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NewsRound Europe is the name of CNE’s new podcast. It is a news bulletin with some remarkable news topics from the European continent as seen from the Christian eye. At the end, there is always a Question & Answer with a colleague about one of our own articles.
Christians reaching out after floods in Spain
Christians in Spain are in action to help victims of the recent floods in the eastern region of Valencia. The disaster reached living areas that looked like a massive hurricane's aftermath. The number of people who died because of the flood is more than 200.
Churches in the environment try to look after the community. Many people have no food or electricity, which means that fridges and phone chargers cannot function anymore. A local pastor says that volunteering in the area is difficult because you might encounter dead people’s bodies.
The Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain (Ferede) has expressed condolences “for the numerous losses of human lives.” The” Spanish Evangelical Alliance and other organisations are also involved. Joel Forster, the director of the news platform Evangelical Focus, who lives in the area hit, says it will take weeks to recover.
Prime Minister chose for euthanasia
The former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers, who died in 2018, had chosen for euthanasia. That is written in a new biography by Lennart Steenbergen.
Lubbers was one of the most successful leaders of the Christian Democrats in the Netherlands. Under his leadership in the 80s and 90s, his party tried to discourage the legalisation of both abortion and euthanasia. For both issues, there came laws under which life-terminating action remained punishable but still was tolerated. Later coalitions without the Christian Democrats liberalised this legislation.
Shortly after Lubbers died in 2018, there were already rumours that he had chosen euthanasia, but that was never confirmed. His predecessor as Prime Minister, the Christian Democrat Dries van Agt, earlier this year chose a so-called duo-euthanasia together with his wife.
Criticism on German gender identification law
The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, has criticised Germany’s new law on gender self-identification. Alsalem has called on the government in Berlin to take immediate action to prevent abuse of the new law, which took effect this month. The Rapporteur is especially keen on female safe spaces, such as changing rooms.
In a letter to the German government, she wrote that the new law on gender self-identification “lacks the necessary safeguards to prevent abuse” by sex offenders or other perpetrators. This would undermine the safety of women and girls.
The concerns of Mrs Alsalem are not new. Also, women’s rights activists have expressed them in Germany. In some other countries in Europe, there have been problems with male sex offenders who identified as women to enter female-only areas, for instance, in prisons. However, Mrs Alsalem was the first United Nations Rapporteur to express those concerns. LGBT organisations have said earlier that Mrs Alsalem is transphobic.
Macron will speak in the church
President Emmanuel Macron will give a speech in the cathedral on December 7th at the reopening of the reconstructed French Notre Dame in Paris. The Catholic archbishop had asked the President to speak on the square outside the cathedral.
France has a long tradition of a strict separation of state and church. A head of state can attend a religious service, but to speak there has never been seen before. Political leaders are expected to remain passive in a worship gathering and respect their own policy of laicité.
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The ceremony on December 7th does not include Mass, but it is still considered an official liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church and will include praying and singing.
French commentators say that the current President Macron has shown more appetite to connect with religious groups than earlier presidents. But churches fear that the head of state is only seeking a platform for his own policies.
Christian prize for Danish queen
Finally, the Danish Queen Margrethe will receive a prize from the Christian daily Kristeligt Dagblad later this month. According to the newspaper, Queen Margrethe is a “living symbol of the values” that Kristeligt Dagblad is based on. Her openness to the Christian faith has inspired many Danes, the chairman of the newspaper’s board says.
In a lengthy interview with the newspaper, Queen Margrethe speaks about her parents’ relationship with Nazi Germany, the analogue lifestyle without a computer or smartphone. She explains why she is a regular churchgoer who sees the Holy Communion as the peak and centre of the liturgy.
The newspaper has given this prize every year since the centenary in 1996 as recognition for someone’s contribution to church and society. According to the Kristeligt Dagblad, only the queen’s 52 speeches on New Year’s Day are reason enough to give her the prize.
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