Nuestra América Convoy

The Nuestra América Convoy (English: Our America Convoy) is an international humanitarian movement proposed as a maritime convoy plan to deliver aid to Cuba in response to a severe humanitarian and economic crisis during early 2026. The initiative was initially a flotilla, before being expanded into a global coordinated mission involving the deliveries of humanitarian supplies by air, land, and sea, and is scheduled to converge in Havana on 21 March 2026.

Our America Convoy

Our America Convoy to Cuba

Nuestra América Convoy

The logo of the initiative since February 2026
Formation February 2026; 1 month ago

Region Europe, South America and North America

Organizer David R. K. Adler
Website https://nuestraamericaconvoy.org/

Formerly called Nuestra América Flotilla (Early February 2026)

International: 48 organisations endorse a joint statement for the World Humanitarian Summit

02 March 2015




A large truck delivers aid to Syrians in Aleppo (Jesuit Refugee Service).

Relief services are time-sensitive. We cannot wait to act. All states, donors and aid agencies must follow core humanitarian standards to ensure that the millions affected by conflict across the world get the assistance and protection they need, when they need it.

Rome, 2 March 2015 – Together with organisations such as Christian Aid, Caritas International, the Islamic Relief Worldwide, and the International Rescue Committee, the Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) calls on humanitarian actors and states in conflict regions to "re-affirm their commitment to respect and to promote the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, towards any stakeholders involved in humanitarian crises."

JRS, alongside 47 other agencies, signed a joint statement in Hungary in late February to protect the fundamental right of those affected by conflict to access humanitarian aid. The NGOs developed the statement as part of the European consultations that will contribute to the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit hosted by the United Nations. The signatories recognise that "humanitarian action is driven by a sense of humanity, a willingness to relieve human suffering, regardless of culture, origins or religion."

Humanitarian aid operations are a matter of international solidarity, which should not threaten national sovereignty. Governments in conflict regions must not only provide national humanitarian support, they must also facilitate the work of others actors in the region to deliver humanitarian aid, the statement urges.

In many volatile and insecure environments, lines are blurred between military and political activities (i.e. counter-terrorism tactics) and humanitarian aid, making it difficult for aid agencies to operate. The joint statement insists that governmental and institutional funding must remain independent of political agendas. Furthermore, the NGOs call on conflict-affected states to "allow and support full unimpeded access to all people in need of assistance and promote the safety, protection and freedom of movement of humanitarian personnel."

"We are in the midst of some of the worst humanitarian crises since World War II: the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syria. Reaching people quickly and effectively must to be our priority. We call on governments to cooperate with international humanitarian actors and to hasten the delivery of relief services," JRS International Director Peter Balleis SJ said.

"Relief services are time-sensitive. We cannot wait to act. All states, donors and aid agencies must follow core humanitarian standards to ensure that the millions affected by conflict across the world get the assistance and protection they need, when they need it."

Consequently, the support provided by outside actors must remain needs-based, rather than be used as a crisis management tool by donors. The aid agencies should abide by these humanitarian principles to remain accountable to those they serve. The signatories call on all international actors to "review and design all humanitarian policies in compliance with the humanitarian principles and enhance existing commitments for good donor practices such as the Good Humanitarian Donorship principles."

The World Humanitarian Summit next year aims to find innovative methods to approach humanitarian crises and reduce persons' vulnerability. Looking forward, Fr Balleis said "next year's World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul is the time to stress the importance of these humanitarian principles. Only then will we have a solid foundation from which to serve others."

Jacquelyn Pavilon, International Communications Assistant

Joint Statement on humanitarian principles endorsed by 48 humanitarian NGOs as a common contribution to the World Humanitarian Summit consultations as of 27 February.

Today, the humanitarian sector faces an unprecedented number of protracted and acute humanitarian crises, such as the crisis in Syria, in Central African Republic, in South Sudan or the regional Ebola crisis, compelling humanitarian actors to stretch existing structures and practices to breaking point. Considering the role the World Humanitarian Summit may play in the future of humanitarian action, it is of utmost importance that the international community uses this opportunity to reaffirm the shared value of humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.

The humanitarian principles emerged from International Humanitarian Law and are based on a common understanding that humanitarian action is driven by a sense of humanity, a willingness to relieve human suffering, regardless of culture, origins or religion. They are encompassed within the core of key humanitarian references, such as the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Disaster Relief or the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid.

NGOs are operating in exceptionally volatile and insecure environments where political agendas are interfering with the delivery of humanitarian aid, causing increased threats to the safety and security of humanitarian aid workers and assets, and in some situations hamper impartial access of affected population to relief operations. For example, the growing numbers of counter-terrorism laws and measures adopted by States and inter- governmental organizations are restricting humanitarian actor's ability to develop partnerships, run projects in complex environments, and are delaying programs implementation. The involvement of some donor states in stabilization operations in many contexts where humanitarian aid is needed, are increasingly blurring lines between political, military and humanitarian objectives, thus reducing humanitarian NGOS abilities to deliver aid. Therefore, due respect of the principles implies that governmental and institutional funding must remain detached from political or other agendas.

While affected states keep the primary responsibility to organize and deliver humanitarian support, they also have the fundamental duty to facilitate the work of other actors in situations when international solidarity is requested to answer the needs. Relief operations should not be considered as a challenge to State sovereignty nor the humanitarian imperative be undermined by making national sovereignty an excuse.

We concur that re-shaping aid is urgent with new actors and new donors playing bigger roles. Humanitarian aid must remain based on the needs as assessed by humanitarian actors and donors should abstain from using aid as a crisis management tool.

Consequently humanitarian NGOs, concerned about the threats posed on these principles, take the opportunity of the World Humanitarian Summit to strongly reassert their commitment to the humanitarian principles, as being critical in guaranteeing people in need will have safe access to humanitarian aid. The humanitarian principles must be fully supported and adequately implemented by states and all organizations, and systematically feed all policies and practices on humanitarian aid.

As humanitarian NGOs involved in crises around the world today, we strongly call upon Humanitarian actors, Donors, States and all parties involved in conflicts, to:

• Re-affirm their commitment to respect and to promote the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, towards any stakeholders involved in humanitarian crises, and re-affirm the value of the humanitarian imperative;
• Review and design all humanitarian policies in compliance with the humanitarian principles and enhance existing commitments for good donor practices such as the Good Humanitarian Donorship principles;
• Reaffirm and protect the fundamental right for affected populations to access humanitarian aid;
• Allow and support full unimpeded access to all people in need of assistance and promote the safety, protection and freedom of movement of humanitarian personnel.

We request that these recommendations be fully part of the outcomes of the World Humanitarian Summit.

Signatories

ACF International, ACT Alliance, ACTED, ADRA, Alianza por la Solidaridad, Arche noVa e.V., Bioforce, CARE International, Caritas Internationalis, CBM International, Center for Vicitms of Torture, ChildFund International, Christian Aid, Comitato Internazionale Sviluppo dei popoli (CISP), Concern Worldwide, DanChurchAid, Danish Refugee Council, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, Finnish Church Aid, Habitat For Humanity International, Handicap International, Help - Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe, HelpAge International, International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Jesuit Refugee Service, Life for Relief and Development, Malteser International, MEDAIR, Médecins du Monde, Mercy Corps, Norwegian Church Aid, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, People In Need, Premiere Urgence - Aide Medicale Internationale, Questscope for Social Development in the Middle East, Relief International, Secours Islamique France, Solidarites International, Terre des homes, The Lutheran World Federation, Tierarzte ohne Grenzen, Welthungerhilfe, World Vision International

Contacts
Camille Gosselin
cgosselin@handicap-international.org

Pauline Chetcuti
pchetcuti@actioncontrelafaim.org



Press Contact Information
James Stapleton
international.communications@jrs.net


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Christian who refused to work on Sundays loses case at Court of Appeal

December 5th, 2013


A Christian care worker who said that she could not work on Sundays because of her faith has lost her case at the Court of Appeal. Celestina Mba, who is a Baptist, was required by her former employer Merton Council to work on Sundays, but she said that she could not do this because of her beliefs, and resigned from her job in 2010. After an employment tribunal ruled against her, she took her case to the Court of Appeal, but the Court has today ruled against her. The British Humanist Association (BHA) welcomes the Court of Appeal’s ruling.

Ms Mba was employed to work with children with severe learning difficulties at Brightwell Respite Care House in Morden. She said to Merton Council that she should not have to work on Sundays, so that she could obey the Fourth Commandment, which is to observe the Sabbath. Her lawyers say that she then agreed this with the Council, but that they later changed the arrangement, requiring her to work on Sundays and thus forcing her to choose between her job and her beliefs. Merton Council said that they could not accommodate Ms Mba’s refusal to work on Sunday, because of their duty to ensure that the children at the care home have weekend care.

The earlier employment tribunal rejected Ms Mba’s case on the grounds that observing the Sabbath is not a ‘core component’ of the Christian faith, as there are some Christians who are prepared to work on Sundays. Ms Mba asked three Court of Appeal judges to overturn the verdict of the employment tribunal, but they have refused to allow her appeal.

Pavan Dhaliwal, BHA Head of Public Affairs, commented ‘The right to religious freedom in the workplace should allow reasonable exceptions to be made for the expression of religious beliefs. However, it should not extend so far that it disrupts the employer’s business, or impacts on the rights of others, such as those who use the good or service which the employer provides. This case is just the latest example of attempts to establish religious exemptions in the workplace and in the law more generally, which are often backed by socially conservative religious groups. However, the courts have generally been robust in resisting these attempts to establish religious privileges, and we are glad that the Court of Appeal has rejected Ms Mba’s appeal today.’

Notes

For further comment or information contact Pavan Dhaliwal, Head of Public Affairs at pavan@humanism.org.uk or on 0773 843 5059.

The Guardian – Christian care worker who did not want to work on Sundays loses legal fight: http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/dec/05/christian-care-worker-sundays-legal-fight

BBC News – Christian Celestina Mba loses Sunday shifts appeal: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25229807

Previous BHA news article – Christian B&B owners lose Supreme Court appeal: https://humanism.org.uk/2013/11/27/christian-bb-owners-lose-supreme-court-appeal/

Read about the BHA’s policy on conscientious objection: https://humanism.org.uk/campaigns/human-rights-and-equality/conscientious-objection/

The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.

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Today is the 33rd Anniversary of the Georgia Guide Stones Construction

Intellihub.com
March 22, 2013

The Georgia Guide Stones become 33 years old today, and now is a better time than ever to spread the word about this monument and the goals that it has immortalized in stone.

The stones were erected on March 22, 1980, and there are few details known about who funded or orchestrated this project, aside from the pseudonym “R. C. Christian” which is listed as an “author” on the monument.

According to Vigilant Citizen:

The Georgia Guidestones is an enigmatic granite monument situated in Elbert County, Georgia. Also known as the American Stonehedge, the gigantic structure is almost 20 feet high and is made of six granite slabs, weighing in total 240,000 pounds. The most astonishing detail of the monument is however not its size but the message engraved into it: Ten rules for an “Age of Reason”.

These guides touch upon subjects that are associated with the “New World Order”, including massive depopulation, a single world government, the introduction of a new type of spirituality, etc. The authors of those rules have requested to remain totally anonymous and, until now, their anonymity has been duly preserved.

However, this mysterious group left a text explaining the reasoning behind the rules, a text that was not discussed online before. With this new information, the purpose behind the Guidestones become very clear, leaving little room for hypotheses. The Guidestones describe the ideal world, as envisioned by occult Secret Societies. The monument is therefore proof of an existing link between secret societies, the world elite and the push for a New World Order.

The specific goals for this future society is laid out very plainly in a set of guidelines etched into the stones:


1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion – faith – tradition – and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth – beauty – love – seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the earth – Leave room for nature – Leave room for nature.

Much like most of the New World Order’s propaganda, these goals are worded with nice sounding euphemisms, but have a very sinister reality buried underneath of the cover story. This list is even bold enough to list major depopulation as a major goal, as its number one tenant.

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Why Christianity Is Dying While Spirituality Is Thriving

Steve McSwain

'Voice of the SBNR (spiritual but not religious),' award-winning author, speaker, thought leader, spiritual teacher

Posted: 10/10/2012 3:38 pm




The title of this post alone will put some branches of the Christian church immediately on the defense. The fact is, however, I travel all over this country coaching religious leaders and consulting with congregations of every stripe imaginable. And there is one overarching conclusion to which I've come:Christianity is dying. Or, to put it more accurately, the Christian church is dying while the Christian faith, in too few places still, seems to be slowly, but gratefully, morphing into something new.

And better.

Admittedly, there are a few churches that are growing in the U.S. Some are evangelical; others are Catholic, although most of their growth is largely the consequence of the influx of Hispanics who are, almost universally, Roman Catholic. To those blinded by illusion, however, the few churches that are growing has made some feel driven to object, particularly if they happen to be part of such a church, by saying, "The church is doing quite well, thank you!"

The truth is, it is not. And when church leaders are honest, and many of them are not, they will acknowledge that they are drawing most of their growth from the disaffected, disavowed and disillusioned who have left or leaving other churches. If you were to interview those who are leaving and going to these few growing churches, as I have, you would discover that for many of them, they feel spiritually disconnected and displaced, while still desiring to know and to feel a vital spiritual life. Unable to find it in much of the madness they've chosen to leave behind, they turn to these rapidly growing churches, many of which have become "mega" churches as a result of this phenomenon, in a kind of last ditch effort to find something that resembles spiritual sanity.

Regrettably, however, what many of them soon find even in many of these growing churches is just a polished-up and well-rehearsed, as well as well-performed, version of the same madness they left. Before long, scores of them wind up leaving even these and then join the ranks of those persons known today as "Nones" -- who are, by the way, now one in every five Americans. These "Nones" have all but given up on organized religion and now simply regard themselves as spiritual but not religious. It is to these and for these I regularly write and blog.

So, what do I mean by the statement, "the Christian faith seems to be morphing into something new?"

I do not mean by this a new religion. To the contrary, what I'm seeing is a new and refreshing emergence within the Christian religion itself. Perhaps, as at no other time in Christian history, except perhaps the first few decades following the death of Jesus, the church today is slowly becoming, but in too few places as yet, something that I suspect Jesus himself might actually recognize. There is within this new emergence an affinity for those matters of social and personal justice, compassion, spiritual wholeness and unity within and among all people and faiths. Thesewere the obsessions of Jesus while here on earth.

I regard these few churches as glimmers of hope scattered here and there. So, what does this new emergence within the Christian religion look like?

1. This new, emerging church is made up of people who are desperately seeking ways of understanding, and in many cases, rewriting Christian theology. It needs to be rewritten. For decades now, the church has sought to survive on a doctrine of salvation that depended on the shedding of innocent blood to appease an obsessively angry God so as to rescue humanity from what would otherwise result in their conscious and eternal torment in hell. It's crazy theology. It is not what Jesus taught. And as a consequence, it is more pagan than it is Christian.

2. These new churches have a healthier view of their sacred text known as the Bible.They revere the Bible without making a god of it. Instead worshipping the Bible as a kind of "Constitution," as Brian Mclaren dubs it in "A New Kind of Christianity," they interpret the Bible for what it is: an inspired book, capable of providing inspiration, wisdom and spiritual direction, not a textbook on science or morality or answer-book preachers might use for "Stump the Preacher" talk-shows.

3. These Christians no longer feel the enemy is liberalism, even "secular humanism," as it is commonly labeled in the declining and dying branches within Christianity.Admittedly, they see dangers in any extreme notions, whether in liberal theology or humanistic philosophy, but they have awakened to the realization that the church has met the "real" enemy -- and the real enemy is the church itself. Furthermore, these Christians no longer believe gays will destroy the institution of marriage when heterosexuals have successfully accomplished that all by themselves. Waging war against gays, lesbians and those within the transgender community is like trying to defend slavery. Furthermore, these have given up the church's war with science and psychology, choosing instead to embrace the truths science teaches us, not only about the origins of the universe, but about the complexities of the human mind, human development and sexuality.

4. Further, I see this new evolving Christianity being birthed in the hearts of sincere and devoted Christ-followers who are open to what other religions can teach us about spirituality, too. They would regard, for example, Desmond Tutu's statement "God is not a Christian," as the truth. While affirming that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19), and cherishing that belief within their own faith confessions, these Christians would embrace and, in fact, do embrace the spiritual insights that may come from Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and scores of other spiritual traditions. They have exchanged the insanity of the dying church that insists "We're right! You're wrong," for the sane "We're in and you are, too" approach to human and religious solidarity. Together, these Christians seek spiritual awareness -- spiritual enlightenment -- and they seek the good of all people, too, even those who embrace no religion.

5. Finally, but I could go on and on in my observations, this emerging new Christianity no longer interprets Christian "hope" as some "pie-in-the-sky" future paradise that they alone will enjoy, along with those who agree with their theology, their eschatology and their exclusivist beliefs. No, these Christians would view "hope" the way Jesus their leader viewed it; the way the prophets of old viewed it; the way the entire biblical narrative views it: as a vision of the world wherein peace and justice and plenty for everyone exists in the here and now; a world that reflects "God's will on earth just as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10); a world where all people are treated equally, cared for, respected, fed and nurtured for the wonderful creations of God that they are; a world where all people regardless of color, sex, race, religion, political party, nationality or sexual orientation have a voice and a place; a world where people and nations, as the Prophet Isaiah put it, "beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; where nation no longer takes up sword against nation; where war is no longer learned" (Isaiah 2:1-5).

It is this kind of church that will emerge and thrive. The others will die a slow and agonizingly painful death.

For all the reasons above, and a host of others, spirituality is thriving both inside and outside these new and emerging expressions of the Christian faith. For me, and a growing number of other progressive-minded Christians, that is a cause for hope.


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Resident Evil: The Jesuit Threat to Humanity

by Mike Bellinger When Martin Luther sparked the spiritual and social revolution in Europe we now know as the Reformation, he sent an arrow deep into the heart of the Vatican power base. As the Reformation spread and enlightenment became commonplace, the Dark Ages ended, didn't they? Apparently they did not. The Vatican, in its lust for power over all human life, soon spawned an advocate who was worthy of the devil himself. He went by the name of Ignatius Loyola. Loyola was a self-made man. He suffered many trials and defeats in his life, but persevered to become the head of what he named the "Society of Jesus" whose members later became better known under their assigned nickname: the Jesuits.  Ignatius Loyola formed the Jesuits as a military order with the stated purpose of overthrowing the reformation started by Martin Luther and restoring the temporal (political) and religious domination of the Vatican in all walks of life. In other words, he wanted to bring back the Dark Ages. The domination of the Vatican and the Pope as Monarch over all Kings, Queens, secular leaders and the rest of humanity was (and still is) the avowed mission of the Society of Jesus.  Loyola's mandate was that the end justified the means, and any means of restoring Vatican domination was acceptable. The mission of the Jesuits was the extermination of all heresy and all heretics. Protestants and all other non-Catholics must be converted or eliminated - either sooner or later. The saying among the Jesuits was that "It is no sin to kill a heretic". This murderous justification apparently became their creed.  They demanded absolute, unquestioning obedience from their members. To achieve the fourth and highest vow of initiation, and thereby be initiated into the actively evil pyramidal top level, a Jesuit must be a loyal member for 35 years. This requirement ensured the smallest possibility of dissent or original thinking ever surviving in anyone reaching leadership role, or from ever altering their stated purpose or mission as set out by founder Ignatius Loyola.  As a military order, they fought many open political wars with European Kings, Queens and statesmen. Their favored tool against such power was assassination. Because of their small numbers, they became experts on poisoning and all known methods of assassination. They were even connected to the Borgias, as in Lucretia Borgia.  In those days most everyone had a confessor. The Jesuits deliberately sought these roles and came to dominate the confessor positions in European society. In that role they were able to use the intelligence they gathered from their political, social and business victims to gain advantage in politics, business and education. The confessor spies then used that information and position coupled with blackmail, bribery and intimidation to seek advantage for the Vatican in every endeavor. The Jesuit intelligence apparatus is unequaled on this planet. They were in place before we ever even dreamed of such an enterprise. Their missionaries carried this intelligence gathering on throughout the world when Columbus opened up the frontier, and no one has ever outdone them. This is one of the secrets of the Jesuit-Vatican control of much of the world.  The other very successful and crucial tactic they employed was to infiltrate all of their enemies. Opposing religions, enemy political structures, business, media and education, both domestic and foreign, were infiltrated by Jesuit missionaries and the many unidentifiable junior Jesuits: those secular followers who were all too willing to accept Jesuit favors and position in exchange for selling their countries and their souls to the Vatican.  What happened in Europe was that after 250 hundred years of bloody Jesuit-instigated massacres of Protestants, the bloody Jesuit Inquisitions (some estimates put the total Vatican and Jesuit death toll at 60 million human beings, making Hitler seem like an amateur) and resulting wars with European monarchs and statesmen, the Jesuits had been taking quite a beating themselves. Many had been executed outright, and as a group they were thrown out of almost every country in Europe at one time or another. Even several popes turned against them due to public outcries from some still loyal Catholic countries. But they always somehow managed to regroup and return. When they did, they always extracted bloody revenge on whatever country or ruler had expelled them. They killed the popes who banished them and took over the Vatican completely in the 1700's. This would prevent any further rear-guard actions against them in the future as they had suffered previously. This consolidation of Jesuit control over the Vatican itself marked a new phase in the ongoing battle against Protestantism and all the other non-Catholic "heretics" of the world at large.  The lessons learned from open conflicts with the European powers led to the next and most sinister phase of the Jesuit takeover of world society. They realized that the most effective and efficient method of seizing control of a society was by their already useful tactic of infiltration, but this time in secret. The instruments of that infiltration would be the many secret societies which they targeted and assumed control of. The international nature of the Masonic brotherhood made them an ideal tool for using its membership to advance Jesuit goals. Publicly, the Vatican and the Masons were enemies; but F. Tupper Saussy found evidence linking them, and Jon Eric Phelps notes that Adam Wieshaupt, the founder of modern Bavarian Freemasonry was a Jesuit agent.  The Knights of Malta (formerly Knights Templar) are the premiere secret society of the Vatican these days, but they are subservient to the Jesuit General. Many of America and the Western World's power elite are Knights of Malta.  Once they spread their influence through the secret societies worldwide and coordinated with the English Roundtables to impose a worldwide network of control, the whole phenomena evolved into what we know of today as the New World Order (or what the elite-controlled press so disingenuously refers to as Globalism, as if that is something to be desired). The Globalists have many nicknames, but their agenda is one and the same. It is total control of this planet. They have many factions who compete with one another for position and advantage like a group of churlish relatives, but the ultimate goal is always unchanged. And the Jesuit overlords lurk in the background, pulling all the important strings.  If you know anything about the history of the elite Brotherhood, then you will know that the Rothschild’s banking faction developed the art of financing wars from both sides of a conflict by utilizing the secrets of Central Banking with their ability to create enormous debt loads in the resident populations resulting from the issuance of government authorized fiat money. The incredible profits generated by war, reaped from both the winners and losers, led to a syndrome where induced wars became a way of life for the overlords because of the vast financial profits and additional benefits derived from it.  In addition to massive financial profits, war results in many other '"benefits" for the overlords. Some of the most important to them are increased centralized control of the population by government, increased militarization, and the public fear of conflicts to come, leading them to let their "peace-loving" statesmen do all their thinking for them.  But the Jesuits have a much darker rationale behind all the world conflicts they have overseen in the last 600 years. They have used all of these various wars as cover-ups for their mass exterminations of Protestants and all other non-Catholic peoples worldwide. This is the real horror of the Jesuits and the Vatican. They are the most prolific mass murders in all of human history. No one and nothing else in known human history compares to their record of calculated genocide. Now you know why we must stop this evil. The Vatican, as it is now, is the incarnation of hell itself. There can be no doubt of that.  Here are some Jesuit/Vatican atrocities to mull over.  The Crusades: Who knows how many died? And then the children’s crusades ... Good God.  The Inquisitions: In “Vatican Assassins,” Eric Jon Phelps cites a source that estimates roughly 60 million people were murdered in the various stages of the Inquisitions. Think about that number for a minute. Most of these people were tortured to death.  Catherine De Medici instigated the butchering of 75,000 French Protestant Huguenots on August 24, 1572. In 1598 Henry IV issued the Edict of Nates to protect them. By manipulating the rescinding of the protective Edict of Nantes in 1685 by the Jesuit confessor to King Louis XIV (using religious blackmail), another HALF MILLION FRENCH HUGUENOTS were butchered by the vile French Catholic Dragonades. In 1655 again, British Protestant hero Oliver Cromwell threatened to invade France and crush the French Crown for a new massacre being waged upon the French Vadois Protestants of valley of Piedmont by six Catholic Regiments by the Duke of Savoy.  The massacre of the poor Irish protestants on October 23rd 1641 - the "Feast" of Ignatius Loyola. How fitting a day for a massacre by these bloodthirsty swine. It is estimated that 150,000 Irish Protestants were butchered in the streets and in their homes. This slaughter took place over an eight-year period. Finally, once again it was Oliver Cromwell who finally invaded Ireland and attacked the Jesuit base at Drogheda and in a rage exterminated the entire Catholic village of 2000. Only this invasion finally ended the massacre of the Protestants. The present day Irish Protestants are still at war with the fanatical Irish Catholic Jesuits, and this is why they need the continued protection of the British Army.  End of Part 1 Source .

While The United Nations And Obama Endorse Same-Sex Marriage,..

PRESS RELEASE
May 23, 2012, 1:21 p.m. EDT

While The United Nations And Obama Endorse Same-Sex Marriage, The World Congress Of Families VI Meets In Madrid To Affirm The Natural Family As The Future Of Society

MADRID, May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The World Congress of Families Defends the Rights of Children to Have a Mother and Father in Every Home

In two days, World Congress of Families VI will open in Madrid's Palacio de Congresos to affirm the natural family as the fundamental unit of society while President Barack Obama and world leaders try to force so-called same-sex marriage on a global society suffering from economic decline, moral bankruptcy, family breakdown, and social chaos.

The theme for WCF VI in Madrid, Spain (May 25-27) is "Marriage and Family, Future of Society." This theme reflects that there is no greater social indicator for the future success of our civilization than the strength of natural marriage and natural families in society. For example, decades of research indicates that natural marriage can reduce rates of poverty by over 80%.

"We had no idea when we began planning our sixth Congress over two years ago that it would come on the heels of an announcement by a U.S. president that he supports homosexual 'marriage,' based on spurious claims of equality and ignoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the rights of children to be raised by their biological mothers and fathers," said Larry Jacobs, World Congress of Families Managing Director.

In many ways, the timing is providential, Jacobs observed: "The Congress will open in Spain almost two weeks to the day after President Obama announced his repudiation of the natural family. Spain's civil society and economy is still recovering from many years of a socialist government, led by Zapatero, who forced the legalization of same-sex marriage and abortion on the Spanish people despite overwhelmingly public opposition. Just as our radical opponents have lobbied and organized to make their voice heard, advocates for the natural family must continue to organize internationally and speak out against radical LGBT and feminist injustice against children and families."

Speakers at the three-day Congress will include Cardinal Ennio Antonelli (President of the Pontifical Council on the Family) on "The Natural Family and the Revolution Against the Family," Rabbi Moshe Bendahan (Chief Rabbi of Spain) on "Family, the Future of Society," Erich W. Kopischke (Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) on "The Value of the Natural Family," Fr. Philaret Bulekov (delivering a message from Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev of the Russian Orthodox Church) and Dr. Paige Patterson (President of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary).

Speeches by social scientists, authors, physicians and officeholders will touch on such varied topics as: the worldwide decline in fertility, how government policies impact on the family, the family and international law, contraception vs. natural family planning, the health effects of promiscuity and infidelity, family economics and social capital, rediscovering the role of homemaker, the culture of life versus the culture of death, fighting for freedom to educate, the social cost of pornography and sexual slavery, and family-friendly entertainment.

A plenary session on The Homosexual Lobby will include addresses on: "Solutions to Homosexual Behavior," "Violation of Rights of Conscience Today," "Effects of Social Experimentation and Same-Sex Adoption," and "Hate Speech Laws and Anti-Discrimination Measures to Marginalize Believers."

"Just as the movement to de-construct marriage and the natural family are international in scope, so too must be our response," Jacobs declared. "World Congress of Families is uniting individuals across diverse faiths and cultures in support of institutions which serve as the bedrock of civilization. Article 16 (3) of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR ratified by all nations in 1948) states that, "The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State."

Delegates, including Pro-family leaders, scholars and activists from over 60 nations, are expected to attend the Madrid Congress. Previous World Congresses of Families have been held in Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw (20070 and Amsterdam (2009). World Congress of Families VII is scheduled for Sydney, Australia in 2013.

Those interested in attending World Congress of Families VI in Madrid (May 25-27) can register online at www.worldcongress.es .

WCF VI is organized by HazteOir.org (the local host committee) and The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society. Co-conveners for WCF VI in Madrid include Alliance Defense Fund, Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute and Focus on the Family. World Congress of Families is also supported annually by our 35 partners, in 11 countries. Click here for a complete list of WCF Partners.

For more information on World Congress of Families go to www.worldcongress.org . To schedule an interview with Larry Jacobs, contact Communications Director Don Feder at 508-405-1337 , dfeder@rcn.com or Judy Hodge 815-964-5819 , media@worldcongress.org.

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and inter-faith people of goodwill from more than 80 countries that seek to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the 'seedbed' of civil society (as found in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). The WCF was founded in 1997 by Allan Carlson and is a project of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society in Rockford, Illinois. To date, there have been five World Congresses of Families - Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw, Poland (2007) and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2009). World Congress of Families VI will be held in Madrid, Spain in May 25-27, 2012.

SOURCE World Congress of Families

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Economic Buzzwords

Author:Wendy Goubej

Summary:What is the Papacy really saying in its encyclicals?

Author:Wendy Goubej

Summary:What is the Papacy really saying in its encyclicals?

There are several words that crop up often in the speeches and writings of the Roman Church on economics. However, these words don't necessarily mean what we think they mean.

“Reason,” “natural law,” and “human rights” are three of these key terms. The Pope said that human rights, “are based on the natural law inscribed on human hearts.”i So what is natural law?


Benedict XVI and Obama have a chat in July 2009 at the Vatican. Source: Vatican...

In The Chronicle Review: a Chronicle of Higher Education, Alan Wolfe, Jewish Professor at Boston College writes this:

Among Catholic intellectuals, as well as some who are not Catholic, the most important Catholic inheritance is the natural law tradition, which is premised on the idea that there are certain truths in the world that remain true irrespective of whether the laws and conventions of any particular society adhere to them. At its worst, belief in natural law can lead to ideological rigidity and inflexible inhumanity.ii

According to Wolfe, natural law is deeply linked to humanity's ability to reason:

Catholics are likely to hold that the truth of God’s existence must mean the truth of man’s reason, art’s beauty, and morality’s universality.iii

In other words, humanity’s reason is unfallen. God’s existence and humanity’s reason, as well as art’s beauty and morality’s universality, are equally unfallen. By reason we can change things.

In Facts for the Times, Pope Nicholas is quoted to have said: “The Pope’s will stands for reason. He can dispense above the law; and of wrong make right, by correcting and changing laws” (emphasis added).iv

So the Pope’s will is equal to reason.

Is this Biblical? Roman Catholic natural law is derived from the premise that reason is unfallen. Protestant law of nature embodies reason subdued by the Bible.

The Bible tells us that the whole head is sick (Isaiah 1:5), that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), that in our flesh there dwelleth “no good thing” (Romans 7:18), and that by our own selves, we can do nothing (John 15:5).

But the Roman Catholic Church says that the Pope is the superior—that he can correct the apostles and free himself from the Word.

If the Pope’s will stands for reason, who will be the one deciding what is reasonable? It will be the Pope, of course, who rules by divine right and considers himself equal to God Himself.

Let's read some of these buzzwords in their context.

Catholic Morality

Richard M. Gula, Professor of Moral Theology at the St. Patrick’s Seminary in California, wrote this in his book Reason Informed by Faith—Foundations of Catholic Morality:

Natural law is central to Roman Catholic theology...The advantage of using natural law is that the church shows great respect for human goodness and trusts the human capacity to know and choose what is right. Also by means of appealing to natural law, the church can address its discussion and claims for the rightness or wrongness of particular actions to all persons of good will, not just to those who share its religious convictions...The magisterium has appealed to natural law as the basis for its teachings pertaining to a just society, sexual behaviour, medical practice, human life, religious freedom, and the relationship between morality and civil law...In any case, the development of natural law tradition among Christian thinkers is due not so much to the scriptures as to the influence of Greek philosophy and Roman law.v

This quotation has several points that deserve further discussion:

Natural law is central to Roman Catholic theology...

This point tells us that the words “natural law” are used when Rome is discussing a central theological issue. We need to pay attention when natural law is discussed.

...the church shows great respect for human goodness and trusts the human capacity to know and choose what is right...

The Bible doesn’t tell us that the human capacity can be trusted. Rather, doesn’t goodness come from God alone?

...the church can address its discussion and claims for the rightness or wrongness of particular actions to all persons of good will...

Note that Gula does not say that the Church can work with all persons, but only all persons of good will. Who decides who is of good will and who is not? What are the criteria?

...the development of natural law tradition among Christian thinkers is due not so much to the scriptures as to the influence of Greek philosophy and Roman law.

This statement suggests that natural law, which is central to Catholic theology and the basis of its doctrines and teachings, comes not from the Scriptures but from Greek philosophy (the leopard beast of Daniel 7) and pagan Roman law (the fourth beast of Daniel 7).

...natural law as the basis for its teachings pertaining to a just society, sexual behaviour, medical practice, human life, religious freedom, and the relationship between morality and civil law.

According to the Roman Catholic Church, all of our lives, from the justice system, to medicine, to our religious freedom, to our civil laws, and even to our right to exist, are to be based on the principles of natural law—an unBiblical doctrine.

...the church can address its discussion and claims for the rightness or wrongness of particular actions to all persons of good will, not just to those who share its religious convictions...

The aim of historical Rome, which has always been one of total global domination, is still valid today. The Catholic Church would like to be the spokesman for and to all religions, not just Catholics. Its principles of natural law are to be the controlling principles over all religions. The Pope would like to be the universal ruler and to unite all religious systems under one law, a law based on “reason,” the natural law of the Roman Catholic Church.

We see these papal plans coming to fruition in the United Nations and among religious groups around the world.

On June 29, 2009, the Pope made another speech, calling for a “God-centered” global economy.vi Was he speaking of our true God? Or was he speaking of himself? In his most recent encyclical, Caritas in Veritate,the Pope calls for a reform of the UN that will establish a “true world political authority” with “real teeth” to manage the global economy with God-centered ethics.vii

We should ask ourselves who this true world political authority is going to be. From ethics and human rights to the financial crisis to political authority, the head of the Roman Church has a solution for the world. Mack Quigley further explains some of the issues of Caritas in Veritate in the following video:


Read about papal political views in our next article

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i. Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations (April 18, 2008).

ii. Alan Wolfe, “The Intellectual Advantages of a Roman Catholic Education,” The Chronicle Review: a Chronicle of Higher Education (May 31, 2000).

iii. Ibid.

iv. Facts for the Times (1893): 55-56

v. Richard M. Gula Reason Informed by Faith—Foundations of Catholic Morality (Paulist Press, 2002):120-121.

vi. Cathy Lynn Grossman, "Pope calls for 'God-Centered' Global Economy," USA TODAY (July 7, 2009).

vii. Pope Benedict XVi, Caritas in Veritate (June 29, 2009).


Disclaimer: The contents of this article and website are not intended to accuse individuals. There are many priests and faithful believers in Roman Catholicism who serve God to the best of their ability and are seen by God as His children. The information contained herein is directed only towards the Roman Catholic religio-political system that has reigned in varying degrees of power for nearly two millennia. Under the influence of its successive popes, bishops, and cardinals, this system has established an increasing number of doctrines and statements that clearly go against Scripture.

It is our sincere desire to lay the clear Word of God before you, the truth-seeking reader, so you may decide for yourself what is truth and what is error. If you find herein anything contrary to the Word of God, you need not accept it. But if you desire to seek for Truth as for hidden treasure, and find herein something of that quality, we encourage you to make all haste to accept that Truth which is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit.

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A new way to measure human rights may revolutionize global advocacy

Change Agent


A new way to measure human rights may revolutionize global advocacy


The SERF index, a new way to measure human rights in a country, may provide a more accurate assessment of a country's human rights effort.



A small group of scholars based at The New School in New York City and the University of Connecticuthave created what they hope will be a more rigorous and globally applicable index of human rights, focusing on social and economic rights, called the SERF index.

Courtesy of Dowser.org


By Rachel Signer, Dowser.org / June 6, 2011


In 1948, the United Nations passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the hopes of creating a world in which individuals lived without oppression. In the decades that have passed, human rights advocacy has grown into a worldwide community of organizations, academics, and think tanks.


But the task of protecting and improving human rights faces numerous challenges: the problem of using standardized indexes to measure rights in highly heterogeneous cultural and national contexts is one. And for many human rights scholars, the tendency to concentrate advocacy efforts on political and civic rights, like the right to vote or the right to a fair trial, rather than social and economic ones, like the right to education or health care, is another significant limitation.

A small group of scholars based at The New School in New York City and the University of Connecticut, with support from the Social Science Research Council, have created what they hope will be a more rigorous and globally applicable human rights index that focuses on social and economic rights, called the SERF index. The Economic and Social Rights Empowerment Initiative launched the index on May 13, in a public panel at New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge.

GALLERY: World's worst human rights violators

The SERF index aims to break away from other rights indicators by accounting for not only the rights-bearers, but also duty-bearing state governments. Focusing on the “core rights” of adequate housing, education, food, healthy, work, and social security, SERF takes a substantive and contextual approach that asks, firstly, the extent to which a nation’s people are enjoying these rights and, secondly, the extent to which countries are feasibly obligated to fulfill these rights.

In order to deal with the immense variety of governments around the world, SERF is relying on GDP as a proxy for state capacity, something which New York University law professor Margaret Satterthwaite suggested may be problematic at the panel.

For an example of how the indicator works, the panel showed how Equatorial Guinea and Moldova measure nearly equal on the Human Development Index, but drastically different according to SERF. The gap is a result of accounting for how much a national government is measuring up to what it is capable of doing, given its economic situation.

Indicators define goalposts and policy objectives for human rights advocates. Therefore, in order for an indicator to be effective, it must be put into use by these activists, explained Larry Cox, the US director of Amnesty International. For an indicator to acquire authority it must be replicable, clear, and backed up by solid academic research – and, Mr. Cox said, this one certainly merits all three claims. Furthermore, Cox emphasized that the indicator’s methodology must be made comprehensible to larger civil society audiences.

Still, limitations exist for the SERF index. There are missing data sets that may be difficult to obtain in many cases, there is a need to address broader questions of moral imperatives and judgment in the face of cultural differences, and there is the challenge of bringing the indicator to activists who can use it to work toward policy reforms.

Nevertheless, the SERF index represents a new direction in the field of global justice by attempting to tackle significant problems that are a result of divergent histories and unequal power relations around the world.

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Capacity assessments of Caritas Denmark and ADRA Denmark

2009-02-12


Danida has with its revised “Strategy for Danish Support to Civil Society in Developing Countries” (2008) formally established the possibility of establishing broader thematic or geographic programs with civil society organizations with sufficient capacity and experience. A programmatic approach can create stronger partnerships, greater continuity and flexibility than the traditional project approach as well as simpler administrative procedures. Presently a handful of Danish organizations have shown interest and sufficient experience to move into a programmatic approach. Among these Danish organizations are Caritas Denmark and Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Denmark.

Caritas Denmark is a Danish NGO with links to the Catholic Church and forms part of a global network of 156 national Caritas organizations. Caritas was established in 1947 and at present the development assistance is focused at 4 countries (Bolivia, Niger, Northeast India, and Uganda).

ADRA Denmark is an independent organization for humanitarian aid and development cooperation established by the Seventh day Adventist Church in Denmark. ADRA Denmark takes part in an international ADRA network with a total of about 120 member organizations. The development work of ADRA is focused on 8 countries in Africa.

These two organizations have a long history of international relief and development assistance and are at present under consideration by Danida for country program support in Uganda. As part of the preparations NORDECO has been contracted to undertake independent capacity assessments of Caritas Denmark and ADRA Denmark in addition to carry out appraisals of the proposed country programs in Uganda.

The capacity assessments will examine the extent to which Caritas and ADRA have the professional and administrative capacity to carry out its Danish supported development activities within the program approach and considering the full existing and planned portfolio of the organizations. The appraisals will assess the relevance and strategy of the proposed Uganda programs in light of the development situation in Uganda and the relevant districts, including considerations of activities by other stakeholders and best practices in Uganda and internationally.

The NORDECO assignment takes place in the period January-March 2009.



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EU atheist-freemason summit 'very odd', says Europe's chief unbeliever

Atheists would rather there were no summits with them or the churches (Photo: Valentina Pop)

LEIGH PHILLIPS

21.10.2010 @ 07:35 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The first ever summit between representatives of secularist, atheist and masonic organisations and the leaders of the European Union's three main institutions was "very odd," Europe's top unbeliever has said.

On Friday (15 October), leaders from what the European Commission describes as "philosophical non-confessional organisations" met with the presidents of the European Commission, Parliament and Council to discuss their views on poverty and social exclusion. The first meeting of its kind, it is the secular counterpart to the summits the three institutions are now obliged by the Lisbon Treaty to regularly have with religious leaders.

David Pollock, the president of the European Humanist Federation, told EUobserver that his organisation is against the idea of the meetings but went along to balance out a previous EU meeting with religious figures.

"There is no reason why we as atheists or freemasons, any more than religious leaders, have any particular expertise on poverty reduction strategies. There were a series of fairly predictable expressions of outrage that citizens remain in poverty and demands for greater solidarity but nothing especially specific in the way of any strategy. There was lots of good will and not a great deal else," he said.

"It was all a bit odd."

The representatives gave short three-minute statements on the topic of poverty in the union and then lunched with the three presidents.

Mr Pollock said the EU should go beyond charity payments and its focus on poverty reduction and look instead to specific legislative efforts to reduce income inequality, such as raising minimum pay rates and setting and subsequently reducing maximum pay rates.

The group has opposed the Lisbon Treaty's institutionalisation of religious consultation, but: "As the treaty has passed, this can't be undone, and the churches have this ready access at the most senior level, so it is important that we take part in order to make the counterargument."

Atheist Ireland, the UK-based National Secular Society, the European Association for Free Thought and Belgium's Secular Action Centre also took part in the two-hour meeting, as well as the masonic Grand Lodges or Grand Orients of eight EU member states: Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal and Romania.

"In total, of the 18 representatives there, atheist or secularist organisations were outnumbered two to one, with five from the humanist groups and 12 from the freemasons," Mr Pollock explained.

He believes it is inappropriate that atheist groups have been lumped in with the secretive freemasons.

"I suppose they were there insofar as they are in favour of a separation between church and state, although some did make a few friendly references about Christian values. But I don't have any particular quarrel with what they had to say about poverty," he said.

Emerging in the late 16th century in England and subsequently spreading throughout the world, the Freemasons split in 1877 between the English-speaking lodges and their continental counterparts over the question of god. Anglophone Freemasons require that their members believe in a deity, while continental freemasons do not.

The atheists are more concerned about what they describe as the "privileged access" offered to religious groups. The last EU religious summit, in July, also focussed on the question of poverty. Previous meetings with religious leaders have considered climate change, immigration and "flexicurity" - a Danish model for the welfare state.

"It is not just the meetings. The process involves a lot more. What we are worried about is that churches - and in particular the Catholic Church as it is in the best position to exploit this process - to insert themselves at the earliest stage of policy formation. They explicitly want pre-legislative consultations," Mr Pollock said.

Other international fora where churches have been offered institutional access, he added, give an idea of what the Vatican hopes to achieve in the EU.

"When it comes to family planning, women's rights, gay rights, they are very active at the UN. The Church is positively crowing about how recently they have been able to eliminate language on access to abortion, safe pregnancies and sex education in a recent report on the Millennium Development Goals," he noted.

"One should be very worried about similar moves that might go on as a result of this process in the EU."

For its part, the Catholic Church denies it has any ulterior motives in engaging in the consultations.

"Abortion, these other topics are of course a concern to the Catholic Church, but we know very well that these are not competences of the European Union," Johanna Touzel, spokeswoman for the Commission of Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (Comece), the Church's European lobby outfit.

"Even if we would want such influence, we cannot do this because the EU has no responsibility here. They are instead raised at the national level," she continued.

"The diologue is open, very transparent, a democratic procedure," she continued. "It's not done behind closed doors. You can see the list of all participants and all proposals and contributions are published."

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, a devout Catholic, said after the meeting: "We acknowledged the experience of humanist and philosophical leaders when dealing with this challenge [poverty]. I look forward to further strengthening this dialogue."

One in three Europeans have no religion, according to the European Humanist Federation.
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Note: Bolds and highlights added.

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United Nations: Millennium Development Goals in Need of Crucial Support

Thursday, September 30, 2010
By: Christianity Administrator

For more information, contact:

John Torres, Senior Public Relations Manager
301.680.6357 (office)
301.680.6370 (fax)
John.Torres@adra.org

To donate to ADRA go to:
Online: www.adra.org 

Phone: 1.800.424.ADRA (2372)

SILVER SPRING, Md. - A decade after world leaders agreed to fight global poverty by implementing eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the progress is at a crucial stage, needing significant commitment from governments, investment of resources, and a clear action plan, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) said./p>

“Ten years ago, the world community took eight bold decisions with the intent to slash poverty, hunger, disease, maternal and child deaths and other ills by 2015,” said Frank Teeuwen, United Nations Senior Liaison for ADRA. “Now the international community must keep its promise of the Millennium Declaration to the millions of vulnerable people around the world. We cannot let them down.”

The MDGs, adopted in September 2000 by all 192 United Nations member states, were recognized as the most pressing issues needing improvement among the world’s developing nations, namely eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, ensuring environmental sustainability, developing a global partnership for development, and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.

“Together, we created a blueprint for ending extreme poverty. We defined achievable targets and timetables,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told world leaders in New York this week that attended a three-day summit on ending global poverty. “We established a framework that all partners, even those with different views, have been able to embrace. We brought new urgency to an age-old mission.”

While vast improvements have been made in the areas of disease control, school enrolment, and access to clean water, significant work is still needed to reduce children mortality and improve maternal health.

With just five years remaining until the MDGs are to be achieved, the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) continue to face high poverty rates. More than 800 million people in LDCs live below the poverty line, while just six of the 49 LDCs have poverty rates of less than 30 per cent, according to the United Nations. Also experiencing difficulties are land-locked developing countries, small island developing states, countries experiencing or emerging from conflict, and those most affected by climate change.

“The international community must continue to stand with them at this time, despite the economic difficulties that are putting pressure on aid budgets and other kinds of support,” Ban remarked Tuesday. “This is a moral commitment, first and foremost - a test of global solidarity.”

For more information about the MDGs, please click here.

The following list provides a progress update of the MDGs:

Goal 1 - Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger:

•The number of people living under the international poverty line of $1.25 a day declined from 1.8 billion to 1.4 billion between 1990 and 2005.
•The proportion of people living in extreme poverty in developing regions dropped from 46 per cent to 27 per cent - on track to meet the target globally.
•The economic crisis is expected to push an estimated 64 million more people into extreme poverty in 2010.
•About one in four children under the age of five is underweight in the developing world, down from almost one in three in 1990.

Goal 2 - Achieve Universal Primary Education:

•Enrolment in primary education in developing regions reached 89 per cent in 2008, up from 83 per cent in 2000.
•The current pace of progress is insufficient to meet the target by 2015.
•About 69 million school-age children are not in school. Almost half of them (31 million) are in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than a quarter (18 million) are in Southern Asia.

Goal 3 - Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women:

•In 2008, there were 96 girls for every 100 boys enrolled in primary school, and 95 girls for every 100 boys in secondary school in developing regions.
•The share of women employed outside of agriculture remains as low as 20 per cent in Southern Asia, Western Asia and Northern Africa.
•The global share of women in parliament continues to rise slowly and reached 19 per cent in 2010 - far short of gender parity.

Goal 4 - Reduce Child Mortality:

•The number of children in developing countries who died before they reached the age of five dropped from 100 to 72 deaths per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2008.
•Almost nine million children still die each year before they reach their fifth birthday.
•The highest rates of child mortality continue to be found in sub-Saharan Africa, where, in 2008, one in seven children died before their fifth birthday.
•Of the 67 countries defined as having high child mortality rates, only 10 are currently on track to meet the MDG target.

Goal 5 - Improve Maternal Health:

•While declining slowly, the maternal mortality rate remains unacceptably high. Hundreds of thousands of women die annually from complications during pregnancy or childbirth, almost all of them - 99 per cent - in developing countries.
•In 2008, skilled health workers attended 63 per cent of births in the developing world, up from 53 per cent in 1990. Progress was made in all regions, but was especially dramatic in Northern Africa and South-Eastern Asia, with increases of 74 per cent and 63 per cent, respectively.

Goal 6 - Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases:

•The number of new HIV infections fell steadily from a peak of 3.5 million in 1996 to 2.7 million in 2008. Deaths from AIDS-related illnesses also dropped from 2.2 million in 2004 to two million in 2008.
•Antiretroviral treatment has expanded, but continues to be outpaced by HIV infection rates. By the end of 2009, more than five million people were on treatment. But for every two individuals starting HIV treatment each year, five are newly infected.
•In 2008, 45 per cent of HIV-positive expectant mothers in low- and middle-income countries received treatment, up from 35 per cent in the previous year. In 2008 alone, more than 60,000 HIV infections among at-risk babies were prevented because their HIV-positive mothers received treatment.
•Half the world’s population is at risk of malaria. There were an estimated 243 million cases of malaria in 2008, causing 863,000 deaths, 89 per cent of them in Africa.
•Global production of mosquito nets rose from 30 million to 150 million annually between 2004 and 2009. Artemisinin-based antimalarial medication has also become more readily available, though coverage varies sharply by country. External funding for malaria control has risen sharply in recent years, and reached $1.5 billion in 2009 - still far short of the estimated $6 billion needed in 2010 alone to meet the MDG target.
•An estimated 11 million people suffered from tuberculosis in 2008. But the number of new cases fell from 143 to 139 per 100,000 people between 2004 and 2008.

Goal 7 - Ensure Environmental Sustainability:

•Some 1.7 billion people have gained access to safe drinking water since 1990. Yet 884 million people worldwide still do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, such as toilets or latrines.
•The world has missed the 2010 target for biodiversity conservation. Based on current trends, the loss of species will continue throughout this century.
•Slum improvements are failing to keep pace with the growing number of urban poor. The absolute number of slum dwellers keeps rising, with some 828 million people living in slums today, even though the share of the urban population living in slums is declining.

Goal 8 - Global Partnerships for Development

•Official development assistance stands at 0.31 per cent of the combined national income of developed countries, still far short of the 0.7 per cent UN target. Only five donor countries have reached or exceeded the target.
•Debt burdens have eased for developing countries and remain well below historical levels.
•Only 1 in 6 people in the developing world has access to the Internet.

Follow ADRA on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest information as it happens.

ADRA is a global non-governmental organization providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity.

For more information about ADRA, visit www.adra.org.

Author: Hearly Mayr

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What is Global Hand?

Global Hand is a matching service: a non-profit brokerage facilitating public/ private partnership.

Although today’s world sees many parties wishing to respond to global issues, the problem they often face is connectivity. Who should they partner with and how?

Global Hand is designed to bring together people from all parts of the spectrum. You can use this site to offer/request partners wherever you fit. Your area of interest may be:

Social Entrepreneurship
Philanthropy
Disaster response
Poverty alleviation
Advocacy
Microcredit
Job Creation
Guidelines/Best Practice
Doing business with the poor
Sustainable Development
Corporate Social Responsibility
Gifts-in-kind
Services-in-kind
Humanitarian Aid
Fair Trade
Corporate Volunteering
Global Hand helps match for-profits, non-profits, foundations, trusts, governments, diplomats and more.

Global Hand

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ADRA and Millennium Development Goals

Kara Watkins/ADRA International

Residents of Totogalpa, a small Nicaraguan farming community skirting the country's northern border with Honduras, plant tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini and other non-traditional crops. These days, the robust agricultural region is known for its high-quality produce, but it wasn't long ago that drastic climate swings left it desolate. Then an Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) project helped Totogalpan farmers overcome their dependence on locally grown grains by equipping them with the tools, training and resources to diversify their crops.

The project is one of many that fall under the United Nation's first Millennium Development Goal: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Initiated in 2002, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) challenge nations to achieve measurable improvement in alleviating poverty and other crucial humanitarian issues by the year 2015. From its beginnings in 1956, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has operated under the mission of giving humanitarian aid and development assistance to all those in need. Today, ADRA continues its mission, working alongside the worldwide humanitarian community to fulfill the MDGs.

ADRA is also active in working toward the UN's 7 other Millennium Development Goals.

Achieve universal primary education

ADRA has always emphasized education as the foundation for success, developing projects that provide both children and adults -- especially girls and women -- with the opportunity to attend school to learn the basics of reading, writing, and math, and perhaps a marketable job skill.

In Lima, ADRA Peru provides tuition for vocational training and psychological support to impoverished street kids ages 14 to 18 -- an often forgotten age group. Most teens in the program have had troubled childhoods. They now live in shelters with other teens who grew up on the streets or left home because of domestic or sexual abuse or other family problems.

Once finished with the nine to twelve month vocational courses, which include several months of practical training, the young people are equipped to find jobs or even open their own businesses. More importantly, they are prepared to embrace a more hopeful future.

Promote gender equality and empower women

ADRA Peru is promoting gender equality with a project to strengthen women's rights in the region of Ayacucho. The project works with local women in the region, educating them about their rights, building their capacity, and increasing their representation as decision-making citizens at all levels of society. In addition, the project supports civil society organizations and promotes women's economic participation.

Also in South America, female heads of household and women who have been displaced by civil war in Colombia are becoming empowered through vocational training and personal development classes provided by ADRA.

Women make up nearly half of Colombia's internationally displaced population, and ADRA Colombia has helped hundreds achieve financial independence by offering hands-on training in tailoring and cosmetology. The women also participate in health education, women's rights, and personal development classes designed to improve their quality of life and self-esteem.

Reduce child mortality

ADRA Cambodia is helping to reduce child mortality by creating "Child Friendly Villages." The multi-year project is improving the quality of health and reducing the morbidity and mortality of more than 22,500 women of reproductive age and more than 17,400 children under five in the Baray-Santuk district of the Kampong Thom province of Cambodia.

A village-level initiative, the project trains and empowers village leaders, volunteers, and traditional birth attendants, who then teach local women of child-bearing age about proper nutrition, birth spacing, breast-feeding, and pre-natal, labor and delivery, and post-natal care -- all important factors affecting infant and child health.

Addressing the most common health problems affecting village mothers and children, the project also ensures villagers have access to clean water and sanitation, provides education classes in health, hygiene, and sanitation, and coordinates community-based nutrition activities. In addition, women learn how to grow home gardens that improve household nutrition and provide a source of income, and attend literacy classes to help build knowledge and improve family livelihoods.

Improve maternal health

ADRA Nepal reports that one woman in Nepal dies every two hours due to preventable pregnancy-related causes. Contributing factors include inadequate health care facilities and trained health care staff, lack of equipment and pharmaceuticals, and cultural and geographical barriers.

In response, ADRA Nepal has launched the Safe Motherhood Innovation Project (SMIP). The SMIP project reduces maternal mortality and morbidity rates through training maternal health care staff, improving access and quality of maternal health services, increasing community awareness of Safe Motherhood issues, and establishing an active maternal health network.

Funded by the European Commission through ADRA Germany, the project will directly benefit nearly 270,000 women ages 15 to 49 living in Nepal's Eastern Development Region. The project will also directly benefit 3,610 female community health volunteers, 979 traditional birth attendants, and hundreds of other health care workers.

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

HIV/AIDS

Since 1985, ADRA has implemented successful HIV and AIDS projects that have reached more than 10 million people worldwide. In February 2004, ADRA's Training of Trainers (TOT) program began training hundreds of religious leaders, teachers, and healthcare workers in hospitals and schools to counsel people infected or affected by HIV. The TOT program has already reached more than 220,000 people directly and more than 1,000,000 indirectly.

The trainers provide counseling to community members on a continuous, voluntary basis. Along with offering HIV and AIDS awareness and education to reduce HIV infections, TOT participants provide counseling and support services that help improve the quality of life, increase access to medical care, empower, encourage social wellbeing, and preserve the rights of vulnerable groups in their communities, such as women and people living with AIDS.

Malaria

Almost six million cases of malaria are reported per year in Mozambique, where the disease is a major cause of death. Malaria also contributes to the high level of poverty throughout the southeastern African country by reducing productivity, especially in rural areas.

ADRA Mozambique is fighting malaria at the grassroots level with the Together Against Malaria (TAM) project. Funded through President Bush's Malaria Initiative by a grant worth nearly $2 million, TAM is an interfaith project that will reach more than 1.5 million Mozambicans.

"TAM represents an integral partnership between ADRA, the Inter-Religious Campaign, the Washington National Cathedral's Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation, the Mozambique Ministry of Health, and the United States government," explains Darcy de Leon, country director for ADRA Mozambique.

The project is training more than 250 faith leaders from ten distinct religions to provide health education, train other individuals, and mobilize their unique faith communities to work together in fighting the spread of malaria.

Ensure environmental sustainability

ADRA's humanitarian and development efforts also take environmental sustainability into consideration. Natural resource management is a vital component of ADRA's initiatives to improve food source sustainability throughout the world.

With ADRA's help, communities learn to grow food with water-saving agricultural methods and irrigation systems, manage seedling nurseries, replant forests, build living fences, protect watersheds, and clear agricultural land responsibly. In the process, communities reestablish damaged environments, improve soil quality, grow diet-enriching fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and create stable, marketable sources of income.

ADRA also utilizes "green" technology, installing solar powered wells in Namibia and wind-powered wells in Somalia, both of which provide vulnerable communities with low-cost, reliable, environmentally friendly water supplies. Using innovative straw-bale technology, ADRA China has built hundreds of energy-efficient homes and schools.

Build a global partnership for development

Successfully meeting MDGs 1 through 7 hinges upon the partnership and accountability of rich and poor countries, governments, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as ADRA. In every country where it works, ADRA's efforts are made more effective through its cooperative relationships with partner organizations and collaborations with a variety of government and NGO partners at all levels: community, regional, state and provincial, national, and international, including the United Nations.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) oversees the Millennium Development Goals and monitors their progress. More information about the MDGs can be found on the UNDP Web site at www.undp.org/mdg.

For more information about ADRA and its worldwide development activities, visit http://www.adra.org/.

Source

The United Nations and the Occult Agenda

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Humanist Manifesto 2000

Humanist Manifesto 2000
$9.00


This entirely new Humanist Manifesto is designed to address the problems of the twenty-first century and the millennium beyond. Providing a strong defense of scientific naturalism and technology, it is offered as a contribution to the dialogue among the different cultural, political, and economic viewpoints in the world.

Humanist Manifesto 2000 is formulated in the conviction that science, reason, democracy, education, and humanist values can enhance human progress. Drawing on the achievements of modernity--the success of scientific medicine, the overall improvement of public health, the Green Revolution, the conveniences of a consumer society, global communication and transportation, increased understanding of the natural world, and many others--the planetary humanism that this manifesto presents seeks to transcend the negativity of postmodernism and looks forward to the information age now upon us.

Humanist Manifesto 2000 promotes a humanistic ethics based on reason and a planetary bill of rights and responsibilities. It proposes a new global agenda, stresses the need for international institutions (including a new world parliament and regulation of global conglomerates), and concludes on a note of optimism about the human prospect. Endorsed by a distinguished list of humanist intellectuals-including Arthur C. Clarke, Alan Cranston, Richard Dawkins, Richard Leakey, Jill Tarter, E. O. Wilson, and eleven Nobel Laureates-Humanist Manifesto 2000 recommends long-range attainable goals and generates confidence in the ability of the human species to solve its problems by rational means and a positive outlook. This manifesto was drafted by Paul Kurtz in consultation with a twelve-person internal committee.

Paul Kurtz (Amherst, NY), professor emeritus of philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, is president of the International Academy of Humanism and is one of the leading spokespersons for Secular Humanism today. He is the author or editor of over thirty-five books, including most recently Embracing the Power of Humanism (Rowman & Littlefield) and The Courage to Become (Praeger/Greenwood).
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Source: http://evolvefish.com/fish/product419.html
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The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789

Source(Illustration):
.http://wapedia.mobi/thumb/06f214610/en/fixed/470/631/Declaration_of_Human_Rights.jpg

Deutsch: Repräsentation der Erklärung der Menschen- und Bürgerrechte von 1789
Ελληνικά: Απεικόνιση της Διακήρυξης των Δικαιωμάτων του Ανθρώπου και του Πολίτη το 1789
English: Representation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789
Español: Representación de la Declaración de los Derechos del Hombre y del Ciudadano de 1789
Euskara: 1789ko Gizonaren eta Herritarraren eskubideen Adierazpenaren irudikapena
Français : Représentation de la Declaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen de 1789
日本語: 1789年の「人間と市民の権利の宣言（フランス人権宣言）」の図
Nederlands: Voorstelling van de Verklaring van de Rechten van de Mens en de Burger uit 1789
Português: Representação da Declaração dos Direitos do Homem e do Cidadão de 1789
Русский: Изображение Декларации прав человека и гражданина 1789 года
Tiếng Việt: Thể hiện Tuyên ngôn Nhân quyền và Dân quyền năm 1789

العربية: تصوير لـإعلان حقوق الانسان والمواطنة 1789

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Declaration_of_Human_Rights.jpg

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

To obtain this file as a WordPerfect document, download here


Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789

The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:

Articles:

1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.

2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.

3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.

4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.

5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.

6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.

7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.

8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense.

9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law.

10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.

11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.

12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be intrusted.

13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means.

14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.

15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration.

16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.

17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.
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Source: http://www.hrcr.org/docs/frenchdec.html

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