Back in Bradford

Just to try to lay a few things to rest and make sure that proper people have keys and odds and ends of furniture, I have returned to Bradford this weekend. So I won't be able to blog very often until Tuesday probably. I've very mixed emotions about being here. Maybe try to blog out loud about them later .... Ciao bambini!

The blue movement

Found this via Greenfutures magazine [see sidebar]. I must confess I haven't been as attentive to ocean ecological issues as perhaps I should have been -after all the oceans a a huge deal in size and the part played in the whole ecosystem and in terms of our lack of understanding about them and the effects of messing about with them ... so I think taking more notice here would be good.

Malaysian censors say Passion is only for Christians

"'It's a deeply religious movie. We live in a multiracial country and we needed to show sensitivity toward other religions, particularly Islam.'"
I think I'm right in saying that Malays have their religion on their ID cards so this is enforcible at point of entry ... but it seems a bit much to say that Muslims couldn't go to see it as if they aren't grown up enough to make up their own minds. Actually it could create a bit of a biteback effect: by contrabanding it to Muslims, it could create a bootleg market among them.

I guess the issue could be about not exposing Muslims to the Christian 'heresy' that Christ was crucified -though whether the traditional Muslim interpretation of the Quran is correct on this point is another issue: it seems to me that the passages cited are capable of an interpretation that sits well with the well-grounded history that the crucifixion of Jesus did in fact take place.

Spam Poison - Fight Back Against Spammers

This seems like a good idea: go thou and do likewise! Seriously I've long been worried about the fact that to leave comments on blogs we often have to give an email address and I have suspected that they can be harvested [and that would explain the recent growth in spam to one of my accounts -the one I give on comment sites] ...
thanks to Emergent Kiwi Steve Taylor for bringing it to our attention.

A horrifying hypothesis

Guardian Unlimited | World dispatch | A horrifying hypothesis: "t is, in secular France, a heretical notion indeed, that the grand founding ideals of the nation are now obstructing its progress, blinding it to its biggest problems, preventing it from addressing its most critical issues"

An interesting article which I would say bears out my experience of having worked as an officially religious personage in a secular organisation; secular in a way very similar to France vis-a-vis the human person. This article shows up the the achilles heel of secularism: that it is itself an idealogical construction which is intolerant of alternatives and so capable of producing what it abhors. I don't hink that there is an easy solution but I am convinced that hard secualrism such as institutionalized in France at gstate-level, is not a solution.

In chaplaincy it became clear that for an institution to ban religion is to produce a situation where people feel that they are discriminated against and that their concerns are not taken seriously. Thus undermining stated goals of equality, celebrating diversity etc. Bradford University should be credited with drawing back from the brink and starting on a path to soft secularsim; recognizing religion as a factor in people's self-identity and socially constructed identity and that it is also something that informs them as agents within public space and so has to be taken account of even if not allowed to be imposed on others or necessarily to have the casting vote.

Lungs of world are on fire but breathing - Environment - www.smh.com.au

This is probably a useful factlet to have in mind when discussing the rainforest.

Electric cars that pay | csmonitor.com

Electric cars that pay | csmonitor.com: "it not only uses electricity but generates it for other purposes. So, once it's parked, you plug it in and sell excess electricity to a utility."



However, it's still ont he drawing board, but it's an idea that keeps popping up in various forms: likke the idea that you could plug it into your house when home and power the house at that time.



Here's an interesting thought, and nice because it's about dsitruted poser production in the hands of the people: "if automakers were to make 1 million next-generation V2G vehicles by 2020, they could generate up to 10,000 megawatts of electricity - about the capacity of 20 average-size power plants"



THere would be tremendous appeal to the ordinary consumer in this kind of cost-offsetting product; if the infrastructrual issues can be fettled then the market may indeed take care of this bit of environmental concern.

Greens Greasing Political Wheels

Another hopeful tale: of Bostonians reprocessing waste frying oil to fuel their cars thus adding no further CO2 to the atmosphere from fossil sources. In the UK we're waiting for tax breaks to make this a feasible transitional opportunity for the many [transitional to hydrogen, I hope]; it looks abit lke in the USA, there is not such a big deal -after all they don't have petrol duty like we do.

Scrap Europe's farm subsidies

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Hewitt: scrap Europe's farm subsidies: "'What we have to do is reform the world trade system so that it is not just free but we get fair trade as well, which is what the developing countries need,'" -Patricia Hewitt UK trade minister. So again it's a case of hoping and praying that words become action and are heeded in the right quarters.

I've only ever voted Labour once [and I've never voted Tory] about 10 years ago because there were only two candidates and I couln't bring myself to spoil my vote. However, I have to say I'm pretty impressed, on reflection, with this government's record on soical inclusion, improving the health service, crime and international trade and aid ...

Bad cop takes a beating

Apparently interrogating people nicely is just as effective as being brutal....

Cut power to environmental hazards first

At least that's how it looks: China looks set to cut power when there are shortfalls with priority given to cutting off polluters and energy-inefficient users first. Sounds like a good startegy for starters.

Barclays, Shell in landmark carbon emissions deal

a quiet start for what could be a very significant development: international carbon trading.

Kerry plan will seek to reduce U.S. oil use

It's good to see at leaxst one US presidential candidate with somethng of a green message sd interestingly put in terms of reducing reliance on midesatern oil which is the way to 'sell' the idea hardest in USA at the moment, I would guess. Shame is that it may not impact many beyond already commited Democratic voters.

Barclays, Shell in landmark carbon emissions deal

First carbon emissions trade ...

GE hopes its solar will top $1 bln per year by 2010

ITlook slike there is a growing market for solar generation and it also looks like it is decentralised. The more that is produced the cheaper it gets. I have just seen Innovations selling some portable units for manageable prices suitable for toping up mobile phones and recharging batteries and perhaps even running small appliances.

GE hopes its solar will top $1 bln per year by 2010

Solar power -especially tied in to the grid is growing and it's decentralized use that is the driver by the look of things.

I'm now pto'd in the Durham diocese

This chap just sent me a letter giving me permisssion to officiate [pto] ie to act in a priestly way in the diocese of Durham [provided I have the appropriate invitations from area deans, incumbants etc. So I may not have a job but I can preach and preside.

At present I'm workng on finishing my MA, writing a bid to do a PhD, working on a business plan to do some life coaching and retreat leading for fees and there is a sniff of applying for a part-time rol as a pastor to an alternative worship congregation ...
Those who pray and care may like to keep all that in mind....

CURATED CONSUMPTION

In many ways there is notheing very new about this phenomenon: communities have gatekeepers, there were always trendsetters and CHirstians have long been trying to leverage the famee of celebrity believers ... perhpas the new thing in all this is the self-conscious use of it by marketters and media and in this connection selling with the Cretive class in mind. Also worth noting is the idea of sellng something with a story attached -narrative marketting anyone?

It seems to me that Kabbalah is getting some kind of intersted since Madonna got into it; perhaps an example of curted consumptionof religion/spirituality -especially as it comes with consumer goodies -a red tie for the wrist.

What does this mean for Christians? SHould we be looking for curators who can commend Christian faith into the wider 'market? Or should we stick with viral marketting? I must admit that I'm cynical about the medium as a suitable vehicle for the message her and the viral route seems so much better ... except that we seem naff at that too.

NEWSWATCH EMAIL SERVICE

This looks to be useful; I've just signed up to this news service which promises to deliver a weekly digest of Christian -related news. Bible Society are a good bunch so I'm hoping it'll be good.

Olivier rises to new role

Yes, Olivier is dead. This is exploring something that has long been in SciFi: holographic actors at least in film. Theatre may be a differnt matter: it relies so much on presence and mutual feedback between audeince and actors [at least, if you're not into 'fourth wall' acting]. Actually, interesting parallel between that and church, n'est-ce pas?

Thinking Anglicans: Celebrating fallibility

Thinking Anglicans: Celebrating fallibility: "Within living memory, each parish had its own clergyman, and Stansted also had usually two curates, so eighteen full-time clerics for sixteen parishes. These days, for the same same number of parishes with increasing populations."
Just so. A big part of the problem though, is that we kind of recognize this and yet do not really change what we do. It's a difficult situation to manage: who wants to manage decline? Especially as at the same time we're supposed to be encouraging and jolly people along, all the time hoping that the cavalry will turn up and rescue us. I still think that we need to engage seriously with the issue in the way that Mike Riddell proposes in Threshold of the Future: Reforming the...">"Threshold of the Future": we need to recognize that death of the church in our culture [indeed the death of a culture in which it was set], mourn and rebuild in the reality that we now find. It's the denial that is really doing for us; it's sapping energy and creativity; it's driving maintainance-led decisions rather than missionary strategies and it's not making contact with the real spiritual revival that is taking place.

Pollution warning to company directors

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Pollution warning to company directors: "'We want to see tougher penalties for companies, but we also need new laws that impose environmental and social duties on directors,' Brian Shaad, Friends of the Earth's corporate campaigner, said."



Agin looks like a step in the right direction but also looks like it will need to be beefier: after all look at the size of fines and then look at director's pay ...

Government plans eco-building code

Looks like good news, only I'm not sure that they really are going to do it or whether this is more unofficial consultation -ie say you're going to do something but if the outcry is great quietly forget it.

Environmental art -Martin Hill

Every time I've seen this guy's artwork I've been gobsmacked: I love it and I love the philosophy of it. I commend it to you and encourage you to go and have a look.

Green Futures - Briefings

Green Futures - Briefings: "Green HerringHoping to wean itself off fossil fuels and move into the hydrogen economy, South Korea and China are to produce the gas using atomic energy."

Don't know whether to laugh or cry.

This makes the nuclear issue even more of a bad idea ...

stopping deforstation

fancy taking a bit of action this summer on behalf of the rainforest? follow the links.

Buyers want homes to be eco-friendly

This is a pleasant sruprise

UK sinks GBP 1 trillion into red

"Debt is not simply about owing money; it is also about being trapped in a broader sense. Many parts of the financial services industry have played a huge role in spreading the debt culture"

As a Christian I find this immensely worrying, not least because of being involved in teaching 'Gospel and Society' to trainee readers and Methodist lay-preachers in which some of the course material explores the first century socio-economic matrices in Palestine where indebtedness, slavery and oprression were a mutually reinforcing mix. I can't help feeling that in a globalizing world where TNC's seem to have the potential [and many would argue the actual] power to determine lives in a way commensurate with nation-states, that indebtedness leaves us vulnerable to tyranny, to not mince words [split infinitive -hard to convey the force without it].

I drew attention to the Mustard Seed site a few blogs back and one of the temes out of that is quite heavy on not buying into what makes for debt [literally as well as metaphorically]. It is an issue of discipleship -but where does it appear in our Alpha courses etc? Anyone know of discipleship or intros to Christian faith courses where such issues are dealt with? Do we think we should deal with them in such contexts? What should we identify as key discipleship issues in addition or instead?

I think I wold consider doing something on finding identity in consumerist society and I think that it would have to be pretty up for dealing with it as an issue of spiritual direction not just of head-knowledge. I've had a long-tern aim to write a confirmation/baptism course which is practically oriented on issues like building a rule of life and identifying key cultural issues as part of that....

NATIONS*LITE*

This is the ultimate in gated communities. However, my question is whether such a community can survive being so close to Arabia given that the values it is built on are so inimical to Wahhabi Islam. That's not to mention the more general concern about the bad effects of a growing gap and social distance between rich and poor ....

GENERATION C

'C' for 'creative'.: "The two main drivers fuelling this trend? (1) The creative urges each consumer undeniably possesses. We're all artists, but until now we neither had the guts nor the means to go all ..."

This is so significant, it seems to me. It links in with important themes in pomo spirituality too, methinks. Cue Matthew Fox and Original BLessing [with which I tend to agree in what is proposed but disagree somewhat in what is denied].

The intersting thing is what happens to and in a society of artists? Does fame become democratized? [Cue Andy Warhol]. IT feels like a simiular question to ask as 'what happens in a society of graduates?'. In rleation to the latter, the interesting thing is Star Trek which, in TNG, clearly envisages just such a society as the ST uhuman universe is clearly just such a society of, in our terms, graduates and artists with instantly searchable databases [cf Gmail, again] to gain access to stuff. I think I need more time to think about this, though I think also that at its best SF is a means to help spark our imaginations to think what could be and the pros and cons of it all ... anyone else prepared to venture some thought?

Of course it is all massively relevant to the ideals of alt.worship and emerging church. The question is how do we 'empower' the developments and use them wisely and upbuildingly?

LIFE CACHING | An emerging consumer trend?

It had been occuring to me recently that with gmails huge storage space and things like the way I'm keeping photos online now and all sorts of stuff so that I can access it half-way across the world if necessary without having to carry one of those little memory stick things -though I do keep a lot of files on one for work purposes and then 'hot desk' -I'm now consiedering simply keeping a list of URL's on it to access the things I'm working on and I'm even thinking of how to write my dissertaions and articles using Gmail/blogs or similar. So more and more of my life is in cyberspace since it is fairly reliably there and means less stuff to remember to carry.

Then there's this article ... and I start to worry that perhaps I'm too visible to commercial interests this way. It's convenient but ... There are a nmber of issues too about how visible we want to be: blogging seems to be interpretable as a variety of vanity publishing but is that too harsh a judgement?

I recently had an interview where one of the panel had prepared by actually looking at my blog [which I'd referenced as part of my address details in my covering letter]. Is blogging simpy an extension of self-presentation into cyberspce, nopt with any expectation of becoming famous or being 'discovered' but simply allowing ourselves to be known and to relate through this new social environment? I think for me that it is this latter and also it picks up where email discussion groups left off.

But the drying up of email discussion groups [well so it seems to me] points to the potential ephemerality of bloging and so on ... so is life-caching too grandiose a title for what could actually be a 10 year pehenomenon, or is it here to stay though likely to morph?

I'd like to note two other things before leaving off. One is the word 'emerging' it's obviously a vocabule du jour. SO how long is it going to be before we're tired of the word [cf 'empowering'] and looking for a new term to replace emerging church? And what would be the significance of that?

The other thing is that the term 'life caching' seems to be deliberately echoing 'life coaching' [or am I being too clever by half here?]. If that's so then it would indicate that the 'profession' of life-coaching has gained some degree of being an 'accepted part of the landscape' in at least entrepreneurial circles in the USA ...

Women and Mosque Access

Okay, so we have discussions on women in leadership; how the other half live -Muslim women and how they do or don't get to pray publically.

Lacking energy

Good article on the state of play in UK on renwables and our underinvestment in solar.

Listen to the flip side

"'Downloads have an effect on sales that is statistically indistinguishable from zero,'"
Probably says it all -apart from all the details that go to make that conclusion. However, in a digital and wired world, we need to learn the lessons about how decisions, spending and networking actually do operate. Here we see a batle between conventional 'wisdom' and the possible facts. The conventional wisdom is based on seemingly soundly based logic operating from premises that are well accepted and tend, indeed, to lie close to the basis on which we do ecomomics. However, the constant fall-down fro economics is that actual behaviour often is influenced by more than we initially think. In this case it could be that file sharing allows people to test out before buying and indeed to expand their repertoire of listening without having to risk their money, but at the end of the day there is something about owning hard copy with all the extras that can bring ... ?

"Our hypothesis was that if downloads are killing music, then albums that are downloaded more intensively should sell less," says Strumpf. But, after adjusting for the effects of popularity, they discovered that file sharing has "no statistically significant effect" on sales. ... File sharing is done primarily by teenagers and college kids because they have a lot of time on their hands but they don't have a lot of money. If we got rid of file sharing tomorrow, it doesn't necessarily mean these kids would be buying any more music"

Ursula K. Le Guin on fantasy assumptions

I think that Ursula Le Guin is one of the finest fantasy writers there is; partly because she's actually pretty progressive in her writing and her characters really are characters and not just plot-ciphers. Anyway, courtesy of Greenflame, I came across this speech of hers about the assumptions readers/ retailers often make about the fantasy genre interms of it being populated by white, tales of the middle ages [or equivalent] and what she calls the Battle Between Good and Evil but seems to be a variety of the myth of redemptive violence. Good stuff to get you thinking.

BTW, if you're not into fantasy but fancy giving it a go, you could do worse than start with Ms Le Guin; the Earthsea Triology is a must.

Hawking to dispel black hole 'myth'

A couple of things here: this is a good example of scientific development. A theory which is apparently all done and dusted still has a niggling soemthing about it which prompts a rethink and debate and perhaps the loss of a bet. The latter seems to remind us of the psychology of it; we can be certain -but is reality convinced? Little solace here for linguistic relativists [default position of dyed-in-the-wool postmodernists], but support for critical realists.

The other thing that makes all sorts of connections with mystical thought [and probably mostly of the connections turn out to be bogus, be warned!] is the way that 'information' seems to be becoming recognized as some kind of ultimate aspect of reality. Shades of the Word ... ?

Get ready for Greenbelt

This was a triply-exposed piece of film from a year or two back, just found it. Somehow though, it kind of works ...
As you can guess, our recent removal has brought to the surface all sorts of memorabilia.

A picture taken in January now seems strangely topical.

We wondered whether it is an oxymoron.

The burning issue

A number of years back I decided that there was not point fighting it: I'm a red-head, the best I can do tanning is a few more freckles and a lot of sunburn, the risks are great and so why not try to remain pale? So I do: I wear long sleeves or sunscreen, a hat, walk in the shade, never sunbathe. So I have to look pale; so what, it's just a fashion to value tanned looks. [and contrary to the fashion of Victorian times, for example]. This article at least bolsters my feeling that I'm doing the right thing.

Warning: nicotine seriously improves health

Just goes to show that stereotyping can be misleading; stereotyping nicotine as an unmitigated disaster may be to miss some potential benefits ... read the whole article.

Mustard Seed Associates | Christians Living on Purpose

It is great to see Tom and Christine Sine with a website for their ideas and
encouragement for Christians to live radically in the face of western
and global change. I've long been an admirer of their writing and
thinking and I am really happy to commend this website. Read it and act!

Their basic theme is that Christians need to realise that the real issues in
our societies are about which dreams and visions we, in practical
terms, follow and how we can turn our life~ and time-styles to servie
the vision of the Kingdom of God.

Oceans Absorbed Missing CO2

Apparently some of our CO" is missing and it looks like it ended up in the sea. However, this is not a casue for breathing a sigh of relief over climate change; it is still happening, it simply could have been worse. Though 'worse' is stillwhat has happened for sea creatures whose newly carbonated water is more acidic ... food chain effects? -Probably, but unknown.

Plankton Cool Off With Own Clouds

fascinating: another factor in climate involving bio-chemical feedback.

wind farms and the industrialisation of the countryside

Noel Edmonds has lent his weight to a new ostensibly anti wind power campaigning umbrella group. There are a few disturbing issues around this and one potentially encouraging one... In fact for later readers go to this link for the exact reference

Energy policy attacked

Maybe this signals that it's time for the UK govt to get a bit more proactive on energy?

Edmonds joins fight against wind farms

At first I thought: "bunch of reactionaries doing a nimby", but that was, on closer inspection, an unfair reaction though I'm not entirely convinced that ther is not a huge amount of nimbyism in their likely popular support. But do note that they are recommending the devlopment of alternative and reneable power -just not wind. The idea that someone needs to defend against the industrialization of the countryside is a bit late in Britain. I seriously doubt that factory farms, combine harvesters, electricity pylons and the internal combustion engine are not already being used in Devon.



I'm also still concerned at the misinformation that is going on with reference to windfarms and I suspect that this group will continue to misinform. However, if they were to put a lot of energy into other renewables I'd be a lot more sympathetic.

Back -maybe

Having a bit of trouble but it looks like the ADSL may be working and so expect to see more of me blogging in the next few days. Meanwhile, those of you who pray might spare a prayerful thought for me at 2pm tomorrow [Thursday] as I interview for the post of psrt-time temporary chaplain to St.john's college, Durham. Though I don't know what I should pray for beyond that the right decisions are made and that whatever the outcome I would know God's guidance for the next step.

Moving offline pro tem

This is likely to be my last blog for a few days, perhaps a week or so while we move house from Bradford to Durham. Durham is a cable-free area so I will also have to commune with the mysteries of ADSL in order to get the household wireless network back to peak condition. We're using the Phone Co-op as provider because it's a co-op and you get "coop" not "co.uk" -so that's a bit more interesting.

Anyway try again after 12th July when our ADSL connection is supposed to become live. If I've configured stuff right I'll be back. How hard can it be [famous last words]?

Have fun while I'm gone but not so much that I get jealous!

Blair reignites nuclear debate

Oh dear ...

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Hewitt unveils 'new vision' for trade

It looks to me like this means that the UK govt 'buys' the arguments from Christian Aid, Oxfam etc that opening up markets by dropping trade barriers in the developing world is a bad idea unless it's done in a way that works for poverty reduction and doesn't just benefit western TNC's. Which is good news [Yeow! subordinate clause as it's own sentence! But justifiable on stylistic grounds].

Anger at 'barmy' road-building plans

Nothing unpredictable in all of this. I personally suspect the government is testing out road pricing this way with a longer term-aim of decreasing traffic suing a basket of techniques but giving a look of taking motoring lobby seriously ... but that's definitely a charitable interpretation.

TUC demands more support for manufacturing

Personally I think I'd only favour state aid to manufacturing reneable-related technologies. It's the only way to go for the blunt instrument of state-aid. But actually there are probably other and better ways to help British manufacturing, carbon tax or something similar would be better since it would mean that transporting atoms half-way round the world becomes more expensive [thus reflecting better its true cost; taking externalities of environment, social cost and resource depletion into account]. Its't it about time 'joined up government' included joined up to the environment?

Spiritual fusion

Look at the figures relating to the atractiveness of Buddhism to US spiritual seekers. The figures for the UK are impressive too; I would argue that Buddhism may be the fastest growing world faith in UK. We need to learn from this and think about our message and presentation. It bolsters my conviction that I/we should be out there in the spiritual marketplace 'teaching' [actually 'enabling people to learn'] meditation and comtemplative life skills and self-gnosis ... anyone prepared to join me?

It's official [in USA]: emails are like postcards

What many of us forget on a day to day level, is that emails simply pass through a whole lot of servers before they get read by their intended recipient. It is not impossible to keep copies of what passes through a server and to read it later. Thus, I was always told, treat an email like a postcard; don't put anything so private in it that it won't stand being read by a third party.

The court ruling in Massachussets enshrines it as a legal principle.Though the 'ps' is that it may infringe a stored communications act in USA. Don't know what the UK position is.
So, just a reminder: be careful: no credit card numbers in your emails.

Microsoft wins patent to exploit network potential of skin

Mmy first reaction was rather along the lines quoted here:
"Some civil liberties groups have expressed concern over Microsoft's move. 'Body parts, in this case skin, should not be in any way patentable,' said Jim Thomas of the ETC group, which monitors developments in technology. "There are big questions here about whether individuals will be able to refuse this technology if it is used in, for example, tracking devices."

Am I being paranoid, or is there something unpleasant/creepy about having our bodies patented 'over our heads'? Or have I misunderstood what's been done here?

On a slightly different tack, the last five paras or so are intriguing, especailly the stuff about a rubber hand that was incorporated into test volunteers' sensoria ...

Reflections: On Enemies [- Christianity Today Magazine]

We too often have difficulty in loving our enemies precisely because we are afraid they might repent. Such was Jonah's problem . …Jonah is unable to cope with the loss of his enemies . …He would rather die than face a gracious God and the Ninevites as potential friends.

Gregory Jones, Embodying Forgiveness

This links with earlier reflections on forgiveness. Our anger wants to blame the other, their repentance exposes our unwillingness to forgive. We then need to understand our reasons to hold on to anger and unforgiveness. Or do we? In the Jonah story, God confronts Jonah with a bigger picture of mercifulness and invites repentance rather than introspection. Perhaps this is more a life coaching model than a counselling model for spiritual direction?

Needs a bit more thinking about.

woman=dust double refined

REFLECTIONS: Classic & Contemporary Excerpts - Christianity Today Magazine: "If man is the head, she [woman] is the crown, a crown to her husband, the crown of visible creation. The man was dust refined, but the woman was dust double-refined.Matthew Henry's Commentary"

A good supplementary cpmment to the one about woman being th epinnalce of creation having been created last. I always like these comments as they disrupt the more usual androcentric readings with something like irrefutablility for those who take certain approaches to the Bible.

Our flirtation with the coffee bean gets serious

Just walking down the stree the other day, noticing a pub advertising pints for around £1.40, cought myself in thought: "That's the same price as the coffee I've just had". What kind of crazy world is this when coffee costs the same as beer [more in fact if you compare volume]? No wonder we have a drinking problem in this country; who wants coffee when there's beer and wine? [Well, I do; during the day -but that's another story].

And yet clearly the coffee business is expanding too. There are nice coffee shops now -not just greasy spoon sorts of place; all formica and flourescent strips- no real pleasant places to be with nice seating and so on. In fact, I realized that I've been thinking in idle moments of trying to find a cafe that would let us do church in it ...

Anyway, there's clearly something afoot in the leisure drinks businiess and it ain't all alcohol.

The Dying Church

"In the past week, I've met with a ministry leader who no longer thinks going to church on Sunday is useful. I've seen a couple of former pastors who look better than ever since they've left the pastorate"
The Dying Church blog is back and a thought provoking few lines linking also to Dallas Willard's thoughts. The quote resonated with me in the sense that I feel I have been a whole lot healthier and more spiritually alive since ceasing to lead churches and just engage in mission and small group work. No real desire to get back into the rat race of parochial ministry just now ,ainly becaus the deformation of character and calling it required of me just to be able to do the few things in it that I believe are my real calling... Worst thing is, loking and listening to some of my fellow clergy, it is clear I'm not the only one who is/was being ground down by propping up a dying system.

Website offers fake degrees for GBP165

I've certainly had spam offering to sell me degrees. Ususally these have been by strange institutions selling genuine degrees which are based on a notional idea of accrediting your life experience or whatever, not worth much in reality but at least a cover of respectability. Wha tthis Guardian article is about is actually forgeries of legit university certificates. And the issue is, how would you tell if it was fake. Of course there might be clues like the way a CV doesn't add up [how could he have 5 years experience of trainmapping and done 3 years at a degree in the last 6 years?]. But if they've carefully vetted and doctored the CV, what then? My guess is that there will have to be an electronic clearing-house for verification of qualifications.

I must admit that I was surprised how easily my qualifiications are accepted as being bona fide, particulary as the degree certificates are pretty unpreposessing. I cna't help thinking that the whole accreditation business needs better back-up now that degrees can be worth so much in the jobs market place.

A Christian response to Islam?

An acquaintance of mine has expressed concern over the perceived islamification of Bradford having been talking with another friend of mine....
"he said that he thinks that Islam is a great religion and that it would be good for the Muslims to buy the building and turn it into a mosque because Bradford is now an Islamic city. I felt too shocked and upset to say much because I feel that I, and other Christians, should be working hard towards getting Bradford back to the Christian City that it used to be and to saving people involved in Islam so that they can have a relationship with Jesus."

Here's my anonymized reply:
I think that there are a handful of issues raised by your
encounter and reaction to it. I'll try to deal with the ones that I
can see. .. the first thing to say is that his opinion is not necessarily binding on anyone else and, on this point, does not reflect mine.

... I would like to address an issue of 'tactics' with regard to Islam. Bradford an Islamic city? That's an exagerration but it is true that inner Bradford is in some areas majority Muslim by background [now practice is another thing -as in the so-called Christian community]. Was it ever a Christian city? Hard to say but I would say that capitalism was its biggest 'religion' with civil Christianity coming second.

He's right, I think, that we should accept that things are as they are, in the sense that it's no good wishing they were otherwise because that won't change anything, and because we have to plan on the basis of what is and may be, not on the basis of wistful hopes. So, if Muslims did want to buy the building, what should we do? No good refusing [doubtful that it would be legal anyway as a charity is bound by law to get the best price for sale of assets] as at best that just sets them looking elsewhere and the forces that lead to them seeking acquisition [growing numbers etc] are still there.

So what are we to do as Christians? First I think that we need to recognize some facts; so far large investment in mission amongst Muslims [and other modern religions] has not made a major dent, I don't see any reason why that should change soon barring a move of God of unprecedented nature [and that is by its nature unpredictable -an act of God, if you will].

Next, the birthrate amongst Muslims means that in Bradford proportionally numbers of people from a Muslim background will continue to increase. Many 'Muslims' are only that in name, but the name is enough to keep them attached to the Muslim religion even if
they do not meaningfully practice, it also acts as a barrier to the gospel by the same token.

So, I conclude that we have to plan for a long campaign; pray for the barriers to hearing the gospel to decay or be broken down and to put ourselves in the way of fulfilling the possibility of gospel things happening. This includes making sure that we are good news and that our manner and tactics are consistent with the gospel. In particular I think that this means treating others as we would ourselves be treated -including people who deny the gospel, it means working for the welfare fo the city even if it is not-particularly Christian. It certainly means being good neighbours and learning to speak the truth in love. It means being patient knowing that it may be a long time before the fruit can be borne. It means recognizing that we can win the argument but lose the person.

My personal thought too is that actually religion is a barrier and we need to consider how the good news about Jesus might become incarnate in a Muslim culture. Is there a possibility of 'Muslims for Jesus', for example? 'Muslim' means 'submitted to God', I would say, in some ways I am a muslim in Christ ...

I think that if there is 'competition' between religions' I would like for us to engage in the competition in terms of holiness, righteousness and love.

Nice to see a priest at the forefront of environmental activism -which also has implications for the welfare and wealth of the people concerned.



To log in to the artcle without giving away your personal data try

email: herald@miami.com

password: bogus1

Thanks to Bug me Not for this get-around.

The Years After Tomorrow

Will they or won't they? Looks like Russia will ratify the Kyoto protocols ... However, most of the article is about what next on climate change and about the way that the USA plays or not in it all. Very useful article for an analysis of what may be needed

Mid East nuclear free?

Interesting article from Teheran -yes you read aright- on the possibilities for a nuclear free middle east. Israel are fingered to be the biggest difficulty. Probably rightly, though I wonder whether Iran are protesting too much?

TheGreening

A few more items gone onto TheGreening; mostly about planes and nuke reactors lately!

Public sector sick days costs taxpayer GBP4bn

One of those tantalzing articles where I wonder what lies behind it: is it more stressful to work in the public sector or is there some other cause?

The Penguin Driven Church Office

Linux logo -for those who don't know the penguin is the symbol for Linux. 
Some of you will remember that open source is a cause I advocate. Here's something to help you to take it on board; it will be cheaper for your church... and there's a hint of a theological reason for supporting it in the article too. Then there are a good few reasons to consider it where Linux scores over windows [multiple desktops so you can be working on different projects fairly easily without having too untidy a desktop, for example].

Things that the article mentions like OpenOffice.org and Mozilla for web browsing are available [free!] for windows too so you can experiment before crossing platforms. Most Linux distributions also allow you to partition you hard-drive so that you can always cross back to windows if you get something you aren't confident of in linux ...

Airlines 'must pay for damage'

Not that we didn't know this already but ...

"Prof Whitelegg said the growth in demand for flying is now one of the most serious environmental threats that the world faces.'This growth has been fuelled by generous tax breaks and state aid and is contrary to the objectives of environmental policy, especially efforts to prevent the worst consequences of climate change."



Part of the solution is, of course to eliminate the tax breaks and do so in such a way that the cost of flying financially, incorporates the cost to the planet and to the societies and communities most directly and adversely affected.

Sellafield an easy target for hijacked jets - [Sunday Herald]

This is disturbing and it seems to me a vital piece of information to demonstrate that we really do have to get out of nuke power in the longer term and think about the strategy for defence against the hijacked ariliner scenario in the short term.



Though there is a way forward, perhaps in the short term, as seen in Australia where they have developed a Safety net to shield reactor from plane crashes though even with the one there there are doubts if it could protect against a 747 or something bigger. In any case I wonder how easy is it to retrofit? It's this kind of scenario that makes reactors uninsurable. If only we'd put all that money over the last fifty years into renewables rather than nuke we wouldn't even be having to have the debate and climate change might be a different and better scenario. It's not too late to learn from the mistakes and to mitigate the effects.

Fukuyama: Bring back the state

Francis Fukuyama: "It turns out that privatisation, while reducing the scope of states, takes a fair amount of state capacity to implement cleanly." I have the impression that many of the Peace Studies students I have had the priviledge to work with in the last few years would cheer that someone has noticed. A lot of reflection on failed states and the neo-liberal experiment in this article. Important reading for anyone interested in development and globalization.

Motorway fast lane for car share commuters

Looks like the government may be taking seriously various other means to get cars off the road. Applaud this and hope it happens. It's been successful in Leeds and the article points out various parts of the US. We have the technology [see congestion charging].

Da Vinci code tourism

THe midlothian chapel that figures [rather hurriedly] at the end of the Da Vinci code is apparently having a bit of a boom in visitors [esp USAm's. What will happen when the film comes out?

As to the books dubious 'claims' about Christian origins, I found that the Louvre staff maybe have a good approach:
[Quote]At the Louvre in Paris, meanwhile, where much of the action is based, spokeswoman Suzanne Pierce confirmed that visitors were raising the book with staff.
"The problem is it is fiction," she said. "We are not able to answer questions about it." [unquote].

Though I wonder whether it wouldn't be better for them to take head on the fictions and use them educationally? So ditto for the Christian church might be a bit more proactive than the Louvre response; put out the real story and all that...?

Should we take it seriously? Well since it was published in [quote] March 2003, it has sold almost 400,000 hardback copies in the UK and is near the top of the bestseller list. It has topped the New York Times bestseller list for more than a year. It has been translated into 40 languages and will be made into a film.[unquote] With nothing else to tell them otherwise, what do you thihk readers and viewers are going to unconsciously believe about Christian origins, given that Allegro's mushrooms and other dotty popularised scholarship has already had the effect of making it that loads of people I meet 'know' that the Gospels are nothing like reliable... ? Incidently one reason for the [slight] conversion growth of Islam in the UK could be that it's foundation documents haven't had the going over that the Christian ones have. Discuss...

UK should join solar revolution, says Hain

The other day I noted the way that Germany is soaking up USA production of solar panels. Of course, this could be an opportunity for enterprising Brits -and indeed that appears to be a possibility; there's a growth of production taking place in UK. I like Peter Hain's idea that solar panels and PVC's should be automatic in all newly built houses, It is a clear and obvious thing to do which would help to kick-off serious PV use. It'd also have the effect of giving people experience of the savings it offers and the joy of selling surplus capacity back to the grid when they're on holiday which may translate into people going fro them for older houses or when they move.



Takashi Tomita, for Sharp, said: "The UK has been slow to embrace solar because, unlike us [Japan], you have oil. But you are a country of good traders, with plenty of sunshine at least in the south. You will realise the potential of solar."



So there you are then: it's a must.

NHS puts squeeze on private medicine

Worth noting this; improvements in NHS are proved by the way that going private is not so much of an option. It should always have been thus. The Conservative plan, I note, seems to be to give public money to private hsopitals vis subsidy. How's that for a turn from the market? Seems to me that there has been a cultural change from the Thatcher years....

Contemplate

What kind of contemplative am I? Are you?

Daleks go missing from new Dr Who

Gutted, that's what I am; gutted. It appears that the makers of the revamped Dr Who could not come to terms about editorial control of the Daleks [hardly surprising for would be masters of the universe]. But we are promised a baddy who will have us at the edge of our seats....

Tunes create context like language: Maths shows why tonal music is easy listening.

THis is interesting; it probably says a lot about information and redundancy. What I find intriguing is the link between music and language ...

Europe Eclipses U.S. Solar Shift

Ironic; the USA is really getting into manufacturing PVCells for the European and Japanese markets! which means that the price of the things in the US is going up [supply and demand]. THe German subsidy of solar power may be at the bottom of it. But hey, let's remember that in effect oil production globally is subsidized, in effect in various ways.

Street Pastors in Manchester

Second section down on the ref'd page. I was suggesting they do something like this in Bradford ... wonder if they will? It could have been a chaplaiocy tie-in being as clubland and the educational village in Bradford are adjacent to one another and shre a lot of clientele!

Glastonbury mud for sale on eBay

Yep; you read right. Quote: Just before noon yesterday, bids reached £74 - which led the mud's owner to add a postscript: "Due to the huge amount of interest in this I have decided to donate 50% of the final auction price to the WaterAid charity."

Do we now have official proof of the sale of new-age relics? I'm serious [?]: it would be expected in a consumer society that the sale of 'relics' from significant events would take place. This would demonstrate the cultural significance of Glastonbury festival. Or perhaps it's just a good way to raise money....

Final quote to put it in perspective:
But, as every follower of today's profit-driven Glastonbury festival knows, where there is a market someone will undercut it. Within hours, wags were offering their own muck for brass for as little as a one penny a litre. However there was little interest shown.

Lord ... teach me to welcome change

If you would like to see a personal reflection on change, try the link above.

99ROOMS.COM

I can't now remember who put me on to this, but if you like arty sound and picture experiences then you should try this out. You'll need flash and to turn off your pop-up inhibitor.