3 Reasons For Confusion Over Gay Marriage in Alabama

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3 Reasons For Confusion Over Gay Marriage in Alabama

Christian Post report– There is a state of confusion in the state of Alabama over whether same-sex couples can legally get a marriage license.

Here are three reasons:

1. A Federal judge overstepped her authority.

Judge Callie S. Granade, a federal district judge in Mobile, ruled that an amendment to Alabama’s constitution defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman was unconstitutional. A federal district judge, however, can only make rulings that are binding on those before her in court. Her decision does not bind all the state’s probate judges, which are the officials who issue marriage licenses.

Even The New York Times, a liberal newspaper that is sympathetic to gay marriage, has acknowledged this fact.

Reporter Emily Bazelon defends Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s claim that Granade does not have authority over all of the probate judges in a Feb. 11 article for NYT Magazine cleverly titled, “In Sort-of-Defense of Roy Moore.”

After interviewing Florida International University law professor Howard Wasserman, Bazelon concluded Granade’s ruling was “peculiar” because, “District-court rulings, even if they’re about important matters of policy, usually affect only the people involved in the case in question.” Only a federal appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court can issue a ruling that is binding on the entire state, Bazelon learned.

Additionally, the case for which Granade issued her ruling did not even have a probate judge as a defendent. The state’s attorney general was sued even though he has no authority to issue a marriage license.

So, now a single federal judge in Alabama is attempting to rewrite the state’s marriage laws on a, literally, case by case basis.

Robert McFarland, vice dean and associate professor of Law at Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, explained the situation well in an article for The Public Discourse.

“Judge Granade has now set herself up to be the chief probate officer in the state of Alabama. She has not defined marriage, and her failure to do so leaves state actors, especially probate judges, without a definition of the institution for which they are issuing state licenses. Worse, she has provided no legal standards — not even a limiting principle — to guide her administration of Alabama family law, which she has now taken upon herself. She will be rewriting the family laws of Alabama, piecemeal and arbitrarily, from her bench. Rather than conducting legislative hearings regarding the familial rights and duties related to the definition of marriage, Judge Granade will be conducting contempt proceedings in which she will decide on a case-by-case basis which actions of Alabama officials violate the Constitution and which do not,” he wrote.

2. The U.S. Supreme Court is being ignored, but has, so far, offered no help.

Another oddity about Granade’s decision is that she cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld state’s rights to define marriage in striking down Alabama’s right to define marriage.

In United States vs. Windsor, the Supreme Court struck down the part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that said federal law would not recognize same-sex marriages in states that allow same-sex marriages. Defining marriage was the purview of the states, the Court ruled, so the federal government cannot decide to ignore a marriage license issued by a state. Ironically, Granade cited that decision in striking down Alabama’s marriage law.

Using Windsor to strike down a state marriage law “takes inexplicable contortions of the mind or perhaps willful ignorance,” McFarland quoted a federal district court judge in Puerto Rico saying, because it would mean interpreting “Windsor’s endorsement of state control of marriage as eliminating the state control of marriage.”

Since the Supreme Court is expected to decide by this June whether the U.S. Constitution requires states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the confusion in Alabama could have easily been avoided by simply waiting for the high court’s decision. However, Granade, a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court itself have all, so far, declined opportunities to issue a stay in Granade’s ruling.

3. In trying to fix the problem, the Alabama Supreme Court could actually make it worse.

The Alabama Supreme Court has been asked by two traditional marriage advocacy groups to order the state’s probate judges to not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

If the Alabama Supreme Court were to issue such a ruling, however, some of the state’s probate judges could be put in the position of being held in contempt of court regardless of what they do. By not issuing a same-sex marriage license they might be held in contempt of a federal court; by issuing a same-sex marriage license they might be held in contempt of the Alabama Supreme Court.

Source: Christian Post

Indian Prime Minister Statements Will Silence Loose Cannons, Says Opposition Party Leader

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Indian Prime Minister Statements Will Silence Loose Cannons, Says Opposition Party Leader

Christian Today report– The leader of a prominent political party in India said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent statement on religious tolerance will silence ‘loose cannons’ and send a positive message to the rest of the world.

After months of silence and amidst reports of attacks on Christian churches across India, Prime Minister Modi finally spoke out on the issue during a gathering of Indian Catholics in Vigyan Bhawan to commemorate the recent canonisation of two new Indian saints.

 

“We cannot accept violence against any religion on any pretext and I strongly condemn such violence. My government will act strongly in this regard,” the Financial Express quoted the Indian leader as saying.

Modi then vowed that his government would take steps to ensure “complete freedom of faith.” The Prime Minister told the gathered Catholics that everyone in India is free to exercise their religious faith and to choose their religion without being coerced or influenced by certain parties.

In response, People’s Democratic Party leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said that, while the statement was long overdue, it nevertheless will send the “right signal” to the world.

“Though, the Prime Minister’s response to the divisive policies of certain elements did not come too soon but his assertion on inclusive and pluralistic character of the country should help in sending right signals to the world,” Sayeed said on an article in the Economic Times.

“It will convey that the idea of India continues to offer inspiration for peaceful coexistence of communities and ethnicities,” the PDP chief stated.

Sayeed went on to say that he hoped Modi’s stand will finally put an end to the activities of “loose cannons of extremist thought.”

Modi’s government had been criticised for its lack of action towards the violence and persecution perpetuated by radical elements against minorities in India, including Christians and Muslims. Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, said on January that extremists frequently attack Christians “because they are not restrained by the law.”

Source: Christian Today

Obama Speaks on His Refusal to Call ISIS ‘Islamic’- It Legitimizes the Terror Group and Hurts American Interests

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Obama Speaks on His Refusal to Call ISIS ‘Islamic’- It Legitimizes the Terror Group and Hurts American Interests

Christian Post report– President Barack Obama has responded to conservative criticism centered on his refusal to identify ISIS as “Islamic” by stating that that would be precisely what the terror group wants, and he does not want to legitimize the jihadists.

“These terrorists are desperate for legitimacy. And all of us have a responsibility to refute the notion that groups like ISIL somehow represent Islam, because that is a falsehood that embraces the terrorists’ narrative,” Obama said at the State Department on Thursday, using another name for ISIS.

The president insisted that tying ISIS to a specific religion is a “lie” that would encourage the terror group and hurt America’s interests.

Obama has faced various criticism for how his administration has presented the war on ISIS, with evangelical preacher Rev. Franklin Graham and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins both asking why the President did not immediately identify the 21 Egyptians who were beheaded by ISIS earlier this week as “Christians.”

“The truth is — their barbaric murderers openly said they killed them because they were ‘people of the cross.’ Why is the president seemingly continuing to protect Islam and refusing to open his eyes to the truth?” Graham asked.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has accused Obama of working against Christians and Jews and supporting only the Muslim community.

“The one group of people that can know they have his undying, unfailing support would be the Muslim community. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the radical Muslim community or the more moderate Muslim community,” Huckabee said earlier this month.

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly added in a separate statement: “The Holy War is here, and unfortunately it seems the president will be the last to acknowledge it,” he said, referring to Obama’s refusal to link Islam with ISIS.

After an op-ed by Obama in the LA Times on Tuesday, which described the 21 murdered Egyptians as “Christians,” Southern Evangelical Seminary President Dr. Richard Land praised this “first step,” but said that ISIS militants need to be identified as “radical Islamic jihadists.”

The Coptic Christians, kidnapped by masked gunmen from Libya in December and January, were beheaded by the jihadists in a video sent out on social media and titled “A Message Signed With Blood to the Nation of the Cross.”

On Thursday Obama explained, however, why linking ISIS to Islam could be a dangerous choice.

“That narrative becomes the foundation upon which terrorists build their ideology and by which they try to justify their violence, and that hurts all of us, including Islam and especially Muslims who are the ones most likely to be killed,” he said.

In the op-ed, Obama insisted that the “overwhelming majority” of Muslims in the world reject the ideology of ISIS and other jihadist groups, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria.

“The world must continue to lift up the voices of Muslim clerics and scholars who teach the true peaceful nature of Islam. We can echo the testimonies of former extremists who know how terrorists betray Islam,” Obama said

Source: Christian Post

 

Egyptians Christian Beheadings Has Strengthened The Church, Says Coptic Bishop

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Egyptians Christian Beheadings Has Strengthened The Church, Says Coptic Bishop

Christian Today report– The beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians has energised the Church and strengthened relationships with the Muslim community, a Coptic-Catholic Bishop has said.

“Persecution is part of the life of the Church. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church,” Bishop Youssef Aboul-Kheir of Sohag told Aid to the Church in Need this week.

 

“In Europe the Church is free. We, on the other hand, are faced with many obstacles. But which Church is the stronger?”

Islamic State issued a video on February 15 showing the beheading of a group of Egyptian Christians who had been kidnapped in Libya.

The five-minute video was titled: “A message signed with blood to the nation of the cross” and the men identified as “people of the cross, the followers of the hostile Egyptian Church.” They are shown being marched to a beach and forced to kneel on the sand.

In a message to the “crusaders”, a masked insurgent holding a knife says his fellow militants are “chopping off the heads of those that have been carrying the cross illusion.” All 21 are then murdered.

Earlier this week the brother of two of those killed has thanked IS for including the men’s declaration of faith in the video.

The last words of some of those killed were “Lord Jesus Christ” and Beshir Kamel said the men’s show of faith has strengthened his own.

Bishop Aboul-Kheir has also praised the dedication of those killed. “They suffered a holy death with prayers on their lips. They went to their deaths just like the early Christians,” he said.

And despite attempts to disrupt Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt, IS’ brutality has in fact done the opposite, he said. “Many Muslims are angry because of the murders. President Sisi visited the leader of the Coptic Church to convey his condolences. And the President travelled to the home of the murdered ones. You can see that the attack has united us Egyptians,” the bishop explained.

However, he expressed concern about Muslim extremists who “speak with forked tongues”.

“It is crucial that we Christians in Egypt should finally be able to live as equal citizens,” he said.

Source: Christian Today

 

UN Human Rights Commissioner Calls For A United Libya to Tackle Extremists

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UN Human Rights Commissioner Calls For A United Libya to Tackle Extremists

Christian Today report– The United Nations’ head for human rights has called upon Libyans to unite and resist the influence of the extremists in their country.

The security situation in Libya is currently in a vacuum following the overthrow of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Despite the election of a government in 2012, extremism in the country rose involving the same rebels that fought against Gaddafi’s army in the civil war.

Some elements have now apparently affiliated themselves with the Islamic State, and are believed to have been behind the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians on Sunday, earning the ire of Egypt and triggering retaliatory airstrikes from both the Egyptian and the Libyan air force.

According to the Human Rights Watch, at least six civilians were killed in the airstrikes in Libya’s Derna.

In the wake of this latest tragedy involving ISIS, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein urged Libyans to unite against the extremists.

“The brutal murder of these men, and the ghastly attempt to justify and glorify it in a video, should be roundly condemned by everyone, in particular by the people of Libya who should resist the urgings of takfiri groups,” Zeid said in a statement.

The term “tafkiri,” refers to an event when a Muslim accuses another Muslim, or a person of another Abrahamic faith like Christianity or Judaism, of apostasy or insulting the Islamic religion. The term is attached to groups with hard-line Islamist ideologies like the Islamic State.

Zeid then reminded Libyans that the murder of the Egyptian Coptic Christians is against Islamic law.

“Murdering captives or hostages is prohibited under international law and Islamic law,” he said.

The victims of the latest execution from ISIS had travelled to Derna in Libya to find employment but they were kidnapped in December and January.

Zeid revealed that this is not the first time that Egyptian Coptic Christians were targeted by extremist groups in Libya.

“UN human rights staff have documented several incidents involving abductions of Egyptian Copts in Libya,” he said, referring to a recent United Nations report that revealed that Egyptian Copts are especially targeted by Libyan armed groups.

Source: Christian Today

God Involved in Politics: Crowds Gather to See Jesus Statue ‘Weeping’ in Greece

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God Involved in Politics: Crowds Gather to See Jesus Statue ‘Weeping’ in Greece

Christian Today report– Crowds of people in Greece have been seeing the hand of God in politics after a statue of Jesus began “weeping” when an anti-austerity party won the January elections.

The oily tears of the early 20th century religious icon have drawn hundreds to St Nicholas Church, Asprokampos in Corinthia since Alexis Tsipras, leader of the Syriza party, gained power. The Bishop of Corinth Dionysios Mantalos, among the visitors, said afterwards that the colorless, odorless liquid running was down the entire body of Jesus on the cross.

The bishop plans to ask experts to examine the statue, which has become a separate of phenomenon on social media, where it is being described as the “Miracle of Syriza”.

Tsipras, an atheist, had pledged to renegotiate Greece’s debt with the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank and also to reverse austerity measures that have seen Greece plunged into mass unemployment, mass poverty and a dramatic rise in suicides.

There was controversy at his inauguration when he refused the usual tradition of being sworn in by the head of the Greek Orthodox church, Archbishop Ieronymos II.

However, not everyone is taking it seriously.

The Greek investigative journalist, Yiannis Baboulias, told Newsweek: “The weeping icon is an urban legend that resurfaces every now and again in Greece. Stories like this happen all the time, and this one is really funny.”

He said such phenomena helped the Greek Orthodox Church attract followers. “What is really happening is simply that the paint on the icon is starting to leak due to environmental changes,” he added. He also admitted it was the first time such a phenomenon had been linked to politics.

“The Greek church is not an apolitical entity. Different church officials back different political powers very openly – it’s a mixed bag.”

The area where the statue is has become a bedrock of support for the far right party Golden Dawn.

Source: Christian Today

Western Leaders Need to Wake up, Act Fast and Fight Christian persecution

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Western Leaders Need to Wake up, Act Fast and Fight Christian persecution

Christian Today report– Dear David Cameron, Nicola Sturgeon, Ed Miliband and Barack Obama,

I am writing to you as leaders of the Western world, with a simple request. When are you going to appoint your first Christian rights envoy? I’m sure you must be aware of some of what is going on. The beheading of 21 Christians in Libya last week is just the latest gruesome video killing. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. There is much more going on that is unseen. The Centre for the study of Global Christianity in the United States estimates that 100,000 Christians per year are killed simply for being Christian. 100,000!

Christians face official discrimination in 139 countries – that is over 75 per cent. In India Christians have been regularly murdered by extremist Hindu militias, in China the Communist Party has stepped up a programme of destroying churches and has banned Christians from being in government; in Iraq the number of Christians has been cut from 500,000 to less than 100,000; in Syria many Christians have been forced to flee their homes; in Nigeria the killing of Christians has become so routine that our it hardly registers on our media, unless there is some particularly gruesome aspect to it. And there is much, much more.

So I have a simple question. Why have you done nothing for the most persecuted people in the world? And it seems to me you propose to do nothing. And yet you have a responsibility. After all you decided to bomb Libya to get rid of Gaffadi, thus leaving a power vacuum that has resulted in the extremist Jihadists who beheaded the Egyptian Copts. You encouraged the Arab Spring in the naïve hope that the people of the Middle East would enter into a Western style liberal democracy if only they got rid of their dictators. And it is British and US government policy that is at least partially responsible for the decimation of the ancient Christian community in Iraq.

But it is not just the responsibility our governments have because of its policy. There is also something called basic humanitarianism. Why have you not offered to actually do anything? You shrug your shoulders and say ‘what could we do’? And yet I sense a little inconsistency here.

You have recently promised to lend your full support to the idea that Britain would make LGBT rights a central plank of British and American foreign policy. My understanding is that you are not only going to make this a central in international diplomacy, but you also want to link this to aid and to appoint a kind of ambassador for this purpose. First Minister, you have said that you want to appoint an LGBTI envoy (although I wonder why you left the Q and the A out, as these are apparently the latest necessary letters that need to be added to show how tolerant one is). President Obama you have said the same thing. Mr Miliband, not to be outdone, you have just appointed Lord Cashman as your LGBTI envoy for the Labour Party.

I have no doubt that you are sincere in your desire to advocate and fight for the rights of the 1 per cent of the population that are LGBTIQ – and please don’t misunderstand me. I too have written against the homophobia of Putin and the cruelty of the proposed Uganda ‘gay’ bill. I am not arguing that you should not seek to deal with these things. But there is also part of me that thinks that that is easy for you. It plays well at home, it gets you accolades in Pink News, nice editorials in the Guardian and New York Times, lets you congratulate yourself on how humanitarian and moral you are, and most of all, it costs you virtually nothing. It’s cheap populism. But for the third of the world’s population who are Christian you seem to have little time or money. You don’t want an envoy for them because that would be ‘discriminatory’. Sure, you think it is terrible what is happening and you will ‘like all right thinking people’ deplore what is going on. But will you actually do anything?

You could put pressure on ‘friendly’ nations who continue to discriminate against Christians, in the same way that you propose to put pressure on those who discriminate against homosexuals. Like Malaysia where for a Malay to become a Christian is a crime punishable by the State, or Saudi Arabia where to even have a Bible is punishable by flogging, or Pakistan where the way to get rid of a neighbour you don’t like is just to accuse them of blasphemy. You could refuse aid to countries where such discrimination is enshrined in law. And please, instead of just sending planes to drop bombs on people, who then get mad at the ‘Crusader’ planes and take it out on the poor Christian minorities on the ground, you could actually agree to take many more than the 50 Syrian refugees that Britain so far has accepted.

Prime Minister Cameron you claim that this is a Christian country – you do realise that turn the other cheek is an instruction for individual Christians, and not a manifesto for foreign policy? Mr Milliband, thanks for speaking out on this subject, can you now tell us what actions your government would take if elected? First Minister Sturgeon – can you indicate that you will set up a Scottish government envoy to argue against religious discrimination (of all sorts) and to ensure that the Scottish government will have nothing to do with those who persecute people because of their faith? President Obama, will you use the considerable power of the US to seek human rights for Christians (and other religious minorities as well)? Perhaps if you put as much energy into defending persecuted Christians, as your Secretary of State and wannabe successor does into promoting abortion throughout the world, it might make a difference?

My fear is not just that you are engaging in populist tokenism, but that you really are prepared to engage in this new Western Liberal Imperialism, where your default unthinking position is that it is self-evident that your values are the real absolute values of all civilised, right thinking people. It’s not just that you think democracy is good, or that corporate capitalism is the only economic system that can work, (you may be right but we are allowed to question?), but that you also believe that your liberal ethics are the absolutes that the entire world MUST follow. This results in you playing the dangerous game of moral equivalence based only on your own absolutist ethics. You equate those who behead people of a different faith with those who believe that homosexual marriage is wrong. And it is so hypocritical. You are prepared to sell bombs to those who kill/imprison people who become Christians, and yet deny bread to those who think that marriage should be between a man and a woman or question whether abortion really is good for the baby and mother’s health!

Meanwhile we do what we can for our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world. We pray. We send what aid we can. We would love to offer hospitality (if you would let our stupid immigration laws take account of what they are facing). And we long for the day when some sane Western politician somewhere will have the guts and gumption to stand up and say: “No, enough. We are not prepared to ditch the foundation and basis of our Western civilisation. And we are not prepared to fund, support and encourage those who kill in the name of their religion.”

And we pray for you as God’s servants, as it says in 1 Timothy 2: “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – or kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

Source: Christian Today

ISIS Burns un-Islamic Musical Instrument in Libya

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ISIS Burns un-Islamic Musical Instrument in Libya

Christian Post report– Following the gruesome beheading of 21 Coptic Christians captured on video and released for all the world to see recently, Islamic State militants in Libya released more evidence of their continued rash of extreme behavior this week in photos depicting the burning of “un-Islamic” musical instruments in the north African country.

The Daily Mail reported Wednesday that the photos were released by the local “media wing” of the terrorists group and shows the burning of musical instruments near the port city of Derna in eastern Libya. A message that came with the release said the instruments were seized by the religious police in the city of Derna and “burnt in accordance with Islamic law.”

Akhtarul Wasey, a professor and director of the Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, India, explained in a New York Times blog from Feb. 5, 2013, that while he wasn’t sure if there was any passage in the Quran explicitly stating that it’s un-Islamic to listen to or play music, religious scholars have long asserted that the practice is un-Islamic.

“This debate about validity of listening and learning music has been going on for centuries in Islamic society. Religious leaders are of the view that this is lust, which turns you away from social and religious responsibilities,” said Husain.

“For a religious leader, whether it’s listening to or learning music, it’s not permissible inside or outside your house. The overwhelming majority of Islamic scholars are against music,” he added.

Source: Christian Post

Pope Francis calls for Ukraine Peace Talks to be Honoured

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Pope Francis calls for Ukraine Peace Talks to be Honoured

Catholic Herald report– Pope Francis has called for the ceasefire agreement to be honoured in Ukraine in a meeting with the country’s bishops.

The Pope said the conflict had caused “great suffering to the entire population”.

“As I have assured you personally and conveyed by cardinal-envoys, I am very close to you with my prayers for the dead and for all those struck by violence, with the prayer to the Lord that He might speedily grant peace,” the Pope said.

He was speaking to the bishops of Ukraine during their ad limina visit to Rome. The bishops were led by Major-Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kiev-Halych, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv of the Latin Church.

The Pope appeared to warn the bishops against being drawn too deeply into politics.

He said that recent events “deal with questions that have a partially political base, and to which you are not called to give a direct response; but they are also socio-cultural realities and human tragedies that await your direct and positive contribution”.

The Pope continued: “On the national level, you are full citizens of your country, and so you have the right to express, even in the common way, your thought on its destiny — not in the sense of promoting a concrete political action, but in the indication and re-affirmation of the values that constitute the coagulating element of Ukrainian society, persevering in the tireless pursuit of harmony and of the common good, even in the face of grave and complex difficulties.”

Francis expressed dismay at reports of conflict between the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Latin Catholic Church. He said it was “painful for me personally to hear that there are misunderstandings and injuries” between the two communities.

The Pope said: “You are a single body and, as was said to you in the past by St John Paul II, and by Benedict XVI, I in my turn urge you to find among yourselves a manner of welcoming one another and of sustaining one another generously in your apostolic labours.”

Francis also urged the bishops to be attentive to their flock, especially the poor. “They are your wealth,” he said.

Source: Catholic Herald

 

Catholic Leaders Condemn Rise of Nationalist Parties in Europe

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Catholic Leaders Condemn Rise of Nationalist Parties in Europe

Catholic Herald report– Catholic leaders have condemned “racism and xenophobia” in Europe and urged religious communities to speak out against a growing “nationalism of exclusion” of the type that preceded both world wars.

The Conference of European Justice and Peace Commissions (COMECE) called it a “matter of serious concern” that “elections at regional, national and European level have shown a new rise of parties advocating the supremacy of narrow national interests over universal human values, international commitments and obligations”.

“The Christian vision of universal justice and peace does not allow for any kind of chauvinism – it calls for solidarity and respect for all,” the conference said in a February 18 report.

COMECE, which has always been a strong supporter of the European Union, stated that Catholic social teaching stressed the rights of “nations, cultures and minorities within existing nation-states” and believed “nothing can be said” against strong attachments to languages and places of birth.

However, it added that many parties were now seeking power by demanding “unilateral national measures, if necessary to the detriment of other peoples”.

“These slogans regularly find their way into the mainstream media and are thus amplified and orientate the general political agenda of a country in a nationalistic direction,” said the report, titled “The Nationalism of Exclusion.”

“Often racist or xenophobic, they inevitably bring to mind the belligerent and ultranationalist politics which preceded both world wars. By suggesting the nation, nationality and their underlying founding myths are an appropriate response to our contemporary challenges, those parties and their advocates refer to a paradigm of exclusion that will make matters worse.”

Last year’s Euro elections saw big advances by radical Right and Eurosceptic parties, with the Front National topping the polls in France and the UK Independence Party in Britain.

The parties are gaining in response to unprecedented levels of immigration and Islamic extremism, as well as economic uncertainty and disillusionment with politicians, at both European and national level.

Some observers say poverty and unemployment, currently averaging 20 percent across the EU, have boosted support for nationalist and populist groups and intensified hostility to migrants, refugees and minority groups.

The conference report said that by “playing on the deepest fears of people, populist nationalist politicians seek to obtain power by offering simple solutions, ignoring the facts that solutions based on injustice or the marginalisation of a part of a society can never lead to a peaceful and progressive community.”

Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, conference president, said the report would be submitted to policy-makers. He said the conference would provide national justice and peace commissions with a plan for assessing “the programmes and methods of nationalist and xenophobic parties”.

Source: Catholic Herald

 

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