Magic Statistics

The Synod of the Diocese of Yukon met last weekend and passed a motion on the issue of same-sex blessings.  The motion has been submitted to the Anglican Church of Canada and is to be considered at next month's meeting of General Synod in Winnipeg.

Be it resolved that the Synod of the Diocese of Yukon, in response to the St. Michael Report, affirms the following:

a) that the biblical understanding of marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others;

b) that the blessing of same-sex unions is an important doctrinal matter which runs counter to Scripture and the current doctrine and Canon of Marriage within the Anglican Church of Canada;

c) that there is hope for healing and transformation of all sexual brokenness and sin through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I did not attend Synod, but I am informed that the motion passed unanimously with no abstentions.

Previous related posts:

• Canadian Anglican leaders urge caution on motions to accept same-sex blessings
• In the Anglican Church of Canada, “other” means “orthodox”
• Council of General Synod tries to pull a fast one

The Bibles Unbound program run by Voice of the Martyrs is informing its supporters that Bibles can no longer be sent into Egypt through the mail.

Recently, a high-ranking Egyptian postal official decided New Testaments mailed into Egypt would be a destabilizing force in their country.
. . .
The mailing company which helped us deliver the New Testaments into Egypt has been extremely helpful. However, since we can no longer mail into Egypt using the same process, we are researching other methods of mailing into Egypt. When one is in place, we will open the Egypt operations for Bible mailing once again.

The government of Malaysia does not prohibit Bibles from entering the country, but it does specify which citizens are not supposed to read them.

Bibles in the Malay language must have a note on the cover saying they are “not for Muslims.” By law, Malay people are considered Muslims when they are born. Government leaders do not want them to change to another faith later.

No wonder Malaysian converts to Christianity feel the need to keep it secret.

Previous related posts:

• Egypt forbids unapproved Christian religious meetings
• Egyptian Christian girls kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam
• Secret Christian converts in Malaysia
• Malaysian church may have been set up by Muslim mufti

A Pennsylvania court has ordered a man who donated sperm for a lesbian couple to have two children to pay child support.  To complicate matters, the man died of a stroke two months ago, and it appears that Social Security will have to pony up.

A sperm donor who helped a lesbian couple conceive two children is liable for child support under a state appeals-court ruling that a legal expert believes might be the first of its kind.
. . .
"I'm unaware of any other state appellate court that has found that a child has, simultaneously, three adults who are financially obligated to the child's support and are also entitled to visitation," said New York Law School professor Arthur S. Leonard, an expert on sexuality and the law.

Carl L. Frampton Jr. was highly involved in the care of the two children.  The story implies that this helped to establish his financial obligation.

In his written opinion requiring Frampton to help pay for the child's support, Superior Court Judge John T.J. Kelly Jr. noted that Frampton spent thousands of dollars on the children, including purchases of toys and clothing.

"Such constant and attentive solicitude seems widely at variance with the support court's characterization of (him) having 'played a minimal role in raising and supporting' the children," Kelly said.

Financially, he’d have been better off furnishing the sperm and then leaving the state.  Two-thirds of American states have laws shielding sperm donors from parental obligations, but Pennsylvania is not among them.

This case may be the first of its kind in the United States but, in a similar case in Sweden over a year ago, a sperm donor was held liable for child support.

h/t: Transfigurations

Previous related posts:

• Ontario court: Child can have three legal parents
• From our growing “This was so predictable” file

Does Stephen Harper know that a Canadian embassy has asked a foreign government to overlook violations of its criminal law?  He and Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay need to pay attention.  This could be an international incident in the making.

The Canadian High Commission in New Delhi has effectively asked the Indian government to recognise the homosexual "marriages" of two officials.  The problem is that the laws of India specifically prohibit such arrangements.  Understandably, the Indian government does not appreciate being asked to change its penal code to suit foreigners.

A 145-year-old law that bans sex “against the order of nature” has landed the foreign ministry in a quandary.

The Canadian high commission has requested Delhi to clear diplomatic spouse privileges for two officials, a man and a woman, each married to a partner of the same sex.

Gay marriages, allowed in Canada, are not legally valid in India.
. . .
Foreign ministry sources said that as Indian law does not recognise same-sex marriages, the Canadian requests cannot be granted.

Presumably, the officials and/or their respective partners could be arrested and charged if they venture outside the mission's compound.

Indian lawyers and homosexual activists seeking to overturn the law have seized on Canada's request as further ammunition for their cause.

Canadian officials in India refuse to speak to the press.

A spokesperson for the Canadian high commission said the mission would rather not comment on the matter.

I'll bet they wouldn't.   This controversy was entirely foreseeable when the request was made, so it's a little late to try to hide under a rock and hope it'll go away.

h/t: MarriageDebate.com

Previous related posts:

• Statistics Canada estimates 1.4% of adults homosexual or bisexual
• French High Court confirms rejection of gay “marriage”
• Homosexual activists offend an entire nation

Last October, BC Attorney General Wally Oppal said his office was contemplating laying charges against members of the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints sect at Bountiful for alleged child abuse, sexual exploitation, and polygamy.  (Actually, the polygamy isn't alleged; it's a known fact.)  Today, seven months later, he's still thinking about it—only much harder than he was before.

B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal told CBC News that taking action against the community is one of his top priorities.

"I would expect we will have some kind of answer within the next week or so as to whether or not we'll be laying charges," he said.

Mr Oppal was forced to speak only because another government agency said its mandate does not allow it to take action, thus passing the buck back to law enforcement.

Oppal's comments came after the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal found it doesn't have the authority to hear a complaint against the provincial government, which was accused of failing to protect young girls from sexual exploitation.

Jancis Andrews, one of the women who filed the human rights complaint three years ago, alleges the province had a policy not to prosecute men in Bountiful for polygamy or the sexual exploitation of young girls.

Is this another issue on which Canada's putative leaders prefer to bury their hands in the sand?  Another issue on which the government's policy is not to have a policy?

Mr Oppal denies that BC has a no-policy policy on polygamy and child abuse.

"They were alleging we weren't taking a serious enough approach to the polygamist issues that are said to exist there, and that's just wrong."

We shall see, Mr Politician.  Is this really the same fellow who leaped immediately into the fray when Indo-Canadian women were abused and assaulted by their husbands?

h/t: Religion News Blog

Previous related posts:

• BC attorney-general says he’s “not ignoring” polygamy at Bountiful
• International human rights law obligates Canada to eliminate polygamy
• Enforce Canada’s polygamy laws
• BC polygamists send kids to public schools