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Eastern Europe
Moscow's exiled chief rabbi: Jews should leave Russia
Moscow’s exiled chief rabbi, Pinchas Goldschmidt, says Jews should leave Russia while they still can before they are made scapegoats for the hardship caused by the war in Ukraine. He says so in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian. According to Goldschmidt, the current political system under President…
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Northern Europe
Norwegian Christians critical of governments actions against Jehovah's Witnesses
The Norwegian government is withdrawing the Jehovah's Witnesses' registration as a religious community amidst many critiques from Christian circles. The reason for the loss of registration is the shunning practice of the Jehovah's Witnesses. According to the Norwegian State Administrator, the exclusion practice is against the law. “We believe the…
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Eastern Europe
Russian Christians call for peace urgently
According to their website, christians4peace.com, Christians from various Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic denominations came together to publish a Christmas Declaration. The declaration contains five points that openly condemn Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. “We believe that Russia's military aggression against Ukraine is a crime against the commandments of God,…
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Central Europe
Bishop does not slow down in car despite church's wishes
In an interview, a regional bishop of the German Protestant Church (EKD) admits that he does not adhere to a speed limit set by his church. The regional bishop of the Protestant Church in Württemberg, Ernst-Wilhelm Gohl (Stuttgart), explained this in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Gohl. Photo…
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Christian Life
Are Christians more prone to a burnout?
Almost 1.3 million Dutch people suffer from burnout. What causes people to get burned out, and are Christians more prone to it? Francina finds out for you in this episode of Scherptediepte. Sandra van Beek (26) ended up in burnout six years ago and told me what that was like.…
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Christian Life
Rhyming robot authors new Christmas carol
I am impressed by the result, says the Norwegian pastor and filmmaker Øyvind Kleiveland. He asked the chatbot GPT-3 to create a modern Christmas carol. And it worked. When Øyvind Kleiveland explored OpenAI's chatbot GPT-3 in the run-up to Christmas, he wanted to see if he could get the so-called…
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Eastern Europe
Ukraine “very far from democratic state”, Orthodox cleric says
The plans to ban the main Orthodox church prove that Ukraine is “very far from a democratic state”, the Berlin Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church says. He fears a “new wave of Christian persecution” in the country. In the past few weeks, institutions of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)…
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Southern Europe
Choice for new church leader on Cyprus implies statement against Moscow
For the first time in history, all Orthodox Cypriots could vote in the election of the head of the Cypriot Orthodox Church. Yet the pro-Russian public winner was voted out by the 16 bishops of the Holy Synod. The Orthodox Church of Cyprus has had a new leader since Christmas:…
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Western Europe
Dutch Embryo Act expansion set to include carriers of hereditary diseases
Two leading coalition parties in the Netherlands want to see another amendment in the nation’s Embryo Act. The Liberal Party VVD and Social Democrats D66 hope that parents will be able to select embryos as a means to prevent potential carriers of life-threatening diseases such as haemophilia or cystic fibrosis.…
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Eastern Europe
Kyiv official asks church to call Putin and Kirill “devil”
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) must not only distance itself from the Moscow Patriarchate. The church should call Patriarch Kirill “devil”, and the same for President Putin. So said Secretary Oleksiy Danilov of Ukraine's National Security Council on television on Tuesday. He responded to the decision of the Constitutional Court…
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