Bartholomew's Notes

Climate scientists are suddenly no longer the enemy at WorldNetDaily:

Confirming a rabbi’s reading of Bible prophecy, scientists reported yesterday that an analysis of rings on stalagmite from a cave near Jerusalem reveals the climate of the region got drier shortly after the Roman dispersion of the Jews in A.D. 70…Geologists John Valley and Ian Orland concluded the climate was drier in the eastern Mediterranean between 100 A.D. and A.D. 700, with steep drops in rainfall around 100 A.D. and A.D. 400 – a period of waning Roman and Byzantine power in the region.

…Researchers from the Geological Survey of Israel and Hebrew University in Jerusalem helped with the study, which was to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Quaternary Research. The latest scientific study was tied to research into global warming.

A stalagmite found near Jerusalem which grew between 200 BCE and 1100 CE provided the evidence. Further details are available on Science Daily; however, the connection between climate change and the presence of Jews is purely WND‘s spin on the research.

The rabbi referred to is a certain Rabbi Menachem Kohen, of Brooklyn, who is the author of a book entitled Prophecies for the Era of Muslim Terror:

Rabbi Kohen points out the land suffered an unprecedented, severe and inexplicable (by anything other than supernatural explanations) drought that lasted from the first century until the 20th – a period of 1,800 years coinciding with the forced dispersion of the Jews.

WND, of course, wants us to believe that the drier climate post-100CE is some kind of supernatural sign from God about the continuing divine connection between Jews and the land of Israel. But how well has it been thought through? If the rainfall increased again after 700, does that mean God favoured the Muslim presence? And how is this linked to the supposed “unprecedented, severe and inexplicable” drought which Kook suggests lasted until 1900? And it should be remembered that the “Roman dispersion of the Jews in A.D. 70” was of very limited scope; Jews remained a significant presence in the Galilee for centuries afterwards. Indeed, their decline can perhaps in part be ascribed to the very climate change noted by Valley and Orland (incidentally, desertification in the eastern Mediterranean during this period has been long recognised).

Kohen’s book argues that the Torah predicted recent events such as 9/11 (“date & number of buildings”) and Saddam Hussein’s fall from power – which would perhaps have been impressive had the book been published before those events, rather than after. The book carries a foreword by Simcha Hacohen Kook, an Israeli Rabbi who has an intense distrust of Christian Zionism.

WND will doubtless find another aspect of Valley and Orland’s research less congenial; Science Daily reports:

The team is now applying the same techniques to older samples from the same cave. “One period of interest is the last glacial termination, around 19,000 years ago — the most recent period in Earth’s history when the whole globe experienced a warming of 4 to 5 degrees Celsius,” Orland says.

According to WND, the universe is 6,010 years old.

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From the AP:

The Cincinnati Zoo has canceled a joint ticket promotion with the nearby Creation Museum in Kentucky…

Ham says it is not true that the zoo is scientific while the museum is not. “The zoo talks about animals and animal behavior and so on. We would agree with all of that,” he points out. “The only statements [with which] we would disagree is [sic] when they talk about the origin of the animals — where they came from in the first place — which is not observational science.”

There you have it. Total agreement on all other points…

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From WorldNetDaily, last month:

A New York man is linking the suicide of his 22-year-old son, a military veteran who had bright prospects in, to the anti-Christian book “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins after a college professor challenged the son to read it.

“Three people told us he had taken a biology class and was doing well in it, but other students” and the professor were really challenging my son, his faith. They didn’t like him as a Republican, as a Christian, and as a conservative who believed in intelligent design,” the grief-stricken father, Keith Kilgore, told WND about his son, Jesse.

…The first inkling of a reason for the suicide came, Keith Kilgore told WND, when one of Jesse’s friends came to visit after word of his son’s death circulated.

“She was in tears [and said] he was very upset by this book,” Keith Kilgore said. “‘It just destroyed him,’ were her words.

From This is Bristol (UK):

A Bristol teenager who killed himself with painkillers was upset that his school had sidelined Christianity in favour of “alternative religions”, an inquest heard.

…Mr Tucker, 53, an ex-marine, told the inquest in Flax Bourton his son had problems at St Katherine’s comprehensive school, in Pill, over a number of issues.

He said:…”He was deeply concerned that his religious education consisted mainly of alternative religions and ignored Christianity.

“The religious education concentrated on the Muslim faith at the expense of Christianity.”

Both cases have predicably been seized on by certain elements of the right as evidence for the need to re-Christianize education; of course, the reality of the motives for the suicides are somewhat more complicated. Tucker was

…also troubled by what he saw as unfair detentions, his sexuality, and the fact his mother’s ex-partner threatened to burn down the family home in his early childhood.

Kilgore, meanwhile, was a self-described “culure warrior” who appears to have enjoyed and invited religio-political debate.

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Timotheos Samuel Aktas, the Metropolitian of Tur Abdin in Turkey, has written a report complaining that the ancient monastery of St. Gabriel, in Midyat, has been the victim of false accusations:

Upon reviewing the petition submitted on 20.08.2008 to Midyat Public Prosecution Office by the Mayors (Muhtars) of Yayvantepe, Eglence and Çandarl? villages… it has been falsely claimed that Mor Gabriel Monastery have cut oak trees by occupying the forest land. Further to this…are a series of unfounded and wild allegations that Mor Gabriel Monastery Community Foundation has: occupied the forest land; settled on such land as an occupant without having any permits; conducted missionary activities through children between ages 10-12; that no identity declaration was made regarding such children; the Mor Gabriel Monastery building owned by the Community Foundation is a historical 10 museum and therefore required to have permission for prayer; children undergo religious education in the Monastery and anti-Turkish activities are carried out; the Community Foundation acts in contrary to Unity of Education Law; monks and metropolitans of the monastery are trying to destroy national unity and incite people to insurgency; the Community Foundation receives funds with from doubtful origins; and, that the bank accounts of the Community Foundation should be confiscated. All the allegations are frivolous and vexatious; devoid of any logic or evidence, solely aimed with the malicious intent of rousing anti-Christian sentiments by the surrounding Moslem villages.

Aktas (who was formerly himself aboot of the monastery) also complains that the villages are encroaching on monastery land. The AINA newsagency adds the detail that the Mayors are Kurdish, although Aktas himself doesn’t make that distinction.

The monastery of St. Gabriel was founded in 397. A 1990 visit by Rev Dale Jones is described here, and gives some interesting details:

Compared with the showcase of Deyr-az-Zaferan, Mar Gabriel is a working community set amongst gardens and orchards, and somewhat disfigured by a 1960s-vintage hostelry. The monastery’s primary purpose is to keep Syrian Orthodox Christianity alive in the land of its birth by providing schooling, ordination of native-born monks, and – if necessary – physical protection to the faithful. You visit for the opportunity to gain some insight into the church – provided by an informative pamphlet in English – and secondarily to stay at night, for which you need to ask permission. This will be readily granted late in the day, since the heavy steel gates of what in effect is a fortress are locked tightly at sunset, not opening until dawn except for life-or-death emergencies. The high walls of the compound have retained their medieval function as barriers to marauders, since the Syrian Orthodox communities of the Turabdin live in fear of attacks from both the PKK and Islamic fanatics; the bishop receives regular phone calls from villagers requesting guidance as to how to respond to the latest provocation.

Other travellers have also visited; William Dalrymple (1) was guided around the site by a novice a few years ago; the novice, Yacoub, explained that in previous centuries the monks had fought with local villagers in order to protect their holy relics, and that that may be why the monastery can only boast the arm of St. Gabriel, rather than the entire body:

‘Do the villagers still take an interest in your relics?’ I asked.

‘Certainly,’ said Yacoub. ‘And not just the Christians: we get Muslims and even Yezidis…coming here to pray to our saints. Many of the Muslims in the region are descended from Suriani Christians who converted to Islam centuries ago. They go to the mosque, and listen to the imams – but if ever they are in real trouble they still come here.

Dust from the arm’s grave is supposed to be particularly effective. There is also a Shrine of St John the Arab:

‘This is his tomb.’ said Yacoub. ‘Or rather it is the tomb of his torso.’

‘The villagers have been at your bones again?’

‘No. The nuns this time.’

The current threat to the site was also highlighted by the European Syriac Union in September:

This attempt of occupying the historical lands of St. Gabriel Monastery is a joint and organized effort by the Arab and Kurdish residents of the surrounding villages together with the Kurdish Aghas as well as the state-sponsored village guards. However, their real ambition is to occupy all the lands and properties of the historical Monastery of St. Gabriel so that they could abolish the most important Christianity centre in the region.

…The continuous attacks against the St. Gabriel Monastery have become a systematic campaign since 1980s. And since mid 1980s, the St. Gabriel Monastery has been subject to the force of the state authorities. In 1997 the then government of Turkey banned the Syriac language education in the St. Gabriel Monastery. And now in 2005 and in 2008 the land of St. Gabriel Monastery is being subject to occupation.

It is incomprehensible that Turkey as an applicant state in the process of negotiations to join the European Union cannot protect its native citizens against such attempt of occupation, because they are members of different faith (Christians), especially when these attempts are being carried out by the state-sponsored village guards.

****

(1) William Dalrymple, From the Holy Mountain: A Journey among the Christians of the Middle East, HarperCollins, 1997, p. 102.

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From Alex Hilton, founder of Labourhome:

…last year, someone started a defamation action against me over a Labourhome article and the expenses are bourne by me, they were not transferred to Progressive Media, the new owner.

…I can’t tell you too much about the case because I don’t want to annoy the court. But this is what I am comfortable telling you.

1. An active Labourhome user wrote a piece about the past of a Labour member who had defected to Respect. That person has since joined the Conservative Party.
2. The Labourhome user is also being sued by this particular Tory, who is a litigant in person and has no lawyer.
3. The offended person contacted me about the piece, which I immediately deleted. I offered the front and centre spot on Labourhome to the offended person for their right of reply or to write something else of their own choice. My offer was declined.
4. Because of my actions, my lawyer says I have an absolute defence under Section One of the Defamation Act. I also have other defence strategies available, one of which is the possibility that the article was not defamatory, thought this is still being explored.
5. Because the complainant is a litigant in person, this case has been more complicated than normal and I have actually received a total of four writs before it got tidied up into one action. This is partly why this defence is so expensive.
6. Despite the likelihood that I will probably win this case, I do not have a strong prospect of recouping my costs, at least in a reasonable timescale. I don’t have the five-figure sum the complainant wants as a settlement.

It says something about the fear which UK libel law can engender that a defendant is reluctant even to name his accuser, lest it cause extra problems. However, various other sites identify her as a certain Johanna Kaschke. Even I have to be careful what I say and where I link to, and Harry’s Place‘s piece on the libel threat carries the warning:

As you can appreciate, you can say NOTHING about this woman at all. Particularly not in these comment boxes. Therefore, anything you do say must not relate to her at all. She can, does, and will sue.

It should be noted, though, that Kaschke has a blog in which in the past she has discussed the matters which she considers libellous – although some of these entries have now been removed. In one entry she wrote that:

I am pleased to notice that Private Eye have finally apologised for their article about me in a May 2007 issue. Please read bottom of page 6 right…

It surely cannot be dangerous to point to an apology in Private Eye which she herself has implored her readers to look at, and as it happens it is available online here. She has also sent rebuttals which she has described as “press releases” to certain blogs, and in one of these she states that she “would not object” to the facts alone being discussed, just the “sensationalist” reporting of them.

The ultimate origin of the material to which Kaschke objects is a very old newspaper article from Der Spiegel. Kaschke appears now to identify with the libertarian end of the Conservative Party, and this is interesting as old newspaper articles that right-libertarians don’t want being publicised have more than once now resulted in libel threats – most famously Paul Staines’ February 2007 threat against Sunny Hundal.

Meanwhile, Hilton has asked for donations in order to fight his corner. I haven’t seen the piece he is being sued over, so I cannot say whether his claim of having an “absolute defence” is valid. Tim at Bloggerheads is unimpressed with Hilton’s journalistic standards, and notes his failure to stand up for other bloggers facing libel threats. Indeed, when Staines was after Tim (on another matter), Tim recalls that Hilton opined that

I… can’t really be bothered to look into it. If Tim’s done something wrong, then there are consequences. If not, he has nothing to worry about.

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The Lagos This Day reports from Akwa Ibom State:

Governor Godswill Akpabio…insisted that henceforth, the state government will not hesitate to destroy or demolish any church engaged in any negative and unproven vision in order to satisfy their clients.

“We will destroy and demolish every church that is engaged in any stupid vision in Akwa Ibom State. We will not stop there, we will have to make examples out of some people. We will chase out some churches in the state which are found wanting.

“The churches are busy deceiving people in many aspects including avoiding deaths. We have to do something to re-strengthen the Child Right Law. We must fight against the abuse of children and ensure proper education for them,” he said.

This Day notes that Akpabio is responding to the outrage following the broadcast of a documentary in the UK a few weeks ago that exposed how children had been labelled as witches by certain churches and had suffered extreme abuse as a result. One Nigerian commentator observes that

…Very few electronic materials in the last decade, have done as much damage to Nigeria’s image as this documentary. It is a factual portrayal of the failure of the Nigerian state, the entrapment of the people in a shell of superstition and hysteria, the absolutely low value of human life in Nigeria, the abuse of Nigeria’s children and the opportunism of religious charlatans who lie, kill and cheat in God’s name. Covering the plight of children who are dubbed “witches” in Akwa Ibom, the documentary tells a familiar Nigerian story.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Information has announced that:

SIR: On the orders of Governor Godswill Akpabio, the Police in Akwa Ibom State on November 29 at about 2 p.m. moved swiftly to Mbo Local Government Area for the search and arrest of one Bishop Sunday Ulup-Aya who stated his involvement in this matter in a documentary broadcast on Channel 4 and placed on several websites.

The said Bishop who claimed he had “killed” several children was successfully apprehended with an accomplice and are at present in detention on a holden charge from where he will face criminal prosecution this week. In view of the above, Government will not hesitate to effect further arrests and prosecutions of organisations, individuals or even parents who are involved in child abuse and labelling children as ‘witches’. Already one Rev. Onuoha operating from Oron and fingered in the child stigmatisation saga has been arrested by the police for questioning.

At the arrest of the self-styled bishop, about three children were discharged from illegal custody and immediately given government support. They appear normal and healthy. Also the state government has ordered full investigation into the child abuse issue. This will help government fashion out ways of tackling the social problem head-on.

The Governor plans to assent to the Child Rights Act in December, a law that will be fully implemented for the protection of Akwa Ibom children irrespective of economic background.

Consequently, Government takes a stand on the matter and is set to deal very decisively and in accordance with the rule of law and due process as follows:

• Place full legislative machinery against labelling of children as witches;

• Advance high-powered investigation into every element of the issues involved and all allegations against persons involved in stigmatisation of children as witches;

• Prosecute all persons found culpable of this crime of child labelling;

• Deploy social resources for the support, comfort and enjoyment of all categories of children all over the state;

• Possibility of closure of every organisation involved in this evil stigmatisation of children. Government will not spare any culprit involved
  Aniekan Umanah,
  Commissioner for Information

I’ve written about children being accused of witchcraft several times on this blog, and since the documentary aired I have received dozens of comments execrating the pastors responsible – a nice contrast to comments I had received before the programme went out from one pastor’s supporters, denouncing me as “wicked, crooked, crafty, poisonous, and dangerous to women.”

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Chris Rodda reports, from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation:

I was sent a PowerPoint presentation by an airman at RAF Lakenheath, the largest U.S. Air Force base in England…In March 2008, this presentation, titled “A New Approach To Suicide Prevention: Developing Purpose-Driven Airmen,” was shown at a commander’s call that was mandatory for an estimated 1,000 of Lakenheath’s Air Force personnel, and sent out by email to the entire base of over 5,000 the following day. As the use of the phrase “Purpose-Driven” in its title implies, also incorporated into this presentation is the wisdom of presidential candidate inquisitor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, a book that, second only to the Bible itself, is the most heavily promoted religious book in the military.

The presentation was made by a certain Capt. Christian Biscotti, and its purpose appears to have been to inflame hatred against scientists and those lacking in religious faith:

Captain Biscotti must find it particularly annoying using British money.

According to a 2006 profile,

Christian Biscotti…serves as an Air Force Chaplain in Stavanger, Norway, and he has taught World Religions at Thomas Nelson Community College, Church History and Philosophy at Beacon College, and Philosophy at Chattahoochee Valley Community College. He received a Bachelor of Art degree in English from the University of California, Davis, and a Master of Divinity degree from Regent University. Christian Biscotti is currently working on his dissertation as a Ph.D. student in Organizational Leadership at Regent University.

“Thomas Nelson” refers to the American patriot rather than the Christian publisher; Regent University, of course, was founded by Pat Robertson. Biscotti has also been active in Afghanistan:

More than 70 ISAF soldiers from 14 nations provided aide to a local refugee camp here Aug. 15 as an ongoing effort to make a difference in the quality of life of citizens in the local community.

U.S. Air Force Chaplain (Captain) Christian Biscotti helped establish ISAF’s first Voluntary Community Relations program.

“We have gone on missions to orphanages, schools and children’s hospitals and service men and women that go on these missions get the benefit of seeing first hand the importance of taking care of people’s personal needs for example, food, shelter and clothing before a nation can be rebuilt and stabilized,” Biscotti said. “ISAF missions put Afghanistan and our mission in context, in four dimensions, and helps ISAF not spend four, six, or even 15 months in a make-believe world behind an iron curtain.”

Incidentally, although I have reservations about Rick Warren for a number of reasons, I doubt that this presentation really reflects the strategy of his “Purpose Driven” brand-name. Warren is a slick operator with a moderate evangelical PR image; this kind of vulgar anti-science “red scare” stuff is far too crude.

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Various websites are carrying a bizarre email purporting to be by the Indian writer Amaresh Misra, on the Mumbai terrorist attack:

An entire city has been attacked by Mossad and probably units of mercenaries…The RSS-BJP-VHP-Bajrang Dal should be banned…Muslims and secular Hindus have been proven right…A photograph publushed in Urdu Times, Mumbai, clearly shows that Mossad and ex-Mossad men came to India and met Sadhus and other pro-Hindutva elements recently. A conspiracy was clearly hatched…We will fight a civil war if need be against the pro-Hindutva, communal forces and their Israeli backers.

Misra is the author of a book on the British in India entitled War of Civilisations: India AD 1857, which claimed that the British killed 10 million people between 1857 and 1867. A (negative) review here gives us a clue where he’s coming from:

Its Mumbai based author, Amresh Misra is a freelance journalist, a political commentator, a columnist, a script writer for films and also a historian. More than that he is a political, civil right activist and leader and an anti-communal fighter. His ideological inclination is evident in his “Acknowledgments”, wherein he honours “Akhilendra Pratap Singh, ex-president of the Allahabad University Students Union (AUSU), Politbureau member of the CPI-ML (liberation) as his friend, philosopher and guide” and admits that ‘several ideas hatched in the book were formulated along with him way back in the 1990s in rugged, reflective, dusty rooms and streets of Allahabad, Lucknow, Benares and other UP-Bihar districts.” Misra’s other friend Salim Khan Durrani happens to be the anti-communal, anti-fascist resistance hero of Mumbai.”

For Misra, history writing is not a detached academic exercise, rather it is part of ideological commitment and activism. He, frankly acknowledges that “during numerous street battles with the police and anti-Muslim, anti-Dalit-fascist lumpen hordes in the late 1980s and 1990s,” he learnt that “true data lies in the non-academic, mainstream reading of real action.”

An article from the Guardian adds:

Misra’s casualty claims have been challenged in India and Britain. “It is very difficult to assess the extent of the reprisals simply because we cannot say for sure if some of these populations did not just leave a conflict zone rather than being killed,” said Shabi Ahmad, head of the 1857 project at the Indian Council of Historical Research. “It could have been migration rather than murder that depopulated areas.”

Many view exaggeration rather than deceit in Misra’s calculations. A British historian, Saul David, author of The Indian Mutiny, said it was valid to count the death toll but reckoned that it ran into “hundreds of thousands”.

One wonders whether this benign assumption that Misra was not motivated by “deceit” will survive the apparent revelation (assuming he’s not the victim of an impersonator) that he’s anti-Jewish conspiracy-mongering crank.

Incidentally, Israel’s Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger did have a cosy meeting with BJP leader L.K. Advani in 2007, as I blogged here. Misra’s conspiracy theory is doubtless spun from links such as this.

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From South African newssite IOL:

“We need to teach our people to fear God,” ANC president Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday, and he suggested the way to do so would be by making children pray before school – “as it was in the past”.

…The ANC leader, who once headed the country’s moral regeneration campaign, put a large part of the blame for the “modern interpretation of values” on the media, saying there was too much sex and violence on radio and television.

Further:

South Africa is a country based on the rules and principles of God, said ANC president Jacob Zuma in Kempton Park on Thursday.

…The preamble of the Constitution “calls upon God to help us”, said Zuma at the National Presidential Religious Leaders conference.

…”The Bible says pray for those who are in government. I believe we must go beyond that. You must advise and criticise if there are things we do that are not in keeping with the principles of God.”

…An Mpumulanga representative told Zuma religious leaders would go to their communities and ensure they “voted correctly because you care and you have compassion and are committed to bettering the lives of God’s people”.

An Eastern Cape religious representative said, “Msholozi (Zuma) is a burning bush which will never be consumed”.

Zuma was anointed as an honorary pastor in 2007 by some charismatic Christians.

Zuma (a polygamist) of course knows a bit about “sex and violence on radio and television” – in 2006 the media was full of reports about his trial for rape. Zuma claimed that the sex had been consensual, and he was acquitted because “the state had not proven the case beyond reasonable doubt”. However, he was widely pilloried when he explained that he had protected himself from HIV by taking a shower after the act. One cartoonist (Zapiro) invariably portrays him thus:

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David Hazony at Commentary stirs up a cartoon controversy with which to beat the Forward:

… It’s a fake ad for a week-long evangelical trip to the Holy Land, and it expresses all the anti-Christian fears that lurk in the heart of many an American Jew. Obese and monstrous Evangelicals are shown going to Israel, praising Hitler as a “Servant of the Lord,” and looking forward to the “mother of all Holocausts for Jews and Muslems who don’t convert.” There are fake ads for T-shirts praising the right-wing mass-murderer Baruch Goldstein… It is so far from the liberal, tolerant views that I think most Forward readers adhere to, that one wonders how it got by the editors.

The cartoon is by Eli Valley, and the whole thing can be seen here. Of course it’s somewhat crude, but as a satire of apocalyptic Christian Zionism (which is not the only variety of Christian Zionism), it generally hits home. Pastor John Hagee famously said that “Hitler was a hunter” sent by God to persuade Jews to move to Israel; Hal Lindsey has enthused over the thought of the Jordan Valley “covered with blood five feet high”, adding the nice detail that the blood will flow rather than coagulate due to radiation. Various Christian Zionists have warned that two-thirds of the world’s Jews will be included in this massacre. Praise for Baruch Goldstein is going too far, but some Christian Zionists have been happy to support far-right groups such as the self-declared “Sanhedrin”.

In reference to other panels of the cartoon, both John Hagee and the late Jerry Falwell have warned that the anti-Christ will be Jewish, and Christian Zionists such as Billye Brim have fantasized about the destruction of the Dome of the Rock (and in 1969 a mentally-ill Armstrongist set fire to the Al-Aqsa mosque). And while many Christian Zionists have been somewhat squemish about stating clearly the shortcomings of Judaism and the need for Jews to “accept Jesus” to avoid damnation – using instead terms like “Judeo-Christian” – very few leaders of the movement have formally accepted the “Dual Covenant” idea, which teaches that Judaism and Christianity are both valid.

The BBC broadcast a documentary about an evangelical coach tour to Israel back in February. I blogged it here.

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