Canadian astronomers participate in discovery of four exoplanets and a dwarf planet

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

As reported by David P. Ball in Metro, May 30, 2016:

When astronomy honour’s student Michelle Kunimoto graduates on Monday, she’ll do so already holding the honour of being a galactic pioneer with distinction.

The 22-year-old University of British Columbia undergraduate has discovered four new planets in the Cygnus (Swan) constellation, known as “exoplanets” because they’re outside our solar system.

“I got interested in exoplanets from Star Trek,” she told Metro in an interview in UBC’s physics department. “The whole theme of Star Trek, curiosity and exploration, is really important for the long, long, long term. We want to answer the age-old question: Are we alone?”

She spent months poring through 400 different data samples from the Kepler space telescope, which captures the curves of light from distant stars. Sudden dips in their light can correspond to planets passing in front of them.

Kunimoto likened her method to trying to hear one quiet voice in a crowded room full of loud talkers. But when she first noticed the faint but tell-tale dip, she didn’t allow herself get excited.

“I had to be very careful,” she explained. “I ran them through a lot of tests, but the more tests I ran, the more confident I felt.

“When they all passed the right tests, and I had these four planets remaining, that was really exciting!”

The planet she’s most enthusiastic about is called Kepler Object Of Interest 408.05, which she nicknamed “Warm Neptune,” because it’s roughly the size of its namesake planet, but is within the distance needed for the warm, Earth-like atmosphere needed to host life. It’s 3,200 light years from Earth.

Technically, what she found are still considered “planet candidates” until they can be independently confirmed, but for her UBC supervisor the results are clear.

“It’s rare that you have that ‘Eureka!’ moment any more,” astronomy professor Jaymie Matthews told Metro proudly. “Michelle’s discovery was time-consuming, and she’s done this for only 400 out of 150,000 light curves.”

But will Kunimoto’s “Warm Neptune” — located within what Matthews dubbed the “Goldilocks” zone of planets that are neither too hot nor too cold to support life — potentially be home to intelligent life?

“You can bet that once the results are confirmed and more widely disseminated, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute will put KOI-408.05 on their list of higher-priority targets to monitor,” Matthews said. “If there is life and signals we could eavesdrop on, these are the places they’d be coming from...”

As reported by Mr. Ball in Metro, July 12, 2016:

Canadian astronomers have helped make a far-out find some 12 billion km from our sun: a new dwarf planet with an “unusual” 700-year orbit.

Spotted by an international team that includes top researchers in Vancouver and Victoria, it is the largest object in the solar system that Canadians have ever found.

And according to University of British Columbia’s Brett Gladman, the crew behind the discovery isn’t letting the fact that it’s “smallish” get in the way of their excitement — the object’s diameter is barely wider than B.C., making it what’s known as a “dwarf planet.”

“Think of it as a smallish planet,” explained Gladman, who holds a Canada Research Chair in planetary astronomy. “It’s not quite big enough to be a planet, but it’s still an impressive object with enough gravity to pull it into a spherical shape.”

“It’s about twice as far from the sun as Neptune’s orbit, so it’s really out there.”

First spotted in late February, using five-month-old images from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope at the top of the volcano island of Maunakea, for now the dwarf is simply named “2015 RR245.”

The Outer Solar System Origins Survey researchers found it by comparing very high-resolution photographs taken through the telescope. Computers then scanned for any dots that moved between frames — but it took human observers to sift through the results to make the final call.

However, until more detailed measurements can confirm its size and shape more precisely, technically it’s still a “dwarf planet candidate.”

Nevertheless, “it’s basically as good a case as the majority of other dwarf planet candidates,” Gladman said. “Everybody was quite excited.

“We expected to find a bright thing eventually, but didn’t expect it would be so far away or as large.”

It's not the first time this year UBC has unearthed other planets, but usually they're out of our solar system. An undergraduate student, for example, discovered four "exoplanets" orbiting a distant star this spring.

One surprising aspect of the new discovery, Gladman said, is that “2015 RR245" has a massive orbit that will see it come close to Neptune — despite its farthest reach being on the “outer edge” of the Kuiper Belt, a band of extremely distant objects orbiting our sun.

“Its very eccentric orbit is a little surprising,” he said. “If it actually is mildly unstable, which is possible given what we know, it would be surprising that such a big thing has survived so long. We’ll have to wait and see.

“That might reveal even more surprises.”

Go here to see a longer article on the discovery of the dwarf planet.

While Jewish women pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, ultra-Orthodox men spit on a prayer book

Another exciting episode in the wonderful, wacky world of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, as reported by Kobi Nachshoni of Ynet News, July 9, 2016 (links in original):

More than 300 women affiliated with Women of the Wall (WOW) came on Thursday morning, Rosh Chodesh Tamuz (the first day of the Hebrew month Tamuz) to pray at the Western Wall, as has been their custom for the past 27 years. They were greeted by vocal opposition by several men present that culminated in one of them ripping up a prayer book.

The ultra-Orthodox man's destruction of property was caught on video. He grabbed a prayer book out of the hands of a praying boy who called out twice in protest, "No! The name of God is in there!" Orthodox Judaism forbids destroying the written Hebrew name of God.

The men yelled at the female supplicants various epithets, such as "stinking bastards" and "whores," and interrupted them during their prayer by using whistles. WOW stated that they asked for aid from the security services present and were ignored.

Before they began praying, one of the two Torah scrolls that they had smuggled in was confiscated. A bat mitzvah ceremony was carried out for Franny Warner, a girl from Wisconsin who came to celebrate at the Western Wall—and to read from the Torah. WOW says that they sneak torah scrolls to the site monthly, as no such sacred texts are present in the women's section. In the men's, however, there are 100 Torah scrolls for that gender only.

WOW Chair of the Board Anat Hoffman commented, "Where people are tearing prayer books, bloodshed is in the future. The ultra-Orthodox man who, in the name of God, tore up a prayer book containing sacred texts, is likely to be the next Schlissel." Yishai Schlissel murdered 16-year-old Shira Banki at the 2015 Jerusalem Pride Parade by stabbing her to death, ten years after he stabbed three others at the capital's 2005 Pride Parade.

Hoffman continued, "And while he's doing that, the police and the rabbi of the Wall are silent and stand there with their arms folded. The prayer was interrupted in its entirety by yelling, swearing, spitting and whistles against the women praying… All those acts took place without being addressed by the police or the stewards of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation."

She expressed resentment at the arrest of WOW Director Lesley Sachs at last month's Rosh Chodesh prayers for "disturbing the peace": "The 'crime' that she allegedly committed was reading from a Torah scroll." Sachs added, "We need to remind the police that their job is to protect the values of equality, not to take the side of thugs."

In November, two progressive groups petitioned the High Court of Justice for the right to read from a Torah scroll at the Western Wall Plaza and for the cancellation of the restriction on bringing in external scrolls to the holy site. They further requested compensation from the state for the discrimination that they had suffered.

Since then, women have successfully attempted to smuggle in Torah scrolls to the site. A compromise agreement was approved by the government in January after being approved by both the ultra-Orthodox and liberal movements. However, Netanyahu later called for a new agreement to be drafted after being pressured by ultra-Orthodox Jews who rescinded their agreement.

Uganda's Abayudaya Jews desire recognition from Israel

This group resembles a Hebrew Roots cult, unlike the Ethiopians who have arrived in Israel in recent years, and whose DNA has proved them to be part of physical Israel. As reported by Agence France-Presse, July 5, 2016 (bold in original):

In a candlelit room in a small eastern Ugandan village, Rabbi Gershom does Kiddush over wine at the beginning of Shabbat dinner as his wife, Tzieorah, removes a cloth covering the challah bread.

"Shabbat shalom!" cry the arriving guests. The scene is recognizable to every Jewish family - except the main dish is stewed goat and mashed green banana, with sweet pineapple, fresh from the garden, for pudding.

Gershom is the spiritual leader of the Abayudaya, a small community of African Jews living close to the town of Mbale, where the craggy edges of Mount Elgon mark the nearby border with Kenya.

They hope that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Uganda will mark the beginning of greater ties with the wider Jewish community.

Charismatic founder

The group's founder was a military officer, Semei Kakangulu, who was converted by Christian missionaries but then switched to Judaism in the early 20th century.

"He discovered the true religion and the true Sabbath day, that circumcision is mandatory, and began to follow the dietary laws of kashrut. He became a Jew," says Joab Jonadab, the local mayor and Gershom's brother.

Kakungulu's influence meant the community quickly grew. "My father was one of the initial followers," says Gershom. "By the end of the first year there were over 8,000 new Jews."

But when their charismatic leader died in 1928, the Abayudaya lost ground to zealous Christian missionaries and their mania for conversion. The community dwindled to fewer than a thousand.

For decades afterwards, Uganda's Jews lived in relative isolation. Cut off from the Jewish world they developed a syncretic form of worship combining, for example, traditional Hebrew songs with African melodies, yet they yearned for a stronger connection to Israel.

Israel Siridi, the community member responsible for circumcising infant boys, hopes Netanyahu's visit will mean recognition.

"Last year, Israel's Jewish Agency recognized us as Jews for the first time. We hope that our prime minister Netanyahu will lift the visa restrictions on us so we can go and study and pray in Israel," he said.

Hope of recognition

Days before Netanyahu's arrival, it seemed Siridi's prayers had been answered. Gershom gathered the community beneath the spreading branches of a large acacia tree to deliver some welcome news: he had received a letter from an Israeli rabbi saying the country's interior ministry "is to formally recognize the Abayudaya as Jews."

The community hopes recognition might also offer protection from persecution of the kind that threatened to wipe them out when the notorious Ugandan leader Idi Amin turned on the Abayudaya in the 1970s.

"When Idi Amin was president, he forbade Judaism and outlawed Jewish practice. His soldiers destroyed our synagogue, our elders were thrown in jail, tortured and killed," said Jonadab. "Amin said 'Africa is for the Africans' and he didn't see us as African enough."

Today the Abayudaya are thriving once again -- a revival Jonadab credits to President Yoweri Museveni, calling him "a good Pharaoh for us."

But the insecurities of a small community remain. "The Abayudaya are a tiny minority," says Gershom, who nevertheless was recently elected to parliament.

"It is not safe for us to live as a small group of isolated Jews in the heart of Africa. That's why recognition by Israel means so much to us. If anything bad happens to the Jews of Uganda the whole world will know," he said.

June 3, 2018 update: As reported by Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 31, 2018 (links in original):

Israel has ruled that it will not recognize Uganda’s Jewish community, according to an Israeli newspaper report.

The Interior Ministry denied the request of a Ugandan Jew, Kibitz Yosef, to immigrate to Israel, Haaretz reported Thursday. The ministry said Yosef, who is staying at a kibbutz in southern Israel, had to leave the country by June 14, according to the report.

A representative told Haaretz that the decision represented Israel’s stance on the Ugandan Jewish community, not just the applicant in question. The ministry said Yosef could challenge its decision in the High Court of Justice.

The Uganda community, also called the Abayudaya, numbers approximately 2,000 and traces its roots to the early 20th century, when a former leader read the Bible and embraced Judaism. Most members were converted under the auspices of U.S. Conservative rabbis and thus are not recognized as Jewish by Israel’s mostly haredi Orthodox Chief Rabbinate.

In 2016, the Jewish Agency for Israel recognized the community, seemingly opening a path for its members to immigrate to Israel. However, the Abuyudaya have struggled to obtain recognition to do so. In December, Israel denied a visa application by a member of the community to study at a yeshiva in Israel, leading to accusations of racism.

This week, the Chief Rabbinate published a list of draft criteria for religious courts in the Diaspora to have its conversions accepted in the Jewish state. If enacted, Jewish converts in America may face additional hurdles in being recognized as Jewish by the Chief Rabbinate, which controls Jewish marriage, divorce, conversion and burial in the Jewish state. However, it does not have authority over who can immigrate to the country.

See my previous posts:

Jewish populations in Yemen and Ethiopia have distinct histories (December 31, 2010)

20 years ago: Thousands of Ethiopian Jews are airlifted to Israel (May 24, 2011)

More Ethiopian Jews arrive in Israel (February 10, 2012)

Millions of Africans see themselves as Jews (July 20, 2012)

Genetic map of Jewish diasporas supports record of ancient settlement in North Africa (January 8, 2013)

Swordfish discovered to contain oil gland that acts as a lubricant

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

More evidence of God's greatness in creation, as reported by Ashley P. Taylor in The Scientist, July 6, 2016 (links in original):

Swordfish have a previously unrecognized oil gland near the base of the sword that connects via capillaries to pores on the skin, according to research published today (July 6) in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Marine biologist John Videler, emeritus professor at the Netherlands’ University of Groningen, and colleagues hypothesize that this gland produces an oily coating on the swordfish head, which—along with microscopic protrusions from the skin, called denticles—may reduce drag and boost swimming speeds.

“I find this quite fascinating,” ecologist Jens Krause of Berlin’s Humboldt University, who was not involved in the work, told The Scientist. Krause noted that the gland’s function has yet to be tested. “Much is really left as speculation. Nevertheless, I think it’s an interesting idea that deserves publication and will undoubtedly require testing.”

This paper was two decades in the making. In 1996, Videler performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans on two swordfish, which revealed the oil gland. In the early 2000s, study coauthor Roelant Snoek, who is now a marine biology consultant, discovered capillary networks connecting the gland to pores in the skin. Using electron microscopy, the researchers characterized the pores and observed denticles on the skin. When they experimentally heated the oil gland, they found that the pores secreted oil.

Last year, another group described a weak area of thin bone at the base of the swordfish’s bill.

Videler was familiar with this spot: 20 years ago, on his way out of the hospital where he had administered the swordfish MRIs, he banged one of the animals’ swords against a door frame. “And then it broke off just at that weak spot,” he told The Scientist. Intrigued by the new finding, Videler decided to revisit the swordfish MRI data.

In the present study, the authors suggest that the spot is weak because the oil gland lies behind it.

The authors hypothesize that this gland releases oil to the capillaries and the vessels transport it to the pores, which secrete the fluid. The resulting oily layer, combined with the denticles—which make the skin rough—could make the skin super-hydrophobic and reduce drag, the authors proposed in their paper.

Swordfish cannot be kept in captivity, making them difficult to study. Future experiments could use models to investigate whether the oil layer reduces drag, Videler said.

Krause is interested to see whether other billfish—such as sailfish and marlins—have similar oil glands. “I’ve got lots of billfish heads in my freezer,” he said, “so I will certainly look at them and see whether I can find those [glands] also in our sailfish.”

10 years ago: The death of John Money

The evil that men do lives after them; William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene II

On July 7, 2006, New Zealand-born U.S. sexologist John Money died, the day before his 85th birthday. Dr. Money was a pervert who promoted the normalization of pedophilia and sexual reassignment surgery, and advocated the idea that gender identity is a matter of social learning rather than biology. His most infamous deed was the sexual reassignment surgery in the mid-1960s of David Reimer, a Canadian infant who had been left without a penis because of a botched circumcision. Dr. Money encouraged David's parents to have the boy's testicles removed, give him hormone treament, and have him raised as a female.

For years, Dr. Money promoted the sexual reassignment as a success story, but in 1997 David Reimer, who had previously been anonymous (known in the literature as "John/Joan"), went public with the revelation that the sexual reassignment had been a disaster, and that he had transitioned to living as a male at the age of 15. David's twin brother Brian died from an overdose of antidepressants at the age of 36, and David fatally shot himself at the age of 38 on May 4, 2004. The evil that Dr. John Money promoted has accelerated, and is now all but mandatory.

Evidence of shaman's funeral feast is found in 12,000-year-old Israeli grave

View of Hilazon Tachtit cave in northern Israel. Photo by Leore Grosman

One of 86 tortoise shells found in a unique burial site analyzed by Hebrew University archaeologists. Photo by Leore Grosman

As reported by Israel21C, July 6, 2016 (links in original):

The woman’s corpse was set on a bed of gazelle horn cores, fragments of chalk, fresh clay, limestone blocks and sediment.

Eighty-six tortoise shells were placed under and around her body, while seashells, an eagle’s wing, a leopard’s pelvis, a forearm of a wild boar and a human foot were placed atop the 1.5-meter-tall woman. A large stone was added to seal the site.

The Hebrew University archaeologist who discovered the grave in a cave on the bank of the Hilazon River in the Western Galilee in 2008 knew that it was not an ordinary funeral because three other grave pits found in the vicinity since 1995 did not have any of the unusual objects that this one did.

It took eight years for Prof. Leore Grosman from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Prof. Natalie Munro from the University of Connecticut to identify the six stages of the mysterious funeral ritual. Their research was published in the journal Current Anthropology.

They believe the deceased may have been a shaman during the Natufian period, 15,000 to 11,500 years ago.

According to their reconstruction, the funeral began with the excavation of an oval pit in the cave floor. A layer of objects was cached between large stones, including seashells, a broken basalt palette, red ochre, chalk and several tortoise shells. These were covered by a layer of sediment containing ashes, flint and animal bones.

About halfway through the ritual, the woman was laid inside the pit in a child-bearing position, and special items including many more tortoise shells were placed on top of and around her. This was followed by another layer of filling and limestones of various sizes placed directly on the body. The ritual concluded with the sealing of the grave.

The archeologists speculate that the collection of materials and the capture and preparation of animals for the feast, particularly the 86 tortoises, must have been time-consuming.

“The significant pre-planning implies that there was a defined ‘to do’ list, and a working plan of ritual actions and their order,” said Grosman.

Canadian study finds that churchgoing American teens are less likely to use pornography

Well, I hope so. The authors of the study do acknowledge the "probablility of under-reporting of the amount of porn use." Yes, I suspect that's true; it's not a habit that too many people--especially those who claim to be Christians--are likely to admit to.

The incidence of pornography use among teenagers who are Christians should be zero, of course, rather than merely half of non-churchgoing teens (and increasing with age). However, it's obviously much harder to achieve that ideal today than it was a few decades ago. I have much sympathy for parents, Christian or otherwise, who are trying to prevent pornography from coming into their households. Even if they can do something to restrict their children's access to the internet at home, they can't monitor every second of their children's whereabouts or behaviour elsewhere, and they can't monitor what goes on in other households.

By the grace of God, I've never been interested in pornography, but if I had been all those years ago, I would have had a tough time getting any opportunity to indulge such an interest. There was no internet, pornography wasn't on television (I grew up in a small town with very little television of any kind, and even when I moved to a large city there was no pornography on television), and I wouldn't have been admitted to any theatres showing such content. If I had attempted to buy one of the few pornographic magazines on the newsstand, the clerk would almost certainly have refused to sell it to me, and might have called my parents to report it. Such restrictions on the ability to indulge sinful desires have largely disappeared.

As reported by Salmaan Farooqui in the Calgary Herald, July 6, 2016:

Kyler Rasmussen, a psychology graduate student, and Alex Bierman, a sociology professor, studied data from a five-year survey in the United States that looked at the average trajectory of an adolescent’s pornography consumption from ages 13 to 23, surveying 3,000 adolescents across the U.S. between 2003 and 2008. The results made a broad statement that, on average, adolescent churchgoers view half the amount of pornography as adolescents that never go to church.

“There is a social control function to religiousness, that is, religiousness tends to tell us disapproving messages of porn usage. It tends to tell us that we should not use porn, essentially,” said Bierman. “When we attend religious services, we join a community of like-minded others who tend to reinforce this message.”

The study also found that even though adolescents who go to church view less pornography than those who don’t, their pornography consumption still increases as they grow older, on average.

At age 16, churchgoing adolescents averaged watching one porn video per year, whereas an adolescent who never goes to church averaged two videos per year. That number increased to two videos per year and four videos per year respectively at age 23. Women were also surveyed, and while they watched up to 75 per cent less pornography, their viewership increased with age slightly as well. Rasmussen said that while the scale of consumption was probably far off, since the original survey asked how many videos a respondent watched per year, a difficult number to accurately remember.

“There was probably under-reporting of the amount of porn use,” said Rasmussen, noting that only one person reported watching 300 videos a year, which he speculated was probably more common. Despite that, he believes the most important information is that pornography viewership did increase with age for adolescents.

In future studies, the two hope to explore variables such as certain groups’ reluctance to share their high pornography consumption, and determining whether people who actively participate at church, rather than just attend, have different amounts of pornography consumption.

Another important thing to glean from the study, Bierman said, is that attending church is one possible way to get adolescents to watch less pornography. According to him, while it’s impossible to say whether porn is good or bad as a whole, the content of pornography can tend to be unhealthy for adolescents and how they view sex and intimacy as they mature.

“Pornography sticks with uncommitted, very casual sorts of relationships, where particularly women are there specifically to please men,” said Rasmussen. “Young people look at that and get an idea of ‘this is what sex is like and about,’ and so that changes their view of women and what sex is, and usually isn’t considered to be a good thing.”

“We are not looking to prophetalize, and we aren’t trying to make people religious, we are trying to ask what is it that may guide adolescents from pornography,” added Bierman, who is religious, along with his colleague Rasmussen. “What I think is important here is to glean why religious attendance has these effects, and hopefully apply these lessons to a broader framework of individuals.”

Bierman said this research is a base for the future. There isn’t much understanding of how pornography affects teenagers and their sexual development, so for Bierman and Rasmussen, this is a starting point for future studies.

Go here for a slightly different version of the same article.

90 years ago: The death of Émile Coué

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

On July 2, 1926, Émile Coué de la Châtaigneraie died at the age of 69. Mr. Coué was a pharmacist in Troyes, France from 1882-1910 who discovered the placebo effect among his clients, leading him to become a pioneer in promoting autosuggestion for self-improvement; he and his wife Lucie founded La Société Lorraine de Psychologie appliquée (The Lorraine Society of Applied Psychology) in 1913.

Mr. Coué wrote the book La Maîtrise de soi-même par l'autosuggestion consciente (Mastery of One’s Self through Conscious Autosuggestion) (1920), but is best remembered for the saying, which he encouraged people to repeat to themselves as a mantra, "Tous les jours à tous points de vue je vais de mieux en mieux (Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better)." Repetition of this phrase became known as La méthode Coué (The Coué method), or Couéism.

Although Mr. Coué was more popular in Europe than in North America in his own time, he exerted a major influence on North American success/motivation speakers of the later 20th century and beyond, including W. Clement Stone, Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, and Rev. Robert Schuller--some of whom, of course, have been found in high places in evangelicalism. While the success/motivation speakers proclaim a false gospel of self-improvement through self-effort, the Lord Jesus Christ said, "Without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

450 years ago: The death of Nostradamus

The law and the prophets were until John: Luke 16:16a

On July 2, 1566, Michel de Nostredame, who Latinized his name to Nostradamus, died at the age of 62. He was best known for his Almanacs (annually from 1550-1566) and Les Propheties (1555-1568), and wrote quatrains which have been interpreted as prophesying major world events, often disasters. Mr. Nostradamus claimed to use astrology in coming up with his predictions, but modern research suggests that he borrowed from existing end-time prophecies.

Mr. Nostradamus has been credited with prophesying cataclysmic events of the 20th century, but such views have been criticized as reading the fulfillment into the prophecies after the events had occurred, and many of his prophecies have been as vague enough to be subject to various interpretations. Mr. Nostradamus himself rejected the label of "prophet," and I prefer to take him at his word on that.

The prophecies of Michel de Nostredame may be an interesting subject of study, but they shouldn't be relied upon as a valid or reliable guide to the future. Contrary to what those in the New Apostolic Reformation say, we don't have prophets anymore, in the Old Testament sense of someone receiving direct revelation from God. God has given us everything He wants us to know--and everything we need to know--about the future in the Bible, and it's the only authoritative source of information on the future. Divination--knowledge of the future using occult means--is, in fact, prohibited by God:

Do not practice divination or sorcery. Leviticus 19:26b (NIV)

Having legally abolished biological sex differences, maybe Massachusetts can try repealing the law of gravity

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
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.
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; Romans 1:18-28

The University of Alberta Student Union elections of 1983 included a joke slate called the Utopian Pragmatists. The first plank of their platform was to repeal "the oppressive law of gravity." In 1983 such a position was obviously meant and understood as satire, but today's satire is tomorrow's reality, as proven by the state of Massachusetts in 2016. As reported by Al Perrotta in The Stream, June 2, 2016 (links in original):

The Massachusetts House of Representatives voted 116-36 Wednesday to legally demolish the notion of biological sex in favor of “gender identity.” A similar bill passed the Massachusetts Senate last month. Gov. Charlie Baker has already said he’ll sign the bill.

“The Gender Identity Public Accommodations Bill” (H.4343) provides a three-front advance of transgender “anti-discrimination” laws, reports Conservative Review:

1. It replaces the word “sex” with “gender identity” in multiple areas of Massachusetts law.

2. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination must amend rules and policies to comply with this shift from biological sex to “gender identity.”

3. It allows people to use the restroom or locker room that matches their gender identity. Or as the bill puts it, “Any public accommodation … shall grant all persons admission to and the full enjoyment of such public accommodation or other entity consistent with the person’s gender identity” (incidentally, making bathrooms sound like amusement parks).

According to Boston.com, the bill does throw a bone to critics and parents concerned that such bathroom bills could be used as cover for predatory men who want to gain access to women’s bathrooms. H.4343 contains a provision that the Attorney General’s office issue guidance for potential legal action against “any person who asserts gender identity for an improper purpose.”

Victory brought eye-popping hyperbole from the bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Byron Rushing. “We are doing the work the founders of our nation intended for us to do,” said Rushing, “This is a great day for us and we should be very proud.”

“Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them ‘Humankind’ when they were created.” Genesis 5:2

LGBT activists agreed. “This is a historic day for Massachusetts, said the pro-transgender group Freedom Massachusetts, “The wave of legislative activity #TransBillMA has seen in the last two months is the culmination of a decade-long fight to fully protect transgender people from discrimination in the Bay State.”

Nonsense, says one lawmaker who voted against the bill. “This legislation takes rights away from 99.9% of the population,” Rep. James Lyons told Conservative Review. “Every parent that I have spoken with including a parent of a transgender child understands that this bill eliminates long held expectation of privacy and protection for children.”

The issue goes even deeper. As Lyons told the Boston Herald, “The bill allows people on a routine basis to decide if they are male or female. Your anatomy is no longer relevant,” he said, “This has absolutely nothing to do with discrimination; it has everything to do with changing our society and social engineering by those on the left.”

As the debate and vote were taking place, hundreds opposed to the bill, dressed in blue, stood inside and outside the State House chanting “No, no!”

Opponents of the trans bill chant "no, no" outside the House chamber pic.twitter.com/sx9WZl4e2f

— Lauren Dezenski (@LaurenDezenski) June 1, 2016

They also engaged in prayer.

Faith leaders praying in multiple languages for our leaders to protect women and children. #mapoli #NoBathroomBill pic.twitter.com/0ma0ihai3p

— MA Family Institute (@MAFamilyInst) June 1, 2016

The protest and prayer was organized by Massachusetts Family Institute. And they are not giving up the fight. Today, the group is calling on people to phone Gov. Baker’s office to urge him to veto the bill. His Boston office number is: 617-725-4005. His Springfield office is 413-784-1200.

Perceptive readers will notice that the social justice warriors are quite willing to sacrifice the safety of girls and women in order to advance their demonic agenda--all in the name of "progress" amd "diversity," of course. Blogger Vox Day comments:

Personally, I think the crazier things get, the more egregiously awful they become, the better. All of this will be necessary to steel the civilizationists for the hard work to come. It is getting more and more difficult for the moderates and apologists and churchians to manufacture specious arguments claiming everything is really just fine and things are getting better all the time.

Even tender-hearted women are rapidly beginning to reach the conclusion that "kill it with fire" is the only solution to the sick society we presently endure.

HT: Vox Popoli; John C. Wright

This 81-year-old murderer professed Christ, but apparently didn't possess Christ

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. Matthew 10:16

The victim of this murder reminds me of a clergyman of my acquaintance who's a lovely man, but seems to assume that everyone else is as decent as he is, and is frequently taken in by con men, especially those who claim to be Christians. Submitted for your approval, the following item, which proves that you're never too old to be conned--or to commit murder. As reported by Marcia Pobzeznik of The Newport Daily News, June 29, 2016:

Edward Acquisto was given a “significant” loan in 2011, Police Chief Thomas Blakey said, and an argument about paying it back led Acquisto to shoot and kill John Cloud of Kingston, Mass., in the town’s Pocasset Hill Cemetery on a Monday night earlier this month.

Blakey would not say how much Acquisto “legally” borrowed from the congregational church he and Cloud belonged to, but did say Acquisto apparently reneged on the agreement to pay it back.

“It does not seem that there was anything substantial paid back,” Blakey said.

Blakey also could not say what Acquisto did with the money. “It is unknown what became of the money,” Blakey said.

Acquisto, 80, formerly of Woonsocket, is a convicted felon who moved to an apartment on State Avenue Street in North Tiverton in 2003 after being released from prison for serving time for manslaughter and rape. He arranged to meet Cloud in the cemetery on Main Road on June 13 about 7 p.m., police said.

Acquisto was known to have spent time in the cemetery praying with his Bible in hand, and the two had met there in the past to pray together, Blakey said. They belonged to the same church in Kingston, Mass.

The night of June 13, Acquisto shot Cloud twice in the torso with a .22-caliber handgun, Blakey said. People who were in the cemetery at the time called police to report that a black Kia drove out of the cemetery, and a man lay dying near gravestones.

Cloud, 81, was a graduate of Tufts University who was a mechanical engineer and working for a medical equipment company in Dedham, Mass., at the time of his death, according to his obituary. He was described by family and friends who posted tributes to him as a dedicated family man who was also dedicated to his church.

The first line of his obituary reads: “John A. Cloud died unexpectedly on June 13 steadfast in his belief of the good in people.”

Fire Chief Robert Lloyd said rescue crews transported Cloud to St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, Mass., where he was pronounced dead.

A graveside service was held for Cloud on June 18 at the church in Kingston.

“We and the family have no comment,” Joan Cole, office manager for Mayflower Congregational Church, said in a response to a request for an interview with the reverend of the church and the family of Cloud.

Tiverton Senior Center Director Janice Gomes said Acquisto, who was in failing health the past several years, often quoted Bible verses during his visits to the center. He started going to the center shortly after moving into town in 2003, but in recent years just went there for help with paperwork. He told Gomes of his background early on, she said.

Acquisto was killed in a driveway of a home on Ford Farm Road, across from the town cemetery, after a brief police chase about an hour after he shot Cloud in the cemetery. Acquisto drove into Fall River after shooting Cloud and was chased back into Tiverton by Fall River and Tiverton police who spotted his car about a half-mile from the Tiverton border. Acquisto was shot and killed by police after emerging from his car with a gun in hand.

That part of the investigation is still ongoing, Blakey said.

Asked about the gun Acquisto used and how he obtained it seeing he was a convicted felon who should not have been in possession of a gun, Blakey only said that it was “not reported stolen.”

Handwriting analysis reveals parts of the Old Testament to be older than previously thought

As reported by Tia Ghose of Live Science, April 11, 2016 (bold in original, link inserted by blogger):

Key parts of the Old Testament may have been compiled earlier than some scholars thought, suggests a new handwriting analysis of text on pottery shards.

The shards, found at a frontier fort dating to around 600 B.C., were written by at least six different people, suggesting that literacy was widespread in the ancient kingdom of Judah, said study co-author Israel Finkelstein, an archaeologist and biblical scholar at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

"We're dealing with really low-level soldiers in a remote place who can write," Finkelstein told Live Science. "So there must have been some sort of educational system in Judah at that time."

The writing shows that the kingdom had the intellectual resources to write and compile large chunks of the Old Testament during this period, he added.

Biblical history

Religious scholars have long fiercely debated when the Bible was written. Up until around the middle ages, people believed the Bible was written almost in real-time (as events were occurring).

Text in the Bible mentions scribes and literate officials for the kingdom of Judah, which remained a state from roughly the 10th century B.C. to 586 B.C., when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar laid waste to Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and forced most of the Jewish elites into exile in Babylonia. So scholars assumed the text must have been written prior to the destruction of the temple.

But that line of reasoning assumed the biblical accounts were historically accurate. Another possibility is that those details about literate people were anachronisms inserted by later writers based on their own cultures, Finkelstein said. In recent years, one camp of scholars has pushed for a later date for the compilation of the Old Testament, with some even arguing the compilation occurred centuries later, when the Greeks or Persians ruled in what is now Israel, Finkelstein said.

He said he and his colleagues realized there might be a different way to address the question. Decades earlier, archeologists had uncovered archaic Hebrew ink inscriptions on ostraca, or pottery shards, from a frontier fort called Arad, a remote garrison located far away from Judah's central city, Jerusalem. Finkelstein said he wondered whether these inscriptions, which were written over the span of a few months in 600 B.C., could reveal how many people could read and write at the time.

Widespread literacy

To answer that question, Arie Shaus, a mathematics and archaeology doctoral candidate at Tel Aviv University, along with Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin, an applied mathematics doctoral candidate at the university, and colleagues, relied on machine learning. They used computer programs to scan digital images of the text, systematically fill in missing lines of text and analyze each stroke. Finally, the computer algorithms compared the script on each of the 18 inscriptions to see whether they were written by the same hand. (The ancient Hebrew text was written in an Iron Age script that is no longer used.)

All told, at least six different people wrote or read the script on the ostracas, including individuals ranging in rank from the commander of the fort, a man named Malkiyahu, all the way down to the deputy quartermaster, a soldier with a low rank, below the person running the fort's storage depots, the researchers reported today (April 11) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While none of these inscriptions were Shakespeare, most were written with proper spelling and syntax, the researchers found.

"This is really quite amazing," Finkelstein said, "that in a remote place like this, there was more than one person, several people, who could write."

What's more, other border forts have similar ostraca, suggesting that writing at that time was widespread, at least within the Judahite army, the researchers reported. Other archaeological evidence suggests that no more than 100,000 people lived in Judah at the time. Together, these lines of evidence suggest that a substantial fraction of the population (possibly several hundreds of people) could read and write, Finkelstein said.

Early biblical compilation

In order for so many low-ranking soldiers to be able to read and write, there must have been some kind of Judahite educational system, Finkelstein said.

That, in turn, suggests there were enough literate people at that time to compile some portions of the Old Testament, such as the Book of Deuteronomy, parts of Genesis, and the books of Joshua to 2 Kings, Finkelstein said.

By contrast, after the destruction of the first temple, when Israel's educated people were either killed or exiled to Babylonia, there is not so much as a pottery shard, seal or stamp with a single piece of writing from the region for more than 200 years, Finkelstein said. This suggests it's much less likely these books were compiled after the temple's destruction, he said.

The findings are very important and dovetail with other lines of research, said Christopher Rollston, a Near East scholar at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. There is no doubt that the elites in Judahite society could read and write around 600 B.C., Rollston said.

"In fact, I have argued in print that the literacy of elites (scribes, high governmental and religious officials) is already present by circa 800 [B.C.]" Rollston told Live Science in an email.

However, not everyone agrees with all of the paper's assumptions. While the notion that many could read and write in the Kingdom of Judah during the seventh century B.C. is widespread, "I do not share the authors' opinion that literacy among the elite declined after the seventh century [B.C.]," said Ernst Axel Knauf, a theology scholar at Bern University in Switzerland, who was not involved in the study.

Edmonton Eskimos cater to the Selfie Generation

This item hasn't anything directly to do with the usual subjects of this blog, but it does serve as a snapshot of current conditions. The Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League are recognizing characteristics unique to Millennials (aka the Selfie Generation, aka the Retarded Generation)--as reported by Ryan Tumilty of Metro News, June 6, 2016:

The Edmonton Eskimos are hoping a new generation of football fans will help them boost struggling attendance numbers and bring new life to Commonwealth Stadium.

With the season set to get underway in just a few weeks, the club has introduced a new standing section that it hopes will appeal to younger fans.

“We created a tiered deck system in both north end corners of the end zone,” said Scott Murray, the team’s vice-president of ticket sales.

He said the new section will be sold online during the week and they hope it will allow for a more social experience.

“They like some freedom to move around, as opposed to being assigned to a specific seat,” he said.

Last year, the team averaged 31,517 fans per game – part of a downward trend they have seen in recent years. Murray said they do hope to improve those numbers, but it’s also about making sure the team is offering something for everyone.

“This helps us engage a different group of people that we don’t think we have engaged enough,” he said. “We think they will come for the social experience and maybe do two or three games a year.”

Jay Ball, the general manager of FC Edmonton, said he believes the Eskimos are on the right track trying to attract millennial fans.

Ball said his team already has much of that younger audience and they’ve attracted them in part by advertising where they are.

“The live on social media, they live on mobile devices and tablets and computers. You can’t reach them through billboard advertising,” he said.

He said they also encourage people to get excited about the game and have a good time, much like what the Esks are planning for the new sections.

“We’re not selling soccer. We’re selling a really unique sports experience.”

I approve of giving the Selfie Generation its own section. Anyone who's had the misfortune of being at a game (or anywhere else) in the vicinity of these life forms can verify that they spend their time running around and playing with their smartphones, and don't bother watching the game. It's a good idea to give them their own playpen, and leave the rest of the stadium for people who want to watch a football game.

Let's see now: they can't remain in one place for very long, and are unable to sit still and concentrate on the activity at hand. This is the sort of behaviour that has historically been true of 5-year-olds, and now it's being recognized as acceptable behaviour for 15-year-olds. And some people are still so deluded as to believe that society is progressing.

40 years ago: Cuckservative Governor of Missouri rescinds 1838 executive order banishing Mormons from the state

The term "cuckservative" has been around only since about early 2015, but the cuckservative mentality has been around longer than that. I don't know if the word has an "official" definition, but I define a cuckservative as someone who claims to be a conservative, but who considers it more important to be regarded as not racist, sexist, and/or (insert pejorative here) by people who don't like him than to stand firm for any conservative principles. Cuckservatism manifests itself in behaviour known as "virtue signalling," such as apologizing to groups claiming victim status on the basis of alleged historical mistreatment at the hands of the cuckservatives and/or the cuckservatives' ancestors.

An example of 20th century cuckservatism comes from June 25, 1976. Missouri Governor Kit Bond (Republican) announced an executive order rescinding Missouri Executive Order 44, issued by Governor Lilburn Boggs on October 27, 1838, directing that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description." Mr. Bond's announcement came in an address to the Far West stake of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a goodwill gesture for the United States Bicentennial. For those unfamiliar with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the RLDS was formed as a splinter group from the main LDS church after the death in 1844 of Moromon founder Joseph Smith, resulting in a dispute over who was the proper successor to Mr. Smith as leader of the church.

Mr. Boggs' executive order in 1838 had been issued three days after the Battle of Crooked River, a skirmish between Mormons and Missouri state militia. The Mormons have made a lot of mileage out of claiming to be victims of religious persecution, but the claim is nonsense. Many new religious movements came into being in the United States in the second quarter of the 19th century, with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints being the one that has lasted the longest (It hardly needs saying--but I'll say it, anyway--that that's not to be taken as evidence of the approval of God upon the organization). There were numerous splinter groups that resulted from the death of Joseph Smith; most of them soon disappeared but the RLDS remains. Another new religious movement, Seventh-Day Adventism, began in the mid-1840s, but I don't recall any accounts of Seventh-Day Adventists being driven out of one area after another. The evidence indicates that many Americans in those days were receptive to doctrines that were heretical by biblical standards of orthodoxy (in the mid-19th century, only about 1/4 of the American population were members of Christian churches), but somehow the Mormons seem to have borne the brunt of "persecution." Mormons were in fact driven out of various places (e.g,, Kirtland, Ohio in 1837), but it wasn't because of their beliefs, but because of their behaviour, especially crooked banking and real estate practices. Readers who are interested in this history may search some of the blogs and sites on the left side of this blog. A "secular" book about a serious crime that has some connection to historic Mormon scandals is The Mormon Murders by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith (1988).

According to Gordon H. Fraser in his book Is Mormonism Christian? (4th edition, 1977, pp. 176, 180):

True, the Mormons left New York State for Ohio in the early 1830s, but this was largely because their New York neighbors could not see them as saints and prophets. The "hoodlums" of the area were not persecutors, but simply Joseph Smith's old gang of treasure hunters, who felt that Joseph was "holding out" on them with his treasure of golden plates. The attraction in Ohio was Sidney Rigdon's ready-made congregation, which moved into the Mormon church as a body.

They left Kirtland, with its newly built temple, largely because of the shady banking and real estate operations of Smith and Rigdon. Many had apostatized by that time. Those who hastened the exodus westward were not gentile persecutors, but dissident Mormons who had attached themselves to the church and then, disillusioned, sought revenge against the leaders. The rank and file of honest folk who followed westward did so in good faith.

Their expulsion from Missouri and Illinois, likewise, was not because of their religious beliefs but because of their behavior. In both cases, they had become undesirable neighbors...

...The most flagrant fraud, and the one that caused the hasty exit of Smith and Rigdon to escape their pursuers, was their venture into the banking business. The bank was denied a charter but was started anyway. It was illegally operated and dishonestly administered. It issued $250,000 worth of bills, which were backed by no assets. Many besides Mormons invested and deposited in it to their sorrow. The outsiders added to the friction, causing the flight of Smith and Rigdon and the collapse of the whole Kirtland enterprise. None of this, however, was religious persecution by the gentiles.

Note: "Gentiles" in Mormon terminology refers to non-Mormons, as Mormons regard themselves as being true Israel.

The differences between Mormonism and Christianity are beyond the scope of this post, but the reader is invited to search various blogs and sites on the left side of this blog. Additional useful sources include the film The God Makers (1982) and the companion book of the same name by Dave Hunt and Ed Decker (1984), as well as the aforementioned Is Mormonism Christian?.

The Selfie Generation gets a hotfoot while unleashing "The Power Within"

It came as a minor surprise to this blogger that Tony Robbins is still doing his "Power Within" sessions, including firewalking; it seems like such a relic of an earlier era. It's not unusual for people to be burned while firewalking, but the reason for it is new, and related to the technology and mentality of the early 21st century. This episode sounds like something from a "Carry On" movie--as reported by Associated Press, June 24, 2016:

DALLAS — More than 30 people who attended an event with motivational speaker Tony Robbins have been treated for burns after Robbins encouraged them to walk on hot coals as a way of conquering their fears, Dallas fire officials said.

Five people were taken to a hospital Thursday night, while the rest were treated at the scene for burns to their feet and lower extremities, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said.

The hot coals were spread outside the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center as part of a four-day Robbins seminar called “Unleash the Power Within.”

Representatives for Robbins didn’t immediately return messages Friday, but in a statement provided to KTVT-TV organizers said about 7,000 people walked across the coals and only five “requested any examination beyond what was readily available on site.”

“Someone not familiar with the fire walk observed the event and called 911 erroneously reporting hundreds of people requiring medical attention for severe burns,” according to the statement.

Tad Schinke, an event trainer, told WFAA-TV: “We always have a few people that have some discomfort afterwards and we do our best to take care of them.”

Such fire walks are not uncommon at Robbins’ seminars: More than 20 people were treated for foot burns after a similar event in 2012 in San Jose, California.

One participant, Jacqueline Luxemberg, told WFAA that some people were not concentrating on walking across the coals because they were taking selfies and asking others to take video of them.

Fire officials used a city bus to hold many of the injured people; others were carried to ambulances or back inside the convention centre to be evaluated.

600 years ago: The martyrdom of Jerome of Prague

On May 30, 1416, Jerome, aka Hieronymous, was burned at the stake after being convicted by Roman Catholic Church authorities of heresy. Jerome was a Roman Catholic who became a follower of the doctrines of English reformer John Wycliffe and especially his fellow Bohemian reformer, Jan Hus.

When the Council of Constance--convened by Antipope John XXIII and held in Constance, Germany--opened in 1414, Mr. Hus was summoned, and subsequently burned at the stake as a heretic on July 6, 1415. Jerome followed him there, and was imprisoned in April 1415. He became seriously ill, and recanted his support for Messrs. Wycliffe and Hus in public sessions of the Council in September 1415. The Council doubted the sincerity of Jerome's confession and retried him on May 23 and 26, 1416, wherupon Jerome withdrew his recantation. He was burned at the stake and thus became the first Hussite martyr. It should be kept in mind that the Roman Catholc Church has never apologized for murdering true Christians such as Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague, and the doctrines and practices that these saints opposed are still in place.

See my previous post, 600 years ago: The martyrdom of Jan Hus (July 6, 2015).

Hindu Gurus in India pray for Donald Trump's election as President of the United States

It isn't just Southern Baptist convention pastors such as David Jeremiah and Robert Jeffress, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr., and New Apostolic Reformation charismaniacs such as Kenneth Copeland, Paula White, Jan Crouch, and Lance Wallnau who have laid hands and "anointed" Republican Party front-runner Donald Trump in his campaign for President of the United States of America in the 2016 election. As reported by Associated Press, May 11, 2016:

NEW DELHI: Donald Trump may find it tough to get Republican leaders behind his campaign, but he's got some faraway fans trying to get the gods on his side.

Around a dozen members of a right-wing Indian Hindu group lit a ritual fire and chanted mantras Wednesday asking the Hindu gods to help Trump win the United States (US) presidential election.

While Trump has dominated the Republican primary race to decide the party's candidate for the November election, his calls for temporarily banning Muslims from America and cracking down on terrorist groups abroad have earned him some fans in India.

"The whole world is screaming against Islamic terrorism, and even India is not safe from it," said Vishnu Gupta, founder of the Hindu Sena nationalist group. "Only Donald Trump can save humanity."

Members of the group gathered on a blanket spread out in a New Delhi protest park along with a collection of statues depicting gods including Shiva and Hanuman ─ as well as photos of a smiling Trump.

Above them hung a banner declaring support for Trump "because he is hope for humanity against Islamic terror."

The group chanted Sanskrit prayers asking the gods to favor Trump in the election, and threw offerings such as seeds, grass and ghee ─ or clarified butter ─ into a small ritual fire.

It hardly needs saying--but I'll say it, anyway--that if Donald Trump is elected President of the United States in November 2016, it won't be because of the prayers of Hindu gurus, because the gods to whom they're praying don't exist, and are in fact demons (see, e.g., Leviticus 17:7; I Corinthians 10:20; Revelation 9:20). The God of the Bible is sovereign over the affairs of men, and in His answers to prayer.

50 years ago: The founding of the Church of Satan

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. Psalms 14:1 (also Psalms 53:1)

On April 30, 1966, the Church of Satan was established in San Francisco; it was founded by High Priest Anton Szandor LaVey, born Howard Stanton Levey, a former keyboard player at carnivals and religious healing services. The "church" uses the word "Satan" to mean "opposer" or "one who questions." The organization doesn't worship the fallen angel Lucifer as mentioned in the Bible, but practices a form of atheism, with Mr. LaVey's book The Satanic Bible (1969) as its "scripture." Those who are so inclined (this blogger isn't among them) can visit the "church"'s website.

The Church of Satan was regarded as the most shocking and extreme publicly flaunted example of evil in the late 1960s and 1970s, but you don't hear much about it anymore. The iconoclastic beliefs and sinful practices promoted by the "church" have passed it and its founder by. As with the sexual revolution promoted by Playboy magazine and its publisher, Hugh Hefner, the Church of Satan and Anton LaVey seem almost quaint, relics of a bygone era. Mr. LaVey died on October 29, 1997 at the age of 67, and the Black House in San Francisco in which Mr. LaVey lived and which served as the "church"'s headquarters until its founder's death was demolished on October 17, 2001. It may come as a surprise to find out that the Church of Satan still exists; its headquarters are now in Poughkeepsie, New York. Peter H. Gilmore has held the office of High Priest since 2001.

The book Selling Satan: The Tragic History of Mike Warnke (1993) by Mike Hertenstein and Jon Trott contains an appendix titled, Reality is a Sometime Thing: A Strange Evening with Anton LaVey, an account of the book's authors acceptance of an invitation to the Black House for dinner with Mr. LaVey and his lover and colleague Blanche Barton. The article is well worth reading, a revealing snapshot of America's most famous Satanist in his declining years. The authors conclude by saying:

If our quest had been to discover the real Anton LaVey, here at last he was: a human being on the edge of eternity, grasping after immortality and significance. He seemed very alone and quite deluded...

The Black Pope, hater of humanity...worries about being forgotten, his own icon smashed by time. One had to wonder if perhaps LaVey's entire masquerade was just one long whistle past the graveyard, an attempt to tame evil and take the sting out of death by reducing them to mere objects of "kitsch." But the last laugh was coming.

Jon shook the iron gate--Blanche had insisted we make sure it was locked behind us. We waved to her on the porch, and she pulled the front door shut, securing the black house from the violent world of homicidal nuts that LaVey, with his bubble-gum nihilism, had helped to create. As we headed down California Street toward our car, my partner and I felt a great sadness for Anton LaVey. It was clear that his chain-link fence against the darkness wasn't going to hold out for much longer.

110 years ago: The Azusa Street Revival begins

On April 14, 1906, African Methodist Episcopal Church on Azusa Street in Los Angeles held its first service under pastor William J. Seymour in what became known as the Azusa Street Revival, beginning the Pentecostal movement. This blogger regards this anniversary as one to be noted, but not celebrated. I don't have the time or energy to catalogue the legacy of the Azusa Street Revival, especially with the increasingly aberrant fruit being produced today. For a small sample of such, click on the "charismania" label for this post; a better idea is to search various blogs on my blogroll, where there's plenty of information to be found.

30 years ago: Pope John Paul II visits Rome's Great Synagogue

On April 13, 1986, Pope John Paul II visited the Great Synagogue in Rome; it was the first such papal visit on record, and another step in uniting the world's religions. As reported by E.J. Dionne, Jr. of The New York Times, April 14, 1986:

ROME, April 13 — Pope John Paul II, embracing the world's Jews as ''our elder brothers,'' today paid the first recorded papal visit to a synagogue and condemned persecution and displays of anti-Semitism ''at any time and by anyone.''

''I repeat, 'By anyone,' '' John Paul declared to ringing applause at Rome's central synagogue, situated in what was once the Rome ghetto, established by the decree of one of his predecessors.

John Paul, seeking to heal nearly 2,000 years of strife between Catholics and Jews, also expressed his ''abhorrence for the genocide decreed against the Jewish people during the last war, which led to the holocaust of millions of innocent victims.''

Called 'True Turning Point'

The Pope's journey to the spiritual center of what is believed to be the oldest Jewish group in the Diaspora was greeted by the Chief Rabbi, Elio Toaff, as a ''gesture destined to go down in history'' and a ''true turning point in the policy of the church.''

''The heart opens itself,'' Rabbi Toaff declared, ''to the hope that the misfortunes of the past will be replaced by fruitful dialogue.''

Rabbi Toaff embraced John Paul when he arrived on the steps of the imposing Victorian synagogue overlooking the Tiber River.

Congregation of 1,000

John Paul returned the embrace and then entered the synagogue to a thundering ovation from a congregation of 1,000 people, many of them descendents of Jews who had been forced to live apart from other Romans.

As a male chorus sang the 150th Psalm, ''Alleluia, Praise the Lord in His Holy Place,'' the Pope made his way down the blue-carpeted main aisle and took his place beside Rabbi Toaff.

In a service that emphasized the equal dignity of the two faiths, the two men sat on identical gilt and brocade thrones and took turns reading from the Psalms. 'Jews Are Beloved of God'

''The Jews are beloved of God, who has called them with an irrevocable calling,'' John Paul said, speaking in Italian and, briefly, in Hebrew.

''The Jewish religion is not 'extrinsic' to us, but in a certain way is 'intrinsic' to our own religion,'' he said elsewhere in his address. ''With Judaism, therefore, we have a relationship which we do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly beloved brothers, and, in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers.''

At no point in his address did John Paul mention Israel. Prominent Jews around the world had expressed the hope that the visit might be the prelude to establishing formal diplomatic ties between the Vatican and Israel.

But in a series of strong attacks on anti-Semitism, the Pope offered rassurances to Jews who feared he was backing away from what Rabbi Toaff called the ''revolution'' in Catholic-Jewish relations set in motion by Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65.

Quoting extensively from ''Nostra Aetate,'' or ''In Our Times,'' the Vatican II document that rejected the longstanding belief among many Catholics that Jews were collectively responsible for Christ's death, the Pope declared:

''So any alleged theological justification for discriminatory measures or, worse still, for acts of persecution is unfounded.'' Deplores Discrimination

The Pope said ''the acts of discrimination, unjustified limitation of religious freedom, oppression'' directed against Jews were ''gravely deplorable manifestations.''

''Yes, once again, through myself, the church, in the words of the well-known declaration 'Nostra Aetate,' 'deplores the hatred, persecutions, and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews any time and by anyone,' '' he said. ''I repeat, 'By anyone.' ''

Recalling his visit to Auschwitz in 1979, the Pope spoke of ''the memory of the people whose sons and daughters were destined to total extermination.''

''The Jewish community of Rome, too, paid a high price in blood,'' he said.

And in a passage that Jewish leaders saw as particularly reassuring, John Paul declared that ''each of our religions'' wishes ''to be recognized and respected in its own identity,'' beyond ''any ambiguous appropriation.''

Refers to Pope's 'New Israel'

Tullia Zevi, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, said the statement was important because of a recent Lenten sermon in which the Pope had said the ''new Israel'' of Christianity ''assumes and surmounts the former.''

The Pope's statement today, Mrs. Zevi said, ''acknowledges that Judaism has his own identity and has not been appropriated or substituted by Christianity.''

''He sweeps away apprehensions that he was moving away from the letter and spirit of Vatican II and was moving back toward a conservative theology,'' she added. ''He clearly expressed his wish to take up the heritage of John XXIII. And for Jews, this is a very reassuring fact.''

But Mrs. Zevi and other Jewish leaders made clear that they were still dissatisfied that the Vatican does not recognize Israel, and the issue was raised forcefully during the ceremony by both Rabbi Toaff and Giacomo Saban, the president of Rome's Jews.

''The return of the Jewish people to its land must be recognized as an unrenounceable good,'' Rabbi Toaff said. ''The recognition of Israel in its irreplaceable role in the plan of final redemption promised by God cannot be denied.''

Anti-Jewish Decree Recalled

In a moving address, Mr. Saban also referred to the decree of Pope Paul IV in 1555 segregating Rome's Jews. The order, he said, ''reduced those who lived in the ghetto to economic and cultural misery, depriving them of some of the most fundamental right.''

''It was only 115 years ago that this complex of restrictions, enslavements and humiliations ceased,'' he said as a pained expression appeared to cross John Paul's face.

The audience included some prominent Italian policians but was made up almost entirely of Italian Jews. They sat in rapt attention as the Pope spoke, some faces creased in smiles of astonishment at the sight of the white-robed Pope addressing the congregation.

''Behold, how good it is, and how pleasant, where brethren dwell at one,'' the Pope read from the 133d Psalm.

Rabbi Toaff read from Psalm 124: ''Had not the Lord been with us, when men rose up against us, then would they have swallowed us alive.''

After the 80-minute ceremony, the Pope attended a brief reception, where he received a gift of a menorah, the ceremonial candelabra. He, in turn, gave the congregation a copy of a Torah from the Vatican Museum.

Meets Key Jewish Leaders

He also met with key Jewish leaders here, including Settima Spizzichino, one of a handful of survivors from the roundup of Oct. 16, 1943, that sent hundreds of Jews to their deaths in Auschwitz.

John Paul also met the mother of a 2-year-old boy killed in October 1982, when Arab terrorists sprayed automatic weapons fire at worshipers at the synagogue, wounding 36 people. The Pope had met with the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Yasir Arafat, just a month before, and some Jews here said the Pope bore indirect responsibility for the attack.

Also receiving a warm greeting from the Pope was Eytan Ronn, the Israeli Ambassador to Italy, who called the visit ''a good step forward.''

Mr. Ronn said he had told the Pope he looked forward to further progress in relations between the two faiths. ''In my thoughts, there was my own country,'' he said.

Go here and here for other articles on the pope's visit to the synagogue. To read Pope John Paul II's address on the occasion, go here.

On October 27, 1986, six and a half months after his visit to the Great Synagogue in Rome, Pope John Paul II presided over the World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, Italy. See my post 25 years ago: Representatives of 12 religions join Pope John Paul II at World Day of Prayer for Peace (October 26, 2011).

For more on the Roman Catholic Church's official position on Jews, see my post 50 years ago: Pope Paul VI promulgates Second Vatican Council's Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate) (October 28, 2015).

10 years ago: The death of William Sloane Coffin

On April 12, 2006, Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr. died at the age of 82. Rev. Coffin, a graduate of Yale Divinity School, became a Presbyterian minister, and later was a minister in the United Church of Christ. He was Chaplain of Yale University from 1958-1975, and senior minister at the liberal interdenominational Riverside Church from 1977-1987. Although Rev. Coffin had been a case officer with the Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1950s, he became increasingly disenchanted with the CIA and American foreign policy.

As a clergyman, Rev. Coffin was known for opposing U.S. involvement in various wars and supporting nuclear disarmament, sodomite rights, and about any other politically and theologically liberal cause imaginable, to the point that he became a caricature of a liberal Protestant clergyman. The main thing I remember Rev. Coffin for was his trip to Iran in December 1979 with National Council of Churches President Rev. M. William Howard, Jr. and Most Rev. Dr. Thomas Gumbleton, Roman Catholic Bishop of Detroit, to conduct Christmas "services" for Americans being held hostage by Iranian thugs at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The three stooges clergymen, known for their liberal views on various issues, had been invited to Iran as dupes participants in the propaganda exercise by the Islamist regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. For further reading on this incident I recommend the article Captivity Pageant by Mark Bowden in the December 2005 issue of The Atlantic.

Edmonton municipal census has three categories for "gender" in 2016

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27

But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. Mark 10:6

It comes as no surprise to this blogger to find that the city of Edmonton's municipal census, held every two years, has three categories for the question on gender in 2016: male, female, and "other." At that, it's just in the interest of shortening the questionnaire that only one additional option was added. During the training session for census workers, it was stated that there are now seven varieties of "transgendered" persons. At least, that's the number this week--a new letter seems to be added every few weeks, and it will end up being Heinz 57 varieties, the way it's going. I can't keep up with all these letters, so I just refer to these people as "alphabet" freaks or perverts (yes, they're freaks, and I won't apologize for using the word).

As blogger Vox Day said in commenting on a similar news item on July 14, 2015:

One thing I didn't realize when reading about the historical collapse of empires is how damned farcical it is.

Chaldean Catholic priest in London, Ontario sentenced for gambling away money intended for sponsorship of refugees

As reported by Jennifer O'Brien of the London Free Press, March 29, 2016:

Up to eight London families, and more across southern Ontario, are reportedly out of pocket and the priest they trusted is under investigation after hundreds of thousands of dollars went missing.

The priest, Father Amer Saka of St. Joseph’s Chaldean Catholic Church in London, is suspended and being investigated by police, with his bishop saying Saka told him he gambled away more than $500,000 given to him by families who thought he was holding it for refugee relatives under a private sponsorship program.

Seven or eight London families from the small church in the city are among those who trusted Saka to deposit thousands of dollars into a trust fund to be used once the refugees arrived in Canada, said Bishop Emmanuel Shaleta, head of the Toronto-based Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Canada.

“They deposited it for their loved ones. He was supposed to return it when their relative came.” Shaleta said Monday.

“They did not give this money as a donation for their church. Those people are upset now that money is not there anymore. There are people affected, not only in London, but Toronto, Windsor and Kitchener,” where the priest also worked, he said.

“They trusted him, this money was not for him. It was to be given back to the refugees.”

Instead, the government “has stopped all processing” of refugees wanting to come to London on private sponsorships facilitated by Saka, said one member of the London congregation.

“People are sad. There are people who are working all their life to bring their family here,” said the man, who did not want to be named.

“Some people had no money. They borrowed thousands just to get their family from Syria,” he said, adding many in the congregation have relatives in Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.

The man said estimates of $500,000 are low and he’d heard more than $800,000 had vanished. He said he knows of one family alone who gave more than $70,000 to the priest for loved ones still overseas.

“Everybody’s talking about it.”

Saka, who was also an administrator of the Mar Ouraha parish in Kitchener, could not be reached by phone or in person for comment Monday.

Shaleta, head of Canada’s Mar Addai Chaldean Eparchy, an Eastern Rite church that represents Catholics from Iraq and surrounding countries ,and which is overseen by the Vatican, said the problem came to light more than a month ago, when he learned the priest was participating in the federal government’s refugee-sponsorship program through the Hamilton Roman Catholic Diocese.

Saka is not a priest for either the Diocese of London or the Diocese of Hamilton.

With police tight-lipped, key questions about the case remain, including:

--Whether money was actually deposited with any church for refugee sponsorship purposes.

--Whether oversight procedures, typically tight involving private refugee sponsorships, were lacking.

--Why someone from one Catholic organization would go to another to help with private refugee sponsorships. A spokesperson for the Hamilton diocese has suggested that might be because Hamilton has a large Chaldean community and because Saka’s Kitchener mission parish is located within the diocese.

Saka had been parish priest at St. Joseph’s for about eight years, the parishioner told The Free Press. He called him a good priest who liked to do things with his flock, including play soccer with the men.

London police confirmed they’re investigating after church officials reported more than $500,000 went missing.

“I can confirm that there is a fraud investigation after we received a complaint from the Catholic church,” said London police Const. Melissa Duncan. “The investigation is ongoing. As with any fraud investigation, it can take some time because there are various components to the investigation.”

Saka’s London parish has a congregation of about 100 families, said Shaleta. They’re among about 38,000 Chaldean Catholics across the country.

Shaleta said he hadn’t known the London priest was taking part in the program to sponsor Iraqi refugees.

“I did not know that. I said to him, ‘I know this program deposits money (for refugees), where did you deposit it?’” said Shaleta.

“I cornered him. I said, ‘I need to know where is this,’” he said. “He confessed.”

The priest told him he’d been gambling, said Shaleta.

“Right away, I removed him from the parish.”

Shaleta said he contacted police, took Saka to Southdown Institute in Holland Landing, Ont., for priests with addiction and mental health issues, took over the congregation for two weeks and has since sent a priest there.

“The congregation has nothing to do with this. They are not involved with this,” he said.

Fewer than 100 people normally attend the tiny Charles Street church in London, but the day the bishop arrived to explain things there were as many as 300, said the parishioner.

Under the federal government’s private sponsorship program, people who want to sponsor refugees must raise money to support the newcomers as they get settled.

About $12,000 must be raised to sponsor one refugee, and $27,000 to sponsor a family.

Faith-based organizations often partner with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to help with the process by holding the money, making the application and essentially vouching for the sponsors. The money is used for rent and expenses during the first year after newcomers arrive.

“The diocese says ‘this is a parishioner, we know them, we trust them,’” explained Shaleta.

He said he doesn’t know what’s happening in the cases of the sponsorships that were being held by the London priest, but the bishop said he’s working to ensure the refugees make it to Canada.

“I will do my best to process those files,” he said. “Of course, as a church we will help as much as we can."

October 23, 2019 update: As reported by Jane Sims of the London Free Press, October 22, 2019:

There was no legal way that Rev. Amer Saka wasn’t going to prison for his $1-million fraud.

But, when Ontario Court Justice Allan Maclure sent the 54-year-old Chaldean Catholic priest to prison on Tuesday, he offered Saka some glimmer of hope for his future.

“While Father Saka deserves condemnation for his conduct, in my view he’s also deserving of a degree of forgiveness and hope,” Maclure said in a decision that wrestled with the conduct of “a fundamentally good man” with a wicked gambling addiction.

Saka, who came to Canada from Iraq, pleaded guilty earlier this year for one count of fraud over $5,000 for using trust money that was earmarked to bring Iraqi refugees to Canada to feed a gambling addiction.

So deep was Saka’s gambling urge that at the time he was under investigation for fraud, he was already on the radar of the OPP for his frequent visits to the Point Edward casino where he would gamble large sums of cash.

The Federal Transactions Report Analysis Centre of Canada (FTRAC) also knew of Saka’s large transactions, including using $25,525 in one swoop, and had him on their radar.

Maclure agreed with the defence that the addiction stemmed from undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder that had its roots in the persecution he suffered in his home country. His brother was murdered in 1984 and his mother died in his arms in 2005 after she had been shot.

Saka maintained his faith and helped prisoners at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Once in Canada, he offered his services to the Diocese of Hamilton and its refugee sponsorship through his parishes in London and Kitchener, starting in 2011.

It appears all went well until federal quotas for refugees were eliminated in 2013 and the priest was flooded with requests from potential sponsors, many of them with cash on hand that he was to put in trust accounts.

The problems were detected in 2015 when the church’s sponsorship office became aware of irregularities in Saka’s applications.

By the time the dust settled and Saka had confessed to his bishop, the Crown estimated at least $936,497 had been gambled away.

Saka said in a letter to the court he was under the gambling addict’s view that if he played long enough, he could win back his losses for the families and for himself.

In total, 33 families and 109 family members were affected by Saka’s losses.

“For more than three or four years, I have been suffering from my behaviour regarding my compulsion to gamble,” he wrote in the letter that Maclure read during his decision. “I lost not only myself but also many of my loved ones and loyal parishioners. It was never my intention to cause others so much pain.”

Amer Saka’s lawyer Iryna Revutsky exits the London courthouse Tuesday on the day her client, a Chaldean Catholic priest, was sentenced to two years in prison for fraud. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)

He wrote that he misses working as a priest and had devoted his life to helping others. “Priding myself on service to others, I would never have believed that something that started as a pleasant trip with friends to a casino would have become such a nightmare and personal shame,” he wrote.

His hope was to help others find the joy and peace he had discovered in Canada, but he hadn’t come to terms with the trauma in his life. “When I gambled, it took away some of the horror of some of these memories,” he wrote.

“I miss being a priest. I miss helping people. I worry I won’t ever be a priest again,” he wrote.

Maclure said this was “a large scale fraud. It is an egregious breach of trust.” But Maclure also pointed to Saka’s efforts to get counselling and psychological reports about his undiagnosed mental health issues.

There were also letters of support from parishioners, including one who said Saka sold his own car to help him settle in Canada. Maclure noted many witnesses at Saka’s preliminary hearing held no malice against the priest and forgave him.

“These are the true measures of this man” Maclure said.

Maclure agreed with the Crown that a prison sentence was the only possible outcome. He sentenced Saka to two years, the low end of the range suggested by the Crown.

He also agreed the victims “are among the most vulnerable, displaced people coming from a wartorn country.”

“In many of the events, he took advantage of the high regard he held in the community,” the judge said.

But Maclure also agreed the diocese should have monitored the trust accounts more closely. He was “also very much troubled” that gambling authorities knew of Saka’s gambling, “watched and did nothing.”

Maclure noated Saka’s worry he may never be a priest again. “It would be most unfortunate if that happened,” he said.

“I believe Father Saka is fundamentally a very good man who dedicated his life to others, was traumatized in a way that I doubt many of us could ever appreciate.”

Maclure ordered Saka to pay back the money, but with some hesitance. The most Saka ever made as a priest was $22,000 a year and hopes of him paying back close to $1 million is slim. But the law says there must be restitution.

Maclure suggested he give Saka 45 years to pay , but assistant Crown attorney Adam Campbell argued that would “effectively nullify the intent of Parliament.”

Maclure recalculated his decision to 10 years after Saka completes his sentence. At that time Saka can come to court and request more time.

Maclure recommended Saka serve his sentence in a minimum security prison.

Yoga has yet to bring peace to this recent convert who's now under arrest after getting violent during a plane flight

Only the Lord Jesus Christ can bring true and eternal peace to a troubled soul; let's pray that the subject of this article comes to know that peace. As reported by Jennifer Sinco Kelleher of Associated Press, March 31, 2016:

HONOLULU — A Japan-bound aircraft returned to Hawaii because of a violent South Korean passenger who wanted to do yoga instead of sit in his seat, the FBI said.

The pilot of the March 26 United Airlines flight from Honolulu International Airport to Narita International Airport turned the plane around after hearing that Hyongtae Pae was yelling at crew members and shoving his wife, the FBI said in a criminal complaint.

Pae told the FBI he didn’t want to sit in his seat during the meal service, so he went to the back of the plane to do yoga and meditate. He became angry when his wife and flight attendants told him to return to his seat. “Pae pushed his wife because she was trying to make him stop,” the complaint said. “He felt that she was siding with the flight crew.”

He tried to head-butt and bite U.S. marines who were passengers on the flight and tried to force him back to his seat, Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren Ching said at Pae’s detention hearing Wednesday.

According to the complaint, he threatened to kill passengers and was yelling that there is no god.

Pae went into a rage because he felt the flight crew was ordering him around, Ching said.

Ching said Pae shouldn’t be released because he’s a danger to his wife, himself and others. Pae urinated on himself and was on suicide watch at the Honolulu Federal Detention Centre, Ching said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Chang ordered that Pae be released on $25,000 bond, but with certain conditions including not leaving the island of Oahu and undergoing a mental health evaluation.

Since the arrest, Pae’s wife has been staying at the Waikiki Gateway Hotel, defence attorney Jin Tae “J.T.” Kim told the judge, who asked whether Pae had financial resources to continue staying there after his release. Kim said he’s working with the consulate to transfer more money to Pae’s wife and find alternate, temporary housing.

Chang denied Kim’s request to allow Pae to return home to Korea, because that would involve getting on a plane again.

Outside of court, Kim said his client is a 72-year-old retired farmer who travelled from South Korea to celebrate his 40th wedding anniversary with a Hawaii vacation. It was the couple’s first trip to Hawaii.

Pae only recently took up yoga to help with anxiety, Kim said, adding that he was sleep-deprived during the vacation. Pae told the FBI he hadn’t been able to sleep in 11 days.