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Is
it a cathedral or a mosque?
Córdoba, April 23rd, 2004
(ACPress.net).
The local branches of
the Socialist Party and the United Left Party have decided to
support the request of the Islamic Commission to allow Muslims
to use part of the old mosque in Córdoba, which was turned into
a Catholic cathedral after the reconquest.
Mansur Escudero, General Secretary of the Commission, said a
request had been made to the Vatican, who said the final decision
rested with the Bishop of Córdoba, Juan José Asenjo. The ancient
mosque in Córdoba is one of the best examples of Mozarabic architecture,
despite being modified several times since it was first built
in the 8th century.
Construction was ordered by Abderramán I, and the mosque was
extended under successive rulers. Until the time of Almanzor,
Christians and Jews were also allowed to hold services there,
but this ruler made the Christians sell the land and only allowed
Muslim prayers at the mosque. The building, which occupies 24,000
square metres, became a Catholic cathedral in 1523, with side
chapels added on.
Today there are only about 500 Muslims in Córdoba, though they
claim their current mosque is too small for them. However, the
issue is really the Muslim objective of opening up the building
for their use once more. Yet the Cathedral authorities are not
keen on the idea, and say there are other buildings which are
better candidates to be the first to host joint Christian-Muslim
use, such as the Orthodox Church's Agia Sofia, in Istanbul.
Christian in the days when the city was called Constantinople,
the Turks turned it into a mosque when their troops conquered
the city.
Source: Aci. Editing: ACPress.net
Extremist clerics dominate
mosques in Spain
Madrid, April 23rd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
There are various divergent
streams within Islam, some of them contradicting one another.
Whilst most of the 600,000 or so Muslims in Spain follow the
moderate 'Sunny Malechite' interpretation, the majority of imams
and clerics are adherents of the stricter Wahhabi line, the
interpretation followed by the perpetrators of the Madrid bombings
in March.
Wahabbism advocates a return to what its followers consider
'pure' Islam, an objective which in their eyes justifies so-called
'holy' war. Bin Laden and most members of Al-Qaida belong to
this tradition, as do the terrorists who blew themselves up
in Madrid recently. Its most significant support comes from
Saudi Arabia, and the Al-Saud royal family there. They finance
mosques all over the world, such as the one situated on the
Madrid ring-road.
It is not surprising that Serhan Ben Abdelmajid, alias «The
Tunisian», leader of the group who carried out the March bombings
and later blew himself and six colleagues up in a Madrid flat,
often visited the Madrid mosque, which remains under the influence
of Saudi Arabia. Mustafa El Mirabet, chairman of an Islamic
group helping Muslim immigrants in Spain, has called for this
influence to be challenged in the 45 mosques across Spain, on
the grounds that they do not represent the views of most Muslims
resident in Spain.
Source: LA RAZÓN. Editing:
ACPress.net
New education law dies before
it is born
Madrid, April 23rd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
All that fuss for nothing.
The much-vaunted, and equally criticised, 'Law of Educational
Quality', prepared by the last government, will only last a
year. The Socialists are already preparing their own legislation
to supersede the other. Among other things, R.E. will once more
be optional.
Access to university will be more in accordance with the subject
the pupil wishes to study there, Religious Education returns
to the status of an optional subject, and Catholic R.E. teachers
will be appointed by the local education authorities and not
the Catholic Episcopate. The new Education Minister, María Jesús
Sansegundo, says she will halt the process by which the Popular
Party's Law, not yet enforced, was to have entered the Statute
Book.
Although the Catholic Church will still approve the religious
credentials of their R.E. staff, the education authorities will
insist that they are chosen on merit, and possess the same academic
qualifications as any other teacher.
Source: EL MUNDO. Editing:
ACPress.net
100,000 members of radical
Catholic groups...
Madrid, April 23rd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
100,000 Spaniards belong
to radical Catholic groups, some of which would be called 'sects'
if they were Protestant groups. They include 'Opus Dei', 'Christ's
Legionnaires', 'Fellowship and Freedom', as well as the neo-catuchemenal
groups.
Several of these groups are supported by the Pope, and have
clear evangelistic goals to re-evangelise the world and bring
more souls into the Catholic fold. Their headquarters are found
in Rome, and they have several other features in common: the
veneration of a leader, they defend their beliefs with great
vehemence, they proselytise, they reject secularism and they
want to re-conquer society and turn people back to God.
They have two strategies to accomplish this task: they try and
break new ground by making converts, and they do pastoral work
among the poor and needy as part of their efforts to reach out
to the world around them.
Source: Agencias. Editing:
ACPress.net
...and a million in the
cults
Madrid, April 23rd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Nearly 200 organisations
which use psychological manipulation are known to operate in
Spain, and experts are calling for the creation of a national
watchdog to monitor their activities and prevent their spreading.
Most groups are characterised by the esoteric world and divination,
and their combined membership totals around a million people.
Juantxo Domínguez, Chairman of Largantza Association which seeks
to stop the spread of cults, and who also chaired a monitoring
group set up by the Basque Assembly to investigate cults in
the 1990s, said 30% of members were active, while the remaining
70% only participated sporadically and did not suffer psychological
manipulation.
Domínguez said some of the sects were completely legalised in
Spain, mentioning in this context the Jehovah's Witnesses, who
he said "have created a huge property business at the expense
of their followers." He added that groups such as the Mormons
or The Scientology Church are becoming more militant. Despite
the fact that this latter group is banned in France and Germany,
it acts "with almost complete freedom" in Spain and
the USA. Domínguez called for a national watchdog to identify
such groups, inform about them and act to curb them, as people
who join them but later want to leave, find it impossible to
do so.
Source: EL ADELANTADO. Editing:
ACPress.net
Politician wants crucifix
removed from Council Chamber
Cáceres, April 23rd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The spokesman of the
United Left Party, Victor Casco, has asked that a crucifix be
removed from the Council Chamber at Caceres Town Hall, in western
Spain.
Casco argues that the Council represents all Caceres' citizens
"irrespective of their colour, sex, orientation or religion",
and that in a non-confessional state, there should be no references
to any specific religion in the Chamber. The Mayor responded
that the request should be made in writing, not brought up in
'Any other business', and added that should the issue come to
a vote, he would vote against the removal.
Casco had requested a few minutes earlier that a picture of
fascist leader Blas Pinar not be displayed in the museum room
devoted to 'adopted sons' of the city. Saponi replied that he
should propose the annulment of the 1961 agreement which conferred
that status on Pinar.
Source: D. Cáceres. Editing:
ACPress.net
Smoking increases chance
of senile dementia
Madrid, April 23rd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Elderly smokers are more
likely to suffer from dementia than those who refrain. Studies
in various European countries showed that smokers degenerated
five times more quickly than non-smokers, and ex-smokers twice
as quickly as non-smokers.
Smoking can cause hypertension and this and other effects increase
the risk to the brain, what doctors call 'silent attacks.'
Source: EL MUNDO. Editing:
ACPress.net
Computer syndrome bites
in
Madrid, April 23rd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
'Computer syndrome' affects
80% of undergraduates and 70% of those who work in front of
a computer screen, according to the American Academy of Optometrics,
and the Optician's College of Galicia.
The complaint comes mainly from people who spend more than 8
hours a day at the computer, and includes bloodshot eyes, tears,
eye tiredness, migraines, muscle pain, sickness and vertigo.
Experts estimate that a third of youngsters will be short-sighted
by 2020. They blame the problem on the location of the computer
in a person's office or study. Poor lighting and low screen
resolution also contribute to outbreaks of the complaint, and
other factors include reflections, poor ventilation or a dirty
screen.
Opthalmologists recommend the screen is tilted back by between
5 and 10 degrees as the tendency for the user is to keep his
head lower than usual. The content he is working with ought
to be just below the level of his eyes, and lighting should
ideally come from more than one source, and not from flourescent
lights.
Source: EL MUNDO. Editing:
ACPress.net
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