Magic Statistics

A new page appeared yesterday at the Anglican Church of Canada’s website.  Filed under “Faith and Worship / Ethics”, it’s titled “Other Voices of Our Church”.   Contributions from The Zacchaeus Fellowship and The Rev Dr Brett Cane of St Aidan’s, Winnipeg, have been posted.  These items are very strange to see at the ACC website, for they support a traditional biblical perspective on homosexuality.

Other Voices of Our Church

In the interests of sharing the variety of voices across the Anglican Church of Canada this page offers information relating to discussions of the blessing of same-sex unions, homosexuality and the church from a variety of sources.

The ACC’s web meister corrected the spelling error in the last phrase that Rev Joe Walker caught this morning, but Zacchaeus is still spelled two different ways in successive lines.

So, this is what passes for “other voices” “from a variety of sources” in today’s ACC: orthodoxy.

h/t: felix hominum

Previous related posts:

• Council of General Synod tries to pull a fast one
• Michael Ingham seeks to conform the church to the world

The former vice president not following the rules?  You’re kidding!

Get ready for an attempted filibuster at tomorrow’s hearing of the US Senate Environment & Public Works Committee.  Al Gore will be speaking.

He asked for, and was granted, special exemptions from several standard committee procedures—and has now violated even the minimal requirements left in place.  Has that Heed the Goracle stuff gone to his head?

h/t: Amy Ridenour’s National Center Blog

Previous related posts:

• Heed the Goracle
• Al Gore needs to review his American history
• The Gore Effect

Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge were responsible for the deaths of millions of Cambodians between 1975 and 1979.  Their last stronghold was the town of Pailin near the Thai border.  Pailin would seem inauspicious ground for Christian ministry, but nothing is impossible with God.

Phannith Roth, a missionary who grew up half-starved in a labour camp, admitted that he was terrified when his congregation in the town of Siha-noukville begged him to go to Pailin to spread the Word.

“I was scared because there are landmines everywhere, malaria is rife and because of the Khmer Rouge, who everyone knows are cruel,” he said.

“But it was the Lord’s will.” Now his Pailin Bible Presbytery Church has about 40 former Khmer Rouge worshippers. “One was a hopeless drunk who told me he would have committed suicide if he had the courage,” Pastor Phannith said. “He had been forced to machinegun 100 villagers to death and had recognised his own sister among them. After that he couldn’t face his family.

“But now he has found Jesus. He has something to live for; he has stopped drinking.”

Pastor Phannith said that many chose Christianity because they did not find forgiveness in Buddhism, which teaches that a soul must pay for its sins during lives to come.

Several churches in the town have Khmer Rouge converts in their congregations.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded this obscure Dylan song as the final track on perhaps the most harrowing album ever released, Murder Ballads.  This live performance from 1995 also features Kylie Minogue and Shane McGowan.

When you're sad and when you're lonely and you haven't got a friend
Just remember that death is not the end
And all your dreams have vanished and you don't know what's up the bend
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end

When you're standing at the crossroads that you cannot comprehend
Just remember that death is not the end
And there's no one there to comfort you, with a helpin' hand to lend
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end

Oh, the tree of life is growing
Where the spirit never dies
And the bright light of salvation shines
In dark and empty skies

When the cities are on fire with the burning flesh of men
Just remember that death is not the end
And you search in vain to find just one law abiding citizen
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end

Copyright © 1988 Special Rider Music

h/t: Expecting Rain

Previous related post: Bob Dylan: “Saved”

A Lebanese-born Canadian citizen who tried to enter the United States last week was detained and questioned by border agents for twelve hours.  The usual suspects are all upset.

The federal government must press U.S. border authorities to stop racial and religious profiling of Canadian Muslims and Arabs, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations said yesterday.

The call came after a 22-year-old Northern Ontario student said he was detained for more than 12 hours and interrogated like a suspected terrorist at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last week.

“Religious profiling”?  That’s a new one on me.  Also, the Globe and Mail report neither specifies the man’s religion nor implies that the US border authorities were interested in it.  So, that angle appears to be a red herring.

"Our government must act to ensure that Canadians are not profiled, barred entry and indiscriminately added to American no-fly lists," the council's executive director, Karl Nickner, said in a news release.

News flash to CAIR-CAN: The United States is an independent and sovereign nation.  Canada can complain about American policies regarding entry of foreign nationals, but we cannot “ensure” anything about treatment of Canadians trying to cross the US border.

"The livelihood and future of Canadian citizens cannot be halted without just cause."

The article gives no indication that either the man’s livelihood or his future was at risk.

Previous related posts:

• Muslims want Ontario church investigated for “hate speech”
• Canadian Muslims want laws against insults

This is the first in what may or may not develop into an occasional series of leaks reports from the inner sanctum of Christ Church Cathedral.

As regular readers will remember, I was foolishly miraculously chosen as rector's warden recently.  One of the first orders of business in my new capacity was to have my name added to the list of signing officers at the local bank.  (For reasons soon to become apparent, the bank shall remain nameless.)

Since the signature cards had not been updated for a couple of years, the bank insisted that all five signing officers meet together to conduct the formalities.  We agreed to meet today at 12 noon.

When I arrived at the bank, Dean and Rector Peter Williams told me that he had phoned the bank this morning to confirm the arrangements and had to deal with a very unhelpful individual.  The bank person didn't know we were coming and didn't seem interested in verifying our appointment.  She wasn't sure anyone would be available at noon to help us.  Peter reminded her that this meeting was at the bank's request and would be brief, since it only involved signing a few cards.  After he persisted, she finally found time for us.

That was aggravating enough but, to add insult to injury, this is how the rest of the conversation went:

Bank person: What organisation are you with?

Peter: The Anglican Church.

Bank person: How do you spell that?

Christ Church is making a huge impression on the people of Whitehorse, obviously.

Previous related posts:

• It’s all down hill from here for Christ Church, Whitehorse
• Christ Church Cathedral, Whitehorse, hits the skids