Magic Statistics

An Egyptian Islamic cleric has issued a fatwa saying that nudity during sexual intercourse invalidates a marriage.

According to the religious edict issued by Rashad Hassan Khalil, a former dean of Al-Azhar University's faculty of Sharia (or Islamic law), "being completely naked during the act of coitus annuls the marriage".

"Completely naked"? That appears to leave some wiggle room, so to speak. If the husband and wife wear socks, does the fatwa apply? Understandably, the fatwa caused quite a controversy in Egypt.

The religious decree sparked a hot debate on the private satellite network Dream's popular religious talk show and on the front page of Sunday's Al-Masri Al-Yom, Egypt's leading independent daily newspaper.

Suad Saleh, who heads the women's department of Al-Azhar's Islamic studies faculty, pleaded for anything that can bring spouses closer to each other and rejected the claim that nudity during intercourse could invalidate a union.

"Anything"? How about holding hands and smooching in public?

During the live televised debate, Islamic scholar Abdel Muti dismissed the fatwa: "Nothing is prohibited during marital sex, except of course sodomy."

Sounds like a very wide range of opinions there. Who’s the referee?

Al-Azhar's fatwa committee chairman Abdullah Megawar argued that . . .

Hold it right there. Fatwa committee? No wonder they can’t agree.

via Dhimmi Watch.

On the occasion of the first baptisms of his pontificate, the pope yesterday denounced the modern culture of death for dehumanising people.

In our times we need to say 'no' to the largely dominant culture of death.
. . .
(There is) an anti-culture demonstrated by the flight to drugs, by the flight from reality, by illusions, by false happiness … displayed in sexuality which has become pure pleasure devoid of responsibility.
. . .
With Michelangelo's dramatic depiction of the Last Judgment as a backdrop, Benedict attacked the thing-infliction of mankind, suggesting that people had become little more than objects to be traded, picked up and discarded at will.

He did not define the phrase culture of death, but it was often used by Pope John Paul II to refer to the outlook associated with legalised abortion.

Pope Benedict obviously feels very strongly about the decadence of Western culture: He dispensed with the prepared text of his homily, which had been distributed to the media beforehand, and spoke extemporaneously. This off-the-cuff sermon and his remarks on the growth of Islam reported earlier this week together clearly show that the pope knows what needs to be said in our times.

via Pamela at Atlas Shrugs, who thinks Pope Benedict should have been named Time's Man of the Year. I couldn't agree more.

The Church of St James the Less, Philadelphia, has lost its court battle with the Episcopal Church USA to keep the property that the congregation has worshipped in for 150 years. Daniel Stoddart visited the church a few days ago and has the whole sad story. See also this post at Canterbury Tales.

Keble College was founded in 1870, making it one of the newer colleges in the University of Oxford. It is now one of the largest colleges with a total of about 600 undergraduate and graduate students.

The college was founded in memory of Rev John Keble (1792-1866), Anglican priest, poet, professor, and hymn-writer. Rev Keble's Assize Sermon entitled National Apostasy, delivered at Oxford on 14 July 1833, is regarded as the beginning of the renewal movement known as the Oxford Movement or the Tractarian Movement. In that sermon, preached at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Keble condemned the growth of liberalism in the Church of England and took the nation to task for turning away from God and ignoring the prophetic calling of the church. The sermon caused a sensation across Britain.

Between 1833 and 1841, Keble, John Henry Newman, Edward Bouverie Pusey, and others issued a series of 90 pamphlets called Tracts For The Times (hence Tractarian Movement), in which they presented their views on ecclesiology and theology. Tractarianism emphasised the importance of the ministry and the sacraments as God-given ordinances, and ultimately developed into Ritualism or Anglo-Catholicism, which has been highly influential in the Anglican Communion as well as other Christian traditions.

The College was designed by William Butterfield, a leading exponent of Victorian Gothic. Butterfield was raised in a Nonconformist family, but later became a convinced High-Church Anglican. He and other architects influenced by the Oxford Movement looked to medieval cathedrals for inspiration and designed churches full of colour as a celebration of God’s creation. This photo shows Keble College Chapel. Some see Keble College and Chapel as the high point of Butterfield’s architectural achievements.

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

The photo at left, taken in July 2004, shows me and the StatDaughter in the Keble College Quad. (The chapel is not actually in this photo; it's to the right of the buildings behind us.)

This photo shows the chapel's high altar. The chapel walls are lined with colourful mosaics showing Old Testament prophets, scenes from the life of Christ, and patristic and medieval saints.

These pages have more photos of the Chapel's exterior and interior.

In the Side-Chapel is the original version of William Holman Hunt's The Light of the World, one of the most famous religious paintings of all time. Hunt (1827-1910), one of the founders of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, completed it in 1853. It was donated to the College in 1879 on the understanding that it would hang in the Chapel. William Butterfield, as the chapel architect, opposed this, however, and so it was not placed in the Side-Chapel until 1890. Hunt was so insulted by the treatment of his painting that he painted a duplicate version, now hanging in St Paul's Cathedral, London.

The Keble College home page is here. You can take a virtual tour of the College here.

I was a member of Keble College during my year at Oxford, 1986-87, when the university awarded me a Master of Studies (M.St.) in Theological Ethics. I studied political philosophy under the brilliant moral theologian Rev Dr Oliver O'Donovan.

John Keble's page at the Cyber Hymnal lists 72 hymns. More biographical information can be found here. Some of Rev Keble's writings, including National Apostasy and seven Tracts For The Times, are posted here. All of the tracts are posted here.

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.