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Boston Globe
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
New documentary ‘Apocalypse in the Tropics' tries to understand the era of Jair Bolsonaro
Costa doesn't use the word 'Apocalypse' figuratively, as if to say things are really bad in Brazil (though she clearly thinks they are). The apocalypse of the title is instead a reference to the event foretold in the Book of Revelation, the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament canon — an event a growing breed of Brazilian fundamentalist politicos and pastors eagerly await. Advertisement An image from "Apocalypse in the Tropics." Courtesy of Netflix Advertisement The impatient anticipation has created common ground for fearmongers and powermongers, from megachurches to halls of Congress. None of that liberation theology, with its focus on compassion and liberation of the oppressed, for this bunch. Just bring on the fire and brimstone already. In Brazil, right-wing brawn and dominion theology — which seeks to institute a nation governed by Christians based on their interpretation of biblical law — have hitched to each other's wagons; both parties have proven eager to join up and break stuff in the name of Jesus. This state of affairs alarms Costa, but she responds with qualities that seem to be in short supply these days: vision and restraint. Her camera slowly glides over paintings by Bosch and Bruegel, who rendered elaborate (and still terrifying) apocalyptic visions on their canvases. Sitting down throughout the film with the fundamentalist TV preacher Silas Malafaia, who threw his considerable influence and dominion preaching behind Bolsonaro during his victorious 2019 presidential campaign, she asks polite questions in a steady voice. Malafaia responds with frightening frankness; you get the feeling he believes he's talking to an ally as he speaks of the good ol' end times. Other Bolsonaro supporters, filmed at rallies and meetings, are just as vitriolic in their scorn for the secular state. There are times when you might want 'Apocalypse in the Tropics' to dig deeper into the cold hard facts and brutality of Bolsonaro's electioneering and, er, dominion. But this isn't really that kind of documentary. Costa conjures an eerie, in-the-moment feel, lingering on images until they sear into the subconscious. The aftermath of the 2023 post-election riots, in which pro-Bolsonaro forces stormed the Supreme Court, Congress, and presidential office, is captured with lyrically ominous shots of broken glass, trashed buildings, and other remnants of destruction. In other moments, extreme overhead shots provide a sort of God's eye perspective that mirrors those often used by Bruegel. Advertisement Costa provides just enough historical context to the rising theocratic fervor. As the film explains, there was a time when the country did embrace a charitable form of Catholicism, along the lines of liberation theology. But during the Cold War, this was seen as too close to Communism by the U.S., which supported a 1964 military coup. Billy Graham helped spread Evangelical ardor when he brought one of his 'crusades' to Rio de Janeiro in 1974. Brazil was ripe for a rightward Great Awakening. As Costa says in her narration, 'Brazil became a laboratory for a brutal form of capitalism and vertiginous social inequality, where millions of people began to seek the help they needed in the Evangelical faith.' She also readily admits that she was caught off-guard by what she was witnessing when she began filming in 2016: 'My secular upbringing wasn't helping me decipher the signals around me. I knew what the Russian Revolution was, and the formula for oxygen, but nothing about the Apostle Paul, John of Patmos, or the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.' She adds that 'It was as if we shared the same land, but spoke completely different languages' – a sentiment that many Americans surely share. APOCALYPSE IN THE TROPICS Directed by Petra Costa. On Netflix starting Monday. 110 minutes. PG-13 (profanity, violence). Advertisement
Boston Globe
26-06-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
A Salem church leads charge to wean downtown off fossil fuels and lower electricity bills. Needed: cash to build.
The abrupt price hike thrust the church's ambition to wean itself from fossil fuels into overdrive. Now the church is looking into an ambitious renewable energy project to bake in long-term cost savings, but at an upfront cost in the tens of millions. As he described the project in his church's office, the gregarious parish priest constantly fielded calls, responded to texts, and greeted visitors. Ives switched seamlessly between English and Spanish as discussions ranged from a recent meeting on reparations, to preparations for Sunday services, to the new project called 'Heaven and Earth,' a proposed solar and geothermal network that would provide heating and cooling for much of downtown Salem. The solar — or 'heaven' — portion of the project would retrofit the 19th-century church with solar panels and batteries, transforming the building into a climate resilience hub. Advertisement The 'earth' part of the proposal calls for a roughly mile-and-a-quarter geothermal loop connecting 21 buildings, including public housing, museums, condos, commercial space, Salem's City Hall, and the church, which was founded on land donated by a wealthy merchant accused of witchcraft during the hysteria that consumed Salem in the late 1600s. Advertisement Ally Rzesa/Paul Horn, Inside Climate News Today, the congregation includes many low-income residents from a largely Latino neighborhood known as For Ana Nuncio, a member of the vestry, or parish council, and a founder of the Latino Leadership Coalition of Salem, the proposed solar and geothermal project has a strong biblical connection. ''I saw a new heaven and a new earth,'' she said, quoting the Book of Revelation. Nuncio said the project is an extension of work the church already does, writing checks to members of the congregation who are least able to pay the soaring costs of winter heating bills. 'What we're trying to do at St. Peter's is to bring relief,' she said, but also 'show that there can be a different way.' Last year the church received a $50,000 'Kickstart' grant, funded by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and administered by the Boston-based nonprofit HEET, to begin developing the geothermal portion of its proposal. The grant was Salem's geothermal loop would circulate water mixed with antifreeze beneath city streets and connect to 450 boreholes drilled beneath Salem Common, a historic 9-acre park in the city center. Each borehole would be approximately 500 feet deep, tapping into subsurface thermal energy where temperatures are a steady 56 degrees year round. The pipes would harness this thermal energy for heating in winter and cooling in summer. The proposal was outlined in Advertisement Eight of the 21 buildings included in the report belong to the Peabody Essex Museum, one of the oldest art museums in the country. The museum had previously looked at installing its own geothermal system, but the high relative cost of a smaller system led officials to decide against it. 'We thought geothermal was a little out of reach for us in our initial assessments,' said Kurt Steinberg, the museum's chief operating officer. But he said that a communitywide project, and the economy of scale that comes with it, helps bring down the cost for everyone. 'And then it's not just you,' he said. 'You're all in it together.' The goal of the project goes beyond saving money. Salem has a goal of zeroing out 'We need to be thinking about projects like this to come anywhere close to reaching those goals, rather than one building at a time,' said Neal Duffy the city's director of sustainability and resiliency. Tina Jordan, executive director of the Salem Witch Museum, was one of more than a dozen community and business leaders who contributed to the report by sharing energy usage information. 'We want to hear, is this something that would be good for the neighborhood, the environment, and the community, and is it something we can afford?' Jordan said. The project would cost $56 million for the bore field and geothermal loop, according to the feasibility report. The figure does not include heat pumps, ductwork, or other modifications that may be required for individual buildings. Advertisement Federal tax credits could cut out-of-pocket costs by as much as half. However, a federal budget reconciliation bill making its way through Congress could end most Biden-era clean energy tax credits. The House version, passed in May, wouldn't immediately eliminate credits for commercial-scale geothermal projects but would end them three years earlier than planned. Projects would need to begin construction before Jan. 1, 2032. A draft of the Senate bill would preserve the existing Jan. 1, 2035, deadline for large scale geothermal heating and cooling projects. The clock is ticking to get the project started and address the big question: How would the community come up with all that extra money? Figuring out how to finance all of this, who will pay, or whether they need to scale back ambitions, are the next steps that project proponents are grappling with. In other communities, the city has contributed funds for large-scale energy projects, but Salem's mayor was noncommittal on that idea. Eric Bosworth oversaw the Framingham geothermal project when he worked for Eversource. Now running the consultancy Thermal Energy Insights, he praised the initial feasibility assessment for Salem but questioned some of the projected costs. He thinks the work could be done for less money. Lawrence Lessard, president of the New England Geothermal Professional Association and the director of Achieve Renewable Energy, which co-prepared the report, said the cost figures were preliminary, conservative, and based on the best available information. National Grid, the gas utility for Salem, is not currently involved in the Salem project but is supportive of it, said Christine Milligan, a spokeswoman for the company. Advertisement Meanwhile, Ives continues to pursue outside funding opportunities. He also systematically dials down thermostats and layers up during the winter. Reverend Nathan W. Ives in front of St. Peter's-San Pedro Episcopal Church in Salem. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff A self-described 'sweater guy,' he raves about Icelandic sweaters and their triple-spun wool, which he says are 'wicked warm.' For the next few months, staying warm won't be a challenge. However, he dreads the fall, when he'll have to restart the church's aging steam boiler, a time when the heating system is most prone to failing. The church spent $10,000 on boiler repairs this past year alone, Ives said. 'We have to do something quickly, or as quickly as we can,' he said. This story is published in partnership with , a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy, and the environment.
Watani
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Watani
Coptic Synod in June 2025 assembly
On 5 June 2025, the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church held its general assembly session at the conclusion of its regular convention for the year 2025. The general assembly is traditionally held every year around the date of the Feast of the Pentecost, in a nod to the ministry and service of the Apostles which started following their acceptance of the Holy Spirit on the day of the Pentecost, and extends through the Church to this day. Pope Tawadros II presided over the session which was attended by 112 Synod members out of a total of 139. The session began with Pope Tawadros reading a passage from the Book of Revelation (2:1–7), focusing on five phrases from the text: 'I know your works' (v. 2): This refers to the works directed toward souls, which we perform as shepherds with a pure heart and good conscience—acts of love and mercy. 'Nevertheless I have this against you' (v. 4): A call for self-examination and conscience searching, delivered to us gently by God so we may become alerted to ourselves. 'To him who overcomes' (v. 7): An invitation to spiritual struggle against inner inclinations. Our life on earth is a time of testing in which we must overcome. 'He who has an ear, let him hear' (v. 7): Refers to the ear of the heart, by which we hear and obey. Blessed is he who obeys the commandments of the Holy Bible. 'What the Spirit says to the churches' (v. 7): This refers to spiritual leadership. The Synod committee rapporteurs presented the Synod with the recommendations of each committee. These recommendations were discussed thoroughly, and after the discussion of each committee's report, the final content of the recommendation was agreed upon by consensus. The Synodal Committee for Public Relations recommended developing curricula for all Church services to alert all members of the congregation to the importance and necessity of active participation in national community service and volunteer work, with a view to consolidating the spirit of citizenship while highlighting the societal role of the Copts. The Synodal Committee for Media and Information recommended the formation of a mini-committee to develop a vision for spreading sound ecclesiastical thought on the Internet, and increasing the familiarity of the congregation and Church servants with Internet technology and artificial intelligence AI. This should be invested in preparing interesting and attractive sermons and Sunday School lessons. The Synodal Committee for Ecumenical Relations recommended that the Coptic Orthodox Church should seek to address the dispute between the Syriac-Indian Orthodox Church and the Indian Orthodox Church. With this in sight, a meeting is scheduled to be held in Cairo where Pope Tawadros will urge discussion of the differences in order to preserve the unity of the Oriental Orthodox Churches family. The Coptic Orthodox Church is following with concern the predicament of the Monastery of St Catherine in Sinai and appreciates the Egyptian State's position in not harming the monastery or the monastic life in there. The Synodal Committee for [Social] Care and Service recommended running a development programme for innovators and athletes from among persons with disabilities, with an exchange of experiences between dioceses. it also recommended necessarily running meetings for the families of prisoners, and helping released prisoners in all dioceses find jobs. It was also recommended that welfare and development offices should be formed and activated in each diocese, and that coordination should be encouraged between them and the Development Partners Committee of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The necessity of raising awareness of the dangers of illegal migration was stressed, as was the setting up of programmes for building gender identity among children, with a focus on training priests, parents and Church servants on prevention and sound psychological and physical education on that score. The committee also recommended that the computers and modern technology should be made mainstream in Coptic hospitals, for the benefit the hospitals and patients. Preparations are underway, the Committee stressed, for the project of the General Secretariat of Coptic Hospitals in Cairo, similar to that of the Coptic hospitals in Alexandria. The Synodal Committee for the family recommended that the 'Groom and bride's pledge' should be carefully read before the marriage ceremony, and that the recently enacted law of the rights of the elderly should be studied to make maximum benefit of it. The Synodal Committee for Faith and Teaching recommended that work on the catechism of the Coptic Orthodox Church should continue. The Synodal Committee for Rituals recommended that a feast of Zacchaeus the tax collector who is commemorated on 3 Hathor, 13 November, should be added to the Church feasts and his story should be included in the Coptic Synaxarium on that date. The Synodal Committee for Diocese Affairs recommended that a meeting should be held among the clerical councils for family affairs and Fr Sergius Serguis, deputy-general of the patriarchate in Cairo, to discuss engagement and marriage contacts. The Synodal Committee for Monasticism and Monasteries recommended that monks should be encouraged to conduct serious academic studies on theology and doctrine. It also recommended issuing a non-periodical publication that would present research papers and articles, and that it would be edited by the various Coptic monasteries in turn. The Synodal Committee for Diaspora Affairs recommended to continue encouraging trips by service organisations in the Diaspora to the Mother Church in Egypt, with a view to providing services and development projects to dioceses and churches in Egypt. It also recommended holding regular on-line meetings between the Pope and Coptic Orthodox dioceses in North America and Europe which should be divided into sectors according to the number of churches; these meetings are to be held at the level of priests, Church servants, youth and, if possible families. Church servants and young people should be familiarised with the use of AI wisely and perceptively, and cautioned against providing inaccurate theological or doctrinal content. The Holy Synod concluded with approving the revival of monastic life, and officially recognised the monastery of the Archangel Michael in the Eastern Mountain of Girga, Sohag some 500km south of Cairo, as a thriving functioning monastery. The Synod also decided to add the event of a joint liturgy held by the Patriarchs of the three Oriental Orthodox Churches in the Middle East—commemorating the 17th centenary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea—to the Synaxarium on the 10 Bashans, 19 May. Finally, the Synod issued a welcoming statement regarding the Coptic Orthodox Church's hosting of the Sixth International Conference of the World Council of Churches, marking the 17th centenary of the Council of Nicaea. The Synod elected Anba Yu'annis, Bishop of Assiut, as the new Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Additionally, three of bishops were elected as Assistant Secretaries: Anba Stephanous, Bishop of Biba and al-Fashn; Anna Markos, Bishop of Damietta, Kafr El-Sheikh, and al-Barari, and Abbot of the Monastery of Saint Demiana in al-Barari; and Anba Marc, Bishop of Paris and Northern France. The elections were conducted by secret ballot; Anna Yu'annis and the Assistant Secretaries, won by overwhelming majority. Pope Tawadros and the Synod members extended their heartfelt thanks to Anba Danial, Metropolitan of Maadi, and his Assistant Secretaries, whose term of service concluded according to the Synod's laws. Comments comments Tags: Coptic Orthodox Holy Synod June 2025Nader Shukry
Spectator
28-05-2025
- General
- Spectator
It seemed like the end of days: the eerie wasteland of 14th-century Europe
In the early 1370s, Louis I of Anjou, the second son of the French king, commissioned a vast series of tapestries, now on display at the Château d'Angers, representing the Book of Revelation. In the middle of the narrative is a group of men on horseback wearing distinctively English armour; one wears pheasant feathers in his helmet – another mark of English soldiery. As for the Apocalpyse itself, its horsemen were led by Edward III. Edward's 50-year reign dominated 14th-century England. But, as we see in Sceptred Isle, Helen Carr's gripping narrative account of the period, Edward himself was dominated by the dream of taking the French crown. It led him to launch two great invasions, one in 1346 and the other in 1359. It is not hard to understand why the French experience of English armies was something like the end of world. According to one chronicler: 'The English destroyed, burned and plundered many little towns, capturing or even killing the inhabitants.' Cernay was reduced to ashes. The people of Orly were massacred in their parish church. There were many Cernays and Orlys. But Edward failed to take Reims, where the kings of France had been crowned for centuries. He never attempted Paris. Between Edward's two invasions both countries – and the whole continent – were ravaged by another apocalyptic horror in the shape of the Black Death. In the space of a couple of years at the end of the 1340s it killed around half the population of Europe. In London, they buried 200 corpses a day; in St Albans there weren't enough living to bury the dead.
Malaysian Reserve
19-05-2025
- General
- Malaysian Reserve
Seismic Shift in Korean Churches? Pastors Flock to Verify Shincheonji's Teachings
ANAHEIM, Calif., May 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — A major Bible seminar hosted by Chairman Man Hee Lee of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony drew over 500 pastors on May 17 at the Shincheonji Peace Training Center in Cheongpyeong, Gyeonggi Province. Originally planned for 200 participants, the seminar had to move outdoors to accommodate the unexpected turnout. Titled 'Bible Seminar on the Fulfillment of Revelation,' the event reflected growing interest in Shincheonji's teachings among pastors, even those who had previously regarded the group as heretical. At the seminar, Chairman Lee testified to the prophecies and fulfillment of all 22 chapters of Revelation. He shared how he came to faith without formal theological training and why he now preaches the fulfillment of Revelation as witnessed firsthand. 'Everyone wants to go to heaven and gain eternal life, but Revelation warns that altering the text leads to curses and prevents entry into heaven (Revelation 22:18–19). Shouldn't this be addressed?' Lee emphasized, 'What I intend to convey is the reality of the prophecies recorded from Revelation chapter 1 to 22—what I have seen and now testify to.' 'Let's put aside pride and think objectively. Be honest with yourself. More than anything, be confident that you are worthy of entering heaven,' Lee added. 'Is belonging to a traditional denomination what makes one orthodox? Jesus didn't belong to any denomination of his time. We must know the Bible clearly. If anything I've said is wrong, please point it out.' Many pastors were reportedly shocked by Lee's ability to explain the entire Book of Revelation without opening a Bible, despite lacking formal theological education. One pastor who had previously considered Shincheonji a cult said, 'Now that I've examined it for myself, I realize it isn't. If the teachings align with the Bible, we must acknowledge them.' He added, 'We must not repeat the mistake of rejecting God's work, as people did during Jesus' first coming.' As more pastors seek direct verification of Shincheonji's teachings, a shift in perception appears to be spreading across the religious community. According to Shincheonji, 858 Korean churches have signed MOUs for scriptural exchange, and 100 have adopted the Shincheonji name. Chairman Lee concluded, ' Jesus ' promises have always been fulfilled, and Revelation will be no different. Let's become one in the Bible and one family under God.' Shincheonji expects that the rest of 2025 will see an even greater wave of follow-up education and religious change across Korea. Contact: Scott Alwin 626-230-5039 395416@
