Dutch Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr as ‘sugar feast’ loses flavour

DutchNews, May 2, 2022

It is peak period at this bakery in The Hague. Photo: Marcel de Swart ANP

Muslims in the Netherlands celebrate the end of Ramadan, or the festival of Eid al-Fitr, on Monday, but the Dutch term for the holiday, the Suikerfeest or sugar holiday, is increasingly out of favour, news website Nu.nl reported. 

Suikerfeest is a literal translation of the Turkish Şeker Bayramı but that in itself may be a misinterpretation of Şükür Bayramı (feast of thankfulness), which once was the name for the celebrations to mark the end of the fasting period in Turkey. 

Muslims in the Netherlands now want to get back to the real meaning of Eid al-Fitr – the holiday of breaking the fast, Nu.nl said. 

After all, Muslims point out, ‘sugar feast’ implies they are eating sweets all day, but Eid al-Fitr is about far more than that. It is a day for dressing up, giving gifts and money to charity, and greeting each other with the phrase ‘Eid Mubarak‘. 

Leading Muslim community group CMO never uses the phrase and chairman Muhsin Köktas told Nu.nl suikerfeest is only used in the Netherlands and Turkey. 

There is, he said, a swing away from term on social media. ‘People would rather the term is not used,’ he said.

Dutch king focuses on freedom, urges people to listen to each other

DutchNews, December 25, 2019

The king giving his speech. Photo: Arenda Oomen via HH

King Willem-Alexander’s Christmas speech to the nation focused on the theme of freedom this year. 

Freedom, the king said, is a flame that burns in the heart of the Netherlands. ‘But that freedom has a price,’ he said. ‘It demands reason, a willingness to give each other space and tolerance.‘ 

The Netherlands, he said, is a successful country because it is a country in which people work together. ‘Even if emotions can run high, the Dutch have a feeling of togetherness. That is our strength. This contributes not only to a country which performs well, but to a land in which people are happy,’ the king said. 

At the same time, young people in particular should ‘give yourself space’, the king said, speaking in the hall of the Huis ten Bosch palace where the royal family live.  Doubt, sadness and insecurity are all part of life, the king said. 

‘As free people, we want to get the best out of life, and we blame ourselves if that does not happen. We reflect ourselves in others, we aim too high and we want to present a perfect version of ourselves to the rest of the world… but no-one is perfect.’ 

‘Our happiness lies in our connections to others. We should not let each other go. We should listen to each other and show understanding… it helps if you look at someone and say “it is okay”,’ the king said.

‘A listening ear, an outstretched hand or a shoulder to lean on is the best present a person can give, and not only at Christmas.’

Dutch national football team takes social media stand against racism

DutchNews, November 19, 2019

The Dutch national football team have issued an strong anti-racism statement on social media ahead of Tuesday night’s EU qualifier against Estonia. 

The photo pictures the squad in a circle touching hands and follows this weekend’s racist incident in Den Bosch, in which the match against Excelsior was suspended for a time when one of Excelsior player was subject to racist abuse. 

Enough Is Enough!! #StopRacism 🤜🏻🤛🏿 pic.twitter.com/AQQbJik9w9

— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) 19 november 2019

England’s acting captain Georginio Wijnaldum also issued a strong condemnation of racism in football at a press conference on Monday evening. ‘I would have walked off the pitch and not come back,’ he said. 

Other players too have expressed their anger at the attack on Ahmad Mendes Moreira. 

I’m sick and tired to see these images over and over! When is it going to stop!!? #SayNoToRacism @KNVB @OnsOranje @UEFA what we going to do? Specially with the upcoming @EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/DUt0y2h8IA

— Memphis Depay (@Memphis) 17 november 2019

The Dutch FA and prosecution service are investigating the incident. 

Den Bosch posted a statement after the game denying the chants were discriminatory, but on Monday it released a new one admitting it had ‘completely got the wrong end of the stick’ in its initial response.

Related Article:

Dutch football clubs to halt play this weekend in racism protest

Dutch king tells UN assembly Russia must cooperate with MH17 investigation

DutchNews, September 25, 2019

The king addresses the UN. Photo: UN Photo/Cia Pak

King Willem-Alexander told his audience at the United Nations general assembly on Tuesday evening that everyone – including Russia – must cooperate with efforts to find out the truth about the downing of flight MH17. 

It is ‘unacceptable for individuals responsible for international crimes to escape their just punishment’, the king said in his speech. 

‘In this forum I wish to repeat that, under Security Council resolution 2166, all countries – including Russia – must cooperate fully with efforts to establish the truth about the downing of flight MH17 on 17 July 2014.’ 

‘The families of the 298 victims,’ the king said, ‘expect justice, and we will not rest until justice is done.’ 

Russia has repeatedly denied any responsibility for the downing of the aircraft over eastern Ukraine. And earlier this month, it emerged that a potential key witness had been returned to Russia by Ukraine in a prisoner exchange. 

The Netherlands will also continue its efforts to strengthen the International Criminal Court, an indispensable component of the international legal order, the king said. 

Sustainable development 

The bulk of the king’s speech centred on the UN’s sustainable development goals which, he said, will bring the ‘fair, clean and sustainable world’ demanded by young people closer. 

‘In many places around the world people are not free to be themselves,’ the king said. ‘In many places, there is no room for diversity. No respect for the rights and opportunities of minorities. No equality between men and women.’ 

This, the king said, is a breeding ground for instability because every human being strives for recognition. 

Watch the speech 

‘We must hold firmly to the freedom of religion or belief, including for minorities in places where the great majority profess a different faith,’ the king said. ‘Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews and people without religious convictions should be able everywhere to follow their own conscience in peace.’ 

At the same time, he said, the Netherlands welcomes the fact that the rights of lesbian, gay and transgender people, and of other minority communities, are being laid down in law in more and more places around the world. 

Read the speech (English)

Blackface banned: Sooty-faced Piets only at official Sinterklaas arrival

DutchNews, September 17, 2019

Sinterklaas and traditional Piets in the Dutch village of De Rijp. Photo: DutchNews.nl

The national Sinterklaas procession in November will only include Piets with sooty faces, public broadcaster NTR, which organises the event, said on Tuesday. 

The Sinterklaas festivities kick off in Apeldoorn on November 16 this year. The decision not to have any more Piets in blackface make-up was taken together with Apeldoorn council. 

Last year there was a mix of blackface and sooty Piets at the procession, which is broadcast live on television. The NTR first introduced sooty Piets in 2014 and officials said earlier that the change would be phased in over a few years, following campaigning by anti-racism activitists. 

The Sinterklaasjournaal, a popular children’s programme which follows the adventures of Sinterklaas, will also only feature sooty Piets, NTR said. 

‘This is a historic day,’ said Jerry Afriyie of the campaign group Kick Out Zwarte Piet. ‘This is the day that many black people in this country have waited for.’ 

‘I think this has been a very difficult decision for the NTR to take,’ he said. ‘It takes guts to make the breakthrough.’ 

The portrayal of the saint’s helpers by blacked-up white actors has been the focus of many protests in recent years by anti-racism activists. 

In 2017 a group of counter-activists blocked the A7 motorway in Friesland to stop anti-racism campaigners reaching Dokkum, the scene of the official arrival ceremony. Last year there were riots and arrests in Eindhoven as Zwarte Piet supporters attacked anti-Piet campaigners. 

Acceptance 

A survey at the end of last year found increasing numbers of Dutch people are willing to accept changes to the colour of ‘Black Piet’ as the debate about the tradition continues to rage. 

Research by I&O found that 44% of people questioned supported the introduction of ‘sooty-faced’ Piets or other variations in appearance, compared to 32% when the survey was last carried out two years ago.

In recent years Piet has lost a number of other characteristics associated with racial stereotyping, such as thick curly hair, puffy red lips and large gold earrings. 

Sinterklaas was first given a black page in a book called Sinterklaas and his Servant published in 1850 by school teacher Jan Schenkman. Schenkman also established that Sinterklaas lived in Spain and came to the Netherlands by steam ship. 

10 things you need to know about celebrating Sinterklaas

Gay priest’s confessional book ruffles Catholic feathers

DutchNews, April 2, 2019

A Catholic bishop has demanded an Amsterdam priest stop practicing for being openly gay and writing a book about his sexual experiences, the NRC reports. 

Pierre Valkering unexpectedly presented his book Ontkleed niet naakt staan (Undressed not standing naked) during a service celebrating his 25 years as a priest on Sunday. He told the congregation about his visits to gay saunas and his addiction to porn and criticised the Catholic church for its stance on homosexuality. 

In a statement, the diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam said that ‘it understands human frailty and the struggle of every person to grow into a state of holiness’. The fact that Valkering ‘does not even want to aim for an ordered, celibate life’ is not something the church can accept, the statement said. 

Bishop Jozef Punt commented that he appreciated Valkering’s honesty but that the time had come to for Valkering to consider his position and refrain from his duties as a priest for the time being. 

Valkering earlier told the Gaykrant newspaper that he realised that by publishing his book he would be treading ‘a minefield’ but that he hoped it would help make the church ‘more real and more liveable’.

Related Articles:

Pope Francis: Who am I to judge gay people?
Welby calls for Church to join the sexual ‘revolution’
Archbishop Tutu 'would not worship a homophobic God'

‘Pray away the gay’ therapies quickly losing ground in the United States

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: Regarding homosexuality or transsexuals. WHY are they the way they are and WHY are they not accepted in mainstream society?

Answer: [From the Kryon Office]

There is often a tremendous amount of information on subjects that are not necessarily part of the on-line magazine Q&A database. Kryon has been channelling for fourteen years, with 9 books covering many, many topics. Homosexuality was one of them from the very beginning. Please see our "Books index page" for subjects contained in the Kryon books: [http://www.kryon.com/direct.html]

An excerpt from Kryon Book 6, page 306

Question from the book: Dear Kryon, I am gay, and an enlightened man. I live in an American society that barely tolerates me, and actually has some laws against my way of life. The church I used to belong to cast me out as being evil and anti-God. I don't feel that I am violating some Human ethic. My love is as true as any heterosexual, and I am a light worker. Tell me what I should know.

Answer from the book: Dear one, less than two generations from now, there will be those who find this book and laugh at the quaintness of this very question. Before I answer, let me ask you and those reading this to examine a phenomenon about Human society and "God."

Thirty years ago, interracial marriage was considered to be wrong by the laws of God. Now your society finds it common. The spiritual objections around it were either dropped or "rewritten" by those divinely inspired and authorized to do so. Therefore, your actual interpretations of the instructions from God changed with your society's tolerance level--an interesting thing, indeed, how the interpretations of God seem to change regularly to match a changing culture!

The truth, of course, is that you find yourself in a situation that is known to create a test for you. Right now, in this time, you have agreed to come into your culture with an attribute that may alienate you from friends and religious followers. You have faced fear of rejection and have had to "swim upstream," so to speak, just as an everyday life occurrence. Your contract, therefore, has been set up well, and you are in the middle of it. Additionally, like so many like you, you have a divine interest in yourselves! You feel part of the spiritual family. What a dichotomy indeed, to be judged as evil by those who are the high spiritual leaders--interpreting God for today's culture.

Now I say this: What is your intent? Is it to walk with love for all those around you and become an enlightened Human Being in this New Age? Is it to forgive those who see you as a spiritual blight on society? Can you have the kind of tolerance for them that they seem not to have for you? Can you overlook the fact that they freely quote their scriptures in order to condemn you, yet they don't seem to have the love tolerance that is the cornerstone of their own message?

If the answer is yes, then there is nothing else you must do. Your INTENT is everything, and your life will be honored with peace over those who would cause unrest, and tolerance for the intolerable. Your sexual attributes are simply chemistry and setups within your DNA. They are given by agreement as gifts for you to experience in this life. Look on them in this fashion, and be comfortable with that fact that you are a perfect spiritual creation under God--loved beyond measure--just like all humans. But then you know that, don't you?

"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… I gave you a channelling years ago when Pope John Paul was alive. John Paul loved Mary, the mother. Had John Paul survived another 10 years, he would have done what the next Pope [The one after the current one, Benedict XVI] will do, and that is to bring women into the Church. This Pope you have now [Benedict XVI] won't be here long.* The next Pope will be the one who has to change the rules, should he survive. If he doesn't, it will be the one after that.

There it a large struggle within the Church, even right now, and great dissention, for it knows that it is not giving what humanity wants. The doctrine is not current to the puzzles of life. The answer will be to create a better balance between the feminine and masculine, and the new Pope, or the one after that, will try to allow women to be in the higher echelon of the Church structure to assist the priests.

It will be suggested to let women participate in services, doing things women did not do before. This graduates them within church law to an equality with priests, but doesn't actually let them become priests just yet. However, don't be surprised if this begins in another way, and instead gives priests the ability to marry. This will bring the feminine into the church in other ways. It will eventually happen and has to happen. If it does not, it will be the end of the Catholic Church, for humanity will not sustain a spiritual belief system that is out of balance with the love of God and also out of balance with intuitive Human awareness. 

Minister wants buffer zones to keep anti-abortion activists at bay

DutchNews, March 29, 2019

This sign warns about aggressive demonstrators. Photo: Gerard Til / Hollandse Hoogte 

Health minister Hugo de Jonge is going to support local councils who want to establish buffer zones around abortion clinics where women have been intimidated by anti-abortion activists, the AD reports. 

Roermond, in the Catholic south of the country, already has a buffer zone to keep activists at a distance. 

Reports of aggressive intimidation of women have been proliferating over the last months, director of Gynaikon clinics, Gerrit Zomerdijk told the paper. Gynaikon runs two of the 14 abortion clinics in the Netherlands.

‘Colleagues tell me similar stories. (..) We have various groups on our doorsteps several days a week,’ Zomerdijk said. The intimidation ranges from calling women ‘murderers’ who ‘will be sorry’ to showing placards with photos of aborted foetuses. 

De Jong said the right to protest is ‘a great good’ but should never lead to intimidation. ‘Women should not have to justify their actions to perfect strangers in the doorway of a clinic, especially at such a difficult time in their lives!’, the AD quotes him as saying. 

Anti-abortion organisations have threatened to step up their activities if national buffer zones are established. 

Spokesman Hugo Bos of Christian anti-abortion organisation Stirezo Pro-Life claimed the reports about aggressive activists is ‘part of a fake news campaign’. 

‘Our aggression is zero. But a ban on demonstrations or a buffer zone leave us no other option but confrontation. The minister wants to end our meetings, that is 100% certain. But the truth is abortion is murder and clinics are taking advantage of vulnerable women,’ he told the paper. 

The minister has called the intentions of the activists ‘unwise’. 

Parliament will be discussing safety issues around the clinics in the nearby future. GroenLinks MP Corinne Ellemeet said the debate is ‘extremely timely, because abortion is becoming a bigger taboo and the number of opponents is growing. The minister has to protect these women and his support for buffer zones is just a first step. More needs to be done.’

Boorish behaviour under fire: new ad campaign urges Dutch to be nice

DutchNews, March 4, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Sire, the advertising industry body which produces campaigns to improve society, is focussing on getting people to be nicer to each other in its new series of online, tv and radio ads. 

The campaign #DOESLIEF (be nice) kicks off on Monday. ‘It is not that the Dutch are not nice, but there is a lot of unkind behaviour,’ Sire director Lucy van der Helm says. 

Research carried out ahead of the campaign shows that almost 70% of the Dutch think people are less nice to each other than they used to be and 60% are scared to make comments about unpleasant behaviour because of the risk of aggression. 

Vandaag lanceren we onze nieuwe campagne: #DOESLIEF. Deze campagne confronteert Nederland met groot en klein onaardig gedrag. Lees er alles over op onze website! pic.twitter.com/1YsuK0hvmP

— SIRE (@stichtingSIRE) 4 maart 2019

Similar results came up in the last issue of the SCP’s ongoing ‘citizens perspective’ research project. The government think-tank found almost half of the Dutch think society is deteriorating. 

However, research by the national statistics agency CBS in 2017 found the Dutch are treating each other with greater respect. 

In 2008, 25% of people said they were not treated with respect by unknown people on the street, and this this has now dropped to 21%. 

Sire was founded in 1967 and its campaigns have focused on wide range of issues, from loneliness among the elderly to online bullying and, controversially, allowing boys to be boys.

Dutch former anti-Islam MP says he's become a Muslim

Channel NewsAsia – AFP, 5 Feb 2019

Joram van Klaveren, left, with Geert Wilders at the Dutch parliament in The
Hague in 2013 AFP/Martijn Beekman

THE HAGUE: A Dutch former far-right MP and right-hand man of anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders has set tongues wagging in the Netherlands after revealing he has converted to Islam, news reports said Tuesday (Feb 5).

For years Joram van Klaveren fought a relentless campaign in the Lower House against Islam in the Netherlands as a lawmaker for Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV).

At the time, the "hardliner pleaded for banning the burqa and minarets, saying 'we don't want any Islam, or at least as little as possible in the Netherlands'," the daily tabloid Algemeen Dagblad (AD) said.

But the 40-year-old Van Klaveren said he had changed his mind halfway through writing an anti-Islam book, which he Tuesday told the respected NRC daily "became a refutation of objections non-Muslims have" against the religion.

"If everything I wrote up to that point is true, and I believe that, then I am a de facto Muslim," he told the NRC.

Van Klaveren converted to Islam on October 26 last year, the NRC added in the interview piece ahead of the release of Van Klaveren's book titled: "Apostate: From Christianity to Islam in the Time of Secular Terror."

The former politician who grew up in an orthodox Protestant Christian environment said of his conversion that he "has been searching for a long time."

"It feels a bit like a religious homecoming for me," he told Dutch newspapers.

Van Klaveren could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday.

"SURPRISE"

"His conversion has surprised both friend and enemy," the AD newspaper said.

Van Klaveren split with Wilders in 2014 after the PVV leader's controversial comments that year when asking supporters whether they wanted "fewer or more Moroccans in your city and the Netherlands".

Wilders in 2016 was found guilty on discrimination charges. The sentence is currently being appealed.

Van Klaveren then went on to form his own far-right party called "For Netherlands" (VNL) but left politics after failing to win a single seat in the 2017 elections.

"If this really isn't a PR stunt to promote his book, then it really is an extraordinary choice for somebody who had a lot to say about Islam," his former VNL co-founder Jan Roos told the AD.

"But we have religious freedom in the Netherlands. He can worship whomever he wants," Roos added.

Said Bouharrou, who serves on the Board of Moroccan Mosques in the Netherlands, praised Van Klaveren.

"It is great when somebody who has been so critical of Islam... realises that it is not so bad or perverse," he told the AD.

"It is brave that he's prepared to do it in public," Bouharrou said.

Around five percent of the Dutch population of 17 million people or some 850,000 are Muslim, according to the Dutch Central Statistics Bureau (CBS).

But despite Wilders' objections, the religion is growing, with experts expecting that number to double by 2050.

The Netherlands also last year introduced a partial burqa ban from some public places such as schools and hospitals, ending years of discussions on the hot-button issue.

Van Klaveren is not the first high-profile PVV member to convert to Islam, and follows in the footsteps of Arnoud van Doorn, a former Hague-based PVV city councillor who switched in 2013.

Related Article:

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“.   New Tolerance

Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.

Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones. ...."

Prosecutors to decide if Nashville anti-gay charter breaches Dutch law

DutchNews, January 7, 2019 - Gordon Darroch

Kees van der Staaij is leader of the SGP party. Photo: Peter Hilz/ HH

The prosecution service is examining whether the Nashville Statement on marriage and sexuality breaches the law after a recent Dutch translation was condemned by equality organisations. 

The document, signed by around 250 hardline Protestant ministers, states that marriage is the ‘covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman’ and that ‘it it is sinful to approve of homosexual impurity or transgenderism.’ 

A spokesman for the public prosecution service said it was examining the statement to see if there was any basis for a criminal investigation. The service gave no indication how long the study might take. 

Article 1 of the Dutch constitution states that ‘discrimination on the grounds of religion, belief, political opinion, race or sex or on any other grounds whatsoever shall not be permitted.’ 

One of the signatories to the Nashville Statement is MP Kees van der Staaij, leader of the testimonial party SGP which has two seats in parliament and draws most of its support from the Dutch bible belt. On Monday he said he supported ‘Biblical notions of marriage, family and sexuality’, but refused to elaborate further. 

Opera singer Francis van Broekhuizen has filed a formal police complaint against Van der Staaij, the first step towards prosecution. Van Broekhuizen, who is a Pride Ambassador, told NPO Radio 4: ‘The whole pamphlet is a call to renew discrimination against LHBTI people. I feel really hurt and very sad.’ 

Emancipation minister Ingrid van Engelshoven described the emergence of a Dutch version of the Nashville Statement as a ‘step back in time’ and evidence that ’emancipation is still a long way off.’ 

‘Dangerous’ 

Around 200,000 people in the US have signed the English version of the statement since it went live in 2017. 

Dutch gay and transgender rights campaign group COC has said the statement is putting ‘LHBTIs back in the closet’. 

‘This statement gives the impression that gay feelings can be changed but dozens of research projects have show that homosexuality cannot be changed with treatment and therapies, and that such treatments are downright dangerous,’ the organisation said. 

Last year, research by the government’s socio-cultural think-tank SCP said members of the Protestant churches are among the least likely in society to accept homosexuality, with 16% saying they are negative about the LHBT community. 

The SGP believes the Netherlands should be governed ‘entirely on the basis of the ordinances of God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures’. The party won 2.1% of the vote in the 2017 general election.

Related Articles:

Dutch cardinal says the pope is endangering church unity

"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“.   New Tolerance

Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.

Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones. ...."

‘Working together keeps us strong,’ says Dutch king in Christmas speech

DutchNews, December 25, 2018

Photo: Rob Engelaar / Hollandse Hoogte 

King Willem-Alexander has urged the people of the Netherlands to continue to work together in his traditional Christmas speech. 

In the Netherlands, we look out for each other and our shared interests,’ the king said. ‘We must never let this moral value fade away.’ 

The king described working together as the central theme throughout Dutch history. ‘Active citizens who work to create something substantial despite all our differences – this it what makes us strong,’ the king said. 

Most people in the Netherlands prefer to live in a place where conflicts are resolved together. ‘This willingness to take each other into account and work together has brought us far,’ the king said. 

People often feel helpless when confronted with brutal forces in the world, such as intimidation and extremism. 

‘Yes, there are major problems and sometimes serious tensions,’ the king said. ‘But the Netherlands in 2018 is one of the best places in the world to live, work and be alive.’ 

A world is to be won close to home, the king said. ‘Christmas reminds that we are the most important source of happiness but too easily forget this,’ the king said. ‘A great future is possible, if we continue to believe in ourselves.’

Rutte turns Brexit into ‘parable of the fragile vase’ in pre-election missive

DutchNews, December 17, 2018

Prime minister Mark Rutte has invoked the ‘chaos’ of Brexit as a cautionary tale of what could happen to the Netherlands if it neglects its political traditions of coalitions and compromise. 

In an ‘open letter’, published as a full-page advert in the AD newspaper, Rutte likens the country’s prosperity to a precious vase. ‘That possession is brittle and fragile. It can easily break.’ 

He goes on: ‘We have seen examples of societies where they dropped the vase. Look at Great Britain. The politicians and people there have forgotten what they achieved together. Now they’re in chaos.’ 

The letter is published four months before Dutch voters choose new provincial assemblies, which will in turn determine the make-up of the new Senate in May. If, as expected, the coalition government loses its one-seat majority in the upper house, it will need to seek support from opposition parties for its legislative programme. 

Rutte cites the recent demonstrations against Zwarte Piet, the blackface character who plays second fiddle to St Nicholas in the traditional December parades, as an example of a situation where things ‘almost went wrong.’ ‘People yelling so hard for or against Zwarte Piet that they lost sight of the children.’ 

In fact talks have been ongoing behind the scenes between parties for several years on how to modernise the appearance of Zwarte Piet. The vast majority of arrests during this year’s Sinterklaas parades were for people attacking anti-Piet demonstrations. 

Rutte wrote: ‘I hardly ever get everything I want. Usually I make compromises and water down my demands, because I always feel I have a responsibility to keep the vase intact.’ 

He described others who refused to compromise and work together as ‘people who grip the vase so tightly that it breaks.’ 

The fragmentation of Dutch politics, which saw 13 parties win seats in parliament at the last general election in 2017, has led to concerns that the ‘poldermodel’ of governing by compromise is coming under intolerable strain. 

The recent breakdown of talks between employers and unions to reform the pension system further underlined the perception that decision making is becoming more difficult. The negotiations to form the current four-party cabinet last year lasted an unprecedented seven months and gave the government a single-seat majority in both houses. At local government level this year’s coalition talks lasted two weeks longer than in 2014. 

Rutte struck a more combative tone the last time he used the open letter format ahead of the 2017 election, when his VVD party was trying to overhaul Geert Wilders’s anti-Islam PVV in the polls. He was criticised for telling people to ‘act normal or go away’ in comments that were seen to belittle concerns about racism.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte warned the Netherlands on Monday against emulating the "chaos" and division of Britain's decision to leave the European Union https://t.co/GGMSvXTqVW

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 17, 2018

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“Oneness” + “Wisdom” + “The Core Truths”, Delphi University, McCaysville Georgia - US (3), July7-8, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - ("Wisdom" - Text version) - New 

".... The Practical

What can you take away from this discussion of a new kind of wisdom? It will start changing the way everything works, and that may be fearful to some. Change is that way. It starts to change everyday life and things that have been the same for eons. It starts to morph "normal" into something else.

This new, evolving Human nature will affect the way you do business. Business leadership will start to understand that employees are true Human resources and are the most valuable things that exist on the planet. Therefore, they are more family than workers, and there must be caring in the workplace. The bottom line for new business will be a combination of financial outcome and how the "family" is doing who work in the company. What can management do to make the "work experience" more peaceful and productive for all those who work there? Large corporations will become large families, and workers may never want to leave because they are taken care of in many ways. Is this some kind of a Pollyanna, pie-in-the-sky dream? Dear ones, it's already here in some cultures.

What would wisdom look like in politics? We have covered this before, but some need to hear it again. There will come a day when if one candidate will criticize another in a non-ethical way, you'll drop them. You will do it because this will show you who they really are. If one candidate speaks harshly of their opponent and calls them unkind names, you'll drop them. Unkindness is a transparent window for you to see into their personality, and the public will be repelled by it. Voters will expect integrity, honesty, compassion and kindness, even within the heat of disagreement of ideas. Suddenly there will be the evolvement of the political process, and one side will not have to slaughter the other one in order to be understood or to win. Winning through misinformation will be seen as dishonest and unacceptable.

That's going to change the way politicians campaign, dear ones, and it’s coming. You'll find that they can't be nice enough to each other! However, when the public starts changing what they expect, many old politicians will react and try to match that expectation in order to be elected. But if it’s fake, you'll see through that, too. On a public stage, a Human can’t pretend to be kind and compassionate if it’s not who they actually are. Reality shows quickly.

The first time you have a contest where two or more candidates come along with compassion and mean it, and really like their opponents, it will be such a breath of fresh air for you! You will actually start listening to opposing ideas and won’t concentrate on the negative. You will see the difference and realize it’s a real game changer. It's going to change who is elected. Because the one who is elected will then go on to expect integrity from those she/he works with beneath them in the leadership role. It's going to change everything because it comes from that which is not the heart, but a DNA that is evolving. Compassion will be the new gold standard. ... "

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…5 - Integrity That May Surprise…

The Unthinkable… Politics, A Review

Humans will begin to search for integrity and fairness and it's going to happen in the places you never expect. I said this last week, so this is a review. There'll come a time when you will demand this of your politics - fairness and integrity. So when the candidates start calling each other names, you will turn your back on them and they won't get any votes. They're going to get the point real fast, don't you think? How about that?

Let me give you another potential. This country that I sit in right now [USA] will set the mold for that particular attribute. I have no clock. Watch for the youngsters to set this in motion, and they will, for they are the voters of tomorrow and they do not want the energy of today. To some of them, it's so abominable they won't even register to vote in this energy. You're going to see this soon. That was number five.. ..."

"You Don’t Know How the Frog Jumps"–  Jan11, 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“…  Last week, I gave you a message about the potentials of 2011. And there were those in this room who attended. I'm going to repeat something I said there, for you need to hear it and it has to do with politics. It would seem intuitive to every single Human Being in the room that in order to accomplish what you do as Americans in Congress, you must have at least two parties. For that is the way it has always been - the red and the blue.

What if I told you that there will come a time when there will be no parties? You might then say, "Well, that's impossible, Kryon, because you're not Human and you don't know how funding works." You might say, "It has to be a party that creates the power to raise money for the ones who cannot, and then the funding is spread around and this is the way we work. If you didn't have parties, you'd have no funding. Nobody could advertise, and no one could get elected."

Oh, really?

Are you aware right now, that you have a president who was elected on the Internet? He figured it out. When everybody can talk to everyone, you have plenty of funding. A few dollars here, a few dollars there. You talk to millions at the same time, they talk to millions at the same time. It's a new paradigm of communication. The young people know all about it, and you can't stop it. Watch for more from this new paradigm.

It is worldwide communication, one person at a time. It doesn't matter how many laws you pass, and it doesn't matter what you decide about who is in charge of it, you can't stop it. It's out of the bag now, and the communities of the young are going to be communicating. This is how the politicians are going to be communicating to you, literally coming into your home in a holographic form perhaps, explaining their position one by one, without a party. Then you will elect them to your Congress without a party and they will sit in the chairs without a division and there will be no such thing as the "other side of the aisle."

And that, Human Being, is called unity and there is a paradigm that you cannot even imagine. And it's in the works. And then you'll have a Congress that works together and gets things done without the current duality.  ….”

"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”