Magic Statistics

The Anglican Communion is now being forced to face this question straight on, although many Anglican leaders are apparently reluctant to do so. Archbishop Robert Eames, Primate of Ireland, however, has been speaking at Anglican churches and seminaries, saying the time has come. Canon John Heidt, Anglican priest, reports on a recent talk at Virginia Seminary, where Abp Eames concluded:

[I]n times of crisis an appeal to 'bonds of affection' is just not good enough, noting not only "the benefits but also the dangers of ‘bonds of affection’ alone." Then comes the crucial question: "Are there essentials on which there must be universal acceptance if Provinces are to be in complete communion?" and "Who decides into which category [essential or non-essential] any action by an individual Church should fall?"

This same question, of course, is before all Christian churches and fellowships today. Fr John continues,

As always, the ultimate question is, "What think you of Christ, whose son is He?" Is He the filial revelation of a transcendent God known to us through scripture, interpreted by tradition, and understood through enlightened reason, or is He merely the outward sign of subjective feelings and desires known through private experience and proclaimed by political confrontation.

Fr John notes that Abp Eames has pinpointed the problem, but not the solution. Anglican bloggers at Lent & Beyond call for prayer for Abp Eames. via All Too Common.

Faith Converter software–only for the Mac.

Found an admirable tome but it's in praise of the wrong god? Faith Converter is a godsend for priests, vicars, rabbii and holy men of all descriptions. Preach next Sunday's sermon from the Vedas, Noble Eightfold Path, Torah or Das Kapital!

The premier theological plagiarism solution for OS X, Faith Converter converts text between twenty-seven different religions, encompassing Atheism, Biopsychosocialism, Buddhism, Christianity, Communism, Confucianism, Druidism, Falun Gong, Hinduism, Islam, Juche, Judaism, Keynesianism, Linux, MacEvangelism, Mahanism, Maoism, NIMBYism, Roman, Scientology, Shinto, Sikh, Stalinism, Taoism, Thatcherism, Trotskyism and Veganism.

Converted text can be copied, saved or printed.

Sample Conversions:

"Attend church at Christmas or else God will send you to Hell, with Satan, for not reading your Bible."
becomes:
"Attend collective farm #897 at Leninmas or else Dialetical Materialism will send you to the poverty-striken capitalist democracies, with abundant consumer goods, for not reading your Manifesto."

"If you are a true bodhisattva, you will also appreciate the insights into the Three Baskets (Tripitika) presented by the monk. Be warned not to be a heretic or sell your soul to Mao, as this usually ends badly."
converts from Buddhism to atheism as:
"If you are a true science-guy, you will also appreciate the insights into the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World - Ptolemaic and Copernican presented by the scientist. Be warned not to be a religious nutter or sell your reticular formation to Pope Paul V, as this usually ends badly."

via Thinking Christian, who threatens to use it on comments from atheists.

What's that old saying? "'Tis an ill wind that blows no good". Even global warming has a silver lining:

[T]he Arctic is undergoing nothing less than a great rush for virgin territory and natural resources worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Even before the polar ice began shrinking more each summer, countries were pushing into the frigid Barents Sea, lured by undersea oil and gas fields and emboldened by advances in technology. But now, as thinning ice stands to simplify construction of drilling rigs, exploration is likely to move even farther north.

Last year, scientists found tantalizing hints of oil in seabed samples just 200 miles from the North Pole. All told, one quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas resources lies in the Arctic, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The polar thaw is also starting to unlock other treasures: lucrative shipping routes, perhaps even the storied Northwest Passage; new cruise ship destinations; and important commercial fisheries.

Shorter, warmer winters are nothing to sneeze at, either. (But more rain sucks.)

Here's the whole story.

A justice of the BC Supreme Court has found the province's striking teachers in contempt for refusing to obey a back-to-work court order. I take no position on the propriety of the strike, since I'm not familiar with the teachers' grievances or the employer's response.

After a rare Sunday hearing, Madam Justice Brenda Brown of the B.C. Supreme Court said citizens do not have the right to choose which court orders to obey and which to flout.

"If one may breach a court order, so may another . . . and anarchy cannot be far behind," Judge Brown told the court.

I'd say the judge has a sound point here. What floors me is the response by the president of the BC Teachers' Union:

BCTF president Jinny Sims wasted little time reasserting her union's intention to stay off the job, despite yesterday's contempt ruling.

Saying she was saddened by the decision, Ms. Sims said the teachers' action is "in no way" intended to be disrespectful to the courts or the law.

Note to Ms Sims: Your "intentions" don't matter here. The court has found the union you head to be in contempt; that's like a very extreme case of being "disrepectful". Perhaps you think it's good PR on your part to deny the blindingly obvious, but you're not going to fool anybody who has two brain cells to rub together. Of course, you're being disrespectful to the court and the law; it's impossible to deny it.

Sorry to go off on a rant there, but I hate it when people involved in public controversies dissemble so blatantly.

You can read the whole depressing story right here.

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada, where it is celebrated annually on the second Monday in October.

The first thanksgiving event in North America occurred in Newfoundland in 1578. In 1576, English explorer Martin Frobisher set out to find a northern passage that would lead him to the Orient. He then spent two years trying to become rich mining what he thought was gold ore, and attempted to establish the first English settlement in North America on what would come to be known as Baffin Island. While he failed on all counts, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now Newfoundland, to give thanks for surviving the long journey–a full 43 years before the pilgrims of Massachusetts at Plymouth Rock.

In the 1600s, Samuel de Champlain and the French Settlers who came with him established an "Order of Good Cheer". This group would hold huge celebrations marking the harvests and other events, sharing their food with aboriginal neighbours.

Records of Port Royal, Nova Scotia, dating back to 1710, note 10 October as a celebration of thanksgiving for the return of the town to the English. In 1763, the citizens of Halifax commemorated the end of the Seven Years War in a similar ceremony. From there, the tradition slowly moved across the country.

During the American Revolution, Americans who remained loyal to England moved to Canada where they brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada. There are many similarities between the two Thanksgivings such as the turkey and the pumpkin pie.

Like the U.S., Canada took many years before setting a fixed annual date for a national Thanksgiving holiday. The first post-Confederation Canadian Thanksgiving was celebrated on 15 April 1872 in thanks for the recovery of the future King Edward VII from a serious illness. The next Thanksgiving didn't occur until 1879 when it was celebrated on a Thursday in November. Click here and here for the full history of dates set for Thanksgiving in Canada. On 31 January 1957 Parliament issued a proclamation to fix permanently the second Monday in October as "a day of general Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."