Top editor ‘was an apartheid spy’ - South Africa | IOL News

Top editor ‘was an apartheid spy’ - South Africa | IOL News: A legendary figure in journalism, who edited the largest and arguably most influential newspaper of the day, was a “mole” working in the interests of the apartheid government, according to a book released this weekend.

God, Spies and Lies: Finding South Africa’s Future Through its Past is written by veteran journalist John Matisonn.

He says Tertius Myburgh, who edited the Sunday Times between 1975 and 1990, was the editor whom apartheid secret service head General Hendrik van den Bergh boasted he owned.

We can save atheism from the New Atheists like Richard Dawkins | Jeff Sparrow | Comment is free | The Guardian

We can save atheism from the New Atheists like Richard Dawkins | Jeff Sparrow | Comment is free | The Guardian: Why are the New Atheists such jerks? Case in point: Richard Dawkins’ continuing pursuit of Ahmed Mohamed, the Texas 14-year-old humiliated in school after authorities mistook his homemade clock for a bomb.

The other day, The God Delusion author called Ahmed a hoaxer and responded to suggestions “he was only a kid” by linking to a report about a juvenile Islamic State (Isis) fighter. “And how old is this ‘kid’?” Dawkins asked.

John Daniel’s Question — Or, Why Searching for the Missing Still Matters for South Africa (A Tribute) | Backstories

John Daniel’s Question — Or, Why Searching for the Missing Still Matters for South Africa (A Tribute) | Backstories: Before he died of cancer last year, and up until the moment he could no longer focus on much more than getting through the next treatment, John Daniel was a passionate and active supporter of the Missing Persons Task Team (MPTT) – of its cause, its work, and of its incredibly brave and overworked staff. His interest in the MPTT emerged not only from the long standing social justice orientation that came to define his political and academic life, but also from his work as a researcher for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which constituted the MPTT to continue with aspects of its overall mandate.

What I Discovered From Interviewing Imprisoned ISIS Fighters | The Nation

What I Discovered From Interviewing Imprisoned ISIS Fighters | The Nation:  An Islamic State fighter’s biggest resentment was the lack of an adolescence. Another of the interviewees was displaced at the critical age of 13, when his family fled to Kirkuk from Diyala province at the height of Iraq’s sectarian civil war. They are children of the occupation, many with missing fathers at crucial periods (through jail, death from execution, or fighting in the insurgency), filled with rage against America and their own government. They are not fueled by the idea of an Islamic caliphate without borders; rather, ISIS is the first group since the crushed Al Qaeda to offer these humiliated and enraged young men a way to defend their dignity, family, and tribe. This is not radicalization to the ISIS way of life, but the promise of a way out of their insecure and undignified lives; the promise of living in pride as Iraqi Sunni Arabs, which is not just a religious identity but cultural, tribal, and land-based, too.

SLAVA – what makes Serbs different from other Orthodox

SLAVA – what makes Serbs different from other Orthodox: Slava is connected to the times of old Slavic religion, when a cult of ancestors was very strong. For Slavs, family and its legacy is one of the holiest things in life; and this custom is highly appreciated even today. In order to maintain this legacy and implement it into Christianity, Serbian archbishop St. Sava canonized this ceremony and formed a unique cultural heritage for Serbs

Oswald Spengler and the Soul of Russia � Katehon

Oswald Spengler and the Soul of Russia � Katehon: while Spengler, like many others of the time in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution, regarded – partially - Russia as the Asianised leader of a ‘coloured revolution’ against the white world, he also considered other possibilities. This paper examines Spengler’s views on Russia as a distinct culture that had not yet fulfilled her destiny, while Western civilisation is about to take a final bow on the world historical stage. His views on Russia as an outsider are considered in relation to the depiction of the Russian soul by seminal Russians such as Gogol.

Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill

Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill: In my career as a psychologist, I have talked with hundreds of people previously diagnosed by other professionals with oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, anxiety disorder and other psychiatric illnesses, and I am struck by (1) how many of those diagnosed are essentially anti-authoritarians, and (2) how those professionals who have diagnosed them are not.

Anti-authoritarians question whether an authority is a legitimate one before taking that authority seriously. Evaluating the legitimacy of authorities includes assessing whether or not authorities actually know what they are talking about, are honest, and care about those people who are respecting their authority. And when anti-authoritarians assess an authority to be illegitimate, they challenge and resist that authority—sometimes aggressively and sometimes passive-aggressively, sometimes wisely and sometimes not.

Remembering St. John Coltrane

Remembering St. John Coltrane: “My goal is to live the truly religious life, and express it in my music. If you live it, when you play there’s no problem because the music is part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am – my faith, my knowledge, my being.” –John Coltrane

Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe

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The Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe (hereafter referred to as the exarchate), headquartered at the Cathedral of Alexsander Nevsky, Rue Daru, Paris, is facing an unprecedented crisis. And that is saying a lot, given the archdiocese’s turbulent history! Recent actions by Archbishop Job of Telmessos have done nothing to stabilize what was already a precarious situation. Rather, they have brought matters to a head, with implications that run all the way to the throne of the Ecumenical Patriarchate itself. As such, the issues raised deserve the attention of all Orthodox.

The Rise and Rise of Papism in African Churches | Her Zimbabwe

The Rise and Rise of Papism in African Churches | Her Zimbabwe: You have to have study for a PhD or a medical degree to be called Dr. Somebody. You must have certain educational qualifications, experience and character qualities to be called Judge So-and-So. But in many churches have people called Apostle Ningi when he had not planted even one church and Bishop Lokhuzeni who has no leadership track record that anyone can attest to. These titles are often meaningless and only serve the purpose of distinguishing the title from other members of the church. They are the super-Christians and everyone else is subordinate. They are not about respecting a person but about exalting the person behind the pulpit further above the people on the pews.