Don't You Just Love Irony? > China's Communist Government Orders Christians to Pray for Fallen Soldiers

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China orders Christians to pray for dead communist soldiers

or face consequences

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, 

Christian Post Reporter 

Monday, September 06, 2021

Catholics attend a Christmas eve mass at a Catholic church near the city of Taiyuan, Shanxi province,

December 24, 2012. | Reuters/Jason Lee/File Photo

Though Chinese Christians are banned from honoring their own martyrs, they are now required to pray for communist soldiers who died in the war with imperial Japan to “demonstrate the good image of peace-loving Christianity in China.”

According to religious liberty magazine Bitter Winter, the Chinese Communist Party recently issued a new directive requiring state-sponsored churches to pray for soldiers of the Red Army who died during the resistance war against Japanese occupation forces.

The directive was reportedly sent to all churches that are part of the government-controlled Protestant Three-Self Church.

In part, the directive orders churches to “organize peace prayer worship activities to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War around Sept. 3, according to the actual situation.”

It adds: “Local churches and congregations may, according to the actual local situation, carry out relevant peace prayer activities in a small and decentralized form, in line with the local requirements for prevention and control of the new COVID epidemic, to further promote the fine tradition of patriotism and love of religion and to demonstrate the good image of peace-loving Christianity in China.”

Churches are further "required to submit evidence of the relevant activities (text, video and photo materials) to the Media Ministry Department of the China Christian Council by September 10” or face consequences, according to Bitter Winter. 

In August, members of the Theological Seminary in Fujian were also invited to attend a celebration to pay tribute to martyrs of what China dubs “People’s War of Resistance Against the Japanese Aggression.”

Prayers were held seeking the intercession of “Jesus, the King of Peace” for the “peaceful reunification” of China, Bitter Winter reported.

Though the CCP requires churches to pray for deceased communist soldiers, Bitter Winter notes that Christians in China are forbidden to pray for their martyrs, and those killed by the CCP cannot be commemorated.

Religious persecution is worsening across China, as President Xi Jinping’s "sinicization campaign," introduced in 2015, seeks to bring religions under the officially atheist party’s absolute control and into line with Chinese culture.

In May, the CCP ordered churches affiliated with the government to plan celebrations to mark 100 years of its existence.

In addition to asking religious persons to learn the history of the party, go on a “pilgrimage” to visit revolutionary sites, or hold exhibitions at religious venues, churches were required to host events featuring centennial celebrations.

The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association in Jiangbei district of Chongqing city subsequently held a “Grateful and Praise for the CCP Blessing Mass” at one of its worship gatherings.

“The Church should organically unify ‘Love Party, Love Country, and Love Socialism’ and faith; boldly speak about politics, while speaking about faith in accordance with law,” Ding Yang, the priest who officiated the mass, was quoted as saying.

Open Doors USA, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, estimates that there are about 97 million Christians in China, a large percentage of whom worship in what China considers to be “illegal” and unregistered underground home churches.

However, house church leaders are under intense pressure to join the government-controlled church. Those who refuse face intense persecution, as the government has installed more than 170 million facial recognition cameras, many in or near churches, to identify those who attend worship services.

Christians are often charged with participating in cults or with other crimes against the CCP, such as “bad business practices” or “intent to undermine the state.” 

The government has also imposed a ban on the online sale of Bibles.

Authorities also pressure Christian parents by refusing their children an education, threatening to send their children to government re-education camps or forcibly remove adopted children from their parents.

The U.S. State Department has labeled China as a “country of particular concern” for “continuing to engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

Don't You Just Love Irony - German University's ‘DISCRIMINATORY’ Job Ad for ANTI-DISCRIMINATION Counselor

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Whites need not apply? German university in hot water after ‘DISCRIMINATORY’

job ad for ANTI-DISCRIMINATION counselor

27 Aug, 2021 17:25

FILE PHOTO: The building of the Humboldt University of Berlin. ©  Global Look Press / Jens Kalaene

Berlin’s renowned Humboldt University has gotten in hot water after its Students Council published an ad for the position of anti-discrimination counselor. The ad was branded discriminatory as it discouraged whites from applying.

In late July, Humboldt University’s Students Council (AstA) announced it was looking for a person to fill the position of an “anti-discrimination” counselor to help students facing discrimination over “race, ethnicity or migrant background” starting from September 15.

The job ad never hid the fact that the counseling would be held on a “partial” basis that would be focused on the “needs and positions of a person seeking advice.” It also added that the goal was to create an atmosphere “in which those affected by racist discrimination feel comfortable to share their experiences.”

Yet, it apparently went a step too far when it openly said that such a goal would be best achieved only if “the counselor is… black or a person of color.” The Students Council also did not stop at this and openly added that it “asks the white people to refrain from applying for this counselor position.”

The issue was picked up by the German media on Thursday and quickly drew criticism from politicians. Adrian Grasse, a Berlin lawmaker, condemned the ad as a “clear violation” of Germany’s General Equal Treatment Act.

“The advertisement for an anti-discriminatory [counselor] position is itself discriminatory,” Grasse, who is a science policy spokesman for the Berlian parliamentary faction of the Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right CDU party, told the German media.

The politician also demanded that university President Sabine Kunst and Berlin’s Mayor Michael Mueller “immediately ensure” the “scandalous” job ad is “taken down.” “Conditions listed there, according to which people with white skin should not apply, are illegal and blatantly discriminatory,” Mueller told Germany’s Bild newspaper, adding that “racism must not be fought with racism.”

German MP Christoph de Vries, also a CDU member, slammed the controversial ad as well, saying that it violates the nation’s constitution. “In short, the job advertisement is racist and discriminatory,” he told Bild, calling the ad an example of the “excesses of the leftist identity politics” that are increasingly dividing German society.

The gravity of the issue reached such proportions that even Germany’ Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency had to take a stand on it. “In such a case, certain applicants must not be excluded from the onset,” the agency’s head, Bernhard Franke, told Bild.

Following the outcry, the university told the German media it was “expressly not in the interests” of the educational facility to discriminate against any people, regardless of their skin color, origin, gender, ideology or age. The university also said that it sees itself as a “place [of] plurality of opinions, mutual appreciation and respect.”

The university also said that it asked the student council to review the advertisement but denied any legal responsibility for the incident. The student body is technically an independent structure that is not subject to legal supervision by the university administration, a spokesman for the educational facility told Die Welt newspaper.

The Student Council itself did not comment on the scandal. Instead, it changed the ad on Thursday evening and removed the controversial passage discouraging whites from applying for the job. Now, the ad says that the “counseling work has shown” that its goals are “best achieved by people” who experienced racist discrimination themselves. It also says that the council wants to “particularly encourage” victims of racist discrimination to apply for this position.

A similar ad for another “anti-discrimination counselling” job published by the council in May still features a passage that says it is “desirable” that the future counselor have a “relevant background (is black or a person of color).” 

Please don't write me nasty letters. I am not the least concerned about this issue; I just enjoy the irony.

Fired Ukrainian Deputy Minister Puts on Bikini & Announces Own Party to Fight ‘Male Political Prostitutes’ in Power

Spectacular Irony in Ukraine Politics

Ukraine's former deputy infrastructure minister, Aleksandra Klitina, has bounced back from her scandalous firing last year, saying she is going to return to politics to fight corrupt men, but her looks overshadowed her message.

The 37-year-old former official announced the creation of her own party, called ‘Ukraine against corruption’ in a video posted on YouTube.

In the clip, which was filmed outdoors, Klitina appeared sporting what looks like a bikini or a rather revealing dress and delivered a strong-worded address, bashing the men now ruling Ukraine.

video 0:55; in Ukrainian

“I decided to fight for truth myself because those pants-wearing idiots are hopeless,” she proclaimed, promising that her party will “finally deal with those male political prostitutes.”

They think that if they have something in their pants, it's enough for them to be successful and be eligible to abuse women. But women are a hundred times smarter and a hundred times more honest than you.

But online commenters were more interested in her looks than political message, confessing that they couldn't understand a word she was saying due to being fully consumed by the image on screen.

The woman also addressed her firing from the post of deputy infrastructure minister in November last year, insisting that her boss Vladislav Krikliy moved against her only because she was preventing thievery in the ministry.

Her sacking was preceded by two online leaks, which made headlines in the Ukrainian media. First, the MPs for the ruling party of President Volodymyr Zelensky were taped saying that Klitina got to her high position through the bedroom. Then she became the victim of a prankster who she told that her boss was corrupt and that she would make a much better infrastructure minister than him.

The new party apparently doesn't have too many members at the moment. At least, there was nobody to film and edit her address as the clip starts with the woman switching on the camera on her phone and ends with it being switched off.

Wide-spread corruption has been a major stumbling block in Ukraine's development in recent decades. Every president, including Zelensky, vowed to eradicate it, but so far haven't achieved any significant results.

Of course not. The oligarchs control Ukraine and no-one can control them.

Russian Communists Prepared to Abandon Atheism - Delicious Irony

Lenin would be rolling in his grave, if he had one: Russian Communists back plan to put 'God' in constitution

Gennady Zyuganov © Sputnik / Vitaly Belousov

By Jonny Tickle

It's not so long ago that they were known as the "Godless Communists." Which means it still comes as a surprise that the party has no objection to the idea of including a reference to the man upstairs in Russia's constitution.

A century on from the Bolshevik revolution, things have come a long way. Russian and other Soviet Communist officials once reveled in their promotion of state atheism, so present leader Gennady Zyuganov's reasoning has also raised a few eyebrows.

Far from being the ‘Opium of the People,’ Zyuganov said that Communism is actually derived from Christianity. Leaving no doubt that party founder Vladimir Lenin would be to rolling in his grave – if he had one.

“When I studied the Bible, in the gospel of the Apostle Paul ... there was the main slogan of Communism. He who does not work does not eat.” he explained. “Actually, in many ways, the moral code of a builder of Communism is built on the Bible.”

While Orthodox Patriarch Kirill and the rest of his church surely welcome the sentiment, they may also dwell on the fact that the Soviet-era Communist party brutally suppressed Christians and murdered thousands of clergy.

Although Zyuganov’s beliefs are very far from Marxism and traditional communist doctrine, his colleagues in the State Duma weren't hugely surprised by his views. This isn’t the party leader’s first flirtation with religion – he once called Jesus Christ the first communist on earth.

Before the establishment of the Soviet Union, Russia was a profoundly religious country. The integration of the Orthodox Church into the government meant that Lenin considered them an organ of the bourgeoisie. Thus, the revolutionary leaders adopted an official atheist policy and, after decades of propaganda, religion in the Soviet Union was absent from mainstream thought.

The break-up of the USSR led to faith being thrust back into the limelight within Russia, and many former staunchly Communist Russians began to turn to Christianity. With over 80 percent of the modern Russian population believing in a God, it's not a shock to see products of the Soviet system simultaneously promoting God and Communism.

There is no confirmation yet if God will be included in the new Constitution. A working group is currently designing all the proposals, and a confirmatory national vote is due to be held on April 22, 2020 – Lenin’s 150th birthday.

'We are New Russians': How a Hard-Drinking Nation Curbed its Alcohol Use

While Canada legalizes marijuana and getting stoned increases sharply, Russia is moving in the opposite direction, and God bless them.

Russia now ranks 14th in terms of alcohol consumption globally,

and is comparable to France and Germany

Chris Brown · CBC News · Moscow Correspondent

Sober Russia volunteer Eduard Grigoriev shows off a pre-mixed, homemade bottle of energy drink and vodka

during a vigilante raid on an after-hours liquor store in Moscow. (Corinne Seminoff/CBC)

Once the holder of the dubious title of one of the world's hardest-drinking nations, Russia has fallen steadily down the list — and Eduard Grigoriev likes to think his group can claim some of the credit.

Chris Brown's use of the word 'fallen' here is very interesting. More on that at the bottom of this page.

A volunteer with the group Sober Russia, the 21-year-old is a self-proclaimed liquor vigilante. Since his teens, Grigoriev has been helping police crack down on businesses that break Russia's ever-stricter liquor laws.

"Four years ago, when we started, eight out of 10 stores in Moscow were selling illegal alcohol. Right now, it's three out of 10," said Grigoriev of the role that his band of helpers have played in ensuring liquor violators are brought to the attention of police.

Illegal alcohol sales usually take the form of homemade distilled spirits or legally made products sold after hours. Russian law prohibits any off-licence sales in corner stores or grocery stores past 11 p.m. at night.

The restrictions on availability have been part of a sweeping series of measures enacted by the Russian government since 2005, aimed at curbing widespread alcohol abuse in the country.

In its latest report, the World Health Organization acknowledges the efforts have paid off with significantly lower rates of consumption.

Sweeping restrictions

Grigoriev's group has affiliations with the governing United Russia party and Vladimir Putin's administration, but Grigoriev said Sober Russia isn't political, and everyone who joins is a volunteer.

The group's tactics involve sending volunteers into corner stores after Russia's 11 p.m. curfew and entrapping staff who sell booze.

Grigoriev, left, and another Sober Russia member report back on the outcome of their sting operation with

a Moscow police officer. (Pascal Dumont/CBC)

A crew from CBC's Moscow bureau was with Grigoriev's team recently when they visited the city's southern suburbs and documented several of their ensnarement stings.

"We're doing this because we think we can make Russia a better place to live in," Grigoriev explained. "This is our future."

Grigoriev said that if fewer stores sell illegal alcohol, "the better the alcohol will be in legal stores, and the less people will have health problems."

Sales of illegally distilled spirits in Russia have been a deadly health problem. In one of the worst cases in recent times, 78 people died in the Siberian city of Irkutsk in 2016 after drinking tainted moonshine.

Last week, police released a video of a police raid in a factory that was manufacturing illegal vodka just outside Moscow. It resulted in the seizure of more than 77,000 bottles. Not long before that, a bust at a factory in the central Russian city of Nefteyugansk netted about 30,000 bottles. Police claim the booze would have made people badly sick.

A nurse walks through the emergency ward at a Russian alcohol rehabilitation clinic. While Russians continue to be heavy drinkers, the World Health Organization considers their fight against alcoholism to be a success story. (Pascal Dumont/CBC)

In one of the Sober Russia stings the CBC crew witnessed, a shopkeeper sold several bottles of beer to a volunteer after the 11 p.m. curfew. Then, with our cameras rolling, other members entered the store and confronted the employee, who quickly denied doing anything improper.

Grigoriev's team then found several large plastic bottles behind the cash register that contained a mixture of alcohol and an energy drink.

"It's like Red Bull, but with alcohol," he said. "This is forbidden."

Less boozy

Twelve years ago, Russians consumed roughly 15 litres of alcohol per person a year, which put them in fourth in the world rankings of the hardest-drinking countries. Now, in Russia, the per capita average is closer to 10 litres. (By comparison, Canada drinks eight litres per capita per year.)

Russia now ranks 14th in terms of alcohol consumption globally, and is comparable to France and Germany.

Notably, the proportion of strong liquor, such as vodka, in the overall mix of Russian alcohol consumption is down substantially, by 31 per cent.    

"Alcohol consumption has decreased a lot," said professor Yevgeny Yakovlev of Moscow's New Economic School, where he tracks Russia's consumption habits.  

"We see that everywhere. Mortality from alcohol poisoning has decreased by 30 per cent," he said. Yakovlev noted that suicides where alcohol is believed to have played a role have fallen by roughly the same amount in the past 12 years.

"In all of these measures, we see progress," said Yakovlev.

Yakovlev credits aggressive government measures to restrict alcohol sales and to discourage use, such as increased taxation. 

Drinking in public is still in common in Russia. (Mikhail Metzel/Associated Press)

While taxes on alcohol are politically unpopular, the World Health Organization notes that automatic yearly tax increases on booze have contributed to better health outcomes.

Earlier this month, Russia's health ministry announced it was drafting legislation that could raise the country's drinking age from 18 to 21. The Moscow Times newspaper cited a poll suggesting strong public support for the higher drinking age.

Healthier choices

Many Russians are making healthier lifestyle choices more generally, which are contributing to the significant decline in alcohol use.

At a gym in eastern Moscow, Yuri Sysoev and Alexei Forsenco have gone further than most Russians in promoting an alcohol-free lifestyle, both in their own choices and with their outreach.

"If I look back, well, basically, I had child alcoholism," said Sysoev during a break from sparring with a partner in the boxing ring.

Now an actor and filmmaker in Moscow, the 31-year-old Sysoev said the 1990s were a difficult time in Russia. In the post-Soviet economic and political chaos, he said drinking was a means of escape for many.

"I was a little kid in the theatre playing [roles] of gnomes and hobbits, and I got pulled into [binge-drinking culture]," Sysoev said. About nine years ago, an epiphany about the destructive effect alcohol was having on his life prompted him to give it up entirely, he said.

Moscow film producers Yuri Sysoev, left, and Alexei Forsenco gave up drinking and took up fitness.

Then they made a movie about why young people should follow their example. (Pascal Dumont/CBC)

Forsenco, his 37-year-old friend and business partner, said his story is quite similar, except it took him longer to come to the same realization.

"It wasn't until I had kids of my own, about five years ago, that I understood alcohol could not be part of my family."

Forsenco said the decision to abstain from booze often catches the foreigners they meet off guard. But he said no one should be surprised.

"We are new Russians. We don't drink alcohol."

The pair have made a short film that they are showing at Russian high schools. They are sharing their experiences with students in the hope of dissuading teenagers from repeating their mistakes.

Entitled The Outcast, the film features a teen walking through an apartment complex who is being taunted by his friends for not drinking after school. Instead of yielding to peer pressure, he stays the course and chooses the healthy option of a good workout.

"I don't want to brag, but we are the first in Russia to be making a film like this," said Sysoev.

At a recent showing, students peppered Sysoev and Forsenco with questions about their experience with alcohol and its destructive impact.

"We have to fight this," Sysoev told the students. "Not with banners and meetings, but [you must] change yourself first, and then the world around you will change."

While the film has been well received by students, the pair said they have also run into resistance from nervous school administrators, who are afraid The Outcast might portray Russia in a bad light.

Truth is often a 'bad light'!

While more Russians are opting for healthy lifestyles, Sysoev said there are still too many instances of people walking in their neighbourhoods and seeing what he calls an "alcohol apocalypse" — like drunks sleeping on benches or just staggering around.

"That's why we wanted to make this film and send a message that a healthy lifestyle and healthy sport is right."

The comparison between Russia and Canada has some ironic colourtones. Russia is a very conservative country, Canada, under Justin Trudeau is a very progressive country. He thinks that's a good thing and so does most Canadian media, like the CBC. That's why I found it interesting that the reporter would use the term 'fallen' to describe the increasing sobriety in Russia. That wasn't exactly his intention, of course, but that's how it struck me.

The word 'fallen' is often used to describe someone who has died in combat, or someone who has 'fallen' into sin. 'Fallen from grace' is a Biblical phrase. If you are a reader of my other blog you will have found the sentence 'Sin is Progressive' mentioned several times. The irony that appeals to me is that someone from a country that is frantically 'progressing' into extreme liberalism should call a country that is 'progressing' toward a healthier, more sane lifestyle - fallen!

'Crawl Back Under Your Rock,’ Swedish FM Tells Anti-PC Academic Jordan Peterson UPDATE

UPDATE: Just 3 days after Sweden's far-left Foreign Minister insulted Peterson,

as though she were an adolescent, His book has become the #1 bestseller in Sweden!

Ironic, eh?

Jordan Peterson in Stockholm, Sweden on November 6, 2018 © Global Look Press

Canada's Professor Dr. Jordan Peterson is a lightning rod for far-left ideologues. For most, he is a target for name-calling because that's what people do when they cannot win an argument intellectually. Peterson's logical, even brilliant observations and conclusions frustrate liberal extremists no-end. Consequently, like the intellectually bankrupt foreign minister, they resort to adolescent behaviour.

I love irony and this situation presents some very delicious irony. You see, Sweden's far-left loonies see themselves as being far above the rest of us who are not extreme liberal ideologues. In their pride and arrogance, however, they don't seem to have noticed that their behaviour is strikingly like that of Donald Trump. What they think of Donald Trump and the realization that they are behaving in exactly the same manner should be a wake-up call. But nothing wakes up a far-left ideologue, nevertheless, it is delicious irony!

Sweden’s Foreign Minister has issued a rather undiplomatic request to Canadian academic and internet sensation Jordan B. Peterson, thrilling a Stockholm audience by expressing her desire to see him fade from the public eye.

Speaking on a “pro-women” panel in Sweden’s capital on Wednesday, Margot Wallström said that Peterson should "crawl back under the rock he came from,” adding that she "can't grasp why people waste so much time on that man." The snide remarks were reported by local media that covered the event.

Peterson recently visited Sweden to promote the international release of his new book, '12 Rules For Life, an Antidote to Chaos.’ The book has been slammed by the left as conservative snake oil and an affront to feminism.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom attends the Women Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Montreal, Canada,

September 21, 2018. © AFP / Martin Ouellet-Diotte

Wallström is one of the leading forces behind Sweden’s so-called “feminist foreign policy.”

Sweden has a feminist foreign policy? Crazy! It was Sweden who allowed more unvetted Muslim migrants from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa, per person, than even Germany. One of the consequences has to do with a dramatic increase in the sexual abuse of Swedish women and girls at the hands of migrants. Then they keep these incidents as quiet as possible so the girls are not aware of the dangers of being around migrant men. Is there a feminist policy there, somewhere?

Peterson became an overnight sensation after creating a series of YouTube videos in which he decried the Orwellian nature of Canada’s Bill C-16, which he said would force Canadians to use gender-neutral pronouns. The clinical psychologist has since become a widely followed lecturer, making a number of meme-famous appearances on television.

Peterson, who maintains an active and often combative Twitter account, has apparently not yet responded to Wallström’s fighting words.

And, he is not likely to. An adolescent act is not deserving of any response by a mature person.

Sri Lanka Declares State of Emergency as Sectarian Violence Erupts

By Sara Shayanian  

A state of emergency in Sri Lanka prompted the deployment of police officers and soldiers to civilian-populated areas, after clashes between Muslim and Buddhist communities. File Photo by M.A. Pushpa Kumara/EPA-EFE

UPI -- Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency Tuesday after violence erupted between Sinhalese and Muslim communities.

Officials said soldiers will be deployed to civilian areas for ten days, and a curfew was put in place.

Sinhalese - a people originally from northern India, now forming the majority of the population of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's government condemned recent arson attacks and riots in the central district of Kandy -- which damaged some places of worship, residences and businesses. Similar violence occurred last month when mobs set fire to Muslim-owned businesses and a mosque.

"The government also condemned the hate and mischievous targeting the Muslim community in particular and another as well, with the clear objective of creating among communities and inciting violence," officials said in a statement.

"The government urged for total cooperation from all citizens irrespective of any communal, religious differences to build a nation that is stable, peaceful and the progressive where diversity is respected."

Tensions flared in the country after a group of Muslim men were accused of killing a Buddhist man. The body of a 24-year-old Muslim man was later found in the town of Digana.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe tweeted Monday that the government would not hesitate to take action against the violence.

"As a nation that endured a brutal war we are all aware of the values of peace, respect, unity & freedom," Wickremesinghe said.

Alan Keenan, a Sri Lanka specialist with the International Crisis Group, said radical Buddhist groups -- who make up 75 percent of the population -- have targeted Muslims with "a significant degree of regularity" in the last five years.

"One of the key underlying elements is the sense that many Sinhalese and Buddhists have is that Sri Lanka is a Sinhalese and Buddhist island and other community, Muslims and Tamils, are here on the sufferance of the majority," Keenan said.

Sounds like Burma! Peace preaching Buddhists in Asia are seeming to become much more violent in their quest to hold on to historical lands in the face of increasing numbers of Muslims - the religion of Peace. Don't you just love irony?

First Modern Brits were Black, Groundbreaking DNA Test on 10,000-year-old Fossil Reveals

Don't you just love irony?

© Justin Tallis / AFP

A pioneering genetic analysis of the UK’s oldest complete skeleton, which is around 10,000 years old, has revealed that the first modern Britons had a “dark to black” complexion.

The National History Museum carried out cutting-edge genetic sequencing and facial recognition technology on the ‘Cheddar Man,’ the skeleton found near Gough’s Cave in the Cheddar Gorge, and found that the first British settlers had dark skin, dark curly hair and possibly blue eyes.

The research on the Mesolithic fossil undermines the commonly held assumption that a people’s geographical origin is a determinant of skin color and physique.

“It really shows up that these imaginary racial categories that we have are really very modern constructions, or very recent constructions, that really are not applicable to the past at all,” said Tom Booth, an archaeologist at the Natural History Museum who worked on the project.

Most white people currently living in Britain are believed to have 10 percent of the skeleton’s DNA.

“The combination of quite dark skin and blue eyes is something that we don’t imagine is typical, but that was the real appearance of these people, something that’s quite rare today,” said Professor Chris Stringer, research leader in human origins at the Natural History Museum.

Before the Cheddar Man’s lineage, there were around nine colonies of hunters, but it is understood that they were all wiped out by harsh temperatures. The Cheddar Man’s 12,000-man fort, however, thrived in the climate. They lived in tents and hunted boar and deer using hunting dogs, and bows and arrows.

Yoan Diekmann, a computational biologist at University College London and another member of the project’s team, agreed with Booth and called into question the link between Britishness and whiteness.

“The historical perspective that you get just tells you that things change, things are in flux, and what may seem as a cemented truth that people who feel British should have white skin, through time is not at all something that is an immutable truth,” he said.

The Cheddar Man was already known to have been around five foot five inches tall, around 10 stone in weight, with good teeth. He died in his early 20s.

The research is in stark contrast to a previous reconstruction of the Cheddar Man by the University of Manchester in 1998, which thought the British ancestor to be white-skinned. Director of the study, Robert Stoddard, is remarkably reported to have said that the Cheddar Man probably “looked pretty much like any modern inhabitant of a Somerset pub.”

The original model- composed without any access to genetic testing- also pictured the Cheddar Man to have straighter and lighter hair compared to the latest one.

“It may be that we may have to rethink some of our notions of what it is to be British, what we expect a Briton to look like at this time,” Dr Rick Schulting, associate professor of archaeology at Oxford University, told the Daily Mail.

Genetically, the Cheddar Man belonged to the “Western Hunter-Gatherers”, Mesolithic individuals from Spain, Hungary and Luxemburg.

His ancestors, however, are thought to have originated in Africa before moving to the Middle East and then Europe.

The European population has genes which are associated with reduced pigmentation, but the Cheddar Man was found to have “ancestral” versions of the genes, hence the new claim to “dark to black” skin tone.

When Political Correctness Implodes

What happens when the 2 darlings of political correctness collide?

Sweden Now Condemns Gay Pride March as Racist… 

Against Muslims?!

From Louder with Crowder

Gay pride march, Sweden

Last month the Swedish nationalists planned a gay pride parade (featuring everyone’s favorite day time entertainment, gay public kissing and/or heavy petting) and routed the parade through two Swedish Muslim districts of Tensta and Husby.

For those of you who’ve been living under a rainbow-painted rock, Muslims don’t like gay people. And not in the, “Ew it’s gross when two men kiss, make it stop,” kind of way. No, no, Muslims will kill gay people for being gay. Or because they’re jealous of their fashion sense. Just kidding, Muslims just kill gay people for all the gay reasons.

But as much as leftists champion equality and compassion, one group came out on top… Um, I mean one group won.

Three guesses as to which group got ahead? Yep, the group associated with beheadings, gay-hangings and slamming airplanes through skyscrapers. Whoops, I mean, the religion of peace. PEACE, yo.

Here’s where it gets rich: the gay marchers were branded racists by the ‘Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights.’ That’s right, a fellow group in gayness didn’t have the gay marchers’ backs. Whatever happened to gay solidarity, united under one glorious, oiled-up rainbow flag? Perhaps the Federation for LGBT were just a tweensy bit nervous about losing their heads… or getting blood on their boas.

Two residents of the Muslim area said the gay pride march, “pits two oppressed groups against each other.” Like that’s something liberals never do… Noted athiest blowhard Richard Dawkins also noted the homosexual vs. Muslim game:

‏@RichardDawkins
“To place an LGBT parade” [in a Muslim area of Sweden] “is an expression of pure racism.” Sums up the pathetic Left. 

What’s the takeaway from this liberal vs. liberal social experiment? If you want preferential treatment from liberals, be associated with the religion that repeatedly abuses women. Or be associated with the religious group that tries to kill you for drawing a cartoon. Or if you really wanted to fall into liberal favor, just be a gay Muslim. At least no one will accuse you of racism or homophobia as you’re strung up and hanged.

Want to play the gay vs. Muslim game at home? Try getting a gay wedding cake made in a Muslim bakery and witness the deafening liberal silence.

Does anyone else find this hilarious? I can think of lots or reasons to stop a gay pride parade, but that it's racist was not one I would ever have thought of. 

Sweden's frantic rush into cultural suicide will result in Muslim persecution of gays as more and more areas in Sweden add significant Muslim people. Soon there will be no place for a gay pride parade and left leaning Swedes will go apoplectic.

Now if we were talking Christian opposition to gay pride parades rather than Muslim, the Christians would be run right out of the country and Christian Sweden would no longer be Christian. Isn't that delicious irony?

The Irony in the Quest for Equality

Provocative perspective on gay marriage and Christians

If you have been reading my blogs for some time you may have picked up that I love irony. But sometimes irony is very uncomfortable and disappointing, especially when the irony is revealed by the exposure of truth.

This may be hard for some to read, but it is truth; and if you comment on it before reading the entire article, there's a good chance you are part of the problem.

It's extremely well written, thoughtful, a good read, and not very long.

by Constantine Campbell  Topic: Homosexuality
Desiring God

Facebook friends will immediately flee and label me a bigot just for the title of this piece. Most of them will not read what we have to say because they can reach their conclusion simply on suspicion that we might be on the wrong side of marriage equality. A great irony is embedded in that fact. And it’s an irony we must understand.

Prejudice

The heart of the irony involves prejudice. According to the Oxford Dictionary, prejudice is a “preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.” Prejudice is the enemy of equality, since it is an a priori judgment about someone just because of, say, the color of their skin, their religion, their gender, or their sexual orientation. If you see an African American walking down the street and automatically think he must be a violent gangbanger, that’s prejudice. If you see a Muslim and think she’s a terrorist, that’s prejudice. If you oppose gay marriage and are immediately named a bigot, that’s prejudice.

Prejudice is wrong and very often ignorant, and Christians are often guilty of it. Have Christians been prejudiced against gays and lesbians? Absolutely. Do we need to repent of that prejudice? Absolutely. Every man and woman has been created in the image of God, and is deeply loved by him, regardless of his or her sense of sexual orientation. Christians have no right to mistreat gays and lesbians because we know that, apart from the grace of God, we are all guilty rebels before him — as guilty as anyone else anywhere else.

But now the tables have turned. Christians are the new targets of prejudice. If we oppose gay marriage, we are automatically bigots.

How did that happen?

Marriage Equality

The movement for marriage equality did two extremely clever things. First, it used the word, “equality.” Who could be against equality? Only bigots. There it is — if you’re on the wrong side of “equality,” you must be a bigot.

A bigot is “a person who has very strong, unreasonable beliefs or opinions about race, religion, or politics and who will not listen to or accept the opinions of anyone who disagrees.” In other words, a bigot is someone who is strongly prejudiced. As soon as “equality” was introduced into the discussion, the quest for marriage equality was viewed alongside the Civil Rights Movement, women’s suffrage, and so on. Anyone against such positions is simply wrong. End of story.

The second clever thing the movement did was to assume the conclusion in the premise (also known as “begging the question”). That is, by calling gay marriage “marriage,” the conclusion has already been reached. We are then only talking about whether gay marriage should be equal to heterosexual marriage. Once the conversation begins there, there’s no way for us to oppose the idea of gay marriage and win.

The real question is “Should we redefine what marriage is?” That is the fundamental question, since marriage has traditionally been understood to be an exclusive union between a man and a woman, who are not directly related.

The movement for marriage equality was clever not to frame the discussion in terms of “changing the definition of marriage,” because that would surely meet greater resistance than pushing for “equality.” Instead, pushing for marriage equality already assumed the conclusion in the premise: a homosexual union is a marriage.

The New Prejudice

These moves have been so successful that now the crowd cannot see the irony. If you oppose gay marriage, you must be a bigot. There is no way to think otherwise, since the discussion has been framed in terms of equality, instead of in terms of the redefinition of an established social institution. The prejudice is now on the other foot. Without even considering arguments to the contrary, people will form negative conclusions about others because of an alternate opinion. That is prejudice.

Ironically, those who say that Christians are bigots are in fact engaging in bigoted behavior. And not just against Christians, but against anyone who holds reservations about “marriage equality.” You do not need to be a Christian to recognize the problems with it. Remember that a bigot is “a person who has very strong, unreasonable beliefs or opinions . . . who will not listen to or accept the opinions of anyone who disagrees.” Society will now not even listen to alternate points of view on the issue. And therein lies the irony.

The Old Prejudice

Christians facing prejudice is nothing new. The first Christians faced it head-on in the Roman Empire. The apostle Peter encouraged his readers to conduct themselves honorably among the pagans so that “when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glory God on the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12). Notice Peter’s phrase, “when they speak against you as evildoers.” How could genuine Christians be thought of as evildoers?

The Romans thought that Christians hated the human race (so recorded the historian Tacitus), that they engaged in incest because they were married to their “brothers and sisters,” and were cannibals because they ate the body and blood of Christ. All of these were obviously grave misunderstandings. But Peter’s exhortation is, in effect, let them get to know you. The only real solution to prejudice is knowledge. As a friend of mine once said, “It’s hard to demonize someone when you get to know them.”

We are now the targets of an irrational prejudice. But we should not pout, despair, or withdraw. Unjust opposition is nothing new for followers of the crucified Christ. We are called to suffer it well, following his example (1 Peter 2:21–25). So far as we are able, let’s allow those who vilify us to get to know us. If we are truly following Christ, knowing who we really are will go a long way to dispel prejudice.

That, unfortunately, is a very big 'if'. Who knows how many so-called Christians are actually Christians? My take is that genuine and mature Christians make up a small minority of those who claim that Name. As such, many immature or pseudo-Christians make so much noise that the rest are drowned out. If you truly get to know some of these people, you will find bigotry, prejudice, legalism, and intolerance.

Of course, these traits are not restricted to Christians, they exist everywhere that fallen man exists. They are particularly evident in some religious circles like militant Islam and some fundamental Christian sects. The irony here is that they all seek to create an ideal society through means that are far from the values of the society they hope to create.

They are trying to build their ideal societies for God, but are not utilizing God, nor are they even following His ways, to build it. They are anything but Christ-like in their attitudes and behaviour.

So how do you know if you are a real Christian, or an immature Christian? 

All too often, immature Christians, and pseudo-Christians do a lot more yelling than they do listening? They should be the last to put themselves on a pedestal and preach to people, but because of their lack of humility and their pride, they often put themselves first. Humility is almost anathema to western civilization these days, so the truly humble are rarely ever heard from.

The Bible teaches us that real Christians are obvious by their fruit - good fruit, not rotten fruit. Good fruit comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit as we practice the gifts and the fruit that He gives us: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Love, peace, kindness, gentleness - does that describe you, or any Christian you know?

Furthermore, the Bible tells us that real Christians feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit shut-ins, welcome strangers. It tells us that we are concerned for 'the least of these'. That means that our charity does not stop at the National borders. 

One last thing; I believe that contentious issues like abortion, gay marriage, etc., ought to bring us to our knees not cause us to raise up in arms. Lot was considered righteous because his soul was tortured at the evil around him. He did not slay the wicked - that was God's decision. 

Neither Jesus, nor any of the disciples, raised a hand or spoke against the many institutionalized evils that existed in the first century except where it concerned a Christians reaction to such evils, and then the warnings were simply to keep oneself holy. 

Do you react to evil with evil? Do you display the character of Jesus Christ when confronted with those whose beliefs are opposed to yours? It is God's decision when and where to bring judgment upon evil, not ours. It is our responsibility to shut-up and pray.