A quiet service in a cafe

I thought I post up a recent service I led in a cafe during regular opening hours. Part of the subtext was to be able to worship together without making a nuisance of ourselves in private/public space and yet to be worshipping in secular space. It was a service to finish our contextual theology programme and to commission participants to go on their placements. Interestingly, my role as 'liturgical leader' was to distribute the instructions and resources for each phase of the liturgy to the groups (of c 4 people around different tables), judging when and how to move them on and occasionally interacting with different groups to help them as necessary. I found I was praying for the participants quite a lot while I wandered between tables and tried to get a sense of how things were going.
The alert among you may notice yet another liturgy 'of mine' using the Lord's prayer as shaping principle.

Each of the emboldened sections below was made onto a separate piece of A5 paper one or two per group.

CTP commissioning liturgy @ambience cafe
Praise
each group: try to write a haiku in praise of God, as far as possible drawing on things from CTP.
A haiku is a poem of three lines; line one has 5 syllables, line two has 7, and line three 5.
When you have finished, pass on your haiku to the next table along, and receive from the next table the other way their haiku. Read out the haiku you now have in your possession.

Asks
Share one thing each from CTP that has caused you to pray for something you'd not prayed about before or for something the wider world (as distinct from just your own personal needs or learning).
When everyone has shared their prayer point,
spend a few moments to reflect that God has heard it all,
and the unspoken aspects of what we have shared
and recognise in the pause that in hearing, God is answering.

Needs
Read all of this section before starting.
One at a time, share /remind the others at the table with you:
* where you're going on placement
* what you are most looking forward to
* and what you are most concerned about.
After each person has shared and before the next person shares their information, pause and one or two people pray quietly about what has been shared (recommended prayer style is eyes open, normal conversational voice as if God is sat with you at the table part of the conversation).

Ministry of the word
When everyone has shared and been prayed for, spend a while sharing Biblical passages that have spoken to you in the past when you have been facing new challenges. When everyone has shared, are there any of them that speak to you now?

Forgive(n)ness
Look at the words of confession on the paper provided at this point. As you reflect and recognise how the words may apply to you, take the red pen and apply the ink to one of your fingers or thumbs and put the imprint on the confession paper as a sign of your 'amen' to the prayer.
When everyone has done that, use one of the wipes to clean the remaining ink from your neighbour's finger/thumb, using such words as "God forgives us our sins".

Commissioning
Form a 'star' of hands sports-team style while one or two speak words of encouragement and commissioning, such as:
God give us eyes to see the Kingdom in the unlikely places,
ears to hear whispers of the Spirit stirring in the life of the world,
and hearts to sense God's compassion for those pushed to the margins.

Afterword
Some of the table groups ended with a 'yay' shout: probably the most disturbing thing to the other punters in the cafe, but even then not that intrusive. I think I'd be up for trying to plant a church in a cafe along these lines. I'm told the Ambiance may be closing; it's changing hands. However, if it stays open as a cafe, with that kind of space and -dare I say it?- ambiance, it'd be a good venue....

Young offenders may face justice from neighbours

No, not a prescription for vigilantism, rather a sensible and tested restorative justice approach. This is the article: Young offenders to face justice from neighbours | Society | The Observer: The salient points seem to be summed up at the end
"'Young people are more likely to give up crime if they face up to communities and victims to pay back for their crimes and tackle the causes of offending,' Oppenheim said.
Adam Mansky, a founder of the centre, said overall levels of crime in the area had declined faster than in the rest of New York, partly because offenders were more willing to comply with alternatives to custodial sentences.
'Before the Red Hook Centre opened, only 13% of local residents approved of the court system; within two years of its opening, approval for the justice centre stood at 78%,' he said."
Regular readers will already know that I think we should be doing this more often, not least because of the relational nature of human beings. Restorative justice also enables the dignity of being able to try to right, to some degree, wrongs as well as properly enabling a sense of the costs of offences to the victims. Much crime, I believe, relies on precisely the exclusion or denial of effects on victims who are in effect dehumanised or rather un-personed in the perpetrator's thinking. Once empathy is brought into the picture, real restoration can begin.

The New Socialism

I've benn meaning to blog this for ages. It is essentially making a connection between the bottom up, 'creative commons', copyleft ethos of the 'hacker plus' communities and more global political movements. The full title says a bit more: The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society Is Coming Online And I judge that the best summary quote is this: "When masses of people who own the means of production work toward a common goal and share their products in common, when they contribute labor without wages and enjoy the fruits free of charge, it's not unreasonable to call that socialism."
In the bad old days when Maggie Thatcher's blue rinsed minions were squandering north sea oil and making short-trem profits for the state by selling back to the ideologically primed sections of British society what we all once collectively owned (some might call that stealing), the main alternative was a version of state-monopolistic capitalism which some sections of the Labour party and people like the SWP embraced. The other alternative of co-operatives was mainly propounded by the Liberals and the Co-operative party (who bizarrely, imo, make common cause with the Labour party which consistently ignores opportunities to encourage co-operatives): namely co-operatives. The article referenced here is essentially talking about informal, 'liquid' co-operatives. Of such is the Kingdom of heaven ...

Myebook - Praying The Pattern

Just been informed that in the last 3 months since I launced it as an e-book,Myebook - Praying The Pattern has been read 500 times.
Minor celebration. Of course some of those may have been people looking but not reading the lot.

Outsourcing Unrest

This is rather similar to thoughts that have been occuring to me for a couple of years now:
Monbiot.com Outsourcing Unrest. Here's the nub of George's idea: "the current political crisis has little to do with the expenses scandal, still less to do with Gordon Brown’s leadership. It arises because our economic system can no longer extract wealth from other nations. For the past 300 years, the revolutions and reforms experienced by almost all other developed countries have been averted in Britain by foreign remittances.
The social unrest which might have transformed our politics was instead outsourced to our colonies and unwilling trading partners. The rebellions in Ireland, India, China, the Caribbean, Egypt, South Africa, Malaya, Kenya, Iran and other places we subjugated were the price of political peace in Britain. Following decolonisation, our plunder of other nations was sustained by the banks. Now, for the first time in three centuries, they can no longer deliver, and we must at last confront our problems."
Of course the argument works within a wider framework of compare and contrast with other nations, historically. And of that there is some interesting evidence particularly regarding India and China.

Worldview shift among science students

In a rather nice article:Is “Nonreductive Physicalism” an Oxymoron? :: Nancey Murphy :: Global Spiral a rather interesting observation a propos of the main topic caught my eye: "When I first began teaching, my students tended to be innate reductionists. That is, when I presented them with the model of the hierarchy of the sciences, and a corresponding hierarchy of complex systems, I never had to explain why reductionists held the position they did. Within an interval of about fifteen years, though, I’ve found that many students are innate anti-reductionists; thus it has become important to be able to explain why causal reductionism seems necessarily true to so many. There is a worldview change going on now, and reductionism has been one of the central features of the modern worldview."
So an anecdotal but worthwhile piece of evidence of a cultural shift involving worldview: and note it works away from reductionism.

Figures ... profiling potential terrorists.

The 'headline' finding is this

the probability of a Muslim engineer becoming a violent Islamist is minuscule, it is still be between three and four times that for other graduates.

(usual disclaimers about reading the whole thing in context). I thought 'figures' as I was reading this because it was chiming with an informal observation I've heard made several times in Anglican clergy circles that the most rigid in their spiritual views tend to be those with hard science and engineering backgrounds (but not always, there are some significant exceptions too). So reading on it is intriguing to see this:
"According to polling data, engineering professors in the US are seven times as likely to be right-wing and religious as other academics, and similar biases apply to students. In 16 other countries we investigated, engineers seem to be no more right-wing or religious than the rest of the population, but the number of engineers combining both traits is unusually high. A lot of piecemeal evidence suggests that characteristics such as greater intolerance of ambiguity, a belief that society can be made to work like clockwork, and dislike of democratic politics which involves compromise, are more common among engineers."
Whorle article here: Can university subjects reveal terrorists in the making? - opinion - 15 June 2009 - New Scientist:

Bradford wins Unesco City of Film award

Unexpected (and sorry, it's from Friday -but I was a bit busy the end of last week), but I'm really pleased for the city which I still emotionally think of as home. It needs a filip, perhaps this is it. Bradford wins Unesco City of Film award | Film | guardian.co.uk: "The world's first City of Film will be announced by Unesco today, with the honour going unexpectedly to Bradford."
Read the article if you want to understand why it's not such a strange choice.

Naturally decaffeinated coffee beans

I'm not sure people have believed me when I've said that there have been discovered uncaffeinated coffee beans. Well, here's one and the article links to others. Gallery - Eight more bizarre species that are new to science - Image 7 - New Scientist: "It is the first known caffeine-free species from Central Africa, though others have been found elsewhere."

Could this be what breaks the BNP?

Some interesting issues raised in this article: BNP poll win brings cash and staff – and legal challenges over racism | Politics | The Guardian. I can't help wondering whether it is the simple operation of law that will be the last straw: "Lawyers also said that as the BNP gets access to the European parliament, with a budget for employing staff and contracting services, it would also be open to employment law, which prohibits direct and indirect discrimination.
'A black or Jewish candidate who applied and didn't get the job on grounds of their racial or religious background would have a claim in the employment tribunal,' Millar said.
'If an individual challenges and they maintain a practice not employing any visible minority people, there is no doubt that like any employer who has such practices, they can be sued,' said employment barrister and chair of the Society of Black Lawyers, Peter Herbert. 'When they are in receipt of public funds they will have to be an equal opportunities employer. To do otherwise would be incompatible with public office.
'I can see the equality commission mounting an inquiry into how the BNP operate now. The office of public standards could also inquire.'"

Protect Indigenous Rights Save the Amazon!

"Peru is witnessing violent clashes between indigenous groups desperately trying to protect the Amazon and the government, who has pushed through legislation allowing intensive mining, logging and large scale farming in the rainforest.

If government and extractive industries have their way, the Peruvian rainforest and its people will suffer massive devastation, with disastrous consequences for the global climate.

Sign the urgent petition and support the courageous struggle of the indigenous peoples to protect the Amazon -- a prominent and well respected Latin American politician will deliver it to President Alan Garcia on our behalf."
Protect Indigenous Rights - <br>Save the Amazon!:

Response to Brown's Constitutional Renewal Statement

I think the government are squirming, as are the Conservatives. Squirming to avoid a change which somehow is starting to make sense to an electorate who have begun to notice that the biggest expenses 'issues' seem to come from those in the safest seats. And perhaps that it hardly makes for a sense of investment in elections if you feel your vote has no realy value -which is the case for those in 'safe seats'. Gordon Brown made the right kind of noises but actually it was sound and fury signifying little, as MVC point out in the latest press release (here: Make My Vote Count - Make Votes Count response to Brown's Constitutional Renewal Statement) I've emphasised some of it in view of the PM acting as if this is all a new thing: "The Prime Minister talks about starting up the debate on electoral reform. But we’ve been having that debate for over ten years. In January 2008 the Government published as “a contribution to the ongoing debate” its long-awaited review of those proportional voting systems already introduced. The Alternative Vote Plus (AV ) was a system recommended by the Jenkins Commission back in 1998 after long and careful deliberations involving plenty of opportunities for public engagement and debate.
There is still just enough time left for completing an open public debate and then holding a referendum before the next election. The referendum would give voters the chance to register their feelings twice: once to get rid of a tainted MP in the General Election; and once in a referendum to choose whether to get rid of a rotten system and change things for good."

Defrocked priest squatting in vicarage

I'm not a lawyer but ... (words to strike fear into anyone connected with law, no doubt) ... it seemed to me that this is the kind of case that perhaps the new common tenure arrangements might just help with. The full article is here: Defrocked priest squatting in vicarage given reprieve | UK news | guardian.co.uk. The short story is that a defrocked priest is squatting in his former vicarage and the defence at the moment is this: "'In law, the vicarage belongs to the incumbent, the vicar. In this case, there isn't a vicar to own it and so the judge wants to ensure that, before he gives possession of the property to the bishops, the bishops do actually have the right for that. We have been given some time to do more legal research and we will do that, and at the next hearing we'll hopefully get the possession.'"
I suspect the resolution will wind up looking at the roles of patron and bishop in appointing a new vicar. I could see there being argument that the patron of the parish, in whose gift the living lies, would be regarded as the caretaker owner in an interregnum. However, since a vicar cannot exercise a public ministry and be instituted, inducted and so forth into the living without the bishop's licence then the bishop could claim some part in the matter. In addition, since the practice is that the diocesan parsonages board maintains and acquires and disposes of vicarages, it might well be ruled that they are the de facto caretakers on behalf of the patron and bishop. We shall see.

The perfect storm for the BNP?

Alan Billings in last week's Church Times draws attention to a really excellent set of 'put downs' to some of the BNP's policies. It may not be viewable for a couple of weeks here: Church Times - The perfect storm for the BNP. Anyway here's the bit that I really enjoyed "in my local newspaper, the Sheffield Star, last week. Alison Gethin wrote a letter setting out her reasons for not voting BNP. Here are a few:

“Vote to have Lenny Henry reclassified as a foreign national? You must be joking, he’s a Brummie. . . Why should I vote to lose Olympic medals by reclassifying Dame Kelly Holmes, Colin Jackson, Amir Khan, Linford Christie etc? . . In 2004 I was diagnosed with cancer, and thanks to the expert treatment in the NHS by medical staff of various ethnic groups, I’m still here. . .

“All my working life I have been a member of a trade union. The BNP would abolish unions. . . I have no wish to return to a time when adult homosexuality was illegal. I admire John Barrowman and Graham Norton too much to vote BNP. . . When I was married in 1972, I needed my husband’s permission to buy anything on hire purchase. I won’t vote for the BNP because of their outdated views on women’s rights. . .

“As a Christian, I know how careful the churches are to stay out of politics. Now churches are asking their congregations to vote for any party other than BNP. They know that the views of the BNP are not Christian, whatever their leaflets say.”"

What I wasn't quite so keen on was this "The centre of this perfect storm is the European electoral system. Unlike British General Elections and elec­tions to local councils, the European election will be decided by propor­tional repres­enta­tion. PR enables smaller parties to capture seats with tiny fractions of the overall votes cast. In some regions, the BNP could achieve victory on the basis of perhaps a single-figure percentage. Then a seat in Brussels will bring a platform and funds for further advance."
To get a handle on why I wasn't happy about this, well, here's my letter to the CT:

Sir,
it was good to see a really robust and helpful approach to the BNP spelled out by Alan billings. It's such a shame that in doing so he mistakes one of his targets and seems to be trying to dissuade the reader from one of the things that could actually help. He writes; "PR enables smaller parties to capture seats with tiny fractions of the overall votes cast. In some regions, the BNP could achieve victory on the basis of perhaps a single-figure percentage."

There are a number of problems with this apparent dismissal of PR. The most serious, in my view, is that it could be read to imply that we should avoid democratic processes if they produce results we don't like; that it's okay to have governments elected by minorities as long as they are 'our' minority. I trust that isn't what is being said, but that apparent principle lurking by implication is worrying. It is also misleading when considering the Padiham and Burnley West County Council where 31% of the voters managed to elect to the sole seat a BNP candidate: first past the post will do that when the tiny minority is actually not quite so tiny (and in fact, with enough of a split vote, fptp could also deliver a single-percentage-figure elected candidate). By contrast I can think of no PR system which would allow 'victory' on a single-figure percentage. Representation conceivably (though unlikely in EU elections under the current system), but then that would mean far more representation for people and parties who have gained the rest of the vote -who would then, I hope, soundly defeat the BNP in debates and show them up for what they are.

There are further difficulties with Alan's implication. He doesn't seem to take into account that there are several versions of PR and a number of them don't work quite like he makes out: 'tiny fractions' are unlikely to win much under most PR systems including the ones being used in Britain; please have a look at the experience of the Welsh assembly and the Scottish parliament.

We should note that we have a situation in the EU constituencies where the vast majority of voters are represented by someone they voted for which is not something that could be said of Westminster constituencies. That said, the closed list system probably isn't the one to go with. STV or at least the AV system (which seems the likely candidate should things go to a referendum) would be better for Westminster elections. Especially so when we consider that it would appear that the MPs who have given greatest concern in recent events are those with 'safe' majorities. Appropriate PR systems would make 'safe seats' far less safe thus concentrating minds on voters more fully than on fellow politicians. It is also arguable that the main parties' acquiescence in the safe seat effect means that they target 'winnable' seats and so have recreated a version of 'rotten boroughs' where most of us don't have a vote that means anything. Such a situation creates the apathy, disengagement and sometimes anger that parties such as the BNP can exploit.

If we want to diminish and dilute the influence of the likes of the BNP we need a more democratic system not less. An appropriate PR system is part of the solution not a further potential problem.

For further information I refer you here.

Obama: "Stop the Settlements"

This week Obama delivered a historic speech to the Muslim world from Cairo outlining his vision for peace.
I just signed a petition based on Obama's own words, and I thought you might want to do the same it will be published in newspapers in Israel and Washington DC to reach decision-makers.

Click on the link below to support the campaign:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/obama_stop_settlements/98.php?CLICK_TF_TRACKfrom Avaaz:
Here's the letter I got that inspired the sign-up

Dear friends,

President Obama just made a remarkable speech in Egypt, committing personally to building peace in the Middle East. Unexpectedly, his first move is to challenge American ally Israel directly -- pressing its right-wing government to stop their self-destructive policy of settlements, which are illegal colonies set up on territory recognised by the US and the world as Palestinian.

This is a moment of rare crisis and opportunity. Obama’s bold strategy is facing powerful opposition, so he’s going to need help around the world in the coming days and weeks to strengthen his resolve. Let’s start right now -- by raising a massive global chorus behind Obama’s statement that the settlements in occupied territory must stop.

We’ll advertise the number of signatures in key newspapers in Israel, as well as in Washington DC (where some are trying to undermine Obama in the US Congress). Read Obama’s words now and add your signature to them at the link below, then forward this email to friends and family so they can do the same:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/obama_stop_settlements/98.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK

There is broad agreement that the settlements are a significant barrier to peace, a view also shared by a silent majority of the Israeli public. Combined with a network of roadblocks and barriers, these colonies now blanket the West Bank, seizing territory and forcing Palestinians to live effectively as prisoners in smaller and smaller pockets (see map at right).

Until this problem is tackled, it seems impossible to build a viable Palestinian state or any kind of lasting peace. For Arab states deciding what more they themselves can do for peace, stopping the settlements has become a crucial test of Israel’s seriousness.

We’ll need to urge the other parties to take bold steps too. If we can help Obama to stay the course on settlements, shift Israeli policy and encourage the Palestinians and key Arab states also to stretch out their hands, a new beginning for the Middle East is possible.

But none of this will happen without a growing global movement of citizens taking action to support it. Read Obama’s words, add your signature and spread the word today:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/obama_stop_settlements/98.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK

With hope and determination,

Paul, Raluca, Ricken, Brett, Paula, Graziela, Rajeev, Iain, Taren, Milena, Luis, Alice and the whole Avaaz team

-----------------------------------
Obama: "Stop the Settlements"

Counting votes and making them countt

This is a rip-roaring article on STV-PR from the experience of many years of using it. I particularly found this paragraph resonant having lived in a number of areas where the kind of invidious choice mentioned has indeed been my experience.My vote will really count this week: but then I'm lucky enough to have PR | Politics | The Observer: "Unlike voters in marginal constituencies in Britain, I won't have been given the unpalatable choice of either supporting my least-worst candidate or in effect wasting my vote. Unlike many people in Britain, who can spend their entire lives without ever casting a vote that actually helps to elect someone, I can vote for someone who represents my own minority views, knowing that if she or he doesn't get elected, my vote will be transferred to my second choice, and so on down the line. If the election is really tight, my choice between the ineffectual eejit who got my ninth preference and the obnoxious git who got my tenth could be decisive. PR gives me a Duracell-bunny vote, one that keeps on working long after the first-past-the-post model has given up the ghost."
And then, joy of joys, a point I have often made but until now not seen in print from any other keyboard:

According to Blunkett, however, PR encourages political parties to "horse-trade" and "engage in dodgy stitch-ups". Which is fair enough: British voters presumably feel that horse-trading and dodgy stitch-ups are alien to the Westminster system and that Britain is currently blessed with a government of incomparable strength and ineffable decisiveness. To an outsider, though, it looks rather as if what happens is that the factional deals and carve-ups simply happen within the governing party.

The difference with PR is not that deals don't get done by politicians after elections, but that they're negotiated relatively openly. Each party comes to the table with its manifesto commitments and a number of parliamentary seats that is close to its actual share of the vote. Is there horse-trading and compromise? Are there outcomes that voters didn't quite expect? Sure - just as there are in a first-past-the-post system. The implication that, in the Westminster system, voters control what happens after the election is laughable. Remind me - how many people voted for Gordon Brown as prime minister?

Read the whole thing for further helpful reflections on allegations of relative stability of governments. And given the current British concern for accountability of MPs, this supposed downside of the Irish system seemed quite refreshing: "Sometimes, though, politicians end up competing against members of their own party, leading to an emphasis on constituency work over parliamentary business"; would that many constituencies here had that problem: politicians 'fighting' to serve the people that elected them. That actually sounds like a strong argument in favour of the Irish system or -come to think of it- perhaps the Scottish.

Take down the walls: twitting and facebookery

I've said before that what I don't like about facebook and similar is the fact that it does to the internet what shopping malls do to the high street: privatises public space. This article Dual Perspectives Article makes a pretty similar point. Helpfully it makes a comparison to AOL in the early days of internetification; AOL having attempting pretty much the same kind of thing but then having to give up in the face of the demand for raw internet rather than AOL's sanitised version of it. So, I'm pleased to read the following and hope it's right: "Leo Laporte, a broadcaster who runs the popular TWiT network of technology podcasts, calls the phenomenon 'the social silo,' and he doesn't think it can last much longer. 'People are pouring all this content and value into individual sites,' says Laporte, 'but they aren't going to want to keep dealing with Facebook, and Twitter, and FriendFeed, and whatever is next.' Laporte and Owyang agree that in order for the social web to move forward, the separate ecosystems which make it up need to unite.
Google has taken the first step toward knocking down the walls. Last week, the company announced, to great fanfare, something called Google Wave. It's an open platform for real-time communication and sharing media, and it's aimed directly at Facebook and Twitter. With Wave. any competent developer will have the tools build a Facebook or a Twitter — or more to the point, whatever comes next — and, even more important, any user content poured into a Wave-based system will be accessible by anyone that user has granted permission to have it"
Google Wave is not quite ready yet, but watch this space.

The Future’s Made Of Straw

Since I'm one of those people who has considered how easy it might be to find or build an eco-house (thinking principally of retirement, since I'm in tied housing for the foreseeable future), this came as an enormously cheering bit of news as well as giving a useful sense of what kind of costs may be involved. Worldchanging: Bright Green: The Future’s Made Of Straw: "swapping bricks for straw will increase insulation by up to three times more than building regulations require, so these houses won’t need heating systems. They’re anticipated to cost less too: the council has budgeted �110,000 per house – �20,000 less than the equivalent brick-build. And in the future, thanks to the experience gained through this project, future costs could be lower still.
The houses are designed by Amazonails, who are also behind the country’s first two-storey straw bale home, recently built in Somerset [see Landmark for straw]. Manager Emma Appleton believes straw bale homes could be part of the answer to housing shortages. They are simple to construct, easy to modify and can last upwards of 200 years."
What's not clear is some of the practicalities: what kind of differences it makes to the building process to have an estate rather than just custom-built. I'll have to keep an eye open for that.

‘Capi-communism’ – the Chinese version of capitalism that’s plundering Papua New Guinea

I've blogged before about China because basically I take the view that over the next 20 years they will be seen as a major world power and they are already indulging in their own brand of neo-colonialism. If you want to get some insight, this month's New Internationalist is a doozy on the subject. Here's a taster: "The Memorandum of Agreement commits the Chinese to contributing an astonishingly low $731,000 to local infrastructure. While the companies say publicly they will spend $2.93 million2, this is still a pittance considering the 20-year lifespan of the project. How many schools and hospitals can be built with an amount like this? Taxing the Ramu Nickel project could have produced a firm support for infrastructure funding. But in addition to receiving a 10-year income tax holiday, the project is exempt from a range of other taxes – even the excise on fuel has been waived.6 And what will local landowners think when they read that the PNG Government – not Ramu Nickel – has signed up to build the all-important road from Basamuk to Madang? With no taxes from the mine, how will the Government fund the route?" Check it out at Chris Richards meets ‘Capi-communism’ – the Chinese version of capitalism that’s plundering Papua New Guinea. | June 2009 | New Internationalist: this is an issue no concerned world Christian can afford not to be praying and thinking about even now. And this kind of thing is happening in Africa and South America too (China's involvement in Sudan for example has already been the kind of thing that has arguably fuelled and facilitated the whole janjaweed thing).

Of egregores and angels

A little while back, Steve commented on a 'Powers' posting of mine to link the approach I tend to take to the concept of egregores. I think it could be helpful.Notes from underground: Of egregores and angels

The post Steve pointed me back to raises interesting questions and issues. I think part of my response is to say that I believe at this point that we should think of these entities as emergent and therefore as also defined by their 'worldly' forms. For me the parallel is in anthropology: just as mind and soul are emergent properties of our physical arrangement (I know that some will want to disagree with this, but I think it perfectly consonant both with Hebrew wholism and contemporary science and probably a modified Aristotelianism/Thomism) so are the Powers emergent from human institutions.

One of Steve's interlocutors raises the question of moral responsibility. I think that is where it gets interesting: because it seems that responsibility is 'smeary'. Actually we know this from experience. The thing is to recall that we remain individually responsible for ourselves even while we may participate in the Powers to varying degrees. Part of the point, it seems to me, of Paul's forceful language about the Powers is to make sure that Christians realise that we do not need to be subject to them; we can resist and we remain/become, therefore, moral agents even embedded in a socially-constructed reality. The aim here, it seems to me is to prevent the Powers (egregors) from subsuming human beings totally or to make sure we don't give ourselves over to them (a kind of fascism, I suppose). The Sabbath was made for humans not humans for the Sabbath; so with the Powers.

The interesting thing beyond this with regard to sin is that we would do well, I think, to recognise that part of the mechanism for the emergence of the Powers from human corporisations is our mimetic nature. That is we are 'programmed' to learn from one another and that learning is kicked off by imitative ('mimetic') behaviour even as babes in arms (and probably earlier). I have a hunch that this fact enables us to see a mechanism for human participation in the fall which isn't prey to the difficulties presented by, for example, Augustinian accounts of original sin. We have an account which does justice both to the 'given-ness' and 'participation in something prior to us' of sin and also to personal responsibility.

PFI -the biggest expenses scandal we don't notice

I've thought this for a long time: perhaps I'm missing something but I think George is right: Monbiot.com � The Biggest, Weirdest Rip-Off Yet: "one of the banks reported to be backing the scheme is RBS. The taxpayer now owns 58% of it. This is likely to rise soon to 95%(18). If the government underwrites the M25 expansion, it will in effect be bailing out RBS twice then charging itself for the privilege – and for the bankers’ fees, including salaries and bonuses. RBS – in other words you and me - already has �10bn invested in PFI schemes in this country(19), for which we are paying extravagant rates."