PAY TEACHERS WELL AND YOU'LL ATTRACT THE WRONG SORT

From the DeKalb County (AL) Times-Journal:

State Sen. Shadrack McGill defended a pay raise his predecessors in the Legislature passed, but said doubling teacher pay could lead to less-qualified educators.
....

McGill, R-Woodville, said a 62 percent pay raise in 2007 - passed first by a controversial voice vote and later in an override of a veto by then-Gov. Bob Riley - better rewards lawmakers and makes them less susceptible to being swayed by lobbyists.

Lawmakers entered the 2007 legislative session making $30,710 a year, a rate that had not been changed in 16 years. The raise increased it to $49,500 annually.
....

McGill said that by paying legislators more, they're less susceptible to taking bribes.

"He needs to make enough that he can say no, in regards to temptation. ... Teachers need to make the money that they need to make. There needs to be a balance there. If you double what you're paying education, you know what's going to happen? I've heard the comment many times, ‘Well, the quality of education's going to go up.' That's never proven to happen, guys.

"It's a Biblical principle. If you double a teacher's pay scale, you'll attract people who aren't called to teach.

"To go in and raise someone's child for eight hours a day, or many people's children for eight hours a day, requires a calling. It better be a calling in your life. I know I wouldn't want to do it, OK?

"And these teachers that are called to teach, regardless of the pay scale, they would teach. It's just in them to do. It's the ability that God give 'em. And there are also some teachers, it wouldn't matter how much you would pay them, they would still perform to the same capacity. (My emphasis)

I don't know but that all sorts of riff-raff might be attracted to run for the state legislature at pay close to $50,000 per year. I know folks who make less, that is, the people who have jobs.

Still, if the Bible says to keep teachers on a short wage leash, perhaps the Christians amongst us should pay attention. But wait! Where in the Bible does it say, "If you double a teacher's pay scale, you'll attract people who aren't called to teach." Can anyone out there cite chapter and verse?

Seems to me that Sen' McGill assumes more character and principles in teachers than in legislators. He could be right.

And what do Meshach and Abednego think about Shadrack's proposal? I guess we'll never know.

Thanks (or no thanks?) to Paul (A.), who sent the link with the following subject line:

At least Louisiana isn't responsible for this representative.

At least...

DIOCESE OF WESTERN LOUISIANA LISTS CANDIDATES FOR BISHOP

Today, the Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana published the list of candidates nominated for the position of 4th bishop of the diocese.

Click on the image for the larger view.

THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF OUR 'CHRISTIAN' NATION

Nevertheless, because the revolutionary leadership sprang from the social establishment in several colonies, it included many who were Anglicans by denominational loyalty, no less than two-thirds of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence. Elite egalitarians tended to lead these Founding Fathers not to the Awakening but to the Enlightenment and Deism: cool versions of Christianity, or virtually no Christianity at all. The polymath Benjamin Franklin seldom went to church, and when he did, it was to enjoy the Anglican Book of Common Prayer decorously performed in Christ Church, Philadelphia; he made it a point of principle not to spend energy affirming the divinity of Christ. Thomas Jefferson was rather more concerned than Franklin to be seen at church on key political occasions, but he deplored religious controversy, deeply distrusted organized religion and spoke of the Trinity as 'abracadabra...hocus-pocus...a deliria of crazy imaginations, as foreign to Christianity as that of Mohamet'. In the face of such low-temperature religion, many on the present-day American religious right, anxious to appropriate the Revolution for their own version of modern American patriotism, have sought comfort in the ultimate Founding Father, George Washington, but here too there is much to doubt. Washington never received Holy Communion, and was inclined in discourse to refer to providence or destiny rather than God.
....

What this revolutionary elite achieved amid a sea of competing Christianities, many of which were highly uncongenial to them, was to make religion a private affair in the eyes of the new American federal government. The constitution which they created made no mention of God or Christianity (apart from the date by 'the Year of our Lord'). That was without precedent in Christian polities of that time, and with equal disregard for tradition (after some debate), the Great Seal of the United States of America bore no Christian symbol but rather the Eye of Providence, which if it recalled anything recalled Freemasonry. The motto 'In God We Trust' only first appeared on the American coin amid civil war in 1864, and it was 1957 before it featured on any paper currency of the United States.

From Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCullough, pp. 763-764.

So much for the United States as a 'Christian' nation established by 'Christian' Founding Fathers. Citizens who do not know the true history of the country make up from whole cloth a false history to suit their individual purposes.

You may find this hard to believe, but during all my years in elementary and high school, I said the Pledge of Allegiance minus the words 'under God' and, I came out of that period of my life unscathed. The words were added in 1954, during my university years.

Further reading on the subject of the 'Christian' Founding Fathers in a splendid article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the religious views of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Thomas Paine, none of whom would be electable today.

"TWITTER ON"

There’s a little “Occupy” in all of us just waiting to come out and you don’t have to be on the streets to feel it in your gut. Individuals in all cultures now pause—the Church included—when top-down edicts and closed discussions are passed off as normal. The current demand to stop Episcopal Church Council members from tweeting during meetings is an example. OWS is committed to horizontal and radically open discussion. It is “radical” because allowing more and more persons into the conversation revolutionizes what the democratic experience looks like...and is. Indeed, the EC debate engages the consequences of an Information Age but the scent of unfairness when access is denied comes from a far deeper place. Occupy!

From Bishop George Packard on Facebook. A longer version may be found at +George's blog, Occupied Bishop.

What I said on Facebook:

As I see it, transparency is always in order. I don't tweet myself, but I say let them tweet.

"Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops."

...sooner or later. Why not sooner?

DOG TIRED

"An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard. I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of.

He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head. He then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.

An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.

The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks.

Curious I pinned a note to his collar:

'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.'

The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar:

'He lives in a home with a non-stop chatting wife, 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?"

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

STORY OF THE DAY - HALF NAKED

only half-naked in her dream that night
because everybody else was completely
naked & she just had to be different &
when she woke up, she finally figured
out why she spent most of her free time
by herself.

From StoryPeople.

MR CATOLICK - "MR SENTAMU DOES IT TO THE GAY COMMUNITY"

MrC reviews Mr Sentamoo's recent work and offers his thoughts.

From Mr CatOLick. A transcript may be found at Mr C's blog and on YouTube.

Mr C reminds us in the video:

Mr Sentimoo’s Christ might go down well in some places, but then so does the death penalty for gays. This is not what Jesus came to teach us and people who talk in this way are playing a very dangerous game with other people’s lives.

Words have consequences.

HOUSEWORK

From Kennilynn on Facebook. H/T to Erika.

MADPRIEST'S NEW PROJECT: "NEW WORDS FOR HOLY COMMUNION"

From Jonathan Hagger aka MadPriest:

HERE IT IS!

My new project.

A monthly, downloadable resource providing prayers, intercessions, acclamations, biddings and blessings for use in the eucharistic services of the church.

Each issue will contain material for every Sunday and every principal feast during the month.

All the material is strongly linked to the gospel reading of the day based on the Common Lectionary. It is a truly international and ecumenical resource but it also provides extra material for national peculiarities such as Mothering Sunday in England.

I have tried to reflect, in a modern way, the words and meter of our traditional prayer books. I have also made sure that the new words will fit seamlessly into all orders of service so that congregations will not be confused or worried about changes and innovation.

For a sample copy of the material for the
Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary

CLICK HERE.

I read the sample copy of the service for the Annunciation of Mary, and it is, as it has already been described, "quite good". Jonathan adds:

Please feel free to print it and use it. It's already formatted for A4 paper in nice large print so even oldies with poor eyesight, like me, can read it easily in church.

The cost of each monthly issue is only £2.49 (just less than $4.00 U.S.). It is available by monthly subscription but you can cancel your subscription at any time - there is no minimum subscription period. Payment is via PayPal but you do not need a PayPal account of your own to subscribe. Subscribers will be sent each new issue approximately one month before the month covered.

Subscribe at Jonathan's blog, Of Course I Could Be Wrong...

WHAT A CATCH FOR NACC!

From No Anglican Covenant Coalition:

COALITION ANNOUNCES PROFESSOR DIARMAID MacCULLOCH AS PATRON

LONDON – The Revd Dr Lesley Crawley, Moderator of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition, has announced the appointment of Oxford University Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, DD, as a Patron of the Coalition. Professor MacCulloch joins the Rt Revd Dr John Saxbee and the Rt Rev Dr Peter Selby, who were appointed last June.

“I’m thrilled that Professor MacCulloch has agreed to accept this appointment,” said Crawley. “As one of the acknowledged experts in the English Reformation, he has a very clear understanding of how the centralization of authority in the proposed Anglican Covenant is at odds with fundamental Anglican ecclesiology.”

“Anglicanism was born in the Reformation’s rejection of an unwarranted and unhistorical over-centralization of ecclesiastical authority,” according to Professor MacCulloch. “This pernicious proposal of a Covenant (an unhappy choice of name if you know anything about our Church’s history) ignores the Anglican Communion’s past, and seeks to gridlock the Anglican present at the cost of a truly Anglican future.” (My emphasis)

MacCulloch is Professor of the History of the Church, and Fellow of St Cross College, in the University of Oxford. He is also a Fellow of the British Academy and co-edits the Journal of Ecclesiastical History. He has written several books on Christian history and the English Reformation, including the award winning Thomas Cranmer: A Life and The Reformation: A History. His most recent book, A History of Christianity: the First Three Thousand Years, won the 2011 Cundill Prize. He devised and presented the BBC television series based on that work. MacCulloch received a knighthood earlier this year for his services to scholarship.

The No Anglican Covenant Coalition is an international group of Anglicans concerned about how the proposed Anglican Covenant will radically change the nature of the Anglican Communion.

The Revd Dr Lesley Crawley (England)
Dr Lionel Deimel (USA)
The Revd Malcolm French (Canada)
The Revd Lawrence Kimberley (New Zealand)
The Revd Canon Hugh Magee (Scotland)

In my book (which I have never written), MacCullough is a god in the pantheon of historians of Christianity. Several years ago, I read The Reformation by the author, and I am presently about two-thirds through MacCullough's Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. Both works are masterful, and I recommend them highly. Don't expect a dry historical account when you start to read. The books carried me rapidly along, even when I knew what happened next. MacCullough intersperses the history with interesting and sometimes amusing anecdotes about the characters that people the periods he describes.

MacCullough, who was not always well-treated by the Church of England, says:

I was brought up in the presence of the Bible, and I remember with affection what it was like to hold a dogmatic position on the statements of Christian belief. I would now describe myself as a candid friend of Christianity.
....

I was ordained Deacon. But, being a gay man, it was just impossible to proceed further, within the conditions of the Anglican set-up, because I was determined that I would make no bones about who I was; I was brought up to be truthful, and truth has always mattered to me. The Church couldn't cope and so we parted company. It was a miserable experience.

From Wikipedia.

The Church of England still has trouble coping with gay clergy who are open and honest about their sexual orientation and relationships.

Disclosure: I am a member of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition.

H/T to Ann Fontaine at The Lead.