Suspicious Berean

120 years ago: The death of C.H. Spurgeon

2012-01-31T00:18:00.008-07:00

On January 31, 1892, the “Prince of Preachers,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon, pastor of Metropolitan Tabernacle in London since 1861, went to be with the Lord at the age of 57. Unlike Mr. Spurgeon, I’m not a Calvinist, but I respect him as a brother in Christ, and I appreciate his devotional writings. My favourite quote from Mr. Spurgeon is: "Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.”

For more about and by C.H. Spurgeon, see the sites Charles Spurgeon Quotes and The Spurgeon Archive. I particularly recommend the section from the latter site on the Down-Grade controversy, which not only remains relevant, but more so with each day. I knew that Mr. Spurgeon had decided to leave the Baptist Union in 1887 because of its increasing tolerance of heretics, but I was surprised to discover that he had a brother named James who had become associate pastor at Metropolitan Tabernacle in 1868 and who chose to remain within the Baptist Union.

Rob Bell says goodbye to his megachurch, hello to his own "reality" TV show

2012-01-15T08:04:00.002-07:00

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. Proverbs 26:3

Rob Bell, formerly a rock guitarist, has now decided to return to the entertainment world.

As reported by Niraj Warikoo in the Detroit Free Press, January 11, 2012:

One of Michigan's most noted religious leaders said good-bye to his congregation this week as he prepares to help create a TV series loosely based on his life.

Rob Bell, the founding pastor of the Mars Hill megachurch near Grand Rapids, is moving to California, where he will continue writing books and work on a TV show for ABC with the producer of "Lost."

According to Deadline.com, the series will be called "Stronger," about the life of "Tom Stronger, a musician and teacher, and his spiritual journey." The show will feature "autobiographical elements" from the life of Bell, Deadline said.

Bell was in a rock band before he became known as a Christian pastor.

Bell did not return phone calls seeking comment, and officials at Mars Hill declined to talk about his departure. "We're not taking interviews or discussing our transition plans," church spokesman Lee Jager said...

...It was at a Time gala that Bell met Carlton Cuse, the producer and writer with "Lost," according to Deadline. Bell's last appearance at the church was during a farewell service Sunday.

In his last sermon, delivered Dec. 18, Bell told his congregation that when members of the church found out he was leaving, "for many of you it was like a bomb going off -- you didn't expect it, you weren't looking for it."

He said that "through you, I have experienced the mysterious joy of creation. ... Thank you."

Canada--with no legal obligation to do so--will recognize "marriages" of sodomites and lesbians from nations where such unions aren't recognized

2012-01-14T16:44:00.013-07:00

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1:26-32

As reported by Thandi Fletcher of Postmedia News, January 13, 2012:

OTTAWA — The Conservative government plans to change the law to legally recognize the marriages of same-sex couples who came to Canada to wed, even if the laws of their home country do not, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Friday.

"I want to make it very clear that, in our government's view, these marriages should be valid," Nicholson said in Toronto. "We will change the Civil Marriage Act so that any marriages performed in Canada that aren't recognized in the couple's home jurisdiction will be recognized in Canada."

The legislative change will apply to all marriages performed in Canada regardless of the laws of the jurisdiction in which the couple lives, Nicholson said.

The minister was speaking in the wake of an international controversy sparked by a Toronto court case involving a foreign lesbian couple seeking a divorce in Canada.

The couple wed in Toronto in 2005. Under a court order, they cannot be named.

In response to their application, a federal lawyer for the Justice Department contended the couple cannot divorce in Canada under this country's laws, arguing that the two never really were married.

The lawyer put forth two interpretations of the law to support his argument.

The first, he said, is that a same-sex couple's marriage is only valid under this country's laws if gay marriage is also recognized in their home country or state — in this case, Florida and England.

The second argument was that Canada's Divorce Act states that all married couples, regardless of sexual orientation, must live in Canada for at least one year in order to divorce in this country, which was not the case for this non-Canadian couple.

On Friday, the Conservative government backtracked from the position put forth by the federal lawyer.

Nicholson did not say whether the government will look at amending the residency requirement of the Divorce Act, that a couple must live in the country for at least one year in order to dissolve their marriage.

A senior government official told Postmedia News on Friday that the government will not be looking at changes to the Divorce Act, as amending that legislation could have complicated outcomes.

"That opens up a whole bunch of problems," the official said. "(It could) make Canada kind of the divorce location of choice and that would put burdens on the courts here."

Instead, the official said the government is exploring other options of dissolving marriages for same-sex couples who do not live in Canada, a concept that Nicholson has echoed.

"I will be looking at options to clarify the law so that marriages performed in Canada can be undone in Canada," Nicholson said in a statement on Thursday...

...On Friday, Nicholson repeated what he and Harper said Thursday: that the issue of same-sex marriage is not on the Conservative government's agenda.

"We have been clear that we have no desire to reopen this issue" be said. "Both myself and the prime minister consider the debate to be closed," Nicholson said.

However, Postmedia News columnist Andrew Coyne argued, in his January 13, 2012 column, that the government is under no obligation to recognize the "marriages" of sodomites and lesbians from nations where such unions wouldn't be recognized:

This week’s media meltdown over same-sex marriage for foreign tourists was one of the more disgraceful episodes in the long history of phoney controversies in this country: a toxic mix of shrewd lawyering, shoddy reporting and partisan opportunism, all without the slightest reference to the relevant, and easily obtainable, facts.

The debacle began with a front-page screamer in Thursday morning’s Globe and Mail. In a “reversal of policy,” it reported, the Harper government had indicated it would not recognize as lawful thousands of marriages solemnized in Canada between visiting gay and lesbian couples since the practice was formally legalized here in 2005. The story suggested the government’s “hard line” had “cast sudden doubt” on the legal status not only of these couples, most of whom stayed just long enough to pick up their licences, but of gay couples living in Canada as well.

The government’s “about-face” was “revealed” in legal papers filed in the case of a lesbian couple who, having married in Canada, now wished to divorce here, and for the same reason: as they could not legally marry in either of the jurisdictions where they happened to live, Florida or England, neither could they divorce there. Of course, by the same token divorce would hardly seem necessary. But, well, it was important to them emotionally.

Imagine their shock to be told they could not divorce in Canada, either. Not only did they not meet the one-year residency condition required of all divorcing couples, gay or straight, but there was, according to the government’s filing, no marriage to dissolve: as their marriage was not legal in the jurisdictions in which they lived, neither was it legal here. The couple’s lawyer, Martha McCarthy, professed to find this position “astonishing,” not to say scandalous, offensive, appalling, outrageous and whatever other adjectives she could get her hands on...

...You would never know from any of this that in fact there had been no change in policy: that the position advanced by the government lawyer was not new, but merely a statement of settled law. You would never know because neither the Globe nor anyone in the frothing mob it aroused bothered to ask a lawyer — other than the one contesting the case. Had they done so, they would have been told some version of the following:

Normally marriage law is relatively straightforward. Each country defines marriage for itself, and within its borders its citizens are bound by that definition. Where citizens of one country marry in another, however, responsibility is divided between the two, according to the set of common-law rules known as “conflict of laws.”

The “formal validity” of the marriage — that is, whether the vows were exchanged in the appropriate manner— is determined by the laws of the place where the marriage was performed. But the “essential validity” — that is, whether the couple were eligible to get married at all — is determined by the laws of each partner’s “ante-nuptial domicile,” the place they lived before they were married.

There’s no actual controversy on this point. It’s supported by reams of precedent. It’s not some invention of this government, or of Canada for that matter, but is part of the fabric of international law. Nor is it surprising: I’m basing this article in part on a piece by Jeffrey Talpis, professor of law at the University of Montreal, in the Lawyer’s Weekly of Sept. 22, 2006. It’s hard not to sympathize with those who were told when they came to Canada they were legally married. But the fault lies with those who misstated the law then, not those who correctly interpret it now.

Indeed, the surest proof that the government lawyer was right on this point is that you are reading about it. McCarthy knows the law as well as anyone. If she were confident of her position, she’d simply have won the argument in court. Instead, she took her case to the court of politics, with spectacular results: by the end of the day, the government was promising to change the law to permit all non-resident gay couples to divorce, followed by Friday’s “declaration” that the marriages were also legal, whatever the laws in their home countries might say.

As with my previous post on the Harper government's invitation to foreign sodomites and lesbians to apply for admission to ~~Canada~~ Trudeaupia as refugees, here's more evidence that "Conservatives" are just conserving what Liberals have done before them.

40 years ago: David Todd's sin finds him out

2012-01-12T04:02:00.003-07:00

....and be sure your sin will find you out. Numbers 32:23b

On January 12, 1972, the body of Grace Todd, 32, was discovered in a freezer belonging to her husband David, 37, who had recently moved into a house in Toronto belonging to the family of a 21-year-old acquaintance named Charles Cassidy. Mr. Cassidy and his sister Catherine, their mother, and friends John Moore and Layne Jackson were watching an old episode of One Step Beyond on television. The plot involved a body in a trunk, and, while Mr. Todd was asleep in an upstairs bedroom, the others decided to pry open the freezer. They discovered the body of Mr. Todd's wife Grace, who had disappeared on July 30, 1971, but had actually been shot and killed by Mr. Todd at the end of a violent argument. Mr. Todd readily confessed, pled guilty to manslaughter, and was sentenced to 10 years in the Kingston penitentiary. The details can be found in Max Haines' book Bothersome Bodies (1977), pp. 166-176.

"Christian" witchcraft moves from Congo to England

2012-01-06T18:30:00.006-07:00

Another inspiring episode in the wonderful history of multiculturalism; as Paul Harvey used to say, "It is not one world." If the testimony reported below is true, this incident at least shows that false teaching and unbiblical practices aren't restricted to churches in the West. As reported by Press Association, January 6, 2012:

A teenage boy was tortured and drowned on Christmas Day because a relative believed he was a witch, the Old Bailey has heard.

Kristy Bamu, 15, was in such pain after days of being attacked with sticks, a metal bar, hammer and chisel that he begged to die, jurors were told.

His brother-in-law, Eric Bikubi, was joined by his partner, Kristy's sister Magalie, in the horror, said Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, and his other siblings were forced to join in before they were all placed in the bath to be hosed down in cold water with a shower head by Bikubi on December 25 2010.

"It was only when he realised that Kristy was not moving that he stopped what he was doing and pulled him from the water. By then it was too late," said Mr Altman.

Magalie Bamu and Bikubi, both 28, of Hathaway Crescent, Newham, east London, deny murdering Kristy. Bamu also denies two charges of causing actual bodily harm to her sisters. Mr Altman said Bikubi has admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but this was rejected by the prosecution who say the couple carried out "the very deliberate murder" of Kristy. Bikubi had also admitted the assaults on the two sisters.

The youngsters had arrived from their home in Paris to spend the festive season with the couple.

Mr Altman said Kristy had 101 injuries and died from a combination of being beaten and drowning. Paramedics tried to save him but he was already dead.

In the living room, police found Kristy's brothers and sisters - brothers Yves, 22, and a 13-year-old, and sisters Kelly, 20, and an 11-year-old. Kelly said their holiday turned sour when Bikubi accused Kristy, herself and their younger sister of "being witches or sorcerers - practising witchcraft".

"Despite her own siblings' denials that they were sorcerers, Magalie Bamu joined her boyfriend in repeating these fantastic claims and participating in the assaults," said Mr Altman. "They beat the three of them, refusing to let them eat, drink or sleep for days, while the punishments being meted out became increasingly violent, with them using many implements found in the flat as weapons of torture."

The jury was told that in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the defendants are originally from, witchcraft or sorcery, called kindoki, is practised in Christian churches, but if it is taken out of the church's control "it may take on a feral and indeed evil character, as we suggest it did here", Mr Altman said.

Ted Haggard supports Newt Gingrich for President

2012-01-06T17:21:00.005-07:00

File under "birds of a feather..."
I am shocked--shocked!--to hear that disgraced degenerate goatherd (and I say that with all due respect) Ted Haggard is supporting the U.S. presidential candidacy of adulterous New Age convert to Roman Catholicism Newt Gingrich. As reported by Kris Coombs in the Christian Post, December 30, 2011:

Ted Haggard, former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, says he will support Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich in 2012.

“I am a Newt Gingrich fan partially because he models resurrection to me. He has been married three times, he has gone through his own infidelity, his own growth process, and his own repentance and renewal of faith so I trust him because of that,” Haggard told FOX 411.

Haggard, former pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado, was also one of former President George W. Bush’s biggest supporters during his campaign and served as Bush’s spiritual adviser.

“It is the heartbreak in life that makes us the people we want to be,” Haggard added, embracing Gingrich’s relationship faults, as other conservatives have relentlessly condemned them.

Ted Haggard refuses to stay out of the limelight

2012-01-06T01:21:00.022-07:00

Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money...
...He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap. I Timothy 3:2-3, 7 (NIV)

It speaks volumes about the state of American evangelicalism that not many years ago the National Association of Evangelicals chose infamous Colorado Springs megachurch goatherd Ted FHaggard to be their leader. Now, appropriately, he's back as a star on a television program called Celebrity Wife Swap. As reported by Jeff Schapiro of the Christian Post, January 1, 2012:

Ted Haggard, the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals who resigned five years ago following a gay sex scandal, will be featured in Tuesday's ABC premier of “Celebrity Wife Swap.” Haggard told The Christian Post that he hopes the show will “communicate hope” and show the world that his family has “resurrected” from its dark past.

“I don't think there's anybody that I know of that more reflects the resurrection of Christ than I do right now,” Haggard said. “After what we've been through, the way Christ has healed us and restored us and built our family and blessed us, it's a wonderful story of resurrection and encouragement and God's faithfulness and the faithfulness of the Scriptures and the church."

In addition to the NAE, Haggard resigned from his position at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, a megachurch he and his wife, Gayle, founded, after a male prostitute accused Haggard of paying him for sex over a three year period. Haggard was also accused of using illegal drugs during his meetings with the prostitute.

Since the scandal, Haggard has been open to the public about his fall from grace and says he has come out of it a changed and better man. His relationship with his wife of more than 30 years is also now stronger than ever, he has said.

“Celebrity Wife Swap” paired up Haggard for one week with Steffanie Sampson, the fiancee of Academy Award-nominated actor Gary Busey, while Gayle spent the week with Busey.

The two couples make an interesting religious combination. The Haggards are evangelical Christians who currently lead Saint James Church and the Buseys follow New Age philosophies, including reincarnation. Busey and Sampson believe they are married in spirit and are currently in their 32nd lifetime together.

For the first half of the week, the swapped wives had to assume each other’s homes, and lifestyles, but in the second half they took charge of the house rules.

In spite of their very different belief systems, Haggard says Sampson fit in quite well at his home and church in Colorado.

In the first half of the week she assumed Gayle's duties, which included teaching a Bible study Gayle had prepared in advance, reading daily devotions every morning and helping to host a “thank you” barbecue for the 40 small group leaders from Haggard's new congregation.

When it was time for Sampson to take over the house, though, Haggard says she was encouraging and was “absolutely determined not to violate our faith.” He says she came into the show with the attitude that “the Haggards have suffered too much,” that they are constantly reminded of their guilt, and she decided not to bring up their past at all.

She also told Haggard that he was forgiven, and “kept emphasizing that none of us should be defined by our weakest moment.”

"So actually, you would think she was a Spirit-filled Christian because of the way she tried to be encouraging ... but she was coming from a New Age philosophy,” he said. "Very sadly, she gave me many messages that the church should have been giving me over the last five years."

He says some Christians have been supportive of him over the last few years in spite of his moral failure, though many have been critical. He thinks the show will be “insightful for judgmental Christians...”

...Haggard's church has grown to approximately 350 people since it was started in 2010, he said. St. James Church meets at Timberview Middle School in Colorado Springs.

"I think all of us need to trust God's sovereignty. And God has given the Haggard family an opportunity to minister life on ABC, and I think He set it up perfectly with the producers we had and with the Busey family. We feel very blessed and honored,” Haggard said.

Contrary to what the article states, Mr. Haggard has not been "open to the public about his fall from grace." Like Jim Bakker before him, Mr. Haggard has never admitted the specific things he was accused of (I found the homosexual prostitute's accusations far more credible than Mr. Haggard's denials). Mr. Haggard refused to complete counselling after his exposure, and bolted to start a new "church." The only time he's told the truth in recent years was, ironically, when he admitted to being a liar. I've never believed that Ted Haggard was a man of God who fell; rather, he's continued to provide evidence that he's a man of fraud who was exposed. Typical of an unrepentant sinner, he uses the word "judgmental" to criticize those who want to uphold Biblical standards of holiness for Christian leaders.

For more evidence of Mr. Haggard's lack of repentance, see Elena Garcia's interview with him in the Christian Post on February 15, 2011. The reader will note that the other fallen people of note who have been "restored" that Mr. Haggard compares himself with are secular entertainment and sports celebrities, whose positions don't require Biblical standards of holiness. One of those mentioned by Mr. Haggard, Michael Vick, has shown more evidence of repentance for his sins than has Mr. Haggard. The fact that Mr. Haggard doesn't seem to understand the difference between a popular culture celebrity and a leader in the church of Jesus Christ says enough about him and his qualifications for Christian leadership.

Jews and Muslims in Detroit team up for volunteer social service activities on Christmas Day

2012-01-06T00:44:00.009-07:00

With California's Saddleback Church, under the leadership of Rick Warren, cancelling worship services for one weekend in December 2011 in favour of engaging in community service activities, it's only a matter of time until evangelical ~~churches~~ community service centres team up with Jews and Muslims for Christmas Day activities in the future. As reported by The Associated Press on December 25, 2011:

The Detroit area's Jewish community is continuing a tradition of working with Muslims to serve their Christian neighbors while they celebrate Christmas.

About 125 Muslims are expected to join about 800 Jewish volunteers Sunday for Mitzvah Day, the single largest day of volunteering by the Jewish community. It's the third year for the team-up between Jews and Muslims.

The volunteers will be helping 40 Detroit-area social service agencies at sites throughout the day.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit has sponsored Mitzvah Day for more than 20 years. This will be the third year that Muslims have joined the effort.

Mitzvah means "commandment" in Hebrew and is generally translated as a good deed.

King of Bahrain hosts vice-president of World Jewish Congress

2012-01-06T00:32:00.002-07:00

As reported by ynetnews.com, January 2, 2012:

World Jewish Congress (WJC) Vice President Rabbi Marc Schneier, also president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, has been received for talks in the Gulf state of Bahrain by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Schneier, who has pioneered Muslim-Jewish dialogue and cooperation, was received Wednesday by the Bahraini monarch at his palace in Manama.

During his 45-minute audience, Rabbi Schneier warmly welcomed King Hamad’s suggestion to host a gathering of Jewish and Muslim clerics in Bahrain in 2012.

“Bahrain is a role model in the Arab world for coexistence and tolerance of different faith communities, including a small Jewish community," he said. "I am deeply honored to be the first rabbi to be hosted by the king of Bahrain at his palace, and I am excited that he and his government are fully committed to building bridges between our two communities.”

Rabbi Schneier added that Bahrain was the first of the Persian Gulf states to host an exclusive bilateral dialogue between Islamic and Jewish leaders.

“King Hamad said that there was nothing more natural than for our two communities to come together, despite our difference in opinion on certain issues. He said that as ‘cousins’, Jews and Muslims had an obligation to build bridges.”

The two men also discussed the current situation in the Middle East. Rabbi Schneier said King Hamad had told him about the reforms he had implemented in Bahrain in the wake of the Arab Spring, including representatives of the opposition.

“I believe Bahrain could serve as a model for other countries in the region. I am looking forward to working with King Hamad and his government to bring our two communities closer together.”

Schneier also met separately with the Bahraini ministers of justice and Islamic affairs, Khaled Bin Ali Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, and the minister of industry and commerce, Hassan Fakhro.

Together with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, Rabbi Marc Schneier heads the New York-based FFEU, which over the past years has dedicated many efforts to fostering Muslim-Jewish dialogue in North America, Europe and Latin America.

Together with its partners, FFEU recently organized the fourth edition of the Annual Weekend of Twinning of synagogues and mosques around the world.

And now for something completely different: A heterosexual Roman Catholic clergy scandal

2012-01-05T23:29:00.003-07:00

As reported by The Associated Press on January 5, 2012:

The resignation of a Los Angeles bishop who fathered two children has shocked the nation's most populous Roman Catholic archdiocese, where Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala grew up.

Zavala, 60, who once urged Catholic media to report scandals such as clergy sex abuse "in a spirit of love and mercy," had his resignation accepted on Wednesday by Pope Benedict XVI...

..."This is unexpected, sad and disorienting news for many people who know and like Bishop Zavala," archdiocesan spokesman Tod Tamberg said. "Remember, he was raised here. He has deep roots in Los Angeles and so he's very well-known here."

Tamberg said he knew nothing about Zavala's affair except that it involved consenting adults and that no church funds were used...

...Zavala was one of five auxiliary bishops in the archdiocese and was the primary pastoral and liturgical administrator for 66 churches in the San Gabriel region east of Los Angeles, Tamberg said. Archbishop Jose Gomez has selected someone to handle those duties until the Vatican can appoint a replacement.

Zavala informed the archbishop last month that he had fathered two children who live with their mother in another state, Gomez said in a letter to the archdiocese's approximately 5 million Catholics. The archbishop said Zavala told him that he had submitted his resignation to the pope.

"Since that time, he has not been in ministry and will be living privately," the archbishop said in the letter, which was posted on a Catholic blog.

Tamberg did not know the children's ages or gender.

"The archdiocese has reached out to the mother and children to provide spiritual care as well as funding to assist the children with college costs. The family's identity is not known to the public, and I wish to respect their right to privacy," the archbishop wrote...

...Zavala was born in Guerrero, Mexico, but grew up in Los Angeles. He was ordained in 1977 and was assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe, a church in the heavily Mexican-American East Los Angeles area. He was appointed an auxiliary bishop in 1994.

In a June 2010 speech to the Catholic Media Association, Zavala spoke about the duty of Catholic media to "report the truth, because the truth does set us free," but with mercy and concern for individuals.

In his role as auxiliary bishop, Zavala spoke out in support of immigration rights and prison reforms, better conditions for the working poor and against the death penalty.

A handful of other priests have quit their post over sexual relationships, including: Florida priest Alberto Cutie, who resigned in 2009 and married his then-girlfriend; Auxiliary Bishop James McCarthy of New York, who resigned in 2002 after the archdiocese was alerted about his affairs with women; and Archbishop Robert Sanchez of Santa Fe, New Mexico, who resigned in 1993 after confessing relationships with women.

The late Archbishop Eugene Marino of Atlanta resigned in 1990 when his relationship with a parishioner was made public; the woman said she and the archbishop had secretly married.

New "tricks" from science include spatial, temporal, and aural cloaking

2012-01-05T06:43:00.010-07:00

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, II Thessalonians 2:8-9

And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; Revelation 13:13-14a

I don't know if these developments have any prophetic significance, but they're interesting. First, there was "spatial cloaking." As reported by Charles Q. Choi of The Christian Science Monitor, February 2, 2011:

An "invisibility cloak" that's able to hide items thousands of times larger than before now exists, scientists say.

The first hints that cloaking devices might one day become more than just a "Star Trek" fantasy began emerging five or so years ago, and since then researchers have made such cloaks a reality by warping light.

Light is often bent in nature. For instance, mirages form when desert sands heat air that bends light rays from up above, creating illusions of water that are really reflections of the sky. The cloaking devices that scientists have created smoothly guide rays of light completely around objects so they proceed along their original trajectory as if nothing were there.

However, the first cloaking devices researchers made were useless against the human eye. To start with, they were only effective on microwave rays, not visible light. They also only worked in two dimensions, and thus could not hide three-dimensional objects.

In 2010, scientists created the first cloak that worked for three-dimensional objects against light nearly visible to humans. Still, the cloaked area was only 30 microns wide, or about one-third the width of a human hair.

Now researchers have developed a cloak that can hide three-dimensional objects against red and green lasers and ordinary white light. Although the cloaked region they demonstrated is only three-quarters of an inch (2 centimeters) wide, "there is actually no limit on the size of the cloak," researcher Shuang Zhang, a physicist at the University of Birmingham in England, told LiveScience.

All invisibility cloaks demonstrated until now were made of artificial composite structures known as metamaterials. The fabrication techniques for these metamaterials are complex and time-consuming, yielding only tiny cloaks that could only hide similarly tiny objects limited to only a few wavelengths of light in size.

In contrast, this new cloak is made of prisms of naturally occurring calcite. These crystals are each about three-quarters of an inch wide on their longest sides, much larger than the parts seen in previous cloaks.

The scientists glued two of these prisms together, forming an arrowhead shape when seen from the side. The space, or bump, under the notch of this arrowhead and whatever is within is cloaked from view.

"The cloaks can be readily scaled up to hide larger objects," Zhang said. "It really depends on how large a calcite crystal we can find in nature. According to the literature, the largest calcite crystal has a scale of 7 meters by 7 meters by 2 meters (23 feet by 23 feet by 6.5 feet). Such a crystal would enable the construction of an invisibility cloak that can conceal object a few meters wide and at least 40 centimeters (16 inches) high."

This cloak does have a significant drawback — it depends on polarization of light. One can think of all light waves as either rippling up and down, left and right, or at any angle in between, a property known as polarization. This cloak only works for light of a specific polarization — "the bump will be seen by light of other polarizations," Zhang said.

Nevertheless, the cloak might still work in the real world, Zhang said. For instance, if the sun is low in the sky, sunlight streaming into the water "will be largely polarized, and an invisibility cloak sitting on the water floor will become invisible," he said. "There could be military applications — for example, to hide something such as submarine on the seafloor."

Also, while the bump at the bottom of the cloak is invisible, the cloak itself is still visible due to a slight reflection at the interface between the cloak and its surroundings. "This reflection can be significantly reduced by putting antireflection coating on the cloak or some other means," Zhang said.

"It is still challenging to make a 'Harry Potter' type of invisibility cloak that works in air and can hide very large objects," Zhang said. "Metamaterials could be a solution, but we will have a long way to go."

Zhang and his colleagues detailed their findings online Feb. 1 in the journal Nature Communications.

Now comes "temporal cloaking." As reported by Pete Spotts in The Christian Science Monitor, January 4, 2012:

Forget wrapping an object – say, Harry Potter – in a cloak of invisibility. How about hiding an event using time?

What may be a distant dream for this year's Indianapolis Colts has been demonstrated for the first time by a team of physicists at Cornell University.

The approach is dubbed "temporal cloaking," and it builds on experiments researchers have already conducted to demonstrate that they can hide objects from view.

Indeed, scientists had already succeeded at "spatial cloaking," which involves bending light around an object in such a way as to make it appear invisible. Temporal cloaking involves interrupting light to create a seeming gap in time in which an event can be hidden.

At this point, the time gap that the scientists created is so brief – about 50 trillionths of a second – that practical implications are barely a gleam in anyone's eye. But the researchers are interested in trying to lengthen the amount of time a beam's gap remains open, says Alexander Gaeta, who led the team reporting the results in the Jan. 5 issue of the journal Nature.

In essence, the team briefly turned off a laser beam in a way that instruments receiving the beam could not detect. An observer would have no clue that the beam had blinked, and so would have no evidence of anything that happened to the beam in that 50 trillionths of a second.

University of Rochester physicists Robert Boyd and Zhimin Shi, who are not members of Dr. Gaeta's team, liken the phenomenon to traffic at a railroad crossing.

The crossing gate falls, interrupting traffic (the laser beam) as the commuter train passes. From the perspective of the train, for a brief period there is no traffic and it can freely pass (the hidden event). Yet once the gate rises, traffic resumes and speeds up. To an observer a mile or two away, the flow of traffic shows no evidence of interruption – no evidence from traffic flow that a train had ever been there.

How did the team open a gap in the laser beam?

The researchers took advantage of the fact that when light travels through a material, different colors travel at different speeds. To alter colors in a segment of the laser beam, the researchers used a laser-based device dubbed a time lens.

Typical glass lenses bend light, changing its distribution in three-dimensional space. Time lenses, on the other hand, "do really funny things" to light, altering its traits for a defined period of time, Gaeta says.

In this case, the team's modified time lenses briefly gave two adjoining segments of the green beam a red and a blue hue. When the segments passed through a specially designed length of optical fiber, the red light slowed and the blue light accelerated.

The difference opened a gap in the beam – no light – that lasted about 50 trillionths of a second.

Coming out the other side, the researchers reversed the process, slowing the blue and speeding the red, then passing them through another time lens to returning the beam to its original green color, leaving no hint of its temporary alteration.

Well, almost no hint.

To see if their technique could hide an event from view, scientists shot a different laser beam into the gap. Usually, when two laser beams interact, the effects are easy to spot. In this case, though, the effects were more than 10 times weaker than they would have been if there had been no temporal cloaking.

For now, much work will focus on gaining a clearer understanding of the physics involved and how to take advantage of them, says Dr. Shi of Rochester.

Still, he adds, the basic physics of spatial cloaking and temporal cloaking are mathematically similar.

With the addition of a cloaking approach that "plays tricks with time" to the other approach of playing tricks with light's distribution around an object in space, "hopefully we can find an easier way to create effective cloaking."

Then there's what might be called aural cloaking. As reported by David Skoumbourdis in The Epoch Times, January 5-11, 2012 (originally posted December 29, 2011, updated January 2, 2012):

Want to play music at night without bothering neighbors? Being annoyed by noises from the highway? Scientists at Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) can help.

Inspired by the concept of an invisibility cloak that guides light waves around an object making it invisible, the researchers are developing a cloaking device that can render objects completely silent. This device uses a custom-engineered plastic material that guides sound waves around an object making it inaudible.

The material has a smart microstructure consisting of two polymers, one soft and one hard, which form a millimeter-thin plate. Sound waves are guided around a circular area in the plastic plate in such a way that vibrations can neither enter nor leave this area.

“Contrary to other known noise protection measures, the sound waves are neither absorbed nor reflected,” researcher Martin Wegener said in a press release. “It is as if nothing was there.”

The technology is presently only a proof of concept, but when mature, it could be effective at soundproofing and have a wide range of applications.

The study will be published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Democracy in Libya: New election law drafted

2012-01-05T04:50:00.001-07:00

“At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood.
He will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand.
He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape.
He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Cushites in submission. Daniel 11:40-43

On January 1, 2012, a draft of a new electoral law for Libya was published online in Arabic. Isobel Coleman of that notorious antichrist organization, the Council on Foreign Relations--whose members include Rick Warren--offers some of the details of the new law in a post on the CFR blog, January 4, 2012:

The electoral laws will govern the election of a national constituent assembly that will replace the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC). The assembly will subsequently appoint a prime minister, form a commission to write a constitution, hold a constitutional referendum, write a new electoral law, and hold general elections to elect a permanent government.

Just fifteen pages, the electoral law is very specific on some points and uncomfortably vague on others. It makes no provisions for the formation of political parties, which were previously illegal. It also leaves unanswered the pressing question of how the country will be divided into voting districts. The law simply states, “Dividing the country into voting districts is one of the goals of organizing the elections.” It also acknowledges that population and geography should be considered when the election committee issues a decision on this. However when this issue is decided, some groups are going to be unhappy. The NTC itself struggled to balance the demands of different cities and groups in forming the current interim government. Wary of being left out of the new power structure, various tribal groups and militias continue to refuse to disarm and disband...

...Where the electoral law is specific, it raises other issues. Women are allocated 10 percent of the 200 seats in the national assembly, but this small quota has outraged human rights groups who feel that it neither reflects the extent of women’s participation in the revolution, nor the number of capable female candidates. The law also denotes twenty categories of people that are excluded from running from public office, largely with the intent to exlude people who profited from the previous regime or who were associated with Qaddafi’s family either in politics, business, or academia. Some clauses seem to target a very small number of individuals, such as the clause prohibiting, “anyone who opposed the previous regime from outside the country and then negotiated with them to take up a leading position in the state apparatus.” Others, like the clause that exludes, “anyone who was not supportive of the February 17 revolution from its beginning,” are vague enough that they could be applied widely. The law has further upset some Libyans because it stipulates that Libyans with dual nationalities must relinquish their other nationality before running in the elections. Resentment of those who left by those who stayed has plagued Afghan politics in the past decade – it looks like an issue that will fester in Libya too.

During the next two weeks, Libyans can submit their comments and suggestions for amending the law through the electoral commission’s website (the commission has also set up a Facebook page). The commission will review comments and publish a final draft of the electoral law on January 23.

It will come as no surprise to this blogger if elections in Libya produce yet another Islamist government, as has been the case in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia.

Calgary's Muslim mayor persecutes Christians, while allowing the Occupy protesters to break the law

2012-01-04T23:59:00.005-07:00

According to Ezra Levant in the Calgary Sun, December 31, 2011:

Calgary's Muslim mayor, Naheed Nenshi, has been held up as a symbol of the city's tolerance. Which is ironic, given his own anti-Christian bigotry in return.

Last week, Nenshi ordered city police, backed up with a ridiculously large contingent of private security, to arrest a Christian pastor and five of his congregants who had the temerity to lead a Christmas service in the public atrium of Calgary's City Hall.

Artur Pawlowski, lead pastor of Calgary's Street Church, had foolishly taken the mayor at his word when he described city hall as the city's "living room," open to all.

What Pawlowski didn't understand is that Nenshi didn't mean Christians. Nenshi meant his own co-religionists — no, not Muslims, but the leftist activists who had comprised the Occupy Calgary protests for two months with Nenshi's blessing.

Nenshi permitted that two-month trespass in a public park, claiming the "Charter" prevented him from evicting the socialists, communists, anarchists and petty criminals who inhabited downtown Calgary's Olympic Plaza...

...Here's how Nenshi defended turning a blind eye to law breaking: "It's funny, the number of people who have talked to me in the last couple of days who have said ‘the Occupy Calgary people need to get off Olympic Plaza so that all citizens can have rights to their front lawn.' And I say, OK, so all citizens except the ones you don't like should have a right to the front lawn. Because all means all in my opinion."

All means all.

Unless they're Christians having a peaceful, drug-free, sex-free celebration of Christmas in the people's "living room." Then Nenshi sends in boys with the billy clubs. For a pastor singing Christmas carols and reading Bible passages.

This isn't the first time Nenshi — or the city of Calgary — has harassed Pawlowski or his Street Church. Over the past six years, Pawlowski has literally been to court more than 70 times fighting against a series of tickets, charges and other fabricated penalties cooked up by City Hall — none of which was applied to Nenshi's favourites in the Occupy movement.

He has been charged by the City of Calgary for such horrific crimes as serving food and drink without proper permits.

But Pawlowski's mission is to bring meals to the homeless who are turned away from official shelters because they are still abusing drugs or alcohol.

Occupy didn't have permits for their food, either. But because Pawlowski does so in the name of Christian charity, Nenshi targeted him.

Don't take Pawlowski's word for it. Judge after judge has condemned the city's behaviour. One trial judge said the city bylaw officers engaged in "abusive conduct."

This year, an appeal judge said the city's bullying of Pawlowski came "precariously close to being excessive and an abuse of power."

For a few weeks, Nenshi's policy of anything goes on public property was a reprieve for Pawlowski. While Occupy Calgary was allowed to break the laws, Pawlowski was allowed to minister to the homeless, too. But now that it's cold and Occupy Calgary has gone back to their parents' basements, Pawlowski's brief enjoyment of his real Charter rights — freedom of speech; freedom of religion; freedom of assembly — has been curtailed...

...Nenshi is a left-wing mayor. That's not new — Calgary's last four mayors have been Liberal, as are most of its city councillors. He's a minority politician in Alberta — that's hardly new either, in the province that gave us everyone from the Famous Five suffragettes to Canada's first Hindu and Muslim MPs.

What is new is that the Muslim mayor thinks religious tolerance is a one-way street — a point he made again brutally this Christmas.

Identificational repentance hits a new low as U.S. and Swiss Amish go to Israel to apologize for their silence during the Holocaust

2012-01-04T03:42:00.005-07:00

Here's more evidence that you can't be a satirist anymore. To quote Winston Churchill out of context, "Here, surely, is the world's record in the domain of the ridiculous and the contemptible..."

A particularly ludicrous example of what I addressed in my posts Identificational Repentance and Grovelling Christianity was reported by Jonah Mandel in the Jerusalem Post on November 28, 2010:

Representatives of the Amish community from the United States and Switzerland paid a visit to the Western Wall on Saturday night, where they asked the Jewish people’s forgiveness for their group’s silence during the Nazi extermination of Jews in the Holocaust.

Part of what made the visit special was that the Amish, a sect of the Mennonite Church that largely rejects modern technology, do not normally use contemporary forms of transportation such as the aircraft on which they made the journey to the Holy Land. It is likely that this delegation does not represent the Amish at large, rather their faction of the larger church.

But according to an announcement issued by the office of Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, with whom the group met, the Amish delegates saw great importance in coming to Israel and expressing their contrition, as well as declaring their unreserved support of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

The delegation members stressed that they were neither seeking any kind of gesture from the Jewish people nor looking to proselytize – only to support Israel for the simple reason that in the past they hadn’t.

Rabinovitch was presented with various tokens at a ceremony in the Hasmonean chamber, including a parchment with a request for forgiveness in the name of the entire Amish community, along with a commitment that from now on, it would loudly voice its support of the Jewish people, especially in the wake of the expressions of hatred by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his extensions.

The delegation left Israel on Sunday.

I suppose the lives of millions of Jews in Europe could have been saved in World War II if only the Amish had spoken up for them. Just how many Amish--especially in the United States--were aware of what was happening to the Jews under Hitler? I suspect they were barely aware there was a war going on. As far as I know, the Inuit (or, to use a label now out of fashion, "Eskimos") of the Canadian Arctic also didn't speak up for the Jews during World War II, so maybe they should now go to Israel to issue an apology (which would actually be a refreshing change, since in the last 20 years, the Inuit have been successful at demanding--and getting--apologies for wrongs that were never done to them; but that's a subject that may be addressed in a future post).

Identificational repentance strikes again: University of Manitoba apologizes for sins it didn't commit

2012-01-04T02:47:00.009-07:00

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, Romans 1:22

Anyone who has experience dealing with university bureaucracies knows that people in high positions in academia are usually spineless wimps. An egregious example is University of Manitoba President David Bernard, who has apologized to Indian students for abuses they suffered in Indian residential schools--even though the university had nothing to do with the residential schools. Jonathan Kay of the Canadian newspaper National Post offered an excellent commentary on October 27, 2011 (published as an editorial titled U Manitoba's guilty conscience in the October 28 print edition):

Sometimes, we hyper-polite Canadians just can’t resist playing to stereotype — like the one that says we’re always apologizing, even for things that aren’t our fault. Witness the University of Manitoba, whose President, David Barnard, has formally apologized to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for his institution’s role in Canada’s residential school system.

According to the Winnipeg Free Press, this “is believed to be the first time a Canadian university has apologized for having a role in that dark chapter in the country’s history.” That shouldn’t surprise us — because Canadian universities didn’t have any “role” to apologize for: This country’s post-secondary institutions neither funded nor operated Indian residential schools. Those roles were filled by the government and by churches.

Nevertheless, “we [the university community] have educated the people who became clergy and teachers and politicians and became involved in the [residential-school system],” Mr. Barnard told the media this week. And then, in his formal statement on Thursday, he added: “Our institution failed to recognize or challenge the forced assimilation of Aboriginal peoples and the subsequent loss of their language, culture and traditions. That was a grave mistake. It is our responsibility. We are sorry.”

Mr. Barnard’s gesture takes political correctness and White guilt into the realm of farce. Syrian dictator Bashar Assad studied at the St. Mary’s group of teaching hospitals in London, England — yet we are unaware of that institution’s president apologizing for this year’s brutal crackdown against Syrian dissidents. There is not a large university in the world whose graduates do not include criminals and bigots. Are they all expected to apologize for the misdeeds of their students? What comes next for U Manitoba, we wonder? Will Mr. Barnard apologize to the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the Manhattan Project contributions of University of Manitoba alumnus Louis Alexander Slotin (1910-1946)?

Many aspects of the residential-school system were indeed appalling: the forced separation of child from parent, episodes of brutal corporal punishment and sex abuse, untreated diseases. Yet many graduates of residential schools never had these experiences, and speak fondly of their time there — or at least acknowledge the good intentions of most instructors, and the decent education they received. These latter aspects of residential schools have become taboo to discuss: The official story now has become that the entire system was a sort of concentration camp staffed by cackling Gestapo. As a result, institutions such as the University of Manitoba have been encouraged to view themselves, ludicrously, as Canada’s answer to IG Farben.

When pressed for details about what role the university had in residential schools, Mr. Barnard was vague. The university president couldn’t even tell reporters for certain whether any current U Manitoba professor had ever taught any student who was involved in any way with a residential school. “We’re focused on moving forward,” he said.

But he’s not moving forward: The act of apologizing for something done by neither Mr. Barnard, nor by any of his colleagues, nor even by the university itself, is inherently backward-looking. It’s worse than backward-looking, in fact: The President is actively fetishizing the past, looking for guilt where none fairly exists.

What’s worse, these apologies never really please anybody — they just invite more complaints and demands.

Four years ago, for instance, an open letter of apology appeared in Quebec’s francophone newspapers, signed by the Archbishop of Quebec City, Marc Cardinal Ouellet. “I recognize that the narrow attitudes of certain Catholics, prior to 1960, favoured anti-Semitism, racism, indifference toward First Nations and discrimination against women and homosexuals,” he declared. “I also recognize that abuses of power and cover-ups have, for many, tarnished the image of the clergy … Youngsters were subject to sexual aggression by priests and religious figures, causing great injury and trauma which have broken their lives. These scandals have shaken popular confidence toward religious authorities and we understand this.”

Perhaps the Archbishop thought this would please the Catholic Church’s critics. Instead, as George Jonas noted at the time in these pages, the letter set off what the CBC described as “a storm of criticism from gay groups to women’s organizations,” which considered the apology insincere.

There always is something self-serving and posturing about such generations-late apologies: They purport to increase the moral bona fides of the person offering contrition, but on someone else’s moral dime. “Not being a Catholic, or even religious, it’s certainly not for me to raise questions about anything a leading churchman might say, but it seems to me that expressing contrition for what one didn’t do is an unauthorized claim for a reward to which one isn’t entitled,” Mr. Jonas wrote in 2007. “It’s charging someone else’s account to derive a benefit for oneself. It’s grandchildren sauntering into history’s apothecary to buy a bottle of forgiveness, saying: ‘charge it to our grandfather.’ Sorry, but grandfather may not acknowledge the debt. (Mine certainly wouldn’t.) One can meaningfully apologize only for oneself, whether one is a person, a nation or a generation.”

If Mr. Barnard has done some nasty thing personally, out with it. But since, to our knowledge, he hasn’t, he should keep his all-too-Canadian, all-too-guilty apologies to himself. They do nothing to honour his school, or remedy the past historical wrongs with which his university is only obliquely connected.

Go here to see the transcript of Dr. Bernard's apology, and here for a question and answer session between Dr. Bernard and Kathryn Blaze Carlson of the National Post.
I've already made my position on such things clear in my posts Identificational Repentance and Grovelling Christianity. I recently sent a long-overdue email (which may be the basis of a future post) to certain "journalists" and Canadian government leaders setting the record straight on the ~~Conservative~~ Harper government's 2010 apology for the relocation of Inuit people from Port Harrison, Quebec to Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay, Northwest Territories in the 1950s. Lives were saved, and there was nothing to apologize for, but the ~~Conservative~~ Harper government issued an apology (thereby turning actual heroes into official criminals)--which is the number one reason--of many--why I won't vote for that party.

Democracy in Tunisia and Morocco produces Islamist governments

2012-01-04T02:02:00.004-07:00

While much attention has been paid to the recent elections in Egypt, the recent elections in Tunisia and Morocco have gone relatively unnoticed.

As reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation on October 27, 2011:

Tunisia's moderate Islamist Ennahda party has won the country's first democratic elections after the Arab Spring uprisings, officials say.

Official results show Ennahda won more than 41% of the vote, securing 90 seats in the 217-member parliament.

Ennahda has already said it wants to form a new government within a month.

Violent protests broke out in the central town of Sidi Bouzid after the election results were announced, witnesses say.

Reports say police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of people. They were protesting against the cancellation of seats won by the Popular List party in six electoral districts because of "financial irregularities".

The Popular List party, led by a businessman, had won a number of seats in Sidi Bouzid.

The town is the birthplace of the uprising that erupted nine months ago, after a young unemployed man set himself on fire. The uprising led to President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali being thrown out of office.

Reassuring investors

Tunisia's election chief Kamel Jandoubi presented the results of last Sunday's poll at a news conference in Tunis on Thursday night.

We will continue this revolution to realise its aims of a Tunisia that is free, independent, developing and prosperous... Tunisia is for everyone”

Mr Jandoubi said that the Congress for the Republic (CPR) - the country's biggest secularist party - was the runner-up in the elections with nearly 14%, winning 30 seats in parliament.

The leftist Ettakatol party came third with almost 10%, giving them 21 seats.

Ennahda, which was banned under the former regime, says it has modelled itself on the governing AK party in Turkey, another Muslim-majority country which has remained a secular state.

Party leader Rachid Ghannouchi pledged on Thursday the rights of every Tunisian would be protected by the new authorities.

"We will continue this revolution to realise its aims of a Tunisia that is free, independent, developing and prosperous, in which the rights of God, the Prophet, women, men, the religious and the non-religious are assured because Tunisia is for everyone," Mr Ghannouchi told a crowd of supporters, Reuters reports.

Ennahda has sought to reassure secularists and investors, nervous about the prospect of Islamists holding power in one of the Arab world's most liberal countries, by saying it would not ban alcohol, stop tourists wearing bikinis on the beaches or impose Islamic banking.

Foreign tourism is a major source of revenue for Tunisia.

But despite the reassurances, Ennahda's victory is causing concern in some parts of Tunisia, who fear the party could later change their policies, the BBC's Chloe Arnold reports.

Ennahda has put forward its number two, Secretary General Hamadi Jebali, as the next prime minister. Coalition talks with the CPR and Ettakatol parties have already begun.

Mr Jebali, 62, is an engineer by training and a former journalist. He was a co-founder of Ennahda.

The polls were Tunisia's first democratic elections, and followed the fall of President Ben Ali, who was overthrown in January after mass demonstrations. He had been in power for 23 years.

A coalition government has been formed, as reported by The Associated Press on November 22, 2011:

The main winners of Tunisia's elections have announced the shape of the country's interim government ahead of the first meeting of its newly-elected assembly.

On 25 October, Tunisians elected a body to write a new constitution nine months after they overthrew President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in a popular uprising.

As the country that set off the wave of pro-democracy movements that engulfed the Arab region, Tunisia's efforts to build a democracy are being closely watched around the world.

The Islamist Ennahda Party won the most seats and partnered with the liberal Congress for the Republic and the left-of-centre Ettakatol Party to form a ruling coalition and divide up the top posts between them.

Ennahda will take the powerful prime minister's position while veteran rights activist Moncef Marzouki will become the interim president.

Mustapha Ben Jaafar of Ettakatol will head the assembly, which has a year to write the constitution before new elections are held.

The three leaders did not elaborate on who would fill the remaining government posts but said that they would also go to prominent figures of civil society.

A number of ministers from the outgoing transitional government will also appear in the government.

The plan for the new government will be presented on Tuesday to the inaugural meeting of the new council, which will first vote on the new president, who will then appoint the prime minister and ask him to form a government.

The coalition holds a comfortable majority of 139 seats in the 217-member body.

The North African country of 10 million people has been essentially a one-party state in the half-century since it won its independence from France.

A month later, elections were held in Morocco. As reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation on November 27, 2011:

Morocco's moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) has won the most seats in Friday's parliamentary elections, final results confirm.

The interior ministry said the PJD took 107 out of 395 seats, giving it the right to lead a government.

Its likely coalition partner, the nationalist Istiqlal party, came second, with 60 seats.

The poll is part of reforms which King Mohamed VI hopes will defuse protests prompted by the Arab Spring.

"This is a clear victory, but we will need alliances in order to work together," PJD secretary-general Abdelilah Benkirane told the AFP news agency after the official results were announced.

Under a new constitution adopted in July, King Mohamed must now appoint the prime minister from the party which wins the most seats, rather than naming whomever he pleases.

But the king still has the final say on issues of defence, security and religion.

'Victory for democracy'

Morocco's current Prime Minister, Abbas Al Fassi, said on Saturday his Istiqlal party was ready to enter into a coalition with the PJD.

"The PJD's victory is a victory for democracy," he told Reuters.

It comes a month after the moderate Islamist Ennahda party won elections in nearby Tunisia.

The PJD has said it will promote Islamic finance. However, it has avoided focusing on issues such as alcohol and headscarves for women, in a country which attracts large numbers of Western tourists.

Historian and political analyst Maati Monjib told the Associated Press that Moroccans linked Islam and political dignity.

"There is a big problem of dignity in the Arab world and the people see the Islamists as a way of getting out of the sense of subjugation and inferiority towards the West."

'Strong signal'

The Interior Ministry said 45.4% of the electorate had turned out to vote.

About 13.5 million Moroccans are eligible to vote. Although the turnout was an improvement on the 37% who took part in the 2007 election, it was less than the 51.6% in 2002.

The pro-reform February 20 movement, responsible for the protests staged just before the king announced his plans to reform the constitution, had called for a boycott of the vote.

"This [low turnout] sends a strong signal to authorities that Moroccans are not buying the proposed reforms," Najib Chawki, an activist with the movement, told Reuters.

"We will not give up until our demands are met," he added.

See also my previous post on King Mohammed's offer to give up some of his powers. Under Mohammed VI and his predecessor, Hassan II, Morocco has had a reputation for tolerance toward Jews and Christians. Let's hope and pray that this will continue.

Democracy in Egypt may endanger peace with Israel

2012-01-03T04:50:00.009-07:00

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Psalms 122:6

For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. Zechariah 2:8

I apologize in advance if I'm guilty of overgeneralizing. However:
The people labelled as neoconservatives tend to be disproportionately Jewish and primarily loyal to the interests of the state of Israel, to the point of championing other countries' involvement in wars that are primarily in the interests of Israel (see, for example, such publications as Commentary and the National Post). The early neocons were disillusioned leftists, Trotskyists who believed in perpetual revolution. As neocons, they support global democratic revolution, and have been the among the most enthusiastic supporters of the so-called "Arab Spring," where dictatorial governments have been uprooted and replaced with democratic elections.

I used to be generally sympathetic with the views of neoconservatives (I often photocopied articles from Commentary) until about 1995 and after, when I stopped equating democracy with freedom. Arno Froese recognized the dangers of democracy, and wrote a book, published in 1997, titled How Democracy Will Elect the Antichrist. The neocons have forgotten or ignored the history of western nations, where government has risen from a Christian worldview, and rights of minorities and dissenters have been protected. In an Islamic society, democracy may very well end up electing Islamist governments, which do not permit dissent or respect the rights of minorities. It doesn't seem to have occurred to neocons that a major reason western governments traditionally have supported Arab dictators was to prevent the existence of Islamist governments (of course, the dictatorial governments supported by western nations tended to operate in accord with the interests of those western nations rather than the interests of their own people, which helped to spur the popularity of Islamist movements). There's a darkly humourous irony in the neocons' support of democracy resulting in governments that are hostile to Israel.

From Egypt comes news that the Muslim Brotherhood, the leading party after three rounds of parliamentary elections, may submit the Camp David Accords--the 1979 peace treaty with Israel signed by the undemocratic regime of President Anwar Sadat--to approval in a referendum. There's always been opposition in Egypt to the Camp David Accords, and it was the lack of democracy that prevented that opposition from making headway. As reported by Jack Khoury of Haaretz, January 1, 2012:

The Muslim Brotherhood movement may bring the fate of Egypt's peace treaty to a referendum, the Islamist factions said on Sunday, adding that there wasn't any chance that the movement will recognize Israel.

Results from Egypt's recent parliamentary vote, which saw considerable gains for Islamist factions such as the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party and the radical Salafi movement's Al-Nour Party, have caused some to question the future of Israel's 1979 peace treaty with its neighbor to the south.

Addressing this issue on Sunday, the deputy chief of the Muslim Brotherhood Rashad al-Bayoumi told London's Al-Hayat newspaper that Egypt may choose to revise its peace treaty with Israel, hinting at the possibility that the pact's future could be determined through a referendum.

Al-Bayoumi emphasized that the Islamist movement would respect all of the international agreements to which Egypt is signatory, adding, however, that each side had the right to review the peace deal, and that the Egyptian people have yet to speak their mind.

"We weren't party to the peace treaty, it was signed away from the Egyptian people and thus the people must have its say," the Muslim Brotherhood official said.

Referring to the issue of recognizing Israel, al-Bayoumi said that the Muslim Brotherhood was not required to recognize Egypt's neighbor to the north, saying that Israel was an "occupying entity and we will not allow anyone of our members to meet with an Israeli."

"I won't allow myself to meet with a criminal and there's no chance that we'll cooperate with Israel," the Egyptian official said.

Last week, the Iranian semi-official Fars news agency quoted top Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei as saying that the future of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt was at the center of a recent and secret round of talks between U.S. officials and members of the Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

"The negotiations were completely secret and confidential," ElBaradei told Fars, adding that what the ruling military indicated "said was that the talks were about bilateral and mutual relations, but I believe that Americans wanted to ensure that the deals signed between Egypt and Israel will remain intact if Islamists ascend to power."

Speaking to Egyptian media on the subject last week, new Israeli envoy to Egypt Yaakov Amitai was asked if he was concerned about the political rise of the Muslim Brotherhood.

He replied that he did not wish to get involved in Egypt's internal affairs and needed to study the situation further.

Until now, the Israeli government has not attempted to open official contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Jerusalem official's comments are unusual in light of the Brotherhood's failure to recognize Israel.

However, representatives of the Islamic movement have told American diplomats that the group did not intend to seek the revocation of Egypt's peace treaty with Israel.

Let us pray that peace between Israel and Egypt will continue, even if it may be temporary. A lasting peace, when Egypt will worship the true God, will come when the Lord returns, as prophesied in Isaiah:

In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.
And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.
And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.
And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.
In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance. Isaiah 19:19-25

HT: Vox Popoli

Democracy in Egypt may be bad news for Copts

2012-01-03T04:44:00.008-07:00

As I stated in my other post on democracy in Egypt:

The people labelled as neoconservatives tend to be disproportionately Jewish and primarily loyal to the interests of the state of Israel...The early neocons were disillusioned leftists, Trotskyists who believed in perpetual revolution. As neocons, they support global democratic revolution, and have been the among the most enthusiastic supporters of the so-called "Arab Spring," where dictatorial governments have been uprooted and replaced with democratic elections...

...The neocons have forgotten or ignored the history of western nations, where government has risen from a Christian worldview, and rights of minorities and dissenters have been protected. In an Islamic society, democracy may very well end up electing Islamist governments, which do not permit dissent or respect the rights of minorities. It doesn't seem to have occurred to neocons that a major reason western governments traditionally have supported Arab dictators was to prevent the existence of Islamist governments (of course, the dictatorial governments supported by western nations tended to operate in accord with the interests of those western nations rather than the interests of their own people, which helped to spur the popularity of Islamist movements).

As reported by Matthew Fisher in the National Post, November 26, 2011:

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt - Looking out at the Mediterranean Sea from this ancient port city's dilapidated Corniche, the chaos and political violence of Cairo seems a world away, rather than a two-hour trip by train.

But the Pearl of the Mediterranean, as Alexandria still styles itself, has all of the capital's problems and then some on the eve of the first round of several months of voting for the first parliament since strongman Hosni Mubarak was deposed nine months ago...

...Egypt's always potentially explosive religious fault line between its Muslim majority and its large Coptic Orthodox Christian minority feels more ominous here than elsewhere.

"This used to be the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan city in the country, but it has been slowly fading for more than 20 years," said businessman and blogger Mohammad Hanou. "It has become poorer and more conservative. The conservatives are not only Muslims. There are conservative Copts, too. But their differences need a trigger - an event."

One of those flashpoints occurred at a midnight mass marking the beginning of 2011 when a homemade bomb exploded at the front of the al-Qiddissin (Saints) Church. Twenty-three worshippers died and nearly 100 were injured.

That act of violence was followed by a sporadic acts on churches across the country. It is one of the reasons why Copts fret about the potential electoral successes of the Muslim Brotherhood and their more extreme allies, the Salafis, whose Saudi-like puritanical ideas about Islam are popular in Alexandria's slums.

"Many Muslims are tolerant and feel free to elect Christian parliamentarians," said Hany Mikhail Botros, a prominent Copt businessman who was only five metres away from the blast and lost his future daughter-in-law and many close friends in the attack.

Proof of this tolerance, he said, was that many Muslims personally contacted him to express their sorrow after the New Year's bombing.

"I can even say that some Muslims fight more for our rights than we do ourselves," Botros said as he looked up at a wall in the church with photographs of those who died in the bombing.

There was, however, inevitably, a "but" coming as Botros continued his reflections.

"But such turmoil has always existed under the surface here. Kids in some primary schools are actually taught to hate Christians. After this year's revolution such sentiments began to come out more."

Alexandria was once the largest Jewish city in the world, but only a handful of Jews live here today. Whether a similar fate may befall the Copts is a subject that is not much discussed in public but it is at the back of many minds.

"Do we have a Plan B? No," Botros said. "We could live overseas and I have the chance to do that, but I do not see that as a solution. I really love this country and I am not only making a speech."

Religion is such an emotive topic that there has never been a reliable census of how many Muslims and Christians there are in Egypt. Copts claim they number about 15 million and make up about 20 per cent of the population. Many Muslims reckon that the true percentage of Copts is only eight or 10 per cent...

..."If the Islamists gain power it won't be good and not only for us but for all Egyptians," said Father Mina Adel, who leads prayers at al-Qiddissin Church. "This is because some in the Brotherhood and some Salafis do not properly understand the Koran. They want to use religion to abuse people. They oppose freedom.

"When they see a woman uncovered, as Christian woman are, they tell her to cover head when it is none of their business."

Whatever transpired, Adel said that God would protect him. There were also, nevertheless, secular reasons why he was optimistic about the Copts' future.

"Such conservative ideas can still exist in the Egyptian desert," he said. "But we are in an Internet age where we are connected to and part of a global village where information is always available."

"What I think that it will be fragmented poll and that the people in the middle - the large group that is not Islamist or secular - will have control," said Hanou, the businessman and blogger.

"This group is heavily influenced by the Islamists right now, but they could shift. Most of these young people do not want to grow beards or go to the mosque. Their weak point until now is that they are fundamentally religious but they will rebel if somebody tells them how they should live.”

The results of the first round of voting in the Egyptian parliamentary elections, as reported by The Associated Press, December 4, 2011:

Islamists captured more than 60 percent of the vote for party lists in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary elections, according to results released Sunday.

The tallies offer only a partial indication of how the new parliament will look. There are still two more rounds of voting in 18 of the country's 27 provinces over the coming month and runoff elections on Monday and Tuesday to determine almost all of the seats allocated for individuals in the first round. But the grip of the Islamists over the next parliament appears set, particularly considering their popularity in provinces voting in the next rounds.

The High Election Commission said the Islamic fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party garnered 36.6 percent of the 9.7 million valid ballots cast for party lists. The Nour Party, a more hardline Islamist group, captured 24.4 percent.

The strong Islamist showing worries liberal parties, and even some religious parties, who fear the two groups will work to push a religious agenda. It has also left many of the youthful activists behind the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February feeling that their revolution has been hijacked.

Since Mubarak's ouster, the groups that led the uprising and Islamists have been locked in a fight over the country's new constitution. The new parliament will be tasked, in theory, with selecting a 100-member panel to draft the new constitution. But adding to tensions, the ruling military council that took over from Mubarak has suggested it will choose 80 of those members, and said parliament will have no say in naming a new government...

...The Brotherhood has emerged as the most organized and cohesive political force in these elections. But with no track record of governing, it is not yet clear how they will behave in power. The party has positioned itself as a moderate Islamist party that wants to implement Islamic law without sacrificing personal freedoms, and has said it will not seek an alliance with the more radical Nour party.

The ultraconservative Salafis who dominate the Nour Party are newcomers to the political scene. They had previously frowned upon involvement in politics and shunned elections. They espouse a strict interpretation of Islam similar to that of Saudi Arabia, where the sexes are segregated and women must be veiled and are barred from driving. Its members say laws contradicting religion can't be passed.

Egypt already uses Islamic law, or Shariah, as the basis for legislation. However, laws remain largely secular as Shariah does not cover all aspects of modern life.

If the Muslim Brotherhood chooses not to form an alliance with the Salafis, the liberal Egyptian Bloc - which came in third with 13.4 percent of the votes - could counterbalance hard-line elements...

...The elections, which began Nov. 28, are the first since Mubarak's ouster and the freest and fairest in Egypt's modern history.

Turnout of around 60 percent was the highest in living memory as few participated in the heavily rigged votes under Mubarak.

The ballots are a confusing mix of individual races and party lists, and the Sunday results only reflect the party list performance for less than a third of the 498-seat parliament.

Another liberal list, the Wafd Party, received 7.1 percent, while the moderate Islamist Wasat or Centrist Party took 4.3 percent.

The final shape of the parliament will not be announced before January.

The next step in the complex process, a round of runoffs between more than 100 individual candidates competing in the first round for around 50 seats, is set for Monday and Tuesday.

Not everyone who supported the "Arab Spring" revolution in Egypt is pleased with the way things have gone, if this post from the blog Rantings of a Sandmonkey is any indication.

The latest news from the second day of the third round of voting, as reported by Tom Perry of Reuters on January 4, 2012:

CAIRO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood was edging on Wednesday towards a dominant role in Egypt's first free parliament in decades, but said it would not impose its will over a new constitution and would work with all political rivals on the blueprint.

Egyptians went to the polls for a second day in the final stage of the election for the assembly's lower house, the first free legislative vote since military officers overthrew the monarchy in 1952.

The vote is part of the ruling army council's plan to hand power to civilians before July, ending their turbulent interregnum that began with the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February in a popular uprising.

Welcomed then as heroes who helped nudge the unpopular, autocratic leader from office, the generals now face anger over their handling of protests that left 59 dead since mid-November and an economic crisis that is worsening the plight of the poor.

Raids last week on non-government organisations monitoring the vote by police who sought evidence of foreign funding for political parties have incensed rights activists and drawn a rebuke from Egypt's long-time ally the United States.

The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) has led after two of the three rounds of voting and the rise of Islamist parties in the poll has prompted Western concern for the future of Egypt's close ties to Washington and peace with Israel.

Founded in 1928, the Brotherhood is Egypt's best organised political force, emerging stronger than others from three decades of autocratic rule under Mubarak. The new parliament will pick a 100-member assembly to write a new constitution.

"The party's winning of the majority in the new parliament does not mean going it alone in writing the constitution without consideration for the rights of other Egyptians, or ignoring the political forces which did not get a majority or failed in the parliamentary elections," said FJP head Mohamed Mursi.

"All political forces and intellectuals in Egypt, regardless of their political and religious allegiances, will take part in writing the constitution," said Mursi, whose comments were published on the Muslim Brotherhood's website on Tuesday.

The more hardline Islamist al-Nour Party has come second in the voting so far. It is a Salafi group promoting a strict interpretation of Islamic law and its success has raised the prospect of a chamber dominated by Islamists.

Some analysts believe, however, that the Muslim Brotherhood could seek to build a coalition with secular groups.

That could ease concerns at home and in the West about the rise of the Islamists in a country whose economy is propped up by tourism.

The staggered lower house election concludes with a run-off vote on Jan. 10 and 11, with final results expected on Jan. 13. Voting for the upper house will be held in January and February.

"MUBARAK HOLD-OVERS"

The election will produce the first Egyptian parliament with popular legitimacy in decades, raising the possibility of friction with the army.

The army has been the focus of the street protests, held by activists who accuse it of seeking to hold on to power and privilege. The generals say they do not want to govern, but some still doubt their intentions.

In an echo of the Mubarak years, four activists were detained on Tuesday for putting up posters critical of the military council, activists and a source in the public prosecutor's office said.

They were detained while hanging posters comparing images of soldiers after the 1973 war with Israel with pictures of troops beating women in Cairo during protests last month, said Amr Ezz, an organiser of the April 6 movement to which the four belonged.

Gamal Eid, a human rights lawyer, said the arrests were part of a trend including raids last week against 17 pro-democracy and human rights groups.

The United States criticised the authorities over the raids, part of what Cairo said was an investigation into foreign funding. The United States said Egypt had failed to resolve the stand-off over the U.S.-backed non-governmental organisations.

"We had been assured by leaders within the Egyptian government that this issue would be resolved ... it is frankly unacceptable to us that that situation has not been returned to normal," a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said.

She said it appeared Egypt's crackdown on pro-democracy NGOs was driven by "Mubarak hold-overs who don't understand how these organisations operate in a democratic society".

Seven-year-old girl reported sacrificed in pagan ritual in India

2012-01-02T01:51:00.005-07:00

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: Proverbs 15:8a

And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. Jeremiah 32:25

No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. I Corinthians 10:20 (NIV)

As reported by Agence France-Presse on January 1, 2012:

A seven-year-old Indian girl was murdered in a tribal sacrifice and her liver offered to the gods to improve crop growth, police in the central state of Chhattisgarh said on Sunday.

The body of Lalita Tati was found in October one week after her family reported her missing.

"A seven-year-old girl was sacrificed by two persons superstitiously believing that the act would give a better harvest," Narayan Das, the police chief of Bijapur district, told AFP by telephone.

The two men was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of killing the girl and offering her liver to the gods in a grisly tribal ceremony. Police said the men had confessed to the crime.

The girl was murdered in a jungle district of Chhattisgarh that is a stronghold of rebel Maoists who have tapped into disaffection among local tribal groups...

...Two suspected child sacrifices were reported in Chhattisgarh in 2010, while in the same year the decapitated body of a factory worker was found in a temple in the eastern state of West Bengal.

The victims are often ritually killed by witchdoctors to appease gods, spirits or deities.

75 years ago: The death of J. Gresham Machen

2012-01-01T00:36:00.008-07:00

On January 1, 1937, J. Gresham Machen, one of the great scholarly contenders for the Christian faith in the 1920s and 1930s, went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ at the relatively young age of 55. Dr. Machen was Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary from 1914-1929. It was during this period that modernism--the basis of which is the idea that the Bible was mainly of human, rather than divine, origin--became increasingly influential. In 1929 Dr. Machen left Princeton Seminary and founded Westminster Theological Seminary. As modernism increasingly influenced missionary activities of the Northern Presbyterian Church, Dr. Machen founded, in 1933, the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions, which he and fellow Bible-believers had a right to do under the rules in place. The NPC leadership, now controlled by modernists, suspended Dr. Machen and seven colleagues--including Carl McIntire--and defrocked Dr. Machen. Francis Schaeffer, in his last book, The Great Evangelical Disaster (1984), commented (pp. 34-35):

Then in the mid 1930s, there occurred an event which I would say marks the turning-point of the century concerning the breakdown of our culture. By 1936 the liberals were so in control of the Northern Presbyterian Church that they were able to defrock Dr. J. Gresham Machen...Machen's defrocking and the resulting division of the Northern Presbyterian Church was front-page news in the secular news media in much of the country...this was rightfully page-one news, for it marked the culmination of the drift of the Protestant churches from 1900-1936. It was this drift which laid the base for the cultural, social, moral, legal, and governmental changes from that time to the present. Without this drift in the denominations, I am convinced that the changes in our society in the last fifty years would have produced very different results from what we have now. When the Reformation churches shifted, the Reformation consensus was under cut. A good case could be made that the news about Machen was the most significant U.S. news in the first half of the twentieth century. It was the culmination of a long trend toward liberalism within the Presbyterian Church and represented the same trend in most other denominations. Even if we were only interested in sociology, this change in the churches and the resulting shift of our culture to a post-Christian consensus is important to understand if we are to grasp what is happening in the United States today. It is interesting to note that there was a span of approximately eighty years from the time when the higher critical methods originated and became widely accepted in Germany to the disintegration of German culture and the rise of totalitarianism under Hitler.

Dr. Machen became the principal figure in the founding of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1936. His trial and defrocking had taken a toll on his health, and Mr. Machen took ill and died while visiting Bismarck, North Dakota to fulfill speaking engagements. A number of Dr. Machen's works are still available, including On the Deity of Christ; Christianity and Culture (1912, 1913); The Origin of Paul's Religion (1921); Christianity and Liberalism (1923); What is Faith? (1925); and The Virgin Birth of Christ (1930).

While I disagree with Dr. Machen's Calvinism, I respect him as one of the 20th century's greatest defenders of fundamental Christian doctrine. Those who think that religious liberals are nice people with good intentions should look at the way they treated J. Gresham Machen, whose death so soon after his defrocking does not reflect positively on his inquisitors. It should be kept in mind that not only did Dr. Machen's tormentors differ with him theologically, but they were nowhere near his level in terms of scholarship.

December 30, 2011: A lost day for Samoa and Tokelau

2011-12-30T06:24:00.013-07:00

And he changeth the times and the seasons: Daniel 2:21a

And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: Daniel 7:25a

The first passage cited above refers to God, and the second to the Antichrist. I don't believe the item below is a fulfillment of end time prophecy, but it shows how time can be changed, and a whole day on the calendar can be made to disappear, just by passing a law. As reported by Keni Lesa of The Associated Press on December 30, 2011:

APIA, Samoa (AP) — Sirens wailed and fireworks exploded in the skies over Samoa as the tiny South Pacific nation jumped forward in time, crossing westward over the international date line and effectively erasing Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, from the country's calendar.

Samoans who had gathered around the main clock tower in the capital Apia cheered and clapped as the clock struck midnight on Thursday, Dec. 29, instantly transporting the country 24 hours ahead to Saturday, Dec. 31. The switch, also being observed by neighboring Tokelau, is meant to align the islands' time with key trading partners in the Asia-Pacific region.

The time jump means that Samoa's 186,000 citizens, and the 1,500 in the three-atoll United Nations dependency of Tokelau, will now be the first in the world to ring in the new year, rather than the last.

The moment was greeted with celebrations across Samoa. Fireworks danced across the sky and police, ambulance and fire truck sirens wailed throughout Apia to signal the change. Drivers circled the clock tower blaring their horns, and prayer services were held across the country.

The date line dance comes 119 years after a group of U.S. traders persuaded local Samoan authorities to align their islands' time with nearby U.S.-controlled American Samoa and the U.S. to assist their trading with California.

But the time zone has proved problematic in recent years, putting Samoa and Tokelau nearly a full day behind neighboring Australia and New Zealand, increasingly important trading partners.

In June, the Samoan government passed a law to move Samoa west of the international date line, which separates one calendar day from the next and runs roughly north-to-south through the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Under a government decree, all those scheduled to work on the nonexistent Friday will be given full pay for the missed day of labor.

In addition to the economic advantages, the time jump is also expected to make the everyday rituals of family life a little more pleasant. Like many small Pacific island states, more of Samoa's people live permanently in other countries than on its islands; Around 180,000 Samoans live in New Zealand and 15,000 in Australia. The date line switch means that families split between the island nation and Australia or New Zealand can now celebrate important events such as birthdays at the same time.

"We've got to remember that over 90 percent of our people emigrate to New Zealand and Australia. That's why it is absolutely vital to make this change," Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sailele Malielegaoi told The Associated Press just hours before the country catapulted into the future.

Officials have begun work on changing maps, charts and atlases to reflect Samoa's new date line position. A postage stamp, featuring the phrase "into the future," has also been created to mark the switch.

Although generally embraced by most Samoans, the date change wasn't expected to happen without a few little glitches. Digicel, the most popular mobile phone service provider in Samoa, said the company would have to update its systems immediately after the time jump, leaving phone service dead for about 15 minutes.

"The interruption will only take a few minutes so we can adjust our system," CEO Pepe Fiaailetoa Fruean said. "So I would like to inform all of our customers to have alternative communication means available in case of an emergency."

Being a day behind the rest of the Asia-Pacific region has meant that when it's dawn Sunday in Samoa, it's already dawn Monday in adjacent Tonga and nearly dawn Monday in nearby New Zealand, Australia and increasingly prominent east Asian trade partners such as China.

The original shift to the east side of the line was made in 1892, when Samoa celebrated July 4 twice, giving a nod to Independence Day in the U.S.

The date line drawn by mapmakers is not mandated by any international body. By tradition, it runs roughly through the 180-degree line of longitude, but it zigzags to accommodate the choices of Pacific nations on how to align their calendars.

This item reminded me of a now-departed Canadian time zone called Yukon Standard Time. According to Wikipedia, Yukon Standard Time, which included Canada's Yukon Territory and a small area around Yakutat, Alaska, was nine hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (Coordinated Universal Time), one hour behind Pacific Standard Time. Yukon officially switched to Pacific Time in 1975. In 1983, Alaska switched from four time zones to two, and the Yukon Standard Time Zone officially became known as the Alaska Standard Time Zone. Most of Alaska was in that time zone, with the Aleutian Islands remaining in the Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time Zone, known until 1983 as the Alaska-Hawaii Standard Time Zone.

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. I Thessalonians 5:1

1981 Israeli bombing of Iraqi nuclear reactor caught the U.S. by surprise

2011-12-30T03:46:00.003-07:00

On June 7, 1981, Israeli planes bombed a French-made nuclear reactor near Baghdad, killing one French technician. The Israeli government of Prime Minister Menachem Begin believed the $275-million reactor was being used to build bombs for the purpose of attacking Israel, and was near completion. The action was the first air strike against a nuclear plant.

The United States and Arab governments condemned the Israeli raid on June 8, and U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced on June 9 that Congress would be notified that Israel may have violated its arms agreements with the U.S. by using American-made planes in the attack. Also on June 9, the U.S.S.R., predictably, accused the U.S.A., because she had armed the Israelis, of being an accomplice in the attack. On June 10, the U.S. suspended the shipment of four F-16 fighter bombers to Israel because of Israel's possible violation of her arms agreements.

In the United Nations, Great Britain and France joined Arab and Third World governments on June 15 in censuring Israel for the attack. Britain agreed with a French demand that Israel pay reparations to Iraq, but both Britain and France refused to support an arms embargo against Israel. On June 16, U.S. President Reagan said that it seemed that Israel had violated her arms agreement with the U.S.A., but he stated his confidence that the Israelis might have sincerely believed that their action was defensive. On June 19, the UN Security Council strongly condemned the raid and urged Israel to open her nuclear plants to international inspection, but did not ask for an arms embargo. On June 21, Israel rejected the UN Security Council's condemnation.

On June 24, former Israeli Defense and Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan said that his country had the capacity to produce nuclear weapons and that if the Arabs decided to manufacture them, that Israel could do the same in a short time.

30 years later, files released by the U.S. National Archives show that the Israeli raid caught the United States by surprise. As reported by Duncan Gardham in the London Daily Telegraph on December 30, 2011:

The United States had no warning of the attack on the Osirak reactor ordered by Menachem Begin, the Israeli Prime Minister, in June 1981 amid fears that Saddam Hussein was trying to build a nuclear weapon.

Files released by the National Archives show that Britain's ambassador to Washington, Sir Nicholas Henderson, was with US Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger as the news came in.

"Weinberger says that he thinks Begin must have taken leave of his senses. He is much disturbed by the Israeli reaction and possible consequences," Sir Nicholas cabled London.

Britain's ambassador in Baghdad, Sir Stephen Egerton, disclosed that the Iraqis had been just as surprised when the Israeli F15 fighters appeared in their skies.

"The diplomatic corps had a ringside view of the belated ack-ack and missile reactions to the raid when we were gathered for the Italian national day reception on the Bund [waterside]," he wrote.

"The raiders had gone but the fireworks were spectacular."

Scottish college principal and his wife claim they were sacked for being white Christians

2011-12-30T03:14:00.005-07:00

So far, these are just allegations, but stay tuned for further developments. As reported by Murray Wardrop of the London Daily Telegraph on December 30, 2011:

A college which aims to promote multiculturalism has been thrust into a race row amid allegations that its principal and his wife were sacked for being white Christians.

Professor Malory Nye, 47, claims he was dismissed from his job at the Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education in Dundee, Scotland, because its hierarchy viewed his race and religion as a threat to its Muslim values.

His wife Isabel Campbell-Nye, 42, alleges she was also forced out of her position as head of the college’s English language centre because she brought in too many students who were not Muslims or Arabs.

The independent college, sponsored by the Dubai royal family, advertises itself as a research-led institution “that promotes a greater understanding of different religions and cultures in a multicultural context, for the benefit of the wider community”.

However, the couple allege that its claims of multiculturalism were a charade and that Prof Nye was dismissed to make way for a Muslim replacement.

They are taking the college to an employment tribunal claiming racial and religious discrimination, and unfair dismissal.

Mrs Campbell-Nye is also claiming sex discrimination on the grounds that she was allegedly suspended and later dismissed because she is married to Prof Nye.

Prof Nye and his wife began working at the college eight and four years ago respectively and were so happy there that they chose to marry on the campus last year.

However, they believe they fell out of favour with leaders at the college, whose patron is Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the Deputy Ruler of Dubai, over fears they were pushing it in a more cosmopolitan direction.

They allege that Abubaker Abubaker, the director of operations, and Mirza al-Sayegh, chairman of its board of directors and private secretary to the Sheikh, decided to force them out because they were British, white and Christian.

Prof Nye said: “It is clear to me that there is collusion between these two individuals that I should be removed from my position on the basis that I am not an Arab and not a Muslim and that the person who has the role of principal should be Arab and/or Muslim.

“Multiculturalism and respect for cultural and religious differences are, I had thought, core values of the college.

“However, I believe that such inclusive multiculturalism no longer fits the particular type of multicultural vision of certain managers and the chairman, that is accepting of different cultures, so long as the majority of students are Muslims and/or Arabs and the ethos is distinctly Islamic.

“My face and lack of Muslim faith no longer fit.”

He said his suspension also came just days after he changed the college’s name from its former title: Al-Maktoum Institute for Arabic and Islamic studies.

The couple, from Perth, were frogmarched off the college grounds in June and suspended and have not been allowed to return since.

They claim they were given no reason for their suspensions and were dismissed in November despite no evidence of any wrongdoing.

The couple have also lodged grievances against the Labour peer Lord Elder, Chancellor of the college and a close friend of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, for his handling of what they describe as a "sham" disciplinary process.

Mrs Campbell-Nye claims Mr Abubaker also sought to remove her because she had attracted too many non-Muslim, European and Asian students to study English at the college.

“Some are from Arab and other Muslim backgrounds. However, a substantial number are from other parts of the world and other cultures.

“I believe Mr Abubaker does not feel happy with us recruiting students from these backgrounds as it does not fit the particular multicultural vision he has for English language.

“The only times Mr Abubaker has encouraged me to bring in students to English language are when they are Arabs or Muslims.

“I believe that Mr Abubaker’s discrimination against me, because I am not Muslim, I am not Arab, and I am also a woman – and because I have brought a number of non Muslim/non-Arab students to the college – is a significant reason for my suspension.”

Despite a waiting list to get on its English language courses, the college abruptly closed the department last month, leaving its two remaining tutors redundant at Christmas.

The independent college, which operates as a charity in partnership with the University of Aberdeen, advertises in its prospectus that “multiculturalism is at the centre of our vision and structure”.

“Our multicultural ethos is visibly translated and implemented in our day-to-day operation. Our staff and students come from diverse national, cultural and religious backgrounds including Muslims and non-Muslims,” it says.

A spokesman for the college said: “We can confirm that we have been notified that Employment Tribunal proceedings have been raised in the name of Professor Malory Nye and his wife, Isabel Campbell-Nye.

"The College, an independent, not-for-profit charity, places diversity, religious pluralism and multiculturalism firmly at the core of its Higher Education programmes – and its day-to-day activities," the spokesman said.

“The Al-Maktoum College will vigorously defend its reputation as a centre of excellence within the higher education sector and the good name it has won over the last ten years here in Dundee, nationally and internationally.

“Professor Nye was dismissed from his post as Principal at the College following a period of suspension on full pay and an inquiry conducted by the College Chancellor.

“Contingency plans were put in place to ensure the continued smooth running of the College.

“We are in consultation with our team of legal advisers and, as a result, we are not in a position to discuss the matter further at this stage.”

"Peace on Earth?" Not at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity

2011-12-30T02:51:00.004-07:00

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:10-14

As reported by Mark Weiss of the London Daily Telegraph on December 28, 2011:

The annual Christmas cleanup at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity turned into a mass brawl on Wednesday as rival clergy from the Greek Orthodox and Armenian denominations attacked each other with broom sticks.

Club- wielding Palestinian police stormed into the church, the traditional birthplace of Christ, to break up the fist fight which involved about 100 priests and monks.

The 6th Century holy site is jointly administered by the Latin, Orthodox and Armenian churches, with each fiercely guarding their turf against possible encroachment from the rival sects.

Bethlehem police Lieutenant-Colonel Khaled al-Tamimi said order was quickly restored and such scuffles between the rival clergy occur every year. "No one was arrested because all those involved were men of God," he explained.

Every year the different denominations co-operate in the annual Christmas cleaning operation which occurs between the Latin Christmas and early January, when the Orthodox sects celebrate Christmas.

Tension and scuffles between rival clergy are also common at Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is also jointly administered by the Latin, Orthodox and Armenian churches.

The Palestinian Authority in Bethlehem, and Israel, which controls Jerusalem's Old City, adopted the delicate status quo in operation since the British mandate, under which no changes, however minor, can be made without the approval of all three denominations.

The result has been that the Church of the Nativity has fallen into a dangerous state of disrepair.

Last month, after years of arguments, the sects finally reached agreement to replace the church's leaking roof. The renovations, planned for next year, will mark the first major repairs in 150 years.

Blood Foundation's religious tourism trivializes religious differences

2011-12-28T05:10:00.010-07:00

Let's go Sufi now,
Everybody's learnin' how,
Come on and safari with me...
(to the tune of Surfin' Safari--with apologies to the Beach Boys)

According to secular journalist Gwynne Dyer's column of July 4, 2011:

Gandhi, born a Hindu, once said: “I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Jew.” Most people will never achieve such enlightenment (or spout such pious tripe, if you are of a less reverent turn of mind). But such thinking certainly creates an opening for innovative programmes like “Muslim for a Month.”

No, really. There is an organisation that invites people of other religions or none to come to Istanbul and live as Muslims for a month. Well, not a month, exactly: the 9-day “Explorations” programme costs $900 and the 21-day “Ruminations” programme costs $1890.

“We like to think that “Muslim for a Month” facilitates more understanding of a religion which gets a lot of bad press,” explained Ben Bowler, who lives in Thailand and runs similar “religious immersion tours” in Buddhism for the same organisation. “There’s a huge difference in the public perception of Buddhism, for example, and Islam – Islam is thorny, while Buddhism is warm and fuzzy.”

People who think Buddhism is warm and fuzzy would probably benefit from Bowler’s “Monk for a Month” programme in Thailand. People who think that Islam is a religion of hatred and terrorism would likewise benefit from the “Muslim for a Month” programme. Indeed, if all that’s going on here is a simple download of information and perspective, you could argue that every religion should be doing it.

Much of the human race lives in places where two or more major religions co-exist – Buddhists and Muslims in Thailand; Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs in India; Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Jews in South Africa. Not to mention countries where up to half the population are non-believers (like Britain and Korea). A crash course in your neighbours’ religious beliefs ought to be part of the school curriculum. In some places, it already is.

But there is still something disturbing about the very idea of religious tourism. Immersing yourself in the prayers and rituals of a religion EVEN THOUGH YOU THINK ITS GOD IS FALSE smacks of condescension at best, blasphemy at worst. And although a sense of politeness prevents most people from saying it loudly in public, religious people generally believe that the gods of all religions but their own are indeed false.

Non-believers go even further. As Richard Dawkins, the world’s leading advocate of atheism, once put it: “We are all atheists about most of the gods that people have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.” Fine. That’s a perfectly respectable position to hold. But if that’s what you think, then pretending to pray to Allah as a “cultural experience” is downright disrespectful.

The people who are organising “Muslim for a Month” have the best of intentions. The Blood Foundation is a Thailand-based enterprise whose goal is “to promote the ideal of the sister/brotherhood of all humanity. We operate cultural exchange programs that build bridges of understanding between diverse peoples through the means of shared, authentic experience.”

According to the Blood Foundation, the “Muslim for a Month” programme aims “to foster a spirit of good will and increased mutual understanding between Muslims and the west. It is not the purpose of the program to bring converts to the Islamic faith but rather to strive towards a greater sense of unity among people.”

I believe that that is truly their goal. I also very much like the Sufi tradition of Islam, one of the most attractive forms of religious expression that I have ever encountered, and it is the Sufis who are providing the facilities and the teachers for the “Muslim for a Month” programme in Turkey. But it still doesn’t feel right.

Here’s the thing. Almost all of the “modern” religions that have arisen in the past 2,500 years (and Judaism, which is much older) have sacred texts that are held by the believers to be divinely revealed truth. They are not negotiable or mutually compatible, like the old pagan beliefs were. To believe in any of the modern gods requires the faithful to reject all the others as false.

If Muslim beliefs are right, then Christian beliefs are wrong, and vice versa. If the Sikhs are right, then the Baha’i are wrong, and vice versa. If the Buddhists are right, then the Jews are wrong, and so on ad nauseam.

Why stop there? If the Mormons are right, then all the other Christians are horribly, catastrophically wrong. If any of the other Christian sects (or any of the non-Christian faiths) is right, then Mormon beliefs are downright ridiculous. If the Shia are right, then the Sunnis are wrong, and vice versa. So in a world where something like 90 percent of the population is still religious (though much less in the developed countries), what is one to do?

We minimise conflict by simply not talking about the huge, irreconcilable differences in our religious convictions. (The non-religious play the same game: they rarely challenge the beliefs of the believers either.) It’s not an attractive behaviour, and it doesn’t always avert conflict, but most of the time it works. On most of the planet, we are no longer at each other’s throats about religion.

The world does not need “Muslim (or Sikh, or Christian) for a Month.” Let sleeping dogs lie.

Here's what the Blood Foundation says about itself:

About Blood Foundation

Blood Foundation is a small NGO based in northern Thailand near the Thai-Burma border. We are a group of volunteers from different nations committed to serving the various people of this region through a series of education, health and income-generation projects...

What we Believe

We believe in a universal spiritual heritage shared by all people which we hold to be the foundation of the human family. As with any family this carries an obligation and duty of care towards the less fortunate members. We believe there is much of value in all our great spiritual and philosophic traditions and we encourage the ongoing search for the Universal in human experience. We celebrate the diversity of our cultures and marvel at the absolute uniqueness of each individual and still we see that the greater truth is that which unites us, - our common humanity, the mystery of our origin, the search for meaning and the love of family.

What we Advocate

We advocate that alongside the globalisation of markets, economies and world culture we must strive for the globalisation of justice, fairness and ideals based on the expansion of our philosophic frameworks and the enlargement of our religious perspectives. While we are bound to each other through shared biology, economics and environment we also share a simple human desire for peace, prosperity and purpose. Blood Foundation advocates for greater expression of this unity as we join with the people of good faith everywhere in calling for respect of human dignity, freedom from oppression and justice for the poor. We proclaim that as human beings we are in fact spiritually related to one another and so promote the high ethical ideals that come with being members of a common family. We are inclined to look after our own immediate family because we place such a high value on blood relations, - the idea is to make the circle bigger. It's a high ideal but we believe it's worth striving for and we invite you to join with us in making it real.

What we Do

Currently working on the Thai-Burmese border in northern Thailand, we have a number of education and income-generation projects directly benefiting Burmese refugees, hill tribes and Thai people. These humanitarian efforts are supported by commercial projects that remain in line with our overall philosophy such as Monk for a Month and Flow.

From the Monk for a Month home page:

Monk for a Month offers you an authentic Thai Buddhist
experience and a journey of a lifetime.

Live at the temple
Study with the monks
Follow the ancient precepts
Practice meditation and chanting

Men and women are invited to formally receive the eight precepts and for men staying two weeks or longer there is the chance to be ordained as a novice monk at the discretion of your preceptor.

And from the Muslim for a Month home page:

Muslim for a Month is a Blood Foundation cultural exchange program run in partnership with Islamic scholars and peace activists in Istanbul Turkey.

Blood Foundation is a social enterprise and NGO dedicated to promoting positive intercultural experiences.

We operate the successful Monk for a Month temple stay program in northern Thailand’s Fang Valley, offering guests an immersion experience into Buddhism and Thai culture as well as a unique opportunity for personal spiritual progression.

In a similar vein the Muslim for a Month program offers an inner experience of the Islamic faith with the focus being on the Sufi path and the universal spiritual teachings of Mevlana Rumi.

PROGRAMS
The word ‘month’ in the name of these programs is used with poetic license – typical length of stay is 10 days

We are launching Muslim for a Month by offering the 10 day program and the ability for group bookings. The 10 day program consists of a broad introduction to Islam, Sufism, Rumi, and Turkish culture and a deep exploration of Sufi mysticism and a more thorough immersion into the life and works of Rumi.

I generally agree with Mr. Dyer's position, although I take a less benign view of the Blood Foundation's sincerity, especially with the prices they charge for their programs. The Blood Foundation programs have the effect of trivializing religious beliefs, practices--and differences. Adopting religious beliefs and practices is not a matter of taking on the trappings for the duration of a workshop. When I was drawn to trust in Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord, I didn't do so "for a month," but for the rest of my life and into eternity.

As for the Blood Foundation's beliefs in "a universal spiritual heritage shared by all people" and "that as human beings we are in fact spiritually related to one another," the only such commonality taught in the Bible is a unity in sin, the need for a saviour, and God's provision of salvation through the shedding of the blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 3:23

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Acts 17:29-31
Let's pray that those involved with the Blood Foundation will come to know the salvation that comes only through the blood of the Lamb.

I expect the Blood Foundation's programs to become increasingly popular and to expand to embrace other religions. The emphases on mysticism and experience are the very sort of thing to appeal to the Emerging Church crowd. It will come as no surprise to this blogger to see promotion of the Blood Foundation programs from those involved with Emerging "Christianity."

Rare 2nd century coins shed light on Jewish rebellion against Roman rule

2011-12-25T04:17:00.003-07:00

Another old item about an old event--as reported by Associated Press on April 18, 2003:

JERUSALEM — Israeli archaeologists excavating caves near the Dead Sea have found nine rare silver coins believed to date back to a failed Jewish rebellion against the Romans in the second century.

The coins add another layer to the story of the families Shimon Bar Kochba led into hiding in the caves of the Judean Desert--what turned out to be the end of the second Jewish uprising against the Romans, which resulted in their exile. Archaeological finds relating to the three-year rebellion are rare.

About 2,000 coins from the rebellion are known to exist, and this is only the second time archaeologists have found such coins on a dig, said Hanan Eshel, who led the digs and is the head of the Jewish Studies and Archaeology Department at Tel Aviv's Bar Ilan University.

Of particular rarity is the largest Jewish coin ever issued, a half-ounce silver coin known as the Petra Drachma.

One side of the coin shows Jerusalem's second Jewish temple, destroyed by the Romans during the first Jewish rebellion in the year 70. The other side shows another important Jewish symbol--the image of four plants, known as the four species, used during ceremonies for the festival of Sukkot.

"Bar Kochba never minted his own coins, so what we have here is a Roman coin with the temple and the four species stamped over the portrait of the Roman emperor," Eshel said.

Historical records tell little about the rebellion or its leader.

"Neither the Jews or the Romans considered the rebellion to be a success, so very little was written about it," Eshel said. "That is why archaeological finds are so important."

Archeologists from Bar Ilan and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Center for Cave Research have been investigating caves near the Ein Gedi oasis on the shore of the Dead Sea.

With the collapse of the rebellion that broke out in the year 132, many Jews fled to the caves in the hope of avoiding the advancing Roman legions.

The nine coins were found in an otherwise empty cave, hidden under a large rock.

"It appears the people first hid their money before fleeing to caves farther in," Eshel said, adding that the money was a significant enough sum to buy a house but was abandoned because it was useless in the barren desert.

The coins will be displayed to the public at Jerusalem's Israel Museum.

Rare find in Israeli caves confirms the Jews' return from exile in Babylon

2011-12-25T03:53:00.004-07:00

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:1-3 (also II Chronicles 36:22-23)

An old item about some old items--as reported by Gavin Rabinowitz of Associated Press on February 20, 2004:

JERUSALEM - Israeli archaeologists excavating caves near the Dead Sea discovered jewelry, a makeup kit and a small mirror - 2,500-year-old fashion accessories for women.

The trove apparently belonged to Jews who returned from exile in Babylon in the 6th century B.C., said Tsvika Tsuk, chief archaeologist for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

"This find is very rare. Both for the richness of the find and for that period, it is almost unheard of," Tsuk said on Friday.

Using metal detectors, archeologists found the treasures under a stone-like accumulation of sediment thrown up by a nearby spring. They included a necklace made of 130 beads of semiprecious stones and gold; a scarab; an agate medallion of Babylonian origin; and a silver pendant with an engraved crescent moon and pomegranates.

What appears to be a makeup kit contained an alabaster bowl for powders, a stick to apply the cosmetics and a bronze mirror.

They also found a pagan stamp showing a Babylonian priest bowing to the moon.

"These finds confirm the (biblical) accounts of Jews returning from exile in Babylon," Tsuk said.

When the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Kingdom of Judah in 597 B.C., he sent many Jews into exile in Babylon. These Jews and their descendants were later allowed to return by the Persian monarch Cyrus in 538 B.C.

Tsuk said the find shows that there was a wealthy and flourishing community of returnees living in the area. "These are not the belongings of a simple person," he said.

The archaeologists were part of a joint team from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv. They have been excavating caves near the Dead Sea for the last three years.

Two Earth-sized planets are discovered--but they're too hot to support life

2011-12-25T02:58:00.006-07:00

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Psalms 8:3-4

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Psalms 19:1

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:11

Astronomers working with NASA's Kepler mission recently discovered a planet similar to Earth, but too big to support life. Now, they've discovered two planets in the same solar system that are the right size to support life, but are too hot. As reported by Natalie Stechyson of Postmedia News on December 20, 2011:

The quest to find alien life took a step forward Tuesday as the discovery of the first Earth-sized planets was made public.

The two planets, part of the newly discovered Kepler-20 solar system, are the smallest discovered to date. They were spotted as part of NASA's Kepler mission, which was designed to survey our region of the Milky Way to try to identify habitable planets.

"For the first time, we've found honest-to-God, Earth-sized planets. That's never been done before," said David Charbonneau, a professor of Astronomy at Harvard University who was involved in the research...

..."What we ultimately want to do is find planets that might have life on them. To find a planet that's habitable, you need a planet that's roughly the same size as the Earth," Charbonneau said.

But the planets also have to be the right temperature, and these are too hot. Two weeks ago, the Kepler team announced the discovery of another planet that was just the right temperature for life, but too big.

"We're looking for a Goldilocks-type planet," Charbonneau quipped, meaning a celestial body that orbits its star at a distance that is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to be present.

The newest discovery shows that the Kepler team has the ability to find an "Earth twin" and needs to just push out to find planets further from their stars, Charbonneau said.

The two rocky planets - Kepler 20e and Kepler 20f - are part of a five-planet solar system located about 1,000 light years away. The other three planets are large and gaseous. Research on the project began in May 2009.

The Belt of the Virgin Mary shows that idolatry is thriving in Russia

2011-12-17T23:09:00.004-07:00

Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 26:1

Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: Isaiah 2:8

Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I Corinthians 10:14

The Soviet Union dissolved 20 years ago, and the idolatry and superstition of eastern Orthodoxy came back to the surface after 70 years of Communist suppression. As reported by Maria Antonova of Agence France-Presse on November 24, 2011:

MOSCOW — Braving sub-zero temperatures and a line stretching several kilometres, almost half a million Russians lined up this week to venerate a relic of the Virgin Mary brought to Moscow from Greece.

The Moscow authorities said 400,000 people had waited outside Moscow’s vast Cathedral of Christ the Saviour since The Belt of the Virgin Mary relic arrived on Saturday. Around 82,000 were queuing on Thursday alone.

In an extraordinary display of the strength of Orthodox Christianity in post-Soviet Russia, the faithful have stood in a line stretching five kilometres.

The Belt of the Virgin Mary is believed to help women’s fertility and cure illnesses. It toured ten other Russian cities before arriving in the capital.

“There is something I need to ask. Nobody in this line is here just for fun,” said 40-year-old Ivan, who was waiting at the front of the line for his wife and child.

He said venerating the belt is especially meaningful since it rarely leaves mount Athos, a Greek peninsula with very strict visitation policy, where only men are allowed to go.

“I joined the line at midnight, so it’s been about 12 hours,” he said. The wait could be up to 26 hours, news agencies said.

“I am 74, and I have suffered a heart attack. I am handicapped in my arm and leg,” said another man, identifying himself as Vladimir, after exiting the imposing white cathedral and leaning on his wife’s supporting arm.

“Maybe it will help?” he said, tears welling up in his eyes.

The head of the Moscow city centre prefecture Pavel Bolshunov told Russian news agencies that as of Thursday morning over 407,000 people had visited the relic since the weekend and another 82,000 were currently waiting.

Faced with the lines, the Russian Orthodox Church extended the relic’s stay in Moscow by three days to Sunday.

An intercom announcement on the Moscow metro at the stop nearest to the Cathedral warned people arriving by the subway that the line stretched along the Moscow river for nearly five kilometres and its end was in a distant neighbourhood four metro stops away.

Struggling to contain the throngs of Orthodox believers, the city erected a maze of metal barriers, rerouted traffic on some of the streets, and brought in 1,500 police officers to ensure order.

The Cathedral asked on its website that people simply touch the small silver chest holding the relic with their hand, without kissing it in the Orthodox tradition, “so that as many people as possible could touch the relic.”

But by Thursday afternoon the cathedral staff moved the chest to sit atop of an arch which people simply walked through, allowing 80 people to worship it every minute, RIA Novosti reported...

...The Belt of the Virgin Mary is kept permanently in Vatopedi monastery on the Greek mount Athos and this is its first ever appearance in Russia.

Russia’s Orthodox Church had an incredible surge of influence and power in recent years as millions of Russians began to practice religion in the 1990s after decades of state-dictated atheism in the Soviet Union.

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour became a symbol of this change when its replica was built in 1997 in the same spot where the original was blown up by Soviet authorities in 1931.

Bodies of 44 young victims of pagan sacrifice discovered in Peru

2011-12-17T22:47:00.008-07:00

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1 (NIV 1984)

While the true God desires His people to offer their bodies as living sacrifices, pagan "gods" often require their devotees to offer human bodies as dead sacrifices. It's unlikely that the perpetrators of the atrocities described below will be prosecuted; these sacrifices to Peruvian pagan "gods" took place in the 14th century. As reported by Agence France-Presse on November 21, 2011:

LIMA -- A Peruvian archeologist on Sunday announced the discovery of the remains of 44 infants and young children sacrificed to appease ancient deities in the 14th century at a site in the high Andes near the border with Bolivia.

The remains were found near a stone funeral tower -- known locally as chullpas -- in the Sillustani archeological site, located some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) south-east of the capital Lima, near Lake Titicaca, which Peru shares with Bolivia.

"These are children and babies of both sexes, with ages going from newborns to the age of three," archeologist Eduardo Arisaca told local regional media. His remarks were picked up by the daily El Comercio.

The infants were buried in pairs inside funeral baskets or in ceramic urns near a 10 meter (32 feet) tall circular stone brick tower known as Chullpa Lagarto (Lizard Chullpa).

The children were buried with a volcanic stone on their chest, and are surrounded by offerings -- animals, food, dishes, and pitchers. Early research suggests they were sacrificed during a period of warfare.

"The faces of the children point towards the east," where the sun rises, said Arisaca. He estimated the children were buried between 600 and 700 years years ago.

The children also had artificially elongated skulls, common among some nobles of the time.

Up to now the remains of 200 people have been unearthed around the Chullpa Lagarto, Arisaca said.

In September Arisaca announced the discovery of the 700 years-old remains of a two-year-old boy at a separate funeral tower in Sillustani, buried in a ceramic urn along with a dog.

At another funeral tower nearby experts found the remains of 12 adults buried together along with food, ceramics, and animals. Archeologists found sheets of gold attached to the clothing as part of the attire.

The funeral towers are common sights in the high Andean region between Peru and Bolivia, are the burial sites of ancient nobles and community leaders. Most are round towers built of stone, but some are rectangular.

The original article appeared in Spanish in the Lima El Comercio on November 20, 2011.

The latest from the Netherlands: Euthanasia house calls

2011-12-17T22:02:00.005-07:00

The Netherlands, a country that resisted the Nazis 70 years ago is increasingly implementing their policies. As reported by Simon Caldwell in the London Daily Telegraph, December 6, 2011:

Mobile euthanasia teams being considered by Dutch government

Plans to introduce mobile medical teams that can euthanise people in their own homes are being considered by the Dutch government.

The teams of doctors and nurses would be sent out from a clinic following a referral from the patient's doctor.

The proposals were disclosed by Edith Schippers, the health minister.

In a written answer to questions from Christian Union MPs she said that mobile units "for patients who meet the criteria for euthanasia but whose doctors are unwilling to carry it out" was worthy of consideration.

"If the patient thinks it desirable, the doctor can refer him or her to a mobile team or clinic," the minister wrote.

In her written answer Ms Schippers suggested that "extra expertise" could be summoned in complicated cases involving mental health problems or an inability to consent to euthanasia because of dementia.

Dutch advocacy groups want to expand the eligibility criteria for euthanasia as well as open facilities specifically for euthanasia along the pattern of the Dignitas centre in Switzerland.

Hundreds of Britons have either made the journey to Switzerland to end their lives or registered with the clinic.

Phyllis Bowman, a pro-life campaigner in Britain, said that the proposals amounted to a "campaign to speed up euthanasia and to make it cheaper by doing it at home instead of in institutions".

The Netherlands legalised euthanasia in 2001 in cases where patients are suffering unbearable pain due to illness with no hope of recovery.

Euthanasia is usually carried out by administering a strong sedative to put the patient in a coma, followed by a drug to stop breathing and cause death.

To qualify patients must convince two doctors they are making an informed choice in the face of unbearable suffering.

Dutch medics have been accused of practising euthanasia on demand.

A total of 21 people diagnosed as having early-stage dementia died at the hands of their doctors last year, according to the 2010 annual report on euthanasia.

The figures from last year also showed another year-on-year rise in cases with about 2,700 people choosing death by injection compared to 2,636 the year before.

A Dutch government spokesman said: "The greatest care has been taken to regulate care for patients who are suffering unbearably with no prospect of improvement."

"Euthanasia may only be carried out at the explicit request of the patient."

As for that last statement, I offer two words in response: "Yeah--right." According to Mr. Caldwell's report in the Daily Telegraph on June 20, 2010, not only has the use of euthanasia increased since it was legalized by the Dutch government in 2002, but the health minister responsible for the legislation is now regretting that euthanasia has had the effect of destroying palliative care:

Euthanasia cases in Holland have increased by 13 per cent in the last year, new figures have shown.

Last year a total of 2,636 Dutch people were killed by euthanasia, with 80 per cent of cases involving people dying at home after their doctors administered a lethal dose of drugs.

This compares to 2,331 reported deaths by euthanasia in 2008, which saw a 10 per cent rise on 2007.

In 2003, the year after Holland became the first country in the world to legalise the practice since the fall of Nazi Germany, there were 1,815 reported cases.

Euthanasia is usually carried out by administering a strong sedative to put the patient in a coma, followed by a drug to stop breathing and cause death. To qualify patients must be in unbearable pain and their doctor convinced they are making an informed choice. The opinion of a second doctor is also required.

Dutch medics have been accused of applying a liberal interpretation of the law and practising euthanasia on demand, sometimes killing people who cannot properly consent.

Jan Suyver, chairman of the government's euthanasia monitoring commission, said the rising number of cases came as the "taboo" once attached to euthanasia began to fade.

"It could also be that doctors are more likely to report it," he said.

Anti-euthanasia groups say, however, that the sharp increase is probably be linked to the collapse of the palliative care system in the Netherlands following the legalisation of euthanasia eight years ago.

Phyllis Bowman, the executive officer of Right to Life, said: "I am sure that the increase in numbers of people opting for euthanasia is largely a result of inadequate pain control."

The rise in cases in 2008 has prompted the Dutch health ministry to launch an inquiry into the working of the 2002 law and it is due to open its investigations by the end of the month.

Dr Els Borst, the former Health Minister and Deputy Prime Minister who guided the law through the Dutch parliament, said in December that she regretted that euthanasia was effectively destroying palliative care.

Dr. Borst's regret is understandable, although a decline in palliative care is a natural and foreseeable consequence of the increased use of euthanasia. Why bother with weeks or months of palliative care when you can short-circuit the process with one injection?

Thousands of children may have been sexually abused by Roman Catholic priests in the Netherlands since 1945

2011-12-17T21:55:00.003-07:00

As reported by Bruno Waterfield in the London Daily Telegraph, December 16, 2011:

Dutch Catholic sex abuse scandal exposed as inquiry says up to 20,000 were victims
Up to 20,000 children were sexually abused by 800 Roman Catholic priests or lay workers in the Netherlands since 1945, an independent inquiry has estimated.

The investigation by Wim Deetman, a former Dutch minister, received 1,800 reports of sexual abuse by clergy or volunteers within Dutch Catholic dioceses, congregations and religious orders. At least 105 abusers are still alive.andy rain

Children involved in Church organisations were twice as likely as non-Catholics to be exposed to abuse and the "mild, severe or very severe sexual behaviour" was covered up by senior clergy.

"The problem of sexual abuse was known in the orders and dioceses of the Dutch Catholic Church," the inquiry concluded. "No adequate action was taken, nor was sufficient attention devoted to victims."

Based on a survey of more than 34,000 people, the 1,100-page Deetman report estimated that one in five children in Catholic school institutions between 1945 and 1985 suffered abuse, twice the average level in the general Dutch population.

Allegations of abuse by the Salesian Fathers at the Don Rua boarding school Heerenberg in the 1960s triggered the wider investigation in March 2010 of paedophile assaults within the Church, a process mirrored in Belgium, Ireland, Germany, Australia, Canada and the US.

The Deetman commission began work last year and as evidence of widespread abuse emerge the Dutch Roman Catholic Church last month set up a compensation system based on the severity of abuse suffered. The total bill for the church could be higher than £4 million.

Over 2,000 people have now registered abuse with the Church and Dutch authorities and a number of cases will be taken to court.

40 years ago: Canada's Parliament debates a national identity card

2011-12-16T23:14:00.010-07:00

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Revelation 13:16-17

I didn't know that the subject of a national identity card in Canada went back 40 years, until I discovered the following op-ed piece by Arthur Blakely in the Montreal Gazette, October 15, 1971, p. 7. For those who don't know, or are too young to remember, the Quebec crisis referred to in the column involved terrorists who were members of the Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ), who favoured independence from Canada for the province of Quebec. On October 5, 1970, James Cross, British Trade Commissioner to Canada, was kidnapped from his Montreal home by FLQ terrorists. Five days later, the FLQ struck again, kidnapping Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte. Mr. Laporte's dead body was found stuffed into the trunk of a car a week later. The Canadian government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, which resulted in troops in the streets of Montreal and the arrests of hundreds of people known to favour Quebec independence. Mr. Cross was freed unharmed on December 3, 1970.

Question of ID cards stalls on trial run in Commons

Ottawa--A proposal that all Canadians be required to carry identification cards has had a trial run in the House of Commons.

It didn't encourage optimism that the project once favored by Quebec's Justice Minister Jerome Choquette would have the slightest chance of securing parliamentary approval, even in a free vote.

For the record, the sponsor of the motion is Fernand-E. Leblanc, Liberal member for Laurier.

Choquette behind it
Some have suspected Choquette of being the real sponsor.

But Leblanc points out that he placed the motion on the Commons order paper in October of last year, before the Quebec minister of justice had expressed himself as being in favor of the idea.

He introduced it, of course, as a personal reaction to the tragic events then unfolding in the Front de Liberation du Quebec crisis.

Under parliamentary rules, so little time is set aside for the debating of the legislative projects of the individual members of Parliament, that it was not until last week that the Leblanc motion was debated for the first time, and then only for an hour.

In his introductory speech, Leblanc drew attention to the fact that the strong public interest in, and support for, the identity card idea didn't begin with the Quebec crisis.

In 1962, the Montreal municipal election featured a referendum on the mandatory ID card, and some 75 per cent of the Montreal voters endorsed the idea. So too, Leblanc noted, had several Quebec governments, Mayor Drapeau, and a 1967 conference of Quebec judges.

The motion calling on the federal government to "consider the advisability of requiring Canadian citizens and immigrants to carry an identification card" didn't come to a vote.

It is now unlikely, in fact, that it will reach a vote during what remains of this session of Parliament.

But even during the single hour of discussion, it was evident that the proposal has few supporters in the Commons.

Problems arose
Leblanc, naturally enough, supported his own motion.

Some measure of his difficulties became apparent when his fellow-liberal, E.B. Osler (Winnipeg South Centre) rose to second his motion.

"I am glad to second this motion," he said.

"I think it is a motion that should be brought forward, discussed, examined from every angle with very long tongs, then dropped into a furnace and burned."

Seconders of this kind are a luxury which few sponsors of a motion feel that they can afford.

Gordon Aiken (PC--Parry Sound-Muskoka) and Stanley Knowles (NDP--Winnipeg North Centre), speaking for their respective parties, were more thoughtful in their opposition to the Leblanc motion, but opposed nonetheless.

There was only one other participant in the brief debate, Albert Bechard (L--Bonaventure-Iles de la Madeleine), who took a friendlier view of the proposition.

A little better
If Bechard wasn't, perhaps, quite as enthusiastic an advocate of the compulsory ID card as its sponsor, he was certainly much more receptive to the idea than its hostile seconder.

Bechard summed up his views this way:

"...I find certain advantages in the use of an identification card issued by a governmental agency. I do not think it should be mandatory and I would object to a measure making it mandatory for Canadian citizens to carry one or to produce it on request.

"I recognize that such a system raises problems and can lead to abuses, but I think the problems can be solved and the abuses eliminated."

Bechard's willingness to accept a non-mandatory system of ID cards attracted attention because he had been, for a long period, parliamentary secretary to Justice Minister John Turner.

But as far as can be ascertained, he was speaking on this occasion as an ordinary member of Parliament.

He didn't specify that he had been given the authority to speak for the government. And without that authority, his statements carry no more weight than those of any other Liberal MP.

In any event, he took a more uncritical view of the ID card than have such federal Liberal spokesmen as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Justice Minister Turner in the past.

While the federal government has never rejected the idea out of hand, it has questioned the desirability of the compulsory ID card, noting the political perils of any such big-brother-is-watching innovation.

Trudeau has also questioned the capacity of any government except the federal government to introduce such a system. Compulsory ID cards would be national, or nothing.

Bad timing
In all probability, a government-sponsored bill creating compulsory ID cards would have passed easily enough, had it been introduced and pushed through while the Quebec crisis was at its height.

But even the one-hour debate last week suggested that this motion sponsored by a Liberal backbencher and coming up for debate a year after the crisis, faces certain defeat even in the unlikely possibility that it reaches a vote this fall.

The text of the full debate on Mr. Leblanc's motion can be found in House of Commons Debates, October 8, 1971, pp. 8672-8678. His motion was placed on the order paper on October 27, 1970, just over a week after Pierre Laporte had been murdered.

40 years later, there is no federal law in Canada requiring a national identity card, but the social insurance number, introduced in 1964 only for the ostensible purpose of facilitating payment of unemployment insurance and pension benefits, is required on an amazingly large number of forms that Canadians fill out. Because of concerns about identity theft--a term that wasn't part of the popular vocabulary until the last 10-15 years--photo identification is required for many credit card transactions, although that usually takes the form of a driver's license issued by a provincial government. Until at least 2000, if my name was on the voter's list, I could vote in federal or provincial elections just by showing up at the poll and giving my name. Now I have to provide proof of my identity: one piece of photo ID, or two pieces of ID without a photo, both of which have my name, and at least one of which contains my address.

I agree with Mr. Blakely when he says that Mr. Leblanc's bill would probably have passed if it had been introduced a year earlier, in the midst of the FLQ crisis--just as, in 2001, the PATRIOT Act was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Perhaps it was in the providence of God that a bill calling for a national identity card didn't come up for debate in Canada until the immediate crisis had passed, and the need for such a measure seemed a lot less urgent. If Mr. Leblanc's bill were to be introduced in 2011 or 2012, it would probably pass both houses of Parliament--and I suspect that it would be introduced and be most enthusiastically supported by the "Conservative" government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Time will tell if we ever see such a law in Canada.

Planet similar to Earth discovered outside solar system--but it's too big to support life

2011-12-05T22:18:00.004-07:00

WASHINGTON - A newly discovered planet is eerily similar to Earth and is sitting outside Earth's solar system in what seems to be the ideal place for life, except for one hitch. It is a bit too big.

The planet is smack in the middle of what astronomers call the Goldilocks zone, that hard to find place that is not too hot, not too cold, where water, which is essential for life, does not freeze or boil. And it has a shopping mall-like surface temperature of near 72 degrees, scientists say.

The planet's confirmation was announced Monday by NASA along with other discoveries by its Kepler telescope, which was launched on a planet-hunting mission in 2009.

That is the first planet confirmed in the habitable zone for Kepler, which already had found Earth-like rocky planets elsewhere. Twice before astronomers have announced a planet found in that zone, but neither has been as promising...

...The new planet, named Kepler-22b, has key aspects it shares with Earth. It circles a star that could be the twin of Earth's sun and at just about the same distance. The planet's year of 290 days is even close to Earth's. It probably has water and rock.

The only trouble is the planet's a bit big for life to exist on the surface. The planet is about 2.4 times the size of Earth. It could be more like the gas-and-liquid Neptune with only a rocky core and mostly ocean.

"It's so exciting to imagine the possibilities," said Natalie Batalha, the Kepler deputy science chief.

Floating on that "world completely covered in water" could be like being on an Earth ocean and "it's not beyond the realm of possibility that life could exist in such an ocean," Batalha said in a phone interview.

Kepler cannot find life itself, just where the conditions might be right for it to thrive. And when astronomers look for life elsewhere, they are talking about everything ranging from microbes to advanced intelligence that can be looking back at us.

So far the Kepler telescope has spotted 2,326 candidate planets outside Earth's solar system with 139 of them potentially habitable ones. Even though the confirmed Kepler-22b is a bit big, it is smaller than most of the other candidates. It is closest to Earth in size, temperature and star than either of the two previously announced planets in the zone.

The confirmation of one of two, though, has been disputed. The latest discovery has been confirmed several ways, including by two other telescopes.

This year, a European team of astronomers said they had confirmed another planet in the habitable zone, but that one was hot and barely on the inside edge of the habitable zone.

For Marcy, who is on the Kepler team, the newest planet is a smidgen too large. But, "that smidgen makes all the difference," he said.

Because its size implies that it is closer to Neptune in composition than Earth, "I would bet my telescope that there is no hard, rocky surface to walk on," Marcy said.

Chief Kepler scientist William Borucki said he thinks the planet is somewhere between Earth and gas-and-liquid Neptune, but that it has a lot of rocky material. It is in a size range that scientists do not really know anything about. Measurements next summer may help astronomers have a better idea of its makeup, he said.

The planet is 600 light years away. Each light year is 5.9 trillion miles. It would take a space shuttle about 22 million years to get there.

Kepler spots a planet when it passes in front of its star. NASA requires three of those sightings before it begins to confirm it as a planet. Borucki said the third sighting for 22b happened a year ago, just before the telescope shut down for a while. It took several months to finish the confirmation.

Your church steeple may actually be a cell phone tower in disguise

2011-12-03T23:06:00.006-07:00

It seems appropriate to me that cell phone towers may be disguised as church steeples, since they're being placed at community service and entertainment centres disguised as churches. As reported by Kevin Maimann in the Edmonton Examiner, November 16, 2011:

Some west-end residents are fuming over Telus's latest cellphone tower proposal on the property of Gospel Centre Pentecostal Church at 9445 153 St.

Tamisan Bencz, who lives near the proposed tower, is concerned about property values, and about radio waves being emitted near family homes and Sherwood elementary school.

The Sherwood West Jasper Place area is already teeming with cellphone towers, including a Rogers tower four blocks away.

"Pretty soon we're going to have towers every few feet. And what I don't understand, is some places I drive I don't see a tower anywhere. And yet, they're surrounding us," Bencz says, speaking from her cellphone at home.

"There are towers everywhere. And there is no issue with reception whatsoever."

Bencz has been frustrated by attempts to discuss her concerns with Telus after the company sent a letter to area residents and held an open house last month.

Residents are also upset with the church after it signed a contract with Telus to accept payment for the use of its property – something Bencz did not find out about until the Oct. 27 open house.

"When you're a neighbour, you're supposed to be a part of the community. Well, they kind of made a decision that affects everybody else, on their own," Bencz says. "The church didn't do their due diligence."

Church Pastor Murray Coughlan declined an interview but e-mailed a statement saying the church is "in communication with our neighbours and Telus."

Residents of the south-side Greenfield community are fighting a similar battle over a Telus tower proposed on Greenfield Baptist Church land at 3712 114 St.

CELL-STEEPLES

The director of community engagement for Telus says church properties are increasingly common locations for cellphone towers because the towers can be disguised as steeples.

"The typical design is either a lattice-type tower, or a monopole, which is a large pole. And those aren't nearly as attractive as the ones that we're able to disguise as church steeples," says Jim Johannsson. "Churches actually make really good locations, because they are well situated and it does allow us to visually blend the antenna into the community"...

..."A lot of people assume that because we have signed an agreement with the church, that it's a done deal and the tower will go ahead. And that's not true at all," he says. "There are so many steps that have to be followed."

Beware of those who claim to care about "social justice" while supporting abortion

2011-11-11T16:41:00.006-07:00

Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,
Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. John 12:3-6

Malcolm Muggeridge commented on the passage above with words to the effect of "The disciple who betrayed Jesus was the one most strongly committed to social justice." An example of this is Alberta Public Interest Research Group (APIRG), which says, on its About Us page:

Our Mandate

APIRG is a student-run, student-funded, non-profit organization dedicated to research, education, advocacy, and action in the public interest. APIRG exists to provide students with resources to be active citizens.

Basis of Unity

We believe the way to create positive social change is to provide individuals with the information and tools they need to become active citizens and to participate effectively in their communities.

Statement of Values

AP!RG considers an equitable environment to be a part of positive social change. We acknowledge that social change is achievable and see social awareness as a valuable facet of the public interest. We see anti-oppression as a process that acknowledges the existence of systemic oppression (including, but not limited to, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, and ableism). Through practices and policies, we seek to actively identify, challenge and address oppression wherever it exists, in all its various forms, and to actively encourage opportunities for social awareness and change. Further, we recognize and respect that systems of oppression interact in different ways and affect each person differently.

About APIRG

APIRG is a PIRG. PIRG stands for Public Interest Research Group. PIRGs are student organizations based on the premise that students are citizens, and as such, part of their education should include recognizing and engaging in societal problems. PIRGs exist to provide training, support, and opportunities for students to be active citizens in their communities. Through involvement with PIRGs, thousands of Canadian students have learned skills in consensus decision-making, group facilitation, events organizing, media relations, and community-based research. These skills help individuals to act effectively in the public interest.

On November 10, 2011, an event called the "It Used to Be Cool" Pro-Choice Dance Party was held on the campus of the University of Alberta, hosted by Voices for Choices, the U of A's pro-abortion group. Click on the above link to the event promo, and you'll read, "Thanks to the Alberta Public Interest Research Group for their continued support and funding assistance." If that link is no longer valid, you can see the ad for the event, as it appeared on posters displayed on campus, in The Gateway for November 9, 2011 (scroll down to page 3); you'll notice the APIRG logo prominently displayed at the bottom.

The reader will notice that nowhere in APIRG's Statement of Values are unborn human beings mentioned among those being oppressed, but I can't think of a more severe form of oppression than being torn to shreds in the womb of one's mother. Rather, I view those practicing abortion as the worst kind of oppressors. I also flatly reject the idea that abortion is "positive social change" or is in the "public interest."

For those who haven't yet noticed that the people who support the pro-abortion agenda also support the pro-homosexuality agenda, I offer the following from the Voices for Choice Constitution (the reader will note that the "values" of "choice" and "queer positivity" are associated with those of feminism):

Voices for Choices is a non-hierarchical, collective group of individuals who are working to establish and promote a pro-choice, sex and queer-positive, as well as woman-friendly presence on and around the University of Alberta campus and the City of Edmonton.

Our goals are to:

- Disseminate fact-based information on the options available to pregnant women, safer sex, sexuality, and sexual health.
- Form and expand a pro-choice community on campus and around the city of Edmonton while deepening its knowledge and feelings of solidarity.
- Reflect the values of harm reduction, sex and queer positivity, as well as feminism while also being open to peaceful, respectful, and constructive dialogue

A university fraternity that exhibits characteristics of a cult

2011-11-11T15:27:00.007-07:00

Among the characteristics typically found in cults are sleep deprivation, isolation, paddling, and perverse initiation rituals for prospective members. Another item from the backlog--as reported by Alexandria Eldridge in The Gateway, October 21, 2010:

The Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity at the University of Alberta tells pledges to eat their own vomit, deprives them of sleep, and closes them in a plywood box as part of a four-day initiation process, according to video footage from January 2010 obtained by The Gateway.

According to the DKE International Risk Management Policy posted on their website, hazing by any chapter, student, or alumnus is prohibited. Having the permission of a person being hazed is not a defence.

DKE International defines hazing as:

"Any action taken or situation created, intentionally, whether on or off fraternity premises, to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule. Such activities may include but are not limited to the following: use of alcohol; paddling in any form; creation of excessive fatigue; physical and psychological shocks [… and] morally degrading or humiliating games and activities."

A DKE (Deke) alumnus, who wished to remain anonymous to protect his identity, and who will be referred to as Joe, described his experience during initiation as traumatic.

"[Pledges are] not told what happens. There's very little care actually done for them. They're stolen from, they're taken advantage of, they're yelled at [...], they're not told when it will end," Joe said. "They're definitely hurt mentally and physically at the end of it."

According to Joe, the initiation weekend took place last year near the end of January. Pledges arrive at the Deke house on Thursday and do not leave until Sunday, except to go to class on Friday.

During check-in, when pledges arrive at the house, the initiated Deke brothers, who are active members or alumni, put the food and alcohol each pledge brings into the communal fridge.

One of the videos shows a pledge being yelled at by at least five of the active members or alumni during check-in because he brought two small cans of beans instead of one large can.

"Do you have a problem following instructions? Because if you do, your life is going to become extremely difficult […] Do you have a learning disability? Are you retarded?"

The video also shows the pledges being told to do wall sits, being pressured into taking a bite out of a raw onion, and being pressured into eating raw eggs, to which one brother says, "go salmonella."

Video footage also shows pledges attending an off-campus dinner, where they eat food that is intentionally disgusting and then smoke a cigar as quickly as possible after eating. Joe explained that for these reasons, some pledges vomit and then eat their vomit.

"As far as I know, no chemical is added to the food, and there's always a percentage of the people that just eat it," Joe said. "But here are the instructions — get him to eat as much as possible, get him to puke; when he pukes, try to get him to clean up his plate. His plate should be empty, including his vomit."

Over the weekend, the brothers also hold extended exercise drills for the pledges called "circles." One alumnus, called the circle master, stands in the middle of a group of pledges, who are surrounded by active members and alumni. The pledges must do and say whatever the circle master tells them to, including sit-ups and push-ups, while being yelled at by their surrounding brothers.

Multiple times over the weekend, pledges also go into "the Hilton," a plywood box that Joe described as being a confined space. He said that the brothers alter the size by putting desks and chairs inside of it.

"I'm guessing you could possibly stuff 30 people in there, but if you've got a class of 15, you just close off half. You couldn't stand in it."

Joe said that often, someone will squirt ketchup or throw food into the Hilton, or urinate inside before the pledges enter. The pledges usually won't stay in the Hilton for any more than 15 minutes, and Joe said that anyone who is claustrophobic is not forced in.

According to a sample list obtained by The Gateway, pledges are also instructed to bring wooden paddles to the initiation weekend. According to Joe, brothers are never, under any circumstances, allowed to actually hit pledges with the paddles. However, Joe said pledges are never told that they will not be paddled and thinks the paddles add to the atmosphere of intimidation.

Many hours over the weekend are also spent in "meditations." Pledges are instructed to sit upright facing the wall, but are not allowed to sleep. The alumni play extremely loud, repetitive music. After a few hours, Joe said many people start to hallucinate.

According to Joe, during the final stage of initiation, all of the pledges individually appear before a tribunal of active members and alumni and are told they did not make it into the fraternity. Then they all come together in a ritual where a brother will ask anyone who did not make it into the fraternity to step forward. Everybody steps forward.

The video indicates that over the course of the weekend, the personal property of the pledges is often stolen. At one point on the video, one brother says to another, "we steal their shit." Joe added that other things are simply ruined because pledges' belongings are kept in the basement, where circles occur, so things are often trampled.

Joe added that the pledges get no substantial time to sleep. According to schedules obtained by The Gateway, the pledges are only allotted time to sleep for a half hour on Friday night and for five 15-minute intervals and one half-hour interval on Saturday night.

In addition to sleep deprivation, Joe said the pledges are also encouraged to drink large amounts of alcohol throughout the weekend, but this is not mandatory.

"I've always wondered if it's better to get drunk or not. Because the alcohol dehydrates you, but the alcohol definitely helps deal with the trauma. If you're hammered through the whole thing, you're going to have a lot less nightmares than if you're sober the whole time," Joe said.

After Friday night, pledges are not allowed to leave the initiations. On the video, a group of alumni discuss the basic rule that once someone starts on Friday, they can't leave until Sunday unless it's a special circumstance.

Joe explained that some of the pledges actually enjoy the challenge of initiations, and many of the brothers enjoy it as well, but he feels it's unfair that pledges do not know what to expect from initiations before they begin.

"I'd call it hazing, I call it abuse. I think the better word is abuse. You get abused, absolutely."

A second Deke alumnus, who also wished to remain anonymous, confirmed the information listed above.

Mike Siebert, President of the Interfraternity Council (IFC), the governing body of fraternities on the U of A campus, did not respond to specific allegations, but said that the IFC has a zero-tolerance policy towards hazing...

...DKE International did not respond to request for comment as of press time. A spokesperson for the DKE alumni association denied the allegations.

"We never would do anything to offend the honour of any of our own guys or any potential member either," the spokesperson said.

According to a sidebar The Gateway, the DKE initiation schedule was as follows (based on documents obtained by The Gateway):

Thursday
Check-in: Pledges bring food and alcohol to be put into the communal fridge
Dinner: Pledges are taken to an off-campus location for a dinner where they often vomit.
International Exam: Pledges take an exam about the history of DKE.

Friday
"Rude Awakening" and Run: Pledges are woken up after half an hour of sleep and taken on a run under the High Level Bridge
Classes or Cleaning: Pledges who have class can attend, accompanied by their big brothers, while those left behind clean the house.
Dinner: Pledges are taken to a restaurant for dinner, where they are encouraged, but not mandated, to drink heavily.
Beta's Charge: Pledges are told they are on probation with DKE and that initiations have begun. At this point, pledges cannot leave initiations.

Saturday
The Hilton: Pledges are introduced to "the Hilton," where they wait while the basement is set up for circles.
Circles: Pledges participate in an extended exercise drill where they are required to do physical activity.
Meditations: Pledges listen to repetitive music for hours and are not allowed to sleep.

Sunday
The Final Stage: Pledges are driven off-campus for the final stage of initiations.
Kickouts: Pledges individually appear before a tribunal and are told they did not make it into the fraternity.
Initiations end: One brother tells all the pledges that whoever didn't make it into the fraternity should step forward. Everybody steps forward, signalling the end of initiations.

There was considerable fallout from the story. On December 10, 2010, DKE International provisionally suspended the University of Alberta chapter for three years, and on January 27, 2011, U of A Dean of Students Frank Robinson announced that the U of A chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon was being suspended from affiliation with the university for five years.

That hasn't been the end of the story. On September 20, 2011, University of Alberta Protective Services confirmed that they had opened an investigation into a complaint that members of DKE had been seen recruiting on campus during student orientation, which would be a violation of the terms of the fraternity's suspension. According to a News in Brief item from The Gateway, November 9, 2011:

Four members of the Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) fraternity have been charged for attempting to recruit students on campus, violating the five-year suspension imposed on the fraternity last January following allegations of hazing.

UAPS Director Bill Mowbray said the four students were charged under the code of student behaviour, which was handled by the Office of Judicial Affairs. A decision was then rendered by the office’s discipline officer.

The office was unable to comment on the nature of the discipline imposed, citing confidentiality for all cases.

The investigation took about two weeks to conduct, according to Mowbray. The case was forwarded to Mowbray for investigation by the Office of the Dean of Students, who received a video of DKE members engaging in recruitment activities during orientation.

The incident was recorded by several students aware of the DKE’s suspension, who subsequently complained to the Office of the Dean of Students.

Dean of Students Frank Robinson said he was unable to comment now that the investigation has closed. However, he said the office is looking to add an official definition of hazing in the U of A’s code of student behaviour, which it’s currently lacking.

Interfraternity Council (IFC) President Kevin Thomas said it’s important to note that the DKE members were violating more than just their suspension.

“It wasn’t just that they weren’t supposed to be doing what they were doing. It’s that they were doing something that no student group is allowed to do, which is soliciting on campus,” Thomas said.

Another casualty of "holistic healing" in Canada

2011-11-11T14:38:00.004-07:00

If the following item seems somewhat familiar, it may be because it resembles this item from a few months ago.

As reported by The Canadian Press, November 11, 2011:

RICHMOND, B.C. - Five B.C. residents, including a woman nearly killed by arsenic poisoning and left a quadriplegic, are sharing more than $340,000 as a result of a settlement involving a self-proclaimed holistic healer.

Money from the settlement came from property seized from the defendant and sold under the B.C. government's civil forfeiture legislation.

The government says the defendant, Selena Tsui, was not charged in the case after the Crown concluded there was no substantial likelihood of conviction on any criminal charges.

The government says between 2000 and 2004, Tsui told at least a dozen people she was qualified to diagnose and treat diseases, including mental conditions, when in fact she had no formal training.

One of her clients, identified only as E.L., began taking a concoction she believed contained mushrooms and herbs, but had extreme arsenic levels, and she suffered respiratory and renal failure, cardiac arrest and paralysis.

She was taken to hospital, put on life support and given a five per cent chance of survival, but her life was eventually saved.

Could pilotless drones help to fulfil end-time prophecy?

2011-11-10T16:42:00.005-07:00

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?...
...And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world...
...And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. Revelation 13: 4, 7-8, 11-15

Nat Hentoff wrote on the subject of pilotless drones in his WorldNet Daily column of November 8, 2011. I find it interesting that Mr. Hentoff, who professes to be an atheist, speculates on the possibility of Americans following a robot president:

But there are experts who believe that there are indeed people who can create ethical, responsible robots. Enter Ronald C. Arkin, author of "Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots." Among his credentials: This study was financed by the U.S. Army Research Office. Don't you trust the judgment of that official government level of validation?

Arkin, assures the Washington Post and us that "lethal autonomy is inevitable," robots having graduated from science fiction into real-time existence; competing with human chess champions, for one widely publicized example. But on the warfare level we're discussing, Arkin, reports Finn, "believes it is possible to build ethical military drones and robots, capable of using deadly force while programmed to adhere to international humanitarian law and the rules of engagement. "He said software can be created that would lead machines to return fire with proportionality, minimize collateral damage, recognize surrender, and, in the case of uncertainty, maneuver to reassess or wait for a human assessment."

If you are still skeptical, Lora G. Weiss, chief scientist at Georgia Tech Research Institute, adds: "How a war-fighting unit may think – we are trying to make our systems behave like that."

Is it possible, then, that eventually we'll have such corrosive distrust of our incompetent government, as we have come to know it, that we will put our faith in a robotic president so precisely and totally connected to the Bill of Rights and the rest of the Constitution that we will have no reason to doubt it?

You think I'm kidding? I sure hope so. I am glad to introduce Johann Borenstein, in charge of the Mobile Robotics Lab at the University of Michigan.

He tells the Washington Post that human skills will remain critical in battle far into the future, emphasizing: "The foremost of all skills is common sense. Robots don't have common sense and won't have common sense in the next 50 years, or however long one might want to guess."

But how long will future generations want to guess? In any case, why now, President Barack Obama, is it wise to conduct our warfare against terrorists who may ultimately have pilotless technology to kill us? And beyond the next election, what will future presidents think of saving the lives of our human soldiers by depending on soulless robotic drones?

More evidence that yesterday's liberalism has become today's evangelicalism

2011-11-08T16:27:00.009-07:00

In 1983, at the 11th World Congress of the International Council of Christian Churches at Cape May, New Jersey, Dr. Samuel H. Tow of Singapore delivered an important and prescient address titled "Today's Evangelicals, Tomorrow's Liberals." The title is equally true if reversed: Individuals and ideas regarded as liberal in 1983 are now considered "evangelical" (e.g., Jim Wallis).

From a column by Charles Lewis titled Tarring all evangelicals in the National Post, November 7, 2011:

Trinity Western University, an evangelical school, has been consistently ranked as one of the top academic schools in the country...

...In Ottawa, TWU runs the Laurentian Leadership Centre. It is meant for their brightest students who are contemplating careers in public life. I visited the centre about four years ago and spoke to many of the students. None seemed to be too fussed about gay marriage or even abortion. To them, the burning issues of the day were debt relief and global poverty. Politically, they were all over the map, including some Green party activists.

In the United States there are a number of top flight schools — Baylor, Samford, Eastern — that are all evangelical. Wheaton College in Illinois is as tough to get into as Harvard. I’ve spoken to many of their people and again they are far and a way some of the smartest people I have met. It too is an evangelical school.

When it comes to the American schools mentioned above, some might question just how "evangelical" they are, and might argue that they're examples of how evangelicalism has morphed into liberalism. Mr. Lewis's comment about the students at Trinity Western University offers further support to this argument; today's "evangelical" students at their "evangelical" schools have priorities and opinions that are indistinguishable from those of the non-Christian world around them. A "textbook" example is The King's University College in Edmonton, Alberta. Click on the link for Micah Centre, then on the link titled "God's Politics," and it takes you straight to the blog of Sojourners, run by Jim Wallis, who I've always regarded as a Communist masquerading as a Christian. Mr. Wallis's views haven't changed in 50 years, but evangelicalism has moved so far to the left that it's caught up to him. Such are the results of Christians "engaging" the culture ("engagement" is the early 21st century equivalent of "appeasement," which carried a positive connotation as late as the Munich peace summit in 1938, and became a dirty word only after Adolf Hitler continued his aggression).

The trouble with "New Evangelicalism" is that it started on the wrong foot. The old-style fundamentalists, such as those in the ICCC, insisted on separation from liberal denominations. The "New Evangelicals," however, condemned the fundamentalists as lacking in love, and said that one could be affiliated with, for instance, the National Association of Evangelicals, without separating from a liberal denomination. The results have been exactly as the fundamentalists predicted.

13 Crystal Skulls make their pilgrimage across the U.S.A.

2011-10-31T21:50:00.007-06:00

And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. II Timothy 4:4

A recent New Age item:

According to astrologer Cal Garrison, in the New Age magazine The Spirit of Ma'at, October 2011:

I first heard about the Crystal Skull journey back on the twenty-third of July. At the time I wasn't quite sure how it would all come together because so many variables, both logistical and ethereal, had to be taken into consideration. Since that day many things have been arranged and rearranged. After several meetings, Hunbatz Men, Mayan Daykeeper and Elder Priest of the Mayan Itza Council, and Pedro Pablo Chuc Pech, President of the Mayan Council of Elders, have announced their plans to lead a group of Mayan Elders on a ceremonial pilgrimage that will carry the Thirteen Crystal Skulls from one coast of the United States to the other. The journey will begin in Manhattan on the 27th of October, 2011; it will culminate in Los Angeles on November 11th, 2011.

On 11:11:11, another group of thirteen Elders will arrive in LA from the Mayaland to come together in a Gateway Event that will be highlighted by the performance of the Mayan Crystal Skull Ceremony. The Elders, whose traditions have always been kept within their inner circle, have been instructed to perform all of their ceremonies in public from this point on; for this reason, the Ceremony of the Thirteen Crystal Skulls, a ceremony that was last performed 26,000 years ago, will be open to the general public.

Enroute from New York to Los Angeles the Elders will stop at specific power points to fulfill a prophecy which states that the time has come to reawaken the Spirit of the North American Continent so that it can reclaim itself as the sacred ground in whose soil would be sown the seeds for the enlightenment of all mankind. At each stop along the way ceremonial gatherings will be held to open the ground and raise the ancient energies that will fuel the Gateway Event in Los Angeles on 11:11:11. All of these gatherings will be open to anyone who feels called to participate.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the significance of the Thirteen Crystal Skulls, these ancient relics are said to contain information about the history of our planet and the future of mankind. Carved out of pure quartz crystal, and other crystals such as jade, the Skulls generate an energy field that activates human consciousness in a way that expands our perceptions of reality. Ultimately they are the manifestation of Spirit in a form that is now helping to shift the magnetic frequency of Mother Earth. When the Spirits of the Skulls are ceremonially awakened, ancient wisdom, wisdom that has been preserved in a crystalline matrix for eons, enters the unified field and fills the collective consciousness with all the knowledge of everything that has happened on the planet in the last 26,000 years, and perhaps beyond...

For those who remember the Harmonic (aka "Moronic") Convergence in 1987, it seems there's a 2011/2012 edition. Please note the presence of Cirque du (not "de") Soleil (and you thought it was just a circus):

...As it turns out, Unify Earth, the organization that is sponsored by the people who gave us 'Live Aid', ''We are the World', and other mega-events with a humanitarian purpose, has gotten behind Hunbatz Men, Pedro Pablo Chuc Pech, and the Mayan Council and they want to provide a vehicle for the Elders' message to be spread to every corner of the Earth. In collaboration with Cirque de Soleil, 'Google', NBC, Santana, Elevate Films, and others, all of the above have come together to sponsor a series of spectacular performances that will carry the seeds that are sown in the soon to be actualized Crystal Skull Ceremonies to hearts and minds all over the planet.

Throughout 2012, on the March 21st Spring Equinox, the June 21st Summer Solstice, and the September 21st, Autumn Equinox, Cirque de Soleil will present special performances with themes that embody the wisdom of the ancients, the secrets of the Great Shift of the Ages, and the connection between the mysteries of the heart and the awakening of human consciousness. At the heart of each performance will be the wish to open the mind and the heart of humanity to the Ascension process, and to the prospect of a beautiful future in a whole new world.

This series of blockbuster performances will culminate in a fourth mega-event that will broadcast live, from the Great Pyramid at Chichen Itza on the 2012 Winter Solstice. On that night Cirque de Soleil will take over the entire Chichen Itza Temple complex. The Chichen Itza Pyramid will be transformed into a stage, upon which the artists and performers of the Cirque de Soleil will work their incredible magic. Carlos Santana, the man who has been a clear channel for the Music of the Spheres for over fifty-years, will be the Master of Ceremonies for the main event. If that isn't enough, the Winter Solstice show will include an unprecedented, full regalia ceremony with the Mayan Elders. Yes, that's right folks; the Elders will be there too; they are coming down from the mountains to be part of this.

At 11:11 PM, on the night of the 2012 Winter Solstice spectacular, at the exact moment when our Sun and the Earth go into alignment with the center of the galaxy, the Elders, and the Cirque de Soleil performers will present a guided meditation that will unite over two-billion viewers in their hearts and open the space for all of humanity to embrace the unconditionally-loving light of the Divine Feminine. The time has come; the 'Quarantine' is about to be lifted. This event, and all of the ceremonies and performances leading up to it, are the manifestation of a dream, and of a rise in consciousness that will help us to remember who we really are and guide us out of the darkness into the Light.

HT: Dracul Van Helsing

25 years ago: Representatives of 12 religions join Pope John Paul II at World Day of Prayer for Peace

2011-10-26T20:31:00.018-06:00

He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination. Proverbs 28:9

And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. Daniel 8:25

On October 27, 1986, representatives of 12 religions participated in the World Day of Prayer for Peace at Assisi, Italy, under the leadership of Pope John Paul II. As reported by Roberto Suro in The New York Times, October 28, 1986:

Assisi, Italy, Oct. 27--Spiritual leaders from 12 different religions gathered here today to offer individual prayers alongside Pope John Paul II, who had asked them to join him in a "World Day of Prayer for Peace."

Their efforts were described as at least partly successful...

...The governments of 60 countries, including Israel and Iraq, had sent messages supporting the idea, according to the chief Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who termed the truce initiative "a substantial success."...

...The "religious families" represented at the shrine here were Amerindian religions; the Bahai faith, an offshoot of Babism that stresses universal brotherhood; Buddhists; Christians; Jainists, a Hindu religion resembling Buddhism; Jews; Hindus; Moslems; Shintoists, a religion of Japan that emphasizes the worship of nature and ancestors; Sikhs; traditional African religions, and Zoroastrians, a religion founded in Persia that includes a belief in the continuous struggle of good against evil.

Among those attending were the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader; the Most Rev. Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of the Anglican Communion; Metropolitan Filaret of Kiev, who represented the Russian Orthodox Church; and Muneyoshi Tokugawa, president of the Shinto Shrine Association of Tokyo.

The religious leaders, who represented every major form of worship, were told by the Pope, "For the first time in history we have come together from everywhere."

Although united in their desire for peace, the 155 religious leaders who joined John Paul here on a blustery autumn day were clearly still divided by religion.

Scattered among Romanesque churches, Baroque chapels and Medieval palaces, the participants formed 12 groups this morning so that each faith could pray separately.

After fasting and meditating through midday, the participants marched through the steep stone streets until they arrived outside the basilica of St. Francis.

There, in a piazza that usually serves as a parking lot for tour buses, representatives of each religion offered a separate prayer while the others watched.

The Pope, conspicuous in his all-white cassock, sat with all of the non-Christians in a brightly colored array of dress to his left while on his right were the Christians in variations of black and purple as well as some simple business suits. Elio Toaff, Rome's Chief Rabbi, was the head of the Jewish delegation and sat at the end of the Christian section.

Just as a chilly rain began to fall, the religious leaders went to the refectory of the Franciscan monastery alongside the Basilica. They ate together there this evening from a menu that offered several choices carefully calculated to respect the great variety of dietary practices.

'Being Together to Pray'

Senior Vatican officials said that never before had such an array of religious figures participated in a single event.

At no time did all of the participating pray together. Instead, the Pope coined the phrase "being together to pray," to describe how they were united here while worshipping separately.

Welcoming the religious leaders this morning, John Paul said, "The fact that we have come here does not imply any intention of seeking a religious consensus among ourselves or of negotiating our faith convictions."

Yet, when the day was ending, the Pope asked, "If there are many and important differences among us, is it not true to say that at the deeper level of humanity, there is a common ground whence to operate together in a solution of this dramatic challenge of our age: true peace or catastrophic war?"

Prayer and the search for peace, he said, formed that common ground because all religions respect "the inner imperative of the moral conscience" and because "peace goes much beyond human efforts, particularly in the present plight of the world."

The day produced some extraordinary cultural encounters. For example, the Buddhists, led by the Dalai Lama, quickly converted the altar of the Church of San Pietro by placing a small statue of the Buddha atop the tabernacle and setting prayer scrolls and incense burners around it...

Accompanying the article in The New York Times was a sidebar from Associated Press titled Some Prayers for Peace:

Assisi, Italy, Oct. 27 (AP)--Representatives of 12 major faiths took part here today in the "World Day of Prayer for Peace." Here are excerpts from some of their prayers, as supported by the Vatican.

Buddhist
May all beings everywhere, plagued with sufferings of body and mind, obtain an ocean of happiness and joy.

Hindu
May God protect us; may He nourish us. May we work together with energy. May our studies be fruitful. May we love each other and live in peace.

Jainist
Peace and universal brotherhood is the essence of the gospel preached by all the enlightened ones of the past and of the future.

Moslem
And the servants of the Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, "Peace."

Shinto
Although the people living across the ocean surrounding us, I believe, are all our brothers, why are there constant troubles in this world? Why do winds and waves rise in the ocean surrounding us? I only earnestly wish that the wind will soon puff away all the clouds which are hanging over the tops of the mountains.

African Animist
Almighty God, the Great Thumb we cannot evade to tie any knot, the Roaring Thunder that splits mighty trees, the All-Seeing Lord up on high who sees even the footprints of an antelope on a rock mass here on earth: You are the one who does not hesitate to respond to our call. You are the cornerstone of peace.

American Indian
In smoking the pipe, I invite my family to smoke with me and you, my friends, to pray with me in thanksgiving for this day and for world peace. I will pray that we all may commit ourselves to pray and to work for peace within our families, our tribes, and our nations. I pray for all our brothers and sisters walking our mother earth.

Jewish
Our God in heaven, the Lord of Peace will have compassion and mercy upon us and upon all the peoples of the earth who implore his mercy and his compassion, asking for peace, seeking peace.

Christian
I say to you that hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for hose who abuse you. To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and from him who takes away your cloak do not withhold your coat as well. Give to everyone who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again. And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.

On October 28, 1986, Carl McIntire, president of the International Council of Christian Churches, released a Statement on the Pope's Assisi Gathering for Peace, which was published in the Christian Beacon, October 23 and 30, 1986. The statement, which exhibited great discernment, read, in part:

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was added, and these groups represented, as claimed by the Vatican, 3.5 billion followers world wide, or 70 percent of the world population. The Vatican also released excerpts from some of the prayers..."An African animist snake worshiper whom the Pope met last year on a visit to Togo," prayed "Almighty God, the Great Thumb." In his prayer the witch doctor cursed "all the wicked persons who frustrate this laudable effort made to achieve peace...let all the evil ancestors and spirits receive their drink and flee to their doom."...The Christian prayer, as reported, did not include the name of God. There was no reference to Jesus Christ, and it made reference to the golden rule: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you."

...The Pope was correct in announcing that never before in church history had such an event occurred. His efforts to justify this on what he calls the "inner imperative of the moral conscience," seen as he believes in all religion, totally contradicts the Biblical revelation of the depravity of man and his total separation from God through his fall.

The Pope uses the instrument of peace to override the reality of the iniquity of man and the curse under which man abides with certain death appointed to all. peace is here used to destroy the revelation of God and the singular place that God has given to Jesus Christ as the only Saviour, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit.

The Pope ceased to be a church leader or a Christian leader. He operated only on a broad humanistic platform with appeals that could never, never approach Heaven or the ears of the Almighty.

Here was as great an abomination as has been seen in 2000 years of Church history.

A 20th century Elijah was needed to stand outside or walk the streets of Assisi denouncing the idolatry of the prophets in Assisi. God never heard the prophets of Baal, and He has made it clear that only in the name of Jesus Christ may men approach Him. It was Christ who said, "All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them." Buddha was before Christ, Zoroaster was before Christ. Mohammed came after Him, but demoted Jesus to the level of one of the prophets.

To represent the world, as the Pope did, with all these prayers, that this somehow, could affect the deity of deities in behalf of world peace, perpetrated a delusion and falsehood upon mankind.

The First Table of the Decalogue, which God gave to Moses, was trampled in Assisi. There God said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." This Assisi prayer meeting for the gods falls under the condemnation of the living and true God, who said He was jealous. For God told Moses, "The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

The countenancing of graven images is forbidden in the Second Commandment: "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." The judgments of God will fall upon Assisi.

Instead of benefiting peace, this will aggravate the judgment of Almighty God. The Bible-believing Christians of the world are now confronted with the ultimate in the great apostasy which has stricken Christendom. The New Testament Christians were forbidden to be a part of idolatrous worship, and this movement which gave birth to the church was built upon the reality that as believers they were separating from everything that was represented in Assisi today and that they, when they met, would be conscious of Jesus Christ in heir midst because they owned only Christ as Saviour and Lord.

The magnitude of this co-operation and support of the Christian churches represented in the World Council of Churches, the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic, and the ease with which the pagans felt free to join them should shock and startle every person on the face of this earth who believes in the true and everlasting Gospel and the fact, as Peter emphasized, that "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." The Pope gave no Christian witness to all these religious servants of darkness and the demons from the pit. The message from Assisi is that missionaries are not needed; the prayers of the Christians can all be offered together in their own way and God will grant answers. Israel was repeatedly told that God's ears were stopped to their cry because they made common cause with Baal and Ashtaroth and the gods of the Philistines. God's dealings with Israel, their 70 years of captivity in Babylon and the Fulfillment of Christ's prophecy for the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., all came because of the same kind of iniquity that was manifested in Assisi on October 27, 1986.

The faithful of the Lord, washed in His precious blood, now face the Pope and his legions who rallied behind his leadership as he projected himself as the man of peace for the nations.

The desire for peace which is so universal will be given and made secure when the Prince of Peace comes, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the great High Priest, seated at the right hand of the Father and who has promised to protect His own who come to God in His name and for His glory. Assisi 1986 is not a turning point. it is a culmination of the ecumenical current encompassing the pagan religions. it must be rejected at whatever price is necessary, and the true believers who can get through to God must pray that God will restrain, that His mercy may abound and that evil will be exposed and resisted as it is defined by the commands of the Holy Scripture.

The cry of all Christians now as they look at Geneva, the headquarters of the World Council of Churches, will be, "Remember Assisi: remember Rome." One World, the monthly magazine of the WCC, October '86, featured on its cover, "WCC-Roman Catholic Relations, 'Real though imperfect' communion on the road to unity."

Included in the lists of all who came were those from Moscow, Metropolitan Filaret, who is an agent of the KGB, the Soviet Secret Police.

October 27, 2011 update: The Vatican obviously hasn't forgotten to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this abomination. As reported by Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere of Agence France-Presse on October 27, 2011:

Religious leaders joined with Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday to denounce violence perpetrated in the name of their faiths, amid growing religious fanaticism across the world.

"No more violence, no more war, no more terrorism! Never again! In the name of God, that every religion bring justice and peace, forgiveness and life and love to the world!" the pope said at a ceremony in the Saint Francis basilica in Assisi, Italy.

The colourful crowd of religious representatives had taken a special train from Vatican City to Assisi, where Buddhist monks mixed with turbaned Sikhs, black-frocked patriarchs and Catholic cardinals in their red skull-caps.

The small group which waited under a leaden sky in the northern Italian city to meet them off the train was a far shout from the welcome crowd which greeted John Paul II at inter-religious councils in 1986 and 2002...

...Over 50 Islamic representatives were in attendance, alongside Jewish rabbis, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, a Zoroastrian, a Bahai and delegates of Taoism, Confucianism and traditional religions from Africa and America.

In the vast basilica, which includes the tiny chapel where the animal-loving Francis died in 1226, dignitaries watched a film which looked back over the past 25 years to celebrate the anniversary of the first Assisi meeting.

The pallid 84-year-old pope seemed much smaller and more fragile than his guests, sitting between Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of Constantinople, and Rabbi David Rosen, representing the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

Addressing the delegates, the pontiff strongly denounced religious terrorism, describing it as "the antithesis of religion" which "contributes to its destruction."

He also expressed his shame for Christian acts of violence committed in the name of God in the past.

Kyai Haji Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of the International Conference of Islamic Scholars (ICIS), said that violence committed in the name of God included elements which "seem" religious but are "political, economical and cultural."

Professor Wande Abimbola, representing Africa's traditional faiths, called for them to be given the same respect as other religions and encouraged his fellow dignitaries not to underestimate the importance of nature.

"Until Mother Nature receives our attention, human beings will not be able to find the true peace and tranquillity we all search for," he said, before launching into a Yoruba hymn.

The gathering also received words of praise about interfaith dialogue from US President Barack Obama.

"Through interfaith dialogue, we can unite in common cause to lift the afflicted, make peace where there is strife, and find the way forward to create a better world for ourselves and our children," Obama said in a message.

The event however had been criticised by Catholic fundamentalists who are strongly against the idea of dialogue with other religions and accused the pontiff of "welcoming false religions."

In organising the "journey of reflection, dialogue and prayer for peace and justice", the Vatican had been careful to avoid any moments of common prayer.

The delegates were treated to a frugal lunch of rice, salad and fruit before withdrawing to spend a solitary hour and a half in individual monk cells, praying and reflecting on the day's themes.

Bartholomew I, who sat with the pope at lunch, expressed concerns over "the increased marginalisation of Christian communities in the Middle East."

"The only way to end the warmongering use of religion is to set ourselves up as mediators of the peace," he said.

That peace, according to Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, should be brokered as soon as possible in Jerusalem, a city that has fuelled other conflicts around the world, he said.

And as reported by Philip Pullella of Reuters on October 27, 1986:

Unlike in 1986, the gathering did not include common prayer among the delegates.

The difference reflected Benedict's more conservative view of Catholic relations with other religions. In fact, Benedict, who did not attend the 1986 meeting when he was a cardinal, later implicitly criticized it because it implied that all religions were somehow equal.

The 1986 meeting, which took place at a time of the Cold War and conflicts in Lebanon, Northern Ireland and Central America, was billed as a "meeting of prayer for peace."

Thursday's was called a "pilgrimage" for truth and peace and instead of praying in each other's presence, as they did in 1986, the delegates withdrew to various rooms around the Basilica of St Mary of the Angels in the lower part of Assisi for what the program called "silence, reflection and personal prayer."

Thursday's gathering included four people billed as "non-believers" -- agnostics the pope said had been invited to represent people in the world who have no faith but are "on the lookout for truth, searching for God."

He said such non-believers should not be confused with militant atheists, who, he said, live in the "false certainty" that there is no God.

The day was not without its moments of inter-religious challenges. A representative of African traditional religions appeared to chide the big churches for acting in a patronizing way.

"The time has come for the leaders of all the world's religions to have a new frame of mind in which indigenous religions are given the same respect and consideration as other religions," said Wande Abimbola of Nigeria.

30 years ago: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated

2011-10-05T21:41:00.004-06:00

On October 6, 1981, Anwar Sadat, 62, President of Egypt since 1970, was shot to death, along with 11 others, by a squad led by Lieutenant Khalid Islambouli during the annual parade celebrating the anniversary of the 1973 crossing of the Suez Canal by Egyptian forces (the 1973 crossing began the Yom Kippur War between Egypt and Israel, and Egypt's celebration of the anniversary of a war that it lost probably says something about that culture). Hosni Mubarak, one of 28 people wounded in the attack, replaced Mr. Sadat as President. The Egyptian economy was said to be in bad shape, and there was also lingering resentment within Egypt of the 1979 peace treaty with Israel resulting from the 1978 Camp David Accords, signed by Mr. Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

One person caught by surprise by the assassination of Mr. Sadat was Mary Stewart Relfe, who had identified Mr. Sadat as a good candidate for the Antichrist in her book When Your Money Fails, published earlier in 1981. As Maxwell Smart used to say, "Missed it by that much!"

When I heard about the assassination of Mr. Sadat, I was electrified by the news, wondering what it meant as far as Bible prophecy was concerned. With the passage of time, it seems as though the only prophetic significance--and this is just my unwarranted speculation--is that perhaps the prophetic timetable would have been upset if Mr. Sadat had remained in office longer. The lesson I took from this event is that an event that may seem prophetically significant at the time may not necessarily be so--or at least may be prophetically significant in ways known only to God. One thing is sure: we're now 30 years closer to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ than we were on October 6, 1981.

50 years ago: The United Arab Republic breaks up

2011-09-28T21:45:00.004-06:00

(Sources for this post include various editions of the World Almanac and Book of Facts, especially the 1962 edition.)

On September 28, 1961, the United Arab Republic, the union of Egypt and Syria which had come into effect on February 1, 1958, began to break up with a revolt of Syrian army officers against Egyptian domination of the Syrian region of the U.A.R. in Damascus. The rebels seized radio and other key installations, and a Damascus radio announcement said, "The armed forces have assumed power...to restore rights to the nation."

After first deprecating the revolt as the work of a small group of reactionaries protesting recently-imposed state controls on the economy, U.A.R. President Gamal Abdel Nasser admitted the rebellion was a severe threat to the U.A.R. and called on "every soldier, every officer to do his duty." After a night meeting with his cabinet, President Nasser ordered Egyptian army, air, and naval forces to Syria to crush the revolt. However, Mr. Nasser countermanded the order shortly after 120 of his paratroopers had already landed near the Syrian seaport of Lataika. The paratroopers surrendered and the remainder of Mr. Nasser's forces returned to Egypt. Mr. Nasser told a crowd in Cairo's public square that he had called off his forces "so that no Arab blood would be shed."

Syria declared its independence on September 29 and installed Dr. Mahmoun al-Kuzbari, 49, a conservative law professor, as Premier. Mr. Kuzbari charged that Egypt had dominated the U.A.R. and "liquidated loyal [i.e., Syrian] elements, especially in the army," and pledged "a true and democratic life for Syria," promising to "lead the country within four months to a constitutional stage."

On September 30 the new Kuzbari government ordered the deportation of most of the 27,000 Egyptians in Syria and arrested some alleged spies and saboteurs. On October 2 the Kuzbari government announced that it would follow a policy of non-alignment in foreign affairs, and that it intended to retain social gains achieved during its union with Egypt.

Jordan and Turkey immediately recognized the new Syrian government, with other nations extending recognition over the next few days. On October 2 the United States received a formal plea from the U.A.R. (Egypt, that is) that it refuse to recognize the independence of Syria. The U.S.S.R. recognized Syria's independence on October 7, and the U.S.A. followed on October 10 after a delay that was widely interpreted as an effort to preserve cordial relations with Mr. Nasser. On October 13, Syria resumed the seat in the United Nations that it had held before the merger with Egypt, and there were no objections from Egypt or any other nation. The United Arab Republic was history.

Egypt continued to use the name United Arab Republic throughout the 1960s, perhaps as an exercise of wishful thinking. On September 1, 1971, Egypt announced that it would now be known as the Arab Republic of Egypt. The same day, the creation of the Federation of Arab Republics was announced. It was a loose union of Egypt, Syria, and Libya, with each nation to retain its national sovereignty. The brainchild of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi, the Federation of Arab Republics officially came into existence on January 1, 1972, but the federation never amounted to much, and quietly faded away in November 1977.

50 years ago: The first alien abduction (?)

2011-09-28T21:44:00.003-06:00

On September 21, 1961, Betty Hill telephoned Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire to report that on the night of September 19, she and her husband Barney were driving back to their home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire from a vacation when they sighted an unidentified flying object just south of Lancaster, N.H. The UFO then hovered close to their car, and Barney, observing through binoculars, claimed to see 8 to 11 humanoid figures in the craft. The Hills claimed to have entered an altered state of consciousness while driving at high speed in an attempt to flee the UFO, and that when they returned to normal consciousness and arrived home at around dawn on September 20, they experienced sensations they couldn't explain, and couldn't clearly remember details of the distance they'd travelled or what they'd seen after first encountering the craft.

The incident, also known as the Zeta Reticuli Incident, was the first widely-publicized account of humans supposedly being abducted by space aliens. For more, see the Wikipedia entry.

Spiritual Counterfeits Project published a double issue of SCP Journal (Vol.17:1-2) in 1992 with the theme Alien Encounters: UFOs and the Realm of Shadows, in which it was pointed out that modern reports of encounters with UFOs and space aliens bear a strong resemblance to reports of demonic manifestations down through the centuries. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that the experiences reported by alien abductees are factual, I suspect that whatever supernatural experiences people such as Betty and Barney Hill (not to be confused with Betty and Barney Rubble) have had are encounters with the demonic realm rather than with actual beings from other worlds.

On a related topic, some of us remember the "Satanic panic" that was topical from about 1988-1992, when there were increasing reports of people claiming to have been abused--often sexually--in Satanic rituals. Some experts observed that those making such claims--which were usually bereft of physical evidence--had similar characteristics (such as abnormal suggestibility) to those claiming to have been abducted by space aliens. When it became apparent that it was possible for therapists to create false memories in clients, the panic abated, although resulting court cases continued. For more on the subject, see such books as Confabulations: Creating False Memories, Destroying Families by Eleanor Goldstein with Kevin Farmer (1992) and The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories of Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham (1994). Dr. Loftus testified as an expert witness on behalf of Gary Ramona, who sued family counsellor Marche Isabella, psychiatrist Richard Rose, and the Western Medical Center in Anaheim, California, after Mr. Ramona's daughter Holly, while under the care of the therapists, had reported flashbacks of childhood sexual abuse by her father. The case was heard in Napa, California, and on May 13, 1994, a jury awarded Mr. Ramona $500,000.

10 years ago: A famous American historian offers his prediction for the 21st Century

2011-09-09T15:09:00.005-06:00

...that's how it is with experts. They're seldom in doubt but often in error. Dave Skrien, Countdown to Grey Cup, 1965, p. 123.

From the October 2001 edition of Imprimis, the newsletter of Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan:

On September 9-13, 2001, Hillsdale College held a seminar entitled "One of Freedom's Finest Hours: Statesmanship and Soldiership in WWII."

One of America's most famous World War II historians, Stephen Ambrose, addressed the conference on the evening of September 9. According to Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn:

A theme began to emerge on Sunday night when the great and famous historian Stephen Ambrose argued that the twenty-first century will be the greatest and most peaceful in history because of the victory won by the "greatest generation." Several of the veterans of the war picked up this theme. Though they were not so sanguine as Professor Ambrose, they expressed the hope that no one would have to undergo what they themselves endured in the sky above Guadalcanal, crouched behind a sand dune at Omaha Beach, crawling among the sharp rocks at Iwo Jima.

The terrorist attacks of 9/11 occurred just a day and a half after Mr. Ambrose's presentation. As Maxwell Smart used to say, "Missed it by that much."

70 years ago: Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King invokes God and speaks in favour of a new world order

2011-09-04T17:17:00.011-06:00

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Revelation 21:1-4

On September 4, 1941, Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King spoke at Mansion House in London as the guest of Lord Mayor Sir George Wilkinson and the Corporation of London. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was also in attendance. Mr. King said, in part:

We are fighting to defend democratic and Christian ideals. We believe that everything which free men value and cherish on this side of the grave is in peril in this war. The right of men, rich and poor, to be treated as men; the right of men to make the laws by which they shall be governed; the right of men to work where they will, at what they will; the right of womankind to the serenity and sanctity of the home; the right of children to play in safety under peaceful heavens; the right of old men and women to the tranquillity of their sunset; the right to speak the truth in our hearts; the right to worship, in our own way, the God in whom we believe. (Cheers.)...

...We, in Canada, were greatly heartened when, three years ago, the President, after referring to the Dominion of Canada as a part of the sisterhood of the British Empire, declared that the people of the United States would not stand idly by if domination of Canadian soil were threatened by any other Empire. I reciprocated at once by recognizing Canada's responsibility to do what lay within her power to prevent attacks through our territory upon the United States. These declarations were the starting point of our agreement for joint defence.

To-day, fortunately, we are witnessing the birth of still wider arrangements for joint defence between the British Empire and the United States. Your declaration, Prime Minister, that in the Far East, Britain would stand at the side of the United States, is a sure sign of the deepening interdependence of the free world...

...Much is being said about a new world order to take the place of the old world order when the war is at an end. If that new order is not already on its way before the war is over, we may look for it in vain. A new world order cannot be worked out at some given moment and reduced to writing at a conference table. It is not a matter of parchments and of seals. That was one of the mistaken beliefs at the end of the last War. A new world order to be worthy of the name is something that is born, not made. It is something that lives and breathes; something that needs to be developed in the minds and the hearts of men; something that touches the human soul. It expresses itself in good will and in mutual aid. It is the application, in all human relationships, of the principle of helpfulness and of service. It is based not on fear, on greed, and on hate, but on mutual trust and the noblest qualities of the human heart and mind. It seeks neither to divide nor to destroy. Its aim is brotherhood, its method cooperation.

While the old order is destroying itself, this new relationship of men and nations has already begun its slow but sure evolution. It found expression when Britain determined to put an end to aggression in Europe; when other nations of the British Commonwealth took their place at the side of Britain, and when the United States resolved to lend its powerful aid to the nations which are fighting for freedom. It has found its latest expression in the Atlantic Charter. All these factors are combining to create one great brotherhood of freedom-loving peoples. It must now be wholly clear that if a new world order based upon freedom is to assume some definite shape, this can only be effected through the leadership of the British Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America working in wholehearted cooperation toward this great end. (Cheers.) On such a foundation of unity of purpose and effort, all free peoples may well hope to build an enduring new world order.

A new heaven and a new earth--are not these, in very truth, what we seek to-day? A heaven to which men and women and little children no longer will look in fear, but where they may gaze again in silent worship and in thankfulness for the benediction of the sun and the rain; an earth no longer scarred by warfare and torn by greed, but where the lowly and the humble of all races may work in ways of pleasantness and walk in paths of peace.

And the sea no longer will be the scene of conflict, nor harbour any menace; it, too, will gladden the hearts of men as it unites, in friendly intercourse, the nations of the world.

Then...shall all men's good
Be each man's rule, and universal Peace
Lie like a shaft of light across the land.
And like a lane of beams athwart the sea,
Thro' all the circle of the golden year."

This new heaven, this new earth, is the vision which, at this time of war, unites, inspires, and guides Britain, Canada, and other nations of the British Commonwealth, the United States, and our Allies in all parts of the world. No lesser vision will suffice to gain the victory. No lesser service to humanity will hold the faith and win the gratitude of mankind. (Loud cheers.) The Times, September 5, 1941, pp. 5-6.

The poem from which Mr. King quoted is The Golden Year by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

It may seem shocking to readers in 2011 that a Prime Minister of Canada (especially one from the Liberal Party) would publicly state that Canada was fighting a war for "democratic and Christian ideals," but such a comment was considered to be stating an obvious truth; and the "Christian ideals" that Mr. King had in mind had nothing to do with current Liberal/Trudeaupian "ideals" such as abortion on demand, sodomite "rights," or official multiculturalism. If any Canadian politician now were to positively invoke Christianity, his political and media opponents would be calling for his removal from office. Mr. King's invocation of "Christian ideals" stands in stark contrast to the behaviour of another Liberal Prime Minister, Jean Chretien (whose name, ironically, means "Christian"), 60 years later, when his office ordered that the name of Jesus Christ was not to be mentioned at the 9/11 memorial service--although no such restrictions were imposed on clergy from other faiths. And in contrast to the United States, which held a day of prayer, Trudeaupia (formerly Canada) just observed a day of mourning, with a completely atheistic public ceremony.

The reader will note that when Mr. King quoted the passage on the new heaven and the new Earth, it was in the context of a kingdom brought about by human effort. Mr. King's invocation of such a kingdom is similar to that of the Emerging Church and other "deeds, not creeds" religious liberals today. Revelation 21:2 clearly states that the new heaven and new Earth come down from God out of heaven, nor from man on Earth.

25 years ago: David Brinkley comments on the U.S. deficit

2011-08-09T18:33:00.003-06:00

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9

I have no interest in the political battle over raising the U.S. debt ceiling, but I came across this commentary by David Brinkley, one of the "homilies" he used to deliver at the end of every broadcast of This Week with David Brinkley on ABC television. This was published in his book Everyone is Entitled to My Opinion (1996) (p. 85). From August 3, 1986:

Next week Congress will be voting to set a new and higher federal government debt limit, to give the Treasury power to borrow still more money. Even though in the last three or four years--if we can believe the claims coming from the White House and Congress--the deficit has been wiped out and there's no need to borrow any more.

In 1981 the White House claimed it had cut $130 billion out of future spending.

In 1982 Congress passed something called the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act and claimed it would reduce the deficit by an additional $100 billion.

In 1984 there was the Deficit Reduction Act, claiming to save still another $60 billion.

And a lot of others.

But somehow, the more they've claimed to cut spending, the higher the deficit has risen. It's well over $200 billion a year, every year.

50 years ago: The death of Frank Buchman, founder of Moral Re-Armament, and forerunner of Rick Warren

2011-08-06T17:22:00.039-06:00

On August 7, 1961, Frank Buchman, founder of the organization that became known as Moral Re-Armament, died in Freudenstadt, West Germany at the age of 83. He had been in Freudenstadt--where he claimed to have first come up with the idea for Moral Re-Armament--for two weeks, and died of a heart attack in his hotel room.

Mr. Buchman was born in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania in 1878 and was educated at Muehlenberg College in Allentown and Mount Airy Seminary, becoming ordained as a Lutheran minister in 1902. Mr. Buchman went to England in 1908 to attend the Keswick Convention, where he became convicted of his own self-centredness. He tended to go increasingly in the direction of pietism--the idea that there is a technology or technique that the Christian can employ that will enable him to rise above the level of "ordinary" spiritual experience--as the years went along. Mr. Buchman spent several years working with the YMCA and then took a post at Hartford Theological Seminary. He spent much of his time travelling, leading missionary conferences in China and forming groups of university students at Oxford and Cambridge in England. By the late 1920s-early 1930s, Mr. Buchman's movement was known as the "Oxford Group;" like the Freemasons, the Oxford Group concentrated its efforts on attracting the support of wealthy and influential people.

In its first stage Buchmanism aimed at the regeneration or "change" of individuals by a process of psychological catharsis which involved meditation, prayer, Bible reading, surrender, and confession of sins to other individuals...the "Groupers," as there were called, launched a nation-wide series of "house parties," at which students, and in some cases prominent and wealthy men and women, gathered to seek the "change." At one point in this stage of the movement the insistence upon "confession" caused trouble in some of the "house parties," particularly on college campuses, because the confessions were largely sexual in nature; the movement was banished from Princeton University after Buchman declared that 85 per cent of the students there were sexually perverted. Elmer T. Clark, The Small Sects in America, Revised Edition, 1949, pp. 83-84.

Eventually, the emphasis of the Oxford Group broadened from individuals (pietism) to society (moralism). In order to do that, it would be necessary to appeal to those of other faiths; as a result, the movement shifted from ostensibly Christian commitment to civil religion and morality. In his book Remaking the World (1948), Mr. Buchman said, "MRA is the good road of an ideology inspired by God upon which all can unite. Catholic, Jew and Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and Confucianist - all find they can change, where needed, and travel along this good road together." This shift was reflected in the movement officially becoming known as Moral Re-Armament in 1938. Mr. Buchman visited Edmonton, Alberta in 1933 and 1934, holding a mass rally at McDougall United Church in 1933 and attracting 2,000 people to rallies at the Macdonald Hotel and a downtown theatre in 1934. He visited Banff in both years, and was made an honourary chief of the Blood tribe in 1934, with the title Chief Big Light in Darkness.

Mr. Buchman became increasingly concerned with the influence of Communism, and decided that his movement could counter it. The New York World-Telegram of August 25, 1936 printed an interview with Mr. Buchman where he offered the throwaway comment, "I thank heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler, who built a front line of defense against the anti-Christ of Communism." Efforts by Mr. Buchman to convert Nazi leaders to his views were unsuccessful, and the Nazis suspected Mr. Buchman of being a British spy.

Mr. Buchman tried to use MRA to prevent war, but when the U.S.A. entered World War II, Mr. Buchman enlisted MRA in the war effort using the slogan "You Can Defend America." Harry Truman, then a United States Senator from Missouri who had been assigned the task of reducing waste in the military, praised Moral Re-Armament for encouraging teamwork in industry, and thereby aiding the U.S. war effort. MRA was influential and successful in facilitating post-war reconciliation and co-operation among former World War II enemies and in the peaceful decolonization of Morocco and Tunisia.

One prominent convert to Moral Re-Armament was Ted Workman, owner of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League from the late 1950s to the late '60s. In 1960 he was quoted as saying: "Football used to be the end result of life, but that was superficial. Now I think the Alouettes are designed to illustrate the ideology of MRA" (Canadian Football League Illustrated: Montreal Alouettes '70). I don't know how successful the Alouettes were in "illustrating the ideology of MRA," but Mr. Workman's teams during this era never achieved a winning record or finished higher than third in a four-team Eastern Football Conference.

In an interview shortly before his death, Mr. Buchman said of his vision for humanity:

It is that the whole world will learn to live like sons of God, where no man demands too much for himself while any other man goes hungry, where character not color becomes the yardstick to human values, where it is normal to live as one honest, pure, unselfish, loving, united family throughout the earth. Edmonton Journal, August 8, 1961, p. 2.

It became apparent that this vision wouldn't be immediately fulfilled when the Soviets began erecting the Berlin Wall, about 356 miles from Freudenstadt, within a week of Mr. Buchman's death.

Mr. Buchman was succeeded as leader of Moral Re-Armament by J. Blanton Belk. Mr. Belk's most memorable accomplishment may have been the creation of the singing group "Sing-Out 65" in 1965, which carried the "Sing-Out" label until 1968, when it officially broke its ties with MRA and became known as Up with People. Community service was added to the singing and Up with People was incorporated as a charity within the United States. Up with People suspended operations in 2000, but was revived in 2004.

The influence of Moral Re-Armament gradually waned, and in 2001 it changed its name to Initiatives of Change, which calls itself " a diverse network committed to building relationships of trust across the world's divides." If you look at Initiatives of Change's affirmation of its core values, you'll find a mention of God's leading, but no definition of who that God is. To look at this affirmation of an individual's ability to "be a powerful agent for positive change in society," one would never know that this man-centred movement had originated as an ostensibly Christian pietistic movement. The Oxford Group has been credited with greatly influencing the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous; John Lanagan has much useful information on the occultic roots of A.A. at his excellent blog My Word Like Fire.

In looking at the change of emphasis on the part of Mr. Buchman and his movement from the sanctification of individual Christians to "building relationships of trust across the world's divides," one can see an obvious parallel with Rick Warren, an ostensibly Christian pastor who has widened his influence from evangelical Christian churches to international organizations, and has broadened his interests from improving the lives of churches and individual Christians to solving the world's problems. The problems are too big to be solved just by Christian churches, so the help of other "faith communities" must be enlisted. Bridges of unity rather than walls of separation must be built, and since "doctrine divides, but love unites," distinctive Christian doctrines such as trusting in the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only payment of the penalty for sins must be de-emphasized if not abandoned. As for a definition of God, that's another potential point of division, so it's best to let each "faith community" define God according to its own understanding--and any differences are best not discussed in the interests of unity. Unity will be achieved at the lowest common denominator; in Mr. Buchman's time, it was a variety of "the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God," popularly abbreviated as "BoMFoG." (In 2011, "BoMFoG" may appear too narrow; "Brotherhood" and "Fatherhood" sound too sexist, and being "under...God" sounds too limiting to people who believe in their own divinity.) With Mr. Warren, as with Mr. Buchman, this broadening has led and is leading to the complete abandonment of anything recognizable as Christian, and will likely end up in the same place.

In Canada, hockey is more than a religion--it's a cult

2011-08-03T17:40:00.014-06:00

People and societies that abandon worship of the true God will invariably worship false gods, how pathetic and trivial these idols may be. I used to enjoy following hockey, but in recent years the ~~sport~~ business has become such an obsession in Trudeaupia (formerly Canada)--oddly, as the ~~sport~~ business of professional hockey has become noticeably less Canadian--that I've come to detest it. Dennis Bekkering, a Ph.D. student in religious studies, argues that hockey is the national religion. As reported by Shannon Proudfoot of Postmedia News on June 1, 2011:

..."You can really see a lot of similarities between the attention paid to holy relics of the saints and spiritual heroes and the way Canadians, in particular, have treated their hockey heroes and the products they've created," said Denis Bekkering, a PhD candidate in the Wilfrid Laurier-University of Waterloo, Ont., joint program in religious studies.

He bases his theory on previous research suggesting Americans rally around the "unifying civic religion" of politics, including sacred places (Washington, D.C.), martyrs (Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy) and objects (the Liberty Bell).

Lacking this larger-than-life political mythology, Canada has built its collective religion around the rink, Bekkering says, and specifically around international competitions such as the Olympics, which turn a Team Canada jersey into a national talisman...

...Like any faith, the "national church" of hockey has its holy relics, or items believed to be imbued with the powers of the heroes connected to them, he said. From Paul Henderson's 1972 Summit Series jersey - which fetched $1.2 million at auction last summer - to the "Lucky Loonie" hidden beneath centre ice at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games, where the Canadian men's hockey team netted the country's first Olympic hockey gold medal in 50 years, Bekkering said these relics are revered just like those in traditional religions...

..."It's a way to connect the state and politics to something transcendent," Bekkering said of this religion on ice.

But lest anyone think this makes National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman the Pope, he said NHL hockey doesn't work the same way traditional religions do. Team Canada provides a raucous revival tent where all Canadians can worship during events such as the Olympics, but NHL devotees are otherwise divided by the "tribalism" of the different teams they support, he said.

"When you have the national Canadian men's hockey team, it allows hockey fans and Canadians in general, to go above any tribal allegiances they may have to particular teams," he said, noting that a star such as Crosby literally sheds his usual tribal markers and trades a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey for a Team Canada sweater in international competition.

And while Montreal Canadiens' fans will spend the Stanley Cup finals wishing a hex on the Boston Bruins for eliminating their team in the first round, Bekkering said the factionalism of NHL hockey as a religion means there's no guarantee Canadians will cheer for Vancouver simply because they're the only Canadian team in contention.

"Tribal allegiances may actually keep many Canadians from supporting the Canucks," he said.

Bekkering presented his research this week at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, hosted this year by the University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University and expected to draw more than 6,000 delegates to Fredericton.

In Edmonton, home of the National Hockey League's Oilers, there is a debate going on as to whether the city needs a new arena and whether it should be built downtown ( in my opinion it shouldn't be built at all, especially downtown). The Oilers' owner, Darryl Katz, is a multibillionaire with no long-term commitment to the city (I have it on good authority that he's moving himself and his family to Victoria, British Columbia, hundreds of miles west of Edmonton), and someone who can well afford to build a new arena himself. Instead, he's trying to get federal, provincial, and local taxpayers--many of whom, including me, who can't afford to go to any events held at Rexall Place, the current facility--to pay for a new arena, to the profit of Mr. Katz. It's a matter of record that Mr. Katz has donated handsomely to the re-election of Mayor Stephen Mandel, and has been rewarded by having the mayor and many of the city councillors as his loyal puppets, while the voices of ordinary Edmontonians--none of whom, that I know, support this--count for nothing.

The corporate media have dutifully fallen in line in support of corporate interests. As evidence of the cult-like nature of hockey worship, check out the columns and blog posts of David Staples of the Edmonton Journal, especially those that deal with the arena issue. It's no coincidence that Mr. Staples' blog is titled The Cult of Hockey. Indeed, the mentality of Mr. Staples and those of his ilk are indeed those of the devotees of a cult--in this case, a cult that has a stranglehold on this city, if not the whole country. With these brainwashed people, the desires and interests of the cult take priority over everything else, and must be satisfied at all costs, including the extortion of financial contributions from non-members.

Woman in Quebec dies after "earth healing therapy"

2011-08-01T16:05:00.008-06:00

As reported by QMI Agency, July 30, 2011:

MONTREAL - A 35-year-old woman died after undergoing a mud therapy treatment on Friday at a spa in Quebec's Eastern Townships.

Chantal Lavigne, from Saint-Albert, about 150 km northeast of Montreal, died after she was covered in mud and wrapped in a thin sheet of plastic for several hours, according to QMI Agency sources.

Provincial police confirmed Lavigne's death Friday night.

Emergency crews were called to the spa, located in Durham-Sud, about 100 km east of Montreal, at 1:15 p.m. Friday afternoon and found three unconscious women covered in black mud.

One woman was treated at the spa and a 49-year-old woman regained consciousness on her way to a hospital. Police have not made information about the 49-year-old's condition public. Lavigne, however, was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Clients at the spa were given an "earth healing therapy," sources said. The procedure involves covering a person in mud and wrapping them in a thin sheet of plastic and a blanket. A piece of cardboard with a hole to allow for breathing covers the head.

The goal of the therapy is to induce sweating.

However, Lavigne spent too much time wrapped in plastic, according to Sophie Saint-Aubin, a director at a Montreal spa.

She said the amount of time one spends in these types of "sweat" treatments is critical.

"There is a big different between a 20-minute treatment and one that lasts several hours," she said. "Normally we don't go over 30 minutes. A treatment lasting several hours is really inadvisable."

The head of the Durham-Sud spa, Daiva Goulet, 60, said Friday's events were an "anomaly."

"What happened was not due to negligence - that's certain," Goulet told QMI...

...Neighbours interviewed by QMI said they regularly heard loud screams coming from the spa.

"There are therapy sessions every week," said a neighbour who wanted to remain anonymous. "We hear chants, drumming and screams. The screams are so loud it sounds like people are being tortured. Our neighbours who live over a kilometre away said they can hear the screams, too."

Thousands of babies aborted in U.K. because of "suspected disability"

2011-07-31T17:53:00.006-06:00

In the United Kingdom, as in many other Western--formerly known as "civilized"--nations, the most dangerous place to be is in the womb. The reader will notice the outrage by the pro-abortionists at merely wanting the figures to be released. "Hellman asked just one question: 'Why are Adolf Hitler and the Nazis still regarded as villains by nations that are increasingly implementing his policies?'"

As reported by Hilary White of LifeSiteNews, July 21, 2011:

After a five-year legal battle, a pro-life group in the United Kingdom has succeeded in obtaining detailed statistics about eugenic abortions from the UK’s Department of Health (DoH).

26 unborn babies in the last nine years have been killed for having cleft lip or palate.The statistics reveal that thousands of babies have been killed for eugenic reasons, some of them (26 in the last nine years) for as minor a condition as cleft lip or palate, seven of them in 2010. These abortions were conducted under “Ground E,” the rule that allows any child at any gestational age to be killed whom doctors believe have a “substantial risk” of having a “serious” disability.

The UK’s Department of Health has refused since 2003 to reveal details about the eugenic abortions that are being committed in the country, arguing that the women involved could possibly be identified. However, the campaign group ProLife Alliance went to court in 2005 demanding that the figures be released. The High Court ruled against the department in April this year, but the figures were only released earlier this month.

In total, nearly 18,000 babies were aborted between 2002 and 2010 on the grounds of suspected disability. 1,189 were killed after the upper legal gestational age limit of 24 weeks. The figures show that these include 482 killed for Down’s syndrome in 2010 alone. In the same year, 181 abortions were attributed to musculoskeletal problems such as club foot, while 189 unborn children killed for anencephaly and 128 for spina bifida...

...Under current law, abortion is legal for any reason or none up to 24 weeks gestation. A recent legislative attempt to amend the Abortion Act 1967 to lower the gestational age limit for early term abortions resulted in a backlash in which age-limit restrictions were lifted for eugenic abortion.

Ann Furedi, the head of one of the UK’s most lucrative abortionist groups, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, has called the campaign to release the statistics an example of the “vindictiveness” of pro-life activists.

“Abortion for foetal anomaly is legal. Behind every one of these figures are doctors and nurses who deserve our admiration and support, and a couple who have often lost a much-wanted pregnancy.”

However, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children pointed out that the figures show that between 2001 and 2010, the number of abortions on the ground of disability rose by one-third, 10 times the increase in abortions generally.

SPUC’s Anthony Ozimic said, “It is clear that legal abortion is a system which discriminates, fatally, against the disabled.”

Responding to Furedi, Ozimic said it is misleading to refer to eugenic abortion as “losing” a pregnancy.

“It is grossly misleading of Furedi to imply that aborted babies are merely ‘lost’, as one might describe a miscarriage.” He called Furedi’s comment “extremist” and said that no abortion is ever medically necessary.

And atheists wonder why they're so disliked

2011-07-30T17:13:00.014-06:00

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Psalms 14:1a; Psalms 53:1a

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, Romans 1:22

Blogger and columnist Vox Day, author of the recent book The Irrational Atheist, likes to use the phrase "socially autistic" to describe atheists. They're so wrapped up in a world of fantasy that they can't understand why their words and actions might be regarded as offensive by outsiders. Mr. Day has referred to atheism as a juvenile psychological disorder, remarking on how many of the "New Atheists" (Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are excellent examples) adopted their beliefs in late childhood or early adolescence. They've carefully avoided acknowledging any evidence that might upset these childhood beliefs, so anyone wanting to debate against them should keep in mind that the debate will be against a petulant child or adolescent.

An example of this is a comment I just received (from a courageous atheist who chose to remain anonymous) regarding my post on atheists in Manitoba. On reading it, I couldn't help but be reminded of Letter to the Boss, one of my favourite Honeymooners' episodes from The Jackie Gleason Show (click the links to see Parts 1, 2, and 3). As Ralph Kramden's boss, Mr. Marshall, says, "Can you imagine the mentality of a man who'd write a letter like this?":

Believe that 2,000 year old, desert nomad guidelines are the inerrant word of a magical, invisible sky-fairy. Just don't think I'm stupid enough to grovel in the same dirt in which you proclaim your own worthlessness to your sky-fairy. I'll bathe, and not grovel in the first place, you emotionally weak, illogical, astoundingly stupid religious-bum-fuck. 30 July, 2011 2:52 AM

August 2, 2011 update: For more evidence of the childishness of atheists' beliefs, go to Vox Popoli and the August 2, 2011 post titled Mailvox: A Poem by Little Dick. Note that the author of the poem admits that he became an atheist in childhood--a stage of life which he apparently has yet to outgrow.

More debate over the classification of Archaeopteryx

2011-07-29T15:43:00.007-06:00

Remember, evolution is proven science! As reported by Bob Unruh of WorldNet Daily, July 28, 2011 (links in original):

A fossil touted since the time of Charles Darwin as the "missing link" between dinosaurs and birds is likely just a dinosaur, scientists have admitted in a new report in the journal Nature..

The proposal to reclassify the specimen Archaeopteryx, which has been presented since its discovery in 1861 as a key transitional link, highlights the shifting sands on which much of evolutionary theory is based, according to one expert in the field.

David Menton of Answers in Genesis has a Ph.D. in cell biology from Brown University, taught anatomy at Washington University School of Medicine, lectured in anatomy, was a consulting editor for "Stedman's Medical Dictionary" and has been profiled in "American Men and Women of Science – a Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological and Related Sciences."

He told WND the developments reported by Nature directly undercut the assumptions of Darwinian evolutionary theory.

"Just how many papers have we had talking about this being a bird?" he asked.

A summary of the scientific paper in naturenews explains that Xing Xu, a paleontologist at the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in Beijing, is suggesting Archaeopteryx is "not a bird at all."

The report says the latest discovery suggests the assumption that Archaeopteryx is "the evolutionary link between the two [birds and dinosaurs]" may need reconsideration.

The discovery, called Xiaotingia zhengi, was found in western Liaoning, China, in rocks dating to the Jurassic time frame, an assumed 161 million to 145 million years ago.

This one, like others, the report said, has feather impressions in the rock, but it also has claws on its forelimbs and sharp teeth.

"Xu reports that it also has extremely long middle and last finger bones and a wishbone with an L-shaped cross-section at one end. These characteristics, Xu argues, identity Xiaotingia as very closely related to Archaeopteryx and another feathery relative, Anchiornis."

However, Menton told WND that such assumptions are built on unstable foundations, since the report author himself, Xu, wrote, "It should be noted that our philogenetic hypothesis is only weakly supported by the available data."

Further, Menton noted the "specimen" was purchased and not found in situ, raising an entire line of questions about authenticity, provenance and origin.

Xu's conclusion after looking at the specimen was that such creatures resemble more closely dinosaurs than early birds, "and so belong in the dinosaur group Deinonychosauria rather than in the bird group, Avialae."

But what about the century-plus that Archaeopteryx was considered "the ideal 'missing link' with which to demonstrate evolution from non-avian dinosaurs to birds"?

According to the report, Xu explained, "I think Archaeopteryx's placement was the result of both history and relatively poor sampling at the dinosaur-bird transition..."

...The AP commented on the Nature report that the effect of Xu's writing could be to move Archaeopteryx from the "bird" branch of evolutionary teachings to another branch containing "birdlike dinosaurs."

Prominent professor Lawrence Witmer at Ohio University told AP that any reclassifications wouldn't matter much, but it might push scientists to reevaluate evolution of birds themselves.

"Archaeopteryx has been the touchstone," he said. But now, that "centerpiece" may not even be part of the "lineage."

Oliver Knevitt on the Science2.0 blog tried to make the problem clear: "Birds are a group of therapod dinosaurs, and as such are the only group of dinosaurs still to roam the Earth. … [But] at what point does a maniraptoran dinosaur become a bird?

"Back in the day, when we had a lot less fossils, it was a lot easier. Birds have feathers and wishbones. Simple. But slowly, we've found more and more examples of what were thought were bird-only [characteristics] turning up in theropod dinosaurs – so much so, that what we now think of as unique to birds is very different."

He continued, "I will say this, though: don't expect this to be the last you've heard of this. I think it is probably quite likely that there may be another reclassification, and Archaeopteryx may find itself being reclassified as a bird again."

50 years ago: Soviet Communist party promises utopia--by 1980

2011-07-28T17:56:00.001-06:00

On July 30, 1961, the Soviet Union made public, in the party newspaper Pravda, its third party program, the first since 1919. It predicted that in the period of 1961-1970 the U.S.S.R. would surpass the U.S.A. in per capita production; the Soviet people's standard of living and technical and cultural standards would improve substantially; everyone would live in easy circumstances; all collective and state farms would become highly productive and profitable enterprises; the demand of Soviet people for well-appointed housing would mainly be satisfied; hard physical work would disappear; and the U.S.S.R. would have the world's shortest working day.

From 1971-1980 the material and technical basis of Communism would be created; there would be an abundance of material benefits for the whole population; Soviet society would come close to the stage where it could introduce the principle of distribution according to need; and there would be a gradual transition to one form of ownership--public ownership. It would be possible to provide, at public expense: free medical services; free maintenance and education of children in schools; free maintenance of disabled people; rent-free housing; free public transport; free lunches by public catering; and free water, gas, and heating.

As Maxwell Smart would say: "Missed it by that much!"

"Immortalist" Robert Ettinger, "Father of Cryonics," falls a little short of immortality in this life

2011-07-27T18:27:00.008-06:00

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: Hebrews 9:27

I have no doubt that Robert Ettinger is now surprised to find that Hebrews 9:27 is correct. As reported in the Daily Telegraph, July 24, 2011:

Robert Ettinger, who died on July 23 aged 92, was the intellectual father of the cryonics movement, whose members have themselves frozen at death pending scientific resurrection.

Ettinger preferred to style himself an "immortalist", since he argued that whole body or head-only freezing ("neurological suspension") was only one means of achieving indefinite life. His rationale for pursuing this goal was contained in his book The Prospect Of Immortality (1964), which revealed him as an unquenchable optimist about mankind's technological future.

He drew on his experience as a physics teacher and his interest in science fiction to predict the evolution of machines which would manufacture from raw atoms all that man needed. He foresaw intergalactic settlement, and argued that science would produce medical machines which would cure all diseases.

What now seemed to be a fatal illness would be no more than a twinge by 2050. From this it followed that the dead might be "cured" by the doctors of the future.

Ettinger proposed that governments immediately initiate a mass-freezing programme. He suggested that this might have huge social benefits. To pay the premiums on their frozen families, people would need steady work and would be compelled to live responsible lives. He predicted that when immortality was achieved, crime would become extinct, since criminals would be afraid of justice pursuing them beyond the grave. Immortality would secure for man a higher, nobler nature.

The authorities remained unmoved. But his book proved popular and did inspire a number of cryonics organisations. In 1967 the first man was drained of blood and permeated with cryoprotectant (a sort of human antifreeze) and placed in a vat of liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees.

Despite Ettinger's lofty aims, there were also opportunists, who imagined that cryonics would become big business, and outright ghouls. In the 1970s one Californian cryonics society went bust without informing the relatives of its dozen "patients", who found their loved ones decomposing in wooden packing cases in a suburban crypt. The head of that particular business had found alternative work repairing television sets.

The movement is hated by orthodox scientists, who hold that resurrecting a frozen body would be like "trying to turn a hamburger back into a cow". But by the mid-1990s there were some 65 or so people in suspension and half-a-dozen organisations dedicated to the philosophy of the deep-freeze, and catering to a growing band of immortalists.

Perhaps 1,000 people have taken out insurance policies to cover the cost of storage, which ranges between $28,0000 and $150,000. There are cryonics representatives in Britain and at least one family undertaker has added cryoprotectant perfusion to its more traditional services.

The son of Russian immigrants of Jewish stock, Robert Chester Wilson Ettinger was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on December 4 1918. The family later moved to Detroit and young Robert was educated locally and at Wayne State University where he studied Physics and Maths. Despite his Jewish roots, he grew up a determined atheist...

...He had begun brooding on the possibilities of cryonics in the 1930s, and was later inspired by The Jameson Satellite, a science-fiction short story by Neil Jones, about a man who has his corpse placed into orbit in the belief that the cold of outer space would preserve him.

Millions of years passed, and the human race died out. Then a race of advanced aliens came along with mechanical bodies; they took the man's frozen brain, and put it in a mechanical body.

"It was immediately obvious to me," recalled Ettinger, "that the author had missed the main point of his own story – namely that if there was any sense at all in expecting a frozen person to be revived someday, there was no point in waiting for aliens to do it in millions of years. We could do it ourselves in a very short time, and not just for a few eccentrics, but for everybody."

"We have to wait for the technology of revival. But we have to see to the arrangements of freezing ourselves, because most of us are going to die long before the technology of revival is there."

In 1947 Ettinger wrote a short story on the theme, fully expecting that other more influential people would pick up on his idea. When, by 1960, no mass freezing programme had been initiated, Ettinger wrote an essay on the subject, dealing mainly with "the insurance aspect", which he sent to some 200 people selected at random from Who's Who In America.

There was "virtually zero response", and he therefore wrote The Prospect of Immortality, which was first published privately. The sequel, Man Into Superman, appeared in 1968.

Ettinger retired from teaching in 1972, but to the end remained convinced that cryonics would catch on.

"Someday there will be some sort of psychological trigger that will move all these people to take the practical steps they have not yet taken. When people realise that their children and grandchildren will enjoy indefinite life," he said, "that they may well be the last generation to die."

Ettinger took particular encouragement from advances in nano-technology, the manipulation of computers at a microscopic level, which he thought would provide the machinery to successfully repair frozen corpses.

Robert Ettinger will be shipped back to Michigan to join his two wives and his mother in cold storage...

50 years ago: Pope John XXIII poses as an economist

2011-07-23T16:30:00.005-06:00

On July 14, 1961, the English translation of a 25,000-word encyclical originally issued in Italian on May 15 by Pope John XXIII (heretofore regarded as a religious leader, but now coming out as an economist) titled Mater et Magistra (Mother and Teacher) was published, calling on productive nations to aid backward nations without attaching political strings which would create "a new form of colonialism." The pope noted "the immeasurably sorrowful spectacle of vast numbers of workers in many lands and entire continents who are paid wages which condemn them and their families to subhuman conditions of life," and said that wages must "be determined according to justice and equity." He also restated the Roman Catholic opposition to birth control. Then as now, there were some (including this blogger) who mourned the passing of the old form of colonialism.

On taxation the pope wrote: "The fundamental principle in a system of taxation based on justice and equity is that burdens be proportioned to the capacity of people to contribute." He advocated social and actions, including price protection, to improve farm conditions and halt the exodus from agriculture.

Lest anyone suspect that the pope was about to give away any of the Roman Catholic Church's land or wealth, John XXIII defended the ownership of private property as "a natural right which the state cannot suppress," and said, "History and experience testify that in those political regimes which do not recognize the rights of private ownership of goods, the fundamental manifestations of freedom are suppressed or stifled."

Parliamentary inquiry finds increasing anti-semitism on Canadian university campuses

2011-07-19T16:04:00.007-06:00

An increase in anti-Israel and anti-Jewish attitudes and opinions couldn't have anything to do with an increasing Islamic presence in the country and on university campuses, could it? The University of Alberta is one of those that permits an annual Israeli Apartheid Week. This event has been held at the university only since 2009; there was no such week, needless to say, from 1979-1989, when Myer Horowitz was president of the U of A. As for the coalition's recommendations, an obvious one seems to have been overlooked: a crackdown on the number of Muslims allowed into the country.

As reported by Beatrice Fantoni in the Ottawa Citizen, July 8, 2011:

OTTAWA — Anti-Semitism on Canadian university campuses is a growing threat and the Canadian government needs to do more to tackle hate crimes against Jews, a parliamentary inquiry has found.

The Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism released its report on Thursday following two years of hearings.

According to the report, anti-Semitism is on the rise in Canada, especially in universities. The report makes several recommendations to the government, including working with police services across Canada to clearly define what constitutes an anti-Semitic crime and looking at rising international anti-Semitism when designating source countries for immigration...

...The coalition was formed in late 2009, following an international conference on anti-Semitism in the U.K. Its aim was to find out more about how anti-Semitism is playing out in Canada and suggest ways to deal with it.

A total of 74 witnesses testified at 10 hearings, and more than 150 written submissions were made between November 2009 and February 2010.

The coalition was composed of more than 20 MPs and senators, both Jewish and non-Jewish, from all political parties. Bloc Quebecois members dropped out in 2010, claiming the coalition was biased.

Former Liberal MP Mario Silva, who chaired the hearings, said he was especially disturbed to hear how many Jewish university students felt intimidated or unsafe on campus in light of events such as Israeli Apartheid Week, which the coalition considers to be anti-Semitic. The annual event, held across Canada, opposes Israel's treatment of Palestinians and calls for boycotts of and sanctions against Israel.

The coalition's report recommends the federal government sponsor conferences at universities to counter these types of events.

"We can't have a situation of fear and intimidation on our campuses," Silva said. "We agree with free speech — it's not an issue of shutting down free speech — but administrators have a responsibility for the security and safety of their students."

Critics of the coalition said the process did not include dissenting voices. Interest groups, such as the Canadian Islamic Congress and Independent Jewish Voices were not invited to make statements.

On Thursday, Silva responded by saying that those dissenting groups and individuals were not prepared to make a positive contribution.

"They would rather just focus on attacking the work we were doing," he said. "Just speaking for myself, I didn't want to give a platform to individuals who had no time for us, so why should we have time for them?"

Wahida Valiante, national president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, told Postmedia News on Thursday that the process should have been more inclusive and not focused exclusively on anti-Semitism since any policy outcomes could benefit other groups in Canada who face racism...

...In 2010, the Jewish group B'nai Brith reported 1,306 anti-Semitic incidents in Canada, up from 1,264 in 2009.

Anita Bromberg, national director of legal affairs for B'nai Brith, said the coalition's findings are "bang on" with what her organization has been studying for more than 25 years...

...The report's recommendations will be useful if the government establishes the office of religious freedom, Silva said. The office, which would monitor religious persecution worldwide, was proposed by the Conservative party as part of its election platform in April.

To see the full report, go here.

New Jersey rabbi and his wife are charged with kidnapping an Israeli man who refused to grant his wife a religious divorce

2011-07-18T18:16:00.002-06:00

As reported by Josh Lederman of Associated Press on July 18, 2011:

TRENTON, N.J. - A rabbi and his wife surrendered to the FBI on Monday on charges that they abducted an Israeli man, beat him and threatened to bury him alive if he didn't give his wife a religious divorce.

The case against David Wax and his wife in U.S. federal court marks a strange twist in a chain of events that started with a divorce dispute in Israel's Rabbinical Court over the victim's refusal to give his wife a "get," an Orthodox Jewish divorce document permitting a wife to remarry.

It also entangles a prominent religious figure and publisher of Jewish texts, described as a "pillar of the community" of Lakewood, New Jersey, a large Orthodox enclave and centre of Jewish learning.

David Wax, 49, and Judy Wax, 47, made a brief appearance in federal court Monday before being released on $500,000 bond each. A grand jury will decide whether to indict them on kidnapping charges, which could result in a life sentence if they are convicted.

"We're confident that when all the facts are made public, he'll be cleared of these charges and his good and honourable name will be restored," Mitchell Ansell, David Wax's attorney, told The Associated Press.

Absent from U.S. court documents is the name of the victim, Yisrael Briskman, who apparently fled Israel after refusing to grant a divorce. But his name shows up in a 2008 public notice from the High Rabbinical Court of Jerusalem, placed in religious publications in Israel and abroad announcing a ruling against Briskman in the divorce case.

The notice forbids community members from doing business with Briskman, allowing him to study in a Jewish seminary or giving him a place to stay. Under the headline "Wanted," it calls upon the public to notify the court of Briskman's whereabouts.

"It is not permitted to extend to him a kindness or favour in any form," the notice reads.

Two years later, according to the FBI complaint, Briskman was lured to the Wax's Lakewood home on Oct. 16, 2010, to discuss opportunities for Briskman to work on a book the rabbi was writing about the Talmud, a central Jewish text. Once in the home, two men allegedly pounced on Briskman from behind before handcuffing, blindfolding and robbing him.

The complaint says the blindfold was adjusted so Briskman could see a cowboy hat-clad David Wax as he started kicking him in the ribs. Wax allegedly told Briskman he'd be buried alive in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains if he didn't relent to the divorce, and hauled a dark body bag into the room.

"For you to get used to the size," the complaint quotes Wax as saying.

David Wax is also charged with making a phone threat to Briskman's father in Israel, telling him he would be killed in Israel if he didn't pay Briskman's wife $100,000.

"For you there's a special gift. It's called a bullet," Wax allegedly said in an international phone call recorded by Briskman's father.

A conviction on that charge could mean an additional sentence of up to five years.

Court documents show that Briskman was escorted by taxi to a Lakewood ATM and told to withdraw $800. When the transaction was unsuccessful, Briskman was driven back to Brooklyn, where he was staying. Soon after, he reported the incident and local police started investigating. The FBI became involved.

Attorneys for both defendants said they would plead not guilty if indicted on the federal charges...

...Under Israeli law, religious officials have full authority over personal status. That gives Israel's rabbinate control over Jewish marriages and divorces. Without a proper rabbinical divorce, Jewish men and women cannot remarry.

Briskman's former wife may also have been in the area during the alleged abduction. An FBI review of travel records revealed that she flew from Israel to Newark Liberty International Airport the day before the incident, and flew back three days later.

The relationship between the Wax family and Briskman's former wife remains unclear, and the FBI declined to elaborate. Ansell said his client did know Briskman's wife but would not say how, while Judy Wax's attorney, Steven Secare, raised doubts there was any connection.

"There's no real indication that my client knew anybody," Secare said.

Briskman's current whereabouts and marital status are also unclear, although court documents list him as residing in the United States and refer to the woman as his former wife.

Roman Catholic splinter group insists that Galileo was wrong about Earth's place in the universe

2011-07-18T17:48:00.005-06:00

I suspect that the geocentrists' main complaint is that the Roman Catholic Church is no longer at the centre of things. And the incident recorded in Joshua where the sun stood still for an entire day in no way proves that Earth is the centre of the universe.

As reported by Manya A. Brachear in the Chicago Tribune, July 4, 2011:

Some people believe the world literally revolves around them. It's a belief born not of selfishness but faith.

A small group of conservative Roman Catholics is pointing to a dozen biblical verses and the Church's original teaching as proof that the Earth is the center of the universe, the view that prompted Galileo Galilei's clash with the Church four centuries ago.

The relatively obscure movement has gained a following among a few Chicago-area Catholics who find comfort in knowing there are still staunch defenders of original Church doctrine.

"This subject is, as far as I can see, an embarrassment to the modern church because the world more or less looks upon geocentrism or someone who believes it in the same boat as the flat Earth," said James Phillips, of Cicero.

Phillips attends Our Lady Immaculate Catholic Church in Oak Park, a parish run by the Society of St. Pius X, a group that rejects most of the modernizing reforms the Vatican II council made from 1962 to 1965.

But by challenging modern science, the proponents of a geocentric universe are challenging the very church they seek to serve and protect.

"I have no idea who these people are. Are they sincere, or is this a clever bit of theater?" said Brother Guy Consolmagno, the curator of meteorites and spokesman for the Vatican Observatory.

Indeed, those promoting geocentrism argue that heliocentrism, or the centuries-old consensus among scientists that the Earth revolves around the sun, is nothing more than a conspiracy theory to squelch the church's influence.

"Heliocentrism becomes 'dangerous' if it is being propped up as the true system when, in fact, it is a false system," said Robert Sungenis, leader of a budding movement to get scientists to reconsider. "False information leads to false ideas, and false ideas lead to illicit and immoral actions — thus the state of the world today. … Prior to Galileo, the church was in full command of the world; and governments and academia were subservient to her."

Sungenis is no lone Don Quixote, as illustrated by the hundreds of curiosity seekers, skeptics and supporters at a conference last fall titled "Galileo Was Wrong. The Church Was Right" just off the University of Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Ind.

Astrophysicists at Notre Dame didn't appreciate the group hitching its wagon to the prestige of America's flagship Catholic university and resurrecting a concept that's extinct for a reason.

"It's an idea whose time has come and gone," astrophysics professor Peter Garnavich said. "There are some people who want to move the world back to the 1950s when it seemed like a better time. These are people who want to move the world back to the 1250s. I don't really understand it at all."

Garnavich said the theory of geocentrism violates what he believes should be a strict separation of church and science. One answers why, the other answers how, and never the twain should meet, he said.

But supporters of the theory contend that there is scientific evidence to support geocentrism, just as there is evidence to support the six-day story of creation in Genesis.

There is proof in Scripture that the Earth is the center of the universe, Sungenis said. Among many verses, he cites Joshua 10:12-14 as definitive proof: "And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, while the nation took vengeance on its foe. … The sun halted in the middle of the sky; not for a whole day did it resume its swift course."

But Ken Ham, founder of the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., said the Bible is silent on geocentrism.

"There's a big difference between looking at the origin of the planets, the solar system and the universe and looking at presently how they move and how they are interrelated," Ham said. "The Bible is neither geocentric or heliocentric. It does not give any specific information about the structure of the solar system."

Just as Ham challenges the foundation of natural history museums, Sungenis challenges planetariums, most notably the Vatican Observatory...

...Sungenis said the renewed interest in geocentrism is due, in part, to the efforts of Christians entering the scientific domain previously dominated by secularists. These Christian scientists, he said, showed modern science is without scientific foundation or even good evidence.

Dalai Lama accepts the Theosophical Society's invitation to bring his fortune cookie "wisdom" to Chicago

2011-07-18T17:19:00.022-06:00

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Proverbs 9:10

In general terms, Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama, is said to be the 14th rebirth in a long line of spiritual masters, each of whom is believed to be a human emanation of the bodhisattva (enlightened being, or "wisdom-being") Avalokiteśvara (a bodhisattva embodying the compassion of all Buddhas--those awakened to the natural law, or dharma). As I've said before, I’m sick and tired of hearing about and from the Dalai Lama and his alleged wisdom. According to the Scriptures cited above, he doesn’t have even the beginning of wisdom, since he doesn’t fear the Lord.

On July 17, 2011, "His Holiness" was in Chicago, charging people $75-$125 per ticket to hear him speak on the topic Bridging the Faith Divide: Compassion in Action, inspired by his recent book Toward a True Kinship of Faiths: How the World's Religions Can Come Together. It seems the occasion was indeed being used to further the agenda of uniting the world's religions. As reported by Manya A. Brachear in the Chicago Tribune, July 16, 2011:

...This weekend, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th dalai lama and spiritual leader of troubled Tibet, will bring tidings to Chicago that address religious tensions head on and prescribe what it takes to ease them.

The anticipation of his arrival inspired a dozen religious communities to undertake an unusual artistic endeavor that will provide the backdrop to the Dalai Lama's appearance Sunday on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Framing the Dalai Lama on stage will be a dozen towering religious icons created by artists of other traditions. Roman Catholics decorated a star and crescent of Islam. Native Americans created the nine-pointed star of the Baha'i faith. An African-American Protestant congregation on the South Side incorporated the design of the 4,000-year-old symbol of Zoroastrianism, a tradition some didn't know existed before the project.

"It's an amazing show of support and unity that different people of different faiths actually came together," said Nina Norris, a member of St. Matthias Catholic Church in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. "The fact that it's guided under the Dalai Lama is maybe the only way it could happen."

Invited by the Theosophical Society in America, the group that hosted the monk's first visit to the Chicago area in 1981, the Dalai Lama will present a public talk Sunday at the UIC Pavilion.

On Monday morning at downtown's Harris Theater for Music and Dance, he will join a rabbi, a pastor and a Muslim scholar for a panel discussion titled "Building Bridges: Religious Leaders in Conversation with the Dalai Lama." The panel will be moderated by Eboo Patel, founder and executive director of the Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core.

Tim Boyd, president of the Theosophical Society in America, which is based in Wheaton, said the Dalai Lama thought for three seconds before he accepted his invitation during a private audience last year. After all, it was his introduction to the Theosophical Society in India 55 years ago that opened his eyes to the plethora of world religions beyond his own, Boyd said.

"It was the first time he had met people who believed there was value in the religions of the world and there was a certain essence they all shared," Boyd said. "At that time, he was a 21-year-old monk. To him, Buddhism was all that he knew and all that he thought was appropriate. After that meeting, he left there a changed man."

While the Dalai Lama since has championed common ground, compassion and conversation among people of different religious traditions, he has sharpened that focus in recent years on easing religious tensions. He released a book last year titled "Toward a True Kinship of Faiths," in which he explores how to avoid viewing religious differences as sources of conflict...

...Dirk Ficca, executive director of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, said it's the Dalai Lama's example of balancing a contemplative Buddhist discipline with his rock star persona that has inspired such a broad fan base. Since he appeared at the first modern-day Parliament of the World's Religions in 1993 in Chicago, the Dalai Lama has become a mainstay at the international interfaith gatherings, held every five to six years since. In fact, Ficca said, once a location is chosen for each parliament, the next question is, "Can the Dalai Lama be there?"

"For billions of people who might not be interested in organized religion, nevertheless the Dalai Lama is a symbol that spirituality is important," Ficca said. "He carries enormous weight, and he's a source of energy and inspiration for folks in that camp."

He has no interest in converting everyone to Buddhism, Ficca said. On the contrary, he prefers to see everyone acting out their respective faiths. His message goes beyond Buddhism to a much broader audience.

"He stands on the juncture between the inner life and engagement in the world," Ficca said. "He calls anyone of good will to be engaged in the world and make a difference..."

...Organizers reached out to a dozen faith communities including Jains, Zoroastrians, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Muslims to add their own creative flourishes to blank slates in the shape of religious symbols built to occupy the stage with the Dalai Lama.

"What's amazing is a group of Jains (followers of an Indian faith that espouses pacifism) got together and thought about the Buddhist icon and … blessed that faith with their own labor and contemplation," Lasko said. "It's come to pass in this incredible way. A project like this is amazing in that it exposes you to a whole lot of good will in the world."

April Tsosie, 34, a member of the Navajo tribe, said the project not only allowed them to bridge the faith divide, but also a generational divide in her own community. Youth and senior citizens from the American Indian Center ventured from their Uptown facility to the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette, where symbols from many traditions adorn the architecture and now adorn the icon.

"The best thing about the journey was having people realize similarities between tribal beliefs and Baha'i. That was really enlightening," Tsosie said.

Elder Rita Rupert-Hester of Progressive Community Center the People's Church in Bronzeville said members of her group researched the depiction of a winged guardian spirit representing the human soul, which Zoroastrians call the Faravahar.

Church members learned that the three layers of feathers on the wings, represent the core of Zoroastrian ethics: good thoughts, good words and good deeds.

As associate minister of the South Side church, Rupert-Hester said she plans to incorporate that ethic into a future sermon.

She also hopes to invite the Zoroastrians to break bread with her congregation and see the cross in their church designed by their pastor. She hopes the Zoroastrian community recognizes that they depicted the Faravahar with just as much care as they would have given that cross.

"When they see it, we want it to represent the spirit of how they feel about their symbol as we feel about ours — that it's beautiful and that it ought to be represented beautifully and spiritually."

And what did this spiritual master say when he addressed the audience at UIC Pavilion? According to Ms. Brachear on July 17, 2011:

The Dalai Lama was in a jolly-good mood on Sunday, and so was his audience.

More than 8,000 spectators lined up in the heat and patiently waited to pack the pavilion at the University of Illinois in Chicago. The Tibetan spiritual leader had come to give a lesson about overcoming religious strife.

But for many in the crowd, it was much more than a lecture by His Holiness, Tenzin Gyatso, the world-renowned Buddhist monk and 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. It was an intimate conversation with an avuncular old friend who doesn't take himself too seriously, but came to share a few wise words about overcoming the conflicts that keep us from enjoying life.

“If you're not in a hurry, I'm quite free,” he said checking his watch when the master of ceremonies suggested time was running out.

But his message was short and sweet: it all comes down to happiness.

“More and more people are showing spiritual interest in what I call inner values,” said the Dalai Lama, 76, who in March gave up political authority over the Tibetan government-in-exile to focus on his spiritual role. “We all come from a mother's womb … everyone wants (a) happy life … everyone has a right to further that desire.”

Happiness begins with honesty, which creates trust, which leads to friendship, which means happiness, he said.

Religion has nothing to do with it, he said, adding that moral principles are not rooted in religious doctrine, but the pursuit of happiness. Even people who identify as secular share that goal with people of faith, he said.

“When I say secular, I don't mean negative feelings toward religion,” he said.

The Dalai Lama also explained that science and faith can co-exist and, in fact, work in concert to teach the world about interdependence.

“Faith and reason must go together,” he said. “You must investigate reality. Nobody can say I know everything.”

Matt MacGregor, 29, of Indianapolis appreciated the Dalai Lama's point that respect extends to non-believers.

“That's a word that's incredibly inclusive,” said MacGregor who runs a global health care foundation.

Phillip Sylvester, 45, who splits his time between Chicago's Gold Coast and Miami, said he suspected the Dalai Lama would have an open mind about religion, but still wanted to hear it firsthand.

“We are all bound by the same things. The truth is all religions are instilled with the same meaning,” said Sylvester, a self-acclaimed globetrotter. “You can travel around the world and learn that or come here...”

...After his remarks, the Dalai Lama and event organizers watered a dozen Aspen saplings on stage that later will be planted near Foster Beach. While the saplings will be planted individually, their roots will become intertwined, symbolizing the Dalai Lama's belief that the world's religions can co-exist.

And as reported in the same newspaper by Michael Tarm on July 17, 2011:

The only politics the 76-year-old touched on was the decision earlier this year by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to sign legislation banning capital punishment. He praised Quinn, who briefly joined the Dalai Lama on stage.

"This state abolished the death sentence," the Tibetan Buddhist monk said. "When I heard that, I immediately shook hands with the governor (before the event started) and said congratulations. ... I really appreciated it."

Once on stage, dressed in crimson-red and gold robes, he gave Quinn a traditional blessing by placing a simple white silk scarf around the governor's neck. In response, Quinn bowed slightly and tapped his hand on his heart.

A law ending the death penalty took effect July 1. Quinn signed it after years of stories of men sentenced to die for crimes they didn't commit. Illinois had executed 12 men since 1977, but none since 1999.

Sitting in a chair at the edge of a stage, the Dalai Lama, who fled Chinese-occupied Tibet in 1959, focused his talk on bridging the divide between religions. A giant cross, a crescent moon, a menorah and other religious symbols were set around him -- a large red and blue Tibetan flag off to one side.

"When I was in Tibet, I thought our religion was best and other religions were -- so so," he said with his trademark giggle, the large crowd laughing in response.

But after settling in India as an exile and becoming familiar with those of other faiths in that country, including Hindus and Muslims, he said he it quickly struck home that they all had similarities at their core.

"All religious traditions carry the same message ... of love, tolerance, compassion ... self-discipline, justice, truth," he said.

He implored people not to become so closely attached to their own religions that they block out all they could learn from other faiths.

I don't know about you, but from someone who's the 14th rebirth of a long line of spiritual masters supposedly possessing centuries of wisdom that the rest of us don't have, I expect something more profound than "everyone wants a happy life...faith and reason must go together...all religious traditions carry the same message..." He says nothing that any other New Ager or religious syncretist hasn't said--and people pay $75-$125 to hear this!? His pronouncements remind me of those of Chauncey Gardner in Being There, the simple-minded character whose aphorisms on gardening, and comments such as "China--full of Chinese!" were taken as great pearls of wisdom by political and cultural leaders. Compare the bland utterances of the Dalai Lama with some of the statements from the Lord Jesus Christ (for which He charged no price):

But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. Matthew 10:33-36

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Matthew 23:27-33

I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins...
...And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him...
...I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. John 8:24, 29, 37-45

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6

His audiences reacted with comments such as:

And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Matthew 7:28-29

The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. John 7:46

On July 18 the Dalai Lama furthered the agenda of religious syncretism when he shared a platform with a liberal female "pastor," a rabbi, and a Muslim scholar. The female "pastor" is president of the National Council of Churches, which, of course, represents apostate mainline Protestant churches. If the name Michael Lerner sounds familiar, he's been credited as a "guru" for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

As reported by Manya A. Brachear of the Chicago Tribune, July 19, 2011:

Three religious scholars reflected upon oneness, humanity and compassion with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on Monday, capping the Tibetan spiritual leader's fifth visit to Chicago.

The rabbi, pastor and Muslim scholar shared their thoughts with the Dalai Lama before a sold-out crowd at Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park. Eboo Patel, who founded the Interfaith Youth Core after an encounter with the Dalai Lama 13 years ago, moderated the panel.

Each religious leader shared how values of other religious traditions, namely Buddhism, had enriched their own spiritual journey. For example, Rabbi Michael Lerner, activist and editor of Tikkun magazine, talked about not letting attachment to reality discourage him from seeking ideals.

Ingrid Mattson, professor of Islamic studies at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, and the Rev. Peg Chemberlin, president of the National Council of Churches, shared similar experiences.

"This is how people from different religions ought to talk to one another," Patel said after the event. "You ought to focus on what you're committed to, what you admire about other people's religions and how to apply that value in the world in a way that serves other people."

During the course of the conversation, the Dalai Lama issued a call to action for individuals to build bridges in their communities, families and nations.

"These different philosophies (are) simply a different way to approach, but same goal," the Dalai Lama said of the world's religions. "I've found more and more friends."

The Dalai Lama arrived in the U.S. this month to perform an ancient Tibetan Buddhist rite called a Kalachakra — 11 days of prayers, blessings, teachings and meditation in Washington.

He also delivered a public talk on the National Mall and met with President Barack Obama before flying to Chicago for a lecture Sunday at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the event at Harris Theater...

...Patel said one doesn't have to meditate or be a monk to host productive conversations.

"Everybody can choose to focus conversations between different religions on matters of shared values rather than matters of deep disagreement," he said.

Members of the audience said they felt empowered to follow his example.

Wheaton College alumni create support group for sodomites and lesbians

2011-07-18T17:12:00.010-06:00

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1:24-27, 32

Wheaton College still has a reputation as "evangelical," but, like evangelicalism generally, has been going in a liberal direction for many years. Although the college's president seems to support the official position of prohibiting homosexual behaviour, he expresses agreement with the overall desire of the sodomite/lesbian support group OneWheaton--a typical example of an evangelical leader talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time. It comes as no surprise to this blogger to see the following news item, as reported by Jenn Zimmerman in the Chicago Tribune, May 3, 2011:

Alumni from Wheaton College have formed an organization to provide support for the gay community on the conservative Christian campus.

OneWheaton seeks to offer "a safe space" for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning community, said group spokeswoman Kristin Winn. The LGBTQ community, according to Winn, is not widely accepted on campus because of the school's official position against "homosexual behavior."

Organizers began reaching out to students last week by passing out informational fliers outside a chapel service.

Soon after, Wheaton College President Philip Ryken sent an internal email to all students, faculty and staff that cited passages in the Bible that condemned homosexual behavior.

Ryken also wrote, "We stand with LGBTQ persons before God as persons created in God's own image, and also as sinful persons in need of God's forgiveness and love."

Ryken added that the overall desire of OneWheaton to "affirm the full humanity and dignity of every human being, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity" is something the college agrees with.

Winn, a 2007 graduate, said the idea for the group began last year as media coverage focused on the rise in teen suicide in the gay community. As someone who struggled with her own sexual orientation at Wheaton, she often feared losing her support system if she came out.

She said OneWheaton has more than 300 alumni and students who have publicly pledged their support.

"Pastafarian" wins religious freedom case in Austria

2011-07-15T16:51:00.004-06:00

Today's satire is tomorrow's reality. As reported by Matthew Day in the Daily Telegraph, July 13, 2011:

An Austrian has won the right to be photographed wearing a pasta strainer for his driving licence on grounds of religious freedom.

Niko Alm announced the decision on his blog saying that after three years of struggle a psychologist had passed him fit drive (sic) and so he could wear the kitchen implement for the official picture.

A self-styled "pastafarian", Mr Alm said he belonged to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which lampooned religion. "Today I was able to get my new driving licence, and in it you can clearly see that I'm wearing a colander on my head to demonstrate my allegiance to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster," Mr Alm wrote in his blog.

"My headwear has now been recognised by the Republic of Austria."

The spaghetti church was founded in 2005 in opposition to pressure on the Kansas school board in the United States to teach the theory of intelligent design in biology class as an alternative to evolution, and since then it has engaged in a light-hearted campaign against religion.

Key to the beliefs of pastafarians is that the world was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but, owing to the monster being inebriated at the time of creation, it has a flawed design.

Irish leader Enda Kenny blasts Vatican's reponse to allegations of child abuse on the part of priests

2011-07-15T16:45:00.009-06:00

As reported in the Irish Times, July 14, 2011:

The Vatican’s approach to clerical abuse inquiries in Ireland has been branded a disgrace by the Taoiseach today.

In the wake of the report into the Catholic Church’s response to allegations of abuse in the diocese of Cloyne, Enda Kenny warned new laws would not be stopped by canon rules.

The Taoiseach said the Government’s concerns must now be dealt with. “I think this is absolutely disgraceful that the Vatican took the view that it did in respect of something that’s as sensitive and as personal with such long-lasting difficulties for persons involved,” he said.

"The law of the land should not be stopped by a collar or a crozier," Mr Kenny said.

Tough new laws to force the disclosure of information on child sexual abuse are to be introduced in response to the Cloyne report. The withholding of information about serious offences against a child will be made a criminal offence, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter announced yesterday following the publication of the report on the handling of sex abuse claims in the diocese of Cloyne.

Further measures, including a statutory child protection code, are to be announced by Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald tomorrow.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore met papal nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza over the findings of the report today.

Speaking after the meeting, Dr Leanza said he was "very grateful" to Mr Gilmore for the meeting. "I think it has been a useful meeting . . . he has given me a copy of the report, and I will bring it immediately to the attention of the Holy See.

He reiterated the Catholic Church's "total commitment" to take "all necessary measures" to ensure the protection of children.

Mr Gilmore said the Vatican’s intervention in Irish affairs was “absolutely unacceptable” and “inappropriate”. He said he had told Dr Leanza that an explanation and response was required as to why the Vatican had told priests and bishops they could undermine Irish rules.

“I want to know why this state, with which we have diplomatic relations, issued a communication, the effect of which was that very serious matter of the abuse of children in this country was not reported to the authorities,” he said.

Mr Gilmore said the Vatican had conveyed a message that somehow it was “all right to evade responsibility” for reporting these matters to the Irish authorities.

Fine Gael chairman Charlie Flanagan called for Dr Leanza to be expelled from Ireland.

Elsewhere, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said Bishop John Magee should not be excluded from the prospect of a jail term if he is prosecuted as a result of investigations into the Cloyne report...

...The report found that the Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, misled the minister for children by claiming the church’s guidelines for handling abuse cases were being fully complied with. It also found he falsely told the Health Service Executive (HSE) that allegations of abuse were being reported to gardaí.

In fact, two-thirds of complaints made between 1996 and 2008 were not reported to the Garda and no complaint was passed to the HSE during this period.

Senior Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi issued an emphatic “no comment” when asked about the Cloyne report. He did not rule out making a comment at a later date, by which time the Holy See would have had a chance to assess the report fully.

Another example of today's "conservatives" just conserving what liberals have done

2011-07-12T17:58:00.009-06:00

I've been predicting for some time that it was only a matter of time before sodomite and lesbian "marriage" would be promoted as a "conservative value," so it comes as no surprise to this blogger to see alleged conservative David Frum saying that he had been wrong to oppose this abomination:

Washington (CNN) -- I was a strong opponent of same-sex marriage. Fourteen years ago, Andrew Sullivan and I forcefully debated the issue at length online (at a time when online debate was a brand new thing).

Yet I find myself strangely untroubled by New York state's vote to authorize same-sex marriage -- a vote that probably signals that most of "blue" states will follow within the next 10 years.

I don't think I'm alone in my reaction either. Most conservatives have reacted with calm -- if not outright approval -- to New York's dramatic decision.

It wasn't too many years ago that support for sodomite and lesbian "marriage" wasn't even a liberal value. As recently as the 1997 federal election campaign, the governing Liberal Party of Canada promised that they would never legalize sodomite and lesbian "marriage." Of course, they did, and the current ~~Conservative~~ Harper government has gone right along with this. Unfortunately, the United States continues to adopt bad ~~Canadian~~ Trudeaupian policies. As the saying goes, the acceptance and promotion of homosexuality isn't a sign that God's judgement on a society is coming--it's a sign that His judgement is already under way.

For a related post concerning "conservatives" becoming liberals, see this 1983 warning from Dr. Samuel Tow.

HT: Vox Popoli, The inevitable drift left, posted July 8, 2011

More British women in their 40s are having abortions

2011-07-07T18:04:00.003-06:00

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

More evidence of the suicidal madness of a once-great nation, as reported by Laura Donnelly of the Daily Telegraph on May 28, 2011:

The number of women having abortions in their 40s has risen by almost one third in a decade, according to new figures.

Experts said the dramatic rise reflects increased sexual activity among older women, and higher numbers of single women and divorcees – who are far more likely than previous generations to have casual sex or short-term relationships...

...The government statistics disclose that the number of abortions for women aged 40 and over has risen by more than 30 per cent since 2000. In total, 8,179 women aged 40 and over terminated pregnancies last year – including more than 650 women above the age of 45, and 21 women aged 50 and over.

Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: "I think women are generally remaining sexually active for longer, and women in their 40s increasingly see themselves as sexual players – whether or not they are in relationships – in a way that they didn't even a decade ago."

Many older women, especially those who came off the contraceptive pill because of their age, were inclined to take chances with contraception, only to be "stunned" when they found themselves pregnant, she said.

The figures include women who had tried to get pregnant in their 40s, only to opt for termination when screening disclosed a high chance of abnormalities such as Down's syndrome – the risk of which rises with age, said Mrs Furedi.

However, most abortions among older women took place before 12 weeks, which is when the first antenatal screening takes place. Among women aged 35 and over [there aren't figures for 40+ on this], just 2,200 abortions occurred after that point.

Josephine Quintavalle, from the Pro-Life Alliance, said: "These figures are extraordinarily depressing – when we see high rates of teen pregnancy we often end up debating whether ignorance is to blame, but you would think that by the age of 40 women would have some idea how things work. It seems incredible that at that age, any woman would take such reckless chances."

The figures reflect large-scale social changes in recent years.

The percentage of single women in Britain has more than doubled in the past three decades, with 43 per cent of women under 50 never having married in 2009...

...Separately, studies have established that men and women in their 30s and 40s are less likely than teenagers to practise safe sex.

While almost 70 per cent of those aged between 16 and 19 use a condom when having sex with a new partner, the figure is less than 35 per cent among those aged between 35 and 44, according to a study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

And in 2008, an international study suggested British men and women were the most promiscuous western industrial nation.

The academic study, which examined the numbers of one-night stands, sexual partners and attitudes to casual sex among 14,000 people in 48 countries, found Britons were the most promiscuous – ahead of Australia, the US, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany.

At the same time, women are having babies past the age of 40 in dramatically increasing numbers – echoing the increase in abortions.

Figures published earlier this year showed that some 27,000 babies were born to women over 40 last year in Britain, a number which has doubled over the past two decades.

Many are having their first baby at 40 or above, something which was exceptionally rare in previous generations.

A report last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development concluded that women in Britain are among the latest to start having families.

The average age for a women having her first child in this country is almost 30, compared with 25 in the United States, and 28 and a half in France.

Fertility treatments have partly fuelled the increase in births over 40, but some of those treatments end in termination.

Last year, statistics disclosed than an average of 80 abortions a year are carried out in England and Wales following IVF treatment – many likely to be because of the higher rates of abnormalities associated with late motherhood, particularly Down's syndrome.

And many women do not have children at all: a study of women in their late 40s found that some 19 per cent arrive at the menopause childless – a figure exceeded by only three countries in Europe: Germany, Finland and Italy, was there a higher percentage of women who ended their reproductive lives childless.

David Willetts, now minister for universities and science, sparked controversy in opposition when he said that a "Bridget Jones generation" of well-educated young women who cannot find a suitable match was fuelling the collapse of the family.

Because more women than men were gaining degrees, women struggled to find a partner with good career prospects, and men were no longer given the opportunity to "bring home the bacon", which was bad for families, he said.

A simple faith is all that's needed for salvation--if the faith has the correct object

2011-07-07T15:35:00.003-06:00

And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.
And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left...
...And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Luke 23:32-33, 39-43

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6

Yesterday I attended the funeral of a man whose son has been a good friend and brother in the Lord. The deceased was the son of a pastor and the twin brother of a pastor, and although he didn't pursue the vocation of a pastor, he nevertheless was a good and faithful servant. He didn't have a university degree, just enough education to be qualified for a livelihood as a plumber (at which he was very successful).

This man was described as having a simple faith; he didn't know many passages of Scripture by heart, but he lived out the ones he did know. In thinking about this man and his "simple faith," it makes me glad that all that is required for salvation is to have faith in the right object, and enough knowledge to know that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour. I'm glad that Hebrews 11:6 says "without faith it is impossible to please him," not "without a degree or advanced knowledge in theology it is impossible to please him."

Today's "Vacation Bible School" offers more "vacation" than "Bible"

2011-07-05T18:09:00.007-06:00

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7

As reported by Jessamy Brown of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on June 19, 2011:

Call it vacation Bible school on steroids.

At The Hills Church of Christ in North Richland Hills, more than 6,300 people attended last week's "Summer Spectacular" event designed to bring the story of Noah's ark to life, complete with a petting zoo and a Broadway-style musical that recounted the tale over three nights.

It's a stark contrast to the VBS days of the past, when kids made praying hands out of plaster and listened to Bible stories before nap time.

Today's summer-based schools are more akin to day camp than Sunday school, with churches using elaborate props, electronics and themed curricula that can be bought from church denominations or publishers.

The materials make it easier for church officials to plan the events and provide lessons that connect to the religious concepts they want to emphasize, church youth directors say.

"I like to say it's not your mom and dad's VBS," said Patty Weaver, children's minister at The Hills. "We believe that God's word is so powerful that if we make it culturally relevant then it will really penetrate the heart of the child. It just needs to speak to their world today. We need to make sure we're telling it in a way that connects with children."

Today, Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth launches its VBS program, which is advertised on a billboard on Interstate 35W.

Children in kindergarten through sixth grade will participate in the "Big Apple Adventure." They'll do games and activities to help them learn a concept each day, all based on landmarks they would see on a New York City trip.

The church sanctuary is being decorated in a 15-foot backdrop of Times Square. Officials rented a Statue of Liberty prop from the Tarrant Baptist Association that it made for a training session, said Scott Eudaley, children's minister.

Theme programs

Travis Avenue Baptist started using themes in the late 1990s to help make the program more engaging to today's youth, Eudaley said.

First United Methodist Church of Mansfield is also using the "Big Apple" theme at its vacation Bible school this week...

...The "Big Apple" program is produced by Nashville-based LifeWay Christian Resources. A basic sampler kit costs $69.99 and includes clip-art decorations, Bible study cards, leader guides and a music CD, according to LifeWay's website.

The Hills created its own curriculum for the Summer Spectacular, enlisting an army of volunteers to decorate the church with huge rainbows, life-size stuffed animals and a paper cutout of an ark in each classroom.

The lesson for junior high students included a PowerPoint presentation.

At the end of each night, families crowded pews in the auditorium to watch a 42-member cast in Noah: God Keeps His Promises, a musical written by a church member with lyrics set to songs by contemporary artists such as Lady Gaga.

As the old saying goes, "What you win them with is what you win them to," or put another way, "what wins them is what keeps them." If all you're providing to children in church is entertainment, that's the only thing that will keep them there. What does a "Big Apple" theme have to do with the Bible? And wouldn't an old hymn or two provide better Christian instruction for children than lyrics to songs by Lady Gaga?
This nonsense isn't just found in Fort Worth. From the religion Calendar of the Edmonton Journal on July 2, 2011:

Wii Love Pizza, July 9, at 5: 30 p.m., Zion Baptist Church, 11908 132nd Ave. Games night for 12-to 20-year-olds. For more information, call 780-454-1347 or visit zionbaptist.net

Vacation Bible School, July 18 to July 22, 9: 30-11: 30 a.m., Callingwood Road Presbyterian Church, 6015 184th St. Fun, crafts, songs, stories and snacks for kids ages four to 12. To register, call 780-487-8531 or e-mail crpc-pas@telus. net....

...PandaMania Vacation Bible School, Aug. 8 to 12, from 9 a.m. to noon each day, Zion Baptist Church, 11908 132nd Ave. Kindergarten to Grade 6. Register at 780-454-1347 or zionbaptist.net

Canada's Conservative Harper government quizzes Chinese Christian on theology before denying his refugee claim

2011-07-05T17:49:00.008-06:00

As reported by Douglas Quan of The Vancouver Sun on June 8, 2011:

A Chinese migrant seeking refugee status in Canada on the grounds that he faced persecution at home for his Christian beliefs was repeatedly asked by the Immigration and Refugee Board last year to describe what Jesus was "like as a person."

The man's inability to attribute human characteristics to Jesus formed part of the board's decision to deny his refugee claim. The details are contained in a recent Federal Court ruling, which dismissed the man's application for a judicial review of the board's decision but did agree that the board's line of questioning about Jesus was "somewhat awkward."

Wu Xin Wang came to Canada in April 2007 on a temporary work permit and made his claim for refugee protection in January 2008.

In documents filed with the immigration board, he claimed that he had received a call from his wife in China, who told him that officials from China's Public Security Bureau had visited their home and were investigating illegal church activities.

Before his move to Canada, Wang said, he had been a member of an underground Christian church and sometimes acted as a lookout during church services.

In assessing Wang's refugee claim, board adjudicator Daniel McSweeney asked Wang: "So tell me about Jesus as a person. What was he like?

"Jesus is son of God," Wang said.

"I am not asking who he was or what he did. I am asking what is he like as a person," McSweeney said.

"Jesus was conceived through the holy ghost and was born in this world," Wang replied.

The answer did not satisfy the board member. "Anybody could memorize a creed and recite the creed. I want to know what you believe and what you know of Jesus as a person."

"In my heart he is my saviour," Wang answered.

"That is not . again, tell me what Jesus is as a person and this is the last time I am going to ask you."

"I am sorry, I really do not know how to answer."

Last August, the board denied Wang's refugee claim after finding that he was not credible and that his professed religious beliefs and practices in China and Canada were merely an attempt to bolster his refugee claim. The board said it came to that conclusion in part of because of Wang's inability to answer the question about Jesus or to describe certain core beliefs of the Pentecostal Church. It also found that Wang had made several inconsistent statements.

Wang applied to the Federal Court to review the board's decision.

In a written ruling May 26, Federal Court Judge David G. Near said he could see no reason to overturn the decision.

It doesn't seem to occur to anyone with the Immigration and Refugee Board that Mr. Wang's difficulty in answering the questions may result from difficulty in understanding the English language. As well, thre are reportedly not enough Bibles in China to meet the demand, so it's possible that Mr. Wang may only know the rudiments of the Christian faith. Fortunately, in order to be saved one only has to possess enough faith to trust in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross as payment of the penalty for one's sins.

Another dissident congregation leaves the Anglican Church of Canada

2011-07-05T17:26:00.002-06:00

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. II Corinthians 6:17

Another example of those who've finally had enough from an apostate church. And once again, a building that was built and paid for by Bible-believers is stolen by liberals.

As reported by Kelly Patterson in the National Post on June 27, 2011:

It was a historic moment in Ottawa as a subdued crowd of about 300 filed out of St. Alban’s Anglican Church on King Edward Avenue on Sunday, leaving behind a place where some have roots going back to Confederation.

Founded in 1865, the church where Sir John A. Macdonald worshipped has been in the spotlight ever since a showdown over same-sex marriage and other issues led the congregation of St. Alban’s to leave the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa, and, after a bitter battle, the building they have called home for 146 years.

“This is kind of historic. We’re in a new era,” said Sheila Lang, 79, as her grandchildren — the seventh generation of her family to attend the church — played in the reception hall of the Ottawa Little Theatre, where the congregation, now called the Church of the Messiah, will meet until it finds a permanent home. Meanwhile, the diocese will establish a new congregation at St. Alban’s, with a relaunch planned for Friday.

The move is historic in a broader sense, Ms. Lang added: “This is a societal shift,” in which traditional Christian values are “eroding and we see the church trying to accommodate the eroding values.

“But we are not deviating…. We stand on the Bible and the Word of God.”

Reverend George Sinclair urged the congregation not to dwell on grief over losing St. Alban’s, but instead to embrace the change as an opportunity for renewal.

“We are entering a time of new dreams and new visions,” he said on the stage of the theatre, flanked by reproductions of three stained-glass windows Macdonald’s wife donated to St. Alban’s after his death. “A church that just has the building, but does not have the dreams and visions that come from God, is on its way to dying,” he warned...

...In an interview after the service, Rev. Sinclair said the move was “an issue of conscience, and for us. Conscience trumps buildings.”

The immediate catalyst for the church’s break with the diocese was the latter’s 2007 decision to allow the blessing of same-sex marriages. But Rev. Sinclair added that his church was also responding to a general sense that the Anglican Church of Canada has been drifting away from Jesus’s teachings.

“If you end up thinking you’re smarter and nicer and wiser than the master, in what way are you still his disciple? The Bible is very clear on certain things, as to what is right or wrong,” he said.

A few months after the diocese gave same-sex marriage the green light, his congregation voted almost unanimously to leave the diocese and the national Anglican body, realigning instead with a breakaway organization called the Anglican Network in Canada. In October 2008, St. George’s Anglican Church on Metcalfe Street in Ottawa followed suit.

Rev. Sinclair said he had hoped to negotiate an amicable settlement, but in May 2010, the diocese filed a lawsuit against the rectors and wardens of both churches for the buildings and property.

“Legally, canonically and morally we believe that we own St. Alban’s,” Rev. Sinclair said, but faced with a time-consuming and expensive legal ordeal, he and the rector of St. George’s opted for mediation, under which his church got cash in return for vacating the building. (St. George’s kept their building, but it is now called St. Peter and St. Paul’s Anglican Church.)

Rev. Sinclair is glad the church has found a temporary home in the urban core, where it can pursue its mission to help the most needy, but concedes that it will be a challenge to find venues for the church’s many activities. For the time being, the church will use community centres and borrowed church halls for events such as potluck dinners, choir practices and youth groups.

Raelians want to reclaim the swastika

2011-07-04T17:49:00.003-06:00

As reported by Postmedia News on July 2, 2011:

TORONTO — An extraterrestrial-centric religious sect will attempt to “reclaim: the swastika in Toronto on Sunday.

Members of the International Raelian Movement have chosen the city’s gay pride festivities as their venue to celebrate a second annual event they call World Swastika Rehabilitation Day.

“The goal is to return the swastika’s true meaning of peace and harmony to this ancient symbol regretfully hijacked by the Nazis,” said movement spokeswoman Brigitte Boisselier in a press release.

The Raelians, who believe human scientists from another planet, called Elohim, created all life on Earth, represent themselves with a swastika intertwining with a Star of David.

Their symbol speaks to “the infinity of time,” Boisselier said.

She cited the swastika’s historical use by “many peaceful religious groups, especially in Asia,” as reason to reclaim it.

The Raelian movement was sparked in the early 1970s by sect leader Claude Vorilhon, also known as Rael.

I find it appropriate that the Raelians are using the occasion of a sodomite pride parade to call for the reclamation of the swastika.