Magic Statistics

The Most Rev Barry Hickey, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Perth, Western Australia, raised some hackles when he asked that Catholic politicians who support embryonic stem cell research not present themselves for Holy Communion.  Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Fred Riebeling, was so upset that he reported the archbishop to a parliamentary committee and suggested he could be tried for threatening Catholic legislators.

The Roman Catholic Church judges embryonic stem cell research a great evil because it entails the direct and intentional killing of innocent human beings.  Therefore, as Father Raymond J. De Souza explains, the archbishop was only doing the duty of a good pastor.

The destruction of innocent human life is one of those public matters with serious consequences. So too are many others — a Catholic who voted to permit racial segregation would also find himself doing something the Church teaches as evil. Archbishop Hickey's point is that voting for such things has consequences — both in this world and the next.  As a pastor of souls, he has a duty to warn members of his flock about such consequences, and protect the integrity of Church teaching by making it clear that such positions are inconsistent with practising the Catholic faith.

The archbishop's warning and request should not be perceived as a threat.  It is, in fact, a loving offer to ponder one’s offences, repent of one’s sins, be restored to a right relationship with the Lord, and be reconciled to the church.  It is intended to have a salutary effect, not a punitive one.

Archbishop Hickey is doing a favour to those Catholic MPs of Western Australia who think embryonic stem cell research is acceptable.  One hopes that they take advantage of the opportunity he offers.

Previous related posts:

• Medical science vindicates church’s anti-condom stance
• Pope: Holiness means conversion and repentance, not faultlessness

An in-depth study of human DNA has confounded the reigning understanding of human genetics and appears to overturn basic concepts in biology.  It was formerly believed that large portions of human DNA serve no useful function, but a three-year investigation by scientists around the world has concluded that so-called “junk DNA” plays an active and important role in gene activity.

[Researchers] found there was far more to genetics than the genes themselves and determined there was no such thing as "junk DNA." Some of the most useless-looking stretches of DNA may carry important information, they said.
. . .
The new study confirms what many genetics experts had suspected - the genes are important, but so is the other DNA, the biological code for every living thing.

What they discovered is that even DNA outside the genes transcribes information. Transcription is the process that turns DNA into something useful - such as a protein.

The consortium of scientists was organised by National Human Genome Research Institute, under the direction of Francis Collins.

The government of Burma (Myanmar) has warned a citizen that he risks twelve years in prison unless he stops publishing Bibles and books on Christian theology.  The threat has raised fears of a renewed campaign of persecution and oppression against the country’s Christians.

[S]ources claim that the military regime there has begun to compile a list of known Christians, ranging from pastors and children’s homes to individual Christian families. It is believed that the list follows an official pronouncement that ‘to be Burmese is to be Buddhist’.

The persecution of Christians in Burma is not new: many Christian missions were expelled in 1966 and since then written permission has been necessary for any gathering of more than five people. Because of this many Christian groups there now operate ‘underground’.

The man says he will not printing Bibles, nor will he allow his publications to be examined by a state committee, as required by government edict.

h/t: Pat Dague at Transfigurations

Previous related posts:

• Army renews attacks against Christians in Myanmar
• Programme to destroy the Christian religion in Burma