A mayoral candidate in the upcoming Bucharest election had denied Romania’s complicity in the Holocaust in a 1994 news article.

Marian Munteanu now of the National Liberal Party (PNL), had founded the ultra-Christian and nationalist Movement for Romania (Mişcarea pentru România) in 1991. The accusations surfaced in their newspaper ‘Mişcarea’ in June 1994. The party foleded in 1996 as Munteanu pursued other interests.

He denied that Romania had experienced an anti-Jewish Holocaust and the 400,000 deaths were no more than a ‘deeply flawed assessment’.

Much of Romania’s Holocaust denial concerns the actions of Nazi collaborator General Ion Antonescu. His antisemitism is, however, without question. In a 1941 session of the Council of Ministers he said: “I give the mob complete license to massacre [the Jews]. I will withdraw to my fortress, and after the slaughter, I will restore order.”

Antonescu ordered pogroms and the closure of all ‘Jewish communist cafes’. The repressive regime had proved one of Hitler’s most consistent allies during the Second World War. General Antonescu had met with Hitler in 1943 to reassure him of Romania’s unconditional support.

Romania and other Axis allies were part of the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Odessa, a city in the Ukraine, was home to 180,000 Jews – around a third of the population. Before Romanian occupation, around half of Odessa’s Jewish population had fled.

On October 22, 1941, an explosion at Romania’s military headquarters in Odessa had left 67 dead, including the Romanian military commandant.

This provided the pretext for genocide. Troops had shot dead many of the 19,000 Jews rounded up near the habour areas. Others were doused with petrol and burned alive.

Romanian forces took 20,000 Jews to the village of Dalnik. Some Jews were shot. Others found themselves locked into a warehouse which was then set ablaze. Troops shot any fleeing individuals.

The Romanian administration then ordered the surviving Jews into two ghettos. Many died as a result of malnutrition, disease and exposure. In 1942, Romanian authorities deported almost 20,000 Jews from the Odessa ghettos to camps and ghettos in Transnistria, including the Bogdanovka, Domanevka, and Akhmetchetka regions.

Like other European countries, antisemitism had existed in the pre-war years. The fascist Iron Guard found broad political support for their antisemitic violence and propaganda during the 1920s and 1930s.

King Michael of Romania arrested Antonescu in 1944. The former general returned to Romania to face trial in 1946. And he admitted signing the order to massacre Jews in Odessa.

Antonescu believed that “Judaic and Masonic” influences corrupted Romanian life. He built his nationalism on a wave of antisemitism and anti-Roma sentiment. In spite of his public statements after the failure to capture Stalingrad, in private, Antonescu did believe he was at war with Jews.

His regime had overseen the murder of roughly 280,000 Jews and 11,000 Roma people — more than any other country except Germany.

A firing squad killed Antonescu and three others found guilty of war crimes in 1946.

Attempts to rehabilitate General Antonescu were most pronounced in the 1990s. Iosif Constantin Dragan had used his wealth and ownership of the weekly newspaper Europa to question the Holocaust until his death in 2008. In 1991, articles the Europa weekly denied Romanian complicity in the Holocaust. Europa even gave column space to Romania’s extreme-right.

The fraudulent antisemitic conspiracy ‘Protocol of the Elders of Zion’ was even serialised in the right-wing press. Other magazines published their own Holocaust denial in 1994.

In 2003, Romania’s Ministry of Information denied the existence of the Holocaust. The statement was soon withdrawn. Legislation passed in 2002 meant that Holocaust denial could result in a six year prison sentence. That legislation, however, did little to stop the flow of Holocaust denial literature.

In spite of the overwhelming evidence, Holocaust denial and Romania’s complicity in genocide continued. Part of the problem is collective historical memory. Children were not taught about the Holocaust in schools until 1998. Only in the last decade have secondary-school children been able to take special classes on the Holocaust. Yet it has not addressed the nationalist assumptions embedded in pre-communist Romania.

Legislative amendments passed in 2015 made Holocaust denial illegal. And it also sought to weaken far-right movements who lionize Antonescu and the Iron Guard.

The Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of Holocaust in Romania criticised Munteanu’s views on the Holocaust, according to the Agerpres news website.

Munteanu insists that his quotes were taken out of context.

There’s growing pressure on the PNL to withdraw Marian Munteanu’s candidacy due to his ‘fascist sympathies’.

The post Bucharest mayoral candidate outed as Holocaust denier appeared first on Religious Reader.

A 10th-century sandstone sculpture of the Hindu god Rama returned to Cambodia decades after it was stolen from a temple during the kingdom’s civil war.

Denver Art Museum had acquired the 62-inch-tall torso from the Doris Weiner Gallery in 1986, which was stolen in the 1970s from the Koh Ker temple site. The museum says, at the time, it had no idea that the statue had been stolen. That only came from discussions with delegates from Cambodia.

Getting ready for the start of the handover ceremony of the Torso of Rama returned to Cambodia by @DenverArtMuseum. pic.twitter.com/rwikqspV8x

— Jay Raman (@ramanjr) March 28, 2016

The quiver on the statue’s back suggested that it had resided in the eastern gopura of the temple site. This section of the temple was home to two ferocious monkey kings, Valin and Sugriva, now in the National Museum of Cambodia.

But it still misses its head and other body parts. The kingdom of Cambodia continues to appeal to international art galleries and museums to return the missing limbs.

Documents sent to the Denver museum with measurements of the feet in a pedestal matched the legs of the torso. This confirmed that the statue had not left Cambodia legally. A chainsaw and hammer had detached the feet.

Cambodia’s Secretary of State, Chan Thani, thanked the Denver Museum of Art for voluntarily returning the Rama sculpture. And for its sensitivity towards Cambodian culture.

The statue dates back to the Khmer Empire, a Buddhist-Hindu dynasty famous for its temples and cities, including Cambodia’s Angkor Wat complex.

Authorities had located the pedestal which matched the Torso of Rama at Koh Ker’s Prasat Chen temple in 2012.

The Torso of Rama is the seventh statue to return to Cambodia from abroad.

On May 3, 2013, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced that two statues would return to Cambodia. The “Kneeling Attendants” – also called Pandavas – had been a feature of the museum’s Asian Wing for almost 20 years.

Mahabharata is a Sanskrit epic which depicts a wrestling match. Four other brothers, the Pandavas, had teamed with Duryodhana to wrestle Bhima. Observing the wrestling was the god Krishna and his brother, Balarama.

Like the Torso of Rama, thieves had severed the feet from their pedestals.

A year later and the Norton Simon Museum in California had agreed to return a looted statue to the kingdom of Cambodia. The 10th-century sandstone statue known as the “Temple Wrestler” or “Bhima” had been on display since 1976.

Archaeologist Tess Davies wrote a vivid and compelling account about the return of the Duryodhana statue to Cambodia in 2014.

The French protectorate absorbed Cambodia in 1863 and lasted until 1953. Colonialism shaped and dominated the scholarship of Cambodia’s history and culture. Academic classes on Cambodian architecture and history were taught by French professors. The French also helped establish the National Museum of Cambodia. Others argue that the looting of Cambodia’s cultural history began in this period. The civil war had served to extend an ongoing problem.

Against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, civil war and  political coups,  the  Communist  Party  of  Kampuchea (CPK),  also  known as Khmer  Rouge, seized power in 1975.

Pol Pot’s utopianism resulted in the murder of almost two million Cambodians in just three years. Under the ‘Year Zero’ directive, schools closed, religion was banned and money became worthless. Executions in the ‘killing fields’ involved torture, starvation and disease.

The Cleveland Museum of Art returned a statue of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman to Cambodia last year. It acquired the statue in 1982 from a now deceased New York art dealer.

A French museum returned the head of a 7th century  statue to Cambodia in January 2016. The statue which depicts the Hindu gods Vishnu and Shiva had its head stolen in 1886. It had stood in the Phnom Da temple in southern Takeo province prior to the theft. In Phnom Penh, a lavish ceremony saw the stolen head reattached.

The Norwegian collector Morten Bosterud returned two stone statues from the Angkor period to Cambodia in October 2015. Both statues were looted during the civil war and spent the past three decades in Europe. A ceremony in Phnom Penh saw Bosterud return a ninth century head of the god Shiva and a late 12th to early 13th century male divinity head.

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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the divisive myth-making of the far-right and the growing hostility towards Muslims,refugees, Jewish communities and other minorities.

His remarks at a General Assembly meeting marked the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21.

This growing hostility and violence is ‘manifested most directly in anti-refugee, anti-migrant and, in particular, anti-Muslim bigotry, attacks and violence’.

As moderate parties harden their positions and far-right parties sow division. The Secretary-General’s grave tone bore the weight of Europe’s violent history. As the anti-refugee rhetoric mirrored ‘the darkest chapters of the last century’.

Ban Ki-moon spoke a universal and pluralistic truth: that ‘an assault on one minority community is an attack on all’. And that requires us to speak out against antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry and other forms of hate.

This year’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination also focuses on the challenges and achievements of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.

The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action promised a robust response to racism. Ratified in 2001, the framework raised concerns about growing antisemitism and Islamophobia. Point 150 “Calls upon States, in opposing all forms of racism, to recognize the need to counter anti-Semitism, anti-Arabism and Islamophobia world-wide, and urges all States to take effective measures to prevent the emergence of movements based on racism and discriminatory ideas concerning these communities”.

Yet, fifteen years later, and for the UK at least, both forms of bigotry remain growing concerns. The same problems emerge in France and Germany.

A plan of action put focus on a victim-orientated approach to tackling racism. Years earlier and the Macpherson Report redefined how police in the UK investigate hate crimes following the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. Victim perception would dictate how police investigate hate crimes.

The Durban Declaration is not without criticism. Three human rights experts said “very little progress has been made in tackling racism, afrophobia, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”.

Mutuma Ruteere; the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, and Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism; Mireille Fanon Mendes-France; and the Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, José Francisco Cali Tzay cautioned against media and political scapegoating of minorities.

The experts also highlighted the under-reporting of racist hate crime and the need for tough policing responses. Another recommendation highlighted the need for reliable data collection in order to track the effectiveness of acti-racism action plans.

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Pope Francis will visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in July, as part of World Youth Day.

This trip coincides with his five day trip to Poland, arriving on July 27 and departing July 31.

Pope John Paul II, himself Polish, became the first pope to visit the camp. Benedict XVI visited in 2006.

The US Holocaust Museum estimates that the SS had murdered at least 960,000 of the 1.1m Jews deported to the camp. Of the 23,000 Romani, the Nazis murdered 21,000. Other victims included 15,000 Poles, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war. And 10-15,000 members of other nationalities perished (including Czechs, Yugoslavs, Germans, Austrians and French).

On June 7, 1979, Pope John II made a five-hour visit to the camp. He prayed before a stone crucifix in memory of the Catholic priest Maksymilian Kolbe, prisoner number 16670, who the SS murdered in 1941.

Kolbe volunteered to die, so Franciszek Gajowniczek, a father of five might live. Gajowniczek, the Polish army sargeant had been chosen to die in an Auschwitz dungeon called the “hunger bunker,” after a prisoner had escaped.

Kolbe pleaded, ‘I want to take the place of this man. He has a wife and a family. I have no one. I am a Catholic priest.’ He and ten others were then marched away, stripped naked and starved.  To console the others, Kolbe consoled the condemned men with prayers and hymns. Kolbe and three others had survived for ten days. Then a doctor arrived and killed them with injections of carbolic acid. In 1982, the Catholic church canonised Kolbe. Gajowniczek had survived the war and died in 1995 aged 95.

John Paul also remembered the life of Edith Stein, a German-Jewish philosopher who converted to Catholicism. A Carmelite Sister Benedicta of the Cross, she died like many others in the gas chambers of the camp. The Catholic church beatified her in 1987, which confused and upset Jewish groups as Edith Stein died because she was Jewish, not a Catholic nun.

On Auschwitz, Pope John Paul II described it as, “A place built on hatred and on contempt for man in the name of a crazed ideology. A place built on cruelty.’ He came to ‘kneel on this Golgotha of the modern world, on these tombs, largely nameless like the great tomb of the Unknown Soldier”.

The 1979 visit came fourteen years after the Second Vatican Council of 1965 declared that Jewish communities were not responsible for the death of Christ.

A test of this Jewish-Catholic reconciliation took place in 1993. Carmelite nuns had lived in a convent converted from a building used by the Nazis to store Zkylon B gas. It had caused tensions between Jewish and Catholic communities since 1987. A deal between cardinals and leaders of Jewish organisations had agreed to move the convent away from the camp.

In 1989, Avraham Weiss, a New York City rabbi, had broken into the convent in protest at their failure to abide by the agreement. Pope John Paul II wrote to the convent, asking the nuns to re-locate helped diffuse tensions.

In a 2006 visit, Pope Benedict XVI echoed the words of his predocessor. In his address he said, “All these inscriptions speak of human grief, they give us a glimpse of the cynicism of that regime which treated men and women as material objects, and failed to see them as persons embodying the image of God”.

The German-born pope made it a personal mission to visit the camp during his papacy, having first visited in 1979 as Archbishop of Munich-Freising.

In a speech he said, “In a place like this, words fail; in the end, there can only be a dread silence – a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?“

Benedict faced criticism for dealing with this historical trauma through a theological, not emotional lens. Perhaps this disassociation owed to his own role in World War II. He had served as an antiaircraft unit but deserted and found himself inside an American prisoner of war.

The BBC’s Adam Easton remarked that Benedict offered no apology for the role of ordinary Germans, nor did he make a direct reference to antisemitism.

Pope Francis will also attend a mass there to celebrate the 1050th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity to Poland.

The post Pope Francis to visit Auschwitz death camp in July appeared first on Religious Reader.

Slovakia’s ruling party lost its parliamentary majority, and neo-Nazis gained 8 per cent of the vote in Saturday’s election.

More than 200,000 Slovakians voted for the neo-Nazi People’s Party Our Slovakia (L’SNS). That figure includes 23 per cent of first-time voters. Some of the fourteen elected L’SNS MPs were once monitored by the state. But they are now free to express their views in the National Council.

Marian Kotleba, who leads the L’SNS, gained a parliamentary seat. He was elected governor of the Banská Bystrica Region (BBSK) in 2013. Kotleba’s brother, Martin, also gained a seat in parliament. Natália Grausová, another L’SNS MP has defended the Slovak regime which acted as a Nazi satellite in World War II. The Nazis murdered 75,000 Slovak Jews (around 83 per cent of the pre-war total). Deportations stopped after a Vatican representative intervened. But after the Slovak National Uprising in 1944, the SS took control of the fascist Hlinka Guard militia.

Before taking office, Marian Kotleba fashioned himself in the image of the Hlinka Guard. Mr Kotleba established his first political party Slovenska Pospolitost (Slovak Brotherhood) in 2003. The interior ministry banned it in 2006 for its incitement to racial, national and religious hatred.

To mainstream his image required ditching overt fascism. He replaced it with the mainstream dislike of Slovakia’s isolated Roma minority. Police have arrested Kotleba for inciting racial hatred, but he’s escaped conviction.

The anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric of the ruling Smer-SD party helped Kotleba’s party. As did their hostility towards the Roma – securing votes in deprived areas with large Roma communities.

An English-language manifesto rejects EU membership and NATO. The L’SNS wants to form domestic militia groups and allow citizens to own guns. Their populist electoral rhetoric spoke of ‘banishing thieves’ from parliament and supporting ‘white’ families. A focus on Christian identity helps the party externalise Muslims as a threat.

At times, the personality cult around Marian Kotleba overrides that of other party members. Kotleba’s own rhetoric makes clear that the L’SNS seeks to ‘protect our homeland from thieves’. Externalising threats allows them to romanticise the fascism of Jozef Tiso’s Nazi satellite state.

The shift towards neo-Nazi, extremist and nationalist parties is a growing trend in parts of Europe. Poland’s Law and Justice Party (PiS) mirrors the creeping illiberal attitudes of Orban’s Hungary. In Denmark, the People’s Party are the second-largest party in parliament. Polling data put the Sweden Democrats at their highest projected share of the electoral vote at 19.9 per cent. A Median poll put the antisemitic and Islamophobic Jobbik as Hungary’s second-strongest political party at 21 per cent.

Austria’s Freedom Party and Italy’s Lega Nord continue to gain support in opinion polls. In spite of its failures in the final rounds of local elections, the Front National made historic gains in the first-round. This surge owes to their ability to exploit societal anxieties and anger directed at the EU, Muslims and refugees.

The fracturing of Slovakia’s political scene presents a challenge for Mr Fico to form a ruling majority. The surge in support for neo-Nazis caught many pundits off-guard. Other politicians condemned Kotleba’s party. But this only serves to foster their sense of self-victimisation and racist populism.

The post Slovakia election: neo-Nazi party gains fourteen seats appeared first on Religious Reader.

Protesters gathered at a popular beach in Mogadishu to condemn al-Shabab.

Less than a week ago, militants from the group had murdered twenty people at a restaurant in Lido beach.

The demonstration attracted hundreds to the same beach in solidarity with the dead. Some used the hashtag #LiidoDemonstration to promote the protest.

Hundreds of Somalis have gathered at the scene of an attack on a local beach Liido to demonstrate against #AlShabaab pic.twitter.com/pAcmBln6Tz

— Farhan Jimale (@farhanjimale) January 28, 2016

#LiidoDemonstration in support of victims that lost their lives in #Alshabab attack last week. pic.twitter.com/jo0TrkjjkV

— Omar H. Ibrahim (@MrOmarHaji) January 28, 2016

Others joined the conversation to highlight broad disdain for Al-Shabab inside Somalia. And praise those attending the protest. Others chanted that al-Shabab has ‘no religion’.

#LiidoDemonstration = act of bravery from people daring to defy & differ from terrorists trying to hold their city hostage. #Somalia

— A A Mohamoud (@AliMohamoud) January 28, 2016

SOmalia will never die, lets keep hope alive #givepeaceachance #liidodemonstration

— Mohamed Jama (@MascuudJaMa) January 28, 2016

Glad to see #LiidoDemonstration taking place in #Mogadishu & for ppl to speak against terror.

— H. (@Le_anah) January 28, 2016

#LiidoDemonstration leave alone somalia, terrorism/ Alshabab has no place in this world

— Nuuriega (@nuuriega22) January 28, 2016

Protesters held signs that read “We don’t want Al-Shabab” and “We don’t want Al-shabab…they genocide the cilivians”.

#Mogadishu residents return to Lido beach to protest against militants.”We don’t want Al-Shabab,” read one slogan. pic.twitter.com/D3DDrqlq99

— Harun Maruf (@HarunMaruf) January 28, 2016

‘UGUS (Alshabab) is a disease’ a message from the protestors #LiidoDemonstration pic.twitter.com/POWEvWlqX3

— Ibrahim Adow (@cadow10) January 28, 2016

“We don’t want Al-shabab…they genocide the cilivians” Said one of the protestors #LiidoDemonstration #Somalia pic.twitter.com/Xe99caGzpU

— Mohamed SUDANI (@MSudaani) January 28, 2016

The post Why hundreds of Somalis held a protest against al-Shabab appeared first on Religious Reader.

A Maryland county will allow Muslim and Hindu students a day off from school to celebrate Diwali and Eid al-Adha.

The Howard County Board of Education faced a tough decision: to foster inclusion by removing all religious holidays from the academic calender; Or add extra days to include non-Abrahamic celebrations.

A unanimous decision in favour of the latter will result in school closings or professional development days for staff in the 2016/17 academic year. The board also voted to allow staff to take a professional development day off for Lunar News Years Eve, after requests from the local Chinese and Korean communities. As it falls on a Saturday, students remain unaffected.

Schools in the county have shut during Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  But a recent motion threatened to end this  tradition. It proved controversial enough to attract more than 300 people to a public hearing in December.

State and federal laws prevent schools from closing on religious holidays (unless mandated otherwise). Adjusting academic calendars requires a secular reason. Baltimore County had recorded a large levels of absenteeism during these Jewish holidays.

Art Abramson, Executive Director of Baltimore’s Jewish Council, welcomed changes to academic calendars on the condition that students would avoid punishment if they took a day off for religious holidays. He had also noted how schools with large Jewish communities faced an added economic burden to open during holidays like Rosh Hashanah. So it required a discretionary approach for individual schools to open or close on such days. A point missing in Breitbart’s reporting.

This was the case when Anne Arundel County voted to keep schools open during Rosh Hashanah in the next academic year. A move that has not happened since 2003. Students could still celebrate the holiday with a day of absence, but staff could not take a day off.

Within this framework,  Howard County rejected this similar motion in favour of diversity.

The school system in the area does not count the religious affiliation of students, but it does for race. Howard County has 74 public schools that serve 51,366 students. Enrollment from black and Asian communities stands at 56 per cent. And the schools in Howard County have a greater diversity of students when compared to other parts of Missouri.

State-mandated holidays do fall on Christian holidays, like Christmas and Easter. Any decision to increase days off rests on the shoulders of local schools.

Last July, the Baltimore County Policy Review Committee recommended that schools not close during Eid. It did, however, stress that students and staff could take time off to celebrate Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. In nearby Montgomery County, the school board voted to allow students and staff to take a day off for Eid al-Adha.

A private firm surveys communities to gauge the impact cultural and religious holidays have on absenteeism levels. This information could help bring greater diversity to the academic calender in 2017/18.

The 2017-2018 Academic Calendar Committee has already begun to meet. And it includes representatives from the Jewish Federation of Howard County, the Howard County Muslim Council, the Hindu community, and the Chinese American Parent Association.

Students will begin the 2016/17 academic year on August 29. It ends on June 13, 2017.

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Europe’s continued anxieties towards the refugee crisis has allowed fringe groups to exploit tensions.

Finland’s “Soldiers of Odin” is one such example. This ‘street patrol’ movement promises to protect native Finns from immigrants and Muslims.  It considers itself “a patriotic organisation fighting for white Finland”.

They claim that Islam causes insecurity and increased crime. At protests they have carried signs that read “Migrants not welcome”.

You can trace the origins of the movement to a protest in the town of Kemi, near the northern city of Tornio, last October.

Its founder Mika Rana, justified their patrols under the guise of security. Social media allowed the movement to connect online. And share their anxieties (and hatred) of different cultures. A Facebook post alleging that asylum seekers housed near a school in Kemi had spied on young girls brought them onto the streets.

Rana’s own social media account reveals his white supremacist beliefs. His Facebook ‘likes’ include Holocaust denial, nostalgia for Nazism, and a ‘Stop Islam’ page.

The Internet has always enabled far-right ideologues and groups to disseminate materials with ease. Social media serves to intensify the process. And it allows groups to mirror other far-right groups across Europe. Take for example, the English Defence League. You will find chapters across Finland, Sweden, and Germany to name but a few. Social media allows individuals to express solidarity or influence discussions irrespective of location.

Rana’s profile is no exception. Other ‘likes’ include the neo-Nazi thuggery of Combat 18 and Britain First. In spite of this, Rana insists that the movement remains open to all.

Invoking the language and imagery of Odin helps white supremacists mythologise their purpose. They extol the heroic virtues of northern European whites – as it promotes genetic closeness and the tribe. A tribe that helped build civilisation against the elements and odds. Mythologising the past allows them to situate their own experiences in a grander narrative. A struggle for white consciousness and identity grows its own momentum with the weight of history behind it.

Forging this link can provide the individual and movement fresh direction and purpose. They claim a uniformed presence in at least twenty Finnish towns and cities. Social media allows the group to collect custom orders for merchandise.

A recent online poll comprised of 1,000 Finns found a groundswell of support for the group. Researchers found that 48 per cent of individuals polled held negative views of the group. In spite of its links to the Finnish Defence League and the criminal past of some of its members, 28 per cent held positive views of the group. Online polls carry their own caveats; but the findings have alarmed some in Finland.

This support may stem from Finland’s acceptance of more than 30,000 asylum seekers amid a prolonged economic recession. Soldiers of Odin exploit the disquiet of disapproval, resentment and anxiety.

In recent years, Finland has embraced asylum seekers from the Sudan, Iraq, Somalia, and the Balkan regions. Yet Christianity remains Finland’s largest religion. As 78 percent self-identify as Lutheran. Finland’s Muslim population remains a minority.

Soldiers of Odin continue to grow in popularity. Its Facebook page boasts over 12,000 ‘likes’. With added growth, the group has started to appeal to individuals in the UK. Britain First has also shared a story about the Soldiers of Odin as media interest in the group rises.

The group’s Facebook serves to reinforce prejudicial views of Muslims, refugees and migrants. Externalising these groups as a threat helps justify their street presence. For supporters, the protests become acts of bravery, not intimidation.

At a political level, Prosecutor General Matti Nissinen has rejected the presence of the movement. Police insist that there ‘are no legal obstacles to forming a street patrol‘. But it grants them no additional rights to interfere in the activities of others.

The coalition government seems split on how to deal with them. Finance Minister Alexander Stubb suggested that the coalition would consider making the patrols illegal.

In response, the Soldiers of Odin urged supporters to sign an online petition opposing the ban. Narratives that drive a sense of self-victimisation appease supporters. Especially if they perceive a conspiracy from above.

Here’s why the echo chamber effect is so important:  if you surround yourself with information that confirms your own opinions it becomes mainstream.  It can distort perception, polarise opinions and make a person distrustful of other sources. Radical right and far-right groups attempt to exploit this distrust to recruit. A key tool of this recruitment concerns Barkun’s theory of ‘stigmatized knowledge‘. In short, stigmatized knowledge presents information that mainstream institutions have not validated.

If individuals feel disempowered or ignored by the mainstream, they will find alternative sources to make sense of their anxieties. It presents an opportunity for radical groups to influence parts of society they would otherwise face rejection from. Not all will follow; but it remains a popular tactic.

The post Meet Finland’s new anti-Islam street movement appeared first on Religious Reader.

Netherlands

The festivities begin with the arrival of Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) on a boat from Spain. History alludes to a Catholic priest in fourth-century Myra – in modern Turkey. Under protestant rule, celebrations of Sinterklaas moved from the public into the private sphere.

Jan Schenkman’s 1850 novel ‘Saint Nicholas and his Servant‘ popularised many modern Sinterklaas traditions. Schenkman’s writings reflected the culture – Sinterklaas interrogated children about their behaviour and religious knowledge. Rewards came in the shape of gifts and food. Naughty children were sometimes carried away by the servant in a large sack.

One of the most controversial legacies involves Zwarte Piet or ‘Black Pete’ – a character who accompanies Sinterklass. White people put on blackface makeup, with exaggerated lips, curly wigs and costumes. The United Nations has called on the Netherlands to ditch Black Pete due to its racist and negative stereotyping. In recent years, the anti-racist response to Black Pete has received more mainstream attention.

Jerusalem

Christians account for less than 2 per cent of the population in Jerusalem. For many in the city, Christmas is just another day in the city. Christmas Day falls on the Sabbath so individuals will be off regardless.

In some parts of Jerusalem, you will find Christmas trees on display. At the New Gate to the Christian Quarter of the Old City they lit up a Christmas tree opposite Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center.

The far-right Lehava demonstrated at the front of Jerusalem’s YMCA building to protest an event inside in which they claimed Jewish children were decorating Christmas trees.

On December 21, Santa Claus helped residents select Christmas trees distributed by city hall.

When it comes to Christmas Day, individuals, of all faiths can enjoy services in multiple languages. From Jerusalem, pilgrims make the short walk to Bethlehem in the Occupied West Bank.

Bethlehem

The violence that grips Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories harmed Bethlehem’s tourism trade. Hotel bookings have not hit the 40 or 50 per cent mark. In 2014, hotels had sold out. Decorations will not extend to entire downtown district. Authorities will only decorate Manger Square and two nearby streets.

Bethlehem Mayor Vera Baboun has also accused Israel of taking more land to complete the separation wall at Bethlehem’s perimeter. Patriarch Emeritus Michael Sabbah, who was the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem between 1987 and 2008, wrote a critical article about the situation in Bethlehem for Haaretz.

Some Palestinians decorated an olive tree with tear gas canisters and grenades near the Church of Nativity.

Israeli authorities issued 600 travel visas for Christians in the Gaza strip. Yet there are age restrictions so younger families miss out. There is an estimated 3,000 (or more) Christians in this area and around 300 or so Catholics, compared to about 1.4 million Muslims that live in the Gaza strip.

For those able to attend – there’s a carnival atmosphere at central Manger Square. Vendors sell sweets, watches, and balloons. Scout troops play bagpipes and drums.

Iceland

In Iceland, a historic tradition involves the giving of books. This tradition has its own name ‘Jólabókaflóð’ or the ‘Christmas Book Flood’.

Individuals exchange gifts on Christmas Eve and spend the evening reading books.

According to Hildur Knútsdóttir, the tradition dates back to World War II. War affected Iceland’s ability to import goods outside of paper. So the book became a viable gift.

For gifts, relatives receive hardcover editions as individuals tend to buy paperbacks for themselves. So bookstores ensure they are well stocked with hardcover books before December.

Iceland also prints more books per capita than any other nation.

Mexico

In the southwestern city of Oaxaca, individuals partake in a number of traditions. One tradition concerns the procession that re-enacts Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter. They are received at a pre-arranged where the godparents (padrionos) of that posada welcome the pilgrims with songs and blessings.

The Noche de Rábanos (Night of the Radishes) begins on December 23. Farmers arrive and make elaborate sculptures of kings and nativity scenes from the vegetables. Winners of this competition are greeted with fireworks.

On Christmas Eve, residents will gather statues of Jesus Christ from godmothers, who then donate them to local parishes. Beyond celebrations, they return to celebrate the Misa de Gallo (Mass of the Rooster) – the first celebration meal before Christmas.

The tradition of plate smashing continues until December 31.

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Pope Francis lit the Christmas tree and nativity scene in Assisi. From a distance in the Vatican, he performed the ceremony online on December 7.

In attendance at the lower piazza of the Basilica San Francesco were 31 refugees from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Nigeria and Syria. The other invited guest included the Naval officer who assisted in their rescue. All stood alongside local residents as the Christmas tree lit up.

#Assisi,accensione delle luci del presepe: “Anche quella volta siamo arrivati in tempo per salvare una vita in mare” pic.twitter.com/uF4abIu5zc

— Marina Militare (@ItalianNavy) December 6, 2015

Papa Francesco accende le luci del presepe di #Assisi. Comandante nave #MarinaMilitare porterà la sua testimonianza pic.twitter.com/7hoMEVj0H2

— Marina Militare (@ItalianNavy) December 6, 2015

At the foot of the tree stands a nativity scene crafted into the boat used by those who arrived at the Italian island of Lampedusa from Tunisia in 2014.

The Italian State Railway and Italian Navy also handed out toys to families in need.

Staff at the Basilica, the Conventual Franciscan Friars, dedicated the tree and “this Christmas to immigrants“.

In a translated address, according to Vatican Radio, Francis thanked the Coast Guard. He said: “I would like to thank the [members of the] Coast Guard: the good men and women. I thank you, for you were the instrument of hope that brings us Jesus.”

And in reference all refugees, Pope Francis said: “I say a word, that of the prophet: Raise your head, the Lord is near. And with him is strength, salvation, hope. The heart, perhaps, [is] sorrowful, but the head [is] high in the hope of the Lord.”

This follows a statement he made back in October that: “At the heart of the Gospel of mercy, the encounter and acceptance by others are intertwined with the encounter and acceptance of God himself”.

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