There is now no Greek, or Roma

Recently, I came across an article (on FaceBook, where else!) on race. In it’s entirety, it reads like this:

THE ISSUE OF RACE!
Contrary to popular opinion there is only one race; the human race. According to the Bible, all mankind can trace their origin back to our first parents Adam & Eve. All mankind is made in the image of God and deserves the respect and dignity of that image. The only time the natural right of that image is forfeited is if a capital crime has been committed. Christian Church, black or white, Asian or Latino, male or female, free or bond, we must get over our love affair with ourselves and look to Christ alone who"...wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Rev. 5:9). In the end, one could argue for two distinctions within the human race - those who live in the first Adam and those who are in the Last Adam. (For more from this site go here.) 

Interestingly, on the same day I read an article in the Prague Daily Monitor about the “Separate, and Unequal” treatment of Roma children here in the Czech Republic.  

It seems that Roma (also known as Gypsies) children are often put in “Practical” schools that cater to the intellectually handicapped or Roma-only schools. Sounds strangely like the segregated schools of the US in times gone by (some might want to argue that those times are not yet over).The article states that 

Local municipalities don’t want to change the status quo, and the majority of Czechs don’t want their children to go to school with Roma,...”  “Roma are satisfied because the schools aren’t so difficult. Teachers are satisfied because if they have a ‘problem’ child, he or she can go somewhere else. Practical school teachers are satisfied because they have well-paid jobs.

But is this an equality issue? Not really. “No education means no job and being supported by the state,” said Martina Parizkova, a media officer for Amnesty International. “We are trying to explain that this problem has consequences for society in general.” So, it’s an economic issue.

But God says it’s a creation issue. Genesis 1:27 states, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Is God a Roma or a Czech? Mark 12:31 gives us a little info about how to use the info given us in Genesis 1. Mark writes, "The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Neither of these verses addresses distinctions in the church (although there are several verses that do). The point is that men are men; not black men, Roma men, slavic men, caucasian men. (the same goes for women).

This will be a hard-fought battle in the Czech Republic. Just last week there were anti-Roma riots in the south Bohemian city of Ceske Budejovice. There were injuries and there were arrests.

I cannot change Czech society. I can't even do much about American society. But God can. Prayer and the setting of examples are called for. Evangelism is called for. Roma need Jesus. So do non-Roma.

PostScript: Some time ago (in March 2013) I posted a piece on race in America. The link to that is here. After writing this current piece, this came across my screen. It's worth a read. It asks the question: "What Post-Racial America?"

Election Aftermath - Czech Style

Well, the first Presidential election by popular vote in the Czech Republic is history. Miloš Zeman has been elected. But, it seems that the Czechs have learned well from their American allies. The finger pointing, accusations, and sour grapes have only just begun.

A quick scan of Czech and European newspapers indicates that all is not well after the election, which followed a raucous, down and dirty, American-style campaign. One paper put it this way:

It was “the candidate of the disatisfied voters” who won, writes the daily (Lidové noviny), describing “an atmosphere of disgust and fear of the future.” Miloš Zeman will have a difficult task, the newspaper adds: “To reunite a society split by a campaign full of heated emotions.” “The new president has been elected against the will of a large part of the intellectual, political and economic elite,” notes LN, adding that he must now prepare for an “uneasy coexistence” with Petr Necas' centre-right coalition which is behind the austerity policy.(Read the entire article here).

The following excerpts and summaries also indicate the mood of (at least) those who follow politics in this nation. 

Schwarzenberg's team responsible for his defeat

Not the public, but the team of Karel Schwarzenberg has failed and is to blame for his defeat in the second round of the presidential election, Martin Weiss writes in yesterday's issue of the daily Lidové noviny (LN). 

Wake up call

The presidential election shows Czechs are no more immune to populism or historical fear-mongering than their neighbors.

On 8 March, Miloš Zeman, a career politician and former member of the Communist Party, will become President of this nation. Time will tell what that means for the Czech Republic and for Europe. In the meantime, prayer for this nation (as well as for your own) is appropriate.
 
But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (Jeremiah 29:7).

The Father of Modern Education

Jan Amos Comenius (1592 -- 1671) is often referred to as "The Father of Modern Education." A pretty lofty title for someone you probably never heard of, right?

Comenius was a Bohemian (Czech) pastor and educator. He lived a life of exile and difficulty, losing two wives along the way. Europe was wracked with war for most of his life and Comenius managed to get in the way of it often. The various phases of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) were waged throughout much of the adulthood of Comenius. It is commonly accepted that this lengthy war began with what has become known as the "Defenestration of Prague."

Back to Comenius. As he traveled and lived in exile, he also wrote. His great interest was the reforming of education. Dr. C. Matthew McMahon writes:

His contributions to the educational scene are immeasurable in many ways, and, as stated before, he is deemed the “Father of Modern Education.” He answered the question “Is there a way to teach children pleasantly, but quickly at the same time?” in a most biblical and helpful manner. The various schools of his day thought this was impossible. They leaned upon corporeal discipline to the extreme, and neglected the teaching of girls altogether. Comenius though that learning should be done in the home (following thoughts surrounding catechizing that began during the Reformation) and thus by parents, which would have included the mother. If mothers, then, were not educated, then children would not be educated as well. He wrote the book The Great Didactic (published in 1657 in Holland) that encompassed a Christian worldview in learning from God’s second book – nature, and aiding parents in helping their children learn about god in every way possible. Children in Comenius day were trained to repeat memorized Latin vocabulary and conjugations, but they were not taught to think well. If one cannot think well, how can they learn or understand a given proposition? Education for Comenius stretches beyond the boundaries of the classroom and encompasses all of life.

Comenius believed in the principle called "pansophy." "For Comenius there was always only one truth. The light of reason must submit in obedience to the will of God. This is Comenius’s fundamental pedagogical and pansophic principle." (see this article at Christian History).

So, according to Comenius, education is not rote learning in a classroom, although he did not advocate abandoning the classroom. Rather, a full-orbed education of all people (males and females to be included) with an emphasis on understanding God's universe, is essential. The above-mentioned article in Christian History closes this way:

In Christ Comenius found the light of his life. In the midst of tumultous events he sang out his love to Christ in a large number of songs. It was to Christ that he yielded himself. Above all else he bequeathed to his descendants in the Unity the love of the pure truth of God and his Word. Having found his hope in Christ, Comenius drew from him all his life.

Worthy of some further reading, don't you agree?

Language Acquisition, Oh My!

We have a friend here in the Czech Republic who speaks 8 or 9 languages. Actually that’s only a bit unusual around here. Everybody speaks Czech, of course, but many also speak German, Russian, English, and one or two others. But, this friend is an American! That’s what makes it somewhat remarkable.

Sandra and I have been attempting to learn the local language, which is, not surprisingly, Czech. It’s not easy. On the 5-pointscale of the Foreign Language Institute of the American Foreign Service Institute, Czech is ranked in the 4^th tier. That’s the next-to-hardest for Americans category. 

Add to that the fact that we are both a few decades beyond the optimal age for the introduction of a foreign language. While some “experts” dispute this, the general understanding about this is capsulized this way

The earlier children begin learning a foreign language, the greater the foreign language skill set they obtain. Children that begin learning at an earlier age, and then continue the foreign language study in years to come, have a better chance of developing the secondary language at a higher level of proficiency.

To see more on this topic go here.
So, undaunted, Sandra and I have taken on this task. We want to be able to, at least, have simple conversations with our neighbors and shopkeepers. After all, I get upset when in America and I am surrounded by people who have lived in the country for years and still don’t (or won’t) speak English.
We both started having some success in commerce-related Czech before we began the lessons, of course. Just going to the grocery store encourages a little bravery in speaking the local tongue.

But, it really is a somewhat difficult language. Some examples:

• I used the word zmrzlina in a FB post recently. Nobody asked the meaning. I assume some folks looked it up.
• Are you hladovy? (hungry)
• Checking in? Tell them, reservoval jsem pokoj.

And be careful about the accents. We learned (the hard way, of course), the difference between paliva and pálivá. One (unaccented) simply means “fuel.” While the other (especially when applied to papriky) means “whoa, hot.”

Then there are the famous tongue-twisters, such as:

• Třistatřiatřicet stříbrných křepelek přeletělo přes třistatřiatřicet stříbrných střech. 
• Pštros s pštrosicí a malými pštrosáčaty.
• Strč prst skrz krk 

Go here to hear the pronunciations and see the translations.

So, friends, if you have any compassion, please pray for us as continue to work at the task. And děkujeme.

Election Reflection

By Carlo Schneider in Tageblatt, Luxembourg's largest daily

I waited a few days to write this as I sorted out the various viewpoints on what happened in America on November 6.

Immediately, as is usually the case, the blame game began. Conservatives blamed the Republicans. Whites blamed anybody who isn’t. Christians blamed one another. Donald Trump labelled the election a travesty and called for a march on Washington.

An interesting Christian-demographic breakdown has been provided by author and blogger Joel Rosenberg. He leads with this statistic: “25 million self-described evangelicals voted for Obama.” That’s just devastating.

The European press, almost unanimously cheerleading for Obama’s re-election, has had some interesting responses. Presseurop a news aggregator of European media, led its 8 November editorial with the headline: “‘Obama 2.0’ Urged Not to Disappoint.” The lead editorial is titled “Obama, a Lackluster Ally,” stating that “it is a known fact that Barack Obama symbolises a turning point in an America that no longer has affinities with the Old Continent.”

Yet, not unlike their American counterparts, the European media did at least give two cheers at the election result. Again, they were wary, however. As presseurop stated it, “Reflecting a public opinion largely favourable to Barack Obama, the European press heaves a sigh of relief after his re-election. But the illusions of 2008 about his commitment to Europe have vanished.”

Here in the Czech Republic, although Obama was certainly favored over candidate Romney, it seems as though the love affair is over. The response of President Vaclav Klaus was lukewarm, at best. Although  recognizing that at least there would be continuity in the relations between Czech Republic and the U.S., Klaus stated, "Though it is known that my heart is beating on the right side rather than the left, I would like to congratulate President Obama.”

Maybe the Europeans are beginning to understand some things that the American electorate missed. Obama has not kept his promises to anybody. Maybe it would be good if Obama read some of the European press instead of the press release bureaus that pass for journalism in America these days. It might be sobering reading. It might help.