Magic Statistics

The Christian cemetery of Jugha, the largest Armenian cemetery known, has vanished.  The entire burial ground with thousands of carved stone crosses, some as old as the 8th century, has been flattened, reportedly by armed forces of Azerbaijan.  The European parliament, UNESCO, and the British House of Lords are all taking an interest in this desecration of European Christian heritage, but as yet none has been allowed to visit Jugha.  A reporter for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting was the first journalist to visit the site, located in one of the most inaccessible parts of Europe, and confirm the destruction.

It has become one of the most bitterly divisive issues in the Caucasus – but up until now no one has been able to clear up the mystery surrounding the fate of the famous medieval Christian cemetery of Jugha in Azerbaijan.

The cemetery was regarded by Armenians as the biggest and most precious repository of medieval headstones marked with crosses – the Armenians call them “khachkars” – of which more than 2,000 were still there in the late Eighties. Each elaborately carved tombstone was a masterpiece of carving.

Armenians have said that the cemetery has been razed, comparing its destruction to the demolition of two giant Buddha figures by the Taleban in Afghanistan. Azerbaijan has hit back by accusing Armenia of scaremongering, and of destroying Azerbaijani monuments on its own territory.
. . .
Historian Argam Aivazian, the principal expert on the Armenian monuments of Nakhichevan, said that Jugha was a unique monument of medieval art and the largest Armenian cemetery in existence. There were unique tombstones shaped like rams, a church and the remains of a massive stone bridge. Nowhere else in the world, he said, was there such a big concentration of thousands of khachkars in one place.
. . .
Armenian experts now accuse Azerbaijan of a deliberate act of cultural vandalism.

“The destruction of the khachkars of Old Jugha means the destruction of an entire phenomenon in the history of humanity, because they are not only proof of the culture of the people who created them, they are also symbols that tell us about a particular cultural epoch,” said Hranush Kharatian, head of the Armenian government’s department for national and religious minorities.

“On the entire territory of Nakhichevan there existed 27,000 monasteries, churches, khachkars, tombstones and other Armenian monuments,” said Aivazian. “Today they have all been destroyed.”

The photo above at right shows a khachkar from Jugha Cemetery that was previously removed to the town of Ejmiatsin.  (Source of photo: Armeniapedia.org)

Read the whole thing.  Photos showing the cemetery in the 1970s and today are posted here.

via Dhimmi Watch.

Related articles elsewhere on the Net:

• Destruction of Armenian Monuments in Nakhichevan Cultural Genocide
• Armenian headstones destroyed in Azerbaijan

Previous related post: Christianity obliterated in northern Cyprus

The Interfaith Stewardship Alliance (ISA) yesterday unveiled a vision of Biblical environmental stewardship based on The Cornwall Declaration, a statement of principles previously issued by the ISA.  While underlining the moral necessity for environmental stewardship, the Cornwall Declaration also expresses concerns that sound environmentalism has been impeded by misconceptions about science and nature, and calls for the use of reason, sound science, and sound theology in formulating environmental policies.  The Declaration has been signed by over 1500 Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant religious leaders, scientists, and academics.

Yesterday’s briefing was entitled "Pulpits, Pews and Environmental Policy: How the Cornwall Declaration is helping define the mandate of Biblical stewardship.".  A report on the briefing has been posted at Amy Ridenour’s National Center Blog.  Here's an excerpt:

Dr. Calvin Beisner, Associate Professor of Social Ethics at Knox Theological Seminary in Florida, took issue with those who "mistakenly view human beings as principally consumers and polluters rather than producers and stewards."

He noted that this outlook "ignores our potential as bearers of God's image to enhance the Earth's abundance."

"While we recognize that some environmental problems are well-founded and serious, we are concerned that some are ill founded or greatly exaggerated," said Beisner. "We are interested in priorities placed on well-founded concerns, especially those that put large numbers of people, usually the poor, at risk."

According to Beisner, some well-founded concerns include "widespread diseases in the developing world arising from inadequate sewage sanitation and drinking water purification; use of primitive biomass fuels like wood and dung for heating and cooking; and primitive, low-tech agricultural, industrial and commercial practices."

"On the other hand," said Beisner, "Ill-founded or exaggerated concerns include fears of catastrophic man-made global warming, overpopulation, resource depletion and cataclysmic species extinction."

Speaking about the Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECI), a statement signed by some members of the evangelical community that promotes the theory of catastrophic man-made global warming, Beisner said "[We] disagree with their assessment of the scientific evidence of the extent of human contribution to global warming, their prediction of the impact of climate change on human communities and the rest of the ecosystem, and their prescription of major reduction of carbon dioxide emissions as a solution to the alleged problem. The ECI does not specify how much emission reduction is needed to achieve its goals [to counteract global warming]. [This is] to ignore one of the most important aspects of the climatology debate: How much benefit would be gained at what cost to the global economy. And the global economy is not just an economist abstraction. It is real people who depend on that economy for jobs, income and the food, clothing, shelter, transportation and all other goods that they need."

Paul Driessen, senior policy advisor for the Congress of Racial Equality, added this:

"It is often the very policies they promote that actually represent the greatest threats to the world's poor. Over two billion of the world's people still do not have electricity for lights and refrigeration in their homes, for hospitals and clinics, for schools, shops, offices and factories, for wastewater treatment and other modern technologies that we often take for granted," he said. "And yet these poor countries are told they mustn't build coal or gas-fired electrical power plants, because First World countries are concerned about global warming."

According to this ISA commentary, implementation of the Kyoto Protocol is estimated to cost over $1 trillion per year.  For about one-fifth that amount, clean water and sanitation could be provided to developing countries, which would save millions of lives every year.  Kyoto would also cost over one million jobs in the US alone and sharply increase the cost of energy.  Yet it would reduce the earth’s temperature by only a fraction of a degree, if that.  Bible-believing people need to ask: Is Kyoto the best use that can be made of the financial, economic, and other resources that God has given?

via Acton Institute PowerBlog.

The latest issue of World Magazine has a cover story article on environmental issues entitled “Greener Than Thou”.  Some of the Christian leaders who signed the Evangelical Climate Initiative were interviewed, and it seems they don’t actually agree with statements in the document they endorsed.

Previous related posts:

• Kyoto is pointless: The globe has stopped warming
• Climate scientists choked
• Martian polar ice caps shrinking
• Climate change forecasts contradict each other