from Photographers Blog:
An egg by any other name
By Lisi Niesner
Egg. Or as it's known in other languages: Ei, яйцо, jajiko, muna, uovo, ägg, yumurta, oeuf, αβγό, tojás, vajce, بيضة, aeg, jaje, ovo, yai, 雞蛋, telur, huevo
It's the hard-shelled reproductive body produced by a bird and especially by the common domestic chicken, which is the definition that first comes to our sense. Obviously an egg is much more than the daily of decision how we like to have our breakfast: scrambled, fried or poached. Tea enthusiasts use a tea egg and we call someone naughty a bad egg. We walk on egg shells when we act cautiously as well as using eggs for certain sayings: no two eggs are exactly alike, for example.
Even scientists, theologians and philosophers have spent quite a lot of time thinking, discussing and literally quarreling about the egg. The question of how life began has always bothered mankind; we come up with approaches and theories to answer one question in particular: which came first, the chicken or the egg?
The egg plays a special role in every culture around the globe. It is the beginning and the end, life and death, birth and mortality. In many cultures, eggs were and still are symbols of cure, fertility, hope and sacrifice. They are also given on the way to the afterlife in some faiths.
Over 800 complaints to Austrian Catholic Church sexual abuse commission
An Austrian commission investigating sexual abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church said on Wednesday over 800 people had come forward to register as victims in the past year. Over a third of the cases have been settled, the head of the commission, Waltraud Klasnic, told a news conference. She said the number of complaints showed that the church must screen priests more carefully and look into their mental state before allowing them to qualify.
Klasnic said the commission, which was set up a year ago, was also looking into the structures that allowed such abuse and violence to occur, according to remarks carried by the Austria Press Agency (APA). Around three-quarters of the 837 complaints involved male victims. The commission does not pass legal judgment but hands over plausible cases to the authorities and most have the cases processed so far have involved compensation.
Abuse scandals in Austrian Catholic institutions have badly damaged the religion’s image with a record 87,000 people quitting the church in 2010. Hundreds of reports of child sexual abuse in Austrian Catholic institutions were triggered by the resignation of an arch-abbot in Salzburg last April after he admitted to sexually abusing a boy 40 years ago.
The abuse crisis has also hit the United States and several other European countries, including the pope’s native Germany.
The church plays an important role in Austria, a socially conservative Alpine country of 8 million, where around two-thirds of people described themselves as Catholic in 2008.
via More than 800 approach Austrian church abuse commission | Reuters.
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Teh church is filth and perhaps the worst criminal organization in the western world.
Back about 1000AD the church stopped priests from marrying, and in the queerest marriage of them all, had the priests married to the church, including getting a wedding ring.
the reason was so the church and not the priests family would inherit his property.
Aand that is a primary component of what led to and continues to lead to sex abuse.
If the church wanted to stop the abuse, they wouldn’t get rid of gay priests but make sure only gays could be priests. This way they could have the priests still married to the church, but getting their satisfaction from other age appropriate partners.
European far right courts Israel in stepped-up anti-Islam drive
Far-right political parties in Europe are stepping up their anti-Muslim rhetoric and forging ties across borders, even going so far as to visit Israel to hail the Jewish state as a bulwark against militant Islam.
Marine Le Pen of France’s National Front has shocked the French political elite in recent days by comparing Muslims who pray outside crowded mosques — a common sight especially during the holy month of Ramadan — to the World War Two Nazi occupation. Oskar Freysinger, a champion of the Swiss ban on minarets, warned a far-right meeting in Paris on Saturday against “the demographic, sociological and psychological Islamisation of Europe”. German and Belgian activists also addressed the crowd.
Geert Wilders, whose populist far-right party supports the Dutch minority government, told Reuters last week he was organising an “international freedom alliance” to link grass-roots groups active in “the fight against Islam”. Earlier this month, Wilders visited Israel and backed its West Bank settlements, saying Palestinians there should move to Jordan. Like-minded German, Austrian, Belgian, Swedish and other far-rightists were on their own Israel tour at the same time. “Our culture is based on Christianity, Judaism and humanism and (the Israelis) are fighting our fight,” Wilders said. “If Jerusalem falls, Amsterdam and New York will be next.”
Campaigns aimed at Muslims have been gaining ground in Europe, most notably with the Swiss minaret ban last year and France’s law this year against full facial veils in public, which Wilders said the Netherlands should copy next year. Support for these steps has spread beyond anti-immigrant parties and towards the political centre as globalisation and the ageing of Europe’s population fuel voters’ concerns about national sovereignty, according to leading French analyst Dominique Reynié.
Austrian far-right surges in Vienna vote
Austria’s resurgent far-right party won over a quarter of the vote in Vienna’s provincial election as voters took their discontent to the ballot box, reflecting a wider European trend as voters concerned about the economic crisis and integration of Muslims turn to rightist parties.
Vienna’s Social Democrats under Michael Häupl, mayor since 1994, won 44.1 percent, losing their absolute majority while Heinz-Christian Strache’s far-right Freedom Party scooped up 27.1 percent, up from 15 percent in 2005. All the other main parties lost ground. The results suggest Freedom, which has called for a ban on mosques with minarets and on Islamic face veils, is returning to its strength of the late 1990s.
Analysts say that if the centrist parties keep losing support, they might start catering more to far-right concerns on social policy, mulling for example a ban on Islamic face veils in public and stricter limits on immigration.
Far-right anti-mosque video game triggers outrage in Austria
The picturesque Austrian province of Styria is overrun by huge mosques with minarets, if you are to believe an online video game designed for the far-right Freedom Party ahead of regional elections on September 26.
In a shooting range-style game, players have 60 seconds to collect points by putting a target over animated mosques and minarets that emerge from the Styria countryside and clicking a “Stop” sign. They also have the chance to eliminate bearded muezzin who call Muslims to prayer.
The “Bye Bye Mosque” game, which has had over 60,000 visitors since Monday, has drawn sharp criticism from Austria’s Social Democrats, Green Party and Islamic community.
The game is “tasteless and incomprehensible in a country in which up until now people have lived in peace and harmony,” Anas Schakfeh, the leader of Austria’s Islamic community told broadcaster ORF. “This is religious hatred and xenophobia beyond comparison.”
The Green candidate for the Styria election has asked authorities to investigate the Freedom Party for incitement.
The Austrian debate is symptomatic of a wider trend in the United States and in Europe where Islam is becoming a political issue. Geert Wilder’s anti-Islam party doubled its seats in the Dutch parliament after elections last month and Swiss voters backed a ban on building minarets in a referendum last November.
The game ends with the line “Styria is full of minarets and mosques. So vote for Dr. Gerhard Kurzmann and the Freedom Party on September 26 so that this doesn’t happen.”
@ Aliah, prove to me what YOUR saying is right. Show me some key sections from the Koran emphasizing the basis of Islam on peace. Second, show me your research about masons ruling the world.
Austrian priests critical of Rome, want marriage allowed
The Catholic Church is stuck in the past and has handled the recent sexual abuse scandal poorly, according to a rare survey of 500 priests in Austria, which also showed a majority in favour of allowing them to marry and for women to become priests.
Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn was rebuked by the Vatican on Monday for accusing a top official of covering up sexual abuse, but it appears he is not the only Austrian to question how Rome has handled the issue.
Only 21 percent of Austrian priests think that the Vatican has done a good job in terms of dealing with the problem, the survey by researcher GFK Austria showed. Around half said they were at odds with many aspects of the Catholic leadership, and 48 percent agreed with a statement that the church leadership was “helpless” and “lacking vision.”
The sexual abuse crisis has hit the United States and several European countries, including the pope’s native Germany. Five bishops in Europe have resigned — one has admitted sexual abuse, another is under investigation and three have stepped down over their handling of abuse cases.
It has also sparked a debate about celibacy of priests, a practice which dates back to the 12th century and which the pope has said must continue, warning that the Church must not succumb to “passing cultural fashions.”
Several senior prelates in German- speaking countries, including Schoenborn, have suggested a link between abuse and the priest’s vow of chastity and have called for more open discussion in the Church about celibacy and priests’ sexuality.
Pope rebukes Austrian cardinal who accused peer of cover-up
Pope Benedict, still struggling to control the damage a sexual abuse scandal has done to the Catholic Church’s image, has bluntly told his top advisers that they should not trade accusations in public.
The Vatican issued an unusual statement on Monday in which it effectively said the pope had censured Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, who last month publicly accused another cardinal of covering up sexual abuse.
“Regarding accusations against a cardinal, we remind everyone that, in the Church, only the pope has the authority to accuse a cardinal,” said the statement, a rare case of the Church making its internal bickering public.
The statement — issued after a meeting between the pope, Schönborn, Sodano and secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone — said Church officials had to “show due respect” for each other.
Last month Schönborn criticized Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who served from 1990 to 2006 as secretary of state, the Vatican’s second-most important position. In a conversation with Austrian newspaper editors, he accused Sodano of having blocked an investigation of into sexual abuse by former Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, who stepped down as archbishop of Vienna in 1995 after allegations that he had sexually abused young seminarians.
“The pope should be encouraging, not forbidding, more open conversation about cover ups of clergy sex crimes by bishops, not less,” said David Clohessy, executive director of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). “If Pope Benedict has his way, however, such prelates won’t even face discussion, much less discipline. This is a recipe for continued disaster.”
GUESTVIEW: No good deed goes unpunished
The following is a guest contribution. Reuters is not responsible for the content and the views expressed are the authors’ alone. Father Joseph Fessio, S.J. is founder and editor of Ignatius Press, which is the primary English-language publisher of the works of Pope Benedict XVI and which has published several books by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. He is also publisher of Catholic World Report magazine.
By Father Joseph Fessio, S.J.
Did Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna “attack” Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals and former Vatican secretary of state? If The Tablet weekly in London were your only source of information, you’d think so, because that’s what the headline screamed.
What happened?
Cardinal Schönborn, who like his mentor Pope Benedict is a model of openness and transparency, invited the editors of Austria’s dozen or so major newspapers to a meeting at his residence in Vienna. How many bishops can you name who have extended such an invitation to the press?
The journalists agreed that this would be an “off the record” meeting so that everyone could take part freely and frankly. Was this to impose silence on the press? To cover up once again the misdeeds of clerics? No, it was an attempt by Cardinal Schönborn to be as open as possible and to make himself available to answer any question that was asked. It was an attempt to help educate the press on matters that the press often finds difficult to grasp—such as the essential foundations of the hierarchical and sacramental structure of the Church, and the intricacies of moral theology.
Cardinal Schönborn is a Dominican and a professor. Which means that he has a serious scholar’s grasp of the foundations as well as the conclusions of moral theology, particularly as expounded by St. Thomas Aquinas.
objective depravity. This is what the church calls part of God’s creation – the gays.
No wonder they are driven to suicide, and sometimes murdered. by the church of “life”
The whole world is changing. Fancy words, and ideas from an age of the ‘anything but’ holy roman empire cannot change the fact that gay people are more and more being accepted as the good people they are. While the church in Europe is dying quickly, and splitting here.
And btw, the two states with the lowest divorce rate in the USA are Mass and Conn. Two of the first states with gay marriage.
And lets not forget that the church has yet to EXcommunicate Hitler. Born and Baptised a catholic in very Catholic Austria. Where he learned his hatred of the Jews – Jesus own people- from the poison the church put into society over a millenia. And it was this hatred that hitler leveraged to get elected. And 50 million people died.
And in 2009, RATZInger UNexcommunicated a Bishop Williamson, who is a holocaust denier / minimizer. To bring Williamson’s 600,000 mad followers back into the church.
At least Argentina had the you know whats to throw Williamson out of the ocuntry. And just recently their legislature passed a gay marriage bill.
I used to think that Ratzinger was a hitler in disguise. Now I believe he is part of Gods plan to help change, or destroy, the church that has always needed some victim to hate, to sell their corrupt brand of love.
The catholic church is, as we’ve seen in endless revelations of the cover up of sexual (and mental) abuse of children, like a Pathological liar. So corrupt that it cant possibly even understand its own corruptness.
it fits perfectly the definition of Power: Power corrupts,and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And when you claim to speak for God, it gets just that much more worse.
from India Insight:
Is caste behind the killing in Vienna and riots in Punjab?
Why did the murder of a preacher in a Sikh temple in Vienna spark riots in the faraway Indian state of Punjab, in which thousands took to the streets to torch cars, trains and battle security forces?
The root cause may lie in India's caste system that Sikhism officially rejects, but that still grips swathes of India's billion-plus people, including in Sikh-dominated Punjab state in northwestern India.
"Via Vienna, Sikh caste war returns, sets Punjab aflame" ran the headline of the Hindustan Times.
The preacher, Guru Sant Rama Nand, 57, was killed in a gurdwara in the Austrian capital in an attack by six men armed with knives and a gun.
He was from the Dera Sach Khand, a religious sect separate from mainstream Sikhism that has a large support base of Indian Dalits, or "untouchables", and other lower castes.
The leader of Dera Sach Khand, Guru Sant Niranjan Das, 68, was wounded in the attack.
The thousands who went on the rampage in Punjab on Monday were mainly Dalits. Authorities have imposed a curfew in parts of the state, in which three protesters died on Monday in clashes with security forces.
The so called sikhs do not know the greatness of Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Only those few who day and night stay absorbed and follow one hundred percent teachings of Guru Granth Sahib Ji and when they achieve that highest level of spiritualism which is called in Gurmat Sahej Awastha, then they say Wah Guru (Guru you are wonderful). Those few really know how sacred and great is Guru Granth Sahib. That is why I say there is nothing in this universe that can disrespect Guru Granth SahibJi unless they consider it just an object. To live a life according to the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib Ji is not an easy task. The so called heads of followers of Guru Granth Sahib Ji are not even one hundredth of a per cent close to following. They have made it very easy that just keep reading or pay the people to read for you. Can a follower say if any of the Kam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh and Hankar have been conquered? If none do not call yourself follower of Guru Granth Sahib Ji. I do not want to go more in detail just want to mention one more teaching of Guru Granth Sahib Ji and that is Hukam – whatever is happening is the Hukam of Wahegur or His Rajha and we should live happy in His Rajha.
from Global News Journal:
Austrian far-right leader isolated over Israel stance
Senior figures from across Austria's political spectrum have condemned the head of the far-right Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache, over his party's European election campaign directed against Israel and Turkey.
In an advertisement in the newspaper Kronen Zeitung, Freedom opposes the accession of Turkey and Israel to the European Union. Although Turkey is in EU accession talks, Israel is not.
Heinz-Christian Strache prepares for a TV discussion in Vienna, Sept. 17, 2008. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader (AUSTRIA)
"What is the most distasteful and despicable is the style," says Ernst Strasser, the conservatives' candidate in next month's elections for the European Parliament, referring to Strache's campaign. "This style is abusive. He vilifies other religions and ethnicities."
According to Chancellor Werner Faymann, Strache is "a hate monger, a disgrace".
"It makes absolutely no sense for Israel to be mentioned. Israel is not a candidate for accession. There isn't even an accession process. The only reason to mention Israel is to serve anti-Semitic prejudices. It is disgraceful."
It is a shame for Austria population to have a far right candidate that try to manipulate and not respect the population of Austria as a country, also to use antisemitism and discrimination as a tool to gain popularity.
He is puting down the inner values of Austria’s population, worse and more affected after the WWII role.
More puting a shadow in the EU elctions. With these kind of opportunism the population of the other countries belonging to EU are for sure not trusting the leadership an EU role and less the future election . Must be a clean of the house and policy inside EU and not let use kind of proselitism and not let any candidate the use of the democratic way of opinion like the right to vote as a tool to manipulate and non respect the Austria population in this case and in consequence the rest of European population.
In name of FREEDOM right radicalism in Austria can start dividing and confusing the youth and manipulating old fears still in the air of the past WWII and cold war.
The only good thing of these is that now in the global era this kind of attitudes can be inmediately pointed out and resolved , there is no excuse now , technology and dialogue allows to fix dialogue and eliminate shadows and manipulation….the only condition maybe be to be direct to the point in dialogue.No middle words.
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Resident FaithWorld Expert
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