A group of Greeks -- which includes bishops, academics, and military officers -- has appealed against a parliamentary bill that will allow the construction of a mosque in Athens, the Europe News website reports today (January 6, 2012).
A petition submitted to the Council of State in December was signed by Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, as well as university professors, naval officers, and five residents of the area in which the mosque is planned to be built.
Seraphim said the bill constituted an anti-Christian action and described it as disrespectful to Christian martyrs.
Ninety-seven percent of Greece's population is comprised of Greek Orthodox Christians -- the highest percentage of Orthodox Christians residing in any country of the world.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
UK Christians Are Losing Ground to Nonbelievers; Govt. Poll Finds Christians Dropped by 7 Percent
The Worldwide Religious News website reports today (January 5, 2012) that Christians in England and Wales are losing ground -- about as fast as nonbelievers are gaining it -- according to a new government-sponsored poll.
The British government's latest Citizenship Survey reports that in the five years leading up to 2010, the percentage of declared Christians in the region dropped by seven percent, although they held solid at 70 percent.
Meanwhile, the total of those declaring no religion climbed by six percent, to 21 percent over the same period.
It was the sixth such study since the Citizenship Survey was set up in 2001 by the British government of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The British government's latest Citizenship Survey reports that in the five years leading up to 2010, the percentage of declared Christians in the region dropped by seven percent, although they held solid at 70 percent.
Meanwhile, the total of those declaring no religion climbed by six percent, to 21 percent over the same period.
It was the sixth such study since the Citizenship Survey was set up in 2001 by the British government of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Pastor Files Lawsuit against KY Baptist Church; Claims Church Reassigned Him Due to His Race
The Religion News Service website reports today (January 5, 2012) that a Louisville-area pastor has filed a complaint against St. Stephen Baptist Church -- Kentucky's largest African-American congregation -- accusing the church of reassigning him because of his race.
Pastor Billy Hollins -- who is African-American -- worked for the church from 2001 until last August.
Hollins filed suit in November, saying he was reassigned from the church's satellite location in Jeffersonville, Indiana in 2007, after Senior Reverend Kevin Cosby told him the pastor in Jeffersonville needed to reflect that branch's growing Caucasian population.
Hollins also claims that he was underpaid by the church in worker's compensation payments, after he was involved in a work-related accident in 2010. He said that this led to the church's decision to let him go.
Pastor Billy Hollins -- who is African-American -- worked for the church from 2001 until last August.
Hollins filed suit in November, saying he was reassigned from the church's satellite location in Jeffersonville, Indiana in 2007, after Senior Reverend Kevin Cosby told him the pastor in Jeffersonville needed to reflect that branch's growing Caucasian population.
Hollins also claims that he was underpaid by the church in worker's compensation payments, after he was involved in a work-related accident in 2010. He said that this led to the church's decision to let him go.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
COMMENTARY: Ultra-Orthodox Jews Must Respect Values of Other Jews
Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel should be ashamed of themselves for dressing children in Nazi concentration camp-like uniforms and transporting them on the back of trucks during their protest in Jerusalem last Saturday night (December 31, 2011).
This ultra-Orthodox ploy -- which was designed to highlight Israel's secular media rejection of ultra-Orthodox traditions -- brought back sad memories to a plethora of Jews, who recalled the killing of some six million innocent Jews by German Nazis and their henchmen during World War II. About 200,000 aging survivors of the Holocaust live in Israel today.
Indeed, this was a wrong and disgusting approach for the ultra-Orthodox Jews to use, in order to convey that they are being oppressed in Israel today, just like all the Jews were oppressed in Nazi Germany.
The ultra-Orthodox protesters went so far in their protest to call the Israeli policemen Nazis, while they wore a yellow Star of David patch on their shirts with the word "Jude" -- German for Jew -- and even circulated flyers showing Jerusalem police chief Nisso Shaham depicted as Adolf Hitler.
The fact is that the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel -- who comprise only about 10 percent of Israel's population -- must respect the values and lifestyles of all religious affiliations in Israel, including the predominantly Reform and Conservative Jews.
It is unreasonable for ultra-Orthodox Jews -- who strictly adhere to the laws and ethics of the Torah -- to attempt to convince more liberal-oriented Jews to live according to their rigid beliefs and lifestyles. For example, they should not expect all Jews to segregate men and women on buses, sidewalks, and other public places, just because that is their religious belief.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, then, must not have the attitude, "It's my way or the highway," in their efforts to influence all Jews to adopt their religious beliefs.
Rather, ultra-Orthodox Jews should be allowed to live according to their religious beliefs in their own closely-knit communities, while -- at the same time -- not judging others, or attempting to impose their own religious preferences on other Jews.
This ultra-Orthodox ploy -- which was designed to highlight Israel's secular media rejection of ultra-Orthodox traditions -- brought back sad memories to a plethora of Jews, who recalled the killing of some six million innocent Jews by German Nazis and their henchmen during World War II. About 200,000 aging survivors of the Holocaust live in Israel today.
Indeed, this was a wrong and disgusting approach for the ultra-Orthodox Jews to use, in order to convey that they are being oppressed in Israel today, just like all the Jews were oppressed in Nazi Germany.
The ultra-Orthodox protesters went so far in their protest to call the Israeli policemen Nazis, while they wore a yellow Star of David patch on their shirts with the word "Jude" -- German for Jew -- and even circulated flyers showing Jerusalem police chief Nisso Shaham depicted as Adolf Hitler.
The fact is that the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel -- who comprise only about 10 percent of Israel's population -- must respect the values and lifestyles of all religious affiliations in Israel, including the predominantly Reform and Conservative Jews.
It is unreasonable for ultra-Orthodox Jews -- who strictly adhere to the laws and ethics of the Torah -- to attempt to convince more liberal-oriented Jews to live according to their rigid beliefs and lifestyles. For example, they should not expect all Jews to segregate men and women on buses, sidewalks, and other public places, just because that is their religious belief.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, then, must not have the attitude, "It's my way or the highway," in their efforts to influence all Jews to adopt their religious beliefs.
Rather, ultra-Orthodox Jews should be allowed to live according to their religious beliefs in their own closely-knit communities, while -- at the same time -- not judging others, or attempting to impose their own religious preferences on other Jews.
Robertson: God Told Me Who Will Be President; God: Obama's Reelection Will Lead to Ruin of US
Pat Robertson -- the popular televangelist who shocked millions of Christians last year when he said it's all right for a person to get a divorce if his or her spouse has Alzheimer's -- now says that he has received a secret straight from God: He knows who the next president of the United States will be, according to the Huffington Post website.
"I think He showed me about the next president, but I'm not supposed to talk about that, so I'll keep you in the dark, but I think I know who it's going to be," Robertson said yesterday (January 3, 2012) on the Christian Broadcast Network's "700 Club" TV program.
According to Robertson, God does not support President Barack Obama's agenda and says that only "overwhelming prayer" can bring a new leader who will stop the United States from "disintegrating."
Robertson also said yesterday that God told him the nation's downfall would be triggered by an economic collapse. He added that God told him this would come about if Obama was elected to a second term as president.
"And God said this is not My judgment, they bring it upon themselves," Robertson explained.
"I think He showed me about the next president, but I'm not supposed to talk about that, so I'll keep you in the dark, but I think I know who it's going to be," Robertson said yesterday (January 3, 2012) on the Christian Broadcast Network's "700 Club" TV program.
According to Robertson, God does not support President Barack Obama's agenda and says that only "overwhelming prayer" can bring a new leader who will stop the United States from "disintegrating."
Robertson also said yesterday that God told him the nation's downfall would be triggered by an economic collapse. He added that God told him this would come about if Obama was elected to a second term as president.
"And God said this is not My judgment, they bring it upon themselves," Robertson explained.
Calif. Catholic Bishop Has Two Teenage Children; Pope Okays Bishop Gabino Zavala's Resignation
Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the early resignation of a Los Angeles bishop who recently acknowledged that he is the father of two teenagers, the Associated Press website reports today (January 4, 2012).
Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, 60, resigned today under the code of canon law that lets bishops step down earlier than normal retirement age of 75, if they're sick or for some other reason that makes them unfit for office.
Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez said the archdiocese has offered spiritual and financial aid to help Zavala's children with college costs.
Roman Catholic priests are required to be celibate, although priests of the Greek Catholic Church can be married, and married Anglican priests who convert to Catholicism can become Catholic priests.
Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, 60, resigned today under the code of canon law that lets bishops step down earlier than normal retirement age of 75, if they're sick or for some other reason that makes them unfit for office.
Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez said the archdiocese has offered spiritual and financial aid to help Zavala's children with college costs.
Roman Catholic priests are required to be celibate, although priests of the Greek Catholic Church can be married, and married Anglican priests who convert to Catholicism can become Catholic priests.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Man in Sicily Prefers Jail to Staying with Monks; Flees Halfway House Run by Monks to Go to Jail
The Life In Italy website reports today (January 3, 2011) that a criminal has fled a halfway house run by a particularly austere order of monks for the second time in just over a month, saying he prefers life in jail.
"Prison is better than the Santa Maria degli Angeli community home," David Catalano told police last night.
Catalano, 31, first fled the home near Enna in eastern Sicily on November 21, but was ordered back there.
The petty criminal has now been granted his wish and is in a local jail.
"Prison is better than the Santa Maria degli Angeli community home," David Catalano told police last night.
Catalano, 31, first fled the home near Enna in eastern Sicily on November 21, but was ordered back there.
The petty criminal has now been granted his wish and is in a local jail.
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