Britons learned last week that thousands of the nation’s Muslims will descend upon London to publicly protest for the implementation of Sharia or Islamic law. The Islamic dervish, according to the Daily Express, is called the March 4 Islam and will take place later this month. Its sponsor is a radical outfit called Islam 4 UK, which is led by a friend of terrorism, Muslim imam Anjem Choudary. For Islam 4 UK, Britain must change to suit Muslims; Muslims must not change to suit Britain. The group calls the House of Commons, where the parade will start, the “very place where the lives of millions of people in the UK are changed and it is from here where unjust wars are launched.” Next, the Muslims will head for 10 Downing Street, the home of the British Prime Minister, to “call for the removal of the tyrant Gordon Brown from power.” Finally, the paper reports, Londoners will see this army of Allah at Trafalgar Square to show “in the heart of London the need for Shari’ah in society.” “We hereby request all Muslims in the United Kingdom …,” the group says, “to join us and collectively declare that as submitters to Almighty Allah, we have had enough of democracy and man-made law and the depravity of the British culture. On this day we will call for a complete upheaval of the British ruling system its members and legislature, and demand the full implementation of Shari’ah in Britain.” Choudary is a familiar face in Britain. In March, he and his group disrupted a homecoming parade in Luton, just outside London, for British soldiers returning from duty in Afghanistan. He has called upon Muslims to hide evidence of terrorism, and Choudary called the British GIs cowards and a “vile parade of brutal murderers.” He also believes that it is permissible to hate and murder non-Muslims because they are non-believers sinning against Allah. The cleric also has called for the execution of Pope Benedict XVI.
An AP mine was removed from a village cemetery, after local Serbs from Staro Gracko in Kosovo reported finding in on Saturday. Kosovo police, KPS, told Tanjug news agency that KFOR's teams disarmed the device found at the Orthodox cemetery. Serbs from Staro Gracko were prohibited from visiting the graves of their loved ones for several years because of "danger and suspicion" that there were explosive devices there, reports said.
The lower house of the Russian parliament passed on Friday amendments to a law on defense which expands the use of the Russian Armed Forces abroad in certain situations. President Dmitry Medvedev submitted the amendments to parliament in August, just after the first anniversary of Russia's five-day war with Georgia. The amendments stipulate that Russian troops can be used abroad to repel an attack on Russian military units or other troops deployed outside the country, to repel or prevent an armed attack on another state asking Russia for military assistance, to defend Russian citizens abroad from an armed attack, to combat sea piracy and to ensure safety of commercial shipping. Russia's current 2006 legislation only allows the president to send troops to fight terrorism on foreign soil. Experts have said the law lacks clearly defined terms of "wartime" and a "combat situation," which complicates the deployment of army units outside the country. Russia sent in troops last summer to repel Georgia's offensive on South Ossetia, where Moscow had maintained peacekeepers since a bloody post-Soviet conflict in the early 1990s. Russia was condemned internationally over its "excessive" use of force and subsequent recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In line with the new document, the Russian president will be entitled to make a decision on using armed forces abroad based on a prior approval by the upper house of the Russian parliament. The president would also be able to determine the strength of the troops to be used abroad and their deployment areas, to set the goals facing them and determine the timeframe of their deployment.
The Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic and Historical Archive is presenting a photography exhibition entitled “Heroes fight like Greeks” to mark the anniversary of Greece’s historic “No!” of 28 October 1940. The exhibition covers the period from 28 October 1940 to the country’s Liberation and the raising of the Greek flag on the Sacred Rock of the Acropolis on 18 October 1944, and will take place on the ground floor of the Foreign Ministry’s building at 1 Akadimias St., from 27 October to 20 November. At the opening of the exhibition on Tuesday, 27 October 2009, following the customary address at 13:00, a 20-minute film of the same title – “Heroes fight like Greeks” – will be shown at the Yiannos Kranidiotis Amphitheatre.
Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group.The 2009 data are based on 16 separate Gallup surveys conducted from January through September, encompassing more than 5,000 national adults per quarter. Conservatives have been the dominant ideological group each quarter, with between 39% and 41% of Americans identifying themselves as either "very conservative" or "conservative." Between 35% and 37% of Americans call themselves "moderate," while the percentage calling themselves "very liberal" or "liberal" has consistently registered between 20% and 21% -- making liberals the smallest of the three groups. In addition to the increase in conservatism on this general ideology measure, Gallup finds higher percentages of Americans expressing conservative views on several specific issues in 2009 than in 2008. Americans are more likely to consider themselves conservative this year than they were in 2008, resulting in conservatives -- now 40% of the American public -- outnumbering moderates for the first time since 2004.
America's Orthodox Christians, divided for decades among about 10 churches based on Greek or Serb or other ancestry, soon may be moving toward the formation of a united American Orthodox church. Many of them have dreamed of that for decades, especially as conversions to Orthodoxy have skyrocketed. But most church patriarchs have squelched such talk. Now it appears that the patriarchs are not only supporting but demanding some sort of unity. But the ecumenical patriarch in Constantinople -- the spiritual head of global Orthodoxy -- denounced it as a rebellion against the ancient church and replaced the Greek archbishop who had led it. The unity movement lay dormant for 15 years. Then, in June, the 14 Old World patriarchs gathered in Chambesy, Switzerland, and declared that all Orthodox bishops outside of traditional Orthodox lands -- including North America -- will begin meeting to address their own issues in their own lands. The keynote speaker will be Metropolitan Jonah, leader of the Orthodox Church in America, a self-governing offshoot of the Russian Orthodox Church. Orthodoxy is the Eastern wing of an ancient church that split into the Orthodox and Catholic churches in 1054 in a dispute over papal authority. Its ecumenical patriarch in Constantinople -- modern-day Istanbul, Turkey -- has no authority over the other patriarchs, but is "first among equals."
Last week, 200 leaders in the environmental movement gathered in New Orleans for the eighth ecological symposium organized by the Orthodox Christian Church. Participants included leading scientists and theologians, politicians and policy makers, business leaders and NGOs, environmentalists and journalists. Similar conferences have taken place on the Adriatic, Aegean, Baltic, and Black Seas, the Danube and Amazon Rivers, and the Arctic Ocean. This time we sailed the mighty Mississippi to consider its profound impact on the U.S. and its fate within the global environment. It may seem out of character for a sacred institution to convene a conference on so secular an issue. After all, Jesus counseled us to "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's" (Mark 12:17). Climate change, pollution and the exploitation of our natural resources are commonly seen as the domain not of priests but rather of politicians, scientists, technocrats or interest groups organized by concerned citizens. What does preserving the planet have to do with saving the soul? A lot, as it turns out. For if life is sacred, so is the entire web that sustains it. Some of those connections—the effects of overharvesting on the fish populations of the North Atlantic, for example—we understand very well. Others, such as the long-term health impacts of industrialization, we understand less well. But no one doubts that there is a connection and balance among all things animate and inanimate on this third planet from the Sun, and that there is a cost or benefit whenever we tamper with that balance. Moreover, just as God is indivisible, so too is our global environment. This is why we call upon leaders of all faiths to involve themselves and their communities in one of the great issues of our time. Ours is a powerful voice. And our belief in the unity and interconnectedness of all things constitutes a strong argument for immediate action. Is this an issue for Caesar or for God? We believe it must be approached in both its political and spiritual dimensions. Climate change will only be overcome when all of us—scientists and politicians, theologians and economists, specialists and lay citizens—cooperate for the common good.