query: Is England a democracy or monarchy?

title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The United Kingdom is a unitary state with devolution that is governed within the framework of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, currently Theresa May, is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the British government, on behalf of and by the consent of the monarch, as well as by the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales and the Northern Ireland Executive. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The highest court is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

title: Monarchy

text: Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where executive power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome (Roman Republic, 509 BC), and Athens (Athenian democracy, 500 BC).

title: The Life and Death of Democracy

text: The second part of the book is dedicated to the invention of the representative model. Shaped by forces as varied as the rebirth of towns, the rise (in northern Spain) of the first parliaments, and the conflicts unleashed by self-governing councils and religious dissent within the Christian Church, democracy came to be understood as representative democracy in this second phase. Contrary to what other sources have often suggested, Keane points out that the oldest roots of that democratic model are in fact undemocratic. The first parliament was not English, but Spanish. Keane locates the birth of representative parliaments in the cloisters of San Isidoro Church, in León, Northern Spain - the site where King Alfonso IX convened the first cortes in 1188 CE. Yet it took several centuries before the term representation began to be used in conjunction with democracy. The birthplace of talk of 'representative democracy' – unknown to the Greeks - was late-eighteenth century France, England and the new American republic. To find a common accepted definition of the word and of the actual meaning of representation (who was entitled to represent whom and what had to be done when representatives disregarded those whom they were supposed to represent ) was by no means an easy task to accomplish. Much ink and blood was spilled. The representative model of democracy as we know it is for Keane the result of many and different power conflicts, many of them bitterly fought in opposition to ruling groups, whether they were church hierarchies, landowners or imperial monarchies, often in the name of "the people". The concept of the sovereign "people" was one of the most contested in this second phase. The bitter controversies over who "the people" were, along with the common belief of the time that good government was government by representatives, characterised this era of representative democracy, an era which also saw the birth of an abundance of democracy-related neologisms, such as social democracy, liberal democracy and Christian democracy. Often contrasted with monarchy, representative democracy was praised as a way of governing better by openly airing differences of opinion – not only among the represented themselves, but also between representatives and those whom they are supposed to represent while encouraging the rotation of leadership guided by merit.

title: Representative democracy

text: Representative democracy (also indirect democracy, representative government or psephocracy) is a type of democracy founded on the principle of elected officials representing a group of people, as opposed to direct democracy.[2] Nearly all modern Western-style democracies are types of representative democracies; for example, the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, France is a unitary state, and the United States is a federal republic.[3]

title: Parliament

text: A controversial figure accused of despotism, war crimes, and even genocide, Cromwell is nonetheless regarded as essential to the growth of democracy in England. The years of the Commonwealth, coupled with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the subsequent Glorious Revolution of 1688, helped reinforce and strengthen Parliament as an institution separate from the Crown.

title: Jean-Louis de Lolme

text: Jean-Louis de Lolme or Delolme (174016 July 1806) was a Genevan and British political theorist and writer on constitutional matters, born in the then independent Republic of Geneva. As an adult he moved to England, and became a British subject. His most famous work was "" ("The Constitution of England", 1771), which was subsequently published in English as well. In it, de Lolme advocated a constitutional form of government enshrining the principle that monarchy, aristocracy and democracy should be balanced against each other. He also praised the element of representative democracy in the constitution, and urged an extension of suffrage. The work influenced many of the framers of the United States Constitution.

title: Tractatus Theologico-Politicus

text: Spinoza discusses the principal kinds of states, or the main types of government, namely, Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy. Each has its own peculiarities and needs special safeguards, if it is to realise the primary function of a state. Monarchy may degenerate into Tyranny unless it is subjected to various constitutional checks which will prevent any attempt at autocracy. Similarly, Aristocracy may degenerate into Oligarchy and needs analogous checks. On the whole, Spinoza favours Democracy, by which he meant any kind of representative government. In the case of Democracy the community and the government are more nearly identical than in the case of Monarchy or Aristocracy; consequently a democracy is least likely to experience frequent collisions between the people and the government and so is best adapted to secure and maintain that peace, which it is the business of the state to secure.

title: Democracy

text: While representative democracy is sometimes equated with the republican form of government, the term "republic" classically has encompassed both democracies and aristocracies. Many democracies are constitutional monarchies, such as the United Kingdom.

text: According to Herb, in 1900 most countries of the world were controlled by monarchs, but by 1999 there existed only a few outside the eight monarchies of the Arab world. Herb argues that these Arab monarchies have persevered not because of oil money rentierism or the lack of the a middle class, but because of their "dynastic monarchy structure".

title: Democracy in the Middle East

text: Most constitutional monarchies employ a parliamentary system in which the monarch may have strictly ceremonial duties or may have reserve powers, depending on the constitution. Under most modern constitutional monarchies there is also a prime minister who is the head of government and exercises effective political power. The Middle Eastern countries with Constitutional monarchies are generally considered democratic. For example: Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, and Bahrain are considered constitutional monarchies.

title: Popular democracy

text: In 1969 Muammar al-Gaddafi overthrew the pro-western monarchy and created a system he claimed to be a popular democracy.

title: Representative democracy

text: Globally, a majority of the world's people live in representative democracies including constitutional monarchies and republics with strong representative branches.

title: Hozumi Yatsuka

text: In his analysis of the state Hozumi speaks of "kokutai" and "seitai." The general and also broad meaning of "kokutai" has already been discussed in the previous paragraph. Hozumi defines "kokutai" anew. He gives "kokutai" a specific legal meaning without stripping it of its historical and ethical connotations. For Hozumi "kokutai" refers to the locus of sovereignty. Two forms of "kokutai" are important: monarchy and democracy. In a monarchy the locus of sovereignty lies in the monarch and in a democracy in the people.

title: John Cotton (minister)

text: The New England response to the assembly was Cotton's book "The Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven" published in 1644. It was Cotton's attempt to persuade the assembly to adopt the Congregational way of church polity in England, endorsed by English ministers Thomas Goodwin and Philip Nye. In it, Cotton reveals some of his thoughts on state governance. "Democracy I do not conceive that ever God did ordain as a fit government either for church or commonwealth." Despite these views against democracy, congregationalism later became important in the democratization of the English colonies in North America. This work on church polity had no effect on the view of most Presbyterians, but it did change the stance of Presbyterian John Owen who later became a leader of the independent party at the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660. Owen had earlier been selected by Oliver Cromwell to be the vice-chancellor of Oxford.

title: Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee

text: In his Lectures, Tytler expressed a critical view of democracy in general and representative democracies such as republics in particular. He believed that "a pure democracy is a chimera", and that "All government is essentially of the nature of a monarchy".

title: Hans-Hermann Hoppe

text:
According to Hoppe, four years before the publication of "Democracy", Alberto Benegas Lynch, Jr. criticized Hoppe's thesis that monarchy is preferable to democracy.
A Professor of Economics at the University of Buenos Aires, Benegas Lynch provided empirical evidence demonstrating that modern monarchies tend to be far poorer than modern democracies. In reply, Hoppe stated that as a Misesian economist, he believes that economic theories cannot be "established or refuted by historical data." Hoppe also cited the work of scientist J. Phillipe Rushton to argue that the data are misleading because many modern monarchies are composed of "Negroid" people . According to Hoppe, "since Caucasians have, on the average, a significantly lower degree of time preference than Negroids, any comparison [between African monarchies and Western democracies] would amount to a systematic distortion of the evidence." Regardless, Hoppe argues that these data would otherwise systemically favor his case, "and if anything I have erred - though unavoidably so - on the side of democracy."

title: Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

text:
Palmerston has traditionally been viewed as "a Conservative at home and a Liberal abroad". He believed that the British constitution as secured by the Glorious Revolution of 1688 was the best which human hands had made, with a constitutional monarchy subject to the laws of the land but retaining some political power. He supported the rule of law and opposed further democratisation after the Reform Act 1832. He wished to see this liberal system of a mixed constitution in-between the two extremes of absolute monarchy and republican democracy replace the absolute monarchies on the Continent. More recently some historians have seen his domestic policies as Prime Minister as not merely liberal but genuinely progressive by the standards of his era.
However, it is in foreign affairs that Palmerston is chiefly remembered. Palmerston's principal aim in foreign policy was to advance the national interests of England. Palmerston is famous for his patriotism. Lord John Russell said that "his heart always beat for the honour of England". Palmerston believed it was in Britain's interests that liberal governments be established on the Continent. He also practised brinkmanship and bluff in that he was prepared to threaten war to achieve Britain's interests.

title: Francisco Franco

text: Franco died in 1975 at the age of 82. He restored the monarchy before his death, which made King Juan Carlos I his successor, who led the Spanish transition to democracy. After a referendum, a new constitution was adopted, which transformed Spain into a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy.

title: Constitutional monarchy

text: The country to move from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy was Bhutan, between 2007 and 2008 "(see Politics of Bhutan, Constitution of Bhutan and Bhutanese democracy)".

title: Democracy: The God That Failed

text: Hoppe characterizes democracy as "publicly owned government", which he compares to monarchy—"privately owned government"—to conclude that the latter is preferable; however, Hoppe aims to show that both monarchy and democracy are deficient systems compared to his preferred structure to advance civilization—what he calls the natural order, a system free of both taxation and coercive monopoly in which jurisdictions freely compete for adherents. In his Introduction, he lists other names used elsewhere to refer to the same thing, including "ordered anarchy", "private property anarchism", "anarcho-capitalism", "autogovernment", "private law society", and "pure capitalism".

title: John Aylmer (bishop)

text: Aylmer nevertheless described England as not "a mere monarchy, as some for lack of consideration think, nor a mere oligarchy, nor democracy, but a rule mixed of all these." He goes on to say that in the mixed state, "each one of these have or should have like authority." He argued that in the king-in-Parliament, or, in Elizabeth's case, the queen-in-Parliament, was not the "image" of a mixed state "but the thing in deed." It was in Parliament that one found the three estates: "the king or queen, which representeth the monarchy; the noble men which be the aristocracy; and the burgesses and knights the democracy." As he says, "In like manner, "if" the Parliament use their privileges: the king can ordain nothing without them." Parliamentary restraint of a queen's feminine vices would, according to Aylmer, ameliorate the disadvantages of female monarchy.

title: Willoughbyland

text: Yet the colony had already reached its zenith. The 1660 Restoration of the Monarchy in England triggered a series of disasters in Willoughbyland. The colony's elected governor, William Byam, described by Aphra Behn as ‘the most fawning fair-tongu’d fellow in the world ... not fit to be mentioned with the worst of slaves’, used the return of the king to declare himself permanent governor. As he later explained: "Here democracy fell, by the loyal concessions to monarchy." Scheduled elections were cancelled as a ‘needlesse and unnecessary Charge and Trouble to the inhabitants’. There were fierce protests and Byam started locking up or expelling his critics. Soon the colony had descended into angry factionalism.

title: Criticism of democracy

text: Critics of democracy have tried to highlight democracy's inconsistencies, paradoxes, and limits by contrasting it with other forms of governments. They have characterized most modern democracies as democratic polyarchies and democratic aristocracies; they have identified fascist moments in modern democracies; they have termed the societies produced by modern democracies as neo-feudal; while, yet others, have contrasted democracy with Nazism, anarcho-capitalism, theocracy, and absolute monarchy.

title: Monarchy

text: In the Western political tradition, a morally-based, "balanced" monarchy is stressed as the ideal form of government, and little reverence is paid to modern-day ideals of egalitarian democracy: e.g. Saint Thomas Aquinas unapologetically declares: "Tyranny is wont to occur not less but more frequently on the basis of polyarchy [rule by many, i.e. oligarchy or democracy] than on the basis of monarchy." ("On Kingship"). However, Thomas Aquinas also stated that the ideal monarchical system would also have at lower levels of government both an aristocracy and elements of democracy in order to create a balance of power. The monarch would also be subject to both natural and divine law, as well, and also be subject to the Church in matters of religion.

title: History of democracy

text: Nevertheless, the direct result of these institutions was not always a democracy. It was often a narrow oligarchy, as in Venice, or even an absolute monarchy, as in Florence, in the Renaissance period; but during the medieval period guild democracies did evolve.

title: Criticism of democracy

text: Machiavelli put the idea that democracies will tend to cater to the whims of the people, who follow false ideas to entertain themselves, squander their reserves, and do not deal with potential threats to their rule until it is too late. He put forth a cyclical theory of government where monarchies tend to decay into aristocracies, which then decay into democracies, which subsequently decay into anarchy, then tyranny, then return to monarchy. An example is the timeline of France before, during, and after the Revolution until the last Bourbon Monarch.

title: Upper Canada

text: Upper Canada's constitution was said to be "the very image and transcript" of the British constitution, and based on the principal of "mixed monarchy" – a balance of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy.

title: History of Tunisia

text: Aristotle (384–322, Greek) discusses Carthage in his "Politica" describing the city as a "mixed constitution", a political arrangement with cohabiting elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Later Polybus of Megalopolis (c.204–122, Greek) in his "Histories" would describe the Roman Republic as a mixed constitution in which the Consuls were the monarchy, the Senate the aristocracy, and the Assemblies the democracy.

text: All in the Family: Absolutism, Revolution, and Democracy in the Middle Eastern Monarchies is a book by Michael Herb published in 1999. The book's central thesis is that Arab monarchies continue to be stable because numerous members of the royal family are given important positions in the government bureaucracy.

title: Kyklos

text: According to Polybius, who has the most fully developed version of the cycle, it rotates through the three basic forms of government, democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy and the three degenerate forms of each of these governments ochlocracy, oligarchy, and tyranny. Originally society is in ochlocracy but the strongest figure emerges and sets up a monarchy. The monarch's descendants, who because of their family's power lack virtue, become despots and the monarchy degenerates into a tyranny. Because of the excesses of the ruler the tyranny is overthrown by the leading citizens of the state who set up an aristocracy. They too quickly forget about virtue and the state becomes an oligarchy. These oligarchs are overthrown by the people who set up a democracy. Democracy soon becomes corrupt and degenerates into ochlocracy, beginning the cycle anew.

title: List of liberal theorists

text: He begins with the idea that the best government provides an active and "happy" life for its people. Aristotle then considers six forms of government: Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Polity on one side as 'good' forms of government, and Tyranny, Oligarchy, and Democracy as 'bad' forms. Considering each in turn, Aristotle rejects Monarchy as infantilizing of citizens, Oligarchy as too profit-motivated, Tyranny as against the will of the people, Democracy as serving only to the poor, and Aristocracy (known today as Meritocracy) as ideal but ultimately impossible. Aristotle finally concludes that a polity—a combination between democracy and oligarchy, where most can vote but must choose among the rich and virtuous for governors—is the best compromise between idealism and realism.


query: At what age is circumcision typically performed in the Jewish tradition?

title: Religious male circumcision

text: Subject to overriding medical considerations, the circumcision must take place eight days after the birth of the child, even when this falls on Shabbat.[32] The child must be medically fit for a circumcision to be performed, and Jewish law prohibits parents having their son circumcised if medical doctors hold that the procedure may unduly threaten the child's health (e.g. because of hemophilia). If by reason of the child's debility or sickness the ceremony is postponed, it cannot take place on Shabbat.[33]

text: The film follows Bolnick as he travels across North America, conducting bris ceremonies, which are held eight days after a Jewish boy is born. Amid the ceremony, the child is officially introduced to relatives and associates, his name is announced, and, as a sign of the continued covenant between God and Abraham, he is circumcised. The film discusses the importance of Jewish circumcision on a theoretical and personal level, and demonstrates how the practice has been adapted for modern times. Bolnick speaks openly about related subject matter from pain, to errors, to old and tired circumcision jokes, while parents explain the meaning behind the tradition that dates back hundreds of years.

title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: The circumcision controversy in early Christianity was resolved in the 1st century, so that non-Jewish Christians were not obliged to be circumcised. Saint Paul, the leading proponent of this position, discouraged circumcision as a qualification for conversion to Christianity. Circumcision soon became rare in most of the Christian world, except the Coptic Church of Egypt (where circumcision was a tradition dating to pre-Christian times) and for Judeo-Christians. Perhaps for this reason, the subject of the circumcision of Christ was extremely rare in Christian art of the 1st millennium, and there appear to be no surviving examples until the very end of the period, although literary references suggest it was sometimes depicted.

title: Religious male circumcision

text: It is the duty of the father to have his child circumcised; and if he fails in this, the beth din of the city must see that the rite is performed.[34] According to traditional Jewish law, in the absence of a grown free Jewish male expert, a woman, a slave, or a child, that has the required skills, is also authorized to perform the circumcision, provided that she or he is Jewish.[35] However, most streams of non-Orthodox Judaism allow female mohels, called mohalot (Hebrew: מוֹהֲלוֹת, plural of מוֹהֶלֶת mohelet, feminine of mohel), without restriction. In 1984, Deborah Cohen became the first certified Reform mohelet; she was certified by the Berit Mila program of Reform Judaism.[36]

title: Religious male circumcision

text: Whereas Jewish circumcision is closely bound by ritual timing and tradition, in Islam there is no fixed age for circumcision. The age when boys get circumcised, and the procedures used, tend to change across cultures, families, and time. In some Muslim-majority countries, circumcision is performed on Muslim boys after they have learned to recite the whole Quran from start to finish.[75] In Malaysia and other regions, the boy usually undergoes the operation between the ages of ten and twelve, and is thus a puberty rite, serving to introduce him into the new status of an adult.[76] The procedure is sometimes semi-public, accompanied with music, special foods, and much festivity.[76]

title: Circumcision

text:
According to traditional Jewish law, in the absence of an adult free Jewish male expert, a woman, a slave, or a child who has the required skills is also authorized to perform the circumcision, provided that they are Jewish. However, most streams of non-Orthodox Judaism allow female mohels, called "mohalot" (, the plural of "mohelet", feminine of "mohel"), without restriction. In 1984 Deborah Cohen became the first certified Reform mohelet; she was certified by the Berit Mila program of Reform Judaism.
Some contemporary Jews in the United States choose not to circumcise their sons. They are assisted by a small number of Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis, and have developed a welcoming ceremony that they call the "brit shalom" ("Covenant [of] Peace") for such children, also accepted by Humanistic Judaism.

title: Religious male circumcision

text: Around 140 CE Rabbinic Judaism made its circumcision requirements stricter.[14][15] Jewish circumcision includes the removal of the inner preputial epithelium, in a procedure that is called priah(Hebrew: פריעה), which means: 'uncovering'. This epithelium is also removed on modern medical circumcisions,[16] to prevent post operative penile adhesion and its complications.[17] According to rabbinic interpretation of the traditional Jewish sources, the periah has been performed, as part of Jewish circumcision, since the Israelites first inhabited the Land of Israel,[18] and without it the mitzvah isn't performed at all.[19] However, the editors of the Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, note that periah was probably added by the rabbis, in order to "prevent the possibility of obliterating the traces of circumcision".[20] Jewish law states that circumcision is a mitzva aseh ("positive commandment" to perform an act) and is obligatory for Jewish-born males and for non-circumcised Jewish male converts. It is only postponed or abrogated in the case of threat to the life or health of the child.[10] It is usually performed by a mohel on the eighth day of life in a ceremony called a brit milah (or bris milah, colloquially simply bris), which means "Covenant of circumcision" in Hebrew. According to Jewish law, the foreskin should be buried after a brit milah.[21] The rite is considered of such importance that in Orthodox communities, the body of an uncircumcised Jewish male will sometimes be circumcised before burial.[22] Although 19th century Reform leaders described it as "barbaric", the practice of circumcision "remained a central rite"[23] and the Union for Reform Judaism has, since 1984, trained and certified over 300 practicing mohels under its "Berit Mila Program".[24] Humanistic Judaism argues that "circumcision is not required for Jewish identity."[25]

title: Prevalence of circumcision

text: Circumcision is largely a modern-day phenomenon in South Korea. While the rate in the twentieth century has been nearing 80%, virtually no circumcision was performed just a century ago, as it was against Korea's long and strong tradition of preserving the body as a gift from parents. A 2001 study of 20-year-old South Korean men found that 78% were circumcised. At the time, the authors commented that "South Korea has possibly the largest absolute number of teenage or adult circumcisions anywhere in the world. Because circumcision started through contact with the American military during the Korean War, South Korea has an unusual history of circumcision." According to a 2002 study, 86.3% of South Korean males aged 14–29 were circumcised. In 2012, it's the case of 75.8% of the same age group. Only after 1999 has some information against circumcision become available (at the time of the 2012 study, only 3% of Korean internet sites, using the most popular Korean search engine Naver, are against indiscriminate circumcision and 97% are for). The authors of the study speculate "that the very existence of information about the history of Korean circumcision, its contrary nature relative to a longstanding tradition, its introduction by the US military, etc., has been extremely influential on the decision-making process regarding circumcision."

title: Religious male circumcision

text: Contact with Greek polytheistic culture, especially at the games of the arena, made this distinction obnoxious to Jewish Hellenists seeking to assimilate into Greek culture. The consequence was their attempt to appear like the Greeks by epispasm ("making themselves foreskins"; ; Josephus, 5, § 1; Assumption of Moses, viii.; ;, Tosef.; Talmud tractes Shabbat xv. 9; Yevamot 72a, b; Yerushalmi Peah i. 16b; Yevamot viii. 9a). records that after King Antiochus effectively banned traditional Jewish religious practice, including circumcision, the Maccabean rebels "forcibly circumcised all the uncircumcised boys they found within the borders of Israel." Circumcision was again banned by Emperor Hadrian (117-138 CE). His anti-circumcision law is considered by many to be one of the main causes of the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt (132-135).

title: Circumcision

text: The practice of circumcision is thought to have been brought to the Bantu-speaking tribes of Africa by either the Jews after one of their many expulsions from European countries, or by Muslim Moors escaping after the 1492 conquest of Spain. In the second half of the 1st millennium CE, inhabitants from the North East of Africa moved south and encountered groups from Arabia, the Middle East, and West Africa. These people moved south and formed what is known today as the Bantu. Bantu tribes were observed to be upholding what was described as Jewish law, including circumcision, in the 16th century. Circumcision and elements of Jewish dietary restrictions are still found among Bantu tribes.

title: Mohel

text: According to traditional Jewish law, in the absence of a Jewish male expert, a woman that has the required skills is also authorized to perform the circumcision, provided that she is Jewish. Non-Orthodox Judaism allows female "mohels", called "mohalot" (, plural of "mohelet", feminine of "mohel"), without restriction. In 1984, Dr. Deborah Cohen became the first certified Reform Jewish mohelet; she was certified by the Berit Mila Program of Reform Judaism.

title: Forced circumcision

text: Despite being medically circumcised, a Christian Xhosa was forcibly recircumcised by his father and community leaders in 2007. He laid a charge of unfair discrimination on the grounds of his religious beliefs, seeking an apology from his father and the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa. In the settlement that was reached, and which was made an order of the Equality Court, the Congress of Traditional Leaders accepted the right of adult males to choose whether to attend traditional circumcision schools according to their religious beliefs. It apologised for the comments made by its former chairman encouraging the ostracism of teenagers who refused to undergo traditional circumcision. The judge declared, "What is important in terms of the Constitution and law is that no one can be forced to submit to circumcision without his consent."

title: Wakatobi Regency

text:
The Karia’a customary festivity is a typical tradition of the Kaledupa community to mark the coming of age of boys through circumcision. In this festivity, boys are paraded in the village on stretchers carried collectively by 15 to 20 persons.
The pencak silat tradition is a customary tradition performed by the Kaledupa community.

title: Circumcision in Africa

text:
Circumcision in Morocco had been performed by barbers. This is now performed by medical surgeons. Circumcision of almost two-year-old at the time prince Moulay Hassan prompted thousands of other young boys to be circumcised. The procedure is considered "purification" (t'hara) by Muslims.
Nigerian culture favours circumcising baby boys when they are aged between eight to forty days. Neonatal (child) circumcision is performed on more than 85% of boys in Nigeria, Western Africa, and majority of the procedure is done by nurses (56%) and doctors (35%) with a small proportion (9%) performed by traditional practitioners (2). The reasons are cultural and religious.

title: Apostolic Age

text: Disputes over the Mosaic law generated intense controversy in early Christianity. This is particularly notable in the mid-1st century, when the circumcision controversy came to the fore. Alister McGrath stated that many of the Jewish Christians were fully faithful religious Jews, only differing in their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. As such, they believed that circumcision and other requirements of the Mosaic law were required for salvation. The increasing number of Gentile converts came under pressure from Jewish Christians to be circumcised in accordance with Abrahamic tradition. The issue was addressed at the Council of Jerusalem where Saint Paul made an argument that circumcision was not a necessary practice, vocally supported by Peter, as documented in . This position received widespread support and was summarized in a letter circulated in Antioch.

text: Moyl: The Story of a Traveling Jewish Ritual Circumciser, is a 2004 documentary film directed by Moti Krauthamer. It profiles David Bolnick, a Moyl who has performed thousands of circumcision ceremonies according to Jewish tradition.

title: Circumcision controversies

text: During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries many Jewish reformers, doctors, and physicians in Central and Eastern Europe proposed to replace circumcision with a symbolic ceremony, while others sought to ban or abolish circumcision entirely, as it was perceived as a dangerous, barbaric and pagan ritual of genital mutilation that could transmit infectious diseases to newborns. The first formal objection to circumcision within Judaism occurred in 1843 in Frankfurt. The Society for the Friends of Reform, a group that criticized traditional Jewish practices, said that brit milah was not a mitzvah but an outworn legacy from Israel's earlier phases, an obsolete throwback to primitive religion. With the expanding role of medicine came further opposition; certain aspects of Jewish circumcision such as "periah" and "metzitzah" (drawing the blood from the circumcision wound through sucking or a cloth) were deemed unhygienic and dangerous for the newborns. Later evidence that syphilis and tuberculosis – two of the most feared infectious diseases in the 19th century – were spread by mohels, caused various rabbis to advocate "metzitzah" to be done using a sponge or a tube. Among the secular, non-observant Jews that chose to not circumcise their sons and keep them intact there was also Theodor Herzl.

title: Brit milah

text: A mohel is a Jew trained in the practice of "brit milah", the "covenant of circumcision." According to traditional Jewish law, in the absence of a grown free Jewish male expert, anyone who has the required skills is also authorized to perform the circumcision, provided that they are Jewish. However, most streams of non-Orthodox Judaism allow female mohels, called "mohalot" (, plural of "mohelet", feminine of "mohel"), without restriction. In 1984, Deborah Cohen became the first certified Reform mohelet; she was certified by the Berit Mila program of Reform Judaism.

title: Ethics of circumcision

text:
"Physicians who counsel families about this decision should assist parents by objectively explaining the potential benefits and risks of circumcising their infant. Because some families may opt to circumcise as part of religious or traditional practice, discussion should also encompass risks and benefits of having a medical professional perform this procedure in a clinical setting versus having it performed by a traditional/religious provider in a nonmedical environment."
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) position statement on male circumcision (2012) has attracted significant critical comment.

title: Eastern Cape

text: The Eastern Cape is known for its traditional black initiation schools, which perform coming-of-age ceremonies involving circumcision and bushwhacking. These annually lead to the deaths of teenage males due to botched circumcisions, sepsis, pneumonia and hypothermia.

title: Khitan (circumcision)

text: Whereas Jewish circumcision is closely bound by ritual timing and tradition, in Islam there is no fixed age for circumcision. The age when boys get circumcised, and the procedures used, tend to change across cultures, families, and time. In some Muslim-majority countries, circumcision is performed on Muslim boys after they have learned to recite the whole Qur'an from start to finish. In Malaysia and other regions, the boy usually undergoes the operation between the ages of ten and twelve, and is thus a puberty rite, serving to introduce him into the new status of an adult. The procedure is sometimes semi-public, accompanied with music, special foods, and much festivity.

title: Circumcision

text:
Alexander the Great conquered the Middle East in the 4th century BCE, and in the following centuries ancient Greek cultures and values came to the Middle East. The Greeks abhorred circumcision, making life for circumcised Jews living among the Greeks (and later the Romans) very difficult. Antiochus Epiphanes outlawed circumcision, as did Hadrian, which helped cause the Bar Kokhba revolt. During this period in history, Jewish circumcision called for the removal of only a part of the prepuce, and some Hellenized Jews attempted to look uncircumcised by stretching the extant parts of their foreskins. This was considered by the Jewish leaders to be a serious problem, and during the 2nd century CE they changed the requirements of Jewish circumcision to call for the complete removal of the foreskin, emphasizing the Jewish view of circumcision as intended to be not just the fulfillment of a Biblical commandment but also an essential and permanent mark of membership in a people.
A narrative in the Christian Gospel of Luke makes a brief mention of the circumcision of Jesus, but the subject of physical circumcision itself is not part of the received teachings of Jesus. Paul the Apostle reinterpreted circumcision as a spiritual concept, arguing the physical one to be unnecessary for Gentile converts to Christianity. The teaching that physical circumcision was unnecessary for membership in a divine covenant was instrumental in the separation of Christianity from Judaism. Although it is not explicitly mentioned in the Quran (early 7th century CE), circumcision is considered essential to Islam, and it is nearly universally performed among Muslims. The practice of circumcision spread across the Middle East, North Africa, and Southern Europe with Islam.

title: Circumcision and law

text: The Children's Act 2005 makes the circumcision of male children under 16 unlawful except for religious or medical reasons. In the Eastern Cape province the Application of Health Standards in Traditional Circumcision Act, 2001, regulates traditional circumcision, which causes the death or mutilation of many youths by traditional surgeons each year. Among other provisions, the minimum age for circumcision is age 18.

title: Circumcision controversies

text: The Jewish and Islamic traditions both see circumcision as a way to distinguish a group from its neighbours. The Bible records "uncircumcised" being used as a derogatory reference for opponents and Jewish victory in battle that culminated in mass post-mortem circumcision, to provide an account of the number of enemy casualties. Jews were also required to circumcise all household members, including slaves – a practice that would later put them into collision with Roman and Christian law (see below).

title: Tuli (rite)

text: According to the United Nations World Health Organisation: "In the Philippines, where circumcision is almost universal and typically occurs at age 10–14 years, a survey of boys found strong evidence of social determinants, with two thirds of boys choosing to be circumcised simply “to avoid being uncircumcised”, and 41% stating that it was “part of the tradition”

title: History of male circumcision

text: Circumcision has ancient roots among several ethnic groups in sub-equatorial Africa, and is still performed on adolescent boys to symbolize their transition to warrior status or adulthood. In Judaism, circumcision has traditionally been practised among males on the eighth day after birth. Male circumcision and/or subincision, often as part of an intricate coming of age ritual, was a common practice among Australian Aborigines and Pacific islanders at first contact with Western travellers. It is still practiced in the traditional way by a proportion of the population. According to “National Hospital Discharge Survey” in United States, as of 2008, the rate of circumcision of infant boys in hospitals in United States was 55.9%.

title: Jacob Snowman

text: John Cozijn and Robert Darby, who is an historian of the British circumcision movement, have suggested that the British Royal Family invited Rabbi Snowman ("rabbi" is an honorific commonly afforded to mohels) to circumcise the infant Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace most likely because of his extensive experience with circumcision, and perhaps because non-Jewish family physicians were deemed less familiar or adept with the procedure (which was widely performed on British middle- and upper-class male infants from the 1890s through the 1940s). Darby and Cozijn have cast doubt on claims, arising in the 1990s and widely reported after the birth of Prince George of Cambridge in 2013, that a Royal Family "circumcision tradition" extends back to Queen Victoria's era, or even to George I in the early 18th century, grounded in secretive Davidic or British Israelist religious tradition. It is unknown whether this putative "circumcision tradition" was continued with the birth of William in 1982, as Diana, Princess of Wales is believed to have disapproved of it.

title: Sexuality in ancient Rome

text: To Romans, castration and circumcision were linked as barbaric mutilations of the male genitalia. When the cult of Cybele was imported to Rome at the end of the 3rd century BC, its traditional eunuchism was confined to foreign priests (the "Galli)", while Roman citizens formed sodalities to perform honors in keeping with their own customs. It has been argued that the Apostle Paul's exhortation of the Galatians not to undergo circumcision should be understood not only in the context of Jewish circumcision, but also of the ritual castration associated with Cybele, whose cult was centered in Galatia. Among Jews, circumcision was a marker of the Covenant; diaspora Jews circumcised their male slaves and adult male converts, in addition to Jewish male infants. Although Greco-Roman writers view circumcision as an identifying characteristic of Jews, they believed the practice to have originated in Egypt, and recorded it among peoples they identified as Arab, Syrian, Phoenician, Colchian, and Ethiopian. The Neoplatonic philosopher Sallustius associates circumcision with the strange familial–sexual customs of the Massagetae who "eat their fathers" and of the Persians who "preserve their nobility by begetting children on their mothers".

title: Circumcision

text: Although there is some debate within Islam over whether it is a religious requirement, circumcision (called "khitan") is practiced nearly universally by Muslim males. Islam bases its practice of circumcision on the Genesis 17 narrative, the same Biblical chapter referred to by Jews. The procedure is not explicitly mentioned in the Quran, however, it is a tradition established by Islam's prophet Muhammad directly (following Abraham), and so its practice is considered a "sunnah" (prophet's tradition) and is very important in Islam. For Muslims, circumcision is also a matter of cleanliness, purification and control over one's baser self ("nafs"). There is no agreement across the many Islamic communities about the age at which circumcision should be performed. It may be done from soon after birth up to about age 15; most often it is performed at around six to seven years of age. The timing can correspond with the boy's completion of his recitation of the whole Quran, with a coming-of-age event such as taking on the responsibility of daily prayer or betrothal. Circumcision may be celebrated with an associated family or community event. Circumcision is recommended for, but is not required of, converts to Islam.

title: Circumcision

text: Circumcision is very important to most branches of Judaism, with over 90% of male adherents having the procedure performed as a religious obligation. The basis for its observance is found in the Torah of the Hebrew Bible, in Genesis chapter 17, in which a covenant of circumcision is made with Abraham and his descendants. Jewish circumcision is part of the "brit milah" ritual, to be performed by a specialist ritual circumciser, a "mohel", on the eighth day of a newborn son's life, with certain exceptions for poor health. Jewish law requires that the circumcision leaves the glans bare when the penis is flaccid. Converts to Conservative and Orthodox Judaism must also be circumcised; those who are already circumcised undergo a symbolic circumcision ritual. Circumcision is not required by Judaism for one to be considered Jewish, but some adherents foresee serious negative spiritual consequences if it is neglected.

title: Circumcision and law

text:
Swedish Jews and Muslims objected to the law, and in 2001, the World Jewish Congress called it "the first legal restriction on Jewish religious practice in Europe since the Nazi era." The requirement for an anaesthetic to be administered by a medical professional is a major issue, and the low degree of availability of certified professionals willing to conduct circumcision has also been subject to criticism. According to a survey, two out of three paediatric surgeons said they refuse to perform non-therapeutic circumcision, and less than half of all county councils offer it in their hospitals. However, in 2006, the U.S. State Department stated, in a report on Sweden, that most Jewish mohels had been certified under the law and 3000 Muslim and 40–50 Jewish boys were circumcised each
year. An estimated 2000 of these are performed by persons who are neither physicians nor have officially recognised certification.


query: What does Hispanic mean?

title: Hispanic

text: The term Hispanic (Spanish: hispano or hispánico) broadly refers to the people, nations, and cultures that have a historical link to the Spanish language or the country of Spain, depending on the context.

title: What Does Anything Mean? Basically

text: "What Does Anything Mean? Basically" was released 1 October 1985 on record label Statik.

title: Picaresque novel

text: The word "pícaro" first starts to appear in Spain with the current meaning in 1545, though at the time it had no association with literature. The word "pícaro" does not appear in "Lazarillo de Tormes" (1554), the novella credited by modern scholars with founding the genre. The expression "picaresque novel" was coined in 1810. Whether it has any validity at all as a generic label in the Spanish sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—Cervantes certainly used "picaresque" with a different meaning than it has today—has been called into question. There is unresolved debate within Hispanic studies about what the term means, or meant, and which works were, or should be, so called. The only work clearly called "picaresque" by its contemporaries was Mateo Alemán's "Guzmán de Alfarache" (1599), which to them was the "Libro del pícaro" (The Book of the Pícaro).

title: What Does Anything Mean? Basically

text: "What Does Anything Mean? Basically" has been generally well received by critics.

title: Kent Bach

text: In his paper, "Content Ex Machina" Bach argues against over-interpreting what he labels the "contextualist platitude" which he defines as: “Generally what a speaker means in uttering a sentence, even if the sentence is devoid of ambiguity, vagueness, or indexicality, goes beyond what the sentence means.” Bach asserts that context does not establish meaning but is merely one of several conversational principles. He states that “context does not determine (in the sense of constitute), but merely enables the hearer to determine (in the sense of ascertain) what the speaker means.” Context provides constraints on what a speaker can reasonably mean and on what a hearer can reasonably interpret a speaker to mean. “contextualist platitude” does not preclude the “older picture of language and communication” and “a fairly standard semantic-pragmatic distinction.” Pragmatic considerations and context do not contribute to the content of what is said. Bach admits that there is meaning in utterances beyond the semantic content of a sentence, but he maintains that context does not determine speaker meaning but rather constrains how a speaker can expect to be understood and helps the hearer understand what is said. “We need the level of locutionary act and, correlatively, a strict, semantic notion of what is said in order to account for (the content of) what a speaker does in uttering a sentence independently of whatever communicative intention (if any) he has in uttering it and regardless of how the content of that intention may depart from the semantic content of the sentence.”

title: Tsvi Misinai

text: To this end, he argues it is imperative that the majority of Palestinians reclaim their ethnic Hebrew heritage, although he states that this does not mean reverting to Judaism (neither de-Islamization for Palestinian Muslims, nor de-Christianization for Palestinian Christians, etc.), nor does it mean cultural de-Arabization. Instead, it means the adoption of a national consciousness that acknowledges a common Hebrew origin that embraces all those of such a descent, no matter what their current religion, be they Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or Samaritan, and no matter what their culture.

title: Rozzano Locsin

text: Nurses use and encounter technology in nearly every aspect of their profession. What does it mean to be technologically competent? What does it mean to be a caring nurse? How does technology support nursing work? How does it hinder nursing work? How can nurses care for their patients as technological advancements are introduced nearly every day? "Technological Competency as Caring in Nursing: A Model for Practice" provides insight and answers into how nurses can express their nursing by being technologically competent. As such, Locsin sustains the understanding that being technological competent is being caring.

title: Marcel Danesi

text: His works typically offer readers an approachable invitation to the use of semiotics to help explain everyday phenomena. For instance, his book "Quest for Meaning: A Guide to Semiotic Theory and Practice" provides readers with a simple three-fold way of considering semiotic inquiry as trying to answer "What does it Mean? How does it convey meaning? And Why does it mean what it means?"

title: Differentiable manifold

text: Suppose "M" and "N" are two differentiable manifolds with dimensions "m" and "n", respectively, and "f" is a function from "M" to "N". Since differentiable manifolds are topological spaces we know what it means for "f" to be continuous. But what does ""f" is " mean for ? We know what that means when "f" is a function between Euclidean spaces, so if we compose "f" with a chart of "M" and a chart of "N" such that we get a map that goes from Euclidean space to "M" to "N" to Euclidean space we know what it means for that map to be . We define ""f" is " to mean that all such compositions of "f" with charts are . Once again, the chain rule guarantees that the idea of differentiability does not depend on which charts of the atlases on "M" and "N" are selected. However, defining the derivative itself is more subtle. If "M" or "N" is itself already a Euclidean space, then we don't need a chart to map it to one.

title: Adam Cost

text:
When asked in 1993 by a "The New York Times" Style reporter what it all meant, Cost said, "If you could give us [Cost and Revs] the meaning of life, I’d give you the meaning of us." At that time the posters included a phone number; those who called heard a woman's recorded voice repeat their questions back to them: "My intuition tells me that you're asking yourselves who are Revs and Cost and what are they doing? What is it? What does it mean? What does it mean? What does it mean?"
Cost and Revs continued to write in New York City with impunity, highly visible examples of the graffiti that Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was determined to eradicate. One letter writer called Cost "probably the worst graffiti vandal in the history of New York."

title: Cognitive semantics

text: As a field, semantics is interested in three big questions: what does it mean for units of language, called lexemes, to have "meaning"? What does it mean for sentences to have meaning? Finally, how is it that meaningful units fit together to compose complete sentences? These are the main points of inquiry behind studies into lexical semantics, structural semantics, and theories of compositionality (respectively). In each category, traditional theories seem to be at odds with those accounts provided by cognitive semanticists.

title: Hispanic (disambiguation)

text: Hispanic means "of or from Spain". The term is commonly used to refer to the people and languages of what is now Spain from the historic period during the Roman Empire.

title: Comedy of menace

text:
GUS: Light what?
BEN: The kettle.
GUS: You mean the gas.
BEN: Who does?
GUS: You do.
BEN: ("his eyes narrowing"): What do you mean, I mean the gas?
GUS: Well, that's what you mean, don't you? The gas.
BEN: ("Powerfully"): If I say go and light the kettle I mean go and light the kettle.
GUS: How can you light a kettle?
BEN: It's a figure of speech! Light the kettle. It's a figure of speech! (Qtd. in Billington 90–91)

title: Annabel Port

text:
"Chorus"
Oh what does it mean when the pubs are all packed at five-thirty?
Oh what does it mean when we're all having fish for our tea?
Oh what does it mean when Top of the Pops is on the telly?
Oh yes, the weekend's nearly here;
So sing along with meeee-ee hee hee...

title: Oralia Garza de Cortes

text: Books for Hispanic Heritage Month – 08/01/2005 – It is a joy to prepare for Hispanic Heritage Month this September knowing that there are plenty of Spanish-language and bilingual titles to honor the breadth of culture and experience included in what it means to be Hispanic.

title: Noel Gallagher

text: Though naturally left-handed, Gallagher plays guitar right-handed, which he claims is the only thing he can do with his non-dominant hand. Gallagher has said he sometimes does not understand his own lyrics, commenting in 2005 that "when I'm halfway through "Don't Look Back in Anger" I say to myself 'I still don't know what these words mean!'". By 2017, Gallagher reflected "There is a bit of truth in that statement. Like the bit in "Champagne Supernova" about slowly walking down the hall faster than a cannonball. What does that mean? And the answer is, I don't know what it means. I don't care what it means. It must mean something, though, because I play it to a sea of people every night and they seem to understand it. That's all that matters, I guess." Gallagher has stated he is dyslexic, which slows down the process of his songwriting, and that he can neither read nor write music.

title: What Does Anything Mean? Basically

text: "What Does Anything Mean? Basically" was recorded in January 1985 at Highland Studios in Inverness, Scotland.

title: Two Dogmas of Empiricism

text: Paul Grice and P. F. Strawson criticized "Two Dogmas" in their (1956) article "In Defense of a Dogma". Among other things, they argue that Quine's skepticism about synonyms leads to a skepticism about meaning. If statements can have meanings, then it would make sense to ask "What does it mean?". If it makes sense to ask "What does it mean?", then synonymy can be defined as follows: Two sentences are synonymous if and only if the true answer of the question "What does it mean?" asked of one of them is the true answer to the same question asked of the other. They also draw the conclusion that discussion about correct or incorrect translations would be impossible given Quine's argument. Four years after Grice and Strawson published their paper, Quine's book "Word and Object" was released. In the book Quine presented his theory of indeterminacy of translation.

title: Analytic–synthetic distinction

text: Paul Grice and P. F. Strawson criticized "Two Dogmas" in their 1956 article "In Defense of a Dogma". Among other things, they argue that Quine's skepticism about synonyms leads to a skepticism about meaning. If statements can have meanings, then it would make sense to ask "What does it mean?". If it makes sense to ask "What does it mean?", then synonymy can be defined as follows: Two sentences are synonymous if and only if the true answer of the question "What does it mean?" asked of one of them is the true answer to the same question asked of the other. They also draw the conclusion that discussion about correct or incorrect translations would be impossible given Quine's argument. Four years after Grice and Strawson published their paper, Quine's book "Word and Object" was released. In the book Quine presented his theory of indeterminacy of translation.

title: Noncommissioned officer's creed

text:
So, what does this mean to me as an NCO?
What this means is, I as an NCO will continually seek to better myself by going to my career schooling and absorbing what I learn from my senior NCO's, it means that I will lead to the best of my abilities and treat all soldiers with respect, courteousness and fairness.

title: Rhetorical situation

text: In essence, Vatz claims that the definitive elements of rhetorical efforts are the struggle to create for a chosen audience saliences or agendas, and this creation is then followed by the struggle to infuse the selected situation or facts with meaning or significance. What are we persuaded to talk about? What are we persuaded it means or signifies? These questions are prior to: What does the situation make us talk about? or, What does it intrinsically mean?

title: What Does Anything Mean? Basically

text: What Does Anything Mean? Basically is the second studio album by English post-punk band the Chameleons. It was recorded in January 1985 and released 1 October 1985 by record label Statik.

title: Steve King

text: In July 2015, referencing HUD secretary Julian Castro's remarks on how poorly the Republican Party was doing with Hispanic voters, King responded, "What does Julian Castro know? Does he know that I'm as Hispanic and Latino as he?" King is neither Hispanic nor Latino by either family history or ethnic definition.

title: Metaphysics

text: Identity is a fundamental metaphysical issue. Metaphysicians investigating identity are tasked with the question of what, exactly, it means for something to be identical to itself, or — more controversially — to something else. Issues of identity arise in the context of time: what does it mean for something to be itself across two moments in time? How do we account for this? Another question of identity arises when we ask what our criteria ought to be for determining identity? And how does the reality of identity interface with linguistic expressions?

title: P.S.K. What Does It Mean?

text: "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" (also written as "P.S.K. (What Does It Mean?)") is a song released in 1985 by Philadelphia rapper Schoolly D on his independent label Schoolly D Records. P.S.K. is the abbreviation for Park Side Killas, a street gang with which Schoolly D was affiliated. The highly influential song is considered the first hardcore rap song and features incidents of graphic sex, gunplay, drug references and one of the first uses of the word "nigga" in a rap song (earlier uses include "Scoopy Rap" and "Family Rap" in 1979, and "New York New York" in 1983).

title: Sherman Alexie

text: Alexie's poetry, short stories and novels explore themes of despair, poverty, violence and alcoholism among the lives of Native American people, both on and off the reservation. They are lightened by wit and humor. According to Sarah A. Quirk from the "Dictionary of Library Biography," Alexie asks three questions across all of his works: "What does it mean to live as an Indian in this time? What does it mean to be an Indian man? Finally, what does it mean to live on an Indian reservation?" The protagonists in most of his literary works exhibit a constant struggle with themselves and their own sense of powerlessness in white American society.

title: What Is to Be Done?

text: Lih argues that "even if we examine the controversial passages in "What is to be Done?" we misunderstand them if we are not alive to the meanings of the words used. Some of these have been translated in such a way as to confuse or even to draw readers to the opposite of what Lenin’s real views were". Therefore, Lih argues, the word спонтанность, when translated as "spontaneity", distorts his views and has different contextual connotations; how конспирация does not mean "conspiracy", but "the rules and procedures needed for an underground organisation to survive"; тред-юнионизм does not mean "trade unionism", but non-revolutionary "only trade unionism"; and революционер по профессии should not be translated as "professional revolutionary".

title: Megha Ramaswamy

text: "Newborns" is a short film that attempts to provide a lens to the survivors of acid violence, to look forward and gaze back. The film takes us through the ennui of their domestic and public spaces in a nameless dystopian city, its factories, houses and motels, and its promises, never honoured. Through the film, Laxmi Agarwal and her friends, human rights activists and a survivors of acid violence, gaze back at us, as we contemplate together the meaning of memory and loss. What does beauty mean to survivors of acid violence? What does beauty mean to people in their environment? How do the two world-views interact? What do concepts of 'fear', 'power', 'innocence' and 'beauty' mean to us?

title: What Else Does the Time Mean?

text: What Else Does The Time Mean? is the 46th album from avant-folk/blues singer/songwriter Jandek, released by Corwood Industries (#0784). It is his third release in 2006, following January's' "Khartoum Variations" and February's live double-album "Newcastle Sunday".

title: Antonio Cañizares Llovera

text: In response to an interview in December 2008 Cardinal Cañizares Llovera stated regarding the best way to receive the Eucharist: "What does it mean to receive communion in the mouth? What does it mean to kneel before the Most Holy Sacrament? What does it mean to kneel during the consecration at Mass? It means adoration, it means recognizing the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist; it means respect and an attitude of faith of a man who prostrates before God because he knows that everything comes from Him, and we feel speechless, dumbfounded, before the wondrousness, his goodness, and his mercy. That is why it is not the same to place the hand, and to receive communion in any fashion, than doing it in a respectful way; it is not the same to receive communion kneeling or standing up, because all these signs indicate a profound meaning."

title: The Killing (Danish TV series)

text: As well as the UK, DR also sold the series to a number of other broadcasters worldwide, and "The Killing" was eventually shown in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Russia and Spain with varying degrees of success. Producer Piv Bernth described the broad appeal of the show as "groundbreaking", and explained what she believed to be the root of its popularity: "It's the first time you have a detective drama over 20 episodes – other series had one killing per episode. And we also have this three-plot structure – what does it [a murder] mean for a police investigator, what does it mean for the parents, what does it mean for the politicians. It's not just about finding the murderer. That's important, but it's not all."


query: Who rules Tibet?

title: History of Tibet (1950–present)

text: The history of Tibet from 1950 to the present started with the Chinese People's Liberation Army Invading Tibet in 1950. Before then, Tibet had declared independence from China in 1913. In 1951, the Tibetans signed a seventeen-point agreement reaffirming China's sovereignty over Tibet and providing an autonomous administration led by Dalai Lama. In 1959 the 14th Dalai Lama fled Tibet to northern India under cover where he established the Central Tibetan Administration. The Tibet Autonomous Region within China was officially established in 1965.[1]

title: Tibetan sovereignty debate

text: The Tibetan Government in Exile views current PRC rule in Tibet, including neighboring provinces outside Tibet Autonomous Region, as colonial and illegitimate, motivated solely by the natural resources and strategic value of Tibet, and in gross violation of both Tibet's historical status as an independent country and the right of Tibetan people to self-determination. It also points to PRC's autocratic policies, divide-and-rule policies, and what it contends are assimilationist policies, and regard those as an example of ongoing imperialism aimed at destroying Tibet's distinct ethnic makeup, culture, and identity, thereby cementing it as an indivisible part of China. That said, the Dalai Lama stated in 2008 that he wishes only for Tibetan autonomy, and not separation from China, under certain conditions, like freedom of speech and expression, genuine self-rule, and control over ethnic makeup and migration in all areas claimed as historical Tibet.

title: History of Tibet

text: The Qing rule over Tibet was established after a Qing expedition force defeated the Dzungars who occupied Tibet in 1720, and lasted until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912. The Qing emperors appointed imperial residents known as the Ambans to Tibet, who commanded over 2,000 troops stationed in Lhasa and reported to the Lifan Yuan, a Qing government agency that oversaw the region during this period.[59] During this era, the region was dominated by the Dalai Lamas with the support from the Qing dynasty established by the Manchus in China.

title: Sino-Tibetan relations during the Ming dynasty

text:
Historians disagree on what the relationship was between the Ming court and Tibet and whether or not Ming China had sovereignty over Tibet. Van Praag writes that Chinese court historians viewed Tibet as an independent foreign tributary and had little interest in Tibet besides a lama-patron relationship. The historian Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa supports van Praag's position. However, Wang Jiawei and Nyima Gyaincain state that these assertions by van Praag and Shakabpa are "fallacies".
Wang and Nyima argue that the Ming emperor sent edicts to Tibet twice in the second year of the Ming dynasty, and demonstrated that he viewed Tibet as a significant region to pacify by urging various Tibetan tribes to submit to the authority of the Ming court. They note that at the same time, the Mongol Prince Punala, who had inherited his position as ruler of areas of Tibet, went to Nanjing in 1371 to pay tribute and show his allegiance to the Ming court, bringing with him the seal of authority issued by the Yuan court. They also state that since successors of lamas granted the title of "prince" had to travel to the Ming court to renew this title, and since lamas called themselves princes, the Ming court therefore had "full sovereignty over Tibet." They state that the Ming dynasty, by issuing imperial edicts to invite ex-Yuan officials to the court for official positions in the early years of its founding, won submission from ex-Yuan religious and administrative leaders in the Tibetan areas, and thereby incorporated Tibetan areas into the rule of the Ming court. Thus, they conclude, the Ming court won the power to rule Tibetan areas formerly under the rule of the Yuan dynasty.

title: Chinese rule in Tibet

text: Chinese rule in Tibet may refer to:

title: Sonam Drakpa

text: Sonam Drakpa (, 1359–1408) was a regent of Central Tibet who ruled in 1381–1385. He belonged to the Phagmodrupa Dynasty, the leading regime in Tibet from 1354 to 1435.

title: History of Tibet

text: The PRC continues to portray its rule over Tibet as an unalloyed improvement, but as some foreign governments continue to make protests about aspects of PRC rule in Tibet as groups such as Human Rights Watch report alleged human rights violations. Most governments, however, recognize the PRC's sovereignty over Tibet today, and none have recognized the Government of Tibet in Exile in India.

title: Chinese expedition to Tibet (1910)

text: Qing rule of Tibet was established in the early 18th century after the 1720 Chinese expedition to Tibet, but it was essentially a protectorate rather than a direct rule. The actual rule also waned considerably with the gradual weakening of the Qing dynasty in the 19th century.

title: Patron and priest relationship

text: This concept has been used by, for example, the 13th Dalai Lama to describe the relationship between Tibetan lamas and Mongol khans or Manchu emperors of the Qing dynasty. According to this concept, in the case of Yuan rule of Tibet in the 13th and 14th centuries, Tibetan Lamas provided religious instruction; performed rites, divination and astrology, and offered the khan flattering religious titles like "protector of religion" or "religious king"; the khan (Kublai and his successors), in turn, protected and advanced the interests of the "priest" ("lama"). The lamas also made effective regents through whom the Mongols ruled Tibet. Also in the case of Qing rule of Tibet, for those who espouse the idea, the Dalai Lama and the Manchu emperor stood respectively as spiritual teacher and lay patron rather than subject and lord.

title: History of Tibet

text: Traditional Tibetan history preserves a lengthy list of rulers whose exploits become subject to external verification in the Chinese histories by the 7th century. From the 7th to the 11th century a series of emperors ruled Tibet– see List of emperors of Tibet - of whom the three most important in later religious tradition were Songtsen Gampo, Trisong Detsen and Ralpacan, "the three religious kings" (mes-dbon gsum), who were assimilated to the three protectors (rigs-gsum mgon-po), respectively Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī and Vajrapāni. Songtsen Gampo (c. 604– 650) was the first great emperor who expanded Tibet's power beyond Lhasa and the Yarlung Valley, and is traditionally credited with introducing Buddhism to Tibet.

title: Era of Fragmentation

text: The dissolution of a centralized empire allowed Tibetan peasants, dissatisfied with the political turmoil, to rebel against regional governments. These uprisings split imperial Tibet into a multitude of separate, autonomous kingdoms, each ruled by a local warlord. The warlords constantly fought for political dominance, utilizing private armies and military fortresses. Between 842 and 1247, no central authority was in control of Tibet. The period ended with the Mongol conquest of Tibet and subsequent Yuan rule of Tibet.

title: Tibet under Qing rule

text: Tibet under Qing rule refers to the Qing dynasty's rule over Tibet from 1720 to 1912. During the Qing rule of Tibet, the region was controlled by the Qing dynasty established by the Manchus in China. In the history of Tibet, Qing administrative rule was established after a Qing army defeated the Dzungars who occupied Tibet in 1720, and lasted until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, although the region retained a degree of political autonomy under the Dalai Lamas. The Qing emperors appointed imperial residents known as the Ambans to Tibet, who commanded over 2,000 troops stationed in Lhasa and reported to the Lifan Yuan, a Qing government body that oversaw the empire's frontier regions.

title: Tibetan sovereignty debate

text: It is generally agreed that China and Tibet were independent prior to the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), and that Tibet has been ruled by the People's Republic of China (PRC) since 1959. The nature of Tibet's relationship with China in the intervening period is a matter of debate. The PRC claims that Tibet has been a part of China since the Yuan dynasty. The Republic of China (ROC) claimed that "Tibet was placed under the sovereignty of China" when the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) ended the brief Nepalese rule (1788-1792) from parts of Tibet in c. 1793. The Tibetan Government in Exile claims that Tibet was an independent state until the PRC invaded Tibet in 1949/50. Some Western scholars claim that Tibet and China were ruled by the Mongols during the Yuan dynasty, that Tibet was independent during the Chinese Ming dynasty (1368–1644). and that Tibet was ruled by China or at the very least subordinate to the Qing during much of the Qing dynasty. Some Western scholars also claim that Tibet was independent from c. 1912 to 1950, although it had extremely limited international recognition.

title: Chinese expedition to Tibet (1720)

text: The Khoshut prince Güshi Khan overthrew the prince of Tsang and established the Khoshut Khanate on the Tibetan Plateau in 1642. As the main benefactor of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, he made the 5th Dalai Lama the highest spiritual and political authority in Tibet, who established the regime known as Ganden Phodrang in the same year. The Dzungar Khanate under Tsewang Rabtan invaded Tibet in 1717, deposed Ngawang Yeshey Gyatso, the pretender to the position of Dalai Lama of Lha-bzang Khan, who was the last ruler of the Khoshut Khanate, and killed Lhazang Khan and his entire family. They also destroyed a small force at the Battle of the Salween River, which the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing empire had sent to clear traditional trade routes in 1718. In response, an expedition led by General Yue Zhongqi, together with Tibetan forces under Polhanas of Tsang and Kangchennas (also spelled Gangchenney), the governor of Western Tibet, expelled the Dzungars from Tibet in 1720 as patrons of the Khoshut and liberators of Tibet from the Dzungars. The Qing installed a new, more popular Dalai Lama, Kelzang Gyatso as the 7th Dalai Lama and left behind a garrison of 3,000 men in Lhasa. In time, the Qing came to see themselves as overlords of Tibet and Tibet was turned into a protectorate by the Manchus. The Qing removed the indigenous civil government that had existed in Lhasa since the rule of the 5th Dalai Lama, and created a Tibetan cabinet or council of ministers known as the Kashag in 1721. This council was to govern Tibet under the close supervision of the Chinese garrison commander stationed in Lhasa, who frequently interfered with Kashag decisions, especially when Chinese interests were involved. Khangchenné would be the first ruling prince to lead the Kashag under Qing overlordship. This began the period of Qing administrative rule of Tibet, which lasted until the fall of the Qing empire in 1912.

title: Battle of Chamdo

text: The Khampa Tibetans who lived there were fiercely independent, and they and Lhasa Tibetans held each other in mutual contempt and dislike, with the Khampas in some cases hating Lhasa rule even more than Chinese rule, which was why the Khampas did little to resist Chinese forces as they entered eastern Kham and subsequently took over the entire Tibet. Likewise, the Qinghai (Amdo) Tibetans view the Tibetans of Central Tibet (Tibet proper, ruled by the Dalai Lamas from Lhasa) as distinct and different from themselves, and even take pride in the fact that they were not ruled by Lhasa ever since the collapse of the Tibetan Empire.

title: Ngawang Tashi Drakpa

text: Ngawang Tashi Drakpa (, 1488–1564) was a king of Tibet who ruled in 1499–1554 and 1556/57–1564. He belonged to the Phagmodrupa Dynasty which was the dominating regime in Tibet from 1354 to 1435 and maintained a degree of authority until the early 17th century. His rule is sometimes considered to be the last of importance in the history of the dynasty.

title: Tibet under Yuan rule

text: Tibet under Yuan rule refers to the Yuan dynasty's rule over Tibet from approximately 1270 to 1354. During the Yuan rule of Tibet, the region was structurally, militarily and administratively controlled by the Mongol Yuan dynasty, a division of the Mongol Empire. In the history of Tibet, The Mongol rule was established after Sakya Pandita got power in Tibet from the Mongols in 1244, following the 1240 Mongol conquest of Tibet led by the Mongol general with the title doord darkhan. It is also called the Sakya dynasty after the favored Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism.

title: Mongol invasions of Tibet

text: There were several Mongol invasions of Tibet. The earliest is the alleged plot to invade Tibet by Genghis Khan in 1206, which is considered anachronistic; there is no evidence of Mongol-Tibetan encounters prior to the military campaign in 1240. The first confirmed campaign is the invasion of Tibet by the Mongol general Doorda Darkhan in 1240, a campaign of 30,000 troops that resulted in 500 casualties. The campaign was smaller than the full-scale invasions used by the Mongols against large empires. The purpose of this attack is unclear, and is still in debate among Tibetologists. Then in the late 1240s Mongolian prince Godan invited Sakya lama Sakya Pandita, who urged other leading Tibetan figures to submit to Mongol authority. This is generally considered to have marked the beginning of Mongol rule over Tibet, as well as the establishment of patron and priest relationship between Mongols and Tibetans. These relations were continued by Kublai Khan, who founded the Mongol Yuan dynasty and granted authority over whole Tibet to Drogon Chogyal Phagpa, nephew of Sakya Pandita. The Sakya-Mongol administrative system and Yuan administrative rule over the region lasted until the mid-14th century, when the Yuan dynasty began to crumble.

text: Journalist and author Thomas Laird, in his book "The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama", writes that Wang and Nyima present the government viewpoint of the People's Republic of China in their "Historical Status of China's Tibet", and fail to realize that China was "absorbed into a larger, non-Chinese political unit" during the Mongol Yuan dynasty, which Wang and Nyima paint as a characteristic Chinese dynasty succeeded by the Ming. Laird asserts that the ruling Mongol khans never administered Tibet as part of China and instead ruled them as separate territories, comparing the Mongols with the British who colonized India and New Zealand, yet stating this does not make India part of New Zealand as a consequence. Of later Mongol and Tibetan accounts interpreting the Mongol conquest of Tibet, Laird asserts that "they, like all non-Chinese historical narratives, never portray the Mongol subjugation of Tibet as a Chinese one."

title: Karma Phuntsok Namgyal

text: Karma Phuntsok Namgyal () (1587 – March 1620) was a king of Tibet who ruled from 1618 to 1620. He belonged to the Tsangpa Dynasty that held power in Tsang (West Central Tibet) since 1565 and was the foremost political and military power in Tibet until 1642.

title: Historical money of Tibet

text: The second Shah king, who ruled from Kathmandu, Pratap Singh Shah, supplied alloyed silver coins during the period 1775 until 1777. Thereafter, when the Nepalese again tried to introduce into Tibet coins of good silver, which should have circulated at a considerable premium compared with the Malla and Pratap Simha coins, the Tibetans refused which resulted in a disruption of trade between Nepal and Tibet. Tibet again experimented with its own coinage in 1785, in order to mitigate the shortage of silver coins.

title: Serfdom in Tibet controversy

text: The Chinese side seeks to persuade international perception as to the appropriate nature and justifiability of Chinese rule in Tibet. Their position is that Tibet truly and historically belongs to China, that affairs of Tibet are internal matters, and Tibetans seek to internationalize their cause, in part by convincing readers that Tibet was independent. Concentrating as it does on questions of national sovereignty, the official position of the Tibetan Government in Exile is more moderate in tone than that of some of its more extreme supporters who conflate the rule of the lamas with Tibetan Buddhist ideals, seeking to promote a Buddhist dogma that competes with the Marxist dogma of "feudal serfdom" by portraying Tibet under the lamas as, in Robert Thurman's words: "a mandala of the peaceful, perfected universe".

title: Chinese expedition to Tibet (1910)

text: However, the direct rule over Tibet proved short-lived: after the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution and the Xinhai Lhasa turmoil in 1911–1912, Qing rule essentially ended in Lhasa and other parts of Tibet. All Qing forces left Tibet by the end of 1912.

title: Gongma Drakpa Gyaltsen

text: Gongma Drakpa Gyaltsen (, 1374–1432) was a King of Tibet who ruled in 1385–1432. He belonged to the Phagmodrupa Dynasty, which was the leading regime in Tibet between 1354 and 1435. His reign was comparatively tranquil, but he was also the last ruler of the dynasty to wield full powers over the central parts of Tibet.

text: A History of Tibet by the Fifth Dalai Lama of Tibet () is a historical work written by Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, the 5th Dalai Lama who ruled Tibet from 1617 to 1682. The 5th Dalai Lama wrote this book at the request of Güshi Khan in 1643.

title: Kingdom of Lingtsang

text: By the 1600s, Lingtsang had became powerful enough to exercise control over the rival kingdom of Derge; however Derge became increasingly powerful starting from around 1630. This was at Lingtsang 's expense, which meant that from 1700 onwards, Lingtsang was a small and unimportant state on the border of Derge. During the Qing rule of Tibet, Lingtsang's leaders (who were no longer monks) were assigned the status of "tusi". The kingdom came to an end when the province of Sichuan instituted Chinese rule in 1909; it became part of Derge. Along with the rest of Tibet, it gained independence in the chaos following Qing collapse, and came under Communist rule following the Chinese invasion of Tibet.

title: Serfdom in Tibet controversy

text: Western authors' writings on Tibetan history are sometimes controversial. For example, whilst Hugh Richardson, who lived in Lhasa in the 1930s and 1940s, before the takeover by the PRC in 1951, writes in "Tibet and Its History" that Chinese versions of Tibetan history are contemptible and he considers the Chinese rule brutal and illegal, Israel Epstein, a naturalized Chinese citizen born in Poland who similarly claims the authority of first-hand knowledge, although following the Chinese takeover, supports Chinese rule. There are few academic assessments of the recent history of Tibet. Anthropologist and historian Melvyn Goldstein, who is fluent in Tibetan and has done considerable fieldwork with Tibetans in exile and in Tibet, considers pre-1950 Tibet to have been a feudal theocracy impaired by corrupt and incompetent leaders. It was "de facto" independent of China from 1911 to 1949, but not recognised as "de jure" independent of China by any nation, including its protective power Great Britain.

title: Tibet under Yuan rule

text: The region retained a degree of political autonomy under the Sakya lama, who was the "de jure" head of Tibet and a spiritual leader of the Mongol Empire. However, administrative and military rule of Tibet remained under the auspices of the Yuan government agency known as the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs, or Xuanzheng Yuan, a top-level administrative department separate from the provinces of Song China, but still under the administration of the Yuan dynasty. Tibet retained nominal power over religious and political affairs, while the Mongols managed a structural and administrative rule over the region, reinforced by the rare military intervention. This existed as a "diarchic structure" under the Yuan emperor, with power primarily in favor of the Mongols. One of the department's purposes was to select a dpon-chen, usually appointed by the lama and confirmed by the Mongol emperor in Beijing.

title: Free Tibet

text: Following the Olympics, China analysts speculated on the possibility that the authorities would begin dealing harshly with Tibetan dissenters after world attention moved off Beijing. After the Olympics ended, Chinese authorities did initiate a state of "de facto" martial law in Tibet by moving troops into Tibetan areas and handing down harsh sentences for Tibetans who protested against Chinese rule or who reported on the human rights conditions in Tibet.

title: Tibet (1912–1951)

text: Following the establishment of the new Republic, China's provisional President Yuan Shikai sent a telegram to the 13th Dalai Lama, restoring his earlier titles. The Dalai Lama spurned these titles, replying that he "intended to exercise both temporal and ecclesiastical rule in Tibet." In 1913, the Dalai Lama, who had fled to India when the Qing sent a military expedition to establish direct Chinese rule over Tibet in 1910, returned to Lhasa and issued a proclamation that stated that the relationship between the Chinese emperor and Tibet "had been that of patron and priest and had not been based on the subordination of one to the other." "We are a small, religious, and independent nation," the proclamation stated.

text: Elliot Sperling, a specialist of Indian studies and the director of the Tibetan Studies program at Indiana University’s Department of Central Eurasia Studies, writes that "the idea that Tibet became part of China in the 13th century is a very recent construction." He writes that Chinese writers of the early 20th century were of the view that Tibet was not annexed by China until the Manchu Qing dynasty invasion during the 18th century. He also states that Chinese writers of the early 20th century described Tibet as a feudal dependency of China, not an integral part of it. Sperling states that this is because "Tibet was ruled as such, within the empires of the Mongols and the Manchus" and also that "China's intervening Ming dynasty ... had no control over Tibet." He writes that the Ming relationship with Tibet is problematic for China’s insistence of its unbroken sovereignty over Tibet since the 13th century. As for the Tibetan view that Tibet was never subject to the rule of the Yuan or Qing emperors of China, Sperling also discounts this by stating that Tibet was "subject to rules, laws and decisions made by the Yuan and Qing rulers" and that even Tibetans described themselves as subjects of these emperors.