Bartholomew's Notes

A week ago, the Daily Telegraph reported on the mysterious “Buddha Boy” of Nepal:

Devotees claim that Ram Bomjon, who is silently meditating beneath a tree, has not eaten or drunk anything since he sat down at his chosen spot six months ago.

…Photographs of Ram Bomjon, available for five rupees (4p) from his makeshift shrine, have become ubiquitous across the region. “Far and wide, it’s the only topic of conversation,” said Upendra Lamichami, a local journalist.

He said no allegation had yet emerged of Ram breaking his fast or moving, even to relieve himself.

But now one has, and it appears that a rather important relevant piece of information was omitted by our Telegraph hack. Over to Rationalist International (emphasis added):

Last week, three physicians from Kathmandu visited the spot on behalf of the IRA [Indian Rationalist Association] and approached the boy’s guardians politely for permission to take a blood sample from him. They were strictly denied access to him. Goons threatened them with dire consequences if they did not leave the area immediately…

Observing the boy with a binocular, the rationalist physicians found his breath regular and healthy…They could not observe him eating or drinking during the day. But every evening, the tree is being covered with blankets hiding Bamjon’s niche between the roots, so that nobody can see what is happening there between dusk and dawn.

With the help of a glamorous assistant, no doubt.

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Staying with Africa, an unwelcome blast from the past in Uganda. The Kampala Monitor (via AllAfrica) has the details:

MUSLIMS have asked government to consider a national prayer and a public holiday for the late former President, Idi Amin rather than bringing his remains.

I’d be in favour of a public holiday celebrating the demise of Africa’s most loathsome dictator ever, but apparently that’s not what they have in mind:

Through their umbrella body, the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC), they welcomed the government’s move but warned that it should be done in accordance with the Islamic norms.

“As the Muslim community in Uganda, we welcome the President’s decision of recognising Amin as a former head of state after a long period of public outcry. Let us hope that the era of calling him swine has ended,” UMSC Publicist, Hajji Nsereko Mutumba said yesterday.

I’m sure that pigs are also hoping for the same thing. Amin’s corpse is currently interred in Mecca, where the mass-murderer spent his twilight years. Current president Yoweri Museveni had agreed, just before Amin died, that his body could be brought back to Uganda, but to exhume it now would violate Islamic injunctions. Plus, as Amin’s son Taban notes:

“…Good Muslims believe that Saudi Arabia is a holy place and anyone who dies from there goes straight to heaven.”

Hmmm…Some older Ugandan reports archived here give some background to the UMSC’s current position. Here’s one, from just before Amin’s death

…Mufti [Shaban] Mubajje dismissed reports that the Muslim leadership was organising to bury the former president at the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) headquarters at Old Kampala.

It was Amin who donated the Old Kampala land to Muslims during his reign (1971-1979).

(It should be recalled that Old Kampala was heavily Asian until 1972, when Amin had them all expelled)

…Imam Ssentongo said that…Amin is the most patriotic leader Uganda ever had, adding that the country might never produce his equal again.

Maybe Ssentongo could console himself with a trip to Zimbabwe…And here’s another, from the same day:

The chairman of the Uganda Muslim Youth Assembly, Imam Kasozi, has said that former President Idi Amin did a lot to develop the Muslim community and the country.

He appealed to Muslims to ignore allegations against Amin and advised them to appreciate the fact that everybody had his weaknesses.

He said that before Amin took power in 1971, there were less than 100 Muslim university graduates but that situation quickly improved.

Amin’s death inspired further fond reminiscences:

[Opposition politician Hussein] Kyanjo…asked government officials to give “Muslims a break to mourn their dear one, Idi Amin,”

…Islamic cleric Haruna Sengooba asked the government to allow them to observe annual prayers on August 17 in remembrance of Amin’s death.

…’Show us the skulls’ We challenge those castigating him to show the world the skulls of those he killed, like we have been shown the skulls of those killed after him,” UMSC religious affairs secretary Mahad Kakooza said.

Meanwhile, Taban Amin is apparently in a bullish mood over his father:

Referring to the Presidential Emoluments Act, Taban said: “Government should also pay the outstanding salary arrears of President Amin as stipulated by the law”.

“You’re having a laugh”, as we say in the UK.

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Several days ago, the BBC carried a curious report from Zambia (link added):

Zambia’s government has banned the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God after allegations that the church was involved in satanic rituals.

Police have been deployed to guard all its church buildings to prevent members from assembling.

Over the weekend, people in the capital went on the rampage after rumours that two people had been kidnapped by the sect. One church was burnt down.

Senior UCKG officials have refused to comment on the allegations and ban.

“The decision has been precipitated to allow for investigations into allegations, which we consider serious,” Home Affairs Secretary Peter Mumba told reporters on Tuesday, AFP reports.

In the Lusaka Post, Mumba adds that there is “something fishy” with the church, but admits that a claimed mortuary under the church building is in fact a car park.

Meanwhile, the Pagan Prattle logs a sequel to these events in Kanyama, just outside Lusaka:

Kanyama residents yesterday shunned the HIV/AIDS voluntary, counselling and testing (VCT) preliminary HIV/AIDS function, for fear that their blood samples would be used for Satanism purposes.

Kanyama Member of Parliament Henry Mtonga said HIV/AIDS counsellors had faced resistance from the people in the area following last Saturday’s riots in which a church was accused of practising Satanism.

Mtonga added:

…it was important for people to distinguish between blood samples meant for VCT and those that were meant for alleged Satanism activities.

But why weren’t these claims “investigated” conclusively back in 1998, the last time the church was closed down? Anthropologist Rosalind Hackett has a very useful article on demonization in Africa available as a pdf. She notes that:

In Zambia, former church members of the Brazilian Pentecostal church, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, publicly alleged that ritual murderers operated from within the church with members being required to donate blood for satanic rituals. Similar indictments have been leveled at the Unification Church of Reverend Sun Myung Moon in Zambia by the Pentecostal churches there (Chanda, 2000: 1024).

A footnote adds:

After three years of operation in the country, the movement was proscribed (under section 17 of the Societies Act) in 1998 on the grounds that it had not operated ‘within the laws of the land’. See Namasiku Ilukena, ‘Zambia Church Banned for “Satanism”‘, Mail and Guardian, 9 September 1998. It is interesting that the public accusation of ‘satanism’ (as with accusations of’ ‘witchcraft’) had to be translated into a more neutral legal violation.

So why has this come around again, and why are people still shunning medical treatments over fears of Satanic blood rituals? And how come no-one in the media can think back seven years?

Zambian fear of Satanism has been around for a while. Back in 1997 Zambia News Online overviewed the subject, beginning with testimonies from a couple of alleged Satanic escapees. Just like the way Satanic panic in the west began with stories from self-styled “Satanic survivors” such as Mike Warnke, things snowballed from there (emphasis added):

“This message first came in February,” says Christian Unity Ministries (CUMI), national secretary Timothy Situmbeko of the alleged plot by Satanists to take over Zambia and destroy Christian institutions in Zambia. “We hesitated to tell the people about it, but continued to pray. Then early this month it was repeated.” He added that there had been at least one Satanist planted in some of the many born-again churches in an effort to derail the Christian faith and cause divisions.

Africa Church of God leader, Bishop John Mambo agrees that there is a plot to destroy Christianity in Zambia. He contends that many cults have been formed in the disguise of churches and already deep divisions are beginning to show among the Christians.

Police spokesman Standwell Lungu says that there is no law that would bar Satanists from practising their faith, but the concern of many Christians is that the devil’s faith is said to include human sacrifices.

“Christians must be ready for attacks from the devil,” Zambia Episcopal Conference Secretary General, Father Ignatius Mwebe says.

Politicians also jumped on the bandwagon:

The National Democratic Party (NDP) recently stated that the MMD government was not doing enough to curb the spread of Satanism. NDP Copperbelt Province chairman Isaac Chileshe said that government should investigate increasing reports of Satanism taking root in Zambia. The party contends that the seeds of Satanism were being planted by foreigners and it demands that the government deports those involved.

Zambia was famously declared to be a “Christian nation” back in 1991. A few years later Venkatesh Seshamani of the University of Zambia recalled

…the attempt, very soon after Chiluba made his Declaration, to ban Islamic programmes from television and radio. Besides one cannot forget the Livingstone episode a few years ago in which the Hindu temple and the Islamic mosque were destroyed.

These events may not be directly linked to the Declaration and may have been caused by other motives. But the danger that all non-Christian religious or spiritual practices may be branded as dangerous or as satanic cults cannot be ruled out.

The last two pages of Hackett’s essay outline possibilities for why Satanic discourses are so popular in Africa:

…For a leading member of the Christian Council of Kenya the ‘rise of satanism’ can explain not just cannibalism and human sacrifice, but also drug abuse, rape, kidnaping, divorce, and ghastly road and train accidents.28 Is this not a form of externalization, of not assuming responsibility for problems, and unscrupulously manipulating popular opinion? A classic example of this would be former Zambian President Chiluba’s claim that in declaring Zambia a Christian nation in 1991 he ‘provoked the devil’ who had been fighting him ever since, and causing him many political and economic problems.

More generally, Hackett concludes:

…Much more research needs to be done on the multivalency of the satanic paradigm in contemporary African contexts, its communicative networks, its gendered aspects, and implicit political and social critique.

By both scholars and journalists, one might add – and the odd blogger.

UPDATE: The Swazi Observer gives further details about the church in southern Africa:

Madagascar banned the church in February this year and jailed four senior officials for the burning of bibles.

…Despite a wide outcry by Christians in South Africa over the church, local pastors said they were not aware of its alleged wayward activities.

…The church is said to have established itself in 22 countries in Africa.

Articles that taint its image have also been written in neighbouring Mozambique and American newspapers, linking it to money laundering and drug-smuggling. All have been refuted by the church and several investigations have come to naught.

The South African Star Newspaper said the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa (TEASA) said it was investigating the church for its alleged uncouth practices.

Namibia, meanwhile, is refusing to act against the church – see my entry here.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The weird world of Agape Press has perhaps reached its nadir with its latest, and lamest yet, moral crusade:

…One father, Greg Myers, says he was outraged to learn that the school’s Student Affairs Office [at Illinois State University] allowed his daughter’s dorm supervisor to cohabitate with his girlfriend in ISU’s Watterson Hall.

Myers’ daughter, a senior at ISU, is a resident assistant in the dorm. Like her father, she objects to the staff cohabitation policy because of her Christian beliefs.

Perhaps a few years ago someone in Myers’ position might have preferred to ship his daughter off to a religious institution like Bob Jones University, where she would not become exposed to such wantonness. But that, of course, was before the Christian Right became quite so drunk on power:

Myers is asking Illinois State University to reverse its cohabitation policy, which currently permits unmarried heterosexual and homosexual staff members alike to have live-in romantic partners in student dormitories. “This is something that I think is just over the top as far as lack of character and lack of values in a policy decision,” the father says, “and I just think it is detrimental to a balanced education by a university charged with the responsibility of our children.”

Agape gives us few details about Myers, preferring instead to bombard us with some statistics:

…women are 62 times more likely to be assaulted by a live-in boyfriend than by a spouse.

and a bit of nostalgia:

Unmarried cohabitation was illegal in the U.S. up until 1970…

The above statistic was derived from the ubiquitous Charles Colson, and was apparently based on findings by the US Justice Department. Some might question the validity and significance of such a vague result, but that would be unwise: given that these people are already redefining science, debasing statistics should be easy.

The good Christians of Agape, by the way, also believe that global warming is “wacko”; that anyone critical of secret prisons is “unrealistic”; and (of course) that Palestinians should be ethnically cleansed from the West Bank.

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Aaron Klein, WND‘s Jerusalem Correspondent, brings us the latest about Theofilos III, the new Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem – but with his usual twist on the subject:

The man enthroned last week…signed a secret document obliging him to nullify the recent sale to Jewish groups of land comprising much of a key entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City, and has allegedly made statements against Jews living in certain parts of Jerusalem, WorldNetDaily has learned.

The original land deal led to the downfall of the previous patriarch, Irineos, as I blogged on back in May (here, here, and here). Klein notes that:

Irineos, still recognized as patriarch by Israel, has for now resisted World Orthodox leaders’ calls to step aside, claiming a former aide signed the leases without his knowledge. Sources close to the lease negotiations told WND the deal was signed by the financial minister of the church’s Israel bank accounts and that Irineos was directly involved with the property transfer.

The former aide is Nicholas Papadimas, who is currently missing. As quoted by al-Jazeera, Irineos said that:

“I can say that these allegations are lies. I would like to confirm that I did not carry out any property deal and I confirm that even if such a thing took place through fraud or any other manner then we will coordinate with the legal consultants to annul these illegal measures,” Patriarch Irineos said.

So, the nullification was on the cards anyway, whoever the patriarch was. Klein, meanwhile, allows an anonymous quote to enunciate the WND line on the conflict:

“The candidates were essentially blackmailed by the Palestinians that if they didn’t sign the document and cancel the lease, they would not get approval of the PA as candidates and could not run in elections,” a church source told WND. “This is an outright racist policy against the Jews. If peace proposals come through and Jerusalem is ever divided, the Palestinians want Jaffa’s Gate, but Irineos’ lease would give it to Israel.”

Apparently, Palestinians are not too keen on their Israeli occupiers taking over strategically-important chunks of land in Palestinian areas, and they don’t want the Greek hierarchy of their local Orthodox church colluding with such a scheme (a scheme, by the way, just recently described by British officials at the EU). Funny, that – must be racism, then.

Irineos is still hopeful that Israel will arrange his restoration, despite the ridiculous position that would put him in. Everyone else, meanwhile, appears to prefer his replacement – including the Roman Catholics. AsiaNews reports:

The enthronement of Theophilos III as the new Orthodox Patriarch of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem opens a “new and more cordial chapter” in the relationship between the Catholic Church and its Greek-Orthodox counterpart, this according to Father Athanasius, Franciscan in charge of the Holy Sepulchre, who spoke to AsiaNews about the ceremony held on November 22 that he attended.

“Theophilos III is a good person, educated and cordial,” Father Athanasius said. He has already said that he is looking forward to renewing and strengthening ties amongst the various Christian denominations in the Holy Land.

That will mean an end to one of one of the few bits of light relief available in the alleged “Holy Land”: the tradition of Franciscans and Greek priests punching each other. The last outbreak was September 2004.

UPDATE: Joseph Farah himself weighs in. His argument is that lots of Jews lived in Jerusalem in the early twentieth century, and therefore they have special ownership rights over anything in the city that may currently belong to anyone else. Some think otherwise, but that’s anti-Semitism, of course.

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The London Times (owner: Rupert Murdoch) reports on the latest from Narnia (books owner: Rupert Murdoch):

The Walt Disney organisation has appointed Christian Publishers and Outreach, an evangelistic publishing company, to promote the Christian message behind the story in churches across Britain.

Alas, this is slightly botched. The company is actually Christian Publishing & Outreach (CPO), a moderate evangelical publisher of magazines and posters. Scotland on Sunday broke this story a few days ago:

The deal has been arranged with Christian Publishing and Outreach (CPO), a company that sells printed materials and other resources to 20,000 UK churches.

As well as posters and sermon ideas, CPO will even offer churches DVDs containing the official trailer for the £62m film, which is due out on December 9.

Christian Herald], said the film is probably the biggest opportunity the Church has had for many years. Bravo said: “We have seen enormous demand. A lot of churches have been wanting to get on board with this. This is a family film that appeals across the board. Obviously a lot of churches are very keen on CS Lewis and his writings and see this as a good chance to maybe communicate something of their message in the context of the film.”

This is the CPO’s usual strategy. According to a brief profile elsewhere:

They will frequently work with other Christian organizations to produce specific joint evangelistic material. Such collaborations have produced literature for the World Cup, Tour de France, Olympics, and other sporting events.

Liberal Christians, however, provide Scotland on Sunday with some sceptical commentary:

Don Cupitt, author of the acclaimed Taking Leave of God, said: “The film companies will use the Church exploitatively and deliberately. The evangelical wing of the church is always looking for a handle, often very naively. It is a mistake. It would be much better if the evangelicals had some thoughts of their own.”

The former bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, said: “I would have thought that CS Lewis himself would not have been easy with this. While he is the darling of the evangelicals he was not really strictly speaking an evangelical Christian, he was quite a complex and subtle theologian. So I think he would be a bit bemused.”

Disney’s partnership with CPO mirrors similar developments in the USA, as the Telegraph reported earlier this month:

After carefully avoiding religion for most of its history, the Walt Disney Co, in a sharp deviation from corporate policy, has reached out to Christian evangelical groups to help shape a marketing campaign for its big Christmas film, The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The entertainment giant has hired several Christian marketing groups to handle the film, including Motive Marketing, which ran the campaign for Mel Gibson’s wildly successful The Passion of the Christ.

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Back in 1998, far-right Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky caused bemusement with a visit to a concert at a synagogue which had been bombed. The JTA reported at the time:

After the concert, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party got up on stage, said he was outraged by the synagogue bombing and added that he would support any anti-vandalism bill brought before Russia’s Parliament.

Zhirinovsky, who heads the third largest faction in the Duma, the parliament’s lower house, also spoke positively about the Jewish contribution to Russian culture, economy and politics.

…Berel Lazar, the rabbi of the bombed Marina Roscha synagogue, said he was bewildered by Zhirinovsky.

As well he might be:

At a news conference in Moscow [the prior April], Zhirinovsky blamed Jews for starting World War II, provoking the Holocaust, sparking the 1917 Bolshevik revolution — and destroying the country ever since.

However, this was just the unlikely beginning of their even more unlikely relationship. In 2001, Zhirinovsky actually admitted to being himself partly Jewish, but added:

“Why should I reject Russian blood, Russian culture, Russian land, and fall in love with the Jewish people only because of that single drop of blood that my father left in my mother’s body?” he writes.

At that time, Lazar commented that:

…it has become fashionable for people who formerly hid their Jewish roots to advertise them publicly.

“Thousands and thousands of people who knew they were Jewish and were hiding it…are opening up their closets,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

But now the rapprochement between Lazar and Zhirinovsky has become even greater (square brackets in original):

Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar met this week with Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Dmitri Rogozin, the heads of two Russian nationalist parties that disseminate anti-Semitic propaganda.

…Following the meeting, a statement on the official Web site of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS, which Lazar heads, declared: “There is common ground. Both sides [the Jews and the nationalist anti-Semites – Y.M.] adopt patriotic positions.”

…A spokesman for Lazar, who was in New York on Wednesday, said: “The Foreign Ministry forgets that the rabbi is committed to the well-being of Jews in Russia. The meetings were public and demonstrate the status of the Jews to all the supporters of these parties; moreover, the two leaders with whom he met undertook not to persist with their [anti-Semitic] declarations.”

Responding to criticism from Israel, a spokesman for the Federation said that:

“…Lazar knows what is beneficial and how to take care of Russia’s Jewish community better than any Foreign Ministry official.”

Dmitri Rogozin’s Rodina (“Motherland”) bloc is also virulently anti-Semitic: its members have called for Judaism to be banned and blamed Israel for the recent bombings in Jordan. Russian prosecutors are also currently investigating a TV advert the bloc recently ran which inferred that dark-skinned immigrants were “trash” that needed to be “cleaned up”.

(Tipped from Failed Messiah)

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