Last posts on christianity
2024-03-29T02:22:40+01:00
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A book to read: Pentecostalism and Cultism in South Africa
tag:frenchwindows.hautetfort.com,2021-12-09:6354164
2021-12-09T23:47:00+01:00
2021-12-09T23:47:00+01:00
Pentecostalism is a growing movement in world Christianity. However, the...
<p><em><a href="http://frenchwindows.hautetfort.com/media/02/00/1614966500.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img id="media-6317402" style="float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" title="" src="http://frenchwindows.hautetfort.com/media/02/00/2761378998.jpg" alt="pentecostalism-and-cultism-in-south-africa.jpg" /></a>Pentecostalism is a growing movement in world Christianity. However, the growth of Pentecostalism in South Africa has faced some challenges, including the abuse of religion by some prophets. This book first names these prophets and the churches they lead in South Africa, and then makes use of literary and media analysis to analyse the religious practices by the prophets in relation to cultism. Additionally, the book analyses the “celebrity cult” and how it helps promote the prophets in South Africa. </em></p><p><em>The purpose of this book is threefold: First, to draw parallels between the abuse of religion and cultism. Second, to illustrate that it is cultic tendencies, including the celebrity cult, that has given rise to many prophets in South Africa. Last, to showcase that the challenge for many of these prophets is that the Pentecostal tradition is actually anti-cultism, and thus there is a need for them to rethink their cultic tendencies in order for them to be truly relevant in a South African context.</em></p><p><a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-69724-2"><strong>Link</strong></a></p>
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Christian Right today: International Conference in Paris (October 2021)
tag:frenchwindows.hautetfort.com,2021-04-15:6309961
2021-04-15T22:38:00+02:00
2021-04-15T22:38:00+02:00
This is a very exciting news ! Thanks to the great work already completed...
<p><a href="http://blogdesebastienfath.hautetfort.com/media/01/01/781814259.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img id="media-6248236" style="float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" title="" src="http://blogdesebastienfath.hautetfort.com/media/01/01/3116359108.png" alt="christian right, christianity, religion and politics, andré gagné, paul freston, tobias kremer, karina wendling, gsrl" /></a>This is a very exciting news ! Thanks to the great work already completed by <a href="https://karinabenazechwendling.wordpress.com/about/"><strong>Karina Wendling</strong></a>, a bright French PhD. candidate from the GSRL research team, a GSRL-CNRS <a href="https://gsrlconference.wordpress.com/">International Conference</a> will be held in Paris next october 2021, with Prof. <strong>Paul Freston</strong>, Prof <strong>André Gagné</strong> and PhD. <strong>Tobias Kremer</strong> as keynote speakers.</p><p><em>Research on Evangelicalism being at the heart of current events, the goal of this international conference will be to broaden the field by crossing analysis and observations in order to better identify the dynamics at work in the Christian world. Religion and politics will be the main focus, through the particular lense of the <strong>Christian Right</strong>. </em></p><p>The preliminary program is already available here: <a href="https://gsrlconference.wordpress.com/"><strong>link</strong></a></p>
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Religion and the Populist Radical Right in Western Europe (2021)
tag:frenchwindows.hautetfort.com,2021-04-01:6307054
2021-04-01T23:26:00+02:00
2021-04-01T23:26:00+02:00
I n Western Europe, populist radical right parties are calling for a...
<p><em>I<a href="http://frenchwindows.hautetfort.com/media/00/01/409722543.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img id="media-6243550" style="float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" title="" src="http://frenchwindows.hautetfort.com/media/00/01/302512516.png" alt="religion,populism,radical right,christianity,europe,western europe,vernon press,nicholas morieson,book" /></a>n Western Europe, populist radical right parties are calling for a return to Christian or Judeo-Christian values and identity. The growing electoral success of many of these parties may suggest that, after decades of secularisation, Western Europeans are returning to religion. Yet these parties do not tell their supporters to go to church, believe in God, or practise traditional Christian values. Instead, they claim that their respective national identities and cultures are the product of a Christian or Judeo-Christian tradition which either encompasses—or has produced—secular modernity.</em></p><p>A new book written by Nicholas Morieson. <strong><a href="https://vernonpress.com/book/1209">Link</a>. </strong></p>
Yannick Fer
http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/about.html
Anthropology of Global Pentecostalism & Christianity, Conflicts and Renewal (2 publications)
tag:yannickfer.hautetfort.com,2016-05-01:5795984
2016-05-01T18:51:49+02:00
2016-05-01T18:51:49+02:00
Deux livres sont parus récemment, auquel j'ai contribué : The...
<p style="text-align: justify;"><img id="media-5360053" style="float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" title="" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/00/1463098566.jpg" alt="49123.jpg" /><img id="media-5360054" style="float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" title="" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/01/3297695551.jpg" alt="index.jpg" />Deux livres sont parus récemment, auquel j'ai contribué : <strong><em>The Anthropology of Global Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism</em></strong>, dirigé par <a href="http://religion.utoronto.ca/people/faculty/simon-coleman/">Simon Coleman</a> et <a href="http://religion.utk.edu/faculty/hackett.php">Rosalind Hackett</a> (New York University Press) et <strong><em>Christianity, Conflict, and Renewal in Australia and the Pacific</em></strong>, sous la direction de <a href="http://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/fiona-magowan%287e8d843c-b43a-4a9f-91b3-9707c7b10442%29.html" target="_blank">Fiona Magowan</a> et <a href="http://www.goucher.edu/academics/sociology-and-anthropology/faculty/carolyn-schwarz" target="_blank">Carolyn Schwarz </a>(Brill).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Le sommaire du livre de S. Coleman et R. Hackett est accessible en cliquant <a id="media-5360125" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/00/1958377977.pdf">ici</a>. Ci-dessous, le sommaire du second livre et ma contribution, téléchargeable au format pdf.</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #993366;"><strong><em>Christianity, Conflict, and Renewal in Australia and the Pacific</em></strong></span></p><p><strong>Part 1- Christian Transcendence and the Politics of Renewal</strong></p><p>Comments <em>John Barker</em></p><p>A dispute at the Lord’s Supper : Theology and Culture in the Mâ’ohi Protestant Church (French Polynesia) – <em> Gwendoline Malogne-Fer </em></p><p>Pentecostal Churches in Honiara : The Charismatic Schism in the Anglican Chruch of Melanesia – <em>Rodolfo Maggio</em></p><p>Youh with a Mission in the Pacific Islands : From Charismatic Global Culture to the Reshaping of Local Cultural Identites – <em>Yannick Fer. </em>(<strong><span style="color: #993366;">pour télécharger ce chapitre, cliquez</span></strong> <a id="media-5360126" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/02/1164918137.pdf">ici</a>)</p><p>Valuing Spiritual Intimacy : Convergences and Counterpoints of Christianity in an Economy of Yolngu Performance- <em>Fiona Magowan</em></p><p><strong>Part 2 Christian Renewal and the Transformation of Persons</strong></p><p>Comments <em>Diane Austin-Broos</em></p><p>Two Baskets Worn At One : Christianity, Sorcery, and Sacred Power in Vanuatu –<em>John Patrick Taylor</em></p><p>In Search of Wellness : Christinanity and Life Itself in Northern Aboriginal Australia- <em>Carolyn Schwarz</em></p><p>Go dis Your Health : Healing Metabolic Disorders in Samoa- <em>Jessica Hardin</em></p><p><strong>Part 3 Christian renewal and Change in regional Development</strong></p><p>Comments <em>Joel Robbins</em></p><p>« We Will Not Sit Down » : Exploring Agency through Christian Music at Lake Kopiago, Papua New Guinea- <em>Kirsty Gillespie</em></p><p>« Christ was for Papuans » Gogodala Pastors and the Circulation of Evangeical Christianity in South Western Papua- <em>Alison Dundon</em></p><p>Saving States, Saving Souls : Australian Interventions in Solomon Islands- <em>Debra McDougall</em></p>
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Juba (South Sudan): studying its changing Christian landscape
tag:frenchwindows.hautetfort.com,2013-11-26:5231918
2013-11-26T10:32:00+01:00
2013-11-26T10:32:00+01:00
Independent since 2011, South Sudan is a rapidly changing country, with...
<p><a href="http://frenchwindows.hautetfort.com/media/00/01/390005519.jpg" target="_blank"><img id="media-4343541" style="float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" title="" src="http://frenchwindows.hautetfort.com/media/00/01/1148151883.jpg" alt="south sudan,juba,christianity,evangelicals,nation building,africa" /></a>Independent since 2011, <strong>South Sudan</strong> is a rapidly changing country, with huge challenges ahead. As a scholar working on religion from a social science perspective, I am currently studying the changing landscape of Christianity in Juba, the capital.</p><p>After a belated landing in Juba on the 23d of November, I will leave on the 2d of December, 2013. Meanwhile, as I do my best to document my study, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilgrimseb/sets/72157637950717174/">several pictures</a> are posted on a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilgrimseb/sets/72157637950717174/"><strong>Flickr Album</strong></a> you can enjoy here: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilgrimseb/sets/72157637950717174/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilgrimseb/sets/72157637950717174/</a></p>
Yannick Fer
http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/about.html
Christianismes en Océanie - Changing Christianity in Oceania (publication)
tag:yannickfer.hautetfort.com,2012-04-09:4671454
2012-04-09T10:32:00+02:00
2012-04-09T10:32:00+02:00
Le numéro 157 des Archives de sciences sociales des religions , que...
<p style="text-align: justify;"><img id="media-3528846" style="float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" title="" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/00/2495554616.2.jpg" alt="couv assr 157.jpg" width="133" height="208" />Le numéro 157 des <a href="http://assr.revues.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>Archives de sciences sociales des religions</strong></span></a>, que j'ai coordonné, vient de paraître. Intitulé "Christianismes en Océanie - Changing Christianity in Oceania", il rassemble 8 contributions et marque l'aboutissement d'un travail collectif entamé en 2008 à l'occasion de journées d'études dont j'avais alors parlé <a href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/archive/2008/05/16/christianisme-en-oceanie-journees-d-etudes-29-30-mai-2008.html" target="_blank">ici</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><em>The issue #157 of the <a href="http://assr.revues.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800000;"><strong>Archives de sciences sociales des religions</strong></span></a> has just been released. This publication that I've coordinated includes 8 contributions and is the main outcome of a collective work which began in 2008 with a two-day workshop held in Paris (see <a href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/archive/2008/05/16/christianisme-en-oceanie-journees-d-etudes-29-30-mai-2008.html" target="_blank">here</a>).</em></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Vous trouverez ci-dessous le texte de présentation de ce numéro, ainsi que le sommaire. Pour lire le résumé de chaque article, il suffit de cliquer après les titres.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><em>You will find below a short presentation</em> <em>of this issue and the table of contents. To read the abstract of each article, just click after the title.</em></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Bonne lecture.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>Présentation</strong></span>. Au cours des trente dernières années, le christianisme a changé en Océanie, dans un contexte de profond changement social marqué notamment par l’urbanisation et l’intensification des migrations et sous l’effet d’une confrontation croissante entre des églises héritières des missions du 19<sup>ème</sup> siècle et les formes concurrentes du christianisme mondial – en particulier les plus récentes, <img id="media-3528928" style="float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" title="" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/00/967355351.jpg" alt="christianisme,christianity,protestantisme,protestantism,oceania,océanie,pacifique,papouasie nouvelle-guinée,polynésie,fidji,anthropologie,religion,sociologie,théologie,joel robbins,simon coleman,john barker,jacqueline ryle,gwendoline malogne-fer,nouvelle-zélande" width="109" height="164" />évangéliques et charismatiques.<br /> L’anthropologie du christianisme a changé, elle aussi. Les auteurs de ce numéro cherchent à prendre la mesure de cette double évolution, en associant l’exploration des christianismes d’Océanie et une réflexion collective sur les méthodes et les approches théoriques par lesquels nous en rendons compte. Ils mettent ainsi en lumière l’intérêt que représentent ces terrains océaniens dans la perspective d’une anthropologie du christianisme et pour une compréhension approfondie des rapports entre christianisme et cultures.<br /> Des montagnes de Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée jusqu’aux communautés polynésiennes des banlieues urbaines de Nouvelle-Zélande, en passant par la Polynésie française ou Fidji, l’analyse des transformations contemporaines du christianisme océanien invite à dépasser une compréhension trop univoque en termes d’acculturation ou de domination culturelle occidentale, pour prêter davantage attention aux conditions de la rencontre entre une histoire chrétienne locale et les dynamiques actuelles de la globalisation religieuse.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="color: #800000;"><strong>Presentation</strong></span>. Christianity has changed in Oceania in the last 30 years, in a context of deep social change marked by the impact of migrations and urbanisation, and under the influence of a growing competition between the churches stemming from the 19th Century missions and the new forms of </em><em><span style="color: #800000;"><strong><img id="media-3528932" style="float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" title="" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/02/1570236787.jpg" alt="christianisme,christianity,protestantisme,protestantism,oceania,océanie,pacifique,papouasie nouvelle-guinée,polynésie,fidji,anthropologie,religion,sociologie,théologie,joel robbins,simon coleman,john barker,jacqueline ryle,gwendoline malogne-fer,nouvelle-zélande" width="163" height="123" /></strong></span></em><em>global Christianity - especially Evangelicals and Charismatics.</em><em></em><em><br style="text-align: justify;" /><em></em>Anthropology of Christianity has changed too. The authors of this issue aim to measure the effects of this double evolution, by articulating an exploration of Pacific Christianities with a collective reflection on the methods and theoretical tools we use to analyse them. Thus they point out the interest of Pacific fields of research in the perspective of an anthropology of Christianity and for a deeper understanding of the relationships between Christianity and local cultures.</em><em><br style="text-align: justify;" />From the mountains of Papua New Guinea to the Pacific Peoples communities of New Zealand suburbs, in French Polynesia or in Fiji, the observation of Pacific Christianities invites us to move beyond a too simplistic description in terms of acculturation or Western cultural domination, and to give more attention to the circumstances of the encounter between Pacific Christian local histories and the contemporary dynamics of religious globalisation.</em></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><em><br /></em></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #000000;"><strong><img id="media-3528950" style="float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" title="" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/01/02/1430492730.jpg" alt="christianisme,christianity,protestantisme,protestantism,oceania,océanie,pacifique,papouasie nouvelle-guinée,polynésie,fidji,anthropologie,religion,sociologie,théologie,joel robbins,simon coleman,john barker,jacqueline ryle,gwendoline malogne-fer,nouvelle-zélande" width="54" height="47" /><span style="color: #000080;">Sommaire</span></strong><strong></strong> / <span style="color: #000080;"><em><strong>Table of Contents </strong></em></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br /></strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Yannick Fer</strong> — <span style="color: #003300;"><em>Introduction</em></span><br /> <strong>Simon Coleman</strong> — <em><span style="color: #003300;">Christianities in Oceania: “Historical Genealogies and Anthropological Insularities”</span> (</em><strong></strong><em><a id="media-3528890" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/00/567462652.pdf"><strong><span style="color: #993366;">résumé</span></strong><em> </em></a>- <a id="media-3528892" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/01/00/2322501339.pdf"><span style="color: #800000;"><strong>abstract</strong></span></a>)<br style="text-align: justify;" /></em><strong>Manfred Ernst</strong><em> — <em><span style="color: #003300;">Changing Christianity in Oceania: a Regional Overview</span> (</em></em><em><em><a id="media-3528893" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/01/00/432563235.pdf"><em><em></em></em><strong><span style="color: #993366;">résumé</span></strong><em><em></em></em></a> - </em></em><em><span style="color: #800000;"><strong><a id="media-3528895" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/02/2993954820.pdf"><em><em></em></em><em><span style="color: #800000;"><strong>abstract</strong></span></em></a></strong></span></em><em><em>)<br /> </em></em><strong>Yannick Fer</strong><em><em> — </em></em><span style="color: #003300;"><em>Le protestantisme polynésien, de l’Église locale aux réseaux évangéliques </em></span>(<a id="media-3528900" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/00/2508453326.pdf"><strong><span style="color: #993366;">résumé</span></strong></a> - <em></em><a id="media-3528901" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/00/1044361705.pdf"><em><span style="color: #800000;"><strong>abstract</strong></span></em></a>)<em><em><br /> </em></em><strong>John Barker</strong><em><em> — <em><span style="color: #003300;">Secondary Conversion and the Anthropology of Christianity in Melanesia</span> (</em></em></em><strong><span style="color: #993366;"><a id="media-3528902" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/02/1410587025.pdf"><em><em><em></em></em></em><strong><span style="color: #993366;">résumé</span></strong></a></span></strong> <em><em><em>- </em></em></em><em><strong><a id="media-3528919" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/01/00/4289699254.pdf">abstract</a></strong></em><em><em><em>)</em><br /> </em></em><strong>Jacqueline Ryle</strong><em><em> — <em><span style="color: #003300;">Burying the Past-Healing the Land: Ritualising Reconciliation in Fiji</span> (</em></em></em><em><em><em><a id="media-3528906" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/01/00/568097299.pdf"><em><em><em></em></em></em><strong><span style="color: #993366;">résumé</span></strong><em><em><em></em></em></em></a> - </em></em></em><em><span style="color: #800000;"><strong><a id="media-3528907" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/02/2321563188.pdf">abstract</a></strong></span></em><em><em><em>)</em><br /> </em></em><strong>Joel Robbins</strong><em><em> — </em></em><span style="color: #003300;"><em>Spirit Women, Church Women, and Passenger Women: Christianity, Gender, and Cultural Change in Melanesia</em></span><em><em></em><em> </em></em><em><em><em>(</em></em></em><strong><span style="color: #993366;"><a id="media-3528908" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/00/730438186.pdf">résumé</a></span></strong><em><em><em> - </em></em></em><em></em><em><em><em><a id="media-3528911" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/00/2151013901.pdf"><em><span style="color: #800000;"><strong>abstract</strong></span></em><em><em><em></em></em></em></a>)</em></em></em><br /> <strong>Gwendoline Malogne-Fer</strong><em><em> — <span style="color: #003300;"><em>Les protestantismes polynésiens à l’épreuve du genre. L’exemple de l’Église presbytérienne de Nouvelle-Zélande </em></span></em></em><em><em><em>(</em></em></em><strong></strong><em><em><em><a id="media-3528912" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/00/491423410.pdf"><strong><span style="color: #993366;">résumé</span></strong><em><em><em></em></em></em></a> - </em></em></em><em><span style="color: #800000;"><strong><a id="media-3528913" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/01/01/3069624981.pdf"><em><em><em></em></em></em><em><span style="color: #800000;"><strong>abstract</strong></span></em></a></strong></span></em><em><em><em>)</em></em></em><em><em><br /> </em></em><strong>Gilles Vidal</strong><em><em> — <span style="color: #003300;"><em>La contextualisation de la théologie protestante comme lieu de changement du christianisme en Océanie </em></span></em></em><em><em><em>(</em></em></em><strong><span style="color: #993366;"><a id="media-3528915" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/01/3587426304.pdf"><em><em><em></em></em></em><strong><span style="color: #993366;">résumé</span></strong></a></span></strong><em><em><em> - </em></em></em><em><span style="color: #800000;"><strong><a id="media-3528917" href="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/01/02/2121239591.pdf"><em><em><em></em></em></em><em><span style="color: #800000;"><strong>abstract</strong></span></em></a></strong></span></em><em><em><em>)</em></em></em></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><em><em><em><br /></em></em></em></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #003300;"><em>Illustrations</em></span>: église de la roche à Maré (<a href="http://pierrejeannoel.blogspot.fr/2008_08_01_archive.html" target="_blank">P-J. Noël</a>) ; culte samoan à la <em>Wellington Methodist Parish</em> (G. Malogne-Fer)<em><em><em><br /></em></em></em></p>
Xavier JASSU
http://lapinos.hautetfort.com/about.html
Warning to Romans...
tag:lapinos.hautetfort.com,2011-09-03:3764106
2011-09-03T19:31:00+02:00
2011-09-03T19:31:00+02:00
who say that they are 'Christians'. Christ is free of any kind of moral...
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>who say that they are 'Christians'.</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Christ is free of any kind of moral or social device and He must stay so. Teaching 'Christian ethics', you put law and property in Christianity. Putting law and property in Christianity, you put SCANDAL in the name of Christ for children and all those who have stronger hearts than you. It is the worst Sin. Better praise joy and civilization in the name of the Antichrist or Swastika, admitting the comfort of lies and pleasures.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">If seeing the Truth face to face is frightening you, hundred different religion could be yours, depending of your special way of life, BUT THE CHRIST DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR SIN CITIES!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Against Inferno will no Church protect you except the Catholic one who is in the Sky.</p>
Xavier JASSU
http://lapinos.hautetfort.com/about.html
Big Soul/No Art
tag:lapinos.hautetfort.com,2010-03-24:2667083
2010-03-24T11:30:00+01:00
2010-03-24T11:30:00+01:00
I do agree with English novelist Evelyn Waugh that sole original USA Art or...
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>I do agree with English novelist Evelyn Waugh that sole original USA Art or Poetry is animation movies made with drawings, such as Walt Disney's stories</strong>, Looney Tunes a.s.o. (kind of Poetry which is already dead in my opinion). This Poetry is of course far more inspirated than today boring US novelists or stupid photographer David Hockney whose art is entirely made with bad Rethoric and Ignorance of History.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>- Notice that these animation pictures movies are related with US devotion for Time that one can see in its 'Science'</strong>, a devotion that one can find in Asian or Arabian civilizations too (which is for regular Catholic people not less than praising the devil); Italian Dante for instance mainly thought that Muslim people were Satanic because of their Same devotion for Time; same for Egyptians too, whose Dictatorship under Apollo inspired partly Ancient Greeks (notabily Minoan but religious church of Pythagorea too) before Greek Priests were defeated by Greek Scientists against Time ;</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>- Therefore this is typically one Children's Art, which is revealing the women's Power in the USA that slowly drove US men to become paederastic</strong>, probably more than German nazis who were depicted by US Novelist Johnatan Littell as Gays (without shocking French opinion, though talking against Gay is as much politically uncorrect in France nowadays than in USA, probably because Littell is of Jewish origin that protected him in the French press of violent attacks anybody else would have had to fight against for that if not Jewish).</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">How women get more power than men in this kind of civilization is explained by Marx Economy. <b>Gay people are the best Citizen of whom a State or a Dictatorship can dream about.</b> Their light sado-masochism is precious in case of War for instance, because you cannot become sadistic suddenly, but must be prepared. Suffering you inflict to someone is always after suffering you admitted for your own body, and mad people often complain about the State (not only about their parents or mother), as the Nation betrayed them (which is true, in fact, except the fact that 'USA', 'France' is nothing but a Ghost, corresponding to Roman or Egyptian Gods, just Power drawings.)</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Sparta's Warriors were Gay and this is a good thing until a certain Paradox. Problem of Gay Nazis and Gay Warriors of Sparta is the same: their devotion for Politics was too big, too frank, a blind link with the State as a Matrix: they cannot imagine She will betray them. 'Titanic' is made of brass, isn't it? A Paradox which is in Politics as much as it is in humour.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><i>*Regular catholic people are those whose religion is not based on Faith/Ratio, like famous French Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, explaining he was believing in God and the day after believing in Nothing, a.s.o. or French Jean Guitton, advisor of former Pope Paulus VIth, explaining that Faith is Doubt or Doubt is Faith, the kind of Idea that can let people think that Monkeys were our Ancestors.</i></p>
Xavier JASSU
http://lapinos.hautetfort.com/about.html
The Devil Inside
tag:lapinos.hautetfort.com,2010-03-10:2645361
2010-03-10T12:10:00+01:00
2010-03-10T12:10:00+01:00
French journalist Jacques Duquesne wrote a...
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <div style="text-align: center"><img style="border-width: 0; margin: 0.7em 0;" alt="jacobwrestling.jpg" id="media-2328724" src="http://lapinos.hautetfort.com/media/01/00/367248484.jpg" /></div> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>French journalist Jacques Duquesne wrote a book about the Church and the Devil, demonstrating that Catholic Church got rid of him last Century along.</strong> And in fact advertising for the Devil is more in rockn'roll Lyrics or Hollywood movies now than in Christian Churches.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">This turn is for the author Duquesne a progress toward more Responsability:</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">- First thing to say is that <strong>the reflexion of Duquesne is out of Christian tradition or explanations</strong> though this man does like being called a 'Christian' or even a 'Papist' to sell more books. One cannot be 'Christian' and not believe what Jesus says. <strong>Religion of Duquesne is Capitalism</strong> and he worked in fact during decades for Newspapers praising capitalism, not Jesus. Responsability is starting with the fact not to mix capitalism with the Christian praise of poverty.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>- Idea of a 'bigger responsability' would be funny if the sense of responsability of capitalist Politics was not illustrated by rivers of blood due to the struggle between huge States until War along last century.</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;">*</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">But this Publicist is not responsible of the vanishing of the Devil in most Christian Sermons or Theology. <strong>German Christian Theology where Nazism and 'existentialism' came out enable to understand this changing.</strong> One can summarize it under the name of 'Anthropology'. This mechanic that one can find in E. Kant philosophy, S. Freud too, or in nazi Heidegger more recently does enable to change the Devil in a moral value: he becomes 'bad' principle when God is becoming 'good' principle. <strong>Understand that this anthropologic turn is as much swallowing the Devil than it is swallowing the Nature</strong> (The idiotic turn of Ecologism when Earth becomes one human's soul is included in this philosophy), a 'Nature' which is understood here as it is in the Latin Paganism as 'elements'. <strong>Greek idea of Nature that does infirm Latin idea of 'elements' brakes anthropologic reflexion and does explain why lots of Greek scientists did believe in the Devil (Apollo) as true Christian.</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;">*</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">After Shakespeare or Francis Bacon who are in the Christian materialism tradition inspired by Greek Science*, one can think that <strong>Christian satanism is summarized in what it is sometimes called 'Natural law'</strong>, idea which was invented by stupid middle age monks, betraying Aristotle on this point (who did not wait for A. Einstein to know that laws are submitted to relativity principle. Not even Zeno waited for German simpleton Einstein or French Poincaré.) Christian free-masons such as French J. de Maistre in XIXth are not far away from this idea of 'Natural law' too. One can especially read in French poet Baudelaire, who was following de Maistre, that he is not clearly making the difference between God and the Devil, as he is admitting frankly.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Not difficult to understand that nazism or darwinism are continuing this middle age idea of 'Natural law' too. <strong>It is Satanic principle for Christian because this is the way to change Politics in a sacred matter against the warning of Jesus not to try to make his Kingdom in this World.</strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><i>*Pythagoras is closer to religion than science and therefore closer to Aegyptian than Greek. Due to pythagorean symbolism of swastika, one can see satanism in Pythagorean Science.</i></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
Xavier JASSU
http://lapinos.hautetfort.com/about.html
Shame on John-Paul IInd
tag:lapinos.hautetfort.com,2010-02-22:2621214
2010-02-22T17:59:00+01:00
2010-02-22T17:59:00+01:00
Shame on former Pope John-Paul IInd indecent...
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <div style="text-align: center"><img style="border-width: 0; margin: 0.7em 0;" alt="Ubu-Jarry.png" id="media-2299197" src="http://lapinos.hautetfort.com/media/02/00/1224245987.png" /></div> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Shame on former Pope John-Paul IInd indecent acts of self-torturing does illustrate the new use of Christian Roman religion by modern global dictatorship.</strong> One must say before two things about this Pope:</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">-Nothing is less surprising than this habit from him; everybody is remembering his suffering when he was making his worldwide tours before his death. What are self-whipping with a waistbelt compared to the suffering of an old man next to death agony around the world?</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">-<strong>Praising torture is ALWAYS a proof of low spirituality</strong>, in Christianity first of all, but whoever this praising is coming from in general; Atheist French Marquis de Sade as much as some crazy Christian nuns such as Spanish Theresa of Avila... Nazi's sado-masochist background is undeniable too: all that bullshit is betraying common intellectual weakness from same origin: Politics. The "cell" is in general what these people have in common. Devil is not only in the house, but in the cell.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Outrage of mad killer against anybody is first of all against his own body (That is what the cops or the moralists making inquiries about the serial-killers are trying to hide: special responsability of Politics in these kind of murders.)</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Torture makes the link between family and politics obvious, and the fact that education is as satanic job as tyrant's job.</p> <p style="text-align: center;">*</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Is there something more hypocrit in today's World than Hitler's sentence next to sado-masochism praise</strong> that one can hear from lots of stupid but powerful artists? Notice that <i>'Arbeit macht frei!'</i> is not only a sado-masochist Eastern Device but a do-nothing Device of people that mostly make money or slaves work for them -as gloomy and contemptible than Greek idleness is full of nobility and altruism. Roman, nazism or liberalism principles are made for the slavery to continue as long as possible, although Aristotle, Aeschylus or Homer were fighting for liberty.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>New use of Christian religion by dictatorship now:</strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">-As Karl Marx explained (<i>'The Holly Family'</i>) and his son Paul Lafargue after him (which is explaining the old hate of Puritans against Marx, though he is not that far away from Luther's vowing merchants and their laws to Hell), <strong>main use of Christian religion by different dictatorship in Europe during XIXth century was to justify industrial slavery.</strong> And it was a duty in lots of rich families to give one son to be a clergyman. Christian religion became useless for dictatorship after the disgusting of it in poor classes, replaced so by the State religion called 'existentialism' in France, made of half Gothic and Baroque old Clock-mechanism (Soul Systems or Sound Systems are the best in Dictatorship for a good control on big nations.) Nazis themselves could not use 'Jewish-christianity' to manipulate people as Napoleon Ist and IInd, Bismarck did before Hitler. Hate of Christian religion was at that Time too big in poor classes working for the industry.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Hitler and nazis were the first politicians to do what Global Dictatorship is doing with Pope John-Paul IInd or Benedictus XVIth right now: making the existentialist religion modern in the comparison with old christianism of Roman Church</strong> that seems to make as many efforts as possible to be ridiculous and old-fashioned as Shylock in Shakespeare's play (Pope's small party in France is blessed bread for caricaturists as Texan people are for New-Yorker.) This press propaganda is sitting here on two big official lies as Hitler did:</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">-First is that 'existentialist' religion of State is not less out of Christian origin than it is out of Paganism (The mostly Roman paganism concerned here was mainly imported in Christian religion by clerks, especially in the XVIIth century. Importance of Poets and poetry does prove that this paganism is mostly of Latin origin.)</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">-Second lie is that 'existentialist' religion is not less Gothic or Baroque than John-Paul IInd sado-masochism which is obviously part of USA-culture (or Japanese one).</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><i>'Highway to Hell'</i> is the religious song of existentialism by monkey Mick Jagger out of some Business School; Jagger who knows probably as well as I do who Artemisia is and that Lucifer is not deaf to entreaties of frogs that are giving him their sufferances for nothing against a little piece of Glory.</p>
Yannick Fer
http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/about.html
Nuku: Cook Islanders re-enact History
tag:yannickfer.hautetfort.com,2009-01-30:2038640
2009-01-30T18:00:00+01:00
2009-01-30T18:00:00+01:00
In most of the Polynesian islands, an annual event commemorates the...
<p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/01/02/1587150917.jpg" id="media-1549302" alt="matavai.jpg" style="border-width: 0; float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" name="media-1549302" />In most of the Polynesian islands, an annual event commemorates the arrival of the first (generally Protestant) missionaries. People dance, sing and re-enact the original scene, when European missionaries or Polynesian “teachers” – notably those from the Society Islands – on one side, and the local populations on the other side, met together. Thus in French Polynesia, <b>March 5</b> – a public holiday – is officially the day of “Gospel’s arrival”, commemorating the arrival in 1797 of the Duff, a sailing ship chartered by the London Missionary Society. In addition to this Tahitian date, many islands celebrate the landing of Christianity on their own shores. The performance often includes many comic relieves, with actors dressed in Western 19st century suits and wearing top-hats miming wild-eyed British missionaries facing new languages and customs.<br /> <img src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/00/724524849.JPG" id="media-1549007" alt="CICC Matavera.JPG" style="border-width: 0; float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" name="media-1549007" height="105" width="140" />It may be in the <b>Cook Islands</b>, a tiny Polynesian State (in free association with New Zealand) located west of French Polynesia, that this annual performance is the more high-colored. Here too, each island used to have its own commemoration day, for example July 25 on the main island, Rarotonga. But on this island, the biggest event is now hold on October 26 and commemorates the arrival of missionaries led by the Rev. John Williams in the island of Aitutaki on October 26th 1821. It's a national celebration: “the National Gospel Day”. At this occasion, the six parishes of the Cook Island Christian Church (the Protestant Church stemming from this missionary history) prepare religious dramas – <b>Nuku</b> in local tongue. These nuku not only re-enact the October 26 event, but also show some significant events of recent history: in 2007, spectators could even watch a local version of the suicide aircraft attacks on The World Trade Center! Until the 1990s, it was a competition between the parishes, then the competitive side of things was dropped. Today, even if this no more a matter of official competition, parishes still compete on imagination. The website <a target="_blank" href="http://www.rarolens.com">Rarolens</a>, which regularly posts video chronicles of daily life <img src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/01/1784271801.jpg" id="media-1549011" alt="rarolensbloghead.jpg" style="border-width: 0; float: right; margin: 0.2em 0 1.4em 0.7em;" name="media-1549011" height="46" width="150" />in Rarotonga, had the great idea to post video extracts of the 2007 and 2008 Rarotongan Nuku. So here is the 2007 edition, introduced by a brief historical overview of Christianity in the Cook Islands. If you want to watch the 2008 edition too, just <a target="_blank" href="http://www.rarolens.com/2008_10_26_archive.html">click here</a>.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: center;"><object height="289" width="365" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/bINjMHx1Pww&hl=fr&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> <param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bINjMHx1Pww&hl=fr&fs=1" /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /></object></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #800000;">*</span></b> This note was revised and completed on February 15th 2009 thanks to the precisions given by Wendy Evans.</p>
Yannick Fer
http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/about.html
WYD 2008 in Sydney : Benedict XVI & Catholicism Down Under (interview)
tag:yannickfer.hautetfort.com,2008-07-02:1688310
2008-07-02T15:05:00+02:00
2008-07-02T15:05:00+02:00
The next World Youth Days (WYD), a Catholic event organised every two or...
<div align="justify"><img id="media-1104007" style="border-width: 0pt; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0pt; float: left;" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/01/2002818674.jpg" alt="panorama sydney.jpg" name="media-1104007" />The next <a href="http://www.wyd2008.org/" target="_blank">World Youth Days</a> (WYD), a Catholic event organised every two or three years, will be held from July 15th to July 20th in <strong><span style="color: #800080;">Sydney</span></strong>, Australia. The Catholic Church isi expecting 125,000 international visitors and it will be the opportunity for the pope himself to visit Australia for the first time.<br /> I’ve asked <strong>Marion Maddox</strong>, an Australian scholar specialist in Churches-State relationships and director of the <em>Centre for Social Inclusion</em> at the Macquarie University in Sydney to tell us in what context these Days occur and what kind of impact they may have on an Australian youth who seems not likely to be interested in the conservative discourse of Benedict XVI.<br /> <br /> <img id="media-1115014" style="border-width: 0pt; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0pt; float: left;" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/00/927786468.jpg" alt="jmj2008.jpg" name="media-1115014" width="70" height="97" /><strong><span style="color: #000080;">The Roman Catholic Church has chosen Sydney to hold its 2008 World Youth Days (WYD). Is there any chance this could attract young Australians?</span></strong><br /> I find it quite hard to understand what WYD is trying to achieve. It is presenting itself as aimed at youth, with a focus on freshness and modernity; but at the same time, it's a celebration of a certain kind of Catholic traditionalism. For example, Cardinal Pell has asked to have St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney designated as an official pilgrimage site which will entitle those who visit it for prayer <img id="media-1115012" style="border-width: 0pt; margin: 0.2em 0pt 1.4em 0.7em; float: right;" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/02/1783995098.2.jpg" alt="st mary sydney.jpg" name="media-1115012" />during the WYD celebrations to a plenary indulgence; confessional booths are being set up around the city (despite the fact that, until recently pressured by Rome to restore the traditional confessional, Australian Catholics had scarcely used it, preferring the collective 'third rite' confession during Mass). I expect that the event will attract young Catholics, particularly those of a traditionalist mind-set, but it seems to have been designed more as an event for reinforcing Catholic identity than as an attempt to attract the unconverted.<br /> <br /> <span style="color: #000080;"><strong>Does the organization of these WYD in Sydney interest Australians, beyond the Catholic circles?</strong></span><br /> The main impact WYD is having on non-Catholic Australians so far is negative. Newspapers are asking questions about the amount <img id="media-1104002" style="border-width: 0pt; margin: 0.2em 0pt 1.4em 0.7em; float: right;" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/02/669851251.jpg" alt="the rocks sydney.jpg" name="media-1104002" />of government money supporting it; roads will be blocked and Sydney's already overstretched public transport system will be even more strained; city office workers have been asked to take the week off work if possible so as to minimise overcrowding; special laws impose a A$5000 fine for "causing annoyance" to WYD pariticipants; police have said that anyone participating in a protest (eg groups representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse) will have to have their placards and messages approved beforehand. All this has contributed to public cynicism and irritation.<br /> Of course, this may change once the Pope arrives and the negative news stories are overtaken by positive events.<br /> <br /> <span style="color: #000080;"><strong>What is the current situation of the Australian Catholic Church? The pope himself seems to consider an attempt to reconquest part of the lost ground (the “new evangelisation”) rather than a visit to a conquered land.</strong></span><br /> <img id="media-1103977" style="border-width: 0pt; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0pt; float: left;" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/01/02/10710001.gif" alt="sicdgif_logo.gif" name="media-1103977" width="116" height="104" />Australian Catholics are predominantly made up of three waves of migrants: first, poor Irish workers and convicts, and the clergy and religious who came to look after them; then, after World War II, southern European (especially Italian) workers; and, most recently, Catholics from Vietnam and other Asian countries.<br /> Catholicism is Australia's largest denomination, with around 26% of the population, but Australia is culturally very secular and only a minority of that 26% would attend Mass regularly. While church attendance figures (for all denominations) have fallen since the 1950s, that was an unusually religious period; since European settlement, religion has played only a minor part in Australia's public culture and little or no part in national identity. So, if the Pope is attempting to regain 'lost ground', he might need to ask himself whether the church really ever had that much ground. Historically, Catholics suffered a lot of discrimination in Australia (for example, in employment) and were looked down on as poor and under-educated. The last half of the last century saw that turn around, with generous government support for Catholic schools, for example. Catholics used also to be strongly associated with the political Left (the Australian Labor Party). In terms of voting patterns that is still true, though not as strongly as in decades gone by. But Catholics, once extremely rare on the conservative side of politics, are now strongly represented in the parliamentary parties of the Right.<br /> <br /> <span style="color: #000080;"><strong>Is the Australian Catholic Church conservative or liberal?</strong></span><br /> Both; in recent years, the liberal voice has been more prominent, especially on issues of justice, peace and the environment. Catholic organisations were very important voices in drawing public attention to the previous government's harsh treatment of asylum seekers, for example, and have often been strong advocates for the poor, for workers'rights, and for Indigenous peoples.<br /> <img id="media-1103981" style="border-width: 0pt; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0pt; float: left;" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/02/900963552.jpg" alt="pell.jpg" name="media-1103981" />However, Australia's most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, is generally regarded as conservative, particularly on theological issues but also on social issues. Also, different parts of the Catholic church have different political flavours. Some of the most prominent liberal voices represent religious orders rather than the church hierarchy, for example.<br /> It has to be said, too, that even the more liberal parts of the church are not always good at standing for the oppressed when the question concerns the church itself. A recent example is the letter from the Australian Catholic bishops unanimously criticising a retired bishop, Geoffrey Robinson, who wrote a book about sexual abuse in the Catholic church.<br /> <br /> <span style="color: #000080;"><strong>Is it right to say that Australia is a deeply secularised society?</strong></span><br /> Yes. Around 70% of Australians claim some religious belief or affiliation, but only a very small proportion make it a central part of their lives. Around 9% of Australians say they go to church weekly.<br /> <br /> <img id="media-1103998" style="border-width: 0pt; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0pt; float: left;" src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/02/02/865349951.jpg" alt="rudd.jpg" name="media-1103998" /><span style="color: #000080;"><strong>In your book <em>God under Howard</em></strong><span style="color: #000000;">(</span><strong><span style="color: #000000;">1</span></strong><span style="color: #000000;">)</span><strong>, you explored the relations between politics and religion under the conservative government of John Howard. The new Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd presents himself as a strong Christian from Catholic origin but doesn’t seem to be willing to use it in politics. Does he exemplify the position of many Australian Catholics?</strong></span><br /> Actually, Kevin Rudd is an Anglican; he was raised a Catholic but became an Anglican in adulthood (though when I interviewed him in 1999, he told me that 'the possibility of doing a Cardinal Newman [ie converting to Catholicism] always remains'. He has talked a lot about his faith, particularly before he became Prime Minister. One of his early moves to establish a profile as a potential leader was to write a pair of magazine articles about the German Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. (I suspect he might be the first Australian Prime Minister in a very long time who could even name a 20th Century theologian, let alone write a learned essay about one!) Since the election, his faith comes through less in explicit statements than in more symbolic ways; for example, his February 2008 apology to the 'Stolen Generations' (of Indigenous Australians taken from their families in childhood) had a decidedly liturgical feel. Mainline churchgoers tend to see religion as something that might well inform one's politics but about which politicians shouldn't be too explicit. For most of Australian political history, politicians thought so too. The recent interest in our representatives' personal faith partly reflects the Americanisation of Australian politics and an increased focus on politicians' personal features generally (marriage, family life, personality etc). Given that only a small proportion of voters actually do go to church regularly, we have to look for the wider effects of politicians' religiosity. God Under Howard argues that secular Australians quite like a certain amount of religiosity in our politicians. Politicians have a reputation for being cynical and self-serving; but, when they emphasise a religious identity, it reassures us that they stand for some higher set of values (even if they are values that few voters actually share).<br /> <br /> <span style="color: #000080;"><strong>Australia is a country of immigration. How the immigrations of the last three decades have influenced the profile of Australian Christianity, in particular Catholicism? More widely, what is the place of religious issues in the debates on multiculturalism?</strong></span><br /> Each wave of migration has brought a new ethnic dimension to Australian Catholicism. Also, each wave of migration has created a new group of easily-identified newcomers who can become the target of racist or other kinds of fears. At the moment, the big multicultural discussion about religion is to do with Islam. Ten or fifteen years ago, it was whether and how Indigenous peoples' religious traditions should be protected eg by laws preventing mining or development on sacred sites. Fifty years ago, the point of tension was antagonism between Catholics and Protestants (though the word 'multiculturalism' was not used back then). Religion itself is usually not important in such debates; often criticising religion is a way of distancing others without mentioning race. </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><strong>1</strong>. Marion Maddox, 2005, <em>God Under Howard. The Rise of the Religious Right in Australian Politics</em>, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 386 p.<p align="justify"><span style="color: #008000;">Pictures of Sydney : <a href="http://sydneywebcam.smugmug.com/" target="_blank">Sydney Webcam</a>.</span></p> </div>
Yannick Fer
http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/about.html
”No Label” Churches: Evangelicals in Wellington Central (New Zealand)
tag:yannickfer.hautetfort.com,2007-12-24:1444845
2007-12-24T15:00:00+01:00
2007-12-24T15:00:00+01:00
Sunday, December 16 2007. At 5 pm, Arise Church presents its “Christmas...
<p align="justify"><img src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/02/215757721cdf78174d96a1ed194ba5e9.jpg" id="media-737963" title="arise,wellington,nouvelle-zélande,christianisme,évangélique" alt="b4d4c73da6a741c8559a7d244f9e526c.jpg" style="border-width: 0pt; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0pt; float: left" name="media-737963" height="122" width="162" />Sunday, December 16 2007. At 5 pm, <a href="http://www.arisechurch.org.nz/Wellington/" target="_blank">Arise Church</a> presents its “Christmas Production” at the Opera House on Manners Street, in Wellington Central. The room is full, mothers with young children have been installed on the balcony and the stalls are mainly occupied by young Pakeha (New Zealander from European descent), with some Pacific People too. The service is arranged as a kind of concert-show: a set of rock music, Christmas songs and choreographies, before the young Senior Pastor John Cameron jumps on stage for a short (30 minutes) but energetic sermon. To make it short, Jesus Christ is bringing us the light to save us from darkness and this is the only gift which lasts longer than a Christmas night. Even if consumption doesn’t provide the “long-lasting peace” of the conversion, there was a happy winner some minutes before in the room, when John Cameron invited the public to look under their seats for a small coloured sticker, to win…a Mp3!<br /> But the first purpose of this event is to win new converts, with an insistent call to those who want to step forward and “give their heart to Jesus”. Launched in November 2002, Arise Church is one of the Evangelical Churches with no denominational label who strive to attract the New Zealand young generation to a Christianity apparently relieved of its constraining, institutional and “old fashion” components. Its services usually take place at the Paramount Theatre on Courtenay Place, one of the favourite places of Wellington nightlife.</p> <div align="justify"></div> <p align="justify"><br /> It’s also here, in the Wellington Central district, that the <a href="http://www.greens.org.nz/" target="_blank">Greens</a>, the New Zealand ecologists, gained their highest scores in the 2002 and 2005 elections (around 16 per cent). Despite friendly relations with some progressive Christians (like the left wing of the Methodist Church), the Greens are for many Evangelicals the symbol of the secularisation of the New Zealand society. They notably gave raise to the last mobilisation of the Evangelical networks with a Bill adopted in 2007 by the Parliament and called by its opponents the “Anti-Smacking Bill”, forbidding corporal punishment of children: a law seen as an “anti-family” law by the Christian Right who is now trying to get enough signatures on its petition to organise a referendum.<br /> Wellington Central has also, according to the 2001 Census, the highest rate of graduated people (with 36 per cent of its population aged over 15 having a University degree, 3 times bigger than the national average) and the highest rate of 20-30 years old (26,7 per cent) (<b>1</b>). So maybe not the good profile if you want to fill an Evangelical church…</p> <p align="justify"><br /> <img src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/01/00/29c32ee7b067f02da061e69b42953550.jpg" id="media-737965" title="elim,wellington,nouvelle-zélande,christianisme,pentecôtisme" alt="c8875e3a1955ce20535a2d209aaad142.jpg" style="border-width: 0pt; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0pt; float: left" name="media-737965" /> And yet, there are several Evangelical Churches encountering a real success there, adapting their expression (music and service’s style), their message and their organisation to youth’s expectations. Some of them have kept their classic denominational label, like the <a href="http://www.wn.elim.org.nz/" target="_blank">Elim Church</a> (one of the oldest Pentecostal denominations, established in the beginning of the 20th century in Great-Britain). But many are “no label” Churches, a strategy also chosen by some youth missionary organisations – <i><b>Youth for Christ</b></i> for example has been renamed <a href="http://www.incedo.org.nz/" target="_blank">Incedo</a> in New Zealand – to distance themselves from institutional Christianity. <a href="http://www.equipperswellington.com/" target="_blank">Equippers</a>, a branch of the Apostolic (Pentecostal) Church of Great-Britain, is one of the latest launched in Wellington and holds its services in Wellington Central and in Porirua, a suburb where many Pacific People live.</p> <p align="justify"><br /> Another no label Church: Sunday, November 25, close to Courtenay Place, a service at the Street. No insistent call to conversion here, the services mostly strive to make people (both Church members and newcomers) feel comfortable and even the rock music band doesn’t attack eardrums. Evangelisation is relational: this Sunday, a man comes on stage to explain how he took the opportunity of a fishing trip to get in touch with two persons in his neighbourhood. They haven’t talked about religion yet, but certainly<img src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/01/02/1d6882437165e98e7895991a8f180e4e.jpg" id="media-737967" title="street,wellington,open brethren, frères larges, nouvelle-zélande, évangélique" alt="c1a236b2db09610860567afc81802416.jpg" style="border-width: 0pt; margin: 0.2em 0pt 1.4em 0.7em; float: right" name="media-737967" /> time will come… It would be difficult to find a softer approach. The functioning of the Church itself is more relational than institutional. A disinstitu- tionalisation process, related to the evolution of the New Zealand society? Not only. The Street is not a new Church created to catch the mood: it is in fact one of the oldest Evangelical Churches in Wellington, stemming from the <i><b>Open Brethren</b></i> movement. Its story gets back to 1913, when the Vivian Street Assembly decided to turn to the inner-city deprived families, a mission work which gave birth to a Church ten years after and got its own building in 1928. In the 50s, the Church moved to Elisabeth Street, at the bottom of Mount Victoria. Its official name was then the Elisabeth Street Church, but it was more simply called the “E Street”. In 2002, the growth of the Church led it to move to Hania Street, the E disappeared and the Church finally kept only the name of “The Street”.</p> <p align="justify"><br /> <img src="http://yannickfer.hautetfort.com/media/00/02/1fbad1f957064610beb7c20091e6d4ba.jpg" id="media-737970" title="rock church,wellington, nouvelle-zélande, new life, pentecôtisme" alt="e40ba633aa3dfdaaec700cec66326ab7.jpg" style="border-width: 0pt; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0pt; float: left" name="media-737970" height="122" width="163" /> In the valley leading to Johnsonville and Porirua, North of Wellington, <a href="http://www.therock.co.nz/" target="_blank">the Rock</a> church is one of the more trendy Churches of the area. Evangelical and Charismatic, this Church took its name (besides the implicit biblical reference) from the place where it was established, in a former quarry. It could also indicate the style of music that can be heard there. Its functioning is relatively close to The Street’s organisation, with a pastoral team (please don’t call them by their titles but by their first names), Life Groups, youth groups, training sessions and an evangelisation that is mainly relational, at the risk of tightening its social sphere of influence to one milieu – the Pakeha middle classes. The founder of the Church, Anthony Walton (coming from the New Zealand Pentecostal movement of New Life Churches) is also a former leader of Future New Zealand, a political party allied with the Centrists of United New Zealand until 2007 (he was also the Deputy leader of the alliance, called United Future) when they broke up after a disagreement on the “Anti-Smacking Bill”. The Rock is also supporting <a href="http://www.blueprintchurch.com" target="_blank">Blue Print</a>, a new youth Church based in a café in Wellington Central, which presents itself as “a Church for the un-churched, a movement for the lost and disenfranchised”.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 1. Raymond Miller (ed.), New Zealand government and politics, 4th edition, Oxford University Press, 2006:395-96.<br /> <br /> <b><span style="color: #800000;">Photos</span></b>: Y. Fer et G. Malogne-Fer ©</p>