Magic Statistics

Three years ago, Islamists torched a Christian chapel at a high school in Zaira, Kaduna state, northern Nigeria.  Since the chapel was rebuilt last August, Muslim students have set fire to it twice.

In January, Islamic students at Government Science Secondary School in Kufena, in the Wusasa area of Zaria city in the northern state of Kaduna, set fire to the Chapel of Adonai, which was rebuilt last year with services restored in September. The most recent arson attempt, as well as one in December 2006, failed when Christian staff members and students at the high school put out the fires.

Pastor Samuel Nuhu, a teacher and patron of the Fellowship of Christian Students in the school, told Compass that in 2004 Muslim students burned down the chapel and attacked Christian students, many of whom were injured and hospitalized. The attack resulted in large-scale withdrawal of Christian students from the school, he said.

"In January, Muslim students attempted to burn down this chapel again," Nuhu said. "The wooden door into this [chaplain's] office was burnt. We had to mobilize ourselves to put out the fire."

Nuhu said that, previous to the most recent arson attempt, two letters were dropped into the chapel warning Christian students and staff members of an impending attack unless they left the school. The letter included derogatory comments about Jesus.

So much for the claim by Muslim leaders that Islam honours Jesus.

School officials reported the threats to the state education ministry, but to no avail.

The high school was originally founded as a Christian educational institution, St Paul's College, by the (Anglican) Church of Nigeria.  The Government of Nigeria expropriated the school in 1973, changed its name to Government Science Secondary School, and opened its doors to non-Christians.  Today only 300 out of 1000 students and 16 of 40 teachers are Christian.

The school is located in the Diocese of Wusasa, episcopate of The Rt Rev Ali Buba Lamido, Bishop of Wusasa.

Kaduna is one of twelve states in northern Nigeria to have adopted shari’a law.

Previous related posts:

• Islamic school built on church-owned site without permission
• Islamists torch Nigerian churches

Just in case you didn’t get the message from Thursday’s front-page puff piece on Bishop Michael Ingham’s address to the Whole Message Conference in Ottawa, the Globe and Mail reprints most of his speech today on the comment page.  Some readers may feel they’re being smacked upside the head with a 2-by-4, but apparently the Globe believes its audience is slow on the uptake.

I wonder which side “Canada’s [self-proclaimed] national newspaper” favours in the Anglican Church of Canada’s debate over same-sex unions.

Christianity as a religion stands in need of a better theology of sexuality. The church must find a way to discover that human beings are sexual beings and, in the words of the creation stories in the Book of Genesis, that "this is very good."

For 2000 years, the church has been unaware that human beings are sexual, and it falls to Michael Ingham to bring us the news.  Does he really not know how lame-brained he sounds?

But this task of finding a new and positive theology of sexuality is very challenging for the church. It involves of necessity an entire reappraisal of Christian tradition, going back to the Bible itself.

For example, St. Paul understood same-sex relationships only in terms of the older-man, younger-boy relationship of the Greeks, which we call pederasty, or in other words, child abuse. It was and still is an intolerable practice, and Christians have condemned it from the very beginning.

But no difference was perceived between child abuse and adult same-sex love. Against this background, the teaching against erotic and sexual passion found its way into the foundational documents of the Christian tradition.

It’s rather irritating that the same glaring error about St Paul’s understanding of homosexuality featured in Thursday’s propaganda news report is blandly repeated today. 

Masochists can read the whole thing here.  It consists of a lengthy excerpt from his complete speech, posted at the ACC website.

What’s even more galling than the Globe’s partisanship is that the ACC has posted without comment a highly controversial address so lacking in biblical and theological insight.

h/t for ACC link: felix hominum

Previous related posts: 

• Bishop Ingham reveals in-depth theological knowledge
• Michael Ingham to Episcopal Church: We’re great

Yesterday’s Edmonton Journal reports that a Saskatchewan priest has been told he will be fired at the end of this month over the issue of same-sex blessings.  The story says he’s being dismissed because he supports such blessings, but the priest’s own statement indicates that it goes deeper than that.

The Journal story is behind a subscriber wall, but blogger sameo416 has posted the whole thing:

Sacked Anglican becomes 'priest in exile'

Saskatchewan clergyman fired for supporting same-sex marriage

SASKATOON - An Anglican priest has been told he will be dumped from his job in Saskatoon by the end of the month for supporting same-sex marriage.

Shawn Sanford Beck says he made a stand on the issue – and won’t back down from his views that gay and lesbian couples should be able to marry.

Beck has been told he will also lose his job working with a Lutheran inner-city project.  Even though he has being turfed by the Anglican Church, he says he won’t renounce his faith.

He calls his views on the issue an act of “civil disobedience” within the church and calls himself a “priest in exile”.

Last year, Terence Finlay – the retired Anglican archbishop of Toronto – had his licence to perform marriages revoked after he officiated at the wedding of a lesbian couple.

To get the error in that last paragraph out of the way first, Terence Finlay had his wrist slapped.  His licence was not “revoked”; it was merely suspended for three months.

An open letter from The Rev Shawn Sanford Beck to his bishop The Rt Rev Rodney Andrews, Bishop of Saskatoon, has been posted here. To me, this is a key paragraph.

As a priest in the midst of this struggle, it has become clear to me after much prayer and soul-searching, that my spiritual conscience can no longer abide by the laws which I am required to uphold in regard to the blessing of same-sex unions and marriages. It is my conviction that our current ban on such practices is theologically problematic and fundamentally unjust. Upholding such a position (even unwillingly) forces me to bend severely (if not break) my priestly vows, my baptismal covenant, and the Word of God inscribed within my heart. I therefore publicly declare that I will, when requested, officiate at same-sex marriages and offer blessing upon committed same sex unions. I will no longer discriminate against homosexual people when it comes to the exercise of my priestly duties.

Not only has Rev Beck expressed his disagreement with the policy of his diocese, he has announced his determination to violate said policy at the earliest opportunity.  The latter statement is crucial.

I doubt that disagreeing with one’s bishop is a firing offence in the Anglican Church of Canada.  Stating one’s intention to perform unauthorised liturgies is something else entirely.

The website of the Diocese of Saskatoon does not appear to mention Rev Beck’s dismissal, but I strongly suspect that the firing was motivated by his resolution to disobey his bishop, not by the mere fact of disagreement.

Why did Edmonton Journal focus solely on Rev Sanford-Beck’s change of mind on same-sex blessings and neglect to mention his decision to defy his bishop over the issue?

h/t: felix hominum

Previous related post: Retired Archbishop reprimanded for officiating at same-sex “marriage”

UPDATE (11 Mar.):  Bishop Andrews says that Rev Beck's licence will be suspended indefinitely on 31 March unless he reconsiders his intention to perform same-sex blessings.