title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: During the Soviet period, Islam became a focal point for the anti-religious drives of Communist authorities. The government closed most mosques, and religious schools became anti-religious museums. On the positive side was the virtual elimination of illiteracy, even in rural areas. Only a small percentage of the population was literate before 1917; this percentage increased to nearly 100 percent under the Soviets.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: Another major development, one with future catastrophic impact, was the drive initiated in the early 1960s to substantially increase cotton production in the republic. This drive led to overzealous irrigation withdrawals of irrigation water from the Amu Darya and the subsequent Aral Sea ecological disaster.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: Towards the end of the Soviet–Afghan War, several troops crossed the Uzbek border from Afghanistan as part of the Soviet withdrawal on 15 February 1989. During the war Afghan mujahideen sponsored by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence also crossed the border to commit sabotage operations.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: The Communist Party was the only legal party in the Uzbek SSR until 1990. The first secretary, or head, of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan was consistently an Uzbek. Long-time leader of the Uzbek SSR was Sharof Rashidov, head of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan from 1959 to 1983. Islam Karimov, leader of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan since 1989 and subsequently head of that party's reincarnation, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), became president of the Uzbek SSR in 1990. On 20 June 1990, the Supreme Soviet adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Uzbek SSR, which took over the laws of the Soviet Union days after the Russian SFSR adopted theirs.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: The Uzbek SSR participated in the referendum in March 1991 as a part of the proposed Union of Soviet Sovereign States. This never came to pass after unsuccessful coup attempt events between 19 and 21 August 1991 in Moscow. In the aftermath, the Uzbek SSR was renamed the Republic of Uzbekistan and declared its independence on 31 August 1991, with the Soviet Union dissolving on 26 December 1991. After independence, the 1978 Constitution remained in use. The referendum was confirmed on 29 December 1991.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: Uzbekistan, akin to the rest of the Soviet republics, was defined by a single-party socialist republic framework, whereby the First Secretary of the Central Committee was the head of the party, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet as the head of state and the Chairmen of the Council of Ministers served as the head of government in a one-party system led by the CPSU's republican branch, the Communist Party of Uzbekistan. Executive power was exercised by the government and the legislative power was vested in Supreme Soviet where it met for sessions in Tashkent.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: Uzbekistan had the strongest Soviet Armed Forces presence of the other Central Asian Republics. Almost all of its troops were personnel of the Turkestan Military District (TurkVO), which was based in Tashkent. Personnel from the TurkVO were distributed between the military of Uzbekistan, as well as the militaries of the other four Central Asian republics when it was dissolved in June 1992. At independence, ethnic Russians filled the ranks of the newly created armed forces, and made up most of the officer corps.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: The Uzbek SSR operated its own domestic Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) independent of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union, of which it was a republican affiliate organization.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: Uzbekistan had an industrial sector including electric power generation, engineering, and chemical production.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: Uzbekistan's energy came from large thermal power plants, including those at Syrdarya, Angren, Tashkent and others. There was also a hydroelectric component to the economy, including the Charvak, Hodzhikentskaya, Gazalkent and Farkhad hydroelectric plants, among others.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: The natural gas industry was of importance to the economy of the republic. The Gazly deposits and other and Kashkadarya (Mubarak, Shurtan) area contributed to this industry. Uzbekistan also produced oil (Fergana valley, Bukhara and Surkhandarya region). In terms of minerals, there was production of lead and zinc, tungsten, molybdenum, copper ores (found in the Karamazarskaya group of deposits), and gold (found in the Navoi region, Jizzakh region, and others).


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: Chemical manufacturing included the production of mineral fertilizers (nitrogen and phosphorus) for cotton (in Chirchik, Kokand, Samarkand, Fergana, Almalyk, and Navoi); the manufacture of chemical fibers (in Fergana); plastics (in Fergana and Namangan), rubber products, household chemicals, and more. Petrochemical, chemical and pharmaceutical, and the microbiological industry were all present in some form.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: Some of the engineering sector included: agriculture (machinery for the mechanization of cotton cultivation, cotton harvesters, etc.), production of tractors, equipment for the cotton and textile industry, construction and road machines, electrical engineering; aviation, electronic and instrument-making, chemical and petroleum engineering. Some companies also produced cement, asbestos-cement pipes, slate, and ceramics.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: Some of the light industry present in Uzbekistan included the primary processing of cotton, silk cocoons, wool, fiber crops, raw hides, and karakul pelts. Cotton and silk textiles, footwear, garments, and carpets were all produced in Uzbekistan.


title: Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

text: The food industry produced oil and fat - mainly oil production from cotton seeds, tinned vegetables, butter and cheese, milk, and meat.


title: Procedural generation

text: In computing, procedural generation is a method of creating data algorithmically as opposed to manually, typically through a combination of human-generated assets and algorithms coupled with computer-generated randomness and processing power. In computer graphics, it is commonly used to create textures and 3D models. In video games, it is used to automatically create large amounts of content in a game. Depending on the implementation, advantages of procedural generation can include smaller file sizes, larger amounts of content, and randomness for less predictable gameplay. Procedural generation is a branch of media synthesis.


title: Procedural generation

text: The term "procedural" refers to the process that computes a particular function. Fractals are geometric patterns which can often be generated procedurally. Commonplace procedural content includes textures and meshes. Sound is often also procedurally generated, and has applications in both speech synthesis as well as music. It has been used to create compositions in various genres of electronic music by artists such as Brian Eno who popularized the term "generative music".


title: Procedural generation

text: While software developers have applied procedural generation techniques for years, few products have employed this approach extensively. Procedurally generated elements have appeared in earlier video games: "" takes place in a mostly procedurally generated world, giving a world roughly two thirds the actual size of the British Isles. "Soldier of Fortune" from Raven Software uses simple routines to detail enemy models, while featured a randomly-generated level mode. Avalanche Studios employed procedural generation to create a large and varied group of detailed tropical islands for "Just Cause". "No Man's Sky", a game developed by games studio Hello Games, is all based upon procedurally generated elements.


title: Procedural generation

text: The modern demoscene uses procedural generation to package a great deal of audiovisual content into relatively small programs.


title: Procedural generation

text: New methods and applications are presented annually in conferences such as the IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games and the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment.


title: Procedural generation

text: Particularly in the application of procedural generation with video games, which are intended to be highly replayable, there are concerns that procedural systems can generate infinite numbers of worlds to explore, but without sufficient human guidance and rules to guide these. The result has been called "procedural oatmeal", a term coined by writer Kate Compton, in that while it is possible to mathematically generate thousands of bowls of oatmeal with procedural generation, they will be perceived to be the same by the user, and lack the notion of perceived uniqueness that a procedural system should aim for.


title: Procedural generation

text: Using procedural generation in games had origins in the tabletop role playing game (RPG) venue. The leading tabletop system, "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons", provided ways for the "dungeon master" to generate dungeons and terrain using random die rolls, expanded in later editions with complex branching procedural tables. Strategic Simulations under license from TSR released the "Dungeon Master's Assistant", a computer program that generated dungeons based on these published tables. "Tunnels & Trolls", published by Flying Buffalo, was designed primarily around solitary play and used similar procedural generation for its dungeons. Other tabletop RPGs borrowed similar concepts in procedural generation for various world elements.


title: Procedural generation

text: Prior to graphically oriented video games, roguelike games, a genre directly inspired by "Dungeons & Dragons" adopted for solitaire play, heavily utilized procedural generation in the same manner that tabletop systems had done. Such early games include "Beneath Apple Manor" (1978) and the genre's namesake, "Rogue" (1980). The procedural generation system in roguelikes would create dungeons in ASCII- or regular tile-based systems and define rooms, hallways, monsters, and treasure to challenge the player. Roguelikes, and games based on the roguelike concepts, allow the development of complex gameplay without having to spend excessive time in creating a game's world.


title: Procedural generation

text: 1978's "Maze Craze" for the Atari VCS used an algorithm to generate a random, top-down maze for each game.


title: Procedural generation

text: Some games used pseudorandom number generators. These PRNGs were often used with predefined seed values in order to generate very large game worlds that appeared to be premade. "The Sentinel" supposedly had 10,000 different levels stored in only 48 and 64 kilobytes. An extreme case was "Elite", which was originally planned to contain a total of 2 (approximately 282 trillion) galaxies with 256 solar systems each. However, the publisher was afraid that such a gigantic universe would cause disbelief in players, and eight of these galaxies were chosen for the final version. Other notable early examples include the 1985 game "Rescue on Fractalus" that used fractals to procedurally create, in real time, the craggy mountains of an alien planet and "River Raid", the 1982 Activision game that used a pseudorandom number sequence generated by a linear feedback shift register in order to generate a scrolling maze of obstacles.


title: Procedural generation

text: Though modern computer games do not have the same memory and hardware restrictions that earlier games had, the use of procedural generation is frequently employed to create randomized games, maps, levels, characters, or other facets that are unique on each playthrough.


title: Procedural generation

text: In 2004, a PC first-person shooter called ".kkrieger" was released by a German demo group. It is entirely contained in a 96 kilobyte executable for Microsoft Windows that generates hundreds of megabytes of 3D and texture data when run. According to one of the programmers, "it was a complete failure as far as the game side was concerned (mostly because no one involved really deeply cared about that aspect)."


title: Procedural generation

text: Naked Sky's "RoboBlitz" used procedural generation to maximize content in a less than 50 MB downloadable file for Xbox Live Arcade. Will Wright's "Spore" also makes use of procedural synthesis.


title: Procedural generation

text: Procedural generation is often used in loot systems of quest-driven games, such as action role-playing games and massive multiplayer online role playing games. Though quests may feature fixed rewards, other loot, such as weapons and armor, may be generated for the player based on the player-character's level, the quest's level, their performance in the quest, and other random factors. This often leads to loot having a rarity quality applied to reflect when the procedural generation system has produced an item with better-than-average attributes. For example, the "Borderlands" series is based on its procedural generation system which can create over a million unique guns and other equipment.


title: Procedural generation

text: Many open world or survival games procedurally create a game world from a random seed or one provided by the player, so that each playthrough is different. These generation systems create numerous pixel- or voxel-based biomes with distribution of resources, objects, and creatures. The player frequently has the ability to adjust some of the generation parameters, such as specifying the amount of water coverage in a world. Examples of such games include "Dwarf Fortress" and "Minecraft".


title: Procedural generation

text: Procedural generation is also used in space exploration and trading games. "", through using the 400 billion known stars of the Milky Way Galaxy as its world basis, uses procedural generation to simulate the planets in these solar systems. Similarly, Star Citizen uses the technology for its planets, to create a collection of seamlessly-loaded planet-sized planets among its hand-crafted universe. "I-Novae Infinity" features a plethora of planets which are procedurally generated between which the player can travel via space ships. "Outerra Anteworld" is a video game in development that uses procedural generation and real world data to create a virtual replica of planet Earth in true scale.


title: Procedural generation

text: "No Man's Sky", by using procedural generation, is the largest video game in history, featuring a universe of 18 quintillion full-sized planets across entire galaxies, and these galaxies can be explored in flight inch-by-inch, or on foot after a landing. The planets all have their own uniquely diverse terrain, weather, flora, and fauna, as well as a number of space-faring alien species. The same content exists at the same places for all players (thanks to a single random seed number to their deterministic engine), which enables players to meet and share discoveries.


title: Procedural generation

text: As in video games, procedural generation is often used in film to create visually interesting and accurate spaces rapidly. This comes in a wide variety of applications.


title: Procedural generation

text: One application is known as an "imperfect factory", where artists can rapidly generate many similar objects. This accounts for the fact that, in real life, no two objects are ever exactly alike. For instance, an artist could model a product for a grocery store shelf, and then create an imperfect factory to generate many similar objects to populate the shelf.


title: Procedural generation

text: MASSIVE is a high-end computer animation and artificial intelligence software package used for generating crowd-related visual effects for film and television. It was developed to create fighting armies of hundreds of thousands of soldiers for Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" films automatically.


title: Procedural generation

text: Coherent noise can be extremely important to procedural workflow in film. Simplex noise is often faster with fewer artifacts, though an older function called Perlin noise may be used as well. Coherent noise, in this case, refers to a function that generates smooth pseudo-randomness in dimensions.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: The Polikarpov Po-2 (also U-2, for its initial , 'training', role as a flight instruction aircraft) served as an all-weather multirole Soviet biplane, nicknamed "Kukuruznik" (, NATO reporting name "Mule".) The reliable, uncomplicated design of the Po-2 design made it an ideal trainer aircraft, as well as doubling as a low-cost ground attack, aerial reconnaissance, psychological warfare and liaison aircraft during war, proving to be one of the most versatile light combat types to be built in the Soviet Union. As of 1978 it remained in production for a longer period of time than any other Soviet-era aircraft.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: Production figures for Polikarpov U-2 and Po-2 bombers and trainers combined are between 20,000 and 30,000 with production ending as early as 1952. Precise figures are hard to obtain since low-rate production by small repair shops and air clubs likely continued until 1959.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: The aircraft was designed by Nikolai Polikarpov to replace the U-1 trainer (a copy of the British Avro 504), which was known as "Avrushka" to the Soviets.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: The prototype of the U-2, powered by a 74 kW (99 hp) Shvetsov M-11 air-cooled five-cylinder radial engine, first flew on 7 January 1928 piloted by M.M. Gromov. Aircraft from the preproduction series were tested at the end of 1928 and serial production started in 1929 in Factory number 23 in Leningrad. Its name was changed to Po-2 in 1944, after Polikarpov's death, according to the then-new Soviet naming system, usually using the first two letters of the designer's family name, or the Soviet government-established design bureau that created it. Production in the Soviet Union ended in 1953, but license-built CSS-13s were still produced in Poland until 1959.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: From the beginning, the U-2 became the basic Soviet civil and military trainer aircraft, mass-produced in a "Red Flyer" factory near Moscow. It was also used for transport, and as a military liaison aircraft, due to its STOL capabilities. Also from the beginning it was produced as an agricultural aircraft variant, which earned it its nickname "Kukuruznik" (corn man). Although entirely outclassed by contemporary aircraft, the "Kukuruznik" served extensively on the Eastern Front in World War II, primarily as a liaison, medevac and general-supply aircraft. It was especially useful for supplying Soviet partisans behind the German front line. Manufacturing of the Po-2 in the USSR ceased in 1949, but until 1959 a number were assembled in Aeroflot repair workshops.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: During the defence of Odessa in September 1941, the U-2 was used as a reconnaissance aircraft and as a light, short-range, bomber. The bombs, dropped from a civil aircraft piloted by Pyotr Bevz, were the first to fall on enemy artillery positions. From 1942 it was adapted as a light night ground attack aircraft.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: Nikolay Polikarpov supported the project, and under his leadership, the U-2VS ("voyskovaya seriya" - Military series) was created. This was a light night bomber, fitted with bomb carriers beneath the lower wing, to carry 50 or 100 kg (110 or 220 lbs) bombs up to a total weight of 350 kg (771 lb) and armed with ShKAS or DA machine guns in the observer's cockpit.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: The U-2 became known as the aircraft used by the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, composed of an all-woman pilot and ground crew complement. The unit was notorious for daring low-altitude night raids on German rear-area positions. Veteran pilots Yekaterina Ryabova and Nadezhda Popova on one occasion flew eighteen missions in a single night. The women pilots observed that the enemy suffered a further degree of demoralization simply due to their antagonists being female. As such, the pilots earned the nickname "Night Witches" (German "Nachthexen", Russian "Ночные Ведьмы"/Nočnye Ved’my). The unit earned numerous Hero of the Soviet Union citations and dozens of Order of the Red Banner medals; most surviving pilots had flown nearly 1,000 combat missions by the end of the war and took part in the Battle of Berlin.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: The material effects of these missions may be regarded as minor, but the psychological effect on German troops was noticeable. They typically attacked by surprise in the middle of the night, denying German troops sleep and keeping them on their guard, contributing to the already high stress of combat on the Eastern front. The usual tactic involved flying only a few meters above the ground, climbing for the final approach, throttling back the engine and making a gliding bombing run, leaving the targeted troops with only the eerie whistling of the wind in the wings' bracing-wires as an indication of the impending attack. Luftwaffe fighters found it extremely hard to shoot down the "Kukuruznik" because of two main factors: the pilots flew at treetop level where they were hard to see or engage and the stall speed of both the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 was similar to the U-2s maximum speed, making it difficult for the fighters to keep a Po-2 in weapons range for an adequate period of time. The success of the Soviet night harassment units inspired the Luftwaffe to set up similar "Störkampfstaffel" "harassment combat squadrons" on the Eastern Front using their own obsolete 1930s-era, open cockpit biplanes (most often the Gotha Go 145 and Arado Ar 66 biplanes) and parasol monoplane aircraft, eventually building up to larger "Nachtschlachtgruppe" (night attack group) units of a few squadrons each.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: The Polish Air Force used these slow and manoeuvrable aircraft for air reconnaissance and COIN operations against UPA detachments in mountainous area of Bieszczady. Pilots and navigators were dispatched to look for concentrations of UPA forces and if needed, engage them with machine guns and grenades. On several occasions, the UPA managed to bring down some of the Po-2s, but never captured or operated them.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: The U-2's 5-cylinder engine had an unusual exhaust manifold arrangement that gave the engine a peculiar rattling or popping sound which made the airplane easily identifiable even at night. German soldier Claus Neuber listed in his war diary six different German nicknames for the plane, the most common of which were "Nähmaschine" (sewing machine) or "Kaffeemühle," (coffee mill), both due to the distinctive engine sound. Neuber added that some German troops derisively called it the "Runway Crow" or "Fog Crow." He also cited the nicknames "Iron Gustav," for the belly armor the plane carried to protect it from ground fire, and "The Duty NCO" because the plane almost always came at night at the same time. The fabric and wood construction of the airplane made it extremely vulnerable to catching fire when hit by tracer rounds, resulting in a Russian nickname of "Kerosinka," or kerosene lantern. Finnish troops called it "Hermosaha" (Nerve saw).


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: North Korean forces used the Po-2 in a similar role during the Korean War. A significant number of Po-2s were fielded by the Korean People's Air Force, inflicting serious damage during night raids on United Nations bases. During one such attack, a lone Po-2 attacked Pyongyang airfield in northwestern Korea. Concentrating on the 8th Fighter-Bomber Group's parking ramp, the Po-2 dropped a string of fragmentation bombs squarely across the group's lineup of P-51 Mustangs. Eleven Mustangs were damaged, three so badly that they were destroyed when Pyongyang was abandoned several days later.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: On 17 June 1951, at 01:30 hours, Suwon Air Base was bombed by two Po-2s. Each biplane dropped a pair of fragmentation bombs. One scored a hit on the 802nd Engineer Aviation Battalion's motor pool, damaging some equipment. Two bombs burst on the flightline of the 335th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. One F-86A Sabre (FU-334 / 49-1334) was struck on the wing and began burning. The fire took hold, gutting the aircraft. Prompt action by personnel who moved aircraft away from the burning Sabre prevented further loss. Eight other Sabres were damaged in the brief attack, four seriously. One F-86 pilot was among the wounded. The North Koreans subsequently credited Lt. La Woon Yung with this damaging attack.


title: Polikarpov Po-2

text: UN forces named the Po-2's nighttime appearance "Bedcheck Charlie" and had great difficulty in shooting it down – even though night fighters had radar as standard equipment in the 1950s. The wood-and-fabric material of the Po-2 had only a small radar cross-section, making it hard for an opposing fighter pilot to acquire his target. As Korean war U.S. veteran Leo Fournier remarked about "Bedcheck Charlie" in his memoirs: "... no one could get at him. He just flew too low and too slow." On 16 June 1953, a USMC AD-4 from VMC-1 piloted by Major George H. Linnemeier and CWO Vernon S. Kramer shot down a Soviet-built Polikarpov Po-2 biplane, the only documented Skyraider air victory of the war. The Po-2 is also the only biplane credited with a documented jet-kill, as one Lockheed F-94 Starfire was lost while slowing down to – below its stall speed – during an intercept in order to engage the low flying Po-2.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness Pentecostalism (also known as Apostolic, Jesus' Name Pentecostalism, or the Jesus Only movement) is a nontrinitarian religious movement within the Protestant Christian family of churches known as Pentecostalism. It derives its distinctive name from its teaching on the Godhead, which is popularly referred to as the Oneness doctrine, a form of Modalistic Monarchianism. This doctrine states that there is one God, a singular divine spirit with no distinction of persons who manifests himself in many ways, including as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This stands in sharp contrast to the doctrine of three distinct and eternal persons posited by Trinitarian theology.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness believers solely baptize in the name of Jesus Christ as opposed to the Trinitarian formula of baptizing "in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Oneness believers state that Jesus is the one name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and so all religious activities should be performed in that one name.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Besides their beliefs about the Godhead, Oneness Pentecostals differ significantly from most other Pentecostal and Evangelical Christians in matters of soteriology. Whereas most Pentecostals and Evangelical Protestants believe that only faith in Jesus Christ is the essential element for salvation, Oneness Pentecostals believe that salvation is by grace through faith, and that true faith leads to repentance, full-submersion water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, and baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Many also tend to emphasize strict holiness standards in dress, grooming and other areas of personal conduct, a teaching shared with traditional Holiness Pentecostals, but not with other Finished Work Pentecostal groups, at least not to the degree that is generally found in some Oneness Pentecostal (and Holiness Pentecostal) churches who also say holiness is to be set apart to God.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: The Oneness Pentecostal movement first emerged in North America around 1914 as the result of a schism following the doctrinal disputes within the nascent Finished Work Pentecostal movement (which itself had broken from Holiness Pentecostalism)—specifically within the Assemblies of God—and claims an estimated 24 million adherents today. It was often pejoratively referred to as the Jesus Only movement in its early days, which may be misleading as they do not deny existence of the Father or Holy Spirit.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: The first Pentecostals were Holiness Pentecostals, who teach three works of grace (the new birth, entire sanctification, and Spirit baptism accompanied by glossolalia); Finished Work Pentecostals broke off and became partitioned into Trinitarian and nontrinitarian branches, the latter being known as Oneness Pentecostalism.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: The Oneness Pentecostal movement in North America is believed to have begun in 1913 as the result of doctrinal disputes within the nascent Pentecostal movement, specifically within the Assemblies of God, the first Finished Work Pentecostal denomination. In 1913, Canadian Pentecostal Robert T. McAlister preached at a Pentecostal camp meeting in Los Angeles that the "Jesus only" baptismal formula found in Acts was to be preferred over the three-part formula "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" found in Matthew , leading to a group to rebaptize themselves and form a new Pentecostal movement.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: During these formative years, doctrinal division developed and widened over traditional Trinitarian theology and over the formula used at baptism, with some Pentecostal leaders claiming revelation or other insights pointing them toward the Oneness concept. Pentecostals quickly split along these doctrinal lines; those who held to belief in the Trinity and in the Trinitarian baptismal formula condemned the Oneness teaching as heresy. On the other hand, those who rejected the Trinity as being contrary to the Bible and as a form of polytheism (by dividing God into three separate beings, according to their interpretation) formed their own denominations and institutions, which ultimately developed into the Oneness churches of today.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Scholars within the movement differ in their views on church history. Some church historians, such as Dr. Curtis Ward, Marvin Arnold, and William Chalfant, hold to a Successionist view, arguing that their movement has existed in every generation from the original day of Pentecost to the present day. Ward has proposed a theory of an unbroken Pentecostal church lineage, claiming to have chronologically traced its perpetuity throughout the church's history. This view is supported by Michael Servetus' book in 1531 titled: "De Trinitatis erroribus libri vii", which argued theological fallacies within the doctrine of the Trinity. Michael Servetus was later tried on thirty-eight articles drawn up by John Calvin, alleging blasphemy and heresy regarding the Trinity and infant baptism, and burned at the stake by the government of Geneva.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Others hold to a Restorationist view, believing that while the apostles and their church clearly taught Oneness doctrine and the Pentecostal experience, the early apostolic church went into apostasy and ultimately evolved into the Catholic Church. For them, the contemporary Oneness Pentecostal movement came into existence in America in the early 20th century during the latter days of the Azusa Street Revival. Restorationists such as Dr. David K. Bernard and Dr. David S. Norris deny any direct link between the church of the Apostolic Age and the current Oneness movement, believing that modern Oneness Pentecostalism is a total restoration originating from a step-by-step separation within Protestantism culminating in the final restoration of the early apostolic church.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Both Successionists and Restorationists among Oneness Pentecostals assert that the early apostolic church believed in the Oneness and Jesus name baptism doctrines. Oneness theologian David K. Bernard claims to trace Oneness adherents back to the first converted Jews of the Apostolic Age. He asserts that there is no evidence of these converts having any difficulty comprehending the Christian Church's teachings and integrating them with their existing strict Judaistic monotheistic beliefs; however in the post-Apostolic Age, Bernard claims that Hermas, Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Polycrates, Ignatius (who lived between 90 and 140 A.D.), and Irenaeus (who died about 200 A.D.) were either Oneness, modalist, or at most a follower of an "economic Trinity," that is, a temporary Trinity and not an eternal one. He also asserts that Trinitarianism's origin was pagan, quoting anti-Catholic Alexander Hislop, a Presbyterian minister; none of Hislop's arguments on Christian theology and history have been confirmed by historians in modern scholarship.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Bernard theorizes that the majority of all believers were Oneness adherents until the time of Tertullian, who he believes was the first prominent exponent of Trinitarianism (though Theophilus of Antioch was the first prominent figure, against this theory). In support of his allegation, Bernard quotes Tertullian as writing against Praxeas:


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: In April 1913, at the Apostolic Faith Worldwide Camp Meeting held in Arroyo Seco, California and conducted by Maria Woodworth-Etter, organizers promised that God would "deal with them, giving them a unity and power that we have not yet known." Canadian R. E. McAlister preached a message about water baptism just prior to a baptismal service that was about to be conducted. His message defended the "single immersion" method and preached "that apostolic baptism was administered as a single immersion in a single name, Jesus Christ," saying: "The words Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were never used in Christian baptism." This immediately caused controversy when Frank Denny, a Pentecostal missionary to China, jumped on the platform and tried to censor McAlister. Oneness Pentecostals mark this occasion as the initial "spark" in the Oneness revival movement.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: John G. Schaepe, a young minister, was so moved by McAlister's revelation, after praying and reading the Bible all night, he ran through the camp the following morning shouting that he'd received a revelation on baptism: that the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was "Lord Jesus Christ." Schaepe claimed during this camp-meeting that the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost was the name of the "Lord Jesus Christ," which was later part of the baptismal command posited by Peter in —i.e., baptism "in the name of Jesus Christ"—and was the fulfillment and counterpart of the Great Commission in constituting baptism in the name (singular) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (which name Oneness believers hold to be that of Jesus). This conclusion was accepted by several others in the camp and given further theological development by a minister named Frank Ewart.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: On April 15, 1914, Frank Ewart and Glenn Cook publicly baptized each other specifically in "the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" (and not the Trinitarian formula) in a tank set up in Ewart's Crusade tent. This is considered to be the historical point when Oneness Pentecostalism emerged as a distinct movement. A number of ministers claimed they were baptized "in the Name of Jesus Christ" before 1914, including Frank Small and Andrew D. Urshan. Urshan claims to have baptized others in Jesus Christ's name as early as 1910. In addition, Charles Parham, the founder of the modern Pentecostal movement, was recorded baptizing using a Christological formula during the Azusa Street revival.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: However, it was not the Oneness baptismal formula which proved the divisive issue between Oneness advocates and other Pentecostals, but rather their rejection of the Trinity. In the Assemblies of God, the re-baptisms in Jesus' name caused a backlash from many Trinitarians in that organization, who feared the direction that their church might be heading toward. J. Roswell Flower initiated a resolution on the subject, which caused many Oneness baptizers to withdraw from the organization. In October 1916 at the Fourth General Council of the Assemblies of God, the issue finally came to a head. The mostly-Trinitarian leadership, fearing that the new issue of Oneness might overtake their organization, drew up a doctrinal statement affirming the truth of Trinitarian dogma, among other issues. When the Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths was adopted, a third of the fellowship's ministers left to form Oneness fellowships. After this separation, most Oneness believers became relatively isolated from other Pentecostals.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Having separated themselves from the Trinitarians within the new Pentecostal movement, Oneness Pentecostals felt a need to come together and form an association of churches of "like precious faith." This led to the formation of the General Assembly of the Apostolic Assemblies in Eureka Springs, Arkansas in January 1917, which merged with a second Oneness body by 1918, the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Several small Oneness ministerial groups formed after 1914. Many of these were ultimately merged into the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, while others remained independent, like AFM Church of God. Divisions occurred within the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World over the role of women in ministry, usage of wine or grape juice for communion, divorce and remarriage, and the proper mode of water baptism. There were also reports of racial tension in the organization. African Americans were joining the church in great numbers, and many held significant leadership positions. In particular, the African American pastor G. T. Haywood served as the church's general secretary, and signed all ministerial credentials. In 1925, three new organizations were formed: the Apostolic Churches of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel's Church in Jesus Christ and the Pentecostal Ministerial Alliance. The first two later merged to become the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: In 1945 a merger of two predominantly-white Oneness groups, the Pentecostal Church, Inc. and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ, resulted in the formation of the United Pentecostal Church International, or UPCI. Beginning with 521 churches, it has become the largest and most influential Oneness Pentecostal organization through its evangelism and publishing efforts, reporting a membership of 5.3 million.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness Pentecostalism has a historical precedent in the Modalistic Monarchianism of the fourth century. This earlier movement affirmed the two central aspects of Oneness belief:


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: They contend that, based on Colossians 2:9, the concept of God's personhood is reserved for the immanent and incarnate presence of Jesus only.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness theology specifically maintains that God is a singular spirit who is absolutely and indivisibly one (not three persons, individuals, or minds). They contend that the terms "Father," "Son," and "Holy Ghost" (also known as the Holy Spirit) are merely "titles" reflecting the different personal manifestations of God in the universe. When Oneness believers speak of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they see these as three personal manifestations of "one" being, one personal God.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness teachers often quote a phrase used by early pioneers of the movement: "God was manifested as the Father in creation, the Son in redemption, and the Holy Ghost in emanation," though Oneness theologian Dr. David Norris points out that this does not mean that Oneness Pentecostal believe that God can only be one of those manifestations at a time, which may be suggested in the quote.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: According to Oneness theology, the Father and the Holy Spirit are one and the same personal God. They teach that the term "Holy Spirit" is a descriptive title for God manifesting himself through the Christian Church and in the world. These two titles (as well as others) do not reflect separate persons within the Godhead, but rather two different ways in which the one God reveals himself to his creatures. Thus, when the Old Testament speaks of "The Lord God and his Spirit" in , it does not indicate two persons, according to Oneness theology. Rather, "The Lord" indicates God in all of his glory and transcendence, while "his Spirit" refers to his own Spirit that moved upon and spoke to prophets. Oneness theologians teach that this passage does not imply two persons any more than the numerous scriptural references to a man and his spirit or soul (such as in ) imply two "persons" existing within one body.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: The ambiguity of the term "person" has been noted by both Oneness and Trinitarian proponents as a source of conflict. This issue is addressed by Trinitarian scholar and Christian apologist Alister McGrath:


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: In contrast, Oneness theologian Dr. David K. Bernard asserts that it is unbiblical to describe God as a plurality of persons in any sense of the word, "regardless of what persons meant in ancient church history."


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: According to Oneness theology, the Son of God did not exist (in any substantial sense) prior to the incarnation of Jesus of Nazareth except as the Logos (or Word) of God the Father. They believe that humanity of Jesus did not exist before the incarnation, although Jesus (i.e. the Spirit of Jesus) pre-existed in his deity as the eternal God. This belief is supported by the lack of Jesus' incarnate presence anywhere in the Old Testament.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness Pentecostals believe that the title "Son" only applied to Christ when he became flesh on earth, but that Christ was the Logos or Mind of the Father prior to his being made human, and not a separate person. In this theology, the Father embodies the divine attributes of the Godhead and the Son embodies the human aspects. They believe that Jesus and the Father are one essential person, though operating as different modes.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness author W. L. Vincent writes, "The argument against the 'Son being his own Father' is a red herring. It should be evident that Oneness theology acknowledges a clear distinction between the Father and Son–in fact this has never been disputed by any Christological view that I am aware of."


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness theology holds that "the Word" in was the mind or plan of God. Oneness Pentecostals believe that the Word was not a separate person from God but that it was the plan of God and was God Himself. Dr. David K. Bernard writes in his book "The Oneness View of Jesus Christ",


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Additionally, Bernard claims that the Greek word "pros" (translated “with” in John 1:1) could also be translated as “pertaining to,” meaning that John 1:1 could also be translated as (in his view), “The Word pertained to God and the Word was God.”


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: In the incarnation, Oneness believers hold that God put the Word (which was His divine plan) into action by manifesting Himself in the form of the man Jesus, and thus "the Word became flesh" (). In this, Oneness believers say that the incarnation was a singular event, unlike anything God had done prior or will ever do again. Oneness Pentecostals believe that the Word of John 1:1 does not imply a second pre-existent, divine person, but that the Word is simply the plan of God, which was put into action through the incarnation.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: When discussing the Incarnation, Oneness theologians and authors often refer to a concept known as the "dual nature" of Christ, which is understood as the union of human and divine natures in the man Christ Jesus. Dr. Bernard describes this concept in his book "The Oneness of God", stating that Jesus "is both Spirit and flesh, God and man, Father and Son. On his human side He is the Son of man; on his divine side He is the Son of God and is the Father dwelling in the flesh." They see this not as two persons in one body but rather as two natures united in one person: Jesus Christ. Oneness believers see the "mystery" of as referring to this concept of two natures being united in the one person of Jesus Christ.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Although the Oneness belief in the union of the divine and human into one person in Christ is similar to the Chalcedonian formula, Chalcedonians disagree sharply with them over their opposition to Trinitarian dogma. Chalcedonians see Jesus Christ as a single person uniting God the Son, the eternal second person of the traditional Trinity, with human nature. Oneness believers, on the other hand, see Jesus as one single person uniting the one God himself with human nature as the Son of God.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness Pentecostalism subscribes to the doctrine of Sola Scriptura in common with mainstream Pentecostals. They view the Bible as the inspired Word of God, and as absolutely inerrant in its contents (though not necessarily in every translation). They specifically reject the conclusions of church councils such as the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed. They believe that mainstream Trinitarian Christians have been misled by long-held and unchallenged "traditions of men."


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: The overwhelming emphasis on the person of Jesus shapes the content of a theology based on experience among both Oneness and Trinitarian Pentecostals. In principle, the doctrinal emphasis on Jesus attributes all divine qualities and functions to Christ. What might therefore be called a 'Christological maximalism' in the Pentecostal doctrine of God leads among Oneness Pentecostals to a factual substitution of the three divine persons with the single person of Jesus, while Trinitarian Pentecostals typically elevate Christ from the 'second' person of the Trinity to the central figure of Christian faith and worship.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Critics of Oneness theology commonly refer to its adherents as "Jesus Only," implying that they deny the existence of the Father and Holy Spirit. Most Oneness Pentecostals consider that term to be pejorative, and a misrepresentation of their true beliefs on the issue. Oneness believers insist that while they do indeed believe in baptism only in the name of Jesus Christ, citing , ; , , as opposed to the traditional Trinitarian baptism; to describe them as "Jesus Only Pentecostals" implies a denial of the Father and Holy Spirit.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness Pentecostals believe that the Trinitarian doctrine is a "tradition of men" and is neither scriptural nor a teaching of God, citing the absence of the word "Trinity" from the Bible as one evidence of this. They—alongside the nontrinitarian Jehovah's Witnesses—generally believe the doctrine was gradually developed over the first four centuries AD, culminating with the Council of Nicaea and later councils which made the doctrine as believed today orthodox; most mainstream Christian scholars have rejected these assertions and some have rebutted alleged misinterpretations of Trinitarians seeming to support those assertions. Oneness Pentecostals insist that their conception of the Godhead is true to early Christianity's allegedly strict monotheism, contrasting their views not only with Trinitarianism, but equally with the theology espoused by the Latter-day Saints (who believe that Christ was a separate god from the Father and the Spirit) and Jehovah's Witnesses (who see him as the first-begotten Son of God, and as a subordinate deity to the Father). Oneness theology is similar to historical Modalism or Sabellianism, although it cannot be exactly characterized as such.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: The Oneness position on the Trinity places them at odds with the members of most other Christian churches, some of whom have accused Oneness Pentecostals of being Modalists and derided them as cultists. Oneness clergy consecrated into the Joint College of Bishops are also at odds on grounds of their claims to apostolic succession (being that documented consecrators in succession were Trinitarian from the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern churches, alongside contradicting records).


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness believers are often accused of being Monistic or Modalistic. They have also occasionally been accused of Arianism or Semi-Arianism, usually by isolated individuals rather than church organizations. While Oneness theologian Dr. David K. Bernard indicates that Modalistic Monarchianism and Oneness are essentially the same, and that Sabellius was basically correct (so long as one does not understand Modalism to be the same as patripassianism), and while Arius also believed that God is a singular person, Bernard vehemently denies any connection to Arianism or Subordinationism in Oneness teaching.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Today, most conservative Protestants view Oneness Pentecostalism, in all of its iterations, as a theological cult akin to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (i.e., Mormonism) or the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (i.e., Jehovah's Witnesses).


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness theology does not represent a monolithic soteriological view; however, there are general characteristics that tend to be held in common by those who hold to a Oneness-view of God. In common with most Protestant denominations, Oneness Pentecostal soteriology maintains that all people are born with a sinful nature, and sin at a young age, and remain lost without hope of salvation unless they embrace the Gospel; that Jesus Christ made a complete atonement for the sins of all people, which is the sole means of man's redemption; and that salvation comes solely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Oneness doctrine also teaches that true faith has the fruit of obedience, and that true salvation is not only to profess faith, but to demonstrate it as well in action. Oneness churches, while exhibiting variations, generally teach the following as the foundation of Christian conversion:


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness Pentecostals maintain that no good works or obedience to law can save anyone, apart from God's grace. Furthermore, salvation comes solely through faith in Jesus Christ; there is no salvation through any name or work other than his (). Oneness teaching rejects interpretations that hold that salvation is given automatically to the elect; they believe that all men are called to salvation, and "whosoever will, may come" ().


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: While salvation is indeed a gift in Oneness belief, it must be "received". This reception of salvation is generally what is considered conversion, and is accepted in the majority of evangelical Protestant churches. The first mandate is true faith in Jesus Christ, demonstrated by obedience to God's commands, and a determination to submit to his will in every aspect of one's life. Oneness adherents reject the notion that one may be saved through what they call "mental faith": mere belief in Christ, without life-changing repentance or obedience. Thus, they emphatically reject the idea that one is saved through praying the sinner's prayer, but rather the true saving faith and change of life declared in scripture. Oneness Pentecostals have no issue with the prayer itself, but deny that it alone represents saving faith, believing the Bible accordingly mandates repentance, baptism by water and spirit with receipt of the Holy Spirit as a "manifestation" of the spirit part of the rebirth experience and the true, godly faith obeyed and done by the early Church believers. Thus, one who has truly been saved will gladly submit to the biblical conditions for conversion. According to these believers, Jesus and the apostles taught that the new birth experience includes repentance (the true Sinner's Prayer), and baptism in both water and God's Spirit.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness Pentecostals maintain that salvation is not possible without repentance. While repentance is in part godly sorrow for sin, it is as much as complete change of heart and mind toward God and his word. This is why Oneness churches expect a complete reformation of life in those who have become Christians.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Most Oneness Pentecostals believe that water baptism is essential to salvation and not merely symbolic in nature, and also believe that one must have faith and repent before being baptized, therefore deeming baptisms of infants or by compulsion unacceptable. Oneness Pentecostal theology maintains the literal definition of baptism as being completely immersed in water. They believe that other modes either have no biblical basis or are based upon inexact Old Testament rituals, and that their mode is the only one described in the New Testament. The articles of faith of the largest Oneness Pentecostal religious organization states, "The scriptural mode of baptism is immersion and is only for those who have fully repented... It should be administered... in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Acts of the Apostles , , , ; thus obeying ."


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness adherents believe that for water baptism to be valid, one must be baptized "in the name of Jesus Christ," rather than the Trinitarian baptismal formula "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." This is referred to as the Jesus' Name doctrine. "Jesus' Name" is a description used to refer to Oneness Pentecostals and their baptismal beliefs.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: This conviction is mainly centered around the baptismal formula mandated in : "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Oneness Pentecostals insist that there are no New Testament references to baptism by any other formula–save in , which most hold to be simply another reference to baptism in the name of Jesus. Although Matthew 28:19 seems to mandate a Trinitarian formula for baptism, Oneness theology avows that since the word "name" in the verse is "singular", it must refer to Jesus, whose name they believe to be that of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Oneness believers insist that all Bible's texts on the subject must be in full agreement with each other; thus, they say that either the apostles disobeyed the command they had been given in or they correctly fulfilled it by using the name of Jesus Christ.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Some Oneness believers consider that the text of is not original, quoting various scholars and the early Church historian Eusebius, who referred to this passage at least eighteen times in his works. Eusebius' text reads: "go and make disciples of all nations in my name, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you." However, most Oneness believers accept the full Matthew 28:19 as an authentic part of the original text.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness Pentecostals assert that all of the five mentions of baptism in the Book of Acts were performed in the name of Jesus (; ; ; ; and ), and that no Trinitarian formula is ever referred to therein. In addition, is taken by Oneness Pentecostals to indicate baptism in Jesus' name as well; Oneness author William Arnold III explains their reasoning: "If we follow Paul’s train of thought, his obvious implication is 'No, Christ was the one crucified for you and so you were baptized in the name of Christ.' So the believers at Corinth as well as those in Rome were baptized in Jesus’ name." Hence, Oneness believers claim that this constitutes proof that the Jesus name formula was the original one and that the Trinitarian invocation was erroneously substituted for it later. As additional support for their claim, Oneness Pentecostals also cite editions of Britannica, the Catholic Encyclopedia, Interpreter's Bible and various scholars to justify this claim; David Norris writes that "there is a strong scholarly consensus that the earliest Christian baptism was practiced in Jesus' name."


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: In contrast, the "Didache"—a Jewish Christian text generally dated to the first century AD—cites the Trinitarian formula. In response, some Oneness Pentecostals deride the text and support the now less-common assertion of it being a second century text; they also consider it untrustworthy citing one manuscript existing, though a Latin manuscript was discovered in 1900.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Mainstream (or Nicene/Trinitarian) Christians exegete "in the name of Jesus Christ" as by the "authority of Jesus" which denotes baptism in the name of the three persons of the Trinity. In response, Oneness Pentecostals claim that the wording of Acts 22:16 requires an oral invocation of the name of Jesus during baptism, and that the way one exercises the authority of Jesus is by using His name (pointing to the healing of the lame man at the Gate Beautiful in Acts 3 as an example of this, and referencing Jesus as the one name of God revealed).


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness Pentecostals believe that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a free gift, commanded for all. The Holy Spirit is defined in Pentecostal doctrine as the Spirit of God (also known as the Spirit of Christ, ) dwelling within a person. It is further explained as the power of God to edify them, help them abstain from sin, and anoint them with power to exercise the Gifts of the Spirit for edification of the church by the Will of God. This differs substantially from the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ, for the Incarnation involved "the fullness of the Godhead" () uniting with human flesh, inseparably linking the deity and man to create the person of Jesus Christ. Believers, on the other hand are not permanently bonded with God as Jesus was, nor can any believer ever become as Jesus is by nature: God and man.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness doctrine maintains the Holy Spirit is the title of the one God in "action", hence they maintain that the Holy Spirit within any individual is nothing more or less than God himself acting through that individual.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Pentecostals, both Oneness and Trinitarian, maintain that the Holy Spirit experience denotes the genuine Christian Church, and that he carries with him power for the believer to accomplish God's will. As do most Pentecostals, Oneness believers maintain that the initial sign of the infilling Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues, and that the New Testament mandates this as a minimal requirement. They equally recognize that speaking in tongues is a sign to unbelievers of the Holy Spirit's power, and is to be actively sought after and utilized, most especially in prayer. However, this initial manifestation of the Holy Spirit () is seen as distinct from the gift of tongues mentioned in , which is given to selected spirit-filled believers as the Holy Spirit desires. Oneness adherents assert that receipt of the Holy Spirit, manifested by speaking in tongues, is "necessary" for salvation.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: In common with other Pentecostals, Oneness believers are known for their charismatic style of worship. They believe that the spiritual gifts found in the New Testament are still active in the church; hence, services are often spontaneous, being punctuated at times with acts of speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophetic messages, and the laying on of hands for the purposes of healing. Oneness believers, like all Pentecostals, are characterized by their practice of speaking in other tongues. In such ecstatic experiences a Oneness believer may vocalize fluent unintelligible utterances (glossolalia), or articulate a natural language previously unknown to them (xenoglossy).


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Some Oneness Pentecostals practice foot washing, often in conjunction with their celebration of Holy Communion, as Jesus Christ did with his disciples at the Last Supper.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Oneness Pentecostals believe that a Christian's lifestyle should be characterized by holiness. This holiness begins at baptism, when the blood of Christ washes away all sin and a person stands before God truly holy for the first time in his or her life. After this, a separation from the world in both practical and moral areas is essential to spiritual life. Moral or inward holiness consists of righteous living, guided and powered by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Practical or outward holiness for many Oneness believers involves certain holiness standards that dictate, among other things, modest apparel and gender distinction. Oneness Pentecostals believe wholeheartedly in dressing modestly (with restraints and limits). They believe that there is a distinct deference in modesty (being aware of one's limitations, or shunning indecency) and moderation (avoiding excesses or extremes while suggesting more than usual). Modesty carries the connotation of something being off-limits. They justify this belief by using the Biblical scripture in "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in "modest" apparel ..." Some Oneness organizations, considering current social trends in fashion and dress to be immoral, have established dress codes for their members. These guidelines are similar to those used by all Pentecostal denominations for much of the first half of the 20th century. According to UPCI standards written in the late-1990s, women are generally expected not to wear pants, make-up, form fitting clothing, jewelry, or to cut their hair; while men are expected to be clean-shaven, short-haired, and are expected to wear long sleeve shirts (women are also expected to wear long sleeve dresses or blouses) and long-legged pants, as opposed to shorts. Additionally, some Oneness organizations strongly admonish their members not to watch secular movies or television. Many of these standards have roots in the larger Holiness movement. However, the precise degree to which these standards are enforced varies from church to church and even from individual to individual within the movement. However, in the early days of the Oneness movement standards, holiness was not a held belief nor required bylaw for congregants. In fact, holiness or sanctification was actually shared with that of the Wesleyan viewpoint.


title: Oneness Pentecostalism

text: Due to the comparative strictness of their standards, Oneness Pentecostals are often accused of legalism by other Christians. Oneness denominations respond by saying that holiness is commanded by God and that it "follows" salvation, rather than causes it. For Oneness Pentecostals, holiness proceeds from "love" rather than duty, and is motivated by the holy nature imparted by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. While the Christian life is indeed one of liberty from rules and laws, that liberty does not negate one's responsibility to follow scriptural teachings on moral issues, many of which were established by the apostles themselves.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: The rules here are based on those of the American Cribbage Congress and apply to two-, three- or four-player games, with details of variations being listed below.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: Cribbage uses a standard 52-card deck of cards. The jokers are removed; the suits are equal in status. The players cut for first deal, with the player cutting the lowest card (the ace counts as one, and is the lowest card) dealing first. If the cutters tie, the cards are re-shuffled and re-cut. The deal then alternates from hand to hand. Note that because the crib (explained below) belongs to the dealer, winning the first deal confers a scoring advantage: if the game ends in an odd number of deals, the first dealer will have received an extra crib, sometimes enough to decide the game.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: The dealer shuffles, offers the deck to the player on their right to cut (required in tournament play), and deals cards singly to each player, starting with the player on the dealer's left. For two players, each is dealt six cards (though some play with five cards dealt to each player and two to the crib). For three or four players, each is dealt five cards. In the case of three players, a single card is dealt face down in front of the dealer to start the crib. Cards must be dealt so that each player ends up with four cards after the crib is formed, and the crib should also have four cards. During the deal, if any card is exposed by the dealer or found face-up in the deck, cards must be redealt.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: Once the cards have been dealt, each player chooses four cards to retain, discarding the other one or two face-down to form the "crib" that will be used later by the dealer. At this point, each player's hand and the crib will contain exactly four cards.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: The player on the dealer's left cuts the undealt portion of the deck (leaving at least 4 cards), and the dealer reveals the top card of the bottom section, called the "starter" or the "cut", placing it on top of the deck face up. (It is illegal to peek at any other cards in the deck during this process.) If this card is a jack, the dealer scores two points for "his heels". The game can end on a cut of a jack for the dealer.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: The play (often called pegging) starts with the player on the dealer's left and continues clockwise. Each player lays one card in turn onto the table so that it is visible, stating the cumulative value, or "count," of the cards played so far. (For example, the first player lays a 4 and says "four", the next lays a 7 and says "eleven", and so on). Face cards are worth ten; aces are worth one. Each player's cards are retained face up on the table in front of that player, so that the hands can analyzed during play and then later be gathered and scored (see “The show,” below).


title: Rules of cribbage

text: The count must not exceed 31, so a player who cannot lay a card without bringing the count above 31 passes by saying "Go". The other players continue to lay cards in turn without exceeding 31 until no cards can be played. Players must lay a card if able to do so without exceeding 31. The last player to lay a card scores two points if 31 is reached exactly ("31 for two"); otherwise one point is scored, e.g., "29 for one", or "30 for one", etc. The one-point score is known as "One for go", or simply "Go". The count is then reset to zero and play resumes, starting with the player to the left of the last card played. Players with cards remaining repeat this process until all cards have been played. The last card played is treated as a final "go" as described above: two points for making the final count 31, or one point otherwise.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: In addition to scoring one or two points for the last card, players score points according to the following rules:


title: Rules of cribbage

text: If a card completes more than one scoring combination, then all combinations are scored. For example, if the first three cards played are 5s, the second one scores two points ("ten and a pair") and the third scores eight (“fifteen-two and a pair royal for six, makes eight”). Card combinations cannot span a reset; once the total reaches 31 (or a Go has been scored) and counting has restarted at zero, cards already played are no longer available for runs or pairs. During this phase of play run combinations cannot span a pair; in a play of 2, 3, 3, 4 the pair interrupts the run so only the pair is counted for points.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: Players choose when to lay each card in order to maximise their score according to the scheme shown below. The first player to reach 121 wins the game.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: Once the play is complete, each player in turn receives points based on the content of their hand. Starting with the player on the dealer's left, players spread out their cards on the playing surface and calculate their score. The starter card turned up at the beginning of play serves as a fifth card shared in common by all hands; thus each player's score is based on their own four cards along with the starter card. Scoring combinations are the following:


title: Rules of cribbage

text: Common combinations are often recognized and scored as a unit. For example, a run of three cards with an additional card matching one of the three in rank, e.g., 2–2–3–4, is termed a "double run of three" and scores eight according to the above rules (two distinct runs of three and two for the pair); 2–2–3–4–5 is a "double run of four" for ten points (two distinct runs of four and two for the pair). Even more valuable are "triple runs", e.g., 2–2–2–3–4, scoring fifteen (three distinct runs of three, plus three distinct pairs) and "double-double" or "quadruple runs", e.g., 2–3–3–4–4, scoring sixteen (four distinct runs of three, plus two pairs). Combined runs may also include fifteens: a 24 hand, the largest commonly seen, can comprise a double-double run and four fifteens: for example, 4–4–5–5–6 or 6–7–7–8–8.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: The dealer scores their hand last and then turns the cards in the crib face up. These cards, in conjunction with the starter card, are scored by the dealer as an additional hand. The rules for scoring the crib are the same as scoring a hand, with the exception of the flush; a four-card flush in the crib is not scored unless it is also the same suit as the starter card (for a total of five points).


title: Rules of cribbage

text: The highest possible score for a hand is 29 points: a starter card of a 5, and a hand of 5, 5, 5, J with the jack being the same suit as the starter card. The score might be announced thus:


title: Rules of cribbage

text: Scores between 0 and 29 are all possible, with the exception of 19, 25, 26 and 27. Players may colloquially refer to a blank hand (one scoring no points) as a "nineteen hand".


title: Rules of cribbage

text: After the dealer has scored the crib, all cards are collected and the deal passes to the player on the dealer's left. The next round starts with the deal.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: Although the rules of cribbage do not require it (except in tournament play), the traditional method of keeping score is to use a cribbage board. This is a flat board, usually made of wood, with separate series of holes that record each player's score. It is usually arranged in five hole sections for easier scoring. Players each have two pegs that mark their current and previous scores, and all scoring is done by moving the back peg ahead of the front peg.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: When a player reaches the target score for the game (usually 121), the game ends with that player the winner.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: A match (much like tennis) consists of more than one game, often an odd number (3 games, 5 games, 7 games etc.). The match points are scored on the cribbage board using the holes reserved for match points. On a spiral board, these are often at the bottom of the board in a line with 5 or 7 holes. On a traditional board, they are often placed in the middle of the board or at the top/bottom.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: In a two player game of cribbage a player scores one match point for each game won. Their opponent will begin the next game as first dealer. If a player skunks their opponent (reaches 121 points before their opponent scores 91 points) then that player scores one extra match point for that game (two match points in total). If a player double skunks their opponent (reaches 121 points before their opponent reaches 61), then they score two extra match points for the game (four match points in total). If a player triple skunks their opponent (reaches 121 points before their opponent reaches 31 points), they automatically win the match regardless of how many match points are needed to win. Double and triple skunks are not included in the official rules of cribbage play and are optional. There are several different formats for scoring match points.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: When playing a three player match in a winner takes all format, the winner scores two match points (just like in two-way cribbage) for each game won. If he/she skunks just the third opponent, they score an additional match point (3 total) with second place receiving one point. If he/she double skunks both opponents, he/she still scores three match points but second place would not receive any points at all.


title: Rules of cribbage

text: In continued play format, the winner of the match earns two match points for three player cribbage and four match points for five player cribbage (plus applicable match points if the player has skunked/double skunked their opponents). The remaining players play until there is a second winner, who scores one match point for three player cribbage and two match points for five player cribbage (with no extra points for skunking opponents). In five player cribbage, the remaining three players play until there is a third winner, who scores one match point (with no extra points for skunking opponents).


title: Rules of cribbage

text: Another three player variation is to deal five cards to each player except the dealer who gets six cards. The dealer deals the first and last card to themself and then discards two cards to the crib, the other players each discard one card.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The Social Democratic Party (, PSD) is the largest social democratic political party in Romania and also the largest overall political party in the country, aside from European Parliament level, where it is the second largest by total number of MEPs, after the National Liberal Party (PNL). It was founded by Ion Iliescu, Romania's first democratically elected president at the 1990 Romanian general election.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The PSD traces its origins to the Democratic National Salvation Front (FDSN), a breakaway group established in 1992 from the neo-communist National Salvation Front (FSN) established after 1989. In 1993, this merged with three other parties to become the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (, PDSR). The present name was adopted after a merger with the smaller Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR) in 2001.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: Since its formation, it has always been one of the two dominant parties of the country. The PDSR governed Romania from 1992 to 1996, while the PSDR was a junior coalition partner between 1996 and 2000. The merged PSD was the senior party in the coalitions governing from 2000 to 2004, and from March 2014 to November 2015, as well as one of the main coalition partners between December 2008 and October 2009 (with the Democratic Liberal Party, PDL) and again between May 2012 and March 2014 (as part of the Social Liberal Union, USL). It is a member of the Progressive Alliance (PA), which was founded in 2013, Socialist International (SI), and Party of European Socialists (PES). As of 2014, the PSD had 509,000 members.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The PSD left government after former Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned in November 2015, only to return as the senior governing party in January 2017, shortly after it achieved a major victory in the 2016 Romanian legislative election. Party founder Iliescu became the president of Romania, in office from the 1989 to 1996, and again from 2000 to 2004. The largest party in the Parliament of Romania with initially 47 seats in the Senate of Romania and 110 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (as obtained at the 2020 Romanian legislative election), it also has the largest number of mayors, as well as the second largest number of local and county councillors and county presidents (after PNL), remaining the biggest and most influential political force in the country to the present day.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: On 7 April 1992, the struggle for power inside the National Salvation Front (, FSN) between the more hardline group led by Ion Iliescu and the more reformist group led by Petre Roman resulted in the Iliescu group withdrawing from FSN and the founding of the Democratic National Salvation Front (, FDSN), which would later become the PDSR until 2003, when it rebranded as the PSD.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The FDSN won the 1992 Romanian general election and went on to govern Romania until 1996. On 10 July 1993, it took the name of Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) upon merger with the Socialist Democratic Party of Romania, the Republican Party, and the Cooperative Party. From 1994 to 1996, the PDSR ruled in coalition with the right-wing Romanian National Unity Party (PUNR) and Greater Romania Party (PRM), and the left-wing Socialist Party of Labour (PSM). The PUNR had ministers in the cabinet chaired by Nicolae Văcăroiu from March 1994 to September 1996. The PRM was not present at the cabinet-level but was given some posts in the state administration. The PDSR went into opposition after the 1996 Romanian general election, which was won by the right-wing coalition Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR).


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: After four years of governmental turmoil and economic downfall, poorly managed by the crumbling CDR, saw PDSR making a fulminant comeback, winning the 2000 Romanian general election, this time in a coalition named the Social Democratic Pole of Romania (PDSR) along with the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR) and the Romanian Humanist Party (PUR). The PSDR merged with PDSR on 16 June 2001, and the resulting party took the PSD name.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: In November 2004, Adrian Năstase, the PSD candidate and incumbent Prime Minister of Romania, won the first round of the presidential elections but did not have a majority and had to go to a second round of voting, which he narrowly lost to Traian Băsescu of the opposition Justice and Truth Alliance (DA), who became Romania's 4th president. In the 2004 Romanian general election, the PSD gained the largest share of the vote but because it did not have a majority, the other parties that managed to enter parliament, UDMR/RMDSZ and PUR, abandoned their respective pre-electoral agreements with the PSD and joined the Justice and Truth Alliance (DA), mainly at the pressure of Băsescu. Mircea Geoană was elected president of the party in April 2005 by delegates at a PSD Party Congress held in Bucharest. His victory represented a surprise defeat for Iliescu, who was expected to defeat Geoană with ease. On 17 April 2008, the PSD and the PC announced they would form a political alliance for the 2008 Romanian local elections.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: In February 2010, the Congress elected Victor Ponta as president after Geoană lost the 2009 Romanian presidential election. On 5 February 2011, the PSD formed a political alliance known as the Social Liberal Union (USL) with the PC and the National Liberal Party (PNL). The USL was disbanded on 25 February 2014 with exit of the PNL, which entered the opposition.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: In July 2015, Liviu Dragnea was elected by the Congress of the PSD as the new president of the party, with 97% of the votes from the members. He was elected as leader after the former prime minister Victor Ponta stepped down on 12 July 2015 following charges of corruption that were later dropped. On 12 April 2019, the PSD was suspended from the Party of European Socialists (PES) following concerns about judicial reforms of the Dăncilă Cabinet. In May 2019, after Liviu Dragnea's jailing, Viorica Dăncilă was elected by the Congress of the PSD as the new president of the party.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: After being ousted from power in October 2019, the PSD also lost the 2019 Romanian presidential election. Such decline sent shockwase across the European Union (EU), especially the PES, as it resulted in their loss of power within von der Leyen Commission. Nonetheless, Daniel Hegedüs posited that this could be a win for both the PES and the wider European left, as the PES would regain credibility because "mounting authoritarianism in Hungary and Poland has suffered under the burden of PSD's rule-of-law record". In addition, Hegedüs noted the fact that this could represent another chance for the PSD to reform itself and change its ways.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: In August 2020, Marcel Ciolacu became president of the party (after having previously served for this position only as "ad interim" between November 2019 and August 2020). During the same month, the PSD was willing to vote a motion of no confidence against the second Orban cabinet. Shortly after December 2020, while still the largest party in the wake of the 2020 Romanian legislative election, the PSD suffered significant political capital losses (as they previously did in the 2020 Romanian local elections as well) given the chaotic and negative governmental activity the party was responsible for during the former legislature (more specifically during the years 2017 and 2019), yet remained the biggest parliamentary opposition well up until the end of 2021.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: During the 2021 Romanian political crisis, the PSD was again willing to have such a vote, this time against the Cîțu Cabinet, which it subsequently did, thereby contributing to its final dismissal. In November 2021, successful negotiations with the PNL led the PSD closer to returning government in the incumbent Ciucă Cabinet within a grand coalition government known as the "National Coalition for Romania" (or "CNR" for short). The PSD is still governing Romania as of early 2022, albeit with major tensions in the said grand coalition.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: After the merger, the party changed its name from the Democratic National Salvation Front (FDSN) to the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR).


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: Like its counterpart national-level members of the Party of European Socialists (PES), the PSD has a centre-left outlook but has been described as pragmatic, owing to its big tent, catch-all party nature, and syncretic politics. The PSD was formed as a result of the merger of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR), which had an internationalist social-democratic ideology, with the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR), whose governance was marked by a combination of social democracy, democratic socialism, labourism, pragmatism, and nationalism. The 2003 absorption of the Socialist Party of Labour (PSM) and the Socialist Party of the National Renaissance (PSRN) led to the strengthening of the left-wing nationalism component within the party. Unlike the majority of Western European PES party members and as other like-minded centre-left, social democratic parties in Central and Eastern European post-Communism, it has taken a more soft Eurosceptic outlook, though it is neutral in regards to European integration. PSD stated that it supports EU and NATO membership. The party is more conservative than PES when it comes to social issues, reflecting the country's social-conservative outlook, including in its centre-right counterpart, the National Liberal Party (PNL). It has been described as a left-wing nationalist and left-wing populist social democratic party. Alongside Direction – Slovak Social Democracy, it has been described as the PES' ""enfant terrible"".


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The party has been described as having centre-left rhetoric and economic policies, while being more conservative on personal and ethical matters. According to Florin Poenaru, "the movement led by Ion Iliescu was from the very beginning the party of local capitalists and not of the industrial proletariat. ... PSD was the party that aggregated the interests of the autochthonous capitalists, but whose electoral basis was the former industrial proletariat." Poenaru states that PSD never said no to the neoliberal agenda but applied it rather slowly. Andrei Pleșu once stated that the main post-Communist Romanian parties do not act according to some ideology or doctrine.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: Political analyst Radu Magdin said that the PSD is "a catch-all party: its values are conservative, its economic policy is liberal and it has a social, left-leaning rhetoric when it comes to public policies." An example is their calls for both tax cuts and pensions and wages increase in 2016. Its more conservative outlook is owed to the social-conservative nature of post-Communist countries, and has been adopted by both the centre-left (PSD) and the centre-right (PNL). For Cornel Ban, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School of Boston University, the PSD is an anomaly in Eastern Europe in that it was an ideal playground for right-wing populist parties but has seen the political left routinely win; this was in part because the political right and far-right were in government, including at the local level, during the post-Communist slumps which remained in the mind of many voters. Journalist Jean-Baptiste Chastand said that the PSD-led pro-European government in Romania took a national conservative turn, and expressed his fear that it could join the Eurosceptic Hungary and Poland. The historian stated that PSD is a conservative party, that has nothing to do with the left, while journalist Bogdan Tiberiu Iacob described the party as progressive-conservative. PSD also opposed the mandatory refugee quotas. Journalist Daniel Mihăilescu labeled the party as national populist.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The party has strong connections with the Romanian Orthodox Church (BOR), reflecting the country's strong social conservatism (some analysts labeled PSD as a Christian leftist party).


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The president of the party conducts the general activity of the party, the activity of the National Executive Committee and the National Permanent Bureau and responds to the Congress on the general work of the PSD. The president is elected by secret vote by the Congress for a four-year mandate and represents the party in the Romanian society, in relations with the central and local public authorities, as well as with other parties or organizations in the country or abroad.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: PSD Honorary President is nominated by Congress for the four-year mandate of the party's recognized personalities. The Honorary President of the PSD participates with the right to vote in the work of the national governing bodies.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The Secretary-General manages the functional services at the central level and the relationship with the county and Bucharest organizations. It coordinates the Executive Secretariat of the PSD with 7 to 9 executive secretaries. Executive secretaries shall be appointed by the National Executive Committee, on a proposal from the Chair, after consulting the Secretary-General.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The Permanent National Bureau is the operative body for analyzing and deciding the party. It has the following composition: PSD President, PSD Honorary President, PSD Secretary General, PSD Deputy Chairpersons. At the National Permanent Bureau, the chairman of the National Council, the leaders of the parliamentary groups, the presidents of women and youth organizations, the treasurer, the director of the Social Democratic Institute, the representative of the county administrative council presidents, the mayors of municipalities and the representative of the National League of Mayors and PSD Councilors participate. The National Permanent Bureau meets weekly, usually Monday.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: Coordinates the entire activity of the party between the meetings of the National Council. The PSD National Executive Committee analyzes, debates and decides on the fundamental issues of the Party's work on: the program, the electoral strategy, the political and electoral alliances, the governing program, the structure and the nominal composition of the Government, the validation of the party's preliminary election for the nomination of candidates for senators, MEPs, MEPs, and elected local, merging by absorption or merging with other parties; PSD collaboration agreements with trade unions and employers' confederations; the strategy of selecting, preparing, training and promoting the party's human resources, organizing and conducting internal party choices, coordinating the activities of the Youth Organization and the Women's Organization.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The adopted decisions are validated by the National Council. The National Executive Committee consists of PSD President, PSD Honorary President, PSD Secretary General, PSD Vice Presidents, President of the National Council, Presidents of County Organizations, Sectors and the Bucharest Municipality Organization, the President of the Women's Organization and the President of the Youth Organization.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The National Council is the governing body of the party in the interval between two congresses. It consists of a maximum of 751 members elected from the candidates nominated by the County and Bucharest Conferences, or proposed by the Congress. The National Council elects and revokes by secret vote the President of the National Council and the treasurer, validates the composition of the National Executive Committee and The Permanent National Bureau; decides to conclude political alliances as well as merge by merging or absorbing with other political parties or political parties; to hear the activity reports submitted by members of the Permanent National Bureau, by the Chairman of the Commission for Arbitration and Moral Integrity, by the President of the National Commission for Financial Control and Treasurer and decides accordingly on the basis of the mandate given by the Congress, according to the provisions of the Statute; is responsible for organizing presidential, parliamentary, euro-parliamentary and local electoral campaigns; analyzes the work of parliamentary groups, women's and youth organizations, the National League of Mayors and PSD Councilors; validates the decisions of the National Executive Committee on the Governance Program and confirms the proposals of members of the Government; resolve the appeals lodged against the decisions of the councils of the county organizations or of the Bucharest municipality; resolves the divergences between the Councils of the County Organizations, respectively the Bucharest Municipality Organization and the National Executive Committee in connection with the nomination of the candidates for the legislative elections, if they persist; approves the party's annual revenue and expenditure budget, decides on its execution.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The PSD National Council meets annually and whenever needed. Deputies, senators and MEPs who are not members of the National Council participate in its meetings without the right to vote. The National Council may decide, on a proposal from the Permanent National Bureau, to organize forums, leagues, associations, clubs and other such bodies for the promotion of strategies in the PSD Political Program, in the Romanian society and in partnership with the trade unions. The party-union relationship as well as the concrete ways of collaboration will be established by the National Permanent Bureau. Within the PSD there are: the National Workers' Forum; National Farmers Forum; National Ecologists' Forum; The National Forum of Scientists, Culture and Art and the Pensioners' League. In order to develop PSD programs and strategies in the field of party life, consultative councils can be set up on: political analysis, image and relations with the media; organization and human resources. The Consultative Council for the Problems of National Minorities of the PSD carries out activities to identify the specific problems faced by national minorities in Romania and develops appropriate solutions and proposals for their resolution.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: The supreme governing party of the Social Democratic Party is the Congress, which is convened every four years or in extraordinary cases. The PSD Congress is made up of elected delegates by secret ballot by the County Conferences and the Bucharest Municipality and has the following attributions: adopting or modifying the PSD Statute and the Political Program of the Party; sets out the party's guidelines, strategy and tactics for the period between two congresses; elects the party chairman, the vice-presidents, the general secretary, the other members of the National Council, the National Commission for Arbitration and Moral Integrity and the National Commission for Financial Control; appoints the PSD candidate to the position of President of Romania and the Prime Minister in the event of winning the elections; resolves possible appeals against decisions of other PSD central bodies.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: Social Democratic Pole of Romania members: PDSR, PSDR (2 senators and 10 deputies), and PUR (4 senators and 6 deputies).


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: Political opponents have criticised PSD for harbouring former Romanian Communist Party (PCR) officials, and for allegedly attempting to control the Romanian mass media. By 2009, a number of its incumbent or former senior members have also been accused of corruption, interfering in the judiciary and using their political positions for personal enrichment. As of 2015, founding member Ion Iliescu is facing prosecution on charges of crimes against humanity for his role in the June 1990 Mineriad, while former president Liviu Dragnea was convicted for electoral fraud and for instigation to the abuse of public office and being indicted for forming an "organised criminal group" in 2018. That same year, former president Victor Ponta had also been investigated for corruption but was ultimately acquitted. Adrian Năstase temporarily self-suspended himself from the position on 16 January 2006, pending investigation of a scandal provoked by his wealth declaration, where he was accused of corruption. Alleged text transcripts of PSD meetings surfaced on an anonymous website just before the 2004 Romanian general election. Năstase and his ministers are shown talking about political involvement in corruption trials of the government's members, or involvement in suppressing "disobedient" media. Năstase stated that the transcripts were fake, but several party members, including former PSD president and former foreign minister Mircea Geoană, have said they are genuine, though Geoană later retracted his statement. Security expert Iulian Fota stated that PSD is an neocommunist anti-Western party backed by Russia.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: Politicians of the party have occasionally employed "utilitarian anti-Semitism", meaning that politicians who may usually not be antisemites played off certain antisemitic prejudices in order to serve their political necessities. On 5 March 2012, PSD Senator Dan Șova, at that time the party spokesman, said on "The Money Channel" that "no Jew suffered on Romanian territory, thanks to marshal Antonescu." Elie Wiesel National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romania expressed its deep disagreement and indignation over the statements of the spokesman of the party. Following public outcry, Șova retracted his statement and issued a public apology; nevertheless, the chairman of the party, Victor Ponta, announced his removal from the office of party spokesman.


title: Social Democratic Party (Romania)

text: Between 2017 and 2019, the party, along with its former junior coalition partners, more specifically the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ), had unsuccessfully tried to pass a series of tremendously controversial laws related to the judicial system. In a 2018 preliminary opinion, the Venice Commission stated that the changes could severely undermine the independence of judges and prosecutors in Romania. This unsuccessful endeavour committed by the former PSD–ALDE coalition was the basis for the nationwide 2017–2019 Romanian protests, the largest in the country's entire history thus far.


title: General-purpose machine gun

text: A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered for various fully powered cartridges such as the 7.62×51mm NATO, 7.62×54mmR, 7.5×54mm French, 7.5×55mm Swiss and 7.92×57mm Mauser, and be configured for mounting to different stabilizing platforms from bipods and tripods to vehicles, aircraft, boats and fortifications, usually as an infantry support weapon or squad automatic weapon.