A faith test for the US presidential candidate

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Mayor Bloomberg wants a presidential candidate who “believes in science”. What does that mean exactly?

It can’t mean a candidate who believes that science exists and it doesn’t mean merely the exclusion of a candidate who is so obdurately opposed to science that he has become a member of the flat earth society.

What it does means is a candidate who has adopted a couple of faith positions: first that materialistic evolution is true and, second, that anthropogenic global warming is occurring. The former is scientifically unprovable and the latter is more a product of political correctness than science.

Imagine the outcry if Mayor Bloomberg had demanded a candidate who believes in Christianity.

From here:

Belief in science should be a no-brainer, especially for anyone running for President, Mayor Bloomberg groused Thursday.

The mayor used an international economic forum at Columbia University to pop off against any candidates who doubt the science behind hot-button political topics such as evolution and global warming.

“We have presidential candidates who don’t believe in science,” Bloomberg said, without singling out dubious Republican candidates directly.

“I mean, just think about it, can you imagine a company of any size in the world where the CEO said ‘oh I don’t believe in science’ and that person surviving to the end of that day? Are you kidding me? It’s mind-boggling!”

Bloomberg grew coy when asked which candidate he was talking about.

“I don’t know,” he said. “You can check the presidential candidates’ speeches… I don’t have time to go do it but all their speeches, everything they said.”

Only one GOP contender – former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman – has come out full force saying he believes in science.

“To be clear, I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy,” he wrote on Twitter. He later attacked Rick Perry on “This Week” when he said, “The minute that the Republican Party becomes the anti-science party – we have a huge problem.”

 

Occupy Vancouver degenerating into violence and drug use

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Contrary to Occupy propaganda, the protesters do not represent 99% of the population, since 99% of the population is comprised of people who work for a living, don’t routinely take or overdose on drugs, don’t physically threaten anyone and, since they are busy earning a living to support themselves and their families, don’t have the time for extended self-indulgent posturing in a tent.

From here:

Tempers flared at the Occupy Vancouver encampment Thursday morning as one person was taken to hospital suffering from a drug overdose.

The unconscious victim was first given medical aid by paramedics with Occupy Vancouver, said Vancouver Fire Chief John McKearney.

[….]

Some media covering the overdose were subjected to threats by those living in the tents on the lawns outside Vancouver Art Gallery.

CKNW reporter Charmaine de Silva said she was “physically threatened” while covering the breaking story.

 

Bishop of Toronto, Colin Johnson says Occupy Toronto “needed to happen”

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According to the speaker and parrots in this video, Bishop Colin Johnson has given his blessing to Occupy Toronto.

Is this a case of the adrift leading the incoherent? Probably, but since the good bishop has taken the spiritual lead, the squatters should consider relocating around the corner from St. James Park to 135 Adelaide Street where there is a nice stretch of firm, dry pavement to camp on; it would bring them much closer to the bishop.

 

Rowan Williams interviewed on the St. Paul’s protest

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At around the 3 minute mark, the interviewer asks:

“Has the church seized the opportunity to put the Christian message forward?”

To which Rowan Williams, apparently missing the point, answers :

“There’s actually been quite a lot coming from the church in the last 18 months or 2 years on the economic crisis”.

Needless to say, none of what the church has said about the economic crisis had much to do with the Christian message, unless you believe that the Christian message is one of correcting the apparent failings of capitalism by redistributing wealth as prescribed by the dogma of socialism.

 

Rowan Williams solves Occupy problem: calls for new tax on banks

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In a typical flash of brilliance, Rowan Williams has finally applied his immense intellect to the conundrum of what to do about the protesters camped outside St. Paul’s Cathedral, an inconvenience that is costing the church £20,000 per day and, to date, three senior clergy, not to mention new fractures in the ecclesiastical hierarchy.

The answer was there for all to see, but it took a Welsh academic with out of control eyebrows to pierce the confusion and find an answer: tax the banks some more!

Very soon now the protesters will melt away, caught up in a euphoria of selflessness, knowing that the leader of the church on whose steps they are playing house wants much of the money now flowing into the coffers of British banks to be diverted into good works – like paying for bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

From here:

Dr Rowan Williams said that the Church of England had a “proper interest in the ethics of the financial world” and warned that there had been “little visible change in banking practices” following the recession.

He urged David Cameron and George Osborne to drop their opposition to a European-wide tax on financial transactions, which is expected to be formally proposed by France and Germany at the G20 summit of world leaders starting tomorrow.

“The demands of the protesters have been vague. Many people are frustrated beyond measure at what they see as the disastrous effects of global capitalism; but it isn’t easy to say what we should do differently. It is time we tried to be more specific,” Dr Williams said.

 

Occupy the park next to St. James Cathedral, Toronto

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Nothing to do with us says the Dean of the Cathedral. The fact that the Park is called St. James Park and we are called St. James Cathedral is mere coincidence:

For decades St. James Cathedral and the City of Toronto have worked together to provide the public space of St. James Park. It is a beautiful and appreciated urban oasis that blends seamlessly with the magnificence of the neo-gothic Cathedral which we cherish as evidence of God’s presence in the city.

One week ago, Occupy Toronto protesters chose the Park as their meeting place. Their movement is part of a worldwide response to increasing economic disparity. Protests are taking place all over the globe.

The Cathedral did not invite the protesters into the Park. The Cathedral is not involved in the protest. We have, however, treated the protesters in the way that our faith and sense of humanity directs: with respect and dignity. For over 200 years, St. James Cathedral has been a place where divergent opinions have come to be expressed in a safe and respectful environment.

We have asked that the protesters respect the members of the community who live and work in the area. The overwhelming response from the members of the community to the Cathedral’s position on this issue has been positive. They share, as do we, the protesters’ message of justice and equality.

We fully appreciate the frustration of some of the neighbours to the disruption. Their anger at the Church, however, is misplaced. We have no power to evict the protesters. We cannot speak for the City, but even if we did have that power, we would be very reluctant to invoke it. We believe that we are blessed to live in a society where peaceful conversation can take place publicly and where citizens are free to voice their concerns without fear of violence or reprisals.

The Very Reverend Douglas A. Stoute
Dean of Toronto & Rector of St James Cathedral

No doubt the very reverend Stoute will continue to share the protesters’ message of justice and equality if the squatters park themselves on his steps, blocking the entrance. Something to look forward to.

 

Rowan Williams wades into the St. Paul’s debacle

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But he hasn’t waded in very far.

From here:

He said the resignation, which followed that of Rev Dr Giles Fraser, the Canon Chancellor, was “very sad news” and that the events of the past fortnight had shown “how decisions made in good faith by good people under unusual pressure can have utterly unforeseen and unwelcome consequences”.

Speaking publicly about the crisis for the first time, Dr Williams added: “The urgent larger issues raised by the protesters at St Paul’s remain very much on the table and we need – as a Church and as society as a whole – to work to make sure that they are properly addressed.”

As usual Rowan Williams can’t make up his mind what to do or whose side to be on. If he sides with the Dean Knowles, throw the protesters out faction, it makes his prior anti-banker statement look even more ridiculous; if he sides with the Giles Fraser, we stand with the protesters (even though they have less of an idea of what they are doing than Rowan Williams) faction, the church may look good for a while but will lose hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The internal division in the church on what to do about the protesters parallels the division between church conservatives and liberals. The difference is, in the case of the latter, almost no-one cares, or even notices; the former is very public and the world is watching to see what the church will do.

Will Rowan mingle among the tent dwellers and organise impromptu Indaba groups? Will he advocate a Listening Process between clergy, police and protesters? Will he employ Hegelian dialectic to arrive at a middle ground that everyone will be unhappy with?

The Bishop of London, Richard Chartre, has plumped for the last option: he wants the protest to be scaled down but not be forcibly removed.

What should the church do? It seems to me to be a perfect opportunity to preach the gospel of Christ – the real one, not social justice claptrap – to the lost. Tent city on the steps of St. Paul’s would be a good setting for an Alpha course.

 

St. Paul’s clergy dropping like flies

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The first to go was the cathedral’s canon chancellor, Giles Fraser, then Fraser Dyer the cathedral chaplain and now Graeme Knowles, the Dean.

After repeated criticism of profiteers and ‘bank robbers’ the Church of England is now hoist with its own petard. If only Rowan Williams would do the decent thing and follow the example set by St. Paul’s clergy.

From here:

The Church of England is facing an escalating crisis after a third senior cleric resigned over the Occupy movement’s protest camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral.

The Rt Rev Graeme Knowles, the dean of St Paul’s, announced he was resigning with immediate effect, saying that the row over the Occupy London site had made his position “untenable”.

Knowles said he was “no longer the right person to lead the chapter of this great cathedral” and that his departure could provide the opportunity for a “fresh approach” to the crisis. On Friday, he took the first service at the cathedral after it reopened its doors after a week-long closure.

Last week, Giles Fraser, the cathedral’s canon chancellor, and Fraser Dyer, the cathedral chaplain resigned.

Reacting to the latest resignation, Rowan Williams has issued a statement, continuing the familiar theme of lamenting the collective transgressions of the financial industry while ignoring the church’s primary purpose of offering salvation through Jesus Christ:

“The urgent larger issues raised by the protesters at St Paul’s remain very much on the table and we need – as a Church and as society as a whole – to work to make sure that they are properly addressed.”

 

Why are religious leaders not decrying the violent end of Muammar Gaddafi?

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When Osama bin Laden was killed, prominent bishops and clergy were falling all over themselves to denounce the injustice, warn against Western rejoicing, and fulminate against militarism.

When Gaddafi was summarily despatched, there was silence in the ecclesiastical ether.  It seems Gaddafi was sodomised with a stick to cries of “Allah Akbar” shortly before the final bullet. Those who are into that kind of thing can find the video here.

Is it the cry of “Allah Akbar”, the sodomy, indifference to Arabic Islamists murdering one another or all of the aforementioned that has prevented the tut-tutting of pious clerics?

We may never know. One thing is certain: if an American had delivered the coup de grâce – or the stick – the ecclesiastical screeching would have been deafening.