Saturday, July 13, 2024

Prominent ‘queer affirming’ theologian facing trial by Church of the Nazarene

The Rev. Thomas Jay Oord is accused of teaching doctrines contrary to the Church of the Nazarene.

The Rev. Thomas Jay Oord. (Photo © Mark Umstot)

July 11, 2024
By Yonat Shimron

(RNS) — A prominent and prolific theologian in the Church of the Nazarene will face a church trial later this month for advocating for LGBTQ affirmation at a time when the denomination is doubling down on its opposition to same-sex relations.

The Rev. Thomas Jay Oord, an ordained elder and a lifelong member of the denomination, is accused of teaching doctrines contrary to the Church of the Nazarene. He is also being charged with conduct unbecoming of a minister for his efforts to move the denomination to affirm LGBTQ people. The church holds that “the practice of same-sex sexual intimacy is contrary to God’s will.”

If found guilty, Oord could lose his preaching credentials or possibly even his church membership. His trial will take place in Boise, Idaho, on July 25.

The trial follows last year’s guilty verdict against a San Diego Nazarene minister who published an essay in a book co-edited by Oord, titled “Why the Church of the Nazarene Should Be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming” arguing that the church should have more dialogue on LGBTQ issues.

That minister, the Rev. Selden Kelley, who pastored San Diego’s First Church of the Nazarene, was stripped of his credentials and can no longer pastor a church or hold any position of leadership within the Church of the Nazarene.

Oord, who in 2015 was pushed out of his job at Northwest Nazarene University for his progressive views more generally, said the church tried to gag him into keeping silent about his upcoming trial. He has decided to speak publicly about it anyway. Two weeks ago he published a book called “My Defense: Responding to Charges that I Fully Affirm LGBTQ+ People.”

Church of the Nazarene headquarters in Lenexa, Kan. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Creative Commons)

“I’m convinced that I won’t get fair treatment going through the trial process,” Oord said. “And I want most of all to make a defense based on theology, not based on the legal nuances of the denomination’s manual.”

ANOTHER AMERICAN PROTESTANT SECT

Oord has written widely that love is the center of what it means to follow Jesus and that love lies at the heart of holiness. Holiness is a critical doctrine of the Church of the Nazarene, which was formed out of the 19th-century Wesleyan-Holiness movement.

The 2.5 million-member global denomination is theologically conservative and has seen more growth overseas. It is declining in the U.S., where it has about 500,000 members in 4,600 churches.

The Rev. Scott Shaw, the district superintendent of the Intermountain District Church of the Nazarene who brought the charges against Oord, declined to comment on trial.

The church, which is governed by six elected general superintendents, last year put out a statement that the church’s positions on human sexuality, along with other positions on Christian character and conduct found in its manual or rulebook, were essentially doctrine.

This tightening of a church’s social policies and elevating them to the status of doctrine has also characterized recent moves in the Christian Reformed Church. The United Methodist Church, to which the Church of the Nazarene is more theologically akin (both trace their origin to John Wesley), underwent a major split over LGBTQ inclusion, losing 25% of its U.S. churches and more recently all its churches in the Ivory Coast of Africa. At its most recent conference, the church voted to repeal the denomination’s condemnation of homosexuality from its rulebook and allow LGBTQ people to be ordained and ministers in the denomination to marry same-sex couples.

An entrance to Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho. (Image courtesy of Google Maps)

Oord said he became “queer affirming” in the early 1990s and spent the next few decades helping queer students at Eastern Nazarene College and later at Northwest Nazarene University feel embraced and loved. He now directs doctor of ministry students at Northwind Theological Seminary, an online-only school. His daughter, Alexa, with whom he co-edited “Why the Church of the Nazarene Should be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming,” is bisexual.

Oord said he believes the majority of scholars in the Nazarene affiliated universities and seminaries are LGBTQ affirming but won’t say so publicly because they fear for their jobs. One of them, K. Steve McCormick, a professor emeritus at Nazarene Theological Seminary, is expected to testify on Oord’s behalf at the trial.

Last year, a dean at Point Loma Nazarene University, Mark Maddix, was fired for siding with a colleague who lost her job, also for siding with LGBTQ rights.

Church trials are a recent phenomenon in the denomination, said Ron Benefiel, an academic and a minister in the denomination. He said he anticipated that if Oord is found guilty there will be an appeal.

Oord said he is speaking out, against the guidance of the church, because he wants to encourage queer people and their allies and because he wants to make a theological case for LGBTQ inclusion.

“I really want to see the denomination live up to the calling of love that it claims that we’re trying to pursue,” Oord said. “It’s my belief that love requires people who are trying to be followers of Jesus to be fully affirming of queer people.”

Hajj in extraordinary heat: what a scholar of Islam saw in Mecca

Despite reports of mismanagement, the 2024 Hajj brought together pilgrims of diverse backgrounds from 180 countries

Muslim pilgrims in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on June 18, 2024.

AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool

July 9, 2024
By Ahmet T. Kuru
(The Conversation)

— At least 1,300 people died because of scorching heat during the Hajj pilgrimage in June 2024. It’s not the first time that such a tragic incident hit the pilgrimage. More than a thousand were killed in a heat wave in 1985, and deaths due to stampedes and other crowd-related disasters have been reported in previous years.

But despite the risks, millions of Muslims perform the pilgrimage; this year alone, some 1.8 million participated in it.

I, too, performed Hajj this year by traveling from the United States to Saudi Arabia. This not only allowed me to fulfill my religious duty as a Muslim, but it also gave me the opportunity to observe the diversity of Muslim societies as a social scientist studying Islam and politics.

While the tragic deaths came to be the focus of much of the media coverage, there were many other dimensions of Hajj 2024. Hajj is a personal spiritual journey that also involves meeting Muslims from diverse backgrounds. But, of late, the Saudi government’s management of this gathering has been criticized, particularly regarding its destruction of Mecca’s historical landscape.

Religious significance

Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam – together with declaration of faith, daily prayers, fasting and almsgiving. Muslims who have the financial and physical ability to undertake the pilgrimage are obligated to perform it at least once in their lives.

During most of the Hajj rituals, men wear two pieces of unstitched white clothing, representing humility and equality, while women can wear any articles of modest dress. Together, men and women walk seven times around the Kaaba – the cube-shaped structure believed to be the “house of God” in Mecca. Muslims all over the world turn toward the Kaaba when they pray five times a day.

Hajj has many spiritual dimensions, such as contemplation and asking for forgiveness and supplication, but it also involves physical challenges. For example, an essential requirement of Hajj is traveling to Arafat, which is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Kaaba, for a daylong prayer.

Physical challenges also include sleeping in tents in Mina, which is about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the Kaaba, for three to four days. Pilgrims must also remain under the open sky in Muzdalifah, a place about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from the Kaaba, for a night.

Traveling to all these places, in addition to performing rituals in Mecca, entails a substantial amount of walking. I calculated walking about 80 miles (129 kilometers) during my pilgrimage. And this year’s extreme heat added to the challenge.

Multiracial global Islam

Muslim pilgrims offer prayers at the top of the rocky hill known as the Mountain of Mercy during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on June 15, 2024.
AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool

Hajj reflects the racial and socioeconomic diversity of about 2 billion Muslims across the world. Hajj’s significance regarding racial relations was famously articulated by Malcolm X, a leading African American activist and intellectual.

Malcolm X’s Hajj in 1964 played a major role in his transformation from being a Black nationalist to adopting the mainstream Islamic notion of embracing all races. In a letter to his followers, Malcolm X explained how his interactions with white pilgrims were very positive: “There are Muslims here of all colors and from every part of this earth. … I could look into their blue eyes and see that they regarded me as the same (Brothers), because their faith in One God (Allah) had actually removed ‘white’ from their mind.”

This year, pilgrims came to Hajj from 180 countries, where diverse Islamic schools of theology and law have been practiced.

It is difficult to differentiate between pilgrims following Sunni, Shiite or other interpretations of Islam, since there are no substantial differences between their Hajj rituals. I had conversations with pilgrims from the U.S., Norway, Finland, Albania, Turkey, Mali, India, Malaysia and Indonesia without knowing their religious schools.

Nonetheless, one can still observe some differences. During the circling around Kaaba, for example, I saw a dozen Iranians reciting out loud “Jawshan”– a prayer book of Shiites rarely embraced by Sunnis.

Critical perspectives

Islamic scholars generally encourage pilgrims to focus on personal devotion and the rituals. But this cannot prevent some pilgrims from criticizing the Saudi government’s management of Hajj, including its attempts to commercialize this devotional gathering.

In his 2014 book based on his multiple pilgrimages, British Muslim intellectual Ziauddin Sardar critiques how the Saudi government destroyed historical tombs, shrines and other buildings in Mecca, replacing them with towering hotels and malls, including the Clock Tower, the world’s fourth-tallest building. The Clock Tower is located right next to the Kaaba and dwarfs the sacred structure.

The Saudis’ destruction of historical buildings in Mecca was based on their fear that these historical sites, rather than God, would become objects of worship. As a result, no historical buildings remain in Mecca except Kaaba.

Interestingly, the House of Saud seems to have finally recognized the error of its ways. In both Mecca and Madina, I saw recently opened museums, signaling a new attitude toward historical preservation.

However, many pilgrims disregard these problems and concentrate on the spiritual dimension of their journey. Hajj is a unique experience allowing one to meet and even live together with people from radically diverse backgrounds. It reflects the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of the global Muslim community. And this year even the extraordinary heat couldn’t prevent it.

(Ahmet T. Kuru, Professor of Political Science, Director of Center for Islamic & Arabic Studies, San Diego State University. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

Iranian American wrestling champion leads effort to develop singlet for conservative Muslim women

Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston, the first American woman to medal at the world championships in freestyle wrestling, formed a committee to design a wrestling outfit for international competition that respects religious and cultural traditions.

Jordan national women’s team member Balqis Cail Taaibin, in red, wrestles Kazakhstan’s Shugyla Omirbek during the U23 Asian Championships in Amman, Jordan, in June 2024. (Photo courtesy of Jordan Wrestling Federation)

July 11, 2024
By Daoud Kuttab

(RNS) — On a trip to Jordan in February, Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston, the first American woman to medal at the world championships in freestyle wrestling, met and coached a team of young Jordanian female wrestlers, some of whom have to decide between competing and violating their religious commitment to cover their heads and shoulders in public.

One young woman, she recalls, set her on a quest to change that.

“I saw myself in her,” said Roshanzamir Johnston. “She loves the sport of wrestling and I wanted to provide the opportunity for her and others in the world.”

On her return to the U.S., Roshanzamir Johnston assembled a committee of designers and manufacturers to come up with a proposed uniform that meets the requirements of the organizations that govern wrestling competitions internationally, as well as those of observant Muslim women.

A computer image of the Cultural Religious Compliance Gear women’s wrestling uniform prototype. (Courtesy image)

Any design would have to achieve two basic goals to get past regulators at United World Wrestling, in Switzerland. “The gear had to be tight” so as not to allow a finger of the opposing wrestler to be caught in looser fitting cloth, said Roshanzamir Johnston. At the same time, it was crucial that there not be multiple layers of loose fabric to cause slippage, allowing the covered wrestler an advantage in working out of wrestling holds.

Working with Tim Pane, CEO of MyHouse Sports Gear, a Scranton, Pennsylvania, company that makes conventional women’s wrestling singlets, and former clothing designer Melissa Veselovsky and Usman Shahbaz, My House’s head of manufacture in Pakistan, Roshanzamir Johnston soon produced a prototype, which she calls Cultural Religious Compliance Gear.

Mohammed Awamleh, head of the Jordan Wrestling Federation, told Religion News Service that the Arab Wrestling Federation is hoping to be able to present a final version of the singlet in August, when the under-17 world championships will be held in Amman, and that some women might practice in one of the three draft versions that have been created.

The effort is being supported by USA Wrestling as well. “USA Wrestling is proud and honored to work alongside such a strong wrestling ambassador as Afsoon Johnston on purpose of making our sport accessible to all,” said Rich Bender, the organization’s executive director, in a statement.

Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston, right, greets Shahed Al Sharif. (Courtesy photo)

Roshanzamir Johnston was born in Iran, where her father, the Iranian wrestler Manu Roshanzamir, taught her the moves she was not allowed to even watch under the Islamic Republic’s modesty rules. After the family fled the repressive regime in 1983, she joined the wrestling team at her high school in San Jose, California. She was a member of the first women’s team to wrestle internationally, at the 1989 World Championships, taking home a bronze. The next year, she won silver.

By the time women’s wrestling became an Olympic sport, in 2000, she had retired, but she has stayed involved in the sport. (She coached the USA women in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.)

Her February visit to Jordan, in the company of other past U.S. champions, was aimed at kickstarting interest in women’s wrestling in the Arab region and was the result of hard work by Dan Russell, executive director of Wrestling for Peace. Russell, who lives in Amman, said wrestling provides tools to help navigate life’s larger challenges, for both girls and boys.

“We believe everyone should have the opportunity to learn and grow through wrestling,” said Russell. “Our project is dedicated to supporting the inclusion of appropriate clothing and covering options which adhere to cultural and religious values, enabling more girls to participate in the sport.”

A social media post by the Jordan Wrestling Federation. (Image courtesy of Jordan Wrestling Federation)

The Jordan Wrestling Federation honored Russell at the close of the 2024 Asian championships on June 30 for his work in helping find solutions to the inclusion of women in world wrestling.

Wrestling for women has been burgeoning in Jordan, whose King Abdullah was also a high school wrestler. The country’s wrestling federation, which had been dormant for 15 years, reestablished a national team for girls and women in 2022, providing the opportunity for them to participate in local and international competitions.

Awamleh said that since then the number of female wrestlers in Jordan has increased to almost 40, including the 10 women on the national wrestling team.

If the new singlet is successful, it will be a second time Jordan has been behind a sports breakthrough for Muslim women. In May 2012, at the inaugural Muslim Women’s Sport Foundation Ambassador Awards in London, FIFA, the world soccer federation, honored Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein for his efforts to overturn the sport’s ban on the Islamic headgear.

Opinion
The church is radicalizing over Gaza
Islamists, Zionists and conservative evangelicals are strange extremist bedfellows indeed.

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip walk through a street market in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, June 29, 2024.

(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

July 12, 2024
By Scott Gustafson

(RNS) — As a religious extremism researcher in the Middle East, I have been alarmed by the dynamics since Oct. 7 both in the region, but also, with growing concern, in my own backyard.

The Hamas attack and subsequent Israeli offensive in Gaza and the West Bank, launched with a fervor perhaps unmatched in modern history, is radicalizing a whole new generation of Israelis and Palestinians and, along with it, many in the West. And that radicalization is bearing the fruit of extremism, not just among Hamas militants or Zionist settlers but also in the Christian church.

Radicalization happens as individuals and groups ratchet toward more extreme and hostile positions. Symptoms include increasingly strident rhetoric, broadening lanes of permissible action and demonization of the other in conflict.

Experts agree that extremists and even terrorists are inherently rational, normal people responding to external events out of strong beliefs and passions. Mutual radicalization happens as groups inflame each other through dehumanizing rhetoric and revenge narratives. Then through us/them posturing and the urgent alarm bells of apocalyptic, existential threat, members of these groups shift toward ever more extreme positions calling for violence.

Radicalization dynamics are at work all around us, from Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East to American culture wars between the left and right. Senior Research Fellow J.M. Berger’s diagnostic statement is jarring: “If you think only the ‘other guys’ can produce extremists, then you might be one yourself.”

A Hamas cleric called for the annihilation of Jews from the land, calling them “filthy animals, apes and pigs.” An Israeli official called Hamas “human animals,” and Netanyahu likened Israel’s military campaign to a fulfillment of prophecy, citing the divine command to “not spare the Amalekites.” Leaders propagate these social contagions through bestializing words, giving implicit permission to their followers to act.

Israeli soldiers stand next to the bodies of Israelis killed by Hamas militants in kibbutz Kfar Aza on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

And act they have; thousands are now dead from Kfar Aza and Gaza to the West Bank, Haifa and Lebanon.

U.S. conservatives have also invoked Holy War. Sen. Lindsay Graham said, “We’re in a religious war here. I am with Israel … Do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself. Level the place.”

Extreme tactics and rhetoric force a binary choice: choose a side, there is only one right cause.

Leading Christians have also followed the pattern. Many, including John Hagee and Greg Laurie, have said this war will usher in the end times. Wayne J. Edwards, a pastor in Georgia, wrote, “It’s obvious that Israel’s enemies do not recognize that God has given the land to the Jews.” Peter Leithart suggested it was time to “dust off imprecatory Psalms” and “ask Jesus to pursue justice … purge (the Amalekites) from under heaven” and to smash the “nations like pottery.”

Florida state Rep. Michelle Salzman, who is active in faith-based initiatives, called for the killing of “all of them” in response to a colleague’s lament asking “how many (dead Palestinians) will be enough?” during floor debate.

Evangelical Jim Fletcher, a member of the executive committee for the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel (NCLCI) and director of Prophecy Matters, called Hamas the latest in the “pantheon of barbarians” and cited Isaiah 49 as prophetic about their end: “I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood …”

The most common Christian response I hear is an appeal to self-defense or Just-War. But, as Lebanese theologian Elie Haddad recently lamented: “I don’t know the context where just war theology was formed, but I live where it is implemented … and it is anything but just.”

The church is radicalizing on a dangerous trajectory. Eschatological debates and end-times fascination in part fuel zero-sum scenarios of mutually desired destruction. Islamists, Zionists and conservative evangelicals are strange extremist bedfellows indeed.

Some Christians see all Palestinians and Arabs as a keffiyeh-wearing monolith and paint anyone who criticizes Israel as part of the antisemitic global left. They forget that the Arabs are co-descendants of Shem and sons of Abraham. Others see everything through the narrative of oppressed and oppressor, colonized and colonizer, good and evil. They forget that humans and human systems are complicated jumbles of motives, history and evil. It is rarely simple.

Jesus called his followers to be peacemakers, to love their neighbors and enemies, to employ an alternative to the radicalized partisanship of the day. They were to be an embodiment of human flourishing, of shalom.

Western Christians are concerned about many things in the Middle East, but the work of peacemaking seems very far down the list.

(Scott Gustafson is the Ambassador Warren Clark Fellow for Churches for Middle East Peace. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

Groups try to save Africa’s only penguin species

Experts warn that the African penguin could be extinct in the wild by 2035. That’s why two environmental groups are taking legal action against the South African government to help save the species. Reporter Vicky Stark in Cape Town, South Africa, has the story.

Unilever to axe a third of European office jobs as part of growth plan

As many as 3,200 roles will be cut in Europe by the end of 2025.

By Eleanor Butler

Published on 12/07/2024 -

British consumer goods firm Unilever is slashing a third of its office positions across Europe in an attempt to regain competitiveness and drive growth.

The regional job losses, earmarked to be completed before the end of 2025, are part of a plan to cut 7,500 roles worldwide.

Unilever currently employs 128,000 people globally, and it has said that as many as 3,200 office workers in Europe could be made redundant. This is out of a total of 10,000 to 11,000 office personnel based in Europe.

"We are now, over the next few weeks, starting the consultation process with employees who may be impacted by the proposed changes," said a spokesperson for Unilever.

The exact locations of the job cuts have not formally been decided, although it has been suggested that centres in London and Rotterdam will be particularly affected.

The cuts are part of a programme announced in March, designed to boost productivity at Unilever.

CEO Hein Schumacher, appointed last year, is facing pressure from shareholders to build back market share following a series of disappointing results.

Sales figures have recently been improving, although Schumacher said in April that the company's transformation was still "at an early stage".

In March, the firm announced that it would be splitting off its Netherlands-based ice cream division to streamline operations.

This includes brands like Ben and Jerry's, Magnum, and Cornetto.

The cost-cutting changes, along with Schumacher's appointment, are partially being driven by pressure from American billionaire Nelson Peltz, who bought a stake in the company in 2022.

Redundancy estimates, first reported by the Financial Times, have since been confirmed by Unilever.

The end of the world as we know it: Famous soothsayer Baba Vanga’s prediction for 2025 is terrifying

By David Mouriquand

Published on 10/07/2024 -

As if we didn't have enough on our plate already... Altogether now: “It’s the end of the world as we know it...”

2024 hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing so far.

Japan’s devastating earthquake... Both the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war continue... The continued rise of the far-right (despite some positive respite with the recent UK and French elections)... The death of Alexei Navalny... And let’s not forget quite how bad Madame Web was and that Kayne West is still releasing music.

We could go on, and we’ve still got the “two old men in an old man war” US election to look forward to, as well as the ongoing threat of increasingly powerful AI models spreading beyond the control of humans and governments...

Now, legendary blind soothsayer Baba Vanga has reportedly revealed that the end times will commence in 2025. More specifically, that the start of our destruction will begin next year with a conflict in Europe that will devastate the continent’s population. It will be the kickstarting of events that will ultimately culminate in our doom.

In other words: 2025 will be the beginning of our end.

Wonderful.

Scroll down for her full predictions.

For those of you who have never heard of her, Vangelia Pandeva Gushterova, popularly known as Baba Vanga or “Nostradamus of the Balkans”, was born in 1911 and had alleged prophetic abilities.

Blind since childhood, the Bulgarian clairvoyant apparently was able to see into the future, "powers" she attributed to a tornado that left her blind. These abilities first brought her to public attention in the midst of World War II, and individuals like Bulgarian Tsar Boris III and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev reportedly consulted her in person.

She died in 1996 and has since become a cult figure among believers of soothsaying – and, as you can imagine, conspiracy theorists.

Apparently, many of her predictions have come true long after her death. For instance, Baba Vanga is said to have foretold the death of Princess Diana, the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk, and the 9/11 terror attacks. She even allegedly foresaw her own death on 11 August 1996 at the age of 85.

Of course, not many of the predictions attributed to her can be authenticated, as they are based on second-hand accounts.

Even though the mystic is no more, she made predictions for every year up until 5079.

Lucky us. Or maybe not, since she already made seven prophecies for 2024 – none of them particularly comforting (apart from an assassination attempt on Russian President Vladimir Putin by a fellow countryman).

Here are the famous blind mystic’s latest predictions – her timeline for our demise, if you will:

2025: War in Europe

The event that will spark humanity's demise will be an unspecified conflict in Europe which will decimate the continent's population.

2028: The exploration of Venus

Humans will begin to explore Venus as an energy source. (It's worth noting that the second planet from the Sun is inhospitable and nothing can grow there.)

2033: Melting of the ice caps

Baba Vanga reportedly foresaw that the polar ice caps will melt, raising sea levels to drastic heights worldwide.

2076: The return of Communism

Communism will spread to countries across the world.

2130: First contact

Humans will supposedly make alien contact – thereby confirming that The X Files were right all along.

2170: Global drought

Climate change will continue to ravage the planet and a drought will devastate much of the world.

3005: The Martian war

Earth will go to war with a civilization on Mars. There’s no further information on who kicked things off, but we’re betting it’s probably us and not the Martians. We’re not the friendliest of species, let’s face facts.

3797: The end of the world – Part I

The Earth will no longer be able to support life, meaning the humans that have survived the Martian war will have to vacate the Earth because it has become uninhabitable.

5079: The end of the world – Part II (For real this time)

The end of everything. The grand finale. The world ends.

There we have it.

As previously mentioned, not many of the predictions attributed to her can be authenticated, and Vanga was far from infallible, so take all of this with a fistful of salt.

She did get some right, but she did also predict that a major nuclear power plant was supposed to explode last year and that the Earth would be hit by a devasting solar storm... So we dodged those catastrophies.

It’s also worth mentioning that when it comes to predictions on our future, Vanga is not alone. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists also announces a yearly estimation with its Doomsday Clock, which was this year set to 90 seconds to midnight. For the second year in a row. It’s the closest it’s ever been to midnight in the history of the clock.

Not very reassuring, is it?

All we can do now is hope that Baba Vanga’s doomsday visions are skewed, that we finally wake up and learn to live together by focusing on what unites us rather than divides us. And not piss off any Martians, naturally.

Failing that, brace yourselves for next year. It's going to be a doozy.

Euroviews. Uniting Europe through rail is the key to a greener, more passenger-focused future

By TC Chew, Global Rail Leader, Arup

Published on 12/07/2024 -

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

Europe’s rail system must embrace a total systems approach, where silos are broken down, and all stakeholders collaborate for transformative outcomes, TC Chew writes.

For decades, Europe has mooted a more competitive rail sector that could seamlessly cross national borders and carry more passengers and freight.

There have been huge strides forward with shared climate targets and more interoperability of train journeys across borders.

But to boost rail as the go-to form of travel over more carbon-intensive alternatives such as short-haul flights, more work needs to be done on improving the experience for individual passengers.

While ambitious plans to triple high-speed rail across the region by 2050 exist, with trains accounting for just 6% of inland passenger transport in the EU, more needs to be done to make rail journeys a more appealing choice.

A modern, interconnected rail system can help Europe achieve its environmental goals but putting it in place will require relentless focus on the consumer experience.

A continental approach for rail

There are some best-in-class cases of rail systems across Europe. Zurich and Vienna are often featured on best-of lists for offering fantastic conditions for travellers on the continent.

There has also been significant progress in the vision for an integrated, continental rail network, with the European Union having recognised the need to boost cross-border rail.

Initiatives such as the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) are helping smooth train journeys internationally, speeding up journey times and improving safety.

But there are still big challenges to overcome — like the ageing of the vital infrastructure that makes rail work.

As Europe’s railways age, continued investment in maintenance and utilising modern technology and data standards is vital for minimising disruption so consumers are confident they can rely on trains when they travel.

To truly modernise Europe's rail systems, we must fulfil the vision of a continental strategy rather than taking a country-by-country approach. Different countries have varying levels of rail development, but all must come together to harmonise standards and invest in a unified system.

This requires three things: first, a commitment to cross-border collaboration and a set of basic requirements across the region for upgrading stations, tracks and carriages. Second, a strategic approach to investment and upgrades.

Instead of using funds for projects that will only bring quick improvements at the national level, EU states must invest across the whole of Europe in technologies such as integrated communication and passenger information systems.

Finally, a continent-wide regeneration of Europe’s rail systems, from signalling and communications to rolling stock, requires strong leadership to unite efforts and encourage the sharing of best practices.

Designing with humans at the centre

To encourage people to choose rail over cars and planes, rail services must deliver a seamless, safe, and reliable travel experience. This requires a holistic approach to improving performance and train and station conditions.

The entire rail industry — operators, regulators, suppliers, and governments — must work together to enhance passenger experience. Quality services, punctuality, and comfortable facilities will foster trust and encourage more people to choose rail travel.

To do this, we must start with the passengers. Meeting their transport needs in a way that’s as quick, easy, reliable, affordable, inclusive, and comfortable as possible is critical to success.

Staff across the rail industry also need to feel inspired and supported to deliver the quality of service everyone wants to see.

We also need to consider the expectations of communities in and around the rail network if we want our investments to translate into greater prosperity and social well-being.

Projects like Copenhagen’s metro expansion and Madrid’s Chamartin masterplan showcase the potential of integrating rail with broader urban planning to enhance connectivity.

These two cities are acutely aware that the journey doesn’t end at the station and that door-to-door convenience is essential, requiring integration with other modes of transport.

Resilient rail for a changing climate

Trains are touted as the most environmentally friendly form of mass transport – accounting for just 2% of the world’s transport energy demand.

But unprecedented temperatures and increasingly frequent extreme weather events put global rail networks at risk, exacerbating existing challenges like ageing infrastructure and capacity constraints. Rail operators are being forced to spend billions to deal with disruption and damage caused by climate change.

Last month, the UK’s Network Rail announced that it would spend £2.8 billion over the next five years to ensure its infrastructure is able to cope with the risks of climate change. Building more resilient rail systems now will be less disruptive – and less costly – than constantly responding to emergencies.

However, resilience investment shouldn’t be viewed as a distraction from other rail improvements — it’s a vital part of making everything else work.

"Business-as-usual" things like governance, managing existing infrastructure in a smart way, operational planning, use of data and technology, and workforce planning don’t make headlines. But their impact can be as significant as major new investment in building climate change resilience.

We can also draw on lessons from other continents. For example, Japan’s rail network is highly energy-efficient, with electric trains accounting for a significant portion of the fleet and a conscious use of recycled materials.

Europe’s rail system must embrace a total systems approach, where silos are broken down, and all stakeholders collaborate for transformative outcomes.

While achieving a single European rail network may seem ambitious, the benefits outweigh the challenges.

The rail sector already makes a substantial contribution to the EU economy, directly employing more than half a million people with an economic footprint of €143bn.

We need to make bold and united decisions for our railways' future, and we must do it at pace.

TC Chew is Global Rail Leader at Arup.

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