Nobody wants a Christmas worth forgetting

The concept behind the Advent Conspiracy is simple and can be summarised in the following way:
Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All.

1. Worship Fully:

It starts with Jesus. It ends with Jesus. This is the holistic approach God had in mind for Christmas. It’s a season where we are called to put down our burdens and lift a song up to our God. It’s a season where love wins, peace reigns, and a king is celebrated with each breath. It’s the party of the year. Entering the story of advent means entering this season with an overwhelming passion to worship Jesus to the fullest.

2. Spend Less:

Before you think we’re getting all Scrooge on you, let us explain what we mean. We like gifts. Our kids really like gifts. But consider this: America spends an average of $450 billion a year every Christmas. How often have you spent money on Christmas presents for no other reason than obligation? How many times have you received a gift out of that same obligation? Thanks, but no thanks, right? We’re asking people to consider buying ONE LESS GIFT this Christmas. Just one.  Sounds insignificant, yet many who have taken this small sacrifice have experienced something nothing less than a miracle: They have been more available to celebrate Christ during the advent season.

Looking for ways to give gifts that don't cost a lot of money? Have a few ideas you'd like to share? Head to rethinkingchristmas.com today.

3. Give More:

God’s gift to us was a relationship built on love. So it’s no wonder why we’re drawn to the idea that Christmas should be a time to love our friends and family in the most memorable ways possible. Time is the real gift Christmas offers us, and no matter how hard we look, it can’t be found at the mall. Time to make a gift that turns into the next family heirloom. Time to write mom a letter. Time to take the kids sledding. Time to bake really good cookies and sing really bad Christmas carols. Time to make love visible through relational giving. Sounds a lot better than getting a sweater two sizes too big, right?

4. Love All:

When Jesus loved, He loved in ways never imagined. Though rich, he became poor to love the poor, the forgotten, the overlooked and the sick. He played to the margins. By spending less at Christmas we have the opportunity to join Him in giving resources to those who need help the most. When Advent Conspiracy first began four churches challenged this simple concept to its congregations. The result raised more than a half million dollars to aid those in need. One less gift. One unbelievable present in the name of Christ.

[This article sums up the message of The Advent Conspiracy. You can find out more on www.adventconspiracy.org].

Further evidence of water discovered on Mars

NASA scientist's have discovered further evidence that water once flowed on Mars. The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has uncovered veins of a mineral, apparently gypsum, deposited by water.

The team of scientists behind the discovery believe that analysis of the vein will improve understanding of the history of wet environments on Mars.

"This tells a slam-dunk story that water flowed through underground fractures in the rock," insisted Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for Opportunity.

"This stuff is a fairly pure chemical deposit that formed in place right where we see it. That can't be said for other gypsum seen on Mars or for other water-related minerals Opportunity has found. It's not uncommon on Earth, but on Mars, it's the kind of thing that makes geologists jump out of their chairs."

"It is a mystery where the gypsum sand on northern Mars comes from," added another Opportunity science-team member, Benton Clark of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

"At Homestake, we see the mineral right where it formed. It will be important to see if there are deposits like this in other areas of Mars."

The Opportunity team’s latest findings were presented this week at the American Geophysical Union's conference in San Francisco.

Williams: Jesus would side with Occupy Movement

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams has made clear his conviction that Jesus would have sided with protesters from the anti-corporate Occupy Movement, who have been camping out and protesting at various economic centres around the world.

In an article in the Christmas edition of the Radio Times magazine, the leader of the world’s 78 million Anglicans argued that Jesus would be "there, sharing the risks, not just taking sides."

The Occupy Movement are protesting what they argue is the unfairness and illegalities of the global financial community.

Williams believes that Jesus would always be "steadily changing the entire atmosphere by the questions that he asked of everybody involved -- rich and poor, capitalist and protester and cleric."

The archbishop added that Jesus’ famous statement "give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, "was him actually questioning "what's the exact point at which involvement in the empire of capitalist economy involves you fatally."

The magazine article supports Williams' earlier comments about the Occupy Movement that it actually represents "a widespread and deep exasperation with the financial establishment."

New ‘Earth’ discovered by NASA

Nasa have announced the discovery of Kepler-22b, a planet 600 light-years away from Earth which is in a habitable zone, an area that is within the 'sweet spot' in terms of distance from a star allowing for the existence of water in its liquid form.

The planet is the first that the Kepler spacecraft has discovered within this habitable zone.

"This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin," Douglas Hudgins, a Kepler program scientist stated.

"Kepler's results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA's science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe."

Kepler-22b has a radius 2.4 times that of Earth's and orbits it sun-like star every 290 days, while enjoying a very accommodating temperature of approximately 72 degrees Fahrenheit.

Nasa is still not sure if Kepler-22b is composed or rock, gas or liquid.

A scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center who's on the Kepler team, Steve Howell, informed The Huffington Post that the most exciting discoveries are still to come.

"It's tremendously exciting," said Howell. "We're moving out to orbital periods that are nearly and equal to the Earth, and that means very soon we're going to be finding [planets] very near the earth, what we'd call true earth analogs. We'll be there. We'll be there probably within a year, very easily."

Faith leaders warn of ‘suffering on a terrifying scale’

With representatives from governments across the world continuing to meet in Durban this week for climate change discussions, faith leaders have urged them to act decisively before it is too late.

The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) is negotiating a follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, which contains the current binding targets for carbon emission cuts. However, experts are concerned with a lack of progress since the talks began a week ago, specifically in regard to binding carbon emission cuts and a financial package to help impoverished countries adapt to the impact of climate change.

A group of faith leaders that includes Ela Ghandi, the granddaughter of Mahatma Ghandi, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Durban, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier have released a strong interfaith statement urging governments to act before "irreparable" damage is done to the Earth.

“We call upon our leaders, those of our faiths, and all people of Earth to accept the reality of the common danger we face, the imperative and responsibility for immediate and decisive action, and the opportunity to change,” reads the statement.

Cardinal Napier is especially concerned that government representatives will fail to reach any meaningful agreement.

“We express our displeasure with local and international political leadership which has failed to take decisive steps to make the changes required for the survival of humanity and life on earth,” he said.

“We as the religious community demand that our political leaders honour previous commitments and move towards ethically responsible positions and policies.

“There is strong evidence that such steps will not be made at COP 17.”

This faith declaration has been backed up Christian Aid, with the agency's climate expert, Mohamed Adow, warning that people around the world could expect suffering on a “huge” scale if nothing is done to address the problems now.

“We want to leave Durban with a deal which is a strong response to the climate chaos which is hurtling towards us – and which is already having devastating effects on poor people,” he said.

“Governments need to agree how to respond to the latest climate science, which shows that without deep emissions cuts now, dangerous global warming will occur.

“It will cause human suffering on a terrifying scale.”

Archbishop speaks out against sexual violence on World AIDS Day

After a recent article in the American Journal of Public Health reported that more than 400,000 women aged 15 to 49 were raped in a 12 month period, the Archbishop of Canterbury used his World Aids Day message to emphasise the role of sexual violence in the spread of HIV.

In a video message recorded during his visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dr Rowan Williams described sexual violence as "one of the most shameful facts of our day".

While in the DRC, the Archbishop met victims of sexual violence and saw the work that churches are doing to help victims recover physically and spiritually.

Williams described the conflict-ridden DRC as the "epicentre of a great deal of appalling violence in recent years" and voiced his concern at how sexual violence was being used as a weapon of war to "humiliate and subdue others."

"The women in Congo, especially in this part of Congo, have suffered dreadfully because of this. And the connection between sexual violence of this kind and the spread of HIV/AIDS is one of the most shameful facts of our day," he said.

“Trauma is something which cannot be overcome overnight but when people feel they’ve been abandoned by families, by communities, because of the shame and stigma of HIV/AIDS, the church in this part of Congo has been there for them.

"For these people, who have been abused systematically, been raped, violated, abducted often at the youngest of ages – for these people, the church has been the family that mattered.”

Churches in the DRC have been supporting survivors of sexual abuse by providing them with medical care and trauma counselling, as well as advocating against stigma. Williams urged the international community to lend their weight to this work.

“As we seek to confront the terrible scandal of sexual violence as one of the causes of HIV and AIDS, let’s hope and pray that communities like the churches here will continue to fight as hard as they can against the stigmatising and marginalising that so reduce human dignity.”

HIV deepens family poverty, says UN

A UN report released on World Aids Day asserts that HIV-affected households often face "irreversible poverty" due to the exorbitant costs of living with such a disease.

Women and children are often those worst affected by this, adds the report.

High health care costs and the loss of employment opportunities due to discrimination are just some of the factors that contribute to a "rapid socio-economic decline" amongst HIV-positive households.

"Without intervention, many (HIV-affected families) will slip into irreversible poverty," said the UN Development Programme's deputy regional director Nicolas Rosellini.

The extra expenses of HIV-affected households also results in higher school dropout rates since parents struggle to pay fees.

The UN estimates that around 34 million people worldwide lived with HIV in 2010, according to News24.com. The good news is that the number of Aids-linked deaths has steadily dropped from a peak of 2.2 million in 2005 to 1.8 million last year.



"Yet the challenge is far from over," insisted Samlee Plianbangchang, regional director of the World Health Organisation in an article for the Bangkok Post.



"The impact on women and children is devastating. An estimated 1.3 million women aged 15 and above currently live with HIV" in Asia, he wrote, adding that the number of children living with HIV had risen 46% from 2001 to 2009.