Category Archives: Christianity

The New Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

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The 21st Century’s Inquisition at work:

Science minister won’t confirm belief in evolution.

Researchers aghast that key figure in funding controversy invokes religion in science discussion.

Canada’s science minister, the man at the centre of the controversy over federal funding cuts to researchers, won’t say if he believes in evolution.

“I’m not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don’t think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate,” Gary Goodyear, the federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.

A funding crunch, exacerbated by cuts in the January budget, has left many senior researchers across the county scrambling to find the money to continue their experiments.

Some have expressed concern that Mr. Goodyear, a chiropractor from Cambridge, Ont., is suspicious of science, perhaps because he is a creationist.

The interesting part of all this is that the headline in the Globe shrieks its outrage that Goodyear won’t confirm his belief in evolution. Obviously if evolution is a simple empirically verifiable fact, it wouldn’t be necessary to pull out Mr. Goodyear’s fingernails to extract a statement of belief: it would be impossible for him to deny it. For example, it is highly unlikely that Mr. Goodyear would cling to the potentially suicidal notion that he is immune to gravity and is capable of stepping off a high story building without hurtling to his death.

The truth is, evolution is a theory that describes the mechanism behind how species change; it does not explain life’s origin or its purpose. It has no way of determining whether the emergence of mankind was supernaturally guided or accidental; clearly a Christian would not believe it to be accidental. The rhetoric of scientism would deny the possibility of supernatural intervention, but that denial is an act of faith not of science, since the supernatural is outside the realm of science’s competence.

Now, back to pouring molten lead into Mr. Goodyear’s nostrils:

Jim Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, said he was flabbergasted that the minister would invoke his religion when asked about evolution.

Jim Turk needs to do a little self-examination. For many scientists, evolution is a religion.

Roman Catholics grovelling before the altar of Islam

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It’s good to see Roman Catholics competing with Anglicans who, hitherto, have been hogging the Politically Correct pottiness spotlight.

The Archbishop of Birmingham, Vincent Nichols, has defended the use of a Catholic university college chapel for an event marking the birthday of Mohammed. Unbelieveable, I know. But here it is:

In a statement issued today, Thursday 12 March, Peter Jennings, Press Secretary to the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham, and the Archdiocese of Birmingham, said: “The chapel at Newman University College, Birmingham, was properly prepared for this event which consisted of two talks and a discussion of an interfaith nature.”

Mr Jennings added: “Christian/Muslin dialogue is an important part of the Catholic Church’s agenda. College authorities were fully aware of what was taking place.”

I am sure that Christian/Muslin dialogue is an invigorating undertaking, but what does allowing Islam use of a room dedicated for Christian worship have to do with dialogue? A necessary part of being a Christian is acknowledging Jesus’ divinity; unsurprisingly, no other religion is willing to do that. Therefore, from a Christian perspective, Islam is mistaken on this and all that logically follows from it.

The fact that the RC Archbishop of Birmingham is allowing a Christian chapel to be used for a celebration of Mohammed’s birthday can only mean that he thinks appeasing Muslims is more important than revealed Christian truth.

When will Muslims invite Christians to celebrate Christmas in a mosque? I think Archbishop Vincent Nichols should ask Anjem Choudary.

A little child shall lead them

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A 13 year old girl, Deborah manages to grasp concepts that elude the average North American Anglican bishop:

Deborah Drapper looks every inch your average 13-year-old. Her bedroom in Dorset is pink and filled with Add an Imagedolls, she “tweets” on Twitter, and she has a blog in which she talks about her pet rabbits, and what fun it was when it snowed recently.

But it is when she is shown a picture of Victoria Beckham that it becomes apparent that Deborah is very different from the average adolescent. Her face goes blank. “It’s someone with dark glasses on,” she says. “Someone married to a Mr Beckham? I don’t know her, I’m sorry.”

Deborah is in this (enviable) position because her deeply religious parents have ensured all her life that she is protected from the sins of the outside world. Instead of being nurtured on a diet of celebrity culture, Deborah has been brought up on a combination of Christianity and traditional family values.

She has never watched television, or been to school, and the only people she really sees are her mother, father and 10 siblings, most of whom she lives with on a rambling farm, which she rarely leaves, bar the odd trip to the supermarket. The Bible, as opposed to Heat, is her required reading.

On Friday nights, Deborah doesn’t have girlie sleepovers. Instead, she heads into nearby Bridport to preach to the youths whom she feels have lost their way: the hoodies and the non-believers.

“Dad takes us to the skate park or the bus stop,” she says, playing with a pink pen adorned in fluff and glitter. “Sometimes they are drunk and have no idea what we are saying. But it’s OK. I never get scared.” And last summer, a BBC documentary crew set out to capture just what effect this had on her life.

I ask Deborah to pretend that I am one of the hoodies and show me how she speaks to them. She asks me if I consider myself a good person. I say that I try to be. Her eyes widen.

“Have you ever lied?” she asks.

I tell her I have told a few fibs in my time.

“OK, so that makes you a liar. And have you ever stolen anything?”

I admit to the theft of a rubber from Woolworths when I was a small child.

“So you are also a thief. And have you ever used God’s name in vain?”

She knows the answer to this – I mistakenly did so almost immediately upon meeting the Drapper family.

“So you are a lying, thieving blasphemer.” She looks very seriously at me. “Would you still consider yourself to be a good person?”

Deborah has the almost preternatural self-confidence that comes from being home-schooled. She spends half of each day praying, cooking, exercising, painting and gardening, and the other half studying a Christian curriculum that includes collectivism and creationism. She is super-bright and fiercely opinionated. She thinks that evolution is “one of the most ridiculous theories ever” and blames it for most of the nation’s ills.

“If you are taught from the start that you are just a piece of slime and that you have evolved from an animal then is it any surprise if you act like one? Survival of the fittest; if you don’t like someone, kill them. That’s what evolution teaches people so is it any wonder when children go to school and do just that?”

“I am not envious of other girls my age. I am happy as a person. A lot of the people I meet on a Friday night are not happy. If anything, they should be envious of me.”

I think Fred Hiltz should talk to Deborah so she can enlighten him on what the gospel is.

The Mocker Mocked

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Although I support free speech, I also support the right of a community not to display something that it deems to be offensive. Apparently that’s just what Aberystwyth – a university town in Wales – did with the Life of Brian 30 years ago. But now, all the hitherto deprived inhabitants of Aberystwyth will have their chance to see it.

“When the film came out, a number of councils wouldn’t have it, fearful that it might deal a mortal blow to Christianity,” says Palin who will be attending the belated premiere on March 28 with his co-star Terry Jones. “That did not, of course, happen. A faith that is strong and confident can take a certain amount of ribbing.” The event is being organised by Sue Jones-Davies, who played Brian’s girlfriend in the film, and is now – ironically – the local mayor.

I confess, I have not watched all of Life of Brian; as a Christian, I found the snippets I did see too irritating to regard it as entertaining or particular funny.

On the other hand, I do see the funny side of this:Add an Image

JOHN CLEESE has reportedly called off his relationship with younger lover BARBIE ORR – just a week after she lifted the lid on their love life. The Fawlty Towers star met Orr at an audition in October (08) while he was in the midst of divorcing his third wife Alyce Faye Eichelberger.

He was reportedly left red-faced after the aspiring actress told the British press intimate details about their romance last week (19Jan09), describing the star’s naked body and recalling their first sexual encounter.

Come on John, where’s your sense of humour?

No Comfort for Dawkins

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Richard Dawkins has declined an offer to debate Ray Comfort. Though Comfort offered him $10,000 to do so, this isn’t enough, apparently:

“It is not, therefore, a worthwhile inducement for me to travel all the way across the Atlantic to debate with an ignorant fool,” he wrote. “You can tell him that if he donates $100,000 to the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (it’s a charitable donation, tax deductible) I’ll do it.”

Ray Comfort may not have the intellectual capacity of Ludwig Wittgenstein, but I doubt that he is merely an “ignorant fool”. Obviously Dawkins is free not to debate anyone he likes; what is interesting though, is that he was happy enough to debate Bishop Richard Harries, a liberal noted for his appointment of the gay canon Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading in 2003. Harries, as a liberal, has already discarded most of orthodox Christianity, so there wasn’t much to debate. Even Dawkins has spotted the transparently obvious fact that Harries no longer adheres to the scriptures he is supposed to read every Sunday.

As someone pointed out:

The good bishop reminds me very much of the Vicar who married me, and the sunday school Vicar I had as a child for that matter, both were/are Church of England of course. If all christians thought and behaved like these people, we’d have little to worry about!

In fact, from the friendly debates I’ve had over the years with CofE clergy, I’m convinced most of them are really Deists or Agnostic if truth be told, and just want to help out the local community, It seems to be more tradition than anything else. In fact even as an Athiest I find it hard to disagree with anything our local vicar says in Church, his sermons are mostly about bieng nice to each other etc, and never stray into any of that hell fire or sinner crap at all.

Once you have removed the “sinner crap” from Christianity, there isn’t much left.

So on the one hand, you have Bishop Richard diligently using the brains God gave him to wriggle out of the beliefs that are the foundation of his profession, and on the other, Ray Comfort still believing the “sinner crap” that has been part of the Christian faith for the last 2000 years.

Perhaps the real reason Dawkins wouldn’t debate Comfort is because the “sinner crap” touches a nerve.

Raunchy RCs

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h/t HolySmoke

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has come up with a list of exciting ideas to perk up your love life:

(1) Plan a picnic. If the weather is cold, spread a blanket on the living room floor. Romanticize the occasion by adding some wine, a rose, and mood music.

(2) “Tech-free” night. Turn off your cell phones, computer, the TV, and the lights. See what’s left to do without electricity. Sing old songs, have a pillow fight, recount stories of how you met, plan for the future.

(3) Be a tourist. Pretend you’re a tourist in your own town. Visit a museum, a scenic overlook, or a quaint neighborhood. Discover something new together!

(4) Midnight bowling. It’s more than just bowling! Some places have special music, lighting and gimmicks. Even without these, it can be a lot of fun if you don’t take it too seriously.

It goes on, but I might get too worked up if I display any more.

The really exciting stuff is going on in the comfort of the cloisters:

Indian nun claims sex is rife within Catholic Church.

The book by the former nun reveals how as a young novice she was propositioned in the confession box by a priest who cited biblical references to “divine kisses”. Later she was cornered by a lesbian nun at a college where they were teaching. “She would come to my bed in the night and do lewd acts and I could not stop her,” she claims.

And apparently this is not only to be expected, but is perfectly normal:

Dr Paul Thelekkat, a spokesman for the Syro-Malabar Catholic church said he had some sympathy for sister Jesme, and respected her freedom to express her views, but he believed her claims were trivial. “How far what she says is well-founded I can’t say, but the issues are not very serious. We’re living with human beings in a community and she should realise this is part of human life

Now I know why so many Anglicans are converting to Rome.

No more standing on the Word

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If librarians have their way:

Librarians are being told to move the Bible to the top shelf to avoid giving offence to followers of Islam.

Muslims have complained of finding the Koran on lower shelves, saying it should be put above commonplace things.

So officials have responded with guidance, backed by ministers, that all holy books should be treated equally and go on the top shelf together.

Tyndale translated the Bible into the vulgar – or common – tongue  so that common people  would be able to understand it: it really is God’s word and exists to speak to commoners, not be above them.

The Koran should be put way above common things, though; preferably in the attic out of harm’s way.

Rowan Williams would make a terrible gambler

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He doesn’t know it’s best to quit when you’re ahead. Most people had forgotten Rowan’s ramblings about how good Sharia law would be for Britain. Considering the fuss it caused last time he brought this up, one would think he’d leave it alone; but does he? Of course not:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has defended his controversial comments Add an Imageabout the introduction of Islamic law to Britain and claimed that public opinion is now behind him.

On the anniversary of the interview in which Dr Rowan Williams said it “seems inevitable” that some parts of sharia would be enshrined in this country’s legal code, he claimed “a number of fairly senior people” now take the same view.

He added that there is a “drift of understanding” towards what he was saying, and that the public sees the difference between letting Muslim courts decide divorces and wills, and allowing them to rule on criminal cases and impose harsh punishments.

However critics insist that family disputes must be dealt with by civil law rather than according to religious principles, and claim the Archbishop’s comments have only helped the case of extremists while making Muslim women worse off, because they do not have equal rights under Islamic law.

Rowan Williams makes it easy for us to overlook the fact that he is the leader of the Church of England, the established church in Britain: he is supposed to be defending Christianity, not acting like the Grand Mufti of Middlesbrough.

Update: Melanie Phillips has written about this here:

The attitude among Britain’s establishment towards Britain’s creeping Islamisation becomes ever more surreal. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who betrayed British Muslim women, Christian values and British national identity when he said that Britain had nothing to fear from embracing sharia law in personal status issues and other disputes, has used the anniversary of those infamous remarks to opine that more people now agree with him.

Well if he’s right, there’s going to be an enormous drift of misunderstanding between the establishment and the rest. There may be an increasing number of ‘fairly senior people’ who are taking up residence with the Archbishop on Planet Cringe, but among ordinary folk there is a steady buildup of positively volcanic fury at the way the UK is being offered up in salami slices to the Islamists.

If God isn't there why do people care if we speak to him?

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I think the reason is simple: God is there; so is the Devil; both God and the Devil can inspire us; people who protest at prayer are not inspired by God.

Connect the dots.

From here:

The intolerance towards Christians in the public sector is an affront.

In recent days, prayer has found its way into the headlines for other reasons  altogether. Last week, community nurse Caroline Petrie was suspended as a result of offering to pray for a patient’s recovery.

Yesterday, Jennie Cain, a primary school receptionist, was facing disciplinary action as a consequence of sending out an email asking friends to pray for her daughter.

The facts of the cases differ in their contexts and circumstances, but at their heart is a seeming intolerance and illiberality about faith in God which is being reflected in the higher echelons of our public services.

A UK school threatens a pupil for talking about Jesus

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A primary school girl talks about Jesus and a teacher reprimands her; not in Iran, in the UK.

I gets worse: her mother, a Christian, is the school receptionist and is facing the sack after a private email to Christian friends is intercepted by the headmaster and is used to intimidate her.

Read all about it here

Primary school receptionist ‘facing sack’ after daughter talks about Jesus to classmate

Mrs Cain sent a private email to close friends to ask for prayers for her daughter after she was called into the school where she worked in Crediton, Devon, to be reprimanded.Add an Image

Her daughter Jasmine had been overheard by a teacher discussing heaven and God with a friend and had been pulled to one side and told off.

Mrs Cain contacted 10 close friends from her church by email but the message fell into the hands of Gary Read, the headmaster of Landscore Primary School where she works.

The 38-year-old mother of two is now being investigated for professional misconduct for allegedly making claims against the school and its staff.

Mrs Cain has been told she may be disciplined and was warned she could face dismissal.

We are living in an age when the average schoolchild is listening to and influenced by ersatz music with lyrics like this (don’t bother poring over it in an attempt to see if it means anything coherent – it doesn’t):

Hey yo, I smoke dust and shoot cops, sold guns to Tupac
Smoked blunts with Biggie Smalls and sold drugs on newlots
I was too young, couldnt get up in clubs back in the old days
We used rob and terrorize kids in front of homebase
If Funkmaster Flex was inside, rockin the whole place
We was outside, smacking kids and snatchin gold chains
Baggin mad pigeons, catchin mad digits, bad bitches
And when they husbands came around we had to blast bisquits

Got the IRS lookin at you, wanna fuck you
Sniffin so much blow, you dont know if you can trust you
Ecstasy react to what the cocaine and the dust do
Go against the Ill Bill, and Non Phixion will crush you, bust you
Leave you with a tube and ya throat to suck through (?)
We truck jewels, we dust brothers fuck mothers
You thugs love us, ? the gunslingers and drughustlers
Where my gangstas at?

So who does this fascistic headmaster choose to persecute? Someone repeating the above? No, a little girl for talking about Jesus.