Storm cancels Obama's Memorial Day speech

At the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Illinois, the president tells spectators, 'We are … concerned about lightning. This may not be safe.' Later, he delivers the speech in Washington.
By Stacy St. Clair, Chicago Tribune
June 1, 2010

Reporting from Elwood, Ill. —A violent thunderstorm forced President Obama to cancel his Memorial Day address Monday at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Illinois, where he took to a rain-soaked stage and urged the thousands of spectators to seek shelter.

"We are a little bit concerned about lightning," he told the crowd. "This may not be safe. I know that all of you are here to commemorate the fallen. ... What we'd like to do is, if possible, have people move back to their cars, and if this passes in the next 15 to 20 minutes, I'll stick around."

The White House said Obama made the decision to halt the event. the rest

Pope Names Team to Investigate Abuse in Ireland

By RACHEL DONADIO
May 31, 2010

LinkedinDiggFacebookMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalink. ROME — In one of his most concrete actions since a sexual abuse scandal began sweeping the Catholic Church in Europe, Pope Benedict XVI on Monday appointed a high-profile team of prelates, including the archbishop of New York, to investigate Irish dioceses and seminaries.

The pope had announced that he would open the investigation in a strong letter to Irish Catholics in March, in which he expressed “shame and remorse” for “sinful and criminal” acts committed by members of the clergy, following two scathing Irish government reports documenting widespread abuse in church-run schools and other institutions.

On Monday the pope also accepted the resignation of Richard Burke, an Irish-born archbishop in Benin City, Nigeria, who had been suspended after he acknowledged having a 20-year relationship with a woman. In a statement, the bishop apologized and denied accusations of child abuse. He said the sexual relationship began when the woman was 21. The woman has said it began when she was 14. the rest

Cutié Delivers 1st Service As Episcopalian Priest

His Wife Ruhama Is Pregnant
May 30, 2010
MIAMI

Fr. Alberto Cutie held his first service after being ordained an Episcopalian priest.

A former priest who left the Roman Catholic Church because he fell in love with a woman is not only a priest again at a new church but will soon be a father.

On Sunday Alberto Cutié, 41, presided over his first service as an Episcopalian priest at the Church of the Resurrection in Biscayne Park. After the service he said things have been going great for him.

"It's been very good. I'm really trying to serve the same God that I have always served, obviously in a different church, and serving the community as a priest is a real blessing," said Cutié. the rest

Greater love has no one than this...

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this,

that he lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:12-13 image by ingridtaylar

Our garden on Memorial Day weekend

Memorial Day

Our garden along the driveway

Antony Waterer spirea

Coral climbing rose

Close-up of Trumpeter rose


Bee in the rhododendron

-Pictures by Raymond Dague-

Trinity Sunday

I arise today through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the Threeness,
through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation.

I arise today through the strength of Christ with his Baptism,
through the strength of His Crucifixion with His Burial,
through the strength of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
through the strength of His descent for the Judgment of Doom.

I arise today through the strength of the love of Cherubim
in obedience of Angels, in the service of the Archangels,
in hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
in prayers of Patriarchs, in predictions of Prophets,
in preachings of Apostles, in faiths of Confessors,
in innocence of Holy Virgins, in deeds of righteous men.

I arise today, through the strength of Heaven;
light of Sun, brilliance of Moon, splendor of Fire,
speed of Lightning, swiftness of Wind, depth of Sea,
stability of Earth, firmness of Rock.

I arise today, through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to secure me:
against snares of devils,
against temptations of vices,
against inclinations of nature,
against everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and anear, alone and in a crowd.

I summon today all these powers between me (and these evils):
against every cruel and merciless power that
may oppose my body and my soul,
against incantations of false prophets,
against black laws of heathenry, against false laws of heretics,
against craft of idolatry,
against spells of witches, smiths and wizards,
against every knowledge that endangers man's body and soul.
Christ to protect me today against poisoning,
against burning, against drowning, against wounding,
so that there may come abundance in reward.

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ in breadth,
Christ in length,
Christ in height,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity,
through belief in the Threeness,
through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of Christ.
May Thy Salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.
Amen.
the lorica (the deer's cry) - breastplate of st. patrick - 433 A.D. image

South Korean Court Rules that Frozen Human Embryos are 'Not Human'

By Matthew Cullian Hoffman
SEOUL, May 28, 2010

(LifeSiteNews.com) - Despite parents' pleas, a South Korean court has ruled that frozen embryos are not living and thus may be experimented upon and destroyed at will.

The ruling was issued against a suit filed by the parents of the embryos, as well as eleven other individuals, including philosophers, ethicists, and doctors. In addition, the two embryos themselves were listed among the plaintiffs.

The embryos were created for a couple with the surname Nam. A total of three were produced by in vitro fertilization and one was implanted. The other two were to remain available for implantation or to be used for scientific research.

However, the Nams had a change of heart and, aided by a team of experts, sought to vindicate the rights of their unborn children. the rest

Lutherans in Search of a Church

May 27, 2010
Robert Benne

In its August 2009 Churchwide Assembly, the Evangelical Lutheran Church decided formally to leave the Great Tradition of orthodox Christianity for a declining and desiccated liberal Protestantism. The decisions it made—accepting a weak and confused social statement on sexuality, allowing blessings of gay unions, ordaining gays and lesbians in partnered relationships, and requiring Lutherans to respect each other’s “bound conscience” on these issues—crossed the “line in the sand” that separates revisionist Christians from orthodox.

That result was a foregone conclusion for critical observers who had been watching the ELCA carefully since its inception in the late eighties. (Among them, of course, was Richard John Neuhaus, who saw clearly the trajectory yet to unfold.) What had been the promise of a renewed and robust Lutheranism in the merger of the American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America was aborted before its birth, in 1988. The planners of the new Lutheran church saw to it that those who provided theological guidance to predecessor churches—then almost exclusively white and male—were marginalized from the real decision-making centers of church life. the rest

Spirituality Without Spirits

May 28, 2010
David Mills

It’s a great and self-serving mess, this claim to be “spiritual but not religious,” which we hear from almost anyone who talks about religion in public, outside those the worldlings define as fundamentalist (me, probably you, Joseph Bottum, David Goldman, Benedict XVI, Hassidic Jews, devout Muslims, religious families with more than four children).

It’s one of those easily remembered phrases that work like a “get out of jail free” card for anyone who feels he has to explain his lack of religious practice, and as a claim to superiority for those who care about being superior to those who practice an established religion. It’s the religious equivalent of “I gave at the office” or “There’s a call on the other line” or “I don’t eat meat.” the rest

I'm sure the government will buy it...

Turbo Encapulator
(Hmmm...maybe it could be used to plug the flow of oil in the Gulf...)

For more info on the turboencapulator, check out this link at Wikipedia.

Devotional: That the universe was formed...

That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy. ...Jonathan Swift image

The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains

By Nicholas Carr
May 24, 2010

During the winter of 2007, a UCLA professor of psychiatry named Gary Small recruited six volunteers—three experienced Web surfers and three novices—for a study on brain activity. He gave each a pair of goggles onto which Web pages could be projected. Then he slid his subjects, one by one, into the cylinder of a whole-brain magnetic resonance imager and told them to start searching the Internet. As they used a handheld keypad to Google various preselected topics—the nutritional benefits of chocolate, vacationing in the Galapagos Islands, buying a new car—the MRI scanned their brains for areas of high activation, indicated by increases in blood flow.
The two groups showed marked differences. Brain activity of the experienced surfers was far more extensive than that of the newbies, particularly in areas of the prefrontal cortex associated with problem-solving and decisionmaking. Small then had his subjects read normal blocks of text projected onto their goggles; in this case, scans revealed no significant difference in areas of brain activation between the two groups. The evidence suggested, then, that the distinctive neural pathways of experienced Web users had developed because of their Internet use.

The most remarkable result of the experiment emerged when Small repeated the tests six days later. In the interim, the novices had agreed to spend an hour a day online, searching the Internet. The new scans revealed that their brain activity had changed dramatically; it now resembled that of the veteran surfers. “Five hours on the Internet and the naive subjects had already rewired their brains,” Small wrote. He later repeated all the tests with 18 more volunteers and got the same results.

When first publicized, the findings were greeted with cheers. By keeping lots of brain cells buzzing, Google seemed to be making people smarter. But as Small was careful to point out, more brain activity is not necessarily better brain activity. The real revelation was how quickly and extensively Internet use reroutes people’s neural pathways. “The current explosion of digital technology not only is changing the way we live and communicate,” Small concluded, “but is rapidly and profoundly altering our brains.” the rest image by jurvetson

A Family Affair: What would the church look like if it put we before me?

Joseph H. Hellerman
5/28/2010

Spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community. Persons who remain connected with their brothers and sisters in the local church almost invariably grow in self-understanding. And they mature in their ability to relate in healthy ways to God and to fellow human beings. This is especially the case for those courageous Christians who stick it out through the messy process of interpersonal conflict. Long-term relationships are the crucible of genuine progress in the Christian life. People who stay grow.

People who leave do not grow. We all know persons consumed with spiritual wanderlust. We never get to know them well because they cannot seem to stay put. They move from church to church, avoiding conflict or ever searching for a congregation that will better satisfy their felt needs. Like trees repeatedly transplanted from soil to soil, these spiritual nomads fail to put down roots, and they seldom experience lasting, fruitful growth in their Christian lives.

Despite what we know about spiritual growth, nearly all churches in America are characterized by an unwillingness of members to commit themselves deeply to their respective church. For some, it means church hopping; for most, it means keeping the church at arm's length—that is, living as if the individual's life is primary and that of the church is secondary. the rest image

Albert Mohler: A Black Cat in a Dark Room-Are Theologians Really Saying Anything?

The true and living God desires to be known and has made himself known. That makes all the difference. True theology is not explaining the unknowable, but coming to know the God who wants us to know him. Theology is about knowledge — indeed, about the knowledge that matters most of all.
Friday, May 28, 2010

Terry Sanderson is president of Britain’s National Secular Society, so it is hardly news that he has little time for the efforts of theologians. Writing in The Guardian [London], Sanderson dismisses theology as a form of knowledge. Theologians may talk, he suggests, but they are really not saying anything.

In his words, “theology is drivel.” Thus, any attention given to theology — even to refute it — is just wasted effort. Efforts to understand theology are “hopeless,” he insists.

In order to bolster his claim, Sanderson cites the late science-fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, who wrote, “Theology . . . is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn’t there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything.” the rest image by carlosluz

The Meaning of the Tea Party

By William Voegeli
May 27, 2010

One point about the tea party movement is not in dispute: it was triggered on the morning of February 19, 2009, by Rick Santelli, a correspondent for CNBC. Speaking from the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, Santelli responded to a question from his studio anchors by denouncing a proposed $75 billion government program to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. As the traders around him began to look up from their computers to listen, then to applaud and cheer, Santelli turned to them and asked, "How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage who has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills?" Getting more worked up, Santelli said, "We're thinking about having a Chicago tea party in July. All of you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I'm going to start organizing it."

Santelli, it turned out, didn't need to do any organizing, or to wait five months for people to take action. The Tea Party movement was born. CNBC and YouTube viewers launched websites and Facebook pages within hours of the rant heard 'round the world. Within weeks, a new factor in American politics emerged, a "right-wing street-protest movement," according to the liberal journalist Michael Tomasky, something unprecedented in modern American politics. Following Santelli's famous outburst the Tea Party movement "materialized...out of nowhere," Tomasky reported forthrightly but regretfully, "with an intensity no one would have predicted." As one consequence, "the degree to which self-identified independent voters flipped on health care...from support to opposition, in part because of the toxic town-hall protests, was astonishing." the rest

The phenomenon is especially hard to describe precisely because it is so decentralized, a movement with "no headquarters to visit, no chairman, no written platform and no chosen candidate," as Time magazine observed.

Archbishop of Canterbury imposes first sanctions on Anglican provinces over gay bishops dispute

The Archbishop of Canterbury has imposed the first sanctions on Anglican provinces judged to have inflamed tensions over homosexuality in the church.
By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent
28 May 2010

Dr Rowan Williams announced that areas which had ignored “pleading” for restraint would be banned from attending inter-faith dialogue events and prevented from voting on a key body on doctrine.

He admitted the 80 million-strong Anglican Communion was in a time of “substantial transition” but held back from taking the most serious step of expelling national churches from it.

His action, taken after years of patiently asking both conservatives and liberals to abide by agreed rules, will affect both sides in the dispute over whether the Bible permits openly homosexual clergy.

It has been triggered by the progressive Episcopal Church of the USA, which ordained its first lesbian bishop, the Rt Rev Mary Glasspool, earlier this month. The Episcopal Church also elected the first openly homosexual bishop in the Communion, the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, in 2003. the rest

Anglican Head Reprimands U.S. Church over Lesbian Bishop

Church Times: Dr Williams makes first strike against erring provinces
PROVINCES that have breached moratoria laid down by the Anglican Communion — by consecrating gay bishops, blessing same-sex unions, and intervening unbidden in other provinces — are to be excluded from future ecumenical dialogue, the Archbishop of Canterbury has proposed...

Archbishop of Canterbury's Pentecost letter to the Anglican Communion

Comments at Stand Firm and TitusOneNine

Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam'

May 27, 2010
FOXNews.com

The president's top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday called jihad a "legitimate tenet of Islam," arguing that the term "jihadists" should not be used to describe America's enemies.

During a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, John Brennan described violent extremists as victims of "political, economic and social forces," but said that those plotting attacks on the United States should not be described in "religious terms."

He repeated the administration argument that the enemy is not "terrorism," because terrorism is a "tactic," and not terror, because terror is a "state of mind" -- though Brennan's title, deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism and homeland security, includes the word "terrorism" in it. But then Brennan said that the word "jihad" should not be applied either. the rest

2nd Iceland volcano issues warning

Scientists say powerful Katla is ‘close to failure’
Thurs., May 27, 2010
MSNBC

LONDON - A second, much larger volcano in Iceland is showing signs that it may be about to erupt, scientists have warned.

Since the start of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, which caused cancellations of thousands of flights in Europe because of a giant ash cloud, there has been much speculation about neighboring Katla.

An initial research paper by the University College of London Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction said: "Analysis of the seismic energy released around Katla over the last decade or so is interpreted as providing evidence of a rising ... intrusive magma body on the western flank of the volcano." the rest

Noonan: He Was Supposed to Be Competent

The spill is a disaster for the president and his political philosophy.
MAY 29, 2010
By PEGGY NOONAN

I don't see how the president's position and popularity can survive the oil spill. This is his third political disaster in his first 18 months in office. And they were all, as they say, unforced errors, meaning they were shaped by the president's political judgment and instincts.

There was the tearing and unnecessary war over his health-care proposal and its cost. There was his day-to-day indifference to the views and hopes of the majority of voters regarding illegal immigration. And now the past almost 40 days of dodging and dithering in the face of an environmental calamity. I don't see how you politically survive this.

The president, in my view, continues to govern in a way that suggests he is chronically detached from the central and immediate concerns of his countrymen. This is a terrible thing to see in a political figure, and a startling thing in one who won so handily and shrewdly in 2008. But he has not, almost from the day he was inaugurated, been in sync with the center. The heart of the country is thinking each day about A, B and C, and he is thinking about X, Y and Z. They're in one reality, he's in another. the rest

The original sin in my view is that as soon as the oil rig accident happened the president tried to maintain distance between the gusher and his presidency. He wanted people to associate the disaster with BP and not him. When your most creative thoughts in the middle of a disaster revolve around protecting your position, you are summoning trouble.

How Obama Got Into Harvard

Obama a no-show at Arlington Nat'l Cemetery‎

USA Today/Gallup: Public Opinion Turning Against Obama on Oil Spill

Devotional: Before He furnishes the abundant supply...

Before He furnishes the abundant supply, we must first be made conscious of our emptiness. before he gives strength, we must be made to feel our weakness. Slow, painfully slow, are we to learn this lesson; and slower still to own our nothingness and take the place of helplessness before the Mighty One. ...Arthur W. Pink image by esparta

Ground Zero Imam: ‘I Don’t Believe in Religious Dialogue’

Exclusive new translations from Arabic websites reveal Imam Faisel Abdul Rauf seriously misleads New Yorkers about his intention to infiltrate Shariah law through his Ground Zero mosque.
May 27, 2010
by Walid Shoebat

Is Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf — founder of the hugely controversial Ground Zero mosque — lying to the American public and his fellow New Yorkers?

We have uncovered extraordinary contradictions between what he says in English and what he says in Arabic that raise serious questions about his true intentions in the construction of the mosque.

On May 25, 2010, Abdul Rauf wrote an article for the New York Daily News insisting:

My colleagues and I are the anti-terrorists. We are the people who want to embolden the vast majority of Muslims who hate terrorism to stand up to the radical rhetoric. Our purpose is to interweave America’s Muslim population into the mainstream society. [emphasis added]

Oh, really? the rest

Homosexual Discrimination Bill Must be Stopped Say Catholic Bishops

Wednesday May 26, 2010
By Peter J. Smith
WASHINGTON, D.C.

(LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. Catholic bishops have come out in full force against the federal Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA). They say they can no longer stay neutral on a bill that they charge will lead to the Roe v. Wade of traditional marriage in the United States, and trample on the rights of employers and those speaking the truth about homosexuality.

In a letter sent to Congress on May 19, and obtained by the Jesuit-run publication America, representatives of the Catholic bishops said that their concerns over the current forms of ENDA making their way through the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 3017) and the U.S. Senate (S. 1584) are so serious that “we cannot maintain the position of neutrality we held in 2007.”

The letter, sent by Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage, Bishop William Murphy, Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., Chairman of the Committee on Doctrine, stated that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was opposing ENDA. They said the law would pose serious danger to marriage, religious liberty, privacy, the right to speak the truth about homosexuality in the public square, the rights of employers to act “consistent with that truth,” and the right of individuals to associate freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. the rest

BBC TV 'sees religion as tiresome obligation'

Wednesday, 26 May 2010

Religious coverage is seen as a "rather tiresome obligation" by "secular and sceptical" BBC television staff, a Radio 4 broadcaster has said.

Roger Bolton called for the appointment of a BBC religion editor to improve coverage of faith matters.

He was speaking at the Sandford St Martin Trust awards for religious programmes, for which he was chairman of the judges.

The BBC said its commitment to religion broadcasting was "unequivocal". the rest

Rates of Homosexual Assault in the Military Are Disproportionately High

posted May 27, 2010
Executive Summary

A Family Research Council analysis of publicly available documents-the Pentagon's own report on sexual assault in the military for Fiscal Year 2009, and published decisions from military courts of appeals over the last decade and a half-have shown that there is already a significant problem of homosexual misconduct in the military. This problem can only become worse if the current law is repealed and homosexuals are openly welcomed (and even granted special protections) within the military, as homosexual activists are demanding.

Report

Obamacare: Massachusetts Storm Warning

Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Wesley J. Smith

Massachusetts’ experiment with a form of Obamacare is failing, with the state’s insurance companies in terrible financial trouble because of the heavy hand of politicized premium regulation. From the story:

The four major Massachusetts health insurers yesterday posted first-quarter losses totaling more than $150 million, with three of them blaming the bulk of the losses on the Patrick administration’s decision to cap rate increases for individuals and small businesses.The carriers attributed $116 million of their $152 million in losses to the April 1 ruling by the state Division of Insurance to deny most proposed premium increases for the so-called small-group market. That category covers 800,000 residents who are self-insured or employed by companies with 50 or fewer employees.

Yesterday’s financial reports renewed the dispute between state officials, who say they are protecting consumers from excessive rate hikes, and the health insurance industry, which complains it is being unfairly blamed for surging medical costs and being forced to sell policies at rates that cause them to lose money. “The health plans are not collecting enough premiums to cover their costs,’’ said Lora Pellegrini, president and chief executive of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans. “These results support what we’ve said: that the plans would lose millions of dollars from this scheme and it would do nothing to control underlying health care costs.’’ the rest

UK: Cancer patient forced by judge to have surgery

A cancer patient is to be forced to undergo life-saving treatment against her wishes after a landmark ruling by a judge.
By Martin Beckford and Stephen Adams
26 May 2010

Doctors will be allowed forcibly to sedate the 55-year-old woman in her home and take her to hospital for surgery. She could be forced to remain on a ward afterwards.

The case has sparked an intense ethical and legal debate. Experts questioned whether lawyers and doctors should be able to override the wishes of patients and whether force was ever justified in providing medical care.

Treatment was ordered by Sir Nicholas Wall, the President of the Family Division, in the Court of Protection, after surgeons at the woman's local hospital applied for permission to force the surgery on her. They argued that without it, advanced cancer of the uterus would kill her. the rest

TV's 'People Are Funny' host Art Linkletter dies

By LYNN ELBER, AP Entertainment
Wed May 26, 2010

LOS ANGELES – Art Linkletter, who as the gently mischievous host of TV's "People Are Funny" and "House Party" in the 1950s and '60s delighted viewers with his ability to get kids — and grownups — to say the darndest things on national television, died Wednesday. He was 97.

Linkletter died at his home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles, said his son-in-law, Art Hershey, the husband of Sharon Linkletter.

"He lived a long, full, pure life, and the Lord had need for him," Hershey said. the rest

RIP Art Linkletter

Devotional: Listening...

The first service one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love of God begins in listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them. It is God's love for us that He not only gives us His Word but lends us His ear. So it is His work that we do for our brother when we learn to listen to him. ...Dietrich Bonhoeffer image by NJ

Worship of "Goddess" in the ELCA and Led by Synod Council Leader

05/19/2010
Dan Skogen

Have you ever prayed to the Goddess? Recited the "Goddess Rosary?" Joined an ELCA Goddess small group? If you stay in the ELCA long enough you may just get your chance. ELCA church, Ebenezer Lutheran in San Francisco (http://www.herchurch.org) has been doing this for a long time, but they are not the only ones. Rev. Jeff Johnson, recently elected to the Sierra Pacific Synod Council, and his church University Lutheran Chapel (ELCA) in Berkeley, CA are conducting a monthly "Goddess Rosary" service.

Here is what the University Lutheran Chapel newsletter says about the service.

"Goddess Rosary.Last Sunday of the Month Goddess Rosary, 6:45PM at the Chapel. During the 1-hour session, the Divine Feminine will be recognized and reclaimed through recitation of the Goddess Rosary, silence, music, and movement. This very special Rosary consists of prayers by feminist theologian Carol Christ and musician Sister Miriam Therese Winter. The evening will be based on Rev. Stacy Boorn’s Goddess-centered devotion at Ebenezer/herchurch Lutheran Church in SF. People of all gender identities are welcome." the rest

Ebenezer/herchurch Lutheran, San Francisco - ELCA
including Goddess Sacred Sites

Order your own Goddess Rosary

Sing:
We Praise Our God of Many Names
Tune: Tallis’ Canon
Text: Jann Aldredge-Clanton (Adapted)

We praise our God of many names;
Our Great Creatress we proclaim;
Our Mother, Goddess, Friend and Guide
Walks with us always by our side.

The Living Water in us flows,
The Bread of Life helps us to grow;
The Christ-Sophia will abide
Where minds and hearts are open wide.

Our Sister Brother Spirit calls
With words of peace to break the walls;
The Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove
Will fill us with abundant Love.

The Last Best Hope

by Dennis Prager
May 26th, 2010

One of the many beliefs — i.e., non-empirically based doctrines — of the post-Christian West has been that moral progress is the human norm, especially so with the demise of religion. In a secular world, the self-described enlightened thinking goes, superstition is replaced by reason, and reason leads to the moral good.

Of course, it turned out that the post-Christian West produced considerably more evil than the Christian world had. No mass cruelty in the name of Christianity approximated the vastness of the cruelty unleashed by secular doctrines and regimes in the post-Christian world. The argument against religion that more people have been killed in the name of religion than by any other doctrine is false propaganda on behalf of secularism and Leftism. the rest image

Ten Years and a New Anglican Congregationalism

Written by: Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

It is ten years since Anglicanism’s current travails were formally inaugurated with the formation of an alternative “Communion” church in North America, the Anglican Mission in America. Not the cause, it was nonetheless the first major sign that “communion” was no longer a given in Anglicanism, but something to be variously asserted, antagonistically claimed, and built up or torn down as the case may be. And after ten years, I think it necessary to say that most of the work thus far has been one of tearing down. Tearing down, but also of exposing new things and clearer lines of calling, so that what had been emerging as a communion might now be seen as demanding deeper commitment for its flourishing than anybody had imagined. The work that many of us have been doing out of a commitment to the traditional Christian faith as Anglicans (and others) had received it has been worth the effort, and continues to be demanded. But what we are seeing, especially as Christian communion is being assaulted not only from within the Church, but more importantly by a rapidly dissolving Christian culture in the West, is that there are deeper roots to put down and nourish than we had perhaps first thought.

The tearing down, in any case, is what is most obvious, perhaps, to outsiders or onlookers from within. One by one, for instance, the so-called “Instruments of Unity” for Anglicans around the world have been eroded in their perceived integrity, and certainly in their effectiveness. the rest

Abortionist under Investigation for Forced Abortion Says he “Lies” to Patients

Tuesday May 25, 2010
By Peter J. Smith
DETROIT, Michigan

(LifeSiteNews.com) – A Michigan abortionist is under renewed scrutiny over comments he made over two years ago, in which he said that doctors have a license to “lie” to their patients.

The comments were made by Dr. Abraham Alberto Hodari to medical students at Wayne University. Hodari currently is facing a lawsuit for allegedly forcing a woman to submit to an abortion after she had changed her mind, killing the unborn baby that she had decided she wanted.

“My wife says we doctors have a license to lie, and it’s true, it’s absolutely true. Sometimes you need to lie to a patient about things that they want to do or no,” Hodari told a gathering at Wayne State University on November 9, 2007.

He said it was not so much the case today, saying that the reason is that women “are more educated, between CNN and the internet, the patients are more educated about what we do.” the rest

He then added, “I have great satisfaction about what I do, and I never feel bad or worried about doing abortions.”

Health Care Bill Will Not Reduce Deficit as Promised

The Audacity to Lie… Obama Tells Republican Senators That Obamacare Will Reduce the Debt

Obama Names Rationing Czar to Run Medicare
Dr. Donald Berwick of the Harvard Medical School does not like free enterprise, but he does like rationing...

Will Graham brings 'reality' of Christ to Aussies

by Audrey Barrick, Christian Post
Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Third generation evangelist Will Graham has joined world-class entertainers and speakers in Australia to present the Gospel and "the reality of life".

A weeklong community event called "Reality" has drawn Christian leaders and local churches together in an effort to reintroduce Jesus Christ to a country that has become increasingly secular.

"I heard many comments that this was one of the first times that they had all the local churches working together on a single evangelistic outreach," said Graham, according to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Graham, the grandson of Billy Graham, preached to an estimated 1,000 people over the weekend at a youth event in Moree, a town of 8,000 residents in northern New South Wales. the rest image

Albert Mohler: Has Man Created Life?

Humanity had better think hard about whether this is a journey we are ready to entrust to scientists alone. The most urgent question raised by this new announcement is not so much what it means, but where it leads.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The cover story of the June 2010 edition of Scientific American presents “12 Events That Will Change Everything.” Those events include human cloning, an asteroid colliding with the earth, a worldwide pandemic, and the creation of synthetic life. Each of the twelve proposed events is evaluated in terms of likelihood. The article on the creation of synthetic life ranks the probability of that event as “almost certain.”

Consider that a case of an argument made too late. Just days ago, Dr. Craig Venter and his associates announced the achievement of the first synthetic life form, a bacterium with DNA sequenced entirely by computer — a human-designed life form.

The international media have seized upon the news, published officially in the journal Science. In rather clinical language, Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, described the achievement. The journal explained that Venter and his associates “describe the stepwise creation of a bacterial chromosome and the successful transfer of it into a bacterium, where it replaced the native DNA. Powered by the synthetic genome, that microbial cell began replicating and making a new set of proteins.” the rest

Obama rebuked for 'back-room deal' for 'gays'

President 'forcing radical homosexual agenda' on soldiers during time of war
May 25, 2010
By Chelsea Schilling
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

While President Obama and Congress seek to ram through an amendment to repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy – with votes coming as soon as this week – several groups are blasting the president for forcing a "radical" homosexual agenda on the military during a time of war.

A vote adding the repeal amendment to the 2011 defense authorization bill is scheduled for May 27 in both the Senate and the House.

According to the Thomas More Law Center, senators are being deluged with phone calls and letters to force their vote to repeal the military's ban. the rest

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Deal Deemed 'Political Charade'
Congress' attempt this week to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is nothing more than a political charade, said the head of a conservative Christian group.

Obama Approval Rating Reaches New Low at 42 Percent With Pro-Abortion Record

Quietly, the Christian-Muslim killing continues in Nigeria

Access to power and lucrative oil contacts are driving a rise in Christian-Muslim clashes and killings. Nigeria's heavy military presence is not enough to quell violence that plagues the No. 3 supplier of oil to the US.
By Shyamantha Asokan, Correspondent
May 25, 2010
Jos, Nigeria

Patience Dassah, a smartly dressed young Nigerian, has recently had trouble getting a taxi. But her trouble with okadas, the motorcycles that zip through the streets here in Africa's most populous country, does not lie with the typical traffic jams or fuel shortages.

"I live in a mostly Christian area, and now my Muslim okada driver will not take me there," she says, explaining that he is too afraid of being attacked or even killed. "He won't even pick up my calls."

Ms. Dassah lives in Jos, a city in central Nigeria now caught in a cycle of religious and ethnic violence.

Sandwiched between the country's largely Muslim north and mostly Christian south, Jos has endured a decade of periodic clashes between followers of the two faiths, a conflict that has flared up in recent months. the rest

Georgia: CANA Bishop confirms 14 at All Saints Anglican

Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Submitted by The Citizen

Fourteen members of All Saints Anglican Church were confirmed recently by the Right Rev. David Anderson of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA)...

...Anderson, who wears a second hat as president and CEO of the American Anglican Council, spoke briefly about growth in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the governing organization of CANA and All Saints. It consolidated a number of orthodox Anglican groups and parishes when it was created recently.

Anderson also described the proposed new ACNA Diocese of the Southeast of which All Saints will be a part. The Rev. Foley Beach of Loganville has been nominated as bishop to lead the new diocese. the rest

Devotional: As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God...

"If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left."
Genesis 13:9

As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and luxurious prospects will open up before you, and these things are yours by right; but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God choose for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the right and proper thing to consider if you were not living a life of faith; but if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and leave God to choose for you. This is the discipline by means of which the natural is transformed into the spiritual by obedience to the voice of God.

Whenever right is made the guidance in the life, it will blunt the spiritual insight. The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. It would seem the wisest thing in the world for Abraham to choose, it was his right, and the people around would consider him a fool for not choosing. Many of us do not go on spiritually because we prefer to choose what is right instead of relying on God to choose for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eye on God. "Walk before Me." ...Oswald Chambers image by the tahoe guy

Herschel the astro-dog

Getting ready to stargaze, Raymond had his scope out a couple of evenings ago. Herschel thought he would guard everything.

The Privileged Call for Limited Dictatorships

Monday, May 24, 2010
Elizabeth Scalia

When I read last week that Woody Allen likes the idea of letting President Obama be a dictator for a “few years” I was repelled; but then I’ve found Allen to be a repellent individual for decades–since Manhattan, at least–so I just shrugged it off as the foghorn bleat of an over-privileged mediocrity looking for some attention.

But then the equally mediocre Tom born-wealthy-high-carbon-footprint-lover-of-Chinese-Communist-Capitalism-I’ve-got-mine-you-should-not-have-yours Friedman let fly with this on Meet the Press:

I have fantasized–don’t get me wrong–but that what if we could just be China for a day? I mean, just, just, just one day. You know, I mean, where we could actually, you know, authorize the right solutions, and I do think there is a sense of that, on, on everything from the economy to environment. I don’t want to be China for a second, OK, I want my democracy to work with the same authority, focus and stick-to-itiveness. But right now we have a system that can only produce suboptimal solutions.

To which Andrea even-more-privileged-than-you-Tom Mitchell chimed in:

“And, in fact, Tom, you’re absolutely right . . .”

The leftist party that these people support is currently in control of both houses of congress and the White House (and they are well-represented within the federal judiciary) and yet, it is not enough. The power is not pure enough, it is not invincible enough; their power is diluted because, dammit, those little people crowing about the constitution all over the internets are mucking things up! the rest image

Kendall Harmon: On Alice in Wonderland, the Episcopal Church, Richard Helmer, and Chastity

May 24, 2010

Being in the Episcopal Church these days means entering a vertiginous journey into the corruption of language. You see language which used to mean x, and in one Episcopal Church setting it is used to mean y, and then in another the same words mean z. One thinks immediately of the scene in Alice Wonderland (written as I hope you know by an Anglican deacon):

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."

For a recent example of this manipulation of language to mean what it does not mean consider a piece on chastity by Richard Helmer .

Chastity, technically, is the refraining from sexual activity outside its proper context. For Christians, this has meant abstinence for those who are single and faithfulness for a wife or a husband who is married. This has been the standard for Christians throughout church history and still is for Christians worldwide today. None of this is to suggest that Christians have not struggled with sexuality, or that the understanding of sexuality and its proper use has not gone through interesting developments in the church's life. It is also not to suggest that a very small minority of contemporary mostly Western Christians have not sought to challenge this standard. The leadership of TEC of course is part of this very small minority. the rest

Why Johnny Can't Read the Bible

Most Americans—including Scripture-loving evangelicals—cannot name the disciples, the Ten Commandments, or the first book of the Bible. But that's not our biggest biblical illiteracy problem.
Collin Hansen
5/24/2010

Americans love their Bibles. So much so that they keep them in pristine, unopened condition. Or, as George Gallup Jr. and Jim Castelli said in a widely quoted survey finding, "Americans revere the Bible but, by and large, they don't read it."

Anecdotes abound. Time magazine observed in a 2007 cover story that only half of U.S. adults could name one of the four Gospels. Fewer than half could identify Genesis as the Bible's first book. Jay Leno and Stephen Colbert have made sport of Americans' inability to name the Ten Commandments—even among members of Congress who have pushed to have them posted publicly. the rest

Albert Mohler: Pornography — The Difference Being a Parent Makes

Steve Jobs is a businessman of unquestioned ability, a technological wizard, and one of the greatest orchestrators of “cool” in world history. Nevertheless, he has not been known as a critic of pornography . . . until now.
Monday, May 24, 2010

Political scientists and sociologists long ago came to the realization that one of the most significant indicators of political behavior is parenthood. Those who bear responsibility to raise children look at the world differently from those who do not. In fact, parenthood may be the most easily identifiable predictor of an individual’s position on an entire range of issues.

Now, along comes Steve Jobs to prove the point. Jobs, the Maestro of Cool at Apple, recently engaged in a most interesting email exchange with Ryan Tate, who writes the “Valleywag” blog for the gossip Web site, Gawker. the rest-Excellent!

Apparently, Tate was upset about some of the restrictions put in place by Apple. Among those restrictions is a ban on pornography.

Steve Jobs threw Ryan Tate’s definition of freedom right back at him. Is Apple about freedom? “Yep,” said Jobs, “freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin’.”

“The decision is not whether or not we will ration care--the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”

Monday, May 24, 2010
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs Medicare, is a strong supporter of the government-run health care system in Britain, who said in a 2009 interview about Comparative Effectiveness Research: “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care--the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”

The $787-billion stimulus law signed by President Obama created a Federal Coordinating Coucil for Comparative Effectivieness research in health care that some critics argue was a step toward rationing of heatlh care in the United States. the rest

"Little-Noticed" is the New "Unexpected"

Tuesday, May 25, 2010
William A. Jacobson
Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

"Unexpected" has become the term of choice for the mainstream media to excuse the Obama administration's economic failures.Yesterday I read an article in The NY Times about something unexpected in Obamacare, and one term jumped out at me (emphasis mine):

About one-third of employers subject to major requirements of the new health care law may face tax penalties because they offer health insurance that could be considered unaffordable to some employees, a new study says.... It suggests that a little-noticed provision of the law could affect far more employers than Congress had assumed.That term, "little-noticed," sure sounded familiar. It seems that we hear that term a lot.I didn't intend on this post being so long, but the examples are so numerous:

- "Tucked inside the huge health reform bill signed into law last week were many surprising and little-noticed provisions that will affect consumers in ways large and small."

- "Deep within the massive health-care overhaul legislation, a few little-noticed provisions have quietly reignited one of the bitterest debates in medicine: how to balance the right of doctors, nurses and other workers to refuse to provide services on moral or religious grounds with the right of patients to get care."

- "A little-noticed provision of the health legislation has rescued federal support for a controversial form of sex education: teaching youths to remain virgins until marriage."

More...

As Morally Serious as Root Canal

May 25, 2010
By Mona Charen

Excerpt:
Though the pro-life position continues to be characterized by the press as marginal, it has in fact become the majority view. A 2009 Gallup poll found that 51 percent of Americans described themselves as "pro-life" versus 45 percent saying they are "pro-choice." This year's poll saw some narrowing, but with the pro-life position still outnumbering pro-choice. Only 38 percent of respondents said abortion was "morally acceptable." The poll also found that young people, ages 18 to 29, were much more likely to say that they oppose abortion in all circumstances today than a decade ago (one in four, versus one in seven). National Abortion Rights Action League president Nancy Keenan has noticed this collapse of support among the young, even referring to herself and her contemporaries as the "postmenopausal militia."

Partisans among the press, meanwhile, continue their rear guard actions, making themselves ridiculous with semantic gymnastics. It is not abortion, it's "reproductive choice" or "abortion rights." The New York Times consistently skirts the term "partial birth abortion" as in this story about Sen. Blanche Lincoln: "... Even Emily's List ... joined the pile-on last week, reminding followers that it stopped supporting Mrs. Lincoln ... after she voted to ban a form of late-term abortion in 1999." A form. the rest

Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood: Pro-Life People Should be Warned

by Hannah Carter
May 24, 2010

Excerpt:
Unfortunately, Susan G. Komen has given over $3 million dollars between 2003 and 2008 to Planned Parenthood which is the nation’s leading abortion provider.

While Susan G. Komen makes claims that these grants go for breast exams, once the funds go to Planned Parenthood they are fungible. For example, you can throw two twenty dollar bills into a purse one from a friend and one from your own account, but when you go to pay the light bill you use both.

The same is true with Planned Parenthood’s money it receives from Komen. Whenever someone applies for a grant they can say that while this $5,000 is going to breast cancer research, 20 percent of that money is going to pay for administrative costs like keeping the lights on and paying rent. So in essence, the money that people are raising to fight breast cancer is also going to keep the lights on at Planned Parenthood. the rest

Woman Dies From Botched Abortion as British Ads Run

NASA unveils new satellite rescue system to find hikers, boaters

Distress beacons can be located in seconds
By Frank D. Roylance,
The Baltimore Sun
May 24, 2010

GREENBELT — NASA unveiled a new satellite-based system on Monday that space agency officials say should reduce the time needed to locate lost boaters and hikers to just seconds.

"Our mission is to take the "search" out of search-and-rescue technology," said Dave Affens, the search and rescue mission manager at NASA, an agency sometimes criticized for not focusing enough on Earth-bound problems.

"Our ultimate goal here is to save lives," Affens said. the rest

Private pay shrinks to historic lows

By Dennis Cauchon
USA TODAY

Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year, a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds.

At the same time, government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010.

Those records reflect a long-term trend accelerated by the recession and the federal stimulus program to counteract the downturn. The result is a major shift in the source of personal income from private wages to government programs.

The trend is not sustainable, says University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes. Reason: The federal government depends on private wages to generate income taxes to pay for its ever-more-expensive programs. Government-generated income is taxed at lower rates or not at all, he says. "This is really important," Grimes says. the rest

Second Wave of Deportations Hits Foreign Christians in Morocco

By Compass Direct News
Damaris Kremida

ISTANBUL (Compass Direct News) – In a second wave of deportations from Morocco, officials of the majority-Muslim country have expelled 26 foreign Christians in the last 10 days without due process.

Following the expulsion of more than 40 foreign Christians in March, the deportations were apparently the result of Muslim hardliners pressuring the nation’s royalty to show Islamic solidarity.

The latest deportations bring the number of Christians who have had to leave Morocco to about 105 since early March. Christians and expert observers are calling this a calculated effort to purge the historically moderate country, known for its progressive policies, of all Christian elements – both foreign and national. the rest

West Java: Islamic authorities shut down church, Christians celebrate in the street

Egypt: 13 evangelicals arrested in Alexandria

Some Schools Are NOT Waiting on CLS v Martinez

May 24th, 2010
Casey Mattox

Academia waits on the Supreme Court to decide CLS v Martinez, with many universities perhaps hoping that the Court will authorize a new means of excluding religious student groups from their campus. As I’ve noted in a previous post, universities have a long history of wanting to eliminate religious student organizations and many can be expected to take any new opportunity the Supreme Court gives them. But it is worth noting that there are also a number of schools for which CLS v Martinez should change nothing.

Over on the CLS website, a post notes the long history of Universities discriminating against CLS and other religious student organizations by seeking to use nondiscrimination rules to exclude them. The litigation in CLS v. Walker, for example, terminated with a settlement agreement whereby Southern Illinois University agreed to exempt religious organizations from its religion nondiscrimination requirement and agreed that CLS’s nonmarital sexual conduct policies are not “sexual orientation” discrimination. Ohio State University, Arizona State University, Boise State University, the University of Minnesota, Penn State, Rutgers, Washburn University School of Law, and many other universities have similarly entered into binding settlement agreements that would prevent them from applying nondiscrimination rules to prohibit religious student groups from limiting leadership and voting membership to persons who share their religious beliefs. Having contracted to protect these rights, these universities would remain bound by those contracts no matter the outcome of CLS v Martinez. the rest

Come, Holy Spirit!

Destitute of the Fire of God, nothing else counts;
Possessing Fire, nothing else matters.
...Samuel Chadwick image by Anlex Basilio

Devotional: Worship demands purity...

Worship demands purity. Over and over we have seen that the prerequisite to the privilege of entering God's presence is the recognition of personal sinfulness and a willingness to abandon that sinfulness. A consuming desire to be pure and clean is the normal result of being with God. The closer we draw to God, the more overwhelmed we become with our sinfulness....if the corporate worship in the church leaves people unchanged, the church is not really worshiping. If what goes on in the church service does not spur the saints to greater obedience, call it what you will, it isn't worship. Worship always results in a transformation, and the church is edified by it.
...John MacArthur Jr. image by Peter Baker

Pope says Church must be missionary or die

Robert Mickens
22 May 2010

POPE BENEDICT XVI has expressed the hope that his first papal visit to the traditionally Catholic bastion of Portugal will be “an incentive for renewed spiritual and apostolic ardour” across Europe, saying the Church must bolster its missionary efforts or face “sure death”.

“In recent years the anthropological, cultural, social and religious framework of humanity has changed,” he said on 14 May in Lisbon at the final Mass of the four-day visit. “Today the Church is called to face new challenges, and is ready to dialogue with different cultures and religions, in the search for new ways of building, with all people of good will, the peaceful coexistence of peoples,” he added.

The Pope said Catholic missionary activity was “much broader today” than going to far distant lands. He said that a mission to traditionally Christian countries, whose people have begun turning away from the institutional Church, was also urgent. “We impose nothing, yet we propose ceaselessly,” he said. the rest

'Radically different' story emerges about Baptists detained in Haiti

May 18, 2010
by Michael Foust

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following story is based on interviews with Paul Thompson, one of the 10 Baptists held in prison in Haiti.

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (BP)--Paul Thompson reads the media accounts describing the journey of him and nine other jailed Baptist volunteers in Haiti who are all now free, and scratches his head. He was there. What he reads is not what he experienced.

Thompson, pastor of Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho, was one of those 10 Baptist volunteers who went to Haiti in late January with the goal of taking orphans out of the earthquake-ravaged country and into an orphanage being started in the Dominican Republican. That trip took a disastrous turn Jan. 30 when the 10 were shocked to learn they were being charged with child kidnapping, with allegations swirling that the group had plans to sell the kids into slavery, or worse, to harvest and sell their organs.

Such rumors were false, but it took more than 100 days to finally resolve the matter. Eight of them were freed in February, a ninth one released in March, and the final one -- Laura Silsby -- was let go May 17, more than 100 days after the ordeal began.

The story Thompson tells is far different from what has been described repeatedly in most media accounts.

"It's radically different," Thompson said. the rest

'Artificial life' breakthrough announced by scientists

21 May, 2010
By Victoria Gill
Science reporter, BBC News

Scientists in the United States have succeeded in developing the first living cell to be controlled entirely by synthetic DNA.

The researchers constructed a bacterium's "genetic software" and transplanted it into a host cell.

The advance, published in Science, has been hailed as a scientific landmark, but critics say there are dangers posed by synthetic organisms. the rest

Church warns cell scientists not to play God

Scientist accused of playing God
While some hailed the research as 'a defining moment in the history of biology', others attacked it as 'a shot in the dark', with 'unparalleled risks'. The team involved have been accused of 'playing God' and tampering 'with the essence of life'.

Economist: And man made life-Artificial life, the stuff of dreams and nightmares, has arrived
On the face of it, then, artificial life looks like a wonderful thing. Yet that is not how many will view the announcement. For them, a better word than “creation” is “tampering”. Have scientists got too big for their boots? Will their hubris bring Nemesis in due course? What horrors will come creeping out of the flask on the laboratory bench?