Magic Statistics

After reading the entire 41-page judgment of the BC Human Rights Tribunal in the complaint of Tracey Smith and Deborah Chymyshyn against the Knights of Columbus, Bob Tarantino at Let It Bleed calls the decision "a freakin' travesty".

The three panelists furrowed their brows, quoted a whole bunch of irrelevant caselaw, contradicted themselves about a jillion times and then, when not even that mash-up could get them to the result they wanted, they just made it up.
. . .
Laughably (well, not really, but what else can you do?) the Court awarded $1,000 to each of the complainants "for injury to their dignity, feelings and self-respect" (para. 151). What's pathetic is that the panel is not able, even once, to identify the actions which lead to these supposed injuries. There is absolutely no enumeration of what the Knights actually did to injure the complainants.
. . .
In the end, the case turns on hurt feelings – the panel thinks the Knights were mean (according to some unknown standard), that there is some vague right to be free from mean people, and that this meanness magically translates into $1,000, plus reimbursement of the complainant's costs. Pathetic.

This bit is especially strange, I think.

Then there's all kinds of blather about a "constitutionally protected right to solemnize and to celebrate" a marriage (para. 125) and a constitutional right to be married (para. 107). Quite where this arises from is never explained. To make that a bit more clear: the fundamental right on which the panel bases its decision is never sourced, it's just picked out of thin air.

One would think that a quasi-judicial panel pontificating on the constitutional rights of Canadians would at least ensure that the rights they're talking about actually exist. As Bob says, they just made it up.

Read the whole thing. The text of the decision can be found here (document in pdf format).

The collect for today, the Feast of St Andrew, Apostle and Martyr, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, who didst give such grace unto thy holy Apostle Saint Andrew, that he readily obeyed the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him without delay; Grant unto us all, that we, being called by thy holy Word, may forthwith give up ourselves obediently to fulfil thy holy commandments; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A native of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee, Andrew was a fisherman, the son of the fisherman John, and the brother of the fisherman Simon Peter. He was at first a disciple of John the Baptist along with John the Evangelist. John the Baptist's testimony that Jesus was the Christ led the two to follow Jesus. Andrew then took his brother Simon Peter to meet Jesus. In Eastern Orthodox tradition, St Andrew is called the Protokletos (the First Called) because he is named as the first disciple to be summoned by Jesus into his service.

At first Andrew and Simon Peter continued to carry on their fishing trade, but later, the Lord called them to stay with him all the time. He promised to make them fishers of men, and this time, they left their nets for good.

The only other specific reference to Andrew in the New Testament is at Mark 13:3, where he is one of those asking the questions that lead our Lord into his great eschatological discourse.

In the lists of the apostles that appear in the gospels, Andrew is always numbered among the first four. He is named individually three times in the Gospel of John. In addition to the story of his calling (John 1:35-42), he, together with Philip, presented the Gentiles to Christ (John 12:20-22), and he pointed out the boy with the loaves and fishes (John 6:8).

After Christ's ascension, Andrew is named in the Acts of the Apostles only in lists of the apostles. It is not certain where he preached, where he died, or where he was buried, although there are early church traditions concerning these events. The earliest written tradition associates St Andrew with Greece; other traditions hold that he also preached in Asia Minor along the coast of the Black Sea. In particular, he is credited with founding the Christian church at Byzantium (later Constantinople), where he ordained the first Bishop of Byzantium, Stachys. The Greek Orthodox Church believes that this commenced an unbroken line of 270 Patriarchs of Constantinople that continues to the present day.

Andrew is believed to have been crucified on a saltire (X-shaped) cross at Patras in Achaia, where he preached to the people for two days before he died. His martyrdom took place during the reign of Nero, on 30 November, AD 60, when he must have been a very old man.

In 345, Emperor Constantine the Great translated Andrew's bones from Patras to Constantinople. After Constantinople fell to the Crusaders in 1204, St Andrew's relics were taken to the Cathedral of Amalfi, Italy.

Also in the mid-fourth century, St Rule (or Regulus) took some of Andrew's relics to the far northwest. He stopped on the Fife coast of Scotland, where he built a church and founded the settlement later known as Saint Andrews. After Robert the Bruce's victory over the English at Bannockburn (1314), the Declaration of Arbroath named St Andrew patron saint of Scotland and the Saltire became the national flag in 1385.

The StatDaughter bought this flag of Scotland on our trip to Great Britain in summer 2004. It is now hanging from her bedroom ceiling.

Generally full-flavoured with a lively aroma, Stinking Bishop is similar to the famous French Epoisses which has been banned from the public transport system in Paris.

via Diocese of Saskatchewan.

Many within the Liberal Party hope that Michael Ignatieff, one of Canada's foremost public intellectuals, will one day prove to be a strong candidate for party leader. Dr Ignatieff's rise to Prime Minister is off to a rocky start, however. His attempt to win the Liberal nomination in a Toronto riding is being greeted with accusations of dirty tricks.

The Liberal Party riding association in Etobicoke-Lakeshore is angry that author and scholar Michael Ignatieff is being parachuted into the Toronto-area constituency as a star candidate. It says he disparaged Ukrainian heritage in one of his books and that two other candidates with deep ties to the community were unable to file their nomination papers.

Etobicoke-Lakeshore has one of the largest Ukrainian populations in Canada. What is Dr Ignatieff's response to these allegations?

Author and scholar Michael Ignatieff pledged his affinity Monday to Canada's Ukrainian community and branded efforts to discredit him on the eve of the federal election campaign a "transparent attempt" to twist his writing and sow dissent within the Liberal Party.

Nothing further was reported regarding the premature unannounced closing of nominations, however.

Anyway, what is Michael Ignatieff's vision of a just society? David Koyzis, who teaches political science at Redeemer University College, has profound disagreements with what he reads in Dr Ignatieff's books. Here are some choice quotes: "deeply flawed . . . difficult to imagine a more stereotypical and less careful account of the liberal creed . . . difficult to imagine an approach less conducive to the doing of justice to the full complexity of human social life in God's world." Read the whole thing.

via Notes From A Byzantine-Rite Calvinist.

Last week Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post business writer, ran a tongue-in-cheek column suggesting that the United States sell Alaska back to Russia for $1 trillion to ease the budget deficit. It turns out that some Russian politicians don't think that's very funny.

It may have been a joke, but some media organizations and politicians in Moscow appear to have taken half-seriously a satirical suggestion that the United States should sell Alaska back to Russia for $1 trillion.

The tongue-in-cheek proposal published in a U.S. newspaper raised the vague notion still present here that Russia could one day retrieve the territory it sold to the U.S.

The return of Alaska would be marked by a great national holiday, said Vladimir Zhirinovsky, an outspoken nationalist politician.

Russia would then have a presence on three continents — Europe, Asia and America — noted Zhirinovsky, who is deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament.

That Vladimir–what a card!

via Fjordman.

Peter Jenkins, Minister of Health and Social Services in the Yukon Party government, has announced that he is resigning from his portfolio, his caucus, and his party. He is now sitting as an independent MLA in the Yukon Legislature. The question is: Did he jump or was he pushed? Mr Jenkins says he jumped, but Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie says he was pushed.

For years, Mr Jenkins has been dogged by unpaid business loans from the Government of Yukon totalling $300,000, which he has shown no indication of repaying. Now Mr Jenkins is finally about to be hauled into court over that. So, isn't it an amazing coincidence that he quit the cabinet and the party just now.

Dennis Fentie told reporters Monday he had accepted Jenkin's [sic] resignation after being given an ultimatum over the minister's outstanding government loans.
. . .
Jenkins has been mired in controversy over government loans his hotel received from the Yukon government. Jenkins has carried more than $300,000 in debt for years, with little indication of paying it back. Fentie wouldn't say what Jenkins had offered the government when he made the ultimatum.

Fentie added that since the government would likely soon be in court with Jenkins over the outstanding loans, he would have removed him from cabinet anyway.

Mr Jenkins, on the other hand, says his unpaid debt and impending legal problems had nothing to do with his resignation.

But Jenkins, the MLA for Dawson City, gave a very different story to the legislature, as he sat in the opposition benches for the first time Monday.

"The heart and soul of my community has been ripped out by the inefficiences [sic] of government at the municipal level, the territorial level, Mr. Speaker, he told the house. The whole issue as to why I'm leaving the government is predicated on what has happened or not happened in my community."

Denying that the loans issue had anything to do with his resignation, Jenkins says he steps away from the Yukon Party with deep regret.

What a crock! The City of Dawson has been financially mismanaged for years. It got so bad that the territorial government fired Dawson City's mayor and council and appointed a trustee to run the town's finances eighteen months ago. And only now Mr Jenkins realises that the Dawson municipal government has problems?

A bulletin board for discussion of Dawson City issues can be found here. A very lively discussion is going on right now about Mr Jenkins and his debt problems.

Karen B. at Lent & Beyond has this evening posted news and prayer requests from our brothers at Classical Anglican News Net. Here is her post in full:

All, I received an e-mailed prayer request from Mike Daley, the CaNN Tech Elf, tonight. Mike is the tech genius behind the scenes who does so much to make the whole Classical Anglican Net web empire possible. He and Binky (aka the Lord High Webelf) very much need our prayers right now. Binky has been very sick (and the CaNN main site has thus been offline since November 18th), and Mike is juggling an incredible number of important responsibilities.

In addition to praying for the Lord’s outpouring of grace and strength for our brothers, Mike is also specifically requesting prayer for an assistant. Please pray that the Lord would raise up additional technical support team members for the CaNN websites. If any of you might be tech-savvy and interested in volunteering, or know others who might qualify, please send an e-mail to: mdaley[at]anglicanunderground[dot]net

Also perhaps you might want to send a get-well card and some encouragement to Binky at: binks.webelf[at]gmail[dot]com

I found this prayer for strength and refreshment on a site with quotes from St. Augustine. May Jesus indeed be the strength of our dear brothers at CaNN, may they find Christ’s power to be revealed in their weakness and may our merciful Lord pour out daily refreshment and lavish grace in their lives:

O God, the deathless hope of all, we rejoice that You support us both when little and even to gray hairs. When our strength is of You, it is strength indeed; but when our own only, it is feebleness. With You are refreshment and true strength.

And from the BCP, a prayer for healing for Binky:

O God of heavenly powers, by the might of your command you drive away from our bodies all sickness and all infirmity: Be present in your goodness with your servant, that his weakness may be banished and his strength restored; and that, his health being renewed, he may bless your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

On a personal note, I have followed Binky's website for a long time; his was one of those that inspired me to start my own blog. (But don't hold that against Binky.) CaNN provides an invaluable service to Christians across Canada and around the world. Please pray for full and speedy recovery for Binky and for technical support for CaNN.

Robert Fulford reviews Our Culture, What's Left Of It: The Mandarins and the Masses, the latest book by Theodore Dalrymple, a British doctor who has spent considerable time treating prison inmates. Along the way, Dr Dalrymple has become a perceptive observer of human behaviour.

[Dalrymple] has learned that men who carelessly impregnate women know perfectly well the consequences. They all know that they are condemning their children to lives of brutality, poverty, abuse and hopelessness. Yet many do it often. Government, by its (unavoidable) decision to provide some support for children, absolves the men of all responsibility. The state becomes the child's father, reducing the biological father to the status of a child.

The men and women making these poor children consider transitory pleasure more important than the human beings they create — not the banality of evil, says Dalrymple, but 'the frivolity of evil.' Such are the fruits of a culture of tolerance.

via Brothers Judd Blog.

Another of Dalrymple's astute comments is blogged here.

Bishop Gene Robinson says that unity in the Anglican Communion is being challenged by those who oppose the ordination of gays and lesbians.

The issue of unity is really being raised by those who are saying we can't stay in a church with a province that would raise up gay and lesbian people to be ordained, Robinson said during a visit to Sweden.

Right!

via OrthoDixie.

From Lent & Beyond:

Lord Jesus,
Master of both the light and the darkness,
send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.
We who have so much to do
seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.
We who are anxious over many things
look forward to your coming among us.
We who are blessed in so many ways
long for the complete joy of your kingdom.
We whose hearts are heavy
seek the joy of your presence.
We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light.
To you we say, "Come Lord Jesus!"

The prayer blog Lent & Beyond has a new category on Advent Devotionals. Definitely worth visiting during this season of Advent.

This coming Wednesday, 30 November, the 98th edition of the Christian Carnival will be hosted at Cadmusings. Entry deadline is Midnight, Tuesday, 29 November. Click here for full details on entering one of your recent blog posts.

A church built here circa 1067 was later dedicated to St Magnus, Earl of Orkney (c. 1075-1116). Magnus, son of Erling, Viking ruler of the Orkneys, converted to Christianity as an adult. After his father died, he refused to fight his cousin Haakon for sole rulership of the Orkneys. He accepted violent death as a sacrifice, praying for Haakon and his followers who murdered him. Like some other nobles who were killed more for political reasons than religious ones, e.g., St Olave, Magnus was venerated as a martyr.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the rector of St Magnus-the-Martyr was Miles Coverdale, the Bible translator who helped William Tyndale revise his translation of the Pentateuch. In 1535, Coverdale's full Bible translation was published, the first printed Bible in English. A wall plaque memorialising him has been placed to the right of the high altar.

In 1666, this was one of the first buildings to be consumed in the Great Fire. The present church was built by Sir Christopher Wren between 1671 and 1676 in an English Baroque style. The church served as the main entrance to the old London Bridge, London’s only bridge until 1750. Wren’s great stone tower topped by an octagonal lantern, lead dome, and spire welcomed people crossing to the City. In 1709 a large clock donated by Lord Mayor Charles Dunscombe was installed on the west side of the tower.

The church has not been well-served by changes since then, however. The bridge was widened in 1759 and a roadway was built through the base of Wren's tower. In 1831 the bridge was demolished and a new London Bridge constructed 100 hundred yards downstream, taking away the church’s commanding position at the entrance to the City. Adelaide House, a large office block built in the 1920s, obscures the west end of the church with Wren’s tower and Dunscombe’s clock. Lower Thames Street has been widened into a major traffic thoroughfare.

As Simon Jenkins puts it, "[T]he exterior of St Magnus is just another riverside church besieged by the Thames Street racetrack".

The photo at left shows the exterior of the church taken from the east, giving a good view of Wren’s fine tower, with Adelaide House on the far side.

(As always, click on photos for larger views.)

Within the church, however, beauty and tranquility abound. In The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot describes St Magnus-the-Martyr: "Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold". In the 19th century, this church became a major centre of Anglo-Catholicism, which sought to return the church to a form of pre-Reformation worship. While not Roman Catholic, Anglo-Catholic renewal, inspired by the Oxford Movement, re-introduced many medieval rites and liturgical practices.

The church's interior survived the Blitz of World War II intact. It had been restored by Martin Travers in 1924 to reflect the Anglo-Catholic character of the congregation. The magnificent and sumptuously decorated interior features the high altar with a two-tier wooden reredos, shown at right. The lower part of the reredos dates from Wren's time but Travers added the upper part in Wren style. Paintings of Moses and Aaron with commandment boards are placed underneath a pelican, an 18th-century Glory (in the roundel), and Baroque angels. Standing on top of the screen is a rood (Christ on the Cross with Our Lady and St. John on either side).

The Lady Chapel is found in the north-east corner of the church. Here the daily Eucharist is offered. The painting above the altar is a copy of the Madonna and Child by Van Dyke. The reredos and carvings are made of wood from the church, and an old cottage supplied the wooden brackets. On the east wall of the chapel is painted the "Holy Countenance of St. Veronica's Veil", a parishioner's gift in memory of her parents.

In the south aisle stands this statue of St Magnus of Orkney, holding a model of the church in his left hand and a Viking battle axe in his right. The statue was created by Martin Travers in 1925.

St Magnus-the-Martyr Church is a member of Forward In Faith, an international organization of Anglo-Catholic churches formed in 1995 in opposition to ordination of women as Anglican priests. It also seeks to maintain a traditional view on matters of liturgy, ecclesiology, Christology, and the authority of scripture.

The church's home page has much historical information and lots of pictures. Here's a large map.

Links to all my blog posts about British churches and Christian sites can be accessed through the box located at the top of the page.