Tuesday 22 November 2022
The Philistines: a brief history.
Philistines
This article is about the ancient people. For their polity, see Philistia. For the derogatory term, see Philistinism. For other uses, see Philistines (disambiguation).
"Allophuloi" redirects here. For the modern term for a positive attitude towards a group that is not one's own, see Allophilia. For the plant genus, see Allophylus.
Not to be confused with Palestinians.
The Philistines (Hebrew: פְּלִשְׁתִּים Pəlīštīm) were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when their polity, after having already been subjugated for centuries by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, was finally destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.[1] After becoming part of his empire and its successor, the Persian Empire, they lost their distinct ethnic identity and disappeared from the historical and archaeological record by the late 5th century BC.[2] The Philistines are known for their biblical conflict with the Israelites. Though the primary source of information about the Philistines is the Hebrew Bible, they are first attested to in reliefs at the Temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu, in which they are called Peleset[a] (accepted as cognate with Hebrew Peleshet);[3] the parallel Assyrian term is Palastu,[b] Pilišti,[c] or Pilistu.[d][4]
Several theories are given about the origins of the Philistines. The Hebrew Bible mentions in two places that they originate from Caphtor (possibly Crete/Minoa).[5] The Septuagint connects the Philistines to other biblical groups such as Caphtorim and the Cherethites and Pelethites, which have been identified with the island of Crete.[6] This has led to the modern theory of Philistines having an Aegean origin.[7] In 2016, a large Philistine cemetery was discovered near Ashkelon, containing more than 150 dead buried in oval-shaped graves. A 2019 genetic study found that, while all three Ashkelon populations derive most of their ancestry from the local Semitic-speaking Levantine gene pool, the early Iron Age population was genetically distinct due to a European-related admixture; this genetic signal is no longer detectable in the later Iron Age population. According to the authors, the admixture was likely due to a "gene flow from a European-related gene pool" during the Bronze to Iron Age transition, which supports the theory that a migration event occurred.[8]
Most scholars agree that the Philistines were of Greek origin,[9][10] and that they came from Crete and the rest of the Aegean Islands or, more generally, Greece.[11]
Etymology
The English term Philistine comes from Old French Philistin; from Classical Latin Philistinus; from Late Greek Philistinoi; ultimately from Hebrew Pəlištî (פלשתי; plural P'lishtim, פלשתים), meaning 'people of P'lesheth (פלשת)'; and there are cognates in Akkadian (aka Assyrian, Babylonian) Palastu and Egyptian Palusata;[12] the term Palestine has the same derivation.[13] The native Philistine endonym, assuming they had one, is unknown.
The Hebrew term Plištim occurs 286 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible (of which 152 times are in 1 Samuel). It also appears in the Samaritan Pentateuch.[14] In the Greek version of the Bible, called Septuagint, the equivalent term Phulistieím (Φυλιστιείμ) occurs 12 times, again in the Pentateuch.[15]
In secondary literature, "Philistia" is further mentioned in the Aramaic Visions of Amram (4Q543-7), which is dated "prior to Antiochus IV and the Hasmonean revolt," possibly to the time of High Priest of Israel Onias II; Jubilees 46:1-47:1 might have used Amram as a source.[16]
Outside of pre-Maccabean Israelite religious literature, evidence for the name and the origins of the Philistines is less abundant and less consistent. In the remainder of the Hebrew Bible, ha-Plištim is attested at Qumran for 2 Samuel 5:17.[17] In the Septuagint, however, 269 references instead use the term allophylos ('of another tribe').[18
History
During the Late Bronze Age collapse, an apparent confederation of seafarers known as the Sea Peoples are recorded as attacking ancient Egypt and other Eastern Mediterranean civilizations.[19] While their exact origins are a mystery, and probably diverse, it is generally agreed that the Sea Peoples had origins in the greater Southern European area, including western Asia Minor, the Aegean, and the islands of the Mediterranean.[20] Egypt, in particular, repelled numerous attempted invasions from the Sea Peoples, most famously at the Battle of the Delta, where the pharaoh Ramesses III defeated a massive invasion force which had already plundered Hattusa, Carchemish, Cyprus, and the Southern Levant. Egyptian sources name one of these implicated Sea Peoples as the pwrꜣsꜣtj, generally transliterated as either Peleset or Pulasti. Following the Sea Peoples' defeat, Ramesses III allegedly relocated a number of the pwrꜣsꜣtj to southern Canaan, as recorded in an inscription from his funerary temple in Medinet Habu,[21] and the Great Harris Papyrus.[22][23] Though archaeological investigation has been unable to correlate any such settlement existing during this time period,[24][25][26] this, coupled with the name Peleset/Pulasti and the peoples' supposed Aegean origins, have led many scholars to identify the pwrꜣsꜣtj with the Philistines.[27]
Typically "Philistine" artifacts begin appearing in Canaan by the 12th century BCE. Pottery of Philistine origin has been found far outside of what would later become the core of Philistia, including at the majority of Iron Age I sites in the Jezreel Valley; however, because the quantity of said pottery finds are light, it is assumed that the Philistines' presence in these areas were not as strong as in their core territory, and that they probably were a minority which had assimilated into the native Canaanite population by the 10th century BCE.[28]
There is little evidence that the Sea Peoples forcefully injected themselves into the southern Levant as many sites where Philistine material culture appears did so without an intervening destruction event. At Ashdod, only some ash was found in part of one area, but as David Ben-Shlomo, one of the site's excavators put it, "Sites like Ashdod display no evidence for destruction in the Early Iron Age levels."[29] The original assumed destruction of Ashkelon was only a lens of ash uncovered in 1921, as all excavations have shown that no destruction took place ca. 1200 BCE. As the former lead excavator from Ashkelon stated, "The only clear conclusion that can be drawn is that there is no evidence of destruction."[30] At Tell es-Safi/Gath, no evidence of a destruction has been uncovered in any area, as the cited evidence for a destruction were some pieces of restorable pottery uncovered on one floor.[31] For Ekron, only a single storage building dating to ca. 1200 BCE was destroyed, and after this destruction, the local Canaanite inhabitants rebuilt the site. It was only after this Canaanite phase that Philistine pottery appeared at Ekron though most importantly, there was no destruction upon the arrival of the Philistine material culture and the transition was peaceful.[32] The same can be said for Aphek where an Egyptian garrison was destroyed, likely in an act of warfare at the end of the 13th century, which was followed by a local Canaanite phase, which was then followed by the peaceful introduction of Philistine pottery.[33] The lack of destruction by the Sea Peoples in the southern Levant should not be surprising as Canaan was never mentioned in any text describing the Sea Peoples as a target of destruction or attack by the Sea Peoples.[34] Other sites such as Tell Keisan, Acco, Tell Abu Hawam, Tel Dor, Tel Mevorak, Tel Zeror, Tel Michal, Tel Gerisa, and Tel Batash, have no evidence of a destruction ca. 1200 BCE.[35 By Iron Age II, the Philistines had formed an ethnic state centered around a pentapolis consisting of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza. This period of Philistine history is something of a gray area, as the majority of information regarding Philistia comes from the Hebrew Bible, and is of questionable historicity. The Bible depicts a series of conflicts between the Philistines and the Israelites during the period of the Judges, after which they were apparently subjugated by David, before regaining independence in the wake of the United Monarchy's dissolution, after which there are only sparse references to them. The accuracy of these narratives is questioned by many scholars.
The Philistines seemed to have generally retained their autonomy, barring a few periods of partial Israelite and Judahite suzerainty, up until the era of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.[weasel words][citation needed] In the mid-8th century BC, Tiglath-Pileser III marched into the southern Levant, conquering Aram-Damascus, and occupying the remaining kingdoms in the area, including Philistia. Decades later, Egypt began agitating its neighbors to rebel against Assyrian occupation. A revolt in Israel was devastatingly crushed by 722 BC, resulting in the kingdom's total destruction. In 712 BC, a Philistine named Iamani ascended to the throne of Ashdod, and organized another failed uprising against Assyria with Egyptian aid. The Assyrian King Sargon II invaded Philistia, which effectively became annexed by Assyria, although the kings of the five cities, including Iamani, were allowed to remain on their thrones.[36] In his annals concerning the campaign, Sargon II singled out his capture of Gath, in 711 BC.[37] Ten years later, Egypt once again incited its neighbors to rebel against Assyria, resulting in Ashkelon, Ekron, Judah, and Sidon revolting against Sargon's son and successor, Sennacherib. Sennacherib squashed the revolt, and destroyed much of the cities in Phoenicia, Philistia, and Judah, though he was unable to capture the Judahite capital, Jerusalem. As punishment, the rebel nations paid tribute to Assyria, and Sennacherib's annals report that he exacted such tribute from the kings of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, and Ekron, but Gath is never mentioned, which may indicate that the city was actually destroyed by Sargon II.
The Philistines disappear from written record following the conquest of the Levant by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II towards the end of the 7th century BC, when Ashkelon, Ekron and many other cities from the region were completely destroyed.[38]
Origin
The origin of the Philistines is still debated. The probable Aegean connection is discussed in the paragraph on "Archaeological evidence". Here-below are presented the possible connections between Philistines and various similar ethnonyms, toponyms or other philological interpretations of their biblical name: the "Peleset" mentioned in Egyptian inscriptions, a kingdom named as "Walistina/Falistina" or "Palistin" from the region near Aleppo in Syria, and older theories connecting them to a Greek locality or a Greek-language name.
The "Peleset" from Egyptian inscriptions
Since 1846, scholars have connected the biblical Philistines with the Egyptian "Peleset" inscriptions.[69][70][71][72][73] All five of these appear from c.1150 BCE to c.900 BCE just as archaeological references to Kinaḫḫu, or Ka-na-na (Canaan), come to an end;[74] and since 1873 comparisons were drawn between them and to the Aegean "Pelasgians."[75][76] Archaeological research to date has been unable to corroborate a mass settlement of Philistines during the Ramesses III era.[24][25][26]
"Walistina/Falistina" and "Palistin" in Syria
A Walistina is mentioned in Luwian texts already variantly spelled Palistina.[77][78][79] This implies dialectical variation, a phoneme ("f"?) inadequately described in the script,[80] or both. Falistina was a kingdom somewhere on the Amuq plain, where the Amurru kingdom had held sway before it.[81]
In 2003, a statue of a king named Taita bearing inscriptions in Luwian was discovered during excavations conducted by German archaeologist Kay Kohlmeyer in the Citadel of Aleppo.[82] The new readings of Anatolian hieroglyphs proposed by the Hittitologists Elisabeth Rieken and Ilya Yakubovich were conducive to the conclusion that the country ruled by Taita was called Palistin.[83] This country extended in the 11th-10th centuries BCE from the Amouq Valley in the west to Aleppo in the east down to Mehardeh and Shaizar in the south.[84]
Due to the similarity between Palistin and Philistines, Hittitologist John David Hawkins (who translated the Aleppo inscriptions) hypothesizes a connection between the Syro-Hittite Palistin and the Philistines, as do archaeologists Benjamin Sass and Kay Kohlmeyer.[85] Gershon Galil suggests that King David halted the Arameans' expansion into the Land of Israel on account of his alliance with the southern Philistine kings, as well as with Toi, king of Ḥamath, who is identified with Tai(ta) II, king of Palistin (the northern Sea Peoples).[86]
Contra
Edit
However, the relation between Palistin and the Philistines is much debated. Israeli professor Itamar Singer notes that there is nothing (besides the name) in the recently discovered archaeology that indicates an Aegean origin to Palistin; most of the discoveries at the Palistin capital Tell Tayinat indicate a Neo-Hittite state, including the names of the kings of Palistin. Singer proposes (based on archaeological finds) that a branch of the Philistines settled in Tell Tayinat and were replaced or assimilated by a new Luwian population who took the Palistin name.[87]
Greece: "Palaeste" and phyle histia theories
Another theory, proposed by Hermann Jacobsohn [de] in 1914, is that the name derives from the attested Illyrian-Epirote locality Palaeste, whose inhabitants would have been called Palaestīnī according to Illyrian normal grammatical practice.[88]
Allen Jones (1972) suggests that the name Philistine represents a corruption of the Greek phyle histia ('tribe of the hearth'), with the Ionic spelling of hestia.[89]
Archaeological evidence
According to Joshua 13:3[90] and 1 Samuel 6:17,[91] the land of the Philistines (or Allophyloi), called Philistia, was a pentapolis in the southwestern Levant comprising the five city-states of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath, from Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with no fixed border to the east.[18]
Tell Qasile (a "port city") and Aphek were located on the northern frontier of Philistine territory, and Tell Qasile in particular may have been inhabited by both Philistine and non-Philistine people.[92]
The location of Gath is not entirely certain, although the site of Tell es-Safi, not far from Ekron, is currently the most favoured.[93]
The identity of the city of Ziklag, which according to the Bible marked the border between the Philistine and Israelite territory, remains uncertain.[94]
In the western part of the Jezreel Valley, 23 of the 26 Iron Age I sites (12th to 10th centuries BCE) yielded typical Philistine pottery. These sites include Tel Megiddo, Tel Yokneam, Tel Qiri, Afula, Tel Qashish, Be'er Tiveon, Hurvat Hazin, Tel Risim, Tel Re'ala, Hurvat Tzror, Tel Sham, Midrakh Oz and Tel Zariq. Scholars have attributed the presence of Philistine pottery in northern Israel to their role as mercenaries for the Egyptians during the Egyptian military administration of the land in the 12th century BCE. This presence may also indicate further expansion of the Philistines to the valley during the 11th century BCE, or their trade with the Israelites. There are biblical references to Philistines in the valley during the times of the Judges. The quantity of Philistine pottery within these sites is still quite small, showing that even if the Philistines did settle the valley, they were a minority that blended within the Canaanite population during the 12th century BCE. The Philistines seem to have been present in the southern valley during the 11th century, which may relate to the biblical account of their victory at the Battle of Gilboa.[28]
Egyptian inscriptions
Since Edward Hincks[69] and William Osburn Jr.[70] in 1846, biblical scholars have connected the biblical Philistines with the Egyptian "Peleset" inscriptions;[71][72] and since 1873, both have been connected with the Aegean "Pelasgians".[95] The evidence for these connections is etymological and has been disputed.[76]
Based on the Peleset inscriptions, it has been suggested that the Casluhite Philistines formed part of the conjectured "Sea Peoples" who repeatedly attacked Egypt during the later Nineteenth Dynasty.[96][97] Though they were eventually repulsed by Ramesses III, he finally resettled them, according to the theory, to rebuild the coastal towns in Canaan. Papyrus Harris I details the achievements of the reign (1186–1155 BC) of Ramesses III. In the brief description of the outcome of the battles in Year 8 is the description of the fate of some of the conjectured Sea Peoples. Ramesses claims that, having brought the prisoners to Egypt, he "settled them in strongholds, bound in my name. Numerous were their classes, hundreds of thousands strong. I taxed them all, in clothing and grain from the storehouses and granaries each year." Some scholars suggest it is likely that these "strongholds" were fortified towns in southern Canaan, which would eventually become the five cities (the Pentapolis) of the Philistines.[98] Israel Finkelstein has suggested that there may be a period of 25–50 years after the sacking of these cities and their reoccupation by the Philistines. It is possible that at first, the Philistines were housed in Egypt; only subsequently late in the troubled end of the reign of Ramesses III would they have been allowed to settle Philistia.[citation needed]
The "Peleset" appear in four different texts from the time of the New Kingdom.[99] Two of these, the inscriptions at Medinet Habu and the Rhetorical Stela at Deir al-Medinah, are dated to the time of the reign of Ramesses III (1186–1155 BC).[99] Another was composed in the period immediately following the death of Ramesses III (Papyrus Harris I).[99] The fourth, the Onomasticon of Amenope, is dated to some time between the end of the 12th or early 11th century BC.[99] The inscriptions at Medinet Habu consist of images depicting a coalition of Sea Peoples, among them the Peleset, who are said in the accompanying text to have been defeated by Ramesses III during his Year 8 campaign. In about 1175 BC, Egypt was threatened with a massive land and sea invasion by the "Sea Peoples," a coalition of foreign enemies which included the Tjeker, the Shekelesh, the Deyen, the Weshesh, the Teresh, the Sherden, and the PRST. They were comprehensively defeated by Ramesses III, who fought them in "Djahy" (the eastern Mediterranean coast) and at "the mouths of the rivers" (the Nile Delta), recording his victories in a series of inscriptions in his mortuary temple at Medinet Habu. Scholars have been unable to conclusively determine which images match what peoples described in the reliefs depicting two major battle scenes. A separate relief on one of the bases of the Osirid pillars with an accompanying hieroglyphic text clearly identifying the person depicted as a captive Peleset chief is of a bearded man without headdress.[99] This has led to the interpretation that Ramesses III defeated the Sea Peoples, including Philistines, and settled their captives in fortresses in southern Canaan; another related theory suggests that Philistines invaded and settled the coastal plain for themselves.[100] The soldiers were quite tall and clean-shaven. They wore breastplates and short kilts, and their superior weapons included chariots drawn by two horses. They carried small shields and fought with straight swords and spears.[101]
The Rhetorical Stela are less discussed, but are noteworthy in that they mention the Peleset together with a people called the Teresh, who sailed "in the midst of the sea". The Teresh are thought to have originated from the Anatolian coast and their association with the Peleset in this inscription is seen as providing some information on the possible origin and identity of the Philistines.[102]
The Harris Papyrus, which was found in a tomb at Medinet Habu, also recalls Ramesses III's battles with the Sea Peoples, declaring that the Peleset were "reduced to ashes." The Papyrus Harris I, records how the defeated foe were brought in captivity to Egypt and settled in fortresses.[103] The Harris papyrus can be interpreted in two ways: either the captives were settled in Egypt and the rest of the Philistines/Sea Peoples carved out a territory for themselves in Canaan, or else it was Ramesses himself who settled the Sea Peoples (mainly Philistines) in Canaan as mercenaries.[104] Egyptian strongholds in Canaan are also mentioned, including a temple dedicated to Amun, which some scholars place in Gaza; however, the lack of detail indicating the precise location of these strongholds means that it is unknown what impact these had, if any, on Philistine settlement along the coast.[102]
The only mention in an Egyptian source of the Peleset in conjunction with any of the five cities that are said in the Bible to have made up the Philistine pentapolis comes in the Onomasticon of Amenope. The sequence in question has been translated as: "Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gaza, Assyria, Shubaru [...] Sherden, Tjekker, Peleset, Khurma [...]" Scholars have advanced the possibility that the other Sea Peoples mentioned were connected to these cities in some way as well.[102]
Material culture: Aegean origin and historical evolution
Many scholars have interpreted the ceramic and technological evidence attested to by archaeology as being associated with the Philistine advent in the area as strongly suggestive that they formed part of a large scale immigration to southern Canaan, probably from Anatolia and Cyprus, in the 12th century BCE.[105]
The proposed connection between Mycenaean culture and Philistine culture was further documented by finds at the excavation of Ashdod, Ekron, Ashkelon, and more recently Gath, four of the five Philistine cities in Canaan. The fifth city is Gaza. Especially notable is the early Philistine pottery, a locally made version of the Aegean Mycenaean Late Helladic IIIC pottery, which is decorated in shades of brown and black. This later developed into the distinctive Philistine pottery of the Iron Age I, with black and red decorations on white slip known as Philistine Bichrome ware.[106] Also of particular interest is a large, well-constructed building covering 240 square metres (2,600 sq ft), discovered at Ekron. Its walls are broad, designed to support a second story, and its wide, elaborate entrance leads to a large hall, partly covered with a roof supported on a row of columns. In the floor of the hall is a circular hearth paved with pebbles, as is typical in Mycenaean megaron hall buildings; other unusual architectural features are paved benches and podiums. Among the finds are three small bronze wheels with eight spokes. Such wheels are known to have been used for portable cultic stands in the Aegean region during this period, and it is therefore assumed that this building served cultic functions. Further evidence concerns an inscription in Ekron to PYGN or PYTN, which some have suggested refers to "Potnia", the title given to an ancient Mycenaean goddess. Excavations in Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath reveal dog and pig bones which show signs of having been butchered, implying that these animals were part of the residents' diet.[107][108] Among other findings there are wineries where fermented wine was produced, as well as loom weights resembling those of Mycenaean sites in Greece.[109]
Further evidence of the Aegean origin of the initial Philistine settlers was provided by studying their burial practices in the so far only discovered Philistine cemetery, excavated at Ashkelon (see below).
However, for many years scholars such as Gloria London, John Brug, Shlomo Bunimovitz, Helga Weippert, and Edward Noort, among others, have noted the "difficulty of associating pots with people", proposing alternative suggestions such as potters following their markets or technology transfer, and emphasize the continuities with the local world in the material remains of the coastal area identified with "Philistines", rather than the differences emerging from the presence of Cypriote and/or Aegean/ Mycenaean influences. The view is summed up in the idea that 'kings come and go, but cooking pots remain', suggesting that the foreign Aegean elements in the Philistine population may have been a minority.[110][111]
Geographic evolution
Material culture evidence, primarily pottery styles, indicates that the Philistines originally settled in a few sites in the south, such as Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron.[112] It was not until several decades later, about 1150 BC, that they expanded into surrounding areas such as the Yarkon region to the north (the area of modern Jaffa, where there were Philistine farmsteads at Tel Gerisa and Aphek, and a larger settlement at Tel Qasile).[112] Most scholars, therefore, believe that the settlement of the Philistines took place in two stages. In the first, dated to the reign of Ramesses III, they were limited to the coastal plain, the region of the Five Cities; in the second, dated to the collapse of Egyptian hegemony in southern Canaan, their influence spread inland beyond the coast.[113] During the 10th to 7th centuries BC, the distinctiveness of the material culture appears to have been absorbed with that of surrounding peoples.[114]
Burial practices
The Leon Levy Expedition, consisting of archaeologists from Harvard University, Boston College, Wheaton College in Illinois and Troy University in Alabama, conducted a 30-year investigation of the burial practices of the Philistines, by excavating a Philistine cemetery containing more than 150 burials dating from the 11th to 8th century BCE Tel Ashkelon. In July 2016, the expedition finally announced the results of their excavation.[115]
Archaeological evidence, provided by architecture, burial arrangements, ceramics, and pottery fragments inscribed with non-Semitic writing, indicates that the Philistines were not native to Canaan. Most of the 150 dead were buried in oval-shaped graves, some were interred in ashlar chamber tombs, while there were 4 who were cremated. These burial arrangements were very common to the Aegean cultures, but not to the one indigenous to Canaan. Lawrence Stager of Harvard University believes that Philistines came to Canaan by ships before the Battle of the Delta circa 1175 BCE. DNA was extracted from the skeletons for archaeogenetic population analysis.[116]
The Leon Levy Expedition, which has been going on since 1985, helped break down some of the previous assumptions that the Philistines were uncultured people by having evidence of perfume near the bodies in order for the deceased to smell it in the afterlife.[117
A study carried out on skeletons at Ashkelon in 2019 by an interdisciplinary team of scholars from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the Leon Levy Expedition found that human remains at Ashkelon, associated with Philistines during the Iron Age, derived most of their ancestry from the local Levantine gene pool, but with a certain amount of Southern-European-related admixture. This confirms previous historic and archaeological records of a Southern-European migration event.[8] The DNA suggests an influx of people of European heritage into Ashkelon in the twelfth century BC. The individuals' DNA shows similarities to that of ancient Cretans, but it is impossible to specify the exact place in Europe from where Philistines had migrated to Levant, due to limited number of ancient genomes available for study, "with 20 to 60 per cent similarity to DNA from ancient skeletons from Crete and Iberia and that from modern people living in Sardinia."[118][8]
After two centuries since their arrival, the Southern-European genetic markers were dwarfed by the local Levantine gene pool, suggesting intensive intermarriage, but the Philistine culture and peoplehood remained distinct from other local communities for six centuries.[119]
The finding fits with an understanding of the Philistines as an "entangled" or "transcultural" group consisting of peoples of various origins, said Aren Maeir, an archaeologist at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. "While I fully agree that there was a significant component of non-Levantine origins among the Philistines in the early Iron Age," he said, "these foreign components were not of one origin, and, no less important, they mixed with local Levantine populations from the early Iron Age onward." Laura Mazow, an archaeologist at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., said the research paper supported the idea that there was some migration from the west.[8] She added that the findings "support the picture that we see in the archaeological record of a complex, multicultural process that has been resistant to reconstruction by any single historical model."[120][121]
Modern archaeologists agree that the Philistines were different from their neighbors: their arrival on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean in the early 12th century B.C. is marked by pottery with close parallels to the ancient Greek world, the use of an Aegean —instead of a Semitic— script, and the consumption of pork.[122] Nevertheless, Cretans were not too unfamiliar with the Levant, with connections being established since the Minoan era, as seen by their influence on Tel Kabri.[123]
Population
The population of the area associated with Philistines is estimated to have been around 25,000 in the 12th century BC, rising to a peak of 30,000 in the 11th century BC.[124] The Canaanite nature of the material culture and toponyms suggest that much of this population was indigenous, such that the migrant element would likely constitute less than half the total, and perhaps much less.[124]
Language
Nothing is known for certain about the language of the Philistines. Pottery fragments from the period of around 1500–1000 BCE have been found bearing inscriptions in non-Semitic languages, including one in a Cypro-Minoan script.[125] The Bible does not mention any language problems between the Israelites and the Philistines, as it does with other groups up to the Assyrian and Babylonian occupations.[126] Later, Nehemiah 13:23-24 writing under the Achaemenids records that when Judean men intermarried women from Moab, Ammon and Philistine cities, half the offspring of Judean marriages with women from Ashdod could speak only their mother tongue, Ašdōdīṯ, not Judean Hebrew (Yehūdīṯ); although by then this language might have been an Aramaic dialect.[127] There is some limited evidence in favour of the assumption that the Philistines were originally Indo-European-speakers, either from Greece or Luwian speakers from the coast of Asia Minor, on the basis of some Philistine-related words found in the Bible not appearing to be related to other Semitic languages.[128] Such theories suggest that the Semitic elements in the language were borrowed from their neighbours in the region. For example, the Philistine word for captain, "seren", may be related to the Greek word tyrannos (thought by linguists to have been borrowed by the Greeks from an Anatolian language, such as Luwian or Lydian[128]). Although most Philistine names are Semitic (such as Ahimelech, Mitinti, Hanun, and Dagon)[126] some of the Philistine names, such as Goliath, Achish, and Phicol, appear to be of non-Semitic origin, and Indo-European etymologies have been suggested. Recent finds of inscriptions written in Hieroglyphic Luwian in Palistin substantiate a connection between the language of the kingdom of Palistin and the Philistines of the southwestern Levant.[129][130][131]
Religion
The deities worshipped in the area were Baal, Astarte, Asherah, and Dagon, whose names or variations thereof had already appeared in the earlier attested Canaanite pantheon.[18] Another name, attested on the Ekron Royal Dedicatory Inscription, is PT[-]YH, unique to the Philistine sphere and possibly representing a goddess in their pantheon,[132] though an exact identity has been subject to scholarly debate. The Philistines may also have worshipped Qudshu and Anat.[133]
Although the Bible cites Dagon as the main Philistine god, there is a stark lack of any evidence which indicates the Philistines had any particular proclivity to the worship of Dagon. In fact, no evidence of Dagon worship whatsoever is discernable at Philistine sites, with even theophoric names invoking the deity being absent from the already limited corpus of known Philistine names. A further assessment of the Iron Age I finds worship of Dagon in any immediate Canaanite context, let alone one which is indisputably Philistine, as seemingly non-existent.[134] Still, this does not imply that worship of Dagon was completely unheard of amongst the Philistines, and multiple mentions of a city in Assyrian, Phoenician, and Egyptian sources known as Beth Dagon may imply the god was venerated in at least some parts of Philistia.[134]
The most common material religious artefact finds from Philistine sites are goddess figurines/chairs, sometimes called Ashdoda. This seems to imply a dominant female figure, which is consistent with Ancient Aegean religion.[135]
Economy
Cities excavated in the area attributed to Philistines give evidence of careful town planning, including industrial zones. The olive industry of Ekron alone includes about 200 olive oil installations. Engineers estimate that the city's production may have been more than 1,000 tons, 30 percent of Israel's present-day production.[101]
There is considerable evidence for a large industry in fermented drink. Finds include breweries, wineries, and retail shops marketing beer and wine. Beer mugs and wine kraters are among the most common pottery finds.[136]
The Philistines also seemed to be experienced metalworkers, as complex wares of gold, bronze, and iron, have been found at Philistine sites as early as the 12th century BC,[137] as well as artisanal weaponry.[138] Further evidence of the Philistine domination of the metallurgical market lies in the Hebrew Bible, which claims that the Israelites relied heavily on Philistine blacksmiths for iron tools and weapons, despite the near-constant state of war between the two groups.[139]
Sunday 20 November 2022
Darwinism and the Ghost in the machine.
Evolution of Human Consciousness Solved! — Yet Again
Evolution News @DiscoveryCSC
At Psychology Today, we read a bold and simple claim about the evolution of consciousness: “A type of information processing called unlimited associative learning (UAL) may be necessary and sufficient for very basic sentience.”
The article by University of Toronto psychiatrist Ralph Lewis begins on a very self-assured note:
Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.(in as much as Darwinism says nothing about the origin of life or that the fossil record is more heavily populated by ghosts than substance or that we are yet to see a plausible pathway to any irreducibly complex system ,this is all smug braggadocio meant to rally the base and or intimidate the mentally lazy) interpolation mine. ,The gradualism of evolution has explained and dissolved life’s mysteries — life’s seemingly irreducible complexity and the illusion that living things possess some sort of mysterious vitalizing essence. So, too, evolution is likely to be key to demystifying the seemingly inexplicable, ethereal nature of consciousness.
First, what does it even mean to say that “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”? If the chosen topic is human consciousness, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa come quickly to mind. But then what does the term “evolution” contribute to the discussion of the origin of human consciousness? Is it something useful or something theorists are stuck with, come what may?
Science theories should make predictions. Who predicted either King or Mother Teresa?
Whence Smarter Apes? A theory of evolution could, of course, predict the emergence of smarter apes, just as it might predict the emergence of faster carnivores. But, as everyone knows, that is not what we are talking about.
Consciousness is “ethereal” because that is its very nature. “Constitutional government” is ethereal too. Human consciousness means dealing in abstractions. We can’t “demystify” it and still make any sense.
At any rate, Dr. Lewis has written in defense of a theory proposed by neuroscientist Simona Ginsburg and evolutionary biologist Eva Jablonka, “unlimited associative learning” (UAL):
UAL “refers to an animal’s ability to ascribe motivational value to a compound stimulus or action pattern and to use it as the basis for future learning.” UAL is a cumulative type of learning involving novel stimuli and actions, building on prior learning. It allows “open-ended behavioral adjustments” and can lead to complex goal-directed behavior(there you go the sheep recalls that munching on that green stuff on the ground gets rid of that gnawing in her stomach and makes the needed adjustment, once that's taken care of she can get around to pondering the meaning of life). It requires the capacity for representing, remembering, and evaluating goals, their predictive cues, and the ways of reaching them… The most primitive forms of learning and memory do not even require a nervous system and are entirely mechanistic at their molecular level. UAL requires a brain with particular types of networks).
RALPH LEWIS, “PSYCHOLOGY TODAY (NOVEMBER 3, 2022)
RALPH LEWIS, “LEARNING MAY BE THE KEY TO THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS” AT PSYCHOLOGY TODAY (NOVEMBER 3, 2022)
Fair enough. Their concept of “minimal consciousness” — as applied to animals — helps us understand why the cat chases the mouse and why the mouse tries to get away.
Read the rest at Mind Matters News, published by Discovery Institute’s Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligenc
Saturday 19 November 2022
Why the OOL remains Darwinism's immovable object.
Still a Mystery: Charles Thaxton on Life’s Origin
Evolution News @DiscoveryCSC
On a classic ID the Future episode, host Robert J. Marks interviews chemist Charles Thaxton about a seminal 1984 book he co-authored, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, foundational to the intelligent design movement. The main body of Mystery was generally praised, Thaxton explains. It was the epilogue that proved controversial. There the three authors reviewed five proposed explanations for life’s origins and suggested that the best explanation was that the first life originated through an act of creative intelligence. Thaxton also tells a little about the recently revised and expanded edition of the book, with new contributions from Stephen Meyer, Brian Miller, James Tour, and others. Download the podcast or listen to it here. Download the podcast or listen to it here.
Friday 18 November 2022
To no one's surprise the fossil record continues to fossil record.
Fossil Friday: Florigerminis, Another Failed Candidate for a Jurassic Flowering Plant
Günter Bechly
Just a few weeks ago (Bechly 2022), I discussed Darwin’s abominable mystery and the consistently failed claims for Jurassic flowering plants (Sokoloff et al. 2019, Bateman 2020). I also showed that experts think a dubious new candidate, Dilcherifructus mexicana from the Middle Jurassic of Mexico (Wang 2021) was misidentified and rather represents a gymnosperm.
In January this year, the same author presented with colleagues a new candidate with Florigerminis jurassica from the Jurassic of China (Cui et al. 2022). It was again published in a somewhat obscure journal and suffers from the very same problems as the Dilcherifructus case. The press release announced the discovery as “world’s earliest fossil record of flower buds” (NIGPAS 2022), and other media reports uncritically agreed (e.g., Baker 2022) and predictably celebrated the find as possible answer to Darwin’s abominable mystery (Cassella 2022).
A Botanist and His Colleagues
Kew Garden botanist Professor Richard Buggs asked colleagues on Twitter what they think about Florigerminis and its affinities. Here is what they said:
Mario Coiro, an expert on plant evolution, commented on January 17, 2022 (https://twitter.com/Lepidodendron/status/1483047599447945221): “an ephedra-like cone bud. I really cannot see how it can be mistaken for an angiosperm …”
Julian Kiely responded the same day (https://twitter.com/JulianPalaeoART/status/1483112582361890816): “I’ve just had a read through and yeah, it seems very much like an ephedrale. Could the apical invagination they describe be the remnants of micropylar tube?”
Mario Coiro answered on January 19, 2022 (https://twitter.com/Lepidodendron/status/1483768385922084866): “hard to tell, could be the pollen chamber”
So, it is not a Jurassic angiosperm at all, but just another gymnosperm of the gnetopsid clade. There is clearly a pattern with these misidentifications, guided by wishful thinking. Some western paleobotanists even unofficially refer to the plethora of alleged Jurassic angiosperms from China as “Wangiosperms,” as in “Oh, it’s another Wangiosperm!”. It may be politically incorrect and a bit unkind perhaps, but expresses something of the frustration they feel. So, you are in good company if you are as skeptical about these claims as I am myself.
References
Baker H 2022. 164 million-year-old plant fossil is the oldest example of a flowering bud. Live Science January 19, 2022. https://www.livescience.com/oldest-flower-bud-fossil
Bechly G 2022. Fossil Friday: Flowering Plants — Darwin’s Abominable Mystery. Evolution News October 21, 2022.
Bateman RM 2020. Hunting the Snark: the flawed search for mythical Jurassic angiosperms. Journal of Experimental Botany 71(1), 22–35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erz411
Cassella C 2022. A Newly Discovered Fossil Could Be The Answer to Darwin’s ‘Abominable’ Mystery. SienceAlert January 16, 2022. https://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-have-found-the-oldest-flower-bud-fossil-yet/amp
Cui D-F, Hou Y, Yin P & Wang X 2022. A Jurassic flower bud from China. pp. 81–93 in: Chang S-C & Zheng D (eds). Mesozoic Biological Events and Ecosystems in East Asia. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 521. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/SP521-2021-122
NIGPAS 2022. The world’s earliest fossil record of flower buds. Press release January 13, 2022. http://english.nigpas.cas.cn/rh/rp/202201/t20220113_296983.html
Sokoloff DD, Remizowa MV, El ES, Rudall PJ & Bateman RM 2019. Supposed Jurassic angiosperms lack pentamery, an important angiosperm-specific feature. New Phytologist228(2), 420–426. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15974
Wang X 2021. The Currently Earliest Angiosperm Fruit from the Jurassic of North America. Biosis: Biological Systems (2(4), 416–422. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37819/biosis.001.04.0160
Where success is an orphan?
Orphan Proteins Spell Trouble for AlphaFold 2
Evolution News @DiscoveryCSC
On a new episode of ID the Future, philosopher of biology Paul Nelson further explores AlphaFold 2, a cutting-edge computer program from Google’s DeepMind designed to rapidly suss out important secrets in the realm of proteins, indispensable molecular biological workhorses that come in thousands of different shapes and sizes. Nelson enthuses about AlphaFold 2 but also explains why he is convinced that its creators have hit a series of immovable obstacles. The watchword here — orphans. Learn what these mischievous orphan proteins are about, and what they suggest for AlphaFold, evolution, and intelligent design. Download the podcast or listen to it here.
Thursday 17 November 2022
Sympathy for JEHOVAH.
Wednesday 16 November 2022
More on politics ruining everything: Science edition.
Here’s What Happens When Science Goes Woke
Denyse O'Leary
Let’s look at some of the things that are happening. Darwinian evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne puts the matter concisely when he says,
The old saying goes that “all science is political”, a saying that is true only if you stretch the meaning of either “science” or “political”. I’m baffled, for instance, to understand how my work on the genetics of hybrid sterility in Drosophila is political. But don’t worry: the ideologues will find a way to make it so. “You’re doing your work in the milieu of a culture,” they’ll babble, “and decisions about what to fund and publish are explicitly political.” Blah blah blah.
JERRY COYNE, “SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN GOES DEFENSIVE; TRIES TO PRETEND THAT EVERY SOCIAL JUSTICE SCREED IS A “SCIENCE STORY”” AT WHY EVOLUTION IS TRUE (NOVEMBER 10, 2022)
Okay, Here’s Another One
One of many:
Consider this recent front-page New York Times story: “He’s an Outspoken Defender of Meat. Industry Funds His Research, Files Show.” The exposé targeted Dr. Frank Mitloehner, an air-quality specialist at the University of California, Davis. Never mind his position at a respected research institution and stellar publication record; the Times wants you to know that Mitloehner’s work is funded by “farming interests” trying to deflect blame for climate change:
“According to internal University of California documents reviewed by the New York Times, Dr. Mitloehner’s academic group, the Clear Center at UC Davis, receives almost all its funding from industry donations and coordinates with a major livestock lobby group on messaging campaigns.”
There’s no need to refute the story’s allegations; that’s already been done. The Clear Center has always disclosed its industry funding. Mitloehner has also responded to the story, explaining that his research team uses the grant money to devise solutions that help “reduce the environmental footprint of animal agriculture.” We’ve discussed some of this impressive work in recent articles. Other scientists have pointed out that none of the Clear Center’s work deviates from the scientific consensus on climate change.
CAMERON ENGLISH, “NYT ATTACKS GREAT SCIENTIST, FURTHER TANKS ITS CREDIBILITY ” AT AMERICAN COUNCIL ON SCIENCE AND HEALTH(NOVEMBER 7, 2022)
Industry funds most science research, as English goes on to point out. The alternative would be that government funds all science research and you pay for it via your taxes.
Some Political Issues There?
While we are here, emerging out of the COVID years, premier science journal Nature is now telling us that “Health policymakers need to cultivate social trust and plan effective communication strategies well before the next infectious disease goes global.”
Wait. What? More propaganda? Why not make correct information the next big priority instead? One that is not marred by professionals getting kicked off social media merely for a dissenting opinion?
Read the rest at Mind Matters News, published by Discovery Institute’s Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence.
More intelligent than we thought?
Mitochondria Promoted to Information Processing Systems
David Coppedge
One way to infer the possibility of intelligent design is to judge whether an object grows more fascinating and inscrutable the more its details are revealed. Watch for the phrase, “more complex than thought” in scientific papers. One is sure to encounter that phrase often in biology, particularly in cell biology.
In a fascinating Perspective paper in Cell Metabolism, Martin Picard and Orian S. Shirihai tell about the “particularly exciting time for mitochondrial biology” going on right now. Figure 1 in their open-access paper illustrates historical landmarks in mitochondrial research on a chart, showing “the need for an integrative view of this multifaceted organelle.” It’s time to promote mitochondria to leadership positions.
The analogy of mitochondria as powerhouses has expired. Mitochondria are living, dynamic, maternally inherited, energy-transforming, biosynthetic, and signaling organelles that actively transduce biological information. We argue that mitochondria are the processor of the cell, and together with the nucleus and other organelles they constitute the mitochondrial information processing system (MIPS).
Mitochondria Are Beautiful
How they integrate this new picture into evolutionary theory we will look at shortly. For now, notice their praise for the organelle that for so long was underappreciated. Mitochondria deserve better than to be dubbed “bean-shaped ATP-synthesizing chemiosmotic machines,” as marvelous as that description had been.
In this perspective, we argue that as we move toward increasingly accurate mechanistic models of the role of mitochondria in human health, we need an understanding of mitochondrial behavior extending far beyond energetics. As echoed by others, the “powerhouse” analogy promotes an overly simplistic picture of this beautifully complex organelle. The outdated mechanical analogy is too unidimensional to guide integrative scientific thinking. The challenge ahead is to integrate current prevailing perspectives of mitochondria as inherited, dynamic, energy-transforming, signaling organelles whose influence extends to all cellular compartments, and to the whole organism. Here we propose that our existing knowledge of mitochondrial biology can be integrated under the common framework of mitochondrial signal transduction. Consequently, a more integrative and accurate analogy portrays mitochondria as the processor of the cell — or more precisely as the mitochondrial information processing system (MIPS).
Figure 2 in the paper shows how mitochondria do far more than deliver ATP molecules (which they do abundantly, rapidly, and efficiently). They signal. They network. They participate. In some ways, they direct the flow of information around the cell — and not only within the cell, but between cells. Their expertise extends to tissues, organs, and to the whole organism.
What Signal Transduction Requires
Picard and Shirihai argue that signal transduction is a more accurate analogy for mitochondria’s role. Intuitively, signal transduction implies information flow from inputs to outputs. The authors indicate three requirements for any signal transduction system: (1) sensing, (2) integration, and (3) signaling. For an illustration, consider those functions on a navy ship traveling through a mine field. Sailors tasked with sensing danger need the tools to read the inputs, such as sonar. They must transfer that information to the ship’s captain and advisors to select the best course of action. If a submarine was detected, the captain then signals the navigators to implement the course change. These requirements are readily understood for any adaptive signaling system, be it implemented in a football game, a mathematical model, or a rover on Mars. Sense an input; integrate the information; signal the output.
It also becomes obvious that such systems are irreducibly complex and imply foresight. If any one of the three requirements is not met, the ship could be blown up, the receiver gets into the wrong position for the catch, the model fails to reflect reality, or the rover drives off a cliff. The system design, to be successful, must be aware of the potential risks. This implies foresight by an intelligent designer. Clinching the case for design, each one of the requirements (sensing, integration, signaling) is usually irreducibly complex in itself.
Requirements, Precisely Met
In mitochondria, all three of these requirements are met with precision:
Sensing: The ability of mitochondria to detect metabolic and hormonal inputs, and to transform these inputs into morphological, biochemical, and functional mitochondrial states.
Integration: The pooling of multiple inputs into common effectors driven by the exchange of information among mitochondria and other organelles, and influenced by the current state of the mitochondrial network and of the cell.
Signaling: The production of mitochondrial outputs, or signals, that transmit information locally to direct metabolic pathway fluxes and influence other organelles, including nuclear gene expression, and systemically to regulate the physiology and organismal behavior.
Those interested in the details will marvel at how many parts mitochondria need carry out these roles. So equipped, they regulate gene transcription and energy production, they switch on responses to toxins, and they respond to stress. In extreme cases, they can even throw the switch for programmed cell death, or apoptosis. The details of these integrated organelles are staggering.
The MIPS engages in functional interactions with the ER lysosomes, peroxisomes, lipid droplets, and likely other organelles… Mitochondrial metabolism is directly supported by surrounding organelles that provide various substrates, lipid intermediates, and ionic signals that not only supply substrates, but also communicate information about the overall state of the cell. In particular, input from the nucleus provides hundreds of proteins that sustain and confer mitochondria with both their molecular sensory machinery and the machinery for fusion/fission dynamics and motility that influence their propensity to adopt certain network configurations.
Mitochondria can even fuse with one another without scrambling their parts or functions. They can migrate on the cytoskeletal highway and gather where they are needed. Of particular note is the finding that they can network with one another: “mitochondria are functionally linked and operate as ‘social’ collectives within the cell cytoplasm,” the authors say. Consider the far-reaching effects of mitochondria described in the authors’ summary:
Mitochondria are equipped with a surprisingly wide variety of receptors and molecular features that give them the ability to sense hormonal, metabolic, ionic, genetic, and other inputs. With such sensitivity to a broad spectrum of inputs, the MIPS senses both the local biochemical conditions surrounding each organelle and systemic neuroendocrine signals produced in distant anatomical locations of the organism: by other cells, within other organs.
A related paper in the EMBO Journal (open access), by Patron et al., tells how mitochondria use their proton gradient to regulate proteostasis. Sensing inputs from calcium ions and voltage from proton flow, mitochondria can switch a certain protease on or off “to reshape the mitochondrial proteome and adjust the cellular metabolism.” A preprint on bioRxiv adds that this calcium signaling is finely tuned. It’s title: “Goldilocks calcium and the mitochondrial respiratory chain: too much, too little, just right.”
Don’t forget that these roles are all in addition to the mitochodrion’s already-celebrated function as a producer of ATP through a series of irreducibly complex machines. Want to ponder that role a little more? Another preprint on bioRxiv reveals new details from cryo-electron microscopy about Complex 1, the first of five intricate machines in the electron transport chain. This factory of machines feeds protons to the rotary engines (ATP synthase) that supply our energy needs each second. Incidentally, this study was done on fruit flies — you know, those nearly invisible flying machines? They also have mitochondrial information processing systems, like every other living thing!
Can the MIPS be Darwinized?
It is sad to see Picard and Shirihai, so well aware of the elaborate functional complexity in the Mitochondrial Information Processing System, attribute it to chance. They cling to Darwinian evolution and the myth of endosymbiosis. “Through evolution,” they dream with dogmatic snores, “the endosymbiotic incorporation of mitochondria marked the transition from a selfish unicellular world to a multicellular reality.”
How can any sensible person believe such notions? One reason is that Darwinism grants materialists an unlimited research program with no requirement for understanding how chance pulled it off.
The evolutionary co-opting of a variety of DNA-binding receptors, GPCRs, and transporters suggests that increasing the range of inputs that mitochondria were capable of sensing must have positively contributed to the organism’s adaptive capacity. As a result, the diverse mitochondrial sensing machinery has been evolutionarily selected and likely also enriched in mitochondrial membranes relative to other organelles. Defining the full spectrum of inputs directly sensed by the MIPS across different cell types is an outstanding research challenge.
Selection without a selector. Co-option without an operator. Machinery without an engineer. Enriching without an investment advisor. Equipping without a trainer. A research challenge, indeed.
Eli Cohen: a brief history.
Eli Cohen
By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Eli Cohen, in full Eliahu ben Shaoul Cohen, also called Kamal Amin Thaabet, (born 1924, Alexandria, Egypt—died May 18, 1965, Damascus, Syria), Egyptian-born Israeli spy who infiltrated the highest ranks of the Syrian military and government by posing as a Syrian businessman. Between 1961 and 1965 Cohen passed Syrian secrets to the Israeli government in what is remembered as one of the most daring and productive intelligence-gathering
Cohen grew up in Alexandria, Egypt, the son of Syrian Jewish parents. His fluency in Arabic, English, and French made him an attractive recruit for Israeli intelligence. He travelled to Israel for a brief espionage training course in 1955 and returned to Egypt the following year. Cohen, however, was expelled from Egypt along with other Zionist Jews in the aftermath of the Suez Crisis, and he settled in Israel in 1957. He worked as a translator and an accountant before once again being recruited by Israeli intelligence in 1960.
After completing further training, Cohen was sent in 1961 to Buenos Aires, where he posed as an expatriate Syrian businessman. Using the alias Kamal Amin Thaabet, Cohen made numerous contacts in the Syrian expatriate community in Argentina and soon gained the trust of senior officials working in the Syrian embassy there. Those included the Syrian military attaché, Amin al-Hafez, who would later serve as president of Syria. Cohen made his desire to “return” to Syria well known to his new associates, and, when he moved to Damascus in 1962, his Syrian contacts helped him access the highest circles of power in Syria. He soon began to transmit information about Syrian military plans back to Israel.
Cohen’s espionage work took on even greater importance when a Baʿthist junta that included several of his associates from Argentina seized power in Syria in 1963. The coup’s leader, Amin al-Hafez, continued to favour Cohen, and he reportedly considered appointing him deputy minister of defense. Cohen received classified military briefings and was taken on tours of the Syrian fortifications in the Golan Heights.
Despite Cohen’s considerable talent for espionage, he displayed a tendency for carelessness, ignoring his Israeli handlers’ warnings against sending radio transmissions too frequently or always at the same time of day. That proved to be his downfall. In January 1965 Syrian counterintelligence identified his radio signal and apprehended him in the act of sending a transmission. Cohen was interrogated, convicted in a military trial, and publicly hanged in May 1965.
Darwinism vs. the Science?
Twelve “Shocking” Discoveries for Evolution
Eric H. Anderson
A correspondent preparing for a presentation asked if I “would care to chip in a few lines about what you see as truly remarkable or even shocking recent discoveries about genetics or epigenetics that provide additional support for the design inference. (Other than, that is, the famous work of ENCODE which seems to have deep-sixed the ‘junk DNA’ doctrine.)”
“Shocking recent discoveries”? Good question
Not So Surprising for Intelligent Design
With two caveats, I’ll share a few from the past 15 years or so. The first caveat is that many discoveries trickle in slowly over time. So, we could perhaps point to earlier evidence for some of the items below from more than 15 years ago, but I would argue that the evidence has become much more apparent or more widely acknowledged since then. The second caveat is that some discoveries might be surprising or “shocking” from an evolutionary perspective, but not necessarily from a perspective of intelligent design.
So with those caveats:
Here Are Twelve; Likely There Are More
1.Growing appreciation for frameshifting encoding.
2. Growing appreciation for bi-directional encoding.
3. Early evidence that some “neutral” mutations may not in fact be neutral.
4. Massive and extensive role for RNAs in cellular processes. Yes, this relates to ENCODE, but deserves to be mentioned in its own right, as there is rapidly growing experimental evidence for functional roles of specific RNAs.
5. The need for regular maintenance and care of DNA, such as the critical role of topoisomerase that Joe Deweese studies. By the way, if you’re speaking about this to an audience, a great object lesson is to show the supercoiling problem with a two-stranded piece of yarn. From personal experience, I’d recommend practicing at home beforehand. But once you get it down, it is a fantastic visual aid and very memorable.
6. The growing list of alternative genetic codes.
7. Directly contrary to the evolutionary prediction, with more genomes in the database, the number of lineage-specific or taxonomically restricted genes. Not here and there, but extensive and pervasive. This is an absolutely massive problem for evolutionary theory.
8. Many functional roles have been identified for the inappropriately named “pseudogenes.” This counters one of the most loudly proclaimed evidences for blind undirected evolution.
9. Growing evidence for functional roles for some so-called “endogenous retroviruses.” There’s less information here so far, but it appears to be trending in the same direction as pseudogenes and other “junk DNA” claims generally.
10. Clear genetic-based evidence that several of the most loudly touted examples of evolution are in fact degradative. There is Michael Behe’s work of course, as well as Scott Minnich’s lab work and analysis of Lenski’s long term evolutionary experiment. The importance of this cannot be overstated. It is one of the few areas where we have real experimental data, as opposed to ideas, conjectures, and hand-waving claims about what evolution is supposed to be able to accomplish. And the evidence is extremely clear.
11. Related to taxonomically restricted genes, but this needs to be mentioned in its own right: The grand hope of comparative genomic studies was to produce a coherent tree that would show the true evolutionary history. Exactly the opposite has happened. It is an absolute mess, with contradictions at every turn and nothing even approaching a unified evolutionary history. It’s reached the point where even prominent evolutionists have started abandoning the tree model altogether, reposing their hope in convergent evolution, HGT, some as-yet-undiscovered process, etc.
12. Less directly related, but perhaps worth mentioning:
(a) Growing recognition that protein folding requires careful control in many cases, not just an automatic fold. And, no, AlphaFold has not “solved” the problem from first principles. See Paul Nelson’s Evolution News article from a few weeks ago. Also listen to my podcast discussion with Paul.
(b) Growing support for the idea of protein rarity, and isolated regions in search space. This is exactly what we see in designed systems, and the opposite of what’s predicted by evolutionary theory. See the additional work of Douglas Axe and Brian Miller.
There are probably several others I’m forgetting right now.
Now the multiverse ruins everything?
Meyer and Klavan: How the Multiverse Ruins Science…and Storytelling
David Klinghoffer
Stephen Meyer had a fascinating conversation with podcaster Andrew Klavan and his son Spencer Klavan. The topic: how the multiverse theory destroys not only science (as Meyer explains in Return of the God Hypothesis) but storytelling. The younger Klavan is Associate Editor at the Claremont Review of Books and an Oxford PhD in classics. Impressive guy. He wrote an essay there analyzing the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), of which “the multiverse has become the central governing concept.”
Klavan nails it in his essay:
“In the infinite multiverse there’s a cure for every illness. A solution to every problem,” says the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. She’s exactly right, and that’s exactly the issue: two and a half hours of pointless carnage will end us right back where we started if the dead shall be raised as soon as the credits roll. The multiversal MCU is a world without narrative stakes, moral meaning, or tragedy, because it is a world without consequences.
Now that is something I had not thought of. In a multiverse where no possibility is excluded and everything does and does not happen, every which way, any story we can tell is deflated by the realization that in another universe the tale has turned out differently. For example, if we suppose there is another version of Anna Karenina, taking place in a parallel reality in which the freight train stops just in time, that would drain a considerable amount of the interest from Tolstoy’s novel.
Read the rest of “Worlds Without End” at the Claremont Review of Books.
Tuesday 15 November 2022
Re: the lexicon of life scientists are yet to complete the preamble to the introduction.
Powerful Protein-Folding Algorithm AlphaFold Foiled by Singletons
Evolution News @DiscoveryCSC
A new episode of ID the Future spotlights AlphaFold, an artificial intelligence program in the news for its impressive breakthroughs at predicting a protein’s 3D structure from its amino acid sequence. Philosopher of Biology Paul Nelson walks listeners through the importance of this “amazing breakthrough,” as he described it in a recent Evolution News article; but don’t uncork the champagne bottles just yet. The reason, according to Nelson, is that while proteins, protein sequences, and protein folding promise to reveal much that is still mysterious in molecular biology, we now know that biological information involves far more than just an organism’s proteome — that is, far more than the full suite of proteins expressed by an organism. Nelson uses analogies to manmade machines and cognates among closely and distantly related human languages to shed light on just how much more sophisticated the biological information directing life is than any model narrowly fixated on DNA, the amino acids DNA codes for, and the protein formed from those amino acids.
Nelson explains that, as powerful as the AlphaFold algorithm is, it has not solved the protein-folding problem, if we take such a solution to mean “predicting the three-dimensional conformation of a protein strictly from its primary DNA sequence, ab initio.” The clearest evidence of this: the algorithm is utterly stymied by sequence “singletons.” What are these curious sequences, why do they baffle AlphaFold, and why do these singletons trouble some evolutionists? Nelson and host Eric Anderson explore this problem at the leading edge of biological research. Download the podcast or listen to it here
The facts
I publish for my readers consideration the full text of the pamphlet a declaration of facts addressed to the state and people of Nazi Germany requesting that Jehovah's servants in Hitler's Germany be left in peace to carry on their preaching and teaching work circa 1933.I've done this so that you can read the document in its entirety and form your own conclusions.
Declaration of Facts
"This company of German people, who are peaceable and law-abiding citizens
representing many others from every part of Germany, all of whom are
earnestly laboring for the highest welfare of the people of this land,
being now duly assembled at Berlin this 25th day of June, AD.. 1933, do
joyfully declare our complete devotion to Jehovah, the Almighty God, and to
his kingdom under Christ Jesus, whose shed blood bought the human race. We
declare that the holy Scriptures set forth in the Bible constitute the Word
of Jehovah God given to men for their guidance in righteousness, and that
the Word of God is the truth, and that it is of greatest importance that
man have a knowledge of his relationship to God. We ask to be judged by the
standard of the Word of God.
"Christ Jesus is Jehovah God's great Witness to the truth, and as his
faithful and devoted followers we are, by His grace, witnesses to the
truth. The purpose of this Declaration is that we may present a true and
faithful witness before rulers and the people as to the name and purpose of
Jehovah God and our relation thereto.
"We are wrongfully charged before the ruling powers of this government and
before the people of this nation; and in order that the name of Jehovah God
may be exalted in the minds of the people, and that his benevolent purposes
be better understood and our position fairly placed before the government,
we do respectfully ask the rulers of the nation and the people to give a
fair and impartial consideration to the statement of facts here made.
"The Scriptures plainly state that the chief opposer of Jehovah God and the
greatest enemy of mankind is Satan the Devil whose name is also that of
Serpent and Dragon. It is written in the Scriptures that Satan, who has
long been the invisible ruler of this world, deceives and blinds the people
to the truth in order that the light of and concerning Jehovah God and
Christ Jesus may not shine into the minds of men. (2 Corinthians 4: 3,4)
Frequently by fraud, subtility [sic]] and deception Satan has induced
honest persons to war with each other, in order that he might turn them all
away from God and destroy them. Above all things, the people need to know
Jehovah God and his gracious provision for their general welfare.
"By the term 'clergy', as used in our literature, reference is made to the
class of professed religious teachers, priests and Jesuits who employ
improper political means to accomplish their ends and pin forces even with
those who deny God and the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the same class to
whom Jesus referred as his persecutors. We have no criticism of any honest
religious teacher.
"When Jesus went to the Jews to tell them of the truth, it was the Jewish
clergy, that is to say, the Pharisees and priests, that violently opposed
him and persecuted him and caused him to be charged with all manner of
crimes and offenses. They refused to hear the truth, and addressing them
Jesus said: "Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot
hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father
ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of
his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the
truth, ye believe me not.' (John 8: 43-45) Although the Pharisees and
priests then claimed to represent Jehovah God Jesus told them that they
were in fact the representatives of Satan the Devil.
"We have no fight with any persons or religious teachers, but we must call
attention to the fact that it is generally those who claim to represent God
and Christ Jesus who are in fact our persecutors and who misrepresent us
before the governments and nations. As true followers of Christ Jesus we
are to expect such opposition, and we mention it here in explanation of why
we have been misrepresented before the rulers of this nation. To his
faithful followers Jesus said: 'Remember the word I said unto you, The
servant is not greater than his lord. If they [the false religious
teachers] have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have
kept my saying, they will keep yours also.' (John 15: 20) Furthermore,
Jesus said that this same class of men would cause his true followers to be
wrongfully charged before the ruling powers, his language being: 'But take
heed to yourselves: for they [false religious teachers] shall deliver you
up to councils [police power]; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten;
and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a
testimony against them.' (Mark 13: 9) This explains why Jehovah God now
permits his faithful witnesses to be misrepresented and persecuted, namely,
that those of a wrong spirit may identify themselves as opponents of God
and thus bear witness against themselves. The same materialistic spirit
that caused the persecution of Jesus Christ now exists and is back of the
persecution of us his faithful followers.
"It is falsely charged by our enemies that we have received financial
support for our work from the Jews. Nothing is farther from the truth. Up
to this hour there never has been the slightest bit of money contributed to
our work by Jews. We are the faithful followers of Christ Jesus and believe
upon Him as the Savior of the world, whereas the Jews entirely reject Jesus
Christ and emphatically deny that he is the Savior of the world sent of God
for man's good. This of itself should be sufficient proof to show that we
receive no support from Jews and that therefore the charges against us are
maliciously false and could proceed only from Satan, our great enemy.
"The greatest and most oppressive empire on earth is the Anglo-American
empire. By that is meant the British Empire, of which the United States of
America forms a part. It has been the commercial Jews of the
British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a
means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations. This fact
particularly applies to the cities of London and New York, the stronghold
of Big Business. This fact is so manifest in America that there is a
proverb concerning the city of New York which says: 'The Jews own it, the
Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills.' We have no fight
with any of these persons mentioned, but, as the witnesses for Jehovah and
in obedience to his commandment set forth in the Scriptures, we are
compelled to call attention to the truth concerning the same in order that
the people may be enlightened concerning God and his purpose.
Our Literature
"It is said that our books and like literature, when circulated amongst the
people, constitute a danger to the peace and safety of the nation. We are
certain that this conclusion is due to the fact that our books and other
literature have not been carefully examined by the rulers and hence are not
properly understood. We respectfully call attention to the fact that these
books and other literature were written originally in America and the
language therein used has been adapted to the American style of plainness
of speech and, when translated into German, the same appears to be harsh.
We admit that the same truths might be stated in a less blunt and more
pleasing phrase, and yet the language of these books follows closely the
language of the Bible.
"It should be borne in mind that in the British Empire and in America the
common people have suffered and are now suffering greatly because of the
misrule of Big Business and conscienceless politicians, which misrule has
been and is supported by political religionists, and hence the
writers of our books or literature have endeavored to employ plain
language to convey to the people the proper thought or understanding. The
language used, however, is not as strong or emphatic as that used by Jesus
Christ in denouncing the oppressors and false teachers of his time.
"The present government of Germany has declared emphatically against Big
Business oppressors and in opposition to the wrongful religious influence
in the political affairs of the nation. Such is exactly our position; and
we further state in our literature the reason for the existence of
oppressive Big Business and the wrongful political religious influence,
because the Holy Scriptures plainly declare that these oppressive
instruments proceed from the Devil, and that the complete relief therefrom
is God's kingdom under Christ. It is therefore impossible for our
literature or our work to in any wise be a danger or a menace to the peace
and safety of the state.
"Our organization is not political in any sense. We only insist on teaching
the Word of Jehovah God to the people, and that without hindrance. We do
not object or try to hinder anyone's teaching or believing what he desires,
but we only ask the freedom to believe and teach what we conceive the bible
to teach, and then let the people decide which they wish to believe.
"To know Jehovah God and his gracious provision for mankind is of most
vital importance to all persons, because God has declared in His Word that
where there is no vision or understanding of his Word the people perish.
(Proverbs 29: 18) We have devoted our lives and our material substance to
the work of enabling the people to gain a vision or understanding of God's
Word, and therefore it is impossible for our literature and our work to be
a menace to the peace and safety of the nation. Instead of being against
the principles advocated by the government of Germany, we stand squarely
for such principles, and point out that Jehovah God through Christ Jesus
will bring about the full realization of these principles and will give to
the people peace and prosperity and the greatest desire of every honest
heart.
"Our organization seeks neither money nor members, but we are a company or
organized body of Christian people engaged solely in the benevolent work of
teaching the Word of God to the people at the least possible cost to them.
Our organization was originally incorporated in the United States of
America in 1884 under the name of the WATCH TOWER BIBLE 15r TRACT SOCIETY,
and in 1914 incorporated under the laws of Great Britain by the name of the
INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS ASSOCIATION. These are merely the corporate
names of our organization for legally carrying forward its work. The
Scriptural name by which we are known is 'Jehovah's witnesses'. We are
engaged solely in a benevolent work. The purpose of our organization is to
aid the people to understand the Bible, which discloses the only possible way
for the complete relief and blessing for mankind. Our organization has
extended its work throughout the earth. The education, culture and
upbuilding of the people must and will come through the agency of God's
kingdom concerning which we teach as set forth in the Bible. The salvation
of the people depends upon the true knowledge of and obedience to Jehovah
God and his righteous ways.
"The people are in great distress and in need of help to understand the
reason for their unhappy condition and what is the means of relief. The
Scriptures, when understood, make this matter clear. Instead of collecting
money from the people and using the same to erect great buildings and to
support men in luxury, we print the gospel message of God's kingdom and
carry it to the homes of the people that they may, at the least
inconvenience to themselves, gain a knowledge of God's purposes concerning
them.
"A careful examination of our books and literature will disclose the fact
that the very high ideals held and promulgated by the present national
government are set forth in and endorsed and strongly emphasized in our
publications, and show that Jehovah God will see to it that these high
ideals in due time will be attained by all persons who love righteousness
and who obey the Most High. Instead, therefore, of our literature and our
work's being a menace to the principles of the present government we are
the strongest supporters of such high ideals. For this reason Satan, the
enemy of all men who desire righteousness, has sought to misrepresent our
work and prevent us from carrying it on in this land.
"For many years our organization has put forth an unselfish and persistent
effort to do good to the people. Our American brethren have greatly
assisted in the work in Germany, and with money freely contributed, and
that at a time when all Germany was in dire distress. Now because it
appears that Germany may soon be free from oppression and that the people
may be lifted up, Satan, the great enemy, puts forth his endeavours to
destroy that benevolent work in this land.
League of Nations
"The language in our books or literature concerning the League of Nations
has been seized upon as a reason for prohibiting our work and the
distribution of our books. Let us remind the government and the people of
Germany that it was the League of Nations compact that laid upon the
shoulders of the German people the great unjust and unbearable burdens.
That League of Nations compact was not brought forth by the friends of
Germany. In America at one time the public press announced
that 140,000 clergymen had set aside a certain period of time in which a
concerted movement was to be made, and which was made, to induce the
American people to fully endorse the League of Nations. It was the
Federation of Churches in America that issued a manifesto stating that the
'League of Nations is the political expression of God's kingdom on earth',
and which by them was substituted in the place and stead of God's kingdom
under Christ. It was in America that our organization under the visible
leadership of its president pointed out emphatically that the League of
Nations is not an institution of Jehovah God, because it is oppressive and
unfair. It was that condition, existing at the time, which called forth
language that appears in our books concerning the League of Nations and
also calling attention to the fact that such League of Nations compact can
never bring about the relief and blessing of the people, because such
relief and blessing can come by adhering strictly to the principles laid
down in God's Word and in the manner which Jehovah has pointed out.
"For almost half a century our strictly Christian organization has carried
on its work in various parts of the earth. Its books are published in more
than 50 languages, and upward of 140 million of these books are in the
hands of the people. For more than thirty years our books and literature
have been distributed throughout Germany, and millions of these are now in
the hands of the German people and are read by the people, all of whom will
bear testimony to the fact that these books, based strictly on the Bible,
are of great help to them and upbuild them and give them hope for a
realization of the blessings which Jehovah God long ago promised. In all
these years of our work, and in the wide distribution of our books and
literature, not one instance can be truthfully cited wherein our work or
literature has been a menace to the government or has in any wise
endangered the peace and safety of the nations.
"The endeavors of our organization being exclusively confined to bearing
testimony to the name and Word of Jehovah God, it would be entirely
inconsistent for us to attempt to exert any political influence in the
governments of this world or to do anything that would endanger the peace
and safety of the nation. We have no desire nor inclination to do anything
except to carry out our divinely given commission to proclaim the Word of
Jehovah God.
"In America, Canada and other parts of the British Empire the political
clergy, priests and Jesuits have persistently persecuted and continue to
persecute those of our organization, and without just cause or excuse; and
we have every reason to believe that a like influence has been subtly
[sic] employed by the great enemy Satan to misrepresent us and our work in
Germany. We remind you that in the years past the political clergymen have
brought more sorrow upon the German people than probably any other class of
men. We have no desire to fight with the clergymen, but we do ask that the
ruling powers of the nation judge us not by the misrepresentation of such
men, but that we be judged according to the Word of God and the work we are
doing consistent therewith. Jehovah God persecutes no one, but permits each
one to choose his own course, holding him responsible for his acts
according to knowledge. Jehovah God has emphatically expressed his anger
against those who do persecute others who are trying to serve him; and this
proves that those who persecute us do not represent God, but that they are
incited so to do by the enemy of God and man.-Psalm 72:4
Great Truths
"The Holy Scriptures, viewed in the light of present-day events which are
in fulfilment of divine prophecy, disclose that: The time has arrived when
Jehovah will make his name known to all creation and vindicate his name and
clear it from the defamation which Satan has placed against that holy name.
(Psalm 83: 18) When Jesus Christ, the Vindicator, ascended into heaven
Jehovah commanded him to wait until his due time to put the enemy down.
That period of waiting has now come to an end and God has sent forth his
beloved Son to oust the enemy and rule in righteousness. (Psalm 110: 14;
Hebrews 10: 12,13) The world, or uninterrupted rule, of Satan has ended,
and this began to be evidenced by the World War in 1914, and since then
until now is the time when the gospel of the Kingdom must be told to the
people. (Matthew 24: 3,14) Satan has now been cast out of heaven and down
to the earth and now confines his operations to the earth in an endeavor to
blind the people to the truth and destroy them, and that is the reason for
the present-day sufferings of humanity. The prophetic words of Jesus now
apply: 'Woe to the inhabiters [the rulers] of the earth, and of the sea
[the people in general]! for the devil is come down unto you, having great
wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.'-Revelation 12:
12.
"The people of Germany have suffered great misery since 1914 and have been
the victims of much injustice practiced upon them by others. The
nationalists have declared themselves against all such unrighteousness and
announced that 'Our relationship to God is high and holy'. Since our
organization fully endorses these righteous principles and is engaged
solely in carrying forth the work of enlightening the people concerning the
Word of Jehovah God, Satan by subtlety [sic] endeavors to set the
government against our work and destroy it because we magnify the
importance of knowing and serving God. Instead of our organization's being
a menace to the peace and safety of the government, it is the one
organization standing for the peace and safety of this land .
We beg to remind all that the great crisis is upon the world because the
transition period from bad to good is at hand, and the hope of the world is
God's kingdom under Christ, for which Jesus taught his followers to
constantly pray: 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is
done in heaven.'
"The power of Jehovah God is supreme and there is no power that can
successfully resist him. His time to exercise his power in the interest of
humanity and to the vindication of his great name is here. In this
connection we respectfully call attention to the admonition and warning of
Jehovah God, both to the rulers and to the people, which applies to this
very hour, wherein he says: "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of
Zion.... Be wise now, therefor, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the
earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but
a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.'-Psalm 2: 6,
10-12.
'"The present government having declared adherence to the aforementioned
high ideals, we are persuaded that the rulers do not desire to knowingly
resist the progressive witness work to the name of Jehovah God and his
kingdom which we are now carrying forward. If our work is merely that of
men, it will fall of its own weight. If it is of Jehovah God and being
carried forward in obedience to his commandment, then to resist it means to
fight against God.-Acts 5: 39.
We therefore appeal to the high sense of justice of the government and
nation and respectfully ask that the order of prohibition against our work
and our literature be set aside, and the opportunity be given us to have a
fair hearing before we are judged. We respectfully ask that the government
appoint a committee of impartial men to hold conference with a committee of
our organization and that a fair and impartial examination of our
literature and our work be made, to the end that all misunderstanding may
be removed and that we may without hindrance obey Jehovah God's commandment
now applying to us, to wit: 'Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye
the way of the people; cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up
a standard for the people.'-Isaiah 62: 10.
"The peoples of Germany are a God-fearing people and should not be deprived
of an opportunity to learn of Jehovah God and of his gracious provision to
bring lasting peace, prosperity, liberty and everlasting life on earth to
all those who know and obey him. Let all who love God work together to the
honor and vindication of his name. All who take a
contrary course must take responsibility before God; but as for us we will
serve Jehovah forever.
"RESOLVED, That copies of this Declaration be respectfully delivered to
high officials of the government and that the same be given wide
publication to the people, that the name of Jehovah may be further known."
Ps.The two world wars remain an enormous embarrassment for Christendom the spectre of supposed Christians indulging in the most unchristian mass fratricide on an industrial scale has certainly called the west's Christian credentials into question especially WWII the co-operation of the Protestant,Catholic and evangelical churches with both sides of what still holds the record as the most lethal international conflict of all time has left a particularly stubborn stain.The most notable exception to this failure to adhere to the christian principle of unarmed and pacific neutrality re:The national/political conflicts of the present civilisation (see Matthew26:52,Revelation13:10) has been Jehovah's servants in the twentieth and twenty first centuries.For their steadfasness in obeying God and Christ in this regard they have had to endure all manner of ill treatment at the hands of the political powers of this world with the full support of their religious confederates.
While no apology has ever been given by this civilisation's politicised religions for the ungodly hostility in which they have participated against Jehovah's people their representatives have been quite busy spreading all manner of libellous distortions half-truths and outright lies about us.
My aim in publishing in full the Watchtower Society's 1933 declaration to the German state and people is to counter one particularly egregious revision of the historical facts by anti-JW propagandists.The steadfastness of German servants of Jehovah in refusing to give any political/military co-operation to the Nazi state or even to so much as say "heil Hitler" is a matter historical record as is the suffering they willingly endured as a result.
Alas anti-JW propagandists aren't the sort to let a little thing like the facts get in the way of their mission thus some have quote mined the above document in an attempt to support the claim that the society proposed some kind of political compromise with the German state.
By way of providing some background at the time the Nazi party had just ascended to power as part of a coalition a mere three months before so the concentration camps,the final solution were yet ahead and like all entities indulging in electoral politics there was much rhetoric uttered about standing up for the common man against the elite,restoring or extending national greatness,supporting the family as the basic unit of the society and other platitudes with which no sane person would/could take issue.