Bartholomew's Notes

Interfax reports on yet another religious conflab in Russia: this time, it’s the “XI Meeting of the World Russian People’s Council”, at the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. As with previous Council meetings, it provided a forum for the Russian Orthodox church and others to make pronouncements on Russian values and Russia’s place in the world.

The meeting’s focus was on wealth and poverty, and a message from Putin offered some platitudes on the subject:

‘It is obvious, that effective solving of these problems depends not only on economic growth or technological progress. Our society’s moral condition and ability to defend each person’s rights and interests are very important,’

The message was delivered just days after the suspicious “suicide” of Moscow journalist Ivan Safronov.

In opening comments, Metropolitan Kirill ruminated – in slightly obscure terms – on the Russian national character:

The Russian Orthodox Church welcomes ‘serious attempts to comprehend Russia’s originality through the prism of her spiritual and historical tradition…Among those attempts we may count such concepts as sovereign democracy, real sovereignty, Russian project, and empire conception rethought,’

Kirill followed this up with a rather less esoteric discussion of Russian energy pricing:

‘When Russia is asked questions about the price formation at her market, including energy resources prices, so she also should not hesitate to ask the same kind of questions…We do not make any attempts to influence price forming policies of transnational corporations, so why should Russia make excuses and explain her internal market price forming policies?’

Russia has used energy pricing as a means to leverage in a number of countries. A recent report in Businessweek gives a bit of background:

…Moscow has long sought to use its energy resources to regain the influence it lost with the breakup of the Soviet Union. But the headline-grabbing shutoffs of oil to Belarus and gas to Georgia and Ukraine in the past year are only the most visible part of the story.

For the last several years, the state-controlled gas monopoly, Gazprom, has been trying, with limited success, to get significant stakes in gas distribution networks in Central and Eastern Europe, while private Russian operators have been buying gasoline retailers across the region…

However, the spat with Belarus – whose dictator Alexander Lukashenko was been honoured more than once by the Russian Orthodox Church for his pan-Slavic sentiments – has apparently been controversial in Russia, where some hope for a future in which Belarus is united with Moscow. Political scientist Alexander Tsipko spoke on the subject:

‘If for the elite ruling in Russia this world is of no spiritual and moral value, as it was illustrated by the gas war on Belarus, what can the Russian Church do in this circumstances?’ the scientist wondered.

Earlier, Tsipko called the current period of the Russian Orthodox history ‘very dramatic.’ The recent gas conflict with Belarus may ‘result in her leaving the Russian Orthodox world’ and the collapse ‘of the still unborn Union State,’ he said.

Tsipko also called for the church to enjoy more support from the state:

‘The Russian Orthodox Church is indeed the only one spiritual and organizing power in the former Soviet Union, which is able to consolidate others. But we all clearly understand that the church is not self-existing and her initiatives need to be backed by the state,’

Orthodox privilege was also demanded by Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin:

…Ideological neutrality of the state is ‘rather mythical than real now’ as the modern Western society is ‘ideologized’ and often ‘values the idea more than the human person,’ Fr. Vsevolod said. ‘That is why the very issue of religiously neutral state is misleading and ‘intends to clear the way for other ideologies,’ he added.

‘So the Orthodox tradition has full right to demand ideological preferences from the state, and the society may demand having their ideological preferences reflected by the state policies,’ he noted.

Unity of the people and authorities is natural for the Orthodox world while ideas of economical and political competition or ‘dirigible conflict’ give way to the consolidation of the society, he said.

Other speakers also stressed the spiritual side of things:

Mikhail Leontyev, a well-known TV observer, has urged to realize in Russia an economic model based on values traditional for the country rather than copying the Western one.

‘Our culture, civilization and values have nothing to do with the culture which claims to be Christian. We know that ‘in God we trust’ is inscribed on the dollar but I have an impression that it is not our God’, he said…

An unsubtle swipe at feminism and gays followed:

‘The refusal of liberal communities to reproduce themselves is a doom because, motivated by hedonism, they destroy the very basis of reproduction of human beings as species’, he noted.

Singing from the same song-sheet was Ukrainian communist leader Petr Simonenko:

“We have seen with our own eyes and realized and experienced what ‘Western culture’ is. People hoped naively that they were given access to the ‘silver tap’ pouring out the pure spring water of Western culture. In real fact however, a huge cloaca has been opened to let out the ‘mass culture’ sewage”…

Simonenko stressed that the Slavic culture was now defiled… [and] also noted that ‘it is impossible to overcome the systemic spiritual crisis growing into national disasters both in Ukraine and Russia without preserving our common history and culture, our Slavonic languages, our Slavic humanistic traditions’.

Other religious traditions represented at the Council raised similar issues; according to Valery Engel of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia:

“Russia is a Eurasian civilization, which can develop a mega-civilization pattern that rests on values of traditional religions tomorrow,” he said, calling on the Russian Interreligious Council to launch a discussion on the principles and basis of the Eurasian ideology.

Farid Asadullin of the Russian Council of Muftis added that

“We share the approaches of the Russian Orthodox Church on the importance of understanding Russia’s civilizational characteristics,”

The Council of Muftis also used the occasion to reveal a conspiracy against Russia:

‘…The rapprochement between Russia and the Islamic world has given no rest to our opponents, since our unity threatens their global plans of world domination…The rapprochement between Russia and the Islamic world has given no rest to our opponents, since our unity threatens their global plans of world domination…the enemies of Russia and Islam have allotted considerable financial resources [and]…they are preparing a number of propagandistic actions aimed to stir up inter-ethnic and interreligious conflicts and to discredit the Russian Federation in the eyes of the world Muslim public.’

One wonders if by “rapprochement”, the Mufti was referring to the plan to sell Russian arms to Iran and Syria, using Belarus as middleman (Lukashenko and Ahmadinejad have had some cosy meetings). That was the subject that Ivan Safronov was working on when he mysteriously fell to his death.

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Conservative Catholic cardinal Giacomo Biffi has made headlines:

According to Vatican Radio’s summary of his preaching, the cardinal explained that “the teaching that the great Russian philosopher [Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov] left us is that Christianity cannot be reduced to a set of values. At the center of being a Christian is, in fact, the personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”

Quoting the work “Three Dialogues on War, Progress and the End of History,” Cardinal Biffi told his listeners that “the Antichrist presents himself as pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist.”

“He will convoke an ecumenical council and will seek the consensus of all the Christian confessions, granting something to each one. The masses will follow him, with the exception of small groups of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants,” he said.

…[“]There are absolute values, such as goodness, truth, beauty,” Cardinal Biffi said…The preacher of the Spiritual Exercises added that “there are relative values, such as solidarity, love of peace and respect for nature. If these become absolute, uprooting or even opposing the proclamation of the event of salvation, then these values become an instigation to idolatry and obstacles on the way of salvation.”

…Cardinal Biffi affirmed that “if Christianity — on opening itself to the world and dialoguing with all — dilutes the salvific event, it closes itself to a personal relationship with Jesus and places itself on the side of the Antichrist.”

This is a song that Biffi has sung before; back in 2000 the BBC reported that

Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, 71, said that the modern Antichrist, identified in the Book of Revelation as a seven-headed beast, was most likely now disguised as a philanthropist supporting creeds like vegetarianism, animal rights or pacifism, or advocating dialogue with Orthodox or Anglican believers.

…He was speaking at a conference of academics in Bologna last weekend, on the 19th century Russian mystic Vladimir Solovyov, who predicted horror and disaster in the 20th century.

For those of us who are not as familiar with nineteenth-century Russian mystical philosophy as we might be, The Transnational Vladimir Solovyov Society has a useful summary by Greg Gaut of the work cited by Biffi:

…This was a fictional work in the form of three dialogues among five Russians vacationing on the Mediterranean: a General, who represents a traditional Orthodox viewpoint; a Politician, who believes in Western cultural progress; the Prince, a stand-in for Leo Tolstoy; Mr. Z, a mysterious gentleman who takes an uncompromisingly religious view of all questions; and a Noblewoman, who facilitates the conversations and occasionally interjects pertinent questions and comments. Solovyov wrote that he totally agreed with the views of Mr. Z, but that he “fully recognized the relative truth of the General and the Politician” (10:87).

…To explain his view on the end of history and the Anti-Christ, Mr. Z then read a manuscript given to him by a monk named Pansophius, entitled “Short Tale of the Anti-Christ.” According to the tale, the last great war in human history occurred in the twentieth century when the movement of Pan-Mongolism, that is, the Asian nations led by Japan, conquered Europe. Later the Europeans rebelled and set up the United States of Europe. Then a remarkable man came to power, “whom many called a superman,” a man who believed in the good, God, and the Messiah, “but loved only himself” (10:197-8). He brought the whole world under a universal monarchy which provided bread and circuses to all. Seeking to unify all Christian believers under him, he called Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants to a congress. Most pledged loyalty to him, but three religious leaders–the pope, a famous Orthodox starets, and a Protestant theologian–recognized him as the Anti-Christ. Together with their few followers they escaped to the desert where they agreed to unify all true Christians under the pope. Just when it seemed that the Anti-Christ was established for all time, the Jews exposed him, and after a huge battle, overthrew him. Then the true Christ descended, and the Christians and Jews rose from the dead and ruled with Christ for 1,000 years. When Mr. Z concluded the tale, it came to light that the Prince had fled during the reading of the manuscript, precisely at the moment when the true Christians had unmasked the Anti-Christ.

Gaut adds some commentary on the “Pan-Mongolism” fantasy:

…He worried not just about the rise of the non-Christian East but also about the decline of the Christian West, including Russia. His deepest fear was that Christian culture was so weakened by pseudo-Christians (either believers who thought that mere faith was enough, or Tolstoyans who had no real faith), that the Church could no longer fulfill its universalizing mission in world history. The Christian West would have nothing to fear if it was spiritually strong and healthy, but if it continued its decline, then it was subject to retribution.

Substitute Muslims for the Yellow Peril theme, and we can see why Biffi might warm to Solovyov. However, an academic essay on the subject by Judith Deutsch Kornblatt (1) suggests that Solovyov is rather more interesting than to be simply grist for conservative punditry:

…our interpretation of the embedded story as a whole grows from a recognition of the distinction between the oral tale (a “joke” about the Antichrist) and the written one (his initial triumph, told in high melodrama), pointed out to us by Mr. Z. We might be tempted, as most Solovyov scholars have been, to read the prose text as declarative philosophy– it says what it means and it means what it is…Indeed, this is the type of reading of authoritative texts for which Tolstoy calls when he tells us, for example, that “Christ says exactly what he says”…When we go on to the oral story, however, we are reminded of Solovyov’s less transparent, problematic fictional discourse. We need literary tools, not to mention a sense of humor, to see the inter-play of the what and the how, of the content and the context…

One wonders if Biffi is aware of these subtleties. Either way, however, it is likely that the apocalyptic pop-culture of the English-speaking world will be interested in Solovyov only insofar as he can be reduced to some sort of Russian Hal Lindsey.

Meanwhile, WorldNetDaily carries a new piece on how “environmentalism is nothing less than the global elitists’ replacement ideology for communism/socialism.” The article champions senator James Inhofe, whose views on the subject I blogged here.

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(1) ‘The Truth of the Word: Solovyov’s “Three Conversations” Speaks on Tolstoy’s “Resurrection”‘, in The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Summer, 2001), pp. 301-321.

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Following on from yesterday’s blog entry, news via Kommersant, under the headline “Christians Do Not Believe in Human Rights”:

Meeting of Christian leaders of CIS and Baltic countries ended in Moscow yesterday. One of the chief issues on the agenda was the initiative of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to reconsider the concept of human rights existing in secular world.

…”We are for changing the existing human rights, up to reconsidering the International Human Rights Declaration,” said Pastor Konstantin Benas, executive secretary of the United Russian Union of Gospel Faith Christians. “For there cannot be universal human rights,” he added.

Instead, human rights should mean: (1) the right of religious groups not to be offended, and (2) no gays. Interfax gives further details:

“We are confident that attempts to corrode traditional family values, legalize same-sex unions and drugs, give moral justification to abortions and euthanasia, promote ‘the culture of death’, inter-ethnic and inter-religious discord, violence, fornication, homosexuality and other vices dangerous for the individual and the society are destructive tendencies,” says the final document of the forum posted on the Moscow Patriarchate website on Monday.

Also at the conference was British cleric Colin Williams, who is General Secretary of the Conference of European Churches; a curious photo with the Kommersant report shows Williams surrounded by Russian priests who are pointing excitedly at something off-camera. The caption reads:

Russian Orthodox Church members showed the drawbacks of liberal values to Secretary General of the Conference of European Churches Colin Williams (center).

The cause of the agitation is left to our imagination.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, has been on the receiving end of protests in London, due to his forbidding of gay pride marches on the grounds that such events are “satanic”. London mayor Ken Livingstone, who was Luzhkov’s host, tried to head off the problem by bizarrely suggesting that the protesters’ organiser, the indefatigable Peter Tatchell, was motivated by “Islamophobia”.

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An interesting article in the Lagos Vanguard gives a bit of cultural context to the pending anti-gay law in Nigeria, which I blogged on a few days ago:

…Beyond Christianity, homosexuality has been a taboo subject in Africa for mostly cultural reasons. It is a closet issue nobody wants to confront…[T]hat homosexuality is a closet issue is no reason to believe that the practice is totally alien in these parts. Like in South Africa where HIV positive men sleep with under-aged girls in the mistaken belief that sex with virgins cures HIV/Aids, homosexual acts are, in certain cases, believed in our part of the world to confer mystical powers on its practitioners. In some cases, it is seen as the harbinger of great wealth.

…It is a known fact that one of the reasons adduced for one of the bloodiest coups in Nigeria’s history was the alleged overwhelming presence of homosexuals in the government that was to be displaced. The April 22, 1990 coup, announced/led by Gideon Orka, was partly staged to oust the ‘homosexual’ regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. Likewise, homosexuals supposedly populate the Yan Dauda cult.

“Yan Dauda” is a Hausa term for male homosexuals and transvestites, rather than the name of an actual “cult”. The author of the article, Rotimi Fasan, concludes with a pretty obvious question:

It would seem to me that many of us did not have to learn to be attracted to the opposite sex. Rather we simply came to such realisation. Could the possibility that homosexuals have no control over their sexual preferences lead to such sympathetic understanding of their situation as might allow for a generally acceptable response to it?

Meanwhile, Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola’s support for the new legislation has the backing of the Roman Catholics:

[The Director of Social Communication, Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, Rev. Patrick] Alumuku condemned any attempt by anybody or any group of persons to make same sex marriage a lawful practice in the country.

…”If we allow same sex marriage because some people say that they should have the liberty to do whatever they like, we should also allow rapists and armed robbers to have their way because they think they have the freedom to do so,” he said.

…”Because of his consistent opposition to this move, the Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Peter Akinola, was last year given an award as belonging to the first 100 most influential people in the world,” he added.

The authoritarian views of Akinola and Alumuku are currently being echoed far away, in Russia:

[Pentecostal] Bishop Sergey Ryakhovsky, a Russian Protestant leader and a member of the Public Chamber of Russia, refused tolerance for gay parades’ participants.

‘The tolerance our sexual minorities mention so often, does not in reality correspond to the concept of ‘right.’ The fundamental human rights as formulated by the UN General Assembly in 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, do not include anything like a right to vice and or a right to moral crime,’ Ryakhovsky said in his statement received by Interfax on Tuesday…He also regretted that heads of European capitals ‘miscall the aggressive propaganda of moral corruption “a spirit of respect of the universal human rights”.’

(Ryakhovsky, whom I’ve blogged before, owes much of his status and authority to Putin)

And, as ever, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad has a predictable perspective:

‘Nobody is urging to judge these poor people (gays – IF), or to discriminate against them. But the question arises, whether Churches can insist on having protection from gay propaganda, and the gay parade is such propaganda…propaganda of sin is allowed, while propaganda of religious values in multicultural societies is reduced to private life.’

According to Metropolitan Kirill, now it is time for Christians to consolidate stating their common position regarding the issue.

‘Otherwise the Moslems may stay alone to defend the traditional values, and due to a number of reasons their voices will be heard better, than the voices of Christian Churches,’ Metropolitan Kirill added.

(Nigeria links: hat-tip to Political Spaghetti)

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A press release from Market Wire:

Left Behind Games Inc.has hired consultant Dr. Gordon Chiu to research the suitability of introducing LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces PC game into the Asian market.

Dr. Gordon Chiu has brought many international brands to the Asia Pacific region. Chiu comments, “I personally find the unique platform of nonviolence connects very strongly with ancient Asian philosophies. With the upcoming Olympic games in 2008, everyone is looking for intellectually stimulating products from the United States and Europe that can better prepare them for interaction with Westerners. This particular game has educational benefits to Asian families because they will all want their children to learn about the West without having to engage in violence.”

Chiu’s spin on the subject matter of the game accords with the damage-limitation exercises currently being undertaken by Left Behind Games in the wake of the huge controversy that Eternal Forces has generated (and which has been covered extensively on Talk to Action). But the suggestion that the game is “non-violent” goes beyond even the claims of its supporters: Jerry Jenkins and Jeff Frichner argue that the game’s violence should be put in a Biblical context, while LaHaye has complained about negative coverage on the grounds that the game is no more violent than other games (the fact he has in the past condemned these other games for violence is glossed over).

Chiu continues:

“…This way of learning has been very popular in Hong Kong and is termed ‘edutainment.’ With the movie, ‘The Da Vinci Code’ doing phenomenally in Asia, the game Eternal Forces would be very well received,” adds Chiu.

Not sure if LaHaye will like that comparison. But while LBG CEO Troy Lyndon argues that “Our game does NOT teach the pre-tribulation theology of the book series, except that this worldview is utilized as a FICTIONAL backdrop of the game”, we can be sure that LaHaye sees the Asian video game market as a whole new field ripe for apocalyptic evangelisation.

Assuming that it’s the same person, Dr Gordon Chiu is better-known as a skin-care expert, although he also does technology and “private image” consulting.

(Cross-posted to Talk to Action)

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News from Belarus:

Ten Americans left Belarus on Friday after authorities ordered them deported for allegedly singing religious songs and reading spiritual literature…[Interior Ministry spokesman Oleg] Slepchenko said police raided what was supposed to be a seminar in conversational English at an evangelical Protestant church in the eastern city of Mogilev. He said police found bibles on the tables, and participants were singing religious songs instead of talking.

Belarus’s dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, of course, favours Orthodoxy – as I’ve noted on this blog, he enjoys the strong support of Moscow patriarch Alexei II. Last August, Private Eye magazine featured a “Letter from Minsk” which included the following detail:

A few years ago [Lukashenko] presented the Russian Orthodox Patriarch with $85,000 worth of gold, silver and jewel-encrusted banners for the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. In return, Patriarch Alexis II commended Lukashenko for resisting the “cult of force, self-destruction and lack of morals that permeate the west”, then he decorated senior Belarus KGB men (we have not bothered to make the secret police sound more customer-friendly) with the Order of Apostle Grand Duke Vladimir (no relation) for “decisive implementation of the government’s policy of spiritual development of the nation.”

Other awards that Alexis has heaped on the dictator include the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh (“for strengthening unity of Slav peoples”) and a prize from the “International Foundation for Unity of the Orthodox Peoples”.

The hapless American missionaries – who were in the country for just a few weeks – fell foul of a repressive Religion Law passed in 2002. The strategy of using language schools as a front for missionary activities was recently seen in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan (as I blogged here); an academic article that looks at the phenomenon of Teaching English as a Foreign Language can be accessed here.

(Hat tip: Christianity Today Weblog. The pic is one of several anti-Lukashenko cartoons that are banned in Belarus, and which activists have asked to be publicised.)

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The latest edition of the BBC World Service’s Reporting Religion discusses the recent meeting of Anglican Primates in Tanzania, which ended with a commiqué giving the American Episcopal Church seven months to “clarify” its position on same-sex blessings or to face being kicked out of the global Anglican communion. Journalist Stephen Bates (at 7mins 27seconds) describes the role of American evangelical organisations in supporting conservative figures such as Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola:

They’ve been subsidising and paying for an awful lot of activities and an awful lot of air-flights for African archbishops and bishops like Akinola over the last decade or more. In the Lambeth conference in 1998 they had a pretty sophisticated American-organised lobbying operation that succeeded in making homosexuality a key issue in the Anglican church which it never had been before, and since then at international conferences the Americans do things like paying for mobile phones for developing world Archbishops who don’t have them of their own, so that they can keep in touch and make sure they’re on message as it were.

And certainly in the last week in the Dar Es Salaam primates’ meeting similar things were going on. The developing world bishops met to discuss strategy and tactics for two days before the meeting even started. And I have to say this is a very unusual thing because primates’ meetings have traditionally been social, theological, Bible-study type occasions. They’ve not been politicised meetings at all until the past few years and this one I think was the most-politicised yet.

Bates goes into further detail in the latest edition of The Tablet, a UK Roman Catholic weekly:

…It is a cause of frustration to several [delegates], especially meeting in one of the poorest countries on earth, that the world leaders of Anglicanism should spend their time discussing what middle-aged American Christians get up to in bed rather than issues of poverty, disease and hunger, but that is what a number of the African primates themselves wanted, spurred on by American and English conservative evangelicals dancing attendance upon them from the fringes of the meeting.

At the Dromantine Catholic seminary in Northern Ireland, at their last meeting two years ago, the lobbying was surreptitious: one American conservative bishop turned up complete with diamond-patterned jersey claiming to be on a golfing holiday in nearby Newry, in February. This time, all pretence was dropped. The conservative faction moved en masse into the next-door hotel for two days in advance to discuss their demands and the strategies they needed to achieve them.

One subject that does not appear to have been raised during the meeting was Akinola’s support for extremely repressive anti-gay legislation soon to be passed in Nigeria. I reported on this just over a year ago; Bruce Wilson went into further detail for Talk to Action back in December. A few days ago, Doug Ireland posted an update on the situation:

Homosexual conduct among consenting persons in Nigeria is already a crimepunishable by 14 years in prison, a 19th century penal provision that is a legacy of British colonial rule. But the new legislation goes much, much further in terms of curbing fundamental rights of expression, association, and communication. Among the proposed new law’s many noxious provisions, it would, under penalty of a stiff prison term of five years:

— outlaw membership in a gay group, attending a gay meeting or protest, donating money to a gay organization; or even advocating gay equality in any way, shape, or form;

— outlaw hosting or even visiting a gay Web site;

— outlaw expressions of same-sex love in letters or e-mails;

— outlaw attending a same-sex marriage or blessing ceremony, screening or watching a gay movie, taking or possessing photos of a gay couple, and publishing, selling, or loaning a gay book or video.

Even mere socializing by two or more gay people, like having dinner together, is likely to be interpreted as illegal.

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals would be targeted not only for specific acts but also for simply existing under this proposed law, and even heterosexual people who “promote” the lifestyle of homosexuals, for example by selling them a house, would be criminalized.

Akinola is particularly close to a group of churches in Virginia that decided to split from the Episcopal Church a few months ago, forming the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. CANA accepts oversight from Akinola through their Bishop, Martyn Minns. According to the Washington Post, while at least one CANA church is distressed at the idea of a “church that advocates the loss of basic human rights”, Minns himself is untroubled:

Minns said he’d rather live with the Church of Nigeria’s compromises than those of the U.S. church. “The Church of Nigeria has made it clear that as long as we hold firm to the tenets of classical Christianity, we have considerable flexibility,” Minns said in an e-mail from Tanzania.

Meanwhile, a recent report from South Africa has a bit more on what’s happening in Africa more generally:

In Nigeria the parliament is considering a bill to prohibit gay and lesbian people from marrying or even politically organising themselves. Rwanda and Zimbabwe are another two countries which have strengthened their anti-homosexual legislation. In Uganda and Kenya a “homosexual act” can land someone in jail for 15 years.

After police harassment of lesbian and gay activists in Uganda, a campaign was run to “out” lesbian and gay individuals by publicising their names. Numerous activists, including the leader of Sexual Minorities of Uganda Juliet Victor Mukasa, have fled Uganda fearing for their lives.

(I blogged on the Ugandan situation here.)

However, interestingly:

…The nongovernmental organisation The Rainbow Project, which fights for lesbian and gay human rights in Namibia, has organised meetings between religious leaders and the LGBT community.

Liz Frank, a former chairperson of the Coalition for African Lesbians (CAL) and editor of the magazine “Sister Namibia”, told IPS that the advances in South Africa and Namibia had a lot to do with the spirit of democratization that swept through these countries from the late 1980s onwards.

(Cross-posted to Talk to Action.)

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News from the Solomon Islands, via an article on Stuff by Michael Field:

A couple of men, one wearing a flag of Israel, have shown up in the Solomon Islands, claiming they are ready to buy copra at high prices. They’ve headed off to remote and poor Malaita Island where indigenous Melanesian people believe they are survivors of the lost tribe of Israel.

The reporter believes the men to be “mysterious Israelis”, although he rather oddly doesn’t mention them again; instead, the incident is used as a springboard for a general discussion on neo-Israelite identity among Malaitans, and its political consequences:

…The Israeli connection is a problem in the Solomon Islands which was the scene of a civil war on its main island of Guadalcanal where locals objected to people from Malaita moving in…One of the combatant units, the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF) featured the Israeli flag in their iconography. A governor-general of the Solomons even made an official visit to Israel.

Islanders have apparently rejected Australian aid projects, “saying they are too busy growing copra for Israel”. What’s more:

Growing numbers of evangelical Christians in North Malaita believe that the Lost Temple of Israel lies hidden at a shrine that was previously used for ancestral worship in the mountainous interior of their island.

…Two disputed temple sites exist on Malaita and Anglican Bishop Terry Brown on the island says one of them is tied up with a self-proclaimed prophet and failed politician, Michael Maeliau, who leads the “Deep Sea Canoe Movement”.

He has been to Israel a number of times and has links to American neo-Israel fundamentalist groups there. Deep Sea Canoe Movement talks of taking Christianity back to Israel.

Maeliau’s religious perspective is inspired by a vision that he had in 1984, in which a flood began in the Solomon Islands and engulfed the world:

As the circle was now complete, the wave zoomed in on Jerusalem from all sides. As the wave met in Jerusalem, it shot up into the Heavens like a great mighty pillar of water or cloud. As it reached deep in the sky, it opened up like a great big mushroom that gradually spread until it enveloped the whole earth.

At this point, a voice came out from the cloud saying, “And the Glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.” With that the vision ended.

This came one year after a vision concerning Australia:

It was 16 years ago in 1983 when God began to place on the hearts of leaders in the Solomon Islands to pray for Australia.  They would meet each Friday at sunset on Prayer Mountain for Australia and pray through the night to sunrise – for ten years.  Rev Michael Maeliau, Associate South Pacific Prayer Network Representative (Solomon Islands) said God showed them Australia was the Pacific gateway to the nations.  Ps Maeliau also said Australia needs to be fully released into her God given destiny to the nations, so that all the Pacific might benefit.  This prayer team of pastors and ordinary people like you and me prayed for 10 years.  God does nothing unless it is birthed in prayer – in 1993 God lifted that burden and they now are praying for Israel.

Maeliau is part of the international Charismatic Christian scene, and he is particularly linked with the Jerusalem House of Prayer for All Nations, which was founded by an American named Tom Hess:

Tom Hess was called to Israel in 1987 from Washington. He has lived there through 2 Intifadas and 2 Gulf wars. He founded the Jerusalem House of Prayer for All Nations, situated on the Mount of Olives, in the middle of a Muslim community. Based on Isaiah 62, small teams have been involved in 24 hour a day prayer and worship for 16 years. The first focus of the House of Prayer is on the Jewish people, but they also call the leaders of the Middle East and of Israel to pray together for the salvation of the Muslims and Israel. So far the House of Prayer has had 13 meetings of 4 days each with Jewish and Arab leaders gathered for prayer. In 1994, the Lord said that there should be an All Nations Convocation.

Since then, there have been a series of international gatherings. As well as enjoying the support of Maeliau, Hess is endorsed by a number of neo-Pentecostal leaders, including some we have blogged before: there’s Sunday Adelaja, the Ukraine-based Nigerian pastor; Gwen Shaw, who has links with a controversial church in Congo; and Prosperity Gospel promoters such as Myles Munroe and Ulf Ekman. Hess has also edited a book that puts Maeliau in Charismatic A-List company:

Restoration of the Tabernacle of David is the latest publication from Tom Hess and Progressive Vision Publishing. It is an exciting collection of ten keynote addresses and essays by such renowned international authors/speakers Avner Boskey, Benjamin Berger, Marcel Rebiai and Tom Hess of Israel, Rick Joyner and Mike Bickle of the United States, Dr. Niko Njotorahardjo of Indonesia, George Annadorai of Singapore, Ana Mendez of Mexico, Michael Maeliau of Solomon Islands, and Boris Grisenko of Ukraine, on the fulfillment of the prophecy in Amos 9:11 and Acts 15:16-17.

As Stuff indicates, Maeliau has also been involved in politics. This discussion board has preserved his 2006 platform for re-election as an MP. It included:

…Acknowledge of God as the Creator and Sovereign over all and to whom all rulers and people are ultimately accountable…The Bible is God’s Manual for life and its principles must be restored in all walks of life…Seek a permanent Solution to the Ethnic Tension once and for all. …Government System. Review the present Government System and find the right and the most appropriate system for all…Rid of Corruption. Seek to remove all forms of corruption from all sectors and levels of Government…Establish Integrity and Credibility. Seek to establish National Integrity and International Credibility of the Solomon Islands.

…Sovereignty and Dignity. Ensure that the Sovereignty and Dignity of the Solomon Islands are not compromised but restored. The beggar mentality must be done away with and any form of foreign domination and exploitation avoided.

However, Maeliau came in at second place. Maeliau is also a Malaita separatist, as noted by a blog last month:

Religious leader known in his area as Prophet Michael Maeliau has re-iterated his vision for Malaita to becomes a separate political entity.

But what of the “Lost Tribe” and “Lost Temple” beliefs? Aside from the Stuff article, I could find no other source that suggested that Maeliau holds to such ideas, and given his clear emphasis on the real Jerusalem one wonders why he would be interested in a pseudo-site on the other side of the world.

However, if there actually is such a movement on the island, the presence of Israelis may have interesting consequences beyond a thriving copra-for-Israel industry:

Papua New Guinea…has had long experience with Jewish connections, mixed up with millenarian beliefs, along with ideas about the end of the world coming when all Jews return to Jerusalem. When a group of Israeli agricultural scientists visited PNG some years back, rumours swept the country that they had airline tickets to take all adherents back to Israel.

Indeed, a similar belief among members of a tribe in northern India was eventually endorsed by the State of Israel, and hundreds were opportunistically accepted as Israeli citizens last autumn.

Bishop Brown also notes conflict on the island with a syncretistic, semi-Muslim group:

“…One only hopes that the Middle East situation of Jew vs. Muslim does not resurface here as Malaita Israelite vs. Malaita Muslim”.

As I noted back in August, Israel also holds a particular fascination for groups of Fijian and Native Canadian neo-Pentecostals.

(Hat tip: Cult News Network)

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Booklet on Jews carries parliamentary logo

Maciej Giertych is back in the news. From the Jerusalem Post:

A Polish member of the European Parliament has published a booklet suggesting that Jews are unethical, are obsessed with separateness and are a “tragic community” because they don’t accept Jesus as the messiah.

The extreme right-wing parliamentarian Maciej Giertych, an influential member of the nationalistic, Catholic-based League of Polish Families, released “Civilization at War in Europe” on Feb. 14 at the European Parliament headquarters in Strasbourg.

…Giertych’s book was issued only a month after the formation of a new far-right European Parliament grouping that includes members from parties with a history of anti-Semitism in France, Austria, Romania and Bulgaria. None of those parties, however, has members sitting in a country’s governing coalition.

The booklet apparently carries the logo of the European Parliament.

I blogged on Giertych back in December, when I noted his efforts to include Creationism within the Polish school biology syllabus, and his bizarre letter to Nature on the subject. Maciej’s son Roman Giertych leads the LPF; back in July 2005 I blogged on the party’s opposition to homosexuality – which WorldNetDaily presented as some sort of “family values” campaign against “special rights”, rather than as resurgent fascism. Maciej’s father Jedrzej was also a notorious anti-Semite.

Maciej’s booklet will doubtless be of particular embarrassment to his brother Wojciech, who writes theological speeches for the Pope.

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