CANADA SACRIFICES GAYSTO STAY IN COMMUNION

ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
General Synod 2010

A115: Affirmation of Sexuality Discernment (carried)
Subject: Affirmation of Sexuality Discernment
Moved by: The Most Rev’d Colin R. Johnson, Toronto
Seconded by :The Venerable Peter John Hobbs, Ottawa

Be it resolved that this General Synod:

Affirms the attached statement of its discussions on human sexuality and requests the General Secretary to forward it to the Diocesan Bishops with the request that it will be distributed within each diocese.

Source: Council of General Synod

Sexuality Discernment report, June 9, 2010
Discernment on Sexuality
General Synod 2010

The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada met in Halifax, Nova Scotia in June of 2010. Together we entered into intentional conversations in order to hear where our Church is at this time in its life in relation to the matter of blessing of same gender unions. Our conversations were marked by grace, honesty and generosity of spirit towards one another. There was robust participation in the conversations. In dialogue we shared our passion for the mission of God in the world and our thoughts, feelings and convictions. We were attentive to each others’ perspectives, experiences and stories and we shared a commitment to continued theological reflection and scriptural study as a foundation to our ongoing dialogue and discernment.

We engaged these conversations within the particularity of our Canadian context – a country that is diverse and many cultured. Canadians have been learning how to dialogue across their diversities over the course of our national life. We do so with deeply held commitments to transparency and openness, an approach that is not without risk and that we affirm as a great gift. Often, in processes of discernment, the task is to see our way through a paradox.

Our conversations affirmed the full inclusion of gay and lesbian members in our churches, aboriginal voices in our midst, and the wide range of perspectives on the issue of same gender blessings across all dioceses. Our dialogue has been a positive and helpful step in our discernment. At this time, however, we are not prepared to make a legislative decision. Above, in and through all of this, and despite all our differences we are passionately committed to walking together, protecting our common life.

We acknowledge diverse pastoral practices as dioceses respond to their own missional contexts. We accept the continuing commitment to develop generous pastoral responses. We recognize that these different approaches raise difficulties and challenges. When one acts there are implications for all. There can be no imposition of a decision or action, but rather we are challenged to live together sharing in the mission of Christ entrusted to us, accepting that different local contexts call at times for different local discernment, decision and action.

We are in a time of ongoing discernment which requires mutual accountability through continuing dialogue, diocese to diocese and across the wider church. It also requires continued theological and scriptural study and dialogue on the wide range of matters relating to human sexuality.

For many members of General Synod there is deep sadness that, at this time, there is no common mind. We acknowledge the pain that our diversity in this matter causes. 

We are deeply aware of the cost to people whose lives are implicated in the consequences of an ongoing discernment process.

This is not just an ‘issue’ but is about people’s daily lives and deeply held faith commitments. For some, even this statement represents a risk. For some the statement does not go nearly far enough.

In the transparency and openness we have experienced with one another, we have risked vulnerability but it is in such places that we grow closer in the body of Christ and behold each other as gift. Abiding with each other, and with God we are sustained through struggle, patient listening, and speaking from the mind and heart together. We have experienced these conversations as a gift for us here at Synod and hope that they will be a further gift to the Anglican Church of Canada and to the wider Church.

OCICBW.. QUOTATION FROMTHE PSALMS GETS RESULT

Yes! Once again the correct use of scripture triumphs over the literalists. So far this year OCICBW... has been responsible for New Orleans winning the American Handball Superbowl and getting TEC their property back. Not bad for English, heretic scum.

The Supreme Court of Virginia has reversed the ruling of a Fairfax judge who decided in favor of conservative Anglicans who are fighting The Episcopal Church for tens of millions of dollars of church land.

In announcing its decision this morning, the court panel didn't yet say why, which means it's unclear for a few hours what the next steps are. Depending on why the panel ruled the way it did, the case may be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court or it may go back to the Fairfax County Circuit Court judge and stretch on for several years.

TOGETHER FOREVER

When Grandmère Mimi made her state visit to England last year we met up in Yorkshire and visited the quaint village of Lastingham for lunch.

After our meal, Mimi and me went to have a look in the church. On the way back to the car, we were Googled and have been immortalised on their street view function. Mrs MadPriest can be seen in the distance opening the boot of our car.

MEANWHILE, UP IN HEAVEN...

THE NEXT WORLD SERIESWILL BE PLAYED AT WEMBLEY

Please, do not let Mimi watch this.

She'll throw a thrombi.

i.

Execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed

From FALLS CHURCH NEWS:

The Virginia Supreme Court is due to issue its ruling on the property dispute between the Episcopal Church and breakaway congregations at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, the News-Press has learned. The ruling will establish, among other things, whether the breakaway Anglicans who defected from the Episcopal Church in 2006 will retain the right to occupy the property of the historic Falls Church in downtown City of Falls Church, or whether they must vacate the premises and give them over to the congregation of "continuing Episcopalians," composed of members of The Falls Church who did not agree to defect, that have been meeting in the fellowship hall of the nearby Falls Church Presbyterian Church.

THE WISDOM OF THE IRISH

I missed this when it was originally published. But it is too interesting to not bring to your attention, albeit somewhat tardy.

From THE IRISH TIMES (26th. May 2010):

The Bishop of Cashel and Ossory Michael Burrows has written in the diocesan newsletter that in his view “civil partnership legislation is certainly not perfect but it deserves to be welcomed and to be given time.”

He quoted words from the preface to the 1878 Irish Prayer Book: “And now, if some shall complain that these changes are not enough, or if others shall say that these changes have been unnecessary or excessive, let them, on the one side and the other, consider that men’s (sic) judgements of what is otherwise more excellent, and what is imperfect, with peace, is often better than what is otherwise more excellent, without it.”

Bishop Burrows said those sentiments “well articulate my thoughts as we embark upon something of a new social order.”

In “the spirit of those words I dare to hope that those who choose civil partnership will find it gives them some deep sense of peace and acceptance,” he said.

He noted that it was 18 years since the 1992 X case when a 14-year-old girl, pregnant by rape, was initially prevented by the attorney general, through injunction, from leaving this jurisdiction to obtain a termination elsewhere.

He recalled that the Supreme Court lifted the injunction but also took the view that a pregnancy could be lawfully terminated under Irish law where it posed a risk to the life, as opposed to the health, of the mother – including through a risk of self destruction.

“Eighteen years is a long time; it is the time it takes individual humans to ‘come of age’. As a society, however, we have failed dismally to come of age in relation to matters at the heart of the X case,” he said.

“We still remain hypocritical and incapable of engaging with the truth about ourselves at a legislative level – despite successive referendums on these matters, tragic individual human stories are dragged all the way to the Supreme Court in the absence of legislation,” he said. He continued: “I have a high view of politics and parliament, yet elsewhere I have had occasion to condemn what I term the ‘systematic spinelessness’ of the Legislature when it comes to a range of ethical issues surrounding the beginning of human life.”

COMMENT: I don't think the bishop's use of the Prayer Book quotation is a perfect way to try and obtain justice and fulfilment for gay people, but it may be, in the Irish situation, "better than what is otherwise more excellent, without it.”

THE SOPPY SHEILA SELECTION

If my dear friend, JAY SIMSER, was a dog...

WHALE MEAT AGAIN?

For further details click HERE.

A REAL ARCHBISHOP FOR YOU

Meanwhile, back in the real world, a bishop just gets on with the job (forgive the pun).

From IOL:

The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, has offered to act as a mediator in the ongoing row around unenclosed toilets in Makhaza, Khayelitsha.

Makgoba visited the area on Tuesday afternoon with the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) and spoke to residents whose toilets had been removed by City of Cape Town officials. He also inspected some of the flimsy enclosures of the remaining toilets. Many of the enclosures, put up by the owners, were made of wooden boards and zinc sheets.

After speaking to residents, Makgoba said he felt "pained and sad" that people did not have access to the basic right of sanitation.

"I came here because I wanted to see, touch, smell and walk what these people were going through," said Makgoba.

Makgoba said that all people involved needed to acknowledge that things had gone horribly wrong in Makhaza, apologise for their part in it, and seek a resolution.

"Let's not point fingers and have political point-scoring. I am pleading that people's dignity be respected and the issues of health and safety are taken into consideration," said Makgoba.

He said he would ask for a meeting with Mayor Dan Plato and Premier Helen Zille, and would offer to help.

HA!

This is the first line of Rowan Williams' article on his hopes for our new government, published in THE TELEGRAPH today:

"Good government from a Christian point of view is about 
the acknowledgement and reinforcement of human dignity."

I don't think I've ever called for the resignation of our present Archbishop Of Canterbury. I look forward to the day that he moves onto a job to which he is more suited, but actually sacking a bishop is un-English and a precedent we should be extremely wary of creating. However, it does seem to me that Williams has, by his actions in the international communion, placed himself in a position where he can no longer speak the gospel into the mundane situations of the country he is supposed, by law, to have pastoral care for. When I read the above sentence I immediately thought, "You hypocrite!" I will not be the only person to jump so rapidly to his condemnation. If it's a really quiet week, news-wise and this statement gets mentioned on "Have I Got New For You," I would bet my last penny that Ian Hislop (editor of "Private Eye" and an Anglican) will make a satirical remark about the lack of dignity his church imposes on its gay members.

So, Williams' office has become an instrument of archaic law and nothing more. He no longer has the confidence of the modern, openminded, charitable citizens of England to be wise and caring in his pronouncements, and it is these people, not the haters, who make up the vast majority of our government, media and academic institutions.

So, as I believe it is unchristian to sack any servant of the Church who has broken no cannon of the Church, I will not call for Canterbury's resignation (not that it would make a scrap of difference if I did), but I will join my small voice to many other voices beseeching him to behave like a true shepherd of his flock and stop propelling what's left of our national church into irrelevant obscurity.

CANON ITCHY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

In the current discussion of Rowan Williams' theological and tactical stumblings since his Spirit-denying Pentecost letter, I've not yet seen an indictment of him which is completely accurate. Putting it front and center: the Archbishop has evolved into a common, garden variety gay basher. Pure and simple. While there is ample reason to assume he is not intellectually a homophobe, his exclusionary actions nonetheless demonstrate an institutionalized form of bashing. Incredibly, he has given many non-LGBT people a small taste of what the rest of us have experienced all our lives. Shame on you, Rowan Williams. You know better

Psalm 55:13-15 springs immediately to mind:

"For had it been an adversary who taunted me,
then I could have borne it;
or had it been an enemy who vaunted himself against me,
then I could have hidden from him.


But it was you, a man after my own heart,
my companion, my own familiar friend.


We took sweet counsel together,
and walked with the throng in the house of God."

I deliberately leave out the imprecations!

Bruce

STEALING FROM THE FUTURE

From MONGABAY.COM:

In a bold move for a Christian church, Australia's Anglican Church has linked overpopulation to the eighth commandment given to Moses on Mount Sinai: 'Thou shall not steal', according to The Age.

The General Synod (the governing body of Australia's Anglican Church) has released a discussion paper that states "out of care for the whole of creation, particularly the poorest of humanity and the life forms who cannot speak for themselves it is not responsible to stand by and remain silent [on the issue of overpopulation]."

The paper adds that "unless we take account of the needs of future life on Earth, there is a case that we break the eighth commandment—'thou shall not steal'."

The General Synod recommends that the federal government should no longer encourage population growth with financial incentives, such as the controversial 'baby bonus' whereby the Australian government pays a mother 4,000 Australian dollars every time she has a new baby. The bonus, which was put into effect beginning in 2004, has been linked to Australia's ongoing baby boom, the largest since the 1970s.

"In the context of unsustainable global population growth it is inconsistent and arguably irresponsible to provide financial incentives for population increase," the Australian Anglican Church says.

NOTHING EVER CHANGES

THE SOPPY SHEILA SELECTION

WITH ALL YOUR SOUL

This isn't the best soul mix I've ever put up for your enjoyment. But it's okay and it is definitely interesting.

FARMLAND - GALT MACDERMOT (above)
EVERY DOG HAS IT'S DAY - SLY STONE AND EMILE O'CONNOR
DROP IT ON ME - SAN JUAN TRIO
EVERYBODY I KNOW - SWEETHEARTS
DUFFIN' 'ROUND
 - BROTHER JACK MCDUFF AND DAVID NEWMAN (below)
DON'T TRY TO TAKE THE FIFTH
- THE POINTER SISTERS
FEEL THE MUSIC
- AL KENT PRESENTS THE 
MILLION DOLLAR ORCHESTRA
EASY
- BARBARA MASON (left)
DON'T GIVE UP
- SUGAR AND SILK
FAREWELL IS A LONELY SOUND
- JIMMY RUFFIN

JOIN THE QUEUE

From THE BBC:

Labour MP John McDonnell has said he was "sorry" if he caused offence with his remarks about former Tory PM Margaret Thatcher.

Mr McDonnell had told a GMB union hustings event that he had been asked what single act he would do to improve the world if he could travel back to the 1980s.

"I said: 'Look, I was on the GMC that Mrs Thatcher abolished, I worked for the NUM and we had the NUM strike, I think I would assassinate Thatcher'." He was applauded by union members in the audience but heavily criticised by commentators.

Nile Gardiner - who worked as an aide to Lady Thatcher after she left office - wrote in his Telegraph blog that Mr McDonnell should apologise "for his disgusting, undignified and menacing words" and attacked them as "a sickening disgrace and a stain on his party".

"It is vicious language of the lowest common denominator that would shame even the worst preacher of hate," he wrote.

COMMENT: The worst preacher of hate?
That would be Margaret Thatcher, then.

HOW UNGAY CAN YOU GET?

From TYPICALLY SPANISH:

The Israeli gay community in Spain is reported to be angry after organisers of the Madrid Pride Procession have blocked their planned presence among the floats at the start of next month.

The ‘Orgullo’ parade organisers have removed their earlier first-time invitation to Israel following the international outcry following the Israeli assault on the flotilla attempting to take aid to Gaza across the Israeli blockade, and following pressure from Palestinian groups.

The Israelis say they have been told by the parade organisers in Madrid that they are worried about their security, but El Mundo reports the Israeli Association of Homosexuals and Lesbians, and the Israeli Foreign Ministry have described the decision as ‘a victory for the extremists’.

COMMENT: Oh, what a missed opportunity!

Just think how much more publicity the Spanish would have got for their condemnation of the Israeli piracy if, in stead, of petulantly withdrawing their invitation to the party, they had, in stead, not mentioned anything. And then, as the Israeli float makes it's way towards the finishing line of the carnival, from out of helicopters in the sky above, an army of hairy men dressed as nuns descend upon the Israeli float and hijack it. Not with bloodshed this time, of course, but with kisses.

ANTI-SPIN

From various sources (but mostly The Telegraph):

Channel 4's commissioning of Peter Tatchell to make a documentary about the Pope, which will air around the time of the pontiff's UK visit, is drawing criticism.

Mr Tatchell is one of the founders of a group called Protest the Pope that criticises the Pope's record on homosexuality, contraception and child abuse and says that he "is an unsuitable guest of the UK government."

British broadcaster Channel 4 said the 60-minute program will examine the impact that the Pope's pronouncements have had on both the developing and Western world, and that it will give voice to a range of views on the Pope. Mr Tatchell has said it would be "robustly factual".

"There is nothing surprising in the continued frantic jumping up and down by the Guardian/Channel 4/BBC axis in opposition to the Pope. Their venom is now so repetitive that it has lost any potency it once had. Frankly, people are getting bored with them," said James MacMillan, a composer, who is a devout Catholic.

Ann Widdecombe, a Tory politician, said: "I think this will confirm the view that there probably already is in the Vatican that this is a profoundly anti-Catholic country. I wouldn't call this the right thing for any serious broadcaster to do, but they're doing it for the publicity, they're doing it to stir up controversy. Mr Tatchell certainly won't be sympathetic to his subject, so what's the point of doing it? It won't be skeptical, it will be hostile."

COMMENT: Well, Mr MacMillan is right. There is nothing surprising about the Guardian, BBC and Channel 4 opposing Benny's visit. Of all the predominantly excellent British media they are the most courageous in speaking out against institutional bigotry and wrongdoing, even when they know it's not going to be popular with the government and, even, the people who pay their wages. Personally, if I had the BBC on my case I'd just apologise profusely and go away and hide.

STRANGELOVE'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Perhaps we should simply start over.

SUFFER THE CHILDREN

From THE MERCURY (Australia):

They were starved, raped, beaten and humiliated; now there is a shocking claim that for decades, children at Neerkol, an orphanage near Rockhampton run by the Catholic Church, were experimented on. A Federal MP is fighting for justice for former Neerkol resident Sandra Pollard who was sent to the Sisters of Mercy institution when her mother died in the 1960s.

Mrs Pollard’s husband, John, applied for documents relating to the abuse of children at Neerkol under the Freedom of Information Act and received a truckload of files that he says prove youngsters were used as unknowing guinea-pigs, for unproven vaccines for diseases like smallpox and polio. Mr Jensen claims there is evidence Neerkol children were infected with viruses linked to various forms of cancer. The implication is that there could be hundreds of former Neerkol residents, many living in and around Rockhampton, who have no idea they were the subject of medical experiments.

Speaking from his home in Melville, near Perth, Mr Pollard told The Morning Bulletin his wife’s life had been wrecked by her experiences at Neerkol. He said his wife of 30 years had suffered constant health and psychological problems as a direct result of her time in the orphanage where she was raped by a priest.

Mr Pollard said his wife was not seeking compensation, but he would like to see all victims granted a Federal Gold Card for the continuing medical problems the victims carried into old age.

HARVEST

MARVIN
ISLEY

Singer and bass player

August 18, 1953
to June 6, 2010

And all in the end is harvest


Marvin Isley was one of the members of the family music group, The Isley Brothers and a bass guitarist. He grew up in Englewood, New Jersey and graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in 1972.

In the late-1960s, he formed a trio with older brother Ernie and brother-in-law Chris Jasper. By the end of the decade, the group joined the older half of the Isleys as its instrumentalists. The instrumental lineup became official band members to the Isleys in 1973, resulting in platinum record success with the band's 3+3 album. This lineup splintered into two groups in 1984, with the original Isleys carrying on as the Isley Brothers; while Marvin, Ernie and Chris formed Isley-Jasper-Isley. The group released three albums and had a US number one R&B hit single, "Caravan of Love".

In 1991, Marvin Isley returned as member of the Isley Brothers with Ronald and Ernie and carried on until 1997, when Marvin developed diabetes. He had both legs removed. Marvin was inducted along with his brothers to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. (WIKIPEDIA)

UPDATE

From EPISCOPAL LIFE ONLINE:

On June 7, the Episcopal Church's Office of Public Affairs issued a resource for Episcopalians clarifying the distinction between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. "The Episcopal Church is an autonomous church which is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, serving God and working together to spread through word and action the good news of God in Christ," the release said. "General Convention, made up of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, has ultimate legislative authority ... and through its canonical actions sets forth governance of the church."

THE SOPPY SHEILA SELECTION

POPE ROWAN

THE CANTERBURY COUP D'ÉTAT

From The Revd Canon Kenneth Kearon to the churches:

Last Thursday I sent letters to members of the Inter Anglican ecumenical dialogues who are from the Episcopal Church informing them that their membership of these dialogues has been discontinued. In doing so I want to emphasise again as I did in those letters the exceptional service of each and every person to that important work and to acknowledge without exception the enormous contribution each person has made.

I have also written to the person from the Episcopal Church who is a member of the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (IASCUFO), withdrawing that person’s membership and inviting her to serve as a Consultant to that body.

I have written to the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada to ask whether its General Synod or House of Bishops has formally adopted policies that breach the second moratorium in the Windsor Report, authorising public rites of same-sex blessing.

At the same time I have written to the Primate of the Southern Cone, whose interventions in other provinces are referred to in the Windsor Continuation Group Report asking him for clarification as to the current state of his interventions into other provinces.

These are the actions which flow immediately from the Archbishop’s Pentecost Letter.

Looking forward, there are two questions in this area which I would like to see addressed: One is the relationship between the actions of a bishop or of a diocese and the responsibilities of a province for those actions – this issue is referred to in the Windsor Continuation Group Report para 48.

Secondly, to ask the question of whether maintaining within the fellowship of one’s Provincial House of Bishops, a bishop who is exercising episcopal ministry in another province without the expressed permission of that province or the local bishop, constitutes an intervention and is therefore a breach of the third moratorium.

Kenneth Kearon is the Secretary General of Anglican Commmunion Office Bomber Command.

COMMENT: Now that caught me by surprise. I didn't think the Grand Tufti had the authority to instruct his hand picked henchmen to take this sort of unilateral action. As he has instructed them to do so I think we can say that, like that other great usurper of power before him, Napoleon, Rowan Williams is attempting a Coup D'État. As the clergy and leading laity of the Church of England are as easily duped as the French during Napoleon's rise to power, I think we can assume he will be successful.

And his reign shall last for 1000 years.

SAD NEWS

Posted by Clumber at BARKINGS OF AN OLD DOG:

And so it ends, for now. Last night, our last kitty, K-P Duty, silently and without a whimper, joined J, P-Cubed, Oz, and NP Complete. At her last she was deaf, incontinent, and silent. We buried her in the dark last night, struggling to see what we were doing, as our little calico cat (little now, but once as sturdy as a rock) was laid to kitty rest. For the first time in a long time, no pets grace our lives. No little faces up in ours, waiting for treats or cream or chicken breast meat. Last night was not so good. The Clumbers are officially in mourning.

MUSIC FOR YOUR LUNCHTIME

The bonus tracks:



PURCHASE VIA MADPRIEST'S AMAZON STORE

And this gentleman, at the front, is why this is this band's best album and one of the greatest rock and roll records of all time.

THE WILLIAMS HERMENEUTIC STRIKES AGAIN

As in, the Bible overwhelmingly condemns homosexuality but is very ambiguous about remarriage after divorce.

From THE TELEGRAPH:

Divorced clergy are to be allowed to become Church of England bishops for the first time in a move which has been condemned by traditionalists. While Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, supported relaxing the rules, John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, is understood to have fiercely argued against a change.

But The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that the change was agreed at a meeting of the House of Bishops in May. The Church is set to issue a statement announcing the new policy next month after legal advice made clear that there is no obstacle to a divorcee, or a priest married to a divorcee, being consecrated.

It means that a number of clergy who have been rejected in the past by the Crown Nominations Commission, the body responsible for appointing bishops, will now be put forward for consideration. The first beneficiary of the change could be the Rev Nick Holtam, vicar of St Martin in the Fields in London, whose supporters want to propose as the next Bishop of Southwark.

COMMENT: Which would be popular with very many Anglicans in Southwark. However, and this is only a rumour, OCICBW... has been told that the incredibly hard working, and truly inclusive, vicar of St. Martin has had his nomination for the see blocked by the downsizing Bishop of W and another unnamed bishop. Well, all I can say is, if this is true, I hope some ordinary, Christ centred Anglican scuppers the evangelical stitch up going on in Rochester at this moment in time. We could end up, over the years, with no bishops in England as everyone put forward is sure to get blackballed by somebody. And would that be such a bad thing?

Mind you, this also explains why I haven't been offered the job yet.

DON'T BLAME MADPRIEST, BLAME BRUCE (AGAIN)

SMILE IF YOU'RE COSTA RICAN!

From THE GUARDIAN:

Costa Rica is the greenest and happiest country in the world, according to a new list that ranks nations by combining measures of their ecological footprint with the happiness of their citizens.

Britain is only halfway up the Happy Planet Index (HPI), calculated by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), in 74th place of 143 nations surveyed. The United States features in the 114th slot in the table. The top 10 is dominated by countries from Latin America, while African countries bulk out the bottom of the table.

The HPI measures how much of the Earth's resources nations use and how long and happy a life their citizens enjoy as a result. First calculated in 2006, the second edition adds data on almost all the world's countries and now covers 99% of the world's population.

"The HPI suggests that the path we have been following is, without exception, unable to deliver all three goals: high life satisfaction, high life expectancy and 'one-planet living'," says Saamah Abdallah, NEF researcher and the report's lead author. "Instead we need a new development model that delivers good lives that don't cost the Earth for all."

Costa Ricans top the list because they report the highest life satisfaction in the world, they live slightly longer than Americans, yet have an ecological footprint that is less than a quarter the size. The country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of what NEF calls "one-planet living": consuming its fair share of the Earth's natural resources.

COMMENT: There may come a time when Mexican border patrols will be busier than the US patrols as they try to stem the tide of liberal Americans illegally migrating south to make better lives for themselves.

Thanks to Cathy for bringing my attention to this article.

NOT THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

The Sun newspaper is the unabashed gut of England's gutter press. It is the home of the infamous page 3 topless model and delights in publishing such enlightened articles as "10 Ways To Spot If Your Vicar Is A Pooftah." It is, of course, the butt of countless jokes based mainly on the claim that the phrase "Sun reader" is an oxymoron.

It regularly runs readers' polls, usually along the lines of should paedophiles be hung, drawn and quartered, although I don't know why they bother - the result is normally a resounding "hanging is too good for them."

I have to say "normally" because sometimes the unexpected does happen. A week ago, following the resignation of a cabinet minister because of an alleged expenses fiddle involving the rent on his male partner's apartment, they asked the question, "Should gay people be cabinet ministers?"

This was the result of the poll:

Just 5% of Sun readers (oxymoron?) believe that being gay should be an impairment to holding high office in Britain. That, in my opinion, is a wonderful eye-opener and overwhelming proof that, for the vast majority of the working class people of my country, there really isn't a "gay question" anymore. The logic employed by Sun readers isn't what you would call complex, and so I think it can be assumed that pretty much any question regarding the equality of gay people in England would be answered with the same "it doesn't bother me" response. For your ordinary Brit (excluding Northern Ireland), gayness has become ordinary.

It does, of course, throw up a huge question. Why is the leader of the so-called Church of England so out of step with the people of England? Why does he appear to take more notice of the beliefs of the readers of the New Vision newspaper of Uganda than the readers of the Sun newspaper of England? Does the spiritual head of England's national church really believe that 95% of the working class people he has a duty of care for, are going to hell in a handcart because they have worked out that love is love wherever it is found?

This is weird. In the USA it is difficult to persuade 50% of the adult population to vote in favour of measures that would give more equality to gay people, and the appointment of gay officials, teachers and the like, still elicits substantial, vocal and downright nasty opposition. Yet US churches are steadily, and more and more rapidly, embracing the concept that same sex relationships are not, automatically, sinful. In fact, the churches are among the leaders in the campaign for gay equality in the States. But in England, the Church of England, is still aggressively attached to an illogical moral position that has been decisively deemed ridiculous by even the most conservative (with a small "c") UK (excluding Northern Ireland) citizens.

Rowan Williams has become the man trapped on the roof of his house refusing to be rescued from the flood because he is waiting for God to rescue him. But in Williams' case, he is the man who refuses to listen to the voices of virtually every one in his country because he is waiting to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. I am sure you can work out the punchline for yourselves.