TO THE POWER ELITE

FROM ENOCH 

The following words are taken directly from 1 Enoch, a prophetic work written around 100 BC written about the end of the age in his, then distant future. Verb tenses and pronouns have been harmonized. The individual verses have been reordered from the original work in order to produce an easily readable coherent narrative. I believe that this narrative represents God's judgment and predictions regarding the rulers and leaders who plunge the world of today into an ever deepening chaos. The words in parentheses are my clarifications, the rest are from Enoch excepting the last verse which is taken from Ezekiel. Now then we have:

"Before the flood, oppression existed and prevailed on earth. Great punishment took place; and there was a consummation of all iniquity, which was cut off from its root, and every fabric raised by it passed away (The Great Flood). Iniquity however, shall again be renewed, and consummated on earth.

"In the seventh week a perverse generation shall arise; abundant shall be its deeds, and all its deeds perverse. Every act of crime, and every act of oppression and impiety, shall be a second time embraced. The powerful shall transgress, and think themselves gods; while evil shall be multiplied among them. Therefore iniquity, sin, blasphemy, tyranny, and every evil work, shall increase; and when transgression, impiety, and uncleanness also shall increase, then upon them all shall great punishment be inflicted from heaven. Contemplating the earth as they (the powerful) do, they who are men, put elegance upon them more than married women, and both together more so than unmarried ones, every where arraying themselves in majesty, in magnificence, in authority, and in silver: but gold, purple, honor, and wealth, like water, flow away. Erudition therefore and wisdom are not theirs. And in it shall they perish, together with their riches, with all their glory, and with their honors. They are sinners who counsel men to commit crime craftily. They are found in every place, every counsel possess a little of them. Their strength shall be in their riches, and their faith in the gods whom they have formed themselves. They shall deny the name of God, and shall expel Him from their places of worship, in which they assemble. They build up their houses with crime and acquire gold and silver. They will condemn the angels of heaven, shall lift up their hands against the Most high, shall tread upon and inhabit the earth, exhibiting all their works of iniquity.

"Woe to you who are rich, for in your riches have you trusted; but from your riches you shall be removed; because you have not remembered the Most High in the days of your prosperity. Your wealth makes you resemble saints, but your hearts reproach you, knowing that you are sinners. Woe to you who feed upon the glory of the corn, and drink the strength of the root of the spring, and in the pride of your power tread down the humble. Woe to you who frustrate the word of the righteous; for to you there shall be no hope of life. Woe to those who write down the word of falsehood, and the word of the wicked; for their falsehood they record, that they may hear and not forget folly. Your faces shall be covered with shame; while every deed, strengthened by crime, shall be rejected. All your evil deeds are disclosed in the heaven; and that none of your oppressive acts are concealed and secret. In heaven they are daily written down before the Most High. This word shall testify against you, for the remembrance of crime."

"The world shall be marked for destruction; and all men should be on the lookout for the path of integrity. The Son of man (whom all will behold), shall raise up kings and the mighty from their couches, and kings from their thrones; he shall loosen the bridles of the powerful, and break in pieces the teeth of sinners. He shall hurl rulers from their thrones and their dominions; because they will not exalt and praise God, nor humble themselves before Him, by whom their kingdoms were granted to them. Yet shall not the mighty rulers of that period be destroyed; but shall be delivered into the hands of the righteous and the holy. Nor thence forwards shall any obtain commiseration from God, because their lives in this world will have been completed. The countenance likewise of the mighty shall he (Son of Man) cast down. In the day of trouble evil shall be heaped up upon sinners. In those days the kings of the earth and the mighty men, who have gained the world by the work of their own hands, will become humble in countenance. They shall not be saved by gold and by silver. Nor shall they have it in their power to secure themselves, or fly. Trouble shall come upon them, as upon a woman in travail, whose labor is severe, when her child comes to the mouth of the womb, and she finds it difficult to bring forth. One portion of them shall look upon another. They shall be astonished. Their faces shall be full of confusion; darkness shall be added to their faces. Darkness shall be their habitation, and worms shall be their bed; nor from that their beds shall they hope to be again raised, because they exalted not the name of God. From that period those who possess the earth shall not be powerful and exalted. Neither shall they be capable of beholding the countenances of the holy, for the light of the countenances of the holy, the righteous, and the elect, has been seen by God. They (the powerful) shall perish from before the face of God, and from the face of his earth. But in the day of their trouble, rest shall be on the earth. Iniquity will pass away like a shadow. Every work of the ungodly will disappear from the whole earth. Sin shall perish in eternal darkness, nor be seen for evermore."

"God will change the face of the earth; He will bless it; and cause those whom He has elected to dwell upon it. But those who have committed sin and iniquity shall not tread upon it; for God has seen them. The righteous ones He will satisfy with peace, placing them before Himself." The Lord God thus declares, "Repent therefore, and live! For it is not My desire that anyone shall die." (Ezekiel 18:32) 

  ^134:4.1 The brotherhood of men is founded on the fatherhood of God. The family of God is derived from the love of God -- God is love. God the Father divinely loves his children, all of them.

  ^134:4.2 The kingdom of heaven, the divine government, is founded on the fact of divine sovereignty -- God is spirit. Since God is spirit, this kingdom is spiritual. The kingdom of heaven is neither material nor merely intellectual; it is a spiritual relationship between God and man.

  ^134:4.3 If different religions recognize the spirit sovereignty of God the Father, then will all such religions remain at peace. Only when one religion assumes that it is in some way superior to all others, and that it possesses exclusive authority over other religions, will such a religion presume to be intolerant of other religions or dare to persecute other religious believers.

  ^134:4.4 Religious peace -- brotherhood -- can never exist unless all religions are willing to completely divest themselves of all ecclesiastical authority and fully surrender all concept of spiritual sovereignty. God alone is spirit sovereign.

  ^134:4.5 You cannot have equality among religions (religious liberty) without having religious wars unless all religions consent to the transfer of all religious sovereignty to some superhuman level, to God himself.

  ^134:4.6 The kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men will create religious unity (not necessarily uniformity) because any and all religious groups composed of such religious believers will be free from all notions of ecclesiastical authority -- religious sovereignty.

  ^134:4.7 God is spirit, and God gives a fragment of his spirit self to dwell in the heart of man. Spiritually, all men are equal. The kingdom of heaven is free from castes, classes, social levels, and economic groups. You are all brethren.

  ^134:4.8 But the moment you lose sight of the spirit sovereignty of God the Father, some one religion will begin to assert its superiority over other religions; and then, instead of peace on earth and good will among men, there will start dissensions, recriminations, even religious wars, at least wars among religionists.

  ^134:4.9 Freewill beings who regard themselves as equals, unless they mutually acknowledge themselves as subject to some supersovereignty, some authority over and above themselves, sooner or later are tempted to try out their ability to gain power and authority over other persons and groups. The concept of equality never brings peace except in the mutual recognition of some overcontrolling influence of supersovereignty.

Effective and wise leadership. In civilization much, very much, depends on an enthusiastic and effective load-pulling spirit. Ten men are of little more value than one in lifting a great load unless they lift together -- all at the same moment. And such teamwork -- social co-operation -- is dependent on leadership. The cultural civilizations of the past and the present have been based upon the intelligent co-operation of the citizenry with wise and progressive leaders; and until man evolves to higher levels, civilization will continue to be dependent on wise and vigorous leadership.

High civilizations are born of the sagacious correlation of material wealth, intellectual greatness, moral worth, social cleverness, and cosmic insight.

Mathematics asserts that, if one person stands for a certain unit of intellectual and moral value, ten persons would stand for ten times this value. But in dealing with human personality it would be nearer the truth to say that such a personality association is a sum equal to the square of the number of personalities concerned in the equation rather than the simple arithmetical sum. A social group of human beings in co-ordinated working harmony stands for a force far greater than the simple sum of its parts.

It's tough to make an impact. Outstanding content is more likely to be retweeted, increasing your reach and audience.

As a marketing channel, Twitter’s no longer optional. Everyone’s using it, which means you need to be too.

But because everyone’s using it, you can get lost in the crowd. It’s tough to make an impact.

The only way to stand out, is to be really good at Twitter. Your tweets need to be A+. Or even A+++:

Outstanding content is more likely to be retweeted, increasing your reach and audience. Your best bet for increasing Twitter reach is to get more of them, and the best way to do that is to post better content.

To help you out, we’ve put together eight quick tips that’ll make your tweets more twitt-ilating.

Shall we?

We also put these tips into a checklist for your office wall. Grab it here.

1. Know your audience

Hint: It’s not everyone. You want your tweets to hit home with the right people, so you’d better know what those people like.

Brittany Berger wrote all about the benefits of social listening. She says it lets you:

• Find out what your customers really think
• Re-evaluate your brand’s strengths and weaknesses
• Supplement hard data with genuine opinions
• Get customers’ views of your competitors
• Find new campaign ideas

Target specific keywords and hashtags that suit your ideal buyer. See what they’re talking about and update your content strategy accordingly.

Just listening will give your social marketing a boost

CLICK TO TWEET

Great marketers can even use monitoring to generate leads.

Let’s see how they do it.

How to listen

Option 1: get familiar with Twitter’s Advanced Search.

It lets you narrow your search to find exactly what you’re looking for. Like a regular search, but more advanced. If you’re listening for generic terms or popular phrases, this helps you eliminate some of the noise.

The best part is you can save your searches – up to 25 per account. It’s like having custom hashtags, just for you.

Create a handful of useful searches and revisit them each week. This is an easy way to follow conversations in your specific niche.

Option 2: use a monitoring tool. These take all of the work out of social media monitoring.

Set up alerts just like you’d build an advanced search. Receive daily reports about conversations on social media, plus real-time alerts when keywords are trending.

For social media, our favorite tools include Hootsuite, Social Mention, and Mention (of course).

2. Talk with your followers, not at them

Buffer’s Kevan Lee says you need to know the difference between “voice” and “tone.” Think of voice as your brand’s personality – a core part of its identity – and tone as your brand’s mood from day to day. As they explain it:

“Voice is a mission statement. Tone is the application of that mission.”

Voice doesn’t change – this is how you want your brand to be represented, always. But tone changes with context.

You also can’t always be selling. Twitter is a giant chat room. Most people are there for conversation, jokes, or education. You can’t spend all your time talking about yourself.

Here are some suggestions to help you balance promotion with other content:

• The 80/20 rule: 20% of your content can be promotional, but 80% of your content should be interesting and engaging to your audience.
• The 5-3-2 ratio: Five relevant pieces from others, three non-promotional from you, then two promotional posts.
• The 4-1-1 rule: Four pieces from others – plus one retweet – for every promotional tweet you send.

Focus on offering value to your followers – that’s what matters. Choose a ratio that makes sense to you, and try to keep to it.

3. Use relevant hashtags

Hashtags are Twitter’s way of bundling information together by keyword. People following hashtags are interested in that content. If your content suits one, you’ll reach an audience that’s keen to engage with it.

If you want to get the most from hashtags, check out Danielle Prager’s hashtag best practices. Some of her key tips are:

• Never use more than three hashtags per post.
• Keep them short. #LongStringsOfWordsAreAnnoying.
• The more precise, the better.
• Make them easy to remember and easy to spell.
• If you’re creating a campaign hashtag, be original.

Finally, a word of warning: don’t try to piggyback on irrelevant hashtags; you’ll look foolish.

4. Know when to tweet

Twitter is time-sensitive. Even with Twitter’s new algorithm, only the beginning of the user’s stream is affected. And it’s optional. That means you’re still relying largely on timing to get your content seen.

It may feel like the whole world is constantly online, but some times of the day are busier than others:

The best times of the day to tweet.

Image courtesy of QuickSprout

Think about television ads. Primetime spots are the most expensive, but they’re not right for every product. Toy brands prefer after-school slots, when their target audience is watching. Likewise, you’ll make the greatest impact on Twitter when your target audience is engaged.

Use tools like Audiense, Followerwonk, and Mention to find out when your target audience is engaged. Prioritize tweeting at these times, for maximum impact.

ways-to-make-tweets-more-impactful

5. Add calls-to-action

You want engaged followers. Every retweet is an opportunity to reach a whole new audience. But people don’t engage with content just because they feel like it. Tell them what you need from them.

Dan Zarella analyzed over 2.7 million tweets to see which CTAs led to the most retweets:

The best calls to action for retweets

“Help,” “retweet,” “please,” “how to,” and “follow” are among the most retweeted words. If you want to see engaged Twitter followers, you’d better use ‘em.

Twitter power use Madalyn Sklar uses CTAs extensively to boost her posts:

Use calls to action to help increase Twitter reach

Madalyn loves Twitter chats, and CTAs help her spread the word about her #TwitterSmarter

6. Realize less isn’t more

Twitter is a “microblogging” site. It would make sense that Twitter content should be shorter than posts on other social networks. Not exactly.

Buffer and SumAll teamed up to make this monster infographic showing the optimal length for posts on various social networks. For instance, Facebook posts with around 40 characters see the highest engagement. For LinkedIn, you’re aiming for 25 words.

The perfect length for social media posts, according to SumAll

Image courtesy of SumAll

Even though Twitter places a premium on characters, the sweet spot for Twitter copy is between 70 and 100 characters.

To improve your copy, Cornell University made this funky A/B tester to predict which of two tweets should get more retweets.

7. Use images

Buffer found that pictures triple the rate of retweets, and nearly double the rate of likes. And because images take up Twitter real estate, your message becomes more prominent with a picture.

But what if you don’t have good, original images to share?

Create “quote pictures”

One Twitter study found that pictures lead to 35% more retweets, and that quotes increase retweets by 19%. I’m no math magician, but 35% + 19% = billions!

Or maybe it doesn’t work like that.

The point is, combine quotes and images for maximum impact.

There are plenty of tools that’ll help you do this. Canva, Pablo (by Buffer), and PicMonkey are all popular choices. Quote pictures are simple to make, and are sure to increase engagement.

8. Be personal

Don’t tweet like a robot. This is social media, and users enjoy a familiar touch.

CLICK TO TWEET

When appropriate, name the person tweeting. It gives a more personal feel to your tweets.

Name the person tweeting to give a personal feel

Harvard Business Review says that “empathy” is the key indicator of whether a company “gets” Twitter or not. They say empathy consists of “reassurance, authenticity, and emotional connection.” Basically, the best brands on Twitter don’t sound like brands. They sound like people.

Your tweets don’t need to save the rainforest (although great party trick, if you know how), you just want to seem human.

So there you have have it

Eight quick and easy tips to make your tweets more impactful. Start using them right away.

Want more help building your Twitter reach? We’ve got ya!

twitter marketing

Patrick Whatman

Content Marketer @Mention

Patrick Whatman is a content marketer for Spendesk, Mention, and other growing businesses. He lives in Paris, loves music, and writes his own brand of cultural criticism for fun. Tweet him @mrwhatman where he mainly talks digital marketing, American sports and New Zealand trivia.

Be in the know

We are looking for forward looking individuals who are guided by spiritual insight to help us create a Spiritual Family Network Community. It is well past the hour when we begin to develop our own Communication Networks for Planetary Work and Social Networking.

Spiritual Family Network has software engineering that combines the best features of Facebook such as Personal and Group Banners, Friends lists, likes, comments, messaging, online chats, views counters, instant share links either on the Community or on Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn and Twitter. It has a Twitter feature called The Wire for posting important tweets. It has many YouTube features for posting videos in a Video Menu and embedding videos in Pages and Blogs. 

A highly organized and full featured Group Plugin with its own menu systems for Group navigation and activity stream for easy viewing of Group activities. The Group Function Virtually creates an Independent Website that can be linked to a Domain Name. It has Quora like features for Questions and Answers an essential teaching platform. A message system as well as an Announcement feature for promoting Events and important information. Plus, a separate Events calendar for posting events and listing attending members.

A full featured Personal Profile with a rich text editor. Both personal and Group Cover Banners and separate profile avatars. It features both member and Group Photo Albums with thumbnails for easy viewing.

All this in a completely advertisement free browsing and Social Networking platform devoted to the spiritual work of this day and generation. A creative online atmosphere with no distractions from the pursuit of higher knowledge and spiritual living.

We have also added a Fundraiser Plugin for sponsoring the spiritual work of the world. Already we have been successful in raising funding and support for Groups engaged in the spiritual work of this day and generation. 

What we are looking for now is advanced human teachers of truth to add valuable thought gems to guide a troubled world of space into a glorious future.

Please seriously consider joining our growing family of truth seekers and spirit livers both here on Facebook and on our secure commerce free server at https://SpiritualFamily.net

Thank you for your time and consideration of this project. Godspeed!

Paul Kemp

Admin at Spiritual Family Network. 

I Oversaw the US Nuclear Power Industry.  Now I Think It Should Be Banned.

The danger from climate change no longer outweighs the risks of nuclear accidents.

"My journey, from admiring nuclear power to fearing it, [is now] complete," writes Jaczko. "This tech is no longer a viable strategy for dealing with climate change, nor is it a competitive source of power." (Image: Olivier Bonhomme/For The Washington Post)

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Original Post by Hugh Perry

Please give HOPE to a friend and Share this good news.

Click Here to Give me Feedback on this Post

Social Change:

1.  Marianne Williamson is paving the way for a new paradigm on running a nation and has qualified for the Democratic debate, June 26 or 27th.

https://www.marianne2020.com/video-posts/marianne-williamson-for-president

2.  Home delivery of Reusable Household Containers for products in New York and Paris. It’s called ‘Recommerce’.   

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/nation-and-world/the-milkman-model-returns-this-time-for-shampoo-and-haagen-dazs-20190529

Individuals Making a Difference:

3.  One man started ‘The Lake Revivers Collective and is Saving one lake at a time in India

https://www.thebetterindia.com/183887/tamil-nadu-lake-revival-hero-water-conservation-india/

Mature Agriculture:

4.  Kernza - an alternative to wheat that does not need to be reseeded

https://krishijagran.com/agripedia/kernza-an-alternative-to-wheat-that-doesnt-need-replanting/

5.  Agrihoods becoming a reality in the US. 

Detroit can feed 2000 families. Other US cities joining in the shift. 

https://theheartysoul.com/first-sustainable-urban-agrihood/?fbclid=IwAR152-9m_fymP_ljiTkRqUp0FlkgnxrPflgcuRfHaQsal3vCwffGWFZEeZM

6.  Atlanta converts 7 acre into public fruit orchard

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/445202-atlanta-to-transform-7-acres-of-vacant-property-into-countrys-largest

Philanthropist:

7.  124 acre Bee Sanctuary in Mississippi

Morgan Freeman’s contribution

https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/03/20/morgan-freeman-converted-his-124-acre-ranch-into-a-giant-honeybee-sanctuary-to-save-the-bees/#7bcdc12fdfa5

Political Will:

8.  Kenya joins 39 African countries to ban plastic bags

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/28/kenya-brings-in-worlds-toughest-plastic-bag-ban-four-years-jail-or-40000-fine

9.  Getting paid to cycle to work

Luxembourg, Belgium Netherlands & France

http://cycling.today/more-than-400000-belgians-get-paid-to-cycle-to-work/

10.  India doubles it’s renewable energy in 3 years

https://qz.com/india/1475736/india-is-now-a-world-leader-in-renewable-energy/

11.  Switching to popular vote majority in 14 US states 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/21/politics/nevada-senate-electoral-college/index.html

12.  Salvador bans round up - yet still for sale in Canada

https://sustainablepulse.com/2013/09/19/el-salvador-government-bans-roundup-over-deadly-kidney-disease/#.XO_EZi0ZNn0

Combating Pharma Greed:

13.  Colorado caps price of insulin

https://www.kcra.com/article/colorado-is-the-first-state-to-cap-skyrocketing-insulin-co-pays/27573802

Business Consciousness:

14.  Kingo Energy bringing solar to 60,000 low income and remote communities for $15/mnth

http://www.kingoenergy.com

15.  Morrisons, Britain’s  supermarket ban plastic from produce

https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/morrisons-the-first-supermarket-to-ban-fruit-plastic-packaging-1-4931199

16.  Dutch company can dye clothing without water by using CO2

http://www.dyecoo.com/co2-dyeing/

17.  Hemp wood factory in Kentucky, under construction saving Oak trees

https://hempwood.com

18.  1000 mopeds for rent in NYC

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-revel-moped-startup-launch-20190529-4r7zuj36ura6bnuqomli3eif2a-story.html

Hopeful Initiatives:

19.  Hamilton Ontario offering tiny homes to homeless

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/tiny-houses-1.4320161 

20.  Kroger. USA largest grocery chain plans to eliminates plastic bags in all 2779 stores

https://triblive.com/news/world/kroger-largest-grocery-chain-in-u-s-to-eliminate-plastic-bags/

21.  East-Timor will stop burning waste plastic by building a $40m plant to collect and convert it into liquid or gas

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-east-timor-to-become-worlds-first-plastic-neutral-nation/

22.  Philippines requires all graduates to plant 10 trees

https://www.sciencealert.com/philippines-passes-bill-requiring-graduating-students-to-plant-10-trees-before-graduating

23.  Vietnam converts wild grass into straws

https://www.greenmatters.com/p/wild-grass-straws-vietnam

24.  Costa Rice set to become the 1st Carbon Free country

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/7/17/17568190/costa-rica-renewable-energy-fossil-fuels-transportation

Saving Earth calls on each of us to do 4 things:

1. Stay wise to anti-planet actions 
2. Celebrate our small victories
3. Know that we are making a difference and Nature is on our side
4. Make your own action plan

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Hugh Perry - 

Please read 28th amendment

Please Read, and forward.   This will only take 1 minute to read!
 28th Amendment, 35 States and Counting.
 
It will take you less than a minute to read this. If you agree, please pass it on. It's an idea whose time has come to deal with this self-serving situation:
 
 OUR PRESENT SITUATION !
 
Children of Congress members do not have to pay back their college student loans.
 
Staffers of Congress family members are also exempt from having to pay back student loans.
 
Members of Congress can retire at full pay after only one term.
 
Members of Congress have exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed, under which ordinary citizens must live.
 For example, they are exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment.
 
And as the latest example, they have exempted themselves from Healthcare Reform, in all of its aspects.
 
We must not tolerate an elite class of such people, elected as public servants and then putting themselves above the law.
 
I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent, or whatever. The self-serving must stop.
 
Governors of 35 states have filed suit against the Federal Government for imposing unlawful burdens upon their states.It only takes 38 (of the 50) States to convene a Constitutional Convention.
 
If each person that receives this will forward it on to 20 people, in three days most people in The United States of America will have the message.
 
Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:

 
"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the Citizens of the United States ..."
 
This is an idea that should be passed around, regardless of political party. 

Congressional Reform Act of 2017 

• 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office. And, no more perks go with them. 
• 2. Congress (past, present, & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 
• 3. Congress must purchase their own retirement plan, just as ALL Americans do. 
• 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. 
• 5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. 
• 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people (i.e. NO MORE INSIDER TRADING!!!).
• 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congress made all these contracts by and for themselves. 

Serving in Congress is an honor and privilege NOT a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators should serve their term(s), then go home and go back to work … not get all kinds of freebies. 

If you are a member of Spiritual Family Network just click the share button on the top right of this post to share on your social networks. Or copy the address bar of this post and paste into messages and social network pages. Send it to everyone you know.  Let’s help get the country straightened out.

Your Eminences and Your Excellencies, dear Mr. Ambassador, conference organizers and participants,

I cordially greet all of those gathered today at the Russian Embassy in London to partake in this conference dedicated to the question of the future of Christianity in Europe. This topic is not only not losing any of its relevance, but is resounding ever anew. Experts believe that today Christianity remains not only the most persecuted religious community on the planet, but is also encountering fresh challenges which touch upon the moral foundations of peoples' lives, their faith and their values.

Recent decades have seen a transformation in the religious and ethnic landscape of Europe. Among the reasons for this is the greatest migration crisis on the continent since the end of the Second World War, caused by armed conflicts and economic problems in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. According to figures by the European Union agency Frontex, more than 1.8 million migrants entered the EU in 2015 alone. Figures from the UN International Migration Report show that the number of migrants in Europe has increased from 49.3 million people in 2000 to 76.1 million people in 2015. According to research  by the UN International Organization for Migration, throughout the world about 1.3 percent of the adult population, which comprises some 66 million people, in the forthcoming year intend to leave for another country in order to live permanently there. Approximately a third of this group of people – 23 million – are already making plans to move. 16.5 percent of potential migrants who were questioned responded that the countries at the top of their list are Great Britain, Germany and France.

The other reason for the transformation of the religious map of Europe is the secularization of European society. Figures in a British opinion poll indicate that more than half of the country's inhabitants – for the first time in history – do not affiliate themselves to any particular religion. 2942 people took part in an opinion poll conducted in 2016 by Britain’s National Centre for Social Research: 53 percent of those who responded to the question on religious allegiance said that they do not belong to any religious confession. Among those aged from eighteen to twenty-five, the number of non-religious is higher – 71 percent. When similar research was carried out in 1983, only 31 percent of those questioned stated that they did not belong to any confession.

We can see an opposite trend in the Eastern European countries, in particular in Russia. A July opinion poll conducted in Russia by the Levada-Center showed a sharp decline in the number of atheists and non-believers from 26 percent in December 2015 to 13 percent in July 2017. This, of course, does not mean that all the remaining 83 percent are practicing believers. Many defined themselves as “religious to some degree” or “not too religious”, but nevertheless affiliated themselves with one of the traditional religions. However, the number of people who define themselves as being “very religious” is growing steadily.

The contemporary state of religious life in Russian society is directly linked to the tragic events of one hundred years ago. The historical catastrophe of 1917 embroiled Russia in a fratricidal civil war, terror, exile of the nation's best representatives beyond the confines of their homeland, and the deliberate annihilation of whole layers of society – the nobility, the Cossacks, the clergy and affluent peasants. They were declared to be “enemies of the people,” and their relatives were subjected to discrimination and became the “disenfranchised,” which forced them to the edge of survival. All of this terror took place under the banner of a communist ideology that fought ferociously against religion. Millions of believers were subjected to the cruelest of persecution, harassment, discrimination and repression – from mockery and dismissal in the workplace to imprisonment and execution by firing squad. The Church in those years produced a great multitude of martyrs and confessors for the faith who, as St. Paul said, “were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment” (Heb 11.35-36). 

Discussion on the future of Christianity in Europe is impossible without understanding the prospects for the survival of religiosity among its inhabitants.  Research carried out by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Cornwell Theological College, USA, indicates that the number of Christians in Europe will be consistently falling: from 560 million people in 2015 to 501 million by 2050. The calculations of the Pew Research Center are more pessimistic and foretell a reduction in Christians in Europe from 553 million people in 2015 to 454 million people by 2050.

These are alarming prognoses, but they reflect the current trends in the transformation of the religious picture of Europe, and they cannot be ignored. Some are suggesting that, unless special force is applied, Europe cannot simply cease to be Christian on the grounds that Europe has for many centuries been Christian. I would like to remind you all that in Russia before 1917 nobody ever proposed that the collapse of a centuries-old Christian empire would happen and that it would be replaced by an atheistic totalitarian regime. And even when that did happen, few believed that it was serious and for long.

The modern-day decline of Christianity in the western world may be compared to the situation in the Russian Empire before 1917. The revolution and the dramatic events which followed it have deep spiritual, as well as social and political, reasons. Over many years the aristocracy and intelligentsia had abandoned the faith, and were then followed by common people. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia spoke of this in January 2017: “The fundamental rupture in the traditional way of life – and I am now speaking… of the spiritual and cultural self-consciousness of the people – was possible only for the reason that something very important had disappeared from peoples' lives, in the first instance those people who belonged to the elite. In spite of an outward prosperity and appearance, the scientific and cultural achievements, less and less place was left in peoples' lives for a living and sincere belief in God, an understanding of the exceptional importance of values belonging to a spiritual and moral tradition.”

In the immediate post-war years Christianity played a huge role in the process of European integration, which was viewed in the context of the Cold War as one of the means of containing the expansion of atheist propaganda and communist ideology. The Vatican relied in its anti-communist propaganda upon European unity, upon the Christian democratic parties of Western Europe. The latter firmly believed that Western civilization is closely tied to Christian values, and had to be defended from the communist threat. Pope Pius XII supported the creation of a European community as “Christian Europe's historical mission.”

The first president of the Federal Republic of Germany Theodor Heuss said that Europe was built on three hills: the Acropolis, which gave her the values of freedom, philosophy and democracy; the Capitol, which represented Roman legal concepts and social order; and Golgotha, i.e. Christianity. It must be noted too that the founding fathers of the European Union were deeply religious men – for example, the French foreign minister Robert Schuman, the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Konrad Adenauer and the Italian foreign minister Alcide De Gasperi.

And when half a century after the creation of the European Union its constitution was being written, it would have been natural for the Christian Churches to expect that the role of Christianity as one of the European values to have been included in this document, without encroaching upon the secular nature of the authorities in a unified Europe. But, as we know, this did not happen. The European Union, when writing its constitution, declined to mention its Christian heritage even in the preamble of the document.

I firmly believe that a Europe which has renounced Christ will not be able to preserve its cultural and spiritual identity. For many centuries Europe was the home where various religious traditions lived side by side, but at the same time in which Christianity played a dominant role. This role is reflected, particularly, in the architecture of European cities which are hard to imagine without their magnificent cathedrals and numerous, though more modest in size, churches.

A monopoly of the secular idea has taken hold in Europe. Its manifestation is the expulsion of the religious worldview from the public expanse. Article 4 of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination based on Religion and Belief, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1981, affirms that “All States shall take effective measures to prevent and eliminate discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief in the recognition, exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms in all fields of civil, economic, political, social and cultural life.”

The architects of the secular society have seen to the legal aspect of the issue: formally one can confess any religion, but if one attempts to motivate one's actions through religious belief and freedom of conscience and encourage others to act in accordance with their faith, then at best one will be subjected to censure, or at worst to criminal prosecution.

For example, if one is a doctor and refuses to perform an abortion, or euthanasia, by referring to one's religious principles, then one is breaking the law. If you are a Protestant pastor and live in a country in which same sex unions are legal, then you have little chance of refusing this couple the right to a church wedding while remaining unpunished by the state. Thus, for example, the Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven recently stated that all pastors of the Church of Sweden ought to be obliged to perform church weddings for same-sex couples, adding that “I see parallels to the midwife who refuses to perform abortions. If you work as a midwife you must be able to perform abortions, otherwise you have to do something else… It is the same for priests.”

Such political figures are the complete opposite to those who were at the foundations of the European Union, and this type of rhetoric, in my view, is suicidal for the continent of Europe. The legalization of abortion, the encouragement of sexual promiscuity, and the systematic attempts to undermine family values have led to a profound demographic crisis in many European countries. This crisis, accompanied by an identity crisis, will lead to a situation whereby in time other peoples will inhabit Europe with a different religion, a different culture and different paradigms of values.

Often the language of hatred in relation to Christians is used when Christians insist on their right to participate in public affairs. They enjoy the same right as much as it is enjoyed by adherents of any other religion or by atheists. However, in practice it is not like this: dozens of instances of discrimination against Christians on the grounds of their beliefs are registered every year. These instances are highlighted by the media and become a topic for public discussion, but the situation as a whole does not change as a result.

In modern-day Europe militant secularism has been transformed into an autonomous power that does not tolerate dissent. It allows well-organized minority groups to successfully impose their will on the majority under the pretext of observing human rights. Today human rights have in essence been transformed into an instrument for manipulating the majority, and the struggle for human rights into the dictatorship of the minority in relation to the majority.

Unfortunately, we should note that these are not isolated incidents, but an already formed system of values supported by the state and supra-national institutions of the EU.

In a situation where we have aggressive pressure of the groups which propagate ideas unacceptable from the perspective of traditional Christian morality, it is essential to unite the Churches’ efforts in opposing these processes, to act jointly in the media, in the sphere of legal support, as well as in propagating common Christian values at all possible levels. It is important that the Churches share their experience in this sphere, and develop cooperation between church human rights organizations and monitoring centers.

I believe it important that Christians of Europe should stand shoulder to shoulder to defend those values upon which the life of the continent has been built for centuries, and that they should view the afflictions and dismay of Christians throughout the world as their own.

[1]          Frontex Risk Analysis Network Quarterly Report. Q4 2015. http://frontex.europa.eu/assets/Publications/Risk_Analysis/FRAN_Q4_2015.pdf

[2]          International Migration Report 2015. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs/PopulationDivision.

                http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/publications/migrationreport/docs/MigrationReport2015.pdf

[3]          Measuring Global Migration Potential, 2010–2015. Issue No. 9, July 2017. http://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/gmdac_data_briefing_series_issue_9.pdf

[4]          Число неверующих в Великобритании впервые превысило 50%. http://www.bbc.com/russian/news-41154931

[5]          https://www.levada.ru/2017/07/18/religioznost

[6]          http://www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/research/documents/StatusofGlobalChristianity2017.pdf

[7]          http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/

[8]          Presentation by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the opening of the XXV Nativity Educational Readings http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/4789256.html

[9]          Христианские церкви и европейская интеграция: параметры взаимодействия. http://orthodoxru.eu/ru/index.php?content=article&category=publications&id=2012-09-17-1&lang=ru

[10]        http://www.un.org/ru/documents/decl_conv/declarations/relintol.shtml

[11]        http://www.intoleranceagainstchristians.eu/case/medical-directors-dismissal-reversed.html

[12]        Catholic care home in Belgium fined for refusing euthanasia. http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/07/04/catholic-care-home-in-belgium-fined-for refusing-euthanasia/

[13]        http://www.intoleranceagainstchristians.eu/case/swedish-prime-minister-priests-should-perform-same-sex-marriages.html