Children are born believers in God, academic claims

Dr Justin Barrett, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford's Centre for Anthropology and Mind, claims that young people have a predisposition to believe in a supreme being because they assume that everything in the world was created with a purpose. 

He says that young children have faith even when they have not been taught about it by family or at school, and argues that even those raised alone on a desert island would come to believe in God. 

"The preponderance of scientific evidence for the past 10 years or so has shown that a lot more seems to be built into the natural development of children's minds than we once thought, including a predisposition to see the natural world as designed and purposeful and that some kind of intelligent being is behind that purpose," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. 

"If we threw a handful on an island and they raised themselves I think they would believe in God." 

In a lecture to be given at the University of Cambridge's Faraday Institute on Tuesday, Dr Barrett will cite psychological experiments carried out on children that he says show they instinctively believe that almost everything has been designed with a specific purpose.

In one study, six and seven-year-olds who were asked why the first bird existed replied "to make nice music" and "because it makes the world look nice". 

Another experiment on 12-month-old babies suggested that they were surprised by a film in which a rolling ball apparently created a neat stack of blocks from a disordered heap. 

Dr Barrett said there is evidence that even by the age of four, children understand that although some objects are made by humans, the natural world is different. 

He added that this means children are more likely to believe in creationism rather than evolution, despite what they may be told by parents or teachers. 

Dr Barrett claimed anthropologists have found that in some cultures children believe in God even when religious teachings are withheld from them. 

"Children's normally and naturally developing minds make them prone to believe in divine creation and intelligent design. In contrast, evolution is unnatural for human minds; relatively difficult to believe."

Cardinal Rai: Christians always pay the highest price in Mideast conflicts

The Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Rai, says Christians always pay the highest price when conflicts erupt in Middle East countries such as Egypt, Syria and Iraq. 

Cardinal Rai also said that outside countries, especially in the West but also elsewhere, are helping to foment these conflicts.

"Speaking in an interview with Vatican Radio, Cardinal Rai says the situation in the Middle East is becoming more and more critical as each day passes. He said whenever a conflict breaks out in the Middle East, whenever chaos ensues, Muslim groups attack the minority Christian community, as if they were always the scapegoat. 

The Lebanese Patriarch said all Christians are asking for is security and stability and spoke of how throughout the Arab world Christians respect the institutions, the authorities and the constitution. Thanks to the presence of us Christians and our daily life in all these Arab countries, he said, we have created a certain moderation in the Muslim world. 

Speaking about the tensions between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and the Christian community in Egypt, Cardinal Rai said it was a known fact that once in power, the Muslim Brotherhood were seeking to introduce Shariah law. Certainly, he said, the Christians are against this and want a reformed and democratic Egypt, an Egypt that knows how to respect human rights.

When asked how he sees the future, Cardinal Rai spoke of his belief that there is a plan to destroy the Arab world for political and economic interests. There’s also, he added, a plan to exacerbate as much as possible the inter-confessional conflicts between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. The Maronite Patriarch said he had already written to the Pope to express his concern about this issue on two occasions."

Archbishop Zenari: the international community must not remain silent before the cry of innocent victims in Syria

Echoing Pope Francis’ heartfelt appeal to the International Community to do everything in its power to help Syria find a solution to the ongoing conflict, Archbishop Mario Zenari, apostolic nuncio in Syria said the international community has the responsibility to respond to the crisis.

Speaking to Vatican Radio, Archbishop Zenari commented on the terrible attacks of the past days that caused the death of so many innocent people.

Seeing those terrible images that have shocked us all, he says – “I heard the cry of the children, those innocent victims, a cry to heaven and cry to the international community: we cannot remain silent before this cry of theirs, of this appeal”.

And Archbishop Zenari says that his prayer is that “those who have responsibility in this field - the international community, its leaders – be endowed with wisdom and with prudence”. We must make sure – he continues “that crimes such as these do not ever happening again - never again! And he underlined his belief that the international community must do everything possible to prevent massacres like this and to find the most suitable and most appropriate means to not further complicate the situation.

Asked whether he has any information regarding the use of chemical weapons, Archbishop Zenari says this kind of thing is not part of his field of expertise, and he stresses that it is the responsibility to verify and establish the truth. He also expresses his hope for collaboration on the part of local authorities and all the parties involved in conflict, so that an investigation may be set up.

Archbishop Zenari points out that since the beginning of this conflict, two and a half years ago, the innocent population has being paying the highest price. About a year ago – he says – “when the sounds of war made themselves felt here in Damascus, I had the impression that Syria was starting its descent into hell. Today, after the latest facts, we are wondering whether we have reached the bottom of this abyss”.

Iranian jailed for distributing Bibles: Vatican media

An Iranian Christian convert has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for distributing Bibles in his home country, the Vatican missionary news agency Fides reported on Wednesday.

Mohammad-Hadi Bordhar was arrested in Iran in December and reportedly said he wanted to "evangelise by handing out 12,000 pocket bibles".

He was accused of "crimes against state security".

After being baptised, the man had created a "domestic church" in his home in Rasht in northern Iran, Fides reported. Iranian police found books, CDs and more than 6,000 Bibles at his property.

Fides said he had already been arrested in 2009 and found guilty of apostasy but had since been released.

The Catholic news agency quoted non-governmental groups saying that interest in Christianity among young Iranians is worrying the authorities and that churches have been shut down.

The agency said Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, has raised hopes with his rhetoric about civil rights.

The Christian minority in Iran is tiny, estimated at less than one percent of the population.

Vatican's U.N. observer cautious on reports of chemical attack in Syria

Rushed judgments in times of war and conflict, especially by the media, do not always lead to the truth and will not bring peace, said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican observer at U.N. agencies in Geneva, including the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

Speaking to Vatican Radio Aug. 22 after reports of chemical attacks outside Damascus, Syria, Archbishop Tomasi said people are rightly concerned and outraged by images circulating on the Internet and on television showing dozens of dead civilians, including children.

Syrian opposition forces said more than 1,000 people died in the attacks; other activists put the number in the hundreds. If confirmed, it would be the worst reported use of chemical arms in the civil war that started in March 2011.

Syrian state television denied government forces had used poison gas and said the accusations were intended to distract a team of U.N. chemical weapons experts in Syria. The U.N. Security Council met Aug. 22 and said exactly what happened in the attacks needed to be clarified.

"We must not rush to judgment without having sufficient evidence," Archbishop Tomasi said. "The international community, through the U.N. observers who are already present in Syria, can shed light on this new tragedy."

Rushing to judgment in a situation of conflict can make matters worse, he said.

"I have the impression that the press and media don't consider all the aspects that create these situations of violence and continuous conflict," the archbishop said. "We saw this in Egypt with the case of the Muslim Brotherhood, where indiscriminant support for them led to more violence."

The only way forward is dialogue, Archbishop Tomasi said.

"As the Holy Father already has underlined, violence will not bring a solution and, therefore, a dialogue must begin so that we can arrive at Geneva II (Middle East peace conference on Syria), where representatives of all parts of Syrian society can be present, explain their thinking and try to create some kind of transitional government," he said.

The conference will fail, the archbishop said, if some groups are excluded.

And nothing will move, he said, if countries and groups continue sending weapons either to the army or to the opposition.

"You cannot create peace by giving them new weapons," he said.

Speaking to Vatican Radio Aug. 21, Archbishop Mario Zenari, the Vatican nuncio in Syria, described the images circulating on the Internet and television as "truly shocking."

"People here are fed up" with the war, Archbishop Zenari said. "They are crying out to the international community to say, 'Help us so that this war would end immediately. We have had enough; we can't take it anymore. We can't continue like this.'"

In late July, U.S. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said more than 100,000 people had been killed in the Syrian civil war. More than 1.7 million have fled to neighboring countries.

Within a week in mid-August, authorities said more than 30,000 Syrians crossed the border into northern Iraq.

Syria: Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo says “no” to military intervention

"If there were a military intervention, I think this would lead to a world war," said Mgr. Antoine Audo, Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo and President of Caritas Syria in an interview with Vatican Radio. 

The bishop stressed that this risk is palpable again in Syria and that things are not that easy.

As UN inspectors investigating Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons meet with civilians affected by chemical agents during last Wednesday’s toxic gas attacks in the suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus, Mgr. Audo called for “real dialogue between the parties in conflict” find a solution to this war that is sowing destruction and death.” 

He also said he hoped for an end to the fighting, so that “people will be free to move around, travel, communicate (and) work." 

According to Caritas Syria’s president, everyone is saying the situation is worst in Aleppo. 

In Damascus it is apparently still possible to travel and use the airport to get to Lebanon, whereas in Aleppo you can’t move. 

Many have fled to the Syrian coast, where things are generally calmer. 

Meanwhile, the Free Youth Committee in Raqqa, which is linked to the Syrian opposition, told Fides news agency: "We know with certainty that Fr. Paolo is in serious danger. 

Speaking in a politics forum on Italy’s Radical Radio, this morning, Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino talked about the kidnappings of Jesuit priest Fr. Paolo Dall’Oglio and Italian newspaper La Stampa’s Syria correspondent, Domencio Quirico. She said there had been some faint and confused contact with them. 

She added that the situation on the ground in Syria complicates things further as there is inconsistent leadership among the various groups, making it very difficult to know who to address.

Turkey: Could the Gülen movement help bring about Erdoğan’s downfall?

Turkey’s government “promotes Islamic schools at the expense of secular education. Out of more than a million applicants to secular high schools, only 360,000 have been accepted for the 2013-2014 school year,” AsiaNews reports.

“This favours the Imam Hatips, religious high schools centred on Qur'anic and Islamic studies.”

The government wants to create an obedient new generation that is in line with the Islamist vision of society, educational freedom activist, Unsal Yildiz, told the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions. 

But Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is already weakened by the anti-government protests that swept the country in recent months, now faces another leadership crisis. 

This time, his leadership is being criticised not by the opposition, but by Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, leader of the highly powerful and historically pro-government religious movement, Hizmet (which means “service” in Turkish). 

Gülen’s change of stance could bring about division in the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP), putting the prime minister in a very sticky situation.

Gülen’s movement controls professional and student associations, charities, businesses, schools, universities, radio and television stations and newspapers and has millions of members both in Turkey and abroad. Gülen, who has been in exile in the U.S. since 1999, has declared himself to be pro-human rights and the democratisation process on more than one occasion and promotes liberal Islam. 

But according to his critics, hidden behind this mask of tolerance is a man who lacks transparency and a secret system of clientism, involving the infiltration of the Turkish police and judicial system. Gülen’s support has been a determining element in Erdoğan’s success from 2002 onwards. But in recent weeks, the religious leader seems to have turned his back on his long-time friend.
 
According to Turkish journalist Oral Çalışlar, differences between Hizmet and the government, are apparently a result of Gülen’s opposition to dialogue with the Kurds, which  the government promotes. 

Another reason given by Turkish newspaper Radikal (14 August issue), are “the differences in opinion within the Islamist world regarding democracy and modernisation.” 

In a  rare interview published on the website of U.S. monthly The Atlantic, Fethullah Gülen criticised Erdoğan’s government, saying: “It is crucial for Turkey to preserve and advance its achievements in democratization, thanks in part to its ongoing relationship with the European Union… If Turkey is indeed able to develop good diplomatic relations in the region, I believe it will be in the interest of Europe, the United States and the world. But I don't think Turkey is doing what it can toward this end at the moment.” 

The first signs something had gone sour in Gülen and Erdoğan’s relationship, appeared at the end of May, when Turkish weekly Zaman - which has close ties with the Gülen movement – started publishing increasingly critical comments about the prime minister. 

Pro-government news outlets interpreted this stance as a change of direction on the Gülen movement’s part. The movement was accused of fuelling the protests to make things harder for the prime minister.
 
Turkey’s Journalists and Writers Foundation, a group that has close links to the Gülen movement, issued a detailed statement strongly denying speculations. The statement made headlines in a number of Turkish newspapers and shows approval for the Occupy Gezi movement. 

“The peaceful protests respect democracy. Our approach is no different from that of Abdullah Gül, Bulent Arinc, Nabi Avci and Idris Bal,” the statement read. These men are all AKP members and unlike the party’s leader, Erdoğan, they all showed understanding and sought mediation with demonstrators during last June’s protests.
 
According to Çalışlar, the support powerful Gülen movement has shown for the AKP’s moderate wing, comes as a further blow to Erdoğan’s leadership and to his presidentialist objectives and could cause a split within the AKP party. 

“Local elections are important. The movement could have a determining influence over some areas and if the AKP does not win, Gülen could turn his support to Gül for the party’s leadership,” the journalist said.

Vatican's Year of Faith celebrations to resume in September

Vatican activities for the Year of Faith begin again in late September with an international meeting of catechists, followed in October by a Marian pilgrimage in the presence of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima and a celebration of faith and family life.

The International Conference on Catechesis will bring together leaders of national and diocesan offices Sept. 26-28 for religious education to discuss theory and practice before they begin a two-day Year of Faith pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter and celebrate Mass Sept. 29 with Pope Francis.

October, traditionally the month of the rosary, will bring thousands of members of groups promoting Marian piety to the Vatican.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal announced in early August that Pope Francis requested that the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima be brought to the Vatican for the celebration. It will be only the 11th time since the statue was made in 1920 that it has been removed from the Portuguese Marian shrine.

The seventh time it left Portugal was in 1984 when it was taken to the Vatican. After consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary during a liturgy in St. Peter's Square, Blessed John Paul II gave one of the bullets he had been shot with a year earlier to the bishop of Leiria-Fatima, who had the bullet placed into the statue's gold crown.

Pope Francis and the pilgrims will welcome the statue to St. Peter's Square during an evening prayer service Oct. 12; afterward, the statue will be taken to the Rome Shrine of Divine Love, where the Diocese of Rome plans an all-night vigil.

The statue and the pilgrims will return to St. Peter's Square on Oct. 13 for the recitation of the rosary and Mass with Pope Francis. In a press statement, the directors of the Fatima shrine said Pope Francis will consecrate the world to Mary during the event.

The sixth and final apparition of Mary to the three children in Fatima occurred Oct. 13, 1917.

In another Year of Faith event, Catholic families from around the world will gather in Rome's Piazza del Popolo and walk to St. Peter's Square for an Oct. 26 celebration of family life with Pope Francis.

The pope will celebrate Mass with the families Oct. 27 in St. Peter's Square.

The Year of Faith, convoked by retired Pope Benedict XVI to mark the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, will conclude Nov. 24.