Religious Broadcast

Greek labour unions are staging a nationwide strike to protest against austerity policies imposed on the country by its foreign creditors, including Germany, whose chancellor, Angela Merkel, will visit Athens this week.Schools and pharmacies were shut, ships remained docked at ports, hospitals operated on emergency staff and transport in Athens was disrupted on Wednesday due to the walkout called by private sector union, the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), and its public sector counterpart, the Civil Servants' Confederation (ADEDY). Thousands of striking workers, pensioners and the unemployed were expected to march to parliament around noon reports Aljazeera English "This is our answer to the dead-end policies that have squeezed workers and made Greek people miserable," GSEE said in a statement. "We are striking and fighting to put an end to austerity". Unions said their anti-austerity message was also aimed at Merkel, who is due to meet Greek Pri...

Pope Francis canceled a visit to Rome's main seminary Friday after coming down with a fever.The 77-year-old Francis, who lost part of a lung to an infection in his youth, was due to leave the Vatican and visit with seminarians Friday evening. But 30 minutes before he was due to arrive, Vatican guards told journalists at the seminary that he was ill and the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, later confirmed he had come down with a slight fever and wouldn't attend.Doctors said he should rest, Lombardi said. It was the second known time Francis has canceled an appearance due to illness in the year since he's been pope. On Nov. 15, he scrapped his morning audiences because he came down with a cold.. more brief

Mary Shelley's  Frankenstein  was published in London in the early 1800's well after the Jewish legend of the Golem-creature who protected 16th century Jews in Prague Although there are some differences between the story lines, the similarities between Frankenstein and the Golem are striking: For starters, they were both big and scary with superhuman strength. Plus, they both had to be Jewish. I mean, most of my Jewish relatives have names that end in "-stein"... Goldstein, Silverstein, Frankenstein... you name it. And my own Grandma swore that my Grandpa looked like a Golem. And just to drive home my logical deductions even more, the Talmud talks about a Golem being created who couldn't communicate verbally (Sanhedrin 65B) and it seems pretty clear that Frankenstein doesn't utter any intelligible language known to man. Either that or Frankie works as a NYC subway operator. Although the Talmud may have spoke about Golems, Isaiah spoke about "wearying...

Add caption LONDON (AP) — Buckingham Palace says that Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip will visit Pope Francis in Rome.The palace said Tuesday the royals would have an audience with the pope at the Vatican in April. The palace said Monday the couple also plans to attend the 70th anniversary of D-Day ceremonies during a state visit to France in June.The high profile trips to continental Europe come as the 87-year-old queen is greatly reducing her overseas travel.  more brief  || Huff post

muslim times||Kentnews: THERE are dozens of mosques well established in the county, but for the first time the traditional dome and minaret familiar with the building will pierce the county’s skyline.Set among the terraced houses of Richmond Road in Gillingham, the Nasir mosque will officially open next month, becoming the first purpose built facility in the county. Currently, existing mosques in Kent are sited within converted buildings; taking on the role as a place of worship.Dr Zahid Khan, who works in nearby Wigmore, is the spokesman for the new building.He explained: “The building was the former Liberal club until it was transformed into a  prayer  hall in the 1970s. But it needed to be completely gutted. About 95 per cent of the building is new, only a few of the exterior walls are actually the same. “The dome and minaret have been significant to our house of God for centuries. So from a distance you will see it’s a mosque, just like you would with a church. It’s a spec...

Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad prays for peace and an  end to atrocities || alislam The World Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and Fifth Khalifa, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, lamented the   “pitiful and sorry-state”   of much of the Muslim world during his weekly   Friday Sermon delivered on 31 st  January 2014 . Speaking at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in London, the Khalifa highlighted the examples of war-torn Syria and of Pakistan, where he said countless innocent people were being targeted and persecuted. He called on Ahmadi Muslims around the world to pray for the peace and stability of the Muslim world. Speaking about the devastating consequences of the war in Syria, HazratMirza Masroor Ahmad said: “The situation in Syria is going from bad to worse. Both the Government and the Opposition rebels hav e committed extreme cruelties . The nation’s children, its elderly and its women are all being targeted. Innocent people are being arrested, starved and tortured.Mu...

Speech delivered by Ronald Lauder,president of the world jewish congress. Laszlo Balogh for Reuters  German museums are wilfully ignoring their duty to come clean about works they hold that were looted from Jews by the Nazis, the head of the World Jewish Congress said on Thursday, and the government must do more to force them to act. Germany has faced heavy criticism over its handling of the discovery of 1,407 Nazi-plundered works in the flat of Cornelius Gurlitt, an elderly recluse whose father took orders from Hitler to buy and sell so-called 'degenerate art' to fund Nazi activities.Since a magazine broke the story last November, debate over the rightful ownership of works stashed in the Munich apartment - including by masters such as Duerer, Delacroix, Picasso and Matisse - has grown into a wider controversy over thousands of paintings on open display in museums. "They know what's been stolen," WJC President Ronald Lauder told Reuters in an interview during a v...

Pope Francis has called for a rethink in the way the Catholic Church deals with the children of gay couple an divorced parents, warning against'administering a vaccine against faith' On an educational level, gay union raise challenges for us today which for us at sometimes difficult to understand, "Francis said in a speech to the Catholic union of superiors general in November, extracts of which where published on Italian media websites on Saturday.The number of children in school whose parents have separated is very high,'he said, adding that family make-ups were also changing.I remember a case in which-  more brief

via bcnn news Christmas is different things to different people it seems, and that's no surprise. For most, if recent surveys are correct, it's just a wonderful time to reconnect with family and friends, exchange presents, and, perhaps, consume too many calories. This week, the District-based Public Religion Research Institute reported "more than one-quarter (26 percent) of Americans celebrating Christmas this year will do so largely as a non-religious holiday."For those who do believe, Christmas is first an occasion to commemorate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the long-promised Messiah of Israel (Isaiah 7:14) and the savior of the world. While the actual birth of Christ most likely did not take place on Dec. 25 -- differing scholars have said either the spring or the early autumn -- the date has become a time when the majority of Christians mark the occasion. It won't be a "Merry Christmas" for many Christians, however, and not solely tho...

In his daily homily Pope Francis reflected on the end times, saying that faith will be increasingly  pushed out of the public square and that persecution of Christians is a “prophecy of what is to come, reports   Catholic News Agency . The Pope directed his comments to those gathered in the chapel of the Vatican's Saint Martha guesthouse for his daily Mass on Nov. 28. Reflecting on the day's reading taken from the Gospel of Luke, in which Jesus speaks of the trials and tribulations that will precede the end times, the pontiff explained that when the Lord refers to this in another passage, “he tells us that it will be a desecration of the temple.” It will be “a profanation of the faith, of the people,” he continued, and “it will be an abomination, it will be desolation and abomination.” “What does this mean?” the Pope asked the Mass attendees, responding, “It will be like the triumph of the prince of this world: the defeat of God.” “It seems at that final moment of calamity, it...

In the morning of November 27th thousands of people demanding European integration, gathered at the Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, and prayers were sounded several times during the day, reports religious broadcast Around 7:30 am the famous singer Ruslana (winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004), who spent the night on the stage together with the protesters, got a note, which content was a prayer. Together with the people, Ruslana read it and asked Jesus Christ to bless and protect all the participants and Ukraine in general. Shortly after, a woman from a religious school climbed on the stage, and said that she is going to work with her students and will be praying all the time for all participants so that everything will turn good in Ukraine. At the Independence square during the past couple of days, there were also other appeals to God. Recall, that last Sunday more than 100 thousand people gathered in the central square of Kiev demanding the signing of the Associate mem...

The Pope has attacked the greed of capitalism in a scathing new text in which he sets out his vision for the Catholic Church, in the first major written document of his papacy. Pope Francis chose the title: 'The Joy of the Gospel' for his 224-page document which addresses numerous themes, including evangelisation, peace, social justice, the family, respect for creation, faith and politics and the role of women in the Church. Referring to the financial crisis, the pontiff is urging  Catholics to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of 'exclusion and inequality' that he says 'kills'. The Pope also warns that society is also in a 'constant potential for disintegration and death' because of the 'worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy'. He also urges political leaders to carry out a 'vigourious' reform of the system saying 'money must serve, not rule'. Pope Francis also touched upon possible reform in the Vatican, say...