| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"maff" |
| Date: |
21 Dec 2006 03:47:32 AM |
| Object: |
The liberal church in meltdown |
The liberal church in meltdown
Charlotte Allen
December 20, 2006 08:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/charlotte_allen/2006/12/charlotte_allen=
_on_episcopal_r.html
This past Sunday several churches in Northern Virginia announced that
their congregations had voted overwhelmingly to leave the Episcopal
Church and affiliate themselves with Anglican dioceses in Nigeria and
Uganda.
Their reasons were the same ones that have prompted Episcopal
congregations and even entire dioceses across the country to sever
their national ties in recent months: decades of liberalising trends in
the Episcopal Church that have led to, among other things, the
confirmation in 2003 of the openly gay V Gene Robinson as bishop of New
Hampshire and the election in July 2006 of a presiding bishop,
Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Diocese of Nevada, who is not only a
woman (a contentious issue among conservative Episcopalians) but
supports both Robinson's confirmation and church blessings for gay
unions.
From anti-globaliser to a global empire
Andrew Clark
December 20, 2006 07:17 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/andrew_clark/2006/12/from_antiglobalise=
rs_to_global.html
At the American Apparel store on New York's Fifth Avenue this week,
there was a Christmas shopping buzz as customers rifled through
brightly coloured racks of t-shirts, underpants and bras. Helpful
little cards advised on suitable presents: a pair of baby rib briefs,
for example, for your "favourite boy".
The boss of the underwear chain is getting a rather more substantial
Christmas gift. Dov Charney, who founded American Apparel in 1997, will
receive $200m in shares under a $383m takeover announced yesterday by a
financial buyer, Endeavour Acquisition Corporation.
A financial U-turn
Larry Elliott
December 20, 2006 07:04 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/larry_elliott/2006/12/post_822.html
It's not often I feel sorry for military regimes, but I must confess to
a twinge of sympathy for the government of Thailand.
Faced with speculative flows of "hot money" into the country, which
were driving up the value of the baht and making the country's exports
uncompetitive, Bangkok responded by slapping on capital controls. These
were designed to penalise investors that left their money in Thailand
for less than a year.
The mind that makes the body rich
John Mullan
December 20, 2006 06:28 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_mullan/2006/12/mens_sana.html
They have always said the reading was good for you, and now they have
the magnetic resonance scans to prove it. Researchers at Liverpool
University claim to have demonstrated that reading Shakespeare produces
bursts of activity in otherwise dormant parts of the reader's brain.
You don't any longer need to learn German or do cryptic crosswords in
order to fend off Alzheimer's, conning Othello is quite sufficient.
Neuroscientists co-operating with English professors found that reading
Shakespeare made the subjects' brains "light up". (Apparently it works
with Chaucer too.)
Professor Philip Davis of Liverpool's English department believes that
it is to do with such writers' surprising vocabulary. We are so used to
the jog-trot (or is it route march?) of predictable sentences in our
usual reading matter, that our synapses gratefully fizz into new life
when we come across unusual language. But if it were just this, then
Finnegans Wake would be the best brain tonic imaginable (rather than
the least readable book ever written by a great writer). Perhaps it is
more that Chaucer and Shakespeare are close to recognisable English
without ever becoming such. Take Macbeth, pondering murder. He would
act, "If the assassination could trammel up the consequence/ And catch
with his surcease, success". You think you know what he is saying, but
you're baffled too.
Dire straits
Dilip Hiro
December 20, 2006 05:28 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dilip_hiro/2006/12/dire_straits.html
Two points are worth noting regarding the upcoming bolstering of the US
Navy in the Gulf.
One, it is a continuation of an ongoing, albeit unannounced, policy. On
30 October the Pentagon led a five-day naval exercise, codenamed
"Leading Edge", in the Persian Gulf involving the participation of
Britain, France, Italy, Australia - and Bahrain, which hosts the US
fifth fleet. There were observers from 19 other countries, including a
few in the Gulf region. And this led the Pentagon to declare, falsely,
that the naval manoeuvres involved 25 countries.
John Lennon, the FBI and me
Tariq Ali
December 20, 2006 04:46 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tariq_ali/2006/12/john_lennon_the_fbi_a=
nd_me.html
After a 25-year legal battle, the UCLA historian, Jon Wiener has
managed to secure the final 10 documents relating to the surveillance
of John Lennon that the FBI were refusing to release.
A woman's place
Brian Whitaker
December 20, 2006 04:09 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_whitaker/2006/12/a_womans_place.h=
tml
She used to get the bus every day on her way to early-morning prayers.
"Every two or three days, someone would tell me to sit in the back,
sometimes politely and sometimes not," she told the newspaper. That's
where "modesty" requires women to sit. One morning, though, it was
worse. A man got on the bus and demanded her seat near the front, even
though there were others available.
Barberanism in cartoon land
Martin Rowson
December 20, 2006 03:11 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/martin_rowson/2006/12/post_828.html
I've long believed that the cartoon shorts produced in Hollywood in the
1930s, 40s and 50s, mostly outside the baleful Disney gulag, are among
the greatest achievements of western art.
These five-minute long essays in mayhem, featuring Bugs Bunny or Daffy
Duck or Droopy, and directed by the likes of Tex Avery, Friz Freleng
and Chuck Jones are (albeit silly) symphonies of joy. Right up there at
the top stand Tom and Jerry, created by William Hanna and Joe Barbera,
who's just died aged 95.
Mr Tony's theories
Jackie Ashley
December 20, 2006 02:18 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jackie_ashley/2006/12/mr_tonys_theories=
..html
If it wasn't so serious it would be hilariously funny. "Mr Tony", as he
now apparently likes to be called, has been explaining his theory of
leadership: "The art of leadership is learning to take decisions." So
far, so good. And, he goes on, "sometimes you are right, sometimes you
are wrong. Some of the decisions are very difficult and someone always
gets angry."
Well, Mr Tony, certainly lots of people have got angry about the Iraq
war, which an ever-growing number of people believe was a wrong
decision. Look at the Baker-Hamilton commission in the United States,
which gave a devastating critique of the policy, warned of the
situation in Iraq deteriorating and of the threat of regional
conflagration. Look at yesterday's report from the respected thinktank,
Chatham House, which described the war as "a terrible mistake" which
has damaged Britain's global influence. Listen to all those Labour MPs
who are saying publicly (a little) and privately (a lot) that the
decision to follow George Bush into war with Iraq was a terrible error.
Off to a bad start
Conor Foley
December 20, 2006 01:07 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/conor_foley/2006/12/challenges_for_lula=
..html
A storm is growing over last week's decision to award members of
Brazil's national Congress a 90.7% pay rise. Last night Brazil's
supreme court suspended the decision, taken at a closed-door meeting
between the heads of Congress and the Senate, to approve the increase.
Further challenges are likely, but it is still predicted that the
increase will come into effect on 1 February when legislators return
from their long Christmas break. Including expenses, staff salaries and
extra payments, the minimum average monthly package for members of
congress will rise to R$116,254 (about =A330,000 a month) in a country
where the national minimum wage is R$350 (less than =A390).
The move has been greeted with outrage by the Brazilian media and civil
society and highlights some of the challenges facing the recently
re-elected president, Luiz In=E1cio Lula da Silva, as he starts his
second term.
A festive box of delights
Inayat Bunglawala
December 20, 2006 12:01 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/inayat_bunglawala/2006/12/christmas_tel=
ly.html
I was going to post a blog entry about our prime minister's latest
well-reasoned remarks about the "strategic threat" that Iran poses and
the need to build an "alliance of moderation" between all those who
"believe in tolerance, respect for others and liberty" in order to "pin
the Iranians back". I suppose he means a strengthening of the alliance
with the freedom-loving governments of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The PM
has obviously been encouraged by the fruits of his foreign policy in
Iraq and now wants others to have a taste of the same.
But Christmas is approaching and I think something lighter is in order.
I hope you don't mind indulging me.
Thinking outside the box
Asim Siddiqui
December 20, 2006 10:01 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/asim_siddiqui/2006/12/the_year_ahead.ht=
ml
This year ends with Christian (Christmas), Jewish (Chanukah) and Muslim
(Eid) days of celebration coinciding. Perhaps a good time for all to
reflect and take stock on the challenges we face individually and
collectively.
The City Circle intends to use 2007 to continue to push the envelope in
hosting debates on difficult and challenging issues facing British
Muslims and wider society. The need for independent, safe and open
spaces within communities to take a self-critical look at themselves
has never been more necessary. To encourage Muslims to stop wallowing
in a victim's mentality that disempowers them to act as agents of their
own change. Subjects as diverse (and connected) as integration,
ghettoisation, white flight, socio-economic marginalisation,
spirituality and terrorism are all on our radar screen. Along with
exploring foreign policy dimensions that some claim as the main driver
of Muslim terrorism, we will continue to challenge the Islamist
theology that underpins an extremist mindset.
Now Blair must appeal to Iran's moderates
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldbriefing/0,,1324846,00.html
Simon Tisdall
Thursday December 21, 2006
The Guardian
Tony Blair claimed yesterday that Iran poses a "strategic challenge" to
moderate Middle East governments and the west as a whole, in a message
that will gratify the ruling hardliners in Tehran. They believe the US
and Britain have conspired to undermine the Islamic republic created
after the 1979 revolution - and have failed to recognise its legitimate
interests and aspirations. The prime minister's onslaught will be seen
in those quarters as an acknowledgement that post-Khomeini Iran is
finally emerging as a powerful regional player.
It is possible to respect the believers but not the belief
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1976423,00.html
We don't have to abandon our own principles to celebrate competing
faiths in this multicultural midwinter
Timothy Garton Ash
Thursday December 21, 2006
The Guardian
Last weekend I went and sang a lot of words that I don't believe. Do I
think an angel appeared to a woman called Mary roughly 2007 years ago
and told her she had become pregnant without sleeping with Joseph? I
don't. Do I think Good King Wenceslas tramped out into the snow to
bring "yonder peasant" food and wine? Not likely. Yet the words were
beautiful and familiar, the medieval church was candlelit, my family
was with me, and I was moved.
Brown's first job must be to break free of US shackles
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1976488,00.html
A new prime minister has the opportunity to do what Blair never could -
leave Iraq and face the consequences
Max Hastings
Thursday December 21, 2006
The Guardian
Gordon Brown's first hundred days as prime minister have already
prompted more speculation than Santa Claus. We assume that there will
be showy initiatives and sweeteners for all, not least because he will
be tempted to call an early election, in 2008.
Today, no issue can be exercising Brown's imagination more than Iraq.
The most dramatic achievement the nation's new leader could offer the
electorate ahead of a poll is to get us out. Brown knows nothing of
foreign policy, and always seems uncomfortable with it. Yet how he must
crave a coup.
Muslims need to take part
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1976590,00.html
Palestinian dispossession is a reason to participate in Holocaust
Memorial Day, not boycott it
Salma Yaqoob
Thursday December 21, 2006
The Guardian
The freedom for Muslims to express their identity in Europe is today
under attack. Implicit in this attack is the view that Islam is
intrinsically repressive, and embodies values alien to western values
of liberty, tolerance and democracy. The memory of the Holocaust stands
against such a grossly sanitised view of European history. It reminds
us that in the heart of modern Europe the demonisation of a religious
and cultural minority culminated in genocide - the mass, industrialised
slaughter of European Jews. Why then, with European Muslims subject to
attacks reminiscent of the gathering storms of anti-semitism in the
first decades of the last century, has Holocaust Memorial Day become
such a difficult issue for some British Muslims?
Russia should be allowed to escape the cliches of its past
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1976591,00.html
Britain has long cast Russia as a corrupt and destabilising state -
because it disturbed the established imperial order
Hywel Williams
Thursday December 21, 2006
The Guardian
Of all Europe's nation states refashioned by the fall of the Berlin
Wall, it is Russia which lends itself most easily to parody. The
cliches mount up as foreigners struggle to understand a country which
is almost, but not quite, "European". It is therefore "cowboy
capitalists" who have stripped the assets of the nationalised
industries in a wave of ill-thought-out privatisation. Chechnya can be
used to illustrate the still-ravenous paw of the "Russian bear" bent on
oppressing subjugated nationalities, while Vladimir Putin is portrayed
as the latest example of a recurrent figure: the "Russian autocrat". In
the early 21st century, the heir to the tsars and the old style
politburo is surrounded by "oligarchs" rather than priests bearing
icons or commissars carrying guns. But although the influence of the
rich has replaced that of Orthodox priests and Marxist Leninist
commissars, the secrecy of power and the seclusion of the powerful
seems continuous in Russia.
In praise of ... Spike Lee
http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,,1976403,00.html
Leader
Thursday December 21, 2006
The Guardian
Whatever its effect on the world at large, the Bush administration has
been a boon for America's documentary-makers. In recent years, Michael
Moore, Errol Morris and Robert Greenwald have all enjoyed brisk
business with works that, implicitly or otherwise, address everything
from 9/11 to Iraq to the supine US media. Yet arguably the most mature,
measured and sensitive of these films comes from Spike Lee, a director
not previously known for exhibiting these qualities.
Bush plans bigger army amid fear of new Iraq deployment
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1976587,00.html
=B7 30,000 more troops may be sent to quell violence
=B7 Pentagon wants $100bn more for twin campaigns
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington, Michael Howard in Baghdad
Thursday December 21, 2006
The Guardian
President George Bush called yesterday for an increase in the size of
the US military, deepening expectations that he will send up to 30,000
more troops to Iraq in the new year. In a sign of forthcoming changes
at the Pentagon after the departure of Donald Rumsfeld as defence
secretary, Mr Bush acknowledged that he had been taken aback by the
eruption of sectarian violence in Iraq, and that it had been a
difficult year.
He said he had asked Mr Rumsfeld's successor, Robert Gates, to develop
a plan to increase the size of the US army and marines after warnings
from senior generals about the strain of repeated deployments in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Mr Gates made an unannounced visit to Baghdad
yesterday, two days after his swearing-in.
'We are facing the hardest Christmas yet'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1976573,00.html
Israeli road obstacles rise by 40% in a year, strangling the
Palestinians, says UN
Rory McCarthy
Thursday December 21, 2006
The Guardian
On a map the route looks straightforward enough. From Nazareth, amid
the ploughed brown farmlands of northern Israel, Highway 60 travels
south for nearly 100 miles, winding down through the mountains of the
West Bank, through the heart of central Jerusalem and into the narrow
streets of Bethlehem.
This is the direct route from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the closest
approximation to the journey described in the Bible when Joseph and
Mary travelled south to register for taxes in the time of Caesar
Augustus.
Revealed at last - how FBI tried to nail Lennon
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1976655,00.html
Maev Kennedy
Thursday December 21, 2006
The Guardian
Clearly a man who sang "Imagine all the people/Living life in peace"
was a major league subversive, but still the FBI could not quite nail
John Lennon. An American historian has finally won his 25-year campaign
to expose the FBI's pursuit of the ex-Beatle - but the last 10 pages,
released only after a string of court cases, don't quite make spy
thriller reading.
The Lennon files show that American intelligence followed him,
photographed him, carefully monitored his activities, and logged his
support for anti-war and radical movements.
Exclusive: inside the secret and sinister world of the BNP
http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,1976649,00.html
Guardian reporter Ian Cobain joined the BNP and became central London
organiser. He found:
=B7 Encrypted lists of middle-class members
=B7 A network of false identities
=B7 The covert rulebook
Thursday December 21, 2006
The Guardian
The techniques of secrecy and deception employed by the British
National party in its attempt to conceal its activities and intentions
from the public can be disclosed today.
Activists are being encouraged to adopt false names when engaged on BNP
business, to reduce the chance of their being identified as party
members in their other dealings with the public.
The BNP has also been instructing its activists in the use of
encryption software to conceal the content of their email messages, and
to protect the party's secret membership lists.
Science's crystal ball: A look into the future
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article2091883.ece
A group of leading scientists was asked to come up with a vision of the
planet (and beyond) 50 years from now. The conclusions are startling,
reports Steve Connor
Published: 21 December 2006
A permanently manned base on the Moon, memory implants in the brain,
the rise of a Chinese scientific superpower and unlimited,
pollution-free energy. They sound like science fiction, but could they
come true in the 21st century?
Predicting the future is a notoriously risky business, yet teams of
experts have given their considered opinion on what to expect in the
next 50 years in fields ranging from brain chemistry to space travel.
Where homeless can eat like the kings of New York
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2091872.ece
By David Usborne in New York
Published: 21 December 2006
The master chef Michael Ennes is in full creative tilt in his cramped
kitchen beneath the Broadway Presbyterian Church on the Upper West Side
of Manhattan. His harried band of assistants is variously plugging the
tops of 20 plump chickens with apple quarters, chopping fresh sticks of
celery and moulding herbed meat balls.
This was mid-morning yesterday and the birds are the main attraction on
the lunchtime menu, each sat upright on a can filled with fresh fennel
and broth. "It's called posted chicken," says Ennes; they stay moist
thanks to simultaneous roasting and poaching. The meatballs are for
Italian wedding soup.
'Out of touch' Bush wants to boost size of Army
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2091866.ece
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 21 December 2006
George Bush says he wants to increase the size of the US military -
currently the second largest in the world - to allow America to take on
a "long struggle against radicals and extremists".
Speaking at an end-of-year press conference, Mr Bush said he was
"inclined to believe" a permanent increase in the size of US forces was
necessary. Previously he indicated he wished to boost the Army and
Marine Corps.
'Brainwashed' Blair losing battle to prove his influence
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2091884.ece
By Andrew Grice, Political Editor
Published: 21 December 2006
Tony Blair's "shoulder to shoulder" support for George Bush has been
called into question again by claims that he was "brainwashed" by
President Bush over plans to pull troops out of Iraq.
The Prime Minister returned yesterday from his seven-nation visit to
the Middle East, apparently without achieving any significant
breakthrough in the peace process. But British officials said that he
had found a desire to make progress among Israeli and Palestinian
leaders, and insisted that he had never expected to find a magic
solution. They said his tour should be judged over the longer term
rather than immediately.
Hamish Mcrae: 'BRIC' economies hold the key to building global growth
in 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article2091909.ece
Published: 21 December 2006
This is the last of these columns for 2006, hence the seasonal
temptation to try to think through the principal economic influences
during the coming year. It is an exercise that is useful not because
global economic changes follow an annual calendar - they don't - but
rather because it is worth standing back from time to time from the
daily news flow and thinking about long-term changes in the world
economy. A year-end is as good a time as any to do so.
At least three important things happened during 2006: the start of the
long-expected decline in the dollar; a return to "normal" interest
rates; and India and Russia joining China as fast-growing "BRIC"
economies. A word about each, for they form the baseline for the things
to look for in 2007.
Adrian Hamilton: Every day he clings on, the damage gets worse
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/adrian_hamilton/article2091=
855.ece
Blair still talks of an 'ethical' foreign policy. The reality is all
too apparent
Published: 21 December 2006
Out of the mouth of babes, and babblers comes the truth. Britain,
declared its Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, in her rambling
interview on the Today programme this week, may have lost influence in
the Arab street because of Iraq, but its influence with "governments"
was still great.
So, with a casual complacency, are dismissed all the hopes and beliefs
of a government that once talked of an "ethical foreign policy"
appealing to the aspirations and wishes of people over the heads of
their corrupt and authoritarian leaders.
.
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| User: "quibbler" |
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| Title: It's conservatives who are melting down. Go to Nigeria & Uganda! |
21 Dec 2006 10:36:37 AM |
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In article <1166694451.949841.249960@42g2000cwt.googlegroups.com>,
maff91@yahoo.com says...
This past Sunday several churches in Northern Virginia announced that
their congregations had voted overwhelmingly to leave the Episcopal
Church and affiliate themselves with Anglican dioceses in Nigeria and
Uganda.
But it's the conservatives who are melting down if they have to go
affiliate with fucking Uganda to still find morons fanatic enough for
their taste. Liberalism is the inexorable trend of civilization and
history and has been, both broadly and specifically over thousands of
years. You can't escape it, though reactionaries always try to fight
isolated, temporary counter-offensives.
among other things, the
confirmation in 2003 of the openly gay V Gene Robinson as bishop
If only you knew how many closeted gays had already been bishops. And
that's not mentioning all the other things people probably don't know
about their bishops.
--
Quibbler (quibbler247atyahoo.com)
"It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the
threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow'
disease, and many others, but I think a case can be
made that faith is one of the world's great evils,
comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to
eradicate." -- Richard Dawkins
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