NOT ALL THAT ROTTEN

I have not done a post on the amendments from the Church of England House of Bishops' meeting (all male, of course!) to the legislation on women bishops which will be presented at General Synod, because I could not understand the meaning of the amendments from the poorly-written press release.  As I've said elsewhere, my initial reaction was that it appeared the writer(s) of the press release attempted to send out a double message to soothe both sides, with the result that the release does not make much sense.

Bishop Alan Wilson courageously provides a priceless explication for us, titled "Swimmin with the Wimmin part 94".  The title alone is worth noting.  A brief quote, and you can read the rest over at Alan's blog.

The result, in true C of E fashion, is a curate’s egg, but probably not such a rotten one as to send the whole process around again in five years time.

From Thinking Anglicans:

WATCH (Women and the Church) is deeply disappointed to hear that the all male House of Bishops has, in a closed meeting, decided to make two amendments to the draft legislation on women bishops that had been so carefully crafted after years of debate and scrutiny from all sides and had commanded the support of 42/44 dioceses across the Church of England.

Read the rest of their press release, which makes much more sense to me than release from the House of Bishops meeting.

I remain in the dark as to how the amended legislation will play out in practice if it passes all three houses of GS with a two-thirds vote.  We shall see.

NEW POSTURE FOR MEDITATION

From nakedpastor.  Check out the Gallery for more drawings and cartoons.

BIBLICAL MARRIAGE

Click on the chart for the larger view.

Above is Bosco's chart which illustrates marriage according to the Bible.  Well, it's not really  Bosco's chart, but I lifted it from his blog, and he does not know the origin, so I call it Bosco's chart.  We hear the phrase 'biblical marriage' tossed around quite often, along with 'redefining marriage', from folks who oppose same-sex marriage.  I will never hear or read those phrases again without laughing and thinking of the chart.

Biblical marriages are of such variety as to boggle the mind, and marriage has been redefined countless times through the ages.   If a person used either of the phrases to argue against same-sex marriage with me, I'd  ask them, "Of which type of biblical marriage do you speak?"

Then I'd whip out my copy of the chart, which I'd always carry with me, and say, "Pick one."

As for the charge of redefining marriage, the chart would demonstrate clearly that marriage has been redefined many times.

FACEBOOK IPO

Why did Facebook go public?

They couldn't figure out the privacy settings either.

(Don't blame me. Blame Doug.)

TED CENSORS NICK HANAUER SPEECH

TED: Ideas worth spreading - Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world



Apparently, the talk in the video was not riveting enough for the folks who make decisions at TED.  Or perhaps it was too riveting.

From IBTimes:

Nick Hanauer, a multimillionaire venture capitalist from Seattle, believes that rich people like himself aren't job creators. He made this known during a March 1 TED University conference where he spoke about income inequality, but that talk was censored.

The National Journal reported that officials at TED, a popular series of Web-based talks, told Hanauer in an April email that they wanted to put his talk "out into the world!" However, they quickly shifted gear and said the venture capitalist's talk was "political" and too controversial to be posted.

"Political" and controversial?  I'm no economist, but the speech sounds like Economics 101 to me.  Granted it's only one view of which policies are best to create wealth, thus, according to TED, Hanauer's ideas are not worth spreading.  The speech seems eminently sensible to me, but I'm sure that many would vehemently oppose the policies Hanauer recommends.  If the purpose of an organization is to spread worthwhile ideas, then it seems to me avoiding controversy would be virtually impossible, unless you're in the business of exploring only conservative, Republican, business-oriented, ideas.

But wait!

According to the Journal's report, TED curator Chris Anderson had reacted by saying Hanauer's talk "probably ranks as one of the most politically controversial talks we've ever run, and we need to be really careful when" to post it.

Anderson was urging extra caution especially since another politically sensitive TED talk, by Melinda Gates on contraception, was about to be released, in the midst of a media firestorm over comments by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Media firestorm!  Rush Limbaugh!   

Now TED hearkens back to the 19th and early 20th century, when contraception truly was controversial because, in the present day, a few Roman Catholic bishops scream loud and long about contraception, which makes Melinda Gates speech on the subject "controversial", and heaven forbid that the organization have two "controversial" talks in a row.  This organization is surely not in the business of boldly exploring a variety of ideas, but is apparently rather determined to explore only "safe" ideas.  And what is "safe"?

I searched for the Hanauer talk at the TED website, thinking perhaps the group had changed its collective mind about the censorship, but with no results.  Still, the talk is now public on YouTube.  Censorship is more difficult in the age of technology.

Thanks to Ann V for the link.

HOT ITEM FOR GENERAL CONVENTION 2012

Deputies, bishops, and observers, look for the buttons as soon as you arrive at the convention.  They will go quickly.

J S BACH - 'ASCENSION ORATORIO'

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685~1750)

《Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen》Himmelfahrt-Oratorium, BWV 11

1. Chor: "Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen" - 00:00
6. Choral: "Nun lieget alles unter dir" - 04:23
9. Choral: "Wenn soll es doch geschehen" - 05:16


The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
Ton Koopman (conductor)

SHOULD THEY BE OUTED?

Should closeted LGTB hypocrites who bash others of like sexual orientations be outed?  Would you out a basher if you were certain the LGTB person was a hypocrite?

I do not speak of people who choose to stay closeted and do no harm to others.

EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ELECTS THE REV A. ROBERT HIRSCHFIELD

From Episcopal News Service:

The Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld was elected on May 19 as bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire.

Hirschfeld, 51, rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst, Massachusetts (Diocese of Western Massachusetts), was elected on the first ballot out of a field of three nominees. The election was held at St. Paul’s Church in Concord.

Because the election occurred close in time to the 77th meeting of the General Convention in July, Episcopal Church canons provide (in Canon III.11.3) for the required consents to be sought from the bishops and deputies at convention.

Blessings and congratulations to Bishop-elect Hirshfield and to the members of the Diocese of New Hampshire.

H/T to Ann Fontaine at The Lead.

CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG

Archbishop of York, John Sentamu writes about marriage and civil partnerships. A friend sent me the link, along with the comment, "Tortuous". I decided to read the archbishop's response and parse it for her. What follows is the shorter version.

The mitre! (Sorry, I couldn't help myself.)

 Moving on:

Some of my best friends are gay.

No injustice with separate but equal.

This is the way we've always done it.

ABY says:

 I believe that marriage is the bedrock of society. It is a gift from God in Creation. It has a public element, a public commitment made to one another and to the community. For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. Already in marriage, there are the ingredients of stability that children are looking for. 

What about divorce?   I see a lot of that around.

Now what you should do is click the link to read the entire response, however, if you are pressed for time, you can take my word for it that I've given you the gist of the message.  If you read the ABY's words and disagree with my shorter version, feel free to correct me.