Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Stacy Sauls' recent address to the Chicago Consultation at Seabury-Western Seminary brings up an interesting issue he may not have intended: There are proposals, of course, to make us either a federation or a confederation, or God forbid, a unitary governmental structure such as the Roman Catholic Church has. The draft Anglican Covenant is a …
Continue reading "Stacy Sauls and the Danger of Centralisation"
The Archbishop of Canterbury says that the nativity story in the New Testament is 'a legend': Dr Williams said: "Matthew's gospel says they are astrologers, wise men, priests from somewhere outside the Roman Empire, that's all we're really told. It works quite well as legend." That's more than one can say for Rowan Williams. He's …
Elaine Glaser's complaint about Christianity being Britain's official religion and the impact that has on its Jewish minority may signal someone else who needs to bail out on that "right, tight little isle." Why suffer through another dreary English winter when you can a) move somewhere that is warm and b) find a place where …
Continue reading "Don’t Like Official Christianity? Just Move to South Florida"
The claims that the ten plagues of Egypt are natural phenomena doesn't really answer the question of their Creator's intent. As anyone knows, timing is everything, and it makes sense (to me at least) that the Creator of the universe (and by extension the natural laws that govern it) would operate within the framework that …
Bob Marcotte's recounting of the story of Episcopal minister Algernon Crapsey reminds us of many things. The first is that the storm in the Episcopal Church that is now the spectacle of the world didn't start with Vickie Gene Robinson's being made a bishop. It didn't even start with James Pike's journey to nowhere. It …
I am uncomfortable on general religious freedom grounds with Germany considering a ban of Scientology. But given the German's history in the last century, they may just be a special case. Problem number one is Germany's unenviable track record in handling modernity. As I note in my own commentary on modernity: Part of the problem …
Continue reading "Scientology: Germany May Be A Special Case"
One of the more popular features of this site is the More Than Dreams video series, from the Muslim world. For some--especially those with slow internet connections--downloading these took a long time, if possible at all. For others, the screen size and quality left something to be desired of. Now these riveting videos are offered …
In a conference call earlier this week, Pat Robertson fielded a question he gets often these days: why did he endorse Rudy Giuliani for President? He reiterated the whole business of the importance of national security (which I brought up back in February and he stated in his endorsement speech) but then he made two …
The fact that Catholic bishops ordered a favourable Golden Compass review off of their web site shows that someone in the US RCC is definitely "asleep at the switch" concerning this whole business. Having been covering this since early November (the original review, the follow-up and a comment on the whole business of the "magisterium,") …
The clean-up from the ice storm in the Midwest brings back memories of the Arkansas ice storm of 2000, when Mike Huckabee was governor and Bill Clinton was going out as President. A photo from the aftermath of that ice storm, in central Arkansas. From Delayed For My Appointment: But for me Christmastime took a …
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