Bartholomew's Notes

AsiaNews reports on the latest from Jerusalem:

Teophilos III, the Greek-Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, has announced his first appointments; among them Arab Archimandrite Attalah Hanna, who was made bishop, and Palestinian Galaktion, who was appointed to the Synod. For the patriarch this is a step “that deserves to be underlined and proclaimed to all”.

There have for many years been complaints that the local hierarchy, which is mainly Greek, has failed to properly represent Palestinian interests – things reached a head with the last Patriarch, Irineos I, under whose tenure property in East Jerusalem was sold to Jewish groups attempting to consolidate Israeli control of the city. Irineos alleges this was done without his knowledge; and it should be remembered that he was originally blocked from becoming patriarch by Israel, which considered him to be too pro-Palestinian.

Little is known of “Galaktion”, but the extremely dodgy figure of Attalah Hanna has featured on this blog before. On the one hand he denies that he supports suicide bombings – but he has twice (maybe more) been cited in Arab media sources as praising the “martyrs”. His previous position as spokesman for the church was also highly irregular; Irineos fired him in 2002, after which Hanna simply carried on claiming to speak for the church on his own authority. According to Reuters, Hanna then initiated the power struggle which led to Irineos’s fall, with a view to seizing the patriarchate for himself. But bizarrely, Hanna has also stated that the East Jerusalem property sale itself was not necessarily a bad thing; just the way it was done.

So why has Theophilus promoted such a tricky character? According to AsiaNews, Hanna thanks God for his appointment; Haaretz, by contrast, suggests rather more worldly patrons:

Since his inauguration just 10 days ago, Theofilos has also come under heavy pressure from the Palestinian Authority and Jordanian government to promote Palestinian priests and bring Hanna into the Synod. He opted for a compromise, promoting Hanna but bringing Galaktion into the Synod instead.

This shows that Theophilus is wary of Hanna – just as the rest of us who would like to see an end to the oppression of the Palestinians should be.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian Christian rejection of suicide bombings can be read here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Pro-Suicide Bombings Cleric made Bishop

Hello to readers from Evolvethought

May, 2003, in the Lawrence Journal-World:

Drawing subtle parallels Friday between state Sen. Susan Wagle, Josef Stalin’s Russia and McCarthyism, Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway said academic freedom must be rigorously defended.

“Nothing threatens academic freedom more than a faculty having to look over its shoulders to see if Big Brother is watching,” he said. “In Stalin’s Russia, KGB spies in civilian clothes were sent to university classrooms to inform on professors. Senator Joseph McCarthy, in the anticommunism of the 1950s, provided a chilling example of how public power could be abused to intimidate artists and intellectuals.”

Nice words, but sadly it’s just so much hot air. Here’s Hemenway in December 2005, quoted in a crowing column by Jack Cashill in WorldNetDaily:

Moved in no small part by articles in WorldNetDaily and a few other online publications, Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway effectively killed an anti-intelligent-design course planned for the spring.

…”I want to be clear that I personally find Professor [Paul] Mirecki’s e-mail comments repugnant and vile,” said Hemenway in announcing Mirecki’s withdrawal from the course. “They do not represent my views nor the views of this university. People of all faiths are valued at KU, and campus ministries are an important part of life at the university.”

Mirecki‘s sin, as has been widely reported, was an unearthed email in which he had boasted that a course considering Intelligent Design Creationism as a form of mythology would be a “slap in the big, fat face” of the “fundies” who have recently taken control of the state school board and redefined science in line with their religious beliefs. Mirecki apologised for an “uncivil” error of judgement, but as the furore continued he revised the course title and has now abandoned the idea altogether.

However, local Republicans have smelt blood, and want Mirecki destroyed: long-time activist (and creationist) John Altevogt dug out some other emails in which Mirecki had expressed mocking and negative comments about religious traditions and believers, which he sent out to the media, while state senators (in particular Brenda Landwehr) are still threatening to withhold funding from KU.

According to another Lawrence Journal-World report, Altevogt sees this as an excellent opportunity to bring the academic study of religion under the control of religious groups:

…Altevogt said he was concerned about the focus of the religious studies department and he wants to see Mirecki and another faculty member moved to another department. He said he also wanted the religious studies department cleaned up and perhaps transferred to a religious organization that can monitor it; the chancellor fired, and the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics student group kicked off campus.

Elsewhere (as quoted by Cashill), Atlevogt rachets up the heat by accusing Mirecki of anti-Semitism, for making mocking comments about Jews who believe in the importance of sacrificing a Red Heifer (the ashes of which are needed before a new Jewish Temple can be built).

This is not the first time that Hemenway has failed to support academics’ rights to say things that may upset religious people, despite his stirring 2003 comments. American Atheists reported in 2000:

For months, an international support campaign has been protesting the dismissal of Dr. Fred Whitehead, prominent freethought historian and writer, from his position at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Fred, an Assistant Professor, was with that institution for 21 years; he was abruptly informed in December, 1999 that his research no longer presumably fit the mission of that institution.

In fact, Dr. Whitehead was an outspoken critic of a dangerous and constitutionally suspect trend at the University. The Medical Center has sponsored meetings, seminars and conferences claiming to link physical health with religious and spiritual belief. Whitehead — also a leading figure in the fight over creationist pseudoscience in Kansas public schools — spoke out, and organized his own gatherings.

…A recent campaign generated hundreds of letters, faxes, and phone calls to Robert Hemenway, Chancellor of the University.

The campaign did no good, and Whitehead is no longer associated with the university.

(NB: for what’s it worth, I also think Mirecki’s email was misjudged, and some of his other utterances were unfortunate. But let’s have some proportion – many academics make scornful judgements expressed in polemical language from time to time, especially when they’re talking informally with friends. And given that Mirecki lives in Kansas, the man has suffered a massive provocation – particularly if he has children who may have to endure a debased science education)

UPDATE: The Topeka Capital-Journal states that Chancellor Hemenway “agreed with Mirecki’s decision to pull the class but said the course still had merit”. This contradicts Jack Cashill’s claim, cited below, that Hemenway “killed” the course.

UPDATE 2: Mirecki has now been hospitalised following a physical assault (see pic); the assailants allegedly made reference to the controversy. He has also been forced to resign as head of department, and is now threatening to sue KU.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Sticking with Agape, news from France:

A 300-member evangelical church in France may be evicted from its building thanks to pressure from the growing Muslim population in the area. The lease on the church’s current building expires today (Nov. 30).

The church is the Temple de Paris, an offshoot of the neo-Pentecostal Kensington Temple in London and based in Bagnolet, a suburb of Paris. According to the report:

Christine Thabot, the wife of the church’s pastor, says the church has been working for the past few months to obtain the proper permits to purchase the building. But then a local Muslim cleric demanded a permit for a mosque.

The Muslim cleric made the obvious point that if a church could have a permit, so should a mosque. The council responded by deciding instead to rescind the church’s permit, a decision which was overturned on appeal

…but then the Muslims threatened the owner of the building. She claims the Muslim group pressured the owner, telling him he should kick the church out of the facility after their November 30, 2005, lease expires, “otherwise we’ll make life miserable for you.”

This is rather curious, and contradicts French media reports on the subject. The burgeoning of various religious groups in Bagnolet has been noted for a while. A year ago, left-wing newspaper Liberation (scroll down) reported that:

En quelques mois, cinq lieux de culte ont élu domicile au pied des immeubles: un temple protestant, deux églises évangéliques, une salle de prière musulmane et une église chinoise d’obédience chrétienne. Tout ceci au nez et à la barbe de la municipalité et des copropriétaires, qui doivent normalement avaliser tout changement d’affectation des locaux qui servaient jusque-là d’entrepôts. «On a été mis devant le fait accompli», dit Philippe Desseroir, représentant des copropriétaires.

In other words, religious groups are allegedly getting leases on buildings and opening up places of worship without telling the owners, such as Philippe Desseroir, what they have in mind. Add to this, traditional French paranoia about “sectes”:

«On se demande si tout ça ne relève pas d’une démarche réfléchie. Nous sommes dans un quartier défavorisé, et des lieux de culte peuvent prospérer ici sur la détresse des gens», affirme [deputy mayor] Didier Idjadi…«On craint un repli des gens sur leur communauté par religion interposée. Tout ceci est porteur de conflits à long terme», estime Michel Boghossian, copropriétaire.

Deputy mayor Didier Idjadi believes that such groups take advantage of social deprivation, while building co-owner Michel Boghossian thinks newly-introduced religions create conflict (is he a sociologist on the side, or something?). An article in Archives de Réforme adds a quote from another deputy mayor, Pierre Mathon, who complains that Temple de Paris pastor David Thabon “mélange la religion et le business, à l’américaine”. When the Temple won its appeal in May, the AFP quoted Idjadi as saying that:

“…la présence du Temple de Paris est toujours illégale”, a estimé Didier Idjadi, maire-adjoint (Vert) de Bagnolet.

Selon lui, l’avocat de la copropriété devrait prochainement ouvrir une nouvelle procédure qui pourrait prendre fin “d’ici cinq à six mois.”

“La copropriété va également demander au propriétaire de ne pas renouveler le bail du Temple de Paris qui doit prochainement prendre fin”, a ajouté M.Idjadi.

So, the deputy mayor of the town, Didier Idjadi, believes the church to be illegal, and he said that the owners of the building would not renew the lease. Thus the “pressure” appears to be coming from the local authorities, not the Muslims. Just before this result, Archives de Réforme quotes Temple pastor David Thabot, who tells us that when he arrived in the suburb in 2003:

…« Nous avons été bénis, avec le propriétaire, les copropriétaires et la mairie. En attendant l’assemblée générale de juin 2003, nous avons commencé à faire des travaux – peinture, cloisons internes. » Premier « hic » : l’assemblée générale leur octroie un « changement de destination » pour « une salle de conférences » et non pour un lieu de culte. Résultat : le permis de construire leur est refusé par le service de l’urbanisme de la mairie.

According to Thabot, city authorities were initially helpful, but refused to allow him to change the venue into a place of worship.

Archives de Réforme also notes the legal battle of a local mosque, which had just won temporary victory. Abdel Kader is quoted as saying that:

« Nous avons gagné le procès qui nous a été fait et nous espérons la même chose pour nos frères du Temple de Paris »

Kader calls the Pentecostals “our brothers” and hopes they are similarly successful. What’s more, a short article by Biro, the church’s lawyer, claims that relations between the Pentecostals and the Muslims were good:

Temple de Paris entretient de bonnes relations avec le voisinage mais aussi avec les différentes communautés religieuses représentées localement, dont une mosquée.

Marianne-en-ligne has a bit more information about the mosque:

L’association L’Olivier de la paix (propriétaire de son local), par exemple, n’a pas seulement ouvert une mosquée, mais aussi une école coranique. De quoi inquiéter les habitants de la Noue, lorsqu’on apprend que l’un des dirigeants de l’association serait un imam membre du Mouvement Ennahda, groupe politique musulman intégriste interdit dans son pays d’origine, la Tunisie.

The writer is worried that the imam belongs to Ennahda (“Renaissance”), a Tunisian Islamist movement. Although banned in Tunisia, it considered to be relatively moderate and to be non-violent by groups such as Amnesty International.

There is actually a story here, which one would have thought Agape would have liked: aggressive French secularism once again shown up as anti-religious bigotry and paranoia. But after recent events, the idea of Muslims taking over Europe is a bigger bandwagon to jump on.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »