Thou shalt not steal

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Unless you are Anglican and you pinch stuff from a supermarket and you really, really need what you are taking; then it’s OK:

WORSHIPPERS at one York church got a shock when their parish priest used the last Sunday before Christmas to advocate shoplifting.

Father Tim Jones, parish priest of St Lawrence and St Hilda, broke off from the traditional Nativity story yesterday, and said stealing from large national chains was sometimes the best option many vulnerable people had.

He told the congregation: “My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.

“I would ask that they do not steal from small, family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices. I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need.”

There are many benefits to being Anglican; Christmas shoplifting is just one of them.

The perpetual motion machine

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Water Screw perpetual motion machine

The quest to build a perpetual motion machine has been around for at least 400 years; for a perpetual motion machine to be “perpetual”, it has to generate more energy than it consumes – if it did not, the energy lost in overcoming friction and in heat generation would leave insufficient energy to drive the machine and it would stop. The problem is, a perpetual motion machine violates the first and possibly the second law of thermodynamics, two foundational laws of physics.

An early effort to generate a perpetual motion machine was the Water Screw.

It was a dismal failure.

In fact all attempts at a perpetual motion machine have been dismal failures and, today, no one bothers to try – we all believe those laws of thermodynamics.

Everyone, that is, but an Irishman call Sean McCarthy, CEO of Steorn, who claims to have discovered some hitherto unknown property of electromagnetism that allows a generator to produce more energy than is fed in to power it, essentially creating a free energy source. The only tiny problem is that the generator violates the first law of thermodynamics – meaning it is impossible.

Early attempts to demonstrate a working model of this Orbo – as it is called – machine failed in 2007 to howls of derision from sceptics. The Orbo generator is fed from a battery which it, in turn, recharges; with an intact 1st law of thermodynamics, less energy must be generated than consumed and so the battery will run down and the machine stop. Not so for Orbo, says Sean McCarthy because it uses “time variant magnetic interactions, i.e. magnetic interactions whose efficiency varies as a function of transaction timeframes.” No, I have no idea what that is either, but Steorn attempts to explain:

It is this variation of energy exchanged as a function of transaction time frame that lies at the heart of Orbo technology, and its ability to contravene the principle of the conservation of energy. Why? Conservation of energy requires that the total energy exchanged using interactions are invariant in time. This principle of time invariance is enshrined in Noether’s Theorem.

The time variant nature of Orbo interactions can be engineered using two basic techniques. The first technique utilizes a method of controlling the response time of magnetic materials to make them time variant. This is achieved by controlling the MH position of materials during permanent magnetic interactions.

The second technique decouples the Counter Electromotive Force (CEMF) from torque for electromagnetic interactions. This decoupling of CEMF allows time variant magnetic interactions in electromagnetic systems.

That didn’t help me, much, but I know from the comments on my blog that most readers are much brighter than I, so I expect someone will understand.

Wired had some critical things to say about the initial 2007 demonstration and seems to be convinced that there is a “man behind the curtain” making the allegedly successful 2009 version of the generator work. You can see it for yourself as a live stream on the Steorn website along with some other experiments and talks.

There is a December 2009 experiment that can be viewed and a January 2010 experiment still to come. The December experiment shows a more or less conventional DC motor with a permanent magnet rotor and a stator wound with toroidal coils; this is an odd choice since toroidal wound coils produce a small external magnetic field and so make very inefficient motors. Nevertheless, it does appear to run and, unless the whole exercise is a hoax, produces no back EMF – something else that should be impossible.

So, Sean McCarthy is either a conman busy making a useless 21st C perpetual Water Screw, or is about to be everyone’s hero – except Al Gore’s whose green energy companies would lose billions; for that reason alone I am cheering on McCarthy.

Watch the videos – they are interesting. Here’s the Orbo for dummies video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjvKmvYy_uw&feature=PlayList&p=5CE75238139FB525&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=29]

What is wrong with this picture

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First we have this:

Children as young as five should be taught to understand the pleasures of gay sex, according to leaders of a taxpayer-funded education project.

Heads of the project have set themselves a goal of ‘creating primary classrooms where queer sexualities are affirmed and celebrated’.

The ambition was revealed in documents prepared for the No Outsiders project run by researchers from universities and backed with £600,000 of public money provided by the Economic and Social Research Council.

This:

The government announced today that sex education will become compulsory for all schools, including lessons on gay relationships and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV.

Teaching will begin from the age of five. Primary school children will learn about their bodies and puberty, along with marriages, divorces and civil partnerships.

And then this:

A devout Christian teacher has lost her job after discussing her faith with a mother and her sick child and offering to pray for them.

Olive Jones, a 54-year-old mother of two, who taught maths to children too ill to attend school, was dismissed following a complaint from the girl’s mother. She was visiting the home of the child when she spoke about her belief in miracles and asked whether  she could say a prayer, but when the mother indicated they were not believers she did not go ahead.

Mrs Jones was then called in by her managers who, she says, told her that sharing her faith with a child could be deemed to be bullying and informed her that her services were no longer required.

Allowed: Compulsory gay sex education for 5 year olds.

Not allowed: Offering to pray for a sick child.

Perhaps Olive Jones should have claimed she was praying for a spirit of gayness to fall upon the child.

Diocese of Ottawa ordains man in same-sex marriage

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From the Anglican Planet:

The Bishop of Ottawa has knowingly and openly ordained to the deaconate a man in a same-sex marriage. The diocesan newspaper CrossTalk reported on its front page that on Oct. 5, the Rt. Rev. John Chapman (left) ordained Ross Hammond as a transitional deacon, (one who intends to become a priest). The newspaper recorded that “Ross is married to Albert Klein.” Last year two large historic churches left the Diocese of Ottawa because of its liberal stance on same-sex blessings and the ordination of non-celibate gay clergy. St. Alban’s and St. George’s have realigned with the Anglican Network in Canada and are in property disputes with their former diocese. In his charge to synod on Oct. 22, Chapman said “The pace is slow but the Episcopal Office continues to work toward confirmation of our right of ownership.” It is thought that his office is awaiting the precedent-setting outcome of a similar property dispute in the Vancouver-based Diocese of New Westminster before proceeding.

Statistics Canada reported 6,105,910 heterosexual married couples in 2006 and 7,465 same-sex married couples; of these same-sex couples, about 140 might be Anglican – assuming the same ratio as in the rest of the population. According to the census, half of all same-sex married couples live in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. That leaves 70 same-sex Anglican couples for the rest of Canada. I wonder how long and hard Chapman had to look to find such a couple close to Ottawa, one half of which was interested in becoming a priest; did he have to bribe him?

Black and White Archbishop Show

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When I was growing up, the BBC used to broadcast the Black and White Minstrel Show:

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My aesthetic sensibilities were insufficiently developed to recognise it for the rubbish it truly was. Today, of course, its violation of the aesthetic would pale in comparison to its strident political incorrectness; the producers would count their blessings if they were merely lynched. So I find it quite strange that it has been resuscitated for the Copenhagen Climate Conference:

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Scott Brison’s Christmas card

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Has caused a bit of a fuss:

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OTTAWA — It has all the hallmarks of a politician’s glossy Christmas card.

Pastoral setting? Check.

Doe-eyed golden retriever? Check.

Handsome couple dressed in smart casual? Check.

Same-sex couple?

That was too much for “a handful of bigots” who objected to Scott Brison’s holiday greeting card depicting him and spouse Maxime St. Pierre, according to the Nova Scotia Liberal MP.

Brison insists there was no political message behind the holiday greeting. “I’m not the first politician to have a family picture on a Christmas card. . . . I’m looking forward to the day when this is seen as no big deal.”

I can’t help thinking that Brison is being rather disingenuous when he insists there was no political message in the greeting. His saying, “I’m looking forward to the day when this is seen as no big deal” is a political message – one which declares that same-sex marriages should be accepted as equivalent to heterosexual marriage. I am quite sure he received bigoted responses – something that could scarcely have surprised him – but it is possible to disagree with his advertising of a lifestyle which, up until recently would have been regarded as perverted, without being a bigot.

And, considering Christians do not accept same-sex partnerships as true marriage, to use a Christian festival to deliver this political message was an act of considerable crassness.

The Mary and Joseph billboard

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Here it is:Add an Image


An unholy row has broken out in New Zealand over a church billboard aimed at “challenging stereotypes” about the birth of Jesus Christ.

A dejected-looking Joseph lies in bed next to Mary under the caption, “Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow”.

St Matthew-in-the-City Church in Auckland, which erected the billboard, said it had intended to provoke debate.

But the Catholic Church, among others, has condemned it as “inappropriate” and “disrespectful”.

The church’s vicar, Archdeacon Glynn Cardy, said the aim of the billboard had been to lampoon the literal interpretation of the Christmas conception story.

“What we’re trying to do is to get people to think more about what Christmas is all about,” he told the New Zealand Press Association (NZPA).

Perish the thought of taking Christmas literally; thankfully we have an Anglican Church to point out that we don’t have to.
St Matthew-in-the-City proudly proclaims:

We at St Matthew-in-the-City are a diverse group of people. What we have in common is that we choose to go to church in the city, in a powerful building, and to experience Anglican worship in the context of this diversity.

We enjoy thinking outside the box, exploring innovative liturgy, progressive ideas and topical issues. We work hard at having a bi-cultural flavour to the service, especially by using Maori language.

Above all else, we are an inclusive church. This means that all are welcome to attend, and that all are welcome to receive communion no matter what church or faith (if any) they are from. Different opinions and varying faith journeys are the strength of our church.

In this remarkable summary we have “diverse” twice, “inclusive” once, “thinking outside the box” once, “exploring innovative liturgy” and “progressive ideas” once each. Not bad for 6 sentences; I’d give that a 9 out of 10 for extreme stale cliché compaction.

St Matthew-in-the-City practices progressive Christianity which means they:

Have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus.

Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God’s realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.

And obviously don’t believe in the uniqueness of Christ and so are probably not practising Christianity at all. In fact they don’t believe in anything much: “Progressives are more interested in spirituality than right belief or proper worship.”

That explains why Joseph and Mary are in bed naked, on a billboard outside the church.

Why worry about Richard Dawkins outside the church when we have Archdeacon Glynn Cardy inside.

Update: The billboard was defaced a number of times and the church has made the startlingly sensible decision not to resuscitate it:

A controversial church billboard in Auckland has been attacked again.

The billboard outside St Matthew-in-the-City, an Anglican church, depicts an image of Joseph and Mary in bed, and one version of it has already been painted over, before being stolen.

The replacement billboard was attacked on Friday evening by an elderly woman. Police were called while she was held back by bystanders.

The Auckland church had earlier said it is sticking with the billboard, but have now decided to not put up another replacement. The church says it does not want to pose any further threat to public safety.

That must be what Christmas is really all about: Public Safety.

Spinning the New Westminster vs. ANiC court ruling

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A letter in Abbey News manages to misinterpret the New Westminster vs ANiC court ruling with such wilful plodding determination that it is difficult to se it as anything other than a clumsy spin:

“I intend to invite these congregations to remain in the buildings where they worship.” So wrote Anglican Bishop Michael Ingham in his recent open letter. Yet two letters to the editor printed during the first week of December suggested the diocese would be turning people out of St. Matthew’s in Abbotsford. Not so.

But the diocese has turned the priests out of the churches. When St. Matthew’s voted to join ANiC, 186 were in favour, 4 against and 5 abstained; the 186 people would hardly abandon their priests after they have taken such a stand, so Ingham has effectively turned the congregation out of their church.

Highlighted recently in local media have been the views of clergy and lay leaders who in May 2008 voluntarily left the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC). For the past 20 months these non-ACoC clergy and lay leaders have excluded ACoC clergy from the building. They have also spent a great deal of money on the unsuccessful lawsuit they started in 2008

Not entirely unsuccessful, since ANiC won the $2.2M bequest.

Not highlighted in local media have been the views of another group with an affiliation to St. Matthew’s. I refer to Abbotsford residents who are members or supporters of the ACoC. For 20 months these people have had nowhere to go in Abbotsford to attend public worship presided over by ACoC clergy. Some have continued to worship at St. Matthew’s at services led by non-ACoC clergy. Some worship in sympatico non-ACoC churches in the city. Some, like me, drive to an ACoC church in a nearby community. Others have stayed home.

One must assume that those who feel that attached to the ACoC would have turned up to vote: 4 people voted to stay in the ACoC, so this “group” MacAdams refers to is comprised of 4 people including him.

Mr. Justice Stephen Kelleher in his decision of Nov. 25, confirmed ACoC clergy should be allowed to resume using St. Matthew’s. He called on both the officers of the Diocese of New Westminster and the current leadership of the congregation to arrive at a workable resolution. I understand Bishop Ingham and diocesan officers will invite the current congregational leaders to start talking. Presumably this means a resolution which meets the needs of all concerned. Both those who are wanting to worship under the leadership of ACoC clergy and those who are not.

The trustees at St. Matthew’s were unwilling to continue under Ingham’s leadership when they had orthodox priests who could at least act as a buffer against Ingham’s heresies. Once Ingham moves his pick of priests in, for the trustees to return would be a practical application of Pr. 26:11.

Your readers should be spared incorrect allegations about people being turned out of St. Matthew’s. My hope is many of those who have stayed at St. Matthew’s will respond to Bishop Ingham’s invitation. And I hope as well they will be kind enough and generous enough to welcome newcomers, returnees and ACoC clergy to participate in public ACoC worship.

Douglas MacAdams

It didn’t work in Niagara, it won’t in New Westminster.