PRO-CHRISTIAN POLLING

Is Christianity fading away? Teens' thoughts about Jesus give us hope and a challenge.

David Kinnaman
Sun, November 6, 2022 

Barna has tracked the state of Christianity for nearly four decades. If Christianity were traded on the stock market, shareholders would have been watching a downward trend.

Although the trajectory of the church in the United States continues to be concerning and is in need of urgent interventions, recent rumors of the demise of Christianity could be greatly exaggerated.

We recently completed our largest Barna study to date, revealing important insights into how teenagers around the world, including in America, think about Jesus. We discovered a lightness among most teens today; they are open and inclusive – seeking truth, authenticity and change.

In fact, the data tells us that today’s teens may be one of the strongest reasons for hope when it comes to preserving a vibrant expression of Christianity in the United States for generations to come.

The Open Generation: A Global Teens Study surveyed nearly 25,000 teenagers from 26 countries with the intention to listen to what they think about Jesus, the Bible and making an impact on the world. The teens were from diverse geographic, cultural and religious backgrounds.

What we discovered is that it isn’t just Christian teens who still care and consider the life of Jesus – his impact crosses all boundaries:

►52% of the teens surveyed are “committed” Christians (they’ve made a personal commitment to follow Jesus) or “nominal” Christians (they identify as Christian but have not made a commitment to follow Jesus).

►70% have a high view of the Bible and read it several times a week, or are at least open to its teachings.

►75% are motivated or oriented around causes that make a difference in the world.

Teens say Jesus is relevant to them

Overwhelmingly, Christian teens today say Jesus still matters to them; 76% say, “Jesus speaks to me in a way that is relevant to my life.”

Let that sink in for a second.

In a culture that has generally downgraded the reputation of Christians and relegated Sunday worship and other church-related activities to the sidelines of society, teens remain refreshingly open to Jesus as an influencer in their lives as indicated by the responses among Christian teens in our study:

I want to find a way to follow Jesus that connects with the broader culture I live in – 68%

I want to help the church keep the priorities Jesus intended – 67%

I believe prayer makes a difference in the world – 63%

Prayer strengthens my relationship with God – 67%

What do teens think about Jesus? Here are three key findings:

►Today’s teens think highly of Jesus. About half of all teens describe Jesus as “loving” (49%) and believe he offers hope (46%) and cares about people (43%). The global impression of Jesus is that he is trustworthy, generous, wise and peaceful. For many, Jesus is merciful; he stood up against wrongs, was compassionate, forgave those who wronged him, offered forgiveness and cared for his friends.

Creating an equitable world: Why we issued Racial Equity 2030 challenge – our children require more than hope

In a world increasingly marked by cancel culture, ghosting and a growing epidemic of loneliness, what Jesus seems to provide is exactly what teens today need – the counter to each of these problems.

►Today’s teens don’t think as highly of Jesus’ followers. It seems that teens are following the trend found in other generational groups – people think more highly of Jesus than they do of his followers.

Although globally the reputation of Christianity is fairly positive, it falls well short of what teens think of Jesus. While 49% of teens say Jesus is loving, only 31% say that of his followers. Similarly, 16% of teens say Christians are judgmental compared with just 4% who say Jesus is. And 18% say Christians are hypocritical vs. 3% who say Jesus is.

Those who claim to follow Jesus have a long road ahead if they are to represent Jesus well to a new generation.

►Today’s teens want to learn about Jesus. Despite this dichotomy of Jesus’ image versus that of his followers, teens today desire to learn more about Jesus. In fact, 59% are either “very motivated” or “somewhat motivated” to continue learning about him.

It doesn’t really matter where we are coming from – we are all weary of the constant tension and division we see played out on the public stage and in our social media feeds and of hurtful rhetoric and love with limits. But it seems that this coming generation still believes that there is a person who reminds us that there is a good and right way to live.

Evangelical voters want the broken immigration system fixed. Will GOP leaders listen?

Teens are optimistic overall

Teens’ openness to the world and all its potential is striking. Granted, no matter what context a teen lives in, they are in the early stages of developing their worldview and character. Their openness is, on some level, a reflection of youth. But that fact doesn’t diminish the reality of their overall optimism, which is all the more surprising considering they responded to our survey during a global pandemic.

The teens in our study are not jaded or cynical. They are open to different faiths, including Christianity, and they’re open to friends, causes and ideas. Though parents, educators and others who mentor young people have a tall task to provide wise guidance to emerging adults, today’s teens are confronting the church with something that I think we haven't seen before – a kind of blank slate, a chance to imagine a different future.

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The global teens study is intended to help all of us – Christian leaders and faith practitioners, parents and the public at large – listen to teens today. Our findings show they have a lot to say.

This rising generation holds the keys to the future of the church. The question now is: Will we humble ourselves enough to hear them and engage with them on their faith journey in a way that’s transformative for them – and the church?

David Kinnaman is the author of "Faith For Exiles," "Good Faith, "You Lost Me" and "unChristian." He is CEO of Barna Group, a leading research and communications company.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Does Jesus matter to teens? Our research found a surprising answer

U.S. must make much deeper emissions cuts to meet climate goals -government report


Farmers in the Coachella Valley during severe drought

(Reuters) - The United States needs to make far faster and deeper cuts to greenhouse gas emissions over the next three decades to meet international goals to rein in the worst effects of climate change, according to a government report issued on Monday.

The draft of the Fifth National Climate Assessment, which is required by Congress to be published every four years, was released as world leaders and diplomats kicked off a two-week climate summit in Egypt. The United States is the world's second biggest emitter after China.

The United States reduced emissions by 12% between 2007 and 2019, the report said, thanks to the adoption of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar and improved efficiency. But they must fall by more than 6% annually to meet President Joe Biden's goal of decarbonizing the economy by 2050.

The report laid out the harms climate change is already exacting in every part of the country in the form of drought, wildfires, heatwaves and other extreme events.

It also cast climate change as a risk to "the things Americans most value" such as safe homes, healthy families, reliable public services and a sustainable economy.

These effects are experienced most strongly by low-income and often racialized communities which have historically been forced into areas vulnerable to flooding, extreme heat and air pollution, the report said.

Climate change is harming regional economies by reducing corn yields in the Midwest, increasing heat-related health risks for outdoor workers in the Southeast and diminishing fish catches in Alaska, among other impacts.

The report said immediate actions such as incentivizing electric vehicle adoption and renewable energy development, reducing emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane and improving cropland management can be cost effective and have large impacts on reducing carbon emissions.

The draft is open for public comments until Jan. 27. A final report is expected in 2023.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Josie Kao)

Brussels reminds EU countries that saving migrants at sea is a «moral duty» and a «legal obligation»  


The European Commission has reminded the new Italian government on Monday that European Union countries have a "moral duty" and a "legal obligation" to rescue migrants at sea, regardless of the circumstances in which they arrived there, while stressing the importance of finding a safe place to disembark those rescued as soon as possible.


Migrants being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea -

 MICHAEL BUNEL / ZUMA PRESS /

"We reiterate once again that it is both a moral and legal duty to save lives on the high seas and also an obligation of international law that member states must comply with," said the Community spokesperson for Migration, Anitta Hipper, after being asked at a press conference in Brussels about the reservations of the Executive of Giorgia Meloni to allow the disembarkation in Italian ports of rescued migrants.

The spokeswoman said that the European Commission welcomes the signal late on Sunday from the Italian government to allow "vulnerable people" to disembark, but recalled that there are several ships that have requested to take to their ports other people rescued at sea and are still waiting for a response.

The Community Executive "is not responsible for the coordination of the details" in maritime rescue operations "or to identify the place" in which the rescued should be disembarked, Hipper insisted, to explain that Brussels does not point to any Member State.

However, he added, European governments must comply with international law that obliges them to provide assistance to people adrift at sea and pointed out the importance of "every effort to minimize the time" that these people remain on ships without being able to reach land.

Brussels is aware that the place for disembarkation will depend on each case, depending on the specific circumstances of each situation, but also "encourages all relevant authorities to cooperate with each other" to offer vessels that have rescued migrants a "suitable" port.

"We call on all member states to save lives and to ensure that they assume their legal obligations and allow people at sea to be rescued," he reiterated.

Italy's government has vowed to tighten migration policies, with particular emphasis on NGO activity in the Mediterranean. The authorities have in recent days only allowed selective disembarkations, of those considered most vulnerable, keeping hundreds of migrants and refugees in political limbo.

Rome has appealed to European solidarity and the responsibility of the countries to which the NGO boats belong. It has also raised relocation mechanisms that would allow it to share the burden that, in its opinion, implies being a gateway for migrants who want to reach Europe from North Africa.

THE PANDEMIC CONTINUES TO SPREAD

Antarctica’s biggest Covid outbreak yet puts US station McMurdo on pause

Tess McClure - Monday - The Guardian

Antarctica’s largest-yet outbreak of Covid-19 has left 10% of personnel in its largest station infected and the US pausing all inward travel.


Photograph: Andy Soloman/Reuters

Infections have swept through US-run McMurdo station, the largest base in Antarctica. The National Science Foundation said it had recorded 98 positive tests since the beginning of October from a total population of 993.

The foundation was “moving to lower the density of the population to reduce the possibility of transmission” and had implemented a pause on all travel to the continent for the next two weeks to “reassess the situation”.

Related video: Antarctica gets hit by Covid; NSF pauses all inward travel to continent

Duration 1:23   View on Watch

The outbreak comes as stations are gearing up for their maximum-capacity summer field season, where many scientists fly in to conduct two to three months of research. For a number of bases, this year marked the first full season of Antarctic research after two years of Covid-19 disruption. It is not yet clear what effect the pause on travel will have on research projects.

The Covid outbreak is not Antarctica’s first but appears to be the largest. In December 2020 the first cases were detected, with 36 people testing positive at Chile’s base. A year later an outbreak infected 11 of the 30 people in Belgian research station Princess Elisabeth, and in January 2022 there were 24 cases detected in an outbreak at Argentina’s Esperenza base.

Of the 64 active cases, “most have mild symptoms and are isolating in their rooms”, the NSF said. In an effort to contain the breakout and stop it spreading further, the NSF will be requiring residents to spend five days in isolation before transiting to the south pole or deep field, and recommending KN-95 masks be worn at all times.

Those testing positive will be required to isolate for five days, then mask an additional five days, and can return to work after two negative tests.

Climate talks must wrench attention from competing crises

By Kate Abnett - Monday-  Reuters

 Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinosa speaks during an interview with Reuters at a United Nations Information Center offices in Washington

/ELIZABETH FRANTZ

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - This year's U.N. climate conference must wrench global leaders' attention back to global warming as multiple crises, including a looming global recession and war in Europe, vie for attention, former U.N. climate chief Patricia Espinosa told Reuters.

More than 100 world leaders gathered on Monday in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for the start of the two-week climate talks against a backdrop of war in Ukraine, economic downturn, rampant inflation and a European energy crisis.

"The attention of many leaders has been going to other issues," said Espinosa, who led the U.N. climate change body - called the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC - from 2016 until July this year.

"This is a very important conference in order to really get again the issue of addressing climate change very, very high up on the agenda," she told Reuters.

Of the nearly 200 countries that agreed at last year's climate summit to ratchet up the ambition on their emissions-cutting goals, only about 30, including Australia, Indonesia and South Korea, have done so.

Espinosa called that result "really unfortunate," but said that no countries so far had weakened or abandoned pledges made previously.

Countries' national climate pledges put the world on track to warm by 2.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, overshooting the 1.5C threshhold beyond which scientists say climate change impacts will significantly worsen.

Espinosa said the success of the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP) would hinge partly on how it addresses the urgent need for climate finance not just to help poorer nations transition to clean energy and adapt to a warmer world, but also to cover costs and damages already incurred from climate-fuelled disasters.

Her successor, UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell, a former climate resilience minister for Grenada, is also expected to champion calls at the summit for more financial support for climate-vulnerable countries.

Negotiators cleared their first hurdle on Sunday, agreeing for the first time to hold talks on "loss and damage" - financial compensation for countries ravaged by climate impacts such as floods, drought and rising seas.

Dozens of developing countries have said COP27 must establish a new funding facility for these payments.

"I hope so, but I would not be that optimistic about it," Espinosa said, of whether countries will reach the unanimous agreement needed to establish the fund.

Calls for compensation have gained momentum following disasters this year, including floods in Pakistan that left the country with a $30 billion damage bill.

But rich polluters including the United States and the European Union have for years resisted efforts that could lead to compensation, fearing spiralling liabilities.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Katy Daigle and Barbara Lewis)

At COP27, climate change framed as battle for survival
By William James, Valerie Volcovici and Simon Jessop - Monday

ALL MEN

COP27 climate summit in Egypt© Reuters/MOHAMMED SALEM

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) -World leaders and diplomats framed the fight against global warming as a battle for human survival during opening speeches at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt on Monday, with the head of the United Nations declaring a lack of progress so far had the world speeding down a “highway to hell”.

The stark messages, echoed by the heads of African, European and Middle Eastern nations alike, set an urgent tone as governments began two weeks of talks in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh to figure out how to avert the worst of climate change.



COP27 climate summit in Egypt© Reuters/MOHAMMED SALEM

"Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish,” U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres told delegates, urging them to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels and speed funding to poorer countries struggling under climate impacts that have already occurred.



COP27 climate summit in Egypt© Reuters/MOHAMMED SALEM

Despite decades of climate talks so far, countries have failed to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, and their pledges to do so in the future are insufficient to keep the climate from warming to a level scientists say will be catastrophic.

Land war in Europe, deteriorating diplomatic ties between top emitters the United States and China, rampant inflation, and tight energy supplies threaten to distract countries further away from combating climate change, Guterres said, threatening to derail the transition to clean energy.



COP27 climate summit in Egypt© Reuters/MOHAMMED SALEM

"Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing. Global temperatures keep rising. And our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible," he said. "We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator."



COP27 climate summit in Egypt© Reuters/MOHAMMED SALEM

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, also speaking at the event, said global leaders have a credibility problem when it comes to climate change and criticized developed nations' ongoing pursuit of gas resources in Africa, which he described as "fossil fuel colonialism."

"We have a credibility problem all of us: We're talking and we're starting to act, but we're not doing enough," Gore said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that, while the world was distracted by a confluence of global crises, it was important not to sacrifice national commitments to fight climate change.

"We will not sacrifice our commitments to the climate due to the Russian threat in terms of energy," Macron said, "so all countries must continue to uphold all their commitments."

Related video: WION Climate Tracker | United Nations warns nations, again!: Oil, gas emissions three times higher   Duration 1:52   View on Watch

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the war was a reason to accelerate efforts to wean the world off fossil fuels.

"Climate security goes hand in hand with energy security, Putin's abhorrent war in Ukraine, and rising energy prices across the world are not a reason to go slow on climate change. They are a reason to act faster," he said.

UAE TO CARRY ON PUMPING OIL, GAS

While leaders tended to agree on the risks of global warming, their speeches revealed huge rifts, including over whether fossil fuels could play a role in a climate-friendly future, and who should pay for climate damage that has already occurred.

Immediately after Guterres' speech urging an end to the fossil fuel era, United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan took the stage and said his country, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, would continue to produce them for as long as there is a need.

"The UAE is considered a responsible supplier of energy, and it will continue playing this role as long as the world is in need of oil and gas," he said.

The UAE will host next year's U.N. conference, which will attempt to finalise agreements made last year in Britain and at this year's Egyptian talks.

Many countries with rich resources of oil, gas and coal have criticized the push for a rapid transition away from fossil fuels, arguing it is economically reckless and unfair to poorer and less developed nations keen for economic growth.

"We are for a green transition that is equitable and just, instead of decisions that jeopardise our development,” said Macky Sall, president of Senegal and chair of the African Union.

Poorer countries that bear little responsibility for historic carbon emissions have also been arguing they should be compensated by rich nations for losses from climate-fueled disasters including floods, storms and wildfires.

Signatories to the 2015 Paris Agreement had pledged to achieve a long-term goal of keeping global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the threshold beyond which scientists say climate change risks spinning out of control.

Guterres said that goal was possible only if the world can achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. He asked countries to agree to phase out the use of coal, one of the most carbon-intense fuels, by 2040 globally, with members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development hitting that mark by 2030.

The head of the International Monetary Fund told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference that climate targets depend on achieving a global carbon price of at least $75 a ton by the end of the decade, and that the pace of change in the real economy was still "way too slow".

The World Trade Organization, meanwhile, said in a reportpublished on Monday that it should tackle trade barriers for low carbon industries to address the role of global trade in driving climate chang


(Reporting by William James, Valerie Volcovici and Simon Jessop; Editing by Richard Valdmanis, Katy Daigle, Barbara Lewis, Frank Jack Daniel, Deepa Babington and Lisa Shumaker)

French firm says to be charged over Qatar building sites

AFP - Monday

French construction firm Vinci said on Monday it expected to be charged this week by a magistrate investigating allegedly abusive work practices on its building sites in Qatar.


Workers of Vinci's Qatar subsidiary QDVC preparing cement in Doha in 2015© KARIM JAAAFAR

The group said its subsidiary Vinci Constructions Grands Projets had been summoned on Wednesday by a French magistrate investigating its infrastructure projects in Qatar "with a view to it being charged".

Under French law, being charged implies the magistrate believes there is compelling evidence against the company, but the decision can be appealed and does not automatically mean the case will go to trial.

The Paris-based group said it regretted the development and denies the charges of using forced labour and taking part in human trafficking.

Two French NGOs -- Sherpa and the Committee Against Modern Slavery -- and seven former employees from India and Nepal who worked on Vinci building sites have filed a series of legal complaints against the company dating back to 2015.

They allege that employees working on sites linked to the football World Cup laboured for 66 to 77 hours a week, had their passports confiscated and were forced to live in indecent accommodation.

In its statement on Monday, Vinci denied that the public transport sites in question were linked to the World Cup, saying they were awarded to the company before the football tournament was attributed to Qatar in 2010.

"We tried in vain to convince the magistrate that after seven and half years of investigation it was not a particularly good time to imagine laying charges a fortnight before the start of the World Cup," Vinci lawyer Jean-Pierre Versini-Campinchi told AFP, adding that he feared a "media storm".

Sherpa welcomed the possible deepening of the French investigation.

"If Vinci were to be charged, it would confirm that multinationals face increasing difficulties in hiding behind their supply chains, the idea that it's 'too complicated' to act," Sherpa said.

- Train lines -

Investigators from the anti-corruption NGO first visited Qatar in 2014 where they say they met labourers on Vinci projects whose passports had been confiscated and who were required to work in temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).

The group alleged that some of the abuses took place among sub-contractors employed by third-party companies working for Vinci's Qatar subsidiary, Qatari Diar Vinci Construction.

Qatari Diar Vinci Construction employed 11,000 people at its height and was responsible for building the 37-station Lusail Light Rail Transit system around Doha, as well as the Red Line of the Qatari capital's underground metro system.

It also built the luxury Sheraton hotel in Doha.

The company unsuccessfully sued Sherpa for defamation after its first legal complaint in 2015.

Qatar has faced a barrage of criticism over migrant worker deaths and its labour law since being named World Cup host.

It has introduced significant changes since the start of the French legal investigation, including ending its so-called "Kafala" labour system.

This meant that a worker could not change jobs or leave the country without permission from their employer.

An audit of conditions for Vinci workers in Qatar was carried out by French trade union organisations in 2019 which concluded that the rights of labourers were being respected.

‘$15 an hour is not enough’: US domestic workers rally on eve of midterms

Michael Sainato - Monday-  The Guardian

As America heads to the polls, representatives of the more than 2 million workers in domestic jobs – from caring for the sick, elderly and disabled to cleaning homes – are making a last-minute midterms push to make sure their voices are heard.


Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Diondre Clark, a certified nursing assistant in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been canvassing in nearby Winston-Salem to boost voter turnout in the critical swing state.

She said: “This election cycle, there’s just so much … it’s like a big bombshell, with wages, the economy, inflation, and healthcare. We really have to do something, we have to do better.

“We need to make more money because the cost of living is going up. $15 an hour, that’s still not enough – and there are still places that have not even got to $15 an hour.

“We’re struggling. It’s very hard, and I want voters to think about it and make the choice to go to the polls and cast their vote.”

She criticized Republican proposals to raise the social security age to 70, given how long she has worked. She also urged voters to elect candidates who can identify with everyday workers just trying to make a living and the issues impacting them, such as needing better healthcare and sick pay.

Nearly all – 91.5% – of domestic workers are women, and over 52% are Black, Hispanic, or Asian American/Pacific Islander. Clark is one of hundreds of domestic workers who are getting involved with organizing through Care in Action, a non-profit founded in 2017.

The group is leading campaigns involved in door-to-door canvassing and other voter turnout efforts such as phone banking in Nevada, Georgia, and North Carolina, supporting candidates who favor policies such as paid sick leave, paid childcare, better wages, healthcare expansion, and immigration rights, with a focus on enabling workers to directly speak with voters and boost turnout in these key election battles. The group is also engaged in efforts in Arizona, South Carolina, Virginia, and Michigan.

“These workers, they’re the best messengers. So we decided to fly our domestic workers out to Nevada, North Carolina, and Georgia, to have conversations with thousands of voters,” said Hillary Holley, the executive director of Care In Action.

The group has endorsed numerous candidates in seven battleground states, including Stacey Abrams for governor of Georgia, Raphael Warnock for US Senate in Georgia and Catherine Cortez Masto for US Senate in Nevada. Holley said the group is focusing on Nevada, North Carolina, and Georgia because she expects these high-profile races will come down to a slim margin.

“Our voters want our elected officials to have a plan on how to help restore and improve our economy, which they know is being fueled by corporate greed with record profits,” added Holley

“Our workers are going to be able to look voters in the eyes and say, we know it’s hard, but we have to vote for the people who actually have a plan. Because when you listen to a lot of the Republican candidates, they don’t have a plan, they like to talk about inflation, but they don’t like to present a plan on how to address it promptly.”

Patricia Sauls of Atlanta, Georgia works in family care and childcare and has done various care work from babysitting as a teenager to working in group homes, is canvassing this election in Columbus, Georgia with Care in Action and has volunteered to be a poll worker for the first time.

“Ever since January 6 event, it’s been amplified how fragile our democracy really is,” said Sauls. “Georgia is really important to our national effort this year, more important than ever before because we have so many people on the ballot, election deniers, running for positions of authority over elections that they claim they have no confidence in.”

Sauls explained though she is nearly 70, she has been on waiting lists for years for disability assistance through Medicaid, and is pushing for Medicaid expansion. She is also concerned about abortion restrictions in the wake of the Roe v Wade reversal; economic issues, and threats to democracy since the Capitol insurrection.

“It’s important for my future, for the future of those coming behind, to do everything I can to make sure that our democratic system stays in place,” she said.

Orthodox Church of Ukraine to allow Christmas on December 25 as rift with Moscow deepens

Jack Guy - Monday - CNN

A branch of Ukraine’s Orthodox church has announced that it will allow its churches to celebrate Christmas on December 25, rather than January 7, as is traditional in Orthodox congregations.

Putin's war on Ukraine divides Russian Orthodox Church

View on Watch   Duration 5:50

The announcement by the Kyiv-headquartered Orthodox Church of Ukraine widens the rift between the Russian Orthodox Church and other Orthodox believers that has deepened due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The decision came after “taking into account the numerous requests and taking into account the discussion that has been going on for many years in the Church and in society; predicting, in particular due to the circumstances of the war, the escalation of calendar disputes in the public space,” the Orthodox Church of Ukraine said in a statement published October 18.



The Orthodox Church of Ukraine was endorsed in 2018.

 - Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Each church will have the option to celebrate on December 25, which marks the birth of Jesus according to the Gregorian calendar, rather than January 7, which marks the birth of Jesus according to the Julian calendar, still used by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In recent years a large part of the Orthodox community in Ukraine has moved away from Moscow, a movement accelerated by the conflict Russia stoked in eastern Ukraine beginning in 2014.

That schism became more open in 2018, after Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople – a Greek cleric who is considered the spiritual leader of Orthodox believers worldwide – endorsed the establishment of an independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine and revoked a centuries-old agreement that granted the Patriarch in Moscow authority over churches in the country.

The Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has become closely entwined with the Russian state under Russian President Vladimir Putin, responded by cutting ties with Bartholomew.

Then in May the leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), another branch which had been formally subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, broke ties with the Moscow church, which is led by Patriarch Kirill, who has given his support to the invasion of Ukraine and has put his church firmly behind Putin.



Ukrainian Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7, 2016. 

- Vasyl Shevchenko/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images

In a statement, the UOC said it had opted for the “full independence and autonomy” of the Ukrainian church.

The emergence of a church independent of Moscow has infuriated Putin, who has made restoration of the so-called “Russian world” a centerpiece of his foreign policy and has dismissed Ukrainian national identity as illegitimate.

And Kirill remains outspoken in his support of the invasion, announcing in September that Russian soldiers who die in the war against Ukraine will be cleansed of all their sins.

“He is sacrificing himself for others,” he said. “I am sure that such a sacrifice washes away all sins that a person has committed.”

Brazil’s police to analyze computers amid fears that Bolsonaro’s supporters are installing spyware

The future leadership of the Brazilian police force appointed by President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva could analyze the computers of the security authorities in the face of fears that officials close to the current president, Jair Bolsonaro, may install spyware.


File - Brazilian Federal Police during an operation in Rio de Janeiro. -

 JOSE LUCENA / ZUMA PRESS / CONTACTOPHOTO

This has been acknowledged to the newspaper 'O Globo' by an interlocutor of Lula, who justifies the fear of the next president's team in the affinity shown between Bolsonaro himself and the most conservative sector of the Federal Police over the last four years.

Likewise, Bolsonaro never denied his intention to place people in line with his ideology and postulates in some of the most prominent positions in the security and justice authorities. In fact, the Supreme Court even rejected the appointment of Alexandre Ramagem as head of the General Police Directorate because of his excessive proximity to the president's family.

Therefore, Lula's team may even consider a thorough inspection of the computers to check if the outgoing president ever used the police institution as a sort of "private intelligence service".

Although the president-elect has not yet made any pronouncement on who will be the general director of the Police, Brazilian media suggest that the main candidate could be Andrei Passos, who was head of security for Lula's political party, the Workers' Party, during the electoral campaign.

33 new cases of spying on politicians, businessmen and journalists with Predator software reported in Greece


The leader of the main Greek opposition party, the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), Alexis Tsipras, on Monday called on the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to give explanations on the allegations about the possible 33 cases of espionage with Predator software attributed to the Intelligence Agency (EYP).


El primer minister griego, Kyriakos Mitsotakis - Soeren Stache/dpa

"Were the 33 targets of the Predator malware included in a list of the EYP?", Tsipras has raised in a parliamentary appearance.

The Israeli spying program would have been installed on the phones of 33 politicians -- and family members --, businessmen and journalists, the newspaper 'Documento' has revealed.

The list includes Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, former conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, former socialist, conservative and SYRIZA ministers and the executive director of the newspaper 'Kathimerini', Alexis Papachelas. 'Document' directly links Mitsotakis to this espionage and even refers to the "Mitsotakis system" of espionage.

The government has advocated "thoroughly" investigating these allegations, although it has warned that "there is a lot of narrative, but evidence is lacking," in the words of government spokesman Dimitris Oikonomu.

The vast majority of those listed have stated that they were not aware of any kind of extraordinary situation concerning their cell phones.

Just this Monday the director of 'Document', Kostas Vaxevanis, presented the documentation supporting the news to the Greek Supreme Court at the request of the court's prosecutor, Isidoros Dogiakos.

This is the second wave of an eavesdropping scandal that broke out in July, when the leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Party (PASOK), Nikos Androulakis, complained to the Supreme Court of being spied on his cell phone with Predator software discovered by the security service of the European Parliament.