Author Archives: David

“Justice for George Floyd was essential” says Justin Welby

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Derek Chauvin has been convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and is likely to spend much of what is left of his life in prison. That may not be very long in his new surroundings: his incarceration is probably a de facto death sentence.

Did he receive a fair trial? I really don’t know, but I think earthly justice is an elusive commodity. As Blaise Pascal noted:

Love or hate alters the aspect of justice. How much greater confidence has an advocate, retained with a large fee, in the justice of his cause! How much better does his bold manner make his case appear to the judges, deceived as they are by appearances! How ludicrous is reason, blown with a breath in every direction!….. Our magistrates have known well this mystery. Their red robes, the ermine in which they wrap themselves like furry cats, the courts in which they administer justice, the fleurs-de-lis, and all such august apparel were necessary; if the physicians had not their cassocks and their mules, if the doctors had not their square caps and their robes four times too wide, they would never have duped the world, which cannot resist so original an appearance. If magistrates had true justice, and if physicians had the true art of healing, they would have no occasion for square caps; the majesty of these sciences would of itself be venerable enough. But having only imaginary knowledge, they must employ those silly tools that strike the imagination with which they have to deal; and thereby, in fact, they inspire respect. Soldiers alone are not disguised in this manner, because indeed their part is the most essential; they establish themselves by force, the others by show.

This doesn’t bother Justin Welby, who has always seemed more interested in illusory temporal justice than the genuine eternal variety. Would Welby have been tweeting his satisfaction if justice had been served by the jury finding Chauvin innocent? Almost certainly not.

Will Welby also be praying for Chauvin? Let’s hope so: Welby believes Chauvin is a guilty sinner; didn’t Jesus come to save sinners?

I fear the truth is that Welby, like most others, wanted retribution not justice.

The curious case of Rev. Robin Barrett

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Ex-reverend now.

In 2003 Rev. Robin Barret was rector of Good Shepherd church in St. John’s. He had been married to a woman for 21 years and had three children. Yes, I know that’s unusual for an Anglican priest today – most male priests seem to want to marry men, but these were early days in the homoerotic devolution of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Finally, after 25 years in the closet Rev. Robin decided that he could no longer hide who he “really was”, so he announced to his congregation that he was gay. To put it bluntly, he liked having sex with other men. To pacify his congregation, he invited them to attend a “six-week educational workshop at the church on homosexuality”. Rev. Robin declared he hoped “it helps people to understand how I can be gay and a priest at the same time … there’s no going back.” Apparently, that left some in the congregation unconvinced.  Read more about it here.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end of who Rev. Robin “really was”. In 2009 he was arrested for possessing child pornography; some of the images were of babies being molested. Rev. Robin must have decided that it was not yet the right time to come out as a clerical paedophile so there was no course on helping people understand how he could continue to be a priest while enjoying watching babies being raped. In fact, this led to a period of going in: to jail, not a closet.

Elizabeth Barnes, executive officer of the Diocese of Eastern Newfound and Labrador, was disappointed by Rev. Robin’s tastes. “I’ve worked with him directly. I always found him a genuine, caring individual and his call to social causes is exemplary of the kind of man he is” she declared. And Hitler made the trains run on time.

Robin Barret is in the news again. This time because he wants evidence presented at his trial to be excluded; so much for the Anglican mania for inclusion. He believes the evidence should be excluded because the police battered his door down unannounced, not leaving him any time at all to hide the photos of the raped babies.

Barret was jailed for two and a half years and placed on the national sex offender registry for life. You can read about Barret’s appeal to have the evidence thrown out here.

God, through Christ will forgive anyone no matter how heinous the sin. But where is Barret’s repentance? Of course, he may have repented – in the closet, as it were – we have no way of knowing. I do hope so, I would not want to meet my maker with that on my conscience.

Still, at least “his call to social causes is exemplary.”

And now for some humour

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The American Humanist Association has withdrawn the Humanist of the Year Award from Richard Dawkins because, well, he’s just too much of a biologist for the august body. He makes the audacious claims that a person’s gender is determined by her chromosomes and her blackness by the amount of melanin in her skin.

This used to be known as reality; now it’s called demeaning marginalized groups. The American Humanist Association claims to promote “Good without God”. So does Richard Dawkins. This must mean Dawkins has finally got what he wants: an end to objective reality and to his humanist award.

God frequently visits judgement upon us by allowing us to have what we want. Having worked tirelessly to remove God and Christianity from what is left of western civilisation, Dawkins has helped usher in a new golden age of superstition.

From here:

Regrettably, Richard Dawkins has over the past several years accumulated a history of making statements that use the guise of scientific discourse to demean marginalized groups, an approach antithetical to humanist values. His latest statement implies that the identities of transgender individuals are fraudulent, while also simultaneously attacking Black identity as one that can be assumed when convenient. His subsequent attempts at clarification are inadequate and convey neither sensitivity nor sincerity.

Consequently, the AHA Board has concluded that Richard Dawkins is no longer deserving of being honored by the AHA, and has voted to withdraw, effective immediately, the 1996 Humanist of the Year award.

No more master bedrooms in Toronto

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The diversity and inclusion committee of Toronto’s real estate board has outlawed the term “master bedroom” because it is either racist, sexist or slavish. Or possible all three. From now on the m***** bedroom will be known as the “primary bedroom.” That is until someone realises that “primary” implies something else is “secondary”, not to mention that most despised of all categories: tertiary. No-one wants to be third; “primary” is not inclusive at all.

As we are all being constantly reminded, Canadian organisations are riddled with systemic racism, none more so than the Anglican Church of Canada: it has the effrontery to advertise – yes, actually advertise – a Master of Divinity degree program. Has the church no shame?

From here:

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board’s president Lisa Patel says it will use the word “primary” in place of “master,” when referencing the main or principal bedrooms in homes in the coming months.

The word “master” is often seen as a reference to racism, sexism and slavery.

Patel says in an email that the change in terminology will apply to any entries in its MLS system, on TRREB.ca and on its Webforms platform, where realtors share forms with clients.

TRREB’s board of directors approved the change following a recommendation made by its diversity and inclusion committee.

And we think we will escape the wrath of God with a vaccine

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And we think we will escape the wrath of God with a vaccine that uses cells grown from an aborted baby’s kidney to test its efficacy (Pfizer and Moderna) or in its production (AstraZeneca. Janssen uses cells grown from a baby’s iris). The following is happening in Canada. Now.
God help us.
From here:
As a sonographer, I had the unfortunate experience of having to assist in a D&E “uterine evacuation” procedure………
Upon my arrival, I was told to place the ultrasound probe on the mother’s pelvis and scan during the entire procedure. Not knowing what was actually happening, I was stunned as I watched the doctor thrust a catheter into the amniotic sac. I watched the fetus dodge the catheter and try to hide in the top (fundus) of her mother’s uterus to get away. (Yes, the pregnancy was far enough along that I could see gender). Then, to my horror, I watched as he inserted a forceps clamp and grabbed her tiny leg. She writhed around in pain trying to break free but there was nowhere for her to go.
Then the doctor pulled hard until her leg ripped away from her body. She recoiled and violently writhed around in pain and curled herself into a tight ball. But it was no use, the clamp grabbed her arm and she struggled to pull away, a little less because she was dying, as he pulled her arm off of her body. (It was hard to see by this time because I had tears rolling down my cheeks). The child again curled herself into a tight ball but again the device grabbed her other leg and it was ripped from her body. By now, her heartbeat had slowed significantly but she was still alive (they didn’t inject anything).
Then the clamp grabbed her last limb and ripped it off. She wiggled and writhed around and then her heart finally stopped beating. That is when I announced that there was no more cardiac activity. The nurse and scrub tech in the room gasped, realizing for the first time that this was happening to a fetus that was still alive

The rise of the vaccine selfie

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Before all this started, I used to travel a lot and enjoyed photographing the places I visited. I was both amused and irritated (yes, I can be both simultaneously) at travellers who suffered from the compulsion of inserting themselves between their camera and what was often a spectacular view. No matter how good looking or vain the person, the effect was always to diminish not enhance the scene. I believe this is known as a selfie, the contemporary tribute to shameless narcissism.

As I like to remind my grandchildren, things are not getting better, they are getting worse: to confirm it, we now have the vaccine selfie. People are photographing themselves being injected with a COVID-19 vaccine. The preferred pose is to have the needle buried in a bare arm while the candidate smiles knowingly at the camera. What is this all about? Is it the next step in advanced virtue signalling? Is it a primitive superstition, an appeasement to pagan pandemic gods to convince them to pass over the vaccinated when the next variant sweeps the country? A type of masonic rite like rolling up your left trouser leg to welcome the initiate into the ranks of the immune?

I have no idea, but here is a good example: a vaguely familiar grossly overweight fellow who cares so much about his health that he is being Pfizered so he can go unimpeded into McDonalds for another cheeseburger.

For those who think I have lost all sense of proportion, take a look at this: CNN is complaining that their competitors have failed to display their vaccine selfies.

We are the COVID Borg: resistance is futile

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I added this to my prior post about the COVID-19 vaccine but I thought it was interesting enough to warrant its own post:

About 6 hours after receiving the Pfizer vaccine my wife had an allergic reaction to it in the form of a rash around her wrists. After a brief consultation with her family doctor, she will be seeing a specialist in allergies to decide whether it is safe to have the second injection. Allergic reactions to the vaccine are quite rare, so my wife posted the image below on Facebook.

The “COVID-19 vaccines go through many tests for safety and effectiveness before they are approved” remark was placed there by Facebook – an AI bot, probably.

Now, what my wife posted was a simple fact, one, it seems, that goes against the tide. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but it’s hard not to see a conspiracy when empirically derived and verifiable facts provoke little notes designed to cast doubt on their veracity. Our current propaganda machine and group gullibility would have been the envy of Joseph Goebbels.

The plague, the vaccine, and first Communion

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I’ve been putting off writing this for some time because the thoughts percolating through my synapses had not settled into a coherent pattern. I may still change my mind on all this, but here goes.

This morning I accompanied my wife for her first injection of the Pfizer vaccine at our local hospital. I can’t bring myself to call it a shot or the preferred UK euphemism a jab; nor do I have much stomach for the equally irritating tendency for referring to getting the vaccine into our arms.

That is because the vaccine is messenger RNA that is injected into your circulatory system to later insert itself into your cells to persuade them to produce a spike protein that is present on the COVID-19 virus. Your immune system will react to attack the spike protein so that your body will know how to fight the virus should you become infected. Astonishing as it might be, the vaccine goes much further than your arm.

The vaccination process at the hospital was very well regimented. I was given a piece of yellow paper with “support person” written on it and I sat with my wife as she was given the injection.

The nurse asked if I had received a shot.

“No”, I said.

“Oh, why” she replied.

“I have a whole catalogue of reasons if you are really interested in hearing about them”, I said.

To my surprise she said, “yes”. My wife visibly shuddered.

I gave the nurse a condensed version of the following:

First of all, most of the current vaccines depend in varying degrees on the HEK-293 cell line. In Pfizer’s case (and Moderna’s) the cell line was used to test the vaccine. AstraZeneca used the cell line for production of their vaccines. The HEK-293 cell line was initially derived from the kidney of a baby aborted in the Netherlands in 1973. There is some speculation that the baby may have been a miscarriage, but the consensus seems to be she was aborted. Once killed, evacuated and dissected, her body parts were sold or donated to laboratories, one of which was the lucky recipient of her kidneys. From a kidney, the HEK-293 cell line was grown. The Janssen vaccine uses a cell line that originated from the retina of an 18 week old baby aborted in 1985. I can’t quite decide which I find more odious.

“I feel uneasy about benefitting from cells grown from the kidney of an unborn baby murdered in 1973”, I told the nurse. She stared at me blankly.

Now, one may argue that, even though abortion is evil, surely it is ethically justified to turn the evil to good in the form of a vaccine? The Roman Catholic Church argues that. Perhaps, but then you could apply the same argument to Dr. Mengele’s experiments on twins, couldn’t you? The Anglican Church, whose prophetic voice usually cannot be made to shut up no matter how annoying it sounds, is silent on the issue. Or you may want to point out that other vaccines which I have received also benefitted from the same cell line, to which I would respond: had I known at the time, I wouldn’t have taken them, either.

Secondly, messenger RNA vaccines have never been used before. Even though trials have shown the vaccines to be relatively safe so far, their long-term effects are still unknown. In fact, they are still in a Phase 3 trial status until April 2023. That is normal enough: what is unusual is that the test subjects are the entire human race.

“I have worked on technology most of my life”, I told the nurse. “For new technology, we operated on the principle that ‘if it can go wrong, it will’. Messenger RNA vaccines are new technology”.

The nurse stared at me blankly. Then she looked at my wife as she took the needle out her arm and said, “So there is conflict in the family.”

Let me pause here and note that it is interesting that the usual view today is that having a different opinion about something means there is “conflict”.

“No”, I said, “we each have made our own decisions and respect each other’s views: there is no conflict”. I almost added, “this is a family, not the Anglican Communion”, but I didn’t.

What does this have to do with the title, you may be wondering. Well, the vaccine seems to have taken on all the characteristics of a secular sacrament. The reverence and excitement we might once have experienced at our Confirmation and first Communion have largely evaporated. We are all, by nature, still religious creatures though, so we have an innate compulsion to revere something. What better than the salvific effects of a COVID vaccine. When we are injected with the mRNA elixir of life, we join a new community of the Newly Vaccinated – my neighbours now greet me with “we got our shot yesterday, did you get yours yet” and are eager to welcome me into the safe hallowed halls of the Immune. Instead of a new Bible, the newly vaccinated are presented with a certificate – soon to be digitised, I suspect – and an appointment for their Second Communion – sorry, Vaccination.

As I said, at the outset, I may voluntarily change my mind about all this. Or be forced to by governmental or ecclesiastical ostracism. In the meantime, I have some yellow stars ready to be sewn on to my clothes.

Here is a brief postscript to the above:

About 6 hours after receiving the Pfizer vaccine my wife had an allergic reaction to it in the form of a rash around her wrists. After a brief consultation with her family doctor, she will be seeing a specialist in allergies to decide whether it is safe to have the second injection. Allergic reactions are quite rare, so my wife posted the image below on Facebook.

The “COVID-19 vaccines go through many tests for safety and effectiveness before they are approved” remark was placed there by Facebook – an AI bot, probably.

Now, what my wife posted was a simple fact, one, it seems, that goes against the tide. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but it’s hard not to see a conspiracy when empirically derived and verifiable facts provoke little notes designed to cast doubt on their veracity. Our current propaganda machine and group gullibility would have been the envy of Joseph Goebbels.

O Risen Lord

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A song I wrote for Easter Sunday:

O Risen Lord                                  David Jenkins
The Son of God was hung upon a tree
to bear our sin; he died for you and me.
In pain and darkness, all our debt he paid:
a precious gift, to all who ask he gives.
Chorus
O risen Lord, ascend now to your throne, all of creation is yours.
O King of Kings, Redeemer of this world, all honour belongs to you now.

They nailed his hands, a spear pierced his side;
A crown of thorns was thrust upon his head.
As darkness fell his Father forsook him;
His cry was heard through heaven and through hell.

On the third day the stone was rolled away;
The tomb was empty, an angel standing there.
Folded grave clothes where the body lay,
Jesus, the Christ has risen from the dead.

(c) 2021 David Jenkins

A bishop a professor and a layman walk into a chatroom

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I recently had this exchange with Bishop Peter Carrell, bishop of Christchurch New Zealand and Polynesia, on twitter. I thought some of you might find it interesting. To be clear, I like Peter Carrell even though I largely disagree with him. There aren’t many bishops who would bother with this.

It all started with this cartoon retweeted by the bishop:

To which I replied, and he replied etc. (sorry about the duplicate bits – that’s twitter):

What does all this mean? We appear to be speaking two different languages. Or perhaps we are using the same words to mean different things. Or we live on different planets. Either way, the gulf between us appears to be as broad as the one mentioned in Luke 16:26.