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Prices hit a record $4.11 a gallon in July 2008.[1]

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Genghis Khan becomes Mormon

Happle Tea

1991: Gilyard accused by about 40 women

The downfall of a pastor

Allegations of sexual misdeeds detailed


Rebecca Sherman

Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Published: JULY 14, 1991


Well before Pastor Darrell Gilyard appeared Wednesday in the pulpit of Victory Baptist Church, more than half the church's 800 members had rushed from their homes and jobs for fear of missing the hastily called meeting. And while they knew that their charismatic preacher was being pressured to resign, many prayed for his last-minute redemption.

The crowd was starkly quiet as the 29-year-old minister confessed that he had sinned against God, his family and those who sat before him. He shoved aside a speech that had been prepared by Dr. Paige Patterson, his mentor and former teacher at Criswell College. "This book tells me what to do with my sin,' Mr. Gilyard said, clutching a worn Bible.

"It has been with me everywhere. It's been in the various foster homes, it's been under the bridge with me.

This is far more than a moment of tragedy and failure. It is a moment of triumph. I have walked away from yet another bridge, a bridge of triumph."

What he didn't say was that for the fourth time in four years, he had been forced to walk away from a congregation. A growing number of women in the Richardson church said their pastor had sexually abused them. One said he had had sex with her in the pastor's study. Another said she received lewd phone calls and, most recently, a woman said he raped her.

Mr. Gilyard, unavailable for comment since his resignation, left behind a Baptist model, of sorts, for integrated membership and a reputation as one of the most widely sought black evangelists by predominantly white Baptist congregations. Both his home and mobile phone numbers have been changed.

The morning after the resignation, Dr. Patterson described Mr. Gilyard as one of the "most brilliant men in the pulpit.' - Mr. Gilyard credited his appearances on the Old Time Gospel Hour, a weekly television program produced by evangelist Jerry Falwell. It was Mr. Falwell who promoted The Darrell Gilyard Story, a video biography of a young black orphan who rose to prominence after he had spent his teen-age years living under a bridge in Florida.

Although Victory Baptist is not officially affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, Mr. Gilyard and the church embraced the principles and guidelines of the group and looked to the organization and its largest church, First Baptist, for support and guidance.

Likewise, Dr. Patterson, president of Criswell College, located in the First Baptist complex, was Mr. Gilyard's former teacher and mentor.

Though many of the women who say they were involved with Mr. Gilyard said they feel guilt over their participation, they are angry at church officials who, they said, did little to protect them. One woman who said she had had a long-term affair with Mr. Gilyard said her phone calls requesting a meeting with Dr. Patterson were not returned. "His secretary said unless I had proof, he wouldn't see me.' Others recall meetings with church officials at both Victory Baptist and First Baptist churches who drilled them with questions about their emotional stability and their relationships with other men.

First Baptist officials said they knew of the allegations of sexual misconduct, which began as long as four years ago when Mr. Gilyard was removed as assistant pastor of Concord Missionary Baptist Church in Oak Cliff. But they said they did not believe those allegations, and continued to recommend him. "We were dealing with a man of special gifts and talents,' Dr. Patterson said. "I was unwilling to call anyone guilty until I had demonstratable evidence that these allegations were true.' Dr. Patterson said that according to Scriptures, action cannot be taken against a minister accused of adultery unless there are two or more witnesses. He also asked for any other proof, such as photographs, videotapes or laboratory tests.

In the interim, the dynamic preacher became even more visible.

In addition to frequent appearances on Old Time Gospel Hour, he maintained a heavy speaking schedule across the country, drawing huge crowds wherever he spoke. Most recently, he shared a platform with Iran-contra figure Oliver North at the Southern Baptist Convention in Atlanta. "Their greed eclipsed their vision of reality,' said the Rev. E.K. Bailey, pastor of Concord Missionary Baptist Church, where Mr. Gilyard had been removed in 1987 amid allegations of sexual improprieties. Others, such as Dr. Patterson, paint Mr. Gilyard as a victim. "It's amazing,' Dr. Patterson said, "how jealousy, frustration and racism can be motives for making accusations.'

Intimate secrets

The Rev. Darrell Gilyard built Victory on conservative values, particularly when it came to women. He would not allow them to usher, serve on the finance committee, teach men or take classes with them.

But outside the church, according to the women who claim to have been victimized by him, Mr. Gilyard spent most of his time with women. Those who talked with The Dallas Morning News about their experiences asked to remain anonymous.

"I heard him preach at Concord for the first time, and I was amazed,' said one woman. "I was touched by his story of being orphaned. I thought he was special, anointed.' Soon after, she said, friends told her that the pastor, married since 1985, had made sexual advances toward them. She said he began asking her to lunch and she accepted. "He'd flatter me, say I was pretty. In the back of my mind, I knew something wasn't right.'

The woman said the minister followed up with late-night phone calls asking her to meet him in her garage, where her husband wouldn't see them. She said she refused. "I was afraid to tell anybody,' she said. "I knew what he said about friends of mine, how he spread rumors about them and told me (their) secrets.'

The calls persisted for three or four months, the woman said, until finally she told him to stop. "He would go and preach every Sunday against adultery and premarital sex and fornication,' she said, "and then afterwards, he'd call and beg me to meet him at a hotel.'

Another woma n was a student at Criswell College in 1988 when Mr. Gilyard preached at the school. He later asked for volunteers to work at Shiloh Baptist Church in Garland, his third preaching position. Mr. Gilyard began calling her, the woman said, asking her out to lunch. She accepted. "He was very, very suggestive to me, asking me if I liked him, liked how he looked. He wanted me to tell him intimate secrets. I asked if his wife knew about this, and he got mad.' She said the pastor who preached so humbly in thepulpit was arrogant and conceited outside church. "One time I remember something good happened at the church and I said, "Glory be to God!' and he said: "God? Glory be to me. I did it, not God.' '

The woman said she began hearing similar stories from friends at the college who attended Shiloh, where Mr. Gilyard was assistant pastor.

In 1989, she says she made an appointment with Paige Patterson, one of the most prominent figures in the Southern Baptist Convention. "Darrell was there with his wife and an attorney,' the woman said. "He confronted me and said I wore suggestive clothing. I don't even own suggestive clothing.

"Paige Patterson asked me to refrain from speaking to anybody about this. He said unless I came back with two witnesses or proof that something had happened, not to come back.'

Another woman who was drawn to Mr. Gilyard's preaching left the Concord church after Mr. Gilyard was fired. "We couldn't believe that he had done anything.' She said she and her husband corresponded with Mr. Gilyard during the next year while he was assistant pastor of Hilltop Baptist Church in Norman, Okla., in the fall of 1987. She said she was thrilled when he came back to Dallas.

One evening, she said, he called her late at night and told her he had been having sexual fantasies about her. "I thought he had some problem that he just needed to talk about, so I said I'd pray for him.' She said the pastor asked her to meet him later in a hotel or at the church. "I agreed to meet him at the church,' she said. "There was nobody there, it was at night. We were talking by the pulpit, and we started kissing. Then he grabbed my hand and pulled me down onto the - floor, right there in the church. I was in a state of shock. This was a man I trusted. I didn't know what to do. Then he was on top of me.' She said she was able to free herself and leave. But the calls continued, she said. "I told him what we did was wrong. I even called Paige Patterson to tell him what had happened.' She said Dr. Patterson would not take her calls. "He told his secretary to tell me that unless I had some kind of proof, not to call back.'

The woman said she prayed about it for a month and wrote Dr. Patterson a detailed, 10-page letter. "He called me, but he wouldn't agree to meet with me.'

Dr. Patterson said recently that he did not recall the woman or the letter.

Another woman joined Victory Baptist shortly after she moved to Dallas last year. Mr. Gilyard offered her a job at the church. "He called about 10 o'clock one night and said he wanted to talk about my work,' she recalled. "We talked for a while like that, then the conversation shifted and he started getting real personal.

He wanted to know what attracted me to him. I should have hung up, but I felt flattered.' She said the phone call became more sexually explicit until finally she hung up. "I felt dirty and sick afterward,' she said.

She said she told Darrell DeBoard, the administrator at Victory Baptist, two or three days later. The woman said she also quit her job at the church and moved out of town that weekend.

Mr. DeBoard declined to discuss the incident, saying he could not violate a confidence.

Another married woman who met Mr. Gilyard at Concord said that Mr. Gilyard parlayed flattery into a sexual relationship. "He planted things in my mind -- bad thoughts about my husband,' she said. "He'd say things like, "You know he's not paying enough attention to you.' ' Eventually, she said, she believed him, and they began seeing each other regularly.

The woman said she ended the affair after several women at Concord confessed publicly that they, too, had been seeing the pastor. "I thought when it was all out in public like that that he would have been stopped. No matter what people say about him, it's always his word against theirs.'

No proof

Martha Dixius, a social worker who taught Sunday school at Victory Baptist, said a woman in the congregation approached her in November for help. The woman, said Ms. Dixius, had "a trust level of a 7-year-old. She is very naive.' In a counseling session, Ms. Dixius said, the woman told her that Mr. Gilyard had noted her visitor's card and phoned her the next day with an offer to show her through the church. During the tour, he asked her questions a bout her personal life.

The next evening about 6 p.m., the woman told Ms. Dixius, Mr. Gilyard drove to her apartment and called her from his car phone. "She let him in her apartment because he told her he wanted to talk about some of the problems they had discussed the night before,' Ms. Dixius said. "She told me that by 6:30, she was raped.' The woman told her she was too confused and frightened to call police. The woman told Ms. Dixius that Mr. Gilyard continued to go to her apartment for six months and have sex with her. "He would - call her from the car phone and say, "I'm coming up, let me in,' and she would be too frightened to say no.' After counseling the woman for four months, Ms. Dixius referred her to another counselor. The two counselors met with the woman and Darrell DeBoard, administrator of Victory Baptist. "The word "rape' was used a lot,' Mr. DeBoard recalled, "but I understood that to be emotional rape. She was graphic with details, so it was hard not to believe' that something had happened.

Mr. DeBoard said he asked the group not to discuss the meeting until he had a chance to pray about it. He said he did not encourage the woman to talk to police because he didn't believe that anything illegal had occurred. He said he confronted Mr. Gilyard with the woman's allegation; the pastor denied it.

Mr. DeBoard said the woman did not have proof that sexual encounters had occurred. "I told her I can do very little with it with no proof,' Mr. DeBoard said. "I came here as a minister, not to be a detective and investigate.'

Pattern of denial

Darrell Gilyard's preaching career began at Concord Missionary Baptist Church in Oak Cliff in 1985, when pastor E.K. Bailey asked him to preach one Sunday. Mr. Gilyard's oratory talent brought him numerous speaking invitations from other predominantly black churches.

But another side of Mr. Gilyard began to emerge, a side that Mr. Bailey described as greedy and racist.

"He would talk about starting a mixed-race church,' Mr. Bailey recalled, "but his actions were different. He was offended by black music and anything African-American. "He was given a car, a place to live rent-free, a good salary, but he always wanted more.'

Two years after his arrival, Mr. Gilyard was fired in front of 1,500 members at Concord for having had sexual relationships with women members.

Mr. Bailey, who said he had heard sexual allegations from "around 25' of his own members, said he assumed that would be the end of Darrell Gilyard's bright evangelistic career. "I saw Darrell Gilyard as becoming the greatest black preacher in America,' Mr. Bailey said. But news of Mr. Gilyard's firing spread instantly through Baptist circles. "African-American churches across the country canceled his speaking engagements like popcorn,' said Mr. Bailey.

Mr. Bailey said officials from First Baptist attended the open service during which Mr. Gilyard was fired but later decided there was not enough evidence to further investigate Mr. Gilyard. "Paige Patterson wrote me an unkind letter over the whole ordeal,' Mr. Bailey said. "He basically told me that he would have come out to my church and solved the problem for me if I had told him first.'

Mr. Bailey says First Baptist continued to promote Mr. Gilyard throughout the predominantly white Southern Baptist churches. "You saw his star rising and rising,' said Mr. Bailey, "and you knew what kind of a person he was.'

Mr. Gilyard had little trouble gaining employment as assistant pastor for Hilltop Baptist Church in Norman, Okla. "I had heard the rumor s about him,' said the Rev. Dan Maxwell, the church's former pastor. "But Paige Patterson said he had been out there and talked to the women and there had been nothing to - substantiate the allegations.

"Darrell was really no help at all. He'd pop in and give a sermon, pop out.' Mr. Gilyard stayed less than a year, and within a week after his return to the Dallas area, allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced at the Hilltop church. Two women told church officials that Mr. Gilyard had made sexual advance s toward them, Mr. Maxwell said, and a third woman confessed to an affair with Mr. Gilyard.

Mr. Maxwell says he took his information to Dr. Patterson. Dr. Patterson spoke to the woman and said he did not believe her story. "That individual's story change d many times,' Dr. Patterson said. "That bothered me.'

In 1989, when Mr. Gilyard was an assistant at Shiloh Baptist in Garland, the allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced again. Dr. Patterson met with two women who represented friends who, they said, were involved with Mr. Gilyard. Mr. Maxwell was asked to attend, as were Mr. Gilyard and his wife and other First Baptist officials. Don Simpkins, a pastoral counselor, also attended. Mr. Bailey said he was not invited.

Mr. Simpkins said the group did not focus on details of the allegations, but delved into the women's pasts. "We wanted to know if these women making the allegations had a history of psychological problems, if they had been on medication or seeing counselors,' Mr. Simpkins said. "We wanted to know if they were divorced.' "We decided that these women weren't telling the truth. That Darrell Gilyard was basically a guy who didn't know how to act around women.'

"I have always felt bad because of it,' said Mr. Maxwell. "A number of pastors have called me and asked what happened at our church. I always tell the truth, but nothing is ever done about it. I don't know how long I can keep telling the story and not be listened to.'

Mr. Simpkins said Dr. Patterson asked him to counsel Mr. Gilyard once a week. "I was supposed to "polish the rough edges,' ' said Mr. Simpkins. Mr. Simpkins said that after a few visits with Mr. Gilyard, he suspected some "personality disorders' and wanted to test Mr. Gilyard . "He refused,' Mr. Simpkins recalled, "so I called Paige to let him know it wasn't going well, but he never returned any of my calls.' Mr. Simpkins said he counseled Mr. Gilyard eight times before he ended their relationship.

"The first I had heard that Mr. Gilyard had stopped counseling was several days ago,' Dr. Patterson said Thursday.

Mr. Simpkins said he spoke to The News after recent attempts to force Mr. Gilyard's resignation failed. "I realize now that I was wrong not to believe these women,' Mr. Simpkins said. "I believe it's time now to do the right thing.' Mr. Simpkins said he believes allegations against Mr. Gilyard that surfaced last year were covered up by Victory and First Baptist officials.

The allegations, which have come from at least four women members, were brought out in a meeting last month when an attempt to force Mr. Gilyard to resign failed.

Mr. Gilyard admitted, Dr. Patterson said, to several sexual relationships with women.

Dr. Patterson said he has withdrawn all support from Mr. Gilyard - and has asked that the pastor and his wife attend a two-week rehabilitation session. "Mr. Gilyard is no longer qualified to pastor a church,' said Dr. Patterson. He also asked Mr. Gilyard not preach or pastor a church for two years -- and then only if he can prove he has been rehabilitated. "In retrospect, Darrell should have been in counseling all along,' Dr. Patterson said.

Leaders at Victory, meanwhile, said that Mr. Gilyard may have rallied enough supporters to call for a vote for reinstatement as early as Sunday. [1]

NYT:A Tiny Horse That Got Even Tinier as the Planet Heated Up

Rising seas, killer storms, droughts, extinctions and money wasted on snowblowers are not the only things to worry about on a warming planet. There is also the shrinking issue.

It happened to Sifrhippus, the first horse, 56 million years ago. Sifrhippus shrank from about 12 pounds average weight to about eight and a half pounds as the climate warmed over thousands of years, a team of researchers reported in the journal Science on Thursday.

The horse (siff-RIP-us, if you have to say the name out loud) lived in what is still horse country, in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming, where wild mustangs roam.

Sifrhippus was not much like the mustangs or any other modern horses. It was the size of a cat, ate leaves rather than grass and counts as a horse only in scientific classification. It might have made a nice pet if anyone had been around to domesticate it, but the first hominids were a good 50 million years in the future.

Its preserved fossils, abundant in the Bighorn Basin, provide an excellent record of its size change over a 175,000-year warm period in the Earth’s history known as the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, when temperatures are estimated to have risen by 9 to 18 degrees Fahrenheit at the start, and dropped again at the end.

Scientists have known that many mammals appear to have shrunk during the warming period, and the phenomenon fits well with what is known as Bergmann’s rule, which says, roughly, that mammals of a given genus or species are smaller in hotter climates.

Although the rule refers to differences in location, it seemed also to apply to changes over time. But fine enough detail was lacking until now.

In Science, Ross Secord, of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Jonathan Bloch, of the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida in Gainesville; and a team of other researchers report on the collection and analysis of Sifrhippus fossils from the Bighorn Basin.

They report that the little horse got 30 percent smaller over the first 130,000 years, and then — as always seems to happen with weight loss — shot back up and got 75 percent bigger over the next 45,000 years.

The fossils indicate that at its smallest Sifrhippus weighed about eight and a half pounds, and at its largest about 15 pounds.

Using fine-grained detail on both climate and body size, the researchers concluded that the change in size was, as suspected, driven primarily by the warming trend.

“It seems to be natural selection,” said Dr. Secord. He said animals evolved to be smaller during warming because smaller animals did better in that environment, perhaps because the smaller an animal is, the easier it is to shed excess heat.

Paul L. Koch, head of the department of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a specialist in reconstructing ecosystems and climates from many millions of years ago, said, “The paper lets us see the effect of warming on mammals where the climate change is really large.”

Dr. Koch, who was not involved in the study, said he thought that the question of whether natural selection was the cause of the changes was still open, and that the disruption of ecosystems during the warming period might have led smaller animals to migrate to new locations.

The current warming period is occurring on a scale of hundreds of years, not thousands, and scientists can only speculate on whether modern mammals will shrink.

“It’s difficult to say that mammals are going to respond in the same way now,“ Dr. Secord said. “If I had to guess,” he said, he thinks some will get smaller. And, he said, some studies have shown some birds to be getting smaller in response to warming.

If warming continues at the highest rate projected, he said, there’s another question: “Can mammals keep up?” [1]
Also for further reading:

A Visual History of Ancient Miniature Horses [Slide Show] Eight equines that paved the way for the massive modern horse

Baraminology: Creationists Re-Examine the Horse Series

NatGeo: History of the King James Bible

Jim Denison explains why Matthew 18 does not apply to child abuse

Jim Denison seemed to alleged that rape victims should approach their rapists in private according to Matthew 18.  Last  November, he explained himself.  He does not think that Matthew 18 applies to child abuse.  I, however, still maintain that any "no" to an attacker counts as meeting in private under Matthew 18.  This is a good example of common sense theology.

(ABP) -- On Nov. 14 the Associated Baptist Press published an essay I wrote on Herman Cain and Joe Paterno. Here's the background behind my article.

I write a cultural commentary for our ministry each weekday morning based on that day's news. On Nov. 8 I responded to the Herman Cain allegations by quoting Matthew 18:15, "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you." Jesus' words were clearly intended for adults, describing the process by which Christians who are dealing with relational problems can initiate reconciliation.

The next day I wrote an essay titled "The tragedy of Joe Paterno." In it I said, "The greatest tragedy is that on his watch, eight boys were allegedly abused by Sandusky over a 15-year period. They are innocent victims who will live with the scars of their abuse for the rest of their lives."

I stated that Coach Paterno "should apologize personally and directly to the men victimized by his employee. He should lead Penn State to take steps ensuring that such a failure of accountability does not happen again. And he should resign for the sake of his players, protecting them from this scandal and its repercussions."

On Nov. 10 I combined my previous Cain and Paterno essays into my FaithLines submission. Then I made a mistake. When I came to the statement from my Herman Cain essay that cited Matthew 18:15, I combined the Paterno story by including these words: "It would have been best for the alleged abuse victimsat Penn State and the NRA to go directly to those who wronged them." I was writing on deadline; had I checked the essay before submitting it, I would immediately have omitted those three words. Nonetheless, the mistake was mine alone.

Today I want to describe what I have taught for many years on the subject of child abuse, not only to set the record straight but also to set out clear biblical guidelines for dealing with such tragedy.

First, our Lord made very clear his love for children: "Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.' When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there" (Matthew 19:13-15).

Jesus taught his disciples to "change and become like little children" if they would enter the kingdom of heaven. He then declared that "whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3-4). When we love children, we prove that we love their Father. Anyone who abuses children has committed the most heinous crime imaginable.

Second, Jesus condemned those who would harm a child: "If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea" (Matthew 18:6). Child abuse is a horrific crime. It leaves deep scars that can last a lifetime. There are no words to describe adequately the tragedy of this depravity. Or God's anger against those who commit it.

As a result, it is always wrong for institutions to shelter those who abuse children. Always. In the churches I pastored, adults who worked with children were subjected to periodic background screening and monitored carefully. Anytime a school, church, or other organization learns that a child entrusted to its care has been harmed, it must take immediate, proactive steps. It must remove the adult from any contact with children, initiate every means of helping the child and his or her family, and notify legal authorities about the crime committed on its watch.

The only currency for ministry is trust. In a culture that views people as commodities and measures success by possessions, we are entrusted with the good news that God loves us personally and passionately. But people will believe that God loves them only if we do. [1]

Deuteronomy 13

13:6 Suppose your own full brother, your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your closest friend should seduce you secretly and encourage you to go and serve other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have previously known, 13:7 the gods of the surrounding people (whether near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other). 13:8 You must not give in to him or even listen to him; do not feel sympathy for him or spare him or cover up for him. 13:9 Instead, you must kill him without fail! Your own hand must be the first to strike him, and then the hands of the whole community. 13:10 You must stone him to death because he tried to entice you away from the Lord your God, who delivered you from the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. 13:11 Thus all Israel will hear and be afraid; no longer will they continue to do evil like this among you.

Punishment of Community Idolatry

13:12 Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that 13:13 some evil people have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). 13:14 You must investigate thoroughly and inquire carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done among you, 13:15 you must by all means slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock. 13:16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin forever – it must never be rebuilt again. 13:17 You must not take for yourself anything that has been placed under judgment. Then the Lord will relent from his intense anger, show you compassion, have mercy on you, and multiply you as he promised your ancestors. 13:18 Thus you must obey the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am giving you today and doing what is right before him.

Brian Thomas issued another whopper

Some say that giant humans are too incredible to have been real and that the Bible's references to them are fiction.

However, many extra-biblical records corroborate the existence of giants, including sober accounts from early explorers like Magellan and ancient texts like the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, the Hebrew Book of Enoch, and the Book of Giants...

...Evolution maintains that humans evolved from smaller, ape-like ancestors. But according to the Bible, humans were created in the image of God, and men since then have descended from Adam. The Bible also teaches that giants existed, further contrasting with the standard evolutionary stereotype of human history...

Since the Bible refers to giants, it stands to reason that other historical records and artifacts would also testify to their existence.5 And a giant toddler mummy appears to be just such an artifact confirming that the history related in Scripture is trustworthy.[1]

Just for fun read some of the possible corroborating evidence: When Giants Built Churches :)

Also here is the The Physics of Giants and Dwarves

ICR should know that strawmen are not your friends.

These blatant misrepresentations of the Theory of Evolution have no place in our schools and definitely no place in our churches.  I do not understand why Brian Thomas insists on making things up.

The same can be said about cormorants. The flightless Galapagos variety has stunted wings. Though they are effective divers, they can no longer fly like other cormorants. Loss of wing size, loss of flight wing feather structure, and loss of flight are the opposite of Darwinian evolution. [1]

Evolution maintains that as more time passes, living things evolve to acquire better and more useful traits. As such, shouldn't the loss of a useful trait, such as eyesight, be regarded as the opposite of evolution? Not so, say recent news reports on blind fish...

...But obtaining the fish sight system required an input of a massive quantity and quality of information. And making the fish blind merely required the loss of some of that information. How could attributing these opposite processes to "evolution" be scientifically accurate?

The study of blind cavefish can undoubtedly contribute valuable insight into the genetics of trait variations and the fishes' potential to adapt and survive in varied environments. But because evolution is supposed to make new traits or develop new and useful genetic information, mere losses and variations should not be called evolution. [2]

The Theory of Evolution has maintained since the beginning that attributes can be loss through "disuse".

Deuteronomy 12:31

You must not worship the Lord your God the way they do! For everything that is abhorrent to him, everything he hates, they have done when worshiping their gods. They even burn up their sons and daughters before their gods! ~ Deuteronomy 12:31

White House statement about Youcef Nadarkhani

Statement by the Press Secretary on the Case of Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani

The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms reports that Iranian authorities’ reaffirmed a death sentence for Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani for the sole reason of his refusal to recant his Christian faith. This action is yet another shocking breach of Iran’s international obligations, its own constitution, and stated religious values. The United States stands in solidarity with Pastor Nadarkhani, his family, and all those who seek to practice their religion without fear of persecution—a fundamental and universal human right. The trial and sentencing process for Pastor Nadarkhani demonstrates the Iranian government’s total disregard for religious freedom, and further demonstrates Iran's continuing violation of the universal rights of its citizens. The United States calls upon the Iranian authorities to immediately lift the sentence, release Pastor Nadarkhani, and demonstrate a commitment to basic, universal human rights, including freedom of religion. The United States renews its calls for people of conscience and governments around the world to reach out to Iranian authorities and demand Pastor Nadarkhani's immediate release. [1]

Xena (Warrior Princes) invades Alaska bound drillship

Shell Oil Co. offshore Alaska drilling operations aren't safe even from "Xena the Warrior Princess."

Lucy Lawless, the actress who played the sexy, swashbuckling heroine of the cult classic named for her character, "Xena," scaled the derrick of an Alaska-bound drillship Thursday with Greenpeace activists to protest exploratory oil drilling she believes could "devastate" the fragile Arctic environment and accelerate global warming, according to a statement from the pro-environment organization.

The Noble Discoverer ship, contracted by Shell to drill up to three exploratory wells this summer, was leaving Auckland, New Zealand, bound for Chukchi Sea waters off Alaska, according to the release.

"I'm blocking Shell's Arctic drillship because I believe passionately that renewable energy is the way of the future," Lucy said from the ship, according to the release.

Shell spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh said the company respects freedom of speech, but isn't pleased with Greenpeace's tactics. The company is in contact with local authorities to keep the ship on path toward Alaska, she said.

"We are disappointed that Greenpeace has chosen this method to protest," she said. "Actions such as this jeopardize the safety of everyone involved. While we respect the right of individuals to express their point of view, the priority should be the safety of Noble’s personnel and that of the protestors.

Six Greenpeace activists, as well as Lawless, a 43-year-old mother of three now co-starring in the TV show "Spartacus," blocked the ship from the leaving the port of Taranaki for its 6,000-mile trip, the release said. The dill-rig invaders apparently expect to stay a while: the release notes they have several days of supplies.


Op de Weegh confirmed that the Noble Discoverer is currently at port in New Zealand, and said the port had been closed.

"Personnel from Noble have been in touch with local authorities," she said, in response to an emailed question about how the company would respond to the boarding.

Greenpeace boarded and occupied another Arctic-bound drilling ship, the Leiv Ericksen, operating off Greenland's coast last year.

Shell says it has safely drilled exploratory wells off Alaska's coasts before, in the 1980s, and that it found oil and gas but never developed because global prices bottomed out and Arctic drilling became cost-prohibitive. Shell invested $2 billion to obtain leases in the Chukchi Sea in 2007.

With high prices in recent years, Shell is back and hopes to begin drilling exploratory wells in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in U.S. waters this summer. The Hague-based oil conglomerate says it will exceed U.S. environmental safety requirements in its Arctic drilling efforts, and plans to employ sophisticated technology to reduce air emissions and a specially built capping and containment system to prevent an oil spill.

"Shell has taken unprecedented steps to pursue safe, environmentally responsible exploration in shallow water off the coast of Alaska," op de Weegh said. "We recognize that industry's license to operate in the offshore is predicated on being able to operate in a safe, environmentally sound manner."

Greenpeace warns that a successful strike by Shell will launch a polar oil rush, threatening the relatively pristine Arctic. Environmentalists have warned that no technology exists to clean oil from the region's thick sea ice.

"We don’t have to go to the ends of the Earth to suck out every last drop of oil. Instead we need to smarten up and begin the transition to a clean, green, sustainable energy future and right now that means keeping Shell out of the Arctic."

Shell has recently been steaming ahead in its efforts to win regulatory approval to drill this summer in the Arctic seas, recently receiving an air permit for the Noble Discoverer and related ships. Environmental groups said Tuesday they're challenging the permit in court. [1]

CDC:19% of Men who have sex with men have HIV in 21 major US cities

Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM)¹ represent approximately 2% of the US population, yet are the population most severely affected by HIV and are the only risk group in which new HIV infections have been increasing steadily since the early 1990s. In 2006, MSM accounted for more than half (53%) of all new HIV infections in the United States, and MSM with a history of injection drug use (MSM-IDU) accounted for an additional 4% of new infections. At the end of 2006, more than half (53%) of all people living with HIV in the United States were MSM or MSM-IDU. Since the beginning of the US epidemic, MSM have consistently represented the largest percentage of persons diagnosed with AIDS and persons with an AIDS diagnosis who have died.

The Numbers

New HIV Infections²

• In 2006, more than 30,000 MSM and MSM-IDU were newly infected with HIV.
• Among all MSM, whites accounted for nearly half (46%) of new HIV infections in 2006. The largest number of new infections among white MSM occurred in those aged 30–39 years, followed by those aged 40–49 years.
• Among all black MSM, there were more new HIV infections (52%) among young black MSM (aged 13–29 years) than any other racial or ethnic age group of MSM in 2006. The number of new infections among young black MSM was nearly twice that of young white MSM and more than twice that of young Hispanic/Latino MSM.
• Among all Hispanic/Latino MSM in 2006, the largest number of new infections (43%) occurred in the youngest age group (13–29 years), though a substantial number of new HIV infections (35%) were among those aged 30–39 years.

Estimated Number of New HIV Infections among Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM), by Race/Ethnicity and Age Group, 2006

Source: CDC. Subpopulation Estimates from the HIV Incidence Surveillance System—United States, 2006. MMWR. 2008; 57(36):985–989.

HIV and AIDS Diagnoses³ and Deaths

• A recent CDC study found that in 2008 one in five (19%) MSM in 21 major US cities were infected with HIV, and nearly half (44%) were unaware of their infection. In this study, 28% of black MSM were HIV-infected, compared to 18% of Hispanic/Latino MSM and 16% of white MSM. Other racial/ethnic groups of MSM also have high numbers of HIV infections, including American Indian/Alaska Native MSM (20%) and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander MSM (18%).
• In 2007, MSM were 44 to 86 times as likely to be diagnosed with HIV compared with other men, and 40 to 77 times as likely as women.
• From 2005–2008, estimated diagnoses of HIV infection increased approximately 17% among MSM. This increase was likely due to a combination of factors: increases in new infections, increased testing, and diagnosis earlier in the course of infection; it may also have been due to uncertainty in statistical models.
• In 2008, an estimated 17,940 MSM were diagnosed with AIDS in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the US dependent areas—an increase of 6% since 2005.
• By the end of 2007, an estimated 282,542 MSM with an AIDS diagnosis had died in the United States and 5 dependent areas.

Prevention Challenges

The high prevalence of HIV infection among MSM means they face a greater risk of being exposed to infection with each sexual encounter—especially as they get older

Sexual risk accounts for most HIV infections in MSM. These risks include unprotected sex and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The practice of not using a condom during anal sex with someone other than a primary, HIV-negative partner continues to pose a significant threat to the health of MSM.
Alcohol and illicit drug use contributes to increased risk for HIV infection and other STDs among MSM. The use of substances such as alcohol and other drugs can increase the likelihood of risky sexual behavior.

Many MSM with HIV are unaware of their HIV infection, especially MSM of color and young MSM. A recent CDC study found that among urban MSM in 21 cities in 2008 who were unaware of their HIV infection, 55% had not been tested in the previous 12 months. Low awareness of HIV status among young MSM likely reflects several factors: they may have been infected more recently, may underestimate their personal risk, may have had fewer opportunities to get tested, or may believe that HIV treatment minimize the threat of HIV. CDC recommends that all MSM get tested for HIV once a year— and more often if they are at higher risk. MSM at higher risk includes those who have multiple or anonymous sex partners or use drugs during sex.

Stigma and homophobia may have a profound impact on the lives of MSM, especially their mental and sexual health. Internalized homophobia may impact men’s ability to make healthy choices, including decisions around sex and substance use. Stigma and homophobia may limit the willingness of MSM to access HIV prevention and care, isolate them from family and community support, and create cultural barriers that inhibit integration into social networks.

Racism, poverty, and lack of access to health care are barriers to HIV prevention services, particularly for MSM from racial or ethnic minority communities. A recent CDC study found a strong link between socioeconomic status and HIV among MSM: prevalence increased as education and income decreased, and awareness of HIV status was higher among MSM with greater education and income.

Complacency about HIV may play a key role in HIV risk, particularly among young MSM. Since young MSM did not experience the severity of the early HIV epidemic, some may falsely believe that HIV is no longer a serious health threat because of treatment advances and decreased mortality. Additional challenges for many MSM include maintaining safe behaviors over time and underestimating personal risk.

What CDC Is Doing

In fiscal year 2009, 43% of CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention’s budget was targeted towards MSM and MSM-IDU. CDC provides funding for state and local health departments and community-based organizations to support HIV prevention services for MSM in a variety of settings, including MSM of color and young transgender persons of color.

CDC supports the training and technical assistance for five HIV prevention interventions that focus on MSM and two additional interventions that were developed for HIV-positive MSM and others living with HIV. CDC conducts research to better understand the factors that lead to HIV infection and identify effective approaches to prevent infection among MSM—especially MSM who are at greatest risk. Research includes diagnostic tests, microbicides, pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis, vaccines, and behavioral research on health disparities.

CDC carefully monitors HIV and risk behaviors by race, age, risk group (including MSM), and gender, enabling communities to base HIV prevention strategies on the best possible understanding of the epidemic.

Through various communications and collaboration activities, CDC aims to provide MSM with effective and culturally appropriate messages about HIV prevention. CDC uses strategies such as social marketing, fact sheets, web-based information, and other resources to maintain the timeliness of HIV/AIDS information and encourage behavior change.[1]

Deuteronomy 11 - You have seen

11:1 You must love the Lord your God and do what he requires; keep his statutes, ordinances, and commandments at all times. 

11:2 Bear in mind today that I am not speaking to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments of the Lord your God, which revealed his greatness, strength, and power.

This reminded me of 1 John 1.

1:1 This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched (concerning the word of life – 

1:2 and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and announce to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us). 

1:3 What we have seen and heard we announce to you too, so that you may have fellowship with us (and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ). 

1:4 Thus we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

How to dispose of the Quran correctly

...It is important to give a Quran a proper burial, says Omid Safi, professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina and author of “Memories of Muhammad.” Any text containing the name of God is sacred in Islam. God is revealed through scripture, and anything associated with writing it has a religious significance, Mr. Safi says.

One could literally bury the Quran, ideally in a place with little foot traffic. Another option is to put the book in a flowing body of water, either letting it sink or be carried away. Regardless of the method, treating the book’s destruction with respect is paramount. Safi likens it to a poor man’s funeral, where the book might be wrapped in a shroud before being placed in the ground and mourned.

Burning the Quran, however, is also an accepted practice.

“People often ask, ‘if it’s OK for Muslims to burn the Quran, then why isn’t it OK for the US military to do it?’” Safi says. “That’s where the question of symbolism is important.”

Some say erasing the names of God and his messengers prior to burning the Quran makes it acceptable, but Safi says it’s even simpler than that. It comes down to context: Burning the text in a dumpster with trash on a US military base feels less respectful than treating the disposal with reverence in a burial or sacred burning.

Safi finds one analogy particularly helpful: The Quran is to Islam as Jesus is to Christianity. “In an Islamic universe ... the word becomes not a person, but a book,” he says. “For a Muslim to see the Quran burnt not as a way of burial, it would look and feel like someone burning Jesus, or a crucifix.”

But contextualizing today’s protests goes beyond simple reverence for the Quran, Safi says. “Bagram airbase is one of the central places of US military presence in Afghanistan ... [and] between 600 and 700 Afghans have been detained or are being detained there for years and years.”

Safi says this isn’t so much a theological debate on how to dispose of the Quran properly, but a charged conversation around a military force “that’s being looked at as an occupying force ... [A]n unlawful, violent force.” [1]

Burning books in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a desert war zone.  The troops burn their trash, including books.  O'Reilly sent copies of his book to Afghanistan.  Not enough soldiers wanted them, so they were burned.[1]  

A group of evangelical soldiers tried to evangelize the Afghans around the base with Bibles mailed to them from an US church.

.

Central Command General Order No. 1 specifically forbids “proselytizing of any faith, religion or practice.”[2]

Those Bibles were burned.

They confiscated Qurans from prisoners.  They then sacrilegiously destroyed the books.  This is different than what was done with the Evangelical Bibles.  The purpose of the Bibles was not personal worship.  Also the troops were not prisoners.  Prisoners are under different human rights protections.  If these Afghan detainees are covered by the Geneva Conventions, this is the applicable portion.

Article 34

Prisoners of war shall enjoy complete latitude in the exercise of their religious duties, including attendance at the service of their faith, on condition that they comply with the disciplinary routine prescribed by the military authorities.

Adequate premises shall be provided where religious services may be held.  [3]

Article 35

Chaplains who fall into the hands of the enemy Power and who remain or are retained with a view to assisting prisoners of war, shall be allowed to minister to them and to exercise freely their ministry amongst prisoners of war of the same religion, in accordance with their religious conscience. They shall be allocated among the various camps and labour detachments containing prisoners of war belonging to the same forces, speaking the same language or practising the same religion. They shall enjoy the necessary facilities, including the means of transport provided for in Article 33, for visiting the prisoners of war outside their camp. They shall be free to correspond, subject to censorship, on matters concerning their religious duties with the ecclesiastical authorities in the country of detention and with international religious organizations. Letters and cards which they may send for this purpose shall be in addition to the quota provided for in Article 71. [4]

Article 36

Prisoners of war who are ministers of religion, without having officiated as chaplains to their own forces, shall be at liberty, whatever their denomination, to minister freely to the members of their community. For this purpose, they shall receive the same treatment as the chaplains retained by the Detaining Power. They shall not be obliged to do any other work. [5]

Article 37

When prisoners of war have not the assistance of a retained chaplain or of a prisoner of war minister of their faith, a minister belonging to the prisoners' or a similar denomination, or in his absence a qualified layman, if such a course is feasible from a confessional point of view, shall be appointed, at the request of the prisoners concerned, to fill this office. This appointment, subject to the approval of the Detaining Power, shall take place with the agreement of the community of prisoners concerned and, wherever necessary, with the approval of the local religious authorities of the same faith. The person thus appointed shall comply with all regulations established by the Detaining Power in the interests of discipline and military security. [6]

Article 38

While respecting the individual preferences of every prisoner, the Detaining Power shall encourage the practice of intellectual, educational, and recreational pursuits, sports and games amongst prisoners, and shall take the measures necessary to ensure the exercise thereof by providing them with adequate premises and necessary equipment.

Prisoners shall have opportunities for taking physical exercise, including sports and games, and for being out of doors. Sufficient open spaces shall be provided for this purpose in all camps. [7]

Prisoners are given "complete latitude", I am not certain if you can confiscate their Qurans.  Still I do not know.  I am neither a soldier or a lawyer.

However, it is also important to note that if the Qurans were garbage, they were to be burned like all garbage.  The military burns Bibles and I am sure they burn other religious texts.  I do not know how the military was supposed to dispose of the books.  I am sure we'll find out.

WSJ:Protests Against Quran-Burning Roil Afghanistan

KABUL—Afghanistan's government and religious leaders failed to mollify angry worshippers Friday, as a new wave of protests against the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base swept across the country.

While most of Friday's demonstrations ended peacefully, several degenerated into turbulent clashes between Afghan police and marchers chanting anti-American slogans.

Afghan demonstrators shout anti-US slogans as they carry a wounded man during a protest in Herat on Friday

Afghan demonstrators shout anti-US slogans as they carry a wounded man during a protest in Herat on Friday.

The deadliest such clash took place in Herat, a normally tranquil city in western Afghanistan, where demonstrators tried to march toward the U.S. consulate compound. At least six people were killed and 65 injured during confrontations with the Afghan security forces protecting the building, according to Mahiddin Noori, a spokesman for the Herat governor. The protesters failed to reach the consulate.

All in all, at least 20 people have been killed, including two U.S. soldiers, in four days of violence that erupted after U.S.-led coalition forces at the Bagram Airfield tried to burn a truckload of Islamic literature, including copies of the Quran, Islam's holy book.

Afghan workers said they rescued the books from the incinerator and then smuggled them off the base to show to local leaders. That ignited an escalating series of violent protests that have targeted coalition military bases, Afghan government buildings, United Nations offices and other symbols of Western presence in the country.

The U.S. has tried to mute the anger by launching an investigation and repeatedly apologizing for the occurrence. On Thursday, President Barack Obama expressed his "deep regret" to President Hamid Karzai in a personal letter to the Afghan president in which he vowed to hold to account those responsible for the Bagram incident.

U.S. military officials have said the books were set aside for destruction because Afghan detainees at the Parwan military detention center at Bagram were using them to trade messages and share extremist writing. But it remains unclear why the soldiers decided to burn copies of the Quran—a particularly incendiary affront to Muslims who view the book as the sacred word of God as relayed to the Prophet Muhammad.

On the eve of Friday's protests, Mr. Karzai and the country's religious leaders tried to limit the violence by urging people to express their anger peacefully. Preachers in mosques across Kabul tried to reinforce that message during Friday's weekly prayers.

"Those who burned the Quran are illiterate," thundered a preacher in Kabul's Khaled Ibn Walid mosque. "They don't know what religion is, but for us the solution is not violent demonstrations that kill our own people."

Similar messages in mosques across Kabul prevented chaotic anti-American marches from sweeping the city center. But elsewhere in the country and in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghan police trying to block the marchers from converging on Western compounds clashed with protesters.

In Herat, shooting erupted as hundreds of protesters, some of them armed, tried to march toward the U.S. consulate, local officials said. Outside the city, demonstrators burned two police stations, Mr. Noori said.

As worshippers gathered for Friday prayers, U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, urged Afghans to be patient and wait for the results of the investigation.

"Working together with the Afghan leadership is the only way for us to correct this major error and ensure that it never happens again," he said in a statement.

On Thursday night, Gen. Allen, accompanied by the Afghan Army Chief of Staff Gen. Sher Karimi, flew to a joint U.S.-Afghan base in eastern Afghanistan where an Afghan soldier opened fire on American forces during a protest earlier that day, killing two.

"Now is not the time for revenge," Gen. Allen told U.S. soldiers gathered at the small base in Nangarhar province. "Now is the time to look deep inside your souls and remember your mission. Now is how we show the Afghan people that, as bad as that action was at Bagram, it was unintentional, and American's and ISAF soldiers do not stand for this." [1]

Also this is from ABC on the timing of the apology.

The White House says the president’s apology was conveyed before the U.S. troops were killed today.

Furthermore, the administration notes that the apology, which was included in a lengthy three-page letter from Obama to Karzai on a range of issues, is not unprecedented. In 2008, President Bush apologized to Iraq’s prime minister for an American sniper’s shooting of a Koran.[2]

Ascetic Rigor

In recent years, my faith has been increasing challenged by those who intentionally or unintentionally delude themselves and their gullible followers.  These misleading believers have been frequent posts on this blog.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]  I plan to post daily Bible passages from my devotions as a way of trying to keep myself more disciplined.  Perhaps instead of focusing so much on child witches and limb lengthening, I could focus on finding Truth.

Acid Attacks by Asian Muslims

This is Muslim on Muslim violence. It should be noticed that some Muslims are trying to fight this. Also acid attacks are hardly an ancient convention. I just wanted to put this in context.

We typically think of terrorism as a political act.

But sometimes it’s very personal. It wasn’t a government or a guerrilla insurgency that threw acid on this woman’s face in Pakistan. It was a young man whom she had rejected for marriage. As the United States ponders what to do in Afghanistan — and for that matter, in Pakistan — it is wise to understand both the political and the personal, that the very ignorance and illiteracy and misogyny that create the climate for these acid attacks can and does bleed over into the political realm. Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times op-ed columnist who traveled to Pakistan last year to write about acid attacks, put it this way in an essay at the time: “I’ve been investigating such acid attacks, which are commonly used to terrorize and subjugate women and girls in a swath of Asia from Afghanistan through Cambodia (men are almost never attacked with acid). Because women usually don’t matter in this part of the world, their attackers are rarely prosecuted and acid sales are usually not controlled. It’s a kind of terrorism that becomes accepted as part of the background noise in the region. ...

“Bangladesh has imposed controls on acid sales to curb such attacks, but otherwise it is fairly easy in Asia to walk into a shop and buy sulfuric or hydrochloric acid suitable for destroying a human face. Acid attacks and wife burnings are common in parts of Asia because the victims are the most voiceless in these societies: They are poor and female. The first step is simply for the world to take note, to give voice to these women.” Since 1994, a Pakistani activist who founded the Progressive Women’s Association to help such women “has documented 7,800 cases of women who were deliberately burned, scalded or subjected to acid attacks, just in the Islamabad area. In only 2 percent of those cases was anyone convicted.”

The geopolitical question is already hard enough: Should the United States commit more troops to Afghanistan and for what specific purpose? As American policymakers mull the options, here is a frame of reference that puts the tough choices in even starker relief: Are acid attacks a sign of just how little the United States can do to solve intractable problems there — therefore, we should pull out? Or having declared war on terrorism, must the United States stay out of moral duty, to try to protect women such as these — and the schoolgirls whom the Taliban in Afghanistan sprayed with acid simply for going to class — who have suffered a very personal terrorist attack? We offer links to smart essays that come to differing conclusions.

• In August, Perspective published a New York Times Magazine piece that followed up the story of Afghan sisters Shamsia and Atifa Husseini, who were attacked with acid simply for attending school. If you wish to refresh your memory, you may read the original article.

• Two very smart, informed observers come to opposite conclusions on the proper U.S. course of action in Afghanistan:

1. In his “Think Tank” blog at NewYorker.com, Steve Coll argues why we can’t leave — “What If We Fail In Afghanistan?” Read the essay in full.

2. In an essay entitled “The War We Can’t Win” in Commonweal (also reprinted in the November issue of Harper’s), Andrew J. Bacevich makes the case that we are overstating the importance of Afghanistan to U.S. interests. Bacevich is a professor of International Relations at Boston University and the author, most recently, of The Limits of Power. A retired Army lieutenant colonel, he served from 1969 to 1992, in Vietnam and the first Persian Gulf War. He was a conservative critic of the Iraq war. Several of his essays have run before in Perspective. Read his essay in full. [1]

Things that may weaken your uterine lining

This series of posts is to collate some of the research that I have been doing on contraception and fertility. The motivation is largely from the following two paragraphs. I have an email to send off, but my thoughts are unorganized so I hope to organize them here. The first paragraph is from Mohler's blog which like almost any blog makes no pretense about being unfair. The second is from a Baptist Press article which I expect to have a bias, but I also expect them to be fair.

This is not merely a matter of semantics. Any intervention that prevents the fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine lining is an abortion. The Obama Administration has mandated the inclusion of the so-called “morning after pill” and other forms of “emergency contraception” in qualified plans. [1]

The HHS mandate requires all methods approved as birth control by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be included in a range of services offered to patients free of charge. Those FDA-endorsed contraceptives include ones that have abortion-causing properties -- "ella;" emergency contraception, such as Plan B, and the intrauterine device (IUD). Those methods all have mechanisms that can prevent tiny embryos from implanting in the uterine wall. In the case of "ella," it also can block production of the hormone progesterone, destroying the placenta that provides nutrition to the embryo and causing the unborn child's death. [2]

Friday Quotes VIII

“This is the issue of this election… whether we believe in our capacity for self government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves."
-Ronald Reagan

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” - Plato

"I have sometimes seen more in a line of the Bible than I can well stand under, and yet, another time the whole Bible has been to me as dry as a stick." - John Bunyan

Fossil Forests in China

An ancient swampy forest full of long-extinct plant species has been brought to life through analyses of well-preserved fossils entombed in a layer of volcanic ash. Although many of the species are already known to science, the eruption that smothered the tropical forest in what is now northern China created a time capsule that reveals an almost unprecedented level of detail about the region’s flora, scientists say.

Palaeoecologists can usually only infer the richness of an ancient forest ecosystem by piecing together fossils of plant fragments of varying ages. Only when broad areas are preserved in situ in a geological instant can researchers get a true picture of the composition and ecology of the forest, says Hermann Pfefferkorn, a palaeoecologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Although floods can cover wide swathes of landscape with sediment in one fell swoop, they often bring in organisms from other areas and wash local inhabitants away. The most reliable preservation, Pfefferkorn suggests, comes from a smothering layer of volcanic ash.

Pfefferkorn and his colleagues have unearthed one such time capsule from 298-million-year-old rocks in northern China — a 'forest Pompeii' where the weight of falling ash ripped leaves from twigs, toppled trees and then buried the lot. The consistent thickness of ash deposits in the region, as well as the size of individual ash particles, suggest that the volcanic blast occurred more than 100 kilometres away.
Forest of ferns

The researchers reconstructed the ancient ecosystem by analysing the positions of individual plants across three sites that together cover more than 1,000 square metres. Species from six plant groups lived there, Pfefferkorn and his team report online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1. Besides sporting a broad, low canopy of tree ferns, the peat forest contained trees that looked like feather dusters, with trunks twice the height of telephone poles; vines and three species of an enigmatic group called Noeggerathiales — small spore-bearing trees that scientists think are close relatives of the earliest ferns.

“This is a wonderful study,” says Robert Gastaldo, a palaeobotanist at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. “Many of these plant groups we knew from other places, but we had no idea that they actually grew together.”

The team’s findings “provide a view into the guts of a coal-forming swamp in its prime”, says Scott Elrick, a geologist with the Illinois State Geological Survey in Champaign.

When the forest was alive, it sat on the northwestern edge of a large tropical island off the eastern shore of the supercontinent Pangaea, the researchers say. Most forests like this one had died out elsewhere millions of years earlier — their habitats had dried as landmasses comprising the supercontinent came together and the forests ended up farther from the coasts, says Ralph Taggart, a palaeoecologist at Michigan State University in East Lansing. In that sense, he notes, even before it was buried, this peat forest was already frozen in time as forests elsewhere evolved. [1]

Your Grace is Enough - Written by Catholic Matt Maher...What?

I guess the song is truly catholic with a big and a little "C".

 

Matt Maher is a contemporary worship leader in the Catholic faith. Since most people outside of the Catholic faith find “contemporary worship” and “Catholic” to be two things they would never associate as going together, I asked Matt to describe himself and what he does for me. Here is what he had to say …

“I’m a worship leader out of Mesa Arizona. Primarily I work full time at a church. I’ve done some touring and traveling over the years, but I work 20 hours a week as a worship leader and 20 hours a week as young adult minister. I lead a college Bible study. It’s a Catholic Church, which kind of surprises a lot of people. The joy that I really feel, as part of my ministry, is that I’ve been kind of going out more and traveling and working with different people breaking down those stereotypes because people have a lot of Catholic stereotypes. I’m just letting them know that there is a generation, now rising, of Catholics who recognize the gift of Salvation that’s been given to them and that see the need for a daily relationship with Jesus and pursue it. And pursue Him actively in His Word, and also pursue it in the Sacrament. Primarily, I think the way that God has been using me to reach out to people is through worship. I think there’s kind of a format that’s developed. I lead worship every week. I do a mass every Sunday night at 6 PM at my church, Saint Tims, and on Tuesday nights we do a thing called XLT. Basically what it is is a gathering for high school and college students. It’s consistent with about 40 minutes of worship, 20 to 25 minutes of teaching and about 25 to 30 minutes of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. It’s been really powerful to see that happen and to see these different elements kind of from post-modern culture and Christianity, not clashing, but colliding with something as ancient and ritualistic as the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. And it’s been phenomenal to see the fruit come from that. I just got off the phone this morning and found out that I was asked this fall to Atlanta to the NCYC, which is the National Catholic Youth Conference. It’s the largest single Catholic youth conference in the world, or maybe it’s just North America. I mean, there’s World Youth Day, but a straight-up conference for high school students, I think this is the largest one in the world. We’re going to do a XLT worship night in an auditorium that seats 15000 people. It will be sometime in November or December. So I’m already excited. I’ve done a lot of work throughout the country with a ministry called Life Teen, which is a parish based youth ministry program that’s designed to help provide and develop resources for youth ministers to reach their teens and lead them to Christ. I’ve mostly just done music with them. I’ve also worked with the Franciscan University of Steubenville at the summer youth conferences. I’ve led worship at a couple of those. So that’s kind of what I do. It’s kind of a big myriad or a smattering of things.

What I’ve realized too is that the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few. The reality is that because of the denominational barriers that exist, there are so few laborers in the Catholic Church. You know, I think it’s a move that God is doing. It’s not about me, it’s about unity and not just playing at unity by basically saying, “Well, we’ll let Catholics come here and hang out with us.” There’s a guy that I’ve been developing a friendship with whose name is J. D. Walt. He’s the Dean of Chapel at Asbury Seminary in Kentucky. He’s just a phenomenal preacher, a great man, a great husband and loving father. He and I have just been dialoging and he said something really profound. He said that unity comes through dialog through relationships. I was like that is really true.

For me, growing up, I always had a cross section of friends from different ethnic or religious backgrounds. So the thing I’ve witnessed is that there has been a lot of misrepresentation out there. A lot of people have been poorly educated about Catholicism. They’re just taking what their pastor said when they were 10 or 11 or a teenager in high school and they give a quick track on 10 things to refute your Catholic students. I was never taught that, through all of my Christian upbringing. There’s this whole buzz-talk now about the “emerging church”. What is that look like? A friend of mine asked me that once and I said, “Well, it starts with candles and creative music!” (laughs) No, seriously, I’m only 30, so what do I know, but I think it starts with solid community, regardless of the denomination, and depth of teaching. It’s about re-presenting, which I think Catholics need to do a better job of, dogmas or doctrines, not as these set rules or laws, but as deeper expressions of God’s love, for God and God’s love of humankind. Not so much as alternate ways to God like a 12-step program. It’s not about that. It’s interesting that people could look at creation and see how God used that to worship Him, and yet look at a 14 year old girl who said “yes” and could have gotten killed for being pregnant outside of marriage 2000 years ago, and not honor her. So I think it’s trying to find new ways to dialog with other Christians to re-present these ancient ideas that I see people stumble on or find out on their own. We have a history or a fascination with the ancient church and I think it’s our job as Catholics to … not to protect it … but for us to know about it and be in dialog with it. I always say that I feel like we’re like the spoiled, adopted kids of God. We have all of these toys and we don’t even know it.” [2006]

Looking down the well, Geodesy

No Hot Drinks

Doctrine and Covenants 89

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, 27 February 1833 (see History of the Church, 1:327–29). As a consequence of the early brethren using tobacco in their meetings, the Prophet was led to ponder upon the matter; consequently, he inquired of the Lord concerning it. This revelation, known as the Word of Wisdom, was the result. The first three verses were originally written as an inspired introduction and description by the Prophet... 

7 And, again, strong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies.

8 And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill.

9 And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly.

10 And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—

11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.

12 Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;

13 And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.[1]

Mormon sun stone, 1844

Drawn from a dream vision of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, sun stones and other celestial carvings adorned the Mormon Temple built at Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1844. But the elaborate temple was destroyed soon after by people opposed to Mormons and their religious beliefs. To escape further persecution, the Mormon community moved west and settled in Utah. This sun stone, salvaged from the ruined Nauvoo temple and preserved by a local historical society since 1913, was offered to the Smithsonian in 1989. To Richard Ahlborn, the Smithsonian's religious history curator, it represented a chance to explore "the complexity of our nation's spiritual origins." [1]

History of Nothing

We all know the aphorism that one can see a glass filled to the middle with water as half-full or half-empty, the optimistic versus the pessimistic views. What about an empty glass? Of course, everyone knows that it’s filled with air. Can we, however, contemplate total emptiness? And if we can, does it really exist? Is there such a thing as a complete void in Nature, the absence of everything? This question has occupied the minds of philosophers and physicists for a very long time. KC Cole, a past member of 13.7, wrote a wonderful book about the topic.

What we mean by “nothing” has radically changed over time. And of course, the meaning of nothing is deeply related to our notion of reality, a topic we’ve been exploring for the past few weeks. Total emptiness, if it exists, has foreboding undertones. Nothingness is scary. We want to fill it up with something. And it appears that we are in luck.

We tend to organize perceived reality in terms of opposites: day-night, light-dark, hot-cold, male-female, before-after, good-evil, life-death and so forth. The opposite of nothing is everything. In the dictionary, the proper word for a completely empty space isvoid. So, it is to the void that we turn as the complete absence of matter.

Imagine that we had a super-pump, capable of sucking out every single air molecule from a bottle. (Of course, this has to be an imaginary perfectly rigid bottle, for otherwise it would implode.) Is there a point where nothing would remain inside?

Already in ancient Greece the question incited passionate debate. Parmenides, a pre-Socratic philosopher from southern Italy, would say that “eon” permeates all that exists, representing immutable Being in its most abstract form. According to his view, the void would be an impossibility, since it would mean a place without eon and hence with non-Being. Against Parmenides and his disciples, Atomists such as Democritus and later Lucretius would say that everything is composed of atoms moving in the void. So, matter and no-matter coexist, and where atoms are missing there is emptiness.

Aristotle strongly disagreed with the "atomists." To him, “Nature abhorred a vacuum”: the void was impossible. His logic went something like this: drop a marble on a glass containing water and into one containing honey. The marble’s falling speed is larger in the glass with water. Since the speed of an object moving in a material medium (air, water, honey, etc.) is inversely proportional to the medium’s density, Aristotle extrapolated that in a medium which is completely empty (zero density) the speed of an object would be infinite. That, to Aristotle, was absurd and hence no medium could be completely empty. He thus postulated the existence of the aether, an inert and eternal substance that filled all of space above the Earth.

In the early 17th century, Descartes suggested that the cosmos was filled with an aether-like substance that was able to sustain vortices similar to hurricanes. He used this notion to explain the orbits of planets around the Sun and of the Moon around the Earth (they would be carried around by the vortex like corks spiraling around an emptying drain). In his masterpiece thePrincipia, Newton proved Descartes wrong, arguing that if there was such a substance in space, it would cause so much friction that the planets would fall onto the Sun; orbits would be unstable. Space was empty after all.

But not for long.

When James Clerk Maxwell showed in the mid-1800s that light was an electromagnetic wave propagating at 300,000 kilometers per second. He also concluded that, as any good wave should, light should be waving on something material. But what? It couldn’t be dense at all, as Newton had shown. It had to be transparent, since we can see light from distant stars. It had to be rigid to allow for the propagation of fast waves. And it had to be weightless. So, the aether made a come back, now dressed in the more precise language of science. When Michelson and Morley failed to see the aether in their famous 1887 experiment, a quiet sense of desperation spread through the physics community. Strange ideas were proposed to salvage the aether. Only in 1905 did Einstein prove that the aether was not needed to sustain the propagation of electromagnetic waves: they could propagate in vacuo, in the void.

Side by side with this emptiness, atoms were also seen as mostly empty: electrons orbited protons at huge distances. A famous image is that if we amplify a proton to the size of a cherry, an electron would be circling at a radius equivalent to that of the Dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. More precisely, the size difference is of about 100,000. So, the vision of the ancient atomists had a grain of truth: atoms do move in the void. Or do they?

As the 20th century progressed, the image of particles as little billiard balls scattering off each other went through a deep revision. The fundamental change in approach wasn’t very new, dating back to the work of Faraday and Maxwell in the 19thcentury. It was the notion that fields permeate all of space, being connected to specific sources. For example, any massive body such as yourself creates a gravitational field that “spreads” throughout space and falls with the square of the distance. Similarly, electric charges also create their fields. Soon enough, fields were linked to all matter particles and to the forces connecting them (such as gravity and electromagnetism). In fact, particles began to be seen as excitations of fields, just as waves are excitations of a material medium. (Like a rock tossed on a pond.)

Physical reality is now seen as consisting of fundamental fields and their excitations. There is no such thing as empty space. Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek wrote an excellent popular book on this view, The Lightness of Being.

And just to make things even more interesting, in 1998 astronomers discovered that the whole of space is filled up with a mysterious entity which, for lack of a better name, is called dark energy. We don’t know what it is but know what it does: it accelerates the expansion of space itself, rushing galaxies away from each other. So, in a sense, Aristotle was right after all. Dark energy could be thought as a kind of aether, although we don’t know if this substance (if we can call it a substance) is eternal and immutable. It may very well spring from the fields that permeate space, its origins related to the quantum fuzziness that dictates atomic behavior. Whatever it is, it seems that the void is no more. [1]