Body image issues start in the classroom

The research reported here: 10- And 11-year-olds Feel Pressure To Have A Perfect Body shows us: "... a linear response for girls, who were happiest when thinnest, and a U-shaped response for boys, who were unhappy when they were too skinny or too fat." This is among 11 and 12 year olds in Canada and over 4 thousand of 'em; so a good sample. The result is no surprise to me, nor to anyone who can recall their primary school days. If, like me, you were male and skinny (or if you were fat), you will recall being made to feel inferior by those better blessed with the physical attributes our culture values (I was doubly handicapped in this respect: red hair, pale skin and freckles added to my body-image woes). Otherwise you may recall (though I suspect less easily -after all it wasn't you're problem -supposedly) being part of showing or enunciating attitudes which could lead to others feeling less positive about their appearance. And in terms of what I remember, I'm talking about 6, 7, 8 years old. It's a ready field for marketing messages about body image to ride on the back of. I'm in favour of outlawing such things in advertising and the media and taking positive action to help the less 'beautiful' not to be at the rough end of even informal peer disparagement: other research shows that we are talking life trajectories here.

Yule be sorry

I've spent a number of years in the past encouraging congregations not to get too Christmassy too early. Partly it began because I got fed up with people wingeing that Christmas began too early but then not doing anything about trying to resist involvement themselves. In addition it did seem to me that the festival was meant to be a 12 day thing and we tend to try to cram all the best stuff into 25th December, so part of what I tried to encourage us to do was to recover a 12-day Christmas. I say this by way of demonstrating my bona-fides as one of those who really rather dislikes the invasion of Advent by Christmas and the loss of a 12-day feast. That said, I found this really disturbing: it's an incident of a shop selling Christmas cards in August being threatened for doing so ...

"The Mind branch was also phoned by a man who claimed to have carried out the attack, saying that it would happen again if cards continued to be sold 'far too early'. But the charities involved said that agreeing to the demand would lose them regular income. The brief notes, all delivered by hand, say: 'This is a very polite but very serious reminder not to display Xmas cards until 1st Nov. We will put super glue into your locks if you do. Peace and goodwill.''"

Now I'd rather not see the full-scale shop consumer fest anticipating Christmas get underway in August either. I think that the more we Yulify early, the more we are acclimating ourselves to the festival and so losing a sense of its specialness. The point of a festival in part is that it should be different to the everyday: by festooning our shops with the trimmings we are turning it into everyday winter 'dress' rather than something special.

But the solution is very far from threatening charity shops for selling Christmas cards. I'd actually be happy to buy Christmas cards in August, and I think that people should be free to do so. What I want is for retailers not to go into full swing too early, and I'd rather discourage them by not buying and staying away. The language that retailers understand is, ultimately, sales. This guy's threats really are a very bad way to go about it much though I think I may understand his being fed-up.

However, I have recently been rethinking and feeling that we need to recognise that perhaps we may have to compromise somewhat with the secular thing, so my newer suggestions are here.
Yule be sorry: threat to August sellers of Xmas cards | Life and style | The Guardian:

Ramadan, community and the religious interface with unbelief

A few years back I fasted during Ramadan in a roughly Muslim way: I refrained from food during daylight, though I didn't do all the stuff with Qur'an recitals and stuff like that! I did so when I was living in an area where there are a lot of Muslims and I did so as part of praying for Muslims. I also had an experience as I did so on one or two occasions of sensing what I then labelled 'the spirit of the fast'. I think I still would go with that and I'm still musing about what it might mean and what was involved. However, what I do recall is having a sense of the way that the corporate fast engendered a sense of solidarity and communal cohesion. (It'd be great if we could have some of that back in Lent).

Anyway, Ramadan has started and this, Face to faith: Khaled Diab on Ramadan | Comment is free | The Guardian an article by a secular person of Muslim background has some interesting insights which I thought some of you might be interested to read:

"... fasting Ramadan – but not the marathon prayer sessions and Quranic recitals associated with the holy month – is the only aspect of Islam that I have ever stuck to religiously.
I'm not entirely sure why that was. Part of the reason could be the special spirit of solidarity that marks Ramadan. The short fuses, ready tempers and irritability excepted, there is the camaraderie, unison and communalism of the season, the festive air, like Christmas for a whole month, the enchantment associated with the partial reversal of night and day, the bubbling late-night waterpipes, the pre-dawn beans on a Cairo street corner.
More profoundly, another explanation could be that, beyond the religious duty, Ramadan carries a secular appeal. Praying would involve expressing devotion to a being – or creator – and a belief system which have always raised doubts in my mind. In contrast, fasting is not just a ritual for its own sake but is also about self-discipline, exercising control over your body and empathising with the predicament of the less fortunate."

Worth bearing in mind when we observe Ramadan going on: all may not be as we think in terms of interpretation. Clearly a 'liturgy' like this will have formative effects; but the interpretation of the thing also steers and directs those effects in terms of the inner apprehension and dispositions. The danger of religious practice which becomes embedded in the cultural domain is that it becomes a commonly-'owned' religious artefact and subject to the semiotic flexes produced by hegemonic and resistant dialectics, for example. That's part of what Jesus is dealing with in contrasting heart and hands in the 'clean/unclean' controversies, of course.

From artefacts to celebrity?

In a brief discussion about the threat that digital reproduction makes to sales of tangible product like CDs this article
Pop music: Still with the Beatles | Comment is free | The Guardian has as it's nearly-parting shot: "Perhaps those industries that have always been about artefacts – records, periodicals and books – will end up thinking more about performances.
Which seems to be likely to me. I'm sitting in the midst of the Greenbelt Festival as I write, having just been browsing a bit of the site filled with 'product' (books in this case, mostly) and reflecting on the interplay of performance and product sales. The article points out that it has long been the case that musicians have had to engage in live performance to make money as all but the very top sellers cannot make money from sales of recordings. In whtich case, one might suppose, the role of the 'record company' becomes the thing that is really threatened: the best they can offer is a nexus to promote, organise performance and associated memorabilia. There is a big motive for possible dis-intermediation: to DIY: the technology is in our hands it is merely the promo power of the big boys that might be covetable and sometimes the economies of scale devolving from that.

So my interest and questioning is piqued by the issue of whether in the emerging digital economy 'product' is giving way more fully to the personal? Which is something that has interesting resonances for those of us who like to think theologically ... the down-side may be that the same forces push towards the cult of celebrity which I am less sure gives rise to a healthy balance of things ... but that too would seem to be a likely trajectory for things from where we are now ...

Why we should remove Bishops from House of Lords

Now, you might not expect me to say this (though more regular readers may not be surprised). But I do think that we should remove our Bishops from the house of Lords as by right. My reasons are varied. One of them is that I think that we ought to have an elected house -though elected from non-geographical issue groups should as charities. Under this proposal, all churches, potentially and other religious groups would have representation in a scrutinising chamber of government.
Even if that doesn't happen (which looks unlikely now), then I think that the issue, mentioned in the article, of disestablishment by degrees makes it a good idea. And since I think that clergy ought to be able to stand for election to parliament and, I think, the main constitutional reason is the presence of bishops in the Lords, then it would help on that front too (why shouldn't a MP be a SSM priest? why should political representation be the only legitimate lawful job an SSM would be barred from?).

That's not to say I don't think various bishops down the centuries have not done a good job; some, perhaps many, clearly have; but it's not an argument of principle to say that some do a good job therefore we should allow the system of appointment, that on other grounds would not be put forward, to continue. Same as with the monarchy itself, really.
Bishops could be banned from House of Lords - politics.co.uk: "One of the possibilities being discussed would see a shift to an all-elected House of Lords in which no seats would be automatically reserved for church members.

Because of the Church of England's role as the established church, 26 bishops referred to as Lords Spiritual currently hold a life peerage."

Weight Watchers: Spirituality And Therapy

Of course it does all depend on what you mean by spirituality, but I can't help thinking that we should take notice whatever. Here's the full report-article: Why Weight Watchers Succeeds: Meetings Provide A Blend Of Spirituality And Therapy The final paragraph reads: "For many members, weekly meetings are crucial for their well-being. 'The presence of fellow Weight Watchers is equally therapeutic as it is spiritual: it transforms the support group into a greater, spiritual power that engenders therapeutic aid to members struggling with their diets,' the authors write. 'The support group gives meaning to members' at times trauma-ridden overweight condition, grants forgiveness for members' weight loss failures, offers valued oversight and overarching guidance needed to make it through the trials and tribulations of the week, ..."
Fat is a spiritual issue; can we take this on board equally constructively in church?

US on Britain over release of Lockerbie bomber

I have to get this off my chest. In response to "growing American criticism over the release of the Lockerbie bomber when the most senior US military officer said he was 'appalled' by the decision."
What I want to get out there is my sense that some of the response to this is, well, possibly hypocritical. Now don't get me wrong I have every sympathy with those who have to live with the consequences of someone else's spiteful actions. I have my own share of that to deal with and my heart goes out to others. However, we need to reflect on how things might be were the boot on the other foot, so to speak. What if it was an American incarcerated in a middle eastern or north African country for a horrible crime but one which there was some doubt that they had actually committed (perhaps they were suspected to be a scapegoat caught up in a political situation). I imagine that not only would the USAmerican public be calling for their repatriation, but they would certainly be pleased if that person was released, say at the start of Ramadan, as an act of compassion because they had a terminal illness (released not pardoned, mind). I think that this reflex of 'do as you would be done by' should also inform responses.

Now the goalposts are proverbially moving: when first reported it seemed to be that the very idea of release was producing enraged responses. Now this article seems to indicate that the latest version of 'why we are mad' is articulated by

John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the UN under George Bush. He said: "As someone whose grandparents were Scottish, I'm appalled by the decision of the Scottish government. But I'm more appalled by the decision of the British government apparently to see commercial advantage for the UK in having this mass murderer go free."

What the flippinneque ...? Once we get into this then it starts to look like searching around for reasons to be Mr/Ms Angry: 'Oh, perhaps letting a terminally ill person die at home is not so dire after all: there must be something we can nail them for ...'
I reiterate, this is is no way to condone any wrong-doing by anyone involved in this all, but it is is to encourage us to first of all react to the real facts and to withhold judgement until we really do know what's what and also consider a range of issues. Of course that isn't so easy for those suffering wrong in it all who need to feel that they have been heard and understood. However, that's not the position of many of those who are commenting and raising the temperature.

It does feel a but rich that official USAmerican figures are making noise about the compassionate release of someone convicted (some would say doubtfully so) when we are hearing all sorts of details about wrongs done by American agents to nationals of many countries who have never been convicted of the crimes that apparently warranted their torture. Smoke and mirrors? (And I am aware, before you ask, that some elements of the UKGBI gov may have connived at it -and that's wrong too).
US piles pressure on Britain over release of Lockerbie bomber | World news | The Guardian:
PS. This article has some rather acerbic things to riposte to some USAmerican voices: including a point rather similar to the one I've just made above and adding,

The next time Clinton calls to express her disgust about the decision to send Megrahi home to die, perhaps someone in the Scottish government could ask her in return about the leniency shown to US soldiers involved in the Mai Lai massacre in 1968. And then they can remind her about the US warship Vincennes, which blew an Iranian Airbus and its 290 passengers out of the sky in 1988.

Hmmm; maybe worth thinking about: rage is not a good position in the murky business of international relations; there's dirt on everyone and it's almost certain that any criticism made could be riposted. That's not reason not to criticise, but it is reason to do so chastenedly, soberly and with a degree of humility.

The mythical European Umma |

There are some issues that we need not to be fanning the flames of potential hatred and anxiety. This is one of them. And it is worrying that some sections of would-be opinion-forming are keen to ramp up anxiety in order to sell their wares: "the Eurabia myth is one of the most persistent and dangerous of recent years – and the Daily Telegraph fanned the controversy this month with its claims that it had carried out an investigation which revealed that the EU's Muslim population would jump from the current 4-5% to an improbable 20% by 2050."
If that were true, then sure: it would need debate and policy to think about how we respond and plan properly. But is it true? Well, the title of this opinion piece probably clues you in to the author's take (and he has a Muslim-background name, btw). The mythical European Umma | Khaled Diab | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
But then look at the rebuttal:

Most projections that foresee a massive increase in Europe's Muslim population are based on certain assumptions... that recent immigration trends will continue indefinitely ... that European Muslims will continue to have a significantly higher fertility rate than the population at large. ...

The article places a credible question against the former in the light of the way migration policy is already moving in the EU. The second is also questionable because the evidence is that fertility rates are already starting to converge with Euro average.

I would add that the background of the author gives pause for thought: he is clearly not in favour of an Islamification of Europe. And like previous waves of migration, I'm not sure that we should expect that Muslim background people should retain strongn religiosity any more than Irish and Italians in the early and mid 20th centuries. The evidence in Muslim- majority countries seems to be that religiosity beyond the cultural probably is not much more than in many European societies. This would suggest, I propose, that many nominally Muslim families will increasingly see their sons and daughters and beyond adopt the patterns of life and politics of those around them with a 'return' to Islam for cultural occasions. Without the support of an Islamic state to bolster that, it seems to be the likely outcome to me. The other way, ironically, for the kind of religiosity that the Torygraph fears to be held in place or even to grow is, ironically, to make a big issue of it and so encourage people to hunker down into religious identities.

Those who know Bradford well enough will have seen all of the above at work. When you have heard a Muslim cynically comment on the building of a swanky new Masjid near Bradford centre, then there is pause for thought. His comment was to the effect that he doubted there would be enough of the rising generation sufficiently religiously observant to fill it in 20 years time. Diab suggests, in fact:

I suspect that the future cultural fault lines in Europe will not run along traditional religious lines, but will pit believers against non-believers, creating a kind unity of purpose between conservative Muslims and Christians intent on preserving faith in a "Godless Europe".

Actually, I doubt that, except in informal de-facto terms, perhaps. THere's too much exclusivism on both wings to make that easy. And in any case, I think there are signs that Christians are beginning to learn the lessons about Enlightenment captivity and to see secularisms as just as 'religious' in their own way as religions. If that is so then there won't appear to be much to choose between Islams or secularisms; they'd both be badly-founded thought systems to be applauded and critiqued by gospel standards as they merited.

Rehabilitate the state?

Sometimes Roy Hattersley has some astute things to say. Here's one of 'em.

The time has come for "the state" to be rehabilitated. And that has to begin with the acceptance that when things go wrong, even the most passionate opponents of "big government" complain that the government is not big enough and should be doing more.
When a child dies of neglect or abuse, the local authority is accused of incompetence and negligence; if there is an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, claims about inadequate precautions are heard; former employees of companies which have collapsed during the recession demand to know why more has not been done to save their jobs. Those complaints are admissions that the state is, or ought to be, all of us working collectively for the common good.

Rehabilitate the state | Roy Hattersley | Comment is free | The Guardian

At least get it right on the Arctic

Here's the buzz: "The right-wing, conservative, climate-denial blog-and-twitosphere is abuzz with the news: Greenpeace admits live on the BBC that it lied about arctic melting."
And it really serves as on object lesson in spin and blatently dishonest and slanderous (and now libellous) misdirection on the part of those USAMerican conservatives who are running with this. Greenpeace's rebuttal (=putting the actual salient facts out there) is here: Greenpeace - Making Waves: Greenpeace admits: BBC got it wrong about arctic sea ice melting
And here's what I think is the main paint:

it's fair to say we could have been more precise. We could have inserted three letters into the offending sentence: S-E-A, to make it crystal clear to the casual reader. But the term "ice-free" to refer to an absence of ice on the ocean came straight from the NASA report we were citing, and is the common description you'll find in scientific publications as well as among journalists. If you Google "ice free summers" and "arctic" you get about 230,000 hits. Oh, and gosh, look what the first article is: a story from the BBC itself talking about the retreat of SEA ice, but what's the headline? "Arctic summers ice-free by 2013"

Of course, the other thing this highlights is actually that some GWdenialists have ceded the game: by arguing this they acknowledge that the arctic ocean is likely to be ice-free in summer even if Greenland isn't.

UK to US: The Truth About the NHS!

You know I've been vexed about this, if you've been reading my recent posts. If you are concerned as I am and also hoping that Obama can achieve some of the good stuff we hope from him, then perhaps you'd like to give consideration to this: UK to US: The Truth About the NHS!<br>: "conservative US politicians and greedy insurance companies are pushing lies about the NHS as a way to scare the American public off national health care - risking Obama's whole movement for change and threatening his majority in Congress.
Sign the petition below and tell friends - huge numbers of us will cause a stir in the US media and affect the debate,"

In defence of the NHS

A first-person testimony which I think is worth reflecting on, especially as the author contrasts his experience with the concerns -better, anxieties- of his Houston-living in-laws.
In defence of the NHS: I'm glad I didn't break my leg in the US | Society | The Guardian: "Much as my own grandparents in England feared ending up in the workhouse, my in-laws fear falling into the state-provided Medicaid system (one step down from Medicare), for which you need to be destitute to qualify. Father-in-law Vern says 60% of US bankruptcies are triggered by medical costs.
'No one who has been through illness in this country worries about socialised medicine,' he says. 'We know there is a lot of money and vested interests in play, lots of fire and smoke.
'They are so ignorant about the NHS. It doesn't help when this idiot from the Conservative party comes over and talks down the service and gets lots of publicity. What sort of kick is he on?'"
I shared this with two of my kids and we mused over the fact that had my daughter's accident taken place with us as USAmerican citizens, we might have had problems with her treatment; we could be among those 60% of medical-cost-triggered bankruptcies.
Careless talk costs lives in this kind of debate.

Creation of world parliament "in full harmony with papal doctrine"

I tend to be impressed by RC publications on social and political matters and I think that this is significant. Read more here: Study: Creation of a world parliament "in full harmony with papal doctrine" | Campaign for a UN Parliament. And here's the short skinny: "'it is possible to derive from catholic social doctrine the creation of a democratic world legislative which, in particular, has the task to exercise oversight over the executive world authority.'"
I've joined the campaign because I think that we need to have democratic accountability for world-power exercising bodies like the World Bank and the WTO.

Islam has not always been thus ...

Take a look at this. It's a page of the Qur'an. Now look again: it's annotated and written over. Admittedly it's commentary, but nevertheless the pages of the book have been added to and the words 'violated'. I had understood that Muslims wouldn't treat the Qur'an this way; just goes to show that things have not always been as they are for many today.
Early Nigerian Koranic manuscripts
On a similar tack, it is possible to find Muslim pictures of Mohammed from the first centuries of the Islamic era.
Eg

USAmerican healthcare -some sobering realities

Further to my rant-to-get-it-off-my-chest yesterday, I came across this which seems to bear out the sense of outrageous injustice in the claims of some on the USAmerican right. Go here for the whole thing: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: An International Update on the Comparative Performance of American Health Care - The Commonwealth Fund And her's the shocking headline news: "Compared with five other nations—Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom—the U.S. health care system ranks last or next-to-last on five dimensions of a high performance health system: quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives. The U.S. is the only country in the study without universal health insurance coverage, partly accounting for its poor performance on access, equity, and health outcomes. The inclusion of physician survey data also shows the U.S. lagging in adoption of information technology and use of nurses to improve care coordination for the chronically ill."
Now some of that might actually be down to the economies of scale factor ...

Imitation and social bonding

Perhaps not a surprising finding but if it applies to humans (and I think it does) then further evidence of the mimetic basis for social humanity. Imitation Promotes Social Bonding In Primates: "capuchin monkeys preferred the company of researchers who imitated them to that of researchers who did not imitate them. The monkeys not only spent more time with their imitators, but also preferred to engage in a simple task with them even when provided with the option of performing the same task with a non-imitator."
This would seem to provide a basis for NLP's technique called mirroring as a way to build rapport ...

How dare USAmerican republicans slag off the NHS ....

Last night and this morning I was stirred to a rare state of outrage (it takes a lot to get me close to incandescent) but some of the banners being carried by some Re/Publicans lit my blue touchpaper. So it was therapeutic to read an article that said a lot of things that I wanted to say in response: Thank heaven for the NHS | Michele Hanson | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk In particular this captured the heart of it (as I come from a poor family): "It's not perfect, no organisation of that size could be, it's bound to make some mistakes, but I don't know where I'd be without it. Probably dead. I have a thyroid condition, and every day for the last 30 years I've had free medication, like thousands of others with ongoing conditions: diabetes, epilepsy, cancer and many others. What happens to the 43 million people in the US who can't afford to pay for such things? Must they live a miserable, painful, debilitated life and die early?"
So the clearly-unthought out guy carrying a placard claiming by implication that for the USA to have a European style medical care system would mean the elderly would be left to die ... well words almost fail me. One I'm very cross that he seemed to think we were practising euthanasia of the wickedest kind; two, I'm outraged that he seems to have forgotten that almost the equivalent number of people in the USA to the number of adults in England are in effect facing that: they are uninsured and the benefits he is presumably hoping for do not extend to them; presumably they hope for charity, go into massive debt or simply have a shorter life expectancy simply because their life circumstances are not as favoured as his. It is the hypocrisy and double standards of the protest which are galling.

Then there was the woman at one meeting who seemed to think that "socialised" health care was communism. The implication seemed to be that 'socialised' not only sounds like but is like 'socialist' which means tyranny. What do these people think is happening in terms of the systems of government of their allies?

Final story. When we had some USAmerican friends to stay a few years back, one of them developed a minor injury, went to a local out-patients' centre, and was treated. She was delighted that no-one asked her for a medical insurance card/papers. She was just treated. That's how it should be. I don't think a country is properly civilised if healthcare is not free or close to it at point of delivery. (Oh and don't get me started on the distortions that profit bring to medical care: unnecessary treatments; litigation-driven inflation ...)

Lament Sequence

A potentially helpful blog for visual resources in worship. I'm attracted because of the liturgical nous being shown overall about the way that projected images could be used to assist rather than take-over worship. Lament Sequence: "a sequence of images used in a service based on a psalm of lament."

Speaking the truth in love

Very interesting in thinking further about our loggerheaded-communion and the proximate occasions of that: In a Godward direction. What really grabbed me as needing further reflection was this insightful phrase: "expounding the truth that leads to unity rather than being in unity leading to truth"
I'd add that it may be that we also, however, need to learn to testify to truth even when it is spoken by those we have come to think of as opponents. And with that realisation (that this is something we may have to do), we are encouraged thereby to offer our own understandings, convictions and critiques with a greater humility.

I've said it before, now someone else has said it again

Thanks to iMonk: Your Mission: “Resacramentalize Evangelicalism” | internetmonk.com: "What are our evangelical sacraments? Where will evangelicals defend the idea that “God is dependably at work?”

-We have sacramentalized technology.
-We have sacramentalized the pastor and other leaders.
-We have sacramentalized music. (i.e. the songs themselves and the experience of singing.)
-We have sacramentalized leaders of musical worship.
-We have sacramentalized events. (God is here!)
-We have sacramentalized the various forms of the altar call.
-We have sacramentalized the creation of an emotional reaction.

We’ve done all of this, amazingly, while de-emphasizing and theologically gutting baptism. (I’m not buying everyone’s baptismal theology here. I’m simply saying the standard approach now is nothing more than could be accomplished by having someone jump through a hoop.)

We’ve done this while reducing the Lord’s Supper to a relatively meaningless, optional recollection. (And being deeply suspicious of anyone making it more than a glorified sermon illustration.)"

word fun

If you know me well-ish, you'd probably predict I'd like this: WORDOID - Creative Naming Service: "Wordoid.com is a webapp that strives to help you invent a good name. It makes up new words. Automagically. It knows how to create words in English or Spanish. It even knows how to create words in an imaginary language, constructed by blending two or more real languages together."
I'm off to play ...

For example, I typed in 'Church' and some really interesting possibilities came up. I like "Churchasing" which I thought could refer to buying stuff in a church building: like getting your fair traded coffee there.
Or "churchasm" ... !?

What to images want -as well as bloggers?

For ages now I've had an edublog. The idea was to collect stuff relating to my teaching and college practice. However, it was a bit difficult to use compared to blogger. But they seem to have fixed that with an array of tools including a one-click equivalent of 'blog this'. So I'll be posting more stuff on Edublogs now where it relates to learning and some areas of practical theology. Toward Visual Eco-Criticism: what do images want? | 4orty2wo

Oh, this link on culture analysis is worth a quick look.

Last first world war soldier Harry Patch

I don't know why or how but the page of this article is different from the RSS feed. The page referenced here: Mourners pay tribute to first world war soldier Harry Patch | World news | guardian.co.uk does not appear to have this from the RSS feed, and it's an intriguing omission /edit.

Officials from the French and German governments were also in attendance.
Marie-France Andre, the charge d'affaires of the Belgian embassy, read an extract from Patch's book, The Last Fighting Tommy:
"We came across a lad from A company. He was ripped open from his shoulder to his waist by shrapnel and lying in a pool of blood.
"When we got to him, he said: 'Shoot me'. He was beyond human help and, before we could draw a revolver, he was dead. And the final word he uttered was 'Mother.'
"I remember that lad in particular. It's an image that has haunted me all my life, seared into my mind."
After the reading, a Wells cathedral chorister sang Pete Seeger's Where Have All the Flowers Gone. The song was chosen by one of Patch's grandchildren to reflect his views on the futility of war, which he called "organised murder".

And I can't help feeling that the way that jibes against the military honours in the service is interesting and subverting. He told the truth, the military paraphernalia hides it.

Vote for a Change -Your Story

MPs lack of accountability has led directly to the expenses crisis. How can we have any trust in them when most of them aren't elected by a majority of their constituents? It's time to work together to kick out our antiquated electoral system and replace it with one that's fit for purpose.

I've just joined a campaign that's putting pressure on shamed MPs to agree to add a referendum on changing the voting system at the General Election next year.

It only took two minutes to join. Why don't you have a look at what they're doing and sign up now?

Vote for a Change | Your Story

Here's mine:
I don't think I've ever voted for my MP although I have voted in every general election. Frankly, if it wasn't for a sense of duty, of inheriting a tradition that could so easily be taken away (I'm talking about democracy) of being a class of person that wouldn't in many previous ages have got a vote, I'd have given up. I well understand, I think, why many just give up; they can't sense that 'they' have any affinity, that 'they' are in it for the benefits and in any case, nothing we do can make much difference: whoever we vote for the government gets in on an alternating elective dictatorship basis. That's demotivating; and only my sense of 'duty' keeps me at this voting thing.

It has always seemed to me, since the mid-1970's when I first became interested in politics, that we have about the worst variety of democracy it is possible to have. The government is always elected by a minority and those who are less happy with the main alternatives rarely get a sense of being represented; and worse are under-represented to boot.

I want a shot at an MP who I either voted for directly or at least who I indicated was a second or perhaps third choice. I don't want to feel I have to vote tactically to get preferences registered. I want my MP to feel that if they don't do a good enough job of listening to 'us' there is a realistic chance they'll be ousted and that their local party won't be the only power they have to keep onside in the constituency.

In short, I want a system that is more proportional, more responsive and gives us a better sense that our ideas and opinions will be registered and could make a difference.

Ten mysteries of you

Read 'em and weep ... or something ... Ten mysteries of you - New Scientist

Miracles? Hume, science, Dawkins

A few times lately I've been a little annoyed that the New Scientist has been a little cavalier about religious matters -that is not engaging the best of it rather than the fruitcake or under-thought-out end of the scale. Here, as if to redress the balance, is a NS op piece which has some interesting and more careful things to say, all the more interesting because I would say from the hints in the piece, that the writer is not a religious believer. Here's some of what is written: "what Dawkins says does not completely settle the matter, far less settle it in favour of atheism. Suppose the correct answer is: no, Jesus did not have a human father. This would no more establish the truth of religion than the opposite falsifies it. If Jesus was born of a virgin, it does not follow that a law of nature was violated. To say 'if A, then B' is not to say that there will be a B only if there is an A." See the whole thing here: Opinion: Do you believe in miracles? - opinion - 05 August 2009 - New Scientist: It nearly gets to CS Lewis' useful point on the issue that miracles would have to be inserted into the regular causal nexus of spacetime and so would have scientific 'explanations' (better 'accounts') for large chunks of them ...

Island of Future Airships

I think I've mentioned before that I really rather like the idea of airships and I can't help thinking that there ought to be a revival; they must be less carbon-emitting as a way to transport stuff and people. So it was delightful to read this article on WorldChanging. It's really about architectural 'democracy' but the case in point is this one. And the illustrations are great too.

Worldchanging: Bright Green: Island of Future Airships

Service materials for Creationtide 09

I think it may be important for people to know that this has just been made available. "Central to the resources are sermon notes, with a choice of two 5 week frameworks, one based on the Lectionary readings, the other linked specifically to the theme. It is possible either to follow the whole 5 weeks or to dip into the material and use it as required. The final 'theme' sermon works particularly well as a stand alone Harvest resource.
Other items include a LOAF service which would be suitable for a Churches Together event, action ideas, additional prayers and liturgical material and discussion group ideas.
The material is available as free downloads. The sermon materials, LOAF service and discussion group ideas will be available in Welsh and Irish language versions, as well as in English." Go here:
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland - Creation in Crisis - Introduction:
And note that Creationtide this year is closing with a day of prayer:
"Sunday October 4th is suggested as the day of prayer (though individual churches will be free to make their own arrangements and dates). This date is St Francis Day and the final Sunday of the Time for Creation (September 1st – October 4th). It will also be harvest festival in many churches. The time of prayer could be from 12 noon to 6 pm and will encourage people to ‘stop' in a busy world and take time out in prayer and meditation. People may want to combine this with a time of fasting. People will be welcome to come for as short or long a time as they wish."

'Prolonged Grief Disorder'

It has long been recognised that some grieving seems to become stuck or take on characteristics that give concern. This report, Detection Of 'Prolonged Grief Disorder' May Help Bereaved Individuals adverts us to recent meta research enabling an algorithmic definition useful in psychiatric care: "researchers identified the most sensitive and specific algorithm for the diagnosis of PGD. This algorithm included yearning (physical or emotional suffering because of an unfulfilled desire for reunion with the deceased) and at least five of nine additional symptoms including emotional numbness, feeling that life is meaningless, and avoidance of the reality of the loss, which had to have persisted for at least 6 months after the bereavement and to be associated with functional impairment."
As those involved in the care of bereaved and traumatised, it is well for clergy, ordinands and church-based workers to be aware of this.

Brian McLaren; evo bugbear, and yet ....

This is so intriguing, it's in BM's own blog, responding to a question: Q & R: Why do Evangelicals disli - Brian McLaren Part of his answer is both frustrating and shows a kind of duouble-think (I think): "I think of a chance meeting I had with one Evangelical leader. He looked at me somewhat askance after I introduced myself, and then said, 'Ah, McLaren. I don't like your work and I disagree with you on almost every point. But I hope you succeed ... because my sons are far from God and far from the church. They can't stand the kind of Christianity I represent, but they really like you. If they have a future in the church, it will be through people like you.'"
The rest of the posting is worth a look too. I say that, of course, because BM tends to articulate very well things that I have come to believe, often for similar reasons...

Watch this case. Enlisted COing

One of the things military chaplains are supposed to do is to teach recruits about the ethics and morality of war. It may be that here is evidence that at least one of them succeeded in at least one case, the charged man in this case is saying: "when British military personnel submit themselves to the service of the nation and put their bodies into harm's way, the government that sends them into battle is obliged to ensure that the cause is just and right,"
Yes folks, that's one of the just war criteria. And relatedly, he may also be going for the 'reasonable chance of success' clause too: 'Glenton told the prime minister in his letter that the army mission would fail' See more here: Alleged British army deserter Joe Glenton appears at court martial | UK news | guardian.co.uk:

Screening probationary subjects -WTH?

I've no problem with the principle of asking citizens to be well along the way to understanding at least one of the official languages of a country they'd like to be a citizen of (I'd expect the same if I was migrating). I have no problem with them broadly agreeing to work within the boundaries of law and ethos (if it could be defined). However, I am worried by this proposal reported here: War protest migrants may face passport penalties And this is what I'm taking exception to: "New migrants who demonstrate an 'active disregard for UK values', possibly including protesting at homecoming parades of troops from Afghanistan, could find their applications for a British passport blocked under new citizenship proposals published today." 'Active disregard' maybe; though disregard is not really what is meant, I suspect: 'disrespect' or 'contempt' might be the thing. However, it's really the example of what might be regarded as an instance of this. I think that a born subject (remember, actually, we aren't really citizens folks, we're subjects of her Britannic majesty and her heirs according to law) could protest at a parade without being even jailed provided the protest was not violent or likely to cause a breach of the peace. I don't think we should be screening people out for opinions which would be considered within the bounds of free speech (that is not criminal conspiracy or hate speech). The irony would be that we are asking them to have respect for diversity and expression of diversity whilst stifling in them legitimate diversity and opinion.
Now to be fair, Chris Huhne does say, "there should be no question of barring people because they criticise government policy. Democratic values must come first", but the example given is worrying. First they come for probationary citizens, then they come for you and me. Who gets to decide what is 'active disregard'; it sounds like one of those elastic concepts which could end up applying to anyone who sees things differently. Of course, it wouldn't start that way, but history does seem to teach it never does; it always starts 'reasonably'.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. (And I want to know what the MoD have done with the photo of me on a protest ...)

Development traps

This looks like an important book and here's a helpful summary of what it says. Shapevine Missional Training And Learning Resources: "at the bottom the villains have the guns and the money and they usually prevail. With hard work, thrift, and intelligence a society can climb out of poverty unless it gets trapped. The four big traps are 1) conflict, 2) natural resources, 3) being landlocked (with bad neighbors), and 4) bad governance."

The Case for Early Marriage

This The Case for Early Marriage | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction is a very intriguing and provocative article and worth reading for that. I'm still thinking about it and very happy to hear others' reactions. I did find this bit very much ringing bells for me. I think it names what, if I'm honest, I've always in my heart of hearts believed about marriage (I seem to recall formulating it as a hypothesis as a child, I think) and which seems still to be broadly right even now I've been married for some 23 years: "In reality, spouses learn marriage, just like they learn communication, child-rearing, or making love. Unfortunately, education about marriage is now sadly perceived as self-obvious, juvenile, or feminine, the domain of disparaged home economics courses. Nothing could be further from the truth.In sum, Christians need to get real about marriage: it's a covenant helpmate thing that suffers from too much idealism and too little realism.Weddings may be beautiful, but marriages become beautiful." I fear this is true and yet I also find it hopeful that it may be.

What's in a Name?

Just thought this was a 'nice' example of how our labelling of things does have some important consequences. A rose may smell as sweet whatever its name, but some names can put us off from getting close enough to sniff ... Worldchanging: Bright Green: What's in a Name? For the Slimehead and Toothfish, the Extreme Makeover Leads to Rampant Overfishing: "The toothfish’s new name and the firm, oily meat found a huge market. In recent years, environmentalists have said both toothfish are now threatened with heavy fishing, including by “pirate” fishing boats that ignore conservation laws."

Way to Increase Creativity

Interestingly, the outcome of this is remarkably like Edward de Bono's suggestions to become more creative in thinking. An Easy Way to Increase Creativity: Scientific American: "what makes us more creative at times and less creative at others?
One answer is psychological distance. According to the construal level theory (CLT) of psychological distance, anything that we do not experience as occurring now, here, and to ourselves falls into the “psychologically distant” category. It’s also possible to induce a state of “psychological distance” simply by changing the way we think about a particular problem, such as attempting to take another person's perspective, or by thinking of the question as if it were unreal and unlikely."