War on Terror, the board game

So, since Risk has become 'Landgrab' on Facebook, perhaps we'll see a Facebook version of this: War on Terror, the board game: "WAR ON TERROR, THE BOARDGAME: It's got suicide bombers, political kidnaps and intercontinental war. It's got filthy propaganda, rampant paranoia and secret treaties and the Axis of Evil is a spinner in the middle of the board"
Let me know if you spot it before I do.

Children live what they learn? Bullies are the bullied too.

If there is a mimetic 'instinct' built into humans (and I think the evidence is strong to say there is), then, perhaps, this is no surprise. "bullies are more likely than their classmates to suffer from low self-esteem, depression, and behavioural problems from early childhood and through primary school. They are more likely to suffer from mental health problems later in life too." More details here: Study finds bullies are the bullied too | Education | guardian.co.uk. It could lend support to my thinking that 'original sin' is transmitted via a cascade of detriments internalised by the mimetic drive; that is to say it is both socially-generated and yet innate.

Children live what they learn? Bullies are the bullied too.

If there is a mimetic 'instinct' built into humans (and I think the evidence is strong to say there is), then, perhaps, this is no surprise. "bullies are more likely than their classmates to suffer from low self-esteem, depression, and behavioural problems from early childhood and through primary school. They are more likely to suffer from mental health problems later in life too." More details here: Study finds bullies are the bullied too | Education | guardian.co.uk. It could lend support to my thinking that 'original sin' is transmitted via a cascade of detriments internalised by the mimetic drive; that is to say it is both socially-generated and yet innate.

Divorce rate at its lowest for 26 years

Only the figures look a bit fragile and tenuous so perhaps it's too early to celebrate or learn much as yet. Go here to see more. Divorce rate at its lowest for 26 years | UK news | guardian.co.uk. One thing that would be needed to interpret is to compare with marriage rate and cohabitation figures. Perhaps, after a generation or two of people learning the new social rules, we are coming to a point where tacit knowledge on getting and staying married have caught up with the change social attitudes and conditions ... ?

Money Makes Way For Happiness,

But it doesn't buy happiness: rather it can and often does create conditions for greater contentment, less anxiety etc. Read about it in this article, WorldChanging: Money Makes Way For Happiness, But Happiness Still Can't Be Bought: "income is actually a much better metric for happiness than we ever thought it was,” says Stevenson. It appears that the wealthier we and our countries are, the happier we are, overall. And, says Will Wilkinson, research fellow with the Cato Institute, double the income per capita in a country and you’ll get a significant increase in happiness."
This doesn't mean that we must keep increasing GDP to keep people happy; we need to attend to what it is that greater income has tended to 'deliver' to societies which is things like choices, less anxiety, a sense of security. Policy, in a resource-limited world, should concentrate on creating conditions for health, a sense of security and the ability to make choices. Much of this can be done in terms of good communities and proper social protections...

Colorblindness in the general popuation

more graph humor and song chart memes
Colorblindness in the general popuation � GraphJam: Pop culture for people in cubicles. (AKA Song Chart Meme)

Cultural bases for better health

I think I see a little niche appearing for cultural studies: health. It makes sense when you think about it but now there's a research-based reason to factor in issues such as identity, self-presentation etc as significant in health care. Part Of The In-group? A Surprising New Strategy Helps Reduce Unhealthy Behaviors: "These studies highlight the importance of identity in health behavior and suggest promising directions for future health promotion appeals, the authors believe. 'Decisions are not only based on risks and benefits, but also the identity that a given choice communicates to others. Consequently, shifting perceptions of the identity associated with a risky behavior can help make better health a reality.'" Make way for the health-culture workers.

Going From One Cell Type to Another

This Going From One Cell Type to Another Without Using Stem Cells | Wired Science from Wired.com may have important consequences for debates about embryos and stem cells etc: "Melton's team avoided stem cells, and their baggage, altogether by using a virus to tweak three developmental genes in pancreatic tissue cells in mice. Three days later, these became insulin-producing beta cells, and appear free from the complications that have frustrated stem cell researchers."

In Hot, Flat, and Crowded... call for a Green Energy Revolution

This is just such an intriguing article, I have to bring it to your attention and suggest you read it. Here's a taster: "oil will never be cheap again and that wasteful, polluting technologies cannot be tolerated. The last big innovation in energy production ... was nuclear power half a century ago; since then the field has stagnated. 'Do you know any industry in this country whose last major breakthrough was in 1955?' Friedman asks. According to the book, US pet food companies spent more on R&D last year than US utilities did. 'The Stone Age didn't end because we ran out of stone,' he says. Likewise, the climate-destroying fossil-fuel age will end only if we invent our way out of it."
In Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Thomas Friedman Calls for a Green Energy Revolution

Massive UK water consumption

Read all of this Revealed: the massive scale of UK's water consumption | Environment | The Guardian: and the reason why is to understand this better. "Average household water use for washing and drinking in the UK is about 150 litres a person daily, but we consume about 30 times as much in 'virtual water', used in the production of imported food and textiles; Taking virtual water into account, each of us soaks up 4,645 litres a day;"
The idea of a water footprint is likely to be of growing importance. BTW is that not a sign that the footprint thing is a dead metaphor? Otherwise 'water footprint' would appear to be oxymoronic ... wouldn't it? Got a better metaphor?

A quick guide to Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren

I've just posted up my guide to the contents of the book. I think that perhaps if anything might give you the flavour of the thing it would be this: "confessing the two big questions that have stayed with McLaren since his twenties: what are the biggest problems in the world and what does Jesus have to say about them? For me, it is significant that a third question arises for him from those, because, again, it is mine. Why hasn't the Christian religion made a difference commensurate with its message, size and resources?"
I hope to be hearing more on this at Greenbelt, as I look to being Brian's 'speaker's escort' (in other words making sure he gets where he needs to go and is protected from too much adulation!).
booklogging:

recycling in China saves carbon emissions -no; really!

You do need to read all of this Waste Resources Action Programme reveals recycling in China saves carbon emissions | Environment | guardian.co.uk The eyecatching bit is this:

the counterintuitive conclusions of the report from the Waste Resources Action Programme (Wrap) suggest that the advantage of recycling over landfilling is so great that it makes environmental sense to ship waste right round the world if it can be used again.

And the article outlines how come. But, as always, there's more to it and the rider should be borne in mind.

However, the report does not consider the environmental or social advantages of establishing a significant UK manufacturing industry to produce goods from the recycled waste and the authors stressed that it does not show that exporting waste was desirable.

The serenity meme

I've been attributing the serenity prayer to Reinhold Niebuhr for a few years now. But it may be that the attribution is wrong according to this post and the article it points to. Language Log � The serenity meme: "quotation-hunter extraordinaire Fred Shapiro has uncovered evidence undermining the long-held attribution of 'The Serenity Prayer' to the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. Niebuhr's family originally claimed that he composed the prayer in the summer of 1943, but Shapiro has uncovered variations on the theme going back to 1936 in various American publications"
It's also an interesting study in textual transmission and begs a number of questions, one the more interesting and perhaps important is whether the meaning is essentially changed. It also shows the power of structural devices in speech and writing. It may be worth looking at these variants and then think about the gospels too...

Below are ten variants of the prayer cited in Shapiro's article, with the final one from 1943 being Niebuhr's preferred version, according to his daughter. I've arranged them in tabular form so that the formula is more obvious. What God is being asked to grant consists of three noun phrases, which we can label SERENITY, COURAGE, and WISDOM. Note that in a few of these early cases, COURAGE actually precedes SERENITY; I've marked these with (1) and (2) to indicate the actual order of the NPs in the source texts.

O God, give us	serenity to accept what cannot be helped (2)	courage to change what must be altered (1)	and	insight to know the one from the other	1936
we may have	an understanding and serenity to face what cannot be changed (2)	the courage to change what should be altered (1)	and	the wisdom to recognize one from the other	1938
oh God, give me	serenity to accept that which cannot be changed	courage to change that which can be changed	and	wisdom to tell the one from the other	1939
God give me	serenity to accept things I cannot change	the courage to change those I can	and	the wisdom to know the difference	1940
we must have	the serenity to accept what we cannot change within ourselves	the courage to attempt to change what we can	and	the wit to know one from the other	1941
God, give me	serenity to accept what cannot be helped (2)	the courage to change what must be altered (1)	and	insight to determine one from the other	1941
try to develop	serenity to face that which cannot be changed (2)	courage to change that which can be changed (1)	and	insight to tell one from the other	1941
O God, give me	serenity to accept what cannot be changed	the courage to change what can be changed	and	the wisdom to know one from the other	1942
give me	the patience to accept those things which I cannot change	the courage to change those things which can be changed	and	the wisdom to know the difference	1942
God, give us	grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed	courage to change the things that should be changed	and	the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other	1943

Back To School Challenge

Educators might be interested in this as a potential classroom support.

Back To School Challenge

tidal solutions to climate change

Sustainable Development Commission UK (SDC) Scotland: solutions to climate change: "Tidal stream technology could provide 5% of the UK’s electricity - 58% of this potential is around the Pentland Firth in Scotland
• For this resource is to be harnessed the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney must be used to its full potential.
However, our study also found that there is little understanding of tidal stream, for example people often confuse it with other types of renewable energy technology.
On Stream aims to break down this confusion so that people can take part in the public debate about the future of tidal energy from an informed position.
Tidal stream technology uses the energy contained in fast-flowing tidal currents which are generally found in constrained channels. ...
This booklet has been written in non technical language and will help anyone who wants to know more, whether that is decision makers or members of local communities near potential tidal stream sites."

Ontology is Overrated -- Categories, Links, and Tags

Now this is a useful little article: Shirky: Ontology is Overrated -- Categories, Links, and Tags it explores briefly what is involved in categorisation and the technology-enabled emerging alternative, tagging. What I'm interested in is the theological link to my biblical theme of the moment, the naming of the animals and the theological/philosophical reflections arising from that. But I'm also interested in the way that it begins to change the way we think; to shift culture. Here's what I think is really important in the article in this respect:

Browse versus search is a radical increase in the trust we put in link infrastructure, and in the degree of power derived from that link structure. Browse says the people making the ontology, the people doing the categorization, have the responsibility to organize the world in advance. Given this requirement, the views of the catalogers necessarily override the user's needs and the user's view of the world. If you want something that hasn't been categorized in the way you think about it, you're out of luck.
The search paradigm says the reverse. It says nobody gets to tell you in advance what it is you need. Search says that, at the moment that you are looking for it, we will do our best to service it based on this link structure, because we believe we can build a world where we don't need the hierarchy to coexist with the link structure.

Animation art at its best....

Enjoy!

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
BLU > MUTO

Lewes, printing its own money

This is why a growing number of towns and cities worldwide are creating local currencies (the article has a few more details): "According to one analysis, 80 per cent of the money that goes into a supermarket till leaves the local economy immediately. By backing local stores such trends can be reversed"
In the case of Lewes, I liked this connection;

it is no coincidence that the town's most famous resident is the radical political pamphleteer Thomas Paine, credited with sowing the intellectual seeds of American independence. Etched under a painting of Paine on a wall of one of Lewes's churches is one of his most famous aphorisms: 'We have the power to build the world anew.'

Lewes, the proud town that is printing its own money | Business | The Observer:

ETI's not the problem for religion some think they are

Forecasts regarding imminent collapse of earth’s religious belief systems were found to be more prevalent among non-religious respondents than among religious respondents. This survey provides evidence that tends to disconfirm the hypothesis.

It's here: Counterbalance Foundation

ID card scheme still flawed

A new report out on ID cards' biometrics makes discouraging reading for proponents of the scheme. "Phil Booth, national coordinator of the No2ID campaign, said the report confirmed millions would suffer inconvenience, distress and worse under the ID regime. He said: 'Suggestions manual checks will suffice every time the computer says 'no' begs the question, what is the point of the system in the first place?' He said the problems raised about the biometrics were fundamental and meant that compulsory fingerprinting would embed discrimination at the heart of the ID card scheme. 'Higher failure rates for the old, ethnic minorities, the disabled and the infirm risk creating a biometric underclass,' he warned."
ID card scheme faces new hurdle | Politics | The Guardian:

Chance that I made this pie chart on paint

more graph humor and song chart memes
Chance that I made this pie chart on paint: � GraphJam: Pop culture for people in cubicles. (AKA Song Chart Meme)

Pronouncing Chinese

I've got fed up with the BBC and other channels covering the Beijing olympics. They obviously don't brief their readers and anchors like they used to. I'm pretty certain that it used to be the case that they would have guidance or even tuition to pronounce foreign words something like correctly. Judging by what I keep hearing, that hasn't been happening. So, guys, pronouncing Beijing as if the 'j' is French (and don't think I haven't noticed that you tend to make the same mistake with Hindi/Urdu) is not right. Check the table on this page: Language: Introductory Guide to Pronouncing Chinese.
Now I feel better for getting that off my chest.

PS. YOu might like to have a look at this article, on the same topic and the comments are informative too.

A Practical look at the information age

more graph humor and song chart memes
A Practical look at the information age � GraphJam: Pop culture for people in cubicles. (AKA Song Chart Meme)

I'm a teen atheist turned Christian tryer

This is a fun read, and makes some good points in a knockabout sort of way.
In terms of a turn of phrase and an intriguing basic idea, this deserves drawing to your attention.

"Say the word 'atheist' 100 years ago and it conjured up a vision of sexy, freewheeling rebels celebrating life, love and creativity in their rejection of a higher power. Say it now and a vision of fun-hating killjoys, desperately scared that somewhere a Christian is having a good time by singing lustily in church on a Sunday morning, comes to mind. And, sadly, the alleged 'humanist morality' never happened – to this day, 80% of all unpaid and unself-interested voluntary and charity work is faith-driven."

There are the predictable replies from atheists in the comments, this is from the Guardian after all...
Julie Burchill: I'm a teen atheist turned Christian tryer | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:

Prince Charles is right

Regular readers will know I'm no royalist, and I aver that I'm no fan of the King in waiting. However, when I heard Charles Windsor commenting on the matter of farming and GM crops, I thought that he'd be slammed and that it would be a shame because, essentially, he has a point. Here's why,

Despite the clamour, however, he is,... essentially right. The widespread adoption of GM crops may well threaten the world's food supply. It will probably throw millions of small farmers off the land, and it will almost certainly produce shanty cities of the sort he calls 'unsustainable, unmanageable, degraded and dysfunctional conurbations of unimaginable awfulness'. While GM technology may not be the direct cause of such horrors, it will perpetuate the system of industrial agriculture that makes them inevitable. It's a threat acknowledged in a 2008 report from the World Bank and UN agencies. Based on the work of more than 400 scientists, it concludes that the present system of food production – and the way food is traded – have led to an unequal distribution of benefits and to serious ecological damage. It was also contributing, the report found, to climate change.

However, we should note this from the New Scientist.

The problem is that a dispassionate assessment of the green credentials of GM crops is almost impossible to come by at present, given the ideological baggage, mistrust and value-laden prejudice that have accompanied the technology throughout its tortured existence. It is clear that Prince Charles simply ignores or completely distrusts any data that challenges his own prejudices, or his contention that fiddling with nature is wrong.

He is to be congratulated for highlighting the importance of food security, even though the message is buried beneath a mountain of bile on the more peripheral question of whether GM crops are to blame for everything bad on this planet.

He should remember, however, that all farming – including organic farming – interferes with, and steals resources from, his beloved nature.

A key question is whether de-intensification of agriculture in rich countries simply transfers intensive production to other parts of the world, perhaps resulting in even worse environmental degradation overall. Whatever the answer, it would be interesting to know where Charles himself gets his data to support his assertions.

Graham Harvey: Prince Charles is right to attack intensive farming | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:

Online Mind Mapping - MindMeister

Now this looks potentially usefulOnline Mind Mapping - MindMeister: "MindMeister supports all the standard features of a classic mind mapping tool - only online, and with as many simultaneous users as you like!"
And what's more, there's a widget of it you can put in your browser tool bar, so if/when you have ideas while at your computer, it's only a few clicks away to be able to start mapping them.

A response to "Final Declaration of the Yale Common Word Conference"

This response to the recent open letters exchanged between many Muslim and some Christian leaders is instructive in, amonge other things, highlighting the potential pitfalls in interfaith relating at official levels. Here are two sections from the Barnabas Fund comments on the Yale group's response:

The opening passage of the declaration includes the Qur’anic commandment to speak to Christians and Jews (Q 3:64), which is actually a call to them to convert to Islam. It also includes the “ascribe no partner” phrase, which is a Muslim critique of the Christian doctrines of the Trinity and the deity of Jesus. Muslims consider these to involve the most grievous sin of shirk (i.e. associating a created being with God) and those who hold them to be infidels (kafirun). It seems that the implications of this verse were not realised or discussed.

The affirmation of the Islamic source texts as “sacred texts” along with the Bible is ambiguous. Many will read it as implying that the Qur’an is a revealed word of God.

Worth reading the whole to get the picture.
� 2006 Barnabas Fund - "Final Declaration of the Yale Common Word Conference, July 2008": - 12 August 2008

100Months

We have 100 months to save the planet. When the clock on this site stops ticking, we could already be beyond the tipping point into wild, wierd and downright unfriendly climate change ... check it out.
100Months_Ad_independent.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Pill may be responsible for divorce rate?

Now that title may get your attention, let's nuance it a bit: firstly by saying that the 'conclusion' is not stated in this article reporting the research on the pheromonal effects of the contracteptive pill. Contraceptive pill 'can lead women to choose wrong partner' | Science | guardian.co.uk. Secondly, if my extropolation is correct, I don't think it could be claimed that it would be entirely responsible for divorce: clearly, there are many factors, but this could be one and perhaps a strangely significant one.

Here's the skinny: "'The results showed that the preferences of women who began using the contraceptive pill shifted towards men with genetically similar odours,' the University of Liverpool's Dr Craig Roberts, who led the study, said. 'Not only could MHC similarity in couples lead to fertility problems, it could also ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop using the contraceptive pill, as odour perception plays a significant role in maintaining attraction to partners.'
Being on the pill simulates a state of pregnancy, which may reverse a woman's reaction to male odours."
This becomes a really intriguing line of thinking...

Two Views of Greenhouse Gases

An interesting and helpful piece over at WorldChanging: Two Views of Greenhouse Gases. There are two ways to present information about the generation of greenhouse gases. Using USA as the example, there's an aggregated presentation

and then there's "another, somewhat more personal view -- one that fits our 'carbon footprint' into the context of our daily lives."

Drrug prohibition is untenable hypocrisy

This is stated in a provocative way. "If you voted in the last election, you probably voted for prohibition. You voted to gift hundreds of billions of pounds to organised crime each year, to undermine the social and economic development of producer countries such as Colombia, Afghanistan as well as transit countries such as Guinea Bissau and Jamaica. You voted to double the amount of acquisitive crime in the UK and to double the prison population with it. Your 'X' contributed to misery and degradation for millions of the most marginalised people on earth. Unless we all do something to change it, you will probably vote for prohibition next time too."
But I must admit that I am coming round to agree. This is not to say that we shouldn't try to find ways to cut down drug use (heck, the history of China and the opium war tells us what negative effects a large addict population delivers socially). It is to say that legal prohibition actually makes it harder and more expensive to deal with drug addiction. A teacher who has written the report that triggered this article says this.

I find that when presented with the facts, the students I teach are quite capable of considering issues such as this, and reaching rational conclusions even if they started with a blind Daily Mail-esque approach. I find it a shame that no mainstream political party accords the electorate the same respect.

And indeed, I found this gave me pause for thought.

As Joseph McNamara, former police chief of Kansas City and San Jose put it: "The drug war cannot stand the light of day. It will collapse as quickly as the Vietnam war, as soon as people find out what's really going on." Tragically and despicably, the government's commitment to populist posturing means that the collapse will come far too late for many.

The comments on the opinion piece are interesting too, many mentioning the USAmerican experiment with alcohol prohibition in the 1920's.
Remember, the real debate isn't about whether drug taking is bad (leaving aside prescription drugs but including alcohol and nicotine), but on the best tactics for combatting drug abuse.
Danny Kushlick: Drug prohibition – an untenable hypocrisy | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:

WWF-UK: small victory over greenwash

This is important in a small way. "Today, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld WWF's complaint against an advert placed by Shell in the Financial Times earlier this year, which suggested that oil sands were a sustainable energy source. The ASA - the independent body responsible for regulating UK advertising - branded the advert 'misleading', due to its ambiguous use of the word 'sustainable'."
And there is a WWF advert to go with it which you can find here.
WWF-UK: Shell's oil sands greenwash won't wash with the ASA:

Tai Chi evidence: improves elder health

Another significant article here: Research Translates Into Successful Community Practice To Improve Elder Health Here's what I'm interested in from it: "In previously-funded research, the Tai Chi program developed by Li and his team showed positive results in improving balance and reducing falls among the elderly."
I'm interested because there is a spiritual 'vibe' relating to this and we should be careful as Christians how we respond. There is the headbanger tendency which will see this as NewAge/Daoist entryism and a likely source of spiritual pollution. Well, let's consider that this is research based and very likely the positive results are not linked to any particular spiritual worldview on the part of the participants. And in any case, all healing is God's healing (and I take that from Jesus' response to being accused of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul). What I think we do have to be careful about is the way that some people will use this as an affirmation of Chi-philosophy. I think our response should be to say that while that is one explanation for what is happening, perhaps the fact that Tai Chi started out as limbering up for martial training and only later accrued the dominent-in-that-culture patina of Chi thinking (if what I've read is accurate) should help us to detach a particular philosophical take on the exercises from the forms themselves. We could re-frame what it is about in different ways, including, potentially, Christian-friendly terms. Let's do that, shall we? And let our aging population reap the benefits of a form of exercise which will help balance and therefore help prevent accidents. I think God is interested in having that happen, don't you?

Sound Adds To Visual Perception

A very interesting article: Sound Adds Speed To Visual Perception it suggests, I think, that our intuitions and research suggesting that multi-channel presentation of information is more effective at conveying information is well-founded neurologically: "recent finding of nerve cells projecting from the auditory cortex (associated with the perception of sound) directly into the visual cortex (associated with sight), suggest that perception of one sense might affect that of another without the involvement of higher brain areas."
In other words: multi-media is good.

Kendal Project online

If you are interested in 'new age' and Christian interface, contemporary spirituality and culture, that kind of thing, then you might like to check out and bookmark. It's based on the book 'The Spiritual Revolution' by Paul Heelas and colleagues. Methods and Findings - Kendal Project, Lancaster University

Employers say education standards falling: don't confuse them with the facts

Now this is worrying. According to polls of employers reported here Employers call government statistics into question and find education standards to be falling | Education | guardian.co.uk this result came forth: "In a survey of business leaders, the IoD found that nearly half its members thought the quality of school education has declined, and the literacy and numeracy skills of young people has fallen over the past ten years."
And where's their evidence? See my blog entry the other day to see why I'm a little skeptical of the trustworthiness of this impression. You see, I don't think that this is anything more than the great British reflex of grumpy old men and women who can't stand the thought that youngsters might actually have had a better education than them and take refuge in the different curriculum to make indvidious comparisons which have little basis in fact and much basis in prejudice. However, in this case, the worrying thing is that it is people who might have an influence on hiring and firing hold such views. Very worrying.

Russian and Georgia -not out of the blue

The following was written on 1 May: "'Russia's end goal now appears to be to force Georgia into armed conflict. It would thus strip it of the opportunity to earn Nato membership, while finally annexing Georgia's territories.'"
Russian moves inflame tensions with Georgia | World news | The Guardian:

Interdependency?

Have a look at this: Jonathan Rutherford: The new Conservatives say that there is such a thing as society, but are they prepared to pay for it? | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk. There's a very interesting prospectus for the future of culture and politics: "Interdependency will be the new political virtue. Individual market choice will no longer command policymaking. Instead relationships will be the priority. Emotional life, not rational choice, is the glue that holds society together. Emotional intelligence and trust, not micro-management, is what makes organisations function well. Emotional liveliness, not testing, creates good education. Collective enterprise, not competitive individualism, is at the core of a successful economy."
This certainly rings bells with what a lot of sociological writers seem to be saying regarding the current 'mood' of western society where the turn to the subjective is in full swing. Bauman charts it in his various 'Liquid' books. Heelas calibrates it against current spiritual and religious trends. I would say it is only a matter of time before it finds expression more fully and formally in our society. The thing is; how does it gain practical political expression? And then the big question: how do we as church respond? Read Heelas and Whitehead, and you'll get a sense of the shift and how awry the 'classic' form of church and proclamation are from what is culturally shifting. I think, actually, that Heelas overstates some of the characterisation of the subjective turn in a way that overplays the distinctions. Nevertheless we have the theological resources to meet this, an Irenaean theology would work much better, for example, in my opinion. If you want to think more, you could do worse than look at John Drane's 'New Age' work. And you might like to look over my MA thesis for clues as it deals with life coaching and spiritual direction in a cultural context and so attends to many of the concerns.

Legal Observers Blocked By Police

If you think that I'm a bit paranoid about ID cards, perhaps you might like to view this short video. It's not about ID cards, but about the erosion of legal protections ... Undercurrents-LegalObserversBlockedByPolice135.mp4 (video/mp4 Object)

Wrekin Spree

I was brought up in Shropshire, which is almost a by-word for deep rurality, a county thought typical of England's rural charm (and indeed it is). However, that obscures its role in industrialisation. I went to sixth-form college in what is now part of Telford; named in part for being the start of Britain's industrial revolution. So perhaps no surprise that it has been the iconic draw for climate change protest: "banners proclaiming Telford as “Birthplace of Industry/Womb of Climate Change” were hung from bridges crossing the motorway at the Ercall and Castle Farm Interchange." (SchNEWS 641 - Wrekin Spree). Makes me think ...

Police warn of rise in violence by women

The headline tells only part of the story in this article, Police warn of rise in violence by women | UK news | The Observer: the most important bit is arguably this.
"the number of crimes committed by girls aged 10 to 17 in England and Wales has gone up by 25 per cent in three years to 59,000, Youth Justice Board figures show. But critics say the increase is down to the police dealing with violent women more formally. Susan Batchelor, of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, said 'Traditionally young women have been much more informally socially controlled than young men, and we may be seeing some changes.'"
So the reports of a few years back indicating that testosterone seemed to be the biggest crime-related factor, may have been skewed by the social attitudes of police to offenders. Though, there are also issues to do with gender equality also making a difference on how crime is committed by different groups. A downside, though an interesting indicator of just how much is hormones and how much is social construction...

Education: Golden age? It was always thus...

"'A trawl through reports on examinations from the Twenties upwards reveals that there was no 'golden age',' said David Wright, chief executive of the institute. He cited an official report on O-level papers in 1958 which found: 'The standard of English was no worse than in previous years, but is still very unsatisfactory... The most evident, if not the most serious weakness, is in the spelling. A few examples will suffice: ammount, Brittain, Britian, buisness, bussiness, deffinate, fourty, fivety, ocurred, occured, payed, polytitions, publically, usualy.'"
It's a bit like reports about loutishness: there are some very modern-sounding tirades from practically ever age we have written records from. The reality is that our kids are probably better educated than ever. It's just easier to look at the inevitable downside and indulge our favourite passtime of moaning. And I speak as a trainee grumpy old man!
Education: Golden age of exams is a myth, say experts | Education | The Observer:

Spillage: a chart of Sod's law.

This is so true to experience, at least as subjectively remembered.
more graph humor and song chart memes
Spillage � GraphJam: Pop culture for people in cubicles. (AKA Song Chart Meme)

Cities are for People

Earlier this summer I was involved in talks that could up the ante from our college, in conjunction with the diocese, in relation to urban theology. One of the things I've been thinking about since then is the need to bring together thinking about environmental matters along with the inherited concerns of urban theology (planning, poverty, resources, crime, transport, health etc). So this article was a good reminder of why it is important to add ecology to the list. WorldChanging: Cities are for People: The Limits of Localism: "Cities offer a lot of environmental benefits, at least compared to the alternatives. There are many reasons this is so, but they all spring from a fairly basic fact: cities are built for people. Lots of people, densely packed, sharing resources. Innovations that encourage or take advantage of that density are likely to make cities more sustainable. And innovations that undermine density have a lot of work to do to overcome their inherent environmental disadvantages."
Off the top of my head, this seems to implicate a robust theology of the Powers and some interesting engagement with the Babel story etc. Then we need to weave in issues to do with development along with the more recent thinking about ecotheology. I hope to do some more reading on ecotheology with a clear eye on how it plays out in relation to the City. But the questions at the heart of this article are the kind that we need to be able to engage with theologically.

A curse upon the oath of allegiance?

In this article, Norman Baker: A curse upon the oath of allegiance | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk we are given the reasons why a parliamentary motion is being put forward to change the oath of allegiance an MP swears on taking their seat. Part of the argument is that it discriminates against republicans. What do you think? Here's the oath: "'I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God.'"
Now, that's the same as I, as an Anglican in England have to declare (yes, I use my right to declare not swear), on taking up any clerical post. I also happen to believe that we would be better a country as a republic. Do I square that circle? Yes; I don't see it as a circle to be squared. It's simple: the words say "... heirs and successors according to law..." Now if we peacefully and democratically and lawfully became a republic that would fit; the successors would be elected or appointed by a democratically approved process. In the meantime "true allegiance" means obeying the law and 'giving to caesar what is caesar's' (let the reader understand). I have no problem with that under present conditions. I'd prefer not to say it, but in the meantime, I can put up with it.

military pornography

This is a mini rant. Actually 'rant' is not the right word, it's more a sharing of puzzlement.

It starts with a Christian friend building a model of a piece of medieval military technology and my thoughts moved from there to thinking that I was uncomfortable with the subject matter of the model because it was about a piece of technology designed to endanger life and property. I then got to wondering why it was that as Christians we generally think it's okay to have an interest in military history, literature and paraphernalia but would have problems with someone showing similar interest in the history of sexual infidelity, bondage equipment or pornography. And yet the Christian position on warfare is probably just as circumscribed as that on sexuality, perhaps more so: war is either not to be entertained at all, or if it can be then it is only a last resort with heaviness of heart. Given the justification given for engaging in war in the Christian tradition, it is actually pretty hard to justify certain levels of interest in matters military when compared with matters to do with sexual expression.

I suspect that this shows up a degree of acculturation which may not be healthy in western Christians and which makes, by implication, interesting comparison and comment on our attitudes to sexuality. I'm tempted to take the view that I won't accept certain arguments in respect of homosexuality unless the proposer of those arguments makes consistent arguments with regard to war and peace also...

Creation or evolution: Do we have to choose?

My experience is similar to the author of this article: Archived Current Debates -> Creation or evolution: Do we have to choose? They say: "As someone raised in a Christian home and active as a Christian student in the Oxford of the mid 1960s, I can report that creationism was unheard of at the time. Christians didn't have any problem with evolution and it was not a topic for discussion or debate. I was nurtured as a Darwinian and remain so today."
Now my upbringing was not fully Christian, I was brought up believing in God, and to respect Jesus (along with Buddha, Mohammed etc) but not churchgoing. But when I considered spiritual development in my mid-teens, I didn't see evolution as a difficulty, and later when considering the Christ path, it seemed to me self-evident that Genesis was not doing the same kind of writing as Origin of Species. The only qualm I had was the way that survival of the fittest seemed to have eugenic ideological properties (as I would now express it).

So it was interesting to discover through this article what the Revd Charles Kingsley wrote in response to Darwins book (he'd been given and advance copy, being a personal friend);

'I have gradually learnt to see that it is just as noble a conception of Deity, to believe that he created primal forms capable of self development …. as to believe that He required a fresh act of intervention to supply the lacunas (or ‘gaps’) which he himself had made'.

Quite so. In principle, it seems to me, this is little different from asserting both that 'God made me' and that I am the product of a paternal spermatazoan and a maternal ovum and uterus.
There was a lot of positive reception of Darwin's ideas by Christians. There is some evidence that Huxley saw some negative Christian reactions as a way to make political capital for his science agenda; by presenting things as a science versus religion thing in order to raise the profile for science and funding also. Conflict sells, still!

Like the author, I have watched with bemusement, and sometimes anger, as 6x24hr creationism has not only persisted but seems to have gained ground in the UK. And, again, I think I concur with the writer:

Why the change in the late twentieth century? As far as the UK is concerned, much has to do with the efficiency of US exports - a steady stream of creationist financing, publications, speakers and movies has been flowing over into UK churches. But the new breed of tub-thumping atheists also have a lot to answer for: if you keep telling the average Christian in the pew that 'evolution equals atheism', then it's not surprising if they find the glossy creationist magazines more attractive.

I suspect that is about right.

Hypocrites Unite!

Responding to a rich journo, George Monbiot examines the accusation that greens are hypocrites. This is the article; Monbiot.com � Hypocrites Unite! and I was intrigued by a summarising comment: "Sure we are hypocrites. Every one of us, almost by definition. Hypocrisy is the gap between your aspirations and your actions. Greens have high aspirations - they want to live more ethically – and they will always fall short. But the alternative to hypocrisy isn’t moral purity (no one manages that) but cynicism."
It shows a shift in meaning of the word between the way it gets used in the gospels (where it is people playing a part when their hearts aren't really in it) and in popular discourse (where it seems to be about not living up to ones own standards). I think that there is actually a significant moral distinction between the two kinds of meaning. In the biblical usage, it's about fulfilling a social expectation but trying to wriggle out of the spirit of the matter (justice, mercy etc). In the popular usage we are dealing quite often with people who find themselves embedded in life-circumstances which militate against their best aspirations. There is a difference between trying to change towards an ideal away from an admitted wrongness on the one hand and, on the other, avoiding change whilst giving the impression that one is 'signed up'. There is a difference between learning to be the change one is propounding, and making gestures for fashion or as a way of putting others down. When we talk about hypocrisy, it is important to be wary about just what we are talking about. Perhaps we should have a moratorium on the use of the word hypocrite and find other words to describe what we mean.

080808

I like interesting dates. Today is one.
Pity I missed the chance to get my date stamp on this posting about 80 mins ago: then it'd've been 08:08 08/08/08

2 degrees is bad enough, 4 would be horrendous

Mark Lynas: Why we must heed Bob Watson's climate change warning | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "the latest science shows that even two degrees is not good enough, never mind four. And since four degrees would be a catastrophe that many of us, or our children, would not survive, it is surely our absolute duty to do everything in our power to avoid it."

The new frontier of geopolitics

You might want to keep a link to this map for future reference, trying to understand the geopolitics of the next 50 years.

"'The map is the most precise depiction yet of the limits and the future dividing lines that could be drawn across the Arctic region,'"
Map shows front lines of Arctic carve-up - earth - 06 August 2008 - New Scientist Environment:

Exploring Emergence

In some books on things like chaos and emergence, there are references to computer simulations/models like the game of life. This website Exploring Emergence lets you see those programmes, even lets you set initial conditions to see what happens as you then run the programme. It starts thus: "what appears to be an object is not really an object at all. All that is happening is that little squares on the screen are turning 'on' and 'off,' following a set of simple rules. And those rules say nothing at all about objects and nothing at all about direction." It helps gain one an intuitive feel for the phenomena.

When It Comes To Abstinence Teens, Adults Aren't Speaking The Same Language

You'd have thought that, since Genesis 2 shows a pretty clear story of how prohibition invokes the prohibited and presents it to desire/mimetic drive thus making it likely that 'fall' will take place, Christians would have a 'naturally' more nuanced view of things like education regarding things that are not good to do. But not so, and it is likely that many of the abstinence programmes alluded to in this research are church-based 'just say no' sorts of thing.When It Comes To Abstinence Teens, Adults Aren't Speaking The Same Language: "'Abstinence-only programs often only look at the negatives of sex, not the positive. This is especially important for young women who need to have control over having sex and having safe sex,' Masters said. 'With these programs you often hear 'sex just happens' and adolescents are having less safe sex. This detracts from adolescents having a choice, and this leads to more dangerous sex with more sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies.'" It just seems that the more research there is on this, the more it seems that broader, holistic, consent and choice based approaches make sense overall. It's obliquity again. Sometimes to achieve something you have to approach it indirectly and recognise that what you are looking for is a side-consequence.

Rowan Williams: gay couples reflect the love of God

This could be a bit mischievous: this is not something that Rowan Williams has just recently said/written, rather it's about 7 years old and it was well-known what his views were on the matter, so this is nothing new at all but the timing could be difficult. What gets my interest, however, is the lead sentence: "Gay relationships can 'reflect the love of God' in a way that is comparable to marriage, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams."Because I think that this is one of the main disquieting observations for those who hold to the 'modified' traditional evangelical approach (creation mandate rooted in Gn.2:28 etc). If we take seriously 1Jn4:16 "So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them." It's a sentence used in wedding services in Anglican churches, and it challenges us as we look on committed, faithful, gay relationships where love is clearly present at the heart. Can we truly say that there is nothing of God in this? And if there is, how should we honour it and nurture it? This is the real hard case for the 'traditional' view, imho. By repudiating certain acts, there is a danger of repudiating and destroying that which is genuinely of God and if Jesus is about not putting out a smoldering wick or not breaking a bruised reed ...
Rowan Williams: gay couples reflect the love of God | World news | The Guardian:

Now in French; priest academy

a few years back there was a programme on British TV about a priest in a new parish. Well the RC diocese of Besancon has come up with this and if your French is not too bad how about having a look; there are embedded videos in the site. Pr�tres academy | Vivre l'aventure au quotidien | Une initiative du service des vocation du dioc�se de Besan�on - Accueil

Spiritual and the Religious: Is the Territory Changing?

It's almost a mantra that contemporary westerners are more likely to be warm about spirituality than religion (which is a bit of a boo word). It is important that we take notice of this an respond. Rowan Williams has helped in what he said/wrote which is to be found now here: The Archbishop of Canterbury - The Spiritual and the Religious: Is the Territory Changing?. He begins in earnest a little way in: "I do want to confront the idea that the future of human spiritual awareness and maturity can lie only with a post-religious consciousness, with what might be 'sacred to any human being', over and above the affirmations of any specific religious body."

It is a closely argued piece, and so does not lend itself to extracts. I think that the main thrust would echo the concern that arose for me in my MA dissertation about life coaching and spiritual direction in relation to contemporary western culture; that 'spirituality' is in danger of failing to offer a perspective that can critique society; that without the 'backbone' that religious practices and even institutions at their best can offer, spirituality is likely to fall into the role of dupe to the status quo, a breeder of false consciousness and inauthentic living.

There's the problem; if you can recognise patterns of cosmic interconnection and yet not know how to start asking question about what sort of actions are revealing of the sacred order of things, something is missing, something that has to do with motivation for radical challenge and possible change in what we take for granted. Deciding that you are obliged to be responsible is not something you can instantly derive from belief in an interconnected universe. Responsibility has about it an irreducible element of being called to 'answer' for and to other agents; its roots have a lot to do with the sense of being the recipient of something at the hands of another. Something is bestowed which both enables and requires an answer. Yet to speak like this of 'bestowing' or 'endowing' is to move immediately into a realm in which I confront something like another personal presence. A generalised 'sacred' dimension of reality may be independent of my mind, but doesn't in itself need or suggest this language of 'bestowal'. Talking about God, not just about the sacred, assumes, on the contrary, that there is not only a sacred reality but an initiating agency that is independent of anything in our world. I am invited to make myself answerable for the good, the human welfare and spiritual health, of the human other, to make myself disposable in some measure for them, in part because of how I have learned to 'read' the world around, reading it as suggesting that an agency independent of any circumstance within the world has 'taken responsibility' for my welfare – has not only given life in general but put at my disposal the life that is its own.

Altogether, though, we need also to be able to affirm the critique of religiosity at its worst. I think that we need a fuller theology of the Powers that be articulated in relation to religious bodies. We also need to be able to articulate Christian faith in a way that relates well with the subjective turn where extrinsic authority (heteronomy) is suspect and self-integrity and unfolding is a core value.

World officialdom makes faking passports easy

This is one of the better articles on ID cards/passports. It's here -Guy Herbert: World officialdom makes faking passports easy | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: and the reason why I think you should read it is probably best summed up in the final paragraph. "The trouble is not technology. It is not expense. It is that world officialdom would much rather track us all around, so that if the detail of our movements might be useful to someone in authority one day, it will have been secured."
Quite so. Because security works best with the presumption of guilt rather than innocence.

Smoking youths throw woman commuter on to train line

This report Smoking youths throw woman commuter on to train line | UK news | guardian.co.uk brought back an incident that I was involved in a little over a year ago: "the woman had asked the youths to stop smoking on the platform, where it is banned. A scuffle started and she was thrown on to the track."
In 'my' incident, I asked a man on a Tyne and Wear Metro Train, between Gateshead and Jarrow, to put out his cigarette and was abused and narrowly missed having the matter come to blows; the guy actually seemed very keen to have a fight. The incident I believe was contributory to me finding going into work by that route quite stressful after that. The worrying thing is the kind of reaction to someone asking someone else to do the right thing: In both cases smoking is unlawful in the areas concerned. I was concerned that no-one else in the carriage seemed at all willing to acknowledge something was occurring. Would they have left me to be beaten up had I not taken steps to avoid physical violence (in essence to back down)? Did this woman attempt to remove the cigarette from the offender? Is that what sparked the incident? Certainly, I tried that, but wasn't willing to go any further.

‘Fakeproof’ e-passport is clonable

... and it's not a hard job if you know what you're doing. This appears to pull more rug from under the 'need' for ID cards and the NIR. The article is here: ‘Fakeproof’ e-passport is cloned in minutes - Times Online:
"In the tests, a computer researcher cloned the chips on two British passports and implanted digital images of Osama bin Laden and a suicide bomber. The altered chips were then passed as genuine by passport reader software used by the UN agency that sets standards for e-passports."
It's really time to stop throwing good money after bad with the ID card project.

GraphJam

I love this site! Some very funny pseudo-charts. Including, for fans of The Princess Bride, this one.

more graph humor and song chart memes
Or for the more sophisticated this one:

more
Or just plain funny:

more

GraphJam: Pop culture for people in cubicles. (AKA Song Chart Meme)

Christians do not need to fear Islamic take-over in UK, says Interserve head

You may recall my writing about this a few weeks back; Well, I was pleasantly surpised to see this being part of what was part of the Keswick convention this year, as that is probably reaching the constituency who most need to hear it (along with the New Wine network, I suspect). I say this from a prejudiced and jaundiced perspective which I'd be happy to see refuted evidentially; that Keswick is probaly the heart of Daily Mail Evangelicalism. Anyway, skip over here:
Christians do not need to fear Islamic take-over in UK, says Interserve head:
What Steve says is important and challenging but surely needs to be heard.
"A sub-replacement birthrate was one of the causes of the decline of Christianity in Europe and it looks set to do the same for Islam in Europe.
Not only is an Islamic takeover in this country unlikely, but Bell also believes that the UK is providing a safe place in which Islam can change: 'Muslims in the West are finding they can practice Islam without pressure from Islamic governments. So here in the UK both dangerous Islamists and freethinking reformers are emerging. The West is now the crucible in which Islam is being openly debated and modified for the
21st century. I suggest the outcome of the debate in this country that is going on between Muslims could well affect the outcome for the future of Islam worldwide. A reforming process is already painfully underway within the house of Islam ... God is at work in these days and it is exciting that He should choose Britain to be the crucible of that debate. The presence of two million British Muslims (accounting for the illegals) cannot be a mistake or God is not sovereign. It is God who is steering human history to His appointed end.'"