"Tomb of Jesus found" oh yeh?

I saw this in the newspaper today. I was skeptical.

10 coffins, six of which bore inscriptions, which - translated into English – included the names “Jesus son of Joseph,” twice “Maria,” and “Judah son of Jesus.”

Now you might say my skepticism is down to an a priori faith commitment. And, in large part, you'd probably be right. However, having already had one of these burial site things with a supposed Jesus connection, I guess we should all be aware that the names Maryam, Y'shua, Yosef, and a few others, were pretty common. So unless there's some other connection, why would we take mere coincidences of names all that seriously?
As the head honcho of Israeli archaeology says:

“It’s a beautiful story but without any proof whatsoever,” Prof Amos Kloner, “The names that are found on the tombs are names that are similar to the names of the family of Jesus. But those were the most common names found among Jews in the first centuries BCE and CE.”

You might want to mark this report though for dealing with the inevitable post-Da Vinci code skeptics.
Documentary makers claim tomb of Jesus found: Filed in: Jesus, burial, archaeology, Magdalene

Anglicans and Trident in a new world order

I thought some readers would be interested in some of a letter recently sent to Rowan Williams to encourage him to use his influence against the renewal of Trident by the UK. I have removed details that might indicate the identity of the writer since I don't yet know how public they wish to be about it.

Dear Rowan,
... it may be helpful if I shared some thoughts with you before the GS debate on nuclear weapons.
... the report The Church and the Bomb, ... all that has changed since then is that the Cold War - the main justification then for the status quo - is over.
The report concluded with no dissenting voice (although only two of its members were pacifists) that the posession and use of nuclear weapons could not be squared with any reasonable interpretation of the just war doctrine.

The Synod did not pass a 'unilateralist' resolution but one put forward by Hugh Montefiore that in the immediate Cold War situation the only right way forward was to negotiate the reduction and elimination of Britain's nuclear weapons. The US Catholic Bishops' Conference and Pope John Paul said the same even more forthrightly, giving the Cold War balance of power as a reason for this interim ethic.

Now, in the absence of the Cold War and with no immediate balance of terror, the need to negotiate away the UK's weapons (to which we are committed by the Non Proliferation Treaty) is all the more urgent. That is wholly incompatible with a scheme that would prolong Britain's nuclear weapons capacity into an indefinite future - and commit major economic resources to that scheme. Ethically that makes the Trident replacement plan wholly unacceptable. Simply to call for more debate is not adequate. Politically it is untenable to pursue this plan and to consider punitive measures against other states wishing to do what we are doing. ...

I think the timely GS debate gives you the opportunity to be simple, profound and prophetic
all in one. That would carry an ecumenical consensus and have no inner Anglican repercussions. You would be clearly stating what you are known to believe anyway. The whole Synod might or might not go all the way with you. Hopefully it would. It would be a refreshing engagement with a world which is bemused by our internal disputes.

I hope this might be of some help even if it is - I believe - ethically saying the obvious.

Now this is fasting

I saw first this guy's video log from Easter Sunday, the 47th day of his fast, he was looking forward to his first solid food -the Eucharist. He lost about 4 stone. Most of the vids I've seen have been about the physical effects. But still, over forty days without eating ...
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
Filed in: fasting, video, eucharist

Juche North Korea's anti-religious religion

Now this has wondrful possibilities as a starter activity to get students to think about what is a religion.

The North Korean state-sanctioned philosophy of Juche is the 10th-largest religion in the world with 19 million adherents, according to Adherents.com, a Web site that tracks world religions.

It's also an interesting study in the way that a religious paradigm seems necessary even to reject religion...
Juche: North Korea has created religion in attempt to reject it: Filed in: religion, definition, Korea

When Students Think For Themselves

I think that this is further evidence to support constructionist appraches to learning.

About one out of five students (23 percent) in the “cookbook” group answered the question correctly. But 83 percent of the students who developed their own approach gave the right answer, which was that enzymes come from living tissue.

ScienceDaily: Scientific Literacy Happens -- When Students Think For Themselves: Filed in: learning, constructionism, research

When religion sanctions violence ...

Now this is an interesting piece of research. Basically testing the aggressiveness of responses after reading what was taken to be a passage where God sanctions violence.

students were more aggressive (i.e. louder) with their blasts if they had been told that the passage they had previously read was from the bible rather than a scroll. Likewise, participants were more aggressive if they had read the additional verse that depicts God sanctioning violence. At the more secular Vrije Universiteit, the results were surprisingly similar. Although Vrije students were less likely to be influenced by the source of the material, they blasted more aggressively when the passage that they read included the sanctioning of the violence by God. This finding held true even for non-believers, though to a lesser extent.

I guess, we might well have predicted this. What we shoud be wary of is thinking this is a fundamentally religious matter. I think we need to see it (if I may make use of symbolic interactionism for a moment) in terms of the way that legitimations function. I would predict that this kind of response would be seen whenever a group of people we tested where an authority figure appears to legitimise violence in the cause. So Marxists, nationalists etc etc etc ... I suspect that we are looking at something related to the idea that it actually takes quite a bit of training to make an army: we are more naturally disposed to be sociable and co-operative. It takes quite powerful beliefs of whatever kind to motivate killing. Incidently, I rather suspect it has a bearing too on the matter of portrayal of violence on television. The issue is less the portrayal but the portrayal in the ideological context and the 'reader' response to both the portrayal and whether it pushes the salient authority legitimation buttons...
ScienceDaily: When God Sanctions Killing, The People Listen: Filed in: violence, religion, aggression, scripture, legitimacy

Misunderstanding those closest

Basically, we have a tendency to overestimate how much common assumption or knowledge we share with others, especially those close to us. So we speak or write more elliptically, and then they don't get it and we get frustrated. ...

In real life situations, the assumptions people make about what another person knows has many consequences, Keysar said. Doctors, for instance, often communicate quickly with each other and may miscommunication because they don't realize the other physician is getting new information when they are discussing a treatment program, he suggested.

Of course, keep it in perspective, all language has to select from a huge number of potential details to focus on some and to assume that our conversation partner knows the rest or can fill in the details themselves. So this is not an issue of not making assumptions but of fine tuning them in community and communicating in such a way as the channels to clear up misunderstanding, miscalibrations if you will, are as clear as possible.
ScienceDaily: Why Even Close Associates Sometimes Have Trouble Communicating: Filed in: communication, language, assumptions, sharing, commonality, research

Differences between men and womn

Here's a bit of research. I thought the most interesting result was this:

Women execs typically find it easier to create a new network and inspire workers to perform, while they feel it is more challenging to delegate a workload. The female business leaders polled also said they feel they are better at engaging others to get tasks done than they are at assigning them in an authoritative manner. On the other hand (or brain), male professionals ranked building a new network as extremely challenging but find it easy to hand out assignments to new subordinates.

It seems to parallel the famous people versus task orientation difference. However nothing to indicate any tilt in the nature vs nurture balance in this.

Technorati Tags: gender, differences, research, business, culture,

Incumbents paid ‘the equivalent of £36,000’

VICARAGES and rectories are now valued as worth £16,420 a year to the parish clergy and their families. The average incumbent’s stipend, including the house, is judged to be the equivalent of earning more than £36,000 in secular employment.

. It kind of works, though we should recall that clergy don't get to keep their house after retirement, so taking that into account I would say that the house should equate to about a third of the package of £36k. I reckon that this means that a house for duty is worth about two days work ... not that we can think about stipends in those kind of terms. Dear me, no. And yet ... with part-time options looking increasingly important as part of a ministry strategy ... someone's going to have to think in those terms. I hear rumours that the bishops have a rule of thumb about such things. If any reader knows more, I'd be interested to hear it.

Church Times - Incumbents paid ‘the equivalent of �36,000’: Filed in: clergy, remuneration, CofE, house-for-duty

Learning, change and church

I'm glad Caroline Ramsey has restarted blogging. And it's good stuff, at least to me. She works teaching in a university and I find her lament here only too understandable, and I share it.

the sad thing to me is that this sort of life changing learning seems to happen to me quite often in my secular work as a university teacher of management and learning. It doesn't seem to happen so often in church. I just don't seem to see the radical changes so often in church.

You need to check out the kinds of students she's working with, but doing so only deepens the pathos. So what was working for her students?

what worked was the nature and quality of the relations that the students were involved in. ... I offered new ways of relating with colleagues, new ways of understanding what was going on around them and new ways of talking about what actions were possible. And I did that within a context of talking about their work. ... The new ideas I had to offer were discussed in the light of their relevance to difficult work situations - did they offer new options? Did they offer new ways of seeing things? Did they provoke new actions? I, the so called expert, was not in authority over the students telling them what was right or wrong. Rather, I was there in service to the students' agenda there to be disagreed with, there to be questioned, there with a point of view, some understanding of new ideas and some experience of working in organisations.

Hits a lot of buttons in the 'authentic instruction' approach, not least the social support and relevance to life dimensions.
And Caroline is right; this kind of thing should characterise church more. Disciple means learner and we should be about this kind of thing. We're missing something and quite often it is further reproduced by ministerial formation where by practice we seem to give the impression that people should learn by being lectured to or reading a book. I think we should notice that a lot of the spiritual learning going on for many in our society is in 'new age' circles and relates to relationships, workplace and personal growth. Isn't it about time we took note of that and of the best educational research and practice. Of course, it may mean restructuring the way we do church ...
A "difference that makes a difference": On learning, maybes and church: Filed in: learning, church, HE, personal_growth, teaching

Theological education 2.0?

Steve Taylor has been writing a course on missional church leadership and is looking for a lot of it to be done in dispersed community mode. Outlining some of the characteristics, he asks:

is this a step toward Theological Education 2.0?

I think that it may be. It's certainly in line with the kinds of things that I would be keen to see tried out. I think that it's important that the technology serves a relationship between student and 'teacher' rather than being a substitute for it. We should note however, that it further dehierarchalises the relationship (a good thing imho) and continues the move towards a contextual approach to formation which tends to put more emphasis on the theological enterprise as interpretation in relation to personal and communal context. However, the wider network adds an interesting potential catholicity to the mix which could be the genius of TE2.0 .... ?
e~mergent kiwi: Theological education 2.0: Filed in: education, training, ministerial_formation, web2.0

Aussie bulbs to reduce power

I'm pleasantly surprised. It's been mentioned as an idea before but who'd have thought the Aussies would be the first to do it?

Under the Australian plan, bulbs that do not comply with energy efficiency targets would be gradually banned from sale. Exemptions may apply for special needs such as medical lighting and oven lights.

See also here, here on LED's,
Wired: AP Technology and Business News from the Outside World on Wired.com: Filed in: Australia, light_bulbs, energy, global_warming, electricity

New model for domestic solar?

Definitely a case of watch this space. I myself have suggested that leasing might be a way forward for power companies who would see themselves as selling the service of powering a home rather than just selling power, thus setting themselves up to service boilers, and update the materials focussing more on the tangibles and the service than on the gas or electricity. Well it looks like someone in the USA is giving it a go.

Instead of making you spring for $25,000 or more in gear, Citizenrē says it will loan you a complete rooftop solar power system, install it for free and sell you back the power it generates at a fixed rate below what your utility charges. The company hopes to make back its investment with those monthly payments, augmented by federal tax credits and rebates.

There are those who doubt they can make money from it. And therefore the follow-on to that is that it is a scam. The guy in the driving seat says not.

Styler says Citizenrē ... isn't a pyramid scheme. For one thing, neither sales agents nor customers have been asked to spend a dime. "What's missing from the multilevel marketing scam is that we're not asking for money," says Styler. "The reality is that there are lots of scummy companies out there; we're not one of them."

The comments on the article are worth a look. Watch this space, well, that one actually
Wired News: Selling Homeowners a Solar Dream

Divided by a common language on stage

Some more grist to go through the mill of what distinguishes Brits and USAmericans. This time in relation to acting. Charles McNulty ponders ...

Action films don't have time to revel in the inner life, never mind the colour, nuance and literary rumblings of words. Distracted by irony for too long, an adventure hero could easily find himself with a bullet in his brain. So maybe the difference has as much to do with the types of independent films British actors are likely to star in as it does with the qualities the best of them bring to their work. There's something mutually reinforcing about this scene, which is of course nourished by a long-standing and still vibrant theatrical tradition that accepts ageing and doesn't need to prettify everything for a big, phony close-up.

Technorati Tags: USA, UK, acting, culture, film

A global citizenship call for Lent?

Garton Ash provides us with a dystopian view of the future that has some cogency, I reckon. And I still feel that the final remarks have not been laid to rest ever since I first heard this call in the mid 1970's it has persisted. The time surely has come to listen to it and take action as a matter of Christian urgency in the face of global change.

global markets are now more than ever constantly out of equilibrium - and teetering on the edge of a larger disequilibrium. Again and again, it has needed the visible hands of political, fiscal and legal correction to complement the invisible hand of the market. The bigger it gets, the harder it can fall. ... Increasingly, the world's capital is like oil in the hold of one giant tanker, with ever fewer internal bulkheads to stop it swilling around. ...if a lot of middle-class people begin to feel they are personally losing out to the same process of globalisation that is making those few fund managers stinking rich, while at the same time outsourcing their own middle-class jobs to India, then you may have a backlash ...In just a few decades, we would use up the fossil fuels that took some 400 million years to accrete - and change the earth's climate as a result. Sustainability may be a grey and boring word, but it is the biggest single challenge to global capitalism today. However ingenious modern capitalists are at finding alternative technologies - and they will be very ingenious - somewhere down the line this is going to mean richer consumers settling for less rather than more. ... The genius of contemporary capitalism is not simply that it gives consumers what they want but that it makes them want what it has to give. It's that core logic of ever-expanding desires that is unsustainable on a global scale. But are we prepared to abandon it? We may be happy to insulate our lofts, recycle our newspapers and cycle to work, but are we ready to settle for less so others can have more? Am I? Are you?

We need a new monastic movement, not necessarily committed to celibacy (though there is a case for it in the article, by implication, made more explicit in one of the early comments) but to simpler living and smaller footprints. Because we live so interconnectedly this is something we need to discover increasingly how to do together in such a way as the systems of supply begin to change for good. Does your Lent-keeping have elements of exploration of more sustainable living? If not, why not?

Relatedly, World Changing had this post, in which this is sharpened up into something like figures.

If we're going to have a bright green future -- if we want to avoid living out the rest of our lives in one long emergency, a kind of constant Katrina -- we need to reinvent our lives now, immediately, on a radical scale. British researchers found that in order to reach sustainable prosperity, Londoners would have to shrink their ecological impacts 80% in the next four decades. For affluent Americans, the number may be more like 90%. And the more we learn about the extent of the damage we're causing the planet, the shorter our timeframes for change become. I suspect that we need to be thinking more along the lines of cutting our impact in half in the next ten years.

Which sounds a tall order especially as we know that there will be huge numbers of people who won't do this voluntarily unless they really have been dragged kicking and screaming to the edge of the precipice. Some good stuff in this article. Mostly familiar if you've read Lovins et al on 'Natural Capitalism' but worth reading as a quick summary in context.

More on profanity

You may recall my interest in the linguistics of profane speech with regard to what it may do to help us sort out an ethics of speaking in relation to what is commonly called 'swearing'. Well I came across this rather useful little article looking at the biblical texts usually used to argue against using swear words. The passages I have usually taken to refer to habitually 'dirty talk' and speech likely to arouse impure passions rather than the use of the occasional profanity. I think that the writer (Peter J. Leithart) agrees.

Paul says that our talk should also be free of EUTRAPELIA ("crude joking") but rather full of EUCHARISTIA (the pun in v. 4). As noted above, Paul himself appears to use vulgarities in some circumstances; when he encounters crap, he calls it "crap." And the Bible shows no sign of the embarrassment about bodily functions that we often have. But those uses of language have times and places. Paul says our talk as saints should not be characterized by vulgar words, sexual innuendo and jokes, scatological humor. Many people today cannot utter a sentence without using an obscene word, and that kind of speech has no place among Christians. Especially since Freud, some try to make everything into a veiled sexual reference, and that kind of pervasive double-meaning is also excluded.

Incidently I can't quite work out whether quoting a couple of sentences that Peter writes is okay by his licence, but I think that in any case fair use rules and the conventions of citation mean that this should be okay, partcularly as I quite with approval!

Technorati Tags: profanity, swearing, language, linguistics, sociology, theology

Body Theology: From Conference to Classroom

This is an example of education that could be so easily adapted into alternativey worship and shows how alternative worship ideas can become something in the classroom. All you need is a bit of imagination to transfer ideas from one domain to the other.

how RE lessons can be designed to help pupils answer questions about the relationship between the physical and the spiritual.This programme follows Frances Burton of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, as she explores possible solutions at an RE conference.Burton takes her learnings from the conference and trials some of these in a lesson on Martin Luther King, values and commitments.

KS4 RE - Body Theology: From Conference to Classroom | Teachers' TVFiled in: body, theology, classroom, worship, learning

Scam update

So I did reply using a nom de scam. And this is what came back. I've highlighted what I suspect is the most important bit for how the thing would unroll. I was interested to see the relatively local address. Interestingly the address can't be found on the Post Office postcode finder. However the postcode does come up with a location on multimap in roughly the right place.

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Mustard Seed Lent

You may or may not have realised that I'm a big fan of Tom Sine (Mustard Seed vs McWorld) and so have signed up for the updates that come from the 'Mustard Seed' stable. So, today being the first of Lent, I recommend to you their guidance for the Lenten journey. There's a free download of a pdf. I've put a copy onto my PDA to read as I commute.

Over the six weeks of Lent as we journey with Christ toward the cross we want to examine these areas of brokenness and explore how we can move closer to God and more effectively be God’s hands of healing and wholeness. Our journey will begin with an exploration of the barriers within ourselves that resist God’s will. In the second and third weeks we will confront some of the barriers that separate us from other human beings. In the fourth week we will explore barriers that separate us from God’s creation. In the fifth week of Lent we will confront some of the barriers that isolate us from other parts of God’s family and in Holy week (the sixth week) we will focus on Good Friday and Jesus final walk to the Cross.

On another related note, I was reflecting, on the way to the Ashing service this morning, that the ash thing actually plays quite well with Paul's theme about building with silver and gold as opposed to stuff that is ultimately 'combustable' and cannot pass through the fire of judgement. I find myself wondering why this passage isn't the one we get for Ash Wednesday. It would certainly be an interesting one to use and to associate with the ashing: the ash becomes a carrier of symbolic value for things that we are wanting to leave behind as being not of eternal value to us and the words about dust, death and repentance gain much more value...


Technorati Tags: Lent, study, challenge, repentance, grace, Mustard_Seed, Sine

End free banking? What a scam

Apparently,banks are squealing because regulators take the view that charging charges on overdrafts incurred by charging charges is iniquitous (and quite right; I did actually complain a number of years ago about this and had most of the charges refunded. Not my current bank, I should add). The response seems to be veiled threats of charges on regular accounts. I think that when we recall how our banking system works we might feel that this is profiteering at its worst. What we need to recall is that for every unit of currency we keep in the bank, the bank lends it out tenfold and charges interest on those loans. It's called fractional reserve banking. It is a license to print money. I can see no justification for then adding further charges to our accounts when we are already supplying banks the means to create money seemingly out of nothing.
Perhaps someone can tell me why I'm wrong to think this way, but the profits being reported by the banks tell against the banks' case.

It doesn't mean that a change in one area will result in the end of free banking but there is no consequence-free result.

Regulator's cap may end free banking | | Guardian Unlimited Business:Filed in: banking, finance, profit

What should I do with this spam?

I got this today, I'm very tempted to reply with a view to giving them a bit of a runaround using a false email. What do you think? I've also made sure that the email address is active to be picked up by bots.

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With the following details:

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Filed in:

Buddhism, teens and western searching.

There is some indication that Buddhism may be the fastest growing religion in the west. I submit that we need to understand why, perhaps there are some indicators here: edited highlights include;

Teenagers are attracted to Buddhism because it calms their minds, settles the often tumultuous emotions that come with adolescence and addresses their core anxieties ... Meditation is a big draw for many. Some teenagers seek out teachers and study books on Buddhism because of the simple tenets it offers ... Young people are drawn to Buddhist chanting as a way to help uncover great potential in their lives ... Socially engaged Buddhism is a developing trend in the West, and young Buddsters are trying to bring about what they call a “human revolution,” in which Buddhist values can be used to try to solve larger social problems, like environmental degradation. ...

Now the big challenge, it seems to me is that none of that is absent from Christian faith in principle, but we clearly have an issue in making what can be offered, out of the resources of Christian faith, visible.

Technorati Tags: Buddhism, West, growth, culture, teenagers

Poll - hope in West-Islam ties

I found this a pleasant surprise. Possibly because a vocal minority of fellow teacher training students seem to be of the opinion that religion is the biggest cause of war and conflict. Interestingly, this poll seems to show that most people take the kind of view that I do; politics and power are in the driving seat co-opting religion.

In a survey of people in 27 countries, an average of 56% said they saw positive links between the cultures.
Yet 28% of respondents told questioners that violent conflict was inevitable. Asked twice about the existing causes of friction, 52% said they were a result of political disputes and 58% said minority groups stoked tensions.

Poll sees hope in West-Islam ties: Filed in: world, religion, conflict, opinion, politics, culture

Why Do Humans And Primates Get More Stress-related Diseases Than Other Animals?

The short answer being purveyed here is that we have emotionally-rich lives and time off from calorie-gathering and escaping predators. A pretty interesting article which has a further kicker for those of us interested in the place of religion in evolutionary terms.

"But once you control for that, religiosity in and of itself is good for your health in some ways, although less than some of its advocates would have you believe," Sapolsky said. "It infuriates me, because I'm an atheist, so it makes me absolutely crazy, but it makes perfect sense. If you have come up with a system that not only tells you why things are but is capped off with certain knowledge that some thing or things respond preferentially to you, you're filling a whole lot of pieces there--gaining some predictability, attribution, social support and control over the scariest realms of our lives."

Usual caveat: evolution is incapable either of proving or disproving God: in this case either God is helping things providentially towards fulfilment in godliness or blind evolution has thrown up an anomaly that make us function better with the 'fiction' of God. A furthre twist to the cosmological argument, but nothing essentially new.
ScienceDaily: Why Do Humans And Primates Get More Stress-related Diseases Than Other Animals?: Filed in: stress, religion, evolution, primates, health

What would Jesus drive?

In the light of an earlier post of mine, this article from Annie Porthouse deserves checking out. In it she says;

Jesus says we should love others (Matthew 22:39). In fact, He goes so far as to say that we should love others in the same way that we love ourselves. So if we don’t really fancy having all our worldly possessions, house, and perhaps even family members and friends swept away by floods, or be hit by freak tropical storms, or suffer from long term drought that causes our crops to fail… then perhaps we ought to think again about how we’re treating the world’s poorest people, and even our own descendants.
One easy-peesy way that we can take action is to give more thought to our transportation. As well as flying less (or preferably not at all) and taking public transport where possible, we can all focus on our car usage. Here are several suggestions that will help reduce those CO2 emissions – take your pick!

Go and find out what she recommends.

Technorati Tags: environment, ecology, UK, green, energy, footprint, car

An island allegory

Once upon a time there lived an ideal community in a far-off land. Its members had no fears as we now know them. Instead of uncertainty and vacillation, they had a purposefulness and a fuller means of expressing themselves. Although there were none of its stresses and tensions which mankind now considers essential to its progress, their lives were richer, because other, better elements replaced these things. Theirs, therefore, was a slightly different mode of existence. We could almost say that our present perceptions are a crude, makeshift version of the real ones that this community possessed...

A Theory of Power, Jeff Vail's Critique of Hierarchy & Empire: Filed in: allegory, sufi, life, learning

I've passed!

As part of training to teach in British schools, we have to pass tests in literacy, numeracy and ICT. I passed my ICT a few weeks ago, and now, earlier today I passed both literacy and numeracy. Actually, it was only the latter that was in some doubt as I have a tendency where figures are concerned to miss the odd instruction. I'm fine when I'm working out what need to be done for myself, just less good at taking someone else's instructions for number crunching. So I'm glad to say that's out the way.
TDA - QTS skills tests
Filed in: personal, literacy, numeracy, ITC

Property, prices and value

I'm still wondering whether me and my wife will ever be able to afford our own house in the UK. If one is not already on the property ladder and have only a middling sort of income it seems hard to see how it can be done, especially when there are children to help through university. So I'm very open to reflecting with this article on the housing boom (and impending bust?) in the UK.

We do not get richer as a society from rising house prices. We merely transfer a burden to future generations who have to pay more for their houses. We shut out the have-nots who cannot tap their parents for a deposit. We lock in a permanent underclass who have no hope of ever getting on to the property ladder.

A fair analysis, it seems from where I sit. In fact the point gets sharper:

Need this have happened? No. Residential property in Britain jumped by £410bn in value last year. Only about 2% of that gain was taxed by stamp duty or inheritance tax. Would prices have risen so far so fast if land values were taxed more? No.

Not for the first time we come to consider a proposal that goes back nearly 150 years and has only now seemed to be gaining real consideration.

The discussion of land value tax, which has been around since the days of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, is gaining ground again as people reflect on the absurdities of the housing boom.

If you're interested to know more, then here's a good place to start. Here's a to-the-point nugget from it:

Land has a scarcity value when it is in desirable locations. That value is not down to individual effort but derives from the community, and often from schools, hospitals and parks provided by the public purse. Therefore, as the economist David Ricardo explained, land has a rental value that can be taxed.

Technorati Tags: land_value, tax, property, UK, economics

It may be too late to save the ice caps

New studies of Greenland and Antarctica have forced a UN expert panel to conclude there is a 50% chance that widespread ice sheet loss "may no longer be avoided" because of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Such melting would raise sea levels by four to six metres, the scientists say.

Such news is bad. However, in my experience many people have to have it spelled out to them just why it is bad. Take it at the level of human populations and geopolitics. So here's why (and I can remember preaching about this in about 2003)

It would cause "major changes in coastline and inundation of low-lying areas" and require "costly and challenging" efforts to move millions of people and infrastructure from vulnerable areas.

And in case your geography is challenged here's an excerpt of what it would mean, even if the process took some time.

Areas such as the Maldives would be swamped and low-lying countries such as the Netherlands and Bangladesh, as well as coastal cities including London, New York and Tokyo, would face critical flooding.

Still, we could move them to Greenland which would mean that Denmark would have all the immigration problems ... (ironic comment; in case it looks callous).
Question for the churches: how serious are we about being both part of the solution and to helping to deal with the effects? Do we want to leave a legacy such as the Clapham sect left in working for the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade and the holding of slaves in British territories? That would be a great gift to our great great godchildren in terms of apologetics. I think we must. How to start and continue?
Climate change: scientists warn it may be too late to save the ice caps | Climate change | Guardian Unlimited Environment: Filed in: climate, flooding, global_warming, consequences

Baby Got Book

Matt STone blogged this, and is it's the 2nd time I've seen it and I found it funny both times I thougt I'd share.
Baby Got Book

Filed in: humour, Bible

bishops too political?

Actually this annoyed me. Sorry if you find the link leads to a stub of the full article, starting this way:

BISHOPS in the House of Lords are accused of turning their backs on theological arguments, and failing to give a moral lead

For those who don't see a copy of the CT each week, the basic arguments of the report seem to be that, looking at Bishops' speeches in the house of Lords, they refer very little to the Bible or theological principles. The conclusion, as reported, is that they are mainly arguing on secular grounds and not biblical or theological. This is not necessarily true and could even be mischievous. Now, I'm not saying that these bishops do or don't ground their arguments in theology or Bible, merely that the argument saying they don't is flawed as presented in the CT. The flaw is to assume that explicit mention of bible or theology equates to arguing theologically while not doing so does not. I take issue with this because I find that many of my political stances are informed by biblical and theological stances and principles. I don't always make them explicit because I tend to try to present them in terms others can relate to. So, I may talk about justice or peace, but behind my valuing them is a set of values which honour the God of justice and the prince of peace, my statements don't make that explicit because I take them for granted and I'm looking for common ground. If our bishops are doing similarly then I would not expect mere word counts or even a slightly more sophisticated count of explicit arguments to show up a great deal of theology. To get a truer picture one would have to interview the bishops about what they have said and ask them how what they say ties in with their faith.
Sheesh!
Church Times - Report finds bishops too political: Filed in: politics, religion, theology, Bible, Bishops, UK, England

Don’t spend all your worldly goods on wedding

Another article with a consumerism dimension, this time in relation to weddings. I must admit that I share a huge disquiet at the kinds of money being spent on weddings. Now I know how people want it to be a special day and all that (though given the high incidence of divorce I have to say that I'm a little puzzled at the rate of wedding inflation), but it does seem to me that a spirit of conspicuous consumption has taken over.

With the average price of a wedding in Britain estimated at £17,000 and the bride’s dress alone costing more than £800, the Rev Andrew Body, a former Relate counsellor, believes that the Church has a duty to “blow the whistle” on growing commercialism.

Needless to say in as far as this is to do with mythical images of weddings, fairy-tale endings, celebrity emulation and so on we really should blow the whistle. THe pastoral problem is always going to be to do with seeming to be a killjoy. And yet, I come at it from the side of the poor and indebted: how can they aspire to such a wedding, and indeed does this increasingly extravagent event not become oppressive and dissuassive of marriage for those who are more realistic about the difficulties of staying married in our society and who are being given the impression that a less-extravagant version is actually somehow not romantic enough, not a sufficient demonstration of earnestness in love ... not really worth doing unless you can afford the bill; so why not simply live together? What strange reversal is it that couples live together as if man and wife until they can afford the fairy-tale version of a wedding? Our notions of romance are contributing to the erosion of the true romance, the "prosaic heroism" of committed loving that the archbishop of Canterbury spoke of only a few weeks back.
Don’t spend all your worldly goods on wedding, says vicar-News-UK-TimesOnline: Filed in: consumerism, weddings, marriage, Church, debt

Shop-less lent

A few years back I made it into the local newspapers because I called for Christians to give up consumerist shopping for Lent. Interesting then, for me, to find that my example has been picked up (doubtless without them knowing of my earlier endeavour) by national Methodism.

METHODISTS are being invited to go for 46 days without shopping for anything but essentials, as part of a Lent initiative being organised by two members of staff at Methodist Chur_ch House. The Rev Michaela Youngson and Anna Drew have decided to purchase only necessary items during the Lent period, in a bid to reject the culture of consumerism.

I feel vindicated! -And emboldened to continue to liturgise in a way that questions and critiques consumerism.
This week's Recorder headlines with opening paragraphs from the stories: Filed in: consumerism, spirituality, Lent, shopping

Archbishop Desmond Tutu: When God Smiles

In many ways this is not intellectual theodicy and may not say it all, but I feel that the emotional impact is something that we have to take seriously and that it is an important insight to keep in mind when thinking about the ways of God and the world. Certainly, I recall sharing something similar among a group of fellow Christians a couple of years or so back, and there was scarcely a dry eye in the room once people had engaged with the idea.

I frequently say, I'm so glad I'm not God! Can you imagine having to say, “Bin Laden is my child. Saddam Hussein is my child. George Bush is my child.” Oh! All of them, including me. Can you imagine what God must have felt watching the Holocaust? Watching Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Watching Rwanda? Can you imagine God watching Darfur? Imagine God watching Iraq and saying, “These are my children here, and they are killing my other children. And I can't do anything because I have said to them, 'I give you the space to be you and that space enables you to make choices. And I can't stop you when you make the wrong choices. All I can do is sit here and cry.'” And God cries until God sees beautiful people who care, even if they may not do earth-shattering things.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu: When God Smiles: Filed in: God, theodicy, suffering, parenthood, love

George Herbert Visiting in Dibley

Paul Roberts really ought to turn this into a sustained article or book. Here's yet another great post that really reflects and expresses well the kind of experience I have had and the way I have come to think about it. This particular post concludes helpfully.

we need less clergy training (especially in training curacies) based around nostrums such as the visiting clergyperson. Instead we need some creative, common-sense and strategic thinking, in order to build up the human contact which is essential in all Christan work, by clergy or by others.

And this is recommended because earlier we are reminded

The myth of the visiting priest is further shattered by the realisation that when it used to happen with any frequency, it was either in small rural parishes, or where an urban parish had about three curates - quite common right up to the 1970s. Solitary parish priests with parishes of in excess of 10,000 people, who are feeling guilty for not visiting more, should be exorcised of the power of this nostrum.

.
I well recall pointing out to a congregation I was leading that maybe some expectations of the clergy role were no longer realistic, using figures of clergy numbers and populations showing how the population has increased while clergy numbers have fallen, and how a church might have several full-time visiting clergy in the Victorian period where they might now have one and that one might be shared with a neighbouring parish or two. The expectations seem hard-wired into English cultural expectations, fed and nurtured by village-green nostalgic fictions on the tele. Even the Vicar of Dibley, for all the interesting things it did with clergy image actually reinforced an image of one vicar in a small community with a tiny congregation who somehow have been given the boon of this vicar being there full-time, unshared.

The trick is how to disenchant the CofE from its Herbert/Dibley dream to collectively face reality? If it doesn't happen then we will find the forces of nostalgia, eroding finance and unwillingness to let die what really needs to be put out of its misery will dragoon us into something that really is more about administering a religious theme park than the mission of God.

staring into the distance::as far as our eyes can see; Three posts on clergy life (3) - visiting: Filed in: ministry, Anglican, CofE, change, culture, misson, Christian, visiting

If you meet George Herbert on the road, kill him.

What an excellent title for a post. It bespeaks the tyranny exercised by unrealistic models of ministry romantically recycled from a previous age. I can understand why someone in holy orders should find it comforting; I too have been in that place of feeling crushed by the romantic expectations. Paul Roberts articulates it well (again) in writing about the culture changes that have been taking place and the way that they make impacts on those called to ministerial priesthood (for those not accostomed to CofE-speak, that term contrasts with 'the priesthood of all believers' as a way to negotiated between Catholic and Reformed understandings of congregational and pastoral leadership).

The transition from one mode of priesthood to another is difficult for the Church to negotiate. It is even harder on priests themselves, who have to live with the competing pressures of the demands of the present moment, the apostolic call towards effective proclamation and disciple-making, and the old pastoral archetypes of Christian England, with their implied methodology. Perhaps this is why Sam finds great healing and help in the saying, ‘If you meet George Herbert on the road, kill him.’

It really does seem to me that the tension between what the traditional role is morphing into and what is really required in the more frontier situations that are emerging at the cultural and social edges and at which increasing proportions of our societies find themselves, is growing, and it is hard to see how it can remain simply a tension rather than becoming a snap. The trajectory of the traditional parish vicar or rector is heading towards a role more marked by being an area manager where the gifts of teaching and pastoral care become subservient to administration. The Vicar is becoming a clerk in the sense of a secretary/administrator. Now I don't have a down on admin: it is necessary and should be done as well as may be. However, when it becomes the main preoccupation of those who have other callings, such as teaching, pastoral care, community building, community theologian, visionary leader etc etc, then the very gifts that are needed will start to leach away as those who have them and exercise them have to find other ways to honour the gift that is within them.

I have said before that I think it would do the churches well to take time to listen carefully and discerningly to the senses of vocation articulated by those in leadership, entering leadership and leaving it in order to get a sense of what the Spirit is saying to our churches. If God truly communicates then I can't help feeling that most fundamentally, this is where we will learn some important insights.

In another, related, post Paul states what has stared me in the face for several years as the process he describes in this post has bitten deeper.

a priest who really wants the time to pray deeply, form seriously transformative relationships with people, preside over worship and teach the Faith, and still have quality time left for their own human and family development is going to have to seek a ministry outside the formal and stipendiary structures of the Church of England.

This is precisely why I felt that my own vocation was not leading me to go into the 'normal' sort of parish ministry. I couldn't see how my own lead gifts and sense of calling could be really properly valued and given chance to flourish. I could only see self-supporting ministry (tentmaking) as a way forward unless there was a particularly interesting and creatively minded church out there ...

Paul outlines the dynamics pretty well.

Both received models, ‘priest’ and ‘parish’, have proved very ineffective at bringing about a genuinely apostolic turn by the Church in this country. The thing is that they ‘work’ in their own terms. A solitary priest can serve a parish church, keep it going, and in some cases help build up that church either by being very gifted and charismatic, or by adopting good policies of nurture (Alpha courses etc.) The problem is that this does not work across the whole. There are points and places where the demands of the situation are just too much (inner-urban contexts, for example) or the church has dropped in numbers and effectiveness to the point where it cannot be turned around. Yet this model is the one that most people in churches cling onto or crave.

There's lots in this post that deserves reading and reflecting on if you are interested in the future of Christian mission in England, perhaps the west ...

Chinese survey finds religion booming

Since China is likely to be very significant in world affairs over the next generation and beyond, we should note this.

Professors at East China Normal University estimated that about 300 million people - equivalent to more than 30% of the adult population - followed Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, Muslim or other beliefs. The new figures cast doubt on official statistics, which claim China has only 100 million religious worshippers, as well as calling into question the government's assertion that superstitious beliefs will wither away under communist rule. ... According to the survey - which was published in the state-run China Daily - two-thirds of believers are Buddhist, Taoist or devotees of legendary figures such as the Dragon King and the God of Fortune. The researchers estimated the Christian population at 40 million, vastly above the government figure of 16 million. ... At the Xian Great Mosque, mullahs say the number of worshippers has increased by 30% in the past five years and loval travel agents are doing a roaring trade in organising trips to Saudi Arabia for the hajj. In Qinhai, hawkers selling Tibetan buddhist beads, robes and incense say business is booming because so many new monastaries are opening.

China seems to be becoming a real market place of world faiths. I wonder whether the 'New Age' style stuff may find a home here. I suspect not because the existing religious scene is alternative enough to the official line and there is an eclectic strand in traditional Chinese religions. On the other hand the words "Falun Gong" may be in indication of things to come? I'd love to see further comment from experienced commentators on China and religion.
Chinese survey finds religion booming | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited: Filed in: China, religion, growth

Lord's Prayer

All happening at once. So now a further article on the Lord's prayer in The Turning. My basic direction with the article might perhaps be gauged from this quote:

It seems that the Lord's Prayer does not significantly shape the praying consciousness of Christians. It is the real Cinderella of Christian praying; it should be the Belle of the ball but tends to be left behind while the step sisters Acts and Cats go instead. The lack of use of the Lord's Prayer in ordinary practice as a pattern or framework prayer seems strange given that we are meant to be following Christ's teaching and that this is a twice-repeated piece of practical-example teaching from Jesus himself.

There's a lot of it which is reworked material from the book, so it may help as an intro and ?incentive...
Lord's Prayer Filed in: Lord's_prayer paternoster, prayer, article

Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | Jaw-jaw is just a start

It doesn't say everything, after all it's an opinion piece, but a helpful guide to the Basque country's political state. It's worth reading the comments too.
Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | Jaw-jaw is just a start Filed in: Euskadi, peace, process

The ethics of mind reading machinery

I had heard this is possible, but I didn't realise how advanced things were. And so I agree that this is important.

"These techniques are emerging and we need an ethical debate about the implications, so that one day we're not surprised and overwhelmed and caught on the wrong foot by what they can do. These things are going to come to us in the next few years and we should really be prepared," Professor Haynes told the Guardian.

There's an almost god-like quality to this. "before a thought is on my lips you know it altogether'. Not that god-like ness is something that disqualifies something, but the issues of privacy and freedom of conscience are involved. Imagine if the Inquisition had this, or the SS ...
The brain scan that can read people's intentions | Science | Guardian Unlimited: Filed in: mind, brain, scan, ethics

Jon Ronson: Who are the favoured targets for the junk mail juggernauts? | Weekend | Guardian Unlimited

Very interesting: a journo creates seven characters to see which starts getting the junk mail. The 'together' Paul is one end of the scale while the venial, financially struggling 'Titch' is at the other. Who gets the junk mail?

the troubled Titch is being bombarded with loan offers whereas the wealthy, capable Paul is being bombarded with nothing. "Why...?"

What do you reckon is the answer? I have my theories, but I'm interested if anyone else has some ideas.
Jon Ronson: Who are the favoured targets for the junk mail juggernauts? | Weekend | Guardian Unlimited: Filed in: marketting, demographics

... switches to Linux

I think this is interesting especially when you see why it's happened.

the Swedish Armed Forces will start replacing Windows NT with Red Hat Enterprise Linux across its core IT infrastructure. ... The decision to migrate to Red Hat was primarily based on its advanced security features, but additionally the strong support, ease of migration and compatibility with existing in-house software were important factors

Strengthens the case for educational operations to consider it too.
Swedish Armed Forces switches to Linux � Linux and Open Source Blog: Filed in: Linux, PC, Windows, migration

Could the network age be killed by IP?

This may seem overly gloomy, but maybe there is cause for concern.

If proprietary software continues to dominate, within 10 years no one will be able to store any file and even view their own content without first paying a service provider to see it and the PC as we know it will be gone within 30 years

Proprietary software will kill PC in 30 years, conference told � Linux and Open Source Blog: Filed in: software, open_source, IP, Web2.0, FLOSS

Placebo of learning

As novice teachers we are encouraged to assume that intelligence can grow and to believe that our students can get cleverer. Well here's an indicator that it may not be such a bad idea. From studies into what I see as a kind of placebo effect on intelligence.

students who believed their intelligence could be developed placed a higher premium on learning, believed more in the power of effort, and had more constructive reactions to setbacks in school... "These findings highlight the importance of students' beliefs for their academic progress," said Carol Dweck, one of the researchers and professor of psychology at Stanford University. "They also show how these beliefs can be changed to maximize students' motivation and achievement."

Interesting, as a teenager I realised that my interest and motivation could improve my ability to learn and set about 'playing around with' my interest and motivation, to good result. Nice to see my informal observation-based theory somewhat vindicated!
ScienceDaily: Students Who Believe Intelligence Can Be Developed Perform Better: Filed in: placebo, mind, belief, intelligence, learning, motivation

Leadership: assertiveness needs to be just right

It seems that in leadership the real art is getting your assertiveness right: it's as bad to be too assertive as not enough:

Overall, more than half of the descriptions of weaknesses made clear references to assertiveness. Of these comments, 48 percent suggested too much assertiveness and the remainder described too little.

Perhaps there's no real surprise in that, on reflection. But it does point up how precarious it can be, a real balancing act which only looks easy if you're getting it right. It does suggest, though that the servant model is good provided that some of what is offered as service is a bit of forcefulness at the right time in the right way.

ScienceDaily: What Makes A Good Leader: The Assertiveness Quotient: Filed in: psychology, leadership, assertiveness

Placebo effect and exercise

This is really interesting for the realm of mind-body relationships.

According to the study, the housekeepers might not perceive their job as exercise, but if their mind-set is shifted so that they become aware of the exercise they are getting, then health improvements would be

Expect some programmes to be marketed using this within the next year or so ...
ScienceDaily: Mind-set Matters: Why Thinking You Got A Work Out May Actually Make You Healthier: Filed in: mind-body, placebo, exercise, psychology

Pray ceaselessly, but how?

I've just had an article published on emergingchurch.info. It's an adaptation of some of my book, but I thought I'd share it and give you a taster...

... ask ourselves whether there is a way of understanding the command to pray ceaselessly in a way that doesn't conflict with loving our neighbour. Paul may have meant his readers to pray as much as they could, whenever they could. However that would be to read a meaning into the text based, perhaps on a sense of realism faced with an understanding of prayer that involves giving God full and exclusive attention. We don't have to be bound by that interpretation. I'm going to suggest a deeper fulfilment of the exhortation. One that makes contact with Paul's command to his Roman readers to offer their bodies as living sacrifices to God (Romans 12.1-2). Perhaps Paul was suggesting making life into prayer rather than making prayer into a life

emergingchurch.info > reflection > andii bowsher: Filed in: prayer, Lord's_prayer, Praying_the_Pattern, paternoster, article

Well, I like 'em

... the Proclaimers, that is.

But in England, their brand of militantly Scottish folk-pop is deemed a novelty at best, grievous aural harm at worse.

Well, this English man likes those things about them. In fact, for me it has in part to do with the fact that they clearly sing in Scottish accents. The significance of that is that very few British songsters seem able or willing to sings in any accent other than a better or worse rough imitation of Bob Dylon imitating Southern US black singers. So Ian Drury also gets a thumbs up for daring to sing pop in Estuary English.
In any case it's often winciful to hear Brits do that accent. All too often they hyper-correct on the post-vocalic R's so calm becomes 'carrm' for example. What's wrong with real British accents, people?

Pop idols | News | Guardian Unlimited Music:Filed in: Proclaimers, Scots, folk, pop

clergy stress

I've been meaning to draw attention to this for some time, but better late than never, perhaps. It's a really well articulated post by a colleague and former training buddy of mine, Paul Roberts on how clergy life is for contemporary CofE clergy with regard to factors that build stress. It should be compulsory reading for ordinands and the newly ordained!

What Paul has done particularly well is to give examples that are spot on and immediately I could call to mind instances of just the kinds of thing he was talking about from my own parish experience.

staring into the distance::as far as our eyes can see � Three posts on clergy life (1) - clergy stress
Filed in: clergy, stress, rest, lifestyle, boundaries

Saudis try to counter Iranian Shia influence

I suspect that, over the next 20 years, this will turn out to be part of a significant set of happenings. And here is the nub of it:

The Saudis have their own area with a Shia majority -the oil-producing eastern provinces where 10%-15% of the population live - and are anxious to avoid unrest there. "The Saudis say they are afraid of the Shia but it's not true," argues a senior Jordanian. "They know the Americans will defend them and their oil. But they are afraid of the example that Hizbullah has set."

This intra-Islamic conflict may turn out to bring some relief to the rest of the world, ironically as it may absorb rhetorical and violent energies of extremists. Recall that Bin Laden is a Wahhabi Muslim, and they have little regard for the 'heretic' Shias, and vice versa, actually.

Saudis put their status on the line in bid to end Palestinian crisis | Israel and the Middle East | Guardian Unlimited: Filed in: Islam, Shia, Sunni, Middle_East, conflict, Saudi_Arabia

Linux install just got even easier for Windowsers

Apparently this can be done online, via Windows, and it may even partition your disk so you can run Windows and Linux on the same machine (I did this for about six months just to be on the safe side but then realised I didn't use windows any more and celebrated as I erased Windows from the machine). Though you may have to partition the hard-drive using your windows facility and then install into it ...

Say goodbye to Microsoft. Now.

Filed in: Linux, install, Windows

UK couple must pay huge church bill

This has been rumbling on for ages. And it's hard not to feel that there is something not good about the situation where buying a property incurs a liability for repairing an old building nearby. So we feel sympathy because we wouldn't like to buy something and discover a rather nasty hidden cost. However, we should recall that this is not the case here.

Mr Wallbank said they were caught in a vicious circle because no one would buy the farm with the church repair liability attached to it. But to get rid of the liability they would have to pay money up front for repair costs that might arise in the distant future.

Should the church waive its right to repair moneys? In theory, perhaps. And yet in English law, as I understand it, most parish churches are actually owned by the community at large. Feel sorry also for congregations who are saddled with the upkeep of ancient monuments in which they, the living churches, happen to worship. In many cases they would be somewhat happy to leave the building to the community and focus on the things that they consider to be the truly gospel usages of time and money. Yet they feel an obligation to the community. So little wonder that a local church in this story should want to see the law clarified. At least that was the position I seem to recall from a couple of years ago. I just wish that the report included the other things the vicar said.

UK couple must pay $393.000 church bill: Filed in: church, buildings, money

Bishop .alls for peace in Euskadi

Those of you joining me in prayer for Basque peace may be interested to note this.

Head of Spain’s Episcopal Conference, Bishop Ricardo Blazquez of Bilbao asked Saturday on the leaders of the political parties that the search of peace be "a basic aim." He also asked the armed Basque group ETA to disappear "without further delay or compensations."

It's worth noting attendance by major political reps except those associated with and often apparently speaking for ETA. So I do feel that those final words are not unfair.
I know Aleksu will probably want to remonstrate and defend ETA in this, but I can't find it in my heart to condone terrorism whether state or partisan.
EiTB24::Portada: Filed in: Euskadi, ETA, peace, process, bishop, reconciliation

Random Idea As Oracle

Now this gets my attention for several reasons. One is that it reminds me of one of De Bono's lateral thinking exercises for generating creative ideas. The other is that I think that it actually explains what is really happening in a lot of popular divination and actually gives an explanation for why it could be useful for Christians to follow the 'Beyond Prediction' route. It is worth noting too that Jung reputedly used the I Ching in a similar sort of way. So here's Roger Von Oech's take.

There once was an Indian medicine man who made hunting maps for his tribe. When game got sparse, he'd put a piece of fresh leather in the sun to dry. Then he'd say a few prayers, fold and twist it, and then smooth it out. The rawhide was now etched with lines. He marked some reference points, and a new map was created. When the hunters followed the map's newly defined trails, they usually discovered abundant game.
Moral: by letting the rawhide's random folds represent trails, he pointed the hunters to places they had not looked.
We can create an oracle in the same way the medicine man did. We’ll need three things:
1. A question that we address to the oracle. (The medicine man asked: “Where can more game be found?”) This question focuses your thinking.
2. A way to generate a random piece of information. (The medicine man twisted and folded a piece of leather.) The random selection is important. Since people tend to use the same problem solving approaches repeatedly, they come up with the same answers. Since a random piece of information is unpredictable, it forces us to look at the problem in a new way.
3. An attitude that interprets the resulting random piece of information as the answer to your question. (The medicine man interpreted the lines as representing new hunting trails.)

I get to wondering how often this actually applies to some uses of scripture or 'prophetic words'. What do you reckon?
Creative Think: Use A Random Idea As An Oracle:
Filed in: oracle, divination, thinking, DeBono, VonOech

Britain's bleak vision of the next decade

An article with very sobering considerations of things like foreign policy and likely threats. Among which is this little gem, almost uncommented on.

The study highlights opinion poll results since 2004 which have charted growing alarm over a number of the potential threats to be singled out by the Prime Minister - and shows that climate change has overtaken terrorism as the chief concern over the past two years.

So when are the government really going to respond to this with the kind of energy and forthrightness that security and pre-emptive strikes in the middle east got and get?
Maybe that's unfair? Hard to say, but I feel there is something in it.
Britain's bleak vision of the next decade | Politics | The Observer: Filed in: UK, future, policy, government

Tagged again

I have to confess to finding these tag things quite fun.
1. What’s the most fun work you’ve ever done, and why? (two sentences max)

Organising youth exchange programmes with USA and Germany: interesting people, new places, fun, a sense of helping understanding and opening up new perspectives ... closely followed by being part of a teaching and learning team for an event on postmodernism and worship in North Carolina: got to lead worship and to help USAmericans to understand the impacts of pomo better on Christian worship and evangelism ('cos pomo is more advanced in Europe, arguably, and we were certainly quicker off the mark in experimenting with responses).

2. Name one thing you did in the past that you no longer do but wish you did? (one sentence max)

Learn languages. I don't get the time now but I'd like to have a go at Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Urdu and perhaps Japanese.

3. Name one thing you’ve always wanted to do but keep putting it off? (one sentence max)

Take my wife to San Sebastian, where I used to live, once upon a time.

4. What two things would you most like to learn or be better at, and why? (two sentences max)

I'd like to be better at art, then I could contemplate doing it for a living.
I'd like to be better at algebra so I could get my mind around the nitty-gritty of post-relativity physics.

5. If you could take a class/workshop/apprentice from anyone in the world living or dead, who would it be and what would you hope to learn? (two more sentences, max)

Now I'm guessing I don't need to say Jesus. So, him aside, I'd say John Drane, to be able to pick his brains more about Christian responses and understanding of postmodern spirituality

6. What three words might your best friends or family use to describe you?

calm, bright, creative

7. Now list two more words you wish described you…

wise, artistic

8. What are your top three passions? (can be current or past, work, hobbies, or causes– three sentences max).

God, learning, social justice.

9. Write–and answer–one more question that YOU would ask someone (with answer in three sentences max).

What is the most significant spiritual moment or time in your life, at least as it looks to you now?
For me, I suspect it was the moment when I realised in my early teens that we human beings may be quite good at working out how things happen but that a life which has no more meaning than being born, reproducing and then dying is a pretty bleak prospect: there must be more to life than that; what is the why beyond the how?

Now I have to confess that I'm near the bottom of the pile for this, so most if not all my likely tagees have been tagged already. So instead of naming the one or ones to pass the tig onto, I will invite any other blogosphere bottom-feeders like me, to offer to take on the questions...
The Contemplative Charismatic: Tagged again!

Filed in: tagged, personal

Care and Feeding Your Troll

Thanks to Matt Stone for this posted to a discussion group we both participate in. Of real use to many of us involved in such things. Thanks Matt.

So, you brought home a new Internet Troll. Congratulations! If you are a first timer having a troll, you may have questions. Here are a few suggestions so that you and your troll can live in karmic balance. Now remember, each troll is different and your results may vary. However, this primer should help you get on your way. Welcome to the world of having a troll!

How do I refer to my troll now that I have him/her?

First, your troll may show up already named. Yet, you will find the "pre-fab" names to be rather unoriginal such as Annonymous [sic], ihateyou or yousuck. Never fear, you can always change their name. If this is your first troll, I find that it is best to give him/her a soothing, happy name to remind you that they are really just helpless, sad creatures. A good name can make all the difference! I recommend something like FluffyLoveBunny or Silly Billy Chickie Boo. How scary is that? Not so much.

So your troll has a name! Congratulations! You are on your way!

How do I discipline my new troll?

Now as trolls are known to do, yours may act up from time to time. He or she may get down right nasty and vicious towards you. Remember: That is in their nature. They are inbred to act that way. It is just NOT their fault. (And rumor has it most of them were dropped on their head often as tiny, baby trolls.) Of course, your first instinct as you get used to your new troll is to lash out and want to punish them for being so incorrigible. That would be your first mistake! It only encourages their behavior. The best way to keep your little FluffyBunnyLove in harmony with you and your home is to ignore him or her. Unlike their human counterparts, neglect keeps trolls temperamentally neutral. Allowing them to see your anger or pain at their behavior merely encourages them to keep it up and makes them raging mean. Neglect. Ignore. Restore (the balance). Those are the keys to disciplining your new troll.

Now that I have a new troll, what do I feed him?

Like any wild animal, it is important to understand the indigenous nature of their diet. Your new troll may try to convince you that the best thing you can feed him is a diet of your anger, frustration and pain. Don't listen. As any child can tell you, they will try to get away with anything they possibly can. It would be a mistake to listen to them. Your anger, frustration and pain is their main source of nutrition and growth and-- unlike human beings who need good nutrition and growth to survive-- it is vital that trolls maintain a steady diet of ambivalence and ignorant bliss to maintain their puny stature. As much as you want to punish him or her, remember that little FluffyLoveBunny needs to be ignored after he or she comes home with you. A steady diet of neglect will keep you living in harmony with your new troll!

Where do I keep my new troll?

That is a great (and normal) question! As with any troll, he or she will want to be front and center in your life. He or she will want your never-ending attention at all times. It is their nature. However, to live successfully with your new troll, you must remember to keep him or her locked in a corner or sitting so far in the back of the room that you forget her or she is there. Remember: Neglect makes this work! Don't feel guilt. It is how this relationship was meant to be.

What if my troll runs away from me and never returns? Does this mean I failed as a troll owner?

Absolutely not! In fact, just the opposite. If your troll gives up in frustration and leaves you for another, that simply means you have done a good job in the care and feeding of your troll. Pat yourself on the back. You deserve it!

However, remember this: The troll population is diverse and re-spawns quickly. Don't get too comfortable. Before you know it, another troll may follow you home. But, with this handy primer, you will be ready for the care and feeding of your troll!

Good luck with your new troll! May your journey be swift and painless!

Morals Do Not Conquer All In Decision Making

I hadn't yet come across the previous research which appears to have suggested that people with a more deontological ("protected") approach to ethical decision making were more likely to ignore potential consequences. However,

it appears that previous findings suggesting that people who really care about an issue not only fail to maximize their utility" or that they might not be taking stock of the consequences at all" may be off the mark. "The present findings importantly qualify this theory, suggesting that in some contexts, morally-motivated decision makers are more sensitive to the consequences of their choices than non-morally-motivated decision makers."

ScienceDaily: Morals Do Not Conquer All In Decision Making: Filed in: psychology, ethics, decision-making