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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jan 6, 2016 / 04:58 pm (CNA).- Brazilian feminist Sara Winter used to work to legalize abortion. She was one of the founders of a radical group that carries out offensive topless protests at churches. 

Now, she says people should learn from religious women who put their faith into action – and reject the powerful forces promoting abortion in her country.

What changed her mind? The birth of her child. 

“I understand I made a huge mistake, and I ask forgiveness from the bottom of my heart. The way to achieve public policy changes for women has nothing to do with mocking people’s religions,” she said in a Dec. 15 Facebook post.

“What I was missing was love (which changed when I became a mother), love that came to me after having reflected a lot on today’s militant feminism,” she said.

Sara Winter is the pseudonym of Sara Fernanda Giromin. Three years ago she was one of the founders of the Brazilian branch of Femen, a radical feminist organization of sometimes violent, often offensive activists who protest topless in favor of abortion and LGBT activism. 

Winter asked for forgiveness “from all those people, whether religious or not, that I offended during a feminist protest last year involving a same-sex kiss in front of a church in Rio de Janeiro.”

Last month she denounced international funding to promote abortion in Brazil. She asked forgiveness for having been “part of that scheme to get abortion legalized.”

“But I never knew that all that talk about legalizing abortion in Brazil had been the work of organizations controlled by tycoons, rich men interested in reducing my country’s population.”

Sara confessed that she had always thought that an abortion was “something every woman should be able to get.” 

“I’m not waving that flag any more. I don’t agree with women being jailed for having an abortion, I think they should always be treated with compassion, but I’m against the promotion of abortion being carried out by the feminist NGOs.”

The young woman also encouraged feminists “to learn from women who are religious.” While feminists are “putting on ridiculous protests (I myself used to be one of them) which are embarrassing to women, there are women of faith with homes protecting rape victims, and other women giving life by providing housing, taking in women in dangerous situations, and providing all kinds of assistance.”

“There are a lot of NGOs and institutions that need a helping hand and volunteers to care for the victims of violence, so let’s get going, help them, do your part. Take care of, assist and love other women,” she encouraged her readers.

Sara first began to speak about this radical turnabout in her life in October 2015. 

“I regret having an abortion and today I’m asking for forgiveness,” she wrote on Facebook Oct. 14, almost one month after the birth of her second child. Since her baby was born, she said, “my life has taken on new meaning.” 

“I don’t want you to go through the same thing I did,” she told her readers.

Years before, she underwent an abortion using a drug provided by a feminist. 

“I almost bled to death and had very serious complications,” she recalled, adding that the person who came to her aid in those circumstances was a man who had “no connection to radical feminism.”

On abortion, she urged, “feminism should be focusing more on taking care of women instead of putting their lives at risk.” She said her prior abortion had caused difficulties early into her second pregnancy.

Sara has also become a critic of transgender ideology. She explained that she has no animus against people who say they are transgender, but she added, “I don’t think that changing your clothes, getting silicone breast implants and making the transition with hormones and surgery can change anybody’s sex.”

By mid-November, Sara was urging Brazilian feminists to “respect women who are religious believers.” Although she has no religious affiliation, she said that “one of the things I regret in my life is pulling away from God and devoting all my time to militant feminism.”

“Having faith is not a retrogression and other people’s religion needs to be respected,” she urged. 

Sara said that she has faced a hostile reaction from the feminist faction she has abandoned.

“You have no idea of the reprisals I’ve been a victim of coming from the feminists,” she wrote. “I’m afraid of even stepping out on to the street with my baby, but I have faith that all this is going to go away.”

In early December, Sara published a short digital book about “seven times I was betrayed by the feminist movement.” The book is a compilation of the bizarre experiences she says she had as part of the Brazilian feminist movement, involved orgies, alcohol, drugs and misuse of funds.

For every book sold, she has offered to donate a Brazilian Real (about 25 cents) to “initiatives helping women in violent situations and against abortion.”

Sara stated that “feminism has a cure and I’m the greatest proof of that.” 

She said the main reason Brazilian people do not like the feminists is because most of them act hysterically and use social media “to mock and humiliate religious people, preach hatred against men, besides being extremists and disrespectful of other people’s religious heritage.”

“I’m just as guilty. I used to be like that too, but thanks be to God I’ve been healed,” she said. 

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Washington D.C., Jan 6, 2016 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. chief religious freedom watchdog condemned Saudi Arabia’s Jan. 2 execution of a Shi’a Muslim cleric as a violation of religious freedom, and called for global respect for human rights.

“Sheik al-Nimr's execution blatantly disregards the right to dissent and the right to religious freedom of Shi'a Muslims in the country and, as our State Department has noted and events tragically have documented, contributes to sectarian discord both within Saudi Arabia and in the region,” Robert P. George, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), stated on Tuesday. 

George called on Saudi Arabia “to honor international standards of justice and ensure the religious freedom and equal protection rights of everyone in the Kingdom, including its Shi'a Muslim citizens.”

Tensions in the region escalated quickly after Saudi Arabia’s mass execution of 47 men on Jan. 2 included Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a Shi’a cleric and long-time activist for Shi’a rights in the kingdom who has been a public critic of the government. 

Al-Nimr was convicted in 2012 by the non-Sharia Specialized Criminal Court on various charges including “inciting sectarian strife” and civil disobedience, according to USCIRF’s 2015 annual report. The court was created in 2008 to try terrorism offences, but it has increasingly been used to convict dissidents without a proper trial, USCIRF noted. 

In response, outraged Iranians stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and torched the building. Saudi Arabia responded by severing diplomatic ties with Iran on Jan. 4, and Bahrain, Djibouti, and the Sudan followed suit. Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Iran.

“Sheikh al-Nimr's trial and his execution raise serious due process and religious freedom concerns,” George stated, calling the charges “vague and questionable” and saying they did not meet the standards for capital punishment set by international human rights law.

The U.S. State Department responded to the execution by calling for greater respect for human rights. “We are particularly concerned that the execution of prominent Shia cleric and political activist Nimr al-Nimr risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced,” said Jon Kirby, spokesperson for the Bureau of Public Affairs, in a Jan. 2 statement. 

Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a Muslim minority suffers various repressions of religious freedom – they are largely prohibited from building mosques and have been imprisoned by the government for calling for reform or even practicing their religion at home, according to USCIRF. “The Shi'a community also faces discrimination in education, employment, the military, political representation, and the judiciary,” the commission noted. 

Non-Muslim religions cannot build churches or public houses of worship in Saudi Arabia, and the government cracks down on blasphemy, sorcery, dissent, and apostasy, even treating acts of atheism and blasphemy as terrorism. 

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reaffirmed its recommendation that Saudi Arabia be designated as a “country of particular concern” for its serious and ongoing violations of religious freedom. The State Department’s “Country of Particular Concern” list recognizes nations’ poor human rights records regarding religious freedom, and actions can be taken against such countries, including economic sanctions or a bilateral agreement. 

Although Saudi Arabia is currently on the CPC list, a waiver has prevented the mandated action against them from taking place since 2006.
 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Rhina Guidos

By Rhina Guidos

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The fragrance of the cake is like no other.

For Spaniards and some Latin Americans who grew up with it, the aromatic smell of the roscon de reyes is one of the most treasured of childhood food memories surrounding the Epiphany. The roscon de reyes cake makes its appearance on the tables of Spain and Mexico each Jan. 6, but it is popping up regularly these days at the homes of immigrants who now call the United States home.

The cake has simple ingredients for the most part. The dough is a mix of flour, eggs, yeast and milk, allowed to rise in the shape of a ring, leading to the name rosca or roscon, which in Spanish describes an oval shape. Popular versions are decorated with candied fruits and sugar and glazed with an egg yolk to provide a shine. Some are cut in half and stuffed with chocolate or cream.

The roscon, also called a rosca de reyes, has a unique aroma well-known throughout Spain, and which likely comes from the orange flower blossom water used to prepare the dough, said Javier Romero, executive chef of Washington's Taberna del Alabardero. These days, thanks to chefs such as Romero, you don't have to travel far for the experience.

Romero has introduced the ring-shaped delicacy -- baked exclusively during the first week of January -- at the upscale Spanish restaurant where he works. By and large, those who drop by to pick up the cake at the restaurant are Spaniards or Latin Americans, said Javier Perez, the restaurant's general manager. Romero began introducing the roscon little by little, making a few by hand when he first arrived at the restaurant about six years ago. But each year, demand has risen. However, Romero said he likes to make just a few cakes.

"I'd rather have them be the best roscones in town," he said. And they certainly are. It's hard to concentrate with the mesmerizing and fragrant smell of the cake in the room.

Though the roscon de reyes does not yet appear in supermarket shelves in the U.S., specialty bakeries and some Spanish restaurants that cater to immigrants turn out thousands of these cakes in early January. Depending on the custom of the country -- or the baker -- the cake will have a legume, a toy, a plastic baby Jesus inside, or all of the above.

Capuchin Franciscan Father Urbano Vasquez, a Washington priest originally from Mexico, said the cake always had spiritual symbolism for him, even as a child: Jesus in the form of bread and sharing that bread with others, as well as its ring shape hinting at God's eternal love. He keeps the culinary tradition alive and always orders his roscon de reyes cake from a Mexican bakery in Riverdale, Maryland, to share with others, especially with those who aren't aware of the custom.

The cake evokes memories of gathering with family in his hometown of Puebla, Mexico, a city known for its gastronomic scene. As a priest, he loves that the cake is laden with profound spiritual symbols and can be used to catechize.

You could argue that its ring shape also is a symbol of the crowns that the Three Kings, or Magi, wore when they visited the baby Jesus, he said, and "the fruit, in its multiple colors, are symbols of the jewels they brought, signifying peace, love and happiness."

Chef Romero, also adhering to the custom of making the cakes available to mark the Epiphany, makes 50 to 55 cakes each January. Because of the process he uses to make them, it takes two days to produce in the middle of an already busy schedule at the restaurant. The dough must ferment at a particular temperature, rest overnight, and be just right before candied fruits and sugar are applied. Only then are they ready for the oven.

"I like to pamper them," he said.

He enjoys keeping alive the custom he grew up with and recalls memories of his grandparents in his hometown of Aranjuez, near Madrid, taking him to pick up the roscon at the local bakery.

"For me, it signals the end of Christmas," he said. And there's no better gift than to watch someone walk out the door, happy with a cake that took days to produce.

"As a chef, it's about the sense of smell, and that smell that comes out of (it), there isn't a similar one in the world ' it takes a lot, a lot of pampering," he said.

"I know we're far but I want the public to feel as if they're eating (in Spain) ' when I see (the cakes) in their boxes, with names on them and ready to be picked up, I feel as if I'm in Spain. And I like contributing to that knowledge that others have of our culture."

If you weren't able to taste the roscon in January, there's still time to taste its culinary cousin. In the U.S., the cake has morphed into the blue, yellow and green cake abundant in places such as New Orleans and nearby southern cities and towns around Mardi Gras.

Anne Byrn, author of "American Cake," said the cake "was originally a French, Spanish and Basque cake, and it came to New Orleans with the Basque settlers in 1718. In its most original form, it is a brioche dough (yeast) with a cinnamon and sugar filling, left to rise in a ring, then slit at intervals, and baked. Originally, it didn't have a glaze, but some Vietnamese bakeries today in New Orleans bake this cake and glaze it. Often, the glaze is colored Mardi Gras colors."

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