A Canterbury Tale :: American Prospect

Quote:

Ever since the rise of the religious right, liberals have longed for a religious counterpart on the left. But that notion was always dubious, and the recent turmoil within the Episcopal Church should put it to rest for good. Without the wholehearted participation of the mainline Protestant churches, there can be no religious left remotely comparable to the Christian right in Protestant-dominated America. And churches in the throes of schism hardly have the wherewithal to marshal their resources in the service of battles in the secular political arena.

Though, on the surface, my pronouncement may seem disheartening, I must confess to finding a measure of liberation in letting go of the hope for a forceful new religious left. Over the last 20 years, I have witnessed attempts by well-meaning liberal clerics to construct various bodies and alliances in the hopes of creating a parallel movement to that of the religious right. Organizations have come together and drifted apart, leaving a trail of frustration in their wake. The fervent hope for the creation of a vigorous, cohesive religious left has amounted to a vigil for Godot -- the one who never arrives. And now I am grateful he never did.

In seeking to create a counterpart to the religious right, we tried to force our values through a narrow hole. In essence, we bought into the religious authoritarianism of the right, inferring that moral authority proceeds only from religion. In this, we have sold ourselves short.

Liberal values represent the essence of the world’s great religions. At the root of all of the great faiths are fundamental beliefs in compassion, justice, love, and charity. We have the right -- dare I say the duty? -- to express ourselves as moral agents without the imprimatur of ecclesiastical authority.

Thanks to Scott of Hybla for the link.

10 Questions For Katharine Jefferts Schori ::Time Magazine - Jul 17, 2006 -- Page 1

Quote:

What will be your focus as head of the U.S. church?
Our focus needs to be on feeding people who go to bed hungry, on providing primary education to girls and boys, on healing people with AIDS, on addressing tuberculosis and malaria, on sustainable development. That ought to be the primary focus.

The issue of gay bishops has been so divisive. The diocese of Newark, N.J., has named a gay man as one of its candidates for bishop. Is now the time to elect another gay bishop?
Dioceses, when they are faithful, call the person who is best suited to lead them. I believe every diocese does the best job it's capable of in discerning who it is calling to leadership. Many Anglicans in the developing world say such choices in the U.S. church have hurt their work. That's been important for the church here to hear. We've heard in ways we hadn't heard before the problematic nature of our decisions. Especially in places where Christians are functioning in the face of Islamic culture and mores, evangelism is a real challenge. [But] these decisions were made because we believe that's where the Gospel has been calling us. The Episcopal Church in the U.S. has come to a reasonable conclusion and consensus that gay and lesbian Christians are full members of this church and that our ministry to and with gay and lesbian Christians should be part of the fullness of our life.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, who leads the Anglican Communion, wrote recently that a two-tier Communion may be a solution. What did you read in his message?
The pieces that I saw as most important had to do with the complexity of the situation and the length of time that this process will continue. He's very clear that we're not going to see an instant solution. He's also clear about his role: it is to call people to conversation, not to intervene in diocesan or provincial life--which some people have been asking for.
. . .

Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven?
We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box.
. . .

What is your prayer for the church today?
That we remember the centrality of our mission is to love each other. That means caring for our neighbors. And it does not mean bickering about fine points of doctrine.

Indeed.

Church rebels plan $1.85bn property grab :: Sunday Times

Quote:

The lawyer has told him that if parishes that object to women bishops withdrew from the church, local bishops would have no power to take over their churches and vicarages.

Instead, parish priests themselves may be able to assert freehold rights and it is possible that only parliament would be able to resolve the deadlock. Traditionalists claim to control parishes containing about 10% of the church’s roughly £10 billion-worth of church buildings, church halls and vicarages.

The move comes as the General Synod yesterday voted that there was no theological bar to women becoming bishops, although years of further debate and wrangling are likely before the first ordinations.

Vatican official to Anglicans: ____ bishops would destroy unity :: Cathollic News Service

Quote:

LONDON (CNS) -- A Vatican cardinal has warned the Church of England that a move to ordain women as bishops would destroy any chance of full unity with the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said that if the Church of England adopted such a resolution the "shared partaking of the one Lord's table, which we long for so earnestly, would disappear into the far and ultimately unreachable distance."

"Instead of moving toward one another, we would simply coexist alongside each other," he said.
. . .
Although three of the world's Anglican provinces have already agreed to consecrate women as bishops, Cardinal Kasper said decisions made by the Church of England had a "particular importance" because they gave a "strong indication of the direction in which the communion as a whole was heading."

Saying that he spoke with "pain and sadness," the cardinal warned the bishops of their historic decision's grave consequences, both to ecumenical relations and to the interior unity of the Anglican Communion.

Among the most serious of these, he said, would be that the goal of restoring full church communion "would realistically no longer exist" because it could not exist "without full communion in the episcopal office."

A decision in favor of women bishops made broadly by the Anglican Communion, he said, would also represent a turning away from the "common position of all the churches of the first millennium."

He said this meant that the Anglican Communion would no longer occupy "a special place" among the churches of the West but would align itself closely to the Protestant churches of the 16th century.

Meanwhile: Women bishops could be here by 2012, says C of E.

Transfigurations

A Guide to Church Property Law: Considerations Specific to Episcopalians :: Transfigurations

(Via titusonenine.)

Will George be slayed as England's patron saint? | the Daily Mail

Quote:

the Church of England is considering rejecting England's patron saint St George on the grounds that his image is too warlike and may offend Muslims.

Clergy have started a campaign to replace George with St Alban, a Christian martyr in Roman Britain.

The scheme, to be considered by the Church's parliament, the General Synod, has met a cautious but sympathetic response from senior bishops.

But it clashes with the increasing popularity of the saint and his flag in England. The World Cup brought out millions of St George crosses as the symbol became increasingly mainstream and less frequently dismissed as a badge favoured only by far-Right political activists.
...
George has become unfashionable among politicians and bureaucrats. His saint's day, April 23, has no official celebration in England, and councils have banned the St George flag from their buildings and vehicles during the World Cup.

The saint became an English hero during the crusades against the Muslim armies that captured Jerusalem in the 11th century.

Via Protein Wisdom.

BostonHerald.com - Local / Regional News: Gays at Globe told to marry or lose benefits

Consequences consequences

Falls Church News-Press Opinion: Schism is a small price to pay

Is size all that matters to the Anglican Church? It appears that the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, is willing to steamroll gays to prevent a seismic schism that would decrease membership rolls. . . . The painful nature of this debate brings up existential questions that leaders such as William seem unprepared to face. For example, is the more successful church the one brimming with members based on bigotry or is it the smaller institution walking in righteousness? . . . If the church thinks Equal-lite is the solution, it is headed for a schism. In a sense, this skirmish is no longer about gay people in the Anglican Communion. It is about whether the church is still a conduit for spiritual integrity and intellectual honesty. If members can no longer be true to their beliefs, then the institution will have lost much of its power and meaning. Is a church that dictates one’s conscience rather than allowing one to live as his conscience dictates worth saving? . . . As a practical matter, most church-goers won’t even notice the missing malcontents if the Anglican Church splits. . . . Yes, bigger can be better, but the Anglican Church may soon learn that the size of ideas matter more than the size of membership lists.

The HooK: "There have to be consequences"

Vander Wel says the new bishop is out of step with the Anglican Communion's governing body in England that in 2004 asked the Episcopal Church to express regret for consecrating Bishop Robinson and to place a moratorium on approving any more gay bishops.

"This is a fatal blow in the Anglican Communion if the Episcopal Church does not comply," says Vander Wel. "The Anglican Communion will cease to be as it exists."
. . .
Vander Wel, however, says the resolution does not go far enough-- because there are no built-in consequences for violating it. "The Episcopal Church is an undisciplined church," he says. "I have a little boy, and it'd be like saying don't throw food off your tray; and he throws food off his tray, and I don't do anything about it. There have to be consequences."

But the Diocese of Newark now has a metaphorical handful of Cheerios cocked and ready to test mother church. Just last week, on June 28, it nominated an openly gay priest as one of four candidates to be its next bishop.

The Rev. Brian Vander Wel is associate rector of Charlotteville's Christ Episcopal Church.

The Archbishop of Canterbury goes Sci-Fi :: Reuters Photo

He is the very image of disembodiment.

The head cannot say to the lump of cancer, I do not need you, can it? With apologies to St. Paul and the Corinthians.

Via Cadenhead.

On being a prophet: truth and consequences

The Lexington Herald-Leader asks, A church divided cannot stand -- can it? Quoting:

Around the world, friends in the 77 million-member Anglican communion are taking sides. In a letter this week, the Archbishop of Canterbury hinted that in a newly reconfigured Communion, the U.S. church and others who make "significant decisions unilaterally" might end up as "associate" members, observers with "no direct part in the decision making."

Noting that some provinces no longer have full communion with the Episcopal Church, Archbishop Rowan Williams made no apologies. "It isn't a question of throwing people into outer darkness, but of recognizing that actions have consequences -- and that actions believed in good faith to be 'prophetic' in their radicalism are likely to have costly consequences."

Regarding gays and lesbians, Williams said that "rhetoric about 'inclusion'" should not obscure the key issue -- whether a church which seeks to be "loyal to the Bible" must bless homosexual behavior or warn against it.

In other words, the Episcopal Church is acting as a prophet. If one examines the Bible, one quickly sees: (1) Prophets in the Bible are rarely popular, and (2) prophets in the Bible are rarely wrong as seen in hindsight by the faith community. This does not imply that the Episcopal Church is prophetic. No doubt the Bible includes only those prophets that proved right in the interpretation of the faith community.

Rowan Williams is saying that it is indeed possible that the Episcopal Church will prove to have it right, but that for now it is proving to be a voice that much of the Anglican Community does not accept. That's quite a complement.

In the meantime, acting as prophet - being an irritant to the faith community - necessarily means bearing the consequences. Rowan Williams is right: there's no way to be a prophet and avoid the consequence of being shunned by the faith community.

Are prophets good for the faith? The Bible tells us they are.

Therein lies the answer to question: Can a divided church stand? Answer that by asking this question: has God stopped sending prophets?

A letter to the Diocese of Virginia from the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Bishop

Extract (my emphasis):

In a story in today’s Washington Times newspaper (June 29, 2006), reporting on the election by the Nigerian Episcopal Synod of the Rev. Canon Martyn Minns as a bishop of the Church of Nigeria, it is asserted that Truro Church, Fairfax and The Falls Church, Falls Church have informed me that they plan to leave the Diocese.

I have had no such conversation with either church. In fact, I received a call today from the Rev. John Yates, rector of The Falls Church, to apologize for the assertion in the story and to assure me that there is no such plan on the part of The Falls Church. I also received today an e-mail from the Rev. Martyn Minns assuring me that no such decision had been made at Truro.

The election of the Rev. Martyn Minns as a Bishop of the Church of Nigeria with oversight of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America is an affront to the traditional, orthodox understanding of Anglican Provincial Autonomy. Archbishop Akinola acknowledges as much in his letter to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. How that situation resolves itself remains to be seen. However, the request by Archbishop Akinola that Martyn be allowed to continue as rector of an Episcopal congregation while also serving as a Nigerian Bishop seems to me, at this point, to be impossible.

Here's the June 29th Washington Times article (and correction). In "A Note from Truro Church" (click, then scroll down) Minns writes "As the saying goes, don't believe everything you read. Thursday's headline in the Washington Times was terribly wrong-I literally groaned when I saw their headline this morning. I guess the true facts were not exciting enough for their headlines. The Truro congregation has not gone through its discernment process and so no decision has been made about our future plans." Finally, at The Falls Church homepage (under What's Happening @ TFC - Recent News): "The Washington Times reported that our church informed our Bishop that we are leaving the Diocese of Virginia and leaving the Episcopal Church. This certainly is not true and misrepresents where we are as a congregation. It is true that we think an extended period of study, prayer, and deliberation about how we are to respond to the serious rift in our denomination is wise and we are hoping to engage in such a time this fall."

ECUSA would become the "off brand"

Episcopalians Shaken by Division in Church - New York Times

Not stirred? Quoting from the NYT article (my emphasis):

Their parish, which celebrated its 150th anniversary last year, is solid and strong. It has 3,000 members, a historic stone building in good repair and a well-loved minister. But to the Episcopalians at St. Luke's Parish in Darien, Conn., who gathered with their pastor to grapple with the past week's news about their denomination, it was as if their solid stone church had been struck by an earthquake.
. . .
"So in other words," Martha Cook, a university professor and member of the vestry at St. Luke's, asked her pastor at the gathering, "the conservatives could literally take over our rightful spot in the Communion, and the majority of the American church would be on the outs?"

The pastor, the Rev. David R. Anderson, answered that while it was far from settled, "the scenario the traditionalists were seeking could actually come to pass."

"The vast majority of the Episcopal Church would be considered the 'off brand,' " Father Anderson said.
Bewildered conversations like this took place in many Episcopal parishes last week.

For parishes that identify with the right or the left pole on the issue of homosexuality, allegiances are clear. But the vast majority of parishes are somewhere in the middle, with members on each side of the debate who feel connected to the Episcopal Church and to Anglican tradition, said the Rev. William Sachs, a St. Luke's member who was recently named director of the new Center for Reconciliation and Mission at St. Stephen's Church in Richmond, Va. "What's really going on in the pews of Episcopal churches is they don't necessarily want to align with either side," he said. "They want to get on with life. They want this thing resolved."
. . .

. . .
The parishioners at St. Luke's met in a lounge hung with an oil portrait of a rector who served the church from 1863 to 1912. Everyone in the room was white, many white-haired — a group atypical in the context of the global Anglican Communion, in which the typical member is now black, young and living in Africa.

"I used to be Communion über alles," said Judy Holding, a student at Yale Divinity School and a chaplain at Greenwich Hospital, "but now I'm asking, at what price Communion?" Ms. Holding said later: "At a certain point for me, it's not worth the price. I would not sign that covenant if it means we have to compromise Christian love and social justice."

Father Anderson asked how many in the room had even heard of the Anglican Communion before 2003, when Anglican archbishops in places like Nigeria and Uganda began protesting the election of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire. Only a third of the 30 parishioners in the room raised their hands.
. . .
Father Anderson closed the gathering with a brief sketch of Anglican history. Queen Elizabeth I gave the church the Book of Common Prayer, he told them, and the church came to be distinguished by its flexibility.

"We've never been bound by common belief, but by common prayer," he said. "Anglicans have always had a generous openness. I just feel that now there's a cold wind blowing. As someone here said tonight, it feels un-Anglican to me."

Indeed. What price communion? Schism often results in new growth. ECUSA could become the neo-Aglicans, and the so-called Anglicans would be the Un-Anglicans. I rather doubt the Un-Anglicans could produce, or attract, a Samuel Johnson, a John Donne or a C. S. Lewis. So be it.

Is anyone asking this question?

Parish property is owned by the diocese. That is one of the peculiarities of the Episcopal Church. A congregation that chooses to leave the Episcopal Church does not retain use of the parish property. This figures in the congregation's calculus of whether to leave. Of course not all agree about who owns the property or about what a court would rule if a congregation sued for the property.

The Episcopal Church (ECUSA) is in the Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury has recently stated that ECUSA is at risk of losing its representation in AC, and that the representation of the United States in the AC could be transferred to another entity.

My question: If such a transfer of representation takes place, would that have any consequence for ownership?

My presumption: The diocese is a creature of General Convention. The diocese that is recognized by ECUSA is the diocese that owns the property.

My question and my presumption also, of course, apply to dioceses in the US that leave the ECUSA. ECUSA would simply recognize those persons in that region that have chosen not to leave to be that regional diocese. Those persons are the diocese.

Is anyone else asking my question?

Archbishop of Canterbury: 'Challenge and hope' for the Anglican Communion

Here's the full text of Rowan Williams' ‘The Challenge and Hope of Being an Anglican Today, A Reflection for the Bishops, Clergy and Faithful of the Anglican Communion’.

I have no immediate reaction on the substance.

Will most Anglicans even know what he is talking about? I doubt it. And that's part of the problem. The leaders of the church are generally unable to communicate their thoughts in a way that can be understood. Presuming they have something useful to communicate, that's a problem.

Wither the Anglican Church?: Schism

New York Times:

In a defining moment in the Anglican Communion's civil war over homosexuality, the Archbishop of Canterbury proposed a plan yesterday that could force the Episcopal Church in the United States either to renounce gay bishops and same-sex unions or to give up full membership in the Communion.

The archbishop, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, said the "best way forward" was to devise a shared theological "covenant" and ask each province, as the geographical divisions of the church are called, to agree to abide by it.

Provinces that agree would retain full status as "constituent churches," and those that do not would become "churches in association" without decision-making status in the Communion, the world's third largest body of churches.
. . .
The archbishop said his proposal could allow local churches in the United States to separate from the Episcopal Church and join the American wing that stays in the Communion. But that process could take years, and some American parishes are already planning to break from the Episcopal Church. Entire dioceses may announce their intention to depart, as soon as today.

The NYT article ends:

Archbishop Williams said in his statement, "The reason Anglicanism is worth bothering with is because it has tried to find a way of being a church that is neither tightly centralized nor a loose federation of essentially independent bodies."

But that decentralization will continue to be a cause of conflict unless it is addressed, he said, adding, "What our Communion lacks is a set of adequately developed structures which is able to cope with the diversity of views that will inevitably arise in a world of rapid global communication and huge cultural variety."

He's characterized the organizational uniqueness of the Anglican Communion. But, at least in this quote he's not explained why that characteristic makes the Communion "worth bothering with." I'll read his statement and get back to you if I see some explanation.

File under: Headlines I wish I'd thought of

File under: Cartoon I wish I'd thought of

Survey Says

Mother of God:

Should traditional religious language be changed to more gender-neutral terms?
A. No, it should stay as it has always been.
B. There are some cases where it makes sense.
C. Strong efforts to make things more fair should be taken.

Make things more fair? Is predestination consistent with fairness?

Here's the related article.

A Ban on Kneeling? Some Catholics Won't Stand for It - Los Angeles Times

Quote:

Kneeling "is clearly rebellion, grave disobedience and mortal sin," Father Martin Tran, pastor at St. Mary's by the Sea, told his flock in a recent church bulletin. The Diocese of Orange backs Tran's anti-kneeling edict.
. . .
One flashpoint involves the Agnus Dei. Traditionalists say the faithful must then fall to their knees in awe for several minutes, believing that the bread and wine are literally the body and blood of Christ.

Lesa Truxaw, the Orange Diocese director of worship, said Bishop Tod D. Brown banned kneeling because standing "reflects our human dignity. It's not that we think we're equal to God, but we recognize that we are made in the image and likeness of God."

Humans, chimps may have bred after split - The Boston Globe

Could this explain where Cain and Abel found their wives?

TheStar.com - Why suburbs will never have tall trees

Why new subdivisions create ideal environment for killing off shrubs and trees.

Headline: Heterosexual elected Bishop of Calif

Heh.

But I wouldn't call it an absurd headline. If it's headline worthy to include a homosexual bishop's gender, then by symmetry it's headline worthy to do the same for a heterosexual bishop.

Compounded clash and confusion of cultures :: Khaleej Times

John 3:16 ends up in the wrong place

Quote:

A customer who visited the Shop No. 44 run by a Chinese seller, said: “I was shocked at the words printed on the underwear. The words read: ‘For God So Love the World that He Gave His Only Begotten Son’. These words should be written on a respectable object, not on underwears.”

She added: “I talked to the salesperson about it and warned her not to sell these underwear, but she brushed me off, saying ‘take it or leave it’. When I told her I will not buy it, she asked me to leave her shop before she calls the security.
. . .
Ghada Gabriel said that there are many people who don’t know how to read English. They would feel bad if they buy the underwear and use it with God and Jesus Christ printed on it. These products which are made in China should immediately be withdrawn from the markets in the country not only from the Al Shaab Club in Sharjah.”

These are the sorts of wacky things that can happen in this country, where English is the language almost everyone communicates with (barely) when they have no other language in common - which is very, very often.

This story begins with a Chinese manufacturer in China seeking to make a product that this attractive to Christians, but lacking even basic cultural knowledge he produced a product that no English speaking Christian would buy - unless they had a perverse sense of humor.

Now what do you do with a boatload (literally) of stuff that doesn't sell with the intended customer? For some reason a lot of that stuff gets shipped to the entrepot which is the UAE, but does not gets shipped out again. So you end up with some Chinese vendor (yes, we've got all bases covered here in the Emirates) retailing these made-in-China made-for-Christian panties being market in a local market frequented by Muslims. Very likely the vendor does not have a clue what the words are, they just know that some women seem to prefer cheap panties with words on them.

And then a Muslim customer who can read English comes along and is picking through reams of panties and finds a batch with the words God and Jesus written on them. The customer becomes animated with the shopkeeper (who seems to have assumed the customer is asking for the seller's "best price" (which often involves disparaging the product you are seeking to buy)) and you can see where this is going.

Somehow this reminds me of the jar of local honey I bought when I first arrived in the UAE. Among the health claims printed on the label: good for male importance problems.

Cultural misunderstanding is so common here in the Emirates that my sense is that most reasonable people of all cultures have adopted a generous policy of "give the benefit of the doubt" when offense might be taken but likely was not intended. Looking for the humor in the clash is a constructive approach.

Cross-posted at The Emirates Economist.

Bonfire of the sacristies: To the 2006 General Convention

You may have made the choice not to read anything from Virtueonline.

Make an exception for this piece by Allen Guelzo.

One extract:

So perhaps the problem is not in us, but in our stars, and we should content ourselves with the realization that Episcopalianism is a mandarin taste in religion (like Shostakovich or crème brule) and not worry our heads over what is, in reality, a mark of cultural superiority.

Or, just as comforting but slightly more exciting, we can blame Episcopal marginality on our progressive social/political postures, from civil rights to homosexual rights, and simply write off the membership losses and financial losses to the price a blue-state church has to pay for justice in a red-state nation. We are to be, as John Shelby Spong puts it, a "prophetic church," and prophets cannot be expected to be popular.

I wish I could take comfort in these rationales. But I cannot, since fundamentally, they share a suspicious characteristic, and that is, the giving of permission to ourselves to do nothing. Liturgical worship, it is true, goes against much of happy-clappy religious frisbee-throwing that passes for worship in many places I have been; but if the problem was liturgy, it would afflict all liturgical churches - and it doesn't.

The Episcopal Church, it is true, likes to see itself taking up brave and prophetic stances that must, for the sake of discipleship, cost it casualties. But what, exactly, have we been prophetic about?

Economics forecast: High attendance on Easter Sunday

And why will attendance be high on Easter Sunday compared to your average Sunday? The quantity of bottoms filling the pews will be the equilibrium of supply and demand. So will attendance high because of demand factors or supply factors?

Both.

Chris Giles explains in his Holy Week column for The Financial Times:

As any Christian will tell you, Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and the faithful celebrate his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Hang on a minute, say economists.

Sure, the spike in church attendance on Easter Sunday results, in part, from the special pleasure people derive from marking Easter in church. But the supply-side product enhancements many churches offer in holy week - special choral and flower arrangements and the increased networking opportunities that come with a full house - also help to tilt the cost-benefit balance towards Easter Sunday attendance.

As a result, religious observance falls below average in the weeks following Easter as the semi-regular worshippers who shifted their attendance to holy week drop away.

My emphasis. Thanks to grapeshisha for emailing the link.

Crucifixion suffers as nobody is willing to take the part of Judas

More evidence that there is something to this Gospel of Judas. It seems he really was necessary for our redemption (ME VT CT MA NY DE OR IA 5¢ MI 1¢).

Thanks, Judas, for the favor.

Theology based upon a belief in "the intrinsic malignity of matter" :: The Volokh Conspiracy - -

Coming here in search of an exegesis of The Gospel of Judas?

Look no further than David Kopel's commentary over at Volokh Conspiracy.

Some tidbits:

This Friday's coverage of the so-called "Gospel of Judas" in much of the U.S. media was appallingly stupid.
. . .
The influential Christian bishop Ireneus, in his treatise Against Heresies, written in 180 a.d., denounced the Gospel of Judas as the product of a gnostic sect called the Cainites. (Book 1, ch. 31, para. 1.)
. . .
The great nineteenth-century Catholic theologian John Henry Cardinal Newman explained that gnostics such as the Marcionites believed in "the intrinsic malignity of matter."
. . .
Gnosticism’s hatred of the created world sets it in direct opposition to Jewish and Christian doctrine from the first chapter of Genesis all the way through the New Testament.

The Gospel of Judas adds no historical information to the biography of Jesus, but it does provide additional information about the gnostic heresy which thrived in the mid-second century, and which has attracted many adherents today as well.

Read the whole thing.

I am inspired to sing a hymn appropriate to this Gospel text:

Make the world go away
Get it off my shoulder
Say the things we used to say
And make the world, make it go away

Intelligence fails to gain foothold in Canada

Subtitle: Some still hold out hope that signs of intelligent life will be found

Quote:

Alters, director of McGill's Evolution Education Research Centre, told CanWest News Service yesterday he was shocked at SSHRC's response and that it offers "ironic" proof that his premise about intelligent design gaining a foothold in Canada is correct.

Then there's this truly less surprising news appearing in the Waco Texas Tribune about a talk by Bill Nye “The Science Guy”:

The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”

He pointed out that the sun, the “greater light,” is but one of countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.

A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence.

“We believe in a God!” exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children.

The children were not available for comment. Most Christian children confess their faith in God by proxy when they are infants (see: Baptism). Since that transaction is not involuntary we cannot use the theory of revealed preference to infer whether they really do believe.

Of course, in Waco, most are Baptists who do not practice infant baptism. Still, one wonders about whether a person of 12 or 14 can be said to be of the age of consent.

All this news and more brought to you by Fark, of course.

TAGS: intelligent design, Darwin, Waco, infant baptism, farkonomics

Study: Jesus skates :: CNN

Churchgoers Live Longer - Yahoo! News

Yes, but is that a prescription to act upon? Study leader Daniel Hall, who happens to be an Episcopal priest is firmly and admirably cautious:

Hall cautions that few conclusions can be drawn from his study, and that further research is needed. "There is no evidence that changing religious attendance causes a change in health outcomes," he said.

Funny in an ironic way - when folks complain that churches are as corrupt and dysfunctional as any secular organization, and perhaps worse, I always respond: "What do you expect? Churches are hospitals for the spiritually ill." I might add that one thing that may exacerbate the organizational failings is that the church insists that relationships are built on trust and not verification (God does that).

But bad people exist, and cheat on systems which assume trust (rather than build it). In economics we call that moral hazard or adverse incentives.

And bad people find it attractive to go places where the code is to assume the best in people. Easy pickings. In economics we call that adverse selection. Many times those people manage to become treasurers at the parish, diocesan or national church (Episcopalians, think "815").

To all churchpeople: You know what I'm talking about.

Churchgoers Live Longer - Yahoo! News

Study by an ordained Episcopalian.

Americans do not believe atheists can be trusted

Quote:

Asked whether they would disapprove of a child's wish to marry an atheist, 47.6 percent of those interviewed said yes. Asked the same question about Muslims and African-Americans, the yes responses fell to 33.5 percent and 27.2 percent, respectively. The yes responses for Asian-Americans, Hispanics, Jews and conservative Christians were 18.5 percent, 18.5 percent, 11.8 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively.

When asked which groups did not share their vision of American society, 39.5 percent of those interviewed mentioned atheists.

I am not aware of any evidence that atheists are less trustworthy than, say, conservative Christians. On the contrary, they have the courage to admit what many are afraid to confess: I do not believe.

The responses of agnostics were not reported. I believe they were primarily "refused to answer" or "uncertain."

What I do not believe is that ABC News could have reported this on the same day and not made some compare and contrast. But they did. Strange juxtaposition, I say.

It is also hard to believe that Liberty University is good at debating. More likely they are good at some perverted form of debating. Afterall, did you ever find Jerry Falwell terribly convincing? I didn't think so.

Crossposted at The Emirates Economist.

Comment is free: Apostasy and Islam

Quote:

To force someone to remain in a faith they do not believe seems rather absurd as it negates the whole basis of sincere belief and seems closer to officially endorsing hypocrisy.

There is a famous remark attributed to the 19th century Egyptian Muslim activist and scholar Muhammad Abduh who visited various European countries and said 'I have been to many Muslim countries and found many Muslims there, but little Islam. I have also been to some European countries and found few Muslims there, but a lot of Islam'.

Look at countries which are majority Christian, if only nominally. In the U.S. , where competition is open Christianity thrives. In most European countries with some form of state sponsorship of a state church the church is dead from the inside out.

Paradoxically, the churches that grow fastest have the strictest rules of inclusion. I would guess that most Muslims in Europe set high standards for individuals. In countries where you are mandated to be a member you go through the motions.

These membership growth and retention ideas can be found developed throughout The New Virginia Church Man.

Thanks to Instapundit for link to the post quoted above.

(Cross posted at The Emirates Economist.)

Althouse: Distinguishing gay marriage and polygamy.

Ann centers the argument over state-recognized same-sex marriage around the employee fringe benefits issue. It's not fair, she argues that a "gay person with a pension and a health insurance plan is incapable of extending those benefits to his (or her) partner. He (or she) can't file a joint tax return."

On the other hand, a "polygamous marriage, however, puts a group of persons in a position to claim more economic benefits than the traditional heterosexual couple. That doesn't appeal to our sense of fairness." I note that there is no tax benefit to polygamy, so she must being focusing here on fringe benefits.

Fairness? What's fair about singles not being able to get the same benefits as employees with families?

Evidently the presumption is that firms are mandated to extend benefits to all kinds of families. I thought the law was more interested in efficiency than fairness. To inquire into efficiency we have to inquire into why firms offer family benefits, and whether they would be reluctant to extend them to same sex couples, or polygomous marriages. And what would happen if the law said firms had to treat all families alike. Then maybe some firms would not offer extend benefits to families at all.

Or, look at modern societies where polygny is practiced: the law does not require the employer to provide benefits for more than one of the marriages. Think outside the box and you will see there are answers outside the box.

The Undercover Economist's observation seems timely: people who object to polygamy have trouble adding up.

UPDATE: Some say look at the evidence. Polygamy is on the rise. Via The EclectEcon by email.

TAGS: polygamy, Krauthammer, Althouse

Isaac Hayes Quits 'South Park' - Yahoo! News

Double your standards, double your pleasure

Quote:

Stone told The AP he and co-creator Trey Parker "never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin."
. . .
"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said.

"Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored," he continued. "As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."

"South Park" co-creator Matt Stone responded sharply in an interview with The Associated Press Monday, saying, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem — and he's cashed plenty of checks — with our show making fun of Christians."

Via Roger Simon.

Isaac, stick to music where you are awesome. Persuasion is not your forte.

TAGS: South Park, Scientology

Marginal Revolution: Stay tuned for Opposite Day

Over at Marginal Revolution the economists are preparing for Opposite Day. They are inspired by a Jewish atheist's suggestion that for one day each year, atheists try their best to argue for belief. And for believers to give an honest effort to put themselves in the shoes of an atheist. Here at New Virginia Church Man we're all about mutual understanding, so we support this initiative.

In the economist's variant of Opposite Day, the economist will give an honest effort to support promote the pillars of belief in the anti-market camp - basic principles such as "trade is bad" (pillar 3, if I remember correctly).

The late great George Stigler provided us with the clearest statement that we economists are a bit zealous when it comes to our faith in markets. That statement: The Economist as Preacher and Other Essays. As Barry Goldwater might have said, extremism in the pursuit of (economic) liberties is no vice.

The Left

There's a saying in the Arab world, "you don't want to be a leftist." It really makes you wonder why so many Arab countries dabbled with communism during the 20th century.

The source of the saying is Islamic:

Then the people of the right hand--how happy the people of the right hand!
And the people of the left hand--how wretched the people of the left hand!

In the West there is the very same concept which is well illustrated by this image from the Catedral Viejo in Salamanca. (Notice the perspective from which left and right is defined.)

At the end of the day I am a Christian. But I'm afraid there are some Christians who think I will be Left Behind. Left Behind for a number of reasons including: I am willing to live with the contradiction that there are people who confess other faiths who I believe I will see when I get to heaven. I'm staking my life on it.

Crossposted at The Emirates Economist.

JustOneMinute: God Lied, People Died?

A few good men: Tony and George. God bless them.

The distortions of what they represent and what they stand for continue unabated. Ditto the kind of relationship they have with God.

TAGS: Alan Cowell Tony Blair God

"To paraphrase Tom Wolfe, theocracy is forever descending on America, but somehow it always lands somewhere else."

On Private Web Site, Wal-Mart Chief Talks Tough - New York Times

Is your boss this unguarded? I doubt it. Seems pretty damned healthy to me.

Farting Preacher 5 (a) - Google Video

There's a need to lighten up here at NVCM. The link above ought to do it. (Please don't attack my embassy if you are offended.)

Standards and the priesthood

Commenting on my post, Robinson acknowledges alcoholism, enters rehab Scott of Hybla says

So the 'first openly gay' bishop is held to a different standard than your run-of-the-mill straight bishop? Either way, I can appreciate the Bishop's recent disclosure as encouragement to the alcoholics among us, gay or straight.

He's right of course. Fear of the consequences of disclosure compounds the problem of alcoholism in the priesthood. It also causes those of us know priests with vices - whether we are their bishop and their friends - to participate in a conspiracy of silence. I might understand the fear of disclosure (but not the lack of guts to do so anyway; see next para) in the case of a pedophile or a womanizer. But I truly believe that when it comes to alcohol or drug abuse we in the pews are more than happy to support rehab and a full return to the work of an ordained member of the church.* If Bishop Robinson suffers any consequences due to his revelation it won't be because he disclosed, but because there is at least the appearance of playing games with the timing of the disclosure.

And where does that silence lead? It leads to bishops shipping problem priests off to defenseless Native American congregations. Or to the priest being told to go find a congregation in another diocese - where the cycle of womanizing or whatever it may be continues. Even the alcoholic is a victim - most of us know of priests and bishops who would have been a lot better off if someone had blown the whistle. When will it all stop? When someone has the guts to speak out.

Bishop Robinson's closest supporters knew of his problems. But it was inconvenient to point them out when the only end was to bust down the barrier to openly gay priests serving as bishops. It was all strategic. They knew that once there was an openly gay bishop those of us who preferred a more deliberate approach would have no moral alternative but to support Robinson. It's pretty sick manipulation when you think about it.

*On this point, the treatment of the story at Titus One Nine may be an example - report, no commentary and comments were not open. Of course it could be a reflection of the notion that when the other side is self destructing your side gains most by not piling on.

Science undermines faith :: KTLA

Quote:

A few years ago, Loayza said, his faith was shaken and his identity stripped away by DNA evidence showing that the ancestors of American natives came from Asia, not the Middle East."I've gone through stages," he said. "Absolutely denial. Utter amazement and surprise. Anger and bitterness."

For Mormons, the lack of discernible Hebrew blood in Native Americans is no minor collision between faith and science. It burrows into the historical foundations of the Book of Mormon, a 175-year-old transcription that the church regards as literal and without error.

For those outside the faith, the depth of the church's dilemma can be explained this way: Imagine if DNA evidence revealed that the Pilgrims didn't sail from Europe to escape religious persecution but rather were part of a migration from Iceland — and that U.S. history books were wrong.

Shirk (polytheism) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quote:

When the Qur'an describes shirk it frequently seems to be referring to and disparaging the Christian dogma of the divinity of Jesus (4:171). . . . In a theological context one commits shirk by associating some lesser being with Allah. This sin is committed if one imagines that there is some other spirit than Allah whom it is suitable to worship. . . . The limits of the concept of worship are quite elastic and theologians often describe excessive veneration of some artifact here on earth as shirk.

It's not easy to say who is a shirker and who is not. I'd say these people crossed the line.

Robinson acknowledges alcoholism, enters rehab :: Boston.com

Gene, an honest man would have said, "I have this problem with alcohol."

Would have, as in your application to become the first openly gay bishop in The Episcopal Church. Because, like, it makes a difference. A big difference.

Christian Idol to be next knockoff of American Idol

Is that redundant or an oxymoron?

Da Vinci Code silver lining

Rather than lashing out about its portrayal in the Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei makes something positive out of it.

Shock flop :: Rolling Stone mocks Christ

Very daring and innovative, Rolling Stone. Not.

Globe declares religion no ridicule zone

Okay, Boston Globe, you've made your point. Does this mean it's not okay to ridicule Bush anymore for consulting with God about important matters of state?

No? Okay, I didn't think so.

Where's my Lurpak? :: Adventures in Dubai

Quote: "the association with terrorism is now so strong that I do not know what would make it go away - but certainly not more terror."

Ouch.

NBC riles CNS, again

I say, lighten up dudes.

Bush goes over 50%: Instapundit sees a correlation

No doubt including Gore in the equation would strengthen the result.

As Instapundit concludes, the "Democrats would be wise to let other people represent them." But who is there?

Blogs attack from left as Democrats reach for center :: WaPo

Analogy:

Pretzel is to Bush as Kos is to Democrats. Except Bush survived, and the Democrats? - it's time for the Heimlich.

Virginia parish demands leader 'repent' :: The Washington Times

Quote:

Leaders of the Falls Church Episcopal said in their eight-page, single-spaced letter that "no compromise on this issue is possible," although they refrained from specific threats. In the past, the parish's rector has threatened schism.

Good. No comprise is possible. Now what?

(Link via StandFirm.)

Episcopalians weigh sainthood for Marshall

Why not?

(Link via StandFirm. Sorry - their permalinks to specific articles do not appear to be working.)

Va. Episcopalians struggle with possibility of schism :: WaPo

The news in this article is that there is no news.

(Via Scott of Hybla.)

Why are conservatives always ultra-conservative? Isn't it a sign of good writing to vary your vocabulary? Next time you feel the urge to say ultra-conservative, why not use magnum-conservative instead?

After all, Al, don't you want to get back to the major league?

Bush and Wal-Mart

Instapundit:

You know, to me Wal-Mart is a lot like George W. Bush. It's not that I'm that big a fan in the abstract, really, it's just that the viciousness and stupidity revealed in its enemies tends to make me view it more favorably than I otherwise would.

I'm NewVirginiaChurchMan, and I endorse this message.

I, for one, welcome our new cat overlords.

5 Strange/Weird/Quirky Things -- Blog Tag

The EclectEcon has tagged me in a blog tag game of naming 5 strange/weird/quirky things about me. Here goes,

1. It took me 11 years to submit my doctoratal dissertation to Brown University. They still awarded my PhD.*

2. Within the span of one week I broke each of my front teeth. This was in 4th grade. I can still remember the principal phoning home to tell my mother (after the second break), "it's a perfect (inverted) V."

3. I can pop my tongue off the roof of my mouth. Very loudy. It comes in handy when the Dubai Singers is in need of some percussion.

4. I worked the Washington Sailing Marina one summer back when I was in college. I had drinks on the job with Captain Tug, who used to have a kids TV show on channel 5 showing Popeye cartoons. I once took a small motorboat up the creek (4 Mile Run) that passed under Potomac Yard (a very large railroad yard), an underground channel, and emerged in Arlington 1/4 of a mile upstream from the mouth of 4 Mile Run.

5. I did the Poor Peoples' March on Washington in 1968.

*without an asterisk

Washington Post shutters blog :: Breitbart

Quote:

The Washington Post shut down one of its blogs Thursday after the newspaper's ombudsman raised the ire of readers by writing that lobbyist Jack Abramoff gave money to the Democrats as well as to Republicans.

At the center of a congressional bribery investigation, Abramoff gave money to Republicans while he had his clients donate to both parties, though mostly to Republicans.

In her Sunday column, ombudsman Deborah Howell wrote that Abramoff "had made substantial campaign contributions to both major parties," prompting a wave of nasty reader postings on post.blog.

There were so many personal attacks that the newspaper's staff could not "keep the board clean, there was some pretty filthy stuff," and so the Post shut down comments on the blog, or web log, said Jim Brady, executive editor of washingtonpost.com.

No doubt this behavior represents only a small slice of liberals who are loonie. But if Democrats are to regain power they have to find a way to keep the tail from wagging the dog. Indications continue to be that the dog is still too afraid to give up its tail.

Keene's police computers clash with Dunkin' Donuts system - Boston.com

Good example of the ironic

Quote: The officers' in-car police computers interfere with the restaurant's computers. Officers need to disable their computer modems to avoid interfering with the Dunkin' Donuts computer system.

A Sneak Peek at "Al vs. Hillary" :: Huffington

Are the Democrats so desperate that they are seriously thinking of going with Gore again (see the comments especially)? I have to remind myself that Nixon managed a resurrection.

Sen. Kennedy Severs Ties to Harvard Club :: Yahoo! News

Quote:

A Washington Times story about Kennedy's Owl Club ties last week sparked criticism from Republicans who branded Kennedy a hypocrite.

Kennedy joined the Owl Club when he was a student at Harvard. Though not an active member since college, he donated about $100 to the club last October, his office said Tuesday. Kennedy has sent a letter to the club asking for his name to be removed from all official documents.

A few questions:

1. Is it possible to be branded more than once?

2. Is Hooters the club formerly known as the Owl Club?

If you don't read many of the blogs of my fellow travelers, you may have missed this:

The poor fellows had no choice but to sacrifice themselves on national TV at the behest of NOW and Daily Kos and the kookier parts of the base. It was said of the British Tommies in the trenches of the Great War that they were lions led by donkeys. In the Democratic Party, the old lions are now led by the grassroots donkeys, and, like some moth-eaten circus act, Ted and Pat Leahy and Dianne Feinstein are obliged to jump through ever more ludicrous hoops for the gratification of the base.

The media did their best to neutralize the impact of this pitiful spectacle, with expert commentators on hand to assure us that smart fellows like Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden were only going through the motions for the sake of all that MoveOn.org fund-raising gravy. Don't worry, Ted and Chuck and Pat are way too savvy to believe this junk. Thus democratic politics reaches a new level of circular hell: The spin is that it's only spin.

Emphasis added.

Wal Mart and confirmation bias :: Arnold Kling - TCS

Plain speaking Arnold Kling could not have put it more plainly:

Most of my friends are liberals. This series is the conversation I wish that I could have with them.
. . .
Chances are, you will look for some errors in my reasoning, so that you can dismiss everything that I have to say. All of us tend to read this way. We overlook flaws in the arguments of sympathetic writers, and we go all-out to find the flaws in arguments of others.
. . .
For example, in January of 2006, liberals in the state of Maryland rejoiced over passage of a law requiring Wal-Mart to pay higher health benefits to its workers. I think that they would have less smug satisfaction if they considered how this actually is likely to play out.

Read the whole thing. Especially if you are already sensing you disagree.

The Pap-ist Threat :: Dynamist Blog

Virginia Postrel rants engagingly about ...

Christian pap ....

Throughout American history, Christian (largely Protestant) devotion has stretched people's minds and given them reason to think, if only within a closed system of belief. Religious practice has taught people to read, write, and speak. The rhythms and rhetoric of the Bible have given America its greatest political rhetoric, from Abraham Lincoln's to Martin Luther King's. Today's Christianity produces...George W. Bush.

Megachurch Christianity may hone organizational and business skills, but it isn't teaching believers to think about abstractions or communicate in higher than "everyday" language. No wonder megachurches combine their up-to-date media with fundamentalist doctrine. It fits well on PowerPoint--no paragraphs required. Leaving aside the validity of what they preach, today's most successful evangelicals are spreading pap.

The Purpose-Driven Life ...

While I'm sure the book inspires some people to more-fulfilling lives, Rick Warren's treatise is offensive in its audacious dodging of even the most sophomoric philosophical questions. (What about Hitler? Ted Bundy?) Just leafing through a few pages in Borders, I lost brain cells.

and free market religion ...

Yes, all of the above could be considered an extended criticism of market-based competition. In the U.S., after all, religion is the freest market. But I'm not against the system; I'm all for it. As institutional responses to modern life, I find megachurches fascinating and productive. (I even had nice things to say about their architecture, which, while purely functional, is more interesting than its low-church Baptist predecessors.) But the most successful product is not necessarily the best on all dimensions--or on the ones I care about. And criticism is also part of the system.

Staples settles pricing lawsuit with vouchers :: Boston Globe

Our courts should not be clogged with these sorts of junk lawsuits:

BOSTON --Staples Inc. has agreed to hand out vouchers worth $7.50 to as many as 76,800 shoppers to settle a class action lawsuit charging the company with violating the state's pricing regulations. Under the settlement, the vouchers will be given to the first 1,200 shoppers who visit any of the chain's 64 Massachusetts store on a yet-to-be-selected Monday, called "Consumer Day" in court papers.

If all the vouchers are distributed, the settlement would cost Staples $576,000, plus another $210,000 in fees paid to the plaintiffs' attorneys, The Boston Globe reported.

The state's pricing laws require retailers to put stickers on all items, or to install aisle scanners that allow consumers to find out the price of an item.

The products were clearly priced, no consumer was defrauded; sticking a pricetag on every item is a waste of resources. The plaintiff is merely harassing big box retailers, and by extension their customers who prefer them over other outlets.

Government's role in mine disaster :: The Boston Globe

Don Boudreaux proposes that it was not just absence of regulation, but presence of regulation that played a role in the Sago Mine tragedy.

The presence of regulation was and is the regulatory bias towards Eastern coal. Note that on Don's reasoning - with which I concur - Eastern mine workers are equals with the mining companies in favoring that bias.

If you've got the money, you can go home again but you'll probably be a stranger in your own home town.

Pews in the News - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com

Rabbi Gellman reports on the Barna Group's findings on religious trends in America: 1. pathetic prayer, 2. decline of the black church (why? - because of the economic rise of blacks), 3. evangelicals give liberally, 4. Rabbi Phil doesn't know the Bible, 5. outside-the-box Christians driven by "moribund bureaucracy of organized church life."

Pooled analysis suggests dietary fiber not associated with colon cancer :: DG

Mmmm. White bread.

Why people hate economics :: Arnold Kling

If there was no God, we'd make Her up. This also means humans impute evil where there is none.

Quote:

Paul Bloom's essay "Is God an Accident?" in the latest issue of The Atlantic, suggests that humans' belief in God, Intelligent Design, and the afterlife is an artifact of brain structure. In this essay, I am going to suggest that the same artifact that explains why people are instinctively anti-Darwin explains why they are instinctively anti-economic.

Bloom says that we use one brain mechanism to analyze the physical world, as when we line up a shot on the billiard table. We use another brain mechanism to interact socially, as when we try to get a date for the prom.

The analytical brain uses the principles of science. It learns to make predictions of the form, "When an object is dropped, it will fall toward the earth."

The social brain uses empathy. It learns to guess others' intentions and motives in order to predict their reactions and behavior.

The difference between analytical and social reasoning strikes me as similar to the difference that I once drew between Type C and Type M arguments. I wrote, "Type C arguments are about the consequences of policies. Type M arguments are about the alleged motives of individuals who advocate policies."

Type C arguments about policy come from the analytical brain and reflect impersonal analysis. Type M arguments come from the social brain. In my view, they inject emotion, demagoguery, and confusion into discussions of economic policy.
. . .
The many political crusades against Wal-Mart reflect type M thinking. For example, the state of Maryland, where I live, is considering legislation forcing Wal-Mart to provide expensive health insurance to its employees.

The type M brain sees Wal-Mart management as Scrooge, and Maryland's politicians as the ghosts that are going to get the company to see the evil of its ways. However, Basic type C economics says that forcing the company to provide more health insurance benefits would lead to lower wages for Wal-Mart workers.

Read the whole thing.

Is Wal-Mart evil?

Not according to the public, especially those on a low income. Criticism of Wal-Mart in the media is not reality-based. It comes from elitists like me who want to be surrounded by something a bit more elegant than a box. We don't represent the majority, and our views aren't any more legitimate than the average joe's.

Narnia :: Instapundit.com

Approval ratings for Bush are at all-time high

What Christian bloggers are saying about 'The Chronicles of Narnia' | blogs4God

(Via Instapundit.)

Hey, sibs, a Christmas gift idea for Mom and Dad

A solar-boosted Prius. (Via Instapundit.)

Some Megachurches Closing for Christmas :: AP

Quote:

Cally Parkinson, a spokeswoman for Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., said church leaders decided that organizing services on a Christmas Sunday would not be the most effective use of staff and volunteer resources. The last time Christmas fell on a Sunday was 1994, and only a small number of people showed up to pray, she said.

"If our target and our mission is to reach the unchurched, basically the people who don't go to church, how likely is it that they'll be going to church on Christmas morning?" she said.

Among the other megachurches closing on Christmas Day are Southland Christian Church in Nicholasville, Ky., near Lexington, and Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, outside of Dallas. North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga., outside of Atlanta, said on its Web site that no services will be held on Christmas Day or New Year's Day, which also falls on a Sunday. A spokesman for North Point did not respond to requests for comment.

Saving lost books :: Dynamist Blog

The internet has saved many a lost book. Old books are finding new readers. It may even be saving used book shops.

Well, not just the internet, but the internet and the profit motive.

December 1, 1955

Rosa Parks arrested.

December 2, 1859
John Brown executed.

"My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.

"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant 'Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

"We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we stiff creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter."

Moveon.org in British soldier coverup :: Bad Example

Rove must be involved. Somehow.

Thanksgiving with Moveon.org :: Mahalanobis

Mahalanobis and I have more than a few things in common.

Scholars seek punishment for gays :: Gulf News

More here including the possibility of punishment by hormone injection.

superbee

Lowell Christensen has started a blog. Judging by the first post it looks very promising.

The opening:

Science vs. religion—we need to settle this once and for all. The debate has been raging since the day Charles Darwin finished his famous book . . . actually it began thousands of years earlier after Moses finished his famous book, which proclaims, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Men of renown soon began to question the short, poetic account of creation, an exercise usually more popular than reading the rest of the Septuagint.

Michael Jackson converting? :: ynet

Catholic priests perplexed. Assumed theirs was the best fit for the ashen pop star.

gulfnews.com: Tremor felt in Dubai

gulfnews.com: Tremor felt in Dubai: "Tremor felt in Dubai

Staff Report

Dubai:
There are unconfirmed reports that an earth tremor has hit the northern emirates.
These reports claim that the tremor was centred on a triangular area between Ras Al Khaimah, Al Ain and Dubai.
Some tall buildings and skyscrapers around Shaikh Zayed Road and Dubai Media City were evacuated.
UAE authorities are now attempting to ascertain from international sources whether there was any seismic activity in the region.
More follows..."

On intelligent design :: Charles Krauthammer

Krauthammer at his best. Simple, but not too simple:

I feel obliged to point out what would otherwise be superfluous: that the two greatest scientists in the history of our species were Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, and they were both religious.

Newton's religion was traditional. He was a staunch believer in Christianity and a member of the Church of England. Einstein's was a more diffuse belief in a deity who set the rules for everything that occurs in the universe.

Neither saw science as an enemy of religion. On the contrary. "He believed he was doing God's work," James Gleick wrote in his recent biography of Newton. Einstein saw his entire vocation -- understanding the workings of the universe -- as an attempt to understand the mind of God.
. . .
Intelligent design may be interesting as theology, but as science it is a fraud. It is a self-enclosed, tautological "theory" whose only holding is that when there are gaps in some area of scientific knowledge -- in this case, evolution -- they are to be filled by God. It is a "theory" that admits that evolution and natural selection explain such things as the development of drug resistance in bacteria and other such evolutionary changes within species but also says that every once in a while God steps into this world of constant and accumulating change and says, "I think I'll make me a lemur today." A "theory" that violates the most basic requirement of anything pretending to be science -- that it be empirically disprovable.
. . .
The [Kansas] school board thinks it is indicting evolution by branding it an "unguided process" with no "discernible direction or goal." This is as ridiculous as indicting Newtonian mechanics for positing an "unguided process" by which Earth is pulled around the sun every year without discernible purpose.

Instapundit provided the link, and this one to the Vatican's view of ID.

Episcopal Church Leaves Va. Diocese :: WaPo

Quote:

Because the church had no formal status, Lee said, their departure is the equivalent of a group of individuals choosing another religious path. By church rules, Ashey, however, could not transfer to the Ugandan church without Lee's approval. Lee said the priest may face disciplinary action, which could include being defrocked as an American Episcopal priest.

"I'm really not eager to go after Mr. Ashey in some kind of hostile way," he said. "But church law does not permit you to walk away from the ministry without some consequences."
. . .
Jim Naughton, director of communications for the Diocese of Washington, suggested that the move was an attempt to keep the dissent of a minority group in the news.

Church of the day: St Andrews, Abu Dhabi

Church of England faces mutiny

Quote:

The Church of England’s most senior cleric is facing an “unprecedented” attack on his authority after senior clergy condemned his more liberal stance on gay priests, the Guardian said on Thursday.

The newspaper said 17 of Anglicanism’s 38 primates had signed a “highly personal” letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, urging him to take action against “unrepented sexual immorality” in the Church.

Missioner resigns, congregation leaves Diocese of Virginia

South Riding Church Press Release, 14Nov05: "South Riding Church, established in 2000 as a new church plant in Fairfax, Virginia, has ended its affiliation with the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) and the Diocese of Virginia. The church is now under the jurisdictional authority of Bishop Kisembo in the Diocese of Ruwenzori, Anglican Province of Uganda."

South Riding Missioner Resigns, Congregation Leaves Episcopal Church - News Release from the Communications Office of the Diocese of Virginia: "Since beginning as a church plant in 2000, over $350,000 in direct financial support has been given to South Riding Church by the Diocese of Virginia. In 2001, the Diocese purchased 8.4 acres on Poland Rd. in South Riding at a cost of $680,000 for the intended benefit of South Riding. That property is titled in the name of the Bishop of Virginia. Mr. Ashey was the third missioner assigned to the plant in 5 years."

Living it up :: The Stranger

"'Harvard only accepted 50 kids from Tulane,' Peter said. 'So they wouldn't have taken us. Besides it was like, why would I go to Harvard, take Harvard classes, work all hard, and then graduate from Tulane?'"

Spanish Muslim calls for debate on same-sex marriages :: Islam Online

Quote:

The shock was not due to the call itself, but rather to the identity of the caller. Abdel Nour Brado, Secretary of the Islamic Commission of Spain, a body created by the Spanish government in 1991 to be the representative of the country’s Muslim minority, made the controversial call.

“Such weird calls for allowing same-sex marriages run counter to Islamic tenets,” Omar Reibas, Secretary of the Catalonian Association for Islamic Studies, told IslamOnline.net Wednesday, April 6, commenting on Brado’s call.

Brado, on the other hand, defended his call to open a debate around the issue among the Muslim minority in Spain, claiming that the call was a direct result to the Spanish law allowing same-sex marriages in the European country.

He also denied he was calling for same-sex marriages among Muslims. “What I’m aiming for is to open dialogue on the issue.”

“My stance on same-sex marriages is a personal viewpoint and has nothing to do with the Islamic Commission of Spain, whose Secretary General Mansur Escudero is against same-sex marriages,” Brado told IOL.
. . .
The Spanish law allowing same-sex marriages was adopted after the Socialist government under Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who held the helm of power in March 2004. The controversial law drew fierce opposition and rebuke from the Spanish rightist opposition parties as well as the Spanish people, according to IOL Correspondent. The law was also condemned by the Spanish writers and journalists as running counter to the human nature. It also caused deterioration in relations between the ruling Socialist Party and the Catholic Church.

According to IOL Correspondent, Brado's call for allowing the same-sex marriage among the Spanish Muslims was part of efforts of the western governments to support what it names "liberal drives among the European Muslims, or what the mass media term as “European Islam”.

Spain has a Muslim community of about 600,000 people out of a total population of 40 million. Some 94 percent of its population are Christian Catholics. The country has recognized Islam through the law of religious freedom, issued in July 1967.

Debate rages on use of cervical cancer vaccine / While almost 100% effective, some contend use condones teen sex :: sfgate

People respond to incentives

Welcome Slate readers. Note, though, that I'm not exactly "socially conservative." More of an economic libertarian. See here and here.

Quote:

Officials of both companies noted that research indicates the best age to vaccinate would be just before puberty to make sure children are protected before they become sexually active.
. . .
11 percent of the doctors said they thought vaccinating against a sexually transmitted disease "may encourage risky sexual behavior in my adolescent patients."

Conservative groups say they welcome the vaccine as an important public health tool but oppose making it mandatory.
. . .
Alan Kaye, executive director of the National Cervical Cancer Coalition, likened the vaccine to wearing a seat belt.

"Just because you wear a seat belt doesn't mean you're seeking out an accident," Kaye said.

Mandating seat belts has resulted in riskier driving behavior. Mandating the vaccine can be expected to result in riskier sexual behavior. No where in the article are the dots connected between this unintended consequence of the vaccine mandate: more sex without condoms resulting in more deaths due to AIDS.

For a related discussion see: Private Choices and Public Health : The AIDS Epidemic in an Economic Perspective by Tomas Philipson and Richard A. Posner.

UPDATE: Alex Tabarrok points to work linking access to abortion and risky sex.

Church-going boosts economic well-being? :: Yahoo! News

Quote:

"Doubling the frequency of attendance leads to a 9.1 percent increase in household income, or a rise of 5.5 percent as a fraction of the poverty scale," Jonathan Gruber of the economics department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology wrote in his study.

"Those with more faith may be less 'stressed out' about daily problems that impede success in the labor market and the marriage market, and therefore are more successful," Gruber wrote in the study, which was released by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Episcopal liberals: strategy :: The Washington Times

Quote:

A liberal Episcopal group is crafting a strategy to disenfranchise about 16 conservative bishops if the denomination's pivotal General Convention next year in Columbus, Ohio, results in a church split.

Informally named the "Day After" for the aftermath of the June 13-21 event, the strategy outlines a way to file canonical charges against conservative bishops, unseat them from their dioceses, have interim bishops waiting to replace them and draft lawsuits ready to file before secular courts for possession of diocesan property.

The strategy was revealed in a leaked copy of minutes drafted at a Sept. 29 meeting in Dallas of a 10-member steering committee for Via Media, a network of 13 liberal independent Episcopal groups.

Read the whole thing.

New lawsuit fuels debate about Alaska priest 'dumping ground' :: AP

Opening paragraph:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska Â? The fourth lawsuit in less than two weeks accusing an Alaska-based Catholic priest of sexual abuse was filed Thursday, fueling a conviction among critics that Alaska was a dumping ground for problem clergy.

This stuff happens becomes leadership doesn't have the guts to make tough human resource decisions. Hide them, sweep the under the rug, ship out of the diocese, but heavens don't own up to them, solve them, and face down the perpetrator.

These are cases that illustrate the social value of trial lawyers. Too bad you can only hurt the church and not the leadership. May be the church - the people - will demand greater transparency and involvement of the laity in governance.

Deconstructing a man of contrasts :: WaPo

Scott of Hybla observes that one of the themes of Church Man is stories of the mighty falling, particularly focusing on Episcopalians. Here's another installment.

Quoting from the Washington Post article:

Before the audit, before the no-confidence votes, before trustees removed him as president of American University, Benjamin Ladner taught ethics.

That's the heart of his now contradictory story: He's a philosopher, known for the eloquence of his speeches, with more than a little Southern preacher in him. His friends describe him as an honorable, charismatic leader. But his critics -- who have been growing in number since an investigation found that the Ladners spent university money on foie gras, limousines, French wine and family parties -- say he's unethical, manipulative and imperious.
. . .
After graduating from Baylor University and Southern Seminary, he chose academics over the ministry: He earned a doctorate in religion at Duke University.
. . .
Friends in Atlanta remember a couple busy with their kids and his work, active in the Episcopal Church (he was sometimes asked to speak to the congregation). "Everyone just marveled at his gifts for speaking and educating," said Joan Cates, a former neighbor.
. . .
Rather than living in the president's house on the campus, the Ladners moved into another one the university bought nearby. They added a waterfall and a small pond full of koi to the back yard and upgraded from a cook who served home-style food to a chef who could make 100 canapés for a university event or flounder stuffed with seafood mousse for the two of them.
. . .
Gina Maria Schulz avoided going on the campus when she worked at the president's house in the late 1990s because people would always ask her if the Ladners were living high on the hog, she said. "People on campus were so mean, and I just thought, 'You don't know the real Ladners.' "

She enjoyed her job -- "Personal Assistant to the First Lady," it said on her cards -- even though sometimes she and housekeeper Menei Man would roll their eyes at the rules. They always had to sort through all the clothes, she said, to figure out whether he had worn a tuxedo shirt at a wedding or a university event, to determine whether the bill was paid by AU or the Ladners. When Nancy Ladner wanted to take the housekeeper to their home on Gibson Island in the Chesapeake Bay, her husband said that wasn't appropriate, Schulz said. "He was the most ethical man I ever met," Schulz said.

Soon after Schulz left, Katya Thomas, now a Foreign Service officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa, Congo, came to work there. She quit after a few months, she said, because the Ladners made no effort to separate personal from university expenses and she couldn't be a part of that. Besides, she said, "Dr. Ladner had a hot temper and treated me like his servant." They are people with exacting demands for anything from Christmas lights to flowers to how dress shirts and boxer shorts should be ironed, several staff members said. Daniel Traster, a chef there in 1998, learned to make cheese sticks just so, after about 20 tries. Two chauffeurs, both of whom were fired, said they would get in trouble if they didn't open the door of the black Infiniti for the couple even at home in the garage.
. . .
Ladner's longtime executive assistant, Margaret H. Clemmer, said in a statement to lawyers, "Dr. Ladner's schedule was maintained with strict confidentiality at his direction," with only his wife, Clemmer and her assistant allowed to access it. That made it difficult for even senior administrators to get things done, Clemmer said.

Jeffrey A. Madden, a chauffeur for the Ladners who was fired, said he remembers the chef preparing coolers full of salmon and steaks for a get-together for a few of Nancy Ladner's college friends on Gibson Island. The university car was so packed with coolers and cases of wine that he could hardly use the rearview mirror as he drove the supplies there, he said. "I worked for the university," he said, with a $40,000 salary. "But I felt like their personal little slave boy."
. . .
He has lost friends over his insistence that what he did was justified. Two trustees who had been close with the Ladners, George J. Collins and Paul M. Wolff, have become two of his most vocal critics. Wolff, who resigned from the board, said recently that he had affection for Ladner but believed his moral compass had lost its bearings.

The president also lost support on the campus. Many said that for all of Ladner's eloquence, he was deaf to how his legal arguments would sound to professors and students on financial aid. Exactly what he owes is less relevant than "that he thought that all of this was his due," said professor Lenny Steinhorn. "That's where the moral and ethical aspects of his leadership come in."

Survival of the fittest and the religiousity gene

Ironic, huh?

False news reports of pandemonium slowed aid :: WaPo

Via Instapundit whose summary is, as usual, impossible to improve upon. Key quote from the Washington Post article, emphasis added:

Five weeks after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to New Orleans, some local, state and federal officials have come to believe that exaggerations of mayhem by officials and rumors repeated uncritically in the news media helped slow the response to the disaster and tarnish the image of many of its victims.