Respectful Dialogue Vital in Middle East

In a speech to the House of Lords, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said that Christians in the Middle East are still anxious about their future, a full year after the Arab Spring revolutions began breaking out.

Dr Rowan Williams added that while Christians were not looking for special status, they must have a “guaranteed place” in their historic homelands, including in political discourse, civic equality and rule of law.

“It is possible to argue, on the basis of Christian and Islamic thought alike, in favour of transparent government and a proper notion of civic equality.

“That is the sort of argument about good governance as such that needs to be pursued if Christian communities are going to be secure in the future.

“Not any sort of case for special treatment but a strong argument for justice, honesty and respectful diversity in the societies of the region.

“It is certainly not the case that we can assume that ‘extremists’ are poised to take over the region tomorrow, but we still need to take with utmost seriousness the anxieties that are felt by communities already feeling exposed and uncertain,” the leader of the world’s Anglicans said.

“The Arab spring has meant dramatically different things in different countries and, as these last remarks underline, there are a number of different political possibilities for governance grounded in Islamic principles,” Williams added.

“But against such a background we may get a clearer sense of how and why the Christian presence matters, and why its future is surrounded by so many anxieties.

“No one is seeking a privileged position for Christians in the Middle East, nor should they be. But what we can say is that the continued presence of Christians in the region is essential to the political and social health of the countries of the Middle East.”

Climate Change: Too little, too late

The interests of profit-hungry and polluting corporations won out at the recent UN climate talks, lamented Christian Aid on Sunday.

Christian Aid spokesperson Mohamed Adow said the delays written into the agreement would mean that help comes too late for the poor.

"Action against climate change in 2020 will come a decade too late for poor people on the frontline - they urgently need it now.

"Their lives are already ravaged by floods, droughts, failed rains, deadly storms, hunger and disease and we know that these disasters will get worse and more frequent as climate change bites.

Adow complained that the outcome in Durban was a compromise that would ultimately prove ineffective.

"It is a disastrous, profoundly distressing outcome - the worst I have ever seen from such a process."

Adow added that said the Kyoto protocol now exists "in name only" and that the only "notable achievement" of the Durban talks was the agreement reached that the Green Climate Fund would soon have staff and an office.

"But the Fund remains empty and so countries must keep working to identify new sources of the $100bn a year which they have already agreed must be available to poor countries by 2020, to help them cope with climate change and pursue sustainable development."

The next Conference of Parties (COP 18) would be chaired and hosted by Qatar between November 26 and December 8 next year.

The Day after Christmas

The day after Christmas can be mildly depressing.

After the long build up to Christmas, and all the excitement beforehand, once all the presents are unwrapped, the family have gone home and the last of the Christmas meal is packed into Tupperware for leftovers; everything afterwards seems so blasé.

The day after Christmas, everything goes back to normal all too quickly.

But the promise of Christmas is NOT just for one day a year, or even the month preceding it. The promise of Christmas in NOT just for happy days filled with friends and presents, laughter and feasts.

No, the promise of Christmas is for everyday and that includes sad and difficult times.

Zephaniah’s prophesy encompasses this by promising that although troubles will come, they will not overwhelm us. Because of Christmas, Zephaniah is saying, everything that oppresses us will be dealt with, the lame will be rescued and the scattered will be gathered.

This is not to say that we won’t ever face troubles because no literature on earth is more realistic about the harsh facts of life than the Bible. Scripture never says life will be perfect, but does promise that God will make sense out of the imperfections.

The story is told of a church in the USA where for many years the children’s Christmas pageant had run like clockwork. The director was highly efficient, demanded perfection, and insisted that only the very best children got roles.

One year, a new minister at the church insisted that all children who wanted to be a part of the pageant could do so – parts would be found for them. The Director resigned in a huff. Now the pageant didn’t fall flat without her, but it certainly was different.

Firstly, there were far too many children cluttering the stage – about 20 angels, dozens of shepherds and even more sheep. About half-way through the play the sheep decided they would have a much better view from the seats, and so bleated their way down into some empty seats in the front. But the real climax of imprecision came when Mary and Joseph entered. The narrator was to read how Joseph was going to Bethlehem with Mary ‘his espoused wife, being great with child.’

One of the mothers had realised the children didn’t really understand the Elizabethan English of the King James Version and so changed it to the Good News Version at the last minute. So as Mary and Joseph entered, the narrator read: ‘Mary was promised in marriage to Joseph. She was pregnant’.

As the last word echoed through the P.A., little Joseph froze in his tracks. This was not how he had heard it at rehearsal! He gave Mary an incredulous look, then looked out at the congregation and said, ‘Pregnant? What do you mean pregnant?’

Needless to say, this brought this house down. The pastor’s wife, wiping the tears from her eyes, said: ‘You know, that may be exactly what Joseph actually said.” Afterwards, everyone agreed that the pageant was the best it had been in years. Not perfect of course, the way it had been previously. In fact, it was a mess, but a wonderful mess filled with laughter and joy.

You see, it was perfect in another sense. Perfect in the way God makes things perfect – for sometimes life gets messy and troublesome, mistakes get made, people get it wrong, and yet God can still bring sense to it all.

God takes meaningless, tough situations and somehow presses divine meaning into them.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord God, we commit into your hands every tough and difficult situation we may be facing. We trust that you would be able to press divine meaning even into our messy and disordered situations. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE
Zephaniah 3. 19-20 (NIV)

At that time I will deal 
       with all who oppressed you; 
       I will rescue the lame 
       and gather those who have been scattered. 
       I will give them praise and honour 
       in every land where they were put to shame.
 At that time I will gather you; 
       at that time I will bring you home.

Human rights groups urge EU to promote minority rights in South Asia

A coalition of human rights groups have presented a manifesto to the European Union requesting action to prevent human rights abuses against minorities in South Asia.

The document asserts that religious, ethnic and sexual minorities are extremely vulnerable groups in the region citing the threat of discriminatory laws, land grabs, assault, forced conversions, attacks on places of worship and murder.

In response, MEP Cecilia Wikstroem vowed to table a priority question to EU chief Baroness Ashton asking for the creation of a new unit to support grassroots human rights campaigners in engaging with the EU in the area.

Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, a representative group among the coalition, was happy with the result of the meeting.

“We are pleased that MEP Wikstroem responded positively and has expressed her support for the submitted manifest and its goals,” he said.

Atheists want to make their voice heard at Christmas

Atheists groups in the United States have made a concerted effort the challenge to rights for traditional Nativity scenes to be displayed in public squares and have sought to replace them with their own displays.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is co-led by an evangelist-turned-atheist, has protested against the Nativity scene in front of the city hall in Ellwood City, and demanded that instead the city put up a banner reading, “At this season of the Winter Solstice, LET REASON PREVAIL,” alongside the Nativity.

The FFRF also demanded that a town in east Texas remove their Nativity scene displayed at the Henderson County Courthouse. The group wrote a letter to the Henderson County Commissioners, stating, “We request that … you take immediate action to ensure that no religious displays are on city or county property. Please inform us in writing of the steps you are taking to remedy this First Amendment violation."

FFRF added that when the county displays a manger scene, it puts the “imprimatur of the county government behind the Christian religious doctrine.”

In Santa Monica, California, 14 life-sized nativity figures that have stood alongside Ocean Avenue for the past 57 years have been reduced to three, after an atheist group applied for the previously uncontested spaces to display anti-religious messages ranging from “Happy Solstice” to “Religions are all alike, founded on fables and mythologies.”

‘Respectful diversity’ important in the Middle East

In a speech to the House of Lords, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said that Christians in the Middle East are still anxious about their future, a full year after the Arab Spring revolutions began breaking out.

Dr Rowan Williams added that while Christians were not looking for special status, they must have a “guaranteed place” in their historic homelands, including in political discourse, civic equality and rule of law.

“It is possible to argue, on the basis of Christian and Islamic thought alike, in favour of transparent government and a proper notion of civic equality.

“That is the sort of argument about good governance as such that needs to be pursued if Christian communities are going to be secure in the future.

“Not any sort of case for special treatment but a strong argument for justice, honesty and respectful diversity in the societies of the region.

“It is certainly not the case that we can assume that ‘extremists’ are poised to take over the region tomorrow, but we still need to take with utmost seriousness the anxieties that are felt by communities already feeling exposed and uncertain,” the leader of the world’s Anglicans said.

“The Arab spring has meant dramatically different things in different countries and, as these last remarks underline, there are a number of different political possibilities for governance grounded in Islamic principles,” Williams added.

“But against such a background we may get a clearer sense of how and why the Christian presence matters, and why its future is surrounded by so many anxieties.

“No one is seeking a privileged position for Christians in the Middle East, nor should they be. But what we can say is that the continued presence of Christians in the region is essential to the political and social health of the countries of the Middle East.”

Climate Change: Too little, too late

The interests of profit-hungry and polluting corporations won out at the recent UN climate talks, lamented Christian Aid on Sunday.

Christian Aid spokesperson Mohamed Adow said the delays written into the agreement would mean that help comes too late for the poor.

"Action against climate change in 2020 will come a decade too late for poor people on the frontline - they urgently need it now.

"Their lives are already ravaged by floods, droughts, failed rains, deadly storms, hunger and disease and we know that these disasters will get worse and more frequent as climate change bites.

Adow complained that the outcome in Durban was a compromise that would ultimately prove ineffective.

"It is a disastrous, profoundly distressing outcome - the worst I have ever seen from such a process."

Adow added that said the Kyoto protocol now exists "in name only" and that the only "notable achievement" of the Durban talks was the agreement reached that the Green Climate Fund would soon have staff and an office.

"But the Fund remains empty and so countries must keep working to identify new sources of the $100bn a year which they have already agreed must be available to poor countries by 2020, to help them cope with climate change and pursue sustainable development."

The next Conference of Parties (COP 18) would be chaired and hosted by Qatar between November 26 and December 8 next year.