What 2022 brought to us and looking forward to 2023

Liberation

Lots of people thought 2022 would be the year of liberating us from that terrible virus which got the world in its grip. Though not a liberation became several people on their part, an even more senseless killing ‘disease’ came unto Europe.

The leader of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, who would love to find a renewed Soviet Union, said at the beginning of the year he would bring liberation to the Ukrainians. Instead, his “bloodstained” tyranny plunged Europe into the war on a scale not seen since 1945 as Russian troops advanced on Kyiv on Thursday night, February 24th.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is shocking and disgraceful. It is the latest terrible aggression by the Putin regime and the latest damaging conflict in our world, with so many people being killed or injured, losing loved ones and seeing their homes destroyed.

2022 has been a tough year to navigate, with a series of political and economic crises that continue to shape our world.

One powerful man

Who could have ever imagined that one man, from up north, would single-handedly turn the world upside down? However, he has succeeded very well in not only bringing black snow over several people, and literally turning the landscape blood-red, he has severely disrupted economic life in several countries.

Following two long pandemic years – with many still experiencing the effects – we’ve witnessed the outbreak of war in Ukraine and could feel in our purse how it affects us also in our region. We cannot ignore this war that has affected many citizens. At our new WordPress Site “Some View on the World” we have given a voice to those suffering in the conflict as well as reporting the situation on the ground and providing the expertise needed to understand geopolitics.

Picturing what is happening in the world

As best we can, we try to give a picture of what is happening in the world on the continuation of “Our World“. 2022 was another year of figuring out how we would be able to keep up with bringing political and religious news alongside our other spiritual websites. We hope to find that balance further in 2023.

By nature, I am not an easy person and have dared to clash several times by speaking my mind outright. Even in the articles, I publish here and on my other websites, my thinking is based on my personal opinion. One can agree or disagree with that view. I, therefore, appreciate that people also dare to express their opinions. But in general, there is a little reaction in that area. Still, I hope the articles brought, can make people think. For instance, I was happy to find that my op-eds on Christmas in the Daily Telegraph were able to bring a debate after all.

Hoping to expose wrongdoings

With the news we place at Some View on the World we do hope we also could be able to expose the mistreatment and deaths of migrant workers in Qatar for almost a decade as well as other wrong attitudes towards people as well as animals and plants. At my personal site and this site as well, in particular on “Some View on the World” we continue to bear witness to the climate crisis as it destroys lives, uproots whole communities and changes the course of our shared future. We hope for 2023 to be able to bring regular news about our environment.

The fallout from the January 6 hearings and Donald Trump’s presidency could get our attention, and we hold our hearts for the intentions of Mr Trump, wanting to come back as president of the U.S.A..

Independence of my websites

For all the reporting we do here, and on my other websites, I would like to remind you, readers, that there is no financial support from companies anywhere and that all reporting is based on personal and independent reporting, where I keep searching for this site among texts that appear on the net what could possibly be fascinating for you to read as well, and thus to reblog them here.

2022 could bring lots of blogs on the net of which we presented some selections over here too. At Firefox several could find their way into ‘Pocket’, like: Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid, How to Want Less, A Neurologist’s Tips to Protect Your Memory, Why You Should Really Stop Charging Your Phone Overnight, A Guide to Getting Rid of Almost Everything, a.o. most read.

Uncovering and unravelling

Whether on social, political or religious issues, we are eager to seek the truth and expose false reports. Exposing wariness is not always appreciated, but is very important in our view. To do that, we can count on several investigative journalists and some newspapers to join in the pursuit of that muddle, so that together we can make certain things known to the world while others would rather see them covered up.

At Some View on the World we have maintained round-the-clock coverage from several places, not always bringing nice news, like mass graves of Bucha, Izium and many war crimes.

The war accelerated a global economic slump, sending costs soaring, throttling energy supplies and raising the spectre of blackouts, malnutrition and a winter of discontent across dozens of countries. As global food supplies fluctuated, we reported on the hunger gripping the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan. In 2022, it became impossible to ignore those victims in poorer countries. But sadly, we had to observe how little the public cared about those people living far from their homes. And closer, many did not wish to have refugees, so we could speak of a refugee crisis again this year.

Here in Belgium, the influx of refugees seems completely uncontrollable and many, even with small children, shamefully had to sleep outside several nights through rain and wind. This while in Great Britain, the reception was also not going smoothly and people started looking for a housing solution in Rwanda, and proceeded to deportations.

Condition of mother earth

A lot of people do not want to realise that things are very bad for Mother Earth. To this, in 2022, several scientists again tried to make it clear to the world that we need to think seriously about this and take action. We were confronted with UK’s hottest summer, a very early and long great Summer in Belgium, drought in Europe, and the accompanying fires.

Heating the houses became for many difficult to keep in the household budget. It looked like mother nature felt the pressure on the energy market, as well. Everywhere in Europe, we had extremely high temperatures for the time of year. In Belgium 2022 became the warmest year since measurements.

The climate emergency ran as a constant thread through much of our Some View on the World journalism in 2022.

While many European countries were suffering from a shortage of water, they had it in other countries, like Pakistan, too much. Devastating floods in Pakistan, encountering one of its worst natural catastrophes, Sydney’s wettest year on record, ferocious heatwaves in the US southwest and the costliest Atlantic hurricane for years, could catch our attention.

At Cop27 in Egypt, the Guardian asked the tough questions. Though, we did not give so much attention to the changing tactics of activists, now more likely to throw soup at a painting as they are to glue themselves to a public highway.

Uprising

In my view, many other protests could get our attention earlier, as they were carried out in a more correct way. Coming from a not expected corner, sparked by the death in custody of a young woman, Mahsa Amini.

Once again, we were able to conclude in Afghanistan and Iran that there is no improvement in human rights yet. The Iranian authorities tightly control reporting inside the country, so we counted on the teams of the Guardian to redouble efforts to reach protagonists to tell their stories. Social media remained also important for this, so it was satisfying to see the Guardian Instagram video on why Iranians are risking everything for change reach more than 2 million viewers.

It is impossible for me to have news sources everywhere, which is why we must also call on professional companies, for which we must also pay. Financial aid is therefore very welcome to cover these expenses. Nevertheless, we try to be as aware as possible of the general events, for which we also make further use of the known news channels and reliable TV channels and newspapers.

United States debacle

In terms of exposure, it was imperative to look at the Trumpists who still claim high and low that the US elections were forged.

The country which was formed on the idea that it could be a free world where everybody could express himself freely and would not be bounded by limitations through a government, in 2022 came to see deep political divisions, caused by a man who as 45th president of the U.S.A. did mutiny on that state and brought democracy in danger. His party made the ongoing climate crisis and racial, economic and health inequalities worsened. It was impossible to ignore the fallout from the January 6 hearings and Donald Trump’s presidency, as well as his willingness to come back as president.

The repeal of Roe v Wade provided a divisive backdrop to the November midterm elections. The conservative, or better said, the extremist Christians in the U.S., made it possible that women lost even the right to their own bodies. They also did not want to give an eye for mother nature nor for all those poor Americans who have no house or anywhere to live except on the streets, where many in the last weeks of the year found their dead by Winter storm Elliott. Buffalo got the worst hit by that bomb cyclone.

Political storms

In 2022 there were more significant elections in America which caught our attention. In Brazil, there were an anxious few weeks as Jair Bolsonaro wanted to do like his friend Trump, saying the votes were falsified. Finally, he suffered a chastening defeat by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who completed a comeback from prison to the presidential palace.

To our annoyance, we in northern Europe had to observe an inverse movement towards South America. The far right in Sweden, Italy and Israel, could get most seats in parliament. Despite her political prowess, the 45-year-old from Rome, whose strong will and determination has drawn comparisons to Margaret Thatcher, Giorgia Meloni has spent three decades fighting her way to the top of Italian politics. She is clear evidence that go-getters win. In October last year, after Brothers of Italy managed to draw votes away from the Northern League in its northern strongholds in local elections, a secret recording revealed Matteo Salvini hitting out at Meloni, calling her a “pain in the ass”.

In Belgium, too, the newspapers disguised several polls, clearly showing that the right is making a strong rise and where voices can already be heard that NVA will have to make the choice to form a majority coalition with Vlaams Belang.

As for British politics, prime ministers came and went with alarming regularity and the nation buried the pound, Queen Elizabeth and its global standing in quick succession. For 10 days in September, the future of the monarchy dominated the newsroom. The crazy game of the English conservatives who wanted their leader to put his capsones under the benches and to ask the people to stay at home because of Corona and not to have parties seemed to think it normal that their leader could do that and lie about it too. The whole world could laugh at the blunders of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, while the British citizen seemed not to mind. In any case, they did not demand new elections and left it to the Tory members to elect the new prime minister.

In Australia Labour could note a historic federal election victory.

Economical storms

The struggle between Russia and Ukraine is also a struggle between the Putin regime and Western Europe.

The war accelerated a global economic slump, sending costs soaring, throttling energy supplies and raising the spectre of blackouts, malnutrition and a winter of discontent across dozens of countries. But we also noticed that certain companies were abusing the war in Ukraine to raise their prices.

Cereals and gas were not released enough by blockades from the Russians, which caused major food problems, especially in Africa. In Western Europe we felt our energy prices skyrocket due to the pressure on the export and import markets. In Belgium, it took forever for the government to take measures to mitigate the costs of its citizens. After several months of calls by the Labour Party PvdA/PtB to reduce VAT to 6% and by their appeals to the public to put pressure on the government, things finally came to a head.

Health matters

2022 received big leaps forward for Alzheimer’s treatments, bowel cancer prevention and understanding depression.

In several countries there was joy that people could come together again to party and that the elderly should no longer be separated from their children and grandchildren. The lockdown had made it very clear how important personal contact is. It was striking how in 2022 teenagers and twens still had many psychological difficulties, which were not resolved. Bad enough, many could not be admitted in time, causing unnecessarily too many young people to die, while this could have been avoided.

Post-pandemic in Europe in danger

For months Europe tried to combat Covid-19. We started the annual overview with the relaxation of the Corona measures. But at the end of December, they now appear to be endangered because Europe does not want to take strict measures for the Chinese who are now allowed by their government to travel outside China again, which will allow them to spread the increased disease further outside China. With the coming Chinese New Year, they could start a new pandemic as in Belgium, it started in Antwerp.

For much of the world, a sort of post-pandemic normality has resumed – with one striking exception: the country where it all began. Chinese leaders faced a rapid spread of public anger caused by their draconian Covid lockdown policy. Only after some activists could ignite a revolt against the lockdown and more people joined them on the streets, even coming to shout to get rid of the Chinese leader and communist party, the government got seriously afraid and eased the lockdown measures. After they had done that another hell broke down, the virus rapidly spreading and killing so many people the mortuaries could not handle it anymore.

While the Chinese seem to be in the first Corona wave, as it were, the rest of the world has gotten out over time and everyone is now looking forward to a shock-free 2023.

We too look forward to an ending of the war in Ukraine and to a peaceful solution between Kosovo and Serbia.

At Some View of the World and at my other personal Space, we shall try to bring you up-to-date news of the happenings in the world, and here on this website, we hope we shall still be able to offer you and share with you, some worthwhile articles to read in this coming New Year.

 

*

A sincere thank you to our readers and supporters – wherever you are in the world,
we wish you a wonderful end to 2022 and an optimistic 2023.

°°°

In case you like our work,
do not forget that we always can use your support.

To help us defray the costs
any gift is welcome at
Bankaccount: Giro: BE37 9730 6618 2528
BIC: ARSPBE22
With mention: support websites

For which we thank you wholeheartedly

++

Additional reading

1. G7 agreed to ban or phase out Russian oil and gas imports
2. 2022 the year of fearing some wars

The Fall of Kabul: The Return of the Taliban

To remember:

• Mohammed Omar Afghan mullah (cleric) and mujahid commander who led the Taliban and founded the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996.
• Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city after Kabul, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of 1,010 m (3,310 ft).
• 2001 destruction of two giant Buddhas in Bamiyan by the all male group Taliban = lack of respect by the Taliban for historical &  cultural heritage of Afghanistan.
• February 2020, Trump administration + Taliban signed historic deal in Doha, Qatar > 14-month timetable for America & NATO allies to withdraw all of its forces from Afghanistan. > Taliban agreed not to allow al-Qaeda or any extremist group to operate in the areas they control.
• Since 2001 the war forced 2.7 million Afghans to flee their homes mostly to Iran, Pakistan and Europe.
• United States of America Defense Department states > war- fighting costs over the years in Afghanistan total $815.7 billion; from food for troops to fuel; to Humvees, weapons and ammunition; from tanks to amoured vehicles to aircraft carriers to airstrikes.
• Taliban = not strong in area of human rights or women’s right. impose strict limitations on women’s bodies & their human rights + women treated as possession of men
• women are not allowed to dance in public, => bachas (boys), as young as 12, usually orphans or from very poor families, can be made to dance in women’s clothing + they are often sexually abused = bachabaze = playing with boys
  
• Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) = second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations, + collective voice of Muslim world to ensure & safeguard their interest on economic socio and political areas

waykam

“Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”- John F. Kennedy.

We have all seen the stunning and alarming images on our television; hundreds of Afghans both men and women running alongside a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane as it moves down a runway of the Hamid Karzai International airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. The script was not supposed to end like this. The Taliban have moved with fighting speed to control Afghanistan. The United States of American trained Afghan security forces hardly resisted the Taliban. This military maneuvering by the Taliban has led many to wonder whether or not the United States and her allies miscalculated the capacity and capabilities of the Taliban. Many will view the surrender of Kabul as well as the other provinces in Afghanistan with some suspicion especially since the former president Ashraf Ghani fled before Kabul fell to the Taliban. A significant…

View original post 1,888 more words

A look at China wanting to be everywhere in the world

The last two decades we could see how china has more become a hyper capitalist state, it putting all interests in becoming the world-leader in all businesses no matter at what costs. Lots of people had to leave their house because they had to make a place for a great dam or for an immense stadium. Lots of people where put in small apartments with no garden because the government ordered them to move, making place for modern developments.

Nobody can ignore the neo-colonial expansion of China’s post-Mao economic model. The People’s Republic has become an economic superpower that has witnessed continued GDP growth while lifting millions out of poverty.

Xi Jinping, (°1953), Chinese politician and government official who served as vice president of the People’s Republic of China (2008–13), general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP; 2012– ), and president of China (2013– ).

China wanted to show the world that it is able to restore overland trade routes from China to Central Asia and Europe — the ancient “Silk Road.” In Indonesia, president Xi Jinping of China introduced the concept of a “maritime Silk road,” which is essentially the already well-traveled sea corridor South from China to the Middle East and Europe.  In seven years of implementation, the initiative has become quite controversial, especially in the West.  The controversy is fuelled by a lack of transparency that makes it difficult to get reliable information on the financing involved in the initiative, as well as the specific projects and their terms. There are a growing number of academic efforts, however, to collect and analyse data on ‘The Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI), with a consistent set of findings.

The republic got a lot of African countries in its power by giving them loans and workforce, though many of those Chinese worker were forced to go to work in Africa, often in very bad conditions and months away from their family. At the same time China uses the same colonial tactics of getting as much treasures from those ‘colonies’ as possible, even worse than King Leopold II of Belgium did with the Belgian colonies or other colonial countries did. [Belgium controlled 3 colonies and 3 concessions during its history, the Belgian Congo (modern DRC) from 1908 to 1960, and Ruanda-Urundi (Rwanda and Burundi) from 1922 to 1962. It also had a small concession in China and was a co-administrator of the Tangier International Zone in Morocco. ]

In a smart way the republic of China is gaining more control over several countries widely spread all over the world. By its technological and industrial espionage, it also managed to introduce its ‘own’ technological features in several capitalist countries, having created as such a good stable economic platform or insured economic outlet.

As the owings of developing countries to China have mushroomed debt sustainability is a mounting concern, exacerbated further by the impact of COVID-19 economic shut-downs.  China has given some short-term debt relief but it does not belong to the Paris Club of creditors, and sets its own rules and ethics. By now Beijing has those countries which can’t service their expensive loans in their clamps and power. Question might be if the loans will be converted into strategic extra-territorial acquisitions.

Sri Lanka, as a coveted geopolitical outpost of China, is a case in point. Since the end of the three-decade separatist war there, China’s role in the Indian Ocean has received much attention for its infamous debt-trap led extraterritorial approach. However, within Sri Lanka (and many African countries) the response is mixed – China is both the land grabber, the political influencer, the military supplier and the friendly brother capable of fuelling long-awaited economic growth.

The eyes of China are directed to countries often left aside by Europe and the United States of America, because too poor and of no economical interest because too dangerous or for being highly corrupt and conflict ridden zones. Counties who want some financial help from China may not have alliances with Taiwan or have to stop their relationship with them.

The narrative that China is engaging in problematic debt trap diplomacy has taken off since 2018. Coined the preceding year by an Indian pundit, the term implies that Beijing is purposely striking unsustainable debt-for-infrastructure deals with developing countries along the routes of its ubiquitous Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, which a Chinese state-owned firm acquired via a ninety-nine-year lease in 2017 after the Sri Lankan government could not service its loans, has been cited repeatedly as evidence that the Chinese government is practicing debt trap diplomacy. Many countries which do not receive enough aid from Europe or the U.S. hope that China will help them. China does not show any interest in the conflicts those countries may have as long as their are enough goods to explore and to transport to China.

Certain countries are starting to see how China wants to integrate in as many countries as it can.

Poorly planned and badly executed energy and infrastructure deals involving China in Latin American countries like Venezuela and Ecuador have increasingly attracted critical headlines. Even in Europe, Beijing’s efforts to finance and build a railway between the capitals of Hungary and Serbia have run into obstacles and sparked backlash.

The colonial expansion of China is something we would have to watch with Argus eyes also investigating how they treat the people who work for their institutions of firms in that country where they so-called offer their help.

The Chinese government and the developing countries it partners with too often have failed to consult sufficiently with the people most directly affected by grandiose infrastructure projects.
The trending Chinese role model is that of an authoritarian goliath that can make its doctors and billionaires disappear while protecting favoured war-crime offenders and military regimes elsewhere, while meanwhile it exploits a lot of people and makes them work as slave labourers while the managers of the company rake in all the big money.

Widening The Historical Inequalities due to Algorithmic Divide

Tackled:

• Algorithm (“a set of rules a machine follows to achieve a particular goal”) promoting discrimination through widening the historical inequalities
• algorithm = by-product of artificial intelligence > big contributor facilitating discriminatory practices in today’s democratic regime.
• mobile phones, laptops, televisions, etc.  made of very precise algorithms as they run on a computer program which is itself an implemented algorithm
• leading to a stage of blatant violation of the fundamental rights of the marginalized and minority fragment of the society.
• algorithms which classify personal data + trace them accordingly to generate the subject => classification
• filters + criteria for classification
• Bias =  situation where conditions are less favourable for one group as compared to the other group & when there is no justification available to showcase such differential behavior.
• human rights issue > miscategorising >subjugation of disparities between white people and black people => racist algorithm
• gender bias
• bias in Word-embedding
• socio-political hegemony on the roots of historical inequalities

The Human Rights Blog

Sahajveer Baweja

---

As the dependency on using algorithms has rapidly increased due to its capability of doing a multifarious task with ease, it is necessary to understand that how algorithms are also one of the biggest facilitators of discriminatory practices. In this article, the focus has been laid on how the algorithm is promoting discrimination through widening the historical inequalities. The adequate focus has been given to explain the components of an algorithm such as opacity and automated-decision making capacity, which is mainly showing such discriminatory results thereby, violating the right to equal treatment and non-discrimination.

Understanding the algorithmic divide

An algorithm that is a by-product of artificial intelligence is one such big contributor that is facilitating discriminatory practices in today’s democratic regime. The word algorithm has seen a transitional shift from just being a technical, mathematical terminology exclusively used by computer scientists and mathematicians to a term that is…

View original post 2,141 more words

On Strike

A 40 something girl, a political junkie and obsessed, living the Southern California dream, but who knows that we are constantly giving up personal power over to some person or thing which ironically only shrinks our world further, Tricia Butler looks at today’s International Women’s Day.

Today she does not look at the blunt racism of a previous era which was portrayed not by sensationalist car bombings and riots, but through the daily humiliations suffered when doing the most common of things like finding a bathroom to use, checking out a library book or having a cup of coffee, like in “An American Tale”.

Today she also does not talk about repressed countries like Iran where a woman can be hung for adultery after being raped, or Colombia where they are imprisoned when something goes wrong with pregnancy, or in India where 300,000-600,000 female babies are aborted yearly due to their perceived poor value. (see Patricia Arquette’s Acceptance Speech Made Me Want to Hurl)

According to her she is a

woman living in America and I have the same rights as men do, as does Patricia Arquette, as does every woman in the country. {Patricia Arquette’s Acceptance Speech Made Me Want to Hurl}

But are those same rights delivering the same rights?

In Belgium women also should have the same rights as men, but we can see  a lot of economical discrepancy. In the same job by certain companies there still may be a difference in pay for a man and a woman. For certain positions often men  are chosen above women.

In our country we also several women cutting back on hours after giving birth and men choosing higher paying career majors. In our area’s we also may find single childless women to single childless men still having less opportunities than men to go up on the ladder of being confronted by bosses who wonder if that woman wants to become pregnant in the near future.

Though Tricia Butler claims the equality in the States she also writes:

We were created to be seen, heard and understood as individuals, yet are constantly being shuffled off in to groups with predetermined character traits. {The Cannibalizing Nature of Group Identity Politics}

So could it well be that she found out that there is not real equality though they should legally have the same rights? She continues

Women you belong here with the victimized, white males stand over there under the racist/sexist flag and minorities you’re in with the permanently aggrieved, government is your savior crowd. And oh, hey you gays, get in line over there with the rest of the sexually promiscuous crew. {The Cannibalizing Nature of Group Identity Politics}

She continues

Identity politics have been around since at least the 1970s, but the explosion of social media and the prevalence of victimhood mentality syndrome has brought it back with a vengeance.  As it increases, the country becomes more tribal and divided and people become less inclined to take ownership of their problems as they subconsciously get filed away under “it’s someone else’s fault”. {The Cannibalizing Nature of Group Identity Politics}

We are sure that in many countries, like in Belgium, there can be found working women who are not getting paid as much as their male friend with the same job title. The guest-speaker of today writes

Why it’s our patriarch society and its inherent oppression of women of course. It has nothing to do with the fact that your friend works longer hours than you because you requested weekends off with the kids. You are a victim! {Real Victims Deserve More}

Luckily enough we may say that the last few years we can see that politicians want to take more time to think about women’s position. On television we may find serious political discussions on mental health, violence and homelessness, bu it seems in the United States there also may be an incessant blathering from politicians about a fictitious “war on women”. {Real Victims Deserve More}

Today 2017, March 8, women standing in solidarity for fair and equal treatment in several countries may go on strike from work, though from yesterday’s television debates in Belgium most women shall be present at work to deliver their services, some clothed in black as a sign of disillusion and betrayal of the system.

Here in Belgium we do not have to have the idea like some Americans may have.

They want us to believe we are being held back by some societal oppressor; an “ism” that forever prevents us from reaching our full potential.  With this view, everyone and everything becomes an oppressor, something to be offended by and fight against.”

Here it is not so much about an oppressor or males really wanting to be the higher person. In the debates it looked more that several men where also willing to take on household positions or spending more time with the children, though at the moment there is a ‘mentality gap’. Still a lot of work has to be made at the primary and secondary school to get rid of certain old in our society anchored expectations.

 

+++

Find also to read

1. Why Women Matter
2. Women’s Day?
3. ‘International Women’s Day’…
4. Women’s Day
5. Women’s Day (by Adeshittu)
6. Womens Day
7. When Women Don’t Own the Road
8. Be Proud to Become a Woman!
9. war on women
10. The Women’s March 1/21/17
11. Trump Takes a Step to Escalate Republican’s War on Women
12. But Remember….There Is No Republican War On WOmen – ‘Kentucky GOP files new abortion ban: The only ‘choice’ women have is ‘to conceive or not conceive’
13. Republicans Poised to Support the One-Percent, Destroy the Middle Class, and Weaken the Working Class
14. Why the War on Women Will no Longer Be Tolerated
15. The Liberal Women’s March
16. The Forced-Birth March Is Today
17. The “War on Women” Claims Another Casualty 
18. Not so Polite Dinner Conversation – a day without a woman
19. Women in the Workforce or Dress for Success in the Time of Trump
20. John Cornyn Calls Elizabeth Warren “Little Lady”
21. The Afternoon Quote
22. News That Will Drive You To Drink
23. Ohio Is A Great State For Rapists
24. Women are Losing the War, while a Religious Cult Rejects Human Rights
25. If You Remain a Republican, You Own It
26. Beneath My Exteriors (To women around the world)
27. I Like Being A Woman Because…
28. For My Mom on Women’s Day
29. #BeBoldForChange: A letter to my Girlfriend
30. Women’s Psycho-Spiritual Gifts
31. Happy Women’s Day! 1
32. Happy women’s day 2
33. Celebrating Women in Tech!
34. Women Winners
35. 5 Little Things Women In Jaipur Can Do To Emerge Stronger
36. For the Woman she is
37. Most Men Plan To Spend Women’s Day Sub-Consciously Envying The Ability To Grow People

+++

Related articles

• Trump’s ‘America First’ push has first Americans both hopeful, skeptical
• The Sisters Changing the Direct-to-Consumer Fashion Game
• International Women’s Day 2017 – #BeBoldForChange #IWD2017
• Inspired By The Women’s Marches? Here’s 11 More Upcoming Protests That Need You.
• An early hostel curfew is necessary to protect girls from ‘hormonal outbursts’: Maneka Gandhi
• The 13 best companies in Britain to work for as a woman
• Vodafone launches programme to help women on career breaks return to work
• Show your support for national Go Red for Women Day!
• Miriam Gonzalez Durantez called ‘Mrs Clegg’ in invite to speak at International Women’s Day event
• Schools and businesses across the US will shutter for the ‘Day Without a Woman’ strike

Freedom Through Empowerment

On March 8th, women from around the world will stand in solidarity for fair and equal treatment by going on strike from work.  At least I think that’s the gist, but it’s hard to tell because the goals are so generalized and different depending on who you talk to.

This Huffington Post article discusses the event and the platform from the International Women’s Strike USA website which calls for.

• Reproductive justice for women
• An end to gender violence, the wage gap and all forms of bigotry
• Full social provisioning (i.e, vast expansion of the welfare state)
• Environmental justice for all
• Anti racist, anti imperialist feminism
• A day of “love and liberation”

Cover for Far Left Agenda

Well that all sounds a bit squishy to me and I do wish more details were given on just what “unfair and unequal treatment” means for women living in America today. Equal pay has been…

View original post 430 more words

Women in France running with naked bosom all right but with covered bosom penalised

Prudish people having put away their shame by causing shame to others

Years ago people had to fight hard against the prudish Catholic minds who opposed any naked flesh to be shown. Today the so called Catholic countries in West Europe seem to have chosen to have the women their tits out and finding it not okay to cover them up.

In the previous century there were many French and Belgians who did find it inappropriate to have some natural flesh of certain body parts to be shown in public. It was considered not done to have dresses which did not come under the knees. (We where brought up like that and got penalties when we had dared to show our bare/naked legs or upper arms.) Last century it was said we all had to listen to God and could not run naked in this world because God opposed such a thing.

Today their god must have changed idea and has come to prefer naked flesh, because in the present time the French seem not to look at those who want to cover their body as unworthy believers and even as people who are a danger for society.

Covering up for the Almighty

When we were young our Catholic mothers had to wear headscarf or hats when coming in public. In church they had to sit at the left hand site with their faces hidden behind a veil. In the previous century most people in Europe thought it was appropriate to dress decently and not having too much bare or naked. Mots parts of the body had to be covered with clothing or tissue.

Only around the turn of the century  less people came to make objections when some parts of the body were not covered. Today it looks like the world has got upside down. What for centuries was thought to be the moral way and according to Judeo Christian values, suddenly seems to be not acceptable any more.

People, like female Muslims, who now choose to cover up for God, are not allowed to do so by the French governement. Europeans should question such a decision taken by a governement in West Europe and see how human rights (freedoms established by custom or international agreement that impose standards of conduct on all nations) are  trespassed. Today we can see in France that many specific human rights are ignored. What happened to the the right to personal or individual liberty and Due Process of Law; to freedom of thought, clothing, expression, religion, organization, and movement; to freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age, language, and sex?

Restrictions imposed

In West Europe we encounter more that certain social groups are confined to menial and despised jobs or even get no opportunity on the work-market. When somebody is called Mohammed he may be sure it will be much more difficult to get a job than when he would be called Jef. Arabic looking people shall find it more difficult to be able to rent a place or to buy property.

In Europe they say there does not exist a cast system (or caste) but if they are not careful it will come in existence or (better said) it will grow (because it is already here but denied). In our 21st century ‘Untouchability‘ and ‘Speciesism‘ have become a reality also in Western Europe. We can clearly see that more and more different values, rights, or special consideration is given to individuals solely on the basis of their species membership, origin and faith. There are many who are not minding positive discrimination and taking it up for one particular religious group (the Roman catholics). Today we may find the atheist caste wanting to direct the Christian-caste, Islamic-caste, and may we find different rejections of castes or groups of people.

It seems that France and Belgium are limiting the human rights laws for some groups in their population, which should give us the idea they are discriminating. By singling out a type of person or thing for special negative treatment or denial of equal treatment and to act in a prejudicial manner against someone or something, they have chosen the way of deprivation of individual liberty.

Oppression

Lots of Caucasians seem to think that all those women are oppressed, but is it not they who know bring oppression and take away those women’s freedom to cloth themselves like they want? Clearly we could see several women being downtrodden, maltreated, henpecked, browbeaten and subjugated or abused and tyrannized.

The country

which prides itself for liberté, égalité, fraternité, has unfortunately fallen short in recent times, with more social division and social prejudice arising within the country, due to the public suppression and rejection of religion; the consequent of which has led to violent eruptions.
It is also precisely through the social persecution of the wider Islamic community in such acts which aim to strip them of their beliefs, that it seems that the French government are validating individuals’ fears, rather than attempting to diffuse them. {France’s banning of the ‘Burqini’ is the rejection of its founding principles}

Swimwear

Forbidden: a burkini-clad woman on the beach

This iconic image of Peggy Moffitt modelling Gernreich’s monokini, which got a lot of controversy, was initially published in Women’s Wear Daily on June 3, 1964 and shows how one was still afraid to show a naked tummy.

What should people have against a full body swimsuit for any sort of woman, being Catholic or Muslim? (When we were child our parents had to wear full swimsuits or where fined.) Shall people, who went diving, have to take off their wetsuit before they come onto the beach? If they may walk on the beach with a wetsuit why not women in a full swimsuit?
Why are so many against wearing a swimming costume which covers the whole body with the exception of the face, hands, and feet, suitable for wear by Muslim women, which got the name bourkini/burkini/burqini, but has nothing to do with a bourka/burka/burqa or with the rider’s burka/burqa, which is long, thickpiled, nor with the traditional man’s coat made from felt or karakul, or with the Ukrainian traditional garment or Kobeniak, or with a two-piece bathing costume called bikini (or close-fitting bathing suit worn by men) and even less with a monokini, being just the opposite of it?

Women their freedom taken away

Are so many West Europeans so afraid women cannot stand up for themselves? And certain feminists do they not see there is much more at hand than just sexism?

We must be aware that there is so much more going on in our deranged world where Jihadi terrorist managed to get the fear burning hard over here in our regions that nobody seems to feel at ease when they see something that smells to Islamism. The politicians fell in the trap by creating laws in a hurry which limits the freedom of many women who have nothing to do at all with the faith of those terrorists, because they have chosen the path of God and a religion of peace or salam, hence the name Islam.

The Mayor of Cannes has prohibited access to the beach for those wearing clothing that disrespects secularism Reuters

By prohibiting the burkini the French state limits even more those they say would be oppressed. It is strange that lots of people do not understand those women wearing a burkini get just the freedom to go into the water or to lie on the beach like so many other women do.  By banning the burkini those women their freedom to enjoy a good day at the beach is taken away. By the ban also their children are targeted, because they also shall not be able to come to the beach and to go into the water to play with their mother.

The justification for the burkini ban is no longer about ‘liberating’ women, ….. but Arundhati Roy’s remarks about France’s earlier ban on the burka are still apt:

Suzanna Arundhati Roy , Indian author who is best known for her novel The God of Small Things (1997), which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997

When, as happened recently in France, an attempt is made to coerce women out of the burka rather than creating a situation in which a woman can choose what she wishes to do, it’s not about liberating her but about unclothing her. It becomes an act of humiliation and cultural imperialism. Coercing a woman out of her burka is as bad as coercing her into one. It’s not about the burka. It’s about the coercion.

Arundhati Roy Capitalism: A Ghost Story, p. 37.

Armed police forcing women to remove their clothes on the beach is nothing other than an act of humiliation – humiliating women to punish a minority group for the actions of a few individuals. {France and the Burkini}

Huda Jawad, Community Coordinator at Standing Together Against Domestic Violence, wrote

Choosing to conflate a cultural and religiously inspired mode of attire – which women choose to wear to feel safe from the sexual gaze of society while partaking in a very ordinary pastime – with a terrorist group is a convenient ‘othering’ of fellow citizens in times of national crisis. {The burkini ban is misogynistic – and Western feminists are turning a blind eye}

Secularism, good attitude and proper values

You may wonder why those women in burkini would not wear appropriate swimwear and would not “respect good customs and secularism” whilst others with their bare poo and bare bosom would be an example how women should be clothed and are respecting the western values.

There exist already a lot of discriminatory treatment towards physically unattractive people. Now to that ‘Lookism‘ we have the discriminatory view of men who can not see enough naked flesh are can not find enough to look at by a woman.

Today people not only make judgements of others based on their physical appearance that influence how they respond to those people, when their clothes are not liked by French men such men may now demand those clothes to be taken off.

The announcement by David Lisnard, UMP Mayor of Cannes, that he is prohibiting access to the beach to anyone not wearing what the French would consider suitable bathing suits, did not make many French question, what right he had, to decide a woman had to wear on the beach and why he choose the more naked version of the feminine, instead of a more clothed, and what believers in God would call a more decent one.

Victims of ISIS, the scapegoat of the French nation

Lots of people consider themselves victim of ISIS but forget that the worst victims are Islamists or ordinary Muslim people all over the world. Europeans and Americans may not be blind and should see that the greatest causalities of Isis have been Muslims, and the banning of the burkini illustrates the extent to which France’s fundamentalist secularism is singling out the most visible and vulnerable group in society for blame.

The governement is giving in and has found its scapegoat and used the local Muslims to blame for the terror the security forces of the country could not avoid or obstruct. Like the Fascist in the past liked Scapegoating many Europeans and Americans now blame the refugees and Muslims for the many problems they have in their country. In the past Jews and immigrants were prominent among the groups that were demonized. In France the Jews got a sibling now in the Muslim community. Today it is not a “Judeo-Masonic-bolshevik” conspiraciy or left-wing agitation, but the presence of immigrants and the amount of active Muslims.

As in the past the governement points the finger to those ‘outcasts’ and originators of all sin. They go with the people and hope to gain popularity by taking measures against the Ummah or Muslim community, making their life so difficult that they hope those other believers will soon leave. Implication was that depriving these demons of their power and influence would cause the nation’s major problems to go away.

Lots of people are afraid that those Muslims would be able to convert many French and that the nation by those converts would be more and more becoming an Islamic state.

Limiting the liberty of Muslims and other believers

Now by limiting the liberty of the Muslims in their own country the governement hopes to please the rest of the population and to take the attention away from their own weakness and the blame they have it not in control.

The governement, because of all the discussions going on about the burkini’s and religious clothing, decided that when the schools will open again, no religious dress or symbol shall be allowed, and as such no head covering for Jews and Muslims or necklaces with religious symbols.

Education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a former government spokesperson who is politically more to the left than former interior minister Valls and disagrees with the burqini ban could not stop the measures.

For the start of the debate, concerning the burqini Huda Jawad  also questioned in the Daily Independent

Since when did wearing a burkini, in most cases a loose fitting nylon version of a wetsuit, become an act of allegiance to terrorist movements? Do Marks & Spencer or House of Fraser know that their attempt to raise profits and exploit a gap in the over-saturated clothing market is selling and promoting allegiance to Isis? {The burkini ban is misogynistic – and Western feminists are turning a blind eye}

She also remarks

What is it about French secularism’s blindspot to its own racism and misogyny? The obsession to the point of fetishism with Muslim women’s mode of dress and covering curtails the most basic of human rights – that of self-determination and freedom of expression. As Arundhati Roy so eloquently put it, coercing a woman out of the burka instead of enabling her to choose is an act of violence, humiliation and cultural imperialism. Instead of extending the hand of fraternité, Mr Lisnard and his supporters are excluding Muslims, if not pushing them into the arms of radicalisers. {The burkini ban is misogynistic – and Western feminists are turning a blind eye}

Making the Muslims stigmatised as the bogeyman, that scarecrow seems already frightening lots of French people. They are pushing the golliwog in the corner or throwing in front of the swines that in the end they shall have to defend themselves so strongly and make their faith and stance even stronger, so that a new religious revolt can take place. Perhaps than the French shall get their eyes opened and shall be awakened from their cauchemard (their nightmare) they are afraid of.

Today, Friday 26 August 2016, France’s highest administrative court has suspended a ban on the burkini in a test case brought by human rights groups, pending a definitive ruling.

The ruling from the state council suspends a single ban in the southern town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, but is likely to set a precedent for other towns that have prohibited the full-body swimwear on their beaches.

According to a senior politician in Norway’s right-wing Progress Party (FrP) Norway also has to follow the lead of a number of French towns and ban the burkini. Third deputy, Aina Stenersen, claims the full-body swimsuits worn by some Muslim women are “a symbol of radical Islam” and is convinced that French cities did right to ban the burqini from their beaches. The Progress Party is in the process of formulating a new party manifesto, and the burkini ban is expected to be included.

The FrP does, however, believe the fine faced by those who wear burkinis in France is too lenient. Ms Stenersen intends to double the charge to around 500 kroner, which is equivalent to £57.

A story to be continued and démarche or kick-off to be followed up .

To welcome women wearing burqini’s and coming into public spaces

Marcel Michelson for Forbes writes

Yes, wearing a burkini on the beach, as wearing a burka in town, is an ostentatious sign of religious adherence, as is the wearing of full robes by priests and nuns in public or the traditional garments and hairstyles of orthodox Jews.

Yet a burkini is also a means of emancipation for Muslim women, allowing them to bathe despite the strict, male-dominated, rules under which they have to lead their lives.

In a way, we should welcome burkini’s and encourage Muslims to integrate more in French, or European, society. {Burkini Debate In France Shows Lack Of Tolerance And Understanding Out Of Fear For Strangers}

+

Please come to read:

1. On French beach French police forces woman to undress in public
2. Is Europe going to become a dictatorial bastion
3. France and the Burkini
4. Islamophobia or nah?
5. Bitches, Puhleeeeze….
6. The Burkini
7. The Burkini Ban
8. France’s top court to rule on burkini ban
9. My Burkini and I
10. Universal concern: not naked enough
11. This gif sums up the whole ‘debate’ on #BurkiniBan
12. Burkini must be banned, France’s Sarkozy says as he launches election campaign
13. France’s War on the Burqini
14. Dear white people of France: being forced to undress wasn’t exactly the liberation I was longing for
15. Thoughts on Burqini
16. Modest Swimwear: The Burkini
17. Burkini and French Secularism
18. France’s banning of the ‘Burqini’ is the rejection of its founding principles.
19. 7 facts about France’s burkini ban that make outsiders very uncomfortable
20. Planned ‘Burqini Day’ irks French far-rights
21. The Swimsuit War of 2009: Year In Review 2009 (swimming)
22. France’s highest court suspends burkini ban in test case
23. Burkini ban: Norway’s right-wing Progress Party calls for full-body swimsuit to be outlawed

+++

Further related articles

1. French Web Round-Up: 5 Things That Made Me Smarter This Week
2. Sea Water, Sweat and Tears
3. Please exit calmly and quietly.
4. Is EU discriminating against Israel by labeling settlement goods?
5. Landlords Will Face Tougher Consequences For Discriminating Against (Most) Renters With Criminal Records: Gothamist
6. U.S. House of Representatives’ Chaplain Accused of Discriminating Against Atheism, Judaism and other Minority Religions
7. 3 Helpful Hints on Dismantling Racial Boundaries in the Classroom
8. On My Mind (Vol. 4)
9. I’m Gonna Dress Like a Charlie Brown Ghost Next Time I Go Swimming
10. What does it mean to cover?
11. Ban The Burka
12. What women need is security
13. Breaking News: France requesting to Saudi Arabia’s ‘Morality Police’ for training their police force!
14. Islam, France, Burkini: A chit chat on FB
15. Third French burqini ban after Corsica clashes
16. Beach Party Outside French Embassy Protests The Burkini Ban On French Beaches
17. East Essence: Shop Islamic Clothes For Your Whole Family!
18. True life story- Two plastic sacks
19. Waitress
20. Yttrandefriheten: Opinion live?
21. Di burkini e di diritti
22. Burqini dan Islamophobia Prancis
23. Τα Marks&Spencer, έβγαλαν και μπουργκίνι, μαγιό για μουσουλμάνες
24. Τη θέση του μπικίνι παίρνει το … μπουρκίνι

+++

Related articles

• Likely human rights talks with Europe to involve Iranian jurists, politicians: Official
• Human Rights Awareness Month
• The Latest: French far right leader: Burkini battle not over
• Burkini ban suspended by top French court
• France’s highest court overturns burkini ban
• Top French court suspends burkini ban
• Burkini Debate In France Shows Lack Of Tolerance And Understanding Out Of Fear For Strangers
• Trump brand of migrant demonization #2
• Letter from the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, to Mr Jorge Fernández Díaz, Minister of the Interior of Spain, concerning the human rights of immigrants and asylum-seekers in Spain
• The Latest: White House notes value of religious freedom

Christianity like Judaism God’s call to human responsibility

The season of Pesach (Passover) is a time for reflection for many people.

Shimon Zachary Klein finds that the relevance of Pesach as a festival of freedom is lost for many reasons. He writes

It is a festival that conjures up obsessions for the “Kosher for Pesach” foods that result in the annual hair-splitting arguments between the secular and religious. The losers are inevitably the secular who have to kowtow to the whims of the religious who have the law on their side. What is free about that? Religious coercion reaches a climax during the Pesach week.Another aspect and one that very few people give a thought is the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. Their limited freedom is even further curtailed. Road-blocks, closures and checkpoints are stricter. The reason is always security. However, the difficulties that innocent Palestinians have to endure are further increased by this “Festival of Freedom”. The Israeli soldiers who are on duty in the occupied territories are even more abusive and insensitive to Palestinians to ensure that the “Festival of Freedom” is not “interrupted” by Palestinians.

It is difficult and even hypocritical to celebrate a festival of freedom while denying another people basic human rights. The settlers in the occupied territories show their presence during this “Festival of Freedom” when they trespass on Palestinian lands. At the same time the Israeli government is still expanding settlements on Palestinian land. Racist rabbis continue their anti-Arab diatribes and this does have much influence for the celebration of Pesach. {Pesach (Passover) – the Festival of “Freedom”}

Today, having a holy week and having listened to the stories how God liberated His people, we in these days of particular times, showing that we are coming closer to the end times, it should be a challenge to all of us as lovers of God to seek new meanings and learning new lessons as to how relevant Pesach remains today.

From the previous writings you could find that it is not enough to celebrate the liberation of the Israelites, who to all intents and purposes, are our ancestors. It is also not enough just to think about the Jewish rabbi who called his disciples together to speak about a new covenant.

English: Omer ceremony – Pesach 2007 , Jewish holidays עברית: חגיגת אנשי אילות לקראת סדר פסח בדשא חדר האכילה.ריקוד אמהות וילדים:שיבולת בשדה., Original Image Name:טקס העומר-פסח 2007, Location:אילות (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many Jews still come together in a very traditional way and even may perform what others consider out dated rituals as to what is Kosher for Pesach and what is not. The religious hair-splitting explanation over what is “kitniot” –“legumes” that are forbidden to be eaten by religious Ashkenazim.

Rabbi John Rosove, J Street Rabbinic Cabinet, Co-Chair brought following message

“As the festival of Passover approaches, we are all challenged, this year even more than most years, to reflect and act on the universal message it conveys — especially in the light of very disturbing trends both in the United States and Israel.

A page from the Haggadah of Pesach printed in Prague, 1527 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The overriding message conveyed through the Haggadah is that it is our duty to experience the story of our liberation from Egypt as if it happened to us personally — and not just a story that happened to our ancestors countless generations ago. As former slaves, our tradition teaches us to be sensitive to the plight of the oppressed throughout history and in our own time. Accepting our role as active participants in that drama, we realize that we have a hand in forging our own destiny and cannot allow ourselves to become mere bystanders.

“We’re taught as Jews despite cruelty leveled against us not to become cruel and hard-hearted ourselves. That is the key lesson of Pesach, and we ignore it at our moral and spiritual peril.”

We are sensitive even to the pain of our enemies, taking a drop of wine out of our glasses for each of the ten plagues visited on the Egyptians, lessening our joy as we recall their suffering.

As our sages have noted, the one commandment in the Torah reiterated more than any other is to care for and love the stranger — for we ourselves were strangers in Egypt. It is repeated no fewer than 36 times.

Perhaps the repetition is necessary because this commandment tells us to do something that is both counterintuitive and very hard to do. It goes against something that is very deep and fundamental within us. We’re hardwired to be loyal to our own tribe and to be suspicious of and hostile to “the other.” When we’re hurting or in distress, some of us blame strangers and pour out our rage on them. It’s happening again, right now, in Syria, Iraq and in sectors of America.

He is not the only one who looks at what is going on at the 2016 presidential campaign in the United states of America where some of the leading candidates have built their campaigns by exploiting the fears and anxieties of fellow Americans. Also on several religious websites, mainly fundamentalist Christian or American right wing Evangelist sites everything is done to bring people against each other and to downgrade one or an other faith-group.

The rabbi rigthly remarks:

They have cynically fomented an anti-immigrant, xenophobic, nativist feeling against Muslims, Hispanics and others.

and sees the same problematic matter in Israel

we see the same phenomenon in the very disturbing recent polls showing that a sizeable proportion of the Jewish population would favor depriving Arab Israelis of their democratic rights or even expelling them from the country. And tragically, Israelis and Palestinians have become strangers to each other, meeting in fewer and fewer places and not currently engaged around the negotiating table.

Yes, Israelis have been subjected to heinous terrorist attacks, rockets, missiles and constant psychological pressure — and we must stand with them in upholding their right to defend themselves and our Jewish homeland — but returning hatred with hatred is not the response our tradition teaches. We’re taught as Jews despite cruelty leveled against us not to become cruel and hard-hearted ourselves. That is the key lesson of Pesach, and we ignore it at our moral and spiritual peril.

This is not who we are as Jews — nor who we can be and should be.

As individuals and collectively, working through organizations like J Street and its many American-Jewish, Israeli and Palestinian allies, we need to change this. We are called upon by tradition to pursue peace and justice and to love compassion. We must see that our neighbors are fellow humans with the same desires and aspirations as us — and we must never abandon our goal of reaching a two-state solution to end the conflict.

That is the great challenge of our time and it is deserving of particular reflection this festival season.

Sir Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the UK, at National Poverty Hearing 2006 at Westminster, London. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As the former Chief Rabbi of Britain, Jonathan Sacks, has noted,

“Judaism is God’s call to human responsibility. From this call you can’t hide, as Adam and Eve discovered when they tried, and you can’t escape, as Jonah learnt in the belly of a fish. The first humans lost paradise when they sought to hide from responsibility. We will only ever regain it if we accept responsibility and become a nation of leaders, each respecting and making space for those not like us.”

Also for those who want to call themselves Christian should ring the same bell. Jeshua asked his followers to be messengers of peace. We can not permit it that we again would loose the paradise. It is promised to us, but we can go along the wrong paths and miss that important entrance or small gate to the Kingdom of God.

Christians should take up their responsibility to preach the Good News and to show the right attitude of a lover of God, keeping to the golden Rule of the Agape love.

+

Please do read also: Relevance of Observing Pesach Today

+++

Related articles

• Relevance of Observing Pesach Today
• How the Jewish Community is celebrating Passover in India
• When the looney Jewish Left writes a Haggada
• Slavery – “Guilt” as a Jewish Weapon
• FLASHBACK – Public Law 102-14 and the Jewish Noahide Laws
• Why Are Jews Lying About Their Prominent Role in the African Slave Trade?
• ~ “The Difference Between Hebrewism and Judaism” ~
• Taking Back What The Devil Stole Those whose ancestors were in the Slave trade and Gentiles
• Pesach Oven – An Art Review
• Leviticus 23:10-16

Denmark votes in favour for a Discriminatory Nazi law

On Tuesday the 26th of January 2016 it was good to see and hear that there was someone from a tiny country who dared to raise his voice against an outrageous and discriminatory Nazi law of which the Danes and some other East European countries would hope keep away other asylum seekers.

In 2008 Denmark had barely immigrants from the ‘other’ category, under which granted asylum requests also fall. In 2009 it rose, to 7.6 immigrants per 10,000 residents. That was the same as in the Netherlands, but the country was more desired and achieved in 2010 more asylum seekers than the Netherlands. The “other” category counted for Denmark in 2010, 9.7 against 7.2 for the Netherlands.

Danish politician Lars Løkke Rasmussen. (This image is a cropped version of File:Dmitry Medvedev in Denmark 28 April 2010-12.jpeg). Attribution: http://www.kremlin.ru. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen‘s center-right party Venstre presented his new cabinet in June 2015, it looked forward to a stricter policy to arrive mainly because the influx increased constantly.

On Tuesday, January 26th, it was the in December proposed plan toned down, that was accepted to be taken in a law.

The Danish government wants to make it clear that all rejected asylum seekers are immediately returned, but also wants to bring a dissuasion by taking the belongings of immigrants.

In Europe more and more Nazi ideology seems to get back coming up. By excluding certain groups of people travelling between the communities it creates a dangerous distinction. If one were to ask money to people to be allowed to settle in the country one could still accept it. But to just take the belongings from only one population group, refugees, is just unacceptable.

Following similar moves in Switzerland and southern Germany, Denmark’s parliament voted on Tuesday to allow police to search asylum-seekers on arrival in the country and confiscate any non-essential items worth more than 10,000 Danish kroner (about €1,300) that have no sentimental value to their owner. Who will also determine the handling of emotional value which may be retained and which are pricey to be saved? In any case, it also creates the possibility for the police force to hold back (steal) goods from those who are trying to enter the country and to have the confiscated goods disappearing in their own pocket.

The centre-right Danish government says the procedure is to cover the cost of each asylum-seeker’s treatment by the state, and mimics treatment of Danish citizens on welfare benefits.

The UN has nevertheless called the move concerning and regrettable, while an opposition party termed it “morally horrible”. This new legislation is ethically unsound and unworthy for a Union which want to carry the words democracy and freedom in its emblems. In the European Union all states should join hands to take care that human rights standards are kept high.

May we expect such a ague or getting the creeps by those in power in the European Union that measures will be taken to protect the right of those who are fleeing war and horror?

+

Find also: A stain of shame for the European Union

A Dutch version / Nederlandse versie: Denemarken zwicht onder druk van anti asielzoekers

+++

Related articles

• [Ticker] Ireland enters refugee relocation scheme
• Riot Erupts in Dutch Town over Plan to Build Asylum Centre
• European Council worries about the detention and reception conditions for asylum seekers
• Soini: Finland should follow Denmark’s tough stance on asylum seekers
• Half of Netherlands 52,000 asylum seekers are Syrian
• Merkel vows to ‘drastically decrease’ refugee influx, but rejects cap on asylum seekers
• U.N. refugee chief says fears for future of European asylum system
• Denmark’s government wants to seize valuables from Syrian refugees
• Danish PM slams new Swedish border checks
• Dutch refugee law echo’s Nazi seizure of cash, jewellery

29. Laws that Value People

In our series on abortion we have let you hear pro’s and con’s and tried to show how we have to cope with such situations when something terrible happened or when people are confronted with the question of going to a Family Planning Office or counsellor or an abortion clinic.

Lots of people think there are only the 10 commandments, forgetting that those better would be called 10 Words. In the Torah are many many more rules given and to often people overlook the “You may not’s” to see them as commandments as well. Once is said a person may not do something him or her is given a rule or regulation to keep at.

.

Those who call themselves Christian should better also look at those “You may not” remarks in the Holy Scriptures.
Most of the instructions given in the Holy Scriptures concern relationships; the relationship to the Divine Creator and His creation, the creatures (man, animal and plant). They concern our attitude to ourself, to others around us, and to our ‘wants‘ and involve the things we should want to share with others around us, guiding us to a good behaviour and to a good way of life.

.

In case many more people would live according to those Divine instructions there would be less trouble and less pain in this world.

*

To remember:

Much of our Western world rejects God and many would say our only meaning is found in evolution, and humanists and atheists (who tend to be one and the same) say that evolution is about survival and we have arrived at a point where we are sophisticated human beings who now act on more than just instinct. We have developed reason and rationality and so we see that it is sensible, if nothing else, to think well of one another if we are to survive and not enter another world war which would undoubtedly be even worse than the previous two. To survive we need to think well of one another. {28. Valuing People}

.

Simply writing a list of human rights does not mean everyone will keep them. They will not make a child obey its parent or the parent not abuse the child. They will not stop an employer abusing an employee or vice-versa. They will not stop politicians, or any other national leaders for that matter, acting corruptly. Laws may be good in general but a strong adherence to the values underpinning those laws (remember, we considered this a couple of meditations back) will be the only thing that guarantees we treat one other well across the globe and, as we suggested in a previous meditation, we will only hold those values when we see and accept the primary cause behind those values – God. Any and every other foundation gives way. It will only be those who hold fast to God, the loving God of the Bible who reveals His design for us, who will genuinely hold these values – and live by them! {28. Valuing People}

.

Gal 9:5,6“I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made man.”

= You Will be held accountable to God for the wrongful killing of another person.

.

God’s values are expressed in the Law He gave to Moses

.

at the heart of valuing a human being = honour or respect or value the victim’s life > in the image of God has God made man

• evolution is the method God used in Creation, it was with purpose {28. Valuing People}
• God’s first ‘laying down the law’ in respect of the sanctity of human life
• God warned about being held accountable for taking a human life – + by implication forbade the taking of human life
• God warned of what the repercussions would be for taking a human life
• Ten Commandments = first half = about relationship with God + second half about relationships with other human beings
• instructions go to the heart of community + civilisation, relationships within families
• Parents = building block for next generation + to be honoured
• if parents are dishonoured or disrespected => following generation will be at odds with God’s design for a harmonious world

following commands in the negative form – “you shall not” = so sharp + clear => consequences for ignoring them not spelled out by God

=  in respect  of a) basic human life,  b) marriage relationships, c) personal property, d) human reputation and e) human peace and security.

main covenant laws = guidance laws about dealing with servants (slaves) i.e. respect within employment (Ex 21:2-11), the penalty for murder (v.12,14), manslaughter (v.13), a child attacking or cursing its parents (v.15,17), the death penalty for kidnapping (v16), ….

= steady catalogue of instructions about dealing with people + dealing with circumstances where life is threatened

first 15 verses of chapter 22 about dealing with property problems + protecting people, e.g. virgins 22:16,17,  aliens (22:21), widows and orphans (22:22-24), i.e. protecting the vulnerable.

Into chapter 23 we find laws about justice in general, about not helping the wicked (v.1), not perverting justice (v.2), not showing favouritism (v.3), not denying justice (v.6), not making false charges (v.7), not using bribes (v.8), not oppressing foreigners (v.9) + about their relationship with the Lord when they enter the Promised Land

first nine verses of chapter 23 = about making sure that people are dealt with fairly (justly).

=> underlying value of importance of each individual human being covered by a law to protect them

laws show how to deal with miscreants, how to deal with situations that go wrong

in Leviticus a whole series of lengthy requirements about offering sacrifices and those laws are all about how a guilty sinner can get right again with God.

God does bring destructive judgment on human beings > a remarkably restrained hand > constantly looking for the good for humanity

We are to value human life.

++

Additional reading

1. No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation
2. Incomplete without the mind of God
3. Written to whom it is about to be reckoned
4. No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation
5. Bible, best Book of books to get to know the truth 
6. Bible, helmet of health, salvation and sword of the spirit
7. Written down in God’s NameA way to look for Christ, the Bible, Word of God
8. Bric-a-brac of the Bible
9. Feed Your Faith Daily
10. We should use the Bible every day
11. Fools despise wisdom and instruction
12. Genuine Christians content with going through motions of ritualistic religion
13. Every creature is a divine word because it proclaims God.
14. Observing the commandments and becoming doers of the Word

+++

Further reading

1. God’s Healing Power – Ask and You Shall Receive?
2. Moses, the Exodus and the 10 Commandments
3. The 10 Commandments
4. 10 Commandments- Keeping the Name of God
5. 10 Commandments: the idolatry commandments
6. 10 Commandment Pt. 2
7. God’s Law in the Life of the Baptized: The Fourth Commandment
8. God’s Law in the Life of the Baptized: The Fifth Commandment
9. God’s Law in the Life of the Baptized: The Sixth Commandment
10. God’s Law in the Life of the Baptized: The Seventh Commandment
11. “Are We Really Keeping the 10 Commandments?”
12. Following the Rules
13. What do you mean, the 10 Commandments don’t apply to me???
14. Sermon on 11 October 2015 about a whole lot of Law….and just a little bit of Gospel. (Because you have to put it in there)
15. The Law Fulfilled In You, Making It Obsolete
16. Kosmic Laws Of Nature
17. 20 Extremely Stupid Quotes By Famous People That Is Sure To Steal Your Ribs
18. The Ten Commandments Still Apply
19. Hear the Instruction of Thy Father, and Forsake Not the Law of Your Mother
20. Trick for Memorizng the 10 Commandments
21. These ought ye to have done…
22. Beware Spiritual Lust
23. Ten Words
24. The Ten Commandments Movie trailer
25. For the Narrative Lectionary Preacher: Deuteronomy & Talking about Law
26. Ten Commandments Removal Discussion – Eavesdropping
27. #7: This Rule Is So Underrated
28. Do Romans 14 and Colossians 2 Provide Cover For Modern Sabbath Deniers?
29. The Significance of the Shabbath & The Laws for Keeping the Shabbath
30. Understanding Bible Truth
31. Surpassing Glory.
32. Don’t Just Let the Rocks Cry Out
33. Humanity in the Toddler Stage
34. Is Removing The 10 Commandments A Big Deal?
35. Texas Riders Deliver 10 Commandments To Oklahoma Governor
36. An Overview of the Ten Commandments Enforced by the Civil Magistrate
37. Late Night Removal of 10 Commandments Monument in Oklahoma Reignites Controversy
38. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
39. A Doubter’s Guide to the Bible Review: Is the Old Testament Law really good?
40. The little boy on the beach….
41. Truth 13. God’s laws guide you in the best way to live and lead you to Jesus.
42. Living with the understanding that His commandments are not burdensome.
43. In Need of Perfection – Part 11: You Shall Not Covet
44. The Unity of Body, Soul and the Tablets
45. Justifiable Acts Against Wrong
46. Devarim Five: Shamor v’Zakhor
47. Devarim Ten: Circumcise the Foreskin of Your Heart
48. Deuteronomy Chapters 10, 11, and 12
49. The basis of the 10 commandments

+++

Related articles

• Vayelech
• Ten Commandments Tablets Craft from Crayola.com
• Does God Make New Year’s Resolutions?
• This Week’s Old Testament: What Are Jews Learning at Temple Today?
• Haazinu
• Christian Salvation, Part Two: Old Testament Mercy
• Brotherly love: Lessons in how to improve our relationships with our fellow Jews before Yom Kippur
• PRIME CREATOR – 10 Commandments For Ascension – Channeler Dr Kathryn E May
• Families visit 10 Commandments monument for last look
• Yom Kippur Guide for the Perplexed, 2015

Bible Meditation Shop

Meditations in Meaning & Values  29. Laws that Value People

Ex 20:12-15   “Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbour’s house.

We considered in the previous meditation God’s first ‘laying down the law’ in respect of the sanctity of human life. When He said, ““I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made man,” He not only warned about being held accountable for taking a human life – and by implication forbade the taking of human life, but He also warned…

View original post 892 more words

Hillary Clinton Says Religious Beliefs About Abortion Have to be Changed

In reaction to what Hillary Clinton said at a recent Women in the World Summit on April 23:

“Far too many women are denied access to reproductive health care and safe childbirth, and laws don’t count for much if they’re not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice – not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.”

It is a strange way of saying to have “Religious Beliefs About Abortion” to “Have to be Changed”. When one has a certain faith it is because those people belief in certain doctrines. When the rules of that faith were notated long ago there can only be a change in belief when one considers changes in interpretation.

It is a misunderstanding or mis-interpretation to think she demands a change of believes.

She clearly demands rights for women and want to see that they can get access to reproductive health care and safe childbirth. How can this be a demand of changing matters of faith when those who say they keep to a faith are following the rules of that so called faith?

If they call themselves Christian they should follow the teachings of Christ. But naturally they perhaps could call themselves better Methodist, Pentecostal, Evangelist or naming themselves to belong to an other denomination and not giving others the impression that all Christians would think like them.

Jesus never told anybody that a woman had no rights to her body and that others could decide for her.

In life every person has to decide for himself or herself. It is no different for female beings.

God gave permission to have judges and leaders to be installed and to have laws been written to organise a society. Hilary Clinton is right to say “Rights have to exist in practice — not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will.”
When governments promise things they also have to keep their promises. When they want to respect their citizens they have to give them rights which are equal for all.

Though naturally those in charge can not demand that “deep-seated cultural codes can be changed when they are based on the Law of God. But in many societies we can see that lots of people have preferred to follow human doctrines and in such instance those deep-seated cultural codes are based on human doctrines, religious beliefs and structural biases which can and perhaps should have to be changed or to be looked at closer to see if they should not be accommodated.

+

Preceding articles:

Whoopi Goldberg commandments and abortion

My Choice (by Jezabel Jonson)

The Real ‘Choice’

“They Told Me What I Wanted To Hear” – Real Abortion Stories

The Things We Carry, by Penny

+++

Further reading:

1. “The Vital Fact that’s Been Lost in the Debate Over Those Planned Parenthood Videos” | History News Network
2. “Empty the Uterus”
3. Bodies that matter. Bodies that don’t.
4. Crucial Abortion In Coppell TX Information That You Deserve To Know
5. Vital Abortion In Grand Prairie TX Information That You Should Be Aware Of
6. Texas Defunds Planned Parenthood
7. Meat On Our Bones: The Next Four Years
8. The Opportunistic Morality of a Nation
9. New at Live Action: Pro-Abortion Republican Murkowski Carries Water for Planned Parenthood
10. New at Live Action: The Most Blatant Pro-Abortion False Advertising Yet
11. Texas Defunds Planned Parenthood
12. Crucial Information On Abortion Options In Grapevine TX That You Need To Know
13. A Lesson On The Heart . . . .
14. From the Sidewalk Chronicles: Crime of the Unborn
15. Same Logic, Same Result
16. Move to defund Planned Parenthood only hurts Texas families
17. God Fearing Women Do Not Kill Babies
18. Texas cuts off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood
19. MSPs should hold abortion debate
20. If we value life, we don’t get to choose which lives we value
21. We Exist For Him
22. The Church and violence
23. Texas Defunds Planned Parenthood, Alleges Clinics Unsafe, Unsanitary
24. Links for 10-19-2015
25. Texas Cuts Planned Parenthood From Medicaid
26. The Child I Didn’t Plan For
27. Lawyer tried to keep pregnant refugee and rape victim in Australia, but government suddenly flew her out
28. A False Choice
29. A Revelatory Dream
30. Missing Persons
31. Why Should We Be Looking At The PP Defunding Debate? A Storify Assignment.
32. How the investigation into Planned Parenthood affects student lives
33. Can We Really Afford to Lose 700 Planned Parenthood Centers?
34. Man Stabs His Pregnant Wife 17 Times to Try to Kill Their Unborn Child
35. Abortion holocaust
36. Shout Your Abortion
37. Choices
38. Even the smallest person can change the course of the future
39. Abortion and crime rates
40. Support With Diagnosis
41. Reading for Abortion in the Victorian Novel
42. Planned Parenthood: another written question from the European Parliament – this time from a Socialist
43. “But it’s Legal” – Does the legality of an act make it moral?
44. What If Planned Parenthood Is Sincere?
45. Republicans’ Love Hate Relationship With Waiting Periods

+++

Related articles

• AME Church Leaders Organize for Justice
• The Revelation Anointing
• Season After Pentecost – Wending our way through challenging teachings (The Gospel Passage)
• Welcome the Children — A Sermon for Pentecost 17B
• Pentecostal Theology in Africa: critiques of prosperity gospel
• Why aren’t Christians uniting?
• Slavery
• Pope Pious: What Evangelicals Like About Francis
• The Daily Gospel and Readings 22 September 2015
• The Truth About The Roman Catholic Church

Women’s Groups Say Gender Equality is a Must for Sustainable Development

By Beatriz Ciordia at ipsnews

United Nations, Jun 24 2015 (IPS) – On the eve of negotiations on the political declaration for the United Nations Summit to adopt the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the Women’s Major Group (WMG) calls on governments to define a transformative agenda to ensure just, sustainable and rights-based development.

Userpage icon for supporting gender equality. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The goal of the event “No Sustainable Development Without Equality”, held on Tuesday 2015 June 23, was to launch 10 Red Flags reflecting concern about gender equality and human rights and highlighting the areas that need to be strengthened to achieve a truly transformative agenda.

“Gender equality and human rights are cross-cutting priorities but they have never received enough recognition,”

said Eleanor Blomstrom, WMG Organising Partner and Program Director of Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO).

“If we want the Post-2015 Development Agenda to be successful, these issues must be fully recognised as critical priorities,”

she added.

Women and girls comprise the majority of people living in poverty, experience persistent and multidimensional inequalities, and bear a disproportionate burden of the impacts of financial and environmental crisis, natural disasters and climate change.

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), girls account for the majority of children not attending school; almost two-thirds of women in the developing world work in the informal sector or as unpaid workers in the home. Despite greater parliamentary participation, women are still out numbered four-to-one in legislatures around the world.

Gender equality and the full realisation of the human rights of girls and women of all ages are cross-cutting issues themselves but they’re also essential for poverty eradication and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Nurgul Djanaeva, WMG Organizing Partner and President of the Forum of Women’s NGOs of Kyrgyzstan, stressed the importance of keeping the private and public sector accountable, especially on gender equality, in order to achieve gender equality and sustainable development.

“There must be regional, national and global reviews and constant data collection and analysis. Likewise, all the results need to be measured,”

she said.

“Transparent and inclusive processes, as well as effective monitoring and evaluative mechanisms, are a must here. A lack of accountability tools is considered as a violation of human rights”,

she added.

Speakers at the event also put special emphasis on the key role played by feminist organisations at both the grassroots and international levels, as well as the urgent need for international cooperation and public-private partnerships to achieve gender equality and therefore sustainable development.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

+++

Related articles

• NGO from China vows to join hands with counterparts in achieving sustainable development
• UN Set to Launch ‘New Universal Agenda’ for Global Governance
• International Human Rights Day
• Social Good Summit 2015 In Ghana Focuses On The New Sustainable Development Goals
• Thai PM to lobby leaders for UN Security Council seat
• Global Goals’ to light up UN Secretariat building, New York
• FACTBOX-What are the Sustainable Development Goals and why do they matter?
• Liberia’s Sirleaf urges support for inclusive, sustainable development
• Summit Charts New Era of Sustainable Development

Daring to speak in multicultural environment

Living in a multicultural environment, in a democratic capitalist world, you may wonder how much freedom of speech and freedom of religion people are willing to give to each other.

U.S Postage Stamp, 1957 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In our world which says it is a free democratic world you would expect religious freedom to be a fundamental right. It might well be recognised by international human rights documents, and one which is integral to our human dignity, but that does not mean yet that people are so open minded they accept other’s people way of thinking and certainly not their sort of faith. In our surroundings the countries may enable its citizens to live in accordance with deeply held values and beliefs about what it means to be human, but by the different population groups we encounter often those who only are prepared to have their way of thinking, their faith, to be the one to be the main value and to which everybody has to adapt to. For sure that can not be called an open mind.

The exclusion of other Christians can be felt mostly by evangelicals, especially pentecostal new-born Christians. They shall in many cases fiercely react against non-trinitarian Christians, even would deny their right to call themselves Christians. Strangely enough by those evangelicals who call for unity under Christians and say we should come to religious freedom, we find many who oppose Muslims or people belonging to an other religion than their Christendom. Are those who are calling for religious freedom accepting the theists (those who accept a or the godhead exist) and atheists who belief that he doesn’t

(glossing over wrinkles in which god we may be talking about…). {Does not believing result in belief?}

Often we do find they close the doors for such other believing people, instead of trying to go into conversation talking about the differences in belief. Often they complain that their faith is threatened by all the immigrants and by the many converts to Islam. They also often complain that the other groups seemingly have little understanding of, or respect for, the rights of their religious communities to maintain the religious identity of their organisations, but often it are they themselves who oppose the religious laws like halal and kosher food or religious killing of animals without sedatives. In Belgium we can clearly see this with the opposition against the slaughter of sheep for the Jews and Muslims.

In Australia some may call to withdraw all government funds from organisations that ‘discriminate’, but often they do not see in own bosom, often bringing wrong and discriminating messages over other believers.

As Babamboga from Nairobi,Kenya, writes:

Christians at time are so side blinded they believe that the only way is Jesus Christ and anything else is going to hell including Muslims and the Buddhists and if go further on some a bit open minded Christians will say that Allah is the same God but does that mean anyone worshipping Buddha or Seth are already sinners but really is that their problem. It is like judging people who grew up knowing Santa Claus exists, is it really their problem that they believe such old folk tales are real? And oftenly in most of those movies it is faith that ensures these fairy tale super heroes are still alive. {Oh, My brother testify.}

This person is right to remind people what is written in the Bible were God is letting the world know that

there will be prophets who will spread his word

and that it doesn’t necessarily have to be pastors who give wrong renditions of the Bible based on their useless understanding of the word. Too many people still give too much preference to those theologian writings instead of clinging to the Bible Words, of which we are told that they are the Words of God.

In Belgium, the last thirty years, church attendance became minimal whilst the attendance at mosques grew intensively. We do agree that in our juridical system only the recognised religions agreeing with the council shall have their priests, pastors, rabbi‘s or imams paid by the government, but that did not withdraw many who believe in only One God to go out and preach and to attract those Christians who got muddled up by the many human doctrines.

By those monotheist believers we do find the non-trinitarian Christians who are outnumbered by the many different non-recognised or non-official or not Islam council associated Muslims, who often get together in packed garage mosques.

At the same time we do find several fanatic fundamentalist Christians who bring in hell for everything they can. They come up with saying that the Bible actually condemns some behaviour and wonder how the church will outright give justice to drunkards and prostitutes.

… yet in the bible itself, mind you in the new testament, weren’t prostitutes part of His plans, weren’t thieves there too…. {Oh, My brother testify.}

Those who call themselves Christian should come to see the difference between Christendom and Christianity and should distance themselves from human doctrines, looking for Biblical truth there where it is to find, in the Bible itself.

Some Christians are so into their religion and they fail to see when pastors apply simple mind games of the interpretation and soon a whole congregation enjoys in the feasting of snakes and you wonder has it really got to the point that if I do a couple of acted miracles and tell people the Lord wants us to eat sinners you will all follow. {Oh, My brother testify.}

In our surroundings where, this way, we do find many who fled from the Catholic and other Christian denominations to find a stronghold by Muslims, it is important that followers of Christ take up the Bible and perhaps also the Quran to show others where it went wrong in Christendom and what is really written in the Holy Books and how our society should come to the Abrahamic faith.

When there is an open mind and freedom of religion, each faith-group, monotheist, unitarian or trinitarian, or having a whole bunch of gods to worship, should have the same rights to be there and to speak out.

That outspokenness we not often enough do find by Christians. Many of them just keep their beliefs for their own and do not dare to speak about it with others.

The agnostic is saying that they don’t think there is a way to transform a belief about god’s existence into knowledge. But they could still hold a belief on the matter. You could be an agnostic atheist, or, for that matter, an agnostic theist. {Does not believing result in belief?}

For many the issue of a god has become so complicated by theologians and philosophers

that we think it is some totally different concept that we can treat differently. Maybe people just don’t want to take a stand, they’re too unsure or don’t want to offend. {Does not believing result in belief?}

The one who really believes in the One True God, need not to be afraid to express his opinion. He has good reason to let others know what he believes.

Many would say

Of course there is no chance of “proving” God by strict logical syllogisms (but can we prove anything outside of mathematics this way?) Every logician knows that there’s nothing in the conclusion that is not already latent in the premises. But neither is this inability any proof that such a being as God does not or cannot exist. You may as well say that since I cannot prove to you whether life exists on other planets by sheer argument it therefore cannot exist. An unprovable proposition is not any more false (or true) simply because it cannot be proven. {Pascal’s Possibility}

We have the Book of books to give us an idea of the nature of the Most High Divine Being. For some it seems manifestly impossible to prove an image of God,

formed by a haphazard, subconscious blending of our moral intuitions and deepest wishes, it is not simply a figment of our imagination {Pascal’s Possibility}

The real believer knows exactly it is not just some imagination and wants others to know it. It is like you found something incredible or you ‘invented’ something extraordinary. You cannot be quiet about it.

Some might think the fact that the ideal is too good to be really possible.
But

It is a trick of the mind to think that the goodness of a thing counts as positive proof against its existence. You may as well be lying on the beach and say the sun feels too good to exist. {Pascal’s Possibility}

Encountering so many people today who laugh at the saying that there would be a god Who created everything and Who is so good that He has a Plan that will bring eternal life and peace for many, there is reason enough to tell them that the question about such a God existing has nothing to do with if logic proves it

… logic either does, or does not, make such a God’s existence possible. {Pascal’s Possibility}

But we should listen to our inner being and look around ourselves. We also should not be afraid not to claim absolute demonstrable knowledge, but “reasonable belief”. And that “reasonable belief” should be founded deep in our heart and fed by a thorough knowledge of the Bible.

From somewhere we received the Good News and came into the faith. Now it’s up to us to share it wherever we are. We now should come to the conclusion that it is marvellous that we came into the faith to become children of God. Knowing and accepting the Divine Creator as our heavenly Father to Whom we own everything, we also do know that it is a privilege and a responsibility that God gives to us to go and speak others about His wonderworks.

When we came into the faith we wanted to become part of the Body of Christ, the church, and one of the highest things that you can do in the church, is to be an active member willing to share the truth. For sharing that truth we do not have to give a theological or biblical lecture and we do not have to have a theological education (though it might help, but could also distract, because most theological colleges are formed from one or the other denomination and focussing more on the worldly writings than on the Bible itself.)

What the community of faith demands of their members is an openness to others and words that can make the community grow. Though it is also not bad to have words which will remind those in community of how the world really is now. Therefore we too are looking for writers who are willing to share how the world is evolving. What happens around us may not let us be untouched. We have to notice it and should react accordingly how that God would like us to behave in such surroundings.

When looking at this reality of the world we are living in we can show the difference of this world with the different world in God’s Plan. Writing about it or preaching we can become preachers exposing the lies that are driving people’s lives,

ripping them to shreds, sapping them of strength and energy. {10 Years of Preaching, 10 Lessons: Lesson 1}

A ‘Lead Pastor’ from Bloom in Denver believes preaching is

standing up in a tradition that reaches back to Moses and Isaiah and finds its consummation and climax in Jesus of Nazareth and saying, “The reign of God is here. Change your mind, and believe yourself into this shocking good news.” {10 Years of Preaching, 10 Lessons: Lesson 1}

It is following up the task Jesus has give to his disciples, to go out into the world to tell about that Good News. We have to come to understand that we are messengers called to this –

to employing all of the resources our speech to construct alternative modes of understanding for the people of God so that they can leave every dehumanizing Egypt and Babylon they find themselves in. Week after week, we summon them saying, It is time to go home! {10 Years of Preaching, 10 Lessons: Lesson 1}

It is not by praying often out loud, while driving down the road, for all to see, listening to a lot of Christian music with sometimes cheesy, weird beats and no cuss words, letting yourself be seen at the church-building and certainly not by going to church and

worship a man named Jesus who you may believe has saved the world by dying and coming back to life. {Why Being A Christian Isn’t Cool}

that you will find the way back home and would bring others to home-base. But when you keep to the words as they are written in the Bible and to a honest form of worship, without all the cirque and circumstance, concentrating on the truth instead of letting yourself and others be diverted by entertainment, you shall be able to go together with other devoted people on the right path. And, yes, that way you perhaps have lesser people in your congregation and would not be able to build a mega church, but better to have a good quality church than a quantity church.

We, who label ourselves as “Christians” need to re-focus.  We need to speak the truth, even when it hurts.  We need to replace the luke warm water in our mouths with hot sauce baby, confidently sharing God’s peace, grace and power.   {Why Being A Christian Isn’t Cool}

We should not have fear, like the apostles, when Jesus was caught, where very much afraid to let others know they were with Jesus. After he died and raised from the dead they even did hide in houses. We should not hide ourselves in our house, but go out, like the apostles did after they received the Holy Spirit.

We as Christians should be baptised with water but also with Holy Spirit and be encouraged to speak. Opening our heart to God we can let God’s Spirit enlighten us and guide us on our way. Trusting Him using His Word as our backbone we shall be able to enter many sorts of gates of this world, which is in the hands of ‘Satan,’ the adversary of God who more than once shall try to question you about the existence of that One God.

When questioned about God, what we belief and be tested, let us never compromise the truth ourselves for anything or anyone. We always do have to be carefully how we treat the Word of God. It is sacrilegious. That Holy Word we should sincerely seriously investigate and reflect on ourselves and those around us. When we want to tell others about that word we sincerely honestly should show the facts of it, showing that it presents good but also bad in all people, even in men of God. Bring the gospel-message we should dare to show good and bad of all and that we dare to let others see the brutal forces or battles which took place in the past. We may not present it as if everything is moonshine but also never may be guilty of turning the sweet gospel into something sour by our own surliness.

If we do, we might cause the hearer to turn away from God wincing instead of turning to him rejoicing. {Lessons Learned from 25 Years of Preaching (3)}

We also should remember that we

Don’t Have to Be Vicious with Truth to Be Strong for Truth {Lessons Learned from 25 Years of Preaching (3)}

We may not let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths. Our ordinary speech should be  always with grace and as a sacrifice.

Col 4:6 RNKJV  Let your speech be always with favour, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Col 3:8 RNKJV  But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

Eph 4:24 RNKJV  And that ye put on the new man, which after Elohim is created in righteousness and true holiness.

It is a vain effort to try to exorcise the evil only. Character is not a negation. Having put on the new self by our baptism we should be proud to show to others that renewed body which is created in God’s likeness and let it reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.

By saying

You have learned the Christ

the apostle Paul puts the members of the ecclesia their faith upon a high level; it is the faith of approved disciples in Christ’s school. For such men the “philosophy and vain deceit” of Colossae and the plausibilities of the new “scheme of error” will have no charm.

Also for us who want to go out in the world to bring the Word of God to as many as we can, we should be so pleased that we have found the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are hidden in Christ, that we want to share that treasure with as many as we can, because we do want to have the love of Christ also in our heart and bring the fire unto those around us.

Therefore also in trying to reach others we do not want to use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what we say will do good to those who hear us.

Eph 4:29-32 RNKJV  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister favour unto the hearers.  (30)  And grieve not the holy Spirit of YHWH, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.  (31)  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:  (32)  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as YHWH for the Messiah’s sake hath forgiven you.

 

+

Preceding articles:

Your position about materialistic desires having conquered the world

Looking for a shepherd for the sheep and goats

It takes years to learn

Believe today and now!

When believing in God’s existence and His son, possessing a divine legislation

What’s inside matters..

Not making yourselves abominable

Where are the female writers

Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach

What Should I Preach ?

 

++

Find also:

1. Religious Freedom in a Multicultural World conference, 25 Sep 2015
2. Freedom for faith
3. Hope by faith and free gift
4. Jehovah steep rock and fortress, source of insight
5. Atonement And Fellowship 4/8
6. Bible in the first place #2/3
7. Bible in the first place #3/3
8. The Bible and names in it; Proclaiming the Name of The One and Only Who Is and has EverBeen
9. Necessary to be known all over the earth
10. Necessity of a revelation of creation 10 Instructions for insight and wisdom
11. Proclaiming shalom, bringing good news of good things, announcing salvation
12. Reasons to come together
13. The Right One to follow and to worship
14. Fools despise wisdom and instruction
15. Those who love Jesus
16. Risen With Him
17. What is preaching to me… and what it is for others.
18. Are You Afraid To Witness?
19. Science, 2013 word of the year, and Scepticism
20. 34th World Congress of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF)
21. See God’s wonderworks and hear His Voice
22. Faith related boycotts
23. European Parliament stands for human dignity
24. Inequality, Injustice, Sustainability and the Free World Charter
25. Texts, writers, accesibility and willingness
26. Journal for and from bothered citizens
27. Couple Ordered to Stop Holding Bible Study at Home Without Permit
28. A small circle taking a nation hostage
29. Being Charlie 2
30. Lack of religious freedom South Sudan
31. 2013 Lifestyle, religiously and spiritualy
32. 2014 Religion
33. Stepping Toes 2014 in review
34. Blow to legitimacy of the capitalist system
35. Anti-Semitism ‘on the rise’ in Europe
36. Israel, Fitting the Plan when people allow it
37. Vatican against Opponents of immigration
38. Migrants to the West #2
39. Migrants to the West #3
40. Migrants to the West #10 Religious freedom
41. Freely & fairly
42. Approachers of ideas around gods, philosophers and theologians
43. Democratic principles for church
44. Manifests for believers #5 Christian Union
45. Mormons, just an other faith
46. Driscoll not wished as a guest at 2015 Hillsong Conference
47. Vatican lifts ban on married priests for Eastern Catholic churches in US, Canada, Australia
48. Anti-Semitic incidents in Australia in 2012 highest ever on record
49. In a world which knows no peace sharing blessed hope
50. A beginning with many false starts
51. Church sent into the world
52. Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism
53. Two new encyclopaedic articles
54. Follower of Jesus part of a cult or a Christian
55. Using the name Jehovah but not a witness of that name
56. To remove the whitewash of the Jehovah Witnesses as being the only true Bible Students and Bible Researchers
57. Not many coming out with their community name
58. Let us make sure we are not stiff-necked
59. Christadelphian Auxiliary Lecturing Society in changed times
60. Dissolution of Bijbelvorsers (Bible scholars), Association for Bible study
61. Counting sands and stars
62. Dealing with worries in our lives
63. Sunday 7 September service: Imitate prophets and Paul
64. A man from the North wanting to have control in Belgium
65. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #5 Prayer #2 Witnessing
66. First Century of Christianity
67. Breathing to teach
68. Words to push and pull
69. Good or bad preacher
70. Caricaturing and disapproving sceptics, religious critics and figured out ethics
71. A true sermon is a real deed.
72. What Should I Preach ?
73. Truth, doubt or blindness
74. Preachers should know and continue the task Jesus has given his followers
75. How to Choose a Bible for Preaching
76. Looking for True Spirituality 7 Preaching of the Good News
77. Missionary action paradigm for all endeavours of the church
78. A new school-, academic and church year
79. Kill the messenger
80. Biblereading statue
81. Record breaking preaching in Mount Dora
82. Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
83. Parish, local church community – Parochie, plaatselijke kerkgemeenschap
84. Not all ability to preach

+++

Further reading:

• Freedom of Religion
• Freedom of religion …. Is under assault and dying
• Bill of Rights’ Most Important Liberty: Religion
• A Discussion on the wall of separation of Church and State
• Freedom of Religion: First Amendment Defense Act
• Do we read — or read into — the First Amendment?
• Senator Baldwin: 1st Amendment Doesn’t Apply to Individuals
• All Americans Are Equal. But Some Are More Equal Than Others.
• We Are All Intolerant And It Can Be A Great Thing So Let’s Be Honest About It
• America Celebrates Independence Day by Persecuting Christians
• Presidential Candidates 2016 Views: Which ones are Socialistic?
• Thank goodness we let these guys control the US history curriculum
• House of Lords: freedom of religion
• In Reason We Trust
• Fox News Hyperbole – Is Christianity Under Attack
• New ECSR decision on conscience-based refusals protects women’s right to access abortion
• The Body of Christ is Critical
• Religious Freedom in a Multicultural World conference, 25 Sep 2015
• Religious Freedom in a Multicultural World
• Freedom 4 Faith
• Gospel Teachings: Be Defenders of Religious Freedom
• Religious Tolerance, Made in America
• Is Our Legal System Based on the Ten Commandments?
• The wall of separation between church and state. A Limerick.
• Calling out the media
• Our Unbridled Freedom Will Lead To Our Ultimate Destruction
• Heritage Foundation Plan of Action: Defend Family, First Amendment Freedoms
• Moral Support: Plan of Action to defend First Amendment Freedoms
• Criminalizing Christianity
• Democrats’ “Equality Act” will threaten religious liberty in all 50 states
• Transforming Society
• You Wont Believe What Kentucky Just Forced Pastors To Do… I Warned You This Was Coming….
• Double-standards on anti-religious art
• Tax Them All! – Why Stripping All “Religious” Groups of Tax Benefits is a Great Idea (and in line with the Bill of Rights)
• Kentucky bans pastor from prison ministry because he disagrees with homosexuality
• China Propaganda Machine Defends Role of Government in Death of Tibetan Monk
• China jails five cult members in northeast province: Xinhua
• Miss World contestant puts pageant chances on the line to testify to US Congress about China’s human rights
• Why I Believe in God
• As We Go Through the World
• Oh, My brother testify.
• How To Get Started In Sharing Your Faith As a Christian
• We are Agents for Expanding God’s Kingdom on Earth
• Dealing with my prejudices!
• Sow The Word
• Is This What You Face Whenever You Preach? You Should!
• Preaching Christ Is Not Enough
• For Preachers and Bible Teachers: Make Sure The Work Of The Scripture Is Completed In Your Own Hearts
• The fights we have to fight
• Bulldozer spirituality
• Is preaching passe?
• Preaching to the Reader
• 10 Years of Preaching, 10 Lessons: Lesson 2
• Lessons Learned from 25 Years of Preaching (3)
• Quick Quotes: 25 Quotes from “Preaching” by Tim Keller
• The earnestness of preaching
• Tim Keller on the case for (usually) doing expository preaching

+++

Related articles

• Religious tolerance in the U.A.E. (eastidahonews.com)
• US gov’t commission condemns the draconian prison sentencing of 18 Ethiopian Muslim leaders (ethiopiaobservatory.com)
• The Decline – and Fall? – of Religious Freedom in America (stream.org)
• Dumb Kentucky Clerk Sues For Religious Freedom To Suck At Her Job (wonkette.com)
• U.S. and Sudanese diplomats discuss religious freedoms (sudantribune.com)
• US Congressional Executive Committee Holds Hearing on Religious Freedom in Tibet and China (voatibetanenglish.com)
• -Summing Up the Assault on RFRA’s and Freedom of Religion in America (answersforthefaith.com)
• Vatican Very Concerned About the 1500-year-old Bible Which Was Found in Turkey (lunaticoutpost.com)
• Secrets Of the Extreme Religious Right: Inside the Frightening World Of Christian Reconstructionism (unreportedtoday.com)
• Hong Kong – China – Hong Kong cardinals, Catholics and Protestants denounce the sufferings of Zhejiang crosses (asianews.it)

A more recent discrimination: Old Age

Newer in the discrimination group is the age discrimination.

Since a few years we have seen, for acceptance for a new job, the age lowering, but for those who thought they had a good job we also saw that the age they were made redundant became lower.

The boom generation has to face that their children and grandchildren got a mark on their head with the notice ‘only to be used until this or that day’. Those children reaching their middle age are called in the office of their boss to hear the ‘news’ they may go home not to return again to work. When looking for an other job they are confronted with the remarks ‘over qualified’ or  ‘too old’.

In the previous centuries perhaps we also could have an age discrimination but than in the good sense, that how older a person got, how more he or she was respected and considered mature and a good asset for the business. Nowadays the older person seems to have become a nuisance.

An attempt at a discrimination graphic. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Idiotic it may seem today we got a dilemma for those looking for work, either they are too young or not experienced enough, or they are too old or ‘over experienced’ (what that may be?). How may you feel when you can’t contribute because you’re too young? Or how is it to you and can you understand it that you are considered to be too old? That’s age discrimination, and it’s getting worse.

Some years ago you were a senior when you were over 60, then it became over 50 and now the 40iers may find to be a senior already. and those older than 40 may feel pushed in the corner by younger bosses who think they now everything better. Youngsters are not any more interested to learn from the experience of older people.

In the time people are living, working and staying active for longer people are considered too old too early.  I remember when I was young we looked at our grandparents as old people and often they looked very old in their black dresses (when they were widows). When you look at our generation many of us are much older than those people which looked old in the 1950ies -60ies, but we look much younger than they at the same age.

In the 19th century people looked much older at the same age as people of the 20th or 21st century. – American missionary Daniel Lindley at an ‘old age’ (Pennsylvania , 1801 – Morristown, New Jersey, 1880 )

We can see a lot of difference in appearance. Those in their sixties or seventies look much brighter than a few years ago the same age category. And to be honest a lot of 80iers do not have to be ashamed of their appearance and are fit enough to do different interesting tasks.

Though I do agree lots of our generation may have problems with the modern technology and be an-alphabets with the e-sources. Some may feel resistant to tackle the new devices, often because younger people say to them they cannot cope with computers or i-phones.  Those remarks from younger people can hold back older people at a time when for example they should be enjoying the use of computing devices of any and all kinds if they did not already used them in their employment before retirement.

The commercial market still seems to forget a total new market is lying in front of their feet. Today we have a lot of war and after war generation which is having free time but also having enough money to do things. Some of them also get unexpected possibilities to go places they had never been before. The at the moment still considered very old ones (in the 90ies and few in the 100s) do not want to leave their savings to the state and prefer it to share it with their younger family members.  This way I also could enjoy a boat trip with a Canadian uncle and I must say my wife and I enjoyed such a river cruise, though we never would have done it on our own. I do agree we found lots of people in the age group 60-70 with a few younger people (20-30) and a few older (80-90). Clearly such organised trips with all the comfort is a blessing people like us, who have seen Abraham, could enjoy and are willing to go for. (We personally have not the financial means for it ourselves, but many retired people do have enough financial reserves.)

Kapiti SeniorNet has taken a little corner of the net. SeniorNet at Kapiti, as well as all over New Zealand, is here to help people of a certain age to learn and enjoy computing as well as the many applications available to such elderly. They write:

For those of us who are mature it is becoming more and more vital for business as employers, employees, producers and consumers. Age discrimination forgets that Seniors – that is anyone over 50 –  are the engine rooms of our communities, volunteering more hours than anyone else in the country, and that their experience, wisdom and generosity provides positive role models for us all.

Here is a little video made in Australia  by the Australian Human Rights Commission that my older son sent me, and it puts it quite succinctly. {The Power of Oldness}

And they bring into the ether the request to look differently at those who get at a certain age.

We are all getting older, wouldn’t it be nice if we could help to stop age discrimination before it stops us. Maybe you too can help to put the positivity back into ageing. {The Power of Oldness}

+++

Find further reading:

1. The effects of just being you… Age.
2. Where are the older main characters?
3. Leaders of Anti-Ageism
4. That Which Shall Remain Unnamed …
5. A Face, A Story
6. The Younger Perspective
7. Ageism in the workplace
8. Dealing with Age Discrimination: Workers’ rights and strategies
9. Ageism in Musicology/Ethnomusicology? – The 2015 Hiring Statistics
10. A Letter to the Social Justice Activists out there.
11. Update on “42”, the record and “Confessions of a Bad, Ugly Singer”, the book…
12. The Age Old Question…
13. Young vs. Old Part I: The Debut of Spider-Man’s Vulture
14. Young vs. Old Part II: Spider-Man and the Terrible Debut of the Tinkerer
15. Old Man No Fi Grudge Young Boy
16. Old Age Should Be Celebrated
17. A 69 Year Old Grandmother
18. Making Them Visible
19. American roots-rock great Dave Alvin fights ageism in the media
20. When exactly is your ‘last
21. Career Advice: Staying relevant after 50-Feign youth!
22. This Lady Tells Her Age
23. Reuters: Hillary Clinton and the double whammy of sexism and ageism
24. Where discrimination divides, Feminism (kinda) conquers
25. Declaring Independence From Ageism
26. Declaring Independence from Ageism
27. Those poor crazy rich Texans
28. Generational Diversity in the Workplace; Myths and Realities
29. Emma Thompson: Why won’t Hollywood let me play a hot chick? Maybe it’s because I’m 56
30. Helen Mirren, Ageism Is Outrageous and James Bond Is Geriatric
31. “Anti-Ageist” Policies
32. A kick ass piece on agism in the music industry by Lola Blanc
33. A great piece on agism in the music industry by Ms. Nix in the Mix!!!
34. Viewpoint on aging
35. The Fear of Running Out of Time – Another Form of Ageism
36. Ageism in the Media
37. Who you calling old?
38. Twitter thinks Marisa Tomei is too young and “hot” to play Spiderman’s aunt
39. The Factors of Ageism
40. Aging Is Awesome!
41. The School of Creative Aging: Transforming How We Think and Act about Aging
42. Where The 40’s At?
43. Is a woman “middle-aged” at 30? 40? 50? Japanese men and women give different answers in poll
44. The Problems Of The Middle Ages: The Age Of Wickedness
45. Crossing the age Rubicon. (redux)
46. Embracing Aging
47. I’m A Racist
48. enter without so much as knocking
49. When age matters.
50. Unlucky In My Old Age
51. No Lotions, Potions, Diets or Pills: Here’s One Tip on Aging You Won’t Wanna Miss!
52. Links about ageism

Related articles

• Ray’s Rant: Over 50 job bar bias locks out ‘oldies’
• Aged face poverty in work discrimination gap
• Retired officers lose ‘age’ claim
• Former Police SWAT Leader Sues, Claiming Age Discrimination
• Triggs slams NT intervention in Aboriginal communities
• Success: Employment Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation Banned
• In Barbados, 3,000 people rally against what they assert is age discrimination by government
• Rockport man claims age discrimination by Lowe’s
• Union members rally against ‘age discrimination’ in Barbados
• Working older