GOD, CHRIST: QUESTIONS & FAITH

Roe v. Wade Must Be Destroyed writes Kushiner

As liberal as I am on most social issues that we face in the Anglican Communion and especially the Episcopal Church, this is the one issue on which I am conservative. And thus I was interested to read James M. Kushiner's article in Touchstone Magazine's web space Mere Comments. (Kushiner is the editor of Touchstone). But I am far more inclined towards focusing on ways to reduce abortions and in particular unwanted pregnancies. Kushiner writes:

. . . Roe v. Wade was conceived by a lie and by liars (ask Norma McCorvey, plaintiff, she'll tell you the truth), gestated in the womb of the court with more lies feeding it (such as the supposed lack of clarity in the Christian tradition on abortion or status) and by pleadings of ignorance about early embryonic and fetal life, now shown by science to be human life, period, at every stage.

No nation can survive long with such a massive ill-conceived, wrong-in-every-way decision as Roe v. Wade lying like a tumor close to the heart of its precious constitutional liberty, this in a republic whose very founding document proclaims a God-given "right to life." Roe v. Wade, like Dred Scott, and slavery, is a contradicting of the constitution of the organism in which it thrives; it lives and thrives like a cancer lives and thrives, killing its host through thte assertion of its own preproatives; it is toxic, bleeding its poisons into nearly every surrounding issue of life and morality. Roe v. Wade, like Dred Scott, is an affront to human dignity. It is an affront to every Down Syndrome boy and girl. It is an affront to every handicapped loved one. It is an affront to every man who died to defend liberty, it is an affront to those who spilled their blood over slavery and to those who were enslaved and their descendants. Roe v. Wade must be destroyed.

If I sound like a Fundamentalist on this issue, that's because I am. I stand with 2,000 years of Christian testimony on the matter, and urge moral abhorrence at the very thought of destroying the life in the womb. Christians--Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Evangelical, Fundamentalist--who think this matter can be nuanced to create a bridge between those who oppose any diminution of the power of Roe v. Wade and those who think it a cancerous lie are sadly mistaken.

A fundamentalist approach seldom leads to progress. None the less, I recommend the article. While I am not persuaded, I am certainly informed by it and by the comments that follow.

As for one comment: ". . . if one is not a "fundamentalist" on this issue, one is not a Christian," that is utter nonsense. Christians can be of different minds on this question. Most Episcopalians I know disagree with me and they are no less a Christian than I am.

Abstract of Los Alamos Team's Investigation of the Shroud of Turin

Title: Analytical Results On Thread Samples Taken From The Raes Sampling Area (Corner) Of The Shroud Cloth

Analytical Results On Thread Samples Taken From The Raes Sampling Area (Corner) Of The Shroud Cloth by Robert Villarreal with Barrie Schwortz and M. Sue Benford. Saturday, August 16, 10:15 a.m.–10:45 a.m. 

I became involved with the analytical aspect of the Shroud when Ray Rogers asked me for help in conducting certain Shroud image formation studies.  He needed an alpha-particle source to complete investigation of possible image formation processes and some radiochemical calculations on the depth of penetration of an emitted alpha-particle into flax fibers.  I provided him with both and he asked further for X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) measurements on a special sample he termed a “spliced thread” or R1 sample.  The XPS measurements were made and he was quite excited at the results because they indicated the two ends of the thread were not the same and he additionally asked if there were other specialized non-destructive equipment that might be available.   I compiled a list of analytical equipment that seemed appropriate that included: 

1. 1. High Resolution Photo-Microscopy; (Warren Steckle) 

2. 2. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) with Reflectance Mode Capability;  (Kevin Hubbard) 

3. 3. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS); (Roland Schulze) 

4. 4. Radioisotope and Tube Excited Micro-spot Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry; (George Havrilla and Brian Patterson) 

5. 5. *Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS); (Doug Farr) 

6. 6. Auger Spectrometry System; (Doug Farr), and 

7. 7. *Confocal Raman Spectroscopy (Jon Schoonover and Steve Doorn)          

*Can be minimally destructive

Before I was able to give him the above compilation, Ray passed away.  Ray repeatedly asserted to me that he was not concerned whether the Shroud was or was not the burial shroud of Jesus, but if a determination was to be made, it must be scientifically correct. 

Based on evidence he had accumulated, Ray was convinced that the material from the Raes (1973) and C-14 (1988) sampling corner (lower left corner of frontal image area) was significantly different from the original Shroud cloth.  After his death, I asked Joan, Ray’s wife, what I should do with the thread sample he had given me for analyses and she said to hold on to it.  About 18 months later, I received a call from Barrie Schwortz inquiring if I had the “spliced thread.”  I asked him if I should proceed to arrange to conduct analyses on the thread with the above instruments and he encouraged me to continue.  After conducting analysis at high vacuum with the ToF-SIMS, the “spliced thread” broke into three distinct pieces; a fuzzy end (Region 1), a tight woven end (Region 2), and a micro-sized circular cocoon-shaped brown crust that seemed to be connecting the two end pieces.  The ToF-SIMS results were the first to show that the spectra from the two ends were similar to cotton rather than linen (flax) and the Spectroscopist recommended that the next analysis should be with the FTIR instrument.  After several scans of individual fibers or strands, the FTIR data showed that the two ends (Region 1 and 2) were definitely cotton and not linen (flax).  The crust appeared to be an organic-based resin, perhaps a terpene species, with cotton as a main sub-component.  After showing  the FTIR data to Barrie Schwortz and Sue Benford, they were quite surprised at the results and decided to send me two other pieces of thread (No. 7 and 14) that were from the same sampling area and that had been in John Brown’s Lab in Marrietta, Georgia.   

The results of the FTIR analysis on all three threads taken from the Raes sampling area (adjacent to the C-14 sampling corner) led to identification of the fibers as cotton and definitely not linen (flax).  Note, that all age dating analyses were conducted on samples taken from this same area.  Apparently, the age-dating process failed to recognize one of the first rules of analytical chemistry that any sample taken for characterization of an area or population must necessarily be representative of the whole. The part must be representative of the whole. Our analyses of the three thread samples taken from the Raes and C-14 sampling corner showed that this was not the case. What was true for the part was most certainly not true for the whole.  This finding is supported by the spectroscopic data provided in this presentation. 

The recommendations that stem from the above analytical study is that a new age dating should be conducted but assuring that the sample analyzed represents the original main shroud image area, i.e. the fibers must be linen (flax) and not cotton or some other material.  It is only then that the age dating will be scientifically correct.

Analytical Results On Thread Samples Taken From The Raes Sampling Area (Corner) Of The Shroud Cloth

Abstracts of Ohio Shroud of Turin Conference Papers Now Available

From the Papers Page on the conference site:

Abstracts: Thirty-one abstracts are now available.

Publication: No later than December 31, 2008, papers will be published online on this conference website. Papers received before that date will be published as they become available.

Subject Matter: Subject matter included anything related to the scientific, historical or theological aspects of the Shroud of Turin. Preference was given to papers with new material, i.e., that has not been presented at a conference or published previously elsewhere.

Length: Papers were be 30 minutes maximum, except those designated as “Special Presentations,” which may have been 1-hour long.

Shroud Science Group International Conference

Two Science Quotes on the Shroud of Turin

 One:

There is a lot of other evidence that suggests to many that the shroud is older than the radiocarbon dates allow, and so further research is certainly needed. Only by doing this will people be able to arrive at a coherent history of the shroud which takes into account and explains all of the available scientific and historical information.

• Christopher Ramsey, head of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit which participated in the 1988 Carbon 14 Dating of the Shroud. (May 2008)

Two:

[T]he [1988 carbon 14] age-dating process failed to recognize one of the first rules of analytical chemistry that any sample taken for characterization of an area or population must necessarily be representative of the whole. The part must be representative of the whole. Our analyses of the three thread samples taken from the Raes and C-14 sampling corner showed that this was not the case.

• Robert Villarreal, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) chemist who headed a team of nine scientists who at LANL examined material from the carbon 14 sampling region. (August 2008)

For more information see: Shroud of Turin Fact Check

John Shelby Spong: Good Show, Poor Theology

No! Good Article, Bad Theology. Writing for the Washington Post On Faith site, Bishop Spong, the retired Episcopal bishop of Newark, NJ, begins this way:

The Saddleback Forum was good theater, but it was theologically naïve. The questions asked reflected an evangelical world view that is one to which educated people today cannot relate.

The article would be excellent were it not for the bias expressed in that second sentence. There are plenty of evangelical people who are well educated. To think that people who don't share your world view are not or are less educated is, to borrow his words, "theologically naïve." Too bad, because there is an important message in his article that might be argued effectively to some who are certainly turned off by the insult. So swallow hard and read it anyways: John Shelby Spong: Good Show, Poor Theology - On Faith at washingtonpost.com

Rescuing Durham Cathedral Bookshop

GETTING RESULTS FROM DAVE WALKER'S EFFORTS: From Phil Groom's SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info blog:

Today, we launch a formal petition to the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral in a bid to rescue this once outstanding bookshop from the hands of those who have ravaged it, namely Phil and Mark Brewer and their St Stephen the Great Trust.

The Brewers took control of this bookshop, of the entire SPCK Bookshop chain, with fine sounding words, but actions always speak louder than words: Durham Cathedral Bookshop — described by one eminent scholar at an international conference as “the best theological bookshop in the world” — is now but a shadow of its former self. The manager, Carole Burrows — who once organised An Evening Conversation on Jesus and Paul, a conversation between Professor James D G Dunn and the Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd N T Wright, as one of many excellent initiatives that helped to keep the shop at the forefront of theological debate — was driven out. Current staff are demoralised.

The time has come to say: enough is enough! The time has come for the Dean and Chapter to take decisive action to rescue the shop from further decimation. Durham Cathedral is a World Heritage Site and an iconic northern shrine, a popular tourist destination and a centre of Britain’s spiritual life — yet it is now marred by association and ill-equipped to serve those who come to it seeking spiritual refreshment and theological enlightenment.

I hereby call upon the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral to step in, as Jesus once stepped in at the Temple in Jerusalem, and to drive out these men who are bringing this unique part of Britain’s Christian Heritage into disrepute. I urge you, please: take back control of your bookshop, of our bookshop.

And I call upon all others who feel similarly outraged — here in the UK, in the USA and throughout the world, and especially upon the residents of Houston, Texas, whose home town’s otherwise good name is similarly marred by this association — to sign this petition and to spread the word to encourage as many others as possible to do the same.

Thank you.

- Phil Groom.

Sign The Petition: Rescuing Durham

Source of this post: Rescuing Britain’s Christian Heritage: Durham Cathedral Bookshop « SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info

Team of scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory prove the carbon 14 dating of the Shroud of Turin was invalid.

Using some of the most advanced analytical equipment available, a team of nine scientists at the famed Los Alamos National Laboratory confirmed that the material used for radiocarbon dating of the shroud in 1988 was not part of the shroud's fabric. Previously, micro-chemical tests had demonstrated that the cloth is at least twice as old as the medieval date determined by the now discredited carbon 14 tests. This gives new life to historical and forensic arguments that suggest that the shroud might be the burial cloth of Jesus.

PRESS RELEASE

COLUMBUS, Ohio, August 15 -- In his presentation today at The Ohio State University's Blackwell Center, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) chemist, Robert Villarreal, disclosed startling new findings proving that the sample of material used in 1988 to Carbon-14 (C-14) date the Shroud of Turin, which categorized the cloth as a medieval fake, could not have been from the original linen cloth because it was cotton. According to Villarreal, who lead the LANL team working on the project, thread samples they examined from directly adjacent to the C-14 sampling area were "definitely not linen" and, instead, matched cotton. Villarreal pointed out that "the [1988] age-dating process failed to recognize one of the first rules of analytical chemistry that any sample taken for characterization of an area or population must necessarily be representative of the whole. The part must be representative of the whole. Our analyses of the three thread samples taken from the Raes and C-14 sampling corner showed that this was not the case." Villarreal also revealed that, during testing, one of the threads came apart in the middle forming two separate pieces. A surface resin, that may have been holding the two pieces together, fell off and was analyzed. Surprisingly, the two ends of the thread had different chemical compositions, lending credence to the theory that the threads were spliced together during a repair.

LANL's work confirms the research published in Thermochimica Acta (Jan. 2005) by the late Raymond Rogers, a chemist who had studied actual C-14 samples and concluded the sample was not part of the original cloth possibly due to the area having been repaired. This hypothesis was presented by M. Sue Benford and Joseph G. Marino in Orvieto, Italy in 2000. Benford and Marino proposed that a 16th Century patch of cotton/linen material was skillfully spliced into the 1st Century original Shroud cloth in the region ultimately used for dating. The intermixed threads combined to give the dates found by the labs ranging between 1260 and 1390 AD. Benford and Marino contend that this expert repair was necessary to disguise an unauthorized relic taken from the corner of the cloth. A paper presented today at the conference by Benford and Marino, and to be published in the July/August issue of the international journal Chemistry Today, provided additional corroborating evidence for the repair theory.

Blogging from Ohio State University at the Shroud of Turin Conference.

Quote for Today on a New Consensus on Homosexuality in the Anglican Communion

In referring to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the first and lower-case instance of his:

We can either speak our truth - which as it turns out is also his truth (and more important, we believe, His truth) and organize ourselves to reform the Churches we love, or we can sit back, beg our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to be patient, and hope that somehow the Communion will arrive at a new consensus on homosexuality without anyone seeming to have so much as nudged it in that direction.

• Jim Naughton is a Guardian Comment is free Op Ed

Democratic Convention Interfaith Service and the Atheists

Can you just imagine how welcome PZ Myers would be at the DNC's interfaith service. What would he do for an encore?

Vjack over at Atheist Revolution thinks the plan to open the Democratic Convention with a religious service is inappropriate. He may be right. I don't know. But his suggestion to complain about it is, at this point, pointless. The plans are pretty much set. A strong objection from many atheists will not gain much sympathy and is likely to result in something of a blowback, particularly following some of the recent antics of militant atheists like PZ Myers. This is supposed to be a unifying event. Nobody wants to be reminded of confrontation. So, no, the second option discussed below is not worth serious consideration. The service should go on and atheists should be included as a part of the interfaith makeup.

With the 2008 Democratic National Convention (DNC) quickly approaching, atheists must decide how to respond to plans to open the convention with a religious service for the first time in U.S. history. I believe that this represents a disturbing threat to church-state separation and am convinced that a response is necessary. The question is, what sort of response? It seems to me that we have at least two options worth considering.

The Secular Coalition for America took the lead in organizing the first type of response by asking the DNC to make sure that atheists were included at the planned interfaith service. You may recall that the door to this request was opened by Leah Daughtry, the Pentecostal minister in charge of the service. I applaud the Secular Coalition for quickly organizing a response and making it easy for us to request inclusion online via a form on their website.

The second sort of response has a much smaller chance of success, but it happens to be the one I favor. This response focuses on the inappropriateness of holding any sort of religious service at a political convention and calls on atheists to express their dissatisfaction directly to the DNC. This is the first ever religious service to open a convention, so why start now?

I know it goes against the grain for atheists. But the recent militant positions of many atheists also goes against the grain for the majority of American who are Christian. And I wonder if it so much that Democrats are pandering to Christian voters, as vjack suggests, or if there isn't something of a desire by the long-considered-to-be-secularists Democrats to say, "no we are not," at least not as much as you thought we were.

A Quote for Today: My Trust in My Lord

Look: I believe in Him. It’s that simple and that complex. I believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the God Man who came to earth, born as a tiny baby and then lived over thirty years in our midst. I believe in what we celebrate this week: the scandal of the cross and the miracle of the Resurrection. My belief is total. And I know that I cannot convince anyone of it by reason, anymore than an atheist can convince me, by reason, that there is no God.

• Anne Rice - On Faith: Guest Voices: My Trust in My Lord