Anxiously Awaiting The Next Incarnation Of The European Values Study

According to the website for the European Values Study:

The fieldwork of the European Values Study 2008 is now completed. A first release of the data to the general public will be ready in June 2010. The fourth wave of the European Values Study covers all countries of Europe, from Iceland to Azerbaijan and from Portugal to Norway . . . .

The fieldwork of the European Values Study 2008 is now completed. A first release of the data to the general public will be ready in June 2010.

So far that's all they have to say about the results of the 2008 study.

Personally, I am especially interested in what the new data will have to say about belief in reincarnation. Previous European Values Studies (see graph above), going back to 1981, have shown that about one quarter of all Europeans consistently report that they believe in reincarnation. This prevalence of belief in reincarnation is comparable to that found in the US and also in sub-Saharan Africa.

When the latest findings finally start trickling out, I'll post more, including links to sources and analyses.

In the meantime, here is an excerpt from the 1999 article A very private belief: reincarnation in contemporary England, by Tony Walters and Helen Waterhouse:

A very private belief: reincarnation in contemporary England

The numbers of westerners interested in reincarnation greatly exceed the numbers of westerners attached to Eastern or New Age religions. The doctrine of reincarnation belongs to neither of western society's two major belief systems, namely Christianity and secularism, which makes it particularly interesting to sociologists: it is a deviant belief which people "ought" not to hold. This article explores what reincarnation means to some of those who believe in it, why they find it attractive, and how it relates to other aspects of their life - not least the religious organizations to which they belong but which do not teach it. In particular, the article asks whether the twentieth century privatization of belief makes it easier to hold beliefs not taught by one's church. After a brief review of the survey data on belief in reincarnation, we summarize the findings of an intensive interview study of a small number of English people who entertain the idea. We conclude that reincarnation is indeed for them a very private belief, detached from religious and other affiliations, from the New Age, from popular literature on the subject, and from everyday life.

SURVEY DATA

Belief in reincarnation - returning to this world in a series of bodily lives appears to be on the increase in the West. A survey in 1947 was surprised to find 4 percent of a random sample of a London suburb spontaneously mentioning belief in reincarnation (Mass Observation 1947: 29-32); Geoffrey Gorer found 5 percent of the English he interviewed in the early 1950s saying they believed in reincarnation and only 2 percent a decade later (Gorer 1965: 167). More recent surveys - notably the European Values Surveys (EVSs) of 1981 and 1990, show the figures to have risen to around a fifth to a quarter in several European countries, a proportion that now appears to be rather stable, and paralleled in the USA (Gallup and Proctor 1982: 137-8). The 1990 EVS figure for Great Britain is 24 percent (Ashford and Timms 1992). Some recent surveys, however, have produced rather lower figures, 12 percent, for example, in one English study (Davies and Shaw: 1995: 92; Davies 1997).

Reincarnation (or re-birth) is a belief that is taught in several Eastern religions and is part of many tribal belief systems, but is not formally part of either Christianity or secularism. Given that the figures for belief in reincarnation in Europe and North America far exceed the number of Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists (in the UK these amount to no more than 2 percent of the total population), one might be tempted to suppose that reincarnation is an alternative to Christianity and secularism, or might be broadly categorized as part of the New Age, that is to say, held by those who have a sense of inner spirituality but who do not wish to confine this to Christianity.

The 1990 EVS data do not confirm this supposition, at least for the UK. They consistently show that belief in reincarnation is associated with conventional Christian beliefs. One smaller North American study found little belief in reincarnation, from 3-11 percent, in a representative sample of congregations belonging to six Protestant denominations (Donahue 1993), but so far this is the only study to contradict the statistical association between conventional Christian believing and belonging on the one hand, and belief in reincarnation on the other.

[the nice graph is taken from here]

The Top Eleven Books On Paganism Most Pagans Have Never Heard Of

A few suggestions for light summer reading, submitted for your approval. In truth, many of these will be familiar to any regular visitors to egregores.

1. Hellenic Religion & Christianization, c. 370-529
by Frank Trombley
What happened to ancient Paganism? This.

2. The Morality of Happiness
by Julia Annas
Don't be unethical. Be happy. Be Pagan.

3. Hellenism in Byzantium
by Anthony Kaldellis
In late antiquity Hellenism became a distinctly religious identity, and this Pagan religious identity survived as a continuous tradition in Byzantium, the very heart of Christendom.

4. George Gemistos Plethon: Last of the Hellenes
by C.M. Woodhouse
When he died in 1453, Plethon left behind secret writings proving that he was a polytheistic Pagan. These posthumously discovered writings begin with the declaration: "The Gods really do exist."

5. Christian Persecution, Martyrdom, and Orthodoxy
by Geoffrey Ernest Maurice De Ste. Croix
It turns out early Christians wanted to be martyrs and intentionally sought their own deaths by committing criminal acts of violence, including murder. I guess Christians are just funny that way.

6. History and Silence: The Purge and Rehabilitation of Memory in Late Antiquity
by Charles W. Hedrick Jr.
The Pagans of the late 4th century were revolting. Some people, like Alan Cameron, claim they weren't. But they really were.

7. Buddhist Goddesses of India
by Miranda Shaw
Goddess worship before Goddess worship was cool. (And the Buddha was a Pagan.)

8. Vergil in the Middle Ages
by Domenico Comparetti
The cult of Vergil is a continuous Pagan tradition. So there.

9. Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets
by Sarah Iles Johnston and Fritz Graf
"I am a child of Earth and the starry Sky. My race is heavenly."

10. Babylon Memphis Persepolis
by Walter Burkert
That's funny, these Pagans don't look European.

11. Secrets, Gossip, and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candomble
by Paul Christopher Johnson
"Secrets are to religion what lingerie is to the body."

Mark Rutte "will explore an alliance" with Geert Wilders

After officially informing the Dutch monarch, Queen Beatrix, "that his party was ready to take on the task of negotiating a majority coalition," Mark Rutte, head of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy announced that "he was obliged to turn first to the Freedom Party [the VVD, led by Geert Wilders], since it had scored the largest gains."

The above is according to Arthur Max's latest AP article on Wednesday's elections in the Netherlands.

Rutte even went so far as to declare that Wilders' VVD was "the biggest winner" in the election, because they had so dramatically increased their share of the overall vote.

Stephen Prothero's Jewish Problem, etc.

This week, once again, most of what one finds on teh interwebs concerning Stephen Prothero's new book God Is Not One is just more uncritical, substance-free fawning that sounds like it was written by Prothero's own publicist.

The one bright spot that I have found is Menachem Wecker's review at the Huffington Post entitled Stephen Prothero's Jewish Problem. Wecker is an artist and art critic who writes the Iconia blog, hosted by the Houston Chronicle, with the subtitle "Wherever faith meets art."

I especially liked the fact that Wecker calls Prothero on the tired old Christian claim that their's is a religion of "faith" and "belief", while everyone else is just blindly going through the motions of religion without any genuine emotional or intellectual engagement in what is being done (so long as it is done according to the rules):

An odd thread that continues throughout much of God Is Not One is the strained introduction of artificial differences to bolster the thesis that religions are very different. One such synthetic divergence is the description of Christianity as a religion of faith, while Judaism is one of action. Or, as Prothero says it, "Judaism differs dramatically from Christianity, where faith is paramount. Whereas Christians strive to keep faith, Jews strive to keep the commandments." How odd that Prothero cannot seem to remember that belief in God is the first of the Ten Commandments. Has he forgotten that Maimonides, the 12th-century Jewish philosopher and medical man, insisted upon Thirteen Principles of Faith, not action? Apparently not. Referring to the "Thirteen Principles" (and truncating "of Faith"), Prothero declares that Maimonides' principles were controversial "and not universally accepted," so "Judaism has always been more about practice than belief." But surely even Jewish practice, according to Prothero, has been hotly debated, so one can hardly call practice an essential part of Judaism according to Prothero's logic.

As a Jewish art-critic, Wecker also leaps on something that could easily escape the attention of others. As Prothero busies himself ticking off "Jewish achievements" (in a way, as Wecker indelicately points out, that "is sure to remind some of the claims of Protocols of the Elders of Zion"!), Prothero somehow (although Wecker suggests a possible explanation) manages to completely overlook a very noteworthy category of Jewish achievers:

... but one group of Jews is noticeably absent: Jewish fine artists. Prothero could have referred to Rothko, Lee Krasner, Soutine, Chagall, Ardon, Bakst, Lucian Freud, Newman, Weber, Morris Louis, Lissitzky, Liebermann, Levitan, several Soyers, Simeon Solomon, Shahn, Kitaj, Rivers, Kaufmann, Pissarro, Olitski, Oppenheim, Gottlieb (several of them), and Man Ray.

Prothero's omission might be part of a larger misconception. "Unlike Christians, [Jews] insist that God is not to be depicted in human form or worshipped in 'graven images,'" he says. Of course, one can find thousands of representative illustrations and paintings in Jewish sacred books and buildings. In the third-century synagogue at Dura-Europos, the divine hand is clearly visible in the depiction of Ezekiel's vision, and the signs of the Zodiac appear on the floor of the Byzantine Beit Alfa Synagogue.

The whole review is very thoughtful and detailed and well written. Please go to the link and read the entire thing, and also check out Wecker's blog, while you're at it.

And, for the record, here are the other reviews and other online references to Prothero's book I have found this week, such as they are. All of them are filled with mindless praise for Prothero from people sorely lacking in critical reading skills (or, possibly, who have simply not read the book in question):

Vive la Différence by Garrett Baer at Killing the Buddha (June 7). A softball interview in which Baer essentially asks Prothero if he realizes just how awesome he is. He does.

All religions are NOT the same by Rod Dreher (a Templeton Foundation stooge who looks a lot like Kenny Bania) at Beliefnet (June 7). This blog post consists largely of an excerpt from Baer's "review".

Wendell Berry, American Confucius. This is another one by Rod Dreher at Beliefnet (June 9). Herein Bania Dreher comes dangerously close to pointing out just how incoherent Prothero's whole discourse of immutable religious difference is, since Dreher and Prothero both promote the benefits of a hybridization of Christianity and Confucianism a la Wendell Berry.

Book review: 'God Is Not One' by Thane Rosenbaum in the LA Times June 9. Possibly the worst of the bunch.

Previous posts from this blog on Stephen Prothero's "God Is Not One":
Another negative review of Prothero's God Is Not One
Holy Crap! Two reasonably intelligent reviews of Stephen Prothero's God Is Not One
Good Fences Make Good Religions?
Who, if anyone, is Stephen Prothero arguing with, other than himself?
How Stephen Prothero mangles the economics-politics-religion analogy
The basis of universal spirituality
Contra Prothero

Geert Wilders Outpolls Christian Democrats

The AP is reporting that Geert Wilders' Party of Freedom (PVV) has garnered 24 seats (previously it had held 9 seats) in the Dutch parliamentary elections, while the outgoing ruling party, the Christian Democrats, "suffered a humiliating defeat, dropping to 21 seats — nearly half its current strength — and Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told supporters he was leaving politics." Balkenende had been Prime Minister for the last 8 years.

The AP article is by Arthur Max and Toby Sterling. It was posted at about 10:15 pm EDT, when 96.5% of the votes had been counted.

The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) appears to be the largest party now in the Netherlands, with 31 seats in parliament, followed closely by the Labour Party with 30.

The UK Guardian puts Wilders' showing at 23 seats, while characterizing the Christian Democrats' performance as a "humiliating crash."

Aboard the good ship Mavi Marmara

Please note: everything in this post is based on information from Al Jazeera, Al Aqsa (the Hamas TV channel), and the IHH, the "charity" organization behind the Gaza flotilla.

The video footage below originally aired on Al Jazeera TV:



[The following is from Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik of PalestinianMediaWatch.org, but please note that their sources are Al Jazeera and Al Aqsa.]

The following is the transcript from Al-Jazeera TV:
Reporter: "Despite the Israeli threats and several unexpected delays, the arrival of the ships at the meeting point before sailing to the Gaza Strip inflamed the emotions and the enthusiasm of the participants."
Visuals from Gaza flotilla ship of young Muslims shouting Islamic battle chant invoking the killing and defeat of Jews in battle:
"[Remember] Khaibar, Khaibar, oh Jews! The army of Muhammad will return!"
[Khaibar is the name of last Jewish village defeated by Muhammad's army and it marked the end of Jewish presence in Arabia in 628.]
Reporter: "While singing songs reminiscent of the Palestinian Intifada (Palestinian terror war against Israel, 2000 - 2005), participants expressed their longing to reach Gaza."
A participant: "Right now we face one of two happy endings: either Martyrdom or reaching Gaza." [Based on Islamic call before battle: "Either victory or Martyrdom".]
[Al-Jazeera TV, May 29, 2010]

Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV chose to glorify flotilla participants who shouted the Islamic battle cry by broadcasting an interview with a university lecturer who referred to them as "those with faith and will."

Dr. Abd Al-Fatah Shayyeq Naaman, lecturer in Shari'ah law at a university in Sanaa (Yemen):
"Yesterday I followed the news agencies and they conveyed Zionist threats to stop the convoy and prevent it from entering Gaza; on the other side, those with faith and will once again call out upon hearing the reports of the threats: '[Remember] Khaibar, Khaibar, oh Jews! The army of Muhammad will return!'"
Hamas TV Host: "Strong motivation."
Shayyeq Naaman: "One woman standing on the ship said that now we are awaiting one of two happy endings: either Martyrdom or the beaches of Gaza."
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), May 30, 2010]

Al-Jazeera also reports that before the confrontation, flotilla participants announced that they would use "resistance" against Israel. Mukawama (resistance) is the Arabic term used by Palestinians to refer to all violence against Israel, including suicide terror.

"The flotilla includes hundreds of Arab and foreign solidarity activists from more than 40 countries ... They have announced their determination to use resistance to any attempt at piracy by the Israeli occupation."
[Al-Jazeera website, May 29, 2010

But wait, there's more. Two photos of the merry shipboard peacemakers now prove that they were armed with knives as well as with metal clubs. What's worse is that when most people first saw these photos, Reuters News Agency had cropped the knives out of the photos! The website LittleGreenFootballs has both the cropped and uncropped versions. Below are the uncropped pictures of knife-wielding peace activists:


.


Other photos, proudly displayed at the website of the IHH (the "charity organization" that organized the "aid ships" to Gaza) document the violent capture of Israeli soldiers at the hands of the club and knife wielding peace activists. The IDF has claimed all along that it was the abduction of these soldiers, and the seizure of their weapons, that led to the escalation of the confrontation aboard the Mavi Marmara and the subsequent loss of life.

In closing, I cannot help but think of Assud the Jew-Eating Bunny, former star of the Hamas children's show, "Tomorrow's Pioneers". Assud became a martyr early in 2009 by throwing himself in front of an Israeli rocket. As he lay dying he asked the children of Gaza to "remember me as a martyr." Assud was the third "co-host" of Tomorrow's Pioneers to die a martyr's death. The current co-host is Nassur the Bear, who appears to be something of a coward since he has yet to martyr himself despite now being on the show several months longer than any of the previous co-hosts. To learn more about martyrdom-themed children's entertainment click on the picture below (and also check out the wikipedia entry for Tomorrow's Pioneers).

Gaza Flotilla: Martyrdom by Proxy

Two articles, one in the June 4 New York Times and the other in today's (June 7) Der Spiegel, shed a great deal of new light on what really happened aboard the Mavi Marmara. These articles are based on eyewitness accounts from passengers on the ship, that is, volunteer participants in the flotilla.

Here is an excerpt from the Der Spiegel article describing the mood and the intentions of those on the ship:

El Sakka describes the atmosphere on board [the Mavi Marmara] as "euphoric," almost as if "we were on a pleasant cruise," he says. The ship was linked via satellite with the Internet and a number of TV stations and continuously sent out images and interviews to the world. A reporter from the Arab news channel Al-Jazeera filed a report on Sunday afternoon that made headlines a number of days later. A group of Arab activists could be seen chanting: "Remember Khaibar, Khaibar, oh Jews! Muhammad's army is returning!"

This is an intifada battle cry, a fighting slogan that recalls a victorious battle fought by the Prophet Muhammad's army against the Jews. El Sakka, a veteran of many pro-Palestinian demonstrations, knows the words well -- and he disapproves of them. "We avoid such slogans at our rallies," he says. "I didn't personally see this group on the ship. But I recognize the reporter. He was definitely there." The other footage in the report also stems from the Mavi Marmara, he says -- including a woman standing on deck and saying in Arabic: "Right now we face one of two happy endings: either martyrdom or reaching Gaza."

And here is an excerpt from the NYT article describing what happened:

It was just getting light when the Turkish boat, packed with 546 activists, descended into chaos, and Mahmut Coskun, a Turkish doctor on board, was in the middle of it.

The crack of an Israeli sound grenade and a hail of rubber bullets from above were supposed to disperse activists, but instead set them in motion. And when three Israeli commandos slid down ropes out of helicopters to take over the ship, a crowd set upon them.

“They ran at them without pause or hesitation,” Dr. Coskun recalled.

One soldier was stabbed and two were beaten. From that moment on, the attempted takeover turned into an armed assault, with angry Israeli commandos opening fire. Within an hour, the commandos had taken control of the ship, and nine Turks, including one who also had American citizenship, were dead.

The Der Spiegel article also claims that as yet unreleased video footage reveals that the ship's passengers also fought among themselves, as some of them, including one "Arab-looking woman" and "a number of leftist European actitivsts" tried to protect the Israeli soldiers from their fellow "peace activists"!

Wilders Could Be In Next Dutch Gov't

The man likely to become the next Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte of the VVD (The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy), has stated that his Party (which is expected to garner the most votes in Wednesday's national election, but not an outright majority) could form a ruling parliamentary coalition with the Christian Democrats and with Geert Wilders' PVV (Party for Freedom). This is according to David Charter, writing for the UK Times and reporting from the Hague.

Rutte also said that he would be open to a coalition with the Labor Party as well, and he also characterized Wilders as "quite left-wing" on economic issues.

According to the most recent polls, Wilders' PVV is set to double it's strength in the Dutch parliament from 9 to 18 seats. That still puts it in fourth place, though, behind the Christian Democrats (24 seats), Labour (29) and the Rutte's VVD (36).

In addition to his "leftist" economic policies, Wilders is also a strong supporter of gay rights and women's rights. He and his party are routinely labeled as "right-wing" because of their strong, unapologetic criticism of Islam as a "totalitarian ideology".

Until recently Wilders had enjoyed uncritical support from the American right, but then, quite suddenly, Wilders came under fire from prominent members of the FOX News punditocracy (more on that here); and Wilders also had a recent falling out with the Christian Action Network (CAN), which had planned to release a film about Wilders, until Wilders personally and quite publicly distanced himself from the group when he became aware of homophobic actions and statements by CAN (more on that here).

Wilders gained international attention in 2008 when he released the film Fitna, a highly controversial 18 minute long documentary which is extremely critical of Islam.

Another "Peace Activist" Confirms IDF Version of Events

The following is from the transcript of an interview with Kevin Neish conducted live this morning by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now. Neish is a Canadian citizen and a member of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. He spoke by phone with Goodman from Istanbul.

I stepped out on the deck at just one point, just to look at the Israeli rigid-hulled Zodiacs, big—I think forty-feet long, I believe, they’re huge—and gunboats, regular-hulled gunboats, just sort of, I guess, roaring up on either side. And then, I spent—I don’t know what time it was. I’ve been told it was 4:00, 4:30. I didn’t check my watch. But then, from there, I watched them pull in a couple of Israeli commandos, I guess, and strip them of their weapons and then pack them down the stairs. And then the wounded, wounded and dead—the staircase was slick with blood on one side where I came down. Blood splattered on my clothing.

This corroborates what another eyewitness "peace activist", Kevin Ovenden, said yesterday to the British Stalinist newspaper The Morning Star. It also corroborates the IDF version of what really happened aboard the Mavi Marmara.

I realize that truth is famously the first casualty of war, and that this is war. But the fact is that the truth is not really all that difficult to find, at least in this case.

And the fact is that those aboard the Mavi Marmara were ready for a fight and got the fight they were itching for. This does not justify Israeli policy in Gaza. But the great injustices done to the Palestinians do not have the magical power to alter reality.

Click here for the complete transcript (along with various audio formats) of this morning's Democracy Now interview, which also includes Kevin Ovenden who, quite surprisingly, now openly states that it is "difficult to ascertain" whether or not IDF forces opened fire before they were themselves attacked by those on the ship. Ovenden also once again confirms that two IDF soldiers were forcibly abducted and held prisoner by the "peace activists" aboard the "aid ship":

two Israeli soldiers that I know of were overpowered, as people instinctively resisted with bare hands and whatever was around them—they were overpowered, but they were not harmed. The injuries they sustained were only those of being knocked to the ground. They were disarmed and handed back to the Israeli military as soon as was possible, which is after they had murdered nine people onboard the ship. There was every opportunity to inflict harm on those two soldiers, and no harm was inflicted. They were simply kept apart and dealt with by the medical team onboard.

Israel has certainly reaped the whirlwind as a result of it's occupation and continued oppression of Gaza and the West Bank and of all Palestinians. But "peace activists" who stupidly seek out confrontations with the IDF and intentionally provoke and initiate violence in order to generate international headlines are playing with fire. If they want to fight the IDF let them join Hamas, if they haven't already.