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To: Calpernia; Velveeta; Revel; Honestly; DAVEY CROCKETT

A good article, full of google searches.


8 posted on 12/11/2004 3:42:17 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Today, please pray for God's miracle, we are not going to make it without him.)
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To: nw_arizona_granny
As Serbian authors generally do, he conveniently conflates both the Serbian Orthodox Church with all Christianity and Albanian anti-Serb attacks with anti-Christian attacks. Besides the clearly nationalistic history of the the Serb Albanian conflict, the growth of Albanian Catholicism in Kosovo demonstrates the fallacy of his position. Here's an article to read:

Roman Catholicism Supplanting Orthodoxy in Kosovo

Excerpts:

PRIZREN, Yugoslavia, Aug. 22 (RNS)--Throughout Kosovo, there are two major kinds of churches, Roman Catholic and Serbian Orthodox. It is easy to tell the difference. The Serbian Orthodox churches are notable for the NATO tanks parked outside, for the rows of coiled razor wire, for the sandbagged guardposts, and for the soldiers with automatic weapons who demand identification from visitors.

Roman Catholic churches in Kosovo are unguarded and unfortified.

Kosovo's 60,000 Catholics, who make up about 4% of the province's population, are enjoying a period of long-awaited freedom and growth. At the same time, the once dominant Serbian Orthodox Church is under steady attack from ethnic Albanian Muslims here who identify the Serbian church with decades of government discrimination.

Because the vast majority of Kosovo Catholics are ethnic Albanians, there is little of the ethnic animosity that divides Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Albanians.

Bishop Sopi, a genial man with an authoritative bearing, said in an earlier interview that local Serbs' flight from Kosovo was a natural process.

"One thing must be clear: The Serbs did not just run to Serbia because the Albanians were driving them out," he said, adding that the Serbs "behaved themselves very badly for the last 10 years and especially during the war, so they have reason to fear for their lives."

During 78 days of NATO bombing and Serb attacks on Albanian Kosovars, Sopi remained in Kosovo along with the vast majority of his 36 priests and 70 nuns.

He said Catholics were not subject to discrimination for their faith.

According to Andreas Szolgyemy, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's religion adviser in Kosovo, Catholics and Muslims have long enjoyed close relations in the region. He related his experience attending two religious holidays last winter in Pristina, Kosovo's capital.

"At midnight Mass Christmas, in the Catholic church, I would say that half the 2,000 or 3,000 people were Muslims,"

13 posted on 12/11/2004 4:45:06 AM PST by mark502inf
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