the State of Israel” and “therefore does not fit in the public space” in Strand.

The church is considering the request as it does “not want to provoke in any way,” its representative told Strandbuen.

The use of the Star of David in Christmas decorations is common throughout Northern Europe.

The municipality’s intervention provoked anger, including by the editor in chief of the Dagen daily, Vebjorn Selbekk.

“Municipal Christmas bureaucrats obviously do not want a Jewish or Israeli mark on their Christmas. Then we almost have to remind them of some key facts about why we celebrate Christmas at all,” Selbekk wrote in a column titled “merry Jew-free Christmas,” adding “That holiday is marked by the fact that a Jewish boy was born to a Jewish mother in a Jewish stable in a Jewish city in a Jewish country.”

The park must remain “neutral,” especially in light of the controversy, Lauvsnes told Aftenbladet.

The Star of David, aka Shield of David, aka Mogen David, has an interesting history, and has not always been an exclusively Jewish symbol.

Click on the link to see the original article in Norwegian from the Strandbuen, Menighet justerer stjerne etter negative reaksjoner.

Backlog: South Korea's constitutional court lifts country's abortion ban

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: Deuteronomy 30:19

As reported by Nicola Smith of the London Daily Telegraph, April 11, 2019:

South Korea’s constitutional court ruled to lift the country’s 66-year-old ban on abortion on Thursday, in a landmark decision that will decriminalise the medical procedure by the end of 2020.

Seven out of nine judges declared that the current penalising of abortion was “unconstitutional” and ordered parliament to revise the 1953 law.

"(The current law) limits the pregnant woman's right to choose freely, which is against the principle that an infringement on a person's right must be kept to the minimum," said the judgement, according to the Yonhap news agency.

The watershed moment comes as the East Asian nation faces a growing, and unprecedented, women's rights movement inspired by the global #MeToo campaign and revolting against the patriarchal values underpinning South Korean society.

South Korea, Asia’s fourth largest economy, is one of the few industrialised nations where the procedure is illegal except in cases of rape, incest and when the mother faces serious health risks.

Women caught going ahead with abortions can face a prison sentence of one year and a fine of £1,340, while medical workers who help terminate a pregnancy can be jailed for up to two years.

Although prosecutions are rare, pro-abortion activists argue that the fear of jail time leaves women in a vulnerable position – unable to pay their medical bills or seek follow-up treatment.

Pro and anti-abortion activists gathered on opposite sides of the road outside the Seoul court awaiting the judgement, with one side letting out a cheer as the announcement was made.

The issue has deeply divided South Korea’s conservative society. A 2017 opinion poll showed a narrow public majority – 51.9 per cent – in favour of abolishing the ban.

However, a survey this year by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs found that three quarters of women aged 15 to 44 regarded the law as unfair.

Thursday’s ruling came in response to a 2017 complaint filed by an obstetrician standing trial for performing almost 70 abortions.

The court last upheld the ban in 2012, arguing that abortion would “end up running rampant” if punishments were abolished.

However, seven years later, six of the nine judges had been appointed by Moon Jae-in, the liberal-leaning president.

Ryu Min-hee, one of the counsels on the constitutional court case, told AFP that as long as women could not make their own choices about pregnancy and parenthood, the country “won’t be able to establish an equal society in its true sense.”

Barcelona's nativity scene attracts criticism

As reported by The Local (Spain), November 29, 2019:

(photo)

You know the Christmas season is here when social media becomes awash with criticism for Barcelona’s Belen – the Nativity scene installed by City Hall in the Plaça Sant Jaume.

Continuing a tradition that began when Ada Colau became mayor five years ago, the Nativity scene unveiled on Friday immediately divided opinions and left many scratching their heads as to the meaning it was supposed to convey.

This year’s offering may at first glance appear not to have been unpacked properly as the figures one expects to find in a traditional depiction of the Christmas story all appear in old wooden storage boxes.

Baby Jesus in his crib takes pride of place in the centre ( in a wooden crate) and piled in boxes around him it is possible to spot Mary, Joseph, the odd farm animal, visiting shepherds, a wise man astride a camel and even an angle.

So the elements are there.

But the characters are joined by other boxes containing the detritus of Christmas; a poinsettia, boxed up baubles, a turkey roasting in a tin, tangles of tinsel and a Christmas hamper.

“When I think of the nativity scene, what comes to mind is Christmases spent living at my parents' house. For me, the most notable thing was not setting up the scene, arranging the elements of the stable on a table and placing the figurines around the manger, but rather all the previous preparation that led up to it,” said artist Paula Bosch explaining her inspiration for the installation.

“It started with a visit to the attic and rummaging through all the storage boxes.”

But although her reference is clear, her artistry hasn’t been appreciated by everyone.

“Instead of a nativity scene, it looks like a storage room,” said one detractor on Twitter.

Another joked that Ada Colau had set up a new ‘Punto Limpia’ in Plaça Sant Jaume. “You can take your old tat to throw away and recycle”.

Someone else said it looked “like a rummage sale”, while another said it was like a “kitsch stall at a flea market”.

Another cleverly announced that it was Black Friday in Plaça Sant Jaume - meaning everything was going cheap.

Josep Bou Vila, a city councillor for the conservative PP branded it "a disgrace" and pointed out that the installation that cost €97,000 looked like a recycling dump.

In 2016, the elements of the traditional stable scene were placed individually in their own snow globe, including a cow on skis emblazed with the Catalan flag.

The following year, in 2017, the scene was represented by white cardboard cutouts on stilts.



Even more bizarre was the effort in 2018 when giant chairs set around a Christmas table represented the holy figures.

United Nations gives preliminary approval to resolution referring to Jerusalem only by its Muslim name

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it...
...In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem...
... In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:2-3, 6, 8-9

What arguably is the world's most corrupt organization continues its obsession with singling out Israel for criticism; as reported by Tovah Lazaroff in The Jerusalem Post, November 18, 2019 (link in original):

The UN gave its preliminary approval to a resolution that referred to the Temple Mount solely by its Muslim name of Haram al-Sharif.

The resolution passed at the UN’s Fourth Committee in New York 154-8, with 14 abstentions and 17 absences. It was one of eight pro-Palestinian resolutions approved on Friday, out of a slate of more than 15 such texts the committee is expected to approve. The UN General Assembly will take a final vote on the texts in December.

Ben Bourgel, the Israeli political coordinator at the UN mission in New York, pushed the committee on the issue of Jerusalem, asking why it was so difficult for UN member states to use the phrase Temple Mount.

“Is it acceptable in this committee’s view that in the resolutions presented it is inconceivable to add the phrase ‘Temple Mount?’” Bourgel asked.

His remarks referenced the resolution entitled, “Enforcing Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem.”

That text states that the UN is “gravely concerned by the tensions and violence in the recent period throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including east Jerusalem and including with regard to the holy places of Jerusalem, including the Haram al-Sharif.”

The resolution makes no mention of the Jewish name for the area, the Temple Mount, which is Judaism’s holiest site, and Islam’s third holiest site.

Israel in the last five years has fought a pitched and very public battle against such language at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) based in Paris. In the last two few years, what had been known as the Jerusalem resolution has been neutralized, in an effort to tone down politicization at UNESCO.

But scant attention has been paid to similarly worded texts in annual anti-Israel resolutions in New York. Unlike at UNESCO, the text did mention the connection between Jerusalem and the three monotheistic religions, but did not link that connection specifically to the Old City or to its Temple Mount.

The resolution reaffirmed “the special significance of the holy sites and the importance of the City of Jerusalem for the three monotheistic religions.”

The US and Israel voted against the resolution and the other seven, the only two countries to vote against all eight texts. They were joined in their opposition to the Jerusalem text by Australia, Canada, Guatemala, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Nauru.

All 28 European Union member states supported this resolution, along with six others. But a Finnish representative, who spoke to the Fourth Committee on behalf of the EU, said it disagreed with attempts by Arab states to solely reference the Temple Mount by its Muslim name of Haram al-Sharif.

New language linking Jerusalem with the three monotheistic religions is welcome, but the text had not gone far enough in underscoring that connection, the Finnish representative said.

“The EU understands the language on the holy sites of Jerusalem as reflecting the importance and historical significance of both the city of Jerusalem and the holy sites for three monotheistic religions,” the representative said. “The EU stresses the need for language on terminology that reflects respect for religious and cultural sensitivities. The future choice of language may affect the EU’s collective support for this resolution.”

Out of the eight approved resolutions, three involved the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees. This included a resolution to extended UNRWA’s mandate by three years.

A fourth resolution to ensure the protection of Palestine refugees’ properties and their revenues within sovereign Israel passed 162-6, with nine abstentions. The text reaffirmed that “Palestine refugees are entitled to their property and to the income derived therefrom, in conformity with the principles of equity and justice.” The text also asked the UN to protect “Arab property, assets and property rights in Israel.”

A NUMBER of the resolutions took issue with past and future Israeli attempts to annex territory over the pre-1967 lines.

“The occupation of a territory is to be a temporary, de facto situation, whereby the occupying power can neither claim possession nor exert its sovereignty over the territory it occupies,” a resolution stated. That same resolution recalled “the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of land by force and therefore the illegality of the annexation of any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” It also expressed “grave concern at recent statements calling for the annexation by Israel of areas in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

Some of the resolutions condemned Israeli actions in Gaza. In one instance, a line was added condemning Palestinian rocket attacks without pointing at either Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

A resolution on the Golan Heights took Israel to task for its annexation of that territory, which it captured from Syria after being attacked in the 1967 Six Day War.

“Reaffirming once more the illegality of the decision of 14 December 1981 taken by Israel to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan, which has resulted in the effective annexation of that territory,” it said. The resolution was approved 155-2, with 19 abstentions. Prior to the vote, Brazil explained its abstention, explaining that the text was unbalanced in that it only referred to Israel actions and did not also address Syrian violations.

Acting US Deputy Representative to the United Nations Cherith Norman Chalet told the Fourth Committee it opposed the “annual submission of more than a dozen resolutions biased against Israel. This one-sided approach only undermines trust between the parties, and fails to create the kind of positive international environment critical to achieving peace.

“We are disappointed that despite support for reform, member states continue to disproportionately single out Israel through these types of resolutions,” she said. “It is deplorable that the United Nations – an institution founded upon the idea that all nations should be treated equally – should be so often used by member states to treat one state in particular, Israel, unequally.

“As the United States has repeatedly made clear, this dynamic is unacceptable,” Chalet continued. “We see resolutions that are quick to condemn all manner of Israeli actions, but say nothing or almost nothing about terrorist attacks against innocent civilians. And so the United States will once again vote against these one-sided resolutions and encourages other nations to do so.”

Bolivia to renew diplomatic relations with Israel

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: Genesis 12:3a

As reported by Marcy Oster of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 28, 2019:

JERUSALEM — Bolivia will renew diplomatic ties with Israel, a decade after it broke off relations with Israel over its 2008 Operation Cast Lead against Gaza.

Bolivian Foreign Minister Karen Longaric made the announcement on Thursday.

She told reporters that the decision to renew relations was made “out of respect for the sovereignty of the state, cordiality and that relations could lead to positive aspects for both sides and contribute to Bolivian tourism.”

In 2010, then-President Evo Morales formally recognized Palestine as an independent and sovereign state within the 1967 borders.

Morales resigned earlier this month and sought asylum in Mexico following a disputed national election.

See also my posts:

South Africa downgrades its embassy in Israel to a liaison office (January 2, 2018)

Israel pursues [diplomatic] relations with U.S. Virgin [Islands] (August 8, 2018)

Israel to resume diplomatic relations with Chad, while seeking relations with Bahrain and Oman (December 2, 2018)

Israel renews diplomatic relations with Chad; Mali may be next (January 23, 2019)

Earth Church holds services in Colorado

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Romans 1:20-23

More evidence for why Mad magazine will no longer be publishing new material; as reported by Seth Boster of the Colorado Springs Gazette, August 25, 2019:

A strange sound drifts from the gazebo in Manitou Springs’ Memorial Park.

Shaunti Lally (Shaun, as he was known in a previous life) sits cross-legged in a circle with 16 others, stirring an empty crystal bowl. Deep vibrations bounce off sternums, filling ears, almost drowning out the steady trickle of a natural spring, of bird songs, of highway traffic above.

Long-haired with a long frame that recalls his basketball-playing days at Manitou High, Lally speaks.

“Imagine this energy we’re cultivating together ... expanding outward across the country ... expanding beyond all borders ... this radiant light across the oceans ... and so too does it pick up momentum with all others who are in prayer at this time ...”

His eyes are closed until they open — bright blues that roam the circle. Some are decades older than Lally, some much younger, babies of meditating mothers.

“I’m so thankful to everyone who came here today,” Lally says with a grin. “Welcome.”

Welcome to Earth Church.

“Sound bathing” starts things off every Sunday, followed by thanks to nature in song and sermon, followed by a vegan potluck and dancing. This has no semblance to “church” as the people here have known it. And that’s the point.

“This is a collaborative space,” Lally tells today’s group. This is not organized religion, he says, “where someone speaks to you and expects you to take their word as truth.”

Lally, 37, speaks today. About the colonial legacy that “was very effective in turning us on each other.” About threats of deforestation in the Amazon. About ideas to build a telescope on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano, sparking the same protesters as at the Dakota Access Pipeline. About the native legacy sadly forgotten.

But anyone is free to speak here, Lally says. Others have filled in when he’s been away at music festivals, for example — such as Ki (formerly Kyle) Sha, who met Lally in a Manitou drum circle last fall and helped with that first Earth Church gathering the Sunday before Earth Day. It was to be a kumbaya for a planet in peril.

Onlookers might have dismissed another hippie upstart in Colorado Springs’ hippie central.

“Everyone’s on their own path, and it is sad to see people judge,” Sha says. “But we can’t judge them back. The only thing we can do is love, and hopefully they see the light in us.”

Like him, another Earth Church collaborator grew up Christian. Abigail (toying with Abi) Lyons is the daughter of an Indiana pastor. She came to Colorado in 2012 for cannabis and has missed one aspect of church.

“The community was like everything to me, like my family,” she says. “Leaving that, it was like, ‘Ahh, I wish I could just keep that part without the doctrine that I’m not quite clear on.’”

Earth Church, she says beside her 2-year-old, “is what I’ve wanted for myself and my son for a while.”

And it’s what Lally has wanted for a while. He says he’s always been “spiritually curious,” as was written in his stars.

“I’m a double (Sagittarius),” he says. “I was a couple of hours from triple. Someone told me triple Sagittarius are cult leaders.”

Is that was this is?

“I think every cult that I’ve heard of requires members to give up personal attachments. This is a noncommittal, no pressure, guilt-free, shame-free zone. I don’t want to ever make someone feel pressured to be here. I don’t want to make someone feel like they’re being coerced or required to do something that’s not within their own guidance or constitution.”

Pagan is another label he avoids.

“I believe there’s truth in all teachings. ... The only real requirement here is that we unify, and that we’re never talking in terms of us and them. It’s we. And let’s be humble to the mystery, and let’s realize no one really knows the full picture.”

That’s thinking gained along his winding path from Manitou and back. Out of high school in 2000, his head shaved, his pants baggy, he was partying and rapping. Lally wanted something more. He recalls a shift one night as a kegger raged while he sat at a piano in a side room.

“Someone rushed in,” he says. “’There’s a fight!’”

He says he tried to break it up, resulting in what looked like a brick bashing his head. When he came home from the hospital, his friends were ready to find the guy.

“I was like: No,” Lally says. “This ends now.”

Soon he moved to Denver, where he knew nobody, growing his hair out as he pursued a degree in sociology. After five years, he moved to study transformative leadership at the California Institute of Integral Studies, but not before seeing some of the world.

Nepal was part of a six-month odyssey. Lally learned to meditate there, living in a poor village where he didn’t feel like a stranger. Everywhere, people greeted him with “Namaste.”

It was weird back home.

“Westerners were just so ugly to me for a while,” Lally says. “I was like, ‘Dang it, I wanna look at you! I wanna connect, and you’re ignoring me, and why?’ And I feel so invisible and isolated and depressed, and why?”

But he connects here at Earth Church, at one point in his sermon mentioning Namaste.

“This is just to say hello, just to acknowledge you as a person and to recognize the light in you,” he says. “This way of thinking has dramatic results.”

Parliament of the World's Religions advances its syncretistic agenda in Toledo under the guise of "compassion"

Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Amos 3:3

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. II Corinthians 6:14-18

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Revelation 18:1-5

This might be a companion to the post below, and shows the extent of the tentacles of the religion of the end times. As reported by Nicki Gorny of the Toledo Blade, November 1, 2019 (bold, links in original):

The 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto drew 8,324 individuals from 81 countries, collectively representing 118 different spiritual and secular traditions. In a week’s worth of varied programming, they gathered together to pursue “understanding, reconciliation, and change,” in line with the parliament objectives.

“It was stunning,” said Judy Trautman, one of a handful of locals who participated. “They’re all there together, celebrating peace and harmony and working for the betterment of our planet and our communities. That’s so uplifting.”

Toledoans will experience a taste of that atmosphere beginning Sunday, when the MultiFaith Council of Northwest Ohio opens the Parliament of Northwest Ohio Religions at Warren AME Church. It’s a smaller-scale meeting of hearts and minds that unfolds at various venues through Thursday, according to Ms. Trautman, who’s the co-founder of the MultiFaith Council. Local Christians, Buddhists, Baha'is, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and Sikhs are set to participate, reflecting in daily programming on the theme: “What is my Piece of Peace?”

The Parliament of Northwest Ohio Religions is organized in line with the fifth anniversary of the region’s designation as a Compassionate Community, a title that was formalized when local government officials signed the Charter for Compassion on April 25, 2014. It also comes in the same year that the Greater Toledo Compassionate Community set a new record in what’s perhaps the most visible manifestation of compassion.

The Compassion Games quantify global compassion annually, putting a metric on elements like volunteer hours and numbers of individual served in a weeklong recording period, as reported by each of the organizations or communities that participate around the world.

Compassionate Toledo was “off the charts this year,” Compassion Games co-founder Sommer Joy Ramer said, recording 6,451 volunteers, 125,972 hours served, 1,536,165 people served and $171,550 raised in the recording period between Sept. 11-22.

“This is way more than any team has reported around the world,” she said.

Ms. Trautman is proud to say that’s just a week like any other in northwest Ohio.

“It isn’t really counting anything extraordinary or invented for the games,” Ms. Trautman said. “It’s indicative that we do a lot.”

Compassionate Toledo

When then-Mayor Michael D. Collins, along with other local officials, signed onto the Charter for Compassion in 2014, Toledo and northwest Ohio became the 39th city and first region to do so — a relatively earlier adoptee among the more than 400 communities to have signed as of this year, according to Marilyn Turkovich, who is the executive director of the nonprofit organization behind the document of the same name.

The Charter for Compassion itself was unveiled in 2009, a document envisioned in a 2008 TED Talk that won that year’s TED Prize. In her impactful presentation earlier, Karen Armstrong, a scholar of religions, had traced a core value of compassion through all religious traditions.

“It was really seminal in that she as a scholar of religions concludes that at the core of all religions and philosophical thought through the years has been compassion and the Golden Rule,” said Ms. Trautman, an admirer of Ms. Armstrong. “In the face of all the discord, which was already happening then and now has just gotten worse, she called upon religious leaders of all types to send ideas for a Charter for Compassion.”

Initially individuals and organizations showed their support by signing onto the charter. When civic leaders in Seattle affirmed the charter in 2010, a precedent was set for Compassionate Communities.

A Compassionate Community looks different from community to community, in that those involved in the movement look specifically at the needs surrounding them, Ms. Turkovich said. In India, for example, a focus might be water conservation and sanitation. She was speaking from Austin, Texas, where she was helping in an effort addressing homelessness.

“Toledo was one of the first efforts in the U.S., and it’s been very, very consistent in the work that it’s doing,” Ms. Turkovich said. “It’s very concerned with promoting dialogue between people, having those difficult conversations that are essential for a community to work together.”

The MultiFaith Council has taken up Compassionate Toledo as a major initiative, working toward its goals and values in numerous ways aside from the annual Compassion Games. After an initial convention in 2014, in which organizers brought together many of the city’s nonprofits and aid organizations, they’ve been organizing forums on various themes each year.

Ms. Trautman said another objective is to tell the untold stories of compassion, as they do through the Heroes of Compassion that they recognize each year at the MultiFaith Banquet. Honorees are added to a plaque that’s housed with the Lucas County Commissioners.

“I’m really proud of our community,” Ms. Trautman said. “Yeah, we have our warts and we have our problems. But I think communities like ours can be a comfort in a world where the main news is so horrible. The quiet folks are still here, and they’re quietly doing the work of compassion in their local communities. We must not forget that.”

Parliament in Ohio

To recognize the five-year anniversary of Compassionate Toledo with a Parliament of Northwest Ohio feels appropriate to Tarunjit Singh Butalia, who’s set to be one of the keynote speakers at the opening ceremony on Sunday.

Mr. Butalia, of Columbus, the executive director of Religions for Peace USA.

The first-ever Parliament of the World’s Religions took place in Chicago in 1893, he pointed out, in line with the Chicago World’s Fair. So representatives from the East Coast would have traveled through northern Ohio to attend, in some cases stopping en route to lecture in Cleveland.

There’s also a rich history of religion in Toledo, which, for example, is the site of the first mosque to be constructed in the traditional Islamic style in the country. That’s the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo in Perrysburg. Ms. Trautman, for her part, credits the region with an impressive diversity of religious traditions and an admirable engagement among them.

The Parliament of Northwest Ohio Religions opens with an opening ceremony and compassion forum at Warren AME Church, 915 Collingwood Blvd., beginning at 5 p.m. Sunday. It continues with luncheons and evening programs each day through Thursday.

Noon luncheons are at First Congregational Church, 2315 Collingwood Blvd., on Monday; Hindu Temple of Toledo, 4336 King Rd., Sylvania, on Tuesday, Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, 25877 Scheider Rd., Perrysburg, on Wednesday and Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, 2535 Collingwood Blvd., on Thursday.

Evening programs are a Universal Worship Service at Zoar Lutheran Church, 314 E. Indiana Ave., Perrysburg, at 6 p.m. Monday; Sacred Music Concert at the Lourdes University Franciscan Center, 6832 Convent Blvd., Sylvania, at 7 p.m. Tuesday; Forum on Becoming a Disability-Friendly City at First Unitarian Church of Toledo, 3205 Glendale Ave., at 7 p.m. Wednesday; and Food Sufficiency Forum and Re-Commitment Ceremony at Epworth United Methodist Church, 4855 W. Central Ave., at 7 p.m. Thursday.

For a full schedule of events, including registration information, go to multifaithcouncil.org. Cost of registration varies for each event.

In advance of the opening ceremony, Mr. Butalia reflected on the theme of the parliament, “What is my Piece of Peace?”

“As my perspective is to be a person of faith, or to be a religious person, you have to be compassionate,” he said. “That is the foundational ethical norm for peacemaking.”

Compassion doesn’t entail agreement with another point of view, he said, but it does require a person to empathize with others, a point that becomes especially important in religious communities in conflict. People of faith are called to be righteous, he said, but should be wary of self-righteousness that prevents them from recognizing the humanity in others.

“Compassion is what we need as people of faith, and compassion with people we disagree with, in particular,” he said. “It comes back to compassion.”

As far as "compassion" is concerned, when Mary anointed the Lord Jesus Christ with expensive perfume (John 12:3-8), Judas Iscariot protested that the perfume could have been sold, and the proceeds given to the poor. An ignorant bystander would likely have concluded that Judas Iscariot had greater compassion and social concern than the Lord Himself. The attempt to quantify "compassion" by recording the number of hours spent in community service reminds this blogger of Peter Drucker's three-legged stool of communitarianism, with charities and churches combining with business and government to govern society. See my post The Rock Church in San Diego (Carrie Prejean's church): First Church of Christ, Druckerist (May 8, 2009).

Another thing: where is that "core value of compassion through all religious traditions" when it comes to Islam's treatment of non-Muslims?

See also my posts:

125 years ago: The World's Parliament of Religions opens in Chicago (September 11, 2018)

Indigenous spirituality takes centre stage at the Parliament of World Religions in Toronto (November 5, 2018)

Muslims, Reform Jews, and liberal "Christians" build Tri-Faith Center in Omaha

Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Amos 3:3

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. II Corinthians 6:14-18

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Revelation 18:1-5

The religious situation during the last days prior to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ continues to take shape, right on schedule--God's schedule, that is. The "Christian" church mentioned in the following article is affiliated with the extremely liberal and apostate United Church of Christ, mixing theological liberalism with contemplative spirituality.

As reported by Sierra Karst of the Omaha World-Herald, November 16, 2019 (links in original):

As the clock ticked toward noon, a smattering of people — from elderly couples to casually dressed young adults — congregated around a dust-blown construction site.

Enter Wendy Goldberg, interim executive director of the Tri-Faith Initiative, wielding a handful of colorful markers.

“Let’s shake up the pens and get it going,” she said.

The pens were for members of the initiative’s three congregations to sign a black beam that will be installed in the new Tri-Faith Center near 132nd and Pacific Streets.

Board members from the American Muslim Institute, Countryside Community Church and Temple Israel had signed the beam Friday night, and, when community members were done signing Saturday, the beam held more than 130 names.

The center will be the only completely shared building on Tri-Faith’s 35-acre plot. Plans for an interactive exhibit, a reflection room overlooking the entire campus and a tri-paneled front wall will celebrate the initiative as a whole.

The church, mosque and temple are already built and occupied, and the new center will be done in June, Goldberg said.

The initiative places Islamic, Jewish and Christian houses of worship on literal common ground to connect the congregations physically and socially. The goal is to encourage empathy, understanding and shared effort among the three faith’s members.

A larger multipurpose room and grand, bleacherlike staircase will allow for events such as educational presentations and weddings. Office spaces and a dual-use catering and teaching kitchen will allow Tri-Faith staff to gather and talk together, Goldberg said.

It’s been 13 years since the initiative was first incorporated as a nonprofit and started looking for available land. Goldberg called it “a slow-baked experience.”

“I believe that our mission moving forward is about deepening relationships and building trust,” she said. “Less focused on bricks and mortar.”

For the Rev. Chris Alexander of Countryside, the new center will be perfect for growing friendships with the initiative’s other faith partners.

As a participant in the initiative, Alexander said, she has discussed everything from what to name her church’s coffee drinks to how to deal with troublesome scriptures with her Jewish and Muslim counterparts, who have become friends.

“We wouldn’t just naturally come together and have a cup of coffee if we were 6 miles apart,” she said. “We interact in ways we never did before, and with this (new building), it’ll just expand that.”

For families like Cary and Rashid Mohiuddin and their two children, the Tri-Faith Initiative is about more than faith.

Raised Catholic and married to a Muslim man, Cary Mohiuddin said she loves attending educational Islam classes at the mosque. The community, with its accepting atmosphere and close relationships, is like a piece of utopia right here in Omaha, she said.

“To be able to build a fourth building devoted to all of the faiths under Abraham’s tent is very special,” she said. “It’s a great example of what humans are capable of if we keep love in mind.”

In light of the 85 headstones recently vandalized at the cemetery on North 42nd Street owned by Temple Israel, Goldberg spoke of the shared American value of religious freedom.

“The more that we come together for experiments like the Tri-Faith Initiative and hear the narratives of the religious other,” she said, “the less fear will fill that narrative and the more opportunities we have to believe that we were all created in the image of God.”

Ms. Goldberg is the interim director of the Tri-Faith Center because the liberal United Methodist minister who was hired in 2018 as the Center's director is on leave while facing accusations of sexual misconduct. As reported by Christopher Burbach of the Omaha World-Herald, October 18, 2019 (links in original):

The former executive director of Omaha’s Tri-Faith Initiative, the Rev. Donald “Bud” Heckman, has been suspended from ministry by the United Methodist Church over accusations of sexual harassment and domestic abuse.

Four women filed complaints about Heckman’s behavior toward them between 2011 and 2015, according to a United Methodist News Service article. One of them was Heckman’s ex-wife. The other three were connected to interfaith ministry, a field in which Heckman is nationally prominent.

Heckman did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Friday.

The dates of the alleged misconduct were before Heckman’s time as executive director of the Tri-Faith Initiative, a partnership among Temple Israel, the American Muslim Institute and Countryside Community Church on a single campus in west Omaha.

Heckman was the organization’s executive director from March 2018 to February 2019. Heckman was placed on leave when the initiative’s board learned of an allegation, and the organization severed ties with Heckman “as soon as we confirmed that there was some validity to the allegations,” said Wendy Goldberg, the initiative’s interim executive director.

“It was important that we act responsibly in putting the mission of the initiative ahead of any individual,” she said Friday.

Asked if there had been any complaints against Heckman at the initiative, Goldberg said, “None that we’re aware of.”

The organization released a statement that said, “The Tri-Faith Initiative is committed to providing an environment free of discriminatory intimidation or harassment. In keeping with this commitment, we maintain a strict policy prohibiting harassment in any form, including verbal, physical and visual harassment.”

The United Methodist News Service reported that the denomination’s West Ohio Conference confirmed that Heckman was suspended from active ministry. He could face a church trial in December.

The four women filed formal complaints after 15 women had raised allegations of harassment or domestic abuse against Heckman, according to the News Service.

And now for something completely different: Church of England vicar bars yoga from his church

At least one clergyman in the Church of England is able to recognize that yoga is a Hindu practice, and has no place in an ostensibly Christian church. As reported by the London Daily Telegraph, November 6, 2019:

A yoga teacher has been barred from using a church hall for her classes after a clergyman claimed the practice was not "compatible" with Christianity.

Atsuko Kato, 54, has run sessions at a range of venues for 25 years, building up a client base across Devon.

But when she looked for new venues to host classes in Barnstaple she was rejected from hiring a church hall in the village of Pilton due to religious reasons.

Reverend Nigel Dilkes said St Mary's Church could not accommodate Ms Kato because the activity was not "compatible with the Christian faith".

Yoga originated in northern India and has connections to both Hinduism and Buddhism. Ms Kato said the reverend's stance was "outdated", and pointed out that a female vicar was among her students.

She said: "They asked me what I wanted to hire it for and I said to teach a yoga class.

"They said they can not tolerate it if it was for yoga and claimed yoga was not suitable for a church.

"They said they weren't allowed to host yoga classes because they were a church and it was not compatible with Christian beliefs. No other explanation, that was it.

"In one of my classes I have a female vicar and they don't seem to have concerns, so I struggle to understand what the problem is.

"I was very surprised by this attitude, yoga is so mainstream now."

Reverend Dilkes said the church hall was solely to be used for activities deemed compatible with the Christian faith, and encouraged pilates to be practiced as an alternative.

He said: "The test of this is whether a belief or world view underpinning the activity acknowledges that there is only one God and that the New Testament person of Jesus Christ is God himself.

"Yoga is one of several activities that claims to confer physical benefits for flexibility and balance but also claims a spiritual connection which doesn't stand this test.

"So we say why not enjoy, for example, pilates instead. We would welcome pilates classes to our church hall."

It's not surprising that a female "vicar" would have no concerns about a Hindu practice. I don't know about pilates, but I've noticed a difference of opinion as to whether it includes New Age teaching. For more information, search Lighthouse Trails Research Project and Kjos Ministries, as well as the book Yoga & the Body of Christ by Dave Hunt (2006).

Reports of witchcraft child abuse in England have risen by one-third in the last two years

As you read the following article, you must, of course keep repeating the mantra, "Diversity is strength." As reported by Gabriella Swerling of the London Daily Telegraph, November 14, 2019:

Witchcraft child abuse cases have risen by a third in two years, as experts blame “cultural sensitivity” and “political correctness” as barriers to protecting children.

Abuse of children based on faith or belief – which includes witchcraft, spirit possession and black magic – increased from 1,460 to 1,950 cases between 2016/17 and 2018/19.

This marks an increase of 34 per cent, with councils dealing with the equivalent of 38 such cases a week.

The figures, published today by the Local Government Association (LGA) also show that the number of children identified by councils through a social work assessment as either having or being at risk of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has reached a record high – with 1,000 such cases in 2018/19, up 6 per cent on the 940 cases in the previous year.

This comes after a trial at the Old Bailey earlier this year which saw a woman who mutilated her three-year-old daughter become the first person in the UK to be found guilty of FGM.

Responding to the figures, Nimco Ali OBE, co-founder and CEO of The Five Foundation, the global partnership to end FGM said: “this is so depressing”.

She added that while there is increasing awareness in reporting the issue, there is also a cultural sensitivity, political correctness and fear of being accused of racism when it comes to authorities confronting the issues of witchcraft and FGM which occur predominantly among West African communites which have increasingly high birth rates.

“I’m so angered by these figures,” she said. “For so long the political power that black people have has been dismissed… People are scared to tackle FGM and witchcraft as they’re scared of being accused of racism - but it’s racist to ignore it.

“It’s more racist to look away… It really hurts that we still have to tell people that black kids need protecting.”

The National FGM Centre, a joint initiative between the LGA and Barnardo’s, says both sets of figures are hugely worrying, of significant national concern and probably don’t reflect the true prevalence of this “hidden” crime.

The LGA said that council social workers have become better at identifying cases, and that the work of the National FGM Centre – which provides services for children and their families affected by FGM and abuse linked to faith or belief - is vital.

Lisa Oakley, Chair of the National Working Group for child abuse linked to faith or belief/ Associate Professor University of Chester, said that the LGA figures were “concerning” and added that they may be “under-estimations”.

“The figures do demonstrate the need for more effective education, awareness, prevention, intervention and response,” she said.

“To develop these in the area of child abuse linked to faith and belief requires significant financial investment , which is not currently in place.”

The mother of a three-year-old girl has become the first person to be convicted of FGM in the UK, following a failed bid to "shut up" her accusers with witchcraft.

The Ugandan woman, 37, and her Ghanaian partner, 43, both from Walthamstow, east London, were accused of cutting their daughter over the 2017 summer bank holiday.

Forty limes and other fruit were found with pieces of paper with names written on them stuffed inside, including those of police officers and a social worker involved in the investigation.

The spells and curses intended to deter police and social workers from investigating were found at the Ugandan woman's home, the trial heard. Police also found two cow tongues bound in wire with nails and a small blunt knife embedded in them when searching the Ugandan woman’s home.

There was also a jar with a picture of a social worker in pepper found hidden behind the toilet in the bathroom.

Leethen Bartholomew, Head of the National FGM Centre, said: “There are many reasons why a child might be accused of witchcraft or that they are possessed by an evil spirit. When people are experiencing "misfortunes" such as poverty, ill physical health or have mental health needs a child could be blamed for this.

“There are a number of factors as to why local authorities are discovering more cases. The National FGM Centre is providing more training for Local Authorities and communities in England which has lead to an increased awareness around the issue, enabling professionals and communities to better identify cases.”

The LGA said the next government needs to ensure councils have the funding needed to continue to take effective action to keep children safe from harm and abuse.

Duke University refuses to recognize Young Life because of the organization's refusal to support the alphabet pervert agenda

University campuses in the United States are becoming as hostile toward Christianity now as they were in the late 18th-early 19th century. As reported by Kate Murphy and Martha Quillin of the Charlotte Observer, September 18, 2019 (bold, links in original):

DURHAM -- Duke University’s student government has declined to recognize a national Christian organization as an official student group because of its stance on LGBTQ issues.

The student senate unanimously voted against Young Life last week, the Duke Chronicle reported.

Young Life, with local chapters in Durham and Chapel Hill, aims to introduce teens to Christianity and help them grow in their faith. The group has a rule that bans LGBTQ individuals from leadership positions, according to the student newspaper. The Duke student senate said that violates the Student Organization Finance Committee’s rule that every Duke student group must include a nondiscrimination statement in its constitution.

A Young Life sexual misconduct policy says it doesn’t exclude people “who practice a homosexual lifestyle from being recipients of ministry of God’s grace,” however, “such persons are not to serve as staff or volunteers in the mission and work of Young Life,” the Chronicle reported.

“They don’t have a non-discrimination clause in their constitution; they have a discrimination clause,” student senator Jackson Kennedy said at an earlier student government meeting where the issue was tabled.

The student government’s rules require that each student organization “affirms the spirit and letter of the University’s non-discrimination statement.” That statement from the Office for Institutional Equity says Duke prohibits “discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and gender expression.”

Duke students already are volunteering with Young Life in Durham and Chapel Hill, but the group wanted to become a recognized organization on campus to recruit more students and get support from student government. Duke is a non-sectarian university with historic ties to the United Methodist Church.

At the meeting, junior Tommy Hessel asked the Duke Young Life chapter to amend its rules to comply with Duke’s nondiscrimination policy, according to the Duke Chronicle. In response, Jeff Bennett, a master’s candidate at the Duke Divinity School and member of Young Life, said the Duke chapter can’t break national policies.

So, the student senate turned down the request.

YOUNG LIFE AT OTHER NC CAMPUSES

At UNC-Chapel Hill, the Young Life-affiliated group College Life is a recognized student organization.

The group’s rules, adopted in 2013, say, “Young Life does not have a specific set of rules. The rules vary depending on the area. In the Chapel Hill/Durham area leaders just have to be committed to leading.”

Young Life makes it clear chapters across the country don’t turn away middle and high school students who are LGBTQ.

“Young Life is passionate about building relationships with people of all backgrounds, and participation in our programs is open to everyone regardless of ability, belief, race, sexuality or other factors,” Young Life spokesman Terry Swensen said.

Swensen told the News & Observer that Young Life isn’t seeing a trend of college campuses rejecting groups. But, it’s not the first time the issue has come up in the area.

In June, religious student organizations at Elon University were allowed to change to community ministries, Elon News Network reported. That meant trading student government funding to maintain or enforce their own policies, even if it goes against university policy.

Elon has a chapter of the group called Young Life College that is affiliated with Young Life in Alamance County. Its bylaws, revised in May 2019 and published on the university’s website, do not mention the word homosexuality, but say leaders are expected to refrain from any sexual relationships outside heterosexual marriage.

“Young Life welcomes everyone to our programs, meetings, and events,” the bylaws read. They continue: “That is the case not just on the Elon campus but everywhere we have a presence. You can be part of Young Life regardless of belief, identity or background.

“At the same time, we ask those who would be in a leadership role with Young Life to accept and support certain beliefs and standards of behavior. These standards include expectations in the area of sexuality, which we view as integral to individual health and thriving.”

On the subject of sexuality, the Elon bylaws say, “We believe that God created us as sexual beings with an inherent desire for relational intimacy. We also recognize the importance of the apostle Paul’s teaching that our bodies are sacred vessels and are to be lived in and cared for accordingly.

“As with all gifts of life, we desire to experience our sexuality as an expression of gratitude to God, love for others, personal integrity and alignment with scriptural teaching. We therefore ask those seeking leadership roles with Young Life to refrain from sexually intimate relationships outside of a heterosexual marriage covenant.

“We articulate these standards with humility, understanding some will not agree, and also with a high view of what it means to be a leader representing our organization.”

Swensen said Young Life wants to understand and comply with individual campus guidelines. Duke’s petition was unique, Swensen said, because it sought recognition for an existing group, not to establish a new program at Duke.

“We understand the student senate’s decision and appreciate their consideration,” Swensen said. “If the Duke students involved with Young Life decide to re-apply, we will work with them to create an application that complies with the university’s expectations.”

Blessing usually reserved for a king is recited by Orthodox Jewish rabbi for U.S. President Donald Trump

I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. John 5:43

Orthodox Jews are increasingly looking for the coming of the Messiah, but the Bible prophesies that they and the rest of the world will be deceived by a false Messiah before the true Messiah returns. The incident reported below may be an indication of the deception that is already at work. While there are things that Donald Trump has done as President--such as recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital--that I agree with, he's not a king (or a Messiah). As reported by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz of Breaking Israel News, November 13, 2019 (links in original):

President Trump attended an Orthodox Jewish fundraising event at the Intercontinental Hotel in Manhattan on Tuesday evening. Four hundred Orthodox Jews participated in the event, contributing an estimated $100,000 each for the honor of paying a personal tribute to the Commander-in-Chief.

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson recited the blessing said upon seeing a non-Jewish ruler.

ברוך אתה ה’ אלוקינו מלך העולם שחלק מכבודו לבשר ודם

Blessed art Thou, O L-rd our G-d, King of the Universe, that you have shared part of your love and glory and compassion with a human being who maintains the honor of every innocent person and every Jew forever.”

Though it is doubtful that the president understood the full import of the blessing, Trump appeared to be impressed at the ritual focused on his honor.

The crowd responded with an enthusiastic “Amen” and chants of “Four more years.”

The Talmud states that it is a mitzvah (Torah commandment) for a Jew to go out of his way to see rulers and kings, whether they are Jewish or non-Jewish but there is a dispute among Halachic (Torah law) authorities as to whether this blessing should be recited with the complete name of God in these times upon seeing a ruler who is not a king.

It is significant that when the rabbi recited the blessing upon seeing Donald Trump, he said the complete and explicit name of God in Hebrew.

Rabbi Nachman Kahana, a prominent spiritual leader in Jerusalem, did not agree with Rabbi Jacobson’s decision to use the name of God in this instance.

“Every rabbi can make his own ruling and Chabad has their own methods and rulings. But what is for sure is that Halacha is not influenced by political considerations,” Rabbi Kahana explained to Breaking Israel News. “It is like science and should be the result of careful consideration of the facts and the current situation.”

“The blessing is intended to be recited upon seeing a king and there are significant differences between a president and a king. As we are witnessing right now, a president can be impeached as the result of political whims. A king cannot be impeached. “

“This is learned out from the real king, Hashem (God, literally ‘the name’), which is the source of the king’s authority. Hashem’s authority is not derived from other men. He cannot be impeached and we don’t vote for God.”

Nonetheless, Rabbi Kahana emphasized that Trump deserves a great deal of respect for his service as president.

“People should be judged by their actions. And he is certainly done several important things. This is the opposite of Obama who was praised even though he did a disservice to the office.”

Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander suggested that the blessing should have been recited with the name of God.

“Though it is true that Trump is not technically a king but he is the most powerful ruler of the world,” Rabbi Hollander told Breaking Israel News. “In that sense, Trump is more of a king than other kings.”

Rabbi Yosef Berger, the rabbi of King David’s Tomb on Mount Zion and a descendant of King David, agreed, noting that Trump is explicitly not a king and therefore not suited to be the focus of the blessing. He related a story in which a man came to Israel claiming to be a king of Africa. He was interviewed by rabbis who asked if he could command someone to be killed without a court. The man answered in the affirmative so the rabbis recited the blessing upon seeing a king. It later became clear the mad was a fraud.

“Trump is not a king in that respect but he is certainly the president of a powerful nation and in that respect he deserves respect,” Rabbi Berger told Breaking Israel News.

Rabbi Berger noted that the blessing of Trump as a king was timely indeed. He cited Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, the medieval commentator known by the acronym Rashi, explains that this mitzvah is incumbent on Jews who will see the coming of the Messiah. Rabbi Chaim Palag’i, a 20th-century Halachic authority, explained Rashi by noting that by reciting the blessing over a flesh-and-blood king, we will appreciate how much more honor will be given to the king in the days of the Messiah.

“The Messiah will come to fix the mess that has been made of governments around the world, in almost every nation. America and Israel are both having crises in leadership,” Rabbi Berger said. “We are seeing that democracy simply does not work. The Bible does not talk about democracy. If the U.S. had a king, there would not be any spurious impeachment process or pointless investigations. Democracy allows people who hate the country, who hate God, and even hate half of the people, to run the country. This breakdown of government is intended to turn people to the real king.”

“If Israel had a king, there would not be any election reruns,” Rabbi Berger said. “Since David was the king, he went out and dealt with the Philistines in a true and decisive manner. Because Israel does not have a king, it is 70 years and we are still getting attacked by the same Philistines.”

“We need the real king and all this conflict over how to run the country will end with the emergence of the true king,” Rabbi Berger said.

1,000-year-old Hebrew Bible on display in Washington

The 1,000-year-old Washington Bible is on display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC. (Alejandro Matos/Museum of the Bible)

As reported by Marcy Oster of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 11, 2019 (links in original):

A 1,000-year-old Hebrew Bible has gone on public display at a museum in Washington, D.C.

The bible, called the Washington Pentateuch, was unveiled Thursday at the Museum of the Bible.

It is one of the oldest intact Hebrew Bible manuscripts in the United States, according to a statement from the museum. It contains all of the the five books of Moses.

The bible was first owned by a Jewish community in Ukraine, which gave it as a gift to a local archbishop in the 19th century. During the 20th century, the manuscript was owned by collectors in Israel and the United Kingdom before it was purchased by the museum and went on display in D.C., according to Haaretz.

The Museum of the Bible, which opened in November 2017 and cost $500 million to build, was largely funded by the evangelical Green family, which runs the Hobby Lobby chain of crafts stores. Its president, Steven Green, serves as the museum’s chairman.

Conservative Catholics accuse Pope Francis of "idolatrous worship" during Amazon synod

The lesson, as always, is: Never trust a Jesuit. As reported by Nick Squires of the London Daily Telegraph, November 12, 2019 (links in original):

One of the statuettes of an Amazon fertility symbol that went on display at the Vatican during the Amazon synod (AFP)

Pope Francis has been accused of being “sacrilegious” and idolatrous for embracing indigenous symbols in the Vatican’s recent summit on the Amazon by a group of 100 Catholic traditionalists.

In one of the strongest attacks yet on the Pope, conservative Catholic clergy, historians and intellectuals from around the world lambasted Francis for supposedly allowing the “idolatrous worship” of statuettes of an Amazon fertility symbol.

Several statues of the goddess Pachamama featured in ceremonies during last month’s synod, or bishops’ meeting, on the future of Catholicism in the Amazon.

A pair of ultra-conservatives was so incensed that they stole the statuettes from a church near the Vatican and tossed them into the Tiber River.

In a strongly-worded open letter, the traditionalists accused the Pope of indulging in “sacrilegious and superstitious acts” during the synod, in which bishops from the Amazon gathered in Rome.

The most contentious issue the bishops discussed was whether to allow already married men to become priests, in an attempt to address the chronic lack of Catholic clergy in the vast region.

Conservatives see that as the beginning of the end for the centuries-old tradition of celibacy.

During the synod, Pope Francis adopted an inclusive attitude towards indigenous people, welcoming them to the Vatican and embracing the traditional objects they use in their worship of God.

But the conservatives, from Britain, the US, France, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany and several other countries, branded the statuettes of Pachamama as “pagan idols” which represented “a false goddess of mother earth.”

They were further angered when the Pope asked forgiveness from Amazonian bishops and tribal leaders after the statues were stolen and dumped in the Tiber.

He insisted that the statuettes of naked pregnant women were brought to the Vatican “without any intention of idolatry.”

But in their letter, the Pope’s critics said: “Absolutely all participation in any form of the veneration of idols is … an objectively grave sin that only God can judge.”

Francis should “repent publicly and unambiguously … of all the public offences that he has committed against God and the true religion.”

Their letter is the latest salvo in the battle being waged against Francis’s papacy by conservative Catholics who are appalled at his inclusive stance on homosexuality and the prospect of giving communion to divorced Catholics who have remarried in civil ceremonies.

Leading figures in the resistance movement against the Argentinian pope include Cardinal Gerhard Müller of Germany and Cardinal Raymond Burke of the US.

“These traditionalists take every opportunity to criticise Francis,” Austen Ivereigh, a Vatican expert, told The Telegraph.

“They have a deliberate strategy to weaken Francis’s position in advance of the next conclave (the election of a new pope).”

The conservatives remain vehemently opposed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, said Mr Ivereigh, the author of The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope.

“For them it’s all about the war against modernity - the Church should be a fortress that protects traditions from contamination. But they are not representative of the majority of the world’s one billion Catholics. They speak for the rump of the Church, which is very small but very vociferous.”

American feminists pay Orthodox Jewish synagogues to hire female leaders

It seems that Orthodox Judaism in the United States is becoming as corrupt and apostate as much of what passes for Christianity; as reported by Marcy Oster of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 7, 2019 (links in original):

A new initiative is paying Orthodox synagogues to hire female spiritual leaders.

The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance announced Sunday that it is giving grants of up to $10,000 per year to synagogues that hire women in newly created positions as spiritual leaders.

Synagogues can receive a matching grant equaling half of the money that they commit, meaning that they would have to commit $20,000 to receive the maximum $10,000 grant per year. Synagogues can receive funding for two years.

The funds for the project were donated by Ann and Jeremy Pava of West Hartford, Connecticut.

The ordination of women as rabbis and spiritual leaders is fraught in the Orthodox world.

A decade ago, Yeshivat Maharat opened in New York as the first Orthodox institution in North America to ordain women as clergy members. The institution has faced pushback from many in the establishment Orthodox world, including the Orthodox Union.

The Conservative and Reform movements have been ordaining women as rabbis for decades.

Swiss Protestant Church supports same-sex "marriage"

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1:24-32

As reported by The Local (Switzerland), November 8, 2019 (links in original):

The Federation of Protestant Churches of Switzerland (FEPS) announced that it supports civil marriage between same-sex individuals.

Church leaders already came out in favour of same-sex marriage in August, but officially endorsed it this week during their national assembly held in Bern.

"The diversity of sexual orientations reflects the fullness of the divine act of creation. God wants us the way we were created. We cannot choose our sexual orientation," the Church Council said.

The Federation stressed that its support does not mean the church intends to actually introduce religious marriage for same-sex couples, as this decision belongs to local parishes.

It did, however, propose to include a provision in the church's regulations giving its pastors the freedom of choice on whether to marry same-sex couples in a religious ceremony.

Peter Schneeberger, president of the Association VFG Free Churches Switzerland, criticized FEPS's decision.

"Marriage between men and women, because of their potential, has a special status in our view and is based on God's order of creation," he told Livenet.ch, a web portal for Switzerland's Christian community.

Switzerland allows civil unions between same-sex couples, but not full marriages.

However, a proposal called "Marriage For All", introduced by the Liberal Green party, is currently in the parliament. Deputiesare expected to discuss it during the spring 2020 session.

Same-sex marriage is now legal in most Western European nations. Italy, where these unions are still prohibited, started to recognize them in 2016.

Court denies American murderer's claim that he had served his life sentence when he "died" in hospital

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: Hebrews 9:27

Maybe there's a reason why the ancient Israelites didn't regard anyone as really being dead until they'd been dead for three days. The reasoning behind that would seem to apply to the case described below. As reported by Anna Spoerre of the Des Moines Register, November 7, 2019:

A man convicted of murder was rushed from the Iowa State Penitentiary to the hospital in 2015, where his heart was restarted five times.

Now he claims his life sentence was fulfilled in his short-lived death, and that he has over-stayed his prison time by four years.

Benjamin Schreiber, found guilty of first-degree murder in 1997 and sentenced to life behind bars without the possibility of parole, was hospitalized in March 2015 after large kidney stones caused him to develop septic poisoning, according to court records.

By the time he arrived at the hospital, he was unconscious, records show.

Schreiber had signed a "do not resuscitate" agreement years earlier. But medical staff called his brother in Texas who told them, "if he is in pain, you may give him something to ease the pain, but otherwise you are to let him pass," according to court records.

Doctors proceeded to save his life by administering resuscitation fluids through an IV. Then he underwent surgery to fix the damage done by the kidney stones.

Schreiber filed for post-conviction relief in April 2018, claiming that because he momentarily died at the hospital, he fulfilled his life sentence and therefore should be freed immediately.

He was sentenced to life without parole, “but not to life plus one day," Schreiber argued in court records.

The district court denied Schreiber's request, writing that it found his claim "unpersuasive and without merit."

The Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday affirmed the district court's decision, agreeing that Schreiber's sentence isn't up until a medical examiner declares he is deceased.

"Schreiber is either still alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is actually dead, in which case this appeal is moot," Judge Amanda Potterfield wrote in the court of appeals opinion.

The district court did not address Schreiber's additional claim that his due process rights were violated when the doctors failed to follow his "do not resuscitate" request, court records show. Because of this, the court of appeals in its ruling said it could not address it either, because the lower court had not made any judgment on it.

Schreiber's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

Indonesian adulterer receives corporal punishment under the Sharia law he promoted

As the saying goes, be careful what you pray for, because you might get it. As reported by the London Daily Telegraph, November 1, 2019:

An Indonesian man working for an organisation that helped draft strict religious laws ordering adulterers to be flogged was himself publicly whipped Thursday after he was caught having an affair with a married woman.

Flogging is a common punishment for a range of offences in the deeply conservative Aceh region, including adultery, drinking alcohol, and having gay or pre-marital sex.

It is the only region in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation that imposes Sharia law, part of a 2005 autonomy deal with the central government that ended a decades-long separatist insurgency.

On Thursday, a masked officer inflicted 28 lashes on the back of Aceh Ulema Council (MPU) member Mukhlis - who like many Indonesians goes by one name - after he was caught with a married woman last month. His companion received 23 lashes.

The MPU, the organisation that Mukhlis works for, advised the local government and legislature on drafting and implementing Aceh's religious law, including public flogging. His role within the agency was not immediately clear.

Flogging a council member underlined the commitment to enforcing Islamic law, said Aceh Besar deputy regent Husaini Wahab.

"No matter who you are... if you violate [Islamic] law you will be whipped," he told reporters after the punishment.

Mukhlis would likely be sacked under his employer's moral code, Wahab added.

Also Thursday, a female university student was flogged a dozen times after she was caught spending the night in a boarding house with a man, who escaped punishment because he was underage.

Dozens of onlookers watched the floggings, with some recording them on their mobile phones.

"I was just curious to see how it was carried out," said spectator Robbi.

In July, three people were flogged 100 times each for having premarital sex.

Rights groups have slammed public caning as a cruel and inhuman punishment, and Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has called for it to end.

But the practice has wide support among Aceh's conservative population.

Police in Nigeria rescue people chained in charismaniac church in Lagos

As reported by Chijioke Jannah of the Lagos Daily Post, November 1, 2019:

The Lagos State Police Command has rescued at least 15 persons between ages 19 and 50 from chains at an illegal healing church in Isheri-Osun, Egbe Idimu LCDA of Lagos.

It was gathered that the church, situated at 26, Alafia Street, Oriofe Ijegun Isheri, is known as Blessings of Goodness Healing Church.

According to witnesses, some of the victims have been chained for over four years and could barely walk when they were rescued.

Some of the victims, it was learnt, suffered certain health challenges and were thereafter dumped at the facility by their families for spiritual healing.

However, the police acting on tip-off stormed the place around 6:10pm on Thursday night and arrested one Prophet Joseph Ojo, 58, the operator of the healing home, alongside 10 other suspects.

Speaking to newsmen on Friday, police spokesman Bala Elkana, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), said the prophet admitted to have been in the healing ministry since 1986, adding that he chained them to prevent them from escaping.

He said: “Some of the victims were said to have spent five years in the detention camp. They are between ages 19 and 50.

“Some of them were brought by their families to seek spiritual help from mental illness and other diseases. The Prophet said he has been in the healing ministry since 1986.

“Investigation is ongoing,”Elkana said.

Silicon Valley billionaires search for immortality in this life

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:4-5

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. Luke 12:15-21

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: Hebrews 9:27

One of the reasons I believe the account given in Genesis 3 to be true is that the lies spoken by the serpent are the same lies that are so widely believed today. In contrast to the millennials mentioned in the post below, who are spending on themselves now because they have no hope for a prosperous future financially or otherwise, those who are doing very well financially are seeking ways to prolong their lives in order to continue enjoyment of their riches.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to reproduce the relevant article Money can't buy you love, but how about eternal life? by Chris Stokel-Walker in the London Daily Telegraph, October 14, 2019. However, if you have premium access to the paper, you can read it here. Otherwise, you can read it free here.

To see the sites of events and organizations and events mentioned in the article, click on the links:

RAAD Festival

The Church of Perpetual Life

SENS Research Foundation

It's interesting to note that The Church of Perpetual Life, while rejecting an eternal and heavenly perspective, refers to itself as a church:

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. II Timothy 3:5

See also my post "Immortalist" Robert Ettinger, "Father of Cryonics," falls a little short of immortality in this life (July 27, 2011)